No More Learning

19*
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? 292 SEVEN-YKARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
Jan. -- April 1758.
before, or more passionately now than ever; still loved
Friedrich, say the Books; but it is Russia's for the
present, and the mischief is done. East Preussen it-
self, Circe Czarina cherishing it as her own, had a
much peaceabler time: in secret it even sent moneys,
recruits, numerous young volunteers to Friedrich; much
more, hopes and prayers. But his disgust with the late
transformation by enchantment was inexpiable.
It was May or June, as had been anticipated, before
the Russian main Army made its practical appearance
in those parts. Fermor had, in the interim, seized Thorn,
seized Elbing ("No offence, magnanimousPolacks, it is
only for a time! "), -- and would fain have had Dantzig
too, but Dantzig wouldn't. Not till June 16th did the
unwieldly mass (on paper 104,000, and in effect, and
exclusive of Cossack rabble, about 75,000) get on way;
and begin slowly staggering westward. Very slowly,
and amid incendiary fire and horrid cruelty, as here-
tofore; -- and in August coming we shall be sure to
hear of it.
Lehwald was just finishing with the Swedes, -- had
got them all bottled up in Stralsund again, about New-
year's time, when these Russians crossed into Preussen.
We said nothing of the Swedish so-called Campaign of
last Year; -- and indeed are bound to be nearly silent
of that and of all the others. Five Campaigns of them,
or at least Four and a half; such Campaigns as were
never made before or since. Of Campaign 1757, the
memorable feature is that of the whole "Swedish Divi-
sion," as the laughing Newspapers called it, which was
"put to flight by Five Berlin Postillions;" -- sub-
stantially a truth, as follows:
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? CHAP. n. l WINTER IN BRESLAU. 293
Jan. -- April 1758.
"Night of September 12th-13th, the Swedes, 22,000
"strong, did at last begin business; crossed Peene River,
"the boundary between their Pommern and ours; and,
"having nothing but some fractions of Militia to oppose them,
"soon captured the Redoubts there; spread over Prussian
"Pommern, and on into the Uckermark; diligently raising
"contributions, to a heavy amount. No less than 90,000/. in
"all for this poor Province; though, by a strange accident,
"60,000/. proved to be the actual sum.
"Towards the end of October they had got as much as
"60,000/. from the northern parts of Uckermark, Prentzlow
"being their headquarter during that operation; and they
"now sent out a Detachment of 200 grenadiers and 100
"dragoons towards Zehdenick, another little Town, some
"forty miles farther south, there to wring out the remaining
"sum. The Detachment marched by night, not courting
"notice; but people had heard of its coming, and five Prussian
"Postillions, -- shifty fellows, old hussars it may be, at any
"rate skilful on the trumpet, and furnished with hussar
"jackets and an old pistol each, determined to do something
"tor their Country. The Swedish Detachment had not
"marched many miles, when, -- after or before some
"flourishes of martial trumpeting, -- there verily fell on the
"Swedish flank, out of a clump of dark wood, five shots,
"and wounded one man. To the astonishment and panic of
"the other Two hundred and ninety-nine; who made instant
"retreat, under new shots and trumpet-tones, as if it were
'' from five whole hussar regiments: -- retreat, double-quick,
"to Prentzlow; alarm waxing by the speed; alarm spreading
"at Prentzlow itself: so that the whole Division got to its
"feet, recrossed the Peene; and Uckermark had nothing
"more to pay, for that bout! This is not a fable, such as go
"in the Newspapers," adds my Authority, "but an accurate
"fact:"* -- probably, in our day, the alone memorable one
of that" Swedish War. "
"The French," says another of my Notes, "who did
"the subsidying all round (who paid even the Russian
"Subsidy, though in Austria's name), had always an
"idea that the Swedes, -- 22,000 stout men, this year, 4,000
"of them cavalry, -- might be made to cooperate with the
* HeUen-Geschichte, iv. 764, 807; Archenholtz, i. 160.
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? 294 SEVEN-YEARS WAH RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVnt.
Jan. -- April 1758.
"Russians; with them or with somebody; and do some-
"thing effective in the way of destroying Friedrich. And
"besides their subsidies and bribings, the French took
"incredible pains with this view; incessantly contriving,
"correspondencing, and running to and fro between the
"parties;* but had not, even from the Russians and Czarish
"Majesty, much of a result, and from the Swedes had ab-
solutely none at all. By French industry and flagitation,
"the Swedish Army was generally kept up to about 20,000:
"the soldiers were expert with their fighting-tools, knew
"their field-exercise well; had fine artillery, and were stout
"hardy fellows: but the guidance of them was wonderful.
"'They had no field-commissariat,' says one Observer, 'no
'"field-bakery, no magazines, no pontoons, no light troops;
"'and,' among the Higher Officers, 'no subordination. '**
"Were, in short, commanded by nobody in particular. Com-
"manded by Senator Committee-men in Stockholm; and,
"on the field, by Generals anxious to avoid responsibility;
"who, instead of acting, held continual Councils of War.
"The history of their Campaigns, year after year, is, in
"summary, this: "Late in the season (always late, War-Offices at home,
"and Captaincies here, being in such a state), they emerge
"from Stralsund, an impregnable place of their own, --
"where the men, I observe, have had to live on dried fishy
"substances, instead of natural boiled oatmeal;*** and have
"died extensively in consequence: -- they march from Stral-
"sund, a forty or thirty miles, till they reach the Swedish-
"Pommern boundary, Peene River; a muddy sullen stream,
"flowing through quagmire meadows, which are miles broad,
* For example: M. le Marquis de Montalembert, Correspondence avee
&c. , 4lam employe par le Itoi de France a I'Armee SuMoise, 1757-1761 ("with
the Swedish Army,11 yes, and sometimes with the Russian, -- and some-
times on the French Coasts, ardently fortifying against Pitt and his Descents there: -- a very intelligent, industrious, observant man; still amusing
to read, if one were idler), a Londres (evidently Paris), 1777, 3 toll. , small
8vo. Then, likewise very intelligent, there is a Montazet, a Mortaigne, a
Caulaincourt; a Campagne des Husses en 1757; &c. &c. -- in short, a great
deal of fine faculty employed there in spinning ropes from sand.
"* Archenholtz, 1. 158.
? *? Montalembert, i. 32-37, 335, 394 &c. (that of the demand for Norse
porridge, which interested me, I cannot find again).
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? CHAP. XI. ] WINTER IN BRESLAU. 295
Jan. -- April 1758.
"on each shore: River unfordable everywhere; only to be
"crossed in four or five places, where paved causeways are.
"The Swedes, with deliberation, cross Peene; after some
"time, capture the bits of Redoubts, and the one or two
"poor Prussian Towns upon it; Anklam Redoubt, Peene-
"miinde (Peene-mouth) Redoubt; and rove forward into
"PrussianPommern, or over into tbe Uckermark, for fifty,
"for a hundred miles; exacting contributions; foraging what
"they can; making the poor country people very miserable,
"and themselves not happy, -- their soldiers 'growing yearly
'"more plunderous,' says Archenholtz, 'till at length they
"' got, though much shyer of murder, to resemble Cossacks,'
"in regard to other pleas of the crown.
"There is generally some fractional regiment or so of
"Prussian force, left under some select General Manteuffel,
"Colonel Belling; who hangs diligently on the skirts of
"them, exploding by all opportunities. There have been
"Country Militias voluntarily got on foot, for the occasion;
"five or six small regiments of them; officered by Prussian
"Veterans of the Squirearchy in those parts; who do ex-
cellent service. The Governor of Stettin, Bevern, our old
"Silesian friend, strikes out now and then, always vigilant,
"prompt and effective, on a chance offering. This, through
"Summer, is what opposition can be made: and the Swedes,
"without magazines, scout-service, or the like military ap-
pliances, but willing enough to fight' (when they can see),
"and living on their shifts, will rove inward, perhaps 100
"miles; say south-westward, say south-eastward' (towards
Ruppin, which we used to know), -- "they love to keep
"Mecklenburg usually on their flank, which is a friendly
"Country. Small fightsbefal them, usually beatings; never
"anything considerable. That is their success through
"Summer.
"Then, in Autumn, some remnant more of Prussian
"regulars arrive, disposable now for that service; upon which
"the Swedes are driven over Peene again (quite sure to be
"driven, when the River with its quagmires freezes); lose
"Anklam Redoubt, Peenemiinde Redoubt; lose Demmin,
"Wollin; are followed into Swedish Pommern, oftenest to
"the gates ofStralsund, and are locked up there, there and
"in Riigen adjoining, till a new season arrive. " -- This year
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? 296 8EVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII.
Jan. -- April 1758.
(1757-8), Lehwald, on turning the key of Stralsund, might
have done a fine feat; frost having come suddenly, and
welded Riigen to the mainland. "What is to hinder you
from starving them into surrender? " signifies Friedrich,
hastily: "Besiege me Stralsund! " Which Lehwald did;
but should have been quicker about it; or the thaw came too
soon, and admitted ships with provision again. Upon which
Lehwald resigned, to a General Graf vonDohna; and went
home, as grown too old: and Dohna kept them bottled there
till the usual Russian Advent (deep in June); by which time,
what with limited stockfish diet, what with sore labour
(breaking of the ice, whenever frost reappeared) and other
hardship, more than half of them had died. -- "Every new
"season, there was a new General tried; but without the
"least improvement. There was mockery enough, complaint
"enough; indignant laughter in Stockholm itself; and the
"Dalecarlians thought of revolting: the Senator Committee-
"men held firm, ballasted by French gold, for four years.
"The Prussian Militias are a fine trait of the matter;
"about fifteen regiments in different parts; -- about five in
"Pommern, which set the example; which were suddenly
"raised last Autumn by the Stande themselves, drilled in
"Stettin continually, while the Swedes were under way, and
"which stood ready for some action, under veterans of the
"squirearchy, when the Swedes arrived. They were kept
"up through the War. The Stctnde even raised a little fleet,*
"river fleet and coast fleet, twelve gunboats, with a powerful
"carronade in each, and effective men and captain; a great
"check on plundering and coast-mischief, till the Swedes,
"who are naval, at last made an effort and destroyed them
"all. "
Friedrich was very sensible of these procedures on
the part of his Stdnde; and perhaps readers are not
prepared for such, or for others of the like, which we
could produce elsewhere, in a Country without Con-
stitution to speak of. Friedrich raises no new taxes, --
except upon himself exclusively, and these to the very
* Archonholtz, i. 110.
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? CHAP. XI. ] WINTER IN BRESLAU. 297
11th April 1758.
blood: -- Friedrich gets no Life-and-Fortune Addresses
of the vocal or printed sort, but only of the acted. Very
much the preferable kind, where possible, to all parties
concerned. These poor militias and flotillas one cheer-
fully puts on record; cheerfully nothing else, in regard
to such a Swedish War; -- nor shall we henceforth in-
sult the human memory by another word upon it that
is not indispensable.
Of the English Subsidy.
One of Friedrich's most important affairs, at pre-
sent, -- vitally connected with his Army and its
furnishings, which is the all-important, -- was his Sub-
sidy Treaty with England. It is the third treaty he
has signed with England in regard to this War; the
second in regard to subsidy for it; and it is the first
that takes real practical effect. It had cost difficulty in
adjusting, not a little correspondence and management
from Mitchell; for the King is very shy about subsidy,
though grim necessity prescribes it as inevitable; and
his pride, and his reflections on the last Subsidy Treaty,
"One Million sterling, Army of Observation, and Fleet
in the Baltic," instead of which came Zero and Kloster-
Zeven, have made him very sensitive. However, all
difficulties are got over; Plenipotentiary Knyphausen,
Pitt, Britannic Majesty and everybody striving to be
rational and practical; and at London, 11th April 1758,
Subsidy Treaty, admirably brief and to the point, is
finished:* "That Friedrich shall have Four Million
Thalers, that is, 670,000/. ; payable in London to his
order, in October, this Year; which sum Friedrich
* In four short Articles; given In llelden-Gctchichle, v. 16-17.
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? 298 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book Xvm.
11th April 1758.
engages to spend wholly in maintenance and increase
of his Army for behoof of the common object; -- neither
party to dream of making the least shadow of peace
or truce without the other. " Of Baltic Fleet, there is
nothing said; nor, in regard to that, was anything done,
this year or afterwards; highly important as it would
have been to Friedrich, with the Navies so-called of
both Sweden and Russia doing their worst upon him.
"Why not spare me a small English squadron, and
blow these away? " Nor was the why ever made clear
to him; the private why being, that Czarish Majesty
had, last year, intimated to Britannic, "Any such step
on your part will annihilate the now old friendship of
Russia and England, and be taken as a direct declara-
tion of War! " -- which Britannic Majesty, for com-
mercial and miscellaneous reasons, hoped always might
be avoided. Be silent, therefore, on that of Baltic
Fleet.
In all the spoken or covenanted points, the Treaty
was accurately kept: 670,000 L, two-thirds of a million
very nearly, will, in punctual promptitude, come to
Friedrich's hand, were October here. And in regard
to Ferdinand (a point left silent, this too) Friedrich's
expectations were exceeded, not the contrary, so long
as Pitt endured. This is the Third English-Prussian
Treaty of the Seven-Years War, as we said above; and
it is the First that took practical effect: this was followed
by three others, year after year, of precisely the same
tenor, which were likewise practical and punctually
kept, -- the last of them, "12th December 1760," had
reference to Subsidy for 1761: -- and before another
came, Pitt was out. So that, in all, Friedrich had Four
Subsidies; 670,000 I. + 4 = 2,680,000 I. of English
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? CHAP. XI. ] WINTER IN BRESLAU. 299
Jan. --April 1758.
money altogether: -- and it is computed by some, there
was never as much good fighting otherwise had out of
all the 800,000,000 /. we have funded in that peculiar
line of enterprise. *
Pitt had no difficulty with his Parliament, or with
his Public, in regard to this Subsidy; the contrary
rather. Seldom, if ever, was England in such a heat
of enthusiasm about any Foreign Man as about Friedrich,
in these months since Rossbach and what had followed.
Celebrating this "Protestant Hero," authentic new Cham-
pion of Christendom; toasting him, with all the honours,
out of its Worcester and other Mugs, very high indeed.
Take these Three Clippings from the old Newspapers,
omitting all else; and rekindle these, by good inspec-
tion and consideration, into feeble symbolic lamps of
an old illumination, now fallen so extinct.
No. 1. Reverend Mr. Whitfield and the Protestant Hero.
"Monday, January 2d," 1758, "was observed as a Day of
"Thanksgiving, at the Chapel in Tottenham-Court Road" (brand-new Chapel, still standing and acting, though now in
a dingier manner), "by Mr. Whitfield's people, for the signal
"Victories gained by the King of Prussia over his Enemies. *
"'Why rage the Heathen; why do the people imagine a vain
"thing? Sinful beings we, perilously sunk in sin against the
"Most High: -- but they, do they think that, by earthly
"propping and hoisting, their unblessed Chimera, with his
"Three Hats, can sweep away the Eternal Stars 11" -- In this
* First Treaty, 16th January 1756 (is in Helden-Geschichte, m. 681),
u We will oppose by arms any foreign Armament entering Germany;" Se-
cond Treaty, 11th January 1757 (never published till 1802), is in SchBU, m.
30-32: "one million subsidy, a Fleet &c. " (not kept at all); after which,
Third Treaty (the first really issuing in subsidy and performance) is
11th April 1758 (given in Helden-Geschichte, v. 17); Fourth (really second),
7th December 1758 (lb. v.
752); Fifth (third), 9th November 1759; Sixth
(fourth), 12th December 1760. See Preuss, n. 124n.
** Gentleman's Magazine, xxvni. (for 1758), p. 41.
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? 300 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book Xvm.
Jan. --April 1758.
strain, I suppose: Protestant Hero and Heaven's long-suffer-
ing Patiences and Mercies in raising up such a one for a
backsliding generation; doubtless with much unction by Mr.
Whitfield.
No 2. King of Prussia's Birthday (Tuesday, January 24th).
"This being the Birthday of the King of Prussia, who then
"entered into the forty-seventh year of his age, the same was
"observed with illuminations and other demonstrations of
"joy;" -- throughout the Cities of London and Westminster,
"great rejoicings and illuminations," it appears,* now
shining so feebly at a century's distance! --No. 3 is still
more curious; and has deserved from us a little special inquir-
ing into.
No. 3. Miss Barbara Wyndham's Subsidy. "March 13th,
"1758," -- while Pitt and Knyphausen are busy on the Sub-
sidy Treaty, still not out with it, the Newspapers suddenly
announce, --
"Miss Bab. Wyndham, of Salisbury, sister of Henry
"Wyndham, Esq. , of that City, a maiden lady of ample for-
"tune, has ordered her banker to prepare the sum of 1,000/. to
"be immediately remitted, in her own name, as a present to
"the King of Prussia. "** Doubtless to the King of Prussia's
surprise, and that of London Society, which would not want
for commentaries on such a thing!
Before long, the Subsidy Treaty being now out, and the
Wyndham topic new again, London Society reads, in the
same Newspaper, a Documentary Piece, calculated to help in
its commentaries. There is good likelihood of guess, though
no certainty now attainable, that the "English Lady" referred
to may be Miss Bab. herself; -- of whose long-vanished bio-
graphy, and brisk, airy, nomadic ways, we catch hereby a
faint shadow, momentary, but conceivable, and sufficient
for us:
* Gentleman's Magazine, xxvni. (for 1758), p. 43; and vol. xxix. p. 42,
for next year's birthday, and p. 81 for another kind of celebration.
** London Chronicle, March 14th-16th, 1758; Lloyd's Evening Post;
&c. &o.
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? CHAP, a. ] WINTER IN BRESLAU.
301
Jan. -- April 17S8.
"To the Authors of the London Chronicle. *
"The following Account, which is a real fact, will serve to
"show with what punctuality and exactness the King of
"Prussia attends to the most minute affairs, and how open he
"is to applications from all persons.
"AnEnglish Lady being possessed of actions" (shares) "in
"the Embden Company, and having occasion to raise money
"on them, repaired to Antwerp" (some two years ago, as will
be seen), "and made application for thatpurpose to aDirector
"of the Company, established there by the King of Prussia
"for the managing all affairs relative thereto. This person,"
Van Erthorn the name of him, "very willingly entered into
"treaty with her; but the sum he offered to lend being far
"short of what the actions would bring, and he also insisting
"on forfeiture of her right in them, if not redeemed in twelve
"months, -- she broke off with him, and had recourse to some
"merchants at Antwerp, who were inclinable to treat with her
''on much more equitable terms. The proceeding necessarily
"brought the parties before this Director for receiving his "sanction, which was essential to the solidity of the agree-
"ment; and he, finding he was like to lose the advantage he
"had flattered himself with, disputed the authenticity of the
"actions, and thereby threw her into such discredit, as to
"render all attempts to raise money on them ineffectual.
"Upon this the Lady wrote a Letter by the common post to
"his Majesty of Prussia, accompanied with a Memorial com-
"plaining of the treatment she had received from theDirector;
"and she likewise enclosed the actions themselves in another
"letter to a friend at Berlin. By the return of the post, his
"Majesty condescended to answer herLetter; and the actions
"were returned authenticated; which so restored her credit,
"that in a few hours all difficulties were removed relating to
"the transaction shehad in hand; and it is more thanprobable
"theDirector has felt his Majesty's resentment for his ill be-
"haviour. -- The Lady's Letter was as follows:
'Antwerp, 19th February 1756. 'Sir,-- Having had the happiness to pay my court to your
'Majesty during a pretty long residence at Berlin' (say in
? lMndon Chronicle, of 13th-15th April 1758.
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? 302 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book xvni.
Jan. -- April 1758.
Voltaire's time; Miss Barbara's "Embden Company," I observe,
was the first of the two, date 1750; that of 1753 is not hers),
'and to receive such marks of favour from their Majesties the
'Queens' (a Barbara capable of shining in the Royal soirees
at Monbijou, of talking to, or of, your Voltaires and lions, and
investing moneys in the new Embden Company) 'as I shall
'ever retain a grateful sense of, -- I presume to flatter myself
'that your Majesty will not be offended at the respectful
'liberty I have taken in laying before you my complaints
'against one Van Erthorn, a Director of the Embden China
'Company, whose bad behaviour to me, as set forth in my
'Memorial, hath forced me to make a very long and expensive
'stay at this place; and, as the considerable interest I have in
'that Company may further subject me to his caprices, I
'cannot forbear laying my grievances at the foot of your
'Majesty's throne; most respectfully supplicating your Ma-
'jesty that you would be graciously pleased to give orders
'that this Director shall not act towards me for the future as
'he hath done hitherto.
'I hope for this favour from your Majesty's sovereign
'equity; and I shall never cease offeringup my ardentprayers
'for the prosperity of your glorious reign; having the honour
'to be, with the most respectful zeal, Sir, your Majesty's
'most humble, most obedient, and most devoted servant,
* * *'
'The King of Prussia's Answer.
'Potsdam, 26th February 1756. 'Madam,--I received the Letter of the 19th instant, which
'you thought proper to write to me, and was not a little dis-
'pleased to hear of the bad behaviour of one of the Directors
'of the Asiatic Company of Embden towards you, of which
'you were forced to complain. I shall direct your grievances
'to be examined, and have just now despatched my orders for
'that purpose to Lenz, my President of the Chamber of East
'Friesland,' Chief Judge in those parts. * 'You may assure
'yourself the strictest justice shall be done you that the
'case will admit. God keep you in his holy protection. --
'Pkiedbich. '
Whether this refers to Miss Barbara or not, there is no
? Seyfarth, n. 139.
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? CHAT. JQ. l WINTEB IN BKESLAU. 303
Jan. -- April 1758.
affirming. But the interesting point is, Friedrich did receive
and accept Miss Barbara's 1,000/. The Prussian account,
which calls her "an English Jungfrau, Lady Salisbury, who
"actually sent a sum of money,"* would not itself be satis-
factory: but, by good chance, there is still living, in Salisbury
City, a very aged Gentleman, well known for his worth, and
intelligence on such matters, who, being inquired of, makes
reply at once: That the First Earl of Malmesbury (who was
of his acquaintance, and had many anecdotes and reminiscen-
ces of Friedrich, all noted down, it was understood, with
diplomatic exactitude, but never yet published or become
accessible) did, as "I well remember, among other things,
"mention the King's telling him that he," the King, "had
"received a Thousand Pounds from Miss Wyndham; with a
"part of which he had bought the Flute then in his hand. "**
Which latter circumstance, too, is curious. For, at all times,
however straitened Friedrich's Exchequer might be, it was his
known habit, during this War, to have always, before the
current year ended, the ways and means completely settled
and provided for the year coming; so that everything could be
at once paid in money (good money or bad, -- good still up to
this date); -- and nothing was observed to fall short, so much
as the customary liberality of his gifts to those about him. I
infer, therefore: Friedrich had decided to lay out this 1,0001.
in what he would call luxuries, chiefly gifts, --and, among
other things, had said to himself, "I will have a new flute,
"too 1" Probably one of his last; for I understand he had by
this time (Malmesbury's time, 1772), ceased much playing,
and ceased altogether not long after. ***
James Harris, First Earl of Malmesbury, was Resident at
Berlin, 1772: that is all the date we have for the King's saying, "And with part of it I bought this Flute! " Date of Lord
Malmesbury s mention of it at Salisbury, we have none, --like-
* Preuss, n. 124, whose reference is merely "Gentleman's Magazine for
1758. " Both in the Annual Register of that Year (i. 86), and in the Gentle-
man's Magazine, pp. 142, 177, the above Paragraph and Letters are copied
from the Newspapers, but without the smallest commentary (there or else-
where), or any mention of a "Lady Salisbury. "
? * Letter from John Fowler, Esq. , "Salisbury, 2d April 1860," to a
Friend of mine (penes me): of Barbara's identity, or otherwise, with the
Antwerp-Embden Lady, Mr. F. can say nothing.
**? Preuss, 1. 371-373.
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? 804 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book xnn.
March 15th--April 16th 1758.
liest there might be various dates; a thing mentioned more
than once, and not improvable by dating. The Wyndhams
still live in the Close of Salisbury: a respected and well-known
Family; record of them (none of Barbara there, or elsewhere
except here) to be found in the County Histories. * I only
know farther, Barbara died, May 1765, "aged and wealthy,"
and "with the bulk of her fortune endowed a Charity, to
"be called 'Wyndham College,'"** -- which I hope still
flourishes. Enough on this small Wyndham matter; which is
nearly altogether English, but in which Friedrich too has his
indefeasible property.
Friedrich, as indeed Pitt's People and Others have done,
takes the Field uncommonly early: Friedrich goes
upon Schweidnitz, as the Preface to whatever his
Campaign may be.
While this Subsidy Treaty is getting settled in Eng-
land, Duke Ferdinand has his French in full cackle of
universal flight; and before the signing of it (April 11th),
every feather of them is over the Rhine; Duke Ferdi-
nand busy preparing to follow. Glorious news, day
after day, coming in, for Miss Barbara and for all Eng-
lish souls, Royal Highness of Cumberland hardly ex-
cepted! The "Descent on Rochefort," last Autumn,
had a good deal disappointed Pitt and England; -- an
expensively elaborate Expedition, military and naval;
which could not "descend" at all, when it got to the
point; but merely went groping about, on the muddy
shores of the Charente, holding councils of war yonder;
"cannonaded the Isle of Aix for two hours;" and re-
turned home without result of any kind, Courts-martial
following on it, as too usual. This was an unsuccess-
* Britton's Beauties of England and Wales, xv. part n. p. 118; Hoare'a
Salisbury (mistaken, p. 815); &c.
M Annual Register (for 1765), Tin. 86.
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? CHAP. XI. ] WINTER IN BRESLAU. 305
March 15th -- April 16th 1758.
ful first-stroke for Pitt. Indeed, he never did much
succeed in those Descents on the French Coast, though
never again so ill as this time. Those are a kind of
things that require an exactitude as of clockwork, in
all their parts: and Pitt's Generalcies and War-Offices,
-- we know whether they were of the Prussian type or
of the Swedish! A very grievous hindrance to Pitt; --
which he will not believe to be quite incurable. Against
which he, for his part, stands up, in grim earnest, and
with his whole strength; and is now, and at all times,
doing what in him lies to abate or remedy it: -- suc-
cessfully, to an unexpected degree, within the next
four years. From America, he has decided to recal
Lord Loudon, as a cunctatory haggling mortal, the re-
verse of a General; how very different from his Aus-
trian Cousin! * "Abercrombie may be better," hopes
he; -- was better, still not good. But already in the
gloomy imbroglio over yonder, Pitt discerns that one
Amherst (the son of people unimportant at the hustings)
has military talent: and in this puddle of a Rochefort
Futility, he has got his eye on a young Officer named
Wolfe, who was Quartermaster of the Expedition; a
young man likewise destitute of Parliamentary connec-
tion, but who may be worth something. Both of whom
will be heard of! In a four-years determined effort of
this kind, things do improve: and it was wonderful, to
what amount, -- out of these chaotic War-Offices little
* Cousins certainly enough: their Progenitors were Brothers, of that
House, about 1568, -- when Matthew, the cadet, went "into Livonia," into
foreign Soldiering (Papa having fallen Prisoner "at the Battle of Lang-
side,11 1568, and the Family prospects being low); from this Matthew comes,
through a series of Livonian Soldiers, the famed Austrian Loudon. Douglas,
Peerage of Scotland, p. 425; &c. &c. Vie de Loudon (ill informed on that
point and some others) says, the first Livonian Loudon came from Ayrshire,
'* in the fourteenth century I"
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. X. 20
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? 306 SEVEN-YEARS WAE RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book mil.
March 15 -- April 16th 1758.
better than the Swedish, and ignorant Generalcies fully
worse than the Swedish, -- Pitt got heroic successes
and work really done.
On Pitt, amid confused clouds, there is bright dawn
rising; and Friedrich, too, for the last month, in Bres-
lau, has a cheerful prospect on that Western side of
his horizon. Here is one of his Postscripts, thrown off
in Autograph, which Duke Ferdinand will read with
pleasure: "I congratulate you, mon cher, with my
"whole heart! May you fleur-de-lys every French skin
"of them; cutting out on their" -- what shall we say
(Jeur imprimant sur le cut)\ -- "the Initials of the Peace
"of Westphalia, and packing them across the Rhine,"
tattooed in that latest extremity of fashion! *
Friedrich, grounding partly on those Rhine aspects,
has his own scheme laid for Campaign 1758. It is the
old scheme tried twice already: to go home upon your
Enemy swiftly, with your utmost collective strength,
and try to strike into the heart of him before he is
aware. Friedrich has twice tried this; the second time,
with success, respectable though far short of complete.
Weakened as now, but with Ferdinand likely to find
the French in employment, he means to try it again;
and is busy preparing at Neisse and elsewhere, though
keeping it a dead secret for the time. There is, in fact,
no other hopeful plan for him, if this prove feasible at
all. Double your velocity, you double your momentum.
* Friedrich to Duke Ferdinand," Grtissau, 19th March 1758:" in Knese-
beck, Herzog Ferdinand, i, 64. Herzog Ferdinand wahrend des 7-jdnrigen
Krieges ("from the English and Prussian Archives") is the full Title of
Knesebeck's Book: Letters altogether; not very intelligently edited, bnt
well worth reading by every student, military and civil: 2 voll. 8vo Han-
nover, 1857.
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