No More Learning

Outwardly it is a mere Treaty of Alliance, each party
guaranteeing the other for Fifteen Years; without men-
tion made of the joint Belleisle Adventure now in the
wind. But then, like the postscript to a lady's letter,
there come "secret articles" bearing upon that essential
item: How France, in the course of this current season
1741, is to bring an Army across the Rhine in support
of its friend Kur-Baiern vermis Austria; is, in the same
term of time, to make Sweden declare war on Russia
(important for Friedrich, who is never sure a moment
that those Russians will not break in upon him); and
finally, most important of all, That France "guarantees
Lower Silesia with Breslau to his Prussian Majesty. "
In return for which his Prussian Majesty -- will do
* Schflll, ii. 297 {copying "Flassan, Hint. do la fiiplom. Franp. v. 142"),
gives "5th July" as the date; Adelung (ii. 357, 390, 441) guesses that it
was "in August;" Valori (i. 108), who was himself in it, gives the correct
date, -- but then his Editor (thought inquiring readers) was such a sloven
and ignoramus. See Stenzel, iv. 143; Ranke, ii. 274.
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? CHAP. II. ] CAMP OF STREHLEN. 27
5th Juno 1741.
f
what? It is really difficult to say what: Be a true
ally and second to France in its grand German Ad-
venture? Not at all. Friedrich does not yet know,
nor does Belleisle himself quite precisely, what the
grand German Adventure is; and Friedrich's wishes
never were, nor will be, for the prosperity of that.
Support France, at least in its small Bavarian Anti-
Austrian Adventure? By no means definitely even
that. "Maintain myself in Lower Silesia with Breslau,
and fight my best to such end:" really that, you might
say, is in substance the most of what Friedrich under-
takes; though inarticulately he finds himself bound to
much more, --- and will frankly go into it, if you do
as you have said; and unless you do, will not. Never
was a more contingent Treaty: "Unless you stir up
Sweden, Messieurs; unless you produce that Rhine
Army; unless --" such is steadily Friedrich's attitude;
long after this, he refuses to say whom he will vote
for as Kaiser: "Fortune of War will decide it," answers
he, in regard to that and to many other things; and
keeps himself to an incomprehensible extent loose;
ready, for weeks and months after, to make bargain
on his own Silesian Affair with anybody that can. *
For indeed the French also are very contingent;
Fleury hanging one way, Belleisle pushing another;
and know not how far they will go on the grand Ger-
man Adventure, nor conclusively whether at all. Here
is an Anecdote by Friedrich himself. Valori was, one
night, with him; and, on rising to take leave, the fat
hand, sticking probably in the big waistcoat-pocket,
twitched out a little diplomatic-looking Note; which
Friedrich, with gentle adroitness (permissible in such
* Rankc, ii. 271-275-280.
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? 28 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [bOOKXIII.
5th June 1741.
circumstances), set his foot upon, till Valori had bowed
himself out. The Note was from Amelot, French Mi-
nister of the Foreign Department: "Don't give his
Prussian Majesty Glatz, if it can possibly be helped. "
Very well, thought Friedrich; and did not forget the
fine little Note on burning it. * There went, in French
couriers' bags, a great many such, to Austria some of
them, of far more questionable tenor, within the next
twelve months.
Two things we have to remark: First, That Fried-
rich, with an eye to real business on his part in the
Bavarian Adventure, in which Kur-Pfalz is sure to ac-
company, volunteered (like a real man of business, and
much to Belleisle's surprise) to renounce the Berg-Jtilich
Controversy, and let Kur-Pfalz have his way, that there
might be no quarrelling among allies. This, too, is
contingent; but was gladly accepted by Belleisle. Se-
cond, That Belleisle had instructed Valori, Not to in-
sist on active help from Friedrich in the German Ad-
venture, but merely to stipulate for his Neutrality
throughout, in case they could get no more. How
joyfully would Friedrich have accepted this, -- had
Valori volunteered with it; which he did not! ** But,
after all, in result it was the same; and had to be, --
plus only a great deal of clamour by and by, from the
French and the Gazetteers, about the Article in ques-
tion.
"Was there ever so contingent a Treaty before? It
is signed, Breslau, 5th June 1741, and both parties
have their hands loose, and make use of their liberty,
for months to come; nay, in some sort, all along; feel-
ing how contingent it was! Friedrich did not definitely
* (Euvret de Frederic, ii. 90. ** Ranke, ii. 280.
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? CHAP. II. ] CAMP OF 8TREHLEN. 29
8th June 1741.
tie himself till 4th November next, five months after:
when he signed the French-Bavarian Treaty, renounced
Berg-Jiilich controversies, and fairly went into the
French-Bavarian, smaller French Adventure; into the
greater, or wide-winged Belleisle one, he never went
nor intended to go, -- perhaps even the contrary, if
needful. Eeaders may try to remember these elucida-
tive items, riddled from the immensities of Dryasdust:
I have no more to give, nor can afford to return upon
it. May not we well say, as above, "A Treaty thought
to have many ifs in it! " -- And now, 8th June, comes
solemnly the Joint-Resolution itself; like mustard (under
a flourish of trumpets) three days after dinner:
"Camp of Grotkau, 8th June. Hyndford and Ginckel" (the
same respectable old Ginckel whom we used to know in
Friedrich Wilhelm's time), "having, according to renewed
"order, got out from Breslau with that formidable Dutch-
"English 'Advice' or Joint Exhortation in their pocket, did
"this day in the Camp at Grotkau present the same. A very
"mild-spoken Piece, though it had required such courage;
"and which is not now worth speaking of, things having gone
"as we see. Friedrich received it with a gracious mien: 'In-
"finitely sensible to the trouble his Britannic Majesty and
"their Bigh Mightinesses took with his affairs; Document
"should receive his best consideration,' -- which indeed it has
"already done, and its Answer withal: A French Treaty
"signed three days ago, in virtue of it! 'Might I request a
"short Private Audience of your Majesty? ' solicits Hynd-
"ford, intending to modify by new assurances, as bidden. --
"'Surely,' answers Friedrich.
"The two Excellencies dine with the King, who is in high
"spirits. After dinner, Hyndford gets his Private Audience;
"does his best in the way of 'new assurances;' which pro-
"duce what effect we can fancy. Among other things, he ap ?
"peals to the King's 'magnanimity, how grand and generous
"it will be to accept moderate terms from Austria, to --'
"King (interrupting): 'My Lord, don't talk to me of mag-
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? 30 FIRST SILESIAN WAB ENDS. [bOOK XIII.
25tb June 1741.
"nanimity; a Prince' (acting, not for himself but for his
"Nation) 'ought to consult his interest in the first place. I
"am not against Peace: but I expect to have Four Duchies
"given me. '"*
Hyndford and Ginckel slept that night in Grotkau Town:
"at 4 next morning the King sent us word, That if we had a
"mind to see the Army on march," just moving off, Strehlen
way, "we might come out by the North Gate. We accord-
ingly saw the whole Army leave Camp; and march in four
"columns towards Friedewald, where Marshal Neipperg is
"encamped. " Not a bit of it, your Excellency! Neipperg is
safe at Neisse; amid inaccessible embankments and artificial
mud: and these are mere Hussar-Pandour rabble out here;
whom a push or two sends home again, -- would it could keep
them there! But they are of sylvan (or salvage) nature, af-
fecting the shade; and burst out, for theft and arson, some-
times at great distances, no calculating where. "The King's
"Army lay all that night upon their arms, and encamped
"next morning, the 10th. 1 believe nothing happened that
"day, for we were obliged to stay at Grotkau, for want of
"post-horses, a good part of it. "
Hyndford hears (in secret Opposition Circles, and lays the
flattering unction to his soul, and your Lordship's): "The
"King of Prussia's Army, as I am informed, unless ho will
"take counsel, another campaign will go near to ruin. Every-
"thing is in the greatest disorder; utmost dejection amongst
"the Officers from highest to lowest;" -- fact being that the
King has important improvements and new drillings in view
(to goon at Strehlen), Cavalry improvements, Artillery im-
provements, unknown to Hyndford and the Opposition; and
will not be ruined next campaign. "I hope the news we have
"here, of the Taking of Carthagena, is true," concludes he.
Alas, your Excellency!
By a different hand, from the southward Hungarian
regions, far over the Hills, take this other entry; al-
most of enthusiastic style:
"Presburg, 25(7j June. Maria Theresa, in high spirits
"about her English Subsidy and the bright aspects, left
* State-Paper Office (Hyndford, Breslau, 12th June 1741)-
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? CHAP. n. 1 CAMP OF STRBHLBN. 31.
25th June 1741.
"Vienna about a week ago for Presburg" (a drive of fifty
miles down the fine Donau country); "and is celebrating her
"Coronation there, as Queen of Hungary, in a very sublime
"manner. Sunday, 25th June 1741, that is the day of putting
"on your Crown, -- Iron Crown of St. Stephen, as readers
"know. The Chivalry of Hungary, from Palfy and Esterhazy
"downward, and all the world are there; shining in loyalty
"and barbaric gold and pearl. A truly beautiful Young
"Woman, beautiful to soul and eye, devout too and noble,
"though ill-informed in Political or other Science, is in the
"middle of it, and makes the scene still more noticeable to us.
"See, as the finish of the ceremonies, she has mounted a high
"swift horse, sword girt to her side, -- a great rider always,
"this young Queen; -- and gallops, Hungary following like a
"comet-tail, to the Konigsberg' [King's-Hill so-called; no
great things of a Hill, O reader; made by barrow, you can
see), "to the top "of the Konigsberg; there draws sword;
"and cuts, grandly flourishing, to the Four Quarters of the
"Heavens: 'Let any mortal, from whatever quarter coming,
"meddle with Hungary if he dare! '* Chivalrous Hungary
"hursts into passionate acclaim; old Palfy, I could fancy into
"tears; and all the world murmurs to itself, with moist-
"gleaming eyes, 'Rex NosterV This is, in fact, the beauti-
"fullest King orQueen that now is,this radiant youngwoman;
"beautiful things have been, and are to be, reported of her;
"and she has a terrible voyage just ahead, -- little dreaming
"of itat this grand moment. 1 wish his Britannic Majesty, or
"Robinson who has followed out hither, could persuade her to
"some compliance on the Silesian matter: what a thing were
"that, for herself, and for all mankind, just now! But she
"will not hear of that; and is very obstinate, and her stupid
"Hofraths equally and much more blamably so. Deaf to
"hard Facts knocking at their door; ignorant what Noah's-
"Deluges have broken out upon them, and are rushing on
"inevitable. "
By a notable coincidence, precisely while those
sword-flourishings go on at Presburg, Mar&hal Ex-
cellency Belleisle is making his Public Entry into
Frankfurt on the Mayn: ** Frankfurt too is in cheery
* Adelnng, ii. 393, 394. ** 25th Juno 1741 (Adelung, ii. 399).
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? 32 FIRST S1LESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
25th Jane--7th Aug. 1741.
emotion; streets populous with Sunday gazers, and
critics of the sublime in spectacle! This is not Belle-
isle's first entrance; he himself has been here some
time, settling his Household, and a good many things:
but today he solemnly leads-in his Countess and Ap-
pendages (over from Metz, where Madame and he offi-
cially reside in common times, "Governor of Metz"
one of his many offices); -- leads-in Madame, in
suitably resplendent manner; to kindle household fire,
as it were; and indicate that here is his place, till he
have got a Kaiser to his mind. Twin Phenomena,
these two; going on 500 miles apart; unconscious of
one another, or of what kinship they happen to
have! --
Excellency Robinson busy in the Vienna Hofrath Circles,
to produce a Compliance.
Britannic George, both for Pragmatic's sake and
for dear Hanover's, desires much there were a bargain
made with Friedrich: How is the Pragmatic to be saved
at all, if Friedrich join France in its Belleisle machina-
tions, thinks George? And already here is that Camp
of Gottin, glittering in view like a drawn sword pointed
at one's throat or at one's Hanover. Nay, in a month
or two hence, as the Belleisle schemes got aboveground
in the shape of facts, this desire became passionate,
and a bargain with Prussia seemed the one thing need-
ful. For, alas, the reader will see there comes, about
that time, a second sword (the Maillebois Army,
namely), pointed at one's throat from the French side
of things: so that a Paladin of the Pragmatic, and
Hanoverian King of England, knows not which way
to turn! George's sincerity of wish is perhaps under-
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? CHAP. n. I CAMP OF STREHLEN. 33
25th June--7th Aug. l7<<.
rated by Friedrich; who indeed knows well enough on
which side George's wishes would fall, if they had
liberty (which they have not); but much overrates "the
astucity" of poor George and his English; ascribing, as
is often done, to fine-spun attorneyism what is mere
cunctation, ignorance, negligence, and other forms of
a stupidity perhaps the most honest in the world! By
degrees Friedrich understood better; but he never much
liked the English ways of doing business. George's
desire is abundantly sincere, not wholly resting on
sublime grounds; and grows more and more intense
every day; but could not be gratified for a good while
yet
.
Cooperating with Hyndford, from the Vienna side,
is Excellency Robinson; who has a still harder job of
it there. Pity poor Robinson, 0 English reader, if you
can for indignation at the business he is in. Saving
the Liberties of Europe! thinks Robinson confidently:
Founding the English National Debt, answers Fact;
and doing Bottom the Weaver, with long ears, in the
miserablest Pickleherring Tragedy that ever was! --
This is the same Robinson who immortalised himself,
nine or ten years ago, by the First Treaty of Vienna;
thrice-salutary Treaty, which disjoined Austria from
Bourbon-Spanish Alliances, and brought her into the
arms of the grateful Sea-Powers again. Imminent
Downfal of the Universe was thus, glory to Robinson,
arrested for that time. And now we have the same
Robinson instructed to sharpen all his faculties to the
cutting pitch, and do the impossible for this new and
reverse face of matters. What a change from 1731 to
1741! Bugbear of dreadful Austrian-Spanish Alliance
dissolves now into sunlit clouds, encircling a beautiful
Carlijle, Frederick the Great. VII. 3
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? 34 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
25th June--7t! i Aug. 1741.
Austrian Andromeda, about to be devoured for us; and
the Downfal of the Universe is again imminent, from
Spain and others joining against Austria.
Oh, ye wigs,
and eximious wig-blocks, called right-honourable! If a
man, sovereign or other, were to stay well at home,
and mind his own visible affairs, trusting a good deal
that the Universe would shift for itself, might it not
be better for him? Robinson, who writes rather a
heavy style, but is full of inextinguishable heavy zeal
withal, will have a great deal to do in these coming
years. Ancestor of certain valuable Earls that now
are; author of immeasurable quantities of the Diplo-
matic cobwebs that then were.
To a modern English reader it is very strange,
that Austrian scene of things in which poor Robinson
is puffing and labouring. The ineffable pride, the
obstinacy, impotency, ponderous pedantry and helpless-
ness of that dull old Court and its Hofraths, is nearly
inconceivable to modern readers. Stupid dilapidation
is in all departments, and has long been; all things
lazily crumbling downwards, sometimes stumbling down
with great plunges. Cash is done; the world rising,
all round, with plunderous intentions; and hungry
Ruin, you would say, coming visibly on with seven-
league boots: here is little room for carrying your head
high among mankind. High nevertheless they do carry
it, with a grandly mournful though stolid insolent air,
as if born superior to this Earth and its wisdoms and
successes and multiplication-tables and iron ramrods,
-- really with "a certain greatness," says somebody,
"greatness as of great blockheadism" in themselves
and their neighbours; -- and, like some absurd old
Hindoo Idol (crockery Idol of Somnauth, for instance,
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? cW. II. ] CAMP OF STREHLEN. 35
15th Jane--7th Aug. 1741.
with the belly of him smashed by battle-axes, and the
cartload of gold coin all run out), persuade mankind
that they are a god, though in dilapidated condition.
That is our first impression of the thing.
But again, better seen into, there is not wanting a
certain worthily steadfast, conservative and broad-based
high air (reminding you of "Kill our own mutton,
Sir! " and the ancient English Tory species), solid and
loyal, though stolid. Ancient Austrian Tories, that de-
finition will suffice for us; -- and Toryism too, the
reader may rely on it, is much patronised by the Up-
per Powers, and goes a long way in this world. Nay,
without a good solid substratum of that, what thing,
with never so many ballot-boxes, stump-orators, and
liberties of the subject, is capable of going at all, ex-
cept swiftly to perdition? These Austrians have taken
a great deal of ruining, first and last! Their relation
to the then Sea-Powers, especially to England embarked
on the Cause of Liberty, fills one with amazement, by
no means of an idolatrous nature; and is difficult to
understand at all, or to be patient with at all.
Of disposition to comply with Prussia, Robinson
finds, in spite of Mollwitz and the sad experiences, no
trace at Vienna. The humour at Vienna is obstinately
defiant; simply to regard Friedrich as a housebreaker
or thief in the night; whom they will soon deal with,
were they once on foot and implements in their hand:
"Swift, ye Sea-Powers; where are the implements, the
cash, that means implements? " The Young Hungarian
Majesty herself is magnificently of that opinion, which
is sanctioned by her Bartensteins and wisest Hofraths,
with hardly a dissentient (old Sinzendorf almost alone
in his contrary notion, and he soon dies). Robinson
3*
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? 36 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book xiii.
25th Juno--7th Aug. 1741.
urges the dangers from France. No Hofrath here will
allow himself to believe them; to believe them would
be too horrible. "Depend upon it, France's intentions
are not that way. And at the worst, if France do rise
against us, it is but bargaining with France; better so
than bargaining with Prussia, surely? France will be
contentable with something in the Netherlands; what
else can she want of us? Parings from that Outskirt,
what are these compared with Silesia, a horrid gash
into the vital parts? And what is yielding to the
King of France, compared with yielding to your Prus-
sian King! " --
It is true they have no money, these blind dull
people: but are not the Sea-Powers, England especially,
there, created by Nature to supply money? What else
is their purpose in Creation? By Nature's law, as the
Sun mounts in the Ecliptic and then falls, these Sea-
Powers, in the Cause of Liberty, will furnish us money.
No surrender; talk not to me of Silesia or surrender;
I will die defending my inheritances: what are the
Sea-Powers about, that they do not furnish more money
in a prompt manner? These are the things poor Robin-
son has to listen to: Robinson and England, it is self-
evident at Vienna, have one duty, that of furnishing
money. And in a prompt manner, if you please, Sir;
why not prompt and abundant?
An English soul has small exhilaration, looking
into those old expenditures, and bullyings for want of
promptitude! But if English souls will solemnly, under
high Heaven, constitute a Duke of Newcastle and a
George DI. their Captains of the march Heavenward,
and say, without blushing for it, nay rejoicing at it, in
the face of. the sun, "You are the most godlike Two
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? CHAP. II. ] CAMP OF STREHLEN. 37
25th June--7th Aug. 1741.
we could lay hold of for that object," -- what have
English souls to expect? My consolation is, and, alas,
it is a poor one, the money would have been mostly
wasted any way. Buy men and gunpowder with your
money, to be shot away in foreign parts, without re-
nown or use: is that so much worse than buying ridi-
culous upholsteries, idle luxuries, frivolities, and in the
end unbeautiful potbellies corporeal and spiritual with
it, here at home? I am struck silent, looking at much
that goes on under these stars; -- and find that mis-
appointment of your Captains, of your Exemplars and
Guiding and Governing individuals, higher and lower,
is a fatal business always; and that especially, as high-
est instance of it, which includes all the lower ones,
this of solemnly calling Chief Captain, and King by
the Grace of God, a gentleman who is not so (and
seems to be so mainly by Malice of the Devil, and by
the very great and nearly unforgiveable indifference
of Mankind to resist the Devil in that particular pro-
vince, for the present), is the deepest fountain of human
wretchedness, and the head mendacity capable of being
done! --
As for the brave young Queen of Hungary, my ad-
miration goes with that of all the world. Not in the
language of flattery, but of evident fact, the royal qua-
lities abound in that high young Lady, had they left
the world, and grown to mere costume elsewhere, you
might find certain of them again here. Most brave,
high and pious-minded; beautiful too, and radiant with
goodnature, though of temper that will easily catch
fire: there is perhaps no nobler woman then living.
And she fronts the roaring elements in a truly grand
feminine manner; as if Heaven itself and the voice of
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? 38 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
25th June--7th Aug. 1741.
Duty called her: "The Inheritances which my Fathers
left me, we will not part with these. Death, if it so
must be; but not dishonour: -- Listen not to that thief
in the night! " Maria Theresa has not studied, at all,
the History of the Silesian Duchies; she knows only
that her Father and Grandfather peaceably held them;
it was not she that sent out Seckendorf to ride 25,000
miles, or broke the heart of Friedrich Wilhelm and
his Household. Pity she had not complied with Fried-
rich, and saved such rivers of bitterness to herself and
mankind! But how could she see to do it, -- espe-
cially with little George at her back, and abundance of
money? This, for the present, is her method of look-
ing at the matter; this magnanimous, heroic, and oc-
casionally somewhat female one.
Her Husband, the Grand Duke, an inert, but good-
tempered, well-conditioned Duke after his sort, goes
with her. Him we shall see try various things; and at
length take to banking and merchandise, and even
meal-dealing on the great scale. "Our Armies had
most part of their meal circuitously from him," says
. Friedrich, of times long subsequent. Now as always
he follows loyally his Wife's lead, never she his: Wife
being, intrinsically as well as extrinsically, the better
man, what other can he do? -- Of compliance with.
Friedrich in this Court, there is practically no hope
till after a great deal of beating have enlightened it.
Out of deference to George and his ardours, they
pretend some intention that way; and are "willing to
bargain, your Excellency;" -- no doubt of it, provided
only the price were next to nothing!
And so, while the watchful edacious Hyndford is
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? CHAP. II. ] CAMP OF STREHLEN. 39
1st July 1741.
doing his best at Strehlen, poor Robinson, blown into
triple activity, corresponds in a boundless zealous man-
ner from Vienna; and at last takes to flying personally
between Strehlen and Vienna; praying the inexorable
young Queen to comply a little, and then the inexorable
young King to be satisfied with imaginary compliance;
and has a breathless time of it indeed. His Despatches,
passionately long-winded, are exceedingly stiff reading
to the like of us. 0 reader, what things have to be
read and carefully forgotten; what mountains of dust
and ashes are to be dug through, and tumbled down to
Orcus, to disengage the smallest fraction of truly me-
morable! Well if, in ten cubic miles of dust and
ashes, you discover the tongue of a shoe-buckle that
has once belonged to a man in the least heroic; and
wipe your brow, invoking the supernal and the infernal
gods. My heart's desire is to compress these Strehlen
Diplomatic horse-dealings into the smallest conceivable
bulk. And yet how much that is not metal, that is
merely cinders, has got through: impossible to prevent,
-- may the infernal gods deal with it, and reduce Dry-
asdust to limits, one day! Here, however, are im-
portant Public News transpiring through the old Ga-
zetteers:
"Mtinchen, July 1st" (or in effect a few days later, when
the Letters dated July 1st had gone through their circuitous
formalities),* "Karl Albert Kur-Haiern publicly declares
"himself Candidate for the Kaisership; as, privately, he had
"long been rumoured and believed to be. Kur-Baiern, they
"say, has of militias and regulars together, about 30,000 men
"on foot, all posted in good places along the Austrian Frontier;
"and it is commonly thought. though little credible at Vienna,
"that he intends invading Austria as well as contesting the
* Adelung, ii. 421. 1
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? 40 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book xnr.
llth-31st July 1741.
'Election. To which the Vienna Hofrath answers in the
'style of, 'Pshaw! ' --
"Versailles, 11th July. Extraordinary Council of State:
'Belleisle being there, home from Frankfurt, to take final
'orders, and get official fiat put upon his schemes. 'All the
'Princes of the Blood and all the Marshals of France at-
'tend;' question is, How the War is to be, nay, Whether
'War is to be at all, -- so contingent is the French-Prussian
'Bargain, signed five weeks ago. OldFleury, togivefree-
'dom of consultation and vote, quits the room. Some are of
'opinion, one Prince of the Blood emphatically so, That
'Pragmatic Sanction should be kept, at least War against it
'be avoided. But the contrary opinion triumphs, King him-
'self being strongly with it; Belleisle to be supreme in field
'and cabinet; shall execute, like a kind of Dictator or Viee-
'Majesty, by his own magnificent talent, those magnificent
'devisings of his, glorious to France and to the King. * These
'many months, the French have been arming with their whole
'might. The Vienna people hear now, That an 'Army of
'40,000 is rumoured to be coming,' or even two Armies, 40,000
'each; but will not imagine that this is certain, or that it can
'be seriously meant against their high House, precious to
'gods and men. Belleisle having perfected the multiplex
'Army details, rushes back to Frankfurt and his endless
'Diplomatic business (July 25th): Armies to be on actual
'march by the 10th of August coming. 'During this Ver-
'sailles visit, he had such a crowd of Officers and great
'people paying court to him as was like the King's Levee
'itself. '**
"Passau, 31st July. Passau is the Frontier Austrian City
'on the Donau (meeting of the Inn and Donau Valleys); a
'place of considerable strength, and a key or great position
'for military purposes. Austrian, or Quasi-Austrian; for,
'like Salzburg, it has a Bishop claiming some imaginary
'sovereignties, but always holds with Austria. July 31st,
'early in the morning, a Bavarian Exciseman ('Salt-In-
'spector') applied at the gate of Passau for admission; gate
* Adelung, ii. 417, 418; see also Raumer, p. 104 (if you can for his
date', which is given in Old-style as if it were in New; a very eclipsing
method! )
? * Barbier, ii. 305.
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? CHAP. II. ] CAMP OF STREHLEN. 41
31st July 1741.
"was opened; -- along with the Exciseman 'certain peasants'
"(disguised Bavarian soldiers) pushed in; held the gate
"choked, till General Minuzzi, Karl Albert's General, with
"horse, foot, cannon, who had been lurking close by, likewise
"pushed in; and at once seized the Town. Town speedily
"secured, Minuzzi informs the Bishop, who lives in his Schloss
"of Oberhaus (strongish place on a Hill-top, other side the
"Donau), That he likewise, under pain of bombardment,
"must admit garrison. The poor Bishop hesitates; but, find-
"ing bombardment actually ready for him, yields in about
"two hours. Karl Albert publishes his Manifesto, 'in fifty-
"four pages folio'* (to the effect, 'All Austria mine; or as
"good as all, -- if I liked! '); and fortifies himself in Passau.
"'Insidious, . nefarious! ' shrieks Austria, in Counter-Mani-
"festo; calculates privately it will soon settle Karl Albert, --
'"Unless, O Heavens, France with Prussia did mean to back
"him! ' -- and begins to have misgivings, in spite of itself. "
Misgivings, which soon became fatal certainties.
Robinson records, doubtless on sure basis, though not
dating it, a curious piece of stage-effect in the form of
reality: "On hearing, beyond possibility of doubt, that
"Prussia, France and Bavaria had combined, the whole
"Aulic Council," Vienna Hofrath in a body, "fell back
"into their chairs" (and metaphorically into Robinson's
arms) "like dead men! ". ** Sat staring there; -- the
wind struck out of them, but not all the folly by a
great deal. Now, however, is Robinson's time to ply
them.
Excellency Robinson has Audience of Fried/rich
{Camp of Strehlen, lih August 1741).
By unheard-of entreaties and conjurations, aided
by these strokes of fate, Robinson has at length ex-
torted from his Queen of Hungary, and her wise Hof-
raths, something resembling a phantasm of compliance;
* Adelung, ii. 361. ** Raumer, p. 104.
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? 42 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book Xm.