and observe, you
contrive
to do it for 6,000 thalers
(900/.
(900/.
Thomas Carlyle
net/2027/hvd.
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org/access_use#pd-google
? 148 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book IT.
1718-1723.
wigs. Which latter also, though bad wigs, became him
not amiss, under his cocked-hat and cockade, says
Pollnitz. * The voice, I guess, even when not loud,
was of clangorous and penetrating, quasi-metallic na-
ture; and I learn expressly once, that it had a nasal
quality in it. ** His majesty spoke through the nose;
snuffled his speech, in an earnest ominously plangent
manner. In angry moments, which were frequent, it
must have been -- unpleasant to listen to. For the
rest, a handsome man of his inches; conspicuously well-
built in limbs and body, and delicately finished-off to
the very extremities. His feet and legs, says Pollnitz,
were very fine. The hands, if he would have taken
care of them, were beautifully white; fingers long and
thin; a hand at once nimble to grasp, delicate to feel,
and strong to clutch and hold: what may be called a
beautiful hand, because it is the usefullest.
Nothing could exceed his Majesty's simplicity of
habitudes. But one loves especially in him his scru-
pulous attention to cleanliness of person and of en-
vironment. He washed like a very Mussulman, five
times a day; loved cleanliness in all things, to a super-
stitious extent; which trait is pleasant in the rugged
man, and indeed of a piece with the rest of his cha-
racter. He is gradually changing all his silk and other
cloth room-furniture; in his hatred of dust, he will not
suffer a floor-carpet, even a stuffed chair; but insists on
having all of wood, where the dust may be prosecuted
? PBIlnitz: Memoiren (Berlin, 1791), Ii. 868.
? ? BUsching: Beitrdge, i. 668,
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? CHAP. Iv. ] his majesty's ways. 149
1713-1723.
to destruction. * Wife and womankind, and those that
take after them, let such have stuffing and sofas: he,
for his part, sits on mere wooden chairs; -- sits, and
also thinks and acts, after the manner of a Hyperborean
Spartan, which he was. He ate heartily, but as a
rough farmer and hunter eats; country messes, good
roast and boiled; despising the French Cook, as an
entity without meaning for him. His favourite dish at
dinner was bacon and greens, rightly dressed; what
could the French Cook do for such a man? He ate
with rapidity, almost with indiscriminate violence; his
object not quality but quantity. He drank too, but did
not get drunk; at the Doctor's order he could abstain;
and had in later years abstained. Pollnitz praises his
fineness of complexion, the originally eminent whiteness
of his skin, which he had tanned and bronzed by hard
riding and hunting, and otherwise worse discoloured
by his manner of feeding and digesting: alas, at last
his waistcoat came to measure, I am afraid to say how
many Prussian ells, -- a very considerable diameter
indeed! **
For some years after his accession, he still ap-
peared occasionally in "burgher dress," or unmilitary
clothes; "brown English coat, yellow waistcoat" and
the other indispensables. But this fashion became rarer
with him every year; and ceased altogether (say Chro-
nologists) about the year 1719: after which he ap-
peared always simply as Colonel of the Potsdam Guards
(his own Lifeguard Regiment) in simple Prussian uni-
? FSjater, 1. W8. ** Ftirater, i. 163,
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? 150 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage. [BOOK 17.
1718-1723.
form: close military coat; blue, with red cuffs and col-
lar, buff waistcoat and breeches, white linen gaiters to
the knee. He girt his sword about the loins, well out
of the mud; walked always with a thick bamboo in
his hand. Steady, not slow of step; with his trian-
gular hat, cream-white round wig (in his older days),
and face tending to purple, -- the eyes looking-out
mere investigation, sharp swift authority, and dangerous
readiness to rebuke and set the cane in motion: --
it was so he walked abroad in this earth; and the
common run of men rather fled his approach than
courted it.
For, in fact, he was dangerous; and would ask in
an alarming manner, "Who are you? " Any fantastic,
much more any suspicious-looking person, might fare
the worse. An idle lounger at the street-corner he has
been known to hit over the crown; and peremptorily
despatch: "Home, Sirrah, and take to some work! "
That the Apple-women be encouraged to knit, while
waiting for custom; -- encouraged and quietly con-
strained, and at length packed away, and their stalls
taken from them, if unconstrainable, -- there has, as
we observed, an especial rescript been put forth; very
curious to read. *
Dandiacal figures, nay people looking like French-
men, idle flaunting women even, -- better for them to
be going. "Who are you? " and if you lied or pre-
varicated ("i? r blicke mich gerade an, Look me in the
face, then! "), or even stumbled, hesitated, and gave
? In RBdenbeck: Beitrdge, p. 16.
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? CHAP. Iv. ] HIS MAJESTY'S WATS. 151
1713-1723.
suspicion of prevaricating, it might be worse for you.
A soft answer is less effectual than a prompt clear one,
to turn away wrath. "A Candidatus Theologice, your
Majesty," answered a handfast threadbare youth one
day, when questioned in this manner. -- "Where
from? " "Berlin, your Majesty. " -- "Hm, na, the Berliners are a good-for-nothing set. " "Yes, truly,
too many of them; but there are exceptions; I know
two. " -- "Two? which then? " "Your Majesty and
myself! " -- Majesty burst into a laugh: the Can-
didatus was got examined by the Consistoriums, and
Authorities proper in that matter, and put into a chap-
laincy.
This King did not love the French, or their
fashions, at all. We said he dismissed the big Peruke,
-- put it on for the last time at his Father's funeral,
so far did filial piety go; and then packed it aside,
dismissing it, nay banishing and proscribing it, never
to appear more. The Peruke, and, as it were, all that
the Peruke symbolised. For this was a King come
into the world with quite other aims than that of wear-
ing big perukes, and, regardless of expense, playing
burst-frog to the ox of Versailles, which latter is itself
perhaps a rather useless animal. Of Friedrich Wil-
helm's taxes upon wigs; of the old "Wig-inspectors,"
and the feats they did, plucking-off men's periwigs
on the street, to see if the government-stamp were
there, and to discourage wiggery, at least all but the
simple scratch or useful Welsh-wig, among mankind:
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? 152 FRIBDMCH'S APPRENTICESHIP, 1'IRST STAGE. [BOOK Iv.
1718-1723.
of these, and of other similar things, I could speak;
but do not. This little incident, which occurred once
in the review-ground on the outskirts of Berlin, will
suffice to mark his temper in that respect. It was
in the spring of 1719; our little Fritz then six years
old, who of course heard much temporary confused com-
mentary, direct and oblique, triumphant male laughter,
and perhaps rebellious female sighs, on occasion of
such a feat.
Count Rothenburg, Prussian by birth,* an accom-
plished and able person in the diplomatic and other
lines of business, but much used to Paris and its ways,
had appeared lately in Berlin, as French Envoy, --
and, not unnaturally, in high French costume; cocked-
hat, peruke, laced coat, and the other trimmings. He,
and a group of dashing followers and adherents, were
accustomed to go about in that guise; very capable of
proving infectious to mankind. What is to be done
with them? thinks the anxious Father of his People.
They were to appear at the ensuing grand Review, as
Friedrich Wilhelm understood. Whereupon Friedrich
Wilhelm took his measures in private. Dressed-up,
namely, his Scavenger-Executioner people (what they
call Profdsse in Prussian regiments) in an enormous
exaggeration of that costume; cocked-hats about an ell
in diameter, wigs reaching to the houghs, with other
fittings to match: these, when Count Rothenburg and
his company appeared upon the ground, Friedrich Wil-
helm summoned out, with some trumpet-peal or burst
? Buebbolz; Neueete PremsUch-Dranienburgitcbe Geschichte, I. 89.
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? CHAP. Iv. ] his majesty's ways. 153
1713-1723.
of field-music; and they solemnly crossed Count Rothen-
burg's field of vision; the strangest set of Phantasms
he had seen lately. Awakening salutary reflections
in him. * Fancy that scene in History; Friedrich Wil-
helm for comic-symbolic Dramaturgist. Gods and men
(or at least Houyhnhnm horses) might have saluted
it with a Homeric laugh, -- so huge and vacant is it,
with a suspicion of real humour too: -- but the men
were not permitted, on parade, more than a silent
grin, or general irrepressible rustling murmur; and
only the gods laughed inextinguishably, if so disposed.
The Scavenger-Executioners went back to their place;
and Count Rothenburg took a plain German costume,
so long as he continued in those parts.
Friedrich Wilhelm has a dumb rough wit and
mockery, of that kind, on many occasions; not without
geniality in its Brobdignag exaggeration and simplicity.
Like a wild-bear of the woods taking his sport; with
some sense of human in the rough skin of him. Very
capable of seeing through sumptuous costumes; and
respectful of realities alone. Not in French sumptuosity,
but in native German thrift, does this King see his
salvation; so has Nature constructed him: and the
world, which has long lost its Spartans, will see again
an original North-German Spartan; and shriek a good
deal over him; Nature keeping her own counsel the
while, and as it were, laughing in her sleeve at the
? FSrster, 1. 165; Faasmann, Leben und Thaten des allerdurchUnchtig-
tten . Sec. Kdnigt von Prewsen Frederifi Wi\helxni (IIambur|jj und Brealau,
J786), pp. 223, 319,
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? 154 friedbich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
'1718-1723.
shrieks of the flunkey world. For Nature, when she
makes a Spartan, means a good deal by it; and does
not expect instant applauses, but only gradual and
lasting.
"For my own part," exclaims a certain Editor once, "I
"perceive well there was never yet any great Empire founded,
"Roman, English, down to Prussian or Dutch, nor in fact any
"great mass of work got achieved under the Sun, but it was
"founded even upon this humble-looking quality of Thrift,
"and became achievable in virtue of the same. Which will
"seem a strange doctrine, in these days of gold-nuggets, rail-
"way-fortunes, and miraculous sumptuosities regardless of
"expense. Earnest readers are invited to consider it, never-
"theless. Though new, it is very old; and a sad meaning
"lies in it to us of these times! That you have squandered in
"idle fooleries, building where there was no basis, your Hun-
"dred-thousand Sterling, your Eight-hundred MillionSterling,
"is to me a comparatively small matter. You may still again
"become rich, if you have at last become wise. But if you
"have wasted your capacity of strenuous devoutly valiant
"labour, of patience, perseverance, self-denial, faith in the
"causes of effects; alas, if your once just judgment of what is
"worth something and what is worth nothing, has been
"wasted, and your silent steadfast reliance on the general
"veracities, of yourself and of things, is no longer there,--
"then indeed you have had a loss! You are,in fact, an entirely
"bankrupt individual; as you will find by and by. Yes; and
"though you had California in fee-simple; and could buy all
"the upholsteries, groceries, funded-properties, temporary
"(very temporary) landed-properties of the world, at one
"swoop, it would avail you nothing. Henceforth for you no
"harvests in the Seedfield of this Universe, which reserves its
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? CHAP. Iv. ] his majesty's WATS. 155
1713-1723.
"salutary bounties, and noble heaven-sent gifts, for quite
"other than you; and I would not give a pin's value for all
"you will ever reap there. Mere imaginary harvests, sacks of
"nuggets and the like; empty as the east-wind; -- with all
"the Demons laughing at you! Do you consider that Nature
"too is a swollen flunkey, hungry for vails; and can be taken-
"in with your sublime airs of sumptuosity, and the large bal-
"ance you actually have in Lombard-street? Go to the --
''General Cesspool, with your nuggets and your ducats! "
The flunkey world, much stript of its plush and
fat perquisites, accuses Friedrich Wilhelm bitterly of
avarice and the cognate vices. But it is not so; in-
trinsically, in the main, his procedure is to be defined
as honourable thrift, -- verging towards avarice here
and there; as poor human virtues usually lean to one
side or the other! He can be magnificent enough too,
and grudges no expense, when the occasion seems
worthy. If the occasion is inevitable, and yet not
quite worthy, I have known him have recourse to
strange shifts. The Czar Peter, for example, used to
be rather often in the Prussian Dominions, oftenest on
business of his own: such a man is to be royally de-
frayed while with us; yet one would wish it done
cheap. Posthorses, "two-hundred and eighty-seven at
every station," he has from the Community; but the
rest of his expenses, from Memel all the way to We-
sel? Friedrich Wilhelm's marginal response to his
Finanz-Directorium, requiring orders once on that sub-
ject, runs in the following strange tenour: "Yes, all
the way (except Berlin, which I take upon myself);
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? 156 fmedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1718-1722.
and observe, you contrive to do it for 6,000 thalers
(900/. )," -- which is uncommonly cheap, about 11. per
mile; -- "won't allow you one other penny (nit einen
Pfennig gebe mehr dazu); but you are (sollen Sie)" this
is the remarkable point, "to give out in the world
that it costs me from Thirty to Forty Thousand! "*
So that here is the Majesty of Prussia, who beyond
all men abhors lies, giving orders to tell one? Alas,
yes; a kind of lie, or fib (white fib, or even gray),
the pinch of Thrift compelling! But what a window
into the artless inner-man of his Majesty, even that
gray fib; -- not done by oneself, but ordered to be
done by the servant, as if that were cheaper!
"Verging upon avarice," sure enough: but, unless
we are unjust and unkind, he can by no means be
described as a Miser King. He collects what is his;
gives you accurately what is yours. For wages paid
he will see work done: he will ascertain more and
more that the work done be work needful for him;
and strike it off, if not. A Spartan man, as we said,
-- though probably he knew as little of the Spartans
as the Spartans did of him. But Nature is still capable
of such products: if in Hellas long ages since, why not
in Brandenburg now?
? 1717: FSrtter, 1. 218.
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? CHAP, v. ] PRIEDRICH WILHELM'S ONE WAR.
157
1713-1723.
CHAPTER V.
FRIEDRICH WILHELM'S ONE WAR.
One of Fritz's earliest strong impressions from the
outer world chanced to be of War, -- so it chanced,
though he had shown too little taste that way, and
could not, as yet, understand such phenomena; -- and
there must have been much semi-articulate questioning
and dialoguing with Dame de Roucoulles, on his part,
about the matter now going on.
In the year 1715, little Fritz's third year, came
grand doings, not of drill only, but of actual war and
fighting: the "Stralsund Expedition," Friedrich Wil-
helm's one feat in that kind. Huge rumour of which
fills naturally the maternal heart, the Berlin Palace
drawing-rooms; and occupies, with new vivid interests,
all imaginations young and old. For the actual battle-
drums are now beating, the big cannon-wains are
creaking under way; and military men take farewell,
and march, tramp, tramp; Majesty in grenadier-guard
uniform at their head: horse, foot and artillery; north-
ward to Stralsund on the Baltic shore, where a terrible
human Lion has taken-up his lair lately. Charles XH
of Sweden, namely; he has broken-out of Turkish
Bender or Demotica, and ended his obstinate torpor,
at last; has ridden fourteen or sixteen days, he and a
groom or two, through desolate steppes and mountaii*
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? 158 fmedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
22dNov. l7H.
wildernesses, through crowded dangerous cities; --
"came by Vienna and by Cassel; then through Pom-
mern;" leaving his "royal train of two-thousand per-
sons" to follow at its leisure. He, for his part, has
ridden without pause, forward, ever forward, in darkest
incognito, the indefatigable man; -- and finally, on
Old-Hallowmas Eve (22d-llth November 1714), far in
the night, a Horseman, with two others still following
him, travel-splashed, and "white with snow," drew
bridle at the gate of Stralsund; and, to the surprise of
the Swedish sentinel there, demanded instant admission
to the Governor. The Governor, at first a little surly
of humour, saw gradually how it was; sprang out of
bed, and embraced the knees of the snowy man; Stral-
sund in general sprang out of bed, and illuminated it-
self, that same Hallow-Eve: -- and in brief, Charles
XTT. , after five years of eclipse, has reappeared upon
the stage of things; and menaces the world, in his old
fashion, from that City. From which it becomes urgent
to many parties, and at last to Friedrich Wilhelm him-
self, that he be dislodged.
The root of this Stralsund story belongs to the
former reign, as did the grand apparition of Charles XII.
on the theatre of European History, and the terror and
astonishment he created there. He is now thirty-three
years old; and only the winding-up, both of him and
of the Stralsund story, falls within our present field.
Fifteen years ago, it was like the bursting of a cataract
of bombshells in a dull ballroom, the sudden appearance
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? CHAP. V. ] FKEEDRICH WliHELM's ONE WAR. 159
1713. '
of this young fighting Swede among the luxurious
Kings and Kinglets of the North, all lounging about
and languidly minuetting in that manner, regardless of
expense! Friedrich IV. of Denmark rejoicing over
red-wine; August the Strong gradually producing his
"three-hundred and fifty-four bastards;"* these and
other neighbours had confidently stept in, on various
pretexts; thinking to help themselves from the young
man's properties, who was still a minor; when the
young minor suddenly developed himself as a major
and maximus, and turned-out to be such a Fire-King
among them!
In consequence of which there had been no end of
Northern troubles; and all through the Louis-Four-
teenth or Marlborough grand "Succession War," a spe-
cial "Northern War" had burnt or smouldered on its
own score; Swedes versus Saxons, Russians and Danes,
bickering in weary intricate contest, and keeping those
Northern regions in smoke if not on fire. Charles XII. ,
for the last five years (ever since Pultawa, and the
summer of 1709), had lain obstinately dormant in Tur-
key; urging the Turks to destroy Czar Peter. Which
they absolutely could not, though they now and then
tried; and Viziers not a few lost their heads in conse-
quence. Charles lay sullenly dormant; Danes mean-
while operating upon his Holstein interests and ad-
joining territories; Saxons, Russians battering conti-
nually at Swedish Pommern, continually marching
thither, and then marching home again, without suc-
? Memoiret deBareitk (Wilhelmlna's Book, Londrea, 1812), 1. 111.
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? 160 frtedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book it.
1713-1723.
cess, -- always through the Brandenburg Territory, as
they needs must. Which latter circumstance Friedrich
Wilhelm, while yet only Crown-Prince, had seen with
natural displeasure, could that have helped it . But
Charles XII. would not yield a whit; sent orders per-
emptorily, from his bed at Bender or Demotica, that
there must be no surrender. Neither could the sluggish
enemy compel surrender.
So that, at length, it had grown a feeble wearisome
welter of inextricable strifes, with worn-out combatants,
exhausted of all but their animosity; and seemed as if
it would never end. Inveterate ineffective war; ruinous
to all good interests in those parts. What miseries had
Holstein from it, which last to our own day! Mecklen-
burg also it involved in sore troubles, which lasted
long enough, as we shall see. But Brandenburg, above
all, may be impatient; Brandenburg, which has no
business with it except that of unlucky neighbourhood.
One of Friedrich Wilhelm's very first operations, as
King, was to end this ugly state of matters, which he
had witnessed with impatience, as Prince, for a long
while.
He had hailed even the Treaty of Utrecht with
welcome, in hopes it might at least end these Northern
brabbles. This the Treaty of Utrecht tried to do, but
could not: however, it gave him back his Prussian
Fighting Men; -- which he has already increased by
six regiments, raised, we may perceive, on the ruins
of his late court-flunkeys and dismissed goldsticks: --
with these Friedrich Wilhelm will try to end it himself,
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? CHAP. v. J FRTEDRICII WILHELM's OKE WAR. 101
1714.
These he at once ordered to form a Camp on his
frontier, close to that theatre of contest; and signified
now with emphasis, in the beginning of 1713, that he
decidedly wished there were peace in those Pommern
regions. Negotiations in consequence;* very wide
negotiations, Louis XIV. and theKaiser lending hand,
to pacify these fighting Northern Kings and their Czar:
at length the Holstein Government, representing their
sworn ally, Charles XII. , on the occasion, made an
offer which seemed promising. They proposed that
Stettin and its dependencies, the strong frontier Town,
and, as it were, key of Swedish Pommern, should be
evacuated by the Swedes, and be garrisoned by neutral
troops, Prussians and Holsteiners in equal number;
which neutral troops shall prohibit any hostile attack
of Pommern from without, Sweden engaging not to
make any attack through Pommern from within. That
will be as good as peace in Pommern, till we get a
general Swedish Peace. With which Friedrich Wil-
helm gladly complies. '**
Unhappily, however, the Swedish Commandant in
Stettin would not give-up the place, on any represen-
tative or secondary authority; not without an express
order in his King's own hand. Which, as his King
was far away, in abstruse Turkish circumstances and
localities, could not be had at the moment; and involved
new difficulties and uncertainties, new delay which
might itself be fatal. The end was, the Russians and
? 10th June 1713: Buchholz, i. 21.
? ? 22d June 1713; Buchholz, i. 21.
Qarlyle, Frederic the Great. II, 11
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? 162 friedrich's apprenticeship, first STAGE, [bookvI.
1713-1723.
Saxons had to cannonade the man out by regular siege:
they then gave-up the Town to Prussia and Holstein;
but required first to be paid their expenses incurred in
sieging it, -- 400,000 thalers, as they computed and
demonstrated, or somewhere about 60,0001, of our
money.
Friedrich Wilhelm paid the money (Holstein not
having a groschen); took possession of the Town, and
dependent towns and forts; intending well to keep
them till repaid. This was in October 1713; and ever
since, there has been actual tranquillity in those parts:
the embers of the Northern War may still burn or
smoulder elsewhere, but here they are quite extinct
.
At first, it was a joint possession of Stettin, Holsteiners
and Prussians in equal number; and if Friedrich Wil-
helm had been sure of his money, so it would have
continued. But the Holsteiners had paid nothing;
Charles XH. 's sanction never could be expressly got,
and the Holsteiners were mere dependents of his.
Better to increase our Prussian force, by degrees; and,
in some good way, with a minimum of violence, get
the Holsteiners squeezed out of Stettin? Friedrich
Wilhelm has so ordered, and contrived. The Prussian
force having now gradually increased to double in this
important garrison, the Holsteiners are quietly dis-
armed, one night, and ordered to depart, under penal-
ties; -- which was done. Holding such a pawn-ticket
as Stettin, buttoned in our own pocket, we count now
on being paid our 60,0001, before parting with it.
Matters turned-out as Friedrich Wilhelm had dreaded
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? CHAP, v. ] FRIEDRICH WILHELM's ONE WAE. 163
3714.
they might. Here is Charles XII. come back; inflexible
as cold Swedish Iron; will not hear of any Treaty
dealing with his properties in that manner: Is he a
bankrupt, then, that you will sell his towns by auction?
Charles does not, at heart, believe that Friedrich Wil-
helm ever really paid the 60,000/. ; Charles demands,
for his own part, to have his own Swedish Town of
Stettin restored to him; and has not the least intention,
or indeed ability, to pay money. Vain to answer:
"Stettin, for the present, is not a Swedish Town; it is
a Prussian Pawn-ticket! " -- There was much negotia-
tion, correspondence; Louis XIV. and the Kaiser step-
ping-in again to produce settlement . To no purpose.
Louis, gallant old Bankrupt, tried hard to take Charles's
part with effect. But he had, himself, no money
now; could only try finessing by ambassadors, try a
little menacing by them; neither of which profited.
Friedrich Wilhelm, wanting only peace on his borders,
after fifteen years of extraneous uproar there, has paid
60,0001, in hard cash to have it: repay him that sum,
with promise of peace on his borders, he will then quit
Stettin; till then not. Big words, from a French Am-
bassador in big wig, will not suffice: "Bullying goes
for nothing (Bange machen gilt nicht)" -- the thing
covenanted-for will need to be done! Poor Louis the
Great, whom we now call "Banh'upt-Grea. t," died
while these affairs were pending; while Charles, his
ally, was arguing and battling against all the world,
with only a grandiloquent Ambassador to help him
from Louis. "J'cti trop aime la guerre," said Louis at
11*
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? 164 FREBDRICh's APPRENTICESHIP, FIRST STAGE. fBOOKW.
'1718-1723.
his death, addressing a new small Louis (five-years
old), his great-grandson and successor: "I have been
too fond of war; do not imitate me in that, fie nimitez
pas en cela. "* Which counsel also, as we shall see,
was considerably lost in air.
Friedrich Wilhelm had a true personal regard for
Charles XII. , a man made in many respects after his
own heart; and would fain have persuaded him into
softer behaviour. But it was to no purpose. Charles
would not listen to reasons of policy; or believe that
his estate was bankrupt, or that his towns could be
put in pawn. Danes, Saxons, Russians, even George I.
of England (George having just bought, of the Danish
King, who had got hold of it, a great Hanover bargain,
Bremen and Verden, on cheap terms, from the quasi-
bankrupt estate of poor Charles), -- have to combine
against him, and see to put him down. Among whom
Prussia, at length actually attacked by Charles in the
Stettin regions, has reluctantly to take the lead in that
repressive movement. On the 28th of April 1715,
Friedrich Wilhelm declares war against Charles; is
already on march, with a great force, towards Stettin,
to coerce and repress said Charles. No help for it, so
sore as it goes against us: "Why will the very King
whom I most respect compel me to be his enemy? "
said Friedrich Wilhelm. **
One of Friedrich Wilhelm's originalities is bis fare-
? 1st September 1715.
*? (Entires de FrHiric (JIUtoire de Brandebourg), i. 132; Buchholz, 1. 28.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:12 GMT / http://hdl.
? 148 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book IT.
1718-1723.
wigs. Which latter also, though bad wigs, became him
not amiss, under his cocked-hat and cockade, says
Pollnitz. * The voice, I guess, even when not loud,
was of clangorous and penetrating, quasi-metallic na-
ture; and I learn expressly once, that it had a nasal
quality in it. ** His majesty spoke through the nose;
snuffled his speech, in an earnest ominously plangent
manner. In angry moments, which were frequent, it
must have been -- unpleasant to listen to. For the
rest, a handsome man of his inches; conspicuously well-
built in limbs and body, and delicately finished-off to
the very extremities. His feet and legs, says Pollnitz,
were very fine. The hands, if he would have taken
care of them, were beautifully white; fingers long and
thin; a hand at once nimble to grasp, delicate to feel,
and strong to clutch and hold: what may be called a
beautiful hand, because it is the usefullest.
Nothing could exceed his Majesty's simplicity of
habitudes. But one loves especially in him his scru-
pulous attention to cleanliness of person and of en-
vironment. He washed like a very Mussulman, five
times a day; loved cleanliness in all things, to a super-
stitious extent; which trait is pleasant in the rugged
man, and indeed of a piece with the rest of his cha-
racter. He is gradually changing all his silk and other
cloth room-furniture; in his hatred of dust, he will not
suffer a floor-carpet, even a stuffed chair; but insists on
having all of wood, where the dust may be prosecuted
? PBIlnitz: Memoiren (Berlin, 1791), Ii. 868.
? ? BUsching: Beitrdge, i. 668,
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? CHAP. Iv. ] his majesty's ways. 149
1713-1723.
to destruction. * Wife and womankind, and those that
take after them, let such have stuffing and sofas: he,
for his part, sits on mere wooden chairs; -- sits, and
also thinks and acts, after the manner of a Hyperborean
Spartan, which he was. He ate heartily, but as a
rough farmer and hunter eats; country messes, good
roast and boiled; despising the French Cook, as an
entity without meaning for him. His favourite dish at
dinner was bacon and greens, rightly dressed; what
could the French Cook do for such a man? He ate
with rapidity, almost with indiscriminate violence; his
object not quality but quantity. He drank too, but did
not get drunk; at the Doctor's order he could abstain;
and had in later years abstained. Pollnitz praises his
fineness of complexion, the originally eminent whiteness
of his skin, which he had tanned and bronzed by hard
riding and hunting, and otherwise worse discoloured
by his manner of feeding and digesting: alas, at last
his waistcoat came to measure, I am afraid to say how
many Prussian ells, -- a very considerable diameter
indeed! **
For some years after his accession, he still ap-
peared occasionally in "burgher dress," or unmilitary
clothes; "brown English coat, yellow waistcoat" and
the other indispensables. But this fashion became rarer
with him every year; and ceased altogether (say Chro-
nologists) about the year 1719: after which he ap-
peared always simply as Colonel of the Potsdam Guards
(his own Lifeguard Regiment) in simple Prussian uni-
? FSjater, 1. W8. ** Ftirater, i. 163,
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? 150 friedrich's apprenticeship, first stage. [BOOK 17.
1718-1723.
form: close military coat; blue, with red cuffs and col-
lar, buff waistcoat and breeches, white linen gaiters to
the knee. He girt his sword about the loins, well out
of the mud; walked always with a thick bamboo in
his hand. Steady, not slow of step; with his trian-
gular hat, cream-white round wig (in his older days),
and face tending to purple, -- the eyes looking-out
mere investigation, sharp swift authority, and dangerous
readiness to rebuke and set the cane in motion: --
it was so he walked abroad in this earth; and the
common run of men rather fled his approach than
courted it.
For, in fact, he was dangerous; and would ask in
an alarming manner, "Who are you? " Any fantastic,
much more any suspicious-looking person, might fare
the worse. An idle lounger at the street-corner he has
been known to hit over the crown; and peremptorily
despatch: "Home, Sirrah, and take to some work! "
That the Apple-women be encouraged to knit, while
waiting for custom; -- encouraged and quietly con-
strained, and at length packed away, and their stalls
taken from them, if unconstrainable, -- there has, as
we observed, an especial rescript been put forth; very
curious to read. *
Dandiacal figures, nay people looking like French-
men, idle flaunting women even, -- better for them to
be going. "Who are you? " and if you lied or pre-
varicated ("i? r blicke mich gerade an, Look me in the
face, then! "), or even stumbled, hesitated, and gave
? In RBdenbeck: Beitrdge, p. 16.
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? CHAP. Iv. ] HIS MAJESTY'S WATS. 151
1713-1723.
suspicion of prevaricating, it might be worse for you.
A soft answer is less effectual than a prompt clear one,
to turn away wrath. "A Candidatus Theologice, your
Majesty," answered a handfast threadbare youth one
day, when questioned in this manner. -- "Where
from? " "Berlin, your Majesty. " -- "Hm, na, the Berliners are a good-for-nothing set. " "Yes, truly,
too many of them; but there are exceptions; I know
two. " -- "Two? which then? " "Your Majesty and
myself! " -- Majesty burst into a laugh: the Can-
didatus was got examined by the Consistoriums, and
Authorities proper in that matter, and put into a chap-
laincy.
This King did not love the French, or their
fashions, at all. We said he dismissed the big Peruke,
-- put it on for the last time at his Father's funeral,
so far did filial piety go; and then packed it aside,
dismissing it, nay banishing and proscribing it, never
to appear more. The Peruke, and, as it were, all that
the Peruke symbolised. For this was a King come
into the world with quite other aims than that of wear-
ing big perukes, and, regardless of expense, playing
burst-frog to the ox of Versailles, which latter is itself
perhaps a rather useless animal. Of Friedrich Wil-
helm's taxes upon wigs; of the old "Wig-inspectors,"
and the feats they did, plucking-off men's periwigs
on the street, to see if the government-stamp were
there, and to discourage wiggery, at least all but the
simple scratch or useful Welsh-wig, among mankind:
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? 152 FRIBDMCH'S APPRENTICESHIP, 1'IRST STAGE. [BOOK Iv.
1718-1723.
of these, and of other similar things, I could speak;
but do not. This little incident, which occurred once
in the review-ground on the outskirts of Berlin, will
suffice to mark his temper in that respect. It was
in the spring of 1719; our little Fritz then six years
old, who of course heard much temporary confused com-
mentary, direct and oblique, triumphant male laughter,
and perhaps rebellious female sighs, on occasion of
such a feat.
Count Rothenburg, Prussian by birth,* an accom-
plished and able person in the diplomatic and other
lines of business, but much used to Paris and its ways,
had appeared lately in Berlin, as French Envoy, --
and, not unnaturally, in high French costume; cocked-
hat, peruke, laced coat, and the other trimmings. He,
and a group of dashing followers and adherents, were
accustomed to go about in that guise; very capable of
proving infectious to mankind. What is to be done
with them? thinks the anxious Father of his People.
They were to appear at the ensuing grand Review, as
Friedrich Wilhelm understood. Whereupon Friedrich
Wilhelm took his measures in private. Dressed-up,
namely, his Scavenger-Executioner people (what they
call Profdsse in Prussian regiments) in an enormous
exaggeration of that costume; cocked-hats about an ell
in diameter, wigs reaching to the houghs, with other
fittings to match: these, when Count Rothenburg and
his company appeared upon the ground, Friedrich Wil-
helm summoned out, with some trumpet-peal or burst
? Buebbolz; Neueete PremsUch-Dranienburgitcbe Geschichte, I. 89.
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? CHAP. Iv. ] his majesty's ways. 153
1713-1723.
of field-music; and they solemnly crossed Count Rothen-
burg's field of vision; the strangest set of Phantasms
he had seen lately. Awakening salutary reflections
in him. * Fancy that scene in History; Friedrich Wil-
helm for comic-symbolic Dramaturgist. Gods and men
(or at least Houyhnhnm horses) might have saluted
it with a Homeric laugh, -- so huge and vacant is it,
with a suspicion of real humour too: -- but the men
were not permitted, on parade, more than a silent
grin, or general irrepressible rustling murmur; and
only the gods laughed inextinguishably, if so disposed.
The Scavenger-Executioners went back to their place;
and Count Rothenburg took a plain German costume,
so long as he continued in those parts.
Friedrich Wilhelm has a dumb rough wit and
mockery, of that kind, on many occasions; not without
geniality in its Brobdignag exaggeration and simplicity.
Like a wild-bear of the woods taking his sport; with
some sense of human in the rough skin of him. Very
capable of seeing through sumptuous costumes; and
respectful of realities alone. Not in French sumptuosity,
but in native German thrift, does this King see his
salvation; so has Nature constructed him: and the
world, which has long lost its Spartans, will see again
an original North-German Spartan; and shriek a good
deal over him; Nature keeping her own counsel the
while, and as it were, laughing in her sleeve at the
? FSrster, 1. 165; Faasmann, Leben und Thaten des allerdurchUnchtig-
tten . Sec. Kdnigt von Prewsen Frederifi Wi\helxni (IIambur|jj und Brealau,
J786), pp. 223, 319,
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? 154 friedbich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
'1718-1723.
shrieks of the flunkey world. For Nature, when she
makes a Spartan, means a good deal by it; and does
not expect instant applauses, but only gradual and
lasting.
"For my own part," exclaims a certain Editor once, "I
"perceive well there was never yet any great Empire founded,
"Roman, English, down to Prussian or Dutch, nor in fact any
"great mass of work got achieved under the Sun, but it was
"founded even upon this humble-looking quality of Thrift,
"and became achievable in virtue of the same. Which will
"seem a strange doctrine, in these days of gold-nuggets, rail-
"way-fortunes, and miraculous sumptuosities regardless of
"expense. Earnest readers are invited to consider it, never-
"theless. Though new, it is very old; and a sad meaning
"lies in it to us of these times! That you have squandered in
"idle fooleries, building where there was no basis, your Hun-
"dred-thousand Sterling, your Eight-hundred MillionSterling,
"is to me a comparatively small matter. You may still again
"become rich, if you have at last become wise. But if you
"have wasted your capacity of strenuous devoutly valiant
"labour, of patience, perseverance, self-denial, faith in the
"causes of effects; alas, if your once just judgment of what is
"worth something and what is worth nothing, has been
"wasted, and your silent steadfast reliance on the general
"veracities, of yourself and of things, is no longer there,--
"then indeed you have had a loss! You are,in fact, an entirely
"bankrupt individual; as you will find by and by. Yes; and
"though you had California in fee-simple; and could buy all
"the upholsteries, groceries, funded-properties, temporary
"(very temporary) landed-properties of the world, at one
"swoop, it would avail you nothing. Henceforth for you no
"harvests in the Seedfield of this Universe, which reserves its
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? CHAP. Iv. ] his majesty's WATS. 155
1713-1723.
"salutary bounties, and noble heaven-sent gifts, for quite
"other than you; and I would not give a pin's value for all
"you will ever reap there. Mere imaginary harvests, sacks of
"nuggets and the like; empty as the east-wind; -- with all
"the Demons laughing at you! Do you consider that Nature
"too is a swollen flunkey, hungry for vails; and can be taken-
"in with your sublime airs of sumptuosity, and the large bal-
"ance you actually have in Lombard-street? Go to the --
''General Cesspool, with your nuggets and your ducats! "
The flunkey world, much stript of its plush and
fat perquisites, accuses Friedrich Wilhelm bitterly of
avarice and the cognate vices. But it is not so; in-
trinsically, in the main, his procedure is to be defined
as honourable thrift, -- verging towards avarice here
and there; as poor human virtues usually lean to one
side or the other! He can be magnificent enough too,
and grudges no expense, when the occasion seems
worthy. If the occasion is inevitable, and yet not
quite worthy, I have known him have recourse to
strange shifts. The Czar Peter, for example, used to
be rather often in the Prussian Dominions, oftenest on
business of his own: such a man is to be royally de-
frayed while with us; yet one would wish it done
cheap. Posthorses, "two-hundred and eighty-seven at
every station," he has from the Community; but the
rest of his expenses, from Memel all the way to We-
sel? Friedrich Wilhelm's marginal response to his
Finanz-Directorium, requiring orders once on that sub-
ject, runs in the following strange tenour: "Yes, all
the way (except Berlin, which I take upon myself);
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? 156 fmedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
1718-1722.
and observe, you contrive to do it for 6,000 thalers
(900/. )," -- which is uncommonly cheap, about 11. per
mile; -- "won't allow you one other penny (nit einen
Pfennig gebe mehr dazu); but you are (sollen Sie)" this
is the remarkable point, "to give out in the world
that it costs me from Thirty to Forty Thousand! "*
So that here is the Majesty of Prussia, who beyond
all men abhors lies, giving orders to tell one? Alas,
yes; a kind of lie, or fib (white fib, or even gray),
the pinch of Thrift compelling! But what a window
into the artless inner-man of his Majesty, even that
gray fib; -- not done by oneself, but ordered to be
done by the servant, as if that were cheaper!
"Verging upon avarice," sure enough: but, unless
we are unjust and unkind, he can by no means be
described as a Miser King. He collects what is his;
gives you accurately what is yours. For wages paid
he will see work done: he will ascertain more and
more that the work done be work needful for him;
and strike it off, if not. A Spartan man, as we said,
-- though probably he knew as little of the Spartans
as the Spartans did of him. But Nature is still capable
of such products: if in Hellas long ages since, why not
in Brandenburg now?
? 1717: FSrtter, 1. 218.
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? CHAP, v. ] PRIEDRICH WILHELM'S ONE WAR.
157
1713-1723.
CHAPTER V.
FRIEDRICH WILHELM'S ONE WAR.
One of Fritz's earliest strong impressions from the
outer world chanced to be of War, -- so it chanced,
though he had shown too little taste that way, and
could not, as yet, understand such phenomena; -- and
there must have been much semi-articulate questioning
and dialoguing with Dame de Roucoulles, on his part,
about the matter now going on.
In the year 1715, little Fritz's third year, came
grand doings, not of drill only, but of actual war and
fighting: the "Stralsund Expedition," Friedrich Wil-
helm's one feat in that kind. Huge rumour of which
fills naturally the maternal heart, the Berlin Palace
drawing-rooms; and occupies, with new vivid interests,
all imaginations young and old. For the actual battle-
drums are now beating, the big cannon-wains are
creaking under way; and military men take farewell,
and march, tramp, tramp; Majesty in grenadier-guard
uniform at their head: horse, foot and artillery; north-
ward to Stralsund on the Baltic shore, where a terrible
human Lion has taken-up his lair lately. Charles XH
of Sweden, namely; he has broken-out of Turkish
Bender or Demotica, and ended his obstinate torpor,
at last; has ridden fourteen or sixteen days, he and a
groom or two, through desolate steppes and mountaii*
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? 158 fmedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book Iv.
22dNov. l7H.
wildernesses, through crowded dangerous cities; --
"came by Vienna and by Cassel; then through Pom-
mern;" leaving his "royal train of two-thousand per-
sons" to follow at its leisure. He, for his part, has
ridden without pause, forward, ever forward, in darkest
incognito, the indefatigable man; -- and finally, on
Old-Hallowmas Eve (22d-llth November 1714), far in
the night, a Horseman, with two others still following
him, travel-splashed, and "white with snow," drew
bridle at the gate of Stralsund; and, to the surprise of
the Swedish sentinel there, demanded instant admission
to the Governor. The Governor, at first a little surly
of humour, saw gradually how it was; sprang out of
bed, and embraced the knees of the snowy man; Stral-
sund in general sprang out of bed, and illuminated it-
self, that same Hallow-Eve: -- and in brief, Charles
XTT. , after five years of eclipse, has reappeared upon
the stage of things; and menaces the world, in his old
fashion, from that City. From which it becomes urgent
to many parties, and at last to Friedrich Wilhelm him-
self, that he be dislodged.
The root of this Stralsund story belongs to the
former reign, as did the grand apparition of Charles XII.
on the theatre of European History, and the terror and
astonishment he created there. He is now thirty-three
years old; and only the winding-up, both of him and
of the Stralsund story, falls within our present field.
Fifteen years ago, it was like the bursting of a cataract
of bombshells in a dull ballroom, the sudden appearance
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? CHAP. V. ] FKEEDRICH WliHELM's ONE WAR. 159
1713. '
of this young fighting Swede among the luxurious
Kings and Kinglets of the North, all lounging about
and languidly minuetting in that manner, regardless of
expense! Friedrich IV. of Denmark rejoicing over
red-wine; August the Strong gradually producing his
"three-hundred and fifty-four bastards;"* these and
other neighbours had confidently stept in, on various
pretexts; thinking to help themselves from the young
man's properties, who was still a minor; when the
young minor suddenly developed himself as a major
and maximus, and turned-out to be such a Fire-King
among them!
In consequence of which there had been no end of
Northern troubles; and all through the Louis-Four-
teenth or Marlborough grand "Succession War," a spe-
cial "Northern War" had burnt or smouldered on its
own score; Swedes versus Saxons, Russians and Danes,
bickering in weary intricate contest, and keeping those
Northern regions in smoke if not on fire. Charles XII. ,
for the last five years (ever since Pultawa, and the
summer of 1709), had lain obstinately dormant in Tur-
key; urging the Turks to destroy Czar Peter. Which
they absolutely could not, though they now and then
tried; and Viziers not a few lost their heads in conse-
quence. Charles lay sullenly dormant; Danes mean-
while operating upon his Holstein interests and ad-
joining territories; Saxons, Russians battering conti-
nually at Swedish Pommern, continually marching
thither, and then marching home again, without suc-
? Memoiret deBareitk (Wilhelmlna's Book, Londrea, 1812), 1. 111.
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? 160 frtedrich's apprenticeship, first stage, [book it.
1713-1723.
cess, -- always through the Brandenburg Territory, as
they needs must. Which latter circumstance Friedrich
Wilhelm, while yet only Crown-Prince, had seen with
natural displeasure, could that have helped it . But
Charles XII. would not yield a whit; sent orders per-
emptorily, from his bed at Bender or Demotica, that
there must be no surrender. Neither could the sluggish
enemy compel surrender.
So that, at length, it had grown a feeble wearisome
welter of inextricable strifes, with worn-out combatants,
exhausted of all but their animosity; and seemed as if
it would never end. Inveterate ineffective war; ruinous
to all good interests in those parts. What miseries had
Holstein from it, which last to our own day! Mecklen-
burg also it involved in sore troubles, which lasted
long enough, as we shall see. But Brandenburg, above
all, may be impatient; Brandenburg, which has no
business with it except that of unlucky neighbourhood.
One of Friedrich Wilhelm's very first operations, as
King, was to end this ugly state of matters, which he
had witnessed with impatience, as Prince, for a long
while.
He had hailed even the Treaty of Utrecht with
welcome, in hopes it might at least end these Northern
brabbles. This the Treaty of Utrecht tried to do, but
could not: however, it gave him back his Prussian
Fighting Men; -- which he has already increased by
six regiments, raised, we may perceive, on the ruins
of his late court-flunkeys and dismissed goldsticks: --
with these Friedrich Wilhelm will try to end it himself,
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? CHAP. v. J FRTEDRICII WILHELM's OKE WAR. 101
1714.
These he at once ordered to form a Camp on his
frontier, close to that theatre of contest; and signified
now with emphasis, in the beginning of 1713, that he
decidedly wished there were peace in those Pommern
regions. Negotiations in consequence;* very wide
negotiations, Louis XIV. and theKaiser lending hand,
to pacify these fighting Northern Kings and their Czar:
at length the Holstein Government, representing their
sworn ally, Charles XII. , on the occasion, made an
offer which seemed promising. They proposed that
Stettin and its dependencies, the strong frontier Town,
and, as it were, key of Swedish Pommern, should be
evacuated by the Swedes, and be garrisoned by neutral
troops, Prussians and Holsteiners in equal number;
which neutral troops shall prohibit any hostile attack
of Pommern from without, Sweden engaging not to
make any attack through Pommern from within. That
will be as good as peace in Pommern, till we get a
general Swedish Peace. With which Friedrich Wil-
helm gladly complies. '**
Unhappily, however, the Swedish Commandant in
Stettin would not give-up the place, on any represen-
tative or secondary authority; not without an express
order in his King's own hand. Which, as his King
was far away, in abstruse Turkish circumstances and
localities, could not be had at the moment; and involved
new difficulties and uncertainties, new delay which
might itself be fatal. The end was, the Russians and
? 10th June 1713: Buchholz, i. 21.
? ? 22d June 1713; Buchholz, i. 21.
Qarlyle, Frederic the Great. II, 11
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? 162 friedrich's apprenticeship, first STAGE, [bookvI.
1713-1723.
Saxons had to cannonade the man out by regular siege:
they then gave-up the Town to Prussia and Holstein;
but required first to be paid their expenses incurred in
sieging it, -- 400,000 thalers, as they computed and
demonstrated, or somewhere about 60,0001, of our
money.
Friedrich Wilhelm paid the money (Holstein not
having a groschen); took possession of the Town, and
dependent towns and forts; intending well to keep
them till repaid. This was in October 1713; and ever
since, there has been actual tranquillity in those parts:
the embers of the Northern War may still burn or
smoulder elsewhere, but here they are quite extinct
.
At first, it was a joint possession of Stettin, Holsteiners
and Prussians in equal number; and if Friedrich Wil-
helm had been sure of his money, so it would have
continued. But the Holsteiners had paid nothing;
Charles XH. 's sanction never could be expressly got,
and the Holsteiners were mere dependents of his.
Better to increase our Prussian force, by degrees; and,
in some good way, with a minimum of violence, get
the Holsteiners squeezed out of Stettin? Friedrich
Wilhelm has so ordered, and contrived. The Prussian
force having now gradually increased to double in this
important garrison, the Holsteiners are quietly dis-
armed, one night, and ordered to depart, under penal-
ties; -- which was done. Holding such a pawn-ticket
as Stettin, buttoned in our own pocket, we count now
on being paid our 60,0001, before parting with it.
Matters turned-out as Friedrich Wilhelm had dreaded
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:12 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hn6m7g Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP, v. ] FRIEDRICH WILHELM's ONE WAE. 163
3714.
they might. Here is Charles XII. come back; inflexible
as cold Swedish Iron; will not hear of any Treaty
dealing with his properties in that manner: Is he a
bankrupt, then, that you will sell his towns by auction?
Charles does not, at heart, believe that Friedrich Wil-
helm ever really paid the 60,000/. ; Charles demands,
for his own part, to have his own Swedish Town of
Stettin restored to him; and has not the least intention,
or indeed ability, to pay money. Vain to answer:
"Stettin, for the present, is not a Swedish Town; it is
a Prussian Pawn-ticket! " -- There was much negotia-
tion, correspondence; Louis XIV. and the Kaiser step-
ping-in again to produce settlement . To no purpose.
Louis, gallant old Bankrupt, tried hard to take Charles's
part with effect. But he had, himself, no money
now; could only try finessing by ambassadors, try a
little menacing by them; neither of which profited.
Friedrich Wilhelm, wanting only peace on his borders,
after fifteen years of extraneous uproar there, has paid
60,0001, in hard cash to have it: repay him that sum,
with promise of peace on his borders, he will then quit
Stettin; till then not. Big words, from a French Am-
bassador in big wig, will not suffice: "Bullying goes
for nothing (Bange machen gilt nicht)" -- the thing
covenanted-for will need to be done! Poor Louis the
Great, whom we now call "Banh'upt-Grea. t," died
while these affairs were pending; while Charles, his
ally, was arguing and battling against all the world,
with only a grandiloquent Ambassador to help him
from Louis. "J'cti trop aime la guerre," said Louis at
11*
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:12 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hn6m7g Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 164 FREBDRICh's APPRENTICESHIP, FIRST STAGE. fBOOKW.
'1718-1723.
his death, addressing a new small Louis (five-years
old), his great-grandson and successor: "I have been
too fond of war; do not imitate me in that, fie nimitez
pas en cela. "* Which counsel also, as we shall see,
was considerably lost in air.
Friedrich Wilhelm had a true personal regard for
Charles XII. , a man made in many respects after his
own heart; and would fain have persuaded him into
softer behaviour. But it was to no purpose. Charles
would not listen to reasons of policy; or believe that
his estate was bankrupt, or that his towns could be
put in pawn. Danes, Saxons, Russians, even George I.
of England (George having just bought, of the Danish
King, who had got hold of it, a great Hanover bargain,
Bremen and Verden, on cheap terms, from the quasi-
bankrupt estate of poor Charles), -- have to combine
against him, and see to put him down. Among whom
Prussia, at length actually attacked by Charles in the
Stettin regions, has reluctantly to take the lead in that
repressive movement. On the 28th of April 1715,
Friedrich Wilhelm declares war against Charles; is
already on march, with a great force, towards Stettin,
to coerce and repress said Charles. No help for it, so
sore as it goes against us: "Why will the very King
whom I most respect compel me to be his enemy? "
said Friedrich Wilhelm. **
One of Friedrich Wilhelm's originalities is bis fare-
? 1st September 1715.
*? (Entires de FrHiric (JIUtoire de Brandebourg), i. 132; Buchholz, 1. 28.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:12 GMT / http://hdl.
