Onward from this time, Friedrich Wilhelm figures
in the world; public men watching his procedure; Kinga
?
in the world; public men watching his procedure; Kinga
?
Thomas Carlyle
Political significance Brandenburg had
none: a mere Protestant appendage dragged about by a
Papist Kaiser. His Father's Prime-Minister, as we have
seen, was in the interest of his enemies; not Branden-
burg's servant, but Austria's. The very Commandants
of his Fortresses, Commandant of Spandau more especi-
ally, refused to obey Friedrich Wilhelm, on his ac-
cession; "were bound to obey the Kaiser in the first
place. " He had to proceed softly as well as swiftly;
with the most delicate hand to get him of Spandau by
the collar, and put him under lock-and-key, him as a
warning to others.
For twenty years past, Brandenburg had been
scoured by hostile armies, which, especially the Kai-
ser's part of which, committed outrages new in human
history. In a year or two hence, Brandenburg be-
came again the theatre of business; Austrian Gallas
advancing thither again (1644), with intent "to shut-up
Torstenson and his Swedes in Jutland," where they
had been chastising old Christian IV. , now meddlesome
again for the last time, and never a good neighbour to
Sweden. Gallas could by no means do what he in-
tended; on the contrary, he had to run from Torsten-
son, what feet could do; was hunted, he and his Merode-
Briider (beautiful inventors of the "Marauding" Art),
"till they pretty much all died (crepirten)," says Kbh-
ler. * No great loss to society, the death of these Ar-
? Reichs-Uistorie, p. 558; Pauli, v. 24.
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? chap, xvm. ] kurfCkst friedrich wilhelm. 61
1644.
tists; but we can fancy what their life, and especially
what the process of their dying, may have cost poor
Brandenburg again! --
Friedrich Wilhelm's aim, in this as in other emergen-
cies, was sun-clear to himself, but for most part dim to
everybody else. He had to walk very warily, Sweden
on one hand of him, suspicious Kaiser on the other;
he had to wear semblances, to be ready with evasive
words; and advance noiselessly by many circuits. More
delicate operation could not be imagined. But advance
he did; advance and arrive. With extraordinary talent,
diligence and felicity the young man wound himself
out of this first fatal position; got those foreign Armies
pushed-out of his Country, and kept them out. His
first concern had been to find some vestige of revenue,
to put that upon a clear footing; and by loans or other-
wise to scrape a little ready-money together. On the
strength of which a small body of soldiers could be
collected about him, and drilled into real ability to
fight and obey. This as a basis; on this followed all
manner of things; freedom from Swedish-Austrian in-
vasions, as the first thing.
He was himself, as appeared by and by, a fighter
of the first quality, when it came to that; but never
was willing to fight, if he could help it. Preferred
rather to shift, manoeuvre and negotiate; which he did
in a most vigilant, adroit and masterly manner. But
by degrees he had grown to have, and could maintain
it, an Army of 24,000 men; among the best troops
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? 62 THE HOHENZOLLEBNS IN BRANDENBUKG. [boOKIM
1640-1688.
then in being. With or without his will, he was in
all the great Wars of his time, -- the time of Louis
XIV. , who kindled Europe four times over, thrice in
our Kurfiirst's day. The Kurfurst's Dominions, a long
straggling country, reaching from Memel to Wesel,
could hardly keep out of the way of any war that
might rise. He made himself available, never against
the good cause of Protestantism and German Freedom,
yet always in the place and way where his own best
advantage was to be had. Louis XIV. had often much
need of him; still oftener, and more pressingly, had
Kaiser Leopold, the little Gentleman "in scarlet stock-
ings, with a red feather in his hat," whom Mr. Savage
used to see majestically walking about, with Austrian
lip that said nothing at all. * His 24,000 excellent
fighting-men, thrown-in at the right time, were often a
thing that could turn the balance in great questions.
They required to be allowed-for at a high rate, --
which he well knew how to adjust himself for exacting
and securing always.
? A Compleat History of Germany, by Mr. Savage (8vo, London, 1702),
p. 553. Who this Mr. Savage was, we have no trace. Prefixed to the
volume is the Portrait of a solid Gentleman of forty; gloomily polite, with
ample wig and cravat, -- iu all likelihood some studious subaltern Diplo-
matist in the Succession War. His little Book is very lean and barren; but
faithfully compiled, -- and might have some illumination in it, where utter
darkness Is so prevalent. Most likely, Addison picked his story of the Siege
of Weinsberg ("Women carrying out their Husbands on their back," -- on*
ol his best Spectators) out of this poor Bnok.
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? chap, xvm. ] kurfCkst friedrich wilhelm. 63
1648.
What became of Pommern at the Peace; final glance into
Cleve-Julich.
When the Peace of Westphalia (1648) concluded
that Thirty-Years Conflagration, and swept the ashes
of it into order again, Friedrich Wilhelm's right to
Pommern was admitted by everybody; and well in-
sisted on by himself: but right had to yield to reason
of state, and he could not get it. The Swedes insisted
on their expenses; the Swedes held Pommern, had all
along held it, -- in pawn, they said, for their ex-
penses. Nothing for it but to give the Swedes the
better half of Pommern. i^ore-Pommern (so they call
it, "Swedish Pomerania" thenceforth), which lies next
the Sea; this, with some Towns and cuttings over
and above, was Sweden's share: Friedrich Wilhelm
had to put-up with Jlinder-Vommem, docked further-
more of the Town of Stettin, and of other valuable
cuttings, in favour of Sweden. Much to Friedrich Wil-
helm's grief and just anger, could he have helped it.
They gave him Three secularised Bishoprics, Magde-
burg, Halberstadt, Minden with other small remnants,
for compensation; and he had to be content with these
for the present. But he never gave-up the idea of
Pommern; much of the effort of his life was spent upon
recovering Fore-Pommern; thrice-eager upon that, when-
ever lawful opportunity offered. To no purpose then;
he never could recover Swedish Pommern; only his
late descendants, and that by slowish degrees, could
recover it all. Readers remember that Btirgermeister
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? 64 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURO. [BOOSnl.
1640-1688.
of Stettin, with the helmet and sword flung into
the grave and picked out again; -- and can judge
whether Brandenburg got its good-luck quite by lying
in bed! --
Once, and once only, he had a voluntary purpose
towards War, and it remained a purpose only. Soon
after the Peace of Westphalia, old Pfalz-Neuburg, the
same who got the slap on the face, went into tyrannous
proceedings against the Protestant part of his subjects
in Julich-Cleve; who called to Friedrich Wilhelm for
help. Friedrich Wilhelm, a zealous Protestant, made
remonstrances, retaliations: ere long the thought struck
him, "Suppose, backed by the Dutch, we threw-out
this fantastic old gentleman, his Papistries, and pre-
tended claims and self, clear out of it? " This was
Friedrich Wilhelm's thought; and he suddenly marched
troops into the Territory, with that view. But Europe
was in alarm, the Dutch grew faint: Friedrich Wil-
helm saw it would not do. He had a conference with
old Pfalz-Neuburg: "Young gentleman, we remember
how your Grandfather made free with us, and our
august countenance! Nevertheless we --" In fine, the
"statistic of Treaties" was increased by One; and there
the matter rested till calmer times.
In 1666, as already said, an effective Partition of
these litigated Territories was accomplished: Prussia to
have the Duchy of Cleve-Proper, the Counties of Mark
and Ravensberg, with other Patches and Pertinents;
Neuburg, what was the better share, to have Julich
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? chap, xna. ] kurfUrst friedrich wilhelm. 65
1666.
Duchy and Berg Duchy. Furthermore, if either of
the Lines failed, in no sort was a collateral to be ad-
mitted; but Brandenburg was to inherit Neuburg, or
Neuburg Brandenburg, as the case might be. * A
clear Bargain this at last; and in the times that had
come, it proved executable so far. But if the reader
fancies the Lawsuit was at last out in this way, he
will be a simple reader! In the days of our little
Fritz, the Line of Pfalz-Neuburg was evidently end-
ing: but that Brandenburg and not a collateral should
succeed it, there lay the quarrel, -- open still, as if
it had never been shut; and we shall hear enough
about it! --
The Great Kurfiirsfs Wars: what he achieved in War
and Peace.
Friedrich Wilhelm's first actual appearance in War,
Polish-Swedish War (1655-1660), was involuntary in
the highest degree; forced upon him for the sake of
his Preussen, which bade fair to be lost or ruined,
without blame of his or its. Nevertheless, here too,
he made his benefit of the affair. The big King of
Sweden had a standing quarrel with his big cousin of
Poland, which broke-out into hot War; little Preussen
lay between them, and was like to be crushed in the
collision. Swedish King was Karl Gustav, Christina's
Cousin, Charles Twelfth's Grandfather; a great and
mighty man, lion of the North in his time: Polish
? Pauli, v. 120-129.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. II. 5
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? 66 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [B0OK m'
1840-1688.
King was one John Casimir; chivalrous enough, and
with clouds of forward Polish chivalry about him, glit-
tering with barbaric gold. Frederick III. , Danish King
for the time being, he also was much involved in the
thing. Fain would Friedrich Wilhelm have kept out
of it, but he could not. Karl Gustav as good as
forced him to join: he joined; fought along with
Karl Gustav an illustrious Battle; "Battle of Warsaw,"
three days long (28-30th July 1656), on the skirts
of Warsaw, -- crowds "looking from the upper win-
dows" there; Polish chivalry, broken at last, going
like chaff upon the winds, and John Casimir nearly
ruined.
Shortly after which, Friedrich Wilhelm, who had
shone much in the Battle, changed sides. An incon-
sistent, treacherous man? Perhaps not, O reader; per-
haps a man advancing "in circuits," the only way he
has; spirally, face now to east, now to west, with his
own reasonable private aim sun-clear to him all the
while?
John Casimir agreed to give-up the "Homage of
Preussen" for this service; a grand prize for Friedrich
Wilhelm. * What the Teutsch Ritters strove for in
vain, and lost their existence in striving for, the shifty
Kurfurst has now got: Ducal Prussia, which is also
called East Prussia, is now a free sovereignty, -- and
will become as "Royal" as the other Polish part . Or
perhaps even more so, in the course of time! -- Karl
? Treaty of Lablau, 10th November 1666 (Paull, v. 78-76); 20th Novem-
ber (Stenzel, iv. 128, -- who always uses New Style).
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? CHAP. xvm. ] kukfDbst priedeich wilhelm. G7
1656.
Gustav, in a high frame of mind, informs the Kurfurst,
that he has him on his books, and will pay the debt
one day!
A dangerous debtor in such matters, this Karl Gus-
tav. In these same months, busy with the Danish part
of the Controversy, he was doing a feat of war, which
set all Europe in astonishment. In January 1658,
Karl Gustav marches his Army, horse, foot and artil-
lery, to the extent of Twenty-thousand, across the
Baltic ice, and takes an Island without shipping, -- Island of Fiinen, across the Little Belt; three miles of
ice; and a part of the sea open, which has to be crossed
on planks. Nay forward from Fiinen, when once
there, he achieves ten whole miles more of ice; and
takes Zealand itself,* -- to the wonder of all mankind.
An imperious, stern-browed, swift-striking man; who
had dreamed of a new Goth Empire: The mean Hypo-
crites and Fribbles of the South to be coerced again by
noble Norse valour, and taught a new lesson. Has
been known to lay his hand on his sword while ap-
prising an Ambassador (Dutch High-Mightiness) what
his royal intentions were: "Not the sale or purchase of
groceries, observe you, Sir! My aims go higher! " --
Charles Twelfth's Grandfather, and somewhat the same
type of man.
But Karl Gustav died, short while after;** left his
big wide-raging Northern Controversy to collapse in
what way it could. Sweden and the fighting-parties
? Holberg's Danemarkische Reichs-Hictorie, pp. 406-409.
? ? 13tt February 1660, age 38.
5*
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? G8 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [B00Km-
1640-1C88.
made their "Peace of Oliva" (Abbey of Oliva, near
Dantzig, 1st May 1660); and this of Preussen was ra-
tified, in all form, among the other points. No Ho-
mage more; nothing now above Ducal Prussia but the
Heavens; and great times coming for it. This was one
of the successfullest strokes of business ever done by
Friedrich Wilhelm; who had been forced, by sheer
compulsion, to embark in that big game. -- "Royal
Prussia," the Western or Polish Prussia: this too, as
all Newspapers know, has, in our times, gone the same
road as the other. Which probably, after all, it may
have had, in Nature, some tendency to do? Cut away,
for reasons, by the Polish sword, in that Battle of
Tannenberg, long since; and then, also for reasons,
cut back again! That is the fact; -- not unexampled
in human History.
Old Johann Casimir, not long after that Peace of
Oliva, getting tired of his unruly Polish chivalry and
their ways, abdicated; -- retired to Paris; and "lived
much with Ninon de l'Enclos and her circle," for the
rest of his life. He used to complain of his Polish
chivalry, that there was no solidity in them; nothing
but outside glitter, with tumult and anarchic noise;
fatal want of one essential talent, the talent of Obeying;
. -- and has been heard to prophesy that a glorious Re-
public, persisting in such courses, would arrive at
results which would surprise it.
Onward from this time, Friedrich Wilhelm figures
in the world; public men watching his procedure; Kinga
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? cha? p. xvin. ] kubfDbst friedkich wilhelm. 69
1660.
anxious to secure him, -- Dutch Printsellers sticking-up
his Portraits for a hero-worshiping Public. Fighting
hero, had the Public known it, was not his essential
character, though he had to fight a great deal. He was
essentially an Industrial man; great in organising, re-
gulating, in constraining chaotic heaps to become cosmic
for him. He drains bogs, settles colonies in the waste-
places of his Dominions, cuts canals; unweariedly en-
courages trade and work. The Friedrich- Wilhelm's
Canal, which still carries tonnage from the Oder to the
Spree,* is a monument of his zeal in this way; credit-
able, with the means he had. To the poor French
Protestants, in the Edict-of-Nantes Affair, he was like
an express Benefit of Heaven: one Helper appointed,
to whom the help itself was profitable. He munificently
welcomed them to Brandenburg; showed really a noble
piety and human pity, as well as judgment; nor did
Brandenburg and he want their reward. Some 20,000
nimble French souls, evidently of the best French
quality, found a home there; -- made "waste sands
about Berlin into potherb gardens;" and in the spiritual
Brandenburg, too, did something of horticulture, which
is still noticeable. **
Certainly this Elector was one of the shiftiest of
men. Not an unjust man either. A pious, God-fearing
man rather, stanch to his Protestantism and his Bible;
? Executed, 1662-'68: fifteen English miles long (Bttsching: Erdbe-
tchreibung, vi. 2193).
Erman (weak Biographer of Queen Sophie-Charlotte, already cited):
Memoires pour tervir A VHisloire des tttfugidh Francais dam let Etali dtf
Hoi ie rrwe (Berlin, 1782-'M), 8 <<. 6M>.
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? 70 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [>>OOK III.
1640-1688.
not unjust by any means, -- nor, on the other hand,
by any means thinskinned in his interpretings of justice:
Fairplay to myself always; or occasionally even the
Height of Fairplay! On the whole, by constant energy,
vigilance, adroit activity, by an ever-ready insight and
audacity to seize the passing fact by its right handle,
he fought his way well in the world; left Brandenburg
a flourishing and greatly-increased Country, and his
own name famous enough.
A thickset, stalwart figure; with brisk eyes, and
high strong irregularly-Roman nose. Good bronze
Statue of him, by Schluter, once a famed man, still
rides on the Lange-Brucke (Long-Bridge) at Berlin; and
his Portrait, in huge frizzled Louis-Quatorze wig, is
frequently met with in German Galleries. Collectors
of Dutch Prints, too, know him: here a gallant, eagle-
featured little gentleman, brisk in the smiles of youth,
with plumes, with truncheon, caprioling on his war-
charger, view of tents in the distance; -- there a sedate,
ponderous, wrinkly old man, eyes slightly puckered
(eyes busier than mouth); a face well-ploughed by Time,
and not found unfruitful; one of the largest, most la-
borious, potent faces (in an ocean of circumambient
periwig) to be met with in that Century. * There are
many Histories about him, too; but they are not com-
fortable to read. ** He also has wanted a sacred Poet;
and found only a bewildering Dryasdust.
? Both Prints are Dutch; the Younger, my copy of the Younger, has
lost the Engraver's Name (Kurfiirst's age is twenty-seven); the Elder is by
Ma&son, 1683, when Friedrich Wiihelm was sixty-three.
? ? 0. D. Geyler: Leben und Thalen Friedrich Wilhelmt det Grossen
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? CHAP. xvm. ] KURFttRST FRtEDRICH WILHELM. 71
167*.
His Two grand Feats that dwell in the Prussian
memory are perhaps none of his greatest, but were of
a kind to strike the imagination. They both relate to
what was the central problem of his life, -- the reco-
very of Pommern from the Swedes. Exploit First is
the famed "Battle of Fehrlellin (Ferry of Belken),"
fought on the 18th June 1675. Fehrbellin is an in-
considerable Town still standing in those peaty regions,
some five-and-thirty miles north-west of Berlin; and had
for ages plied its poor Ferry over the oily-looking,
brown, sluggish stream called Rhin, or Rhein in those
parts, without the least notice from mankind, till this
fell out . It is a place of pilgrimage to patriotic Prus-
sians, ever since Friedrich Wilhelm's exploit there. The
matter went thus:
Friedrich Wilhelm was fighting, far south in Alsace,
on Kaiser Leopold's side, in the Louis-Fourteenth War;
that second one, which ended in the Treaty of Nim-
wegen. Doing his best there, -- when the Swedes,
egged-on by Louis XIV. , made war upon him; crossed
the Pommeranian marches, troop after troop, and in-
vaded his Brandenburg Territory with a force which at
length amounted to some 16,000 men. No help for
the moment: Friedrich Wilhelm could not be spared
from his post. The Swedes, who had at first professed
(Frankfort and Leipzig, 1703), folio. Franz Horn: Dat Leben Friedrich
Wilhelmt det Grossen (Berlin, 1814). Panll: Staats-Geschichte, Band v.
(Halle, 1764). Pnfendorf: De rebus gettit Frideriei Wilhelmi Hagni Electorit
Prandenburgensit Commentar\a (Lips, et Berol. 1783, fol. ),
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? 72 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG, [book m.
1610-1688.
well, gradually went into plunder, roving, harrying, at
their own will; and a melancholy time they made of it
for Friedrich Wilhelm and his People. Lucky if tem-
porary harm were all the ill they were likely to do;
lucky if--! He stood steady, however; in his solid
manner, finishing the thing in hand first, since that was
feasible. He then even retired into winter-quarters, to
rest his men; and seemed to have left the Swedish
16,000 autocrats of the situation; who accordingly went
storming about at a great rate.
Not so, however; very far indeed from so. Having
rested his men for certain months, Friedrich Wilhelm
silently in the first days of June (1675) gets them under
march again; marches, his Cavalry and he as first in-
stalment, with best speed from Schweinfurt,* which is
on the river Mayn, to Magdeburg; a distance of two-
hundred miles. At Magdeburg, where he rests three
days, waiting for the first handful of Foot and a field-
piece or two, he learns that the Swedes are in three
parties wide asunder; the middleparty of them within
forty miles of him. Probably stronger, even this
middle one, than his small body (of "Six-thousand
Horse, Twelve-hundred Foot and three guns"); --
stronger, but capable perhaps of being surprised, of
being cut in pieces, before the others can come up?
Rathenau is the nearest skirt of this middle party:
thither goes the Kurfilrst, softly, swiftly, in the June
night (16-17th June 1675); gets into Rathenau, by
? gteMel, lit 347,
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? CHAP. xvI0. J KURFtiRST FRIEDRICH WILHELM. 73
1679.
brisk stratagem; tumbles-out the Swedish Horse-regi-
ment there, drives it back towards Fehrbellin.
He himself follows hard;-- swift riding enough, in
the summer-night, through those damp Havel lands, in
the old Hohenzollern fashion: and indeed old Friesack
Castle, as it chances, -- Friesack, scene of Dietrich
von Quitzow and Lazy-Peg long since, -- is close by!
Follows hard, we say: strikes-in upon this midmost
party (nearly twice his number, but Infantry for most
part); and after fierce fight, done with good talent on
both sides, cuts it into utter ruin, as proposed. Thereby
he has left the Swedish Army as a mere head and tail
without body; has entirely demolished the Swedish
Army. * Same feat intrinsically as that done by Crom-
well, on Hamilton and the Scots, in 1648. It was, so
to speak, the last visit Sweden paid to Brandenburg,
or the last of any consequence; and ended the domina-
tion of the Swedes in those quarters. A thing justly
to be forever remembered by Brandenburg; -- on a
smallish modern scale, the Bannockburn, Sempach,
Marathon, of Brandenburg. **
Exploit Second was four years later; in some sort
a corollary to this; and a winding-up of the Swedish
business. The Swedes, in farther prosecution of their
Louis-Fourteenth speculation, had invaded Preussen
this time, and were doing sad havoc there. It was in
? Stcnzcl, II. 350-357.
Sec Panli, v. 161-169; Stenzel, II. 835 , 340-347, 354; Kausler, Altai
des pint memorables Batailles, Combats et Sidges, or Atlas der merkwfir-
digstm Schlachten, Treffen und Delagemngen (Qermiu) and French, Carls-
rube anil Freiburg, 1831), {1. 417, BlnttC? ,
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? 74 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [bOOK in.
1610-1688.
the dead of winter, Christmas 1678, more than four
hundred miles off; and the Swedes, to say nothing of
their other havoc, were in a case to take Konigsberg,
and ruin Prussia altogether, if not prevented. Friedrich
Wilhelm starts from Berlin, with the opening Year, on
his long march; the Horse-troops first, Foot to follow
at their swiftest; he himself (his Wife, his ever-true
'Louisa,' accompanying, as her wont was) travels, to-
wards the end, at the rate of "sixty miles a day. " He
gets-in still in time, finds Konigsberg unscathed, Nay
it is even said, the Swedes are extensively falling sick;
having, after a long famine, found infinite "pigs, near
Insterburg," in those remote regions, and indulged in
the fresh pork overmuch.
I will not describe the subsequent manoeuvres, which
would interest nobody: enough if I say that on the
16th of January 1679, it had become of the highest
moment for Friedrich Wilhelm to get from Carwe
(Village near Elbing) on the shore of the Frische Haf,
where he was, through Konigsberg, to Gilge on the
Curische Haf, where the Swedes are, -- in a minimum
of time. Distance, as the crow flies, is about a hundred
miles; road, which skirts the two Hafs* (wide shallow
Washes, as we should name them), is of rough quality,
and naturally circuitous. It is ringing frost today, and
for days back: -- Friedrich Wilhelm hastily gathers
all the sledges, all the horses of the district; mounts
some Four-thousand men in sledges; starts, with the
speed of light, in that fashion. Scours along all day,
? Paull, v. S16-222; Stenzel, 11. 892-887.
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? CHAP, xvm. ] kurfOrst friedrich wilhelm. 75
1679.
and after the intervening bit of land, again along;
awakening the icebound silences. Gloomy Frische Haf,
wrapt in its Winter cloud-coverlids, with its wastes of
tumbled sand, its poor frost-bound fishing-hamlets, pine-
hillocks, -- desolate-looking, stern as Greenland or
more so, says Biisching, who travelled there in winter-
time,*-- hears unexpected human noises, and huge
grinding and trampling; the Four-thousand, in long
fleet of sledges, scouring across it, in that manner. All
day they rush along, -- out of the rimy hazes of morn-
ing into the olive-coloured clouds of evening again, --
with huge loud-grinding rumble; -- and do arrive in
time at Gilge. A notable streak of things, shooting
across those frozen solitudes, in the New-Year 1679;--
little short of Karl Gustav's feat, which we heard of, in
the other or Danish end of the Baltic, twenty years ago,
when he took Islands without ships.
This Second Exploit, -- suggested or not by that
prior one of Karl Gustav on the ice, -- is still a thing
to be remembered by Hohenzollerns and Prussians. The
Swedes were beaten here, on Friedrich Wilhelm's rapid
arrival; were driven into disastrous rapid retreat North-
ward; which they executed in hunger and cold; fighting
continually, like Northern bears, under the grim sky;
Friedrich Wilhelm sticking to their skirts, -- holding
by their tail, like an angry bearward with steel whip
in his hand. A thing which, on the small scale, re-
minds one of Napoleon's experiences. Not till Napo-
leon's huge fighting-flight, a Hundred-and-thirty-four
? Btisching's Beitrtge (Halle, 1789), vi. 160.
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? 76 THE HOHENZOLLEBNS IN BRAKDENBURG. [uOOKirt.
1640-1688.
years after, did I read of such a transaction in those
parts. The Swedish invasion of Preussen has gone
utterly to ruin.
And this, then, is the end of Sweden, and its bad
neighbourhood on these shores, where it has tyrannously
sat on our skirts so long? Swedish Pommern the Elector
already had: last year, coming towards it ever since
the Exploit of Fehrbellin, he had invaded Swedish Pom-
mern; had besieged and taken Stettin, nay Stralsund
too, where Wallenstein had failed; -- cleared Pommern
altogether of its Swedish guests. Who had tried next
in Preussen, with what luck we see. Of Swedish Pom-
mern the Elector might now say: "Surely it is mine;
again mine, as it long was; well won a second time,
since the first would not do! " But no: -- Louis XIV. proved a gentleman to his Swedes. Louis, now that
the Peace of Nimwegen had come, and only the Elector
of Brandenburg was still in harness, said steadily,
though anxious enough to keep well with the Elector:
"They are my allies, these Swedes; it was on my bid-
ding they invaded you: can I leave them in such a pass?
It must not be! " So Pommern had to be given back.
A miss which was infinitely grievous to Friedrich Wil-
helm. The most victorious Elector cannot hit always,
were his right never so good.
Another miss which he had to put-up with, in spite
of his rights, and his good services, was that of the
Silesian Duchies. The Heritage-Fraternity with Liegnitz
had at length, in 1675, come to fruit. The last Duke
of Liegnitz was dead: Duchies of Liegnitz, of Brieg,
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none: a mere Protestant appendage dragged about by a
Papist Kaiser. His Father's Prime-Minister, as we have
seen, was in the interest of his enemies; not Branden-
burg's servant, but Austria's. The very Commandants
of his Fortresses, Commandant of Spandau more especi-
ally, refused to obey Friedrich Wilhelm, on his ac-
cession; "were bound to obey the Kaiser in the first
place. " He had to proceed softly as well as swiftly;
with the most delicate hand to get him of Spandau by
the collar, and put him under lock-and-key, him as a
warning to others.
For twenty years past, Brandenburg had been
scoured by hostile armies, which, especially the Kai-
ser's part of which, committed outrages new in human
history. In a year or two hence, Brandenburg be-
came again the theatre of business; Austrian Gallas
advancing thither again (1644), with intent "to shut-up
Torstenson and his Swedes in Jutland," where they
had been chastising old Christian IV. , now meddlesome
again for the last time, and never a good neighbour to
Sweden. Gallas could by no means do what he in-
tended; on the contrary, he had to run from Torsten-
son, what feet could do; was hunted, he and his Merode-
Briider (beautiful inventors of the "Marauding" Art),
"till they pretty much all died (crepirten)," says Kbh-
ler. * No great loss to society, the death of these Ar-
? Reichs-Uistorie, p. 558; Pauli, v. 24.
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? chap, xvm. ] kurfCkst friedrich wilhelm. 61
1644.
tists; but we can fancy what their life, and especially
what the process of their dying, may have cost poor
Brandenburg again! --
Friedrich Wilhelm's aim, in this as in other emergen-
cies, was sun-clear to himself, but for most part dim to
everybody else. He had to walk very warily, Sweden
on one hand of him, suspicious Kaiser on the other;
he had to wear semblances, to be ready with evasive
words; and advance noiselessly by many circuits. More
delicate operation could not be imagined. But advance
he did; advance and arrive. With extraordinary talent,
diligence and felicity the young man wound himself
out of this first fatal position; got those foreign Armies
pushed-out of his Country, and kept them out. His
first concern had been to find some vestige of revenue,
to put that upon a clear footing; and by loans or other-
wise to scrape a little ready-money together. On the
strength of which a small body of soldiers could be
collected about him, and drilled into real ability to
fight and obey. This as a basis; on this followed all
manner of things; freedom from Swedish-Austrian in-
vasions, as the first thing.
He was himself, as appeared by and by, a fighter
of the first quality, when it came to that; but never
was willing to fight, if he could help it. Preferred
rather to shift, manoeuvre and negotiate; which he did
in a most vigilant, adroit and masterly manner. But
by degrees he had grown to have, and could maintain
it, an Army of 24,000 men; among the best troops
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? 62 THE HOHENZOLLEBNS IN BRANDENBUKG. [boOKIM
1640-1688.
then in being. With or without his will, he was in
all the great Wars of his time, -- the time of Louis
XIV. , who kindled Europe four times over, thrice in
our Kurfiirst's day. The Kurfurst's Dominions, a long
straggling country, reaching from Memel to Wesel,
could hardly keep out of the way of any war that
might rise. He made himself available, never against
the good cause of Protestantism and German Freedom,
yet always in the place and way where his own best
advantage was to be had. Louis XIV. had often much
need of him; still oftener, and more pressingly, had
Kaiser Leopold, the little Gentleman "in scarlet stock-
ings, with a red feather in his hat," whom Mr. Savage
used to see majestically walking about, with Austrian
lip that said nothing at all. * His 24,000 excellent
fighting-men, thrown-in at the right time, were often a
thing that could turn the balance in great questions.
They required to be allowed-for at a high rate, --
which he well knew how to adjust himself for exacting
and securing always.
? A Compleat History of Germany, by Mr. Savage (8vo, London, 1702),
p. 553. Who this Mr. Savage was, we have no trace. Prefixed to the
volume is the Portrait of a solid Gentleman of forty; gloomily polite, with
ample wig and cravat, -- iu all likelihood some studious subaltern Diplo-
matist in the Succession War. His little Book is very lean and barren; but
faithfully compiled, -- and might have some illumination in it, where utter
darkness Is so prevalent. Most likely, Addison picked his story of the Siege
of Weinsberg ("Women carrying out their Husbands on their back," -- on*
ol his best Spectators) out of this poor Bnok.
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? chap, xvm. ] kurfCkst friedrich wilhelm. 63
1648.
What became of Pommern at the Peace; final glance into
Cleve-Julich.
When the Peace of Westphalia (1648) concluded
that Thirty-Years Conflagration, and swept the ashes
of it into order again, Friedrich Wilhelm's right to
Pommern was admitted by everybody; and well in-
sisted on by himself: but right had to yield to reason
of state, and he could not get it. The Swedes insisted
on their expenses; the Swedes held Pommern, had all
along held it, -- in pawn, they said, for their ex-
penses. Nothing for it but to give the Swedes the
better half of Pommern. i^ore-Pommern (so they call
it, "Swedish Pomerania" thenceforth), which lies next
the Sea; this, with some Towns and cuttings over
and above, was Sweden's share: Friedrich Wilhelm
had to put-up with Jlinder-Vommem, docked further-
more of the Town of Stettin, and of other valuable
cuttings, in favour of Sweden. Much to Friedrich Wil-
helm's grief and just anger, could he have helped it.
They gave him Three secularised Bishoprics, Magde-
burg, Halberstadt, Minden with other small remnants,
for compensation; and he had to be content with these
for the present. But he never gave-up the idea of
Pommern; much of the effort of his life was spent upon
recovering Fore-Pommern; thrice-eager upon that, when-
ever lawful opportunity offered. To no purpose then;
he never could recover Swedish Pommern; only his
late descendants, and that by slowish degrees, could
recover it all. Readers remember that Btirgermeister
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? 64 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURO. [BOOSnl.
1640-1688.
of Stettin, with the helmet and sword flung into
the grave and picked out again; -- and can judge
whether Brandenburg got its good-luck quite by lying
in bed! --
Once, and once only, he had a voluntary purpose
towards War, and it remained a purpose only. Soon
after the Peace of Westphalia, old Pfalz-Neuburg, the
same who got the slap on the face, went into tyrannous
proceedings against the Protestant part of his subjects
in Julich-Cleve; who called to Friedrich Wilhelm for
help. Friedrich Wilhelm, a zealous Protestant, made
remonstrances, retaliations: ere long the thought struck
him, "Suppose, backed by the Dutch, we threw-out
this fantastic old gentleman, his Papistries, and pre-
tended claims and self, clear out of it? " This was
Friedrich Wilhelm's thought; and he suddenly marched
troops into the Territory, with that view. But Europe
was in alarm, the Dutch grew faint: Friedrich Wil-
helm saw it would not do. He had a conference with
old Pfalz-Neuburg: "Young gentleman, we remember
how your Grandfather made free with us, and our
august countenance! Nevertheless we --" In fine, the
"statistic of Treaties" was increased by One; and there
the matter rested till calmer times.
In 1666, as already said, an effective Partition of
these litigated Territories was accomplished: Prussia to
have the Duchy of Cleve-Proper, the Counties of Mark
and Ravensberg, with other Patches and Pertinents;
Neuburg, what was the better share, to have Julich
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? chap, xna. ] kurfUrst friedrich wilhelm. 65
1666.
Duchy and Berg Duchy. Furthermore, if either of
the Lines failed, in no sort was a collateral to be ad-
mitted; but Brandenburg was to inherit Neuburg, or
Neuburg Brandenburg, as the case might be. * A
clear Bargain this at last; and in the times that had
come, it proved executable so far. But if the reader
fancies the Lawsuit was at last out in this way, he
will be a simple reader! In the days of our little
Fritz, the Line of Pfalz-Neuburg was evidently end-
ing: but that Brandenburg and not a collateral should
succeed it, there lay the quarrel, -- open still, as if
it had never been shut; and we shall hear enough
about it! --
The Great Kurfiirsfs Wars: what he achieved in War
and Peace.
Friedrich Wilhelm's first actual appearance in War,
Polish-Swedish War (1655-1660), was involuntary in
the highest degree; forced upon him for the sake of
his Preussen, which bade fair to be lost or ruined,
without blame of his or its. Nevertheless, here too,
he made his benefit of the affair. The big King of
Sweden had a standing quarrel with his big cousin of
Poland, which broke-out into hot War; little Preussen
lay between them, and was like to be crushed in the
collision. Swedish King was Karl Gustav, Christina's
Cousin, Charles Twelfth's Grandfather; a great and
mighty man, lion of the North in his time: Polish
? Pauli, v. 120-129.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. II. 5
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? 66 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [B0OK m'
1840-1688.
King was one John Casimir; chivalrous enough, and
with clouds of forward Polish chivalry about him, glit-
tering with barbaric gold. Frederick III. , Danish King
for the time being, he also was much involved in the
thing. Fain would Friedrich Wilhelm have kept out
of it, but he could not. Karl Gustav as good as
forced him to join: he joined; fought along with
Karl Gustav an illustrious Battle; "Battle of Warsaw,"
three days long (28-30th July 1656), on the skirts
of Warsaw, -- crowds "looking from the upper win-
dows" there; Polish chivalry, broken at last, going
like chaff upon the winds, and John Casimir nearly
ruined.
Shortly after which, Friedrich Wilhelm, who had
shone much in the Battle, changed sides. An incon-
sistent, treacherous man? Perhaps not, O reader; per-
haps a man advancing "in circuits," the only way he
has; spirally, face now to east, now to west, with his
own reasonable private aim sun-clear to him all the
while?
John Casimir agreed to give-up the "Homage of
Preussen" for this service; a grand prize for Friedrich
Wilhelm. * What the Teutsch Ritters strove for in
vain, and lost their existence in striving for, the shifty
Kurfurst has now got: Ducal Prussia, which is also
called East Prussia, is now a free sovereignty, -- and
will become as "Royal" as the other Polish part . Or
perhaps even more so, in the course of time! -- Karl
? Treaty of Lablau, 10th November 1666 (Paull, v. 78-76); 20th Novem-
ber (Stenzel, iv. 128, -- who always uses New Style).
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? CHAP. xvm. ] kukfDbst priedeich wilhelm. G7
1656.
Gustav, in a high frame of mind, informs the Kurfurst,
that he has him on his books, and will pay the debt
one day!
A dangerous debtor in such matters, this Karl Gus-
tav. In these same months, busy with the Danish part
of the Controversy, he was doing a feat of war, which
set all Europe in astonishment. In January 1658,
Karl Gustav marches his Army, horse, foot and artil-
lery, to the extent of Twenty-thousand, across the
Baltic ice, and takes an Island without shipping, -- Island of Fiinen, across the Little Belt; three miles of
ice; and a part of the sea open, which has to be crossed
on planks. Nay forward from Fiinen, when once
there, he achieves ten whole miles more of ice; and
takes Zealand itself,* -- to the wonder of all mankind.
An imperious, stern-browed, swift-striking man; who
had dreamed of a new Goth Empire: The mean Hypo-
crites and Fribbles of the South to be coerced again by
noble Norse valour, and taught a new lesson. Has
been known to lay his hand on his sword while ap-
prising an Ambassador (Dutch High-Mightiness) what
his royal intentions were: "Not the sale or purchase of
groceries, observe you, Sir! My aims go higher! " --
Charles Twelfth's Grandfather, and somewhat the same
type of man.
But Karl Gustav died, short while after;** left his
big wide-raging Northern Controversy to collapse in
what way it could. Sweden and the fighting-parties
? Holberg's Danemarkische Reichs-Hictorie, pp. 406-409.
? ? 13tt February 1660, age 38.
5*
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? G8 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [B00Km-
1640-1C88.
made their "Peace of Oliva" (Abbey of Oliva, near
Dantzig, 1st May 1660); and this of Preussen was ra-
tified, in all form, among the other points. No Ho-
mage more; nothing now above Ducal Prussia but the
Heavens; and great times coming for it. This was one
of the successfullest strokes of business ever done by
Friedrich Wilhelm; who had been forced, by sheer
compulsion, to embark in that big game. -- "Royal
Prussia," the Western or Polish Prussia: this too, as
all Newspapers know, has, in our times, gone the same
road as the other. Which probably, after all, it may
have had, in Nature, some tendency to do? Cut away,
for reasons, by the Polish sword, in that Battle of
Tannenberg, long since; and then, also for reasons,
cut back again! That is the fact; -- not unexampled
in human History.
Old Johann Casimir, not long after that Peace of
Oliva, getting tired of his unruly Polish chivalry and
their ways, abdicated; -- retired to Paris; and "lived
much with Ninon de l'Enclos and her circle," for the
rest of his life. He used to complain of his Polish
chivalry, that there was no solidity in them; nothing
but outside glitter, with tumult and anarchic noise;
fatal want of one essential talent, the talent of Obeying;
. -- and has been heard to prophesy that a glorious Re-
public, persisting in such courses, would arrive at
results which would surprise it.
Onward from this time, Friedrich Wilhelm figures
in the world; public men watching his procedure; Kinga
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? cha? p. xvin. ] kubfDbst friedkich wilhelm. 69
1660.
anxious to secure him, -- Dutch Printsellers sticking-up
his Portraits for a hero-worshiping Public. Fighting
hero, had the Public known it, was not his essential
character, though he had to fight a great deal. He was
essentially an Industrial man; great in organising, re-
gulating, in constraining chaotic heaps to become cosmic
for him. He drains bogs, settles colonies in the waste-
places of his Dominions, cuts canals; unweariedly en-
courages trade and work. The Friedrich- Wilhelm's
Canal, which still carries tonnage from the Oder to the
Spree,* is a monument of his zeal in this way; credit-
able, with the means he had. To the poor French
Protestants, in the Edict-of-Nantes Affair, he was like
an express Benefit of Heaven: one Helper appointed,
to whom the help itself was profitable. He munificently
welcomed them to Brandenburg; showed really a noble
piety and human pity, as well as judgment; nor did
Brandenburg and he want their reward. Some 20,000
nimble French souls, evidently of the best French
quality, found a home there; -- made "waste sands
about Berlin into potherb gardens;" and in the spiritual
Brandenburg, too, did something of horticulture, which
is still noticeable. **
Certainly this Elector was one of the shiftiest of
men. Not an unjust man either. A pious, God-fearing
man rather, stanch to his Protestantism and his Bible;
? Executed, 1662-'68: fifteen English miles long (Bttsching: Erdbe-
tchreibung, vi. 2193).
Erman (weak Biographer of Queen Sophie-Charlotte, already cited):
Memoires pour tervir A VHisloire des tttfugidh Francais dam let Etali dtf
Hoi ie rrwe (Berlin, 1782-'M), 8 <<. 6M>.
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? 70 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [>>OOK III.
1640-1688.
not unjust by any means, -- nor, on the other hand,
by any means thinskinned in his interpretings of justice:
Fairplay to myself always; or occasionally even the
Height of Fairplay! On the whole, by constant energy,
vigilance, adroit activity, by an ever-ready insight and
audacity to seize the passing fact by its right handle,
he fought his way well in the world; left Brandenburg
a flourishing and greatly-increased Country, and his
own name famous enough.
A thickset, stalwart figure; with brisk eyes, and
high strong irregularly-Roman nose. Good bronze
Statue of him, by Schluter, once a famed man, still
rides on the Lange-Brucke (Long-Bridge) at Berlin; and
his Portrait, in huge frizzled Louis-Quatorze wig, is
frequently met with in German Galleries. Collectors
of Dutch Prints, too, know him: here a gallant, eagle-
featured little gentleman, brisk in the smiles of youth,
with plumes, with truncheon, caprioling on his war-
charger, view of tents in the distance; -- there a sedate,
ponderous, wrinkly old man, eyes slightly puckered
(eyes busier than mouth); a face well-ploughed by Time,
and not found unfruitful; one of the largest, most la-
borious, potent faces (in an ocean of circumambient
periwig) to be met with in that Century. * There are
many Histories about him, too; but they are not com-
fortable to read. ** He also has wanted a sacred Poet;
and found only a bewildering Dryasdust.
? Both Prints are Dutch; the Younger, my copy of the Younger, has
lost the Engraver's Name (Kurfiirst's age is twenty-seven); the Elder is by
Ma&son, 1683, when Friedrich Wiihelm was sixty-three.
? ? 0. D. Geyler: Leben und Thalen Friedrich Wilhelmt det Grossen
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? CHAP. xvm. ] KURFttRST FRtEDRICH WILHELM. 71
167*.
His Two grand Feats that dwell in the Prussian
memory are perhaps none of his greatest, but were of
a kind to strike the imagination. They both relate to
what was the central problem of his life, -- the reco-
very of Pommern from the Swedes. Exploit First is
the famed "Battle of Fehrlellin (Ferry of Belken),"
fought on the 18th June 1675. Fehrbellin is an in-
considerable Town still standing in those peaty regions,
some five-and-thirty miles north-west of Berlin; and had
for ages plied its poor Ferry over the oily-looking,
brown, sluggish stream called Rhin, or Rhein in those
parts, without the least notice from mankind, till this
fell out . It is a place of pilgrimage to patriotic Prus-
sians, ever since Friedrich Wilhelm's exploit there. The
matter went thus:
Friedrich Wilhelm was fighting, far south in Alsace,
on Kaiser Leopold's side, in the Louis-Fourteenth War;
that second one, which ended in the Treaty of Nim-
wegen. Doing his best there, -- when the Swedes,
egged-on by Louis XIV. , made war upon him; crossed
the Pommeranian marches, troop after troop, and in-
vaded his Brandenburg Territory with a force which at
length amounted to some 16,000 men. No help for
the moment: Friedrich Wilhelm could not be spared
from his post. The Swedes, who had at first professed
(Frankfort and Leipzig, 1703), folio. Franz Horn: Dat Leben Friedrich
Wilhelmt det Grossen (Berlin, 1814). Panll: Staats-Geschichte, Band v.
(Halle, 1764). Pnfendorf: De rebus gettit Frideriei Wilhelmi Hagni Electorit
Prandenburgensit Commentar\a (Lips, et Berol. 1783, fol. ),
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? 72 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG, [book m.
1610-1688.
well, gradually went into plunder, roving, harrying, at
their own will; and a melancholy time they made of it
for Friedrich Wilhelm and his People. Lucky if tem-
porary harm were all the ill they were likely to do;
lucky if--! He stood steady, however; in his solid
manner, finishing the thing in hand first, since that was
feasible. He then even retired into winter-quarters, to
rest his men; and seemed to have left the Swedish
16,000 autocrats of the situation; who accordingly went
storming about at a great rate.
Not so, however; very far indeed from so. Having
rested his men for certain months, Friedrich Wilhelm
silently in the first days of June (1675) gets them under
march again; marches, his Cavalry and he as first in-
stalment, with best speed from Schweinfurt,* which is
on the river Mayn, to Magdeburg; a distance of two-
hundred miles. At Magdeburg, where he rests three
days, waiting for the first handful of Foot and a field-
piece or two, he learns that the Swedes are in three
parties wide asunder; the middleparty of them within
forty miles of him. Probably stronger, even this
middle one, than his small body (of "Six-thousand
Horse, Twelve-hundred Foot and three guns"); --
stronger, but capable perhaps of being surprised, of
being cut in pieces, before the others can come up?
Rathenau is the nearest skirt of this middle party:
thither goes the Kurfilrst, softly, swiftly, in the June
night (16-17th June 1675); gets into Rathenau, by
? gteMel, lit 347,
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? CHAP. xvI0. J KURFtiRST FRIEDRICH WILHELM. 73
1679.
brisk stratagem; tumbles-out the Swedish Horse-regi-
ment there, drives it back towards Fehrbellin.
He himself follows hard;-- swift riding enough, in
the summer-night, through those damp Havel lands, in
the old Hohenzollern fashion: and indeed old Friesack
Castle, as it chances, -- Friesack, scene of Dietrich
von Quitzow and Lazy-Peg long since, -- is close by!
Follows hard, we say: strikes-in upon this midmost
party (nearly twice his number, but Infantry for most
part); and after fierce fight, done with good talent on
both sides, cuts it into utter ruin, as proposed. Thereby
he has left the Swedish Army as a mere head and tail
without body; has entirely demolished the Swedish
Army. * Same feat intrinsically as that done by Crom-
well, on Hamilton and the Scots, in 1648. It was, so
to speak, the last visit Sweden paid to Brandenburg,
or the last of any consequence; and ended the domina-
tion of the Swedes in those quarters. A thing justly
to be forever remembered by Brandenburg; -- on a
smallish modern scale, the Bannockburn, Sempach,
Marathon, of Brandenburg. **
Exploit Second was four years later; in some sort
a corollary to this; and a winding-up of the Swedish
business. The Swedes, in farther prosecution of their
Louis-Fourteenth speculation, had invaded Preussen
this time, and were doing sad havoc there. It was in
? Stcnzcl, II. 350-357.
Sec Panli, v. 161-169; Stenzel, II. 835 , 340-347, 354; Kausler, Altai
des pint memorables Batailles, Combats et Sidges, or Atlas der merkwfir-
digstm Schlachten, Treffen und Delagemngen (Qermiu) and French, Carls-
rube anil Freiburg, 1831), {1. 417, BlnttC? ,
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? 74 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [bOOK in.
1610-1688.
the dead of winter, Christmas 1678, more than four
hundred miles off; and the Swedes, to say nothing of
their other havoc, were in a case to take Konigsberg,
and ruin Prussia altogether, if not prevented. Friedrich
Wilhelm starts from Berlin, with the opening Year, on
his long march; the Horse-troops first, Foot to follow
at their swiftest; he himself (his Wife, his ever-true
'Louisa,' accompanying, as her wont was) travels, to-
wards the end, at the rate of "sixty miles a day. " He
gets-in still in time, finds Konigsberg unscathed, Nay
it is even said, the Swedes are extensively falling sick;
having, after a long famine, found infinite "pigs, near
Insterburg," in those remote regions, and indulged in
the fresh pork overmuch.
I will not describe the subsequent manoeuvres, which
would interest nobody: enough if I say that on the
16th of January 1679, it had become of the highest
moment for Friedrich Wilhelm to get from Carwe
(Village near Elbing) on the shore of the Frische Haf,
where he was, through Konigsberg, to Gilge on the
Curische Haf, where the Swedes are, -- in a minimum
of time. Distance, as the crow flies, is about a hundred
miles; road, which skirts the two Hafs* (wide shallow
Washes, as we should name them), is of rough quality,
and naturally circuitous. It is ringing frost today, and
for days back: -- Friedrich Wilhelm hastily gathers
all the sledges, all the horses of the district; mounts
some Four-thousand men in sledges; starts, with the
speed of light, in that fashion. Scours along all day,
? Paull, v. S16-222; Stenzel, 11. 892-887.
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? CHAP, xvm. ] kurfOrst friedrich wilhelm. 75
1679.
and after the intervening bit of land, again along;
awakening the icebound silences. Gloomy Frische Haf,
wrapt in its Winter cloud-coverlids, with its wastes of
tumbled sand, its poor frost-bound fishing-hamlets, pine-
hillocks, -- desolate-looking, stern as Greenland or
more so, says Biisching, who travelled there in winter-
time,*-- hears unexpected human noises, and huge
grinding and trampling; the Four-thousand, in long
fleet of sledges, scouring across it, in that manner. All
day they rush along, -- out of the rimy hazes of morn-
ing into the olive-coloured clouds of evening again, --
with huge loud-grinding rumble; -- and do arrive in
time at Gilge. A notable streak of things, shooting
across those frozen solitudes, in the New-Year 1679;--
little short of Karl Gustav's feat, which we heard of, in
the other or Danish end of the Baltic, twenty years ago,
when he took Islands without ships.
This Second Exploit, -- suggested or not by that
prior one of Karl Gustav on the ice, -- is still a thing
to be remembered by Hohenzollerns and Prussians. The
Swedes were beaten here, on Friedrich Wilhelm's rapid
arrival; were driven into disastrous rapid retreat North-
ward; which they executed in hunger and cold; fighting
continually, like Northern bears, under the grim sky;
Friedrich Wilhelm sticking to their skirts, -- holding
by their tail, like an angry bearward with steel whip
in his hand. A thing which, on the small scale, re-
minds one of Napoleon's experiences. Not till Napo-
leon's huge fighting-flight, a Hundred-and-thirty-four
? Btisching's Beitrtge (Halle, 1789), vi. 160.
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? 76 THE HOHENZOLLEBNS IN BRAKDENBURG. [uOOKirt.
1640-1688.
years after, did I read of such a transaction in those
parts. The Swedish invasion of Preussen has gone
utterly to ruin.
And this, then, is the end of Sweden, and its bad
neighbourhood on these shores, where it has tyrannously
sat on our skirts so long? Swedish Pommern the Elector
already had: last year, coming towards it ever since
the Exploit of Fehrbellin, he had invaded Swedish Pom-
mern; had besieged and taken Stettin, nay Stralsund
too, where Wallenstein had failed; -- cleared Pommern
altogether of its Swedish guests. Who had tried next
in Preussen, with what luck we see. Of Swedish Pom-
mern the Elector might now say: "Surely it is mine;
again mine, as it long was; well won a second time,
since the first would not do! " But no: -- Louis XIV. proved a gentleman to his Swedes. Louis, now that
the Peace of Nimwegen had come, and only the Elector
of Brandenburg was still in harness, said steadily,
though anxious enough to keep well with the Elector:
"They are my allies, these Swedes; it was on my bid-
ding they invaded you: can I leave them in such a pass?
It must not be! " So Pommern had to be given back.
A miss which was infinitely grievous to Friedrich Wil-
helm. The most victorious Elector cannot hit always,
were his right never so good.
Another miss which he had to put-up with, in spite
of his rights, and his good services, was that of the
Silesian Duchies. The Heritage-Fraternity with Liegnitz
had at length, in 1675, come to fruit. The last Duke
of Liegnitz was dead: Duchies of Liegnitz, of Brieg,
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