BOOK XXI.
AFTERNOON AND EVENING OF FRIEDRICH'S
LIFE.
1763-1786.
Chapter I.
PREFATORY.
The Twelve Hercules-labors of this King have ended here; what was
required of him in World-History is accomplished. There remain to
Friedrich Twenty-three Years more of Life, which to Prussian
History are as full of importance as ever; but do not essentially
concern European History, Europe having gone the road we now see it
in. On the grand World-Theatre the curtain has fallen for a New
Act; Friedrich's part, like everybody's for the present, is played
out. In fact, there is, during the rest of his Reign, nothing of
World-History to be dwelt on anywhere. America, it has been
decided, shall be English; Prussia be a Nation. The French, as
finis of their attempt to cut Germany in Four, find themselves sunk
into torpor, abeyance and dry-rot; fermenting towards they know not
what. Towards Spontaneous Combustion in the year 1789, and for long
years onwards!
There, readers, there is the next milestone for you, in the History
of Mankind! That universal Burning-up, as in hell-fire, of Human
Shams. The oath of Twenty-five Million men, which has since become
that of all men whatsoever, "Rather than live longer under lies, we
will die!"--that is the New Act in World-History. New Act,--or, we
may call it New PART; Drama of World-History, Part Third. If Part
SECOND was 1,800 years ago, this I reckon will be Part THIRD.
This is the truly celestial-infernal Event: the strangest we have
seen for a thousand years. Celestial in one part; in the other,
infernal. For it is withal the breaking out of universal mankind
into Anarchy, into the faith and practice of NO-Government,--that
is to say (if you will be candid), into unappeasable Revolt against
Sham-Governors and Sham-Teachers,--which I do charitably define to
be a Search, most unconscious, yet in deadly earnest, for true
Governors and Teachers. That is the one fact of World-History worth
dwelling on at this day; and Friedrich cannot be said to have had
much hand farther in that.
Nor is the progress of a French or European world, all silently
ripening and rotting towards such issue, a thing one wishes to
dwell on. Only when the Spontaneous Combustion breaks out;
and, many-colored, with loud noises, envelops the whole world in
anarchic flame for long hundreds of years: then has the Event come;
there is the thing for all men to mark, and to study and scrutinize
as the strangest thing they ever saw. Centuries of it yet lying
ahead of us; several sad Centuries, sordidly tumultuous, and good
for little! Say Two Centuries yet,--say even Ten of such a process:
before the Old is completely burnt out, and the New in any state of
sightliness? Millennium of Anarchies;--abridge it, spend your
heart's-blood upon abridging it, ye Heroic Wise that are to come!
For it is the consummation of All the Anarchies that are and were;
--which I do trust always means the death (temporary death) of
them! Death of the Anarchies: or a world once more built wholly on
Fact better or worse; and the lying jargoning professor of Sham-
Fact, whose name is Legion, who as yet (oftenest little conscious
of himself) goes tumulting and swarming from shore to shore, become
a species extinct, and well known to be gone down to Tophet!--
There were bits of Anarchies before, little and greater: but till
that of France in 1789, there was none long memorable; all were
pygmies in comparison, and not worth mentioning separately.
In 1772 the Anarchy of Poland, which had been a considerable
Anarchy for about three hundred years, got itself extinguished,--
what we may call extinguished;--decisive surgery being then first
exercised upon it: an Anarchy put in the sure way of extinction.
In 1775, again, there began, over seas, another Anarchy much more
considerable,--little dreaming that IT could be called an Anarchy;
on the contrary, calling itself Liberty, Rights of Man; and singing
boundless Io-Paeans to itself, as is common in such cases;
an Anarchy which has been challenging the Universe to show the like
ever since. And which has, at last, flamed up as an independent
Phenomenon, unexampled in the hideously SUICIDAL way;--and does
need much to get burnt out, that matters may begin anew on truer
conditions. But neither the PARTITION OF POLAND nor the AMERICAN
WAR OF INDEPENDENCE have much general importance, or, except as
precursors of 1789, are worth dwelling on in History. From us here,
so far as Friedrich is concerned with them, they may deserve some
transient mention, more or less: but World-History, eager to be at
the general Funeral-pile and ultimate Burning-up of Shams in this
poor World, will have less and less to say of small tragedies and
premonitory symptoms.
Curious how the busy and continually watchful and speculating
Friedrich, busied about his dangers from Austrian encroachments,
from Russian-Turk Wars, Bavarian Successions, and other troubles
and anarchies close by, saw nothing to dread in France; nothing to
remark there, except carelessly, from time to time, its beggarly
decaying condition, so strangely sunk in arts, in arms, in finance;
oftenest an object of pity to him, for he still has a love for
France;--and reads not the least sign of that immeasurable, all-
engulfing FRENCH REVOLUTION which was in the wind! Neither Voltaire
nor he have the least anticipation of such a thing. Voltaire and he
see, to their contentment, Superstition visibly declining:
Friedrich rather disapproves the heat of Voltaire's procedures on
the INFAME. "Why be in such heat? Other nonsense, quite equal to
it, will be almost sure to follow. Take care of your own skin!"
Voltaire and he are deeply alive, especially Voltaire is, to the
horrors and miseries which have issued on mankind from a Fanatic
Popish Superstition, or Creed of Incredibilities,--which (except
from the throat outwards, from the bewildered tongue outwards) the
orthodox themselves cannot believe, but only pretend and struggle
to believe. This Voltaire calls "THE INFAMOUS;" and this--what name
can any of us give it? The man who believes in falsities is very
miserable. The man who cannot believe them, but only struggles and
pretends to believe; and yet, being armed with the power of the
sword, industriously keeps menacing and slashing all round, to
compel every neighbor to do like him: what is to be done with such
a man? Human Nature calls him a Social Nuisance; needing to be
handcuffed, gagged and abated. Human Nature, if it be in a
terrified and imperilled state, with the sword of this fellow
swashing round it, calls him "Infamous," and a Monster of Chaos.
He is indeed the select Monster of that region; the Patriarch of
all the Monsters, little as he dreams of being such. An Angel of
Heaven the poor caitiff dreams himself rather, and in cheery
moments is conscious of being:--Bedlam holds in it no madder
article. And I often think he will again need to be tied up (feeble
as he now is in comparison, disinclined though men are to manacling
and tying); so many helpless infirm souls are wandering about, not
knowing their right hand from their left, who fall a prey to him.
"L'INFAME" I also name him,--knowing well enough how little he, in
his poor muddled, drugged and stupefied mind, is conscious of
deserving that name. More signal enemy to God, and friend of the
Other Party, walks not the Earth in our day.
Anarchy in the shape of religious slavery was what Voltaire and
Friedrich saw all round them. Anarchy in the shape of Revolt
against Authorities was what Friedrich and Voltaire had never
dreamed of as possible, and had not in their minds the least idea
of. In one, or perhaps two places you may find in Voltaire a grim
and rather glad forethought, not given out as prophecy, but felt as
interior assurance in a moment of hope, How these Priestly Sham
Hierarchies will be pulled to pieces, probably on the sudden, once
people are awake to them. Yes, my much-suffering M. de Voltaire, be
pulled to pieces; or go aloft, like the awakening of Vesuvius, one
day,--Vesuvius awakening after ten centuries of slumber, when his
crater is all grown grassy, bushy, copiously "tenanted by wolves" I
am told; which, after premonitory grumblings, heeded by no wolf or
bush, he will hurl bodily aloft, ten acres at a time, in a very
tremendous manner! [First modern Eruption of Vesuvius, A.D. 1631,
after long interval of rest.] A thought like this, about the
Priestly Sham-Hierarchies, I have found somewhere in Voltaire:
but of the Social and Civic Sham-Hierarchies (which are likewise
accursed, if they knew it, and indeed are junior co-partners of the
Priestly; and, in a sense, sons and products of them, and cannot
escape being partakers of their plagues), there is no hint, in
Voltaire, though Voltaire stood at last only fifteen years from the
Fact (1778-1793); nor in Friedrich, though he lived almost to see
the Fact beginning.
Friedrich's History being henceforth that of a Prussian King, is
interesting to Prussia chiefly, and to us little otherwise than as
the Biography of a distinguished fellow-man, Friedrich's Biography,
his Physiognomy as he grows old, quietly on his own harvest-field,
among his own People: this has still an interest, and for any
feature of this we shall be eager enough; but this withal is the
most of what we now want. And not very much even of this;
Friedrich the unique King not having as a man any such depth and
singularity, tragic, humorous, devotionally pious, or other, as to
authorize much painting in that aspect. Extreme brevity beseems us
in these circumstances: and indeed there are,--as has already
happened in different parts of this Enterprise (Nature herself, in
her silent way, being always something of an Artist in such
things),--other circumstances, which leave us no choice as to that
of detail. Available details, if we wished to give them, of
Friedrich's later Life, are not forthcoming: masses of incondite
marine-stores, tumbled out on you, dry rubbish shot with uncommon
diligence for a hundred years, till, for Rubbish-Pelion piled on
Rubbish-Ossa, you lose sight of the stars and azimuths;
whole mountain continents, seemingly all of cinders and sweepings
(though fragments and remnants do lie hidden, could you find them
again):---these are not details that will be available!
Anecdotes there are in quantity; but of uncertain quality;
of doubtful authenticity, above all. One recollects hardly any
Anecdote whatever that seems completely credible, or renders to us
the Physiognomy of Friedrich in a convincing manner. So remiss a
creature has the Prussian Clio been,--employed on all kinds of
loose errands over the Earth and the Air; and as good as altogether
negligent of this most pressing errand in her own House. Peace be
with her, poor slut; why should we say one other hard word on
taking leave of her to all eternity!--
The Practical fact is, what we have henceforth to produce is more
of the nature of a loose Appendix of Papers, than of a finished
Narrative. Loose Papers,--which, we will hope, the reader can, by
industry, be made to understand and tolerate: more we cannot do for
him. No continuous Narrative is henceforth possible to us. For the
sake of Friedrich's closing Epoch, we will visit, for the last
time, that dreary imbroglio under which the memory of Friedrich,
which ought to have been, in all the epochs of it, bright and
legible, lies buried; and will try to gather, as heretofore, and
put under labels. What dwells with oneself as human may have some
chance to be humanly interesting. In the wildest chaos of marine-
stores and editorial shortcomings (provided only the editors speak
truth, as these poor fellows do) THIS can be done. Part the living
from the dead; pick out what has some meaning, leave carefully what
has none; you will in some small measure pluck up the memory of a
hero, like drowned honor by the locks, and rescue it,
into visibility.
That Friedrich, on reaching home, made haste to get out, of the
bustle of joyances and exclamations on the streets; proceeded
straight to his music-chapel in Charlottenburg, summoning the
Artists, or having them already summoned; and had there, all alone,
sitting invisible wrapt in his cloak, Graun's or somebody's grand
TE-DEUM pealed out to him, in seas of melody,--soothing and
salutary to the altered soul, revolving many things,--is a popular
myth, of pretty and appropriate character; but a myth only, with no
real foundation, though it has some loose and apparent.
[In PREUSS, ii. 46, all the details of it.] No doubt, Friedrich had
his own thoughts on entering Berlin again, after such a voyage
through the deeps; himself, his Country still here, though solitary
and in a world of wild shipwrecks. He was not without piety; but it
did not take the devotional form, and his habits had nothing of
the clerical.
What is perfectly known, and much better worth knowing, is the
instantaneous practical alacrity with which he set about repairing
that immense miscellany of ruin; and the surprising success he had
in dealing with it. His methods, his rapid inventions and
procedures, in this matter, are still memorable to Prussia;
and perhaps might with advantage be better known than they are in
some other Countries. To us, what is all we can do with them here,
they will indicate that this is still the old Friedrich, with his
old activities and promptitudes; which indeed continue unabated,
lively in Peace as in War, to the end of his life and reign.
The speed with which Prussia recovered was extraordinary.
Within little more than a year (June 1st, 1764), the Coin was all
in order again; in 1765, the King had rebuilt, not to mention other
things, "in Silesia 8,000 Houses, in Pommern 6,500." [Rodenbeck,
ii. 234, 261.] Prussia has been a meritorious Nation; and, however
cut and ruined, is and was in a healthy state, capable of
recovering soon. Prussia has defended itself against overwhelming
odds,--brave Prussia; but the real soul of its merit was that of
having merited such a King to command it. Without this King, all
its valors, disciplines, resources of war, would have availed
Prussia little. No wonder Prussia has still a loyalty to its great
Friedrich, to its Hohenzollern Sovereigns generally. Without these
Hohenzollerns, Prussia had been, what we long ago saw it, the
unluckiest of German Provinces; and could never have had the
pretension to exist as a Nation at all. Without this particular
Hohenzollern, it had been trampled out again, after apparently
succeeding. To have achieved a Friedrich the Second for King over
it, was Prussia's grand merit.
An accidental merit, thinks the reader? No, reader, you may believe
me, it is by no means altogether such. Nay, I rather think, could
we look into the Account-Books of the Recording Angel for a course
of centuries, no part of it is such! There are Nations in which a
Friedrich is, or can be, possible; and again there are Nations in
which he is not and cannot. To be practically reverent of Human
Worth to the due extent, and abhorrent of Human Want of Worth in
the like proportion, do you understand that art at all? I fear,
not,--or that you are much forgetting it again! Human Merit, do you
really love it enough, think you;--human Scoundrelism (brought to
the dock for you, and branded as scoundrel), do you even abhor it
enough? Without that reverence and its corresponding opposite-pole
of abhorrence, there is simply no possibility left. That, my
friend, is the outcome and summary of all virtues in this world,
for a man or for a Nation of men. It is the supreme strength and
glory of a Nation;--without which, indeed, all other strengths, and
enormities of bullion and arsenals and warehouses, are no strength.
None, I should say;--and are oftenest even the REVERSE.
Nations who have lost this quality, or who never had it, what
Friedrich can they hope to be possible among them? Age after age
they grind down their Friedrichs contentedly under the hoofs of
cattle on their highways; and even find it an excellent practice,
and pride themselves on Liberty and Equality. Most certain it is,
there will no Friedrich come to rule there; by and by, there will
none be born there. Such Nations cannot have a King to command
them; can only have this or the other scandalous swindling Copper
Captain, constitutional Gilt Mountebank, or other the like
unsalutary entity by way of King; and the sins of the fathers are
visited upon the children in a frightful and tragical manner,
little noticed in the Penny Newspapers and Periodical Literatures
of this generation. Oh, my friends--! But there is plain Business
waiting us at hand.
Chapter II.
REPAIRING OF A RUINED PRUSSIA.
That of Friedrich's sitting wrapt in a cloud of reflections
Olympian-Abysmal, in the music-chapel at Charlottenburg, while he
had the Ambrosian Song executed for him there, as the preliminary
step, was a loose myth; but the fact lying under it is abundantly
certain. Few Sons of Adam had more reason for a piously thankful
feeling towards the Past, a piously valiant towards the Future.
What king or man had seen himself delivered from such strangling
imbroglios of destruction, such devouring rages of a hostile world?
And the ruin worked by them lay monstrous and appalling all round.
Friedrich is now Fifty-one gone; unusually old for his age;
feels himself an old man, broken with years and toils; and here
lies his Kingdom in haggard slashed condition, worn to skin and
bone: How is the King, resourceless, to remedy it? That is now the
seemingly impossible problem. "Begin it,--thereby alone will it
ever cease to be impossible!" Friedrich begins, we may say, on the
first morrow morning. Labors at his problem, as he did in the march
to Leuthen; finds it to become more possible, day after day, month
after month, the farther he strives with it.
"Why not leave it to Nature?" think many, with the Dismal Science
at their elbow. Well; that was the easiest plan, but it was not
Friedrich's. His remaining moneys, 25 million thalers ready for a
Campaign which has not come, he distributes to the most
necessitous: "all his artillery-horses" are parted into plough-
teams, and given to those who can otherwise get none: think what a
fine figure of rye and barley, instead of mere windlestraws,
beggary and desolation, was realized by that act alone. Nature is
ready to do much; will of herself cover, with some veil of grass
and lichen, the nakedness of ruin: but her victorious act, when she
can accomplish it, is that of getting YOU to go with her
handsomely, and change disaster itself into new wealth. Into new
wisdom and valor, which are wealth in all kinds; California mere
zero to them, zero, or even a frightful MINUS quantity!
Friedrich's procedures in this matter I believe to be little less
didactic than those other, which are so celebrated in War: but no
Dryasdust, not even a Dryasdust of the Dismal Science, has gone
into them, rendered men familiar with them in their details and
results. His Silesian Land-Bank (joint-stock Moneys, lent on
security of Land) was of itself, had I room to explain it, an
immense furtherance. [Preuss, iii. 75; OEuvres de
Frederic, vi. 84.] Friedrich, many tell us, was as
great in Peace as in War: and truly, in the economic and material
provinces, my own impression, gathered painfully in darkness, and
contradiction of the Dismal-Science Doctors, is much to that
effect. A first-rate Husbandman (as his Father had been); who not
only defended his Nation, but made it rich beyond what seemed
possible; and diligently sowed annuals into it, and perennials
which flourish aloft at this day.
Mirabeau's Monarchie Prussienne, in 8 thick
Volumes 8vo,--composed, or hastily cobbled together, some Twenty
years after this period,--contains the best tabular view one
anywhere gets of Friedrich's economics, military and other
practical methods and resources:--solid exact Tables these are, and
intelligent intelligible descriptions, done by Mauvillon FILS, the
same punctual Major Mauvillon who used to attend us in Duke
Ferdinand's War;--and so far as Mirabeau is concerned, the Work
consists farther of a certain small Essay done in big type, shoved
into the belly of each Volume, and eloquently recommending, with
respectful censures and regrets over Friedrich, the Gospel of Free
Trade, dear to Papa Mirabeau. The Son is himself a convert; far
above lying, even to please Papa: but one can see, the thought of
Papa gives him new fire of expression. They are eloquent, ruggedly
strong Essays, those of Mirabeau Junior upon Free Trade:
--they contain, in condensed shape, everything we were privileged
to hear, seventy years later, from all organs, coach-horns, jews-
harps and scrannel-pipes, PRO and CONTRA, on the same sublime
subject: "God is great, and Plugson of Undershot is his Prophet.
Thus saith the Lord, Buy in the cheapest market, sell in the
dearest!" To which the afflicted human mind listens what it can;--
and after seventy years, mournfully asks itself and Mirabeau,
"M. le Comte, would there have been in Prussia, for example, any
Trade at all, any Nation at all, had it always been left 'Free'?
There would have been mere sand and quagmire, and a community of
wolves and bisons, M. le Comte. Have the goodness to terminate that
Litany, and take up another!"
We said, Friedrich began his problem on the first morrow morning;
and that is literally true, that or even MORE. Here is how
Friedrich takes his stand amid the wreck, speedy enough to begin:
this view of our old friend Nussler and him is one of the Pieces we
can give,--thanks to Herr Busching and his Beitrage for the last time! Nussler is now something of a Country
Gentleman, so to speak; has a pleasant place out to east of Berlin;
is LANDRATH (County Chairman) there, "Landrath of Nether-Barnim
Circle;" where we heard of the Cossacks spoiling him: he, as who
not, has suffered dreadfully in these tumults. Here is Busching's
welcome Account.
LANDRATH NUSSLER AND THE KING (30th March-3d April, 1763).
"MARCH 30th, 1763, Friedrich, on his return to Berlin, came by the
route of Tassdorf,"--Tassdorf, in Nether-Barnim Circle (40 odd
miles from Frankfurt, and above 15 from Berlin);--"and changed
horses there. During this little pause, among a crowd assembled to
see him, he was addressed by Nussler, Landrath of the Circle, who
had a very piteous story to tell. Nussler wished the King joy of
his noble victories, and of the glorious Peace at last achieved:
'May your Majesty reign in health and happiness over us many years,
to the blessing of us all!'--and recommended to his gracious care
the extremely ruined, and, especially by the Russians, uncommonly
devastated Circle, for which," continues Busching "this industrious
Landrath had not hitherto been able to extract any effective help."
Generally for the Provinces wasted by the Russians there had
already some poor 300,000 thalers (45,000 pounds) been allowed by a
helpful Majesty, not over-rich himself at the moment; and of this,
Nether-Barnim no doubt gets its share: but what is this to such
ruin as there is? A mere preliminary drop, instead of the bucket
and buckets we need!--Busching, a dull, though solid accurate kind
of man, heavy-footed, and yet always in a hurry, always slipshod,
has nothing of dramatic here; far from it; but the facts themselves
fall naturally into that form,--in Three Scenes:--
I. TASSDORF (still two hours from Berlin), KING, NUSSLER AND A
CROWD OF PEOPLE, Nussler ALONE DARING TO SPEAK.
KING (from his Carriage, ostlers making despatch). "What is your
Circle most short of?"
LANDRATH NUSSLER. "Of horses for ploughing the seedfields of rye to
sow them, and of bread till the crops come."
KING. "Rye for bread, and to sow with, I will give; with horses I
cannot assist."
NUSSLER. "On representation of Privy-Councillor van Brenkenhof [the
Minister concerned with such things], your Majesty has been pleased
to give the Neumark and Pommern an allowance of Artillery and
Commissariat Horses: but poor Nether-Barnim, nobody will speak for
it; and unless your Majesty's gracious self please to take pity on
it, Nether-Barnim is lost!" (A great many things more he said, in
presence of a large crowd of men who had gathered round the King's
Carriage as the horses were being changed; and spoke with such
force and frankness that the King was surprised, and asked:)--
KING. "Who are you?" (has forgotten the long-serviceable man!)
NUSSLER. "I am the Nussler who was lucky enough to manage the
Fixing of the Silesian Boundaries for your Majesty!"
KING. "JA, JA, now I know you again! Bring me all the Landraths of
the Kurmark [Mark of Brandenburg Proper, ELECTORAL Mark] in a body;
I will speak with them."
NUSSLER. "All of them but two are in Berlin already."
KING. "Send off estafettes for those two to come at once to Berlin;
and on Thursday," day after to-morrow, "come yourself, with all the
others, to the Schloss to me: I will then have some closer
conversation, and say what I can and will do for helping of the
country," (King's Carriage rolls away, with low bows and blessings
from Nussler and everybody).
II. THURSDAY, APRIL 1st, NUSSLER AND ASSEMBLED LANDRATHS AT THE
SCHLOSS OF BERLIN. To them, enter KING. ...
NUSSLER (whom they have appointed spokesman). ... "Your Majesty has
given us Peace; you will also give us Well-being in the Land again:
we leave it to Highest-the-Same's gracious judgment [no limit to
Highest-the-Same's POWER, it would seem] what you will vouchsafe to
us as indemnification for the Russian plunderings."
KING. "Be you quiet; let me speak. Have you got a pencil (HAT ER
CRAYON)? Yes! Well then, write, and these Gentlemen shall dictate
to you:--
"'How much rye for bread; How much for seed; How many Horses, Oxen,
Cows, their Circles do in an entirely pressing way require?'
"Consider all that to the bottom; and come to me again the day
after to-morrow. But see that you fix everything with the utmost
exactitude, for I cannot give much." (EXIT King.)
NUSSLER (to the Landraths). "MEINE HERREN, have the goodness to
accompany me to our Landschaft House [we have a kind of County
Hall, it seems]; there we will consider everything."
And Nussler, guiding the deliberations, which are glad to follow
him on every point, and writing as PRO-TEMPORE Secretary, has all
things brought to luminous Protocol in the course of this day
and next.
III. SATURDAY, APRIL 3d, IN THE SCHLOSS AGAIN: NUSSLER AND
LANDRATHS. To them, the KING.
Nussler. "We deliver to your Majesty the written Specification you
were graciously pleased to command of us. It contains only the
indispensablest things that the Circles are in need of.
Moreover, it regards only the STANDE [richer Nobility], who pay
contribution; the Gentry [ADEL], and other poor people, who have
been utterly plundered out by the Russians, are not included in
it:--the Gentry too have suffered very much by the War and
the Plundering."
KING. "What EDELLEUTE that are members of STANDE have you [ER] got
in your Circle?"
NUSSLER (names them; and, as finis of the list, adds): ...
"I myself, too, your Majesty, I have suffered more than anybody:
I absolutely could not furnish those 4,000 bushels of meal ordered
of me by the Russians; upon which they--"
KING. "I cannot give to all: but if you have poor Nobles in
your Circle, who can in no way help themselves, I will give
them something."
NUSSLER (has not any in Nether-Barnim who are altogether in that
extreme predicament; but knows several in Lebus Circle, names them
to the King;--and turning to the Landrath of Lebus, and to another
who is mute): "Herr, you can name some more in Lebus; and you, in
Teltow Circle, Herr Landrath, since his Majesty permits." ... In a
word, the King having informed himself and declared his intention,
Nussler leads the Landraths to their old County Hall, and brings to
Protocol what had taken place.
Next day, the Kammer President (Exchequer President), Van der
Groben, had Nussler, with other Landraths, to dinner.
During dinner, there came from Head Secretary Eichel (Majesty's
unwearied Clerk of the PELLS, Sheepskins, or PAPERS) an earnest
request to Von der Groben for help,--Eichel not being able to
remember, with the requisite precision, everything his Majesty had
bid him put down on this matter. "You will go, Herr von Nussler;
be so kind, won't you?" And Nussler went, and fully illuminated
Eichel. ...
To the poorest of the Nobility, Busching tells us, what is
otherwise well known, the King gave considerable sums: to one
Circle 12,000 pounds, to another 9,000 pounds, 6,000 pounds, and so
on. By help of which bounties, and of Nussler laboring incessantly
with all his strength, Nieder-Barnim Circle got on its feet again,
no subject having been entirely ruined, but all proving able to
recover. [Busching, Beitrage (º Nussler),
i. 401-405.]
This Busching Fragment is not in the style of the Elder Dramatists,
or for the Bankside Theatre; but this represents a Fact which
befell in God's Creation, and may have an interest of its own to
the Practical Soul, especially in anarchic Countries, far advanced
in the "Gold-nugget and Nothing to Buy with it" Career of
unexampled Prosperities.
On these same errands the King is soon going on an Inspection
Journey, where we mean to accompany. But first, one word, and one
will suffice, on the debased Coin. The Peace was no sooner signed,
than Friedrich proceeded on the Coin. The third week after his
arrival home, there came out a salutary Edict on it, April 21st;
King eager to do it without loss of time, yet with the deliberation
requisite. Not at one big leap, which might shake, to danger of
oversetting, much commercial arrangement; but at two leaps, with a
halfway station intervening. Halfway station, with a new coinage
ready, much purer of alloy (and marked HOW much, for the benefit of
parties with accounts to settle), is to commence on TRINITATIS
(Whitsunday) instant; from and after Whitsunday the improved new
coin to be sole legal tender, till farther notice. Farther notice
comes accordingly, within a year, March 29th, 1764: "Pure money of
the standard of 1750 [honest silver coinage: readers may remember
Linsenbarth, the CANDIDATUS THEOLOGIAE, and his sack of Batzen,
confiscated at the Paekhof] shall be ready on the 1st of June
instant;" [Rodenbeck, ii. 214, 234.]--from and after which day we
hear no more of that sad matter. Finished off in about fourteen
months. Here, meanwhile, is the Inspection Journey.
KRIEGSRATH RODEN AND THE KING (6th-13th June, 1763).
JUNE 2d, 1763, Friedrich left Potsdam for Westphalia; got as far as
Magdeburg that day. Intends seeing into matters with his own eyes
in that region, as in others, after so long and sad an absence.
There are with him Friedrich Wilhelm Prince of Prussia, a tall
young fellow of nineteen; General-Adjutant von Anhalt; and one or
two Prussian military people. From Magdeburg and onwards the great
Duke Ferdinand accompanies,--who is now again Governor of
Magdeburg, and a quiet Prussian Officer as heretofore, though with
excellent Pensions from England, and glory from all the world.
The Royal Party goes by Halberstadt, which suffered greatly in the
War; thence by MINDEN (June 4th); and the first thing next day,
Friedrich takes view of the BATTLE-FIELD there,--under Ferdinand's
own guidance, doubtless; and an interesting thing to both Friedrich
and him, though left silent to us. This done, they start for
Lippstadt, are received there under joyous clangorous outburst of
all the bells and all the honors, that same afternoon; and towards
sunset, Hamm being the Night-quarter ahead, are crossing
VELLINGHAUSEN BATTLE-GROUND,--where doubtless Ferdinand again, like
a dutiful apprentice, will explain matters to his old master, so
far as needful or permissible. The conversation, I suppose, may
have been lively and miscellaneous: Ferdinand mentions a clever
business-person of the name of Roden, whom he has known in these
parts; "Roden?" the King carefully makes note;--and, in fact, we
shall see Roden presently; and his bit of DIALOGUE with the King
(recorded by his own hand) is our chief errand on this Journey.
From Hamm, next morning (June 6th), they get to Wesel by 11 A.M.
(only sixty miles); Wesel all in gala, as Lippstadt was, or still
more than Lippstadt; and for four days farther, they continue there
very busy. As Roden is our chief errand, let us attend to Roden.
WESEL, MONDAY, JUNE 6th, "Dinner being done," says an authentic
Third-Party, [Rodenbeck, ii. 217.] "the King had Kammer-Director
Meyen summoned to him with his Register-Books, Schedules and
Reports [what they call ETATS]; and was but indifferently contented
with Meyen and them." And in short, "ordering Meyen to remodel
these into a more distinct condition,"--we may now introduce the
Herr Kriegsrath Roden, a subaltern, in rank, but who has perhaps a
better head than Meyen, to judge of these ETATS. Roden himself
shall now report. This is the Royal Dialogue with Roden;
accurately preserved for us by him;--I wish it had been better
worth the reader's trouble; but its perfect credibility in every
point will be some recommendation to it.
"MONDAY, 6th JUNE, 1763, about 11 A.M., his Majesty arrived in
Wesel," says Roden (confirming to us the authentic Third-Party);
"I waited on Adjutant-General Colonel von Anhalt to announce
myself; who referred me to Kriegsrath Coper ["MEIN SEGRETER KOPER"
is a name we have heard before], who told me to be ready so soon as
Dinner should be over. Dinner was no sooner over [2 P.M. or so],
than the Herr Kammer-Director Meyen with his ETATS was called in.
His Majesty was not content with these, Herr Meyen was told;
and they were to be remodelled into a more distinct condition.
The instant Herr Meyen stept out, I was called in. His Majesty was
standing with his back to the fire; and said:--
KING. "'Come nearer [Roden comes nearer]. Prince Ferdinand [of
Brunswick, whom we generally call DUKE and great, to distinguish
him from a little Prussian Prince Ferdinand] has told me much good
of you: where do you come from?'
RODEN. "'From Soest' [venerable "stone-old" little Town, in
Vellinghausen region].
KING. "'Did you get my Letter?'
RODEN. "'Yea, IHRO MAJESTAT.'
KING. "'I will give you some employment. Have you got a pencil?'
RODEN. "'Yea' [and took out his Note-book and tools, which he had
"bought in a shop a quarter of an hour before"].
KING. "'Listen. By the War many Houses have got ruined: I mean that
they shall be put in order again; for which end,--to those that
cannot themselves help, particularly to Soest, Hamm, Lunen and in
part Wesel, as places that have suffered most,--I intend to give
the moneys. Now you must make me an exact List of what is to be
done in those places. Thus [King, lifting his finger, let us fancy,
dictates; Roden, with brand-new pencil and tablets, writes:]
"'1. In each of those Towns, how many ruined Houses there are which
the proprietors themselves can manage to rebuild. 2. How many which
the proprietors cannot. 3. The vacant grounds or steadings of such
proprietors as are perhaps dead, or gone else-whither, must be
given to others that are willing to build: but in regard to this,
Law also must do its part, and the absent and the heirs must be
cited to say, Whether they will themselves build? and in case they
won't, the steadings can then be given to others.'"
Roden having written,--
KING. "'In the course of six days you must be ready [what an
expeditious King! Is to be at Cleve the sixth day hence: Meet me
there, then],--longer I cannot give you.'
RODEN (considering a moment). "'If your Majesty will permit me to
use ESTAFETTES [express messengers] for the Towns farthest off,--as
I cannot myself, within the time, travel over all the Towns,--I
hope to be ready.'
KING. "'That I permit; and will repay you the ESTAFETTE moneys.--
Tell me, How comes the decrease of population in these parts?
Recruits I got none.'
RODEN. "'Under favor of your Majesty, Regiment Schenkendorf got,
every year, for recompletion, what recruits were wanted, from its
Canton in the Grafschaft Mark here.'
KING. "'There you may be right: but from Cleve Country we had no
recruits; not we, though the Austrians had, [with a slight sarcasm
of tone].
RODEN. "'Out of Cleve, so far as I know, there were no recruits
delivered to the Austrians.'
KING. "'You could not know; you were with the Allied Army' [Duke
Ferdinand's, commissariating and the like, where Duke Ferdinand
recognized you to have a head].
RODEN. "'There have been many epidemic diseases too; especially in
Soest;--after the Battle of Vellinghausen all the wounded were
brought thither, and the hospitals were established there.'
KING. "'Epidemic diseases they might have got without a Battle
[dislikes hearing ill of the soldier trade]. I will have Order sent
to the Cleve Kammer, Not to lay hindrance in your way, but the
contrary. Now God keep you (GOTT BEWAHRE IHN).'"--EXIT Roden;--
"DARAUF RETIRIRTE MICH," says he;-- but will reappear shortly.
Sunday, 12th June, is the sixth day hence; later than the end of
Sunday is not permissible to swift Roden; nor does he need it.
Friday, 10th, Friedrich left Wesel; crossed the Rhine, intending
for Cleve; went by CREFELD,--at Crefeld had view of another BATTLE-
FIELD, under good ciceroneship; remarks or circumstances otherwise
not given:--and, next day, Saturday, 11th, picked up D'Alembert,
who, by appointment, is proceeding towards Potsdam, at a more
leisurely rate. That same Saturday, after much business done, the
King was at Kempen, thence at Geldern; speeding for Cleve itself,
due there that night. At Geldern, we say, he picked up D'Alembert;
--concerning whom, more by and by. And finally, "on Saturday night,
about half-past 8, the King entered Cleve," amid joyances
extraordinary, hut did not alight; drove direct through by the
Nassau Gate, and took quarter "in the neighboring Country-house of
Bellevue, with the Dutch General von Spaen there,"--an obliging
acquaintance once, while LIEUTENANT Spaen, in our old Crown-Prince
times of trouble! Had his year in Spandau for us there, while poor
Katte lost his head! To whom, I have heard, the King talked
charmingly on this occasion, but was silent as to old Potsdam
matters. [Supra, vii. 165.]--
By his set day, Roden is also in Cleve, punctual man, finished or
just finishing; and ready for summons by his Majesty.
And accordingly:--
"CLEVE, MONDAY, JUNE 13th, At 9 in the morning," records he, "I had
audience of the King's Majesty. [In Spaen's Villa of Bellevue,
shall we still suppose? Duke Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia and the
rest, have bestowed themselves in other fit houses; D'Alembert
too,--who is to make direct for Potsdam henceforth, by his own
route; and will meet us on arriving.]--I handed him my Report, with
the Tabular Schedule. His Majesty read it carefully through, in my
presence; and examined all of it with strictness. Was pleased to
signify his satisfaction with my work. Resolved to allow 250,000
thalers (37,500 pounds) for this business of Rebuilding; gave out
the due Orders to his Kammer, in consequence, and commanded me to
arrange with the Kammer what was necessary. This done, his
Majesty said:--
KING. "'What you were described to me, I find you to be. You are a
diligent laborious man; I must have you nearer to me;--in the
Berlin Hammer you ought to be. You shall have a good, a right good
Salary; your Patent I will give you gratis; also a VORSPANN-PASS
[Standing Order available at all Prussian Post-Stations] for two
carriages [rapid Program of the thing, though yet distant, rising
in the Royal fancy!]. Now serve on as faithfully as you have
hitherto done.'
RODEN. "'That is the object of all my endeavors.'" (EXIT:--I did
not hear specially whitherward just now; but he comes to be supreme
Kammer-President in those parts by and by.)
"The Herr Kriegsrath Coper was present, and noted all the Orders to
he expedited." [Preuss, ii. 442; Rodenbeck, ii. 217, 218: in regard
to D'Alembert, see OEuvres de Frederic,
xxiv. 190.]
These snatches of notice at first-hand, and what the reader's fancy
may make of these, are all we can bestow on this Section of
Friedrich's Labors; which is naturally more interesting to Prussian
readers than to English. He has himself given lucid and eloquent
account of it,--Two ample Chapters, "DES FINANCES;"
"DU MILITAIRE," [ OEuvres de Frederic, vii.
73-90, 91-109.]--altogether pleasant reading, should there still be
curiosity upon it. There is something of flowingly eloquent in
Friedrich's account of this Battle waged against the inanimate
Chaos; something of exultant and triumphant, not noticeable of him
in regard to his other Victories. On the Leuthens, Rossbachs, he is
always cold as water, and nobody could gather that he had the least
pleasure in recording them. Not so here. And indeed here he is as
beautiful as anywhere; and the reader, as a general son of Adam,--
proud to see human intellect and heroism slaying that kind of
lions, and doing what in certain sad epochs is unanimously voted to
be impossible and unattemptable,--exults along with him;
and perhaps whispers to his own poor heart, nearly choked by the
immeasurable imbroglio of Blue-books and Parliamentary Eloquences
which for the present encumber Heaven and Earth, "MELIORA SPERO."
To Mirabeau, the following details, from first-hand, but already of
twenty-three years distance, were not known, [Appeared first in
Tome v. of "OEuvres Posthumes de Frederic II." (are in Tome vi. of Preuss's Edition of OEUVRES), "Berlin,
1788;"--above a year after Mirabeau had left.] while he sat penning
those robust Essays on the Duty of LEAVE-ALONE.
"To form an idea of the general subversion," says the King, in
regard to 1763, "and how great were the desolation and
discouragement, you must represent to yourself Countries entirely
ravaged, the very traces of the old habitations hardly
discoverable; Towns, some ruined from top to bottom, others half
destroyed by fire;--13,000 Houses, of which the very vestiges were
gone. No field in seed; no grain for the food of the inhabitants;
60,000 horses needed, if there was to be ploughing carried on:
in the Provinces generally Half a Million Population (500,000) less
than in 1756,--that is to say, upon only Four Millions and a Half,
the ninth man was wanting. Noble and Peasant had been pillaged,
ransomed, foraged, eaten out by so many different Armies;
nothing now left them but life and miserable rags.
"There was no credit, by trading people, even for the daily
necessaries of life." And furthermore, what we were not prepared
for, "No police in the Towns: to habits of equity and order had
succeeded a vile greed of gain and an anarchic disorder.
The Colleges of Justice and of Finance had, by these frequent
invasions of so many enemies, been reduced to inaction:" no Judge,
in many places not even a Tax-gatherer: the silence of the Laws had
produced in the people a taste for license; boundless appetite for
gain was their main rule of action: the noble, the merchant, the
farmer, the laborer, raising emulously each the price of his
commodity, seemed to endeavor only for their mutual ruin.
Such, when the War ended, was the fatal spectacle over these
Provinces, which had once been so flourishing: however pathetic the
description may be, it will never approach the touching and
sorrowful impression which the sight of it produced."
Friedrich found that it would never do to trust to the mere aid of
Time in such circumstances: at the end of the Thirty-Years War,
"Time" had, owing to absolute want of money, been the one recipe of
the Great Elector in a similar case; and Time was then found to
mean "about a hundred Years." Friedrich found that he must at once
step in with active remedies, and on all hands strive to make the
impossible possible. Luckily he had in readiness, as usual, the
funds for an Eighth Campaign, had such been needed. Out of these
moneys he proceeded to rebuild the Towns and Villages; "from the
Corn-Stores (GRANARIES D'ABONDANCE," Government establishments
gathered from plentiful harvests against scarce, according to old
rule) "were taken the supplies for food of the people and sowing of
the ground: the horses intended for the artillery, baggage and
commissariat," 60,000 horses we have heard, "were distributed among
those who had none, to be employed in tillage of the land.
Silesia was discharged from all taxes for six months; Pommern and
the Neumark for two years. A sum of about Three Million sterling
[in THALERS 20,389,000] was given for relief of the Provinces, and
as acquittance of the impositions the Enemy had wrung from them.
"Great as was this expense, it was necessary and indispensable.
The condition of these Provinces after the Peace of Hubertsburg
recalled what we know of them when the Peace of Munster closed the
famous Thirty-Years War. On that occasion the State failed of help
from want of means; which put it, out, of the Great Elector's power
to assist his people: and what happened? That a whole century
elapsed before his Successors could restore the Towns and
Champaigns to what they were. This impressive example was
admonitory to the King: that to repair the Public Calamities,
assistance must be prompt and effective. Repeated gifts (LARGESSES)
restored courage to the poor Husbandmen, who began to despair of
their lot; by the helps given, hope in all classes sprang up anew:
encouragement of labor produced activity; love of Country rose
again with fresh life: in a word [within the second year in a
markedly hopeful manner, and within seven years altogether], the
fields were cultivated again, manufacturers had resumed their work;
and the Police, once more in vigor, corrected by degrees the vices
that had taken root during the time of anarchy." [ OEuvres
de Frederic, vi. 74, 75.]
To Friedrich's difficulties, which were not inconsiderable, mark
only this last additament: "During this War, the elder of the
Councillors, and all the Ministers of the Grand Directorium [centre
of Prussian Administration], had successively died: and in such
time of trouble it had been impossible to replace them.
The embarrassment was, To find persons capable of filling these
different employments [some would have very soon done it, your
Majesty; but their haste would not have tended to speed!]--We
searched the Provinces (ON FOUILLA, sifted), where good heads were
found as rare as in the Capital: at length five Chief Ministers
were pitched upon,"--who prove to be tolerable, and even good.
Three of them were, the VONS Blumenthal, Massow, Hagen, unknown to
readers here: fourth and fifth were, the Von Wedell as War-
Minister, once Dictator at Zullichan; and a Von der Horst, who had
what we might partially call the Home Department, and who may by
accident once or so be namable again.
Nor was War all, says the King: "accidental Fires in different
places," while we struggled to repair the ravagings of War, "were
of unexampled frequency, and did immense farther damage. From 1765
to 1769, here is the list of places burnt: In East Preussen, the
City of Konigsberg twice over; in Silesia, the Towns of Freystadt,
Ober-Glogau [do readers recollect Manteuffel of Foot and "WIR
WOLLEN IHM WAS"!], Parchwitz, Naumburg-on-Queiss, and Goldberg;
in the Mark, Nauen; in the Neumark, Calies and a part of Lansberg;
in Pommern, Belgard and Tempelburg. These accidents required
incessantly new expenditures to repair them."
Friedrich was not the least of a Free Trader, except where it
suited him: and his continual subventions and donations, guidances,
encouragements, commandings and prohibitions, wise supervision and
impulsion,--are a thing I should like to hear an intelligent
Mirabeau (Junior or Senior) discourse upon, after he had well
studied them! For example: "ON RENDIT LES PRETRES UTILES, The
Priests, Catholic Priests, were turned to use by obliging all the
rich Abbeys to establish manufactures: here it was weavers making
damasks and table-cloths; there oil-mills [oil from linseed];
or workers in copper, wire-drawers; as suited the localities and
the natural products,--the flaxes and the metals, with water-power,
markets, and so on." What a charming resuscitation of the rich
Abbeys from their dormant condition!
I should like still better to explain how, in Lower Silesia, "we
(ON) managed to increase the number of Husbandmen by 4,000
families. You will be surprised how it was possible to multiply to
this extent the people living by Agriculture in a Country where
already not a field was waste. The reason was this. Many Lords of
Land, to increase their Domain, had imperceptibly appropriated to
themselves the holdings (TERRES) of their vassals. Had this abuse
been suffered to go on, in time a great"-- But the commentary
needed would be too lengthy; we will give only the result: "In the
long-run, every Village would have had its Lord, but there would
have been no tax-paying Farmers left." The Landlord, ruler of these
Landless, might himself (as Majesty well knows) have been made to
PAY, had that been all; but it was not. "To possess something;
that is what makes the citizen attached to his Country; those who
have no property, and have nothing to lose, what tie have they?"
A weak one, in comparison! "All these things being represented to
the Landlord Class, their own advantage made them consent to
replace their Peasants on the old footing." ...
"To make head against so many extraordinary demands," adds the King
(looking over to a new Chapter, that of the MILITARY, which
Department, to his eyes, was not less shockingly dilapidated than
the CIVIL, and equally or more needed instant repair), "new
resources had to be devised. For, besides what was needed for
re-establishment of the Provinces, new Fortifications were
necessary; and all our Cannon, E'VASES (worn too wide in the bore),
needed to be refounded; which occasioned considerable new expense.
This led us to improvement of the Excises,"--concerning which there
will have to be a Section by itself.
OF FRIEDRICH'S NEW EXCISE SYSTEM.
In his late Inspection-Journey to Cleve Country, D'Alembert, from
Paris, by appointment waited for the King; [In ( OEuvres de
Frederic, xxiv. 377-380 (D'Alembert's fine bits of
Letters in prospect of Potsdam, "Paris, 7th March-29th April,
1763;" and two small Notes while there, "Sans-Souci, 6th July-15th
August, 1763").]--picked up at Geldern (June 11th), as we saw
above. D'Alembert got to Potsdam June 22d; stayed till middle of
August. He had met the King once before, in 1755; who found him "a
BON GARCON," as we then saw. D'Alembert was always, since that
time, an agreeable, estimable little man to Friedrich. Age now
about forty-six; has lately refused the fine Russian post of "Tutor
to the Czarowitsh" (Czarowitsh Paul, poor little Boy of eight or
nine, whom we, or Herr Busching for us, saw galloping about, not
long since, "in his dressing-gown," under Panin's Tutorage);
refuses now, in a delicate gradual manner, the fine Prussian post
of Perpetual President, or Successor to Maupertuis;--definitely
preferring his frugal pensions at Paris, and garret all his own
there. Continues, especially after this two months' visit of 1763,
one of the King's chief correspondents for the next twenty years.
["29th October, 1783," D'Alembert died: "born 16th November, 1717;"
--a Foundling, as is well known; "Mother a Sister of Cardinal
Tencin's; Father," accidental, "an Officer in the Artillery."]
A man of much clear intellect; a thought SHRIEKY in his ways
sometimes; but always prudent, rational, polite, and loyally
recognizing Friedrich as a precious article in this world. Here is
a word of D'Alembert's to Madame du Deffand, at Paris, some ten or
twelve days after the Cleve meeting, and the third day after his
arrival here:--
"POTSDAM, 25th JUNE, 1763. MADAME,-- ... I will not go into the
praises of this Prince," King Friedrich, my now Host; "in my mouth
it might be suspicious: I will merely send you two traits of him,
which will indicate his way of thinking and feeling. When I spoke
to him [at Geldern, probably, on our first meeting] of the glory he
had acquired, he answered, with the greatest simplicity, That there
was a furious discount to be deducted from said glory; that chance
came in for almost the whole of it; and that he would far rather
have done Ratine's ATHALIE than all this War:--ATHALIE is the work
he likes, and rereads oftenest; I believe you won't disapprove his
taste there. The other trait I have to give you is, That on the day
[15th February last] of concluding this Peace, which is so glorious
to him, some one saying, 'It is the finest day of your Majesty's
life:' 'The finest day of life,' answered he, 'is the day on which
one quits it.' ...--Adieu, Madame." [ "OEuvres Posthumes de
D'Alembert (Paris, 1799). i. 197:" cited in PREUSS,
ii. 348.]
The meeting in Cleve Country was, no doubt, a very pretty passage,
with Two pretty Months following;--and if it be true that HELVETIUS
was a consequence, the 11th of June, 1763, may almost claim to be a
kind of epoch in Friedrich's later history. The opulent and
ingenious M. Helvetius, who wrote DE L'ESPRIT, and has got banished
for that feat (lost in the gloom of London in those months), had
been a mighty Tax-gatherer as well; D'Alembert, as brother
Philosophe, was familiar with Helvetius. It is certain, also, King
Friedrich, at this time, found he would require annually two
million thalers more;--where to get them, seemed the impossibility.
A General Krockow, who had long been in French Service, and is much
about the King, was often recommending the French Excise system;--
he is the Krockow of DOMSTADTL, and that SIEGE OF OLMUTZ, memorable
to some of us:--"A wonderful Excise system," Krockow is often
saying, in this time of straits. "Who completely understands it?"
the King might ask. "Helvetius, against the world!" D'Alembert
could justly answer. "Invite Helvetius to leave his London exile,
and accept an asylum here, where he may be of vital use to me!"
concludes Friedrich.
Helvetius came in March, 1765; stayed till June, 1766: [Rodenbeck,
ii. 254; Preuss, iii. 11.]--within which time a French Excise
system, which he had been devising and putting together, had just
got in gear, and been in action for a month, to Helvetius's
satisfaction. Who thereupon went his way, and never returned;--
taking with him, as man and tax-gatherer, the King's lasting
gratitude; but by no means that of the Prussian Nation, in his tax-
gathering capacity! All Prussia, or all of it that fell under this
Helvetius Excise system, united to condemn it, in all manner of
dialects, louder and louder: here, for instance, is the utterance
of Herr Hamann, himself a kind of Custom-house Clerk (at
Konigsberg, in East Preussen), and on modest terms a Literary man
of real merit and originality, who may be supposed to understand
this subject: "And so," says Hamann, "the State has declared its
own subjects incapable of managing its Finance system; and in this
way has intrusted its heart, that is the purse of its subjects, to
a company of Foreign Scoundrels, ignorant of everything relating to
it!" ["Hamann to Jacobi" (see Preuss, iii. 1-35), "Konigsberg, 18th
January, 1786."]
This lasted all Friedrich's lifetime; and gave rise to not a little
buzzing, especially in its primary or incipient stages. It seems to
have been one of the unsuccessfulest Finance adventures Friedrich
ever engaged in. It cost his subjects infinite small trouble;
awakened very great complaining; and, for the first time, real
discontent,--skin-deep but sincere and universal,--against the
misguided Vater Fritz. Much noisy absurdity there was upon it, at
home, and especially abroad: "Griping miser," "greedy tyrant," and
so forth! Deducting all which, everybody now admits that
Friedrich's aim was excellent and proper; but nobody denies withal
that the means were inconsiderate, of no profit in proportion to
the trouble they gave, and improper to adopt unless the
necessity compelled.
Friedrich is forbidden, or forbids himself, as we have often
mentioned, to impose new taxes: and nevertheless now, on
calculations deep, minute and no doubt exact, he judges That for
meeting new attacks of War (or being ready to meet, which will
oftenest mean averting them),--a thing which, as he has just seen,
may concern the very existence of the State,--it is necessary that
there should be on foot such and such quotities and kinds of
Soldiery and War-furniture, visible to all neighbors; and privately
in the Treasury never less than such and such a sum. To which end
Arithmetic declares that there is required about Two Million
thalers more of yearly revenue than we now have. And where, in
these circumstances, are the means of raising such a sum?
Friedrich imposes no new taxes; but there may be stricter methods
of levying the old;--there may, and in fact there must, be means
found! Friedrich has consulted his Finance Ministers; put the
question SERIATIM to these wise heads: they answer with one voice,
"There are no means." [Rodenbeck, ii. 256.] Friedrich, therefore,
has recourse to Helvetius; who, on due consideration, and after
survey of much documentary and tabulary raw-material, is of
opinion, That the Prussian Excises would, if levied with the
punctuality, precision and vigilant exactitude of French methods,
actually yield the required overplus. "Organize me the methods,
then; get them put in action here; under French hands, if that be
indispensable." Helvetius bethought him of what fittest French
hands there were to his knowledge,--in France there are a great
many hands flung idle in the present downbreak of finance there:--
Helvetius appears to have selected, arranged and contrived in this
matter with his best diligence. De Launay, the Head-engineer of the
thing, was admitted by all Prussia, after Twenty-two years
unfriendly experience of him, to have been a suitable and estimable
person; a man of judicious ways, of no small intelligence,
prudence, and of very great skill in administering business.
Head-engineer De Launay, one may guess, would be consulted by
Helvetius in choice of the subaltern Officials, the stokers and
steerers in this new Steam-Machinery, which had all to be manned
from France. There were Four heads of departments immediately under
De Launay, or scarcely under him, junior brothers rather:--who
chose these I did not hear; but these latter, it is evident, were
not a superior quality of people. Of these Four,--all at very high
salaries, from De Launay downwards; "higher than a Prussian
Minister of State!" murmured the public,--two, within the first
year, got into quarrel; fought a duel, fatal to one of them;
so that there were now only Three left. "Three, with De Launay,
will do," opined Friedrich; and divided the vacant salary among the
survivors: in which form they had at least no more duelling.
As to the subaltern working-parties, the VISITATEURS, CONTROLLEURS,
JAUGEURS (Gaugers), PLOMBEURS (Lead-stampers), or the strangest
kind of all, called "Cellar-Rats (COMMIS RATS-DE-CAVE), "they were
so detested and exclaimed against, by a Public impatient of the
work itself, there is no knowing what their degree of scoundrelism
was, nor even, within amazingly wide limits, what the arithmetical
number of them was. About 500 in the whole of Prussia, says a quiet
Prussian, who has made some inquiry; ["Beguelin, ACCISE- UND ZOLL-
VERFASSUNG, s. 138" (Preuss, iii, 18).] 1,500 says Mirabeau;
3,000 say other exaggerative persons, or even 5,000; De Launay's
account is, Not at any time above 200. But we can all imagine how
vexatious they and their business were. Nobody now is privileged
with exemption: from one and all of you, Nobles, Clergy, People,
strict account is required, about your beers and liquors;
your coffee, salt; your consumptions and your purchases of all
excisable articles:--nay, I think in coffee and salt, in salt for
certain, what you will require, according to your station and
domestic numbers, is computed for you, to save trouble; such and
such quantities you will please to buy in our presence, or to pay
duty for, whether you buy them or not. Into all houses, at any hour
of the day or of the night, these cellar-rats had liberty,--(on
warrant from some higher rat of their own type, I know not how much
higher; and no sure appeal for you, except to the King; tolerably
sure there, if you be INNOCENT, but evidently perilous if you be
only NOT-CONVICTED!)--had liberty, I say, to search for contraband;
all your presses, drawers, repositories, you must open to these
beautiful creatures; watch in nightcap, and candle in hand, while
your things get all tumbled hither and thither, in the search for
what perhaps is not there; nay, it was said and suspected, but I
never knew it for certain, that these poisonous French are capable
of slipping in something contraband, on purpose to have you fined
whether or not.
Readers can conceive, though apparently Friedrich did not, what a
world of vexation all this occasioned; and how, in the continual
annoyance to all mankind, the irritation, provocation and querulous
eloquence spread among high and low. Of which the King knew
something; but far from the whole. His object was one of vital
importance; and his plan once fixed, he went on with it, according
to his custom, regardless of little rubs. The Anecdote Books are
full of details, comic mostly, on this subject: How the French rats
pounced down upon good harmless people, innocent frugal parsonages,
farm-houses; and were comically flung prostrate by native ready
wit, or by direct appeal to the King. Details, never so authentic,
could not be advisable in this place. Perhaps there are not more
than Two authentic Passages, known to me, which can now have the
least interest, even of a momentary sort, to English readers.
The first is, Of King Friedrich caricatured as a Miser grinding
Coffee. I give it, without essential alteration of any kind, in
Herr Preuss's words, copied from those of one who saw it:--the
second, which relates to a Princess or Ex-Princess of the Royal
House, I must reserve for a little while. Herr Preuss says:--
"Once during the time of the 'Regie' [which lasted from 1766 to
1786 and the King's death: no other date assignable, though 1768,
or so, may be imaginable for our purpose], as the King came riding
along the Jager Strasse, there was visible near what is called the
Furstenhaus," kind of Berlin Somerset House, [Nicolai, i. 155.] "a
great crowd of people. 'See what it is!' the King sent his one
attendant, a heiduc or groom, into it, to learn what it was.
'They have something posted up about your Majesty,' reported the
groom; and Friedrich, who by this time had ridden forward, took a
look at the thing; which was a Caricature figure of himself:
King in very melancholy guise, seated on a Stool, a Coffee-mill
between his knees; diligently grinding with the one hand, and with
the other picking up any bean that might have fallen. 'Hang it
lower,' said the King, beckoning his groom with a wave of the
finger: 'Lower, that they may not have to hurt their necks about
it!' No sooner were the words spoken, which spread instantly, than
there rose from the whole crowd one universal huzza of joy.
They tore the Caricature into a thousand pieces, and rolled after
the King with loud (LEBE HOCH, Our Friedrich forever!' as he rode
slowly away." [Preuss, iii. 275 ("from BERLIN CONVERSUTIONSBLATT
&c. of 1827, No. 253").] That is their Friedrich's method with the
Caricature Department. Heffner, Kapellmeister in Upsala, reports
this bit of memorability; he was then of the King's Music-Chapel in
Berlin, and saw this with his eyes.
The King's tendency at all times, and his practice generally, when
we hear of it, was to take the people's side; so that gradually
these French procedures were a great deal mitigated; and DIE REGIE
--so they called this hateful new-fangled system of Excise
machinery--became much more supportable, "the sorrows of it nothing
but a tradition to the younger sort," reports Dohm, who is
extremely ample on this subject. [Christian Wilhelm von Dohm,
Denkwurdigkeiten meiner Zeit (Lemgo und
Hanover, 1819), iv. 500 et seq.] De Launay was honorably dismissed,
and the whole Regie abolished, a month or two after
Friedrich's death.
With a splenetic satisfaction authentic Dohm, who sufficiently
condemns the REGIE, adds that it was not even successful; and shows
by evidence, and computation to the uttermost farthing, that
instead of two million thalers annually, it yielded on the average
rather less than one. The desired overplus of two millions, and a
good deal more did indeed come in, says he: but it was owing to the
great prosperity of Prussia at large, after the Seven-Years War;
to the manifold industries awakening, which have gone on
progressive ever since. Dohm declares farther, that the very object
was in a sort fanciful, nugatory; arguing that nobody did attack
Friedrich;--but omitting to prove that nobody would have done so,
had Friedrich NOT stood ready to receive him. We will remark only,
what is very indisputable, that Friedrich, owing to the Regie, or
to other causes, did get the humble overplus necessary for him;
and did stand ready for any war which might have come (and which
did in a sort come); that he more and more relaxed the Regie, as it
became less indispensable to him; and was willing, if he found the
Caricatures and Opposition Placards too high posted, to save the
poor reading people any trouble that was possible.
A French eye-witness testifies: "They had no talent, these Regie
fellows, but that of writing and ciphering; extremely conceited
too, and were capable of the most ridiculous follies. Once, for
instance, they condemned a common soldier, who had hidden some
pounds of tobacco, to a fine of 200 thalers. The King, on reviewing
it for confirmation, wrote on the margin: 'Before confirming this
sentence, I should wish to know where the Soldier, who gets 8
groschen [ninepence halfpenny] in the 5 days, will find the 200
crowns for paying this Fine!'" [Laveaux (2d edition), iii. 228.]
Innumerable instances of a constant disposition that way, on the
King's part, stand on record. "A crown a head on the import of fat
cattle, Tax on butcher's-meat?" writes he once to De Launay:
"No, that would fall on the poorer classes: to that I must say No.
I am, by office, Procurator of the Poor (L'AVOCAT DU PAUVRE)."
Elsewhere it is "AVOCAT DEC PAUVRE ET DU SOLDAT (of the working-man
and of the soldier); and have to plead their cause."
[Preuss, iii. 20.]
We will now give our Second Anecdote; which has less of
memorability to us strangers at present, though doubtless it was
then, in Berlin society, the more celebrated of the two;
relating, as it did, to a high Court-Lady, almost the highest, and
who was herself only too celebrated in those years. The heroine is
Princess Elizabeth of Brunswick, King's own Niece and a pretty
woman; who for four years (14th July, 1765-18th April, 1769) of her
long life was Princess Royal of Prussia,--Wife of that tall young
Gentleman whom we used to see dancing about, whom we last saw at
Schweidnitz getting flung from his horse, on the day of Pirch's
saddle there:--his Wife for four years, but in the fourth year
ceased to be so [Rodenbeck, ii. 241, 257.] (for excellent reasons,
on both sides), and lived thenceforth in a divorced eclipsed state
at Stettin, where is laid the scene of our Anecdote. I understand
it to be perfectly true; but cannot ascertain from any of the
witnesses in what year the thing happened; or whether it was at
Stettin or Berlin,--though my author has guessed, "Stettin, in the
Lady's divorced state," as appears.
"This Princess had commissioned, direct from Lyon, a very beautiful
dress; which arrived duly, addressed to her at Stettin. As this
kind of stuffs is charged with very heavy dues, the DOUANIER, head
Custom-house Personage of the Town, had the impertinence to detain
the dress till payment were made. The Princess, in a lofty
indignation, sent word to this person, To bring the dress
instantly, and she would pay the dues on it. He obeyed: but,"--mark
the result,--"scarcely had the Princess got eye on him, when she
seized her Lyon Dress; and, giving the Douanier a couple of good
slaps on the face, ordered him out of her apartment and house.
"The Douanier, thinking himself one and somewhat, withdrew in high
choler; had a long PROCES-VERBAL of the thing drawn out; and sent
it to the King with eloquent complaint, 'That he had been
dishonored in doing the function appointed him.' Friedrich replied
as follows: TO THE DOUANIER AT STETTIN: 'The loss of the Excise-
dues shall fall to my score; the Dress shall remain with the
Princess; the slaps to him who has received them. As to the
pretended Dishonor, I entirely relieve the complainant from that:
never can the appliance of a beautiful hand dishonor the face of an
Officer of Customs.--F.'" [Laveaux (abridged), iii. 229.]
Northern Tourists, Wraxall and others, passing that way, speak of
this Princess, down to recent times, as a phenomenon of the place.
Apparently a high and peremptory kind of Lady, disdaining to be
bowed too low by her disgraces. She survived all her generation,
and the next and the next, and indeed into our own. Died 18th
February, 1840: at the age of ninety-six. Threescore and eleven
years of that eclipsed Stettin Existence; this of the Lyon gown,
and caitiff of a Custom-houser slapped on the face, her one
adventure put on record for us!--
She was signally blamable in that of the Divorce; but not she
alone, nor first of the Two. Her Crown-Prince, Friedrich Wilhelm,
called afterwards, as King, "DER DICKE (the Fat, or the Big)," and
held in little esteem by Posterity,--a headlong, rather dark and
physical kind of creature, though not ill-meaning or dishonest,--
was himself a dreadful sinner in that department of things; and had
BEGUN the bad game against his poor Cousin and Spouse! Readers of
discursive turn are perhaps acquainted with a certain "Grafin von
Lichtenau," and her MEMOIRS so called:--not willingly, but driven,
I fish up one specimen, and one only, from that record of human
puddles and perversities:--
"From the first year of our attachment," says this precious Grafin,
"I was already the confidant of his," the Prince of Prussia's,
"most secret thoughts. One day [in 1767, second year of his married
life, I then fifteen, slim Daughter of a Player on the French Horn,
in his Majesty's pay], the Prince happened to be very serious;
and was owning to me with frankness that he had some wrongs towards
my sex to reproach himself with,"--alas, yes, some few:--"and he
swore that he would never forsake ME; and that if Heaven disposed
of my life before his, none but he should close my eyes. He was
fingering with a penknife at the time; he struck the point of it
into the palm of his left hand, and wrote with his blood [the
unclean creature], on a little bit of paper, the Oath which his
lips had just pronounced in so solemn a tone. Vainly should I
undertake to paint my emotion on this action of his! The Prince saw
what I felt; and took advantage of it to beg that I would follow
his example. I hastened to satisfy him; and traced, as he had done,
with my blood, the promise to remain his friend to the tomb, and
never to forsake him. This Promise must have been found among his
Papers after his death [still in the Archives? we will hope not!]--
Both of us stood faithful to this Oath. The tie of love, it is
true, we broke: but that was by mutual consent, and the better to
fix ourselves in the bonds of an inviolable friendship.
Other mistresses reigned over his senses; but I"--ACH GOTT, no more
of that. [ Memoires de la Comtesse de Lichtenau (a Londres, chez Colburn Libraire, Conduit-street, Bond-
street, 2 tomes, small 8vo, 1809), i. 129.]
The King's own account of the affair is sufficiently explicit.
His words are: "Not long ago [about two years before this of the
penknife] we mentioned the Prince of Prussia's marriage with
Elizabeth of Brunswick [his Cousin twice over, her Mother, Princess
Charlotte of Prussia, being his Father's Sister and mine, and her
Father HIS Mother's Brother,--if you like to count it].
This engagement, from which everybody had expected happy
consequences, did not correspond to the wishes of the Royal House."
Only one Princess could be realized (subsequently Wife to the late
Duke of York),--she came this same year of the penknife,--and bad
outlooks for more. "The Husband, young and dissolute (SANS MOEURS),
given up to a crapulous life, from which his relatives could not
correct him, was continually committing infidelities to his Wife.
The Princess, who was in the flower of her beauty, felt outraged by
such neglect of her charms; her vivacity, and the good opinion she
had of herself, brought her upon the thought of avenging her wrongs
by retaliation. Speedily she gave in to excesses, scarcely inferior
to those of her Husband. Family quarrels broke out, and were soon
publicly known. The antipathy that ensued took away all hope of
succession [had it been desirable in these sad circumstances!].
Prince Henri [JUNIOR, this hopeful Prince of Prussia's Brother],
who was gifted with all the qualities to be wished in a young man
[witness my tears for him], had been carried off by small-pox.
["26th May, 1767," age 19 gone; ELOGE of him by Friedrich
("MS. still stained with tears"), in OEuvres de Frederic,
vii. 37 et seq.] The King's Brothers, Princes Henri
and Ferdinand, avowed frankly that they would never consent to
have, by some accidental bastard, their rights of succession to the
crown carried off. In the end, there was nothing for it but
proceeding to a divorce." [ OEuvres de Frederic, vi. 23.]
Divorce was done in a beautiful private manner; case tried with
strictly shut doors; all the five judges under oath to carry into
the grave whatever they came to know of it: [Preuss, iv. 180-186.]
divorce completed 18th April, 1769; and, within three months, a new
marriage was accomplished, Princess Frederika Luisa of Hessen-
Darmstadt the happy woman. By means of whom there was duly realized
a Friedrich Wilhelm, who became "King Friedrich Wilhelm III." (a
much-enduring, excellent, though inarticulate man), as well as
various other Princes and Princesses, in spite of interruptions
from the Lichtenau Sisterhood. High-souled Elizabeth was relegated
to Stettin; her amount of Pension is not mentioned; her Family,
after the unhappy proofs communicated to them, had given their
consent and sanction;--and she stayed there, idle, or her own
mistress of work, for the next seventy-one years.--Enough of HER
Lyon Dress, surely, and of the Excise system altogether!--
THE NEUE PALAIS, IN SANS-SOUCI NEIGHBORHOOD, IS FOUNDED
AND FINISHED (1763-1770).
If D'Alembert's Visit was the germ of the Excise system, it will be
curious to note,--and indeed whether or not, it will be
chronologically serviceable to us here, and worth noting,--that
there went on a small synchronous affair, still visible to
everybody: namely, That in the very hours while Friedrich and
D'Alembert were saluting mutually at Geldern (11th June, 1763),
there was laid the foundation of what they call the NEUE PALAIS;
New Palace of Sans-Souci: [Rodenbeck, ii. 219.] a sumptuous
Edifice, in the curious LOUIS-QUINZE or what is called "Rococo"
style of the time; Palace never much inhabited by Friedrich or his
successors, which still stands in those ornamental Potsdam regions.
Why built, especially in the then down-pressed financial
circumstances, some have had their difficulties to imagine.
It appears, this New Palace had been determined on before the War
broke out; and Friedrich said to himself: "We will build it now, to
help the mechanical classes in Berlin,--perhaps also, in part
[think some, and why should not they, a little?] to show mankind
that we have still ready money; and are nothing like so ruined as
they fancy."
"This NEUE PALAIS," says one recent Tourist, "is a pleasant quaint
object, nowadays, to the stranger. It has the air DEGAGE
POCOCURANTE; pleasantly fine in aspect and in posture;--spacious
expanses round it, not in a waste, but still less in a strict
condition; and (in its deserted state) has a silence, especially a
total absence of needless flunkies and of gaping fellow-loungers,
which is charming. Stands mute there, in its solitude, in its
stately silence and negligence, like some Tadmor of the Wilderness
in small. The big square of Stables, Coach-houses, near by, was
locked up,--probably one sleeping groom in it. The very CUSTOS of
the grand Edifice (such the rarity of fees to him) I could not
awaken without difficulty. In the gray autumn zephyrs, no sound
whatever about this New Palace of King Friedrich's, except the
rustle of the crisp brown leaves, and of any faded or fading
memories you may have.
"I should say," continues he, "it somehow reminds you of the City
of Bath. It has the cut of a battered Beau of old date; Beau still
extant, though in strangely other circumstances; something in him
of pathetic dignity in that kind. It shows excellent sound
masonries; which have an over-tendency to jerk themselves into
pinnacles, curvatures and graciosities; many statues atop,--three
there are, in a kind of grouped or partnership attitude;
'These,' said diligent scandal, 'note them; these mean Maria
Theresa, Pompadour and CATIN DU NORD' (mere Muses, I believe, or of
the Nymph or Hamadryad kind, nothing of harm in them). In short,
you may call it the stone Apotheosis of an old French Beau.
Considerably weather-beaten (the brown of lichens spreading visibly
here and there, the firm-set ashlar telling you, 'I have stood a
hundred years');--Beau old and weather-beaten, with his cocked-hat
not in the fresh condition, all his gold-laces tarnished;
and generally looking strange, and in a sort tragical, to find
himself, fleeting creature, become a denizen of the Architectural
Fixities and earnest Eternities!"--
From Potsdam Palace to the New Palace of Sans-Souci may be a mile
distance; flat ground, parallel to the foot of Hills; all through
arbors, parterres, water-works, and ornamental gardenings and
cottagings or villa-ings,--Cottage-Villa for Lord Marischal is one
of them. This mile of distance, taking the COTTAGE Royal of Sans-
Souci on its hill-top as vertex, will be the base of an isosceles
or nearly isosceles triangle, flatter than equilateral. To the
Cottage Royal of Sans-Souci may be about three-quarters of a mile
northeast from this New Palace, and from Potsdam Palace to it
rather less. And the whole square-mile or so of space is
continuously a Garden, not in the English sense, though it has its
own beauties of the more artificial kind; and, at any rate, has
memories for you, and footsteps of persons still unforgotten by
mankind.--Here is a Notice of Lord Marischal; which readers will
not grudge; the chronology of the worthy man, in these his later
epochs, being in so hazy a state:--
Lord Marischal, we know well and Pitt knows, was in England in
1761,--ostensibly on the Kintore Heritage; and in part, perhaps,
really on that errand. But he went and came, at dates now
uncertain; was back in Spain after that, had difficult voyagings
about; [King's Letters to him, in OEuvres de Frederic,
xx. 282-285.]--and did not get to rest again, in his
Government of Neufchatel, till April, 1762. There is a Letter of
the King's, which at least fixes that point:--
"BRESLAU, 10th APRIL, 1762. My nose is the most impertinent nose in
the universe, MON CHER MYLORD [Queen-Dowager snuff, SPANIOL from
the fountain-head, of Marischal's providing; quality exquisite, but
difficult to get transmitted in the Storms of War]; I am ashamed of
the trouble it costs you! I beg many pardons;--and should be quite
abashed, did I not know how you compassionate the weak points of
your friends, and that, for a long time past, you have a singular
indulgence for my nose. I am very glad to know you happily returned
to your Government, safe at Colombier (DOVE-COTE) in Neufchatel
again." This is 10th April, 1762. There, as I gather, quiet in his
Dove-cote, Marischal continued, though rather weary of the
business, for about a year more; or till the King got home,--who
delights in companionship, and is willing to let an old man demit
for good.
It was in Summer, 1762 (about three months after the above Letter
from the King), that Rousseau made his celebrated exodus into
Neufchatel Country, and found the old Governor so good to him,--
glad to be allowed to shelter the poor skinless creature. And, mark
as curious, it must have been on two of those mornings, towards the
end of the Siege of Schweidnitz, when things were getting so
intolerable, and at times breaking out into electricity, into
"rebuke all round," that Friedrich received that singular pair of
Laconic Notes from Rousseau in Neufchatel: forwarded, successively,
by Lord Marischal; NOTE FIRST, of date, "Motier-Travers,
Neufchatel, September," nobody can guess what day, "1762:" "I have
said much ill of you, and don't repent it. Now everybody has
banished me; and it is on your threshold that I sit down. Kill me,
if you have a mind!" And then (after, not death, but the gift of
100 crowns), NOTE SECOND, "October, 1762:" ... "Take out of my
sight that sword, which dazzles and pains me; IT has only too well
done its duty, while the sceptre is abandoned:" Make Peace, can't
you! [ OEuvres completes de Rousseau (a
Geneve, 1782-1789), xxxiii. 64, 65.]--What curious reading for a
King in such posture, among the miscellaneous arrivals overnight!
Above six weeks before either of these NOTES, Friedrich, hearing of
him from Lord Marischal, had answered: "An asylum? Yes, by all
means: the unlucky cynic!" It is on September 1st, that he sends,
by the same channel, 100 crowns for his use, with advice to "give
them in NATURA, lest he refuse otherwise;" as Friedrich knows to be
possible. In words, the Rousseau Notes got nothing of Answer.
"A GARCON SINGULIER," says Friedrich: odd fellow, yes indeed, your
Majesty;--and has such a pungency of flattery in him too, presented
in the way of snarl! His Majesty might take him, I suppose, with a
kind of relish, like Queen-Dowager snuff.
There was still another shift of place, shift which proved
temporary, in old Marischal's life: Home to native Aberdeenshire.
The two childless Brothers, Earls of Kintore, had died
successively, the last of them November 22d, 1761: title and
heritage, not considerable the latter, fell duly, by what
preparatives we know, to old Marischal; but his Keith kinsfolk,
furthermore, would have him personally among them,--nay, after
that, would have him to wed and produce new Keiths. At the age of
78; decidedly an inconvenient thing! Old Marischal left Potsdam
"August, 1763," [Letter of his to the King ("LONDRES, 14 AOUT,
1763"), in OEuvres de Frederic, xx. 293.--In
Letters of Eminent Persons to David Hume
(Edinburgh, 1849), pp. 57-71, are some Nine from the Old Marischal;
in curiously mixed dialect, cheerful, but indistinct; the two chief
dates of which are: "Touch" (guttural TuCH, in Aberdeenshire), "28
October, 1763," and "Potsdam, 20 February, 1765."]--NEW-PALACE
scaffoldings and big stone blocks conspicuous in those localities;
pleasant D'Alembert now just about leaving, in the other direction;
--much to Friedrich's regret, the old Marischal especially, as is
still finely evident.
FRIEDRICH TO LORD MARISCHAL (in Scotland for the last
six months).
"SANS-SOUCI, 16th February, 1764.
"I am not surprised that the Scotch fight to have you among them;
and wish to have progeny of yours, and to preserve your bones.
You have in your lifetime the lot of Homer after death: Cities
arguing which is your birthplace;--I myself would dispute it with
Edinburgh to possess you. If I had ships, I would make a descent on
Scotland, to steal off my CHER MYLORD, and bring him hither.
Alas, our Elbe Boats can't do it. But you give me hopes;--which I
seize with avidity! I was your late Brother's friend, and had
obligations to him; I am yours with heart and soul. These are my
titles, these are my rights:--you sha'n't be forced in the matter
of progeny here (FAIRE L'ETALON ICI), neither priests nor attorneys
shall meddle with you; you shall live here in the bosom of
friendship, liberty and philosophy." Come to me! ...--F.
[ OEuvres de Frederic, xx. 295.]
Old Marischal did come; and before long. I know not the precise
month: but "his Villa-Cottage was built for him," the Books say,
"in 1764." He had left D'Alembert just going; next year he will
find Helvetius coming. He lived here, a great treasure to
Friedrich, till his death, 25th May, 1778, age 92.
The New Palace was not finished till 1770;--in which year, also,
Friedrich reckons that the general Problem of Repairing Prussia was
victoriously over. New Palace, growing or complete, looks down on
all these operations and occurrences. In its cradle, it sees
D'Alembert go, Lord Marischal go; Helvetius come, Lord Marischal
come; in its boyhood or maturity, the Excise, and French RATS-DE-
CAVE, spring up; Crown-Prince Friedrich Wilhelm prick his hand for
a fit kind of ink; Friedrich Wilhelm's Divorced Wife give her
Douanier two slaps in the face, by way of payment. Nay, the same
Friedrich Wilhelm, become "Friedrich Wilhelm II., or DER DICKE,"
died in it,--his Lichtenau AND his second Wife, jewel of women,
nursing him in his last sickness there. ["Died 16th November,
1797."]
The violent stress of effort for repairing Prussia, Friedrich
intimates, was mostly over in 1766: till which date specifically,
and in a looser sense till 1770, that may be considered as his main
business. But it was not at any time his sole business;
nor latterly at all equal in interest to some others that had risen
on him, as the next Chapter will now show. Here, first, is a little
Fraction of NECROLOGY, which may be worth taking with us.
Readers can spread these fateful specialties over the Period in
question; and know that each of them came with a kind of knell upon
Friedrich's heart, whatever he might be employed about.
Hour striking after hour on the Horologe of Time; intimating how
the Afternoon wore, and that Night was coming. Various meanings
there would be to Friedrich in these footfalls of departing guests,
the dear, the less dear, and the indifferent or hostile; but each
of them would mean: "Gone, then, gone; thus we all go!"
"OBITUARY IN FRIEDRICH'S CIRCLE TILL 1771."
Of Polish Majesty's death (5th October, 1763), and then (2d
December following) of his Kurprinz or Successor's, with whom we
dined at Moritzburg so recently, there will be mention by and by.
November 28th, 1763, in the interval between these two, the
wretched Bruhl had died. April 14th, 1764, died the wretched
Pompadour;--"To us not known, JE NE LA CONNAIS PAS:"--hapless
Butterfly, she had been twenty years in the winged condition;
age now forty-four: dull Louis, they say, looked out of window as
her hearse departed, "FROIDEMENT," without emotion of any visible
kind. These little concern Friedrich or us; we will restrict
ourselves to Friends.
"DIED IN 1764. At Pisa, Algarotti (23d May, 1764, age fifty-two);
with whom Friedrich has always had some correspondence hitherto (to
himself interesting, though not to us), and will never henceforth
have more. Friedrich raised a Monument to him; Monument still to be
seen in the Campo-Santo of Pisa: 'HIC JACET OVIDII AEMULUS ET
NEUTONI DISCIPULUS;' friends have added 'FREDERICUS MAGNUS PONI
FECIT;' and on another part of the Monument, 'ALGAROTTUS NON
OMNIS.' [Preuss, iv. 188.]
"--IN 1765. At the age of eighty, November 18th, Grafin Camas, 'MA
BONNE MAMAN' (widow since 1741); excellent old Lady,--once
brilliantly young, German by birth, her name Brandt;--to whom the
King's LETTERS used to be so pretty." This same year, too, Kaiser
Franz died; but him we will reserve, as not belonging to this
Select List.
"--IN 1766. At Nanci, 23d February, age eighty-six, King Stanislaus
Leczinsky: 'his clothes caught fire' (accidental spark or sputter
on some damask dressing-gown or the like); and the much-enduring
innocent old soul ended painfully his Titular career.
"DIED IN 1767. October 22d, the Grand-Duchess of Sachsen-Gotha, age
fifty-seven; a sad stroke this also, among one's narrowing List of
Friends.--I doubt if Friedrich ever saw this high Lady after the
Visit we lately witnessed. His LETTERS to her are still in the
Archives of Gotha: not hers to him; all lost, these latter, but an
accidental Two, which are still beautiful in their kind. [Given in
OEuvres de Frederic, xviii. 165, 256.]
"--IN 1770. Bielfeld, the fantastic individual of old days.
Had long been out of Friedrich's circle,--in Altenburg Country, I
think;--without importance to Friedrich or us: the year of him will
do, without search for day or month.
"---IN 1771. Two heavy deaths come this year. January 28th, 1771,
at Berlin, dies our valuable old friend Excellency Mitchell,--still
here on the part of England, in cordial esteem as a man and
companion; though as Minister, I suppose, with function more and
more imaginary. This painfully ushers in the year. To usher it out,
there is still worse: faithful D'Argens dies, 26th December, 1771,
on a visit in his native Provence,--leaving, as is still visible,
[Friedrich's two Letters to the Widow (Ib. xix. 427-429).] a big
and sad blank behind him at Potsdam." But we need not continue;
at least not at present.
Long before all these, Friedrich had lost friends; with a sad but
quiet emotion he often alludes to this tragic fact, that all the
souls he loved most are gone. His Winterfelds, his Keiths, many
loved faces, the War has snatched: at Monbijou, at Baireuth, it was
not War; but they too are gone. Is the world becoming all a
Mausoleum, then; nothing of divine in it but the Tombs of vanished
loved ones? Friedrich makes no noise on such subjects: loved and
unloved alike must go.
We have still to mark Kaiser Franz's sudden death; a thing
politically interesting, if not otherwise. August, 1765, at
Innspruck, during the Marriage-festivities of his Second Son,
Leopold (Duke of Florence, who afterwards, on Joseph's death, was
Kaiser),--Kaiser Franz, sauntering about in the evening gala,
"18th August, about 9 P.M.," suddenly tottered, staggered as
falling; fell into Son Joseph's arms; and was dead. Above a year
before, this same Joseph, his Eldest Son, had been made King of the
Romans: "elected 26th March; crowned 3d April, 1764;"--Friedrich
furthering it, wishful to be friendly with his late enemies.
[Rodenbeck,
ii. 234.]
On this Innspruck Tragedy, Joseph naturally became Kaiser,--Part-
Kaiser; his Dowager-Mother, on whom alone it depends, having
decided that way. The poor Lady was at first quite overwhelmed with
her grief. She had the death-room of her Husband made into a
Chapel; she founded furthermore a Monastery in Innspruck, "Twelve
Canonesses to pray there for the repose of Franz;" was herself
about to become Abbess there, and quit the secular world; but in
the end was got persuaded to continue, and take Son Joseph as
Coadjutor. [Hormayr, OESTERREICHISCHER PLUTARCH (º Maria Theresa),
iv. (2tes Bandchen) 6-124; MARIA THERESIENS LEBEN, p. 30.] In which
capacity we shall meet the young man again.
Chapter III.
TROUBLES IN POLAND.
April 11th, 1764, one year after his Seven-Years labor of Hercules,
Friedrich made Treaty of Alliance with the new Czarina Catharine.
England had deserted him; France was his enemy, especially
Pompadour and Choiseul, and refused reconcilement, though privately
solicited: he was without an Ally anywhere. The Russians had done
him frightful damage in the last War, and were most of all to be
dreaded in the case of any new one. The Treaty was a matter of
necessity as well as choice. Agreement for mutual good neighborhood
and friendly offices; guarantee of each other against intrusive
third parties: should either get engaged in war with any neighbor,
practical aid to the length of 12,000 men, or else money in lieu.
Treaty was for eight years from day of date.
As Friedrich did not get into war, and Catharine did, with the
Turks and certain loose Polacks, the burden of fulfilment happened
to fall wholly on Friedrich; and he was extremely punctual in
performance,--eager now, and all his life after, to keep well with
such a Country under such a Czarina. Which proved to be the whole
rule of his policy on that Russian side. "Good that Country cannot
bring me by any quarrel with it; evil it can, to a frightful
extent, in case of my quarrelling with others! Be wary, be
punctual, magnanimously polite, with that grandiose Czarina and her
huge territories and notions:" this was Friedrich's constant rule
in public and in private. Nor is it thought his CORRESPONDENCE WITH
THE EMPRESS CATHARINE, when future generations see it in print,
will disclose the least ground of offence to that high-flying
Female Potentate of the North. Nor will it ever be known what the
silently observant Friedrich thought of her, except indeed what we
already know, or as good as know, That he, if anybody did, saw her
clearly enough for what she was; and found good to repress into
absolute zero whatever had no bearing upon business, and might by
possibility give offence in that quarter. For we are an old King,
and have learned by bitter experiences! No more nicknames, biting
verses, or words which a bird of the air could carry; though this
poor Lady too has her liabilities, were not we old and prudent;--
and is entirely as weak on certain points (deducting the devotions
and the brandy-and-water) as some others were! The Treaty was
renewed when necessary; and continued valid and vital in every
particular, so long as Friedrich ruled.
By the end of the first eight years, by strictly following this
passive rule, Friedrich, in counterbalance of his losses,
unexpectedly found himself invested with a very singular bit of
gain,--"unjust gain!" cried all men, making it of the nature of
gain and loss to him,--which is still practically his, and which
has made, and makes to this day, an immense noise in the world.
Everybody knows we mean West-Preussen; Partition of Poland;
bloodiest picture in the Book of Time, Sarmatia's fall unwept
without a crime;--and that we have come upon a very intricate part
of our poor History.
No prudent man--especially if to himself, as is my own poor case in
regard to it, the subject have long been altogether dead and
indifferent--would wish to write of the Polish Question. For almost
a hundred years the Polish Question has been very loud in the
world; and ever and anon rises again into vocality among Able
Editors, as a thing pretending not to be dead and buried, but
capable of rising again, and setting itself right, by good effort
at home and abroad. Not advisable, beyond the strict limits of
compulsion, to write of it at present! The rather as the History of
it, any History we have, is not an intelligible series of events,
but a series of vociferous execrations, filling all Nature, with
nothing left to the reader but darkness, and such remedies against
despair as he himself can summon or contrive.
"Rulhiere's on that subject," says a Note which I may cite, "is the
only articulate-speaking Book to which mankind as yet can apply;
[Cl. Rulhiere, Histoire de l'Anarchie de Pologne (Paris, 1807), 4 vols. 12mo.] and they will by no means
find that a sufficient one. Rulhiere's Book has its considerable
merits; but it absolutely wants those of a History; and can be
recognized by no mind as an intelligible cosmic Portraiture of that
chaotic Mass of Occurrences: chronology, topography, precision of
detail by time and place; scene, and actors on scene, remain
unintelligible. Rulhiere himself knew Poland, at least had looked
on it from Warsaw outwards, year after year, and knew of it what an
inquiring Secretary of Legation could pick up on those terms, which
perhaps, after all, is not very much. His Narrative is drowned in
beautiful seas of description and reflection; has neither dates nor
references; and advances at an intolerable rate of slowness;
in fact, rather turns on its axis than advances; produces on you
the effect of a melodious Sonata, not of a lucid and comfortably
instructive History.
"I forget for how long Rulhiere had been in Poland, as Ambassador's
Assistant: but the Country, the King and leading Personages were
personally known to him, more or less; Events with all details of
them were known: 'Why not write a History of the Anarchy and Wreck
they fell into?' said the Official people to him, on his return
home: 'For behoof of the Dauphin [who is to be Louis XVI. shortly];
may not he perhaps draw profit from it? At the top of the Universe,
experience is sometimes wanted. Here are the Archives, here is
Salary, here are what appliances you like to name: Write!' It is
well known he was appointed, on a Pension of 250 pounds a year,
with access to all archives, documents and appliances in possession
of the French Government, and express charge to delineate this
subject for benefit of the Dauphin's young mind. Nor can I wonder,
considering everything, that the process on Rulhiere's part, being
so full of difficulties, was extremely deliberate; that this Book
did not grow so steadily or fast as the Dauphin did; and that in
fact the poor Dauphin never got the least benefit from it,--being
guillotined, he, in 1793, and the Book intended for him never
coming to light for fourteen years afterwards, it too in a
posthumous and still unfinished condition.
"Rulhiere has heard the voices of rumor, knows an infinitude of
events that were talked of; but has not discriminated which were
the vital, which were the insignificant; treats the vital and the
insignificant alike; seldom with satisfactory precision;
mournfully seldom giving any date, and by no chance any voucher or
authority;--and instead of practical terrestrial scene of action,
with distances, milestones, definite sequence of occurrences, and
of causes and effects, paints us a rosy cloudland, which if true at
all, as he well intends it to be, is little more than symbolically
or allegorically so; and can satisfy no clear-headed Dauphin or
man. Rulhiere strives to be authentic, too; gives you no suspicion
of his fairness. There is really fine high-colored painting in
Rulhiere! and you hope always he will let you into the secret of
the matter: but the sad fact is, he never does. He merely loses
himself in picturesque details, philosophic eloquences, elegancies;
takes you to a Castle of Choczim, a Monastery of Czenstochow, a Bay
of Tschesme, and lets off extensive fire-works that contain little
or no shot; leads you on trackless marches, inroads or outroads,
through the Lithuanian Peat-bogs, on daring adventures and hair-
breadth escapes of mere Pulawski, Potocki and the like;--had not
got to understand the matter himself, you perceive: how hopeless to
make you understand it!"
English readers, however, have no other shift; the rest of the
Books I have seen,-- Histoire des Revolutions de Pologne;
[1778 (A WARSOVIE, ET SE TROUVE A PARIS), 2 vols.
8vo.] Histoire des Trois Demembremens de la Pologne;
[Anonymous (by one FERRAND, otherwise unknown to me),
Paris, 1820, 3 vols. 8vo.] Letters on Poland;
[Anonymous (by a "Reverend Mr. Lindsey," it would seem), LETTERS
CONCERNING THE PRESENT STATE OF POLAND, TOGETHER WITH &c. (London,
1773; 1 vol. 8vo): of these LETTERS, or at least of Reverend
Lindsey, Author of them, "Tutor to King Stanislaus's Nephew," and a
man of painfully loud loose tongue, there may perhaps be mention
afterwards.] and many more,--are not worth mentioning at all.
Comfortable in the mad dance of these is Hermann's recent dull
volume; [Hermann, Geschichte des Russischen Staats, vol. v. (already cited in regard to the Peter-Catharine
tragedy); seems to be compiled mainly from the Saxon Archives, from
DESPATCHES written on the spot and at the time.]--commonplace,
dull, but steady and faithful; yielding us at least dates, and an
immunity from noise. By help of Hermann and the others, distilled
to CAPUT MORTUUM, a few dated facts (cardinal we dare not call
them) may be extracted;--dimly out of these, to the meditating
mind, some outline of the phenomenon may begin to become
conceivable. King of Poland dies; and there ensue huge Anarchies in
that Country.
KING OF POLAND DIES; AND THERE ENSUE HUGE ANARCHIES
IN THAT COUNTRY.
The poor old King of Poland--whom we saw, on that fall of the
curtain at Pirna seven years ago, rush off for Warsaw with his
Bruhl, with expressive speed and expressive silence, and who has
been waiting there ever since, sublimely confident that his
powerful terrestrial friends, Austria, Russia, France, not to speak
of Heaven's justice at all, would exact due penalty, of signal and
tremendous nature, on the Prussian Aggressor--has again been
disappointed. The poor old Gentleman got no compensation for his
manifold losses and woes at Pirna or elsewhere; not the least
mention of such a thing, on the final winding-up of that War of
Seven Years, in which his share had been so tragical;
no alleviation was provided for him in this world. His sorrows in
Poland have been manifold; nothing but anarchies, confusions and
contradictions had been his Royal portion there: in about Forty
different Diets he had tried to get some business done,--no use
asking what; for the Diets, one and all, exploded in NIE POZWALAM;
and could do no business, good, bad or indifferent, for him or
anybody. An unwise, most idle Country; following as chief
employment perpetual discrepancy with its idle unwise King and
self; Russia the virtual head of it this long while, so far as it
has any head.
FEBRUARY-AUGUST, 1763, just while the Treaty of Hubertsburg was
blessing everybody with the return of Peace, and for long months
after Peace had returned to everybody, Polish Majesty was in sore
trouble. Trouble in regard to Courland, to his poor Son Karl, who
fancied himself elected, under favor and permission of the late
Czarina our gracious Protectress and Ally, to the difficult post of
Duke in Courland; and had proceeded, three or four years ago, to
take possession,--but was now interrupted by Russian encroachments
and violences. Not at all well disposed to him, these new Peters,
new Catharines. They have recalled their Bieren from Siberia;
declare that old Bieren is again Duke, or at least that young
Bieren is, and not Saxon Karl at all; and have proceeded, Czarina
Catharine has, to install him forcibly with Russian soldiers.
Karl declares, "You shall kill ME before you or he get into this
Palace of Mietau!"--and by Domestics merely, and armed private
Gentlemen, he does maintain himself in said Palatial Mansion;
valiantly indignant, for about six months; the Russian Battalions
girdling him on all sides, minatory more and more, but loath to
begin actual bloodshed. [Rulhiere, ii. (livre v.) 81 et antea;
Hermann, v. 348 et seq.] A transaction very famed in those parts,
and still giving loud voice in the Polish Books, which indeed get
ever noisier from this point onward, till they end in inarticulate
shrieks, as we shall too well hear.
Empress Catharine, after the lapse of six months, sends an
Ambassador to Warsaw (Kayserling by name), who declares, in tone
altogether imperative, that Czarish Majesty feels herself weary of
such contumacy, weary generally of Polish Majesty's and Polish
Republic's multifarious contumacies; and, in fine, cruelest of all,
that she has troops on the frontier; that Courland is not the only
place where she has troops. What a stab to the poor old man!
"Contumacies?" Has not he been Russia's patient stepping-stone, all
along; his anarchic Poland and he accordant in that, if in nothing
else? "Let us to Saxony," decides he passionately, "and leave all
this." In Saxony his poor old Queen is dead long since; much is
dead: Saxony and Life generally, what a Golgotha! He immediately
sends word to Karl, "Give up Courland; I am going home!"--and did
hastily make his packages, and bid adieu to Warsaw, and, in a few
weeks after to this anarchic world altogether. Died at Dresden,
5th October, 1763.
Polish Majesty had been elected 5th October, 1733; died, you
observe, 5th October, 1763;--was King of Poland ("King," save the
mark!) for 30 years to a day. Was elected--do readers still
remember how? Leaves a ruined Saxony lying round him; a ruined life
mutely asking him, "Couldst thou have done no better, then?"
Wretched Bruhl followed him in four or five weeks. Nay, in about
two months, his Son and Successor, "Friedrich Christian" (with whom
we dined at Moritzburg), had followed him; [Prince died 17th
December (Bruhl, 18th November), 1763.] leaving a small Boy, age
13, as new Kurfurst, "Friedrich August" the name of him, with
guardians to manage the Minority; especially with his Mother as
chief guardian,--of whom, for two reasons, we are now to say
something. Reason FIRST is, That she is really a rather brilliant,
distinguished creature, distinguished more especially in
Friedrich's world; whose LETTERS to her are numerous, and, in their
kind, among the notablest he wrote;--of which we would gladly give
some specimen, better or worse; and reason SECOND, That in so
doing, we may contrive to look, for a moment or two, into the
preliminary Polish Anarchies at first-hand; and, transiently and
far off, see something of them as if with our own eyes.
Marie-Antoine, or Marie-Antoinette, Electress of Saxony, is still a
bright Lady, and among the busiest living; now in her 40th year:
"born 17th July, 1724; second child of Kaiser Karl VII.;"--a living
memento to us of those old times of trouble. Papa, when she came to
him, was in his 27th year; this was his second daughter;
three years afterwards he had a son (born 1727; died 1777), who
made the "Peace of Fussen," to Friedrich's disgust, in 1745, if
readers recollect;--and who, dying childless, will give rise to
another War (the "Potato War" so called), for Friedrich's behoof
and ours. This little creature would be in her teens during that
fatal Kaisership (1742-1745, her age then 18-21),--during those
triumphs, flights and furnished-lodging intricacies. Her Mamma,
whom we have seen, a little fat bullet given to devotion, was four
years younger than Papa. Mamma died "11th December, 1756," Germany
all blazing out in War again; she had been a Widow eleven years.
Marie-Antoine was wedded to Friedrich Christian, Saxon Kurprinz,
"20th June, 1747;" her age 23, his 25:--Chronology itself is
something, if one will attend to it, in the absence of all else!
The young pair were Cousins, their Mothers being Sisters;
Polish Majesty one's Uncle, age now 51,--who was very fond of us,
poor indolent soul, and glad of our company on an afternoon, "being
always in his dressing-gown by 2 o'clock." Concerning which the
tongue of Court scandal was not entirely idle,--Hanbury
chronicling, as we once noticed. All which I believe to be mere
lying wind. The young Princess was beautiful; extremely clever,
graceful and lively, we can still see for ourselves: no wonder poor
Polish Majesty, always in his dressing-gown by 2, was charmed to
have her company,--the rather as I hope she permitted him a little
smoking withal.
Her husband was crook-backed; and, except those slight, always
perfectly polite little passages, in Schmettau's Siege (1759), in
the Hubertsburg Treaty affair, in the dinner at Moritzburg, I never
heard much history of him. He became Elector 5th October, 1763;
but enjoyed the dignity little more than two months. Our Princess
had borne him seven children,--three boys, four girls,--the eldest
about 13, a Boy, who succeeded; the youngest a girl, hardly 3.
The Boy is he who sent Gellert the caparisoned Horse, and had
estafettes on the road while Gellert lay dying. This Boy lived to
be 77, and saw strange things in the world; had seen Napoleon and
the French Revolution; was the first "King of Saxony" so called;
saw Jena, retreat of Moscow; saw the "Battle of the Nations"
(Leipzig, 15th-18th October, 1813), and his great Napoleon
terminate in bankruptcy. He left no Son. A Brother, age 72,
succeeded him as King for a few years; whom again a Brother would
have succeeded, had not he (this third Brother, age now 66)
renounced, in favor of HIS Son, the present King of Saxony.
Enough, enough!--
August 28th, 1763, while afflicted Polish Majesty is making his
packages at Warsaw, far away,--Marie-Antoinette, in Dresden, had
sent Friedrich an Opera of her composing, just brought out by her
on her Court-theatre there. Here is Friedrich's Answer,--to what
kind of OPERA I know not, but to a Letter accompanying it which is
extremely pretty.
FRIEDRICH TO THE ELECTORAL PRINCESS (at Dresden).
"POTSDAM, 5th September, 1763.
"MADAM MY SISTER,--The remembrance your Royal Highness sends is the
more flattering to me, as I regret infinitely not to have been
spectator and hearer of the fine things [Opera THALESTRIS, words
and music entirely lost to us] which I have admired for myself in
the silent state.
"I wish I could send you things as pleasant out of these parts:
but, Madam, I am obliged to give you a hint, which may be useful if
you can have it followed. In Saxony, however, my Letters get
opened;--which obliges me to send this by a special Messenger;
and him, that he may cause no suspicion, I have charged with fruits
from my garden. You will have the goodness to say [if anybody is
eavesdropping] that you asked them of me at Moritzburg, when I was
happy enough to see you there [six months ago, coming home from the
Seven-Years War]. The hint I had to give was this:--
"In Petersburg people's minds are getting angry at the stubbornness
your friends show in refusing to recognize Duke Bieren [home from
Siberia, again Duke of Courland, by Russian appointment, as if
Russia had that right; Polish Majesty and his Prince Karl resisting
to the uttermost]. I counsel you to induce the powerful in your
circle to have this condescension [they have had it, been obliged
to have it, though Friedrich does not yet know]; for it will turn
out ill to them, if they persist in being obstinately stiff.
It begins already to be said That there are more than a million
Russian subjects at this time refugees in Poland; whom, by I forget
what cartel, the Republic was bound to deliver up. Orders have been
given to Detachments of Military to enter certain places, and bring
away these Russians by force. In a word, you will ruin your affairs
forever, unless you find means to produce a change of conduct on
the part of him they complain of. Take, Madam, what I now say as a
mark of the esteem and profound regard with which--"--F.
[ OEuvres de Frederic, xxiv. 46.]
This hint, if the King knew, had been given, in a less kind shape,
by Necessity itself; and had sent Polish Majesty, and his Bruhls
and "powerful people," bodily home, and out of that Polish Russian
welter, in a headlong and tragically passionate condition.
Electoral Princess, next time she writes, is become Electress all
at once.
ELECTRESS MARIE-ANTOINE TO FRIEDRICH.
"DRESDEN, 5th October, 1763.
"SIRE,--Your Majesty has given me such assurance of your goodness
and your friendship, that I will now appeal to that promise.
You have assured us, too, that you would with pleasure contribute
to secure Poland for us. The moment is come for accomplishing that
promise. The King is dead [died this very day; see if _I_ lose time
in sentimental lamentations!]--with him these grievances of Russia
[our stiffness on Courland and the like] must be extinct;
the rather as we [the now reigning] will lend ourselves willingly
to everything that can be required of us for perfect reconcilement
with that Power.
"You can do all, if you will it; you can contribute to this
reconcilement. You can render it favorable to us. You will, give me
that proof of the flattering sentiments I have been so proud of
hitherto,"--won't you, now? "Russia cannot disapprove the mediation
you might deign to offer on that behalf;--our intentions being so
honestly amicable, and all ground of controversy having died with
the late King. Russia reconciled, our views on the Polish Crown
might at once be declared (ECLATER)." Oh, do it, your Majesty;--"my
gratitude shall only end with life!--M. A." [ OEuvres de
Frederic, xxiv. 47.]
Friedrich, who is busy negotiating his Treaty with Russia
(perfected 11th April next), and understands that they will mean
not to have a Saxon, but to have a Piast, and perhaps dimly even
what Piast (Stanislaus Poniatowski, the EMERITUS Lover), who will
be their own, and not Saxony's at all,--must have been a little
embarrassed by such an appeal from his fair friend at this moment.
"Wait a little; don't answer yet," would have occurred to the
common mind. But that was not Friedrich's resource: he answers by
return of post, as always in such cases;--and in the following
adroit manner brushes off, without hurt to it, with kisses to it
rather, the beautiful hand that has him by the button:--
TO THE ELECTRESS MARIE-ANTOINE (at Dresden).
"BERLIN, 8th October, 1763.
"MADAM MY SISTER,--I begin by making my condolences and my
congratulations to your Electoral Highness on the death of the King
your Father-in-law, and on your Accession to the Electorate.
"Your Electoral Highness will remember what I wrote, not long
since, on the affairs of Poland. I am afraid, Madam, that Russia
will be more contrary to you than you think. M. de Woronzow [famous
Grand-Chancellor of Russia; saved himself dexterously in the late
Peter-Catharine overturn; has since fallen into disfavor for his
notions about our Gregory Orlof, and is now on his way to Italy,
"for health's sake," in consequence], who is just arrived here,
["Had his audience 7th October" (yesterday): Rodenbeck, ii. 224.]
told me, too, of some things which raise an ill augury of this
affair. If you do not disapprove of my speaking frankly to you, it
seems to me that it would be suitable in you to send some discreet
Diplomatist to that Court to notify the King's death; and you would
learn by him what you have to expect from her Czarish Majesty [the
Empress, he always calls her, knowing she prefers that title].
It seems to me, Madam, that it would be precipitate procedure
should I wish to engage you in an Enterprise, which appears to
myself absolutely dubious (HASARDEE), unless approved by that
Princess. As to me, Madam, I have not the ascendant there which you
suppose: I act under rule of all the delicacies and discretions
with a Court which separated itself from my Enemies when all Europe
wished to crush me: but I am far from being able to regulate the
Empress's way of thinking.
"It is the same with the quarrels about the Duke of Courland;
one cannot attempt mediation except by consent of both parties.
I believe I am not mistaken in supposing that the Court of Russia
does not mean to terminate that business by foreign mediation.
What I have heard about it (what, however, is founded only on vague
news) is, That the Empress might prevail upon herself (POURRAIT SE
RESOUDRE) to purchase from Bruhl the Principality of Zips [Zips, on
the edge of Hungary; let readers take note of that Principality, at
present in the hand of Bruhl,--who has much disgusted Poland by his
voracity for Lands; and is disgorging them all again, poor soul!],
to give it to Prince Karl in compensation: but that would lead to a
negotiation with the Court of Vienna, which might involve the
affair in other contentions.
"I conjure you, Madam, I repeat it, Be not precipitate in anything;
lest, as my fear is, you replunge Europe into the troubles it has
only just escaped from! As to me, I have found, since the Peace, so
much to do within my own borders, that I have not, I assure you,
had time, Madam, to think of going abroad. I confine myself to
forming a thousand wishes for the prosperity of your Electoral
Highness, assuring you of the high esteem with which I am,--F."
[ OEuvres de Frederic, xxiv. 48.]
After some farther Letters, of eloquently pressing solicitation on
the part of the Lady, and earnest advising, as well as polite
fencing, on the part of Friedrich, the latter writes:--
FRIEDRICH TO ELECTRESS.
"POTSDAM, 3d November, 1763.
"MADAM MY SISTER,--At this moment I receive a Letter from the
Empress of Russia, the contents of which do not appear to me
favorable, Madam, to your hopes. She requires (EXIGE) that I should
instruct my Minister in Poland to act entirely in concert with the
Count Kayserling; and she adds these very words: 'I expect, from
the friendship of your Majesty, that you will not allow a passage
through your territory, nor the entry into Poland, to Saxon troops,
who are to be regarded there absolutely as strangers.'
"Unless your Letters, Madam [Madam had said that she had written to
the Empress, assuring her &c.] change the sentiments of the
Empress, I do not see in what way the Elector could arrive at the
throne of Poland; and consequently, whether I deferred to the
wishes of the Empress in this point, or refused to do so, you would
not the more become Queen; and I might commit myself against a
Power which I ought to keep well with (MENAGER). I am persuaded,
Madam, that your Electoral Highness enters into my embarrassment;
and that, unless you find yourself successful in changing the
Empress's own ideas on this matter, you will not require of me that
I should embroil myself fruitlessly with a neighbor who deserves
the greatest consideration from me.
"All this is one consequence of the course which Count Bruhl
induced his late Polish Majesty to take with regard to the
interests of Prince Karl in Courland; and your Electoral Highness
will remember, that I often represented to you the injury which
would arise to him from it.
"I will wish, Madam, that other opportunities may occur, where it
may be in my power to prove to your Electoral Highness the profound
esteem and consideration with which I am--"--F. [ OEuvres
de Frederic, xxiv. 52.]
ELECTRESS TO FRIEDRICH.
"DRESDEN, 11th November, 1763.
"SIRE,--I am not yet disheartened. I love to flatter myself with
your friendship, Sire, and I will not easily renounce the hope that
you will give me a real mark of it in an affair which interests me
so strongly. Nobody has greater ascendency over the mind of the
Empress of Russia than your Majesty; use it, Sire, to incline it to
our favor. Our obligation will be infinite. ... Why should she be
absolutely against us? What has she to fear from us? The Courland
business, if that sticks with her, could be terminated in a
suitable manner."--Troops into Poland, Sire? "My Husband so little
thinks of sending troops thither, that he has given orders for the
return of those already there. He does not wish the Crown except
from the free suffrages of the Nation: if the Empress absolutely
refuse to help him with her good offices, let her, at least, not be
against him. Do try, Sire." [Ib. xxiv. 53.]--Friedrich answers,
after four days, or by return of post--But we will give the rest in
the form of Dialogue.
FRIEDRICH (after four days). ... "If, Madam, I had Crowns to give
away, I would place the first on your head, as most worthy to bear
it. But I am far from such a position. I have just got out of a
horrible War, which my enemies made upon me with a rage almost
beyond example; I endeavor to cultivate friendship with all my
neighbors, and to get embroiled with nobody. With regard to the
affairs of Poland, an Empress whom I ought to be well with, and to
whom I owe great obligations, requires me to enter into her
measures; you, Madam, whom I would fain please if I could, you want
me to change the sentiments of this Empress. Do but enter into my
embarrassment! ... According to all I hear from Russia, it appears
to me that every resolution is taken there; and that the Empress is
resolved even to sustain the party of her partisans in Poland with
the forces she has all in readiness at the borders. As for me,
Madam, I wish, if possible, not to meddle at all with this
business, which hitherto is not complicated, but which may, any
day, become so by the neighbors of Poland taking a too lively part
in it. Ready, otherwise, on all occasions, to give to your
Electoral Highness proofs of my--" [ OEuvres de Frederic,
xxiv, 54: "Potsdam, 16th November, 1763."]
Electress (after ten days). ... "Why should the Empress be so much
against us? We have not deserved her hatred. On the contrary, we
seek her friendship. She declares, however, that she will uphold
the freedom of the Poles in the election of their King. You, Sire"
--[Ib. xxiv. 55: "Dresden, 26th November, 1763."] But we must cut
short, though it lasts long months after this. Great is the
Electress's persistence,--"My poor Husband being dead, cannot our
poor Boy, cannot his uncle Prince Xavier try? O Sire!" Our last
word shall be this of Friedrich's; actual Election-time now
drawing nigh:--
FRIEDRICH. "I am doing like the dogs who have fought bitterly till
they are worn down: I sit licking my wounds. I notice most European
Powers doing the same; too happy if, whilst Kings are being
manufactured to right and left, public tranquillity is not
disturbed thereby, and if every one may continue to dwell in peace
beside his hearth and his household gods." ["Sans-Souci, 26th June,
1764" (Ib. p. 69).] Adieu, bright Madam.
No reader who has made acquaintance with Polish History can well
doubt but Poland was now dead or moribund, and had well deserved to
die. Anarchies are not permitted in this world. Under fine names,
they are grateful to the Populaces, and to the Editors of
Newspapers; but to the Maker of this Universe they are eternally
abhorrent; and from the beginning have been forbidden to be.
They go their course, applauded or not applauded by self and
neighbors,--for what lengths of time none of us can know; for a
long term sometimes, but always for a fixed term; and at last their
day comes. Poland had got to great lengths, two centuries ago, when
poor John Casimir abdicated his Crown of Poland, after a trial of
twenty years, and took leave of the Republic in that remarkable
SPEECH to the Diet of 1667.
This John is "Casimir V.," last Scion of the Swedish House of
Vasa,--with whom, in the Great Elector's time, we had some slight
acquaintance; and saw at least the three days' beating he got
(Warsaw, 28th-30th July, 1656) from Karl Gustav of Sweden and the
Great Elector, [Supra, v. 284-286.] ancestors respectively of Karl
XII. and of our present Friedrich. He is not "Casimir the Great" of
Polish Kings; but he is, in our day, Casimir the alone Remarkable.
It seems to me I once had IN EXTENSO this Valedictory Speech of
his; but it has lapsed again into the general Mother of Dead Dogs,
and I will not spend a week in fishing for it. The gist of the
Speech, innumerable Books and Dead Dogs tell you, [HISTOIRE DES
TROIS DEMEMBREMENS does, and many others do;--copied in
Biographie Universelle, vii. 278 (? Casimir).] is
"lamentation over the Polish Anarchies" and "a Prophecy," which is
very easily remembered. The poor old Gentleman had no doubt eaten
his peck of dirt among those Polacks, and swallowed chagrins till
he felt his stomach could no more, and determined to have done with
it. To one's fancy, in abridged form, the Valediction must have run
essentially as follows:--
"Magnanimous Polack Gentlemen, you are a glorious Republic, and
have NIE POZWALAM, and strange methods of business, and of behavior
to your Kings and others. We have often fought together, been
beaten together, by our enemies and by ourselves; and at last I,
for my share, have enough of it. I intend for Paris; religious-
literary pursuits, and the society of Ninon de l'Enclos. I wished
to say before going, That according to all record, ancient and
modern, of the ways of God Almighty in this world, there was not
heretofore, nor do I expect there can henceforth be, a Human
Society that would stick together on those terms. Believe me, ye
Polish Chivalries, without superior except in Heaven, if your
glorious Republic continue to be managed in such manner, not good
will come of it, but evil. The day will arrive [this is the
Prophecy, almost IN IPSISSIMIS VERBIS], the day perhaps is not so
far off, when this glorious Republic will get torn into shreds,
hither, thither; be stuffed into the pockets of covetous neighbors,
Brandenburg; Muscovy, Austria; and find itself reduced to zero, and
abolished from the face of the world.
"I speak these words in sorrow of soul; words which probably you
will not believe. Which only Fate can compel you to believe, one
day, if they are true words:--you think, probably, they are not?
Me at least, or interest of mine, they do not regard. I speak them
from the fulness of my heart, and on behest of friendship and
conviction alone; having the honor at this moment to bid you and
your Republic a very long farewell. Good-morning, for the last
time!" and so EXIT: to Rome (had been Cardinal once); to Paris and
the society of Ninon's Circle for the few years left him of life.
["Died 16th December, 1672, age 63."]
This poor John had had his bitter experiences: think only of one
instance. In 1662, the incredible Law of LIBERUM VETO had been
introduced, in spite of John and his endeavors. LIBERUM VETO; the
power of one man to stop the proceedings of Polish Parliament by
pronouncing audibly "NIE POZWALAM, I don't permit!"--never before
or since among mortals was so incredible a Law. Law standing
indisputable, nevertheless, on the Polish Statute-Book for above
two hundred years: like an ever-flowing fountain of Anarchy, joyful
to the Polish Nation. How they got any business done at all, under
such a Law? Truly they did but little; and for the last thirty
years as good as none. But if Polish Parliament was universally in
earnest to do some business, and Veto came upon it, Honorable
Members, I observe, gathered passionately round the vetoing
Brother; conjured, obtested, menaced, wept, prayed; and, if the
case was too urgent and insoluble otherwise, the NIE POZWALAM
Gentleman still obstinate, they plunged their swords through him,
and in that way brought consent. The commoner course was to
dissolve and go home again, in a tempest of shrieks and curses.
The Right of Confederation, too, is very curious: do readers know
it? A free Polack gentleman, aggrieved by anything that has
occurred or been enacted in his Nation, has the right of swearing,
whether absolutely by himself I know not, but certainly with two or
three others of like mind, that he will not accept said occurrence
or enactment, and is hereby got into arms against its abettors and
it. The brightest jewel in the cestus of Polish Liberty is this
right of confederating; and it has been, till of late, and will be
now again practised to all lengths: right of every Polish,
gentleman to confederate with every other against, or for,
whatsoever to them two may seem good; and to assert their
particular view of the case by fighting for it against all comers,
King and Diet included. It must be owned, there never was in Nature
such a Form of Government before; such a mode of social existence,
rendering "government" impossible for some generations past.
On the strength of Saxony and its resources and connections, the
two Augusts had contrived to exist with the name of Kings; with the
name, but with little or nothing more. Under this last August, as
we heard, there have been about forty Diets, and in not one of them
the least thing of business done; all the forty, after trying their
best, have stumbled on NIE POZWALAM, and been obliged to vanish in
shrieks and curses. [Buchholz ( Preussisch-Brandenburgische
Geschichte, ii. 133, 134, &c. &c.) gives various
samples, and this enumeration.] As to August the Physically Strong,
such treatment had he met with,--poor August, if readers remember,
had made up his mind to partition Poland; to give away large
sections of it in purchase of the consent of neighbors, and plant
himself hereditarily in the central part;--and would have done so,
had not Grumkow and he drunk so deep, and death by inflammation of
the foot suddenly come upon the poor man. Some Partition of Poland
has been more than once thought of by practical people concerned.
Poland, as "a house chronically smoking through the slates," which
usually brings a new European War every time it changes King, does
require to be taken charge of by its neighbors.
Latterly, as we observed, there has been little of confederating;
indeed, for the last thirty years, as Rulhiere copiously informs
us, there has been no Government, consequently no mutiny needed;
little or no National business of any kind,--the Forty Diets having
all gone the road we saw. Electing of the Judges,--that, says
Rulhiere, and wearisomely teaches by example again and ever again,
has always been an interesting act, in the various Provinces of
Poland; not with the hope of getting fair or upright Judges, but
Judges that will lean in the desirable direction. In a country
overrun with endless lawsuits, debts, credits, feudal intricacies,
claims, liabilities, how important to get Judges with the proper
bias! And these once got, or lost till next term,--what is there to
hope or to fear? Russia does our Politics, fights her Seven-Years
War across us; and we, happy we, have no fighting;--never till this
of Courland was there the least ill-nature from Russia! We are
become latterly the peaceable stepping-stone of Russia into Europe
and out of it;--what may be called the door-mat of Russia, useful
to her feet, when she is about paying visits or receiving them!
That is not a glorious fact, if it be a safe and "lucky" one;
nor do the Polish Notabilities at all phrase it in that manner.
But a fact it is; which has shown itself complete in the late
Czarina's and late August's time, and which had been on the growing
hand ever since Peter the Great gained his Battle of Pultawa, and
rose to the ascendency, instead of Karl and Sweden.
The Poles put fine colors on all this; and are much contented with
themselves. The Russians they regard as intrinsically an inferior
barbarous people; and to this day you will hear indignant Polack
Gentlemen bursting out in the same strain: "Still barbarian, sir;
no culture, no literature,"--inferior because they do not make
verses equal to ours! How it may be with the verses, I will not
decide: but the Russians are inconceivably superior in respect that
they have, to a singular degree among Nations, the gift of obeying,
of being commanded. Polack Chivalry sniffs at the mention of such a
gift. Polack Chivalry got sore stripes for wanting this gift.
And in the end, got striped to death, and flung out of the world,
for continuing blind to the want of it, and never acquiring it.
Beyond all the verses in Nature, it is essential to every Chivalry
and Nation and Man. "Polite Polish Society for the last thirty
years has felt itself to be in a most halcyon condition," says
Rulhiere: [Rulhiere, i. 216 (a noteworthy passage).] "given up to
the agreeable, and to that only;" charming evening-parties, and a
great deal of flirting; full of the benevolences, the
philanthropies, the new ideas,--given up especially to the pleasing
idea of "LAISSEZ-FAIRE, and everything will come right of itself."
"What a discovery!" said every liberal Polish mind: "for thousands
of years, how people did torment themselves trying to steer the
ship; never knowing that the plan was, To let go the helm, and
honestly sit down to your mutual amusements and powers
of pleasing!"
To this condition of beautifully phosphorescent rot-heap has Poland
ripened, in the helpless reigns of those poor Augusts;--the fulness
of time not now far off, one would say? It would complete the
picture, could I go into the state of what is called "Religion" in
Poland. Dissenterism, of various poor types, is extensive;
and, over against it, is such a type of Jesuit Fanaticism as has no
fellow in that day. Of which there have been truly savage and
sanguinary outbreaks, from time to time; especially one at Thorn,
forty years ago, which shocked Friedrich Wilhelm and the whole
Protestant world. [See supra, vi. 64 (and many old Pamphlets on
it).] Polish Orthodoxy, in that time, and perhaps still in ours, is
a thing worth noting. A late Tourist informs me, he saw on the
streets of Stettin, not long since, a drunk human creature
staggering about, who seemed to be a Baltic Sailor, just arrived;
the dirtiest, or among the dirtiest, of mankind; who, as he reeled
along, kept slapping his hands upon his breast, and shouting, in
exultant soliloquy, "Polack, Catholik!" _I_ am a Pole and Orthodox,
ye inferior two-legged entities!.--In regard to the Jesuit
Fanaticisms, at Thorn and elsewhere, no blame can attach to the
poor Augusts, who always leant the other way, what they durst or
could. Nor is specialty of blame due to them on any score; it was
"like People, like King," all along;--and they, such their luck,
have lived to bring in the fulness of time.
The Saxon Electors are again aspirants for this enviable Throne.
We have seen the beautiful Electress zealously soliciting Friedrich
for help in that project; Friedrich, in a dexterously graceful
manner, altogether declining. Hereditary Saxons are not to be the
expedient this time, it would seem; a grandiose Czarina has decided
otherwise. Why should not she? She and all the world are well
aware, Russia has been virtual lord of Poland this long time.
Credible enough that Russia intends to continue so; and also that
it will be able, without very much expenditure of new contrivance
for that object.
So far as can be guessed and assiduously deduced from RULHIERE,
with your best attention, Russian Catharine's interference seems
first of all to have been grounded on the grandiose philanthropic
principle. Astonishing to the liberal mind; yet to appearance true.
Rulhiere nowhere says so; but that is gradually one's own
perception of the matter; no other refuge for you out of flat
inconceivability. Philanthropic principle, we say, which the
Voltaires and Sages of that Epoch are prescribing as one's duty and
one's glory: "O ye Kings, why won't you do good to mankind, then?"
Catharine, a kind of She-Louis Quatorze, was equal to such a thing.
To put one's cast Lover into a throne,--poor soul, console him in
that manner;--and reduce the long-dissentient Country to blessed
composure under him: what a thing! Foolish Poniatowski, an empty,
windy creature, redolent of macassar and the finer sensibilities of
the heart: him she did make King of Poland; but to reduce the
long-dissentient Country to composure,--that was what she could not
do. Countries in that predicament are sometimes very difficult to
compose. The Czarina took, for above five years, a great deal of
trouble, without losing patience. The Czarina, after every new
effort, perceived with astonishment that she was farther from
success than ever. With astonishment; and gradually with
irritation, thickening and mounting towards indignation.
There is no reason to believe that the grandiose Woman handled, or
designed to handle, a doomed Poland in the merciless feline-
diabolic way set forth with wearisome loud reiteration in those
distracted Books; playing with the poor Country as cat does with
mouse; now lifting her fell paw, letting the poor mouse go loose in
floods of celestial joy and hope without limit; and always
clutching the hapless creature back into the blackness of death,
before eating and ending it. Reason first is, that the Czarina, as
we see her elsewhere, never was in the least a Cat or a Devil, but
a mere Woman; already virtual proprietress of Poland, and needing
little contrivance to keep it virtually hers. Reason second is,
that she had not the gift of prophecy, and could not foreknow the
Polish events of the next ten years, much less shape them out
beforehand, and preside over them, like a Devil or otherwise, in
the way supposed.
My own private conjecture, I confess, has rather grown to be, on
much reading of those RULHIERES and distracted Books, that the
Czarina,--who was a grandiose creature, with considerable
magnanimities, natural and acquired; with many ostentations, some
really great qualities and talents; in effect, a kind of She-Louis
Quatorze (if the reader will reflect on that Royal Gentleman, and
put him into petticoats in Russia, and change his improper females
for improper males),--that the Czarina, very clearly resolute to
keep Poland hers, had determined with herself to do something very
handsome in regard to Poland; and to gain glory, both with the
enlightened Philosophe classes and with her own proud heart, by her
treatment of that intricate matter. "On the one hand," thinks she,
or let us fancy she thinks, "here is Poland; a Country fallen
bedrid amid Anarchies, curable or incurable; much tormented with
religious intolerance at this time, hateful to the philosophic
mind; a hateful fanaticism growing upon it for forty years past
[though it is quite against Polish Law]; and the cries of oppressed
Dissidents [Dissenters, chiefly of the Protestant and of the Greek
persuasion] becoming more and more distressing to hear. And, on the
other hand, here is Poniatowski who, who--!"
Readers have not forgotten the handsome, otherwise extremely
paltry, young Polack, Stanislaus Poniatowski, whom Excellency
Williams took with him 8 or 9 years ago, ostensibly as "Secretary
of Legation," unostensibly as something very different?
Handsome Stanislaus did duly become Lover of the Grand-Duchess;
and has duly, in the course of Nature, some time ago (date
uncertain to me), become discarded Lover; the question rising, What
is to be done with that elegant inane creature, and his vaporous
sentimentalisms and sublime sorrows and disappointments? "Let us
make him King of Poland!" said the Czarina, who was always much the
gentleman with her discarded Lovers (more so, I should say, than
Louis Quatorze with his;--and indeed it is computed they cost her
in direct moneys about twenty millions sterling,--being numerous
and greedy; but never the least tiff of scolding or ill language):
[Castera ( Vie de Catharine II. ) has an
elaborate Appendix on this part of his subject.]--"King of Poland,
with furnishings, and set him handsomely up in the world! We will
close the Dissident Business for him, cure many a curable Anarchy
of Poland, to the satisfaction of Voltaire and all leading spirits
of mankind. He shall have outfit of Russian troops, poor creature;
and be able to put down Anarchies, and show himself a useful and
grateful Viceroy for us there. Outfit of 10,000 troops, a wise
Russian Manager: and the Question of the Dissidents to be settled
as the first glory of his reign!"
Ingenuous readers are invited to try, in their diffuse vague
RULHIERES, and unintelligible shrieky Polish Histories, whether
this notion does not rise on them as a possible human explanation,
more credible than the feline-diabolic one, which needs withal such
a foreknowledge, UNattainable by cat or devil? Poland must not rise
to be too strong a Country, and turn its back on Russia. No, truly;
nor, except by miraculous suspension of the Laws of Nature, is
there danger of that. But neither need Poland lie utterly lame and
prostrate, useless to Russia; and be tortured on its sick-bed with
Dissident Questions and Anarchies, curable by a strong Sovereign,
of whom much is expected by Voltaire and the leading spirits
of mankind.
What we shall have to say with perfect certainty, and what alone
concerns us in our own affair, is, FIRST, that Catharine did
proceed by this method, of crowning, fitting out and otherwise
setting up Stanislaus; did attempt settlement (and at one time
thought she had settled) the Dissident Question and some curable
Anarchies,--but stirred up such legions of incurable, waxing on her
hands, day after day, year after year, as were abundantly provoking
and astonishing:--and that within the next eight years she had
arrived, with Poland and her cargo of anarchies, at results which
struck the whole world dumb. Dumb with astonishment, for some time;
and then into tempests of vociferation more or less delirious,
which have never yet quite ended, though sinking gradually to lower
and lower stages of human vocality. Fact FIRST is abundantly
manifest. Nor is fact SECOND any longer doubtful, That King
Friedrich, in regard to all this, till a real crisis elsewhere had
risen, took little or no visible interest whatever; had one
unvarying course of conduct, that of punctually following Czarish
Majesty in every respect; instructing his Minister at Warsaw always
to second and reinforce the Russian one, as his one rule of policy
in that Country,--whose distracted procedures, imbecilities and
anarchies, are, beyond this point of keeping well with a grandiose
Czarina concerned in it, of no apparent practical interest to
Prussia or its King.
Friedrich, for a long time, passed with the Public for contriver of
the Catastrophe of Poland,--"felonious mortal," "monster of
maleficence," and what not, in consequence. Rulhiere, whose notion
of him is none of the friendliest nor correctest, acquits him of
this atrocity; declares him, till the very end, mainly or
altogether passive in it. Which I think is a little more than the
truth,--and only a little, as perhaps may appear by and by.
Beyond dispute, these Polish events did at last grow interesting
enough to Prussia and its King;--and it will be our task,
sufficient in this place, to extricate and riddle out what few of
these had any cardinal or notable quality, and put them down
(dated, if possible, and in intelligible form), as pertinent to
throwing light on this distressing matter, with careful exclusion
of the immense mass which can throw only darkness.
EX-LOVER PONIATOWSKI BECOMES KING OF POLAND (7th Sept. 1764),
AND IS CROWNED WITHOUT LOSS OF HIS HAIR.
WARSAW, 7th SEPTEMBER 1764, Stanislaus Poniatowski, by what
management of an Imperial Catharine upon an anarchic Nation readers
shall imagine AD LIBITUM, was elected, what they call elected, King
of Poland. Of course there had been preliminary Diets of
Convocation, much dieting, demonstrating and electing of imaginary
members of Diet,--only "ten persons massacred" in the business.
There was a Saxon Party; but no counter-candidate of that or any
other nation. King Friedrich, solicited by a charming Electress-
Dowager, decides to remain accurately passive. Polish emissaries
came entreating him. A certain Mockranowski, who had been a soldier
under him (never of much mark in that capacity, though now a
flamingly conspicuous "General" and Politician, in the new scene he
has got into), came passionately entreating (Potsdam, Summer of
1764, is all the date), "DONNEZ NOUS LE PRINCE HENRI, Give us
Prince Henri for a King!" the sound of which almost made Friedrich
turn pale: "Have you spoken or hinted of this to the Prince?"
"No, your Majesty." "Home, then, instantly; and not a whisper of it
again to any mortal!" [Rulhiere, ii. 268; Hermann, vi. 355-364.]
which, they say, greatly irritated Prince Henri, and left a
permanent sore-place in his mind, when he came to hear of it
long after.
"A question rises here," says one of my Notes, which perhaps I had
better have burnt: "At or about what dates did this glorious
Poniatowski become Lover of the Grand-Duchess, and then become
Ex-Lover? Nobody will say; or perhaps can? [Preuss (iv. 12) seems
to try, but does not succeed.] Would have been a small satisfaction
to us, and it is denied! 'Ritter Williams' (that is, Hanbury) must
have produced him at Petersburg some time in 1756; '11th January,
1757,' finding it would suit, Poniatowski appeared there on his own
footing as 'Ambassador from Warsaw,'"--(easy to get that kind of
credential from a devoted Warsaw, if you are succeeding at the
Court of Petersburg; "Warsaw watchfully makes that the rule of
distributing its honors; and, from freezing-point upwards, is the
most delicate thermometer," says Hermann somewhere). And this, is
our one date, "Poniatowski in business, SPRING, 1757;" of
"Poniatowski fallen bankrupt," date is totally wanting.
"Poniatowski's age is 32 gone;--how long out of Russia, readers
have to guess. Made his first public appearance on the streets of
Warsaw, in the late Election time, as a Captain of Patriot
Volunteers,--'Independence of Poland! Shall Poland be dictated to!"
cried Stanislaus and an indignant Public at one stage of the
affair. His Uncles Czartoryski were piloting him in; and in that
mad element, the cries, and shiftings of tack, had to be many.
[In HERMANN, v. 362-380 (still more in RULHIERE, ii. 119-289),
wearisome account of every particular.] He is Nephew, by his
mother, of these Czartoryskis; but is not by the father of very
high family. 'Ought he to be King of Poland?' argued some Polish
Emissary at Petersburg: 'His Grandfather was Land-steward to the
Sapiehas.' 'And if he himself had been it!' said the Empress,
inflexible, though with a blush.--It seems the family was really
good, though fallen poor; and, since that Land-steward phasis, had
bloomed well out again. His Father was conspicuous as a busy,
shifting kind of man, in the Charles-Twelfth and other troubles;
had died two years ago, as 'Castellan of Cracow;' always a dear
friend of Stanislaus Leczinski, who gets his death two years hence
[in 1766, as we have seen].
"King Stanislaus Poniatowski had five Brothers: two of them dead
long before this time; a third, still alive, was Bishop of
Something, Abbot of Something; ate his revenues in peace, and
demands silence from us. The other two, Casimir and Andreas, are
better worth naming,--especially the Son of one of them is.
Casimir, the eldest, is 'Grand Crown-Chamberlain' in the days now
coming, is also 'Starost of Zips [a Country you may note the name
of!]--and has a Son,' who is NOT the remarkable one. Andreas, the
second Brother (died 1773), was in the Austrian Service, 'Ordnance-
Master,' and a man of parts and weight;--who has been here at
Warsaw, ardently helping, in the late Election time. He too had a
Son (at this time a child in arms),--who is really the remarkable
'Nephew of King Stanislaus,' and still deserves a word from us.
"This Nephew, bred as an Austrian soldier, like his Father, is the
JOSEPH PONIATOWSKI, who was very famous in the Newspapers fifty
years ago. By all appearance, a man of some real patriotism, energy
and worth. He had tried to believe (though, I think, never rightly
able) what his omnipotent Napoleon had promised him, that extinct
Poland should be resuscitated; and he fought and strove very
fiercely, his Poles and he, in that faith or half-faith.
And perished, fiercely fighting for Napoleon, fiercely covering
Napoleon's retreat when his game was lost: horse and man plunged
into the Elster River (Leipzig Country, October 19th, 1813, evening
of the 'Battle of the Nations' there), and sank forever;--and the
last gleam of Poland along with him. [ Biographie
Universelle (º Poniatowski, Joseph), xxxv. 349-359.]
Not even a momentary gleam of hope for her, in the sane or half-
sane kind, since that,--though she now and then still tries it in
the insane: the more to my regret, for her and others!
"Besides these three Brothers, King Stanislaus had two Sisters
still living: one of them Wife of a very high Zamoiski; the other
of a ditto Branicki (pronounce BraniTZki)--him whom our German
Books call KRON-GROSSFELDHERR; (Grand Crown-General,' if the Crown
have any soldiers at all; the sublime, debauched old Branicki, of
whom Rulhiere is continually talking, and never reports anything
but futilities in a futile manner. So much is futile, and not worth
reporting, in this Polish element!--King Stanislaus himself was
born 17th January, 1732; played King of shreds and patches till
1790,--or even farther (not till 1795 did Catharine pluck the paper
tabard quite off him); he died in Petersburg, February 11th or
12th) 1798." After such a life!--
Stanislaus was crowned 25th November, 1764. He needs, as
preliminary, to be anointed, on the bare scalp of him, with holy
oil before crowning; ought to have his head close-shaved with that
view. Stanislaus, having an uncommonly fine head of hair, shuddered
at the barbarous idea; absolutely would not: whereupon delay,
consultation; and at length some artificial scalp, or second skull,
of pasteboard or dyed leather, was contrived for the poor man,
which comfortably took the oiling in a vicarious way, with the
ambrosial locks well packed out of sight under it, and capable of
flowing out again next day, as if nothing had happened. [Rulhiere.]
Not a sublime specimen of Ornamental Human Nature, this poor
Stanislaus! Ornamental wholly: the body of him, and the mind of
him, got up for representation; and terribly plucked to pieces on
the stage of the world. You may try to drop a tear over him, but
will find mostly that you cannot.
FOR SEVERAL YEARS THE DISSIDENT QUESTION CANNOT BE GOT SETTLED;
CONFEDERATION OF RADOM (23d June, 1767-5th March, 1768)
PUSHES IT INTO SETTLEMENT.
For several years after this feat of the false scalp, through long
volumes, wearisome even in RULHIERE, there turns up nothing which
can now be called memorable. The settling of the Dissident Question
proves extremely tedious to an impatient Czarina; as to curing of
the other curable Anarchies, there is absolutely nothing but a
knitting up by A, with a ravelling-out again by B, and no progress
discernible whatever. Impatient Czarina ardently pushes on some
Dissident settlement,--seconded by King Friedrich and the chief
Protestant Courts, London included, and by the European leading
spirits everywhere,--through endless difficulties: finds native
Orthodoxy an unexpectedly stiff matter; Bishops generally having a
fanaticism which is wonderful to think of, and which keeps mounting
higher and higher. Till at length there will Images of the Virgin
take to weeping,--as they generally do in such cases, when in the
vicinity of brew-houses and conveniences; [Nicolai, in his TRAVELS
OVER GERMANY, doggedly undertook to overhaul one of those weeping
Virgins (somewhere in Austria, I think); and found her, he says, to
depend on subterranean percolation of steam from a Brewery not far
off.]--a Carmelite Monk go about the country working miracles;
and, in short, an extremely ugly phasis of religious human nature
disclose itself to the afflicted reader. King Friedrich thinks, had
it not been for this Dissident Question, things would have taken
their old Saxon complexion, and Poland might have rotted on as
heretofore, perhaps a good while longer.
As to the knitting-up and ravelling-out again, which is called
curing of the other anarchies, no reader can or need say anything:
it seems to be a most painful knitting-up, by the Czartoryskis
chiefly, then an instant ravelling out by malign Opposition parties
of various indistinct complexion; the knitting, the ravelling, and
the malign Opposition parties, alike indistinct and without
interest to mankind. A certain drunken, rather brutal Phantasm of a
Prince Radzivil, who hates the Czartoryskis, and is dreadfully
given to drink, to wasteful ambitions and debaucheries, figures
much in these businesses; is got banished and confiscated, by some
Confederation formed; then, by new Confederations, is recalled and
reinstated,--worse if possible than ever. The thing is reality; but
it reads like a Phantasmagory produced by Lapland Witches, under
presidency of Diabolus (very certainly the Devil presiding, as you
see at all turns),--and is not worth understanding, were it
even easy.
Much semi-intelligible, wholly forgettable stuff about King
Stanislaus and his difficulties, and his duplicities and
treacherous imbecilities, [Hermann, v. 400, &c.; Rulhiere PASSIM.]
now of interest to no mortal. Stanislaus is at one time out with
the uncles Czartoryski, at another in with these worthy gentlemen:
a man not likely to cure Anarchies, unless wishing would do it.
On the Dissident Question itself he needs spurring: a King of
liberal ideas, yes; but with such flames of fanaticism under the
nose of him. In regard to the Dissident and all other curative
processes he is languid, evasive, for moments recalcitrant to
Russian suggestions; a lost imbecile,--forget him, with or without
a tear. He has still a good deal of so-called gallantry on his
hands; flies to his harem when outside things go contradictory.
[Hermann, v. 402, &c.] Think of malign Journalists printing this
bit of Letter at one time, to do him ill in a certain quarter:
"Oh, come to me, my Princess! Dearer than all Empresses:--imperial
charms, what were they to thine for a heart that has--" with more
of the like stuff, for a Czarina's behoof.
WINTER OF 1766, Imperial Majesty, whether after or before that
miraculous Carmelite Monk, I do not remember, became impatient of
these tedious languors and tortuosities about the Dissident
Question, and gave express order, "Settle it straightway!" To which
end, Confederations and the other machinery were set agoing:
Confederations among the Protestants and Dissidents themselves,
about Thorn and such places (got up by Russian engineering), and
much more extensively in the Lithuanian parts; Confederations of
great extent, imperative, minatory; ostensibly for reinstating
these poor people in their rights (which, by old Polish Law, they
quite expressly were, if that were any matter), but in reality for
bringing back drunken Radzivil, who has covenanted to carry that
measure. And so,
JUNE 23d, 1767, These multiplex Polish-Lithuanian Confederations,
twenty-four of them in all, with their sublime marshals and
officials, and above 80,000 noblemen in them, meet by deputies at
Radom, a convenient little Town within wind of Warsaw (lies 60
miles to south of Warsaw); and there coalesce into one general
"Confederation of Radom," [Hermann, v. 420.] with drunken Radzivil
atop, who, glad to be reinstated in his ample Domains and Wine-
cellars, and willing at any rate to spite the Czartoryskis and
others, has pledged himself to carry that great measure in Diet,
and quash any NIE POZWALAMS and difficulties there may be. This is
the once world-famous, now dimly discoverable, CONFEDERATION OF
RADOM, which--by preparatory declaring, under its hand and seal,
That the Law of the Land must again become valid, and "Free Polacks
of Dissident opinions concerning Religion (NOS DISSIDENTES DE
RELIGIONE)," as the old Law phrases it, "shall have equal rights of
citizenship"--was beautifully instrumental in achieving that bit of
Human Progress, and pushing it through the Diet, and its
difficulties shortly ensuing.
Not that the Diet did not need other vigorous treatment as well,
the flame of fanaticism being frightfully ardent; many of the poor
Bishops having run nearly frantic at this open spoliation of Mother
Church, and snatching of the sword from Peter. So that Imperial
Majesty had to decide on picking out a dozen, or baker's dozen, of
the hottest Bishops; and carrying them quietly into Russia under
lock and key, till the thing were done. Done it was, surely to the
infinite relief of mankind;--I cannot say precisely on what day:
October 13th-14th (locking up of the dozen Bishops), was one vital
epoch of it; November 19th, 1767 (report of Committee on it, under
Radzivil's and Russia's coercion), was another: first and last it
took about five months baking in Diet. Diet met Oct. 4th, 1767,
Radzivil controlling as Grand-Marshal, and Russia as minatory
Phantom controlling Radzivil; Diet, after adjournments, after one
long adjournment, disappeared 5th March, 1768; and of work
mentionable it had done this of the Dissidents only. That of
contributing to "the sovereign contempt with which King Stanislaus
is regarded by all ranks of men," is hardly to be called peculiar
work or peculiarly mentionable.
At this point, to relieve the reader's mind, and, at any rate, as
the date is fully come, we will introduce a small NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
from a very high hand, little guessed till long afterwards as the
writer,--namely, from King Friedrich's own. It does not touch on
the Dissident Question, or the Polish troubles; but does, in a
back-handed way, on Prussian Rumors rising about them; and may
obliquely show more of the King's feeling on that subject than we
quite suppose. It seems the King had heard that the Berlin people
were talking and rumoring of "a War being just at hand;"
whereupon--"MARCH 5th, 1767, IN THE VOSSISCHE ZEITUNG (Voss's
Chronicle), No. 28," an inquisitive Berlin public read
as follows:--
"We are advised from Potsdam, that, on the 27th of February,
towards evening, the sky began to get overcast; black clouds,
presaging a tempest of unexampled fury, covered all the horizon:
the thunder, with its lightnings, forked bolts of amazing
brilliancy, burst out; and, under its redoubled peals, there
descended such a torrent of hail as within man's memory had not
been seen. Of two bullocks yoked in their plough, with which a
peasant was hastening home, one was struck on the head by a piece
of it, and killed outright. Many of the common people were wounded
in the streets; a brewer had his arm broken. Roofs are destroyed by
the weight of this hail; all the windows that looked windward while
it fell were broken. In the streets, hailstones were found of the
size of pumpkins (CITROUILLES), which had not quite melted two
hours after the storm ceased. This singular phenomenon has made a
very great impression. Scientific people say, the air had not
buoyancy enough to support these solid masses when congealed to
ice; that the small hailstones in these clouds getting so lashed
about in the impetuosity of the winds, had united the more the
farther they fell, and had not acquired that enormous magnitude
till comparatively near the earth. Whatever way it may have
happened, it is certain that occurrences of that kind are rare, and
almost without example." [VOSSISCHE ZEITUNG, ubi supra:
OEuvres de Frederic, xv. 204.]
Another singularity is, "Professor Johann Daniel Titius of
Wittenberg," who teaches NATURAL PHILOSOPHY in that famous
University, one may judge with what effect, wrote a Monograph on
this unusual Phenomenon! [Rodenbeck (ii. 285) gives the Title of
it, "CONSIDERATIONS ON THE POTSDAM HAIL OF LAST YEAR
(Wittenberg, 1768)."]
CONFEDERATION OF BAR ENSUES, ON THE PER-CONTRA SIDE (March 28th,
1768); AND, AS FIRST RESULT OF ITS ACHIEVEMENTS (October 6th,
1768), A TURK-RUSSIAN WAR.
The Confederation of Radom, and its victorious Diet, had hardly
begun their Song of Triumph, when there ensued on the per-contra
side a flaming CONFEDERATION OF BAR;--which, by successive stages,
does at last burn out the Anarchies of Poland, and reduce them to
ashes. Confederation of Bar; and then, as progeny of that, for and
against, such a brood of Confederations, orthodox, heterodox, big,
little, short-lived, long-lived, of all complexions and degrees of
noisy fury, potent, at any rate, each of them for murder and arson,
within a certain radius, as the Earth never saw before. Now was the
time of those inextricable marchings (as inroads and outroads)
through the Lithuanian Bogs, of those death-defiant, unparalleled
exploits, skirmishings, scaladings, riding by the edge of
precipices, of Pulawski, Potocki and others,--in which Rulhiere
loses himself and turns on his axis, amid impatient readers.
For the Russian troops (summoned by a trembling Stanislaus and his
Senate, in terms of Treaty 1764), and in more languid manner, the
Stanislaus soldiery, as per law of the case, proceeded to strike
in,--generally, my impression was, with an eye to maintain the
King's Peace and keep down murder and arson:--and sure enough, the
small bodies of drilled Russians blew an infuriated orthodox Polack
chivalry to right and left at a short notice; but as to the
Constable's Peace or King's, made no improvement upon that, far the
reverse. It is certain the Confederate chivalry were driven about,
at a terrible rate,--over the Turk frontier for shelter; began to
appeal to the Grand Turk, in desperate terms: "Brother of the Sun
and Moon, saw you ever such a chance for finishing Russia?
Polack chivalry is Orthodox Catholic, but also it is Anti-Russian!"
The Turk beginning to give ear to it, made the matter pressing and
serious. Here, more specifically, are some features and successive
phases,--unless the reader prefer to skip.
"BAR, MARCH, 1768. The Confederation of Radom, as efficient
preliminary, and chief agent in that Diet of emancipation to the
Dissident human mind, might long have been famous over Poland and
the world; but there instantly followed as corollary to it a
CONFEDERATION OF BAR, which quite dimmed the fame of Radom, and
indeed of all Confederations prior or posterior! As the
Confederation of Bar and its Doings, or rather sufferings and
tragical misdoings and undoings, still hang like fitful
spectralities, or historical shadows, of a vague ghastly
complexion, in the human memory, one asks at least: Since they were
on this Planet, tell us where? Bar is in the Waiwodship Podol (what
we call Podolia), some 400 miles southeast of Warsaw; not far from
the Dniester River:--not far very from that mystery of the
Dniester, the Zaporavian Cossacks,--from those rapids or cataracts
(quasi-cataracts of the Dniester, with Islands in them, where those
Cossack robbers live unassailable):--across the Dniester lies
Turkey, and its famed Fortress of Choczim. This is a commodious
station for Polish Gentlemen intending mutiny by law.
"MARCH 8th, 1768, Three short days after the Diet of Radom had done
its fine feat, and retired to privacy, news came to Warsaw, That
Podolia and the Southern parts are all up, confederating with the
highest animation; in hot rage against such decision of a Diet,
contrary to Holy Religion and to much else; and that the said
decision will have to fight for itself, now that it has done
voting. This interesting news is true; and goes on intensifying and
enlarging itself, one dreadful Confederation springing up, and then
another and ever another, day after day; till at last we hear that
on the 27th of the month, MARCH 27th, 1768, at Bar, a little Town
on the Southern or Turkish Frontier, all these more or less
dreadful Confederations have met by delegates, and coalesced into
one 'Confederatiou of Bar,'--which did surely prove dreadful
enough, to itself especially, in the months now ensuing!"
No history of Bar Confederation shall we dream of; far be such an
attempt from us. It consists of many Confederations, and out of
each, PRO and CONTRA, spring many. Like the Lernean Hydra, or even
Hydras in a plural condition. A many-headed dog: and how many
whelps it had,--I cannot give even the cipher of them, or I would!
One whelp Confederation, that of Cracow, is distinguished by having
frequently or generally been "drunk;" and of course its procedures
had often a vinous character. [In HERMANN (v. 431-448);
and especially in RULHIERE (ii. livre 8 et seq.), details in
superabundance.] I fancy to have read somewhere that the number of
them was one hundred and twenty-five. The rumor and the furious
barking of Bar and its whelps goes into all lands: such rabid loud
baying at mankind and the moon; and then, under Russia's treatment,
such shrill yelping and shrieking, was not heard in the world
before, though perhaps it has since.
Poor BAR'S exploits in the fighting way were highly inconsiderable;
all on the same scale; and spread over such a surface of country,
mostly unknown, as renders it impossible to give them head-room,
were you never so unfurnished. They can be read in eloquent
Rulhiere; but by no mortal held in memory. Anarchy is not a thing
to be written of; a Lernean Hydra, several Lernean Hydras, in
chaotic genesis, getting their heads lopped off, and at the same
time sprouting new ones in such ratio, where is the Zoologist that
will give account of it? There was not anything considerable of
fighting; but of bullying, plundering, murdering and being
murdered, a frightful amount. There are seizures of castles,
convents, defensible houses; marches at a rate like that of
antelopes, through the Lithuanian parts, boggy, hungry, boundless,
opening to the fancy the Infinitude of Peat, in the solid and the
fluid state. This, perhaps, is the finest species of feats, though
they never lead to anything. There are heroes famed for
these marches.
The Pulawskis, for example,--four of them, Lawyer people,--showed
much activity, and a talent for impromptu soldiering, in that kind.
The Magnates of the Confederation, I was surprised to learn, had
all quitted it, the instant it came to strokes: "You Lawyer people,
with your priests and orthodox peasantries, you do the fighting
part; ours is the consulting!" And except Potocki (and he worse
than none), there is presently not a Magnate of them left in
Poland,--the rest all gone across the Austrian Border, to Teschen,
to Bilitz, a handy little town and domain in that Duchy of
Teschen;--and sit there as "Committee of Government:" much at their
ease in comparison, could they but agree among themselves, which
they cannot. Bilitz is one of the many domains of Magnate
Sulkowski:--do readers recollect the Sulkowski who at one time
"declared War" on King Friedrich; and was picked up, both War and
he, so compendiously by General Goltz, and locked in Glogau to
cool? This is the same Sulkowski; much concerned now in these
matters; a rich Magnate, glad to see his friends about him as
Governing Committee; but gets, and gives, a great deal of vexation
in it, the element proving again too hot!--
I said there were four famed Pulawskis; [Hermann, v. 465.] a
father, once Advocate in Warsaw, with three sons and a nephew;
who, though extremely active people, could do no good whatever.
The father Pulawski had the fine idea of introducing the British
Constitution; clothing Poland wholly in British tailorage, and so
making it a new Poland: but he never could get it done. This poor
gentleman died in Turkish prison, flung into jail at
Constantinople, on calumnious accusation and contrivance by a rival
countryman; his sons and nephew, poor fellows, all had their fame,
more or less, in the Cause of Freedom so called; but no other
profit in this world, that I could hear of. Casimir, the eldest
son, went to America; died there, still in the Cause of Freedom so
called; Fort Pulawski, in the harbor of Charleston (which is at
present, on very singular terms, RE-engaged in the same so-called
Cause!), was named in memory of this Casimir. He had defended
Czenstochow (if anybody knew what Czenstochow was, or could find it
in the Polish map); and it was also he that contrived that
wonderful plan of suddenly snapping up King Stanislaus from the
streets of Warsaw one night, ["3d November, 1771."] and of locking
him away (by no means killing him), as the source of all our woes.
O my Pulawskis, men not without manhood, what a bedlam of a Time
have you and I fallen into, and what Causes of Freedom it has got
in hand!
Bar, a poor place, with no defences but a dry ditch and some
miserable earthworks, the Confederates had not the least chance to
maintain; Kaminiec, the only fortress of the Province, they never
even got into, finding some fraction of royal soldiery who stood
for King Stanislaus there, and who fired on the Confederates when
applied to. Bar a small Russian division, with certain Stanislaus
soldieries conjoined, took by capitulation; and (date not given)
entered in a victorious manner. The War-Epic of the Confederates,
which Rulhiere sings at such length, is blank of meaning.
Of "Cloister Czenstochow," a famed feat of Pulawski's, also without
result, I could not from my Rulhiere discover (what was altogether
an illuminative fact to me!) that the date of Czenstochow was not
till 1771. A feat of "Cloister BERDICZOW," almost an exact
facsimile by the same Pulawski, also resultless, I did, under
Hermann's guidance, at once find;--and hope the reader will be
satisfied to accept it instead: Cloister Berdiczow, which lies in
the Palatinate of Kiow; and which has a miraculous Holy Virgin, not
less venerated far and wide in those eastern parts, than she of
Cloister Czenstochow in the western: THIS Cloister Berdiczow and
its salutary Virgin, Pulawski (the Casimir, now of Charleston
Harbor) did defend, with about 1,000 men, in a really obstinate
way, The Monastery itself had in it gifts of the faithful,
accumulated for ages; and all the richest people in those
Provinces, Confederate or not, had lodged their preciosities there,
as in an impregnable and sure place, in those times of trouble.
Intensely desirous, accordingly, the Russians were to take it, but
had no cannon; desperately resolute Pulawski and his 1,000 to
defend. Pulawski and his 1,000 fired intensely, till their cannon-
balls were quite done; then took to firing with iron-work, and hard
miscellanies of every sort, especially glad when they could get a
haul of glass to load with;--and absolutely would not yield till
famine came; though the terms offered were good,--had they
been kept.
So that Pulawski, it would appear, did Two Cloister Defences?
Two, each with a miraculous Holy Virgin; an eastern, and then a
westerly. This of Berdiczow, not dated to me farther, is for
certain of the year 1768; and Pulawski, owing to famine, did yield
here. In 1771, at miraculous Cloister Czenstochow, in the western
parts, Pulawski did an external feat, or consented to see it done,
--that of trying to snuff out poor King Stanislaus on the streets
(3d November, 10 P.M., "miraculously" in vain, as most readers
know),--which brought its obloquies and troubles on the Defender of
Czenstochow. Obloquies and troubles: but as to surrendering
Czenstochow on call of obloquy, or of famine itself, Pulawski would
not, not he for his own part; but solemnly left his men to do it,
and walked away by circuitous uncertain paths, which end in
Charleston Harbor, as we have seen. [At Savannah, in a stricter
sense. "Perished at the Siege [futile attempt to storm, by the
French, which they called a Siege] of Savannah, 9th October,
1779."] Defence of Czenstochow in 1771 shall not concern us
farther. Truly these two small defences of monasteries by Pulawski
are almost all, I do not say of glorious, but even of creditable or
human, that reward the poor wanderer in that Polish Valley of
Jehoshaphat, much of it peat-country; wherefore I have, as before,
marked the approximate localities, approximate dates, for behoof of
ingenuous readers.
The Russians, ever since 1764, from the beginnings of those
Stanislaus times, are pledged to maintain peace in Poland; and it
is they that have to deal with this affair,--they especially, or
almost wholly, poor Stanislaus having scarcely any power, military
or other, and perhaps being loath withal. There was more of
investigating and parleying, bargaining and intriguing, than of
fighting, on Stanislaus's part. "June 11th, 1768," says a Saxon
Note from Warsaw, "Mokranowski, Stanislaus's General [the same that
was with Friedrich], has been sent down to Bar to look into those
Confederates. Mokranowski does not think there are above 8,000 of
them; about 3,000 have got their death from Russian castigation.
The 8,000 might be treated with, only Russians are so dreadfully
severe, especially so intent on wringing money from them.
Confederates have been complaining to the Turk; Turk ambiguous;
gives them no definite ground of hope. 'What then, is your hope?'
I inquired. 'Little or none, except in Heaven,' several answered:
'it is for our religion and our liberty:' religion cut to pieces by
this Dissident Toleration-blasphemy; liberty ditto by the Russian
guarantee of peace among us: 'what can we do but trust in God and
our own despair?'" ["Essen's Report, 11th June, 1768" (in HERMANN,
v. 441).] "Prave worts, Ancient Pistol,"--but much destitute of
sense, and not to be realized in present circumstances. Here is
something much more critical:--
JUNE-JULY, 1768. "The peasants in the Southern regions, Palatinates
Podol, Kiow, Braclaw, called UKRAINE or Border-Country by the
Poles, are mostly of Greek and other schismatic creeds. Their Lords
are of an orthodox religion, and not distinguished by mild
treatment of such Peasantry, upon whom civil war and plunder have
been latterly a sore visitation. To complete the matter, the
Confederates in certain quarters, blown upon by fanatical priests,
set about converting these poor peasants, or forcing them, at the
point of the bayonet, to swear that they adopt the 'Greek united
rite,' which I suppose to be a kind of half-way house towards
perfect orthodoxy. In one Village, which was getting converted in
this manner, the military party seemed to be small; the Village
boiled over upon it; trampled orthodoxy and military both under
foot, in a violent and sanguinary manner; and was extremely
frightened when it had done. Extremely frightened, not the Village
only, but the schismatic mind generally in those parts, dreading
vengeance for such a paroxysm. But the atrocious Russians whispered
them, 'We are here to protect you in your religions and rights, in
your poor consciences and skins.' Upon which hint of the atrocious
Russians, the schismatic mind and population one and all rose;
and, 'with the cannibal's ferocity, gave way to their appetite
for plunder!' ...
"Nay, the Russian Government [certain Russian Officials hard
pressed] had invited the Zaporavian Cossacks to step over from
their Islands in the Dniester, and assist in defending their
Religion [true Greek, of course]; who at once did so; and not only
extinguished the last glimmer of Confederation there, but
overwhelmed the Country, thousands on thousands of them, attended
by revolted peasants,--say a 20,000 of peasants under command of
these Zaporavians,--who went about plundering and burning.
That they plundered the Jew pot-houses of their brandy, and drank
it, was a small matter. Very furious upon Jews, upon Noblemen,
Landlords, upon Catholic Priests. 'On one tree [tree should have
been noted] was found hanged a specimen of each of those classes,
with a Dog adjoined, as fit company.' In one little Town, Town of
HUMAN [so called in that foreign dialect], getting some provocation
or other, they set to massacring; and if brandy were plentiful, we
can suppose they made short work. By the lowest computation the
number of slain Jews and Catholics amounted to 10,000 odd [Hermann,
v. 444; Rulhiere, iii. 93.]--Rulhiere says '50,000, by some
accounts 200,000.'" This I guess to have been at its height about
the end of June; this leads direct to the Catastrophe, as will
presently be seen.
Foreign States don't seem to pay much attention,--indeed, what sane
person would like to interfere, or hope to do it with profit?
France, Austria, both wish well to Poland, at least ill to Russia;
Choiseul has no finance, can do nothing but intrigue, and stir up
trouble everywhere: a devout Kaiserinn goes with Holy Church, and
disapproves of these Dissident Tolerations: it is remarked that all
through 1768 the Confederates of Bar are permitted to retire over
the Austrian Frontier into Austrian Silesia, and find themselves
there in safety. Permitted to buy arms, to make preparations, issue
orders: at Sulkowski's Bilitz, in the Duchy of Teschen, supreme
Managing Committee sits there; no Kaunitz or Official person
meddling with it. About the beginning of next year (1769), it is,
ostensibly, a little discountenanced; and obliged to go to Eperjes,
on the Hungarian Frontier [See Busching: for Eperjes, ii. 1427;
for Bilitz, viii. 885.] (as a more decent or less conspicuous
place),--such trouble now rising; a Turk War having broken out,
momentous not to the Confederation alone. March, 1769, the ever-
intriguing Choiseul--fancy with what rapturous effect--had sent
some kind of Agent or Visitor to Teschen; Vergennes in Turkey, from
the beginning of these things, has been plying night and day his
diplomatic bellows upon every live-coal ("I who myself kindled this
Turk-War!" brags he afterwards);--not till next year (1770) did
Choiseul send his Dumouriez to the Bilitz neighborhoods; not till
next again, when Choiseul was himself out, [Thrown out "2d
December, 1770,"--by Louis's NEW Pompadour.] did his Viomenil come:
[Hermann, v. 469-471; in RULHIERE (iv. 241-289) account of
Dumouries and his fencings and spyings, still more of Viomenil, who
had "French Volunteers," and did some bits of real fighting on the
small scale.] neither of whom, by their own head alone, without
funds, without troops, could do other than with fine effort make
bad worse.
It is needless continuing such a subject. Here is one glimpse two
years later, and it shall be our last: "NEAR LUBLIN, 25th
SEPTEMBER, 1770. It is frightful, all this that is passing in these
parts,--about the Town of Labun, for example. The dead bodies
remain without burial; they are devoured by the dogs and the pigs.
... Everywhere reigns Pestilence; nor do we fear contagion so much
as famine. Offer 100 ducats for a fowl or for a bit of bread, I
swear you won't get it. General von Essen [Russian, we will hope]
has had to escape from Laticzew, then from" some other place,
"Pestilence chasing him everywhere."
To apply to the Turks,--afflicted Polish Patriots prostrating
themselves with the hope of despair, "Save us, your sublime
Clemency; throw a ray of pity on us, Brother of the Sun and Moon:
oh, chastise our diabolic oppressors!"--this was one of the first
resources of the Bar Confederates. The Turks did give ear;
not inattentive, though pretending to be rather deaf. M. de
Vergennes,--of whose "diplomatic bellows" we just heard (in fact,
for diligence in this Turk element, in this young time, the like of
him was seldom seen; we knew him long afterwards as a diligent old
gentleman, in French-Revolution days),--M. de Vergennes zealously
supports; zealous to let loose the Turk upon Anti-French parties.
The Turks seem to wag their heads, for some time; and their
responses are ambiguous. For some time, not for long. Here, fast
enough, comes, in disguised shape, the Catastrophe itself, ye poor
plaintive Poles!
JULY-OCTOBER, 1768. Those Zaporavian and other Cossacks, with
20,000 peasants plundering about on both sides of the Dniester, had
set fire to the little Town of Balta, which is on the south side,
and belongs to the Turks: a very grave accident, think all
political people, think especially the Foreign Excellencies at
Warsaw, when news of it arrives. Burning of Balta, not to be
quenched by the amplest Russian apologies, proved a live-coal at
Constantinople; and Vergennes says, he set population and Divan on
fire by it: a proof that the population and Divan had already been
in a very inflammable state. Not a wise Divan, though a zealous.
Plenty of fury in these people; but a sad deficiency of every other
faculty. They made haste, in their hot humor, to declare War (6th
October, 1768); [Hermann, v. 608-611.] not considering much how
they would carry it on. Declared themselves in late Autumn,--as if
to give the Russians ample time for preparing; those poor Turks
themselves being as yet ready with nothing, and even the season for
field-operations being over.
King Friedrich, who has still a Minister at the Porte, endeavored
to dissuade his old Turk friends, in this rash crisis; but to no
purpose; they would listen to nothing but Vergennes and their own
fury. Friedrich finds this War a very mad one on the part of his
old Turk friends; their promptitude to go into it (he has known
them backward enough when their chances were better!), and their
way of carrying it on, are alike surprising to him. He says:
"Catharine's Generals were unacquainted with the first elements of
Castrametation and Tactic; but the Generals of the Sultan had a
still more prodigious depth of ignorance; so that to form a correct
idea of this War, you must figure a set of purblind people, who, by
constantly beating a set of altogether blind, end by gaining over
them a complete mastery." [ OEuvres de Frederic, vi. 23, 24.] This, as Friedrich knows, is what Austria
cannot suffer; this is what will involve Austria and Russia, and
Friedrich along with them, in-- Friedrich, as the matter gradually
unfolds itself, shudders to think what. The beginnings of this War
were perhaps almost comical to the old Soldier-King; but as it
gradually developed itself into complete shattering to pieces of
the stupid Blind by the ambitious Purblind, he grew abundantly
serious upon it.
It is but six months since Polish Patriotism, so effulgent to its
own eyes in Orthodoxy, in Love of glorious Liberty, confederated at
Bar, and got into that extraordinary whirlpool, or cesspool, of
miseries and deliriums we have been looking at; and now it has
issued on a broad highway of progress,--broad and precipitous,--and
will rapidly arrive at the goal set before it. All was so rapid, on
the Polish and on the Turkish part. The blind Turks, out of mere
fanaticism and heat of humor, have rushed into this adventure;--and
go rushing forward into a series of chaotic platitudes on the huge
scale, and mere tragical disasters, year after year, which would
have been comical, had they not been so hideous and sanguinary:
constant and enormous blunders on the Turk part, issuing in
disasters of like magnitude; which in the course of Two Campaigns
had quite finished off their Polish friends, in a very unexpected
way; and had like to have finished themselves off, had not drowned
Poland served as a stepping-stone.
Not till March 26th, 1769, six months after declaring in such
haste, did the blind Turks "display their Banner of Mahomet," that
is, begin in earnest to assemble and make ready. Nor were the
Russians shiningly strategic, though sooner in the field,--a Prince
Galitzin commanding them (an extremely purblind person);
till replaced by Romanzow, our old Colberg acquaintance, who saw
considerably better. Galitzin, early in the season, made a rush on
Choczim (ChoTzim), the first Turk Fort beyond the Dniester;
and altogether failed,--not by Turk prowess, but by his own
purblind mal-arrangements (want of ammunition, want of bread, or I
will forget what);--which occasioned mighty grumblings in Russia:
till in a month or two, by favor of Fortune and blindness of the
Turk, matters had come well round again; and Galitzin, walking up
to Choczim the second time, found there was not a Turk in the
place, and that Choczim was now his on those uncommonly easy terms!
Instead of farther details on such a War,--the shadow or reflex of
which, as mirrored in the Austrian mind, has an importance to
Friedrich and us; but the self or substance of which has otherwise
little or none,--we will close here with a bit of Russian satire on
it, which is still worth reading. The date is evidently Spring,
1769; the scene what we are now treating of: Galitzin obliged to
fall back from Choczim; great rumor--"What a Galitzin; what a Turk
War his, in contrast to the last we had!" [Turk War of 1736-1739,
under Munnich (supra, vii. 81-126).]--no Romanzow yet appointed in
his room. And here is a small Manuscript, which was then
circulating fresh and new in Russian Society; and has since gone
over all the world (though mostly in an uncertain condition, in old
Jest-Books and the like), as a genuine bit of CAVIARE from those
Northern parts:--
MANUSCRIPT CIRCULATING IN RUSSIAN SOCIETY. Galitzin, much grieved
about Choczim, could not sleep; and, wandering about in his tent,
overheard, one night, a common soldier recounting his dream to the
sentry outside the door.
"A curious dream," said the soldier: "I dreamt I was in a battle;
that I got my head cut off; that I died; and, of course, went to
Heaven. I knocked at the door: Peter came with a bunch of Keys;
and made such rattling that he awoke God; who started up in haste,
asking, 'What is the matter?' 'Why,' says Peter, 'there is a great
War on earth between the Russians and the Turks.' 'And who commands
my Russians?' said the Supreme Being. 'Count Munnich,' answered
Peter. 'Very well; I may go to sleep again!'--But this was not the
end of my dream," continued the soldier; "I fell asleep and dreamt
again, the very same as before, except that the War was not Count
Munnich's, but the one we are now in. Accordingly, when God asked,
'Who commands my Russians?' Peter answered, 'Prince Galitzin.'
'Galitzin? Then get me my boots!' said the [Russian] Supreme
Being." [W. Richardson (then at Petersburg, Tutor to Excellency
Cathcart's Children; afterwards Professor at Glasgow, and a man of
Some reputation in his old age), Anecdotes of the Russian
Empire, in a Series of Letters written a few years ago from St.
Petersburg (London, 1784), p. 110: date of this Letter
is "17th October, 1769."]
Chapter IV.
PARTITION OF POLAND.
These Polish phenomena were beginning to awaken a good deal of
attention, not all of it pleasant, on the part of Friedrich.
From the first he had, as usual, been a most clear-eyed observer of
everything; and found the business, as appears, not of tragical
nature, but of expensive-farcical, capable to shake the diaphragm
rather than touch the heart of a reflective on-looker. He has a
considerable Poem on it,--WAR OF THE CONFEDERATES by title (in the
old style of the PALLADION, imitating an unattainable JEANNE
D'ARC),--considerable Poem, now forming itself at leisure in his
thoughts, ["LA GUERRE DES CONFEDERES [ OEuvres, xiv. 183 et seq.], finished in November, 1771."] which
decidedly takes that turn; and laughs quite loud at the rabid
fanaticisms, blusterous inanities and imbecilities of these noisy
unfortunate neighbors:--old unpleasant style of the PALLADION and
PUCELLE; but much better worth reading; having a great deal of
sharp sense in its laughing guise, and more of real Historical
Discernment than you will find in any other Book on that
delirious subject.
Much a laughing-stock to this King hitherto, such a "War of the
Confederates,"--consisting of the noisiest, emptiest bedlam
tumults, seasoned by a proportion of homicide, and a great deal of
battery and arson. But now, with a Russian-Turk War springing from
it, or already sprung, there are quite serious aspects rising amid
the laughable. By Treaty, this War is to cost the King either a
12,000 of Auxiliaries to the Czarina, or a 72,000 pounds (480,000
thalers) annually; [ OEuvres de Frederic,
vi. 13.]--which latter he prefers to pay her, as the alternative:
not an agreeable feature at all; but by no means the worst feature.
Suppose it lead to Russian conquests on the Turk, to Austrian
complicacies, to one knows not what, and kindle the world round one
again! In short, we can believe Friedrich was very willing to stand
well with next-door neighbors at present, and be civil to Austria
and its young Kaiser's civilities.
FIRST INTERVIEW BETWEEN FRIEDRICH AND KAISER JOSEPH
(Neisse, 25th-28th August, 1769).
In 1766, the young Kaiser, who has charge of the Military
Department, and of little else in the Government, and is already a
great traveller, and enthusiastic soldier, made a pilgrimage over
the Bohemian and Saxon Battle-fields of the Seven-Years War.
On some of them, whether on all I do not know, he set up memorial-
stones; one of which you still see on the field of Lobositz;--of
another on Prag field, and of reverent salutation by Artillery to
the memory of Schwerin there, we heard long ago. Coming to Torgau
on this errand, the Kaiser, through his Berlin Minister, had
signified his "particular desire to make acquaintance with the King
in returning;" to which the King was ready with the readiest;--
only that Kaunitz and the Kaiserinn, in the interim, judged it
improper, and stopped it. "The reported Interview is not to take
place," Friedrich warns the Newspapers; "having been given up,
though only from courtesy, on some points of ceremonial."
["FRIEDRICH TO ONE OF HIS FOREIGN AMBASSADORS" (the common way of
announcing in Newspapers): Preuss, iv. 22 n.]
The young Kaiser felt a little huffed; and signified to Friedrich
that he would find a time to make good this bit of uncivility,
which his pedagogues had forced upon him. And now, after three
years, August, 1769, on occasion of the Silesian Reviews, the
Kaiser is to come across from his Bohemian businesses, and actually
visit him: Interview to be at Neisse, 25th August, 1769, for three
days. Of course the King was punctual, everybody was punctual, glad
and cordial after a sort,--no ceremony, the Kaiser, officially
incognito, is a mere Graf von Falkenstein, come to see his
Majesty's Reviews. There came with him four or five Generals,
Loudon one of them; Lacy had preceded: Friedrich is in the palace
of the place, ready and expectant. With Friedrich are: Prince
Henri; Prince of Prussia; Margraf of Anspach: Friedrich's Nephew
(Lady Craven's Margraf, the one remnant now left there); and some
Generals and Military functionaries, Seidlitz the notablest figure
of these. And so, FRIDAY, AUGUST 25th, shortly after noon-- But the
following Two Letters, by an Eye-witness, will be preferable;
and indeed are the only real Narrative that can be given:--
No. 1. ENGINEER LEFEBVRE TO PERPETUAL SECRETARY FORMEY
(at Berlin).
"NEISSE, 26th [partly 25th] August, 1769.
"MY MOST WORTHY FRIEND,-I make haste to inform you of the Kaiser's
arrival here at Neisse, this day, 25th August, 1769, at one in the
afternoon. The King had spent the morning in a proof Manoeuvre,
making rehearsal of the Manoeuvre that was to be. When the Kaiser
was reported just coming, the King went to the window of the grand
Episcopal Saloon, and seeing him alight from his carriage, turned
round and said, 'JE L'AI VU (I have seen him).' His Majesty then
went to receive him on the grand staircase [had hardly descended
three or four steps], where they embraced; and then his Majesty led
by the hand his august Guest into the Apartments designed for him,
which were all standing open and ready,"--which, however, the
august Guest will not occupy except with a grateful imagination,
being for the present incognito, mere Graf von Falkenstein, and
judging that THE THREE-KINGS Inn will be suitabler.
"Arrived in the Apartments, they embraced anew; and sat talking
together for an hour and half.--
[The talk, unknown to
Lefebvre, began in this strain. KAISER: "Now are my wishes
fulfilled, since I have the honor to embrace the greatest of Kings
and Soldiers." KING: "I look upon this day as the fairest of my
life; for it will become the epoch of uniting Two Houses which have
been enemies too long, and whose mutual interests require that they
should strengthen, not weaken one another." KAISER: "For Austria
there is no Silesia farther." [Preuss, v. 23; OEuvres de
Frederic, vi. 25, 26.] Talk, it appears, lasted an
hour and half.]
--"The Kaiser [continues our Engineer]
had brought with him the Prince of Sachsen-Teschen [his august
Brother-in-law, Duke of Teschen, son of the late Polish Majesty of
famous memory]: afterwards there came Feldmarschall Lacy, Graf von
Dietrichstein, General von Loudon," and three others of no account
to us. "At the King's table were the Kaiser, the Prince of Prussia
[dissolute young Heir-Apparent, of the polygamous tendency], Prince
Henri, the Margraf of Anspach [King's Nephew, unfortunate Lady-
Craven Margraf, ultimately of Hammersmith vicinity]; the above
Generals of the Austrian suite, and Generals Seidlitz and
Tauentzien. The rest of the Court was at two other tables." Of the
dinner itself an Outside Individual will say nothing.
"The Kaiser, having expressly requested the King to let him lodge
in an Inn (THREE KINGS), under the name of Graf von Falkenstein,
would not go into the carriage which had stood expressly ready to
conduct him thither. He preferred walking on foot [the loftily
scornful Incognito] in spite of the rain; it was like a lieutenant
of infantry stepping out of his quarters. Some moments after, the
King went to visit him; and they remained together from 5 in the
evening till 8. It was thought they would be present (ASSISTER) at
a Comic Opera which was to be played: but after waiting till 7
o'clock, the people received orders to go on with the Piece;"--both
Majesties did afterwards look in; but finding it bad, soon went
their way again. (MAJOR LEFEBVRE STOPS WRITING FOR THE NIGHT.)
"This morning, 26th, the Manoeuvre [rehearsed yesterday] has been
performed before both their Majesties; the troops, by way of
finish, filing past them in the highest order. The Kaiser
accompanied the King to his abode; after which he returned to his
own. This is all the news I have to-day: the sequel by next Post
[apparently a week hence). I am, and shall ever be,--your true
Friend, LEFEBVRE."
No. 2. SAME TO SAME.
"NEISSE, 2d September, 1769.
"MONSIEUR AND DEAREST FRIEND,--We had, as you heard, our first
Manoeuvre on Saturday, 26th, in presence of the Kaiser and the
King, and of the whole Court of each. That evening there was Opera;
which their Majesties honored by attending. Sunday was our Second
Manoeuvre; OPERETTE in the evening. Monday, 28th, was our last
Manoeuvre; at the end of which the two Majesties, without alighting
from horseback, embraced each other; and parted, protesting
mutually the most constant and inviolable friendship. One took the
road for Breslau; the other that of Konigsgratz. All the time the
Kaiser was here, they have been continually talking together, and
exhibiting the tenderest friendship,--from which I cannot but think
there will benefit result.
"I am almost in the mind of coming to pass this Winter at Berlin;
that I may have the pleasure of embracing you,--perhaps as
cordially as King and Kaiser here. I am, and shall always be, with
all my heart,--your very good Friend, "LEFEBVRE."
[Formey, Souvenirs d'un Citoyen, ii.
145-148.]
The Lefebvre that writes here is the same who was set to manage the
last Siege of Schweidnitz, by Globes of Compression and other fine
inventions; and almost went out of his wits because he could not do
it. An expert ingenious creature; skilful as an engineer; had been
brought into Friedrich's service by the late Balbi, during Balbi's
ascendency (which ended at Olmutz long ago). At Schweidnitz, and
often elsewhere, Friedrich, who had an esteem for poor Lefebvre,
was good to him; and treated his excitabilities with a soft hand,
not a rough. Once at Neisse (1771, second year after these
Letters), on looking round at the works done since last review, in
sight of all the Garrison he embraced Lefebvre, while commending
his excellent performance; which filled the poor soul with a now
unimaginable joy.
"HELAS," says Formey, "the poor Gentleman wrote to me of his
endless satisfaction; and how he hoped to get through his building,
and retire on half-pay this very season, thenceforth to belong to
the Academy and me; he had been Member for twenty years past."
With this view, thinks Formey, he most likely hastened on his
buildings too fast: certain it is, a barrack he was building
tumbled suddenly, and some workmen perished in the ruins.
"Enemies at Court suggested," or the accident itself suggested
without any enemy, "Has not he been playing false, using cheap bad
materials?"--and Friedrich ordered him arrest in his own
Apartments, till the question were investigated. Excitable Lefebvre
was like to lose his wits, almost to leap out of his skin.
"One evening at supper, he managed to smuggle away a knife; and, in
the course of the night, gave himself sixteen stabs with it;
which at length sufficed. The King said, 'He has used himself worse
than I should have done;' and was very sorry." Of Lefebvre's
scientific structures, globes of compression and the rest, I know
not whether anything is left; the above Two Notes, thrown off to
Formey, were accidentally a hit, and, in the great blank, may last
a long while.
The King found this young Kaiser a very pretty man; and could have
liked him considerably, had their mutual positions permitted.
"He had a frankness of manner which seemed natural to him," says
the King; "in his amiable character, gayety and great vivacity were
prominent features." By accidental chinks, however, one saw "an
ambition beyond measure" burning in the interior of this young man,
[ OEuvres de Frederic, (in Memoires
de 1763 jusqu'a 1775, a Chapter which yields the
briefest, and the one completely intelligible account we yet have
of those affairs), vi. 25.]--let an old King be wary. A three days,
clearly, to be marked in chalk; radiant outwardly to both; to a
certain depth, sincere; and uncommonly pleasant for the time.
King and Kaiser were seen walking about arm in arm. At one of the
Reviews a Note was brought to Friedrich: he read it, a Note from
her Imperial Majesty; and handing it to Kaiser Joseph, kissed it
first. At parting, he had given Joseph, by way of keepsake, a copy
of Marechal de Saxe's REVERIES (a strange Military Farrago,
dictated, I should think, under opium ["MES REVERIES; OUVRAGE
POSTHUME, par" &c. (2 vols. 4to: Amsterdam et Leipzig, 1757).]):
this Book lay continually thereafter on the Kaiser's night-table;
and was found there at his death, Twenty-one years hence,--not a
page of it read, the leaves all sticking together under their
bright gilding. [Preuss, iv. 24 n.]
It was long believed, by persons capable of seeing into millstones,
that, under cover of this Neisse Interview, there were important
Political negotiations and consultings carried on;--that here, and
in a Second Interview or Return-Visit, of which presently, lay the
real foundation of the Polish Catastrophe. What of Political passed
at the Second Interview readers shall see for themselves, from an
excellent Authority. As to what passed at the present ("mutual
word-of-honor: should England and France quarrel, we will stand
neutral" [ OEuvres de Frederic, ubi supra.]),
it is too insignificant for being shown to readers. Dialogues there
were, delicately holding wide of the mark, and at length coming
close enough; but, at neither the one Interview nor the other, was
Poland at all a party concerned,--though, beyond doubt, the Turk
War was; silently this first time, and with clear vocality on the
second occasion.
In spite of Galitzin's blunders, the Turk War is going on at a fine
rate in these months; Turks, by the hundred thousand, getting
scattered in panic rout:--but we will say nothing of it just yet.
Polish Confederation--horror-struck, as may be imagined, at its
auxiliary Brother of the Sun and Moon and his performances--is
weltering in violently impotent spasms into deeper and ever deeper
wretchedness, Friedrich sometimes thinking of a Burlesque Poem on
the subject;--though the Russian successes, and the Austrian
grudgings and gloomings, are rising on him as a very serious
consideration. "Is there no method, then, of allowing Russia to
prosecute its Turk War in spite of Austria and its umbrages?"
thinks Friedrich sometimes, in his anxieties about Peace in
Europe:--"If the Ukraine, and its meal for the Armies, were but
Russia's! At present, Austria can strike in there, cut off the
provisions, and at once put a spoke in Russia's wheel."
Friedrich tells us, "he (ON," the King himself, what I do not find
in any other Book) "sent to Petersburg, under the name of Count
Lynar, the seraphic Danish Gentleman, who, in 1757, had brought
about the Convention of Kloster-Zeven, a Project, or Sketch of
Plan, for Partitioning certain Provinces of Poland, in that view;"
--the Lynar opining, so far as I can see, somewhat as follows:
"Russia to lay hold of the essential bit of Polish Territory for
provisioning itself against the Turk, and allow to Austria and
Prussia certain other bits; which would content everybody, and
enable Russia and Christendom to extrude and suppress AD LIBITUM
that abominable mass of Mahometan Sensualism, Darkness and
Fanaticism from the fairest part of God's Creation." An excellent
Project, though not successful! "To which Petersburg, intoxicated
with its own outlooks on Turkey, paid not the least attention,"
says the King. [ OEuvres de Frederic, vi. 26.]
He gives no date to this curious statement; nor does anybody else
mention it at all; but we may fancy it to have been of Winter,
1769-1770,--and leave it with the curious, or the idly curious,
since nothing came of it now or afterwards.
POTSDAM, 20th-29th OCTOBER, 1769. Only two months after Neisse,
what kindles Potsdam into sudden splendor, Electress Marie-Antoine
makes a Visit of nine days to the King. "In July last," says a
certain Note of ours, "the Electress was invited to Berlin, to a
Wedding; 'would have been delighted to come, but letter of
invitation arrived too late. Will, however, not give up the plan of
seeing the great Friedrich.' Comes to Potsdam 20th-29th October.
Stays nine days; much delighted, both, with the visit.
'Magnificent palaces, pleasant gardens, ravishing concerts,
charming Princes and Princesses: the pleasantest nine days I ever
had in my life,' says the Electress. Friedrich grants, to her
intercession, pardon for some culprit. 'DIVA ANTONIA' he calls her
henceforth for some time; she him, 'PLUS GRAND DES MORTELS,'
'SALOMON DU NORD,' and the like names." [ OEuvres de
Frederic, (CORRESPONDANCE AVEC L'ELECTRICE MARIE-
ANTOINE), xxiv. 179-186.] Next year too (September 26th-October
5th, 1770), the bright Lady made a second visit; [Rodenbeck, iii.
24.] no third,--the times growing too political, perhaps; the times
not suiting. The Correspondence continues to the end; and is really
pretty. And would be instructive withal, were it well edited. For
example,--if we might look backwards, and shoot a momentary spark
into the vacant darkness of the Past,--Friedrich wrote (the year
before this):--
POTSDAM, 3d MAY, 1768. ... "Jesuits have got all cut adrift: A dim
rumor spreads that his Holiness will not rest with that first
anathema, but that a fulminating Bull is coming out against the
Most Christian, the Most Catholic and the Most Faithful. If that be
so, my notion is, Madam, that the Holy Father, to fill his table,
will admit the Defender of the Faith [poor George III.] and your
Servant; for it does not suit a Pope to sit solitary. ...
"A pity for the human race, Madam, that men cannot be tranquil,--
but they never and nowhere can! Not even the little Town of
Neufchatel but has had its troubles; your Royal Highness will be
astonished to learn how. A Parson there [this was above seven years
ago, in old Marischal's reign [See Letters to Marischal, "Leipzig,
9th March, 1761," "Breslau, 14th May, 1762:" in OEuvres de
Frederic, xx. 282, 287.]] had set forth in a sermon,
That considering the immense mercy of God, the pains of Hell could
not last forever. The Synod shouted murder at such scandal; and has
been struggling, ever since, to get the Parson exterminated.
The affair was of my jurisdiction; for your Royal Highness must
know that I am Pope in that Country;--here is my decision: Let the
parsons, who make for themselves a cruel and barbarous God, be
eternally damned, as they desire, and deserve; and let those
parsons, who conceive God gentle and merciful, enjoy the plenitude
of his mercy! However, Madam, my sentence has failed to calm men's
minds; the schism continues; and the number of the damnatory
theologians prevails over the others." ["April 2d, 1768" (a month
before this Letter to Madam), there is "riot at Neufchatel;
and Avocat Gardot [heterodox Parson's ADVOCATE] killed in it"
(Rodenbeck, ii. 303).]--Or again:--
POTSDAM, 1st DECEMBER, 1766. "At present I have with me my Niece
[Sister's Daughter, of Schwedt], the Duchess of Wurtemberg;
who remembers with pleasure to have had the happiness of seeing
your Royal Highness in former times. She is very unhappy and much
to be pitied; her Husband [Eugen of Wurtemberg, whom we heard much
of, and last at Colberg] gives her a deal of trouble: he is a
violent man, from whom she has everything to fear; who gives her
chagrins, and makes her no allowances. I try my best to bring him
to reason;"--but am little successful. Three years after this, "May
3d, 1769," we find Eugen, who once talked of running his august
Reigning Brother through the body, has ended by returning to
Stuttgard and him; where, or at Mumpelgard, his Apanage, he
continued thenceforth. And was Reigning Duke himself, long
afterwards, for two years, at the very end of his life.
["Succeeded," on his Brother Karl's death, "20th May, 1795;
died 23d December, 1797, age 75."] At this date of 1766, "my poor
Niece and he" have been married thirteen years, and have half a
score of children;--the eldest of them Czar Paul's Second Wife that
is to be, and Mother of the now Czars.
DECEMBER 17th, 1765. ... "I have had 12,360 houses and barns to
rebuild, and am nearly through with that. But how many other wounds
remain yet to be healed!"
JULY 22d, 1766. ... "Wedding festivities of Prince of Prussia.
Duchess of Kingston tipsy on the occasion!"--But we must not be
tempted farther. [ OEuvres de Frederic,
xxiv. 90-155.]
NEXT YEAR THERE IS A SECOND INTERVIEW; FRIEDRICH MAKING A
RETURN-VISIT DURING THE KAISER'S MORAVIAN REVIEWS (Camp of
Mahrisch-Neustadt, 3d-7th September, 1770).
The Russian-Turk especially in Second Campaign of it, "Liberation
of Greece," or, failing that, total destruction of the Turk Fleet
in Greek waters; conquest of Wallachia, as of Moldavia; in a word,
imminency of total ruin to the Turk by land and sea,--all this is
blazing aloft at such a pitch, in Summer, 1770, that a new
Interview upon it may well, to neighbors so much interested, seem
more desirable than ever. Interview accordingly there is to be:
3d September, and for four days following.
Kaunitz himself attends, this time; something of real business
privately probable to Kaunitz. Prince Henri is not there;
Prince Henri is gone to Sweden; on visit to his Sister, whom he has
not seen since boyhood: of which Visit there will be farther
mention. Present with the King were: [Rodenbeck, iii. 21.] the
Prince of Prussia (luckier somewhat in his second wedlock, little
red-colored Son and Heir born to him just a month ago);
[Friedrich Wilhelm III., "born 3d August, 1770."] Prince Ferdinand;
two Brunswick Nephews, ERBPRINZ whom we used to hear of, and
Leopold a junior, of whom we shall once or so. No Seidlitz this
time. Except Lentulus, no General to name. But better for us than
all Generals, in the Kaiser's suite, besides Kaunitz, was Prince de
Ligne,--who holds a PEN, as will appear.
"Liberation of the Greeks" had kindled many people, Voltaire among
the number, who is still intermittently in correspondence with
Friedrich: "A magnificent Czarina about to revivify that true
Temple of Mankind, or at least to sweep the blockhead Turks out of
it; what a prospect!" Friedrich is quite cool on Greece; not too
hot on any part of this subject, though intensely concerned about
it. Besides his ingenious Count-Lynar Project, and many other
businesses, Friedrich has just been confuting Baron d'Holbach's
Systeme de la Nature; ["EXAMEN CRITIQUE DU
SYSTEME DE LA NATURE [in OEuvres de Frederic,
ix. 153 et seq.], finished July, 1770."]--writing to Voltaire,
POTSDAM, 18th AUGUST, 1770, on this subject among others, he adds:
"I am going for Silesia, on the Reviews. I am to see the Kaiser,
who has invited me to his Camp in Mahren. That is an amiable and
meritorious Prince; he values your Works, reads them as diligently
as he can; is anything but superstitious: in brief, a Kaiser such
as Germany has not for a great while had. Neither he nor I have any
love for the blockhead and barbaric sort;--but that is no reason
for extirpating them: if it were, your Turks [oppressors of Greece]
would not be the only victims!" [ OEuvres de Frederic, xxiii. 165, 166.]
In a lengthy Letter, written by request, TO STANISLAUS, KING OF
POLAND, 1735, or at a distance of fifteen years from this Interview
at Neustadt, Prince de Ligne, who was present there, has left us
some record or loose lively reminiscence of it; [Prince de Ligne,
Memoires et Melanges Historiques (Par. 1827),
i. 3-21.]--sputtering, effervescing, epigrammatic creature, had he
confined himself to a faithful description, and burnt off for us,
not like a pretty fire-work, but like an innocent candle, or thing
for seeing by! But we must take what we have, and endeavor to be
thankful. By great luck, the one topic he insists on is Friedrich
and his aspect and behavior on the occasion: which is what, of all
else in it, we are most concerned with.
"You have ordered me, Sire [this was written for him in 1785], to
speak to you of one of the greatest men of this Age. You admire
him, though his neighborhood has done you mischief enough;
and, placing yourself at the impartial distance of History, feel a
noble curiosity on all that belongs to this extraordinary genius.
I will, therefore, give you an exact account of the smallest words
that I myself heard the great Friedrich speak. ... The I (LE JE) is
odious to me; but nothing is indifferent when"--Well, your account,
then, your account, without farther preambling, and in a more exact
way than you are wont!--
"By a singular chance, in 1770 [3d-7th September, if you would but
date], the Kaiser was [for the second time] enabled to deliver
himself to the personal admiration which he had conceived for the
King of Prussia; and these Two great Sovereigns were so well
together, that they could pay visits. The Kaiser permitted me to
accompany; and introduced me to the King: it was at Neustadt in
Moravia [MAHRISCH-NEUSTADT, short way from AUSTERLITZ, which is
since become a celebrated place]. I can't recollect if I had, or
had assumed, an air of embarrassment; but what I do well remember
is, that the Kaiser, who noticed my look, said to the King, 'He has
a timid expression, which I never observed in him before; he will
recover presently.' This he said in a graceful merry way; and the
two went out, to go, I believe, to the Play. On the way thither,
the King for an instant quitting his Imperial Friend, asked me if
my LETTER TO JEAN JACQUES [now an entirely forgotten Piece], which
had been printed in the Papers, was really by me? I answered,
'Sire, I am not famous enough to have my name forged' [as a certain
Other name has been, on this same unproductive topic]. He felt what
I meant. It is known that Horace Walpole took the King's name to
write his famous LETTRE A JEAN JACQUES [impossible to attend to the
like of it at present], which contributed the most to drive mad
that eloquent and unreasonable man of genius.
"Coming out of the Play, the Kaiser said to the King of Prussia:
'There is Noverre, the famous Composer of Ballets; he has been in
Berlin, I believe.' Noverre made thereupon a beautiful dancing-
master bow. 'Ah, I know him,' said the King: 'we saw him at Berlin;
he was very droll; mimicked all the world, especially our chief
Dancing Women, to make you split with laughing.' Noverre, ill
content with this way of remembering him, made another beautiful
third-position bow; and hoped possibly the King would say something
farther, and offer him the opportunity of a small revenge.
'Your Ballets are beautiful,' said the King to him; 'your Dancing
Girls have grace; but it is grace in a squattish form (DE LA GRACE
ENGONCEE). I think you make them raise their shoulders and their
arms too much. For, Monsieur Noverre, if you remember, our
principal Dancing Girl at Berlin wasn't so.' 'That is why she was
at Berlin, Sire,' replied Noverre [satirically, all he could].
"I was every day asked to sup with the King; too often the
conversation addressed itself to me. In spite of my attachment to
the Kaiser, whose General I like to be, but not whose D'Argens or
Algarotti, I had not beyond reason abandoned myself to that
feeling. When urged by the King's often speaking to me, I had to
answer, and go on talking. Besides, the Kaiser took a main share in
the conversation; and was perhaps more at his ease with the King
than the King with him. One day, they got talking of what one would
wish to be in this world; and they asked my opinion. I said, I
should like to be 'a Pretty Woman till thirty; then, till sixty, a
fortunate and skilful General;'--and not knowing what more to say,
but for the sake of adding something, whatever it might be, 'a
Cardinal till eighty.' The King, who likes to banter the Sacred
College, made himself merry on this; and the Kaiser gave him a
cheap bargain of Rome and its upholders (SUPPOTS). That supper was
one of the gayest and pleasantest I have ever seen. The Two
Sovereigns were without pretension and without reserve; what did
not always happen on other days; and the amiability of two men so
superior, and often so astonished to see themselves together, was
the agreeablest thing you can imagine. The King bade me come and
see him the first time he and I should have three or four hours to
ourselves.
"A storm such as there never was, a deluge compared with which that
of Deucalion was a summer shower, covered our Hills with water
[cannot say WHICH day of the four], and almost drowned our Army
while attempting to manoeuvre. The morrow was a rest-day for that
reason. At nine in the morning, I went to the King, and stayed till
one. He spoke to me of our Generals; I let him say, of his own
accord, the things I think of Marshals Lacy and Loudon; and I
hinted that, as to the others, it was better to speak of the dead
than of the living; and that one never can well judge of a General
who has not in his lifetime actually played high parts in War.
He spoke to me of Feldmarschall Daun: I said, 'that against the
French I believed he might have proved a great man; but that
against him [you], he had never quite been all he was; seeing
always his opponent as a Jupiter, thunder-bolt in hand, ready to
pulverize his Army.' That appeared to give the King pleasure:
he signified to me a feeling of esteem for Daun; he spoke favorably
of General Brentano [one of the Maxen gentlemen]. I asked his
reason for the praises I knew he had given to General Beck.
'Why (MAIS), I thought him a man of merit,' said the King. 'I do
not think so, Sire; he didn't do you much mischief.' 'He sometimes
took Magazines from me.' 'And sometimes let your Generals escape.'
(Bevern at REICHENBACH, for instance, do you reckon that his
blame?)--'I have never beaten him,' said the King. 'He never came
near enough for that: and I always thought your Majesty was only
appearing to respect him, in order that we might have more
confidence in him, and that you might give him the better slap some
day, with interest for all arrears.'
KING. "'Do you know who taught me the little I know? It was your
old Marshal Traun: that was a man, that one.--You spoke of the
French: do they make progress?'
EGO. "'They are capable of everything in time of war, Sire: but in
Peace,--their chiefs want them to be what they are not, what they
are not capable of being.'
KING. "'How, then; disciplined? They were so in the time of
M. de Turenne.'
EGO. "'Oh, it isn't that. They were not so in the time of M. de
Vendome, and they went on gaining battles. But it is now wished
that they become your Apes and ours; and that does n't suit them.'
KING. "'Perhaps so: I have said of their busy people (FAISEURS,'
St. Germains and Army-Reformers), 'that they would fain sing
without knowing music.'
EGO. "'Oh, that is true! But leave them their natural notes;
profit by their bravery, their alertness (LEGERETE), by their very
faults,--I believe their confusion might confuse their enemies
sometimes.'
KING. "'Well, yes, doubtless, if you have something to support
them with.'
EGO. "'Just so, Sire,--some Swiss and Germans.'
KING. "''T is a brave and amiable nation, the French; one can't
help loving them:--but, MON DIEU, what have they made of their Men
of Letters; and what a tone has now come up among them!
Voltaire, for example, had an excellent tone. D'Alembert, whom I
esteem in many respects, is too noisy, and insists too much on
producing effect in society:--was it the Men of Letters that gave
the Court of Louis XIV. its grace, or did they themselves acquire
it from the many amiable persons they found there? He was the
Patriarch of Kings, that one [in a certain sense, your Majesty!].
In his lifetime a little too much good was said of him; but a great
deal too much ill after his death.'
EGO. "'A King of France, Sire, is always the Patriarch of Clever
People (PATRIARCHE DES GENS D'ESPRIT:' You do not much mean this,
Monsieur? You merely grin it from the teeth outward?)
KING. "'That is the bad Number to draw: they are n't worth a doit
(NE VALENT PAS LE DIABLE, these GENS D'ESPRIT) at Governing.
Better be Patriarch of the Greek Church, like my sister the Empress
of Russia! That brings her, and will bring, advantages. There's a
religion for you; comprehending many Countries and different
Nations! As to our poor Lutherans, they are so few, it is not worth
while being their Patriarch.'
EGO. "'Nevertheless, Sire, if one join to them the Calvinists, and
all the little bastard Sects, it would not be so bad a post.
[The King appeared to kindle at this; his eyes were full of
animation. But it did not last when I said:] If the Kaiser were
Patriarch of the Catholics, that too wouldn't be a bad place.'
KING. "'There, there: Europe divided into Three Patriarchates.
I was wrong to begin; you see where that leads us: Messieurs, our
dreams are not those of the just, as M. le Regent used to say.
If Louis XIV. were alive, he would thank us.'
"All these patriarchal ideas, possible and impossible to realize,
made him, for an instant, look thoughtful, almost moody.
KING. "'Louis XIV., possessing more judgment than cleverness
(ESPRIT), looked out more for the former quality than for the
latter. It was men of genius that he wanted, and found. It could
not be said that Corneille, Bossuet, Racine and Conde were people
of the clever sort (DES HOMMES D'ESPRIT).'
EGO. "'On the whole, there is that in the Country which really
deserves to be happy, It is asserted that your Majesty has said, If
one would have a fine dream, one must--'
KING. "'Yes, it is true,--be King of France.'
EGO. "'If Francis I. and Henri IV. had come into the world after
your Majesty, they would have said, "be King of Prussia."'
KING. "'Tell me, pray, is there no citable Writer left in France?'
"This made me laugh; the King asked the reason. I told him, He
reminded me of the RUSSE A PARIS, that charming little piece of
verse of M. de Voltaire's; and we remembered charming things out of
it, which made us both laugh. He said,
KING. "'I have sometimes heard the Prince de Conti spoken of: what
sort of man is he?'
EGO. "'He is a man composed of twenty or thirty men. He is proud,
he is affable,'"--he is fiddle, he is diddle (in the seesaw
epigrammatic way, for a page or more); and is not worth pen and ink
from us, since the time old Marshal Traun got us rid of him,--home
across the Rhine, full speed, with Croats sticking on his skirts.
[Supra, viii. 475.]
"This portrait seemed to amuse the King. One had to captivate him
by some piquant detail; without that, he would escape you, give you
no time to speak. The success generally began by the first words,
no matter how vague, of any conversation; these he found means to
make interesting; and what, generally, is mere talk about the
weather became at once sublime; and one never heard anything vulgar
from him. He ennobled everything; and the examples of Greeks and
Romans, or of modern Generals, soon dissipated everything of what,
with others, would have remained trivial and commonplace.
"'Have you ever,' said he, 'seen such a rain as yesterday's? Your
orthodox Catholics will say, "That comes of having a man without
religion among us: what are we to do with this cursed (MAUDIT)
King; a Protestant at lowest?" for I really think I brought you bad
luck. Your soldiers would be saying, "Peace we have; and still is
this devil of a man to trouble us!"'
EGO. "'Certainly, if your Majesty was the cause, it is very bad.
Such a thing is only permitted to Jupiter, who has always good
reasons for everything; and it would have been in his fashion,
after destroying the one set by fire, to set about destroying the
others by water. However, the fire is at an end; and I did not
expect to revert to it.'
KING. "'I ask your pardon for having plagued you so often with
that; I regret it for the sake of all mankind. But what a fine
Apprenticeship of War! I have committed errors enough to teach you
young people, all of you, to do better. MON DIEU, how I love your
grenadiers! How well they defiled in my presence! If the god Mars
were raising a body-guard for himself, I should advise him to take
them hand over head. Do you know I was well pleased (BIEN CONTENT)
with the Kaiser last night at supper? Did you hear what he said to
me about Liberty of the Press, and the Troubling of Consciences (LA
GENE DES CONSCIENCES)? There will be bits of difference between his
worthy Ancestors and him, on some points!'
EGO. "'I am persuaded, he will entertain no prejudices on anything;
and that your Majesty will be a great Book of Instruction to him.'
KING. "'How adroitly he disapproved, without appearing to mean
anything, the ridiculous Vienna Censorship; and the too great
fondness of his Mother (without naming her) for certain things
which only make hypocrites. By the by, she must detest you, that
High Lady?'
EGO. "'Well, then, not at all. She has sometimes lectured me about
my strayings, but very maternally: she is sorry for me, and quite
sure that I shall return to the right path. She said to me, some
time ago, "I don't know how you do, you are the intimate friend of
Father Griffet; the Bishop of Neustadt has always spoken well of
you; likewise the Archbishop of Malines; and the Cardinal [name
Sinzendorf, or else not known to me, dignity and red hat
sufficiently visible] loves you much."'
"Why cannot I remember the hundred luminous things which escaped
the King in this conversation! It lasted till the trumpet at Head-
quarters announced dinner. The King went to take his place; and I
think it was on this occasion that, some one having asked why M. de
Loudon had not come yet, he said, 'That is not his custom:
formerly he often arrived before me. Please let him take this place
next me; I would rather have him at my side than opposite.'"
That is very pretty. And a better authority gives it, The King said
to Loudon himself, on Loudon's entering, "Mettez-vous
aupres de moi, M. de Loudon; j'aime mieux vous avoir a cote de moi
que vis-a-vis." He was very kind to Loudon;
"constantly called him M. LE FELDMARECHAL [delicate hint of what
should have been, but WAS not for seven years yet]; and, at
parting, gave him [as he did to Lacy also] two superb horses,
magnificently equipped." [Pezzl, Vie de Loudon, ii. 29.]
"Another day," continues Prince de Ligne, "the Manoeuvres being
over in good time, there was a Concert at the Kaiser's.
Notwithstanding the King's taste for music, he was pleased to give
me the preference; and came where I was, to enchant me with the
magic of his conversation, and the brilliant traits, gay and bold,
which characterize him. He asked me to name the general and
particular Officers who were present, and to tell him those who had
served under Marshal Traun: 'For, ENFIN,' he said, 'as I think I
have told you already, he is my Master; he corrected me in the
Schooling I was at.'
EGO. "'Your Majesty was very ungrateful, then; you never paid him
his lessons. If it was as your Majesty says, you should at least
have allowed him to beat you; and I do not remember that you
ever did.'
KING. "'I did not get beaten, because I did not fight.'
EGO. "'It is in this manner that the greatest Generals have often
conducted their wars against each other. One has only to look at
the two Campaigns of M. de Montecuculi and M. de Turenne, in the
Valley of the Rench [Strasburg Country, 1674 and 1675, two
celebrated Campaigns, Turenne killed by a cannon-shot in the last].
KING. "'Between Traun and the former there is not much difference;
but what a difference, BON DIEU, between the latter and me!'
"I named to him the Count d'Althan, who had been Adjutant-General,
and the Count de Pellegrini. He asked me twice which was which,
from the distance we were at; and said, He was so short-sighted, I
must excuse him.
EGO. "'Nevertheless, Sire, in the war your sight was good enough;
and, if I remember right, it reached very far!'
KING. "'It was not I; it was my glass.'
EGO. "'Ha, I should have liked to find that glass;--but, I fear it
would have suited my eyes as little as Scanderbeg's sword my arm.'
"I forget how the conversation changed; but I know it grew so free
that, seeing somebody coming to join in it, the King warned him to
take care; that it was n't safe to converse with a man doomed by
the theologians to Everlasting Fire. I felt as if he somewhat
overdid this of his 'being doomed,' and that he boasted too much of
it. Not to hint at the dishonesty of these free-thinking gentlemen
(MESSIEURS LES ESPRITS FORTS), who very often are thoroughly afraid
of the Devil, it is, at least, bad taste to make display of such
things: and it was with the people of bad taste whom he has had
about him, such as a Jordan, a D'Argens, Maupertuis, La Beaumelle,
La Mettrie, Abbe de Prades, and some dull sceptics of his own
Academy, that he had acquired the habit of mocking at Religion; and
of talking (DE PARLER) Dogma, Spinoism, Court of Rome and the like.
In the end, I did n't always answer when he touched upon it. I now
seized a moment's interval, while he was using his handkerchief, to
speak to him about some business, in connection with the Circle of
Westphalia, and a little COMTE IMMEDIAT [County holding direct, of
the Reich] which I have there. The King answered me: 'I, for my
part, will do anything you wish; but what thinks the other
Director, my comrade, the Elector of Cologne, about it?'
EGO. "'I was not aware, Sire, that you were an Ecclesiastical
Elector.'
KING. "'I am so; at least on my Protestant account.'
EGO. "'That is not to OUR account's advantage! Those good people of
mine believe your Majesty to be their protector.'
"He continued asking me the names of persons he saw. I was telling
him those of a number of young Princes who had lately entered the
Service, and some of whom gave hopes. 'That may be,' said he;
'but I think the breed of the governing races ought to be crossed.
I like the children of love: look at the Marechal de Saxe, and my
own Anhalt [severe Adjutant von Anhalt, a bastard of Prinz Gustav,
the Old Dessauer's Heir-Apparent, who begot a good many bastards,
but died before inheriting: bastards were brought up, all of them
to soldiering, by their Uncles,---this one by Uncle Moritz;
was thrown from his horse eight years HENCE, to the great joy of
many]; though I am afraid that SINCE [mark this SINCE, alas!] his
fall on his head, that latter is not so good as formerly. I should
be grieved at it, [Not for eight years yet, MON PRINCE, I am sorry
to say! Adjutant von Anhalt did, in reality, get this fall, and
damaging hurt on the head, in the "Bavarian War" (nicknamed
KARTOFFEL-KRIEG, "Potato-War"), 1778-1779. Militair-
Lexikon, i. 69: see Preuss, ii. 356, iv. 578; &c.]
both for his sake and for mine; he is a man full of talents.'
"I am glad to remember this; for I have heard it said by silly
slanderous people (SOTS DENIGRANTS), who accuse the King of Prussia
of insensibility, that he was not touched by the accident which
happened to the man he seemed to love most. Too happy if one had
only said that of him! He was supposed to be jealous of the merit
of Schwerin and of Keith, and delighted to have got them killed.
It is thus that mediocre people seek to lower great men, to
diminish the immense space that lies between themselves and such.
"Out of politeness, the King, and his Suite as well, had put on
white [Austrian] Uniforms, not to bring back on us that blue which
we had so often seen in war. He looked as though he belonged to our
Army and to the Kaiser's suite. There was, in this Visit, I
believe, on both sides, a little personality, some distrust, and
perhaps a beginning of bitterness;--as always happens, says
Philippe de Comines, when Sovereigns meet. The King took Spanish
snuff, and brushing it off with his hand from his coat as well as
he could, he said, 'I am not clean enough for you, Messieurs; I am
not worthy to wear your colors.' The air with which he said this,
made me think he would yet soil them with powder, if the
opportunity arose.
"I forgot a little Incident which gave me an opportunity of setting
off (FAIRE VALOIR) the two Monarchs to each other [Incident about
the King's high opinion of the Kaiser's drill-sergeantry in this
day's manoeuvres, and how I was the happy cause of the Kaiser's
hearing it himself: Incident omissible; as the whole Sequel is,
except a sentence or two].--
... "On this Neustadt occasion, the King was sometimes too
ceremonious; which annoyed the Kaiser. For instance,--I know not
whether meaning to show himself a disciplined Elector of the Reich,
but so it was,--whenever the Kaiser put his foot in stirrup, the
King was sure to take his Majesty's horse by the bridle, stand
respectfully waiting the Kaiser's right foot, and fit it into ITS
stirrup: and so with everything else. The Kaiser had the more
sincere appearance, in testifying his great respect; like that of a
young Prince to an aged King, and of a young Soldier to the
greatest of Captains. ...
"Sometimes there were appearances of cordiality between the two
Sovereigns. One saw that Friedrich II. loved Joseph II., but that
the preponderance of the Empire, and the contact of Bohemia and
Silesia, a good deal barred the sentiments of King and Kaiser.
You remember, Sire [Ex-Sire of Poland], their LETTERS [readers
shall see them, in 1778,--or rather REFUSE to see them!'] on the
subject of Bavaria; their compliments, the explanations they had
with regard to their intentions; all carried on with such
politeness; and that from politeness to politeness, the King ended
by invading Bohemia."
Well, here is legible record, with something really of portraiture
in it, valuable so far as it goes; record unique on this subject;--
and substantially true, though inexact enough in details.
Thus, even in regard to that of Anhalt's HEAD, which is so
impossible in this First Dialogue, Friedrich did most probably say
something of the kind, in a Second which there is, of date 1780;
of which latter De Ligne is here giving account as well,--though we
have to postpone it till its time come.
At this Neustadt Interview there did something of Political occur;
and readers ought to be shown exactly what. Kaunitz had come with
the Kaiser; and this something was intended as the real business
among the gayeties and galas at Neustadt. Poland, or its Farce-
Tragedy now playing, was not once mentioned that I hear of;
though perhaps, as FLEBILE LUDIBRIUM, it might turn up for moments
in dinner-conversation or the like: but the astonishing Russian-
Turk War, which has sprung out of Poland, and has already filled
Stamboul and its Divans and Muftis with mere horror and amazement;
and, in fact, has brought the Grand Turk to the giddy rim of the
Abyss; nothing but ruin and destruction visible to him:
this, beyond all other things whatever, is occupying these high
heads at present;--and indeed the two latest bits of Russian-Turk
news have been of such a blazing character as to occupy all the
world more or less. Readers, some glances into the Turk War, I
grieve to say, are become inevitable to us!
RUSSIAN-TURK WAR, FIRST TWO CAMPAIGNS.
"OCTOBER 6th, 1768, Turks declare War; Russian Ambassador thrown
into the Seven Towers as a preliminary, where he sat till Peace
came to be needed. MARCH 23d, 1769, Display their Banner of
Mahomet, all in paroxysm of Fanaticism risen to the burning point:
'Under pain of death, No Giaour of you appear on the streets, nor
even look out, of window, this day!' Austrian Ambassador's Wife, a
beautiful gossamer creature, venturing to transgress on that point,
was torn from her carriage by the Populace, and with difficulty
saved from destruction: Brother of the Sun and Moon, apologizing
afterwards down to the very shoe-tie, is forgiven."
FIRST CAMPAIGN; 1769. "APRIL 26th-30th, Galitzin VERSUS Choczim;
can't, having no provender or powder. Falls back over Dniester
again,--overhears that extraordinary DREAM, as above recited,
betokening great rumor in Russian Society against such Purblind
Commanders-in-Chief. Purblind VERSUS Blind is fine play,
nevertheless; wait, only wait:--
"JULY 2d, Galitzin slowly gets on the advance again: 150,000 Turks,
still slower, are at last across the Donau (sharp enough French
Officers among them, agents of Choiseul; but a mass incurably
chaotic);--furiously intending towards Poland and extermination of
the Giaour. Do not reach Dniester River till September, and look
across on Poland,--for the first time, and also for the last, in
this War. SEPTEMBER 17th: Weather has been rainy; Dniester, were
Galitzin nothing, is very difficult for Turks; who try in two
places, but cannot. [Hermann, v. 611-613.] In a third place (name
not given, perhaps has no name), about 12,000 of them are across;
when Dniester, raging into flood, carries away their one Bridge,
and leaves the 12,000 isolated there. Purblind Galitzin, on express
order, does attack these 12,000 (night of September 17th-18th):--
'Hurrah' of the devouring Russians about midnight, hoarse shriek of
the doomed 12,000, wail of their brethren on the southern shore,
who cannot, help:--night of horrors 'from midnight till 2 A.M.;'
and the 12,000 massacred or captive, every man of them;
Russian loss 600 killed and wounded. Whereupon the Turk Army bursts
into unanimous insanity; and flows home in deliquium of ruin.
Choczim is got on the terms already mentioned (15 sick men and
women lying in it, and 184 bronze cannon, when we boat across);
Turk Army can by no effort be brought to halt anywhere;
flows across the Donau, disappears into Chaos:--and the whole of
Moldavia is conquered in this cheap manner. What, perhaps is still
better, Galitzin (28th September) is thrown out; Romanzow, hitherto
Commander of a second smaller Army, kind of covering wing to
Galitzin, is Chief for Second Campaign.
"In the Humber, this Winter, to the surprise of incredulous
mankind, a Russian Fleet drops anchor for a few days:
actual Russian Fleet intending for the Greek waters, for Montenegro
and intermediate errands, to conclude with 'Liberation of Greece
next Spring,'--so grandiose is this Czarina." [Hermann, v. 617.]
SECOND CAMPAIGN; 1770. "This is the flower of Anti-Turk Campaigns,
--victorious, to a blazing pitch, both by land and sea.
Romanzow, master of Moldavia, goes upon Wallachia, and the new or
rehabilitated Turk Army; and has an almost gratis bargain of both.
Romanzow has some good Officers under him ('Brigadier Stoffeln,'
much more 'General Tottlenen,' 'General Bauer,' once Colonel Bauer
of the Wesel Free-Corps,--many of the Superior Officers seem to be
German, others have Swedish or Danish names);--better Officers;
and knows better how to use them than Galitzin did. August 1st,
Romanzow has a Battle, called of Kaghul, in Pruth Country. That is
his one 'Battle' this Summer; and brings him Ismail, Akkerman, all
Wallachey, and no Turks left in those parts. But first let us
attend to sea-matters, and the Liberation of Greece, which precede
in time and importance.
"'Liberation of Greece:' an actual Fleet, steering from Cronstadt
to the Dardanelles to liberate Greece! The sound of it kindles all
the warm heads in Europe; especially Voltaire's, which, though
covered with the snow of age, is still warm internally on such
points. As to liberating Greece, Voltaire's hopes were utterly
balked; but the Fleet from Cronstadt did amazing service otherwise
in those waters. FEBRUARY 28th, 1770, first squadron of the Russian
Fleet anchors at Passawa,--not far from Calamata, in the Gulf of
Coron, on the antique Peloponnesian coast; Sparta on your right
hand, Arcadia on your left, and so many excellent Ghosts
(?#J&JL +J&) of Heroes looking on:--Russian squadron has four big
^^^^^^^^^^^^--(THIS IS GREEK TEXT) PAGE 291, BOOK XXI-------
-----------------------------------------------------
ships, three frigates, more soon to follow: on board there are arms
and munitions of war; but unhappily only 500 soldiers. Admiral-in-
Chief (not yet come up) is Alexei Orlof, a brother of Lover
Gregory's, an extremely worthless seaman and man. Has under him
'many Danes, a good few English too,'--especially Three English
Officers, whom we shall hear of, when Alexei and they come up.
Meanwhile, on the Peloponnesian coast are modern Spartans, to the
number of 15,000, all sitting ready, expecting the Russian advent:
these rose duly; got Russian muskets, cartridges,--only two Russian
Officers:--and attacked the Turks with considerable fury or
voracity, but with no success of the least solidity. Were foiled
here, driven out there; in fine, were utterly beaten, Russians and
they: lost Tripolizza, by surprise; whereupon (April 19th) the
Russians withdrew to their Fleet; and the Affair of Greece was at
an end. [Hermann, v. 621.] It had lasted (28th February-19th April)
seven weeks and a day. The Russians retired to their Fleet, with
little loss; and rode at their ease again, in Navarino Bay. But the
15,000 modern Spartans had nothing to retire to,--these had to
retire into extinction, expulsion and the throat of Moslem
vengeance, which was frightfully bloody and inexorable on them.
"Greece having failed, the Russian Fleet, now in complete tale,
made for Turkey, for Constantinople itself. 'Into the very
Dardanelles' they say they will go; an Englishman among them--
Captain Elphinstone, a dashing seaman, if perhaps rather noisy,
whom Rulhiere is not blind to--has been heard to declare, at least
in his cups: 'Dardanelles impossible? Pshaw, I will do it, as
easily as drink this glass of wine!' Alexei Orlof is a Sham-
Admiral; but under him are real Sea-Officers, one or two.
"In the Turkish Fleet, it seems, there is an Ex-Algerine, Hassan
Bey, of some capacity in sea-matters; but he is not in chief
command, only in second; and can accomplish nothing. The Turkish
Fleet, numerous but rotten, retires daily,--through the famed
Cyclades, and Isles of Greece, Paros, Naxos, apocalyptic Patmos, on
to Scio (old Chios of the wines); and on July 5th takes refuge
behind Scio, between Scio and the Coast of Smyrna, in Tchesme Bay.
'Safe here!' thinks the chief Turk Admiral. 'Very far from safe!'
remonstrates Hassan; though to no purpose. And privately puts the
question to himself, 'Have these Giaours a real Admiral among them,
or, like us, only a sham one?'"
TCHESME BAY, 7th JULY, 1770. "Nothing can be more imaginary than
Alexei Orlof as an Admiral: but he has a Captain Elphinstone, a
Captain Gregg, a Lieutenant Dugdale; and these determine to burn
poor Hassan and his whole Fleet in Tchesme here:--and do it
totally, night of July 7th; with one single fireship; Dugdale
steering it; Gregg behind him, to support with broadsides;
Elphinstone ruling and contriving, still farther to rear;
helpless Turk Fleet able to make no debate whatever. Such a blaze
of conflagration on the helpless Turks as shone over all the world
--one of Rulhiere's finest fire-works, with little shot;--the light
of which was still dazzling mankind while the Interview at Neustadt
took place. Turk Fleet, fifteen ships, nine frigates and above
8,000 men, gone to gases and to black cinders,--Hassan hardly
escaping with I forget how many score of wounds and bruises.
[Hermann, v. 623.]
"'Now for the Dardanelles,' said Elphinstone: (bombard
Constantinople, starve it,--to death, or to what terms you will!'
'Cannot be done; too dangerous; impossible!' answered the sham
Admiral, quite in a tremor, they say;--which at length filled the
measure of Elphinstone's disgusts with such a Fleet and Admiral.
Indignant Elphinstone withdrew to his own ship, 'Adieu, Sham-
Admiral!'--sailed with his own ship, through the impossible
Dardanelles (Turk batteries firing one huge block of granite at
him, which missed; then needing about forty minutes to load again);
feat as easy to Elphinstone as this glass of wine. In sight of
Constantinople, Elphinstone, furthermore, called for his tea; took
his tea on deck, under flourishing of all his drums and all his
trumpets: tea done, sailed out again scathless; instantly threw up
his command,--and at Petersburg, soon after, in taking leave of the
Czarina, signified to her, in language perhaps too plain, or
perhaps only too painfully true, some Naval facts which were not
welcome in that high quarter." [Rulhiere, iii. 476-509.] This
remarkable Elphinstone I take to be some junior or irregular
Balmerino scion; but could never much hear of him except in
RULHIERE, where, on vague, somewhat theatrical terms, he figures
as above.
"AUGUST 1st, Romanzow has a 'Battle of Kaghul,' so they call it;
though it is a 'Slaughtery' or SCHLACHTEREI, rather than a
'Slaught' or SCHLACHT, say my German friends. Kaghul is not a
specific place, but a longish river, a branch of the Pruth;
under screen of which the Grand Turk Army, 100,000 strong, with
100,000 Tartars as second line, has finally taken position, and
fortified itself with earthworks and abundant cannon. AUGUST 1st,
1770, Romanzow, after study and advising, feels prepared for this
Grand Army and its earthworks: with a select 20,000, under select
captains, Romanzow, after nightfall, bursts in upon it,
simultaneously on three different points; and gains, gratis or
nearly so, such a victory as was never heard of before. The Turks,
on their earthworks, had 140 cannons; these the Turk gunners fired
off two times, and fled, leaving them for Romanzow's uses. The Turk
cavalry then tried if they could not make some attempt at charging;
found they could not; whirled back upon their infantry; set it also
whirling: and in a word, the whole 200,000 whirled, without blow
struck; and it was a universal panic rout, and delirious stampede
of flight, which never paused (the very garrisons emptying
themselves, and joining in it) till it got across the Donau again,
and drew breath there, not to rally or stand, but to run rather
slower. And had left Wallachia, Bessarabia, Dniester river, Donau
river, swept clear of Turks; all Romanzow's henceforth. To such
astonishment of an invincible Grand Turk, and of his Moslem
Populations, fallen on such a set of Giaours ["ALLAH KERIM, And
cannot we abolish them, then?" Not we THEM, it would appear!],--as
every reader can imagine." Which shall suffice every reader here in
regard to the Turk War, and what concern he has in the extremely
brutish phenomenon.
Tchesme fell out July 7th; Elphinstone has hardly done his tea in
the Dardanelles, when (August 1st) this of Kaghul follows:
both would be fresh news blazing in every head while the Dialogues
between Friedrich and Kaunitz were going on. For they "had many
dialogues," Friedrich says; "and one of the days" (probably
September 6th) was mainly devoted to Politics, to deep private
Colloquy with Kaunitz. Of which, and of the great things that
followed out of it, I will now give, from Friedrich's own hand, the
one entirely credible account I have anywhere met with in writing.
Friedrich's account of Kaunitz himself is altogether life-like:
a solemn, arrogant, mouthing, browbeating kind of man,--embarrassed
at present by the necessity not to browbeat, and by the
consciousness that "King Friedrich is the only man who refuses to
acknowledge my claims to distinction:" [Rulhiere (somewhere) has
heard this, as an utterance of Kaunitz's in some plaintive moment.]
--a Kaunitz whose arrogances, qualities and claims this King is not
here to notice, except as they concern business on hand. He says,
"Kaunitz had a clear intellect, greatly twisted by perversities of
temper (UN SENS DROIT, L'ESPRIT REMPLI DE TRAVERS), especially by a
self-conceit and arrogance which were boundless. He did not talk,
but preach. At the smallest interruption, he would stop short in
indignant surprise: it has happened that, at the Council-Board in
Schonbrunn, when Imperial Majesty herself asked some explanation of
a word or thing not understood by her, Kaunitz made his bow (LUI
TIRA SA REVERENCE), and quitted the room." Good to know the nature
of the beast. Listen to him, then, on those terms, since it is
necessary. The Kaunitz Sermon was of great length, imbedded in
circumlocutions, innuendoes and diplomatic cautions; but the gist
of it we gather to have been (abridged into dialogue form)
essentially as follows:--
KAUNITZ. "Dangerous to the repose of Europe, those Russian
encroachments on the Turk. Never will Imperial Majesty consent that
Russia possess Moldavia or Wallachia; War sooner,--all things
sooner! These views of Russia are infinitely dangerous to
everybody. To your Majesty as well, if I may say so; and no remedy
conceivable against them,--to me none conceivable,--but this only,
That Prussia and Austria join frankly in protest and absolute
prohibition of them."
FRIEDRICH. "I have nothing more at heart than to stand well with
Austria; and always to be her ally, never her enemy. But your
Highness sees how I am situated: bound by express Treaty with
Czarish Majesty; must go with Russia in any War! What can I do?
I can, and will with all industry, labor to conciliate Czarish
Majesty and Imperial; to produce at Petersburg such a Peace with
the Turks as may meet the wishes of Vienna. Let us hope it can be
done. By faithful endeavoring, on my part and on yours, I persuade
myself it can. Meanwhile, steadfastly together, we two! All our
little rubs, custom-house squabbles on the Frontier, and such like,
why not settle them here, and now? [and does so with his Highness.]
That there be nothing but amity, helpfulness and mutual effort
towards an object so momentous to us both, and to all mankind!"
KAUNITZ. "Good so far. And may a not intolerable Turk-Russian Peace
prove possible, without our fighting for it! Meanwhile, Imperial
Majesty [as she has been visibly doing for some time] must continue
massing troops and requisites on the Hungarian Frontier, lest the
contrary happen!"
This was the result arrived at. Of which Friedrich "judged it but
polite to inform the young Kaiser; who appeared to be grateful for
this mark of attention, being much held down by Kaunitz in his
present state of tutelage." [ OEuvres de Frederic, xxvi. 30.]
And by a singular chance, on the very morrow there arrived from the
Divan (dated August 12th) an Express to Friedrich: "Mediate a Peace
for us with Russia; not you alone, as we have often asked, but
Austria AND you!" For the Kaghul Slaughtery has come on us;
Giaour Elphinstone has taken tea in the Dardanelles; and we know
not to what hand to turn!--"The young Kaiser did not hide his joy
at this Overture, as Kaunitz did his, which was perhaps still
greater:" the Kaiser warmly expressed his thanks to Friedrich as
the Author of it; Kaunitz, with a lofty indifference (MORGUE), and
nose in air as over a small matter, "merely signified his approval
of this step which the Turks had taken."
"Never was mediation undertaken with greater pleasure," adds the
King. And both did proceed upon it with all zeal; but only the King
as real "mediator," or MIDDLEman; Kaunitz from the first planting
himself immovably upon the Turk side of things, which is likewise
the Austrian; and playing in secret (as Friedrich probably expected
he would) the strangest tricks with his assumed function.
So that Friedrich had to take the burden of mediating altogether on
himself; and month after month, year after year, it is evident he
prosecutes the same with all the industry and faculty that are in
him,--in intense desire, and in hope often nearly desperate, to
keep his two neighbors' houses, and his own and the whole world
along with them, from taking fire. Apart from their conflicting
interests, the two Empresses have privately a rooted aversion to
one another. What with Russian exorbitancy (a Czarina naturally
uplifted with her Tchesmes and Kaghuls); what with Austrian
cupidity, pride, mulishness, and private trickery of Kaunitz;
the adroit and heartily zealous Friedrich never had such a bit of
diplomacy to do. For many months hence, in spite of his intensest
efforts and cunningest appliances, no way of egress visible:
"The imbroglio MUST catch fire!" At last a way opens, "Ha, at last
a way!"--then, for above a twelvemonth longer, such a guiding of
the purblind quadrupeds and obstinate Austrian mules into said way:
and for years more such an urging of them, in pig-driver fashion,
along the same, till Peace did come!--
And here, without knowing it, we have insensibly got to the topmost
summit of our Polish Business; one small step more, and we shall be
on the brow of the precipitous inclined-plane, down which Poland
and its business go careering thenceforth, down, down,--and will
need but few words more from us. Actual discovery of "a way out"
stands for next Section.
First, however, we will notice, as prefatory, a curious occurrence
in the Country of Zips, contiguous to the Hungarian Frontier.
Zips, a pretty enough District, of no great extent, had from time
immemorial belonged to Hungary; till, above 300 years ago, it was--
by Sigismund SUPER GRAMMATICAM, a man always in want of money (whom
we last saw, in flaming color, investing Friedrich's Ancestor with
Brandenburg instead of payment for a debt of money)--pledged to the
Crown of Poland for a round sum to help in Sigismund's pressing
occasions. Redemption by payment never followed; attempt at
redemption there had never been, by Sigismund or any of his
successors. Nay, one successor, in a Treaty still extant, [Preuss,
iv. 32 (date 1589; pawning had beep 1412).] expressly gave up the
right of redeeming: Pledge forfeited: a Zips belonging to Polish
Crown and Republic by every law.
Well; Imperial Majesty, as we have transiently seen, is assembling
troops on the Hungarian Frontier, for a special purpose.
Poor Poland is, by this time (1770), as we also saw, sunk in
Pestilence,--pigs and dogs devouring the dead bodies: not a loaf to
be had for a hundred ducats, and the rage of Pestilence itself a
mild thing to that of Hunger, not to mention other rages. So that
both Austria and Prussia, in order to keep out Pestilence at least,
if they cannot the other rages, have had to draw CORDONS, or lines
of troops along the Frontiers. "The Prussian cordon," I am
informed, "goes from Crossen, by Frankfurt northward, to the
Weichsel River and border of Warsaw Country:" and "is under the
command of General Belling," our famous Anti-Swede Hussar of former
years. The Austrian cordon looks over upon Zips and other
Starosties, on the Hungarian Border: where, independently of
Pestilence, an alarmed and indignant Empress-Queen has been and is
assembling masses of troops, with what object we know. Looking over
into Zips in these circumstances, indignant Kaunitz and Imperial
Majesty, especially HIS Imperial Majesty, a youth always passionate
for territory, say to themselves, "Zips was ours, and in a sense
is!"--and (precise date refused us, but after Neustadt, and before
Winter has quite come) push troops across into Zips Starosty:
seize the whole Thirteen Townships of Zips, and not only these, but
by degrees tract after tract of the adjacencies: "Must have a
Frontier to our mind in those parts: indefensible otherwise!"
And quietly set up boundary-pillars, with the Austrian double-eagle
stamped on them, and intimation to Zips and neighborhood, That it
is now become Austrian, and shall have no part farther in these
Polish Confederatings, Pestilences, rages of men, and pigs
devouring dead bodies, but shall live quiet under the double-eagle
as others do. Which to Zips, for the moment, might be a blessed
change, welcome or otherwise; but which awoke considerable
amazement in the outer world,--very considerable in King Stanislaus
(to whom, on applying, Kaunitz would give no explanation the least
articulate);--and awoke, in the Russian Court especially, a rather
intense surprise and provocation.
PRINCE HENRI HAS BEEN TO SWEDEN; IS SEEN AT PETERSBURG IN
MASQUERADE (on or about New-year's Day, 1771); AND
DOES GET HOME, WITH RESULTS THAT ARE IMPORTANT.
Prince Henri, as we noticed, was not of this Second King-and-Kaiser
Interview; Henri had gone in the opposite direction,--to Sweden, on
a visit to his Sister Ulrique,--off for West and North, just in the
same days while the King was leaving Potsdam for Silesia and his
other errand in the Southeast parts. Henri got to Drottingholm, his
Sister's country Palace near Stockholm, by the "end of August;" and
was there with Queen Ulrique and Husband during these Neustadt
manoeuvres. A changed Queen Ulrique, since he last saw her
"beautiful as Love," whirling off in the dead of night for those
remote Countries and destinies. [Supra, viii. 309.] She is now
fifty, or on the edge of it, her old man sixty,--old man dies
within few months. They have had many chagrins, especially she, as
the prouder, has had, from their contumacious People,--contumacious
Senators at least (strong always both in POCKET-MONEY French or
Russian, and in tendency to insolence and folly),--who once, I
remember, demanded sight and count of the Crown-Jewels from Queen
Ulrique: "There, VOILA, there are they!" said the proud Queen;
"view them, count them,--lock them up: never more will I wear one
of them!" But she has pretty Sons grown to manhood, one pretty
Daughter, a patient good old Husband; and Time, in Sweden too,
brings its roses; and life is life, in spite of contumacious bribed
Senators and doggeries that do rather abound. Henri stayed with her
six or seven weeks; leaves Sweden, middle of October, 1770,--not by
the straight course homewards: "No, verily, and well knew why!"
shrieks the indignant Polish world on us ever since.
It is not true that Friedrich had schemed to send Henri round by
Petersburg. On the contrary, it was the Czarina, on ground of old
acquaintanceship, who invited him, and asked his Brother's leave to
do it. And if Poland got its fate from the circumstance, it was by
accident, and by the fact that Poland's fate was drop-ripe, ready
to fall by a touch.--Before going farther, here is ocular view of
the shrill-minded, serious and ingenious Henri, little conscious of
being so fateful a man:-
PRINCE HENRI IN WHITE DOMINO. "Prince Henri of Prussia," says
Richardson, the useful Eye-witness cited already, "is one of the
most celebrated Generals of the present age. So great are his
military talents, that his Brother, who is not apt to pay
compliments, says of him,--That, in commanding an army, he was
never known to commit a fault. This, however, is but a negative
kind of praise. He [the King] reserves to himself the glory of
superior genius, which, though capable of brilliant achievements,
is yet liable to unwary mistakes: and allows him no other than the
praise of correctness.
"To judge of Prince Henri by his appearance, I should form no high
estimate of his abilities. But the Scythian Ambassadors judged in
the same manner of Alexander the Great. He is under the middle
size; very thin; he walks firmly enough, or rather struts, as if he
wanted to walk firmly; and has little dignity in his air or
gesture. He is dark-complexioned; and he wears his hair, which is
remarkably thick, clubbed, and dressed with a high toupee.
His forehead is high; his eyes large and blue, with a little
squint; and when he smiles, his upper lip is drawn up a little in
the middle. His look expresses sagacity and observation, but
nothing very amiable; and his manner is grave and stiff rather than
affable. He was dressed, when I first saw him, in a light-blue
frock with silver frogs; and wore a red waistcoat and blue
breeches. He is not very popular among the Russians;
and accordingly their wits are disposed to amuse themselves with
his appearance, and particularly with his toupee. They say he
resembles Samson; that all his strength lies in his hair; and that,
conscious of this, and recollecting the fate of the son of Manoah,
he suffers not the nigh approaches of any deceitful Delilah.
They say he is like the Comet, which, about fifteen months ago,
appeared so formidable in the Russian hemisphere; and which,
exhibiting a small watery body, but a most enormous train, dismayed
the Northern and Eastern Potentates with 'fear of change.'
"I saw him a few nights ago [on or about New-year's Day, 1771;
come back to us, from his Tour to Moscow, three weeks before;
and nothing but galas ever since] at a Masquerade in the Palace,
said to be the most magnificent thing of the kind ever seen at the
Russian Court. Fourteen large rooms and galleries were opened for
the accommodation of the masks; and I was informed that there were
present several thousand people. A great part of the company wore
dominos, or capuchin dresses; though, besides these, some fanciful
appearances afforded a good deal of amusement. A very tall Cossack
appeared completely arrayed in the 'hauberk's twisted mail.' He was
indeed very grim and martial. Persons in emblematical dresses,
representing Apollo and the Seasons, addressed the Empress in
speeches suited to their characters. The Empress herself, at the
time I saw her Majesty, wore a Grecian habit; though I was
afterwards told that she varied her dress two or three times during
the masquerade. Prince Henri of Prussia wore a white domino.
Several persons appeared in the dresses of different nations,--
Chinese, Turks, Persians and Armenians. The most humorous and
fantastical figure was a Frenchman, who, with wonderful nimbleness
and dexterity, represented an overgrown but very beautiful Parrot.
He chattered with a great deal of spirit; and his shoulders,
covered with green feathers, performed admirably the part of wings.
He drew the attention of the Empress; a ring was formed; he was
quite happy; fluttered his plumage; made fine speeches in Russ,
French and tolerable English; the ladies were exceedingly diverted;
everybody laughed except Prince Henri, who stood beside the
Empress, and was so grave and so solemn, that he would have
performed his part most admirably in the shape of an owl.
The Parrot observed him; was determined to have revenge; and having
said as many good things as he could to her Majesty, he was hopping
away; but just as he was going out of the circle, seeming to
recollect himself, he stopped, looked over his shoulder at the
formal Prince, and quite in the parrot tone and French accent, he
addressed him most emphatically with 'HENRI! HENRI! HENRI!' and
then, diving into the crowd, disappeared. His Royal Highness was
disconcerted; he was forced to smile in his own defence, and the
company were not a little amused.
"At midnight, a spacious hall, of a circular form, capable of
containing a vast number of people, and illuminated in the most
magnificent manner, was suddenly opened. Twelve tables were placed
in alcoves around the sides of the room, where the Empress, Prince
Henri, and a hundred and fifty of the chief nobility and foreign
ministers sat down to supper. The rest of the company went up, by
stairs on the outside of the room, into the lofty galleries placed
all around on the inside. Such a row of masked visages, many of
them with grotesque features and bushy beards, nodding from the
side of the wall, appeared very ludicrous to those below.
The entertainment was enlivened with a concert of music: and at
different intervals persons in various habits entered the hall, and
exhibited Cossack, Chinese, Polish, Swedish and Tartar dances.
The whole was so gorgeous, and at the same time so fantastic, that
I could not help thinking myself present at some of the magnificent
festivals described in the old-fashioned romantes:--
'The marshal'd feast
Served up in hall with sewers and seneschals.'
The rest of the company, on returning to the rooms adjoining, found
prepared for them also a sumptuous banquet. The masquerade began at
6 in the evening, and continued till 5 next morning.
"Besides the masquerade, and other festivities, in honor of, and to
divert Prince Henri, we had lately a most magnificent show of fire-
works. They were exhibited in a wide apace before the Winter
Palace; and, in truth, 'beggared description.' They displayed, by a
variety of emblematical figures, the reduction of Moldavia,
Wallachia, Bessarabia, and the various conquests and victories
achieved since the commencement of the present War. The various
colors, the bright green and the snowy white, exhibited in these
fire-works, were truly astonishing. For the space of twenty
minutes, a tree, adorned with the loveliest and most verdant
foliage, seemed to be waving as with a gentle breeze. It was
entirely of fire; and during the whole of this stupendous scene, an
arch of fire, by the continued throwing of rockets and fire-balls
in one direction, formed as it were a suitable canopy.
"On this occasion a prodigious multitude of people were assembled;
and the Empress, it was surmised, seemed uneasy. She was afraid, it
was apprehended, lest any accident, like what happened at Paris at
the marriage of the Dauphin, should befall her beloved people.
I hope I have amused you; and ever am"--[W. Richardson,
Anecdotes of the Russian Empire, pp. 325-331:
"Petersburg, 4th January, 1771."]
The masquerades and galas in honor of Prince Henri, from a
grandiose Hostess, who had played with him in childhood, were many;
but it is not with these that we have to do. One day, the Czarina,
talking to him of the Austrian procedures at Zips, said with pique,
"It seems, in Poland you have only to stoop, and pick up what you
like of it. If the Court of Vienna have the notion to dismember
that Kingdom, its neighbors will have right to do as much."
[Rulhiere, iv. 210; Trois Demembremens, i.
142; above all, Henri himself, in OEuvres de Frederic,
xxvi. 345, "Petersburg, 8th January, 1771."] This is
supposed, in all Books, to be the PUNCTUM SALIENS, or first
mention, of the astonishing Partition, which was settled, agreed
upon, within about a year hence, and has made so much noise ever
since. And in effect it was so; the idea rising practically in that
high head was the real beginning. But this was not the first head
it had been in; far from that. Above a year ago, as Friedrich
himself informed us, it had been in Friedrich's own head,--though
at the time it went for absolutely nothing, nobody even bestowing a
sneer on it (as Friedrich intimates), and disappeared through the
Horn-Gate of Dreams.
Friedrich himself appears to have quite forgotten the Count-Lynar
idea; and, on Henri's report from Russia, was totally incredulous;
and even suspected that there might be trickery and danger in this
Russian proposal. Not till Henri's return (FEBRUARY 18th, 1771)
could he entirely believe that the Czarina was serious;--and then,
sure enough, he did, with his whole heart, go into it: the EUREKA
out of all these difficulties, which had so long seemed
insuperable. Prince Henri "had an Interview with the Austrian
Minister next day" (February 19th), who immediately communicated
with his Kaunitz,--and got discouraging response from Kaunitz;
discouraging, or almost negatory; which did not discourage
Friedrich. "A way out," thinks Friedrich: "the one way to save my
Prussia and the world from incalculable conflagration." And entered
on it without loss of a moment. And labored at it with such
continual industry, rapidity and faculty for guiding and pushing,
as all readers have known in him, on dangerous emergencies: at no
moment lifting his hand from it till it was complete.
His difficulties were enormous: what a team to drive; and on such a
road, untrodden before by hoof or wheel! Two Empresses that
cordially hate one another, and that disagree on this very subject.
Kaunitz and his Empress are extremely skittish in the matter, and
as if quite refuse it at first: "Zips will be better," thinks
Kaunitz to himself; "Cannot we have, all to ourselves, a beautiful
little cutting out of Poland in that part; and then perhaps, in
league with the Turk, who has money, beat the Russians home
altogether, and rule Poland in their stead, or 'share it with the
Sultan,' as Reis-Effendi suggests?" And the dismal truth is, though
it was not known for years afterward, Kaunitz does about this time,
in profoundest secret, actually make Treaty of Alliance with the
Turk ("so many million Piastres to us, ready money, year by year,
and you shall, if not by our mediating, then by our fighting, be a
contented Turk"); and all along at the different Russian-Turk
"Peace-Congresses," Kaunitz, while pretending to sit and mediate
along with Prussia, sat on that far other basis, privately
thwarting everything; and span out the Turk pacification in a
wretched manner for years coming. ["Peace of Kainardschi," not till
"21st July, 1774,"--after four or five abortive attempts, two of
them "Congresses," Kaunitz so industrious (Hermann, v. 664 et
antea).] A dangerous, hard-mouthed, high-stalking, ill-given old
coach-horse of a Kaunitz: fancy what the driving of him might be,
on a road he did not like! But he had a driver too, who, in
delicate adroitness, in patience and in sharpness of whip, was
consummate: "You shall know it is your one road, my ill-given
friend!" (I ostentatiously increase my Cavalry by 8,000; meaning,
"A new Seven-Years War, if you force me, and Russia by my side this
time!") So that Kaunitz had to quit his Turk courses (never paid
the Piastres back), and go into what really was the one way out.
But Friedrich's difficulties on this course are not the thing that
can interest readers; and all readers know his faculty for
overcoming difficulties. Readers ask rather: "And had Friedrich no
feeling about Poland itself, then, and this atrocious Partitioning
of the poor Country?" Apparently none whatever;--unless it might
be, that Deliverance from Anarchy, Pestilence, Famine, and Pigs
eating your dead bodies, would be a manifest advantage for Poland,
while it was the one way of saving Europe from War. Nobody seems
more contented in conscience, or radiant with heartfelt
satisfaction, and certainty of thanks from all wise and impartial
men, than the King of Prussia, now and afterwards, in regard to
this Polish atrocity! A psychological fact, which readers can
notice. Scrupulous regard to Polish considerations, magnanimity to
Poland, or the least respect or pity for her as a dying Anarchy,
is what nobody will claim for him; consummate talent in executing
the Partition of Poland (inevitable some day, as he may have
thought, but is nowhere at the pains to say),--great talent, great
patience too, and meritorious self-denial and endurance, in
executing that Partition, and in saving IT from catching fire
instead of being the means to quench fire, no well-informed person
will deny him. Of his difficulties in the operation (which truly
are unspeakable) I will say nothing more; readers are prepared to
believe that he, beyond others, should conquer difficulties when
the object is vital to him. I will mark only the successive dates
of his progress, and have done with this wearisome subject:--
June 14th, 1771. Within four months of the arrival of Prince Henri
and that first certainty from Russia, diligent Friedrich, upon whom
the whole burden had been laid of drawing up a Plan, and bringing
Austria to consent, is able to report to Petersburg, That Austria
has dubieties, reluctances, which it is to be foreseen she will
gradually get over; and that here meanwhile (June 14th, 1771) is my
Plan of Partition,--the simplest conceivable: "That each choose
(subject to future adjustments) what will best suit him; I, for my
own part, will say, West-Preussen;--what Province will Czarish
Majesty please to say?" Czarish Majesty, in answer, is exorbitantly
liberal to herself; claims, not a Province, but four or five;
will have Friedrich, if the Austrians attack her in consequence, to
assist by declaring War on Austria; Czarish Majesty, in the
reciprocal case, not to assist Friedrich at all, till her Turk War
is done! "Impossible," thinks Friedrich; "surprisingly so, high
Madam! But, to the delicate bridle-hand, you are a
manageable entity."
It was with Kaunitz that Friedrich's real difficulties lay.
Privately, in the course of this Summer, Kaunitz, by way of
preparation for "mediating a Turk-Russian Peace," had concluded his
"subsidy Treaty" with the Turk, ["6th July, 1771" (Preuss, iv. 31;
Hermann; &c. &c.).]--Treaty never ratified, but the Piastres duly
paid;--Treaty rendering Peace impossible, so long as Kaunitz had to
do with mediating it. And indeed Kaunitz's tricks in that function
of mediator, and also after it, were of the kind which Friedrich
has some reason to call "infamous." "Your Majesty, as co-mediator,
will join us, should the Russians make War?" said Kaunitz's
Ambassador, one day, to Friedrich. "For certain, no!" answered
Friedrich; and, on the contrary, remounted his Cavalry, to signify,
"I will fight the other way, if needed!" which did at once bring
Kaunitz to give up his mysterious Turk projects, and come into the
Polish. After which, his exorbitant greed of territory there;
his attempts to get Russia into a partitioning of Turkey as well,--
("A slice of Turkey too, your Czarish Majesty and we?" hints he
more than once),--gave Friedrich no end of trouble; and are
singular to look at by the light there now is. Not for about a
twelvemonth did Friedrich get his hard-mouthed Kaunitz brought into
step at all; and to the last, perpetual vigilance and, by whip and
bit, the adroitest charioteering was needed on him.
FEBRUARY 17th, 1772, Russia and Prussia, for their own part,--
Friedrich, in the circumstances, submitting to many things from his
Czarina,--get their particular "Convention" (Bargain in regard to
Poland) completed in all parts, "will take possession 4th June
instant:" sign said Convention (February 17th);--and invite Austria
to join, and state her claims. Which, in three weeks after, MARCH
4th, Austria does;--exorbitant abundantly; and NOT to be got very
much reduced, though we try, for a series of months.
Till at last:--
AUGUST 5th, 1772, Final Agreement between the Three Partitioning
Powers: "These are our respective shares; we take possession on the
1st OF SEPTEMBER instant:"--and actual possession for Friedrich's
share did, on the 13th of that month, ensue. A right glad
Friedrich, as everybody, friend or enemy, may imagine him! Glad to
have done with such a business,--had there been no other profit in
it; which was far from being the case. One's clear belief, on
studying these Books, is of two things: FIRST, that, as everybody
admits, Friedrich had no real hand in starting the notion of
Partitioning Poland;--but that he grasped at it with eagerness, as
the one way of saving Europe from War: SECOND, what has been much
less noticed, that, under any other hand, it would have led Europe
to War;--and that to Friedrich is due the fact, that it got
effected without such accompaniment. Friedrich's share of Territory
is counted to be in all 9,465 English square miles;
Austria's, 62,500; Russia's, 87,500, [Preuss, iv. 45.] between nine
and ten times the amount of Friedrich's,--which latter, however, as
an anciently Teutonic Country, and as filling up the always
dangerous gap between his Ost-Preussen and him, has, under Prussian
administration, proved much the most valuable of the Three;
and, next to Silesia, is Friedrich's most important acquisition.
SEPTEMBER 13th, 1772, it was at last entered upon,--through such
waste-weltering confusions, and on terms never yet unquestionable.
Consent of Polish Diet was not had for a year more; but that is
worth little record. Diet, for that object, got together 19th
APRIL, 1773; recalcitrant enough, had not Russia understood the
methods: "a common fund was raised [ON SE COTISA, says Friedrich]
for bribing;" the Three Powers had each a representative General in
Warsaw (Lentulus the Prussian personage), all three with forces to
rear: Diet came down by degrees, and, in the course of five months
(SEPTEMBER 18th, 1773), acquiesced in everything.
And so the matter is ended; and various men will long have various
opinions upon it. I add only this one small Document from Maria
Theresa's hand, which all hearts, and I suppose even Friedrich's
had he ever read it, will pronounce to be very beautiful;
homely, faithful, wholesome, well-becoming in a high and true
Sovereign Woman.
THE EMPRESS-QUEEN TO PRINCE KAUNITZ (Undated: date must
be Vienna, February, 1772).
"When all my lands were invaded, and I knew not where in the world
I should find a place to be brought to bed in, I relied on my good
right and the help of God. But in this thing, where not only public
law cries to Heaven against us, but also all natural justice and
sound reason, I must confess never in my life to have been in such
trouble, and am ashamed to show my face. Let the Prince [Kaunitz]
consider what an example we are giving to all the world, if, for a
miserable piece of Poland, or of Moldavia or Wallachia, we throw
our honor and reputation to the winds. I see well that I am alone,
and no more in vigor; therefore I must, though to my very great
sorrow, let things take their course." [ "Als alle meine
lander angefochten wurden und gar nit mehr wusste wo ruhig
niederkommen sollte, steiffete ich mich auf mein gutes Recht und
den Beystand Gottes. Aber in dieser Sach, wo nit allein das
offenbare Recht himmelschreyent wider Uns, sondern auch alle
Billigkeit und die gesunde Vernunft wider Uns ist, muess bekhennen
dass zeitlebens nit so beangstigt mich befunten und mich sehen zu
lassen schame. Bedenkh der Furst, was wir aller Welt fur ein
Exempel geben, wenn wir um ein ellendes stuk von Pohlen oder von
der Moldau und Wallachey unser ehr und REPUTATION in die schanz
schlagen. Ich merkh wohl dass ich allein bin und nit mehr EN
VIGEUR, darum lasse ich die sachen, jedoch nit ohne meinen grossten
Gram, ihren Weg gehen." (From "Hormayr,
Taschenbuch, 1831, s. 66:" cited in PREUSS, iv. 38.)]
And, some days afterwards, here is her Majesty's Official Assent:
"PLACET, since so many great and learned men will have it so:
but long after I am dead, it will be known what this violating of
all that was hitherto held sacred and just will give rise to."
[From "Zietgenossen [a Biographical
Periodical], lxxi. 29:" cited in PREUSS, iv. 39.]
(Hear her Majesty!)
Friedrich has none of these compunctious visitings; but his account
too, when he does happen to speak on the subject, is worth hearing,
and credible every word. Writing to Voltaire, a good while after
(POTSDAM, 9th OCTOBER, 1773)) this, in the swift-flowing,
miscellaneous Letter, is one passage: ... "To return to your King
of Poland. I am aware that Europe pretty generally believes the
late Partition made (QU'ON A FAIT) of Poland to be a result of the
Political trickeries (MANIGANCES) which are attributed to me;
nevertheless, nothing is more untrue. After in vain proposing
different arrangements and expedients, there was no alternative
left but either that same Partition, or else Europe kindled into a
general War. Appearances are deceitful; and the Public judges only
by these. What I tell you is as true as the Forty-seventh of
Euclid." [OEuvres de Frederic, xxiii. 257.]
WHAT FRIEDRICH DID WITH HIS NEW ACQUISITION.
Considerable obloquy still rests on Friedrich, in many liberal
circles, for the Partition of Poland. Two things, however, seem by
this time tolerably clear, though not yet known in liberal circles:
first, that the Partition of Poland was an event inevitable in
Polish History; an operation of Almighty Providence and of the
Eternal Laws of Nature, as well as of the poor earthly Sovereigns
concerned there; and secondly, that Friedrich had nothing special
to do with it, and, in the way of originating or causing it,
nothing whatever.
It is certain the demands of Eternal Justice must be fulfilled:
in earthly instruments, concerned with fulfilling them, there may
be all degrees of demerit and also of merit,--from that of a world-
ruffian Attila the Scourge of God, conscious of his own ferocities
and cupidities alone, to that of a heroic Cromwell, sacredly aware
that he is, at his soul's peril, doing God's Judgments on the
enemies of God, in Tredah and other severe scenes. If the Laws and
Judgments are verily those of God, there can be no clearer merit
than that of pushing them forward, regardless of the barkings of
Gazetteers and wayside dogs, and getting them, at the earliest term
possible, made valid among recalcitrant mortals! Friedrich, in
regard to Poland, I cannot find to have had anything considerable
either of merit or of demerit, in the moral point of view; but
simply to have accepted, and put in his pocket without criticism,
what Providence sent. He himself evidently views it in that light;
and is at no pains to conceal his great sense of the value of West-
Preussen to him. We praised his Narrative as eminently true, and
the only one completely intelligible in every point: in his Preface
to it, written some years later, he is still more candid.
Speaking there in the first person, this once and never before or
after,--he says:--
"These new pretensions [of the Czarina, to assuage the religious
putrid-fever of the Poles by word of command] raised all Poland
[into Confederation of Bar, and WAR OF THE CONFEDERATES, sung by
Friedrich]; the Grandees of the Kingdom implored the assistance of
the Turks: straightway War flamed out; in which the Russian Armies
had only to show themselves to beat the Turks in every rencounter."
His Majesty continues: "This War changed the whole Political System
of Europe [general Diplomatic Dance of Europe, suddenly brought to
a whirl by such changes of the music]; a new arena (CARRIERE) came
to open itself,--and one must have been either without address, or
else buried in stupid somnolence (ENGOURDISSEMENT), not to profit
by an opportunity so advantageous. I had read Bojardo's fine
Allegory: [Signifies only, "seize opportunity;" but here is the
passage itself:--
"Quante volte le disse: 'O bella dama,
Conosci l'ora de la tua ventura,
Dapoi che un tal Baron piu the che se t'ama,
Che non ha il Ciel piu vaga creatura.
Forse anco avrai di questo tempo brama,
Che'l felice destin sempre non dura;
Prendi diletto, mentre sei su 'l verde,
Che l'avuto piacer mai non si perde.
Questa eta giovenil, ch' e si gioiosa,
Tutta in diletto consumar si deve,
Perche quasi in un punto ci e nas cosa:
Como dissolve 'l sol la bianca neve,
Como in un giorno la vermiglia rosa
Perde il vago color in tempo breve,
Cosi fugge l' eta com' un baleno,
E non si puo tener, che non ha freno.'"
(Bojardo, Orlando Innamorato, lib. i.
cant. 2.)] I seized by the forelock this unexpected opportunity;
and, by dint of negotiating and intriguing [candid King] I
succeeded in indemnifying our Monarchy for its past losses, by
incorporating Polish Prussia with my Old Provinces."
[ OEuvres de Frederic, (Preface to MEMOIRS
DEPUIS 1763 JUSQU'A 1774), vi. 6, 7: "MEMOIRES [Chapter FIRST,
including all the Polish part] were finished in 1775; Preface is
of 1779."]
Here is a Historian King who uses no rouge-pot in his Narratives,--
whose word, which is all we shall say of it at present, you find to
be perfectly trustworthy, and a representation of the fact as it
stood before himself! What follows needs no vouching for:
"This acquisition was one of the most important we could make,
because it joined Pommern to East Prussia [ours for ages past], and
because, rendering us masters of the Weichsel River, we gained the
double advantage of being able to defend that Kingdom [Ost-
Preussen], and to draw considerable tolls from the Weichsel, as all
the trade of Poland goes by that River."
Yes truly! Our interests are very visible: and the interests and
wishes and claims of Poland,--are they nowhere worthy of one word
from you, O King? Nowhere that I have noticed: not any mention of
them, or allusion to them; though the world is still so convinced
that perhaps they were something, and not nothing! Which is very
curious. In the whole course of my reading I have met with no
Autobiographer more careless to defend himself upon points in
dispute among his Audience, and marked as criminal against him by
many of them. Shadow of Apology on such points you search for in
vain. In rapid bare summary he sets down the sequel of facts, as if
assured beforehand of your favorable judgment, or with the
profoundest indifference to how you shall judge them; drops his
actions, as an Ostrich does its young, to shift for themselves in
the wilderness, and hurries on his way. This style of his,
noticeable of old in regard to Silesia too, has considerably hurt
him with the common kind of readers; who, in their preconceived
suspicions of the man, are all the more disgusted at tracing in
him, not the least anxiety to stand well with any reader, more than
to stand ill, AS ill as any reader likes!
Third parties, it would seem, have small temptation to become his
advocates; he himself being so totally unprovided with thanks for
you! But, on another score, and for the sake of a better kind of
readers, there is one third party bound to remark: 1. That hardly
any Sovereign known to us did, in his general practice, if you will
examine it, more perfectly respect the boundaries of his neighbors;
and go on the road that was his own, anxious to tread on no man's
toes if he could avoid it: a Sovereign who, at all times, strictly
and beneficently confined himself to what belonged to his real
business and him. 2. That apparently, therefore, he must have
considered Poland to be an exceptional case, unique in his
experience: case of a moribund Anarchy, fallen down as carrion on
the common highways of the world; belonging to nobody in
particular; liable to be cut into (nay, for sanitary reasons
requiring it, if one were a Rhadamanthus Errant, which one is
not!)--liable to be cut into, on a great and critically stringent
occasion; no question to be asked of IT; your only question the
consent of by-standers, and the moderate certainty that nobody got
a glaringly disproportionate share! That must have been, on the
part of an equitable Friedrich, or even of a Friedrich accurate in
Book-keeping by Double Entry, the notion silently formed
about Poland.
Whether his notion was scientifically right, and conformable to
actual fact, is a question I have no thought of entering on;
still less, whether Friedrich was morally right, or whether there
was not a higher rectitude, granting even the fact, in putting it
in practice. These are questions on which an Editor may have his
opinion, partly complete for a long time past, partly not complete,
or, in human language, completable or pronounceable at all; and may
carefully forbear to obtrude it on his readers; and only advise
them to look with their own best eyesight, to be deaf to the
multiplex noises which are evidently blind, and to think what they
find thinkablest on such a subject. For, were it never so just,
proper and needful, this is by nature a case of LYNCH LAW;
upon which, in the way of approval or apology, no spoken word is
permissible. Lynch being so dangerous a Lawgiver, even when an
indispensable one!--
For, granting that the Nation of Poland was for centuries past an
Anarchy doomed by the Eternal Laws of Heaven to die, and then of
course to get gradually buried, or eaten by neighbors, were it only
for sanitary reasons,--it will by no means suit, to declare openly
on behalf of terrestrial neighbors who have taken up such an idea
(granting it were even a just one, and a true reading of the silent
but inexorably certain purposes of Heaven), That they, those
volunteer terrestrial neighbors, are justified in breaking in upon
the poor dying or dead carcass, and flaying and burying it, with
amicable sharing of skin and shoes! If it even were certain that
the wretched Polish Nation, for the last forty years hastening with
especial speed towards death, did in present circumstances, with
such a howling canaille of Turk Janissaries and vultures of
creation busy round it, actually require prompt surgery, in the
usual method, by neighbors,--the neighbors shall and must do that
function at their own risk. If Heaven did appoint them to it,
Heaven, for certain, will at last justify them; and in the mean
while, for a generation or two, the same Heaven (I can believe) has
appointed that Earth shall pretty unanimously condemn them.
The shrieks, the foam-lipped curses of mistaken mankind, in such
case, are mankind's one security against over-promptitude (which is
so dreadfully possible) on the part of surgical neighbors.
Alas, yes, my articulate-speaking friends; here, as so often
elsewhere, the solution of the riddle is not Logic, but Silence.
When a dark human Individual has filled the measure of his wicked
blockheadisms, sins and brutal nuisancings, there are Gibbets
provided, there are Laws provided; and you can, in an articulate
regular manner, hang him and finish him, to general satisfaction.
Nations too, you may depend on it as certain, do require the same
process, and do infallibly get it withal; Heaven's Justice, with
written Laws or without, being the most indispensable and the
inevitablest thing I know of in this Universe. No doing without it;
and it is sure to come:--and the Judges and Executioners, we
observe, are NOT, in that latter case, escorted in and out by the
Sheriffs of Counties and general ringing of bells; not so, in that
latter case, but far otherwise!--
And now, leaving that vexed question, we will throw one glance--
only one is permitted--into the far more profitable question, which
probably will one day be the sole one on this matter, What became
of poor West-Preussen under Friedrich? Had it to sit, weeping
unconsolably, or not? Herr Dr. Freytag, a man of good repute in
Literature, has, in one of his late Books of Popular History,
[G. Freytag, Neue Bilder aus dem Leben des deutschen
Volkes (Leipzig, 1862).] gone into this subject, in a
serious way, and certainly with opportunities far beyond mine for
informing himself upon it:--from him these Passages have been
excerpted, labelled and translated by a good hand:--
ACQUISITION OF POLISH PRUSSIA. "During several Centuries, the much-
divided Germans had habitually been pressed upon, and straitened
and injured, by greedy conquering neighbors; Friedrich was the
first Conqueror who once more pushed forward the German Frontier
towards the East; reminding the Germans again, that it was their
task to carry Law, Culture, Liberty and Industry into the East of
Europe. All Friedrich's Lands, with the exception only of some Old-
Saxon territory, had, by force and colonization, been painfully
gained from the Sclave. At no time since the migrations of the
Middle Ages, had this struggle for possession of the wide Plains to
the east of Oder ceased. When arms were at rest, politicians
carried on the struggle."
PERSECUTION OF GERMAN PROTESTANTS IN POLAND. "In the very 'Century
of Enlightenment' the persecution of the Germans became fanatical
in those Countries: one Protestant Church after the other got
confiscated; pulled down; if built of wood, set on fire: its Church
once burnt, the Village had lost the privilege of having one.
Ministers and schoolmasters were driven away, cruelly maltreated.
'VEXA LUTHERANURN, DABIT THALERUM (Wring the Lutheran, you will
find money in him),' became the current Proverb of the Poles in
regard to Germans. A Protestant Starost of Gnesen, a Herr von UNRUH
of the House of Birnbaum, one of the largest proprietors of the
country, was condemned to die, and first to have his tongue pulled
out and his hands cut off,--for the crime of having copied into his
Note-book some strong passages against the Jesuits, extracted from
German Books. Patriotic 'Confederates of Bar,' joined by all the
plunderous vagabonds around, went roaming and ravaging through the
country, falling upon small towns and German villages. The Polish
Nobleman, Roskowski [a celebrated "symbolical" Nobleman, this], put
on one red boot and one black, symbolizing FIRE and DEATH; and in
this guise rode about, murdering and burning, from places to place;
finally, at Jastrow, he cut off the hands, feet, and lastly the
head of the Protestant Pastor, Willich by name, and threw the limbs
into a swamp. This happened in 1768."
IN WHAT STATE FRIEDRICH FOUND THE POLISH PROVINCES. "Some few only
of the larger German Towns, which were secured by walls, and some
protected Districts inhabited exclusively by Germans,--as the
NIEDERUNG near Dantzig, the Villages under the mild rule of the
Cistercians of Oliva, and the opulent German towns of the Catholic
Ermeland,--were in tolerable circumstances. The other Towns lay in
ruins; so also most of the Hamlets (HOFE) of the open Country.
Bromberg, the city of German Colonists, the Prussians found in
heaps and ruins: to this hour it has not been possible to ascertain
clearly how the Town came into this condition. [ "Neue
Preussische Provinzialblotter, Year 1854, No. 4,
p. 259."] No historian, no document, tells of the destruction and
slaughter that had been going on, in the whole District of the
NETZE there, during the last ten years before the arrival of the
Prussians, The Town of Culm had preserved its strong old walls and
stately churches; but in the streets, the necks of the cellars
stood out above the rotten timber and brick heaps of the tumbled
houses: whole streets consisted merely of such cellars, in which
wretched people were still trying to live. Of the forty houses in
the large Market-place of Culm, twenty-eight had no doors, no
roofs, no windows, and no owners. Other Towns were in
similar condition,"
"The Country people hardly knew such a thing as bread; many had
never in their life tasted such a delicacy; few Villages possessed
an oven. A weaving-loom was rare, the spinning-wheel unknown.
The main article of furniture, in this bare scene of squalor, was
the Crucifix and vessel of Holy-Water under it [and "POLACK!
CATHOLIK!" if a drop of gin be added].--The Peasant-Noble
[unvoting, inferior kind] was hardly different from the common
Peasant: he himself guided his Hook Plough (HACKEN-PFLUG), and
clattered with his wooden slippers upon the plankless floor of his
hut. ... It was a desolate land, without discipline, without law,
without a master. On 9,000 English square miles lived 500,000
souls: not 55 to the square mile."
SETS TO WORK. "The very rottenness of the Country became an
attraction for Friedrich; and henceforth West-Preussen was, what
hitherto Silesia had been, his favorite child; which, with infinite
care, like that of an anxious loving mother, he washed, brushed,
new-dressed, and forced to go to school and into orderly habits,
and kept ever in his eye. The diplomatic squabbles about this
'acquisition' were still going on, when he had already sent [so
early as June 4th, 1772, and still more on September 13th of that
Year [See his new DIALOGUE with Roden, our Wesel acquaintance, who
was a principal Captain in this business (in PREUSS, iv. 57, 58:
date of the Dialogue is "11th May, 1772;"--Roden was on the ground
4th June next; but, owing to Austrian delays, did not begin till
September 13th).]] a body of his best Official People into this
waste-howling scene, to set about organizing it. The Landschaften
(COUNTIES) were divided into small Circles; in a minimum of time,
the land was valued, and an equal tax put upon it; every Circle
received its LANDRATH, Law-Court, Post-office and Sanitary Police.
New Parishes, each with its Church and Parson, were called into
existence as by miracle; a company of 187 Schoolmasters--partly
selected and trained by the excellent Semler [famous over Germany,
in Halle University and SEMINARIUM, not yet in England]-- were sent
into the Country: multitudes of German Mechanics too, from brick-
makers up to machine-builders. Everywhere there began a digging, a
hammering, a building; Cities were peopled anew; street after
street rose out of the heaps of ruins; new Villages of Colonists
were laid out, new modes of agriculture ordered. In the first Year
after taking possession, the great Canal [of Bromberg] was dug;
which, in a length of fifteen miles, connects, by the Netze River,
the Weichsel with the Oder and the Elbe: within one year after
giving the order, the King saw loaded vessels from the Oder, 120
feet in length of keel," and of forty tons burden, "enter the
Weichsel. The vast breadths of land, gained from the state of swamp
by drainage into this Canal, were immediately peopled by
German Colonists.
"As his Seven-Years Struggle of War may be called super-human, so
was there also in his present Labor of Peace something enormous;
which appeared to his contemporaries [unless my fancy mislead me]
almost preternatural, at times inhuman. It was grand, but also
terrible, that the success of the whole was to him, at all moments,
the one thing to be striven after; the comfort of the individual of
no concern at all. When, in the Marshland of the Wetze, he counted
more the strokes of the 10,000 spades, than the sufferings of the
workers, sick with the marsh-fever in the hospitals which he had
built for them; [Compare PREUSS, iv. 60-71.] when, restless, his
demands outran the quickest performance,--there united itself to
the deepest reverence and devotedness, in his People, a feeling of
awe, as for one whose limbs are not moved by earthly life
[fanciful, considerably!]. And when Goethe, himself become an old
man, finished his last Drama [Second Part of FAUST], the figure of
the old King again rose on him, and stept into his Poem; and his
Faust got transformed into an unresting, creating, pitilessly
exacting Master, forcing on his salutiferous drains and fruitful
canals through the morasses of the Weichsel." [G. Freytag,
Neue Bilder aus dem Leben des deutschen Volkes
(Leipzig, 1862), pp. 397-408.]
These statements and pencillings of Freytag, apart from here and
there a flourish of poetic sentiment, I believe my readers can
accept as essentially true, and a correct portrait of the fact.
And therewith, CON LA BOCCA DOLCE, we will rise from this Supper of
Horrors. That Friedrich fortified the Country, that he built an
impregnable Graudentz, and two other Fortresses, rendering the
Country, and himself on that Eastern side, impregnable henceforth,
all readers can believe. Friedrich has been building various
Fortresses in this interim, though we have taken no notice of them;
building and repairing many things;--trimming up his Military quite
to the old pitch, as the most particular thing of all. He has his
new Silesian Fortress of Silberberg,--big Fortress, looking into
certain dangerous Bohemian Doors (in Tobias Stusche's Country, if
readers recollect an old adventure now mythical);--his new Silesian
Silberberg, his newer Polish Graudentz, and many others, and
flatters himself he is not now pregnable on any side.
A Friedrich working, all along, in Poland especially, amid what
circumambient deluges of maledictory outcries, and mendacious
shriekeries from an ill-informed Public, is not now worth
mentioning. Mere distracted rumors of the Pamphleteer and Newspaper
kind: which, after hunting them a long time, through dense and
rare, end mostly in zero, and angry darkness of some poor human
brain,--or even testify in favor of this Head-Worker, and of the
sense he shows, especially of the patience. For example: that of
the "Polish Towns and Villages, ordered" by this Tyrant "to
deliver, each of them, so many marriageable girls; each girl to
bring with her as dowry, furnished by her parents, 1 feather-bed,
4 pillows, 1 cow, 3 swine and 3 ducats,"--in which desirable
condition this tyrannous King "sent her into the Brandenburg States
to be wedded and promote population." [Lindsey, LETTERS ON POLAND
(Letter 2d). p. 61: Peyssonnel (in some. French Book of his,
"solemnly presented to Louis XVI. and the Constituent Assembly;"
cited in PREUSS, iv. 85); &c. &c.] Feather-beds, swine and ducats
had their value in Brandenburg; but were marriageable girls such a
scarcity there? Most extraordinary new RAPE OF THE SABINES;
for which Herr Preuss can find no basis or source,--nor can I;
except in the brain of Reverend Lindsey and his loud LETTERS ON
POLAND above mentioned.
Dantzig too, and the Harbor-dues, what a case! Dantzig Harbor, that
is to say, Netze River, belongs mainly to Friedrich, Dantzig City
not,--such the Czarina's lofty whim, in the late Partition
Treatyings; not good to contradict, in the then circumstances;
still less afterwards, though it brought chicanings more than
enough. "And she was not ill-pleased to keep this thorn in the
King's foot for her own conveniences," thinks the King;
though, mainly, he perceives that it is the English acting on her
grandiose mind: English, who were apprehensive for their Baltic
trade under this new Proprietor, and who egged on an ambitious
Czarina to protect Human Liberty, and an inflated Dantzig
Burgermeister to stand up for ditto; and made a dismal shriekery in
the Newspapers, and got into dreadful ill-humor with said
Proprietor of Dantzig Harbor, and have never quite recovered from
it to this day. Lindsey's POLISH LETTERS are very loud again on
this occasion, aided by his SEVEN DIALOGUES ON POLAND; concerning
which, partly for extinct Lindsey's sake, let us cite one small
passage, and so wind up.
MARCH 2d, 1775, in answer to Voltaire, Friedrich writes: ...
"The POLISH DIALOGUES you speak of are not known to me. I think of
such Satires, with Epictetus: 'If they tell any truth of thee,
correct thyself; if they are lies, laugh at them.' I have learned,
with years, to become a steady coach-horse; I do my stage, like a
diligent roadster, and pay no heed to the little dogs that will
bark by the way." And then, three weeks after:--
"I have at length got the SEVEN DIALOGUES ON POLAND; and the whole
history of them as well. The Author is an Englishman named Lindsey,
Parson by profession, and Tutor to the young Prince Poniatowski,
the King of Poland's Nephew,"--Nephew Joseph, Andreas's Son, NOT
the undistinguished Nephew: so we will believe for poor loud
Lindsey's sake! "It was at the instigation of the Czartoryskis,
Uncles of the King, that Lindsey composed this Satire,--in English
first of all. Satire ready, they perceived that nobody in Poland
would understand it, unless it were translated into French;
which accordingly was done. But as their translator was unskilful,
they sent the DIALOGUES to a certain Gerard at Dantzig, who at that
time was French Consul there, and who is at present a Clerk in your
Foreign Office under M. de Vergennes. This Gerard, who does not
want for wit, but who does me the honor to hate me cordially,
retouched these DIALOGUES, and put them into the condition they
were published in. I have laughed a good deal at them: here and
there occur coarse things (GROSSIERETES), and platitudes of the
insipid kind: but there are traits of good pleasantry. I shall not
go fencing with goose-quills against this sycophant. As Mazarin
said, 'Let the French keep singing, provided they let us keep
doing.'" [ OEuvres de Frederic, xxiii.
319-321: "Potsdam, 2d March, 1775," and "25th March" following.
See PREUSS, iii. 275, iv. 85.]
Chapter V.
A CHAPTER OF MISCELLANIES.
After Neustadt, Kaiser Joseph and the King had no more Interviews.
Kaunitz's procedures in the subsequent Pacification and Partition
business had completely estranged the two Sovereigns: to friendly
visiting, a very different state of mutual feeling had succeeded;
which went on, such "the immeasurable ambition" visible in some of
us, deepening and worsening itself, instead of improving or
abating. Friedrich had Joseph's Portrait hung in conspicuous
position in the rooms where he lived; somebody noticing the fact,
Friedrich answered: "Ah, yes, I am obliged to keep that young
Gentleman in my eye." And, in effect, the rest of Friedrich's
Political Activity, from this time onwards, may be defined as an
ever-vigilant defence of himself, and of the German Reich, against
Austrian Encroachment: which, to him, in the years then running,
was the grand impending peril; and which to us in the new times has
become so inexpressibly uninteresting, and will bear no narrative,
Austrian Encroachment did not prove to be the death-peril that had
overhung the world in Friedrich's last years!--
These, accordingly, are years in which the Historical interest goes
on diminishing; and only the Biographical, were anything of
Biography attainable, is left. Friedrich's industrial, economic and
other Royal activities are as beautiful as ever; but cannot to our
readers, in our limits, be described with advantage. Events of
world-interest, after the Partition of Poland, do not fall out, or
Friedrich is not concerned in them. It is a dim element;
its significance chiefly German or Prussian, not European. What of
humanly interesting is discoverable in it,--at least, while the
Austrian Grudge continues in a chronic state, and has no acute
fit,--I will here present in the shape of detached Fragments,
suitably arranged and rendered legible, in hopes these may still
have some lucency for readers, and render more conceivable the
surrounding masses that have to be left dark. Our first Piece is of
Winter, or late Autumn, 1771,--while the solution of the Polish
Business is still in its inchoative stages; perfectly complete in
the Artist's own mind; Russia too adhering; but Kaunitz so
refractory and contradictory.
HERR DOCTOR ZIMMERMANN, THE FAMOUS AUTHOR OF THE BOOK
"ON SOLITUDE," WALKS REVERENTIALLY BEFORE FRIEDRICH'S
DOOR IN THE DUSK OF AN OCTOBER EVENING: AND HAS A
ROYAL INTERVIEW NEXT DAY.
Friday Evening, 25th October, 1771, is the date of Zimmermann's
walk of contemplation,--among the pale Statues and deciduous
Gardenings of Sans-Souci Cottage (better than any Rialto, at its
best),--the eternal stars coming out overhead, and the transitory
candle-light of a King Friedrich close by.
"At Sans-Souci," says he, in his famed Book, "where that old God of
War (KRIEGSGOTT) forges his thunder-bolts, and writes Works of
Intellect for Posterity; where he governs his People as the best
father would his house; where, during one half of the day, he
accepts and reads the petitions and complaints of the meanest
citizen or peasant; comes to help of his Countries on all sides
with astonishing sums of money, expecting no payment, nor seeking
anything but the Common Weal; and where, during the other half, he
is a Poet and Philosopher:--at Sans-Souci, I say, there reigns all
round a silence, in which you can hear the faintest breath of every
soft wind. I mounted this Hill for the first time in Winter [late
Autumn, 25th October, 1771, edge of Winter], in the dusk. When I
beheld the small Dwelling-House of this Convulser of the World
close by me, and was near his very chamber, I saw indeed a light
inside, but no sentry or watchman at the Hero's door; no soul to
ask me, Who I was, or What I wanted. I saw nothing; and walked
about as I pleased before this small and silent House." [Preuss, i.
387 ("from EINSAMKEIT," Zimmermann's SOLITUDE, "i. 110; Edition of
Leipzig, 1784").]
Yes, Doctor, this is your Kriegsgott; throned in a free-and-easy
fashion. In regard to that of Sentries, I believe there do come up
from Potsdam nightly a corporal and six rank-and-file; but perhaps
it is at a later hour; perhaps they sit within doors, silent, not
to make noises. Another gentleman, of sauntering nocturnal habits,
testifies to having, one night, seen the King actually asleep in
bed, the doors being left ajar. [Ib. i. 388.]--As Zimmermann had a
DIALOGUE next day with his Majesty, which we propose to give;
still more, as he made such noise in the world by other Dialogues
with Friedrich, and by a strange Book about them, which are still
ahead,--readers may desire to know a little who or what the
Zimmermann is, and be willing for a rough brief Note upon him,
which certainly is not readier than it is rough:--
Johann Georg Zimmermann: born 1728, at Brugg in the Canton of Bern,
where his Father seems to have had some little property and no
employment, "a RATHSHERR (Town-Councillor), who was much
respected." Of brothers or sisters, no mention. The Mother being
from the French part of the Canton, he learned to speak both
languages. Went to Bern for his Latin and high-schooling; then to
Gottingen, where he studied Medicine, under the once great Haller
and other now dimmed celebrities. Haller, himself from Bern, had
taken Zimmermann to board, and became much attached to him: Haller,
in 1752, came on a summer visit to native Bern: Zimmermann, who had
in the mean time been "for a few months" in France, in Italy and
England, now returned and joined him there; but the great man,
feeling very poorly and very old, decided that he would like to
stay in Bern, and not move any more;--Zimmermann, accordingly, was
sent to Gottingen to bring Mrs. Haller, with her Daughters,
bandboxes and effects, home to Bern. Which he did;--and not only
them, but a soft, ingenious, ingenuous and rather pretty young
Gottingen Lady along with them, as his own Wife withal. With her he
settled as STADTPHYSICUS (Town-Doctor) in native Brugg; where his
beloved Hallers were within reach; and practice in abundance, and
honors, all that the place yielded, were in readiness for him.
Here he continued some sixteen years; very busy, very successful in
medicine and literature; but "tormented with hypochondria;"--having
indeed an immense conceit of himself, and generally too thin a skin
for this world. Here he first wrote his Book on SOLITUDE, a Book
famed over all the world in my young days (and perhaps still
famed); he wrote it a second time, MUCH ENLARGED, about thirty
years after: [ Betrachtungen uber die Einsamkeit, von
Doctor J. G. Zimmermann, Stadtphysicus in Brugg
(Zurich, 1756),--as yet only "1 vol. 8vo, price 6d." (5 groschen);
but it grew with years; and (Leipzig, 1784) came out remodelled
into 4 vols.;--was translated into French, "with many omissions,"
by Mercier (Paris, 1790); into English from Mercier (London, 1791).
"Zurich, 1763-1764:" by and by, one "Dobson did it into English."]
I read it (in the curtailed English-Mercier form, no Scene in it
like the above), in early boyhood,--and thank it for nothing, or
nearly so. Zimmermann lived much alone, at Brugg and elsewhere;
all his days "Hypochondria" was the main company he had:--and it
was natural, but UNprofitable, that he should say, to himself and
others, the best he could for that bad arrangement: poor soul!
He wrote also on MEDICAL EXPERIENCE, a famed Book in its day;"
also on NATIONAL PRIDE; and became famed through the Universe, and
was Member of infinite Learned Societies.
All which rendered dull dead Brugg still duller and more dead;
unfit utterly for a man of such sublime accomplishments. Plenty of
Counts Stadion, Kings of Poland even, offered him engagements;
eager to possess such a man, and deliver him from dull dead Brugg;
but he had hypochondria, and always feared their deliverance might
be into something duller. At length,--in his fortieth year, 1768,
--the place of Court-Physician (HOFMEDICUS) at Hanover was offered
him by George the Third of pious memory, and this he resolved to
accept; and did lift anchor, and accept and occupy accordingly.
Alas, at the Gate of Hanover, "his carriage overset;" broke his
poor old Mother-in-law's leg (who had been rejoicing doubtless to
get home into her own Country), and was the end of her--poor old
soul;--and the beginning of misfortunes continual and too tedious
to mention. Spleen, envy, malice and calumny, from the Hanover
Medical world; treatment, "by the old buckram Hofdames who had
drunk coffee with George II.," "which was fitter for a laquais-de-
place" than for a medical gentleman of eminence: unworthy
treatment, in fact, in many or most quarters;--followed by
hypochondria, by dreadful bodily disorder (kind not given or
discoverable), "so that I suffered the pains of Hell," sat weeping,
sat gnashing my teeth, and could n't write a Note after dinner;
followed finally by the sickness, and then by the death, of my poor
Wife, "after five months of torment." Upon which, in 1771,
Zimmermann's friends--for he had many friends, being, in fact, a
person of fine graceful intellect, high proud feelings and tender
sensibilities, gone all to this sad state--rallied themselves;
set his Hanover house in order for him (governess for his children,
what not); and sent him off to Berlin, there to be dealt with by
one Meckel, an incomparable Surgeon, and be healed of his dreadful
disorder ("LEIBESSCHADE, of which the first traces had appeared in
Brugg"),--though to most people it seemed rather he would die;
"and one Medical Eminency in Hanover said to myself [Zimmermann]
one day: 'Dr. So-and-so is to have your Pension, I am told; now, by
all right, it should belong to me, don't you think so?'" What, "I"
thought of the matter, seeing the greedy gentleman thus "parting my
skin," may be conjectured!--
The famed Meckel received his famed patient with a nobleness worthy
of the heroic ages. Dodged him in his own house, in softest beds
and appliances; spoke comfort to him, hope to him,--the gallant
Meckel;--rallied, in fact, the due medical staff one morning;
came up to Zimmermann, who "stripped," with the heart of a lamb and
lion conjoined, and trusting in God, "flung himself on his bed" (on
his face, or on his back, we never know), and there, by the hands
of Meckel and staff, "received above 2,000 (TWO THOUSAND) cuts in
the space of an hour and half, without uttering one word or sound."
A frightful operation, gallantly endured, and skilfully done;
whereby the "bodily disorder" (LEIBESSCHADE), whatever it might be,
was effectually and forever sent about its business by the
noble Meckel.
Hospitalities and soft, hushed kindnesses and soothing
ministrations, by Meckel and by everybody, were now doubled and
trebled: wise kind Madam Meckel, young kind Mamsell Meckel and the
Son (who "now, in 1788, lectures in Gottingen"); not these only,
nor Schmucker Head Army-Surgeon, and the ever-memorable HERR
GENERALCHIRURGUS Madan, who had both been in the operation;
not these only, but by degrees all that was distinguished in the
Berlin world, Ramler, Busching, Sulzer, Prime Minister Herzberg,
Queen's and King's Equerries, and honorable men and women,--bore
him "on angel-wings" towards complete recovery. Talked to him, sang
and danced to him (at least, the "Muses" and the female Meckels
danced and sang), and all lapped him against eating cares, till,
after twelve weeks, he was fairly on his feet again, and able to
make jaunts in the neighborhood with his "life's savior," and enjoy
the pleasant Autumn weather to his farther profit.--All this,
though described in ridiculous superlative by Zimmermann, is really
touching, beautiful and human: perhaps never in his life was he so
happy, or a thousandth part so helped by man, as while under the
roof of this thrice-useful Meckel,--more power to Meckel!
Head Army-Surgeon Schmucker had gone through all the Seven-Years
War; Zimmermann, an ardent Hero-worshipper, was never weary
questioning him, listening to him in full career of narrative, on
this great subject,--only eight years old at that time. Among their
country drives, Meckel took him to Potsdam, twenty English miles
off; in the end of October, there to stay a night. This was the
ever-memorable Friday, when we first ascended the Hill of Sans-
Souci, and had our evening walk of contemplation:--to be followed
by a morrow which was ten times more memorable: as readers shall
now see. [Jordens, Lexikon (§ Zimmermann),
v. 632-658 (exact and even eloquent account, as these of Jordens,
unexpectedly, often are); Zimmermann himself, UNTERREDUNGEN MIT
FRIEDRICH DEM GROSSEN (ubi infra); Tissot, Vie de M.
Zimmermann (Lausanne, 1797): &c. &c.]
NEXT DAY, ZIMMERMANN HAS A DIALOGUE. Schmucker had his apartments
in "LITTLE SANS-SOUCI," where the King now lived (Big Sans-Souci,
or "Sans-Souci" by itself, means in those days, not in ours at all,
"New Palace, NEUE PALAIS," now in all its splendor of fresh
finish). De Catt, Friedrich's Reader, whom we know well, was a
Genevese, and knew Zimmermann from of old. Schmucker and De Catt
were privately twitching up Friedrich's curiosity,--to whom also
Zimmermann's name, and perhaps his late surgical operation, might
be known: "Can he speak French?"--"Native to him, your Majesty."
Friedrich had some notion to see Zimmermann; and judicious De Catt,
on this fortunate Saturday, "26th October, 1771," morrow after
Zimmermann's arrival at Potsdam, "came to our inn about, 1 P.M.
[King's dinner just done]; and asked me to come and look at the
beauties of Sans-Souci [Big Sans-Souci] for a little."
Zimmermann willingly went: Catt, left him in good hands to see the
beauties; slipt off, for his own part, to "LITTLE Sans-Souci;" came
back, took Zimmermann thither; left, him with Schmucker, all
trembling, thinking perhaps the King might call him. "I trembled
sometimes, then again I felt exceeding happiness:" I was in
Schmucker's room, sitting by the fire, mostly alone for a good
while, "the room that had once been Marquis d'Argens's" (who is now
dead, and buried far away, good old soul);--when, at last, about
half-past 4, Catt came jumping in, breathless with joy; snatched me
up: "His Majesty wants to speak with you this very moment!"
Zimmermann's self shall say the rest.
"I hurried, hand-in-hand with Catt, along a row of Chambers.
'Here,' said Catt, 'we are now at the King's room!'--My heart
thumped, like to spring out of my body. Catt went in; but next
moment the door again opened, and Catt bade me enter.
"In the middle of the room stood an iron camp-bed without curtains.
There, on a worn mattress, lay King Friedrich, the terror of
Europe, without coverlet, in an old blue roquelaure. He had a big
cocked-hat, with a white feather [hat aged, worn soft as duffel,
equal to most caps; "feather" is not perpendicular, but horizontal,
round the inside of the brim], on his head.
"The King took off his hat very graciously, when I was perhaps ten
steps from him; and said in French (our whole Dialogue proceeded in
French): 'Come nearer, M. Zimmermann.'
"I advanced to within two steps of the King; he said in the mean
while to Catt: 'Call Schmucker in, too.' Herr Schmucker came;
placed himself behind the King, his back to the wall; and Catt
stood behind me. Now the Colloquy began.
KING. "'I hear you have found your health again in Berlin; I wish
you joy of that.'
EGO. "'I have found my life again in Berlin; but at this moment,
Sire, I find here a still greater happiness!' [ACH!]
KING. "'You have stood a cruel operation: you must have suffered
horribly?'
EGO. "'Sire, it was well worth while.'
KING. "'Did, you let them bind you before the operation?'
EGO. "'No: I resolved to keep my freedom.'
KING (laughing in a very kind manner). "'Oh, you behaved like a
brave Switzer! But are you quite recovered, though?'
EGO. "'Sire, I have seen all the wonders of your creation in Sans-
Souci, and feel well in looking at them.'
KING. "'I am glad of that. But you must have a care, and especially
not get on horseback.'
EGO. "'It will be pleasant and easy for me to follow the counsels
of your Majesty.'
KING. "'From what Town in the Canton of Bern are you originally?'
EGO. "'From Brugg.'
KING. "'I don't know that Town.' [No wonder, thought I!]
KING. "'Where did you study?'
EGO. "'At Gottingen: Haller was my teacher.'
KING. "'What is M. Haller doing now?'
EGO. "'He is concluding his literary career with a romance.'
[USONG had just come out;--no mortal now reads a word of it;
and the great Haller is dreadfully forgotten already!]
KING. "'Ah, that is pretty!--On what system do you treat your
patients?'
EGO. "'Not on any system.'
KING. "'But there are some Physicians whose methods you prefer to
those of others?'
EGO. "'I especially like Tissot's methods, who is a familiar friend
of mine.'
KING. "'I know M. Tissot. I have read his writings, and value them
very much. On the whole, I love the Art of Medicine. My Father
wished me to get some knowledge in it. He often sent me into the
Hospitals; and even into those for venereal patients, with a view
of warning by example.'
EGO. "'And by terrible example!--Sire, Medicine is a very difficult
Art. But your Majesty is used to bring all Arts under subjection to
the force of your genius, and to conquer all that is difficult.'
KING. "'Alas, no: I cannot conquer all that is difficult!'
[Hard-mouthed Kaunitz, for example; stock-still, with his right ear
turned on Turkey: how get Kaunitz into step!]--Here the King became
reflective; was silent for a little moment, and then asked me, with
a most bright smile: 'How many churchyards have you filled?'
[A common question of his to Members of the Faculty.]
EGO. "'Perhaps, in my youth, I have done a little that way! But now
it goes better; for I am timid rather than bold.'
KING. "'Very good, very good.'
"Our Dialogue now became extremely brisk. The King quickened into
extraordinary vivacity; and examined me now in the character of
Doctor, with such a stringency as, in the year 1751, at Gottingen,
when I stood for my Degree, the learned Professors Haller, Richter,
Segner and Brendel (for which Heaven recompense them!) never
dreamed of! All inflammatory fevers, and the most important of the
slow diseases, the King mustered with me, in their order. He asked
me, How and whereby I recognized each of these diseases; how and
whereby distinguished them from the approximate maladies; what my
procedure was in simple and in complicated cases; and how I cured
all those disorders? On the varieties, the accidents, the mode of
treatment, of small-pox especially, the King inquired with peculiar
strictness;--and spoke, with much emotion, of that young Prince of
his House who was carried off, some years ago, by that disorder--
[suddenly arrested by it, while on march with his regiment, "near
Ruppin, 26th May, 1767." This is the Prince Henri, junior Brother
of the subsequent King, Friedrich Wilhelm II., who, among other
fooleries, invaded France, in 1792, with such success. Both Henri
and he, as boys, used to be familiar to us in the final winters of
the late War. Poor Henri had died at the age of nineteen,--as yet
all brightness, amiability and nothing else: Friedrich sent an
ELOGE of him to his ACADEMIE, [In OEuvres de Frederic,
vii. 37 et seq.] which is touchingly and strangely
filled with authentic sorrow for this young Nephew of his, but
otherwise empty,--a mere bottle of sighs and tears]. Then he came
upon Inoculation; went along over an incredible multitude of other
medical subjects. Into all he threw masterly glances; spoke of all
with the soundest [all in superlative] knowledge of the matter, and
with no less penetration than liveliness and sense.
"With heartfelt satisfaction, and with the freest soul, I made my
answers to his Majesty. It is true, he potently supported and
encouraged me. Ever and anon his Majesty was saying to me: 'That is
very good;--that is excellently thought and expressed;--your mode
of proceeding, altogether, pleases me very well;--I rejoice to see
how much our ways of thinking correspond.' Often, too, he had the
graciousness to add: 'But, I weary you with my many questions!'
His scientific questions I answered with simplicity, clearness and
brevity; and could not forbear sometimes expressing my astonishment
at the deep and conclusive (TIEFEN UND FRAPPANTEN) medical insights
and judgments of the King.
"His Majesty came now upon the history of his own maladies. He told
me them over, in their series; and asked my opinion and advice
about each. On the HAEMORRHOIDS, which he greatly complained of, I
said something that struck him. Instantly he started up in his bed;
turned his head round towards the wall, and said: 'Schmucker, write
me that down!' I started in fright at this word; and not without
reason! Then our Colloquy proceeded:--
KING. "'The Gout likes to take up his quarters with me; he knows I
am a Prince, and thinks I shall feed him well. But I feed him ill;
I live very meagrely.'
EGO. "'May Gout, thereby get disgusted, and forbear ever calling on
your Majesty!'
KING. "'I am grown old. Diseases will no longer have pity on me.'
EGO. "'Europe feels that your Majesty is not old; and your
Majesty's look (PHYSIOGNOMIE) shows that you have still the same
force as in your thirtieth year.'
KING (laughing and shaking his head). "'Well, well, well!'
"In this way, for an hour and quarter, with uninterrupted vivacity,
the Dialogue went on. At last the King gave me the sign to go;
lifting his hat very kindly, and saying: 'Adieu, my dear
M. Zimmermann; I am very glad to have seen you.'"
Towards 6 P.M. now, and Friedrich must sign his Despatches;
have his Concert, have his reading; then to supper (as spectator
only),--with Quintus Icilius and old Lord Marischal, to-night, or
whom? [Of Icilius, and a quarrel and estrangement there had lately
been, now happily reconciled, see Nicolai, Anekdoten, vi. 140-142.]
"Herr von Catt accompanied me into the anteroom, and Schmucker
followed. I could not stir from the spot; could not speak, was so
charmed and so touched, that I broke into a stream of tears [being
very weak of nerves at the time!]. Herr von Catt said: 'I am now
going back to the King; go you into the room where I took you up;
about eight I will conduct you home.' I pressed my excellent
countryman's hand, I"--"Schmucker said, I had stood too near his
Majesty; I had spoken too frankly, with too much vivacity;
nay, what was unheard of in the world, I had 'gesticulated' before
his Majesty! 'In presence of a King,' said Herr Schmucker, 'one
must stand stiff and not stir.' De Catt came back to us at eight;
and, in Schmucker's presence [let him chew the cud of that!],
reported the following little Dialogue with the King:--
KING. "'What says Zimmermann?'
DE CATT. "'Zimmermann, at the door of your Majesty's room, burst
into a stream of tears.'
KING. "'I love those tender affectionate hearts; I love right well
those brave Swiss people!'
"Next morning the King was heard to say: 'I have found Zimmermann
quite what you described him.'--Catt assured me furthermore, 'Since
the Seven-Years War there had thousands of strangers, persons of
rank, come to Potsdam, wishing to speak with the King, and had not
attained that favor; and of those who had, there could not one
individual boast that his Majesty had talked with him an hour and
quarter at once.' [Fourteen years hence, he dismissed Mirabeau in
half an hour; which was itself a good allowance.]
"Sunday 27th, I left Potsdam, with my kind Meckels, in an
enthusiasm of admiration, astonishment, love and gratitude;
wrote to the King from Berlin, sent him a Tissot's Book (marked on
the margins for Majesty's use), which he acknowledged by some word
to Catt: whereupon I"--In short, I got home to Hanover, in a more
or less seraphic condition,--"with indescribable, unspeakable,"
what not,--early in November; and, as a healed man, never more
troubled with that disorder, though still troubled with many and
many, endeavored to get a little work out of myself again.
[Zimmermann, Meine Unterredungen (Dialogues)
with Friedrich the Great (8vo, Leipzig,
1788), pp. 305-326.]
"Zimmermann was tall, handsome of shape; his exterior was
distinguished and imposing," says Jordens. [Ubi supra, p. 643.]
"He had a firm and light step; stood gracefully; presented himself
well. He had a fine head; his voice was agreeable; and intellect
sparkled in his eyes:"--had it not been for those dreadful
hypochondrias, and confused disasters, a very pretty man. At the
time of this first visit to Friedrich he is 43 years of age, and
Friedrich is on the borders of 60. Zimmermann, with still more
famous DIALOGUES, will reappear on us from Hanover, on a sad
occasion! Meanwhile, few weeks after him, here is a Visit of far
more joyful kind.
SISTER ULRIQUE, QUEEN-DOWAGER OF SWEDEN, REVISITS HER
NATIVE PLACE (December, 1771-August, 1772).
Prince Henri was hardly home from Petersburg and the Swedish Visit,
when poor Adolf Friedrich, King of Sweden, died. [12th February,
1771.] A very great and sad event to his Queen, who had loved her
old man; and is now left solitary, eclipsed, in circumstances
greatly altered on the sudden. In regard to settlements, Accession
of the new Prince, dowager revenues and the like, all went right
enough; which was some alleviation, though an inconsiderable, to
the sorrowing Widow. Her two Princes were absent, touring over
Europe, when their Father died, and the elder of them, Karl Gustav,
suddenly saw himself King. They were in no breathless haste to
return; visited their Uncle, their Prussian kindred, on the way,
and had an interesting week at Potsdam and Berlin; [April 22d-
29th: Rodenbeck, iii. 45.] Karl Gustav flying diligently about,
still incognito, as "Graf von Gothland,"--a spirited young fellow,
perhaps too spirited;--and did not reach home till May-day was
come, and the outburst of the Swedish Summer at hand.
Some think the young King had already something dangerous and
serious in view, and wished his Mother out of the way for a time.
Certain it is she decided on a visit to her native Country in
December following: arrived accordingly, December 2d, 1771;
and till the middle of August next was a shining phenomenon in the
Royal House and upper ranks of Berlin Society, and a touching and
interesting one to the busy Friedrich himself, as may be supposed.
She had her own Apartments and Household at Berlin, in the Palace
there, I think; but went much visiting about, and receiving many
visits,--fond especially of literary people.
Friedrich's notices of her are frequent in his Letters of the time,
all affectionate, natural and reasonable. Here are the first two I
meet with: TO THE ELECTRESS OF SAXONY (three weeks after Ulrique's
arrival); "A thousand excuses, Madam, for not answering sooner!
What will plead for me with a Princess who so well knows the duties
of friendship, is, that I have been occupied with the reception of
a Sister, who has come to seek consolation in the bosom of her
kindred for the loss of a loved Husband, the remembrance of whom
saddens and afflicts her." And again, two months later: "... Your
Royal Highness deigns to take so obliging an interest in the visit
I have had [and still have] from the Queen of Sweden. I beheld her
as if raised from the dead to me; for an absence of eight-and-
twenty years, in the short space of our duration, is almost
equivalent to death. She arrived among us, still in great
affliction for the loss she had had of the King; and I tried to
distract her sad thoughts by all the dissipations possible. It is
only by dint of such that one compels the mind to shift away from
the fatal idea where grief has fixed it: this is not the work of a
day, but of time, which in the end succeeds in everything.
I congratulate your Royal Highness on your Journey to Bavaria [on a
somewhat similar errand, we may politely say]; where you will find
yourself in the bosom of a Family that adores you:" after which,
and the sight of old scenes, how pleasant to go on to Italy, as you
propose! [ OEuvres de Frederic, xxiv. 230,
235. "24th December 1771," "February, 1772." See also,
"Eptire a la Reine Douairiere de Suede" (Poem on the
Troubles she has had: OEuvres de Frederic,
xiii. 74, "written in December, 1770"), and "Vers a la
Reine de Suede," "January, 1771" (ib. 79).]
Queen Ulrique--a solid and ingenuous character (in childhood a
favorite of her Father's, so rational, truthful and of silent staid
ways)--appears to have been popular in the Berlin circles;
pleasant and pleased, during these eight months. Formey, especially
Thiebault, are copious on this Visit of hers; and give a number of
insipid Anecdotes; How there was solemn Session of the Academy made
for her, a Paper of the King's to be read there, ["DISCOURS DE
L'UTILITE DES SCIENCES ET DES ARTS DAM UN ETAT" (in
OEuvres de Frederic, ix. 169 et seq.): read "27th
January, 1772." Formey, ii. 16, &c. &c.]--reading beautifully done
by me, Thiebault (one of my main functions, this of reading the
King's Academy Papers, and my dates of THEM always correct);
how Thiebault was invited to dinner in consequence, and again
invited; how Formey dined with her Majesty "twenty-five times;"
and "preached to her in the Palace, August 19th" (should be August
9th): insipid wholly, vapid and stupid; descriptive of nothing,
except of the vapidities and vanities of certain persons.
Leaving these, we will take an Excerpt, probably our last, from
authentic Busching, which is at least to be depended on for perfect
accuracy, and has a feature or two of portraiture.
Busching, for the last five or six years, is home from Russia;
comfortably established here as Consistorialrath, much concerned
with School-Superintendence; still more with GEOGRAPHY, with
copious rugged Literature of the undigested kind: a man well seen
in society; has "six families of rank which invite him to dinner;"
all the dining he is equal to, with so much undigested writing on
his hands. Busching, in his final Section, headed BERLIN LIFE,
Section more incondite even than its foregoers, has this passage:--
"On the Queen-Dowager of Sweden, Louise Ulrique's, coming to
Berlin, I felt not a little embarrassed. The case was this:
Most part of the SIXTH VOLUME of my MAGAZINE [meritorious curious
Book, sometimes quoted by us here, not yet known in English
Libraries] was printed; and in it, in the printed part, were
various things that concerned the deceased Sovereign, King Adolf
Friedrich, and his Spouse [now come to visit us],--and among these
were Articles which the then ruling party in Sweden could certainly
not like. And now I was afraid these people would come upon the
false notion, that it was from the Queen-Dowager I had got the
Articles in question;--notion altogether false, as they had been
furnished me by Baron Korf [well known to Hordt and others of us,
at Petersburg, in the Czar-Peter time], now Russian Minister at
Copenhagen. However, when Duke Friedrich of Brunswick [one of the
juniors, soldiering here with his Uncle, as they almost all are]
wrote to me, one day, That his Lady Aunt the Queen of Sweden
invited me to dine with her to-morrow, and that he, the Duke, would
introduce me,--I at once decided to lay my embarrassment before the
Queen herself.
"Next day, when I was presented to her Majesty, she took me by the
hand, and led me to a window [as was her custom with guests whom
she judged to be worth questioning and talking to], and so placed
herself in a corner there that I came to stand close before her;
when she did me the honor to ask a great many questions about
Russia, the Imperial Court especially, and most of all the Grand-
Duke [Czar Paul that is to be,--a kind of kinsman he, his poor
Father was my late Husband's Cousin-german, as perhaps you know].
A great deal of time was spent in this way; so that the Princes and
Princesses, punctual to invitation, had to wait above half an hour
long; and the Queen was more than once informed that dinner was on
the table and getting cold. I could get nothing of my own mentioned
here; all I could do was to draw back, in a polite way, so soon as
the Queen would permit: and afterwards, at table, to explain with
brevity my concern about what was printed in the MAGAZINE;
and request the Queen to permit me to send it her to read for
herself. She had it, accordingly, that same afternoon.
"A few days after, she invited me again; again spoke with me a long
while in the window embrasure, in a low tone of voice: confirmed to
me all that she had read,--and in particular, minutely explained
that LETTER OF THE KING [one of my Pieces] in which he relates what
passed between him and Count Tessin [Son's Tutor] in the Queen's
Apartment. At table, she very soon took occasion to say: 'I cannot
imagine to myself how the Herr Consistorialrath [Busching, to wit]
has come upon that Letter of my deceased Lord the King of Sweden's;
which his Majesty did write, and which is now printed in your
MAGAZINE. For certain, the King showed it to nobody.'
Whereupon BUSCHING: 'Certainly; nor is that to be imagined, your
Majesty. But the person it was addressed to must have shown it;
and so a copy of it has come to my hands.' Queen still expresses
her wonder; whereupon again, Busching, with a courageous candor:
'Your Majesty, most graciously permit me to say, that hitherto all
Swedish secrets of Court or State have been procurable for money
and good words!' The Queen, to whom I sat directly opposite, cast
down her eyes at these words and smiled;--and the Reichsrath Graf
von Schwerin [a Swedish Gentleman of hers], who sat at my left,
seized me by the hand, and said: 'Alas, that is true!'"--Here is a
difficulty got over; Magazine Number can come out when it will. As
it did, "next Easter-Fair," with proper indications and tacit
proofs that the Swedish part of it lay printed several months
before the Queen's arrival in our neighborhood.
Busching dined with her Majesty several times,--"eating nothing,"
he is careful to mention and was careful to show her Majesty,
"except, very gradually, a small bit of bread soaked in a glass of
wine!"--meaning thereby, "Note, ye great ones, it is not for your
dainties; in fact, it is out of loyal politeness mainly!" the
gloomily humble man.
"One time, the Queen asked me, in presence of various Princes and
Princesses of the Royal House: 'Do you think it advisable to
enlighten the Lower Classes by education?' To which I answered:
'Considering only under what heavy loads a man of the Lower
Classes, especially of the Peasant sort, has to struggle through
his life, one would think it was better neither to increase his
knowledge nor refine his sensibility. But when one reflects that
he, as well as those of the Higher Classes, is to last through
Eternity; and withal that good instruction may [or might, IF it be
not BAD] increase his practical intelligence, and help him to
methods of alleviating himself in this world, it must be thought
advisable to give him useful enlightenment.' The Queen accorded
with this view of the matter.
"Twice I dined with her Majesty at her Sister, Princess Amelia, the
Abbess of Quedlinburg's:--and the second time [must have been
Summer, 1772], Professor Sulzer, who was also a guest, caught his
death there. When I entered the reception-room, Sulzer was standing
in the middle of a thorough-draught, which they had managed to have
there, on account of the great heat; and he had just arrived, all
in a perspiration, from the Thiergarten: I called him out of the
draught, but it was too late." [Busching: Beitrage, vi. 578-582.] ACH, MEIN LIEBER SULZER,--Alas, dear Sulzer:
seriously this time!
Busching has a great deal to say about Schools, about the "School
Commission 1765," the subjects taught, the methods of teaching
devised by Busching and others, and the King's continual exertions,
under deficient funds, in this province of his affairs.
Busching had unheard-of difficulty to rebuild the old Gymnasium at
Berlin into a new. Tried everybody; tried the King thrice over, but
nobody would. "One of the persons I applied to was Lieutenant-
General von Ramin, Governor of Berlin [surliest of mankind, of
whose truculent incivility there go many anecdotes]; to Ramin I
wrote, entreating that he would take a good opportunity and suggest
a new Town Schoolhouse to his Majesty: 'Excellenz, it will render
you immortal in the annals of Berlin!' To which Ramin made answer:
'That is an immortality I must renounce the hope of, and leave to
the Town-Syndics and yourself. I, for my own part, will by no means
risk such a proposal to his Majesty; which he would, in all
likelihood, answer in the negative, and receive ill at anybody's
hands.'" [Ib. vi. 568.] By subscriptions, by bequests, donations
and the private piety of individuals, Busching aiding and stirring,
the thing was at last got done. Here is another glance into School-
life: not from Busching:--
JUNE 9th, 1771. "This Year the Stande of the Kurmark find they have
an overplus of 100,000 thalers (15,000 pounds); which sum they do
themselves the pleasure of presenting to the King for his Majesty's
uses." King cannot accept it for his own uses. "This money,"
answers he (9th June), "comes from the Province, wherefore I feel
bound to lay it out again for advantage of the Province. Could not
it become a means of getting English husbandry [TURNIPS in
particular, whether short-horns or not, I do not know] introduced
among us? In the Towns that follow Farming chiefly, or in Villages
belonging to unmoneyed Nobles, we will lend out this 15,000 pounds,
at 4 per cent, in convenient sums for that object: hereby will
turnip-culture and rotation be vouchsafed us; interest at 4 per
cent brings us in 600 pounds annually; and this we will lay out in
establishing new Schoolmasters in the Kurmark, and having the youth
better educated." What a pretty idea; neat and beautiful, killing
two important birds with one most small stone! I have known
enormous cannon-balls and granite blocks, torrent after torrent,
shot out under other kinds of Finance-gunnery, that were not only
less respectable, but that were abominable to me in comparison.
Unluckily, no Nobles were found inclined; English Husbandry
["TURNIPSE" and the rest of it] had to wait their time. The King
again writes: "No Nobles to be found, say you? Well; put the 15,000
pounds to interest in the common way,--that the Schoolmasters at
least may have solacement: I will add 120 thalers (18 pounds)
apiece, that we may have a chance of getting better Schoolmasters;
--send me List of the Places where the worst are." List was sent;
is still extant; and on the margin of it, in Royal Autograph,
this remark:--
"The Places are well selected. The bad Schoolmasters are mostly
Tailors; and you must see whether they cannot be got removed to
little Towns, and set to tailoring again, or otherwise disposed of,
that our Schools might the sooner rise into good condition, which
is an interesting thing." "Eager always our Master is to have the
Schooling of his People improved and everywhere diffused," writes,
some years afterwards, the excellent Zedlitz, officially "Minister
of Public Justice," but much and meritoriously concerned with
School matters as well. The King's ideas were of the best, and
Zedlitz sometimes had fine hopes; but the want of funds was
always great.
"In 1779," says Preuss, "there came a sad blow to Zedlitz's hopes:
Minister von Brenkenhof [deep in West-Preussen canal-diggings and
expenditures] having suggested, That instead of getting Pensions,
the Old Soldiers should be put to keeping School." Do but fancy it;
poor old fellows, little versed in scholastics hitherto!
"Friedrich, in his pinch, grasped at the small help; wrote to the
War-Department: 'Send me a List of Invalids who are fit [or at
least fittest] to be Schoolmasters.' And got thereupon a list of
74, and afterwards 5 more [79 Invalids in all]; War-Department
adding, That besides these scholastic sort, there were 741 serving
as BUDNER [Turnpike-keepers, in a sort], as Forest-watchers and the
like; and 3,443 UNVERSORGT" (shifting for themselves, no provision
made for them at all),--such the check, by cold arithmetic and
inexorable finance, upon the genial current of the soul!--
The TURNIPS, I believe, got gradually in; and Brandenburg, in our
day, is a more and more beautifully farmed Country. Nor were the
Schoolmasters unsuccessful at all points; though I cannot report a
complete educational triumph on those extremely limited terms.
[Preuss, iii. 115, 113, &c.]
Queen Ulrique left, I think, on the 9th of August, 1772; there is
sad farewell in Friedrich's Letter next day to Princess Sophie
Albertine, the Queen's Daughter, subsequently Abbess of
Quedlinburg: he is just setting out on his Silesian Reviews;
"shall, too likely, never see your good Mamma again."
["Potsdam, 10th August, 1772:" OEuvres de Frederic, xxvii. ii. 93.] Poor King; Berlin City is sound asleep,
while he rushes through it on this errand,--"past the Princess
Amelia's window," in the dead of night; and takes to humming tender
strophes to her too; which gain a new meaning by their date. ["A MA
SOEUR AMELIE, EN PASSANT, LA NUIT, SOUS SA FENETRE, POUR ALLER EN
SILESIE (AOUT 1772):" OEuvres de Frederic,
xiii. 77.]
Ten days afterwards (19th August, 1772),--Queen Ulrique not yet
home,--her Son, the spirited King Gustav III., at Stockholm had
made what in our day is called a "stroke of state,"--put a thorn in
the snout of his monster of a Senate, namely: "Less of palaver,
venality and insolence, from you, Sirs; we 'restore the
Constitution of 1680,' and are something of a King again!"
Done with considerable dexterity and spirit; not one person killed
or hurt. And surely it was the muzzling-up of a great deal of folly
on their side,--provided only there came wisdom enough from Gustav
himself instead. But, alas, there did not, there hardly could.
His Uncle was alarmed, and not a little angry for the moment:
"You had two Parties to reconcile; a work of time, of patient
endeavor, continual and quiet; no good possible till then.
And instead of that--!" Gustav, a shining kind of man, showed no
want of spirit, now or afterwards: but he leant too much on France
and broken reeds;--and, in the end, got shot in the back by one of
those beautiful "Nobles" of his, and came to a bad conclusion, they
and he. ["16th-29th March, 1792," death of Gustav III. by that
assassination: "13th March, 1809," his Son Gustav IV, has to go on
his travels; "Karl XIII.," a childless Uncle, succeeds for a few
years: after whom &c.] Scandinavian Politics, thank Heaven, are
none of our business.
Queen Ulrique was spared all these catastrophes. She had alarmed
her Brother by a dangerous illness, sudden and dangerous, in 1775;
who writes with great anxiety about it, to Another still more
anxious: [See "Correspondence with Gustav III." (in
OEuvres de Frederic, xxvii. ii. 84, &c.).] of this she
got well again; but it did not last very long. July 16th, 1782, she
died;--and the sad Friedrich had to say, Adieu. Alas, "must the
eldest of us mourn, then, by the grave of those younger!"
WILHELMINA'S DAUGHTER, ELIZABETH FREDERIKE SOPHIE, DUCHESS
OF WURTEMBERG, APPEARS AT FERNEY (September, 1773).
Of our dear Wilhelmina's high and unfortunate Daughter there should
be some Biography; and there will surely, if a man of sympathy and
faculty pass that way; but there is not hitherto. Nothing hitherto
but a few bare dates; bare and sternly significant, as on a
Tombstone; indicating that she had a History, and that it was a
tragic one. Welcome to all of us, in this state of matters, is the
following one clear emergence of her into the light of day, and in
company so interesting too! Seven years before her death she had
gone to Lausanne (July, 1773) to consult Tissot, a renowned
Physician of those days. From Lausanne, after two months, she
visited Voltaire at Ferney. Read this Letter of Voltaire's:--
TO ELIZABETH FREDERIKE SOPHIE, DUCHESS OF WURTEMBERG
(at Lausanne).
"FEENEY, 10th July, 1773.
"MADAM,--I am informed that your most Serene Highness has deigned
to remember that I was in the world. It is very sad to be there,
without paying you my court. I never felt so cruelly the sad state
to which old age and maladies have reduced me.
"I never saw you except as a child [1743, her age then 10]: but you
were certainly the beautifulest child in Europe. May you be the
happiest Princess [alas!], as you deserve to be! I was attached to
Madam the Margravine [your dear Mother] with equal devotedness and
respect; and I had the honor to be pretty deep in her confidence,
for some time before this world, which was not worthy of her, had
lost that adorable Princess. You resemble her;--but don't resemble
her in--feebleness of health! You are in the flower of your age
[coming forty, I should fear]: let such bright flower lose nothing
of its splendor; may your happiness be able to equal [PUISSO
EGALER] your beauty; may all your days be serene, and the sweets of
friendship add a new charm to them! These are my wishes; they are
as lively as my regrets at not being at your feet. What a
consolation it would be for me to speak of your loving Mother, and
of all your august relatives! Why must Destiny send you to Lausanne
[consulting Dr. Tissot there], and hinder me from flying thither!--
Let your most Serene Highness deign to accept the profound respect
of the old moribund Philosopher of Ferney.--V." [ OEuvres
de Voltaire, xcii. 331.]
The Answer of the Princess, or farther Correspondence on the
matter, is not given; evident only that by and by, as Voltaire
himself will inform us, she did appear at Ferney;--and a certain
Swedish tourist, one Bjornstahl, who met her there, enables us even
to give the date. He reports this anecdote:--
"At supper, on the evening of 7th September, 1773, the Princess sat
next to Voltaire, who always addressed her 'VOTRE ALTESSE.' At last
the Duchess said to him, 'TU ES ANON PAPA, JE SUIS TA FILLE, ET JE
VOUZ ETRE APPELEE TA FILLE.' Voltaire took a pencil from his
pocket, asked for a card, and wrote upon it:--
'Ah, le beau titre que voila!
Vous me donnez la premiere des places;
Quelle famille j'aurais la!
Je serais le pere des Graces'
[ OEuvres de Voltaire, xviii. 342.]
He gave the card to the Princess, who embraced and kissed him for
it." [Vehse, Geschichte der Deutschen Hofe
(Hamburg, 1853), xxv. 252, 253.]
VOLTAIRE TO FRIEDRICH (a fortnight after).
"FERNEY, 22d September, 1773.
"I must tell you that I have felt, in these late days, in spite of
all my past caprices, how much I am attached to your Majesty and to
your House. Madam the Duchess of Wurtemberg having had, like so
many others, the weakness to believe that health is to be found at
Lausanne, and that Dr. Tissot gives it if one pay him, has, as you
know, made the journey to Lausanne; and I, who am more veritably
ill than she, and than all the Princesses who have taken Tissot for
an AEsculapius, had not the strength to leave my home. Madam of
Wurtemberg, apprised of all the feelings that still live in me for
the memory of Madam the Margravine of Baireuth her Mother, has
deigned to visit my hermitage, and pass two days with us. I should
have recognized her, even without warning; she has the turn of her
Mother's face with your eyes.
"You Hero-people who govern the world don't allow yourselves to be
subdued by feelings; you have them all the same as we, but you
maintain your decorum. We other petty mortals yield to all our
impressions: I set myself to cry, in speaking to her of you and of
Madam the Princess her Mother; and she too, though she is Niece of
the first Captain in Europe, could not restrain her tears.
It appears to me, that she has the talent (ESPRIT) and the graces
of your House; and that especially she is more attached to you than
to her Husband [I should think so!]. She returns, I believe,
to Baireuth,--
--[No Mother, no Father there now: foolish Uncle of Anspath died
long ago, "3d August, 1757:" Aunt Dowager of Anspach gone to
Erlangen, I hope, to Feuchtwang, Schwabach or Schwaningen, or some
Widow's-Mansion "WITTWENSITZ" of her own; [Lived, finally at
Schwaningen, in sight of such vicissitudes and follies round her,
till "4th February, 1784" (Rodenbeck, iii. 304).] reigning Son,
with his French-Actress equipments, being of questionable
figure],--
--"returns, I believe, to Baireuth; where she will find
another Princess of a different sort; I mean Mademoiselle Clairon,
who cultivates Natural History, and is Lady Philosopher to
Monseigneur the Margraf,"--high-rouged Tragedy-Queen, rather
tyrannous upon him, they say: a young man destined to adorn
Hammersmith by and by, and not go a good road.
... "I renounce my beautiful hopes of seeing the Mahometans driven
out of Europe, and Athens become again the Seat of the Muses.
Neither you nor the Kaiser are"--are inclined in the Crusading way
at all. ... "The old sick man of Ferney is always at the feet of
your Majesty; he feels very sorry that he cannot talk of you
farther with Madam the Duchess of Wurtemberg, who adores you.--
LE VIEUX MALADE." [ OEuvres de Voltaire,
xcii. 390.]
To which Friedrich makes answer: "If it is forevermore forbidden me
to see you again, I am not the less glad that the Duchess of
Wurtemberg has seen you. I should certainly have mixed my tears
with yours, had I been present at that touching scene! Be it
weakness, be it excess of regard, I have built for her lost Mother,
what Cicero projected for his Tullia, a TEMPLE OF FRIENDSHIP: her
Statue occupies the background, and on each pillar stands a mask
(MASCARON) containing the Bust of some Hero in Friendship: I send
you the drawing of it." ["Potsdam, 24th October, 1773:"
OEuvres de Frederic, xxiii. 259:--"Temple" was built
in 1768 (Ib. p. 259 n.).] Which again sets Voltaire weeping, and
will the Duchess when she sees it. [Voltaire's next Letter:
OEuvres de Voltaire, xcii. 434.]
We said there hitherto was nearly nothing anywhere discoverable as
History of this high Lady but the dates only; these we now give.
She was "born 30th August, 1732,"--her Mother's and Father's one
Child;--four years older than her Anspach Cousin, who inherited
Baireuth too, and finished off that genealogy. She was "wedded 26th
September, 1748;" her age then about 16; her gloomy Duke of
Wurtemberg, age 20, all sunshine and goodness to her then: she was
"divorced in 1757:" "died 6th April, 1780,"--Tradition says, "in
great poverty [great for her rank, I suppose, proud as she might
be, and above complaining],--at Neustadt-on-the-Aisch" (in the
Nurnberg region), whither she had retired, I know not how long
after her Papa's death and Cousin's accession. She is bound for her
Cousin's Court, we observe, just now; and, considering her Cousin's
ways and her own turn of mind, it is easy to fancy she had not a
pleasant time there.
Tradition tells us, credibly enough, "She was very like her Mother:
beautiful, much the lady (VON FEINEM TON), and of energetic
character;" and adds, probably on slight foundation, "but very cold
and proud towards the people." [Vehse, xxv. 251.] Many Books will
inform you how, "On first entering Stuttgard, when the reigning
Duke and she were met by a party of congratulatory peasant women
dressed in their national costume, she said to her Duke," being
then only sixteen, poor young soul, and on her marriage-journey,
"'WAS WILL DAS GESCHMEISS (Why does that rabble bore us)!'" This is
probably the main foundation. That "her Ladies, on approaching her,
had always to kiss the hem of her gown," lay in the nature of the
case, being then the rule to people of her rank.
Beautiful Unfortunate, adieu:--and be Voltaire thanked, too!--
It is long since we have seen Voltaire before:--a prosperous Lord
at Ferney these dozen years ("the only man in France that lives
like a GRAND SEIGNEUR," says Cardinal Bernis to him once [Their
CORRESPONDENCE, really pretty of its kind, used to circulate as a
separate Volume in the years then subsequent.]); doing great things
for the Pays de Gex and for France, and for Europe; delivering the
Calases, the Sirvens and the Oppressed of various kinds;
especially ardent upon the INFAME, as the real business Heaven has
assigned him in his Day, the sunset of which, and Night wherein no
man can work, he feels to be hastening on. "Couldn't we, the few
Faithful, go to Cleve in a body?" thinks he at one time: "To Cleve;
and there, as from a safe place, under the Philosopher King, shoot
out our fiery artilleries with effect?" The Philosopher King is
perfectly willing, "provided you don't involve me in Wars with my
neighbors." Willing enough he; but they the Faithful--alas, the
Patriarch finds that they have none of his own heroic ardor, and
that the thing cannot be done. Upon which, "struck with sorrow,"
say his Biographers, "he writes nothing to Friedrich for two
years." ["Nov. 1769," recommences ( OEuvres de Frederic,
xxiii. 140. 139).]
The truth is, he is growing very old; and though a piercing
radiance, as of stars, bursts occasionally from the central part of
him, the outworks are getting decayed and dim; obstruction more and
more accumulating, and the immeasurable Night drawing nigh.
Well does Voltaire himself, at all moments, know this; and his
bearing under it, one must say, is rather beautiful. There is a
tenderness, a sadness, in these his later Letters to Friedrich;
instead of emphasis or strength, a beautiful shrill melody, as of a
woman, as of a child; he grieves unappeasably to have lost
Friedrich; never will forgive Maupertuis:--poor old man!
Friedrich answers in a much livelier, more robust tone: friendly,
encouraging, communicative on small matters;--full of praises,--in
fact, sincerely glad to have such a transcendent genius still alive
with him in this world. Praises to the most liberal pitch
everything of Voltaire's,--except only the Article on WAR, which
occasionally (as below) he quizzes a little, to the Patriarch or
his Disciple.
As we have room for nothing of all this, and perhaps shall not see
Voltaire again,--there are Two actual Interviews with him, which,
being withal by Englishmen, though otherwise not good for much, we
intend for readers here. In these last twenty years D'Alembert is
Friedrich's chief Correspondent. Of D'Alembert to the King, it may
be or may not, some opportunity will rise for a specimen; meanwhile
here is a short Letter of the King's to D'Alembert, through which
there pass so many threads of contemporaneous flying events (swift
shuttles on the loud-sounding Loom of Time), that we are tempted to
give this, before the two Interviews in question.
Date of the Letter is two months after that apparition of the
Duchess of Wurtemberg at Ferney. Of "Crillon," an ingenious enough
young Soldier, rushing ardently about the world in his holiday
time, we have nothing to say, except that he is Son of that
Rossbach Crillon, who always fancies to himself that once he
perhaps spared Friedrich's life (by a glass of wine judiciously
given) long since, while the Bridge of Weissenfels was on fire, and
Rossbach close ahead. [Supra, x. 6.] Colonel "Guibert" is another
Soldier, still young, but of much superior type; greatly an admirer
of Friedrich, and subsequently a Writer upon him. [Of Guibert's
visit to Friedrich (June, 1773), see Preuss, iv. 214; Rodenbeck,
iii. 80.]
In regard to the "Landgravine of Darmstadt," notice these points.
First, that her eldest Daughter is Wife, second Wife, to the
dissolute Crown-Prince of Prussia; and then, that she has Three
other Daughters,--one of whom has just been disposed of in an
important way; wedded to the Czarowitsh Paul of Russia, namely.
By Friedrich's means and management, as Friedrich informs us.
[ OEuvres de Frederic, (MEMOIRES DE 1763
JUSQU'A 1775), vi. 57.] The Czarina, he says, had sent out a
confidential Gentleman, one Asseburg, who was Prussian by birth, to
seek a fit Wife for her Son: Friedrich, hearing of this, suggested
to Asseburg, "The Landgravine of Darmstadt, the most distinguished
and accomplished of German Princesses, has three marriageable
Daughters; her eldest, married to our Crown-Prince, will be Queen
of Prussia in time coming;--suppose now, one of the others were to
be Czarina of Russia withal? Think, might it not be useful both to
your native Country and to your adopted?" Asseburg took the hint;
reported at Petersburg, That of all marriageable Princesses in
Germany, the Three of Darmstadt, one or the other of them, would,
in his humble opinion, be the eligiblest. "Could not we persuade
you to come to Petersburg, Madam Landgravine?" wrote the Czarina
thereupon: "Do us the honor of a visit, your three Princesses and
you!" The Landgravine and Daughters, with decent celerity, got
under way; [Passed through Berlin 16th-19th May, 1773: Rodenbeck,
iii. 78.] Czarowitsh Paul took interesting survey, on their
arrival; and about two months ago wedded the middle one of the
three:--and here is the victorious Landgravine bringing home the
other two. Czarowitsh's fair one did not live long, nor behave
well: died of her first child; and Czarowitsh, in 1776, had to
apply to us again for a Wife, whom this time we fitted better.
Happily, the poor victorious Landgravine was gone before anything
of this; she died suddenly five months hence; [30th March, 1774.]
nothing doubting of her Russian Adventure. She was an admired
Princess of her time, DIE GROSSE LANDGRAFIN, as Goethe somewhere
calls her; much in Friedrich's esteem,--FEMINA SEXU, INGENIO VIR,
as the Monument he raised to her at Darmstadt still bears.
[ OEuvres de Frederic, xx. 183 n.
His CORRESPONDENCE with her is Ib. xxvii ii. 135-153; and goes from
1757 to 1774.]
FRIEDRICH TO D'ALEMBERT.
"POTSDAM, 16th December, 1773.
"M. de Crillon delivered me your CRILLONADE [lengthy Letter of
introduction]; which has completed me in the History of all the
Crillons of the County of Avignon. He does n't stop here; he is
soon to be off for Russia; so that I will take him on your word,
and believe him the wisest of all the Crillons: assuring myself
that you have measured and computed all his curves, and angles of
incidence. He will find Diderot and Grimm in Russia [famous visit
of Diderot], all occupied with the Czarina's beautiful reception of
them, and with the many things worthy of admiration which they have
seen there. Some say Grimm will possibly fix himself in that
Country [chose better],--which will be the asylum at once of your
fanatic CHAUMEIXES and of the ENCYCLOPEDISTES, whom he used to
denounce. [This poor Chaumeix did, after such feats, "die peaceably
at Moscow, as a Schoolmaster."]
"M. de Guibert has gone by Ferney; where it is said Voltaire has
converted him, that is, has made him renounce the errors of
ambition, abjure the frightful trade of hired manslayer, with
intent to become either Capuchin or Philosophe; so that I suppose
by this time he will have published a 'Declaration' like Gresset,
informing the public That, having had the misfortune to write a
Work on Tactics, he repented it from the bottom of his soul, and
hereby assured mankind that never more in his life would he give
rules for butcheries, assassinations, feints, stratagems or the
like abominations. As to me, my conversion not being yet in an
advanced stage, I pray you to give me details about Guibert's, to
soften my heart and penetrate my bowels.
"We have the Landgravine of Darmstadt here: [Rodenbeck, iii. 89,
90.] no end to the Landgravine's praises of a magnificent Czarina,
and of all the beautiful and grand things she has founded in that
Country. As to us, who live like mice in their holes, news come to
us only from mouth to mouth, and the sense of hearing is nothing
like that of sight. I cherish my wishes, in the mean while, for the
sage Anaxagoras [my D'Alembert himself]; and I say to Urania, 'It
is for thee to sustain thy foremost Apostle, to maintain one light,
without which a great Kingdom [France] would sink into darkness;'
and I say to the Supreme Demiurgus: 'Have always the good
D'Alembert in thy holy and worthy keeping.'--F." [ OEuvres
de Frederic, xxiv. 614.]
THE BOSTON TEA (same day). Curious to remark, while Friedrich is
writing this Letter, "THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16th, 1773," what a
commotion is going on, far over seas, at Boston, New England,--in
the "Old South Meeting-house" there; in regard to three English Tea
Ships that are lying embargoed in Griffin's Wharf for above a
fortnight past. The case is well known, and still memorable to
mankind. British Parliament, after nine years of the saddest
haggling and baffling to and fro, under Constitutional stress of
weather, and such east-winds and west-winds of Parliamentary
eloquence as seldom were, has made up its mind, That America shall
pay duty on these Teas before infusing them: and America, Boston
more especially, is tacitly determined that it will not; and that,
to avoid mistakes, these Teas shall never be landed at all. Such is
Boston's private intention, more or less fixed;--to say nothing of
the Philadelphias, Charlestons, New Yorks, who are watching Boston,
and will follow suit of it.
"Sunday, November 26th,--that is, nineteen days ago,--the first of
these Tea Ships, the DARTMOUTH, Captain Hall, moored itself in
Griffin's Wharf: Owner and Consignee is a broad-brimmed Boston
gentleman called Rotch, more attentive to profits of trade than to
the groans of Boston:--but already on that Sunday, much more on the
Monday following, there had a meeting of Citizens run together,--
(on Monday, Faneuil Hall won't hold them, and they adjourn to the
Old South Meeting-house),--who make it apparent to Rotch that it
will much behoove him, for the sake both of tea and skin, not to
'enter' (or officially announce) this Ship DARTMOUTH at the Custom-
house in any wise; but to pledge his broad-brimmed word, equivalent
to his oath, that she shall lie dormant there in Griffin's Wharf,
till we see. Which, accordingly, she has been doing ever since;
she and two others that arrived some days later; dormant all three
of them, side by side, three crews totally idle; a 'Committee of
Ten' supervising Rotch's procedures; and the Boston world much
expectant. Thursday, December 16th: this is the 20th day since
Rotch's DARTMOUTH arrived here; if not 'entered' at Custom-house in
the course of this day, Custom-house cannot give her a 'clearance'
either (a leave to depart),--she becomes a smuggler, an outlaw, and
her fate is mysterious to Rotch and us.
"This Thursday accordingly, by 10 in the morning, in the Old South
Meeting-house, Boston is assembled, and country-people to the
number of 2,000;--and Rotch never was in such a company of human
Friends before. They are not uncivil to him (cautious people,
heedful of the verge of the Law); but they are peremptory, to the
extent of--Rotch may shudder to think what. "I went to the Custom-
house yesterday,' said Rotch, 'your Committee of Ten can bear me
witness; and demanded clearance and leave to depart; but they would
not; were forbidden, they said!' 'Go, then, sir; get you to the
Governor himself; a clearance, and out of harbor this day: had n't
you better?' Rotch is well aware that he had; hastens off to the
Governor (who has vanished to his Country-house, on purpose);
Old South Meeting-house adjourning till 3 P.M., for Rotch's return
with clearance.
"At 3 no Rotch, nor at 4, nor at 5; miscellaneous plangent
intermittent speech instead, mostly plangent, in tone sorrowful
rather than indignant:--at a quarter to 6, here at length is Rotch;
sun is long since set,--has Rotch a clearance or not? Rotch reports
at large, willing to be questioned and cross-questioned:
'Governor absolutely would not! My Christian friends, what could I
or can I do?' There are by this time about 7,000 people in Old
South Meeting-house, very few tallow-lights in comparison,--almost
no lights for the mind either,--and it is difficult to answer.
Rotch's report done, the Chairman [one Adams, "American Cato,"
subsequently so called] dissolves the sorrowful 7,000, with these
words: 'This Meeting declares that it can do nothing more to save
the Country.' Will merely go home, then, and weep. Hark, however:
almost on the instant, in front of Old South Meeting-house, (a
terrific War-whoop; and about fifty Mohawk Indians,'--with whom
Adams seems to be acquainted; and speaks without
Interpreter: Aha?--
"And, sure enough, before the stroke of 7, these fifty painted
Mohawks are forward, without noise, to Griffin's Wharf; have put
sentries all round there; and, in a great silence of the
neighborhood, are busy, in three gangs, upon the dormant Tea Ships;
opening their chests, and punctually shaking them out into the sea.
'Listening from the distance, you could hear distinctly the ripping
open of the chests, and no other sound.' About 10 P.M. all was
finished: 342 chests of tea flung out to infuse in the Atlantic;
the fifty Mohawks gone like a dream; and Boston sleeping more
silently even than usual." ["Summary of the Advices from America"
(in Gentleman's Magazine for 1774, pp. 26,
27); Bancroft, iii. 536 et seq.]
"Seven in the evening:" this, I calculate, allowing for the Earth's
rotation, will be about the time when Friedrich, well tired with
the day's business, is getting to bed; by 10 on the Boston clocks,
when the process finishes there, Friedrich will have had the best
of his sleep over. Here is Montcalm's Prophecy coming to
fulfilment;--and a curious intersection of a flying Event through
one's poor LETTER TO D'ALEMBERT. We will now give the two English
Interviews with Voltaire; one of which is of three years past,
another of three years ahead.
No. 1. DR BURNEY HAS SIGHT OF VOLTAIRE (July, 1770).
In the years 1770-1771, Burney, then a famous DOCTOR OF MUSIC, made
his TOUR through France and Italy, on Musical errands and
researches: [Charles Burney's Present State of Music in
France and Italy, being the Journal of a Tour through those
Countries to collect Materials for a General History of Music (London, 1773). The History of Music
followed duly, in Four 4tos (London, 1776-1789).] with these we
have no concern, but only with one most small exceptional offshoot
or episode which grew out of these. Enough for us to know that
Burney, a comfortable, well-disposed, rather dull though vivacious
Doctor, age near 45, had left London for Paris "in June, 1770;"
that he was on to Geneva, intending for Turin, "early in July;"
and that his "M. Fritz," mentioned below, is a veteran Brother in
Music, settled at Geneva for the last thirty years, who has been
helpful and agreeable to Burney while here. Our Excerpt therefore
dates itself, "one of the early days of July, 1770,"--Burney
hovering between two plans (as we shall dimly perceive), and not
exactly executing either:--
.... "My going to M. Fritz broke [was about breaking, but did not
quite] into a plan which I had formed of visiting M. de Voltaire,
at the same hour, along with some other strangers, who were then
going to Ferney. But, to say the truth, besides the visit to
M. Fritz being more MY BUSINESS, I did not much like going with
these people, who had only a Geneva Bookseller to introduce them;
and I had heard that some English had lately met with a rebuff from
M. de Voltaire, by going without any letter of recommendation, or
anything to recommend themselves. He asked them What they wanted?
Upon their replying That they wished only to see so extraordinary a
man, he said: 'Well, gentlemen, you now see me: did you take me for
a wild beast or monster, that was fit only to be stared at as a
show?' This story very much frightened me; for, not having, when I
left London, or even Paris, any intention of going to Geneva, I was
quite unprovided with a recommendation. However, I was determined
to see the place of his residence, which I took to be [still LES
DELICES],
CETTE MAISON D'ARISTIPPE, CES JARDINS D'PICURE,
to which he retired in 1755; but was mistaken [not The DELICES now
at all, but Ferney, for nine or ten years back].
"I drove to Ferney alone, after I had left M. Fritz. This House is
three or four miles from Geneva, but near the Lake. I approached it
with reverence, and a curiosity of the most minute kind. I inquired
WHEN I first trod on his domain; I had an intelligent and talkative
postilion, who answered all my questions very satisfactorily.
M. de Voltaire's estate is very large here, and he is building
pretty farm-houses upon it. He has erected on the Geneva side a
quadrangular JUSTICE, or Gallows, to show that he is the SEIGNEUR.
One of his farms, or rather manufacturing houses,--for he is
establishing a manufacture upon his estate,--was so handsome that I
thought it was his chateau.
"We drove to Ferney, through a charming country, covered with corn
and vines, in view of the Lake, and Mountains of Gex, Switzerland
and Savoy. On the left hand, approaching the House, is a neat
Chapel with this inscription:--
'DE0 EREXIT VOLTAIRE MDCCLXI.'
I sent to inquire, Whether a stranger might be allowed to see the
House and Gardens; and was answered in the affirmative. A servant
soon came, and conducted me into the cabinet or closet where his
Master had just been writing: this is never shown when he is at
home; but having walked out, I was allowed that privilege.
From thence I passed to the Library, which is not a very large one,
but well filled. Here I found a whole-length Figure in marble of
himself, recumbent, in one of the windows; and many curiosities in
another room; a Bust of himself, made not two years since;
his Mother's picture; that of his Niece, Madam Denis; his Brother,
M. Dupuis; the Calas Family; and others. It is a very neat and
elegant House; not large, nor affectedly decorated.
"I should first have remarked, that close to the Chapel, between
that and the house, is the Theatre, which he built some years ago;
where he treated his friends with some of his own Tragedies: it is
now only used as a receptacle for wood and lumber, there having
been no play acted in it these four years. The servant told me his
Master was 78 [76 gone], but very well. 'IL TRAVAILLE,' said he,
'PENDANT DIX HEURES CHAQUE JOUR, He studies ten hours every day;
writes constantly without spectacles, and walks out with only a
domestic, often a mile or two--ET LE VOILA, LA BAS, And see, yonder
he is!'
"He was going to his workmen. My heart leaped at the sight of so
extraordinary a man. He had just then quitted his Garden, and was
crossing the court before his House. Seeing my chaise, and me on
the point of mounting it, he made a sign to his servant who had
been my CICERONE, to go to him; in order, I suppose, to inquire who
I was. After they had exchanged a few words together, he," M. de
Voltaire, "approached the place where I was standing motionless, in
order to contemplate his person as much as I could while his eyes
were turned from me; but on seeiug him move towards me, I found
myself drawn by some irresistible power towards him; and, without
knowing what I did, I insensibly met him half-way.
"It is not easy to conceive it possible for life to subsist in a
form so nearly composed of mere skin and bone as that of M. de
Voltaire." Extremely lean old Gentleman! "He complained of
decrepitude, and said, He supposed I was anxious to form an idea of
the figure of one walking after death. However, his eyes and whole
countenance are still full of fire; and though so emaciated, a more
lively expression cannot be imagined.
"He inquired after English news; and observed that Poetical
squabbles had given way to Political ones; but seemed to think the
spirit of opposition as necessary in poetry as in politics.
'Les querelles d'auteurs sont pour le bien de la
litterature, comme dans un gouvernement libre les querelles des
grands, et les clameurs des petits, sont necessaires a la liberte.'
And added, 'When critics are silent, it does not so
much prove the Age to be correct, as dull.' He inquired what Poets
we had now; I told him we had Mason and Gray. 'They write but
little,' said he: 'and you seem to have no one who lords it over
the rest, like Dryden, Pope and Swift.' I told him that it was one
of the inconveniences of Periodical Journals, however well
executed, that they often silenced modest men of genius, while
impudent blockheads were impenetrable, and unable to feel the
critic's scourge: that Mr. Gray and Mr. Mason had both been
illiberally treated by mechanical critics, even in newspapers;
and added, that modesty and love of quiet seemed in these gentlemen
to have got the better even of their love of fame.
"During this conversation, we approached the buildings that he was
constructing near the road to his Chateau. 'These,' said he,
pointing to them, 'are the most innocent, and perhaps the most
useful, of all my works.' I observed that he had other works, which
were of far more extensive use, and would be much more durable,
than those. He was so obliging as to show me several farm-houses
that he had built, and the plans of others: after which I took my
leave." [Burney's Present State of Music
(London, 1773), pp. 55-62.
NO. 2. A REVEREND MR. SHERLOCK SEES VOLTAIRE, AND EVEN
DINES WITH HIM (April, 1776).
Sherlock's Book of TRAVELS, though he wrote it in two languages,
and it once had its vogue, is now little other than a Dance of
Will-o'-wisps to us. A Book tawdry, incoherent, indistinct, at once
flashy and opaque, full of idle excrescences and exuberances;--as
is the poor man himself. He was "Chaplain to the Earl of Bristol,
Bishop of Derry;" gyrating about as ecclesiastical Moon to that
famed Solar Luminary, what could you expect! [Title of his Book is,
Letters from an English Traveller; translated from the
French Original (London, 1780). Ditto,
Letters from an English Trader; written originally in French; by the Rev. Martin Sherlock, A.M., Chaplain to the Earl of
Bristol, &c. (a new Edition, 2 vols., London, 1802).] Poor Sherlock
is nowhere intentionally fabulous; nor intrinsically altogether so
foolish as he seems: let that suffice us. In his Dance of
Will-o'-wisps, which in this point happily is dated,--26th-27th
April, 1776,--he had come to Ferney, with proper introduction to
Voltaire; and here (after severe excision of the flabby parts, but
without other change) is credible account of what he saw and heard.
In Three Scenes; with this Prologue,--as to Costume, which is worth
reading twice:--
VOLTAIRE'S DRESS. "On the two days I saw him, he wore white cloth
shoes, white woollen stockings, red breeches, with a nightgown and
waistcoat of blue linen, flowered, and lined with yellow. He had on
a grizzle wig with three ties, and over it a silk nightcap
embroidered with gold and silver."
SCENE I. THE ENTRANCE-HALL OF FERNEY (Friday, 26th April,
1776): EXUBERANT SHERLOCK ENTERING, LETTER OF
INTRODUCTION HAVING PRECEDED.
"He met in the hall; his Nephew M. d'Hornoi" (Grand-nephew;
Abbe Mignot, famous for BURYING Voltaire, and Madame Denis, whom we
know, were D'Hornoi's Uncle and Aunt)--Grand-nephew, "Counsellor in
the Parlement of Paris, held him by the arm. He said to me, with a
very weak voice: 'You see a very old man, who makes a great effort
to have the honor of seeing you. Will you take a walk in my Garden?
It will please you, for it is in the English taste:--it was I who
introduced that taste into France, and it is become universal.
But the French parody your Gardens: they put your thirty acres
into three.'
"From his Gardens you see the Alps, the Lake, the City of Geneva
and its environs, which are very pleasant. He said:--
VOLTAIRE. "'It is a beautiful prospect.' He pronounced these words
tolerably well.
SHERLOCK. "'How long is it since you were in England?'
VOLTAIRE. "'Fifty years, at least.' [Not quite; in 1728 left; in
1726 had come.] [Supra, vii. 47.]
D'HORNOI. "'It was at the time when you printed the First Edition
of your HENRIADE.'
"We then talked of Literature; and from that moment he forgot his
age and infirmities, and spoke with the warmth of a man of thirty.
He said some shocking things against Moses and against Shakspeare.
[Like enough!] ... We then talked of Spain.
VOLTAIRE. "'It is a Country of which we know no more than of the
most savage parts of Africa; and it is not worth the trouble of
being known. If a man would travel there, he must carry his bed,
&c. On arriving in a Town, he must go into one street to buy a
bottle of wine; a piece of a mule [by way of beef] in another;
he finds a table in a third,--and he sups. A French Nobleman was
passing through Pampeluna: he sent out for a spit; there was only
one in the Town, and that was lent away for a wedding.'
D'HORNOI. "'There, Monsieur, is a Village which M. de Voltaire
has built!'
VOLTAIRE. "'Yes, we have our freedoms here. Cut off a little
corner, and we are out of France. I asked some privileges for my
Children here, and the King has granted me all that I asked, and
has declared this Pays de Gex exempt from all Taxes of the Farmers-
General; so that salt, which formerly sold for ten sous a pound,
now sells for four. I have nothing more to ask, except to live.'--
We went into the Library" (had made the round of the Gardens,
I suppose).
SCENE II. IN THE LIBRARY.
VOLTAIRE. "'There you find several of your countrymen [he had
Shakspeare, Milton, Congreve, Rochester, Shaftesbury, Bolingbroke,
Robertson, Hume and others]. Robertson is your Livy; his CHARLES
FIFTH is written with truth. Hume wrote his History to be
applauded, Rapin to instruct; and both obtained their ends.'
SHERLOCK. "'Lord Bolingbroke and you agreed that we have not one
good Tragedy.'
VOLTAIRE. "'We did think so. CATO is incomparably well written:
Addison had a great deal of taste;--but the abyss between taste and
genius is immense! Shakspeare had an amazing genius, but no taste:
he has spoiled the taste of the Nation. He has been their taste for
two hundred years; and what is the taste of a Nation for two
hundred years will be so for two thousand. This kind of taste
becomes a religion; there are, in your Country, a great many
Fanatics for Shakspeare.'
SHERLOCK. "'Were you personally acquainted with Lord Bolingbroke?'
VOLTAIRE. "'Yes. His face was imposing, and so was his voice;
in his WORKS there are many leaves and little fruit;
distorted expressions, and periods intolerably long. [TAKING DOWN A
BOOK.] There, you see the KORAN, which is well read, at least.
[It was marked throughout with bits of paper.] There are HISTORIC
DOUBTS, by Horace Walpole [which had also several marks]; here is
the portrait of Richard III.; you see he was a handsome youth.'
SHERLOCK (making an abrupt transition). "'You have built a Church?'
VOLTAIRE. "'True; and it is the only one in the Universe in honor
of God [DEO EREXIT VOLTAIRE, as we read above]: you have plenty of
Churches built to St. Paul, to St. Genevieve, but not one to God.'"
EXIT Sherlock (to his Inn; makes jotting as above;--is to dine at
Ferney to-morrow).
SCENE III. DINNER-TABLE OF VOLTAIRE.
"The next day, as we sat down to Dinner," our Host in the above
shining costume, "he said, in English tolerably pronounced:--
VOLTAIRE. "'We are here for liberty and property! [parody of some
old Speech in Parliament, let us guess,--liberty and property, my
Lords!] This Gentleman--whom let me present to Monsieur Sherlock--
is a Jesuit [old Pere Adam, whom I keep for playing Chess, in his
old, unsheltered days]; he wears his hat: I am a poor invalid,--
I wear my nightcap.' ...
"I do not now recollect why he quoted these verses, also in
English, by Rochester, on CHARLES SECOND:--
'Here lies the mutton-eating King,
Whose promise none relies on;
Who never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.'
But speaking of Racine, he quoted this Couplet (of Roscomman's
ESSAY ON TRANSLATED VERSE):--
'The weighty bullion of one sterling line
Drawn to French wire would through whole pages shine.
SHERLOCK. "'The English prefer Corneille to Racine.'
VOLTAIRE. "'That is because the English are not sufficiently
acquainted with the French tongue to feel the beauties of Racine's
style, or the harmony of his versification. Corneille ought to
please them more because he is more striking; but Racine pleases
the French because he has more softness and tenderness.'
SHERLOCK. "'How did you find [LIKE] the English fare (LA CHERE
ANGLAISE?'--which Voltaire mischievously takes for 'the dear
Englishwoman').
VOLTAIRE. "'I found her very fresh and white,'--truly! [It should
be remembered, that when he made this pun upon Women he was in his
eighty-third year.]
SHERLOCK. "'Their language?'
VOLTAIRE. "'Energetic, precise and barbarous; they are the only
Nation that pronounce their A as E. ... [And some time afterwards]
Though I cannot perfectly pronounce English, my ear is sensible of
the harmony of your language and of your versification. Pope and
Dryden have the most harmony in Poetry; Addison in Prose.'
[Takes now the interrogating side.]
VOLTAIRE. "'How have you liked (AVEX-VOUS TROUVE) the French?'
SHERLOCK. "'Amiable and witty. I only find one fault with them:
they imitate the English too much.'
VOLTAIRE. "'How! Do you think us worthy to be originals ourselves?'
SHERLOCK. "'Yes, Sir.'
VOLTAIRE. "'So do I too:--but it is of your Government that we
are envious.'
SHERLOCK. "'I have found the French freer than I expected.'
VOLTAIRE. "'Yes, as to walking, or eating whatever he pleases, or
lolling in his elbow-chair, a Frenchman is free enough; but as to
taxes--Ah, Monsieur, you are a lucky Nation; you can do what you
like; poor we are born in slavery: we cannot even die as we will;
we must have a Priest [can't get buried otherwise; am often
thinking of that!] ... Well, if the English do sell themselves, it
is a proof that they are worth something: we French don't sell
ourselves, probably because we are worth nothing.'
SHERLOCK. "'What is your opinion of the ELOISE' [Rousseau's
immortal Work]?
VOLTAIRE. "'That it will not be read twenty years hence.'
SHERLOCK. "'Mademoiselle de l’Enclos wrote some good LETTERS?'
VOLTAIRE. "'She never wrote one; they were by the wretched
Crebillon' [my beggarly old "Rival" in the Pompadour epoch]! ...
VOLTAIRE. "'The Italians are a Nation of brokers. Italy is an Old-
Clothes shop; in which there are many Old Dresses of exquisite
taste. ... But we are still to know, Whether the subjects of the
Pope or of the Grand Turk are the more abject.' [We have now gone
to the Drawing-room, I think, though it is not jotted.]
"He talked of England and of Shakspeare; and explained to Madame
Denis part of a Scene in Henry Fifth, where the King makes love to
Queen Catherine in bad French; and of another in which that Queen
takes a lesson in English from her Waiting-woman, and where there
are several very gross double-entendres"--but, I hope, did not long
dwell on these. ...
VOLTAIRE. "'When I see an Englishman subtle and fond of lawsuits, I
say, "There is a Norman, who came in with William the Conqueror."
When I see a man good-natured and polite, "That is one who came
with the Plantagenets;" a brutal character, "That is a Dane:"--for
your Nation, Monsieur, as well as your Language, is a medley of
many others.'
"After dinner, passing through a little Parlor where there was a
head of Locke, another of the Countess of Coventry, and several
more, he took me by the arm and stopped me: 'Do you know this Bust
[bust of Sir Isaac Newton]? It is the greatest genius that ever
existed: if all the geniuses of the Universe were assembled, he
should lead the band.'
"It was of Newton, and of his own Works, that M. de Voltaire always
spoke with the greatest warmth." [Sherlock, LETTERS (London, 1802),
i. 98-106.] (EXIT Sherlock, to jot down the above, and thence into
Infinite Space.)
GENERAL OR FIELDMARSHAL CONWAY, DIRECT FROM THE LONDON
CIRCLES, ATTENDS ONE OF FRIEDRICH'S REVIEWS
(August-September, 1774).
Now that Friedrich's Military Department is got completely into
trim again, which he reckons to have been about 1770, his annual
Reviews are becoming very famous over Europe; and intelligent
Officers of all Countries are eager to be present, and instruct
themselves there. The Review is beautiful as a Spectacle; but that
is in no sort the intention of it. Rigorous business, as in the
strictest of Universities examining for Degrees, would be nearer
the definition. Sometimes, when a new manoeuvre or tactical
invention of importance is to be tried by experiment, you will find
for many miles the environs of Potsdam, which is usually the scene
of such experiments, carefully shut in; sentries on every road, no
unfriendly eye admitted; the thing done as with closed doors. Nor
at any time can you attend without leave asked; though to Foreign
Officers, and persons that have really business there, there
appears to be liberality enough in granting it. The concourse of
military strangers seems to keep increasing every year, till
Friedrich's death. [Rodenbeck, iii. IN LOCIS.] French, more and
more in quantity, present themselves; multifarious German names;
generally a few English too,--Burgoyne (of Saratoga finally),
Cornwallis, Duke of York, Marshal Conway,--of which last we have
something farther to say at present.
In Summer, 1774, Conway--the Marshal Conway, of whom Walpole is
continually talking as of a considerable Soldier and Politician,
though he was not in either character considerable, but was
Walpole's friend, and an honest modest man--had made up his mind,
perhaps partly on domestic grounds (for I have noticed glimpses of
a "Lady C." much out of humor), to make a Tour in Germany, and see
the Reviews, both Austrian and Prussian, Prussian especially.
Two immense LETTERS of his on that subject have come into my hands,
[Kindly presented me by Charles Knight, Esq., the well-known Author
and Publisher (who possesses a Collection by the same hand):
these Two run to fourteen large pages in my Copy!] and elsewhere
incidentally there is printed record of the Tour; [In Keith (Sir
Robert Murray), Memoirs and Correspondence,
ii. 21 et, seq.] unimportant as possible, both Tour and Letters,
but capable, if squeezed into compass, of still being read without
disadvantage here.
Sir Robert Murray Keith--that is, the younger Excellency Keith, now
Minister at Dresden, whom we have sometimes heard of--accompanies
Conway on this Tour, or flies alongside of him, with frequent
intersections at the principal points; and there is printed record
by Sir Robert, but still less interesting than this of Conway, and
perfectly conformable to it:--so that, except for some words about
the Lord Marischal, which shall be given, Keith must remain silent,
while the diffuse Conway strives to become intelligible.
Indeed, neither Conway nor Keith tell us the least thing that is
not abundantly, and even wearisomely known from German sources;
but to readers here, a pair of English eyes looking on the matter
(put straight in places by the help there is), may give it a
certain freshness of meaning. Here are Conway's Two Letters, with
the nine parts of water charitably squeezed out of them, by a
skilful friend of mine and his.
CONWAY TO HIS BROTHER, MARQUIS OF HERTFORD (in London).
"BERLIN, July 17th, 1774.
"DEAR BROTHER,--In the hurry I live in--... Leaving Brunswick,
where, in absence of most of the Court, who are visiting at
Potsdam, my old Commander," Duke Ferdinand, now estranged from
Potsdam, [Had a kind of quarrel with Friedrich in 1766 (rough
treatment by Adjutant von Anhalt, not tolerable to a Captain now
become so eminent), and quietly withdrew,--still on speaking terms
with the King, but never his Officer more.] and living here among
works of Art, and speculations on Free Masonry, "was very kind to
me, I went to Celle, in Hanover, to pay my respects to the Queen of
Denmark [unfortunate divorced Matilda, saved by my friend Keith,--
innocent, I will hope!] ... She is grown extremely fat. ...
At Magdeburg, the Prussian Frontier on this side, one is not
allowed, without a permit, even to walk on the ramparts,--such the
strictness of Prussian rule. ... Driving through Potsdam, on my way
to Berlin, I was stopped by a servant of the good old Lord
Marischal, who had spied me as I passed under his window. He came
out in his nightgown, and insisted upon our staying to dine with
him--[worthy old man; a word of him, were this Letter done].
We ended, on consultation about times and movements of the King, by
staying three days at Potsdam, mostly with this excellent old Lord.
"On the third day [yesterday evening, in fact], I went, by
appointment, to the New Palace, to wait upon the King of Prussia.
There was some delay: his Majesty had gone, in the interim, to a
private Concert, which he was giving to the Princesses [Duchess of
Brunswick and other high guests [Rodenbeck (IN DIE) iii. 98.]];
but the moment he was told I was there, he came out from his
company, and gave me a most flattering gracious audience of more
than half an hour; talking on a great variety of things, with an
ease and freedom the very reverse of what I had been made to
expect. ... I asked, and received permission, to visit the Silesian
Camps next month, his Majesty most graciously telling me the
particular days they would begin and end [27th August-3d September,
Schmelwitz near Breslau, are time and place [Ib. iii. 101.]].
This considerably deranges my Austrian movements, and will hurry my
return out of those parts: but who could resist such a temptation!
--I saw the Foot-Guards exercise, especially the splendid 'First
Battalion;' I could have conceived nothing so perfect and so exact
as all I saw:--so well dressed, such men, and so punctual in all
they did.
"The New Palace at Potsdam is extremely noble. Not so perfect,
perhaps, in point of taste, but better than I had been led to
expect. The King dislikes living there; never does, except when
there is high Company about him; for seven or eight months in the
year, he prefers Little Sans-Souci, and freedom among his intimates
and some of his Generals. ... His Music still takes up a great
share of the King's time. On a table in his Cabinet there, I saw, I
believe, twenty boxes with a German flute in each; in his Bed-
chamber, twice as many boxes of Spanish snuff; and, alike in
Cabinet and in Bed-chamber, three arm-chairs in a row for three
favorite dogs, each with a little stool by way of step, that the
getting up might be easy. ...
"The Town of Potsdam is a most extraordinary and, in its
appearance, beautiful Town; all the streets perfectly straight, all
at right angles to each other; and all the houses built with
handsome, generally elegant fronts. ... He builds for everybody who
has a bad or a small house, even the lowest mechanic. He has done
the same at Berlin." Altogether, his Majesty's building operations
are astonishing. And "from whence does this money come, after a
long expensive War? It is all fairyland and enchantment,"--MAGNUM
VECTIGAL PARSIMONIA, in fact! ... "At Berlin here, I saw the
Porcelain Manufacture to-day, which is greatly improved. I leave
presently. Adieu, dear Brother; excuse my endless Letter [since you
cannot squeeze the water out of it, as some will!]--
Yours most sincerely,
"HENRY SEYMOUR CONWAY."
Keith is now Minister at Dresden for some years back; and has,
among other topics, much to say of our brilliant friend the
Electress there: but his grand Diplomatic feat was at Copenhagen,
on a sudden sally out thither (in 1771): [In KEITH, i. 152 &c.,
nothing of intelligible Narrative given, hardly the date
discoverable.] the saving of Queen Matilda, youngest Sister of
George Third, from a hard doom. Unfortunate Queen Matilda;
one never knows how guilty, or whether guilty at all, but she was
very unfortunate, poor young Lady! What with a mad Husband
collapsed by debaucheries into stupor of insanity; what with a
Doctor, gradually a Prime Minister, Struensee, wretched scarecrow
to look upon, but wiser than most Danes about; and finally, with a
lynx-eyed Step-sister, whose Son, should Matilda mistake, will
inherit,--unfortunate Matilda had fallen into the awfulest
troubles; got divorced, imprisoned, would have lost her head along
with scarecrow Struensee had not her Brother George III.
emphatically intervened,--Excellency Keith, with Seventy-fours in
the distance, coming out very strong on the occasion,--and got her
loose. Loose from Danish axe and jail, at any rate; delivered into
safety and solitude at Celle in Hanover, where she now is,--and
soon after suddenly dies of fever, so closing a very sad
short history.
Excellency Keith, famed in the Diplomatic circles ever since, is at
present ahead of Conway on their joint road to the Austrian
Reviews. Before giving Conway's Second Letter, let us hear Keith a
little on his kinsman the Old Marischal, whom he saw at Berlin
years ago, and still occasionally corresponds with, and mentions in
his Correspondence. Keith LOQUITUR; date is Dresden,
February, 1770:--
HAS VISITED THE OLD MARISCHAL AT POTSDAM LATELY. ... "My stay of
three days with Lord Marischal. ... He is the most innocent of
God's creatures; and his heart is much warmer than his head. The
place of his abode," I must say, "is the very Temple of Dulness;
and his Female Companion [a poor Turk foundling, a perishing infant
flung into his late Brother's hands at the Fall of Oczakow, [Supra,
vii. 82.]--whom the Marischal has carefully brought up, and who
refuses to marry away from him,--rather stupid, not very pretty by
the Portraits; must now be two-and-thirty gone] is perfectly
calculated to be the Priestess of it! Yet he dawdles away his day
in a manner not unpleasant to him; and I really am persuaded he has
a conscience that would gild the inside of a dungeon. The feats of
our bare-legged warriors in the late War [BERG-SCHOTTEN, among whom
I was a Colonel], accompanied by a PIBRACH [elegiac bagpipe droning
MORE SUO] in his outer room, have an effect on the old Don, which
would delight you." [Keith, i. 129; "Dresden, 25th February, 1770:"
to his Sister in Scotland.]
AND THEN SEEN HIM IN BERLIN, ON THE SAME OCCASION. ...
"Lord Marischal came to meet me at Sir Andrew's [Mitchell's, in
Berlin, the last year of the brave Mitchell's life], where we
passed five days together. My visit to his country residence," as
you already know, "was of three days; and I had reason to be
convinced that it gave the old Don great pleasure. He talked to me
with the greatest openness and confidence of all the material
incidents of his life; and hinted often that the honor of the Clan
was now to be supported by our family, for all of whom he had the
greatest esteem. His taste, his ideas, and his manner of living,
are a mixture of Aberdeenshire and the Kingdom of Valencia; and as
he seeks to make no new friends, he seems to retain a strong,
though silent, attachment for his old ones. As to his political
principles, I believe him the most sincere of converts" to Whiggery
and Orthodoxy. ... "Since I began this, I have had a most
inimitable Letter from Lord Marischal. I had mentioned Dr. Bailies
to him [noted English Doctor at Dresden, bent on inoculating and
the like], and begged he would send me a state of his case and
infirmities, that the Doctor might prescribe for him. This is a
part of his answer:--
"'I thank you for your advice of consulting the English Doctor to
repair my old carcass. I have lately done so by my old coach, and
it is now almost as good as new. Please, therefore, to tell the
Doctor, that from him I expect a good repair, and shall state the
case. First, he must know that the machine is the worse for wear,
being nearly eighty years old. The reparation I propose he shall
begin with is: One pair of new eyes, one pair of new ears, some
improvement on the memory. When this is done, we shall ask new
legs, and some change in the stomach. For the present, this first
reparation will be sufficient; and we must not trouble the Doctor
too much at once.'--You see by this how easy his Lordship's
infirmities sit upon him; and it is really so as he says.
Your friend Sir Andrew is, I am afraid, less gay; but I have not
heard from him these three months." [Keith, i. 132, 133; "Dresden,
13th March, 1770:" to his Father.]
CONWAY TO KEITH, ON THE LATE THREE DAYS AT POTSDAM.
[Date, "Dresden, 21st July, 1774:" in KEITH, ii. 15.] "I stayed
three days at Potsdam, with much entertainment, for good part of
which I am obliged to your Excellency's old friend Lord Marischal,
who showed me all the kindness and civility possible. He stopped me
as I passed, and not only made me dine with him that day, but in a
manner live with him. He is not at all blind, as you imagined;
so much otherwise, that I saw him read, without spectacles, a
difficult hand I could not easily decipher. ... Stayed but a day at
Berlin;" am rushing after you:--Here is my Second Letter:--
CONWAY'S SECOND LETTER (to his Brother, as before).
"SCHMELWITZ [near Breslau] HEAD-QUARTERS,
August 31st, 1774.
"DEAR BROTHER ... I left that Camp [Austrian Camp, and Reviews in
Hungary, where the Kaiser and everybody had been very gracious to
me] with much regret." Parted regretfully with Keith;--had played,
at Presburg, in sight of him and fourteen other Englishmen, a game
with the Chess Automaton [brand-new miracle, just out]; [Account of
it, and of this game, in KEITH too (ii. 18; "View, 3d September,
1774:" Keith to his Father).]--came on through Vienna hitherward,
as fast as post-horses could carry us; travelling night and day,
without stopping, being rather behind time. "Arrived at Breslau
near dark, last night; where I learnt that the Camp was twenty
miles off; that the King was gone there, and that the Manoeuvres
would begin at four or five this morning. I therefore ordered my
chaise at twelve at night, and set out, in darkness and rain, to be
presented to the King of Prussia next morning at five, at the head
of his troops. ... When I arrived, before five, at the place called
'Head-quarters,' I found myself in the middle of a miserable
Village [this Schmelwitz here]; no creature alive or stirring, nor
a sentinel, or any Military object to be seen. ... As soon as
anything alive was to be found, we asked, If the King was lodged in
that Village? 'Yes,' they said, 'in that House' (pointing to a clay
Hovel). But General Lentulus soon appeared; and--
"His Majesty has been very gracious; asked me many questions about
my tour to Hungary. I saw all the Troops pass him as they arrived
in Camp. They made a very fine appearance really, though it rained
hard the whole time we were out; and as his Majesty [age 62] did
not cloak, we were all heartily wet. And, what was worse, went from
the field to Orders [giving out of Parole, and the like] at his
Quarters, there to make our bow;--where we stayed in our wet
clothes an hour and half [towards 10 A.M. by this time]. ...
How different at the Emperor's, when his Imperial Majesty and
everybody was cloaked! [Got no hurt by the wet, strange to say.]
... These are our news to this day. And now, having sat up five
nights out of the last six, and been in rain and dirt almost all
day, I wish you sincerely good-night.--H. S. C.
"P.S. Breslau, 4th September.-- ... My Prussian Campaign is
finished, and as much to my satisfaction as possible. The beauty
and order of the Troops, their great discipline, their" &c. &c.,
"almost pass all belief. ... Yesterday we were on horseback early,
at four o'clock. The movement was conducted with a spirit and
order, on both sides, that was astonishing, and struck the more
delightful (SIC) by the variety, as in the course of the Action the
Enemy, conducted by General Anhalt [head all right as yet], took
three different positions before his final retreat.
"The moment it was over [nine o'clock or so], his Majesty got a
fresh horse, and set out for Potsdam, after receiving the
compliments of those present, or rather holding a kind of short
Levee in the field. I can't say how much, in my particular, I am
obliged to his Majesty for his extraordinary reception, and
distinction shown me throughout. Each day after the Manoeuvre, and
giving the Orders of the day, he held a little Levee at the door,
or in the court; at which, I can assure you, it is not an
exaggeration of vanity to say, that he not only talked to me, but
literally to nobody else at all. It was a good deal each time, and
as soon as finished he made his bow, and retired, though all, or
most, of the other Foreigners were standing by, as well as his own
Generals. He also called me up, and spoke to me several times on
horseback, when we were out, which he seldom did to anybody.
"The Prince Royal also showed me much civility. The second day, he
asked me to come and drink a dish of tea with him after dinner, and
kept me an hour and half. He told me, among other things, that the
King of Prussia had a high opinion of me, and that it came chiefly
from the favorable manner in which Duke Ferdinand and the
Hereditary Prince [of Brunswick] had spoken of me. ... Pray let
Horace Walpole know my address, that I may have all the chance I
can of hearing from him. But if he comes to Paris, I forgive him.--
H. S. C."
Friedrich's Reviews, though fine to look upon, or indeed the finest
in the world, were by no means of spectacular nature; but of
altogether serious and practical, almost of solemn and terrible, to
the parties interested. Like the strictest College Examination for
Degrees, as we said; like a Royal Assize or Doomsday of the Year;
to Military people, and over the upper classes of Berlin Society,
nothing could be more serious, Major Kaltenborn, an Ex-Prussian
Officer, presumably of over-talkative habits, who sounds on us like
a very mess-room of the time all gathered under one hat,--describes
in an almost awful manner the kind of terror with which all people
awaited these Annual Assizes for trial of military merit.
"What a sight," says he, "and awakening what thoughts, that of a
body of from 18,000 to 20,000 soldiers, in solemn silence and in
deepest reverence, awaiting their fate from one man! A Review, in
Friedrich's time, was an important moment for almost the whole
Country. The fortune of whole families often depended on it:
from wives, mothers, children and friends, during those terrible
three days, there arose fervent wishes to Heaven, that misfortune
might not, as was too frequently the case, befall their husbands,
fathers, sons and friends, in the course of them. Here the King, as
it were, weighed the merits of his Officers, and distributed,
according as he found them light or heavy, praise or blame, rebukes
or favors; and often, too often, punishments, to be felt through
life. One single unhappy moment [especially if it were the last of
a long series of such!] often deprived the bravest Officer of his
bread, painfully earned in peace and war, and of his reputation and
honor, at least in the eyes of most men, who judge of everything
only by its issue. The higher you had risen, the easier and deeper
your fall might be at an unlucky Review. The Heads and Commanders
of regiments were always in danger of being sent about their
business (WEGGEJAGT)."
The fact is, I Kaltenborn quitted the Prussian Service, and took
Hessian,--being (presumably) of exaggerative, over-talkative
nature, and strongly gravitating Opposition way!--Kaltenborn admits
that the King delighted in nothing so much as to see people's faces
cheerful about him; provided the price for it were not too high.
Here is another passage from him:--
"At latest by 9 in the morning the day's Manoeuvre had finished,
and everything was already in its place again. Straight from the
ground all Heads of regiments, the Majors-DE-JOUR, all Aides-de-
Camp, and from every battalion one Officer, proceed to Head-
quarters. It was impossible to speak more beautifully, or
instructively, than the King did on such occasions, if he were not
in bad humor. It was then a very delight to hear him deliver a
Military Lecture, as it were. He knew exactly who had failed, what
caused the fault, and how it might and should have been retrieved.
His voice was soft and persuasive (HINREISSEND); he looked kindly,
and appeared rather bent upon giving good advice than commands.
"Thus, for instance, he once said to General van Lossow, Head of
the Black Hussars: 'Your (SEINE) Attack would have gone very well,
had not your own squadron pressed forward too much (VORGEPRELLT).
The brave fellows wanted to show me how they can ride. But don't I
know that well enough;--and also that you [covetous Lossow] always
choose the best horses from the whole remount for your own
squadron! There was, therefore, no need at all for that. Tell your
people not to do so to-morrow, and you will see it will go much
better; all will remain closer in their places, and the left wing
be able to keep better in line, in coming on.'--Another time,
having observed, in a certain Foot-regiment, that the soldiers were
too long in getting out their cartridges, he said to the
Commandant: 'Do you know the cause of this, my dear Colonel?
Look, the cartouche, in the cartridge-box, has 32 holes; into these
the fellow sticks his eight cartridges, without caring how: and so
the poor devil fumbles and gropes about, and cannot get hold of
any. But now, if the Officers would look to it that he place them
all well together in the middle of the cartouche, he would never
make a false grasp, and the loading would go as quick again.
Only tell your Officers that I had made this observation, and I am
sure they will gladly attend to it.'" [Anonymous (Kaltenborn),
Briefe eines alten Preussischen Officiers
(Hohenzollern, 1790), ii. 24-26.]
Of humane consolatory Anecdotes, in this kind, our Opposition
Kaltenborn gives several; of the rhadamanthine desolating or
destructive kind, though such also could not be wanting, if your
Assize is to be good for anything, he gives us none. And so far as
I can learn, the effective punishments, dismissals and the like,
were of the due rarity and propriety; though the flashes of unjust
rebuke, fulminant severity, lightnings from the gloom of one's own
sorrows and ill-humor, were much more frequent, but were seldom--I
do not know if ever--persisted in to the length of practical
result. This is a Rhadamanthus much interested not to be unjust,
and to discriminate good from bad! Of Ziethen there are two famous
Review Anecdotes, omitted and omissible by Kaltenborn, so well
known are they: one of each kind. At a certain Review, year not
ascertainable,--long since, prior to the Seven-Years War,--the
King's humor was of the grimmest, nothing but faults all round;
to Ziethen himself, and the Ziethen Hussars, he said various hard
things, and at length this hardest: "Out of my sight with you!"
[Madame de Blumenthal, Life of Ziethen, i.
265.] Upon which Ziethen--a stratum of red-hot kindling in Ziethen
too, as was easily possible--turns to his Hussars, "Right about,
RECHTS UM: march!" and on the instant did as bidden.
Disappeared, double-quick; and at the same high pace, in a high
frame of mind, rattled on to Berlin, home to his quarters, and
there first drew bridle. "Turn; for Heaven's sake, bethink you!"
said more than one friend whom he met on the road: but it was of no
use. Everybody said, "Ziethen is ruined;" but Ziethen never heard
of the thing more.
Anecdote Second is not properly of a Review, but of an incidental
Parade of the Guard, at Berlin (25th December, 1784), by the King
in person: Parade, or rather giving out of the Parole after it, in
the King's Apartments; which is always a kind of Military Levee as
well;--and which, in this instance, was long famous among the
Berlin people. King is just arrived for Carnival season;
old Ziethen will not fail to pay his duty, though climbing of the
stairs is heavy to a man of 85 gone. This is Madam Blumenthal's
Narrative (corrected, as it needs, in certain points):--
"SATURDAY, 25th DECEMBER, 1784, Ziethen, in spite of the burden of
eighty-six years, went to the Palace, at the end of the Parade, to
pay his Sovereign this last tribute of respect, and to have the
pleasure of seeing him after six months' absence. The Parole was
given out, the orders imparted to the Generals, and the King had
turned towards the Princes of the Blood,--when he perceived Ziethen
on the other side of the Hall, between his Son and his two Aides-
de-Camp. Surprised in a very agreeable manner at this unexpected
sight, he broke out into an exclamation of joy; and directly making
up to him,--'What, my good old Ziethen, are you there!' said his
Majesty: 'How sorry am I that you have had the trouble of walking
up the staircase! I should have called upon you myself. How have
you been of late?' 'Sire,' answered Ziethen, (my health is not
amiss, my appetite is good; but my strength! my strength!'
'This account,' replied the King, 'makes me happy by halves only:
but you must be tired;--I shall have a chair for you.'
[Thing unexampled in the annals of Royalty!] A chair," on order to
Ziethen's Aides-de-Camp, "was quickly brought. Ziethen, however,
declared that he was not at all fatigued: the King maintained that
he was. 'Sit down, good Father (MEIN LIEBER ALTER PAPA ZIETHEN,
SETZE ER SICH DOCH)!' continued his Majesty: 'I will have it so;
otherwise I must instantly leave the room; for I cannot allow you
to be incommoded under my own roof.' The old General obeyed, and
Friedrich the Great remained standing before him, in the midst of a
brilliant circle that had thronged round them. After asking him
many questions respecting his hearing, his memory and the general
state of his health, he at length took leave of him in these words:
'Adieu, my dear Ziethen [it was his last adieu!]--take care not to
catch cold; nurse yourself well, and live as long as you can, that
I may often have the pleasure of seeing you.' After having said
this, the King, instead of speaking to the other Generals, and
walking through the saloons, as usual, retired abruptly, and shut
himself up in his closet." [Blumenthal, ii. 341;
Militair-Lexikon, iv. 318. Chodowiecki has made an
Engraving of this Scene; useful to look at for its military
Portraits, if of little esteem otherwise. Strangely enough, both in
BLUMENTHAL and in Chodowiecki's ENGRAVING the year is given as 1785
(plainly impossible); Militair-Lexikon
misprints the month; and, one way or other, only Rodenbeck (iii.
316) is right in both day and year.]
Following in date these small Conway Phenomena, if these, so
extraneous and insignificant, can have any glimmer of memorability
to readers, are two other occurrences, especially one other, which
come in at this part of the series, and greatly more require to be
disengaged from the dust-heaps, and presented for remembrance.
In 1775, the King had a fit of illness; which long occupied certain
Gazetteers and others. That is the first occurrence of the two, and
far the more important. He himself says of it, in his HISTORY, all
that is essential to us here:--
"Towards the end of 1775, the King was attacked by several strong
consecutive fits of gout. Van Swieten, a famous Doctor's Son, and
Minister of the Imperial Court at Berlin, took it into his head
that this gout was a declared dropsy; and, glad to announce to his
Court the approaching death of an enemy that had been dangerous to
it, boldly informed his Kaiser that the King was drawing to his
end, and would not last out the year. At this news the soul of
Joseph flames into enthusiasm; all the Austrian troops are got on
march, their Rendezvous marked in Bohemia; and the Kaiser waits,
full of impatience, at Vienna, till the expected event arrives;
ready then to penetrate at once into Saxony, and thence to the
Frontiers of Brandenburg, and there propose to the King's Successor
the alternative of either surrendering Silesia straightway to the
House of Austria, or seeing himself overwhelmed by Austrian troops
before he could get his own assembled. All these things, which were
openly done, got noised abroad everywhere; and did not, as is easy
to believe, cement the friendship of the Two Courts. To the Public
this scene appeared the more ridiculous, as the King of Prussia,
having only had a common gout in larger dose than common, was
already well of it again, before the Austrian Army had got to their
Rendezvous. The Kaiser made all these troops return to their old
quarters; and the Court of Vienna had nothing but mockery for its
imprudent conduct." [ OEuvres de Frederic,
vi. 124.]
The first of these gout-attacks seems to have come in the end of
September, and to have lasted about a month; after which the
illness abated, and everybody thought it was gone. The Kaiser-
Joseph evolution must have been in October, and have got its
mockery in the next months. Friedrich, writing to VOLTAIRE, October
22d, has these words: ... "A pair of charming Letters from Ferney;
to which, had they been from the great Demiurgus himself, I could
not have dictated Answer. Gout held me tied and garroted for four
weeks;--gout in both feet and in both hands; and, such its extreme
liberality, in both elbows too: at present the pains and the fever
have abated, and I feel only a very great exhaustion." [Ib. xxv.
44.] "Four consecutive attacks; hope they are now all over;" but we
read, within the Spring following, that there have been in all
twelve of them; and in May, 1776, the Newspapers count eighteen
quasi-consecutive. So that in reality the King's strength was sadly
reduced; and his health, which did not recover its old average till
about 1780, continued, for several years after this bad fit, to be
a constant theme of curiosity to the Gazetteer species, and a
matter of solicitude to his friends and to his enemies.
Of the Kaiser's immense ambition there can be no question. He is
stretching himself out on every side; "seriously wishing," thinks
Friedrich, "that he could 'revivify the German Reich,'"--new
Barbarossa in improved FIXED form; how noble! Certainly, to King
Friedrich's sad conviction, "the Austrian Court is aiming to
swallow all manner of dominions that may fall within its grasp."
Wants Bosnia and Servia in the East; longs to seize certain
Venetian Territories, which would unite Trieste and the Milanese to
the Tyrol. Is throwing out hooks on Modena, on the Ferrarese, on
this and on that. Looking with eager eyes on Bavaria,--the
situation of which is peculiar; the present Kur-Baiern being
elderly, childless; and his Heir the like, who withal is already
Kur-Pfalz, and will unite the Two Electorates under one head;
a thing which Austria regards with marked dislike.
[ OEuvres de Frederic, vi. 123.] These are
anxious considerations to a King in Friedrich's sick state. In his
private circle, too, there are sorrows: death of Fouquet, death of
Quintus Icilius, of Seidlitz, Quantz (good old Quantz, with his
fine Flutings these fifty years, and the still finer memories he
awoke! [Friedrich's Teacher of the Flute; procured for him by his
Mother (supra vi. 144).]),--latterly an unusual number of deaths.
The ruggedly intelligent Quintus, a daily companion, and guest at
the supper-table, died few months before this fit of gout; and must
have been greatly missed by Friedrich. Fouquet, at Brandenburg,
died last year: his benefactor in the early Custrin distresses, his
"Bayard," and chosen friend ever since; how conspicuously dear to
Friedrich to the last is still evident. A Friedrich getting lonely
enough, and the lights of his life going out around him;--has but
one sure consolation, which comes to him as compulsion withal, and
is not neglected, that of standing steadfast to his work, whatever
the mood and posture be.
The Event of 1776 is Czarowitsh Paul's arrival in Berlin, and
Betrothal to a second Wife there; his first having died in
childbirth lately. The first had been of Friedrich's choosing, but
had behaved ill,--seduced by Spanish-French Diplomacies, by this
and that, poor young creature:--the second also was of Friedrich's
choosing, and a still nearer connection: figure what a triumphant
event! Event now fallen dead to every one of us; and hardly
admitting the smallest Note,--except for chronology's sake, which
it is always satisfactory to keep clear:--
"Czarowitsh Paul's first Wife, the Hessen-Darmstadt Princess of
Three, died of her first child April 26th, 1776: everybody
whispered, 'It is none of Paul's!' who, nevertheless, was
inconsolable, the wild heart of him like to break on the
occurrence. By good luck, Prince Henri had set out, by invitation,
on a second visit to Petersburg; and arrived there also on April
26th, [Rodenbeck, iii. 139-146.] the very day of the fatality.
Prince Henri soothed, consoled the poor Czarowitsh;
gradually brought him round; agreed with his Czarina Mother, that
he must have a new Wife; and dexterously fixed her choice on a
'Niece of the King's and Henri's.' Eldest Daughter of Eugen of
Wurtemberg, of whom, as an excellent General, though also as a
surly Husband, readers have some memory; now living withdrawn at
Mumpelgard, the Wurtemberg Apanage [Montbeillard, as the French
call it], in these piping times of Peace:--she is the Princess.
To King Friedrich's great surprise and joy. The Mumpelgard
Principalities, and fortunate Princess, are summoned to Berlin.
Czarowitsh Paul, under Henri's escort, and under gala and
festivities from the Frontier onward, arrived in Berlin 21st July,
1776; was betrothed to his Wurtemberg Princess straightway;
and after about a fortnight of festivities still more transcendent,
went home with her to Petersburg; and was there wedded, 18th
October following;--Czar and Czarina, she and he, twenty years
after, and their posterity reigning ever since. [ OEuvres
de Frederic, vi. 120-122.]
"At Vienna," says the King, "everybody was persuaded the Czarowitsh
would never come to Berlin. Prince Kaunitz had been,"--been at his
old tricks again, playing his sharpest, in the Court of Petersburg
again: what tricks (about Poland and otherwise) let us not report,
for it is now interesting to nobody. Of the Czarowitsh Visit itself
I will remark only,--what seems to be its one chance of dating
itself in any of our memories,--that it fell out shortly after the
Sherlock dinner with Voltaire (in 1776, April 27th the one event,
July 21st the other);--and that here is, by pure accident, the
exuberant erratic Sherlock, once more, and once only, emerging on
us for a few moments!--
EXUBERANT SHERLOCK AND ELEVEN OTHER ENGLISH ARE PRESENTED TO
FRIEDRICH ON A COURT OCCASION (8th October, 1777); AND TWO
OF THEM GET SPOKEN TO, AND SPEAK EACH A WORD. EXCELLENCY
HUGH ELLIOT IS THEIR INTRODUCER.
Harris, afterwards Earl of Malmesbury, succeeded Mitchell at
Berlin; "Polish troubles" (heartily indifferent to England),
"Dantzig squabbles" (miraculously important there),--nothing worth
the least mention now. Excellency Harris quitted Berlin in Autumn,
1776; gave place to an Excellency Hugh Elliot (one of the Minto
Elliots, Brother of the first Earl of Minto, and himself
considerably noted in the world), of whom we have a few words
to say.
Elliot has been here since April, 1777; stays some five years in
this post;--with not much Diplomatic employment, I should think,
but with a style of general bearing and social physiognomy, which,
with some procedures partly incidental as well, are still
remembered in Berlin. Something of spying, too, doubtless there
was; bribing of menials, opening of Letters: I believe a great deal
of that went on; impossible to prevent under the carefulest of
Kings. [An ingenious young Friend of mine, connected with
Legationary Business, found lately, at the Hague, a consecutive
Series, complete for four or five years (I think, from 1780
onwards), of Friedrich's LETTERS to his MINISTER IN LONDON,--Copies
punctually filched as they went through the Post-office there:--
specimens of which I saw; and the whole of which I might have seen,
had it been worth the effort necessary. But Friedrich's London
Minister, in this case, was a person of no significance or
intimacy; and the King's Letters, though strangely exact, clear and
even elucidative on English Court-Politics and vicissitudes, seemed
to be nearly barren as to Prussian.] Hitherto, with one exception
to be mentioned presently, his main business seems to have been
that of introducing, on different Court-Days, a great number of
Travelling English, who want to see the King, and whom the King
little wants, but quietly submits to. Incoherent Sherlock, whom we
discover to have been of the number, has, in his tawdry disjointed
Book, this Passage:--
"The last time of my seeing him [this Hero-King of my heart] was at
Berlin [not a hint of the time when]. He came thither to receive
the adieus of the Baron de Swieten, Minister from their Imperial
Majesties [thank you; that means 8th October, 1777 [Rodenbeck, iii.
172.]], and to give audience to the new Minister, the Count
Cobenzl. The Foreign Ministers, the persons who were to be
presented [we, for instance], and the Military, were all that were
at Court. We were ten English [thirteen by tale]: the King spoke to
the first and the last; not on account of their situation, but
because their names struck him. The first was Major Dalrymple.
To him the King said: 'You have been presented to me before?'
'I ask your Majesty's pardon; it was my Uncle' (Lord Dalrymple, of
whom presently). Mr. Pitt [unknown to me which Pitt, subsequent
Lord Camelford or another] was the last. THE KING: 'Are you a
relation of Lord Chatham's?' 'Yes, Sire.'--'He is a man whom I
highly esteem' [read "esteemed"].
"He then went to the Foreign Ministers; and talked more to Prince
Dolgorucki, the Russian Ambassador, than to any other. In the midst
of his conversation with this Prince, he turned abruptly to Mr.
Elliot, the English Minister, and asked: 'What is the Duchess of
Kingston's family name?' This transition was less Pindaric than it
appears; he had just been speaking of the Court of Petersburg, and
that Lady was then there." [Sherlock, ii. 27.] Whereupon Sherlock
hops his ways again; leaving us considerably uncertain. But, by a
curious accident, here, at first-hand, is confirmation of the
flighty creature;--a Letter from Excellency Elliot himself having
come our way:--
TO WILLIAM EDEN, ESQUIRE (of the Foreign Office, London;
Elliot's Brother-in-law; afterwards LORD AUCKLAND).
"BERLIN, 12th October, 1777.
"MY DEAR EDEN,--If you are waiting upon the pinnacle of all
impatience to give me news from the Howes [out on their then famous
"Seizure of Philadelphia," which came to what we know!], I am
waiting with no less impatience to receive it, and think every
other subject too little interesting to be mentioned. I must,
however, tell you, the King has been here; ["Came to Berlin 8th
October," on the Van-Swieten errand; "saw Princess Amelia twice;
and on the 9th returned to Potsdam" (Rodenbeck, iii. 172).] to the
astonishment of all croakers, hearty and in high spirits. He was
very civil to all of us. I was attended by one dozen English, which
nearly completes my half-hundred this season. Pitt made one of the
twelve, and was particularly distinguished.
KING: "Monsieur est-il parent de Mylord Chatham?' PITT: 'Oui, Sire.' KING:
'C'est un homme que j'ai beaucoup estime.'
"You have no idea of the joy the people expressed to see the King
on Horseback,--all the Grub-street nonsense of 'a Country groaning
under the weight of its burdens,' of 'a Nation governed with a rod
of iron,' vanished before the sincere acclamations of all ranks,
who joined in testifying their enthusiasm for their great Monarch.
I long for Harris and Company [Excellency Harris; making for
Russia, I believe]; they are to pig together in my house; so that I
flatter myself with having a near view, if not a taste, of
connubial joys. My love to E and _e_ [your big _E_leanor and your
LITTLE, a baby in arms, who are my Sister and Niece;--pretty,
this!]. Your most affectionate, H. E.
"P.S. I quite forgot to tell you, I sent out a servant some time
ago to England to bring a couple of Horses. He will deliver some
Packets to you; which I beg you will send, with Lord Marischal's
compliments, to their respective Addresses. There is also a china
cup for Mr. Macnamara, Lawyer, in the Temple or Lincoln's Inn, from
the same person [lively old gentleman, age 91 gone; did die next
year]. What does Eleanor mean about my Congratulatory Letter to
Lord Suffolk [our Foreign Secretary, on his marriage lately]?
I wished his Lordship, most sincerely, every happiness in his new
state, as soon as I knew of it. I beg, however, Eleanor will do the
like;--and although it is not my system to 'congratulate' anybody
upon marriage, yet I never fail to wish them what, I think, it is
always two to one they do not obtain." [EDEN-HOUSE CORRESPONDENCE
(part of which, not this, has been published in late years).]
As to the Dalrymple of SHERLOCK, read this (FRIEDRICH TO
D'ALEMBERT, two years before [ OEuvres de Frederic, xxv. 21: 5th August, 1775.]): ... "A Mylord of wonderful
name [Lord Dalrymple, if I could remember it], of amiable genius
(AU NOM BAROQUE, A L'ESPRIT AIMABLE), gave me a Letter on your
part. 'Ah, how goes the Prince of Philosophers, then? Is he gay;
is he busy; did you see him often?' To which the Mylord: 'I? No;
I am straight from London!'"--"QUOI DONC--?" In short, knowing my
Anaxagoras, this Mylord preferred to be introduced by him; and was
right: "One of the amiablest Englishmen I have seen; I except only
the name, which I shall never remember [but do, on this new
occasion]: Why doesn't he get himself unchristened of it, and take
that of Stair, which equally belongs to him?" (Earl of Stair by and
by; Nephew, or Grand-Nephew, of the great Earl of Stair, once so
well known to some of us. Becomes English Minister here in 1785, if
we much cared.)
That word of reminiscence about Pitt is worth more attention.
Not spoken lightly, but with meaning and sincerity;
something almost pathetic in it, after the sixteen years
separation: "A man whom I much esteemed,"--and had good reason to
do so! Pitt's subsequent sad and bright fortunes, from the end of
the Seven-Years War and triumphant summing up of the JENKINS'S-EAR
QUESTION, are known to readers. His Burton-Pynsent meed of honor
(Estate of 3,000 pounds a year bequeathed him by an aged Patriot,
"Let THIS bit of England go a noble road!"); his lofty silences, in
the World Political; his vehement attempts in it, when again asked
to attempt, all futile,--with great pain to him, and great disdain
from him:--his passionate impatiences on minor matters, "laborers
[ornamenting Burton-Pynsent Park, in Somersetshire] planting trees
by torchlight;" "kitchen people [at Hayes in North Kent, House
still to be seen] roasting a series of chickens, chicken after
chicken all day, that at any hour, within ten minutes, my Lord may
dine!"--these things dwell in the memory of every worthy reader.
Here, saved from my poor friend Smelfungus (nobody knows how much
of him I suppress), is a brief jotting, in the form of rough
MEMORANDA, if it be permissible:--
"Pitt four years King; lost in quicksands after that; off to Bath,
from gout, from semi-insanity; 'India should pay, but how?' Lost in
General-Warrants, in Wilkes Controversies, American Revolts,--
generally, in shallow quicksands;--dies at his post, but his post
had become a delirious one.
"A delicate, proud, noble man; pure as refined gold.
Something sensitive, almost feminine in him; yet with an edge, a
fire, a steadiness; liker Friedrich, in some fine principal points,
than any of his Contemporaries. The one King England has had, this
King of Four Years, since the Constitutional system set in.
Oliver Cromwell, yes indeed,--but he died, and there was nothing
for it but to hang his body on the gallows. Dutch William, too,
might have been considerable,--but he was Dutch, and to us proved
to be nothing. Then again, so long as Sarah Jennings held the
Queen's Majesty in bondage, some gleams of Kinghood for us under
Marlborough:--after whom Noodleism and Somnambulism, zero on the
back of zero, and all our Affairs, temporal, spiritual and eternal,
jumbling at random, which we call the Career of Freedom, till Pitt
stretched out his hand upon them. For four years; never again, he;
never again one resembling him,--nor indeed can ever be.
"Never, I should think. Pitts are not born often; this Pitt's ideas
could occur in the History of Mankind once only. Stranger theory of
society, completely believed in by a clear, sharp and altogether
human head, incapable of falsity, was seldom heard of in the world.
For King: open your mouth, let the first gentleman that falls into
it (a mass of Hanover stolidity, stupidity, foreign to you,
heedless of you) be King: Supreme Majesty he, with hypothetical
decorations, dignities, solemn appliances, high as the stars (the
whole, except the money, a mendacity, and sin against Heaven):
him you declare Sent-of-God, supreme Captain of your England;
and having done so,--tie him up (according to Pitt) with
Constitutional straps, so that he cannot stir hand or foot, for
fear of accidents: in which state he is fully cooked; throw me at
his Majesty's feet, and let me bless Heaven for such a Pillar of
Cloud by day.
"Pitt, closely as I could scrutinize, seems never to have doubted
in his noble heart but he had some reverence for George II.
'Reverenced his Office,' says a simple reader? Alas, no, my friend,
man does not 'reverence Office,' but only sham-reverences it.
I defy him to reverence anything but a Man filling an Office (with
or without salary) nobly. Filling a noble office ignobly; doing a
celestial task in a quietly infernal manner? It were kinder perhaps
to run your sword through him (or through yourself) than to take to
revering him! If inconvenient to slay him or to slay yourself (as
is oftenest likely),--keep well to windward of him; be not, without
necessity, partaker of his adventures in this extremely earnest
Universe! ...
"No; Nature does not produce many Pitts:--nor will any Pitt ever
again apply in Parliament for a career. 'Your voices, your most
sweet voices; ye melodious torrents of Gadarenes Swine, galloping
rapidly down steep places, I, for one; know whither I'" ...
--Enough.
About four months before this time, Elliot had done a feat, not in
the Diplomatic line at all, or by his own choice at all, which had
considerably astonished the Diplomatic world at Berlin, and was
doubtless well in the King's thoughts during this introduction of
the Dozen. The American War is raging and blundering along,--a
delectable Lord George Germaine (ALIAS Sackville, no other than our
old Minden friend) managing as War-Minister, others equally skilful
presiding at the Parliamentary helm; all becoming worse and worse
off, as the matter proceeds. The revolted Colonies have their
Franklins, Lees, busy in European Courts: "Help us in our noble
struggle, ye European Courts;, now is your chance on tyrannous
England!" To which France at least does appear to be lending ear.
Lee, turned out from Vienna, is at work in Berlin, this while past;
making what progress is uncertain to some people.
I know not whether it was by my Lord Suffolk's instigation, or what
had put the Britannic Cabinet on such an idea,--perhaps the stolen
Letters of Friedrich, which show so exact a knowledge of the
current of events in America as well as England ("knows every step
of it, as if he were there himself, the Arch-Enemy of honest
neighbors in a time of stress!")--but it does appear they had got
it into their sagacious heads that the bad neighbor at Berlin was,
in effect, the Arch-Enemy, probably mainspring of the whole matter;
and that it would be in the highest degree interesting to see
clearly what Lee and he had on hand. Order thereupon to Elliot:
"Do it, at any price;" and finally, as mere price will not answer,
"Do it by any method,--STEAL Lee's Despatch-Box for us!"
Perhaps few Excellencies living had less appetite for such a job
than Elliot; but his Orders were peremptory, "Lee is a rebel,
quasi-outlaw; and you must!" Elliot thereupon took accurate survey
of the matter; and rapidly enough, and with perfect skill, though
still a novice in Berlin affairs, managed to do it. Privily hired,
or made his servant hire, the chief Housebreaker or Pickpocket in
the City: "Lee lodges in such and such a Hostelry; bring us his
Red-Box for a thirty hours; it shall be well worth your while!"
And in brief space the Red-Box arrives, accordingly; a score or two
of ready-writers waiting for it, who copy all day, all night, at
the top of their speed, till they have enough: which done, the Lee
Red-Box is left on the stairs of the Lee Tavern; Box locked again,
and complete; only the Friedrich-Lee Secrets completely pumped out
of it, and now rushing day and night towards England, to illuminate
the Supreme Council-Board there.
This astonishing mass of papers is still extant in England; [In the
EDEN-HOUSE ARCHIVES; where a natural delicacy (unaware that the
questionable Legationary FACT stands in print for so many years
past) is properly averse to any promulgation of them.]--the outside
of them I have seen, by no means the inside, had I wished it;--but
am able to say from other sources, which are open to all the world,
that seldom had a Supreme Council-Board procured for itself, by
improper or proper ways, a Discovery of less value! Discovery that
Lee has indeed been urgent at Berlin; and has raised in Friedrich
the question, "Have you got to such a condition that I can, with
safety and advantage, make a Treaty of Commerce with you?"--That
his Minister Schulenburg has, by Order, been investigating Lee on
that head; and has reported, "No, your Majesty, Lee and People are
not in such a condition;" that his Majesty has replied, "Well, let
him wait till they are;" and that Lee is waiting accordingly.
In general, That his Majesty is not less concerned in guidance or
encouragement of the American War than he is in ditto of the
Atlantic Tides or of the East-Wind (though he does keep barometers
and meteorological apparatus by him); and that we of the Council-
Board are a--what shall I say! Not since the case of poor Dr.
Cameron, in 1753, when Friedrich was to have joined the Highlanders
with 15,000 chosen Prussians for Jacobite purposes,--and the Cham
of Tartary to have taken part in the Bangorian Controversy,--was
there a more perfect platitude, or a deeper depth of ignorance as
to adjacent objects on the part of Governing Men. For shame,
my friends!--
This surprising bit of Burglary, so far as I can gather from the
Prussian Books, must have been done on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25th, 1777;
Box (with essence pumped out) restored to staircase night of
Thursday,--Police already busy, Governor Ramin and Justice-
President Philippi already apprised, and suspicion falling on the
English Minister,--whose Servant ("Arrest him we cannot without a
King's Warrant, only procurable at Potsdam!") vanishes bodily.
Friday, 27th, Ramin and Philippi make report; King answers,
"greatly astonished:" a "GARSTIGE SACHE (ugly Business), which will
do the English no honor:" "Servant fled, say you? Trace it to the
bottom; swift!" Excellency Elliot, seeing how matters lay, owned
honestly to the Official People, That it was his Servant (Servant
safe gone, Chief Pickpocket not mentioned at all); SUNDAY EVENING,
29th, King orders thereupon, "Let the matter drop." These Official
Pieces, signed by the King, by Hertzberg, Ramin and others, we do
not give: here is Friedrich's own notice of it to his
Brother Henri:--
"POTSDAM, 29th JUNE, 1777. ... There has just occurred a strange
thing at Berlin. Three days ago, in absence of the Sieur Lee, Envoy
of the American Colonies, the Envoy of England went [sent!] to the
Inn where Lee lodged, and carried off his Portfolio; it seems he
was in fear, however, and threw it down, without opening it, on the
stairs [alas, no, your Majesty, not till after pumping the essence
out]. All Berlin is talking of it. If one were to act with rigor,
it would be necessary to forbid this man the Court, since he has
committed a public theft: but, not to make a noise, I suppress the
thing. Sha'n't fail, however, to write to England about it, and
indicate that there was another way of dealing with such a matter,
for they are impertinent" (say, ignorant, blind as moles, your
Majesty; that is the charitable reading!). [ OEuvres de
Frederic, xxvi. 394. In PREUSS, v. (he calls it "iv."
or "URKUNDENBUCH to vol. iv.," but it is really and practically
vol. v.) 278, 279, are the various Official Reports.]
This was not Excellency Elliot's Burglary, as readers see,--among
all the Excellencies going, I know not that there is one with less
natural appetite for such a job; but sometimes what can a
necessitous Excellency do? Elliot is still remembered in Berlin
society, not for this only, but for emphatic things of a better
complexion which he did; a man more justly estimated there, than
generally here in our time. Here his chief fame rests on a witty
Anecdote, evidently apocryphal, and manufactured in the London
Clubs: "Who is this Hyder-Ali," said the old King to him, one day
(according to the London Clubs). "Hm," answered Elliot, with
exquisite promptitude, politeness and solidity of information,
"C'EST UN VIEUX VOLEUR QUI COMMENCE A RADOTER (An old robber, now
falling into his dotage),"--let his dotard Majesty take that.
Alas, my friends!--Ignorance by herself is an awkward lumpish
wench; not yet fallen into vicious courses, nor to be uncharitably
treated: but Ignorance and Insolence,--these are, for certain, an
unlovely Mother and Bastard! Yes;--and they may depend upon it, the
grim Parish-beadles of this Universe are out on the track of them,
and oakum and the correction-house are infallible sooner or later!
The clever Elliot, who knew a hawk from a hernshaw, never
floundered into that platitude. This, however, is a joke of his,
better or worse (I think, on his quitting Berlin in 1782, without
visible resource or outlook): "I am far from having a Sans-Souci,"
writes he to the Edens; "and I think I am coming to be SANS
SIX-SOUS."--Here still are two small Fractions, which I must
insert; and then rigorously close. Kaiser Joseph, in these months,
is travelling through France to instruct his Imperial mind.
The following is five weeks anterior to that of Lee's Red-Box:--
1. A BIT OF DIALOGUE AT PARIS (Saturday, 17th May, 1777).
After solemn Session of the ACADEMIE FRANCAISE, held in honor of an
illustrious COMTE DE FALKENSTEIN (privately, Kaiser Joseph II.),
who has come to look at France, [Minute and rather entertaining
Account of his procedures there, and especially of his two Visits
to the Academy (first was May 10th), in Mayer, Reisen
Josephs II. (Leipzig, 1778), pp. 112-132, 147 et
seq.]--Comte de Falkenstein was graciously pleased to step up to
D'Alembert, who is Perpetual Secretary here; and this little
Dialogue ensued:--
FALKENSTEIN. "I have heard you are for Germany this season;
some say you intend to become German altogether?"
D'ALEMBERT. "I did promise myself the high honor of a visit to his
Prussian Majesty, who has deigned to invite me, with all the
kindness possible: but, alas, for such hopes! The bad state of
my health--"
FALKENSTEIN. "It seems to me you have already been to see the King
of Prussia?"
D'ALEMBERT. "Two times; once in 1756 [1755, 17th-19th June,--if you
will be exact], at Wesel, when I remained only a few days;
and again in 1763, when I had the honor to pass three or four
months with him. Since that time I have always longed to have the
honor of seeing his Majesty again; but circumstances hindered me.
I, above all, regretted not to have been able to pay my court to
him that year he saw the Emperor at Neisse,--but at this moment
there is nothing more to be wished on that head" (Don't bow: the
Gentleman is INCOGNITO).
FALKENSTEIN. "It was very natural that the Emperor, young, and
desiring to instruct himself, should wish to see such a Prince as
the King of Prussia; so great a Captain, a Monarch of such
reputation, and who has played so great a part. It was a Scholar
going to see his Master" (these are his very words, your Majesty).
D'ALEMBERT. "I wish M. le Comte de Falkenstein could see the
Letters which the King of Prussia did me the honor to write after
that Interview: it would then appear how this Prince judged of the
Emperor, as all the world has since done." ["D'Alembert to
Friedrich [in OEuvres de Frederic, xxv. 75],
23d May, 1777." Ib. xxv. 82; "13th August, 1777."]
KING TO D'ALEMBERT (three months after. Kaiser is home;
passed Ferney, early in August; and did not call on Voltaire, as is
well known). ... "I hear the Comte de Falkenstein has been seeing
harbors, arsenals, ships, manufactures, and has n't seen Voltaire.
Had I been in the Emperor's place, I would not have passed Ferney
without a glance at the old Patriarch, were it only to say that I
had seen and heard him. Arsenals, ships, manufactures, these you
can see anywhere; but it requires ages to produce a Voltaire.
By the rumors I hear, it will have been a certain great Lady
Theresa, very Orthodox and little Philosophical, who forbade her
Son to visit the Apostle of Tolerance."
D'ALEMBERT (in answer): "No doubt your Majesty's guess is right.
It must have been the Lady Mother. Nobody here believes that the
advice came from his Sister [Queen Marie Antoinette], who, they
say, is full of esteem for the Patriarch, and has more than once
let him know it by third parties." [ OEuvres de Frederic,
xxv. 84.]
According to Friedrich, Joseph's reflections in France were very
gloomy: "This is all one Country; strenuously kneaded into perfect
union and incorporation by the Old Kings: my discordant Romish
Reich is of many Countries,--and should be of one, if Sovereigns
were wise and strenuous!" [ OEuvres de Frederic, vi. 125.]
2. A CABINET-ORDER AND ACTUAL (fac-simile) SIGNATURE OF
FRIEDRICH'S.--After unknown travels over the world, this poor brown
Bit of Paper, with a Signature of Friedrich's to it, has wandered
hither; and I have had it copied, worthy or not. A Royal Cabinet-
Order on the smallest of subjects; but perhaps all the more
significant on that account; and a Signature which readers may like
to see.
Fordan, or Fordon, is in the Bromberg Department in West Preussen,
--Bromberg no longer a heap of ruins; but a lively, new-built,
paved, CANALLED and industrious trading Town. At Fordan is a Grain-
Magazine: Bein ("Leg," DER BEIN, as they slightingly call him) is
Proviant-Master there; and must consider his ways,--the King's eye
being on him. Readers can now look and understand:--
AN DEN OBER-PROVIANTMEISTER BEIN, zu Fordan.
"POTSDAM, den 9ten April, 1777.
"Seiner Koniglicher Majestat von Preussen, Unser
allergnadigster Herr, lassen dem Ober-Proviantmeister Bein hiebey
die Getraide-Preistabelle des Brombergschen Departments zufertigen;
Woraus derselbe ersiehet wie niedrig solche an einigen Orthen sind,
und dass zu Inovraclaw und Strezeltnow der Scheffel Roggen um 12
Groschen kostet: da solches nun hier so wohlfeil ist, somuss ja der
Preis in Pohlen noch wohl geringer, und ist daher nicht abzusehen
warum die Pohlen auf so hohe Preise bestehen; der Bein muss sich
daher nun rechte Muhe gebem, und den Einkauf so wohlfeil als nur
immer moglich zu machen suchen."
"His Royal Majesty of Preussen, Our most all-gracious Lord, lets
herewith, to the Head Proviant-Master Bein, the Grain-Prices Table
of the Bromberg Department be despatched; Wherefrom Bein perceives
how low in some places these are, and that, at Inovraclaw and
Strezeltnow the Bushel of Rye costs about 14 Pence: now, as it is
so cheap there, the price in Poland must be still smaller;
and therefore it is not to be conceived why the Poles demand such
high prices," as the said Bein reports: "Bein therefore is charged
to take especial pains, and try not to make the purchase dearer
than is indispensable."
FRIEDRICH'S SIGNATURE HERE--PAGE 390, BOOK XXI--------
Original kindly furnished me by Mr. W. H. Doeg, Barlow Moor,
Manchester: whose it now is,--purchased in London, A.D. 1863.
The FRH of German CURSIV-SCHRIFT (current hand), which the
woodcutter has appended, shut off by a square, will show English
readers what the King means: an "Frh" done as
by a flourish of one's stick, in the most compendious and really
ingenious manner,--suitable for an economic King, who has to repeat
it scores of times every day of his life!
Chapter VI.
THE BAVARIAN WAR.
At the very beginning of 1778, the chronic quarrel with Austria
passed, by an accident just fallen out, into the acute state;
rose gradually, and, in spite of negotiating, issued in a thing
called Bavarian-Succession War, which did not end till Spring of
the following year. The accident was this. At Munchen, December
30th, 1777, Max Joseph Kurfurst of Baiern, only Brother of our
lively friend the Electress-Dowager of Saxony, died; suddenly, of
small-pox unskilfully treated. He was in his fifty-second year;
childless, the last of that Bavarian branch. His Heir is Karl
Theodor, Kur-Pfalz (Elector Palatine), who is now to unite the Two
Electorates,--unless Austria can bargain with him otherwise.
Austria's desire to get hold of Baiern is of very old standing;
and we have heard lately how much it was an object with Kaunitz and
his young Kaiser. With Karl Theodor they did bargain,--in fact, had
beforehand as good as bargained,--and were greatly astonished, when
King Friedrich, alone of all Teutschland or the world, mildly, but
peremptorily, interfered, and said No,--with effect, as is
well known.
Something, not much, must be said of this Bavarian-Succession War;
which occupied, at a pitch of tension and anxiety foreign to him
for a long time, fifteen months of Friedrich's old age (January,
1778-March, 1779); and filled all Europe round him and it, in an
extraordinary manner. Something; by no means much, now that we have
seen the issue of such mountains all in travail. Nobody could then
say but it bade fair to become a Fourth Austrian-Prussian War, as
sanguinary as the Seven-Years had been; for in effect there stood
once more the Two Nations ranked against each other, as if for
mortal duel, near half a million men in whole; parleying indeed,
but brandishing their swords, and ever and anon giving mutual clash
of fence, as if the work had begun, though there always intervened
new parleying first.
And now everybody sees that the work never did begin;
that parleying, enforced by brandishing, turned out to be all the
work there was: and everybody has forgotten it, and, except for
specific purposes, demands not to be put in mind of it.
Mountains in labor were not so frequent then as now, when the Penny
Newspaper has got charge of them; though then as now to practical
people they were a nuisance. Mountains all in terrific travail-
throes, threatening to overset the solar system, have always a
charm, especially for the more foolish classes: but when once the
birth has taken place, and the wretched mouse ducks past you, or
even nothing at all can be seen to duck past, who is there but
impatiently turns on his heel?
Those Territories, which adjoin on its own dominions, would have
been extremely commodious to Austria;--as Austria itself has long
known; and by repeatedly attempting them on any chance given (as in
1741-1745, to go no farther back), has shown how well it knows.
Indeed, the whole of Bavaria fairly incorporated and made Austrian,
what an infinite convenience would it be!
"Do but look on the Map [this Note is not by Busching, but by
somebody of Austrian tendencies]: you would say, Austria without
Bavaria is like a Human Figure with its belly belonging to somebody
else. Bavaria is the trunk or belly of the Austrian Dominions,
shutting off all the limbs of them each from the other; making for
central part a huge chasm.
"Ober-Pfalz,--which used to be Kur-Pfalz's, which is Bavaria's
since we took it from the Winter-King and bestowed it in that way,
--Ober-Pfalz, the country of Amberg, where Maillebois once pleased
to make invasion of us;--does not it adjoin on the Bohemian Forest?
The RIBS there, Bohemian all, up to the shoulder, are ours: but the
shoulder-blade and left arm, whose are they! Austria Proper and
Hungary, these may be taken as sitting-part and lower limbs, ample
and fleshy; but see, just above the pelvis, on the south side, how
Bavaria and its Tyrol sticks itself in upon Austria, who fancied
she also had a Tyrol, and far the more important one. Our Tyrol,
our Styria, Carniola, Carinthia,--Bavaria blocks these in. Then the
Swabian Austria,--Breisach, and those Upper-Rhine Countries, from
which we invade France,--we cannot reach them except through
Bavarian ground. Swabian Austria should be our right arm, fingers
of it reaching into Switzerland; Ober-Pfalz our left:--and as to
the broad breast between these two; left arm and broad breast are
Bavaria's, not ours. Of the Netherlands, which might be called
geographically the head of Austria, alas, the long neck, Lorraine,
was once ours; but whose is it? Irrecoverable for the present,--
perhaps may not always be so!"
These are Kaunitz's ideas; and the young Kaiser has eagerly adopted
them as the loadstar of his life. "Make the Reich a reality again,"
thinks the Kaiser (good, if only possible, think we too);
"make Austria great; Austria is the Reich, how else can the Reich
be real?"
In practical politics these are rather wild ideas; but they are
really Kaunitz's and his Kaiser's; and were persisted in long after
this Bavarian matter got its check: and as a whole, they got
repeated checks; being impossible all, and far from the meaning of
a Time big with French Revolution, and with quite other things than
world-greatness to Austria, and rejuvenescence on such or on any
terms to the poor old Holy Roman Reich, which had been a wiggery so
long. Nobody could guess of what it was that France or the world
might be with child: nobody, till the birth in 1789, and even for a
generation afterwards. France is weakly and unwieldy, has strange
enough longings for chalky, inky, visionary, foolish substances,
and may be in the family-way for aught we know.
To Kaunitz it is pretty clear that France will not stand in his
path in this fine little Bavarian business; which is all he cares
for at present. England in war with its Colonies; Russia attentive
to its Turk; foreign Nations, what can they do but talk;
remonstrate more or less, as they did in the case of Poland;
and permit the thing with protest? Only from one Sovereign Person,
and from him I should guess not much, does Kaunitz expect serious
opposition: from Friedrich of Prussia; to whom no enlargement of
Austria can be matter of indifference. "But cannot we perhaps make
it worth his while?" thinks Kaunitz: "Tush, he is old and broken;
thought to be dying; has an absolute horror of war. He too will sit
quiet; or we must make it worth his while." In this calculation
Kaunitz deceived himself; we are now shortly to see how.
Kaunitz's Case, when he brings it before the Reich, and general
Public of mankind and its Gazetteers, will by no means prove to be
a strong one. His Law "TITLE" is this:--
"Archduke Albert V., of Austria, subsequently Kaiser Albert II.,
had married Elizabeth, only Daughter of Kaiser Sigismund SUPER-
GRAMMATICAM: Albert is he who got three crowns in one year,
Hungary, Bohemia, Romish Reich; and 'we hope a fourth,' say the Old
Historians, 'which was a heavenly and eternal one,'--died, in short
(1439, age forty). From him come the now Kaisers.
"In 1426, thirteen years before this event of the Crowns, Sigismund
GRAMMATICAM had infeoffed him in a thing still of shadowy nature,--
the Expectancy of a Straubingen Princedom; pleasant extensive
District, only not yet fallen, or like falling vacant: 'You shall
inherit, you and yours (who are also my own), so soon as this
present line of Wittelsbachers die!' said Kaiser Sigismund,
solemnly, in two solemn sheepskins. 'Not a whit of it,' would the
Wittelsbachers have answered, had they known of the affair.
'When we die out, there is another Line of Wittelsbachers, plenty
of other lines; and House-treaties many and old, settling all that,
without help of you and Albert of the Three Crowns!'
And accordingly there had never come the least fruit, or attempt at
fruit, from these two Sigismund Sheepskins; which were still lying
in the Vienna Archives, where they had lain since the creation of
them, known to an Antiquary or two, but not even by them thought
worthy of mention in this busy world. This was literally all the
claim that Austria had; and every by-stander admitted it to be, in
itself, not worth a rush."
"In itself perhaps not," thought Kaunitz; "but the free consent of
Karl Theodor the Heir, will not that be a Title in full? One would
hope so; in the present state of Europe: France, England, Russia,
every Nation weltering overhead in its own troubles and affairs,
little at leisure for ours!" And it is with Karl Theodor, to make
out a full Title for himself there, that Kaunitz has been secretly
busy this long time back, especially in the late critical days of
poor Kurfurst Max.
Karl Theodor of the Pfalz, now fallen Heir to Baiern, is a poor
idle creature, of purely egoistic, ornamental, dilettante nature;
sunk in theatricals, bastard children and the like; much praised by
Voltaire, who sometimes used to visit him; and by Collini, to whom
he is a kind master. Karl Theodor cares little for the integrity of
Baiern, much for that of his own skin. Very long ago, in 1742, in
poor Kaiser Karl's Coronation time, we saw him wedded, him and
another, to two fair Sister Sulzbach Princesses, [Supra, viii.
119.] Grand-daughters of old Karl Philip, the then Kur-Pfalz, whom
he has inherited. It was the last act of that never-resting old
Karl Philip, of whom we used to hear so much: "Karl Theodor to have
one of my inestimable Grand-daughters; Duke Clement, younger
Brother of our blessed new Kaiser, to have another; thereby we
unite the kindred branches of the Pfalz-Baiern Families, and make
the assurance of the Heritages doubly sure!" said old Karl Philip;
and died happy, or the happiest he could.
Readers no doubt have forgotten this circumstance; and, in their
total lack of interest in Karl Theodor and his paltry affairs, may
as well be reminded of it;--and furthermore, that these brilliant
young Wives, "Duchess Clement" especially, called on Wilhelmina
during the Frankfurt Gayeties, and were a charm to Kaiser Karl
Albert, striving to look forward across clouds into a glittering
future for his House. Theodor's Princess brought him no children;
she and her Sister are both still living; a lone woman the latter
(Duke Clement dead these seven years),--a still more lone the
former, with such a Husband yet living! Lone women both, well
forward in the fifties; active souls, I should guess, at least to
judge by Duchess Clement, who being a Dowager, and mistress of her
movements, is emphatic in denouncing such disaster and disgrace;
and plays a great part, at Munchen, in the agitating scenes now on
hand. Comes out "like a noble Amazon," say the admiring by-
standers, on this occasion; stirs whatever faculty she has,
especially her tongue; and goes on urging, pushing and contriving
all she can, regardless of risks in such an imminency.
Karl Theodor finds his Heritages indisputable; but he has no
Legitimate Son to leave them to; and has many Illegitimate, whom
Austria can provide for,--and richly will. His Heir is a Nephew,
Karl August Christian, of Zweibruck; whom perhaps it would not be
painful to him to disappoint a little of his high expectations.
On the whole, Peace; plentiful provision, titular and other, for
his Illegitimates; and a comfortable sum of ready money over, to
enliven the Theatricals, Dusseldorf Picture-Galleries and
Dilettante operations and Collections,--how much welcomer to
Theodor than a Baiern never so religiously saved entire at the
expense of quarrel, which cannot but be tedious, troublesome and
dangerous! Honor, indeed--but what, to an old stager in the
dilettante line, is honor? Old stagers there are who will own to
you, like Balzac's Englishman in a case of conflagration, when
honor called on all men to take their buckets, "MAIS JE N'AI POINT
D'HONNEUR!" To whom, unluckily, you cannot answer as in that case,
"C'EST EGAL, 'T is all one; do as if you had some!" Karl Theodor
scandalously left Baiern to its fate.
Karl Theodor's Heir, poor August Christian of Zweibruck, had of
course his own gloomy thoughts on this parcelling of his Bavarian
reversion: but what power has he? None, he thinks, but to take the
inevitable patiently. Nor generally in the Princes of the Reich,
though one would have thought them personally concerned, were it
only for danger of a like mistreatment, was there any emotion
publicly expressed, or the least hope of help. "Perhaps Prussia
will quarrel about it?" think they: "Austria, Prussia, in any of
their quarrels we get only crushed; better to keep out of it.
We well out of it, the more they quarrel and fight, the better for
us!" England, in the shape of Hanover, would perhaps have made some
effort to interfere, provided France did: on either side, I incline
to think,--that is to say, on the side opposite to France. But poor
England is engaged with its melancholy American War; France on the
point of breaking out into Alliance with the Insurrection there.
Neither France nor England did interfere. France is sinking into
bankruptcy; intent to have a Navy before most things; to assist the
Cause of Human Liberty over seas withal, and become a sublime
spectacle, and a ruin to England,--not as in the Pitt-Choiseul
time, but by that improved method. Russia, again involved in Turk
business, looks on, with now and then a big word thrown out on the
one side and the other.--Munchen, in the interval, we can fancy
what an agitated City! One Note says:--
"Kurfurst Max Joseph being dead (30th December, 1777), Privy
Councillor Johann Euchar von Obermayr, favorite and factotum
Minister of the Deceased, opened the Chatoulle [Princely Safe, or
Case of Preciosities]; took from it the Act, which already lay
prepared, for Homaging and solemn Instalment of Karl Theodor
Kur-Pfalz, as heir of Baiern; with immediate intent to execute the
same. Euchar orders strict closure of the Town-gates; the Soldiery
to draw out, and beset all streets,--especially that street where
Imperial Majesty's Ambassador lives: 'Rank close with your backs to
that House,' orders Euchar; 'and the instant anybody stirs to come
out, sound your drums, and, at the same instant, let the rearmost
rank of you, without looking round [for one would not give offence,
unless imperative] smite the butts of their muskets to the ground'
(ready for firing, IF imperative). Nobody, I think, stirred out
from that Austrian Excellency's House; in any case, Obermayr
completed his Act without the least protest or trouble from
anybody; and Karl Theodor, almost to his terror [for he meant to
sell, and satisfy Austria, by no means to resist or fight, the paltry old creature, careful of self and skin only], saw himself solemnly secured by all forms of law in all the Lands of the Deceased. [Fischer, Geschichte Friedrichs des Zweiten (Halle, 1787), ii. 358.]
"Kaiser Joseph, in a fume at this, shot off an express to Bohemia: 'Such and such regiments, ten or twelve of you, with your artillery and tools, march instantly into Straubingen, and occupy that Town and District.' At Vienna, to the Karl-Theodor Ambassad
or, the Kaunitz Officials were altogether loud-voiced, minatory: 'What is this, Herr Excellenz? Bargain already made; lying ready for mere signature; and at Munchen such doings. Sign this Bargain, or there cross your frontier 60,000 Austrian men, and seiz
e both Baiern and the Ober-Pfalz; bethink you, Herr!' The poor Herr bethought him, what could he do? signed the Bargain, Karl Theodor sanctioning, 3d January, 1778,--the fourth day after Obermayr's Homaging feat;--and completes the first act of this bad b
usiness. The Bargain, on Theodor's side, was of the most liberal kind: All and sundry the Lands and Circles of Duke Johann of Straubingen, Lordship of Mindelheim [Marlborough's old Place] superadded, and I know not what else; Sovereignty of the Fiefs in O
ber-Pfalz to lapse to the Crown of Bohmen on my decease." Half Bavaria, or better;
some reckon it as good as two-thirds.
The figure of Duchess Clement, Amazon in hair-powder, driviug incessantly about among the officialities and aristocratic circles; this and the order of "Rattle your muskets on the ground;"
let these two features represent to us the Munchen of those months. Munchen, Regensburg, Vienna are loud with pleading, protocolling; but it is not there that the crisis of the game will be found
to lie.
Friedrich has, for some time back, especially since the late Kur-
Baiern's illness, understood that Austria, always eager for a clutch at Baiern, had something of that kind in view; but his first positive news of it was a Letter from Duchess Clement (date, JANUARY 3d), which, by the detail of facts, unveiled to his quic
k eye the true outline, extent and nature of this Enterprise of Austria's; Enterprise which, he could not but agree with Duchess Clement, was one of great concernment not to Baiern alone.
"Must be withstood; prevented, at whatever risk," thought Friedrich on the instant: "The new Elector, Karl Theodor, he probably is dead to the matter; but one ought to ask him. If he answer, Dead;
then ask his Heir, Have you no life to it?" Heir is a gallant enough young gentleman, of endless pedigree, but small possessions, "Karl August Christian [Karl II. in Official style], Duke of Zweibruck-Birkenfeld," Karl Theodor's eldest Nephew;
Friedrich judges that he probably will have haggled to sign any Austrian convention for dismembering Baiern, and that he will start into life upon it so soon as he sees hope.
"A messenger to him, to Karl Theodor and him," thinks Friedrich:
"a messenger instantly; and who?" For that clearly is the first thing. And a delicate thing it is; requiring to be done in profoundest secrecy, by hint and innuendo rather than speech;
by somebody in a cloak of darkness, who is of adroit quality, and was never heard of in diplomatic circles before, not to be suspected of having business of mine on hand. Friedrich bethinks him that in a late visit to Weimar, he had noticed, for his fine
qualities, a young gentleman named Gortz; Eustace von Gortz, [Preuss, iv. 92 n. &c.] late Tutor to the young Duke (Karl August, whom readers know as Goethe's friend): a wise, firm, adroit-looking young gentleman; who was farther interesting as Brother to
Lieutenant-General von Gortz, a respectable soldier of Friedrich's. Ex-Tutor at Weimar, we say, and idle for the moment; hanging about Court there, till he should find a new function.
Of this Ex-Tutor Friedrich bethinks him; and in the course of that same day,--for there is no delay,--Friedrich, who is at Berlin, beckons General Gortz to come over to him from Potsdam instantly. "Hither this evening; and in all privacy meet me in the Pa
lace at such an hour" (hour of midnight or thereby); which of course Gortz, duly invisible to mankind, does. Friedrich explains: An errand to
Munchen; perfectly secret, for the moment, and requiring great
delicacy and address; perhaps not without risk, a timorous man
might say: will your Brother go for me, think you? Gortz thinks he
will. "Here is his Instruction, if so," adds the King, handing him
an Autograph of the necessary outline of procedure,--not signed,
nor with any credential, or even specific address, lest accident
happen. "Adieu then, Herr General-Lieutenant; rule is, shoes of
swiftness, cloak of darkness: adieu!" And Gortz Senior is off on
the instant, careering towards Weimar, where he finds Gortz Junior,
and makes known his errand. Gortz Junior stares in the natural
astonishment; but, after some intense brief deliberation, becomes
affirmative, and in a minimum of time is ready and on the road.
Gortz Junior proved to have been an excellent choice on the King's
part; and came to good promotion afterwards by his conduct in this
affair. Gortz Junior started for Munchen on the instant, masked
utterly, or his business masked, from profane eyes; saw this
person, saw that, and glided swiftly about, swiftly and with sure
aim; and speedily kindled the matter, and had smoke rising in
various points. And before January was out, saw the Reichs-Diet at
Regensburg, much more the general Gazetteerage everywhere, seized
of this affair, and thrown into paroxysms at the size and
complexion of it: saw, in fact, a world getting into flame,--
kindled by whom or what nobody could guess, for a long time to
come. Gortz had great running about in his cloak of darkness, and
showed abundant talent of the kind needed. A pushing, clear-eyed,
stout-hearted man; much cleverness and sureness in what he did and
forbore to do. His adventures were manifold; he had much travelling
about: was at Regensburg, at Mannheim; saw many persons whom he had
to judge of on the instant, and speak frankly to, or speak darkly,
or speak nothing; and he made no mistake. One of his best
counsellors, I gather, was Duchess Clement: of course it was not
long till Duchess Clement heard some inkling of him; till, in some
of his goings and comings, he saw Duchess Clement, who hailed him
as an angel of light. In one journey more mysterious than ever, "he
was three days invisible in Duchess Clement's Garden-house."
"AH, MADAME, QUE N'ETIEZ-VOUS ELECTEUR, Why were not you Elector!"
writes Friedrich to her once: "We should not have seen those
shameful events, which every good German must blush for, to the
bottom of his heart (DONT TOUT BON ALLEMAND DOIT ROUGIR JUSQU'AU
FOND DU COEUR)!" [Preuss, iv. 94.]
We cannot afford the least narrative of Gortz and his courses:
imagination, from a few traits, will sufficiently conceive them.
He had gone first to Karl Theodor's Minister: "Dead to it, I fear;
has already signed?" Alas, yes. Upon which to Zweibruck the Heir's
Minister; whom his Master had distinctly ordered to sign, but who,
at his own peril, gallant man, delayed, remonstrated, had not yet
done it; and was able to answer: "Alive to it, he? Yes, with a
witness, were there hope in the world!"--which threw Gortz upon
instant gallop towards Zweibruck Schloss, in search of said Heir,
the young Duke August Christian; who, however, had left in the
interim (summoned by his Uncle, on Austrian urgency, to consent
along with him); but whom Gortz, by dexterity and intuition of
symptoms, caught up by the road, with what a mutual joy! As had
been expected, August Christian, on sight of Gortz, with an armed
Friedrich looming in the distance, took at once into new courses
and activities. From him, no consent now; far other: Treaty with
Friedrich; flat refusal ever to consent: application to the Reich,
application even to France, and whatever a gallant young fellow
could do.
It was by Friedrich's order that he applied to France; his younger
Brother, Max Joseph, was a soldier there, and strove to back him in
Official and other circles,--who were all friendly, even zealous
for him; and gave good words, but had nothing more. This French
department of the business was long a delay to Friedrich's
operations: and in result, poor Max's industry there, do what he
could, proved rather a minus quantity than otherwise. A good young
man, they say; but not the man to kindle into action horses that
are dead,--of which he had experience more than once in time
coming. He is the same that, 30 years after, having survived his
childless elder Brother, became King Max, first King of Baiern;
begot Ludwig, second King,--who, for his part, has begotten Otho
King of Greece, and done other feats still less worth mentioning.
August Christian's behavior is praised as excellent,--passively
firm and polite; the grand requisite, persistence on your ground of
"No:"--but his luck, to find such a Friedrich, and also to find
such a Gortz, was the saving clause for him.
Friedrich was in very weak health in these months; still considered
by the Gazetteers to be dying. But it appears he is not yet too
weak for taking, on the instant necessary, a world-important
resolution; and of being on the road with it, to this issue or to
that, at full speed before the day closed. "Desist, good neighbor,
I beseech you. You must desist, and even you shall:" this
resolution was entirely his own; as were the equally prompt
arrangements he contrived for executing it, should hard come to
hard, and Austria prefer war to doing justice. "Excellent methods,"
say the most unfriendly judges, "which must at once have throttled
Austria into compliance, had he been as prompt in executing them;
--which he by no means was. And there lies his error and failure;
very lamentable, excusable only by decrepitude of body producing
weakness and decay of mind." This is emphatically and wearisomely
Schmettau's opinion, [F. W. C. Graf van Schmettau (this is the
ELDER Schmettau's Son, not the DRESDENER'S whom we used to quote),
FELDZUG DER PREUSSISCHEN ARMEE IN BOHMEN IM JAHRE 1778 (Berlin,
1789,--simultaneously in French too, with Plans): with which--as
the completest Account by an eager Witness and Participator--
compare always Friedrich's own (MEMOIRES DE LA GUERRE DE 1778), in
OEuvres de Frederic, vi. 135-208. Schoning
(vol. iv.), besides his own loose Narrative, or Summary, has given
all the CORRESPONDENCE between Henri and the King:--sufficient to
quench the sharpest appetite on this subject.] who looks at it only
as a military Adjutant, intent on honor and rapid feats of war,--
with how much reason, readers not Prussian or military shall judge
as we go on.
Saxony, we ought to mention, was also aggrieved. The Dowager-
Electress Maria Antoinette, our sprightly friend, had, as sole
surviving Sister of the late Kurfurst Max, the undoubted heirship
of Kurfurst Max's "allodial properties and territories:"
territories, I think, mainly in the Ober-Pfalz (which are NOT
Bavaria Proper, but were acquired in the Thirty-Years War), which
are important in value, and which Austria, regardless of our lively
friend, has laid hold of as lapsed fiefs of Bohemia.
Clearly Bohemian, says Austria; and keeps hold. Our lively friend
hereupon makes over all her rights in that matter to her Son, the
reigning Elector; with the counsel, if counsel were needed, "Ask
protection of King Friedrich; go wholly with King Friedrich."
Mecklenburg too has an interest. Among the lapsed fiefs is one to a
Duchy called of Leuchtenberg;--in regard to which, says
Mecklenburg, as loud as it can, "That Duchy is not lapsed at all;
that is now mine, witness this Document" (of a valid testamentary
nature)! Other claims were put in; but these three: Zweibruck
endlessly important; Saxony important too, though not in such
degree; Mecklenburg unimportant, but just,--were alone recognized
in impartial quarters as authentic and worthy of notice.
Of the pleadings and procedures in the Reichs Diet no reader would
permit me to speak, were I inclined. Enough to understand that they
went on in the usual voluminous dull-droning way, crescendo always;
and deserve, what at present they are sure of, oblivion from all
creatures. The important thing was, not those pleadings in the
Reichs Diet, nor the Austrian proposals there or elsewhere; but the
brandishing of arms in emitting and also in successively answering
the same. Answer always No by Friedrich, and some new flash of
handled arms,--the physiognomy of which was the one significant
point, Austria, which is far from ready with arms, though at each
fresh pleading or proposal it tries to give a kind of brandish,
says mainly three things, in essence somewhat thus.
AUSTRIA: "Cannot two States of the Reich come to a mutual
understanding, as Austria and Bavaria have done? And what have
third parties to say to it?" FRIEDRICH: "Much! Parties of the Reich
have much to say to it!" (This several times with variations.)
AUSTRIA: "Our rights seem to us valid: Zweibruck, Saxony,
Mecklenburg, if aggrieved, can try in the Reichs Law-Courts."
FRIEDRICH: "Law-Courts!" with a new brandish; that is, sets more
regiments on march, from Pommern to Wesel all on march, to Berlin,
to Silesia, towards the Bohemian Frontier. AUSTRIA, by the voice of
Kaunitz: "We will not give up our rights without sentence of Law.
We cannot recognize the King of Prussia as Law-Judge in this
matter." FRIEDRICH: "The King of Prussia is of the Jury!"
Pulse after pulse, this is something like the course things had,
crescendo till, in about three months, they got to a height which
was evidently serious. Nay, in the course of the pleadings it
became manifest that on the Austrian grounds of claim, not Maria
Theresa could be heir to Straubingen, but Friedrich himself:
"I descend from Three-Crown Albert's Daughter," said Maria Theresa.
"And I from an elder Daughter of his, and do not claim!"
Friedrich could have answered, but did not; treating such claim all
along as merely colorable and chimerical, not worth attention in
serious affairs of fact. Till, at length, after about three months,
there comes a really serious brandish.
SUNDAY, APRIL 5th, 1778, at Berlin, Friedrich holds review of his
Army, all assembled, equipped and in readiness; and (in that upper
Parole-Room of the Schloss) makes this Speech, which, not without
extraneous intention, was printed in the Newspapers:--
FRIEDRICH'S SPEECH TO HIS GENERALS. "Gentlemen, I have assembled
you here for a public object. Most of you, like myself, have often
been in arms along with one another, and are grown gray in the
service of our Country: to all of us is well known in what dangers,
toils and renown we have been fellow-sharers. I doubt not in the
least that all of you, as myself, have a horror of bloodshed:
but the danger which now threatens our Countries, not only renders
it a duty, but puts us in the absolute necessity, to adopt the
quickest and most effectual means for dissipating at the right time
the storm which threatens to break out on us.
"I depend with complete confidence on your soldierly and patriotic
zeal, which is already well and gloriously known to me, and which,
while I live, I will acknowledge with the heartiest satisfaction.
Before all things, I recommend to you, and prescribe as your most
sacred duty, That, in every situation, you exercise humanity on
unarmed enemies; and be continually attentive that, in this respect
too, there be the strictest discipline (MANNSZUCHT) kept among
those under you.
"To travel with the pomp of a King is not among my wishes: and all
of you are aware that I have no pleasure in rich field-furniture:
but my increasing age, and the weakness it brings, render me
incapable of riding as I did in my youth. I shall, therefore, be
obliged to make use of a post-chaise in times of marching; and all
of you have liberty to do the same. But on the day of battle you
shall see me on horseback; and there, also, I hope my Generals will
follow that example."
VOLTAIRE SMOTHERED UNDER ROSES. King's Speech was on Sunday, April
5th, Evening of last Monday (March 30th), at the Theatre Francais
in Paris, poor Voltaire had that world-famous apotheosis of his;
and got "smothered under roses," as he termed it. He had left
Ferney (such the urgency of Niece Denis and her unappeasable desire
for a sight of Paris again) February 5th; arrived in Paris February
10th; ventured out to see his poor last Tragedy, not till the sixth
night of it, March 30th; was beshouted, crowned, raised to the
immortal gods by a repentant Paris world: "Greatest of men,--You
were not a miscreant and malefactor, then: on the contrary, you
were a spiritual Hercules, a heroic Son of Light; Slayer of the
Nightmare Monsters, and foul Dragons and Devils that were preying
on us: to you shall not we now say, Long life, with all our throats
and all our hearts,"--and so quench you at last! Which they managed
to do, poor repentant souls. The tottering wayworn Voltaire, over-
agitated in this way, took to bed; never rose again; and on that
day two months was dead. [In DUVERNET, and still better in
LONGCHAMP ET WAGNIERE, ample account of these interesting
occurrences.] His light all done; to King Friedrich, or to any of
us, no flash of radiancy from him any more forever.
APRIL 6th, Friedrich gets on march--perhaps about 100,000 strong--
for Schonwalde, in the Neisse-Schweidnitz neighborhood; and there,
in the course of the week, has cantoned himself, and sits
completing his magazines and appliances for actual work of war.
This is a considerable brandish; and a good deal astonishes Kaunitz
and the Vienna people, who have not 10,000 at present on those
Frontiers, and nothing whatever in a state of readiness.
"Dangerous really!" Kaunitz admits; and sets new regiments on march
from Hungary, from the Netherlands, from all ends of the Earth
where they are. Tempers his own insolent talk, too; but strives to
persuade himself that it is "Menace merely. He won't; he abhors
war." Kaunitz had hardly exaggerated Friedrich's abhorrence of war;
though it turned out there were things which Friedrich abhorred
still more.
Schonwalde, head-quarter of this alarming Prussian cantonment, is
close on the new Fortress of Silberberg, a beautiful new
impregnability, looking into those valleys of the Warta, of the
young Neisse, which are the road to Bohemia or from it,--where the
Pandour torrents used to issue into the first Silesian Wars;
where Friedrich himself was once to have been snapped up, but was
not quite,--and only sang Mass as Extempore Abbot, with Tobias
Stusche, in the Monastery of Camenz, according to the myth which
readers may remember. No more can Pandours issue that way;
only Prussians can enter in. Friedrich's windows in the Schloss of
Schonwalde,--which are on the left hand, if you be touring in those
parts,--look out, direct upon Silberberg, and have its battlements
between them and the 3-o'clock Sun. [Schoning, iv. (Introductory
Part).] In the Town of Silberberg, Friedrich has withal a modest
little lodging,--lodging still known,--where he can alight for an
hour or a night, in the multifarious businesses that lead him to
and fro. "A beautiful place," says Schoning; "where the King stayed
twelve weeks" or more; waiting till the Bavarian-Austrian case
should ripen better. At Schonwalde, what was important in his
private circle, he heard of Lord Marischal's death, then of
Voltaire's; not to mention that of English Pitt, and perhaps others
interesting to him. [Voltaire died May 30th; Marischal, May 25th;
Pitt, May 11th;--and May 4th, in the Cantonment here, died General
von Rentzel, the same who, as Lieutenant Rentzel, sixty years ago,
had taught the little Crown-Prince his drill (Rodenbeck,
iii. 187).]
"Now was the time," cry Schmettau and the unfavorable, "when he
might have walked across into Eastern Bohemia, into Mahren, whither
you like; to Vienna itself, and taken Austria by the throat at
discretion: 'Do justice, then, will you! Let go Bavaria, or--!'
In his young years, would not he have done so? His Plan, long since
laid down, was grand: To march into Mahren, leaving Silesia
guarded; nay leaving Bohemia to be invaded,--for Prince Henri, and
the Saxons, who are a willing handful, and will complete Henri
likewise to 100,000, were to do that, feat the while;--March into
Mahren, on to Vienna if he chose; laying all flat. Infallible," say
the Schmettau people. "He had the fire of head to contrive it all;
but worn down and grown old, he could not execute his great
thoughts." Which is obviously absurd, Friedrich's object not being
to lay Austria flat, or drive animosities to the sanguinary point,
and kindle all Europe into war; but merely to extract, with the
minimum of violence, something like justice from Austria on this
Bavarian matter. For which end, he may justly consider slow
pressure preferable to the cutting method. His problem is most
ticklish, not allowed for by Schmettau.
The encampment round Schonwalde, especially as there was nothing
ready thereabouts on the Austrian side, produced a visible and
great effect on the negotiations; and notably altered the high
Kaunitz tone towards Friedrich. "Must two great Courts quarrel,
then, for the sake of a small one?" murmured Kaunitz, plaintively
now, to himself and to the King,--to the King not in a very
distinct manner, though to himself the principle is long since
clear as an axiom in Politics: "Great Courts should understand one
another; then the small would be less troublesome." For a quarter
of a century this has been the Kaunitz faith. In 1753, when he
miraculously screwed round the French into union with the Austrians
to put down an upstart Prussia, this was his grand fulcrum, the
immovable rock in which the great Engineer fixed down his political
capstans, and levered and screwed. He did triumphantly wind matters
round,--though whether they much profited him when round, may be
a question.
But the same grand principle, in the later instance of partitioning
Poland, has it not proved eminently triumphant, successful in all
points? And, doubtless, this King of Prussia recognizes it, if made
worth his while, thinks Kaunitz. In a word, Kaunitz's next
utterance is wonderfully changed. The great Engineer speaks almost
like a Bishop on this new text. "Let the Two Courts," says he, "put
themselves each in the other's place; each think what it would
want;" and in fact each, in a Christian manner, try to do as it
would be done by! How touching in the mouth of a Kaunitz, with
something of pathos, of plaintiveness, almost of unction in it!
"There is no other method of agreeing," urges he: "War is a
terrible method, disliked by both of us. Austria wishes this of
Bavaria; but his Prussian Majesty's turn will come, perhaps now is
(let him say and determine); we will make it worth his while."
This is of APRIL 24th; notable change since the cantoning
round Schonwalde.
Germany at large, though it lay so silent, in its bedrid condition,
was in great anxiety. Never had the Holy Romish Reich such a shock
before: "Meaning to partition us like Poland?" thought the Reich,
with a shudder. "They can, by degrees, if they think good;
these Two Great Sovereigns!" Courage, your Durchlauchts: one of the
Two great ones has not that in his thoughts; has, and will have,
the reverse of that; which will be your anchorages in the storms of
fate for a long time to come! Nor was it--as will shortly appear to
readers--Kaunitz's immediate intention at all: enough if poor we
can begin it, set it fairly under way; let some unborn happier
Kaunitz, the last of a series, complete such blessed consummation;
in a happier time, far over the practical horizon at present.
This we do gather to have been Kaunitz's real view; and it throws a
light on the vexed Partition-of-Poland question, and gives weight
to Dohm's assertion, That Kaunitz was the actual beginner there.
Weeks before Friedrich heard of this remarkable Memorial, and ten
days before it was brought to paper, there came to Friedrich
another unexpected remarkable Document: a LETTER from Kaiser Joseph
himself, who is personally running about in these parts, over in
Bohemia, endeavoring to bring Army matters to a footing; and is no
doubt shocked to find them still in such backwardness, with a
Friedrich at hand. The Kaiser's Letter, we perceive, is pilot-
balloon to the Kaunitz episcopal Document, and to an actual meeting
of Prussian and Austrian Ministers on the Bavarian point; and had
been seen to be a salutary measure by an Austria in alarm. It asks,
as the Kaunitz Memorial will, though in another style, "Must there
be war, then? Is there no possibility left in negotiation and
mutual concession? I am your Majesty's friend and admirer; let us
try." This was an unexpected and doubtless a welcome thing to
Friedrich; who answers eagerly, and in a noble style both of
courtesy and of business sense: upon which there followed two other
Imperial Letters with their two Royal answers; [In OEuvres
de Frederic, (vi. 183-193), Three successive Letters
from the Kaiser (of dates, "Olmutz," "Litau," "Konigsgratz,"
13th-19th April, 1778), with King's Answers ("Schonwalde," all of
them, and 14th-20th April),--totally without interest to the
general reader.] and directly afterwards the small Austrian-
Prussian Congress we spoke of, Finkenstein and Hertzberg on the
Prussian part, Cobenzl on the Austrian (Congress sitting at
Berlin), which tried to agree, but could not; and to which
Kaunitz's Memorial of April 24th was meant as some helpful
sprinkling of presidential quasi-episcopal oil.
Oil merely: for it turned out, Kaunitz had no thought at present of
partitioning the German Reich with Friedrich; but intended merely
to keep his own seized portion of Baiern, and in return for
Friedrich's assent intended to recompense Friedrich with--in fact,
with Austria's consent, That if Anspach and Baireuth lapsed home to
Prussia (as it was possible they might, the present Margraf,
Friedrich's Nephew, the Lady-Craven Margraf, having a childless
Wife), Prussia should freely open the door to them! A thing which
Friedrich naturally maintained to be in need of nobody's consent,
and to lie totally apart from this question; but which Austria
always considered a very generous thing, and always returned to,
with new touches of improvement, as their grand recipe in this
matter. So that, unhappily, the Hertzberg-Cobenzl treatyings,
Kaiser's Letters and Kaunitz's episcopal oil, were without effect,
--except to gain for the Austrians, who infinitely needed it, delay
of above two months. The Letters are without general interest:
but, for Friedrich's sake, perhaps readers will consent to a
specimen? Here are parts of his First Letter: people meaning to be
Kings (which I doubt none of my readers are) could not do better
than read it, and again read it, and acquire that style, first of
knowing thoroughly the object in hand, and then of speaking on it
and of being silent on it, in a true and noble manner:--
FRIEDRICH TO HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY (at Olmutz).
"SCHONWALDE, 14th April, 1778.
"SIRE MY BROTHER,--I have received, with all the satisfaction
possible, the Letter which your Imperial Majesty has had the
goodness to write to me. I have neither Minister nor Clerk (SCRIBE)
about me; therefore your Imperial Majesty will be pleased to put up
with such Answer as an Old Soldier can give, who writes to you with
probity and frankness, on one of the most important subjects which
have risen in Politics for a long time.
"Nobody wishes more than I to maintain peace and harmony between
the Powers of Europe: but there are limits to everything; and cases
so intricate (EPINEUX) arise that goodwill alone will not suffice
to maintain things in repose and tranquillity. Permit me, Sire, to
state distinctly what the question seems to me to be. It is to
determine if an Emperor can dispose at his will of the Fiefs of the
Empire. Answer in the affirmative, and, all these Fiefs become
TIMARS [in the Turk way], which are for life only; and which the
Sultan disposes of again, on the possessor's death. Now, this is
contrary to the Laws, to the Customs and Constitutions of the
German Empire."--"I, as member of the Empire, and as having, by the
Treaty of Hubertsburg, re-sanctioned the Peace of Westphalia, find
myself formally engaged to support the immunities, the liberties
and rights of the Germanic Body.
"This, Sire, is the veritable state of things. Personal interest I
have none: but I am persuaded your Majesty's self would regard me
as a paltry man, unworthy of your esteem, should I basely sacrifice
the rights, immunities and privileges, which the Electors and I
have received from our Ancestors.
"I continue to speak to your Majesty with the same frankness.
I love and honor your person. It will certainly be hard for me to
fight against a Prince gifted with excellent qualities, and whom I
personally esteem. But"-- And is there no remedy? Anspach and
Baireuth stand in no need of sanction. I consent to the Congress
proposed:--being with the &c. &c.--F. [ OEuvres de
Frederic, vi. 187.]
The sittings of this little Congress at Berlin lasted all through
May and June; to the disgust of Schmettau and the ardent Prussian
mess-rooms, "lying ready here, and forbidden to act." For the
Austrians all the while were at their busiest, improving the
moments, marching continually hitherward from Hungary, from
Limburg, from all ends of the earth. Both negotiating parties had
shown a manifest wish to terminate without war; and both made
various attempts or proposals that way; Friedrich offering, in the
name of European peace, to yield the Austrians some small rim or
paring of Bavaria from the edge adjoining them; the Austrians
offering Anspach-Baireuth with some improvements;--always offering
Friedrich his own Baireuth-Anspach with some new sauce (as that he
might exchange those Territories with Saxony for a fine equivalent
in the Lausitz, contiguous to him, which was a real improvement and
increase):--but as neither party would in the least give up in
essentials, or quit the ground it had taken, the result was
nothing. Week after week; so many weeks are being lost to
Friedrich; gained to Austria: Schmettau getting more and
more disgusted.
Friedrich still waited; not in all points quite ready yet, he said,
nor the futile diplomacies quite complete;--evidently in the
highest degree unwilling to come to the cutting point, and begin a
War which nobody could see the end of. Many things he tried;
Peace so precious to him, try and again try. All through June too,
this went on; the result always zero,--obviously certain to be so.
As even Friedrich had at last to own to himself; and likewise that
the Campaign season was ebbing away; and that if his grand Moravian
scheme was to be tried on Austria, there was not now a moment
to lose.
Friedrich's ultimate proposal, new modification of what all his
proposals had been, "To you some thin rim of Baiern; to Saxony and
Mecklenburg some ETCETERA of indemnity, money chiefly (money always
to be paid by Karl Theodor, who has left Baiern open to the spoiler
in this scandalous manner)," was of June 13th; Austrians for ten
days meditating on it, and especially getting forward their Army
matters, answer, June 24th "No we won't." Upon which Friedrich--to
the joy of Schmettau and every Prussian--actually rises. Emits his
War-Manifesto (JULY 3d): "Declaration to our Brethren (MITSTANDE)
of the Reich," that Austria will listen to nothing but War;
[Fischer, ii 388; Dohm,