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Thomas Carlyle
II.
] AUSTRIAN AFFAIRS MOUNTING.
245
July--Dec. 1742.
"mucH without stroke of sword, we say, and merely by
"marching: in one place, having marched too close, the
"retreating Barenklau people turned on him, 'took 100 pri-
"soners' before going; * -- other fighting, in this fine'Recon-
"quest of Bavaria,' I do not recollect. Winter come, he makes
"for Maillebois and the Iser Countries; cantons himself on
"the Upper Inn itself, well in advance of the French" (Brau-
nau his chief strong-place, if readers care to look on the
Map); "and strives to expect a combined seizure of Passau,
"and considerable things, were Spring come. " * *
And of Broglio in the Interim. "As for Broglio, left alone
"at Toplitz, gazing after a futile Maillebois, he sends the
"better half of his Force back to Prag; other half he
"establishes at Leitmeritz: good halfway-house to Dresden.
"'Will forward Saxon provender to you, M. de Belleisle! '
"(never did, and were all taken prisoners some weeks hence).
"Which settled, Broglio proceeded to the Saxon Court; who
"answered him: 'Provender? Alas, Monseigneur! We are
"(to confess it to you! ) at Peace with Austria:** not an ounce
"of provender possible; how dare we? ' -- but were otherwise
"politeness itself to the great Broglio. Great Broglio, after
"sumptuous entertainments there, takes the road for Baiern;
"circling grandly ('through Niirnberg with escort of 500
"Horse') to Maillebois's new quarters; -- takes command of
"the 'Bavarian Army' (may it be lucky for him! ); and sends
"Maillebois home, in deep dudgeon, to the merciless criticisms
"of men. 'Could have done it,' persists the Vieux Pelit-maitre
"always, 'had not' -- one knows what, but cares not, at this
"date! --
"Broglio's quarters in the Iser Country, I am told, are
"fatally too crowded, men perishing at a frightful rate per
"day. *** 'Things all awry here, -- thanks to that Maillebois
"and others! ' And Broglio's troubles and procedures, as is
"everywhere usual to Broglio, run to a great height in this
"Bavarian Command. And poor Seckenaorf, in neighbour-
"hood of such a Broglio, hashisadoes; eyes sparkling; face
"blushing slate-colour; at times nearly driven out of his wits;
* Espagnac, i. 166.
** Treatying ever since "July 17th;" Treaty actually done, "11th Sep-
tember" (Adelung, iii. o. 201, 268).
*** Espagnac, i. 182.
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? 246 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
July--Dec. 1742.
"-- but strives to consume his own smoke, and to havehopes
"on Passau notwithstanding. " -- And of Belleisle in Prag,
and his meditations on the Oriflamme? -- Patience, reader.
Meantime, what a relief to Kaiser Karl, in such
wreck of Bohemian Kingdoms and Castles in Spain,
to have got his own Miinchen and Country in hand
again; with the prospect of quitting furnished-lodgings,
and seeing the colour of real money! April next, he
actually goes to Miinchen, where we catch a glimpse
of him* This same October, the Reich, after endless
debatings on the question, "Help our Kaiser, or not
help? "** has voted him fifty Romer-monate ("Romish-
months," still so termed, though there is not now any
marching of the Kaiser to Rome on business); meaning
fifty of the known quotas, due from all and sundry in
such case, -- which would amount to about 300,000/.
(could it, or the half of it, be collected from so wide a
Parish), and would prove a sensible relief to the poor
man.
Voltaire has been on Visit at Aachen, in the interim, --
his Third Visit to King Friedrich.
King Friedrich had come to the Baths of Aachen,
August 25th; the Maillebois Army of Redemption
being then, to the last man of it, five days across the
Rhine on its high errand, which has since proved futile.
Friedrich left Aachen, taking leave of his Voltaire,
who had been lodging with him for a week by special
invitation, September 9th; and witnessed the later
struggles and final inability of Maillebois to redeem,
* "17th April 1743," Monty os &c. accompanying (Adelung, ill. b. 119,
120). ** Ibid. ill. o. 289.
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? CHAP. II. ] AUSTRIAN AFFAIRS MOUNTING. 247
Aug. 1742.
not at Aix, but at Berlin, amid the ordinary course of
his employments there. We promised something of
Voltaire's new visit, his Third to Friedrich. Here is
what little we have, -- if the lively reader will exert
his fancy on it.
Voltaire and his Du Chatelet had been to Cirey,
and thence been at Paris through this Spring and
Summer, 1742; -- engaged in what to Voltaire and
Paris was a great thing, though a pacific one: The
getting of Mahomet brought upon the boards. August
9th, precisely while the first vanguard of the Army of
Redemption got across the Rhine at Diisseldorf, Vol-
taire's Tragedy of Mahomet came on the stage.
August 9th, 11th, 13th, Paris City was in trans-
ports of various kinds; never were such crowds of
Audience, lifting a man to the immortal gods, --
though a part too, majority by count of heads, were
dragging him to Tartarus again. "Exquisite, un-
paralleled! " exclaimed good judges (as Fleury himself
had anticipated, on examining the Piece): -- "In-
famous, irreligious, accursed! " vociferously exclaimed
the bad judges; Reverend Desfontaines (of Sodom, so
Voltaire persists to define him), Reverend Desfontaines
and others giving cue; hugely vociferous, these latter,
hugely in majority by count of heads. And there was
such a bellowing and such a shrieking, judicious Fleury,
or Maurepas under him, had to suggest, "Let an
actor fall sick; let M. de Voltaire volunteer to with-
draw his Piece; otherwise --! " -- And so it had to
he: Actor fell sick on the 14th (Playbills sorry to
retract their Mahomet on the 14th); and -- in fact it
was not for nine years coming, and after Dedication to
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? 248 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
2d-9th Sept. 1742.
the Pope, and other exquisite manoeuvres and unex-
pected turns of fate, that Mahomet could be acted a
fourth time in Paris, and thereafter ad libitum down to
this day. *
Such tempest in a teapot is not unexampled, nay
rather is very frequent, in that Anarchic Republic
called of Letters. Confess, reader, that you too would
have needed some patience in M. de Voltaire's place;
with such a Heaven's own Inspiration of a Mahomet in
your hands, and such a terrestrial Doggery at your
heels. Suppose the bitterest of your barking curs were
a Reverend Desfontaines of Sodom, whom you your-
self had saved from the gibbet once, and again and
again from starving? It is positively a great Anarchy,
and Fountain of Anarchies, all that, if you will con-
sider; and it will have results under the sun. You
cannot help it, say you; there is no shutting up of a
Reverend Desfontaines, which would be so salutary to
himself and to us all? No: -- and when human
reverence (daily going, in such ways) is quite gone
from the world; and your lowest blockhead and
scoundrel (usually one entity) shall have perfect free-
dom to spit in the face of your highest sage and hero,
-- what a remarkably Free World shall we be!
Voltaire, keeping good silence as to all this, and
minded for Brussels again, receives the King of
Prussia's invitation; lays it at his Eminency Fleury's
feet; will not accept, unless his Eminency and my own
King of France (possibly to their advantage, if one
might hint such a thing! ) will permit it. ** "By all
means; go, and" -- The rest is in dumb-show; mean-
* CEuvres de Voltaire, ii. 137, n. ; &c. &c.
** CEuvres de Voltaire, Ixxii. 555 (Letter to Fleury, "Paris,"Aug. 22d")
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? CHAP. II. ] AUSTRIAN AFFAIRS MOUNTING. 249
10th Sept. 1742.
ing, "Try to pump him for us! " Under such omens,
Voltaire and his divine Emilie return to their Hons-
bruck Lawsuit: "Silent Brussels, how preferable to
Paris and its mad cries! " Voltaire, leaving the divine
Emilie at Brussels, September 2d, sets out for Aix, --
Aix attainable within the day. He is back at Brussels
late in the evening, September 9th: -- how he had
fared, and what extent of pumping there was, learn
from the following Excerpts, which are all dated the
morrow after his return:
Three Letters of Voltaire, dated Brussels, 10th Sept. 1742.
1o. To Cideville (the Rouen Advocate, who has sometimes
troubled us). * * "I have been to see the King of Prussia
"since I began this Letter" (beginning of it dates, September
"1st). I have courageously resistedkis fine proposals. He
"offers me a beautiful House in Berlin, a pretty Estate; but I
"prefer my second-floor in Madame du Ch&telet's here. He
"assures me of his favour, of the perfect freedom I should
"have; -- and I am running to Paris" (did not just yet run)
"to my slavery and persecution. I could fancy myself a small
"Athenian, refusing the bounties of the King of Persia. With
"this difference, however, one had liberty (not slavery) "at
"Athens; and I am sure there were many Cidevilles there, in-
stead of one," -- He'las, my Cideville I
2o. To Marquis d'Argenson (worthy official Gentleman, not
War-Minister now or afterwards; War-Minister's senior bro-
ther, -- Voltaire's old schoolfellows in the College of Louis le
Grand). ** "I have just been to see the King of Prussia in
"these late days" (in fact, quitted him only yesterday; both of
us, after a week together, leaving Aix yesterday): "I have
"seen him as one seldom sees Kings, -- much at my ease, in
"my own room, in the chimney-nook, whither the same man
"who has gained two Battles would come and talk familiarly,
"as Scipio did with Terence. You will tell me I am not
"Terence; true, but neither is he altogether Scipio.
"I learned some extraordinary things," -- things not from
Friedrich at all: mere dinner-table rumours; about the 16,000
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? 250 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
ioth Sept. ne.
English landing here (" 18,000" he calls them, and farther on,
"20,000") with the other 16,000 plus 6,000 of Hanoverian-Hes-
sian sort, expecting 20,000Dutch to join them, -- who perhaps
will not? "M. deNeipperg" (Governor of Luxemburg now)
"is come hither to Brussels; but brings no Dutch troops with
"him, as he had hoped," -- Dutch perhaps won't rise, after all
this flogging and hoisting? "Perhaps we may soon get a use-
ful and glorious Peace, in spite of my Lord Stair, and of M.
"van Haren, the Tyrtseus of the States-General" (famed Van
Haren, eyes in a fine Dutch frenzy rolling, whose Cause-of-
Liberty verses let no man inquire after): "Stair prints iMe-
"moirs, Van Haren makes Odes; and with so much prose and
"so much verse, perhaps their High and Slow Mightinesses"
(Excellency Fe'ne'lon sleeplessly busy persuading them, and
native Gravitation sleepily ditto) "will sit quiet. God grant it!
"The English want to attack us on our own soil" (actually
Stair's plan); "and we cannot pay them in that kind. The
"match is too unfair! If we kill the whole 20,000 of them, we
"merely send 20,000^Heretics to -- What shall I say? --a
"I'Enfer, and gain nothing; if they kill us, they even feed at
"our expense in doing it. Better have no quarrels except on
"Locke and Newton! The quarrel I have on Mahomet is
"happily only ridiculous. " * * Adieu, M. le Marquis.
30. To the Cardinal de Fleury. "Monseigneur," * * "to
"give your Eminency, as I am bound, some account of my
"journey to Aix-la-Chapelle. " Friedrich's guest there; let us
hear, let us look.
"I could not get away from Brussels till the 2d of this
"month. On the road, I met a courier from the King of
"Prussia, coming to reiterate his Master's orders on me. The
"King had me lodged near his own Apartment; andhepassed,
"for two consecutive days, four hours at a time in my room,
"with all that goodness and familiarity which forms', as you
"know, part of his character, and which does not lower the
"King's dignity, because one is duly careful not to abuse it"
(be careful! ). "I had abundant time to speak, with a great
"deal of freedom, on what your Eminency had prescribed to
"me; and the King spoke to me with an equal frankness.
"First he asked me, If it was true that the French Nation
"was so angered against him; if the King was, and if you
"were? I answered," -- mildly reprobatory, yet conciliative,
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? CHAP. II. ] AUSTRIAN AFFAIRS MOUNTING. 251
10th Sept. 1742.
'"Hm, No, nothing permanent, nothing to speak of. ' "He
"then deigned to speak to me, at large, of the reasons which
"had induced him to be so hasty with the Peace. " "Extremely
"remarkable reasons;" "dare not trust them to this Paper"
(Broglio-Belleisle discrepancies, we guess, distracted Broglio
procedures;) -- they have no concern with that Pallandt-
Letter Story, -- "they do not turn on the pretended Secret
"Negotiations at the Court of Vienna" (which are not pre-
tended at all, as I among others well know), "in regard to
"which your Eminency has condescended to clear yourself"
(by denying the truth, poor Eminency; there was no help
otherwise). "All I dare state is, that it seems to me easy to
"lead back the mind of this Sovereign, whom the situation of
"his Territories, his interest, and his taste would appear to
"mark as the natural ally of France. "
"He said farther" (what may be relied on as true by his
Eminency Fleury, and my readers here), "That he pas-
sionately wished to see Bohemia in the Emperor's hands"
(small chance for it, as things now go! ); "that he renounced,
"with the best faith in the world, all claim whatever on Berg
"and Jiilich; and that, in spite of the advantageous proposals
"which Lord Stair was making him, he thought only of keep-
"ing Silesia. That he knew well enough the House of Austria
"would, one day, wish to recover that fine Province, but that
"he trusted he could keep his conquest; that he had at this
"time 130,000 soldiers always ready; that he would make of
"Neisse, Glogau, Brieg, fortresses as strong as Wesel" (which
he is now diligently doing, and will soon nave done); "that
"besides he was well informed the Queen of Hungary already
"owed 80,000,000 German crowns, which is about 300 millions
"of our money" (about 12 millions sterling); "that her Pro-
"vinces-, exhausted, and lying wide apart, would not be able to
"make long efforts; and that the Austrians, for a good while
"to come, could not of themselves be formidable. " Of them-
selves, no: but with Britannic soup-royal in quantity? --
"My Lord Hyndford had spoken to him" as if France were
entirely discouraged and done for: How false, Monseigneur!
"And Lord Stair in his letters represented France, a month
"ago, as ready to give in. Lord Stair has not ceased to press
"his Majesty during this Aix Excursion even:" and, in spite of
what your Eminency hears from the Hague, "there was, on
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? 252 EUBOPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
10th Sept. 1742
"the 30th of August, an Englishman at Aix on the part of Mi-
"lord Stair; and he had speech with the King of Prussia"
(croyez moil) "in a little Village called Boschet" (Burtscheid,
where are hot wells), "a quarter of a league from Aix. I have
"been assured, moreover, that the Englishman returned in
"much discontent. On the other hand, General Schmettau,
"who was with the King" (elderSchmettau, GiaSSarnuel, who
does a great deal of envoying for his Majesty), "sent, at that
"very time, to Brussels, for Maps of the Moselle and of the
"Three Bishoprics, and purchased five copies," -- means to
examine Milord Stair's proposed Seat of War, at any rate.
(Here is a pleasant friend to have on visit to you, in the next
apartment, with such an eye and such a nose! ) * *
"jMonseigneur," finely insinuates Voltaire in conclusion,
"is not there" a certain Frenchman, true to his Country, to his
King, andtoyourEminency, with perhaps peculiar facilities
for being of use, in such delicate case? -- uJe suis" much your
Eminency's. *
Friedrich, on the day while Voltaire at Brussels
sat so busy writing of him, was at Salzdahl, visiting
his Brunswick kindred there, on the road home to his
usual affairs. Old Fleury, age ninety gone, died 29th
January 1743, -- five months and nineteen days after
this Letter. War-Minister Breteuil had died, January 1st.
Here is room for new Ministers and Ministries; for the
two D'Argensons, -- if it could avail their old School-
fellow, or France, or us; which it cannot much.
* Llmres, Ixxii. p. 568 (to Oideville), p. 579 (d'Argenson), p. 574
(Fleury).
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? CHAP. in. ] CARNIVAL PHENOMENA IN WAR-TIME. 253
Dec. 1742.
CHAPTEE III.
CARNIVAL PHENOMENA IN WAR-TIME.
Keaders were anticipating it, readers have no
sympathy; but the sad fact is, Britannic Majesty has
not got out his sword; this second paroxysm of his
proves vain as the first did! Those laggard Dutch,
dead to the Cause of Liberty, it is they again. Just
as the hour was striking, they -- plump down, in spite
of magnanimous Stair, into their mud again; cannot
be hoisted by engineering. And, after all that filling
and emptying of water-casks, and pumping and puffing,
and straining of every fibre for a twelvemonth past,
Britannic Majesty had to sit down again, panting in
an Olympian manner, with that expensive long sword
of his still sticking in the scabbard.
Tongue cannot tell what his poor little Majesty has
suffered from those Dutch, -- checking one's noble
rage, into mere zero, always; making of one's own
glorious Army a mere expensive Phantasm! Hanoverian,
Hessian, British: 40,000 fighters standing in harness,
year after year, at such cost; and not the killing of a
French turkey to be had of them in return. Patience,
Olympian patience, withal! He cantons his troops in
the Netherlands Towns; many of the British about
Ghent (who consider the provisions, and customs, none
of the best); * his Hanoverians, Hessians, farther north-
ward, Hanover way; -- and, greatly daring, determines
to try again, next Spring. Carteret himself shall go
and flagitate the Dutch. Patience; whip and hoist! --
* Letters of Officers, from Ghent (Westminster Journal, Oct. 23d, &c).
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? 254 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
Dec. 1742.
What a conclusion, snorts the indignant British Public
through its Gazetteers.
"Next year, yes, exclaims one indignant Editor:' if talking
"will do business, we shall no doubt perform wonders; for we
"have had as much talking and puffing since February last, as
"during any ten years of the late Administration'* (under poor
Walpole, whom you could not enough condemn)! "The
"Dutch? exclaims another: 'If we were a Free People' (F--P--
"he puts it, joining caution with his rage), 'qucere, Whether
"Holland would not, at this juncture, come cap in hand, to sue
"for our protection and alliance; instead of making us dance
"attendance at the Hague ? '" Yes, indeed; -- " and then the
"Case of the Hanover Forces (fear not, reader; I understand
"your terror of locked-jaw, and will never mention said Case
"again); "but it is singular to the Gazetteer mind, That these
"HanoverForces are to be paid by England,as appears; Han-
"over, as if without interest in the matter, paying nothing!
"Upon which, in covert form of symbolic adumbration, of
"witty parable, what stinging commentaries, not the first, nor
"by many thousands the last (very sad reading in our day) on
"this paltry Hanover Connection altogether: What immensi-
"ties it has cost poor England, and is like to cost, 'the Lord of
"the Manor'(great George our King) "being the gentleman
"he is; and how England, or, as it is adumbratively called,
"theManor of St. James's,' is become a mere 'feefarm to Mum-
"land. ' Unendurable to think of. 'Bob Monopoly, the late
"Tallyman' (adumbrative for Walpole, late Prime Minister)
"was much blamed on this account; and John the Carter'
"(John Lord Carteret), 'Clerk of the Vestry and present fa-
vourite of his Lordship, is not behind Robin in his care for the
"Manor of Mumland" ** (that contemptible Country, where their
"very beer is called mum), -- and no remedy within view! "
Retreat from Prag: Army of the Oriflamme, Bohemian Section of
it, makes Exit.
"And Belleisle in Prag, left solitary there, with his heroic
"remnant, -- gone now to 17,000, the fourth man of themin
"hospital, with Festititz Tolpatchery hovering round, and
? the Dailu Post, December 31st (o. s. ), 1742.
** In Westminster Journal (February 12th, h. 9. , 1743), a long Apologue
in this strain.
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? CHAP. HI. ] CARNTVAL PHENOMENA IN WAR-TIME. 255
15th Dec. 1742.
"Winter and Hunger drawing nigh, what is to become of
"Belleisle? Prince Karl and the Grand-Duke had attended
"Maillebois to Bavaria; steadily to left of Maillebois, between
"Austria and him; and are now busy in the Passau Country,
"bent on exploding those Seckendorf-Broglio operations
"and intentions, as the chief thing now. Meanwhile they
"have detached Prince Lobkowitz to girdle-in Belleisle
"again; for which Lobkowitz (say 20,000, with the Festitiz
"Tolpatchery included) will be easily able. On the march
"thither he easily picked up (18th-25thNovember) that new
"French Post of Leitmeritz (Broglio's fine 'Half-way House
"to Saxony and Provender'), with its garrison of 2,000: the
"other posts and outposts, one and all, nad to hurry home, in
"fear of a like fate. Beyond the circuit ofPrag, isolated in
"ten miles of burnt country, Belleisle has no resource except
"what his own head may furnish. The black landscape is
"getting powdered with snow; one of the grimmest Winters,
"almost like that of 1740: Belleisle must see what he will do.
"Belleisle knows secretly what he will do. Belleisle has
"orders to come away from Prag; bring his Army off, and the
"chivalry of France home to their afflicted friends. * A thing
"that would have been so feasible two months ago, while
"Maillebois was still wriggling in the Pass of Caaden; but
"which now borders on impossibility, if not reaches into it. As
"a primary measure, Belleisle keeps those orders of his
"rigorously secret. Within the Garrison, or on the part of
"Lobkowitz, there is a far other theory of Belleisle's inten-
"|tions. Lobkowitz, unable to exist in the black circuit, has
"retired beyond it, and taken the eastern side of the Moldau,
"as the least ruined; leaving the Tolpatchery, under one
"Festititz, to caracole round the black horizon on the west.
"Farther, as the Moldau is rolling ice, and Lobkowitz is
"afraid of his pontoons, he drags them out high and dry:
'" Can be replaced in a day, when wanted. ' In a day; yes,
"thinks Belleisle, but not in less than a day; -- and proceeds
"now to the consummation. Detailed Accounts exist, Belle-
"isle's own Account (rapid, exact, loftily modest); here, com-
"pressing to the utmost, let us snatch hastily the main
"features.
"On the 15th of December 1742, Prag Gates are all shut:
* Campagnes, vi. 244-251; Espagnac, i. 168.
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? 256 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [bOOKXIT.
Dec. 1742.
"Enter if you like; but no outgate. Monseigneur le Mare'chal
"intends to have a grand foraging tomorrow, on the south-
"western side of Prag. Lobkowitz heard of it, in spite of the
"shut gates; for all Prag is against Belleisle, and doesspy-
"work for Lobkowitz. 'Let him forage,' thought Lobkowitz;
'"he will not grow rich by what he gathers;' and sat still,
"leaving his pontoons high and dry. So that Belleisle, on the
"afternoon of December 16th, -- between 12 and 14,000 men,
"near 4,000 of them cavalry, with cannon, with provision-
"wagons, baggage-wagons, goods and chattels in mass, -- has
"issued through the two South-Western Gates; and finds him-
"self fairly out of Prag. On the Pilsen road; about nightfall
"of the snort winter day: earth all snow and 'verglas,' iron
"glazed; huge olive-coloured curtains of theDusk going down
"upon the Mountains ahead of him; shutting-in a scene
"wholly grim forBelleisle. Brigadier Chevert, a distinguished
"and determined man,with some 4,000 sick, convalescent and
"half able, is left in Prag to man the works; the Mare'chal has
"taken hostages, twenty Notabilities of Prag; and neglected
"no precaution. He means towards Eger; has, at least, got
"one march ahead; and will do what is in him, he and every
"soul of those 14,000. The officers have given their horses
"for the baggage - wagons, made every sacrifice; the word
"Homewards kindles a strange fire in all hearts; and the
"troops, say my French authorities, are unsurpassable. The
"Marechal himself, victim of rheumatisms, cannot ride at all;
"but has his light sledge always harnessed; and, at a mo-
"ment's notice, is present everywhere. Sleep, during these
"ten days and nights, he has little.
"Eger is 100 miles off, by the shortest Highway: there are
"two bad Highways, one by Pilsen southerly, one by Karls-
"bad northerly, -- with their bridges all broken, infested by
"Hussars: --we strike into a middle combination of country
"roads, intricate parish lanes; and march zigzag across these
"frozen wildernesses: we must dodge these Festititz Hussar
"swarms; and cross the rivers near their springs. Forward!
"Perhaps some readers, for the high Belleisle's sake, will look
"out these localities subjoined in the Note, and reduced to
"spelling. * Resting-places in this grim wilderness of his:
* Tachlowitz, Lischon (near Rakonitz) j Jechnitz (as if you were forthe
Pilsen road; then torn as if for the Karlsbad one): Steben (not discover-
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? CHAP. III. ] CARNIVAL PHENOMENA IN WAB-TIME. 257
Dec. 1742.
"poor snow-clad Hamlets, -- with their little hood of human
"smoke rising through the snow; silent all of thern, except for
"the sound of here and there a flail, or crowing cock;--but have
"been awakened from their torpor by this transit ofBelleisle.
"Happily the bogs themselves are iron; deepest bog will bear.
"Festititz tries us twice, -- very anxious to get Belleisle's
"Armychest, or money; we give him torrents of sharp shot in-
"stead. Festititz, these two chief times, we pepper rapidly
"into the Hills again; he is reduced to hang prancing on our
"flanks and rear. Men bivouac over fires of turf, amid snow,
"amid frost; tear down, how greedily, any woodwork for fire.
"Leave a trumpet to beg quarter for the frozen and speech-
less; -- which is little respected: they are lugged in carts,
"stript by the savageries, and cruelly used. There were first
"extensive plains, then boggy passes, intricate mountains;
"bog and rock; snow and oerglas. -- On the 26th, after in-
describable endeavours, we get into Eger; -- some 1,300
"(about one in ten) left frozen in the wildernesses; and half
"the Army falling ill at Eger, of swollen limbs, sore throats,
"and other fataller diseases, fatal then, or soon after. Chevert,
"at Prag, refused summons from Prince Lobkowitz: 'No,
"mon Prince; not by any means! We will 'die, every man of
"us, first; and we will burn Prag withal! ' -- So that Lobko-
"witz had to consent to everything; and escort Chevert to
"Eger, with bag and baggage, Lobkowitz furnishing the
"wagons.
"Comparable to the Retreat of Xenophon! cry many.
"Every Retreat is compared to that. A valiant feat, after all
"exaggerations. A thing well done, say military men; --,
"' nothing to obj ect, except that the troops were so ruined;'--
"and the most unmilitary may see, it is the work of a high and
"gallant kind of man. One of the coldest expeditions ever
"known. There have been three expeditions or retreats of
"this kind which were very cold: that of those Swedes in the
"Great Elector's time (not to mention that of Karl XII. 's
able, but a Despatch from it,-- Campaqnes, v. 280), Chisch, Luditz, They-
sing (hereabouts you break off into smaller columns, separate parties and
patches, cavalry all ahead, among the Hills): Schonthal and Landeck
(Belleisle passes Christmas-day at Landeck, -- Campaniles, vii. 10); Ein-
siedel {and by Petschau), Lauterbach, Kdnigswart, and likewise by Tdpl,
Sandau, Treunitz (that is, into Eger from two sides).
Carlijle, Frederick the Great. VII. 17
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? 258 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [bOOKXTV.
Deo. 1742.
"Army out of Norway, after poor Karl XII. got shot); that of
"Napoleon from Moscow; this of Belleisle, which is the only
"one brilliantly conducted, and not ending in rout and anni-
"hilation.
"The troops rest in Eger for! a week or two; then home-
"ward through the Ober-Pfalz: -- 'go all across the Rhine at
"Spever' (5th February next); the Bohemian Section of the
"Oriflamme making exit in this manner. Not quite the eighth
"man of them left; five-eighths are dead: and there are about
"12,000 prisoners, gone to Hungary, -- who ran mostly to the
"Turks, such treatment had they, and were not heard of
"again. "* -- Ah, Belleisle, Belleisle!
The Army of the Oriflamme gets home in this sad
manner; Germany not cut in Four at all. "Impla-
"cable Austrian badgers," as we called them, "gloomily
"indignant bears," how have they served this fine
French hunting-pack; and from hunted are become
hunters, very dangerous to contemplate! At Frank-
furt, Belleisle, for his own part, pauses; cannot, in this
entirely downbroken state of body, serve his Majesty
further in the military business; will do some needful
diplomatics with the Kaiser, and retire home to Go-
vernment of Metz, till his worn-out health recover itself
a little.
A Glance at Vienna, and then at Berlin.
Prince Karl had been busy upon Braunau (the Ba-
varian Braunau, not the Bohemian or another, Secken-
dorf s chief post on the Inn); had furiously bombarded
Braunau, with red-hot balls, for some days;** intent to
* Guerre ie Bohime, li. 221 (for this last fact). lb. 204, and Espagnac.
i. 176 (for particulars of the Retreat); and still better, Bellelsle's own
Despatch and Private Letter (Eger, 2d January and 6th January 1743), ">
Campaqnes, vii.
July--Dec. 1742.
"mucH without stroke of sword, we say, and merely by
"marching: in one place, having marched too close, the
"retreating Barenklau people turned on him, 'took 100 pri-
"soners' before going; * -- other fighting, in this fine'Recon-
"quest of Bavaria,' I do not recollect. Winter come, he makes
"for Maillebois and the Iser Countries; cantons himself on
"the Upper Inn itself, well in advance of the French" (Brau-
nau his chief strong-place, if readers care to look on the
Map); "and strives to expect a combined seizure of Passau,
"and considerable things, were Spring come. " * *
And of Broglio in the Interim. "As for Broglio, left alone
"at Toplitz, gazing after a futile Maillebois, he sends the
"better half of his Force back to Prag; other half he
"establishes at Leitmeritz: good halfway-house to Dresden.
"'Will forward Saxon provender to you, M. de Belleisle! '
"(never did, and were all taken prisoners some weeks hence).
"Which settled, Broglio proceeded to the Saxon Court; who
"answered him: 'Provender? Alas, Monseigneur! We are
"(to confess it to you! ) at Peace with Austria:** not an ounce
"of provender possible; how dare we? ' -- but were otherwise
"politeness itself to the great Broglio. Great Broglio, after
"sumptuous entertainments there, takes the road for Baiern;
"circling grandly ('through Niirnberg with escort of 500
"Horse') to Maillebois's new quarters; -- takes command of
"the 'Bavarian Army' (may it be lucky for him! ); and sends
"Maillebois home, in deep dudgeon, to the merciless criticisms
"of men. 'Could have done it,' persists the Vieux Pelit-maitre
"always, 'had not' -- one knows what, but cares not, at this
"date! --
"Broglio's quarters in the Iser Country, I am told, are
"fatally too crowded, men perishing at a frightful rate per
"day. *** 'Things all awry here, -- thanks to that Maillebois
"and others! ' And Broglio's troubles and procedures, as is
"everywhere usual to Broglio, run to a great height in this
"Bavarian Command. And poor Seckenaorf, in neighbour-
"hood of such a Broglio, hashisadoes; eyes sparkling; face
"blushing slate-colour; at times nearly driven out of his wits;
* Espagnac, i. 166.
** Treatying ever since "July 17th;" Treaty actually done, "11th Sep-
tember" (Adelung, iii. o. 201, 268).
*** Espagnac, i. 182.
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? 246 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
July--Dec. 1742.
"-- but strives to consume his own smoke, and to havehopes
"on Passau notwithstanding. " -- And of Belleisle in Prag,
and his meditations on the Oriflamme? -- Patience, reader.
Meantime, what a relief to Kaiser Karl, in such
wreck of Bohemian Kingdoms and Castles in Spain,
to have got his own Miinchen and Country in hand
again; with the prospect of quitting furnished-lodgings,
and seeing the colour of real money! April next, he
actually goes to Miinchen, where we catch a glimpse
of him* This same October, the Reich, after endless
debatings on the question, "Help our Kaiser, or not
help? "** has voted him fifty Romer-monate ("Romish-
months," still so termed, though there is not now any
marching of the Kaiser to Rome on business); meaning
fifty of the known quotas, due from all and sundry in
such case, -- which would amount to about 300,000/.
(could it, or the half of it, be collected from so wide a
Parish), and would prove a sensible relief to the poor
man.
Voltaire has been on Visit at Aachen, in the interim, --
his Third Visit to King Friedrich.
King Friedrich had come to the Baths of Aachen,
August 25th; the Maillebois Army of Redemption
being then, to the last man of it, five days across the
Rhine on its high errand, which has since proved futile.
Friedrich left Aachen, taking leave of his Voltaire,
who had been lodging with him for a week by special
invitation, September 9th; and witnessed the later
struggles and final inability of Maillebois to redeem,
* "17th April 1743," Monty os &c. accompanying (Adelung, ill. b. 119,
120). ** Ibid. ill. o. 289.
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? CHAP. II. ] AUSTRIAN AFFAIRS MOUNTING. 247
Aug. 1742.
not at Aix, but at Berlin, amid the ordinary course of
his employments there. We promised something of
Voltaire's new visit, his Third to Friedrich. Here is
what little we have, -- if the lively reader will exert
his fancy on it.
Voltaire and his Du Chatelet had been to Cirey,
and thence been at Paris through this Spring and
Summer, 1742; -- engaged in what to Voltaire and
Paris was a great thing, though a pacific one: The
getting of Mahomet brought upon the boards. August
9th, precisely while the first vanguard of the Army of
Redemption got across the Rhine at Diisseldorf, Vol-
taire's Tragedy of Mahomet came on the stage.
August 9th, 11th, 13th, Paris City was in trans-
ports of various kinds; never were such crowds of
Audience, lifting a man to the immortal gods, --
though a part too, majority by count of heads, were
dragging him to Tartarus again. "Exquisite, un-
paralleled! " exclaimed good judges (as Fleury himself
had anticipated, on examining the Piece): -- "In-
famous, irreligious, accursed! " vociferously exclaimed
the bad judges; Reverend Desfontaines (of Sodom, so
Voltaire persists to define him), Reverend Desfontaines
and others giving cue; hugely vociferous, these latter,
hugely in majority by count of heads. And there was
such a bellowing and such a shrieking, judicious Fleury,
or Maurepas under him, had to suggest, "Let an
actor fall sick; let M. de Voltaire volunteer to with-
draw his Piece; otherwise --! " -- And so it had to
he: Actor fell sick on the 14th (Playbills sorry to
retract their Mahomet on the 14th); and -- in fact it
was not for nine years coming, and after Dedication to
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? 248 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
2d-9th Sept. 1742.
the Pope, and other exquisite manoeuvres and unex-
pected turns of fate, that Mahomet could be acted a
fourth time in Paris, and thereafter ad libitum down to
this day. *
Such tempest in a teapot is not unexampled, nay
rather is very frequent, in that Anarchic Republic
called of Letters. Confess, reader, that you too would
have needed some patience in M. de Voltaire's place;
with such a Heaven's own Inspiration of a Mahomet in
your hands, and such a terrestrial Doggery at your
heels. Suppose the bitterest of your barking curs were
a Reverend Desfontaines of Sodom, whom you your-
self had saved from the gibbet once, and again and
again from starving? It is positively a great Anarchy,
and Fountain of Anarchies, all that, if you will con-
sider; and it will have results under the sun. You
cannot help it, say you; there is no shutting up of a
Reverend Desfontaines, which would be so salutary to
himself and to us all? No: -- and when human
reverence (daily going, in such ways) is quite gone
from the world; and your lowest blockhead and
scoundrel (usually one entity) shall have perfect free-
dom to spit in the face of your highest sage and hero,
-- what a remarkably Free World shall we be!
Voltaire, keeping good silence as to all this, and
minded for Brussels again, receives the King of
Prussia's invitation; lays it at his Eminency Fleury's
feet; will not accept, unless his Eminency and my own
King of France (possibly to their advantage, if one
might hint such a thing! ) will permit it. ** "By all
means; go, and" -- The rest is in dumb-show; mean-
* CEuvres de Voltaire, ii. 137, n. ; &c. &c.
** CEuvres de Voltaire, Ixxii. 555 (Letter to Fleury, "Paris,"Aug. 22d")
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? CHAP. II. ] AUSTRIAN AFFAIRS MOUNTING. 249
10th Sept. 1742.
ing, "Try to pump him for us! " Under such omens,
Voltaire and his divine Emilie return to their Hons-
bruck Lawsuit: "Silent Brussels, how preferable to
Paris and its mad cries! " Voltaire, leaving the divine
Emilie at Brussels, September 2d, sets out for Aix, --
Aix attainable within the day. He is back at Brussels
late in the evening, September 9th: -- how he had
fared, and what extent of pumping there was, learn
from the following Excerpts, which are all dated the
morrow after his return:
Three Letters of Voltaire, dated Brussels, 10th Sept. 1742.
1o. To Cideville (the Rouen Advocate, who has sometimes
troubled us). * * "I have been to see the King of Prussia
"since I began this Letter" (beginning of it dates, September
"1st). I have courageously resistedkis fine proposals. He
"offers me a beautiful House in Berlin, a pretty Estate; but I
"prefer my second-floor in Madame du Ch&telet's here. He
"assures me of his favour, of the perfect freedom I should
"have; -- and I am running to Paris" (did not just yet run)
"to my slavery and persecution. I could fancy myself a small
"Athenian, refusing the bounties of the King of Persia. With
"this difference, however, one had liberty (not slavery) "at
"Athens; and I am sure there were many Cidevilles there, in-
stead of one," -- He'las, my Cideville I
2o. To Marquis d'Argenson (worthy official Gentleman, not
War-Minister now or afterwards; War-Minister's senior bro-
ther, -- Voltaire's old schoolfellows in the College of Louis le
Grand). ** "I have just been to see the King of Prussia in
"these late days" (in fact, quitted him only yesterday; both of
us, after a week together, leaving Aix yesterday): "I have
"seen him as one seldom sees Kings, -- much at my ease, in
"my own room, in the chimney-nook, whither the same man
"who has gained two Battles would come and talk familiarly,
"as Scipio did with Terence. You will tell me I am not
"Terence; true, but neither is he altogether Scipio.
"I learned some extraordinary things," -- things not from
Friedrich at all: mere dinner-table rumours; about the 16,000
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? 250 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
ioth Sept. ne.
English landing here (" 18,000" he calls them, and farther on,
"20,000") with the other 16,000 plus 6,000 of Hanoverian-Hes-
sian sort, expecting 20,000Dutch to join them, -- who perhaps
will not? "M. deNeipperg" (Governor of Luxemburg now)
"is come hither to Brussels; but brings no Dutch troops with
"him, as he had hoped," -- Dutch perhaps won't rise, after all
this flogging and hoisting? "Perhaps we may soon get a use-
ful and glorious Peace, in spite of my Lord Stair, and of M.
"van Haren, the Tyrtseus of the States-General" (famed Van
Haren, eyes in a fine Dutch frenzy rolling, whose Cause-of-
Liberty verses let no man inquire after): "Stair prints iMe-
"moirs, Van Haren makes Odes; and with so much prose and
"so much verse, perhaps their High and Slow Mightinesses"
(Excellency Fe'ne'lon sleeplessly busy persuading them, and
native Gravitation sleepily ditto) "will sit quiet. God grant it!
"The English want to attack us on our own soil" (actually
Stair's plan); "and we cannot pay them in that kind. The
"match is too unfair! If we kill the whole 20,000 of them, we
"merely send 20,000^Heretics to -- What shall I say? --a
"I'Enfer, and gain nothing; if they kill us, they even feed at
"our expense in doing it. Better have no quarrels except on
"Locke and Newton! The quarrel I have on Mahomet is
"happily only ridiculous. " * * Adieu, M. le Marquis.
30. To the Cardinal de Fleury. "Monseigneur," * * "to
"give your Eminency, as I am bound, some account of my
"journey to Aix-la-Chapelle. " Friedrich's guest there; let us
hear, let us look.
"I could not get away from Brussels till the 2d of this
"month. On the road, I met a courier from the King of
"Prussia, coming to reiterate his Master's orders on me. The
"King had me lodged near his own Apartment; andhepassed,
"for two consecutive days, four hours at a time in my room,
"with all that goodness and familiarity which forms', as you
"know, part of his character, and which does not lower the
"King's dignity, because one is duly careful not to abuse it"
(be careful! ). "I had abundant time to speak, with a great
"deal of freedom, on what your Eminency had prescribed to
"me; and the King spoke to me with an equal frankness.
"First he asked me, If it was true that the French Nation
"was so angered against him; if the King was, and if you
"were? I answered," -- mildly reprobatory, yet conciliative,
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? CHAP. II. ] AUSTRIAN AFFAIRS MOUNTING. 251
10th Sept. 1742.
'"Hm, No, nothing permanent, nothing to speak of. ' "He
"then deigned to speak to me, at large, of the reasons which
"had induced him to be so hasty with the Peace. " "Extremely
"remarkable reasons;" "dare not trust them to this Paper"
(Broglio-Belleisle discrepancies, we guess, distracted Broglio
procedures;) -- they have no concern with that Pallandt-
Letter Story, -- "they do not turn on the pretended Secret
"Negotiations at the Court of Vienna" (which are not pre-
tended at all, as I among others well know), "in regard to
"which your Eminency has condescended to clear yourself"
(by denying the truth, poor Eminency; there was no help
otherwise). "All I dare state is, that it seems to me easy to
"lead back the mind of this Sovereign, whom the situation of
"his Territories, his interest, and his taste would appear to
"mark as the natural ally of France. "
"He said farther" (what may be relied on as true by his
Eminency Fleury, and my readers here), "That he pas-
sionately wished to see Bohemia in the Emperor's hands"
(small chance for it, as things now go! ); "that he renounced,
"with the best faith in the world, all claim whatever on Berg
"and Jiilich; and that, in spite of the advantageous proposals
"which Lord Stair was making him, he thought only of keep-
"ing Silesia. That he knew well enough the House of Austria
"would, one day, wish to recover that fine Province, but that
"he trusted he could keep his conquest; that he had at this
"time 130,000 soldiers always ready; that he would make of
"Neisse, Glogau, Brieg, fortresses as strong as Wesel" (which
he is now diligently doing, and will soon nave done); "that
"besides he was well informed the Queen of Hungary already
"owed 80,000,000 German crowns, which is about 300 millions
"of our money" (about 12 millions sterling); "that her Pro-
"vinces-, exhausted, and lying wide apart, would not be able to
"make long efforts; and that the Austrians, for a good while
"to come, could not of themselves be formidable. " Of them-
selves, no: but with Britannic soup-royal in quantity? --
"My Lord Hyndford had spoken to him" as if France were
entirely discouraged and done for: How false, Monseigneur!
"And Lord Stair in his letters represented France, a month
"ago, as ready to give in. Lord Stair has not ceased to press
"his Majesty during this Aix Excursion even:" and, in spite of
what your Eminency hears from the Hague, "there was, on
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? 252 EUBOPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
10th Sept. 1742
"the 30th of August, an Englishman at Aix on the part of Mi-
"lord Stair; and he had speech with the King of Prussia"
(croyez moil) "in a little Village called Boschet" (Burtscheid,
where are hot wells), "a quarter of a league from Aix. I have
"been assured, moreover, that the Englishman returned in
"much discontent. On the other hand, General Schmettau,
"who was with the King" (elderSchmettau, GiaSSarnuel, who
does a great deal of envoying for his Majesty), "sent, at that
"very time, to Brussels, for Maps of the Moselle and of the
"Three Bishoprics, and purchased five copies," -- means to
examine Milord Stair's proposed Seat of War, at any rate.
(Here is a pleasant friend to have on visit to you, in the next
apartment, with such an eye and such a nose! ) * *
"jMonseigneur," finely insinuates Voltaire in conclusion,
"is not there" a certain Frenchman, true to his Country, to his
King, andtoyourEminency, with perhaps peculiar facilities
for being of use, in such delicate case? -- uJe suis" much your
Eminency's. *
Friedrich, on the day while Voltaire at Brussels
sat so busy writing of him, was at Salzdahl, visiting
his Brunswick kindred there, on the road home to his
usual affairs. Old Fleury, age ninety gone, died 29th
January 1743, -- five months and nineteen days after
this Letter. War-Minister Breteuil had died, January 1st.
Here is room for new Ministers and Ministries; for the
two D'Argensons, -- if it could avail their old School-
fellow, or France, or us; which it cannot much.
* Llmres, Ixxii. p. 568 (to Oideville), p. 579 (d'Argenson), p. 574
(Fleury).
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? CHAP. in. ] CARNIVAL PHENOMENA IN WAR-TIME. 253
Dec. 1742.
CHAPTEE III.
CARNIVAL PHENOMENA IN WAR-TIME.
Keaders were anticipating it, readers have no
sympathy; but the sad fact is, Britannic Majesty has
not got out his sword; this second paroxysm of his
proves vain as the first did! Those laggard Dutch,
dead to the Cause of Liberty, it is they again. Just
as the hour was striking, they -- plump down, in spite
of magnanimous Stair, into their mud again; cannot
be hoisted by engineering. And, after all that filling
and emptying of water-casks, and pumping and puffing,
and straining of every fibre for a twelvemonth past,
Britannic Majesty had to sit down again, panting in
an Olympian manner, with that expensive long sword
of his still sticking in the scabbard.
Tongue cannot tell what his poor little Majesty has
suffered from those Dutch, -- checking one's noble
rage, into mere zero, always; making of one's own
glorious Army a mere expensive Phantasm! Hanoverian,
Hessian, British: 40,000 fighters standing in harness,
year after year, at such cost; and not the killing of a
French turkey to be had of them in return. Patience,
Olympian patience, withal! He cantons his troops in
the Netherlands Towns; many of the British about
Ghent (who consider the provisions, and customs, none
of the best); * his Hanoverians, Hessians, farther north-
ward, Hanover way; -- and, greatly daring, determines
to try again, next Spring. Carteret himself shall go
and flagitate the Dutch. Patience; whip and hoist! --
* Letters of Officers, from Ghent (Westminster Journal, Oct. 23d, &c).
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? 254 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
Dec. 1742.
What a conclusion, snorts the indignant British Public
through its Gazetteers.
"Next year, yes, exclaims one indignant Editor:' if talking
"will do business, we shall no doubt perform wonders; for we
"have had as much talking and puffing since February last, as
"during any ten years of the late Administration'* (under poor
Walpole, whom you could not enough condemn)! "The
"Dutch? exclaims another: 'If we were a Free People' (F--P--
"he puts it, joining caution with his rage), 'qucere, Whether
"Holland would not, at this juncture, come cap in hand, to sue
"for our protection and alliance; instead of making us dance
"attendance at the Hague ? '" Yes, indeed; -- " and then the
"Case of the Hanover Forces (fear not, reader; I understand
"your terror of locked-jaw, and will never mention said Case
"again); "but it is singular to the Gazetteer mind, That these
"HanoverForces are to be paid by England,as appears; Han-
"over, as if without interest in the matter, paying nothing!
"Upon which, in covert form of symbolic adumbration, of
"witty parable, what stinging commentaries, not the first, nor
"by many thousands the last (very sad reading in our day) on
"this paltry Hanover Connection altogether: What immensi-
"ties it has cost poor England, and is like to cost, 'the Lord of
"the Manor'(great George our King) "being the gentleman
"he is; and how England, or, as it is adumbratively called,
"theManor of St. James's,' is become a mere 'feefarm to Mum-
"land. ' Unendurable to think of. 'Bob Monopoly, the late
"Tallyman' (adumbrative for Walpole, late Prime Minister)
"was much blamed on this account; and John the Carter'
"(John Lord Carteret), 'Clerk of the Vestry and present fa-
vourite of his Lordship, is not behind Robin in his care for the
"Manor of Mumland" ** (that contemptible Country, where their
"very beer is called mum), -- and no remedy within view! "
Retreat from Prag: Army of the Oriflamme, Bohemian Section of
it, makes Exit.
"And Belleisle in Prag, left solitary there, with his heroic
"remnant, -- gone now to 17,000, the fourth man of themin
"hospital, with Festititz Tolpatchery hovering round, and
? the Dailu Post, December 31st (o. s. ), 1742.
** In Westminster Journal (February 12th, h. 9. , 1743), a long Apologue
in this strain.
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? CHAP. HI. ] CARNTVAL PHENOMENA IN WAR-TIME. 255
15th Dec. 1742.
"Winter and Hunger drawing nigh, what is to become of
"Belleisle? Prince Karl and the Grand-Duke had attended
"Maillebois to Bavaria; steadily to left of Maillebois, between
"Austria and him; and are now busy in the Passau Country,
"bent on exploding those Seckendorf-Broglio operations
"and intentions, as the chief thing now. Meanwhile they
"have detached Prince Lobkowitz to girdle-in Belleisle
"again; for which Lobkowitz (say 20,000, with the Festitiz
"Tolpatchery included) will be easily able. On the march
"thither he easily picked up (18th-25thNovember) that new
"French Post of Leitmeritz (Broglio's fine 'Half-way House
"to Saxony and Provender'), with its garrison of 2,000: the
"other posts and outposts, one and all, nad to hurry home, in
"fear of a like fate. Beyond the circuit ofPrag, isolated in
"ten miles of burnt country, Belleisle has no resource except
"what his own head may furnish. The black landscape is
"getting powdered with snow; one of the grimmest Winters,
"almost like that of 1740: Belleisle must see what he will do.
"Belleisle knows secretly what he will do. Belleisle has
"orders to come away from Prag; bring his Army off, and the
"chivalry of France home to their afflicted friends. * A thing
"that would have been so feasible two months ago, while
"Maillebois was still wriggling in the Pass of Caaden; but
"which now borders on impossibility, if not reaches into it. As
"a primary measure, Belleisle keeps those orders of his
"rigorously secret. Within the Garrison, or on the part of
"Lobkowitz, there is a far other theory of Belleisle's inten-
"|tions. Lobkowitz, unable to exist in the black circuit, has
"retired beyond it, and taken the eastern side of the Moldau,
"as the least ruined; leaving the Tolpatchery, under one
"Festititz, to caracole round the black horizon on the west.
"Farther, as the Moldau is rolling ice, and Lobkowitz is
"afraid of his pontoons, he drags them out high and dry:
'" Can be replaced in a day, when wanted. ' In a day; yes,
"thinks Belleisle, but not in less than a day; -- and proceeds
"now to the consummation. Detailed Accounts exist, Belle-
"isle's own Account (rapid, exact, loftily modest); here, com-
"pressing to the utmost, let us snatch hastily the main
"features.
"On the 15th of December 1742, Prag Gates are all shut:
* Campagnes, vi. 244-251; Espagnac, i. 168.
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? 256 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [bOOKXIT.
Dec. 1742.
"Enter if you like; but no outgate. Monseigneur le Mare'chal
"intends to have a grand foraging tomorrow, on the south-
"western side of Prag. Lobkowitz heard of it, in spite of the
"shut gates; for all Prag is against Belleisle, and doesspy-
"work for Lobkowitz. 'Let him forage,' thought Lobkowitz;
'"he will not grow rich by what he gathers;' and sat still,
"leaving his pontoons high and dry. So that Belleisle, on the
"afternoon of December 16th, -- between 12 and 14,000 men,
"near 4,000 of them cavalry, with cannon, with provision-
"wagons, baggage-wagons, goods and chattels in mass, -- has
"issued through the two South-Western Gates; and finds him-
"self fairly out of Prag. On the Pilsen road; about nightfall
"of the snort winter day: earth all snow and 'verglas,' iron
"glazed; huge olive-coloured curtains of theDusk going down
"upon the Mountains ahead of him; shutting-in a scene
"wholly grim forBelleisle. Brigadier Chevert, a distinguished
"and determined man,with some 4,000 sick, convalescent and
"half able, is left in Prag to man the works; the Mare'chal has
"taken hostages, twenty Notabilities of Prag; and neglected
"no precaution. He means towards Eger; has, at least, got
"one march ahead; and will do what is in him, he and every
"soul of those 14,000. The officers have given their horses
"for the baggage - wagons, made every sacrifice; the word
"Homewards kindles a strange fire in all hearts; and the
"troops, say my French authorities, are unsurpassable. The
"Marechal himself, victim of rheumatisms, cannot ride at all;
"but has his light sledge always harnessed; and, at a mo-
"ment's notice, is present everywhere. Sleep, during these
"ten days and nights, he has little.
"Eger is 100 miles off, by the shortest Highway: there are
"two bad Highways, one by Pilsen southerly, one by Karls-
"bad northerly, -- with their bridges all broken, infested by
"Hussars: --we strike into a middle combination of country
"roads, intricate parish lanes; and march zigzag across these
"frozen wildernesses: we must dodge these Festititz Hussar
"swarms; and cross the rivers near their springs. Forward!
"Perhaps some readers, for the high Belleisle's sake, will look
"out these localities subjoined in the Note, and reduced to
"spelling. * Resting-places in this grim wilderness of his:
* Tachlowitz, Lischon (near Rakonitz) j Jechnitz (as if you were forthe
Pilsen road; then torn as if for the Karlsbad one): Steben (not discover-
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? CHAP. III. ] CARNIVAL PHENOMENA IN WAB-TIME. 257
Dec. 1742.
"poor snow-clad Hamlets, -- with their little hood of human
"smoke rising through the snow; silent all of thern, except for
"the sound of here and there a flail, or crowing cock;--but have
"been awakened from their torpor by this transit ofBelleisle.
"Happily the bogs themselves are iron; deepest bog will bear.
"Festititz tries us twice, -- very anxious to get Belleisle's
"Armychest, or money; we give him torrents of sharp shot in-
"stead. Festititz, these two chief times, we pepper rapidly
"into the Hills again; he is reduced to hang prancing on our
"flanks and rear. Men bivouac over fires of turf, amid snow,
"amid frost; tear down, how greedily, any woodwork for fire.
"Leave a trumpet to beg quarter for the frozen and speech-
less; -- which is little respected: they are lugged in carts,
"stript by the savageries, and cruelly used. There were first
"extensive plains, then boggy passes, intricate mountains;
"bog and rock; snow and oerglas. -- On the 26th, after in-
describable endeavours, we get into Eger; -- some 1,300
"(about one in ten) left frozen in the wildernesses; and half
"the Army falling ill at Eger, of swollen limbs, sore throats,
"and other fataller diseases, fatal then, or soon after. Chevert,
"at Prag, refused summons from Prince Lobkowitz: 'No,
"mon Prince; not by any means! We will 'die, every man of
"us, first; and we will burn Prag withal! ' -- So that Lobko-
"witz had to consent to everything; and escort Chevert to
"Eger, with bag and baggage, Lobkowitz furnishing the
"wagons.
"Comparable to the Retreat of Xenophon! cry many.
"Every Retreat is compared to that. A valiant feat, after all
"exaggerations. A thing well done, say military men; --,
"' nothing to obj ect, except that the troops were so ruined;'--
"and the most unmilitary may see, it is the work of a high and
"gallant kind of man. One of the coldest expeditions ever
"known. There have been three expeditions or retreats of
"this kind which were very cold: that of those Swedes in the
"Great Elector's time (not to mention that of Karl XII. 's
able, but a Despatch from it,-- Campaqnes, v. 280), Chisch, Luditz, They-
sing (hereabouts you break off into smaller columns, separate parties and
patches, cavalry all ahead, among the Hills): Schonthal and Landeck
(Belleisle passes Christmas-day at Landeck, -- Campaniles, vii. 10); Ein-
siedel {and by Petschau), Lauterbach, Kdnigswart, and likewise by Tdpl,
Sandau, Treunitz (that is, into Eger from two sides).
Carlijle, Frederick the Great. VII. 17
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? 258 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [bOOKXTV.
Deo. 1742.
"Army out of Norway, after poor Karl XII. got shot); that of
"Napoleon from Moscow; this of Belleisle, which is the only
"one brilliantly conducted, and not ending in rout and anni-
"hilation.
"The troops rest in Eger for! a week or two; then home-
"ward through the Ober-Pfalz: -- 'go all across the Rhine at
"Spever' (5th February next); the Bohemian Section of the
"Oriflamme making exit in this manner. Not quite the eighth
"man of them left; five-eighths are dead: and there are about
"12,000 prisoners, gone to Hungary, -- who ran mostly to the
"Turks, such treatment had they, and were not heard of
"again. "* -- Ah, Belleisle, Belleisle!
The Army of the Oriflamme gets home in this sad
manner; Germany not cut in Four at all. "Impla-
"cable Austrian badgers," as we called them, "gloomily
"indignant bears," how have they served this fine
French hunting-pack; and from hunted are become
hunters, very dangerous to contemplate! At Frank-
furt, Belleisle, for his own part, pauses; cannot, in this
entirely downbroken state of body, serve his Majesty
further in the military business; will do some needful
diplomatics with the Kaiser, and retire home to Go-
vernment of Metz, till his worn-out health recover itself
a little.
A Glance at Vienna, and then at Berlin.
Prince Karl had been busy upon Braunau (the Ba-
varian Braunau, not the Bohemian or another, Secken-
dorf s chief post on the Inn); had furiously bombarded
Braunau, with red-hot balls, for some days;** intent to
* Guerre ie Bohime, li. 221 (for this last fact). lb. 204, and Espagnac.
i. 176 (for particulars of the Retreat); and still better, Bellelsle's own
Despatch and Private Letter (Eger, 2d January and 6th January 1743), ">
Campaqnes, vii.
