t Burkhard Gotthelf Struve, Syntagma
Ilislorim
Germanic(R) (1730,
2 voll.
2 voll.
Thomas Carlyle
Tempelhof, vi.
235-258; llelden-
Geschichle, vn. 177-181.
** "29 battalions, 60 squadrons," versus "49 battalinns, 68 squadrons''
(Schoning, in. 499).
*** Tempelhof, p. 237.
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? 328 FRIEDKJOH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
20th Oct. 1762.
"with intent to seize " (storm, if necessary) "the Height of St.
"Michael, -- when I came upon the Enemy's Army. I made
"two true attacks, and two false: the Enemy resisted ob-
stinately; but the sustained valour of your troops pre-
"vailed: and, after three hours in fire, the Enemy was obliged "to yield everywhere. I don't yet know the number of Pri-
"soners; but there must be above 4,000: -- the Reichs Army
"has lost next to nothing; the stress of effort fell to the
"Austrian share. We have got quantities of Cannon and
"Flags; Lieutenant-General Roth of the Reichs Army is
"among our Prisoners. I reckon we have lost from 2 to 3,000
"men; among them no Officer of mark. Lieutenant-General
"von Seidlitz rendered me the highest services; in a place
"where the Cavalry could not act" (border of the Spittelwald,
and its impassable entanglements and obstinacies), "he put
''himself at the head of the Infantry, and did signal services"
(his Battle mainly, scheming and all, say some ill-natured
private accounts); "Generals Belling andKleist" (renowned
Colonels known to us, now become Major-Generals) "did
"their very best. All the Infantry was admirable; not one
"battalion yielded ground. My Aide-de-Camp" (Kalkreuth,
a famous man in the Napoleon times long after), "who brings
"you this, had charge of assisting to conduct the attack
"through the Spittelwald" (and did it well, we can suppose):
"if, on that ground, you pleased to have the goodness to
"advance him, I should have my humble thanks to give you.
"There are a good many Officers who have distinguished
"themselves and behaved with courage, for whom I shall
"present similar requests. You will permit me to pay those
"who have taken cannons and flags" (100 ducats per cannon,
50 per flag, or whatever the tariff was: -- "By all manner of
"means! his Majesty would answer).
"The Enemy is retiring towards Dresden andDippoldis-
"walda. I am sending at his heels this night, and shall hear
"the result. My Aide-de-Camp is acquainted with all, and
"will be able to render you account of everything you may
"wish to know in regard to our present circumstances.
"General Wied, I believe, will cross Elbe tomorrow " (General
Wied, with 10,000 to help us, --for whom it was too dangerous
to wait, or perhaps there was a spur on one's own mind? );
"his arrival would be" (not'would have been:' celaviendrait,
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? CHAP. XII. ] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN ENDS. '329
29th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1762.
"not even viendra) "very opportune for me. I am, with all
"attachment, my dearest Brother, -- your most devoted
"Servant and Brother, -- Henri. " f
Tomorrow, in cipher, goes the following Despatch:
"Freyberg, 30th October 1782.
"General Wied" (not yet come to hand, or even got across
Elbe) "informs me, That Prince Albert of Saxony (pushing
hither with reinforcement, sent by Daun) "must have crossed
"Elbe yesterday atPirna" (did not show face here, with his
large reinforcements to them, or what would have become of
us! ); -- "and that for this reason he, Wied, must himself
"cross; which he will tomorrow. The same day I am to be
"joined by some battalions from General Hiilsen; and the
"day after tomorrow, when General Wied" (coming by
Meissen Bridge, it appears) "shall have reached the Katzen-
"htiuser, the whole of General Hiilsen's troops will join me.
"Directly thereupon I shall --"ff Or no more of that second
Despatch; Friedrich's Letter in Response is better worth
giving:
"Lowenberg, 2d November 1762.
"My dear Brother, --The arrival of Kalkreuter" (so he
persists in calling him), "and of your Letter, my dear Brother,
"has made me twenty" (not to say forty) "years younger:
"yesterday I was sixty, today hardly eighteen. I bless
"Heaven for preserving you in health (bonne sante," so we
term escape of lesion in fight); "and that things have passed
"so happily! You took the good step of attacking those who
"meant to attack you; and, by your good and solid measures
"(dispositions), you have overcome all the difficulties of a
"strong Post and a vigorous resistance. It is a service so im-
"portant rendered by you to the State, that I cannot enough
"express my gratitude, and will wait to do it in person.
"Kalkreuter will explain what motions I"-- * * "If
"Fortune favour our views on Dresden" (which it cannot in
the least, at this late season), "we shall indubitably have
"Peace this Winter or next Spring, -- and get honourably
"out of a difficult and perilous conjuncture, where we have
"often seen ourselves within two steps of total destruction.
"And, by this which you have now done, to you alone will
t Schoning, in. 491, 492. ft Ibid* p. 493.
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? 330 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
U9lh Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1762.
"belong the honour of having given the final stroke to
"Austrian Obstinacy, and laid the foundations of the Public
"Happiness, which will be the consequence of Peace. -- F. "*
Two days after this, November 4th, Friedrich is in
Meissen; November 9th, he comes across to Freyberg;
has a pleasant day, -- pleasant survey of the Battle-
field, Henri and Seidlitz escorting as guides. Henri, in furtherance of the Dresden project, has Kleist out
on the Bohemian Magazines, -- "That is the one way
to clear Dresden neighbourhood of Enemies! " thinks
Henri always. Kleist burns the considerable magazine
of Saatz; finds the grand one of Leitmeritz too well
guarded for him: -- upon which, in such snowdrifts
and sleety deluges, is not Dresden plainly impossible,
your Majesty? Impossible, Friedrich admits, -- the
rather as he now sees Peace to be coming without that.
Freyberg has at last broken the back of Austrian Ob-
stinacy. "Go in upon the Reich," Friedrich now orders
Kleist, the instant Kleist is home from his Bohemian
inroad: "In upon the Reich, with 6,000, in your old
style! That will dispose the Reichs Principalities to
Peace. "
Kleist marched, November 3d; kept the Reich in
paroxysm, till December 13th; -- Plotho, meanwhile,
proclaiming in the Reichs Diet: "Such Reichs Princes
as wish for Peace with my King can have it; those
that prefer War, they too can have it! " Kleist, dividing
himself in the due artistic way, flew over the Voigt-
land, on to Bamberg, on to Niirnberg itself (which he
took, by sounding ram's-horns, as it were, having no
gun heavier than a carbine, and held for a week);** --
* Schoning, m. 495, 496.
** Hel<lcn-Geschichtc,vu. 186-194.
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? CHAP. XII. ] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN ENDS. 331
24th Nov. I7C2.
fluttering the Reichs Diet not a little, and disposing
everybody for Peace. The Austrians saw it with plea-
sure, "We solemnly engaged to save these poor people
harmless, on their joining us; -- and, behold, it has
become thrice and four times impossible. Let them fall
off into Peace, like ripe pears, of themselves; we can
then turn round and say, 'Save you harmless? Yes;
if you hadn't fallen off! '"
November 2ith, all Austrians make Truce with Fried-
rich, Truce till March 1st; -- all Austrians, and what
is singular, with no mention of the Reich whatever.
The Reich is defenceless, at the feet of Kleist and his
6,000. Stollberg is still in Prussian neighbourhood;
and may be picked up any day! Stollberg hastens off
to defend the Reich; finds the Reich quite empty of
enemies before his arrival; -- and at least saves his
own skin. A month or two more, and Stollberg will
lay down his Command, and the last Reichs-Execution
Army, playing Farce-Tragedy so long, make its exit
from the Theatre of this World.
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? 332
FIUEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [noOK XX.
24th Nov. 1702 - ljlli Feb. 17t3.
CHAPTER XIII.
PEACE OF HUBERTSBURG.
The Prussian troops took Winter-quarters in the
Meissen-Freyberg region, the old Saxon ground, fami-
liar to them for the last three years: room enough this
Winter, "from Plauen and Zwickau, round by Langen-
salza again;" Truce with everybody, and nothing of
disturbance till March 1st at soonest. The usual re-
cruiting went on, or was preparing to go on, -- apart
of which took immediate effect, as we shall see. Re-
cruiting, refitting, "Be ready for a new Campaign, in
any case: the readier we are, the less our chance of
having one! " Friedrich's headquarter is Leipzig; but
till December 5th, he does not get thither. "More
business on me than ever! " complains he. At Leipzig
he had his Nephews, his DArgens; for a week or two
his Brother Henri; finally, his Berlin Ministers, espe-
cially Herzberg, when actual Peace came to be the
matter in hand. Henri, before that, had gone home:
"Peace being now the likelihood; -- Home; and recruit
one's poor health, at Berlin, among friends! "
Before getting to Leipzig, the King paid a flying
Visit at Gotha; -- probably now the one fraction of
these manifold Winter movements and employments,
in which readers could take interest. Of this, as there
happens to be some record left of it, here is what will
suffice. From Meissen, Friedrich writes to his bright
Grand-Duchess, always a bright, high and noble crea-
ture in his eyes: "Authorised by your approval" (has
politely inquired beforehand), "I shall have the infinite
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? CHAP. XIII. ] PEACE OF HUBERTSBURG. 333
8dDoc. I762.
"satisfaction of paying my duties on December 3d"
(four days hence), "and of reiterating to you, Madame,
"my liveliest and sincerest assurances of esteem and
"friendship. " * * "Some of my Commissariat people
"have been misbehaving? Strict inquiry shall be had,"f
-- and we soon find, was. But the Visit is our first thing.
The Visit took place accordingly; Seidlitz, a man
known in Gotha ever since his fine scenic-military pro-
cedures there in 1757, accompanied the King. Of the
lucent individualities invited to meet him, all are
now lost to me, except one Putter, a really learned
Gottingen Professor (deep in Reichs-History and the
like), whom the Duchess has summoned over. By the
dim lucency of Putter, faint to most of us as a rush-
light in the act of going out, the available part of our
imagination must try to figure, in a kind of Obliterated-
Rembrandt way, this glorious Evening; for there was
but one, -- December 3d-4th, -- Friedrich having to
leave early on the 4th. Here is Putter's record, given
in the third person:
"During dinner, Putter, honourably present among
"the spectators of this high business, was beckoned by
"the Duchess to step near the King" (right hand or left,
Putter does not say); but "the King graciously turned
"round, and conversed with Putter. " The King said:
King. "'In German History much is still buried; many
"important Documents lie hidden in Monasteries. ' Putter
"answered schicklich -- fitly;" that is all we know of Putter's
answer.
King (thereupon). "Of Books on Reichs-History I know
"only the I'ere Barri. " ff
t To the Grand-Duchess, "Meissen, 29th November" ((Euvrex de Fre-
deric. xvin. 199).
tt Barri de Beaumarchais, 10voII. 4to, Paris, 1748: Ibelieve, an ex-
tremely feeble Pillar of Will-o'-Wisps by Night; -- as I can expressly
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? 334 FBIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
, 3d Dec. 1762.
Putter. * * "Foreigners have for most part known
only, in regard to our History, a Latin work written by Struve
at Jena. "+
King. "Struv, Struvius; him I don't know. " Putter. "It is a pity Barri had not known German. " King. "Barri was a Lorrainer; Barri must have known
"German! " -- Then turning to the Duchess, on this hint
about the German Language, he told her, "in a ringing merry
"tone, How, at Leipzig once, he had talked with Gottsched"
"(talk known to us) on that subject, and had said to him, That
"the French had many advantages; among others, that a
"word could often be used in a complex signification, for
"which you had in German to scrape together several
"different expressions. Upon which Gottsched had said,
"' We will have that mended (Das wollen wir noch machen)! '
"These words the King repeated twice or thrice, with such a
"tone that you could well see how the man's conceit had
"struck him;" -- and in short, as we know already, what a
gigantic entity, consisting of wind mainly, he took this
elevated Gottsched to be.
Upon which, Putter retires into the honorary ranks again: silent, at least to us, and invisible; as the rest of this Royal
Evening at Gotha is. ff Here, however, is the Letter following
on it two days after:
Friedrich to the Duchess of Sachsen-Gotha.
"Leipzig, 6th December 1762. "Madame, -- I should never have done, my adorable
"Duchess, if I rendered you account of all the impressions
"which the friendship you lavished on me has made on my
"heart. I could wish to answer it by entering into everything
"that can be agreeable to you" (conduct of my Recruiters or
Commissariat people first of all). "I take the liberty of for-
testify Pfeffel to be (Pfeffel, Abrege Chronologique da VHtitoirc tFAUemagne,
2 voll. 4to, Paris, 1776, who has succeeded Barri as Patent Guide through
that vast Sylva Sylvarum and its pathless intricacies, for the inquiring
French and English.
t Burkhard Gotthelf Struve, Syntagma Ilislorim Germanic(R) (1730,
2 voll. folio).
ft "Putter's Selbstbiographie (Autobiography), p. 406:" cited in Preass,
H. 277 n.
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? CHAr. Xln. ] PEACE OF HUBERTSBUEO. 335
2I)tU Nuv. 1J62.
"warding the Answers which have come in to the Two
"Memoires you sent me. I am mortified, Madame, if I have
"not been able to fulfil completely your desires: but if you
"knew the situation I am in, I flatter myself you would have
"some consideration for it.
"I have found myself here" (in Leipzig, as elsewhere)
"overwhelmed with business, and even to a degree I had not
"expected. Meanwhile, if I ever can manage again to run
"over and pay you in person the homage of a heart which is
"more attached to you than that of your near relations, as"suredly I will not neglect the first opportunity that shall pre-
"sent itself.
"Messieurs the English" (Bute, Bedford and Company,
with their Preliminaries signed, and all my Westphalian
Provinces left in a condition we shall hear of) "continue to be-
"tray. Poor M. Mitchell has had a stroke of apoplexy on
"hearingit. It is a hideous thing (chose affreuse); but I will
"speak of it no more. May you, Madame, enjoy all the pro-
sperities that I wish for you, and not forget a Friend, who
"will be till his death, with sentiments of the highest esteem
"and the most perfect consideration, -- Madame, yourHigh-
"ness's most faithful Cousin and Servant, -- Friedrich. " *
For a fortnight past, Friedrich has had no doubt
that general Peace is now actually at hand. November
25th, ten days before this visit, a Saxon Privy-Coun-
cillor, Baron von Fritsch, who, by Order from his
Court, had privately been at Vienna on the errand,
came privately next, with all speed, to Friedrich
(Meissen, November 25th):** "Austria willing for
Treaty; is your Majesty willing? " "Thrice-willing, I;
my terms well known! " Friedrich would answer, --
gladdest of mankind to see general Pacification coming
to this vexed Earth again. The Dance of the Furies,
waltzing itself off, home out of this upper sunlight: the
mad Bellona steeds plunging down, down, towards
their Abysses again, for a season! --
* (Euvres de Frederic, xvm. 201. M ROdcnbeck, n. 193.
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? 336 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
iUtb Nov. IKi -- 151b Feb. 1763.
This was a result which Friedrich had foreseen as
nearly certain ever since the French and English signed
their Preliminaries. And there was only one thing which
gave him anxiety: that of his Rhine Provinces and
Strong Places, especially Wesel, which have been in
French hands for six years past, ever since Spring 1757.
Bute stipulates That those places and countries shall be
evacuated by his Choiseul, as soon as weather and pos-
sibility permit; but Bute, astonishing to say, has not
made the least stipulation as to whom they are to be
delivered to, -- allies or enemies, it is all one to Bute.
Truly rather a shameful omission, Pitt might indignantly
think, -- and call the whole business steadily, as he
persisted to do, "a shameful Peace," had there been no
other article in it but this; -- as Friedrich, with at
least equal emphasis, thought and felt. And, in fact,
it had thrown him into very great embarrassment, on
the first emergence of it.
For her Imperial Majesty began straightway to draw
troops into those neighbourhoods: "We will take deli-
very, our Allies playing into our hand! " And Fried-
rich , who had no disposable troops, had to devise some
rapid expedient; and did. Set his Free-Corps agents
and recruiters in motion: "Enlist me those Light people
of Duke Ferdinand's, who are all getting discharged;
especially that Britannic Legion so-called. All to be
discharged; re-enlist them, you; Ferdinand will keep
them till you do it. Be swift! " And it is done; -- a
small bit of actual enlistment among the many prospec-
tive that were going on, as we noticed above. Precise
date of it not given; must have been soon after Novem-
ber 3d. There were from 5 to 6,000 of them; and it
was promptly done. Divided into various regiments;
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? CHAP. XIII. ] PEACE OF HUBERTSBURG. 337
24th Nov. 1762 - 15th Feb. 1763.
chief command of them given to a Colonel Bauer, under
whom a Colonel Beckwith whose name we have heard:
these, to the surprise of Imperial Majesty, and alarm
of a pacific Versailles, suddenly appeared in the Cleve
Countries, handy for Wesel, for Geldern; in such posts,
and in such force and condition as intimated, "It shall
be we, under favour, that take delivery! " Snatch
Wesel from them, some night, sword in hand: that had
been Bauer's notion; but nothing of that kind was
found necessary; mere demonstration proved sufficient.
To the French Garrisons the one thing needful was to
get away in peace; Bauer with his brows gloomy is a
dangerous neighbour. Perhaps the French Officers
themselves rather favoured Friedrich than his enemies.
Enough, a private agreement, or mutual understanding
on word of honour, was come to: and, very publicly,
at length, on the 11th and 12th days of March 1763
(Peace now settled everywhere), Wesel, in great gala,
full of field-music, military salutations and mutual
dining, saw the French all filing out, and Bauer and
people filing in, to the joy of that poor Town. *
Soon after which, painful to relate, such the in-
exorable pressure of finance, Bauer and people were
all paid off, flung loose again: ruthlessly paid off by a
necessitous King! There were about 6,000 of those
poor fellows, -- specimens of the bastard heroic, under
difficulties, from every country in the world; Beckwith
and I know not what other English specimens of the
lawless heroic; who were all cashiered, officer and man,
on getting to Berlin. As were the earlier Free-Corps,
and indeed the subsequent, all and sundry, "except
seven," whose names will not be interesting to you.
* Preuss, ii. 342.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. XII. 22
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? 338 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
24th Nov. 1762 - 15th Feb. 1763.
Paid off, with or without remorse, such the exhaustion
of finance; Kleist, Icilius, Count Hordt and others
vainly repugning and remonstrating; the King himself
inexorable as Arithmetic. "Can maintain 138,000 of
regular, 12,000 of other sorts; not a man more! "
Zealous Icilius applied for some consideration to his
Officers: "partial repayment of the money they have
spent from their own pocket, in enlistment of their people now discharged! " Not a doit. The King's an-
swer is in autograph, still extant; not in good spelling,
but with sense clear as light: "Seine Officiers haben wie die Raben gestollen Sie Krigen nichts, Your Officers stole
like ravens; -- they get Nothing. "* Lessing's fine
play of Minna von Barnhelm testifies to considerable
public sympathy for these impoverished Ex-Military
people. Pathetic truly, in a degree; but such things
will happen. Irregular gentlemen, to whom the world's
their oyster, -- said oyster does suddenly snap-to on
them, by a chance. And they have to try it on the
other side, and say little! -- But we are forgetting the
Peace-Treaty itself, which still demands a few words.
Kleist's raid into the Reich had a fine effect on the
Potentates there; and Plotho's Offer was greedily com-
plied with; the Kaiser, such his generosity, giving "free
permission. " We spoke of Privy-Councillor von Fritsch,
and his private little word with Friedrich, at Meissen,
on November 25th. The Electoral-Prince of Saxony,
it seems, was author of that fine stroke; the history of
it this. Since November 3d, the French and English
have had their preliminaries signed; and all Nations
are longing for the like. "Let us have a German
Treaty for general Peace," said the Kurprinz of Saxony,
* Preuss, n. 320.
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? CHAP. XIII. ] PEACE OF HUBEBTSBURG. 339
Jan. 1763.
that amiable Heir-Apparent whom we have seen some-
times, who is rather crooked of back, but has a sprightly-
Wife. "By all means," answered Polish Majesty: "and
as I am in the distance, do you in every way further
it, my Son! " Whereupon despatch of Fritsch to Vienna,
and thence to Meissen; with "Yes" to him from both
parties. Plenipotentiaries are named: "Fritsch shall be
ours: they shall have my Schloss of Hubertsburg for
Place of Congress, said the Prince. And on Thursday,
December 30th, 1762, the Three Dignitaries met at
Hubertsburg, and began business.
This is the Schloss in Torgau Country which Quin-
tus Icilius's people, Saldern having refused the job,
willingly undertook spoiling; and, as is well known,
did it, January 22d, 1761; a thing Quintus never
heard the end of. What the amount of profit, or the
degree of spoil and mischief, Quintus's people made
of it, I could not learn; but infer from this new event
that the wreck had not been so considerable as the
noise was; at any rate, that the Schloss had soon been
restored to its pristine state of brilliancy. The Pleni-
potentiaries, -- for Saxony, Fritsch; for Austria, a
Von Collenbach, unknown to us; for Prussia, one
Hertzberg, a man experienced beyond his years, who
is of great name in Prussian History subsequently, --
sat here till February 15th, 1763, that is for six weeks
and five days. Leaving their Protocols to better judges,
who report them good, we will much prefer a word or
two from Friedrich himself, while waiting the result
they come to.
Friedrich to Prince Henri (home at Berlin).
'' Leipzig, 14th January 1763. * * Am not surprised
"you find Berlin changed for the worse: such a train ot cala22*
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? 340 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
15th Feb. 1763.
"mities must, in the end, make itself felt in a poor and natur-
"ally barren Country, where continual industry is needed to
"second its fecundity and keep up production. However, I
"will do what I can to remedy this dearth (la disette), at least
"as far as my small means permit. " * *
"No fear of Geldern and Wesel: all that has been cared
"for by Bauer and the new Free-Corps. By the end of Fe-
bruary, Peace will be signed; at the beginning of April,
"everybody will find himself at home, as in 1756.
"The circles are going to separate: indifferent to me, or
"nearly so; 'but it is good to be plucking out tiresome burn-
"ing sticks, stick after stick. I hope you amuse yourself at
"Berlin: at Leipzig, nothing but balls and redouts; my
"Nephews diverting themselves amazingly. Madame Fried-
"rich, lately Garden-maid at Seidlitz" (village in theNeu-
mark, with this Beauty plucking weeds in it, -- little pre-
scient of such a fortune), "now Wife to an Officer of the Free
"Hussars, is the principal heroine of these Festivities. " *
Leipzig, 25th January 1763. "Thanks for your care about
"my existence. I am becoming very old, dear Brother; in a
"little while, I shall be useless to the world and a burden to
"myself: it is the lot of all creatures to wear down with age,
"-- but one is not, for all that, to abuse one's privilege of fall-
"ing into dotage.
"You still speak without full confidence of our Negotia-
tion business" (going on at Hubertsburg yonder). "Most
"certainly the chapter of accidents is inexhaustible; and it is
"still certain there may happen quantities of things which the
"limited mind of man cannot foresee: but, judging by the
"ordinary course, and such degrees of probability as human
"creatures found their hopes on, I believe, before the month
"of February entirely end, our Peace will be completed. In
"a permanent Arrangement, many things need settling,
"which are easier to settle now than they ever will be again.
"Patience; haste without speed is a thriftless method. " **
February 5th, the trio at Hubertsburg got their
Preliminaries signed. On the tenth day thereafter, the
Treaty itself was signed and sealed. All other Treaties
on the same subject had been guided towards a con-
* SchOning, In. 528. ** Ibid. in. 529.
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? CHAP. XIII. l PEACE OF HUBERTSBTJRG. 341
15th Feb. 1763.
temporary finis: England and France, ready since the
3d of November last, signed and ended February 10th.
February 11th, the Reich signed and ended; February
15th, Prussia, Austria, Saxony; and the Third Silesian
or Seven-Years War was completely finished. *
It had cost, in loss of human lives first of all, no-
body can say what: according to Friedrich's computa-
tion, there had perished of actual fighters, on the
various fields, of all the nations, 853,000; of which
above the fifth part, or 180,000, is his own share:
and, by misery and ravage, the general Population of
Prussia finds itself 500,000 fewer; nearly the ninth
man missing. This is the expenditure of Life. Other
items are not worth enumerating, in comparison; if
statistically given, you can find the most approved
guesses at them by the same Head, who ought to be
an authority. ** It was a War distinguished by --
Archenholtz will tell you, with melodious emphasis,
what a distinguished, great, and thrice-greatest War it
was. There have since been other far bigger Wars,
-- if size were a measure of greatness; which it by no
means is! I believe there was excellent Heroism
shown in this War, by persons I could name; by one
person, Heroism really to be called superior, or, in its
kind, almost of the rank of supreme; -- and that in
regard to the Military Arts and Virtues, it has as yet,
for faculty and for performance, had no rival; nor is
likely soon to have. The Prussians, as we once men-
tioned, still use it as their school-model in those re-
spects. And we -- Oh readers, do not at least you
and I thank God to have now done with it! --
* Copy of the Treaty, in Helden-Geschichte, vn. 624 et seq. ; in Sey-
farth, Beulagen, in. 479-495; in Rousset, in Wenck, in &c.
Geschichle, vn. 177-181.
** "29 battalions, 60 squadrons," versus "49 battalinns, 68 squadrons''
(Schoning, in. 499).
*** Tempelhof, p. 237.
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? 328 FRIEDKJOH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
20th Oct. 1762.
"with intent to seize " (storm, if necessary) "the Height of St.
"Michael, -- when I came upon the Enemy's Army. I made
"two true attacks, and two false: the Enemy resisted ob-
stinately; but the sustained valour of your troops pre-
"vailed: and, after three hours in fire, the Enemy was obliged "to yield everywhere. I don't yet know the number of Pri-
"soners; but there must be above 4,000: -- the Reichs Army
"has lost next to nothing; the stress of effort fell to the
"Austrian share. We have got quantities of Cannon and
"Flags; Lieutenant-General Roth of the Reichs Army is
"among our Prisoners. I reckon we have lost from 2 to 3,000
"men; among them no Officer of mark. Lieutenant-General
"von Seidlitz rendered me the highest services; in a place
"where the Cavalry could not act" (border of the Spittelwald,
and its impassable entanglements and obstinacies), "he put
''himself at the head of the Infantry, and did signal services"
(his Battle mainly, scheming and all, say some ill-natured
private accounts); "Generals Belling andKleist" (renowned
Colonels known to us, now become Major-Generals) "did
"their very best. All the Infantry was admirable; not one
"battalion yielded ground. My Aide-de-Camp" (Kalkreuth,
a famous man in the Napoleon times long after), "who brings
"you this, had charge of assisting to conduct the attack
"through the Spittelwald" (and did it well, we can suppose):
"if, on that ground, you pleased to have the goodness to
"advance him, I should have my humble thanks to give you.
"There are a good many Officers who have distinguished
"themselves and behaved with courage, for whom I shall
"present similar requests. You will permit me to pay those
"who have taken cannons and flags" (100 ducats per cannon,
50 per flag, or whatever the tariff was: -- "By all manner of
"means! his Majesty would answer).
"The Enemy is retiring towards Dresden andDippoldis-
"walda. I am sending at his heels this night, and shall hear
"the result. My Aide-de-Camp is acquainted with all, and
"will be able to render you account of everything you may
"wish to know in regard to our present circumstances.
"General Wied, I believe, will cross Elbe tomorrow " (General
Wied, with 10,000 to help us, --for whom it was too dangerous
to wait, or perhaps there was a spur on one's own mind? );
"his arrival would be" (not'would have been:' celaviendrait,
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? CHAP. XII. ] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN ENDS. '329
29th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1762.
"not even viendra) "very opportune for me. I am, with all
"attachment, my dearest Brother, -- your most devoted
"Servant and Brother, -- Henri. " f
Tomorrow, in cipher, goes the following Despatch:
"Freyberg, 30th October 1782.
"General Wied" (not yet come to hand, or even got across
Elbe) "informs me, That Prince Albert of Saxony (pushing
hither with reinforcement, sent by Daun) "must have crossed
"Elbe yesterday atPirna" (did not show face here, with his
large reinforcements to them, or what would have become of
us! ); -- "and that for this reason he, Wied, must himself
"cross; which he will tomorrow. The same day I am to be
"joined by some battalions from General Hiilsen; and the
"day after tomorrow, when General Wied" (coming by
Meissen Bridge, it appears) "shall have reached the Katzen-
"htiuser, the whole of General Hiilsen's troops will join me.
"Directly thereupon I shall --"ff Or no more of that second
Despatch; Friedrich's Letter in Response is better worth
giving:
"Lowenberg, 2d November 1762.
"My dear Brother, --The arrival of Kalkreuter" (so he
persists in calling him), "and of your Letter, my dear Brother,
"has made me twenty" (not to say forty) "years younger:
"yesterday I was sixty, today hardly eighteen. I bless
"Heaven for preserving you in health (bonne sante," so we
term escape of lesion in fight); "and that things have passed
"so happily! You took the good step of attacking those who
"meant to attack you; and, by your good and solid measures
"(dispositions), you have overcome all the difficulties of a
"strong Post and a vigorous resistance. It is a service so im-
"portant rendered by you to the State, that I cannot enough
"express my gratitude, and will wait to do it in person.
"Kalkreuter will explain what motions I"-- * * "If
"Fortune favour our views on Dresden" (which it cannot in
the least, at this late season), "we shall indubitably have
"Peace this Winter or next Spring, -- and get honourably
"out of a difficult and perilous conjuncture, where we have
"often seen ourselves within two steps of total destruction.
"And, by this which you have now done, to you alone will
t Schoning, in. 491, 492. ft Ibid* p. 493.
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? 330 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
U9lh Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1762.
"belong the honour of having given the final stroke to
"Austrian Obstinacy, and laid the foundations of the Public
"Happiness, which will be the consequence of Peace. -- F. "*
Two days after this, November 4th, Friedrich is in
Meissen; November 9th, he comes across to Freyberg;
has a pleasant day, -- pleasant survey of the Battle-
field, Henri and Seidlitz escorting as guides. Henri, in furtherance of the Dresden project, has Kleist out
on the Bohemian Magazines, -- "That is the one way
to clear Dresden neighbourhood of Enemies! " thinks
Henri always. Kleist burns the considerable magazine
of Saatz; finds the grand one of Leitmeritz too well
guarded for him: -- upon which, in such snowdrifts
and sleety deluges, is not Dresden plainly impossible,
your Majesty? Impossible, Friedrich admits, -- the
rather as he now sees Peace to be coming without that.
Freyberg has at last broken the back of Austrian Ob-
stinacy. "Go in upon the Reich," Friedrich now orders
Kleist, the instant Kleist is home from his Bohemian
inroad: "In upon the Reich, with 6,000, in your old
style! That will dispose the Reichs Principalities to
Peace. "
Kleist marched, November 3d; kept the Reich in
paroxysm, till December 13th; -- Plotho, meanwhile,
proclaiming in the Reichs Diet: "Such Reichs Princes
as wish for Peace with my King can have it; those
that prefer War, they too can have it! " Kleist, dividing
himself in the due artistic way, flew over the Voigt-
land, on to Bamberg, on to Niirnberg itself (which he
took, by sounding ram's-horns, as it were, having no
gun heavier than a carbine, and held for a week);** --
* Schoning, m. 495, 496.
** Hel<lcn-Geschichtc,vu. 186-194.
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? CHAP. XII. ] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN ENDS. 331
24th Nov. I7C2.
fluttering the Reichs Diet not a little, and disposing
everybody for Peace. The Austrians saw it with plea-
sure, "We solemnly engaged to save these poor people
harmless, on their joining us; -- and, behold, it has
become thrice and four times impossible. Let them fall
off into Peace, like ripe pears, of themselves; we can
then turn round and say, 'Save you harmless? Yes;
if you hadn't fallen off! '"
November 2ith, all Austrians make Truce with Fried-
rich, Truce till March 1st; -- all Austrians, and what
is singular, with no mention of the Reich whatever.
The Reich is defenceless, at the feet of Kleist and his
6,000. Stollberg is still in Prussian neighbourhood;
and may be picked up any day! Stollberg hastens off
to defend the Reich; finds the Reich quite empty of
enemies before his arrival; -- and at least saves his
own skin. A month or two more, and Stollberg will
lay down his Command, and the last Reichs-Execution
Army, playing Farce-Tragedy so long, make its exit
from the Theatre of this World.
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? 332
FIUEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [noOK XX.
24th Nov. 1702 - ljlli Feb. 17t3.
CHAPTER XIII.
PEACE OF HUBERTSBURG.
The Prussian troops took Winter-quarters in the
Meissen-Freyberg region, the old Saxon ground, fami-
liar to them for the last three years: room enough this
Winter, "from Plauen and Zwickau, round by Langen-
salza again;" Truce with everybody, and nothing of
disturbance till March 1st at soonest. The usual re-
cruiting went on, or was preparing to go on, -- apart
of which took immediate effect, as we shall see. Re-
cruiting, refitting, "Be ready for a new Campaign, in
any case: the readier we are, the less our chance of
having one! " Friedrich's headquarter is Leipzig; but
till December 5th, he does not get thither. "More
business on me than ever! " complains he. At Leipzig
he had his Nephews, his DArgens; for a week or two
his Brother Henri; finally, his Berlin Ministers, espe-
cially Herzberg, when actual Peace came to be the
matter in hand. Henri, before that, had gone home:
"Peace being now the likelihood; -- Home; and recruit
one's poor health, at Berlin, among friends! "
Before getting to Leipzig, the King paid a flying
Visit at Gotha; -- probably now the one fraction of
these manifold Winter movements and employments,
in which readers could take interest. Of this, as there
happens to be some record left of it, here is what will
suffice. From Meissen, Friedrich writes to his bright
Grand-Duchess, always a bright, high and noble crea-
ture in his eyes: "Authorised by your approval" (has
politely inquired beforehand), "I shall have the infinite
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? CHAP. XIII. ] PEACE OF HUBERTSBURG. 333
8dDoc. I762.
"satisfaction of paying my duties on December 3d"
(four days hence), "and of reiterating to you, Madame,
"my liveliest and sincerest assurances of esteem and
"friendship. " * * "Some of my Commissariat people
"have been misbehaving? Strict inquiry shall be had,"f
-- and we soon find, was. But the Visit is our first thing.
The Visit took place accordingly; Seidlitz, a man
known in Gotha ever since his fine scenic-military pro-
cedures there in 1757, accompanied the King. Of the
lucent individualities invited to meet him, all are
now lost to me, except one Putter, a really learned
Gottingen Professor (deep in Reichs-History and the
like), whom the Duchess has summoned over. By the
dim lucency of Putter, faint to most of us as a rush-
light in the act of going out, the available part of our
imagination must try to figure, in a kind of Obliterated-
Rembrandt way, this glorious Evening; for there was
but one, -- December 3d-4th, -- Friedrich having to
leave early on the 4th. Here is Putter's record, given
in the third person:
"During dinner, Putter, honourably present among
"the spectators of this high business, was beckoned by
"the Duchess to step near the King" (right hand or left,
Putter does not say); but "the King graciously turned
"round, and conversed with Putter. " The King said:
King. "'In German History much is still buried; many
"important Documents lie hidden in Monasteries. ' Putter
"answered schicklich -- fitly;" that is all we know of Putter's
answer.
King (thereupon). "Of Books on Reichs-History I know
"only the I'ere Barri. " ff
t To the Grand-Duchess, "Meissen, 29th November" ((Euvrex de Fre-
deric. xvin. 199).
tt Barri de Beaumarchais, 10voII. 4to, Paris, 1748: Ibelieve, an ex-
tremely feeble Pillar of Will-o'-Wisps by Night; -- as I can expressly
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? 334 FBIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
, 3d Dec. 1762.
Putter. * * "Foreigners have for most part known
only, in regard to our History, a Latin work written by Struve
at Jena. "+
King. "Struv, Struvius; him I don't know. " Putter. "It is a pity Barri had not known German. " King. "Barri was a Lorrainer; Barri must have known
"German! " -- Then turning to the Duchess, on this hint
about the German Language, he told her, "in a ringing merry
"tone, How, at Leipzig once, he had talked with Gottsched"
"(talk known to us) on that subject, and had said to him, That
"the French had many advantages; among others, that a
"word could often be used in a complex signification, for
"which you had in German to scrape together several
"different expressions. Upon which Gottsched had said,
"' We will have that mended (Das wollen wir noch machen)! '
"These words the King repeated twice or thrice, with such a
"tone that you could well see how the man's conceit had
"struck him;" -- and in short, as we know already, what a
gigantic entity, consisting of wind mainly, he took this
elevated Gottsched to be.
Upon which, Putter retires into the honorary ranks again: silent, at least to us, and invisible; as the rest of this Royal
Evening at Gotha is. ff Here, however, is the Letter following
on it two days after:
Friedrich to the Duchess of Sachsen-Gotha.
"Leipzig, 6th December 1762. "Madame, -- I should never have done, my adorable
"Duchess, if I rendered you account of all the impressions
"which the friendship you lavished on me has made on my
"heart. I could wish to answer it by entering into everything
"that can be agreeable to you" (conduct of my Recruiters or
Commissariat people first of all). "I take the liberty of for-
testify Pfeffel to be (Pfeffel, Abrege Chronologique da VHtitoirc tFAUemagne,
2 voll. 4to, Paris, 1776, who has succeeded Barri as Patent Guide through
that vast Sylva Sylvarum and its pathless intricacies, for the inquiring
French and English.
t Burkhard Gotthelf Struve, Syntagma Ilislorim Germanic(R) (1730,
2 voll. folio).
ft "Putter's Selbstbiographie (Autobiography), p. 406:" cited in Preass,
H. 277 n.
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? CHAr. Xln. ] PEACE OF HUBERTSBUEO. 335
2I)tU Nuv. 1J62.
"warding the Answers which have come in to the Two
"Memoires you sent me. I am mortified, Madame, if I have
"not been able to fulfil completely your desires: but if you
"knew the situation I am in, I flatter myself you would have
"some consideration for it.
"I have found myself here" (in Leipzig, as elsewhere)
"overwhelmed with business, and even to a degree I had not
"expected. Meanwhile, if I ever can manage again to run
"over and pay you in person the homage of a heart which is
"more attached to you than that of your near relations, as"suredly I will not neglect the first opportunity that shall pre-
"sent itself.
"Messieurs the English" (Bute, Bedford and Company,
with their Preliminaries signed, and all my Westphalian
Provinces left in a condition we shall hear of) "continue to be-
"tray. Poor M. Mitchell has had a stroke of apoplexy on
"hearingit. It is a hideous thing (chose affreuse); but I will
"speak of it no more. May you, Madame, enjoy all the pro-
sperities that I wish for you, and not forget a Friend, who
"will be till his death, with sentiments of the highest esteem
"and the most perfect consideration, -- Madame, yourHigh-
"ness's most faithful Cousin and Servant, -- Friedrich. " *
For a fortnight past, Friedrich has had no doubt
that general Peace is now actually at hand. November
25th, ten days before this visit, a Saxon Privy-Coun-
cillor, Baron von Fritsch, who, by Order from his
Court, had privately been at Vienna on the errand,
came privately next, with all speed, to Friedrich
(Meissen, November 25th):** "Austria willing for
Treaty; is your Majesty willing? " "Thrice-willing, I;
my terms well known! " Friedrich would answer, --
gladdest of mankind to see general Pacification coming
to this vexed Earth again. The Dance of the Furies,
waltzing itself off, home out of this upper sunlight: the
mad Bellona steeds plunging down, down, towards
their Abysses again, for a season! --
* (Euvres de Frederic, xvm. 201. M ROdcnbeck, n. 193.
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? 336 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
iUtb Nov. IKi -- 151b Feb. 1763.
This was a result which Friedrich had foreseen as
nearly certain ever since the French and English signed
their Preliminaries. And there was only one thing which
gave him anxiety: that of his Rhine Provinces and
Strong Places, especially Wesel, which have been in
French hands for six years past, ever since Spring 1757.
Bute stipulates That those places and countries shall be
evacuated by his Choiseul, as soon as weather and pos-
sibility permit; but Bute, astonishing to say, has not
made the least stipulation as to whom they are to be
delivered to, -- allies or enemies, it is all one to Bute.
Truly rather a shameful omission, Pitt might indignantly
think, -- and call the whole business steadily, as he
persisted to do, "a shameful Peace," had there been no
other article in it but this; -- as Friedrich, with at
least equal emphasis, thought and felt. And, in fact,
it had thrown him into very great embarrassment, on
the first emergence of it.
For her Imperial Majesty began straightway to draw
troops into those neighbourhoods: "We will take deli-
very, our Allies playing into our hand! " And Fried-
rich , who had no disposable troops, had to devise some
rapid expedient; and did. Set his Free-Corps agents
and recruiters in motion: "Enlist me those Light people
of Duke Ferdinand's, who are all getting discharged;
especially that Britannic Legion so-called. All to be
discharged; re-enlist them, you; Ferdinand will keep
them till you do it. Be swift! " And it is done; -- a
small bit of actual enlistment among the many prospec-
tive that were going on, as we noticed above. Precise
date of it not given; must have been soon after Novem-
ber 3d. There were from 5 to 6,000 of them; and it
was promptly done. Divided into various regiments;
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? CHAP. XIII. ] PEACE OF HUBERTSBURG. 337
24th Nov. 1762 - 15th Feb. 1763.
chief command of them given to a Colonel Bauer, under
whom a Colonel Beckwith whose name we have heard:
these, to the surprise of Imperial Majesty, and alarm
of a pacific Versailles, suddenly appeared in the Cleve
Countries, handy for Wesel, for Geldern; in such posts,
and in such force and condition as intimated, "It shall
be we, under favour, that take delivery! " Snatch
Wesel from them, some night, sword in hand: that had
been Bauer's notion; but nothing of that kind was
found necessary; mere demonstration proved sufficient.
To the French Garrisons the one thing needful was to
get away in peace; Bauer with his brows gloomy is a
dangerous neighbour. Perhaps the French Officers
themselves rather favoured Friedrich than his enemies.
Enough, a private agreement, or mutual understanding
on word of honour, was come to: and, very publicly,
at length, on the 11th and 12th days of March 1763
(Peace now settled everywhere), Wesel, in great gala,
full of field-music, military salutations and mutual
dining, saw the French all filing out, and Bauer and
people filing in, to the joy of that poor Town. *
Soon after which, painful to relate, such the in-
exorable pressure of finance, Bauer and people were
all paid off, flung loose again: ruthlessly paid off by a
necessitous King! There were about 6,000 of those
poor fellows, -- specimens of the bastard heroic, under
difficulties, from every country in the world; Beckwith
and I know not what other English specimens of the
lawless heroic; who were all cashiered, officer and man,
on getting to Berlin. As were the earlier Free-Corps,
and indeed the subsequent, all and sundry, "except
seven," whose names will not be interesting to you.
* Preuss, ii. 342.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. XII. 22
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? 338 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
24th Nov. 1762 - 15th Feb. 1763.
Paid off, with or without remorse, such the exhaustion
of finance; Kleist, Icilius, Count Hordt and others
vainly repugning and remonstrating; the King himself
inexorable as Arithmetic. "Can maintain 138,000 of
regular, 12,000 of other sorts; not a man more! "
Zealous Icilius applied for some consideration to his
Officers: "partial repayment of the money they have
spent from their own pocket, in enlistment of their people now discharged! " Not a doit. The King's an-
swer is in autograph, still extant; not in good spelling,
but with sense clear as light: "Seine Officiers haben wie die Raben gestollen Sie Krigen nichts, Your Officers stole
like ravens; -- they get Nothing. "* Lessing's fine
play of Minna von Barnhelm testifies to considerable
public sympathy for these impoverished Ex-Military
people. Pathetic truly, in a degree; but such things
will happen. Irregular gentlemen, to whom the world's
their oyster, -- said oyster does suddenly snap-to on
them, by a chance. And they have to try it on the
other side, and say little! -- But we are forgetting the
Peace-Treaty itself, which still demands a few words.
Kleist's raid into the Reich had a fine effect on the
Potentates there; and Plotho's Offer was greedily com-
plied with; the Kaiser, such his generosity, giving "free
permission. " We spoke of Privy-Councillor von Fritsch,
and his private little word with Friedrich, at Meissen,
on November 25th. The Electoral-Prince of Saxony,
it seems, was author of that fine stroke; the history of
it this. Since November 3d, the French and English
have had their preliminaries signed; and all Nations
are longing for the like. "Let us have a German
Treaty for general Peace," said the Kurprinz of Saxony,
* Preuss, n. 320.
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? CHAP. XIII. ] PEACE OF HUBEBTSBURG. 339
Jan. 1763.
that amiable Heir-Apparent whom we have seen some-
times, who is rather crooked of back, but has a sprightly-
Wife. "By all means," answered Polish Majesty: "and
as I am in the distance, do you in every way further
it, my Son! " Whereupon despatch of Fritsch to Vienna,
and thence to Meissen; with "Yes" to him from both
parties. Plenipotentiaries are named: "Fritsch shall be
ours: they shall have my Schloss of Hubertsburg for
Place of Congress, said the Prince. And on Thursday,
December 30th, 1762, the Three Dignitaries met at
Hubertsburg, and began business.
This is the Schloss in Torgau Country which Quin-
tus Icilius's people, Saldern having refused the job,
willingly undertook spoiling; and, as is well known,
did it, January 22d, 1761; a thing Quintus never
heard the end of. What the amount of profit, or the
degree of spoil and mischief, Quintus's people made
of it, I could not learn; but infer from this new event
that the wreck had not been so considerable as the
noise was; at any rate, that the Schloss had soon been
restored to its pristine state of brilliancy. The Pleni-
potentiaries, -- for Saxony, Fritsch; for Austria, a
Von Collenbach, unknown to us; for Prussia, one
Hertzberg, a man experienced beyond his years, who
is of great name in Prussian History subsequently, --
sat here till February 15th, 1763, that is for six weeks
and five days. Leaving their Protocols to better judges,
who report them good, we will much prefer a word or
two from Friedrich himself, while waiting the result
they come to.
Friedrich to Prince Henri (home at Berlin).
'' Leipzig, 14th January 1763. * * Am not surprised
"you find Berlin changed for the worse: such a train ot cala22*
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? 340 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
15th Feb. 1763.
"mities must, in the end, make itself felt in a poor and natur-
"ally barren Country, where continual industry is needed to
"second its fecundity and keep up production. However, I
"will do what I can to remedy this dearth (la disette), at least
"as far as my small means permit. " * *
"No fear of Geldern and Wesel: all that has been cared
"for by Bauer and the new Free-Corps. By the end of Fe-
bruary, Peace will be signed; at the beginning of April,
"everybody will find himself at home, as in 1756.
"The circles are going to separate: indifferent to me, or
"nearly so; 'but it is good to be plucking out tiresome burn-
"ing sticks, stick after stick. I hope you amuse yourself at
"Berlin: at Leipzig, nothing but balls and redouts; my
"Nephews diverting themselves amazingly. Madame Fried-
"rich, lately Garden-maid at Seidlitz" (village in theNeu-
mark, with this Beauty plucking weeds in it, -- little pre-
scient of such a fortune), "now Wife to an Officer of the Free
"Hussars, is the principal heroine of these Festivities. " *
Leipzig, 25th January 1763. "Thanks for your care about
"my existence. I am becoming very old, dear Brother; in a
"little while, I shall be useless to the world and a burden to
"myself: it is the lot of all creatures to wear down with age,
"-- but one is not, for all that, to abuse one's privilege of fall-
"ing into dotage.
"You still speak without full confidence of our Negotia-
tion business" (going on at Hubertsburg yonder). "Most
"certainly the chapter of accidents is inexhaustible; and it is
"still certain there may happen quantities of things which the
"limited mind of man cannot foresee: but, judging by the
"ordinary course, and such degrees of probability as human
"creatures found their hopes on, I believe, before the month
"of February entirely end, our Peace will be completed. In
"a permanent Arrangement, many things need settling,
"which are easier to settle now than they ever will be again.
"Patience; haste without speed is a thriftless method. " **
February 5th, the trio at Hubertsburg got their
Preliminaries signed. On the tenth day thereafter, the
Treaty itself was signed and sealed. All other Treaties
on the same subject had been guided towards a con-
* SchOning, In. 528. ** Ibid. in. 529.
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? CHAP. XIII. l PEACE OF HUBERTSBTJRG. 341
15th Feb. 1763.
temporary finis: England and France, ready since the
3d of November last, signed and ended February 10th.
February 11th, the Reich signed and ended; February
15th, Prussia, Austria, Saxony; and the Third Silesian
or Seven-Years War was completely finished. *
It had cost, in loss of human lives first of all, no-
body can say what: according to Friedrich's computa-
tion, there had perished of actual fighters, on the
various fields, of all the nations, 853,000; of which
above the fifth part, or 180,000, is his own share:
and, by misery and ravage, the general Population of
Prussia finds itself 500,000 fewer; nearly the ninth
man missing. This is the expenditure of Life. Other
items are not worth enumerating, in comparison; if
statistically given, you can find the most approved
guesses at them by the same Head, who ought to be
an authority. ** It was a War distinguished by --
Archenholtz will tell you, with melodious emphasis,
what a distinguished, great, and thrice-greatest War it
was. There have since been other far bigger Wars,
-- if size were a measure of greatness; which it by no
means is! I believe there was excellent Heroism
shown in this War, by persons I could name; by one
person, Heroism really to be called superior, or, in its
kind, almost of the rank of supreme; -- and that in
regard to the Military Arts and Virtues, it has as yet,
for faculty and for performance, had no rival; nor is
likely soon to have. The Prussians, as we once men-
tioned, still use it as their school-model in those re-
spects. And we -- Oh readers, do not at least you
and I thank God to have now done with it! --
* Copy of the Treaty, in Helden-Geschichte, vn. 624 et seq. ; in Sey-
farth, Beulagen, in. 479-495; in Rousset, in Wenck, in &c.
