Such a questioning
"and bothering!
"and bothering!
Thomas Carlyle
Austrian Battalions, plenty
of them, rush down to help Nadasti; but they are met
by the crowding fugitives, the chasing Prussians; are
themselves thrown into disorder, and can do no good
whatever. They arrive on the ground, flurried, blown;
have not the least time to take breath and order: the
fewest of them ever got fairly ranked, none of them
ever stood above one push: all goes rolling wildly back
upon the centre about Leuthen. Chaos come on us;-- and all for mere lack of time: could Nadasti but once
stretch out one minute into twenty! But he cannot.
Nadasti does not himself lose head; skilfully covers the
retreat, trying to rally once and again. Not for the
first few furlongs, till the ditches, till the firwood,
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? 268 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVm.
5th Dec. 1757.
quagmires are all done, could Ziethen, now on the
open ground, fairly hew in; "take whole battalions
prisoners;" drive the crowd in an altogether stormy
manner; and wholly confound the matter in this
part.
Prince Karl, his messengers flying madly, has
struggled as man seldom did to put himself in some
posture about Leuthen, to get up some defences there.
Leuthen itself, the churchyard of it especially, is on
the defensive. Men are bringing cannon to the wind-
mills , to the swelling ground on the north side of Leu-
then; they dig ditches, build batteries, -- could they
but make Time halt, and Friedrich with him, for one
quarter of an hour! But they cannot. By the extreme
of diligence, the Austrians have in some measure swung
themselves into a new position, or imperfect Line round
Leuthen as a centre, -- Lucchesi, voluntarily or by
order, swinging southwards on the one hand; Nadasti
swinging northwards by compulsion; -- new Line
at an angle say of 75? to the old one. And here,
for an hour more, there was stiff fighting, the stiffest
of the day; -- of which, take one direct glimpse, from
the Austrian side, furnished by a Young Gentleman
famous afterwards:
Leuthen, let us premise, is a long Hamlet of the usual
littery sort; with two rows, in some parts three, of farm-
houses, barns, cattle-stalls; with Church, or even with two
Churches, a Protestant and a Catholic; goes from east to west
above a mile in length. With the wrecks of Nadasti tumbling
into it pell-mell from the south-east, and Lucchesi desperately
endeavouring to swing round from the north-west, not quite
incoherently, and the Prussian fire-storm for accompaniment,
Leuthen is probably the most chaotic place in the Planet
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? IAP. X. 1 BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. ? 69
1 Dec. 1^57.
arth, during that hour or so (from half-past two to half-past
three) while the agony lasted. At one o'clock Nadasti was
attacked; at two, he is tumbling in mid-career towards
Leuthen: I guess the date of this Excerpt, or testimony by a
Notable Eyewitness, may be half-past two; crisis of the
agony just about to begin: and before four it was all finished
again. Eye-witness is the young Prince de Ligne, now
Captain in an Austrian regiment of Foot; and standing here this perilous posture, having been called in as part of the
Reserve. He says:
"Cry had risen for theReserve,"in which was my regiment,
"that it must come on as fast as possible," -- to Leuthen, west
'us yonder. "We ran what we could run. Our Lieutenant-
"Colonel fell killed almost at the first; beyond this we lost
"our Major, and indeed all the Officers but three, -- three
"only, and about eleven or twelve of the Volunteer or Cadet
"kind. We had crossed two successive ditches, which lay in
"an orchard to left of the first houses in Leuthen; and were
"beginning to form in front of the Village. But there was no
"standing of it. Besides a general cannonade such as can
"hardly be imagined, there was a rain of case-shot upon this
"Battalion, of which I, as there was no Colonel left, had to
"take command; and a third Battalion of the Royal Prussian
Footguards, which had already made several of our regi-
ments pass that kind of muster, gave, at a distance of eighty
"paces, the liveliest fire on us. It stood as if on the parade-
"ground, that third Battalion, and waited for us, without
"stirring.
"The Austrian regiment Andlau, at our right hand, could
"not get itself formed properly by reason of the houses; it
"was standing thirty deep, and sometimes its shot hit us on
"the back. On my left the Austrian regiment Merci ran its
"ways; and I was glad of that, in comparison. By no method
"or effort could I get the dragoons ofBatthyani, who stood
fifty yards in rear of me, to cut-in a little, and help me out,"
-- no good cutting hereabouts, think the dragoons of Bat-
lyani. "My soldiers, who were still tired with running, and
"had no cannon (these either from necessity or choice they
"had left behind), were got scattered, fewer in number, and
"were fighting mainly out of sullenness. More our honour,
"than the notion of doing good in the affair, prevented us
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? 270 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES 10 A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
5th Dec. 1757.
"from running off. An Ensign of the regiment Arberg helped
"me a while to form, from his and my own fragments, a kind
"of line; but he was shot down. Two Officers of the Grena-
"diers brought me what they still had. Some Hungarians,
"too, were luckily got together. But at last, as, with all helps
"and the remnants of my own brave Battalion, I had come
"down to at most 200, 1 drew back to the Height where the
"Windmill is,"* -- where many have drawn back, and are
standing in sheltered places, a hundred deep, say our Books.
Stiff fighting at Leuthen; especially furious till
Leu then Churchyard, a place with high stone walls,
was got. Leuthen Village, we observe, was crammed
with Austrians spitting fire from every coign of van-
tage; Church and Churchyard especially are a citadel
of death. Cannon playing from the Windmill Heights,
too; -- moments are inestimable. The Prussian Com-
mander (name charitably hidden), at Leuthen Church-
yard, seems to hesitate in the murderous fire-deluge:
Major Mollendorf, nameable from that day forward,
growling, "No time this for study," dashes out him-
self, "Ein andrer Mann (Follow me whoever is a man)! "
-- smashes-in the Church Gate of the place, nine mus-
kets blazing on him through it; smashes, after a des-
perate struggle, the Austrians clean out of it, and con-
quers the citadel. **
The Austrians, on confused terms, made stiff dis-
pute in this second position, for about an hour. The
Prussian Reserve was ordered up by Friedrich; the
Prussian left wing, which had stood "refused," about
Radaxdorf, till now: at one time nearly all the Prus-
sians were in fire. Friedrich is here, is there, wherever
* Kutzen, p. 103 (from "Prince de Ligne's Diary, I. 63, German Trans-
lation").
Mttller, p. 42.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 271
5th Dec. 1757.
the press was greatest; "Prince Ferdinand," whom we
now and then find named, as a diligent little fellow,
and ascertain to be here in this and other Battles
of Friedrich's, -- "Prince Ferdinand at one time
"pointed his cannon on the Bush or Fir Clump of Radax-
"dorf; -- an aide-de-camp came to him with message:
"'You are firing on the King; the King is yonder! '
"At which Ferdinand" (his dear little Brother) "erschrack"
or almost fainted with terror. *
Stiff dispute; and had the Austrians possessed the
Prussian dexterity in manoeuvering, and a Friedrich
been among them, -- perhaps? But on their own terms,
there was from the first little hope in it. "Behind the
"Windmills they are a hundred men deep;" by and by,
your Windmills, riddled to pieces, have to be aban-
doned; the Prussian left wing rushing on with bayonets,
will not all of you have to go? Lucchesi, with his
abundant Cavalry, seeing this latter movement and the
Prussian flank bare in that part, will do a stroke upon
them; -- and this proved properly the finale of the
matter, final to both Lucchesi and it.
The Prussian flank was to appearance bare in that
leftward quarter; but only to appearance: Driesen with
the left wing of Horse is in a Hollow hard by; strictly
charged by Friedrich to protect said flank, and take
nothing else in hand. Driesen lets Lucchesi gallop by,
in this career of his; then emerges, ranked, and comes
storming in upon Lucchesi's back, -- entirely con-
founding his astonished Cavalry and their career.
Astonished Cavalry bullet-storm on this side of them,
edge of sword on that, take wing in all direc-
tions (or all except to west and south) quite over
* Katzen, p. 110.
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? 272 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XnH.
5th Dec. 1757.
the horizon; Lucchesi himself gets killed, -- crosses a
still wider horizon, poor man. He began the ruin, and
he ends it. For now Driesen takes the bared Austrians
in flank, in rear; and all goes tumbling here too, and
in few minutes is a general deluge rearward towards
Saara and Lissa side.
At Saara the Austrians, sun just sinking, made a
third attempt to stand; but it was hopelessly faint this
time; went all asunder at the first push; and flowed
then, torrent-wise, towards all its Bridges over the
Schweidnitz Water, towards Breslau by every method.
There are four Bridges, Stabelwitz below Lissa; Grold-
schmieden, Hermannsdorf, above; and the main one
at Lissa itself, a standing Bridge on the Highroad (also
of wood); and by this the chief torrent flows; Prussian
horse pursuing vigorously; Prussian Infantry drawn up .
at Saara, resting some minutes after such a day's work. *
Truly a memorable bit of work; no finer done for
a hundred years, or for hundreds of years; and the
results of it manifold, immediate and remote. About
10,000 Austrians are left on the field, 3,000 of them
slain; prisoners already 12,000, in a short time 21,000;
flags 51, cannon 116; -- "Conquest of Silesia" gone
to water; Prince Karl and Austria fallen from their
high hopes, in one day. The Prussians lost in killed
1,141, in wounded 5,118; 85 had been taken prisoners
about Sagschiitz and Gohlau, in the first struggle
there. ** There and at Leuthen Village had been the
* Archenholtz, i. 209; Seyfarth, Beylagen, n. 243-252 (by an eyewitness,
intelligent succinct Account of the Battle and previous March; ib. 252-272,
of the Sieges &c. following); Preusa, n. 112, &c. ; Tempelhof, i. 276.
** Kutzen, pp. 118,125.
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? AP. X. ] BATTLE OP LEUTHEN. 273
Deo. 1757.
two tough passages; about an hour each; in three hours
the Battle was done. "Meine Herren" said Friedrich,
that night at parole, "after such a spell of work, you
leserve rest. This day will bring the renown of
"your name, and of the Nation's, to the latest pos-
terity. "
High and low had shone this day; especially these
four: Ziethen, Driesen, Retzow, -- and above all
oritz' of Dessau. Riding up the line, as night fell,
Friedrich, in passing Moritz and the right wing, drew
bridle for an instant: "I congratulate you on the Vic-
tory, Herr Feldmarschall! " cried he cheerily, and
with emphasis on the last word. Moritz, still very
busy, answered slightly; and Friedrich repeated louder,
"Don't you hear that I congratulate you, Herr Feld-
marschall! " -- a glad sound to Moritz, who ever
since Kolin had stood rather in the shadow. "You
"have helped me, and performed every order, as none
"ever did before in any battle," added the grateful
King.
Riding up the line, all now grown dusky, Friedrich
asks, "Any battalion a mind to follow me to Lissa? "
'hree battalions volunteering, follow him; three are
plenty. At Saara, on the Great Road, things are
fallen utterly dark. "Landlord, bring a lantern, and
"escort. " Landlord of the poor Tavern at Saara
escorts obediently; lantern in his right hand, left hand
holding by the King's stirrup-leather, -- King (Excellency or General, as the Landlord thinks him) wishing to speak with the man. Will the reader consent
to their Dialogue, which is dullish, but singular to
have in an authentic form, with Nicolai as voucher? *
* Anekdolen, m. 231-235.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. X. 18
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? 274 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
5th Dec. 1757.
Like some poor old horse-shoe, ploughed-up on the
field. Two farthings worth of rusty old iron; now
little other than a curve of brown rust: but it galloped
at the Battle of Leuthen; that is something! --
King. "Come near; catch me by the stirrup-leather"
(Landlord with lantern does so). "We are on the Breslau
"Great Road, that goes through Lissa, aren't we? "
Landlord. "Yea, Excellenz. "
King. "Who are you? "
Landlord. "YourExcellenz, I am theKratschmer" (Silesian
for Landlord) "at Saara. "
King. "You have had a great deal to suffer, I suppose. "
Landlord. "Ach, your Excellenz, had not I! For the last
"eight-and-forty hours, since the Austrians came across
"Schweidnitz Water, my poor house has been crammed to the
"door with them, so many servants they have; and such a
"bullying and tumbling:--they have driven me half mad; and
"I am cleanplundered out. "
King. "I am sorry indeed to hear that! -- Were there
"Generals too in your house? What said they? Tell me,
"then. "
Landlord. "With pleasure, your Excellenz. Well; yester-
'' day noon, I had Prince Karl in my parlour, and his Adju-
tants and people all crowding about.
Such a questioning
"and bothering! Hundreds came dashing in, and other
"hundreds were sent out: in and out they went all night; no
"sooner was one gone, than ten came. I had to keep a roar-
"ing fire in the kitchen all night; so many officers crowding
"to it to warm themselves. And they talked and babbled this
"and that. One would say, That our King was coming on,
"then,'with his Potsdam Guard-Parade. ' Another answers,
luOach, he daren't come! He will run for it; we will let him run. ' But now my delight is, our King has paid them their
"fooleries so prettily this afternoon! "
King. "When got you rid of your high guests? "
Landlord. "About nine this morning the Prince got to "horse; and not long after three, he came past again, with a
"swarm of officers; all going full speed for Lissa. So full of
"bragging when they came; and now they were off, wrong
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? CHAP. X. l BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 275
5th Dec. 1757.
"side foremost! I saw how it was. And ever after him, the
"flood of them ran, High-road not broad enough, -- an hour
"and more before it ended. Such a pellmell, such a welter,
"cavalry and musketeers all jumbled: our King must have
"given them a dreadful lathering. That is what they have got
"by their bragging and their lying, -- for, yourExcellenz,
"these people said, too, 'Our King was forsaken by his own
"Generals, all his first people had gone and left him:' what I
"never in this world will believe. "
King (not liking even rumour of that kind). "There you
"are right; never can such a thing be believed of my Army. "
Landlord (whom this "my" has transfixed). "Mein Gott,
"you are our gnttdigster Konig (most gracious King) yourself!
"Pardon, pardon, if, in my stupidity, I have" --
King. "No, you are an honest man:--probably, a Pro-
testant? "
Landlord. "Joa,joa, Ihr Majestat, lam of your Majesty's
"creed! "
Crack-crack! At this point the Dialogue is cut
short by sudden musket-shots from the woody fields to
right; crackle of about twelve shots in all; which hurt
nothing but some horse's feet, -- had been aimed at
the light, and too low. Instantly the light is blown
out, and there is a hunting out of Croats; Lissa or
environs not evacuated yet, it seems; and the King's
Entrance takes place under volleyings and canno-
nadings.
King rides directly to the Schloss, which is still a
fine handsome house, off the one street of that poor
Village, -- north side of street; well railed off, and its
old fences now trimmed into flower-plots. The Schloss
is full of Austrian Officers, bustling about, intending
to quarter, when the King enters. They, and the
force they still had in Lissa, could easily have taken
him: but how could they know? Friedrich was sur18*
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? 276 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII.
5th Dec. 1757.
prised; but had to put the best face on it. * "Bon
soir, Messieurs. '" said he, with a gay tone, stepping
in: "Is there still room left, think you? " The Austrians,
bowing to the dust, make way reverently to the divi-
nity that hedges a King of this sort; mutely escort him
to the best room (such the popular account); and for
certain, make off, they and theirs, towards the Bridge,
which lies a little farther east, at the end of the Vil-
lage.
Weistritz or Schweidnitz Water is a biggish muddy
stream in that part; gushing and eddying; not voiceless,
vexed by mills and their wears. Some firing there was
from Croats in the lower houses of the Village, and
they had a cannon at the farther Bridge-end; but they
were glad to get away, and vanish in the Night; muddy
Weistritz singing hoarse adieu to their cannon and
them. Prussian grenadiers plunged indignant into the
houses; made short work of the musketries there. In
few minutes, every Croat and Austrian was across, or
silenced otherwise too well; Prussian cannon now going
in the rear of them, and continuing to go, -- such had
been the order, "till the powder you have is done. "
Fire of musketry and occasional cannon lasts, all night,
from the Lissa or Prussian side of the River, -- "lest
they burn this Bridge, or attempt some mischief. " A
thing far from their thoughts, in present circumstances.
The Prussian Host at Saara, hearing these noises,
took to its arms again; and marched after the Bang.
Thick darkness; silence; tramp, tramp: -- a Prussian
grenadier broke out, with solemn tenor voice again,
into Church-Music; a known Church-Hymn, of the
* In Kutzen (pp. 121, 209 et seq. ), explanation of the true circum-
stances, and source of the mistake.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 277
5th Dec. 1757.
homely Te-Deum kind; in which five-and-twenty thou-
sand other voices, and all the regimental bands, soon
join:
"Nun danket alle Golt "Now thank God, one and all,
"Mil tierzen, Mund und Hdnden, "With heart, with voice, with hands-a,
"Der grosse Dinge thut "Who wonders great hath done,
"An uns und alien Enden"* "To us and to all lands-a. "
And thus they advance; melodious, far-sounding, through
the hollow Night, once more in a highly remarkable
manner. A pious people, of right Teutsch stuff, tender
though stout; and, except perhaps Oliver Cromwell's
handful of Ironsides, probably the most perfect soldiers
ever seen hitherto. Arriving at the end of Lissa, and
finding all safe as it should be there, they make their
bivouac, their parallelogram of two lines, miles long
across the fields, left wing resting on Lissa, right on
Guckerwitz; and, -- having, I should think, at least
tobacco to depend on, and healthy joyful hearts, --
pass the night in a thankful, comfortable manner.
Leuthen was the most complete of all Friedrich's
victories; two hours more of daylight, as Friedrich him-
self says, and it would have been the most decisive of
this century. ** As it was, the ruin of this big Army,
80,000 against 30,000,*** was as good as total; and a
world of Austrian hopes suddenly collapsed; and all
their Silesian Apparatus, making sure of Silesia beyond
art if, was tumbled into wreck, -- by this one stroke
it had got, smiting the corner-stone of it as if with un-
* Miiller, p. 48.
** (Euvres de Frideric, iv. 167.
? ? ? "89,200 was the Austrian strength before the Battle" (deduct the
Garrisons of Schweidnitz and Liegnitz): Preuss, u. 109 (from the Staff-
Officers).
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? 278 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVnt.
5th-26th Doc. 1757.
expected lightning. On the morrow after Leuthen, Friedrich laid siege to Breslau; Karl had left a garri-
son of 17,000 in it, and a stout Captain, one Sprecher,
determined on defence: such interests hung on Breslau,
such immensities of stores were in it, had there been nothing else, friedrich, pushing with all his strength,
in spite of had weather and of Sprecher's industrious
defence, got it in twelve days. * Sprecher had posted
placards on the gallows and up and down, terrifically
proclaiming that any man convicted of mentioning sur-
render should be instantly hanged: but Friedrich's
bombardment was strong, his assaults continual: and
the ditches were threatening to freeze. On the seventh
day of the siege, a Laboratorium blew up; on the ninth,
a Powder-magazine, carrying a lump of the rampart
away with it. Sprecher had to capitulate: Prisoners of
War, we 17,000; our cannons, ammunitions (most
opulent, including what we took from Bevern lately);
these, we, and Breslau altogether; alas, it is all yours
again.
Liegnitz Garrison, seeing no hope, consented to
withdraw on leave. ** Schweidnitz cannot be besieged
till Spring come: except Schweidnitz, Maria Theresa,
the high Kaiserinn, has no foot of ground in Silesia,
which she thought to be hers again. Gone utterly,
Patents and all; Schweidnitz alone waiting till Spring.
To the lively joy of Silesia in general; to the thrice-
lively sorrow and alarm of certain individuals, leading
Catholic Ecclesiastics mainly, who had misread the
signs of the times in late months! There is one Schaff-
* 7th-19th December: Diarinm &c. of it in Helden-Geschichle, iv.
955-961.
** 26th Decembers Helden-Geschichte, iv. 1016.
Jfr,''
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHES. 279
5th-26m Dec. 1757.
gotsch, Archbishop or head-man of them, especially,
who is now in a bad way. Never was such royal
favour; never such ingratitude, say the Books at weari-
some length. Schaffgotsch was a showy man of quality,
nephew of the quondam Austrian Governor, whom
Friedrich, across a good deal of Papal and other oppo-
sition, got pushed into the Catholic Primacy, and took
some pains to make comfortable there, -- Order of the
Black Eagle, guest at Potsdam, and the like; -- having
a kind of fancy for the airy Schaffgotsch, as well as
judging him suitable for this Silesian High-Priesthood,
with his moderate ideas and quality ways, -- which I
have heard were a little dissolute withal. To the whole
of which Schaffgotsch proved signally traitorous and
ingrate; and had plucked off the Black Eagle (say the
Books, nearly breathless over such a sacrilege) on some
public occasion, prior to Leuthen, and trampled it under
his feet, the unworthy fellow. Schaffgotsch's pathetic
Letter to Friedrich, in the new days posterior to
Leuthen, and Friedrich's contemptuous inexorable an-
swer, we could give, but do not: why should we? Oh
King, I know your difficulties, and what epoch it is.
But, of a truth, your airy dissolute Schaffgotsch, as a
grateful "Archbishop and Grand-Vicar," is almost
uglier to me than as a Traitor ungrateful for it; and
shall go to the Devil in his own way! They would not
have him in Austria; he was not well received at
Rome; happily died before long. * Friedrich was not
cruel to Schaffgotsch or the others, contemptuously
mild rather; but he knew henceforth what to expect of
them, and slightly changed this and that in his Silesian
methods in consequence.
* Preusa, n. 113, 114; Kutzen, pp. 12,155-160, for the real particulars.
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? 280 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book xviii.
5th-26th Dec. 1757.
Of Prince Karl let us add a word. On the morrow
after Leuthen, Captain Prince de Ligne and old Papa
D'Ahremberg could find little or no Army; they stept
across to Grabschen, a village on the safe side of the
Lohe, and there found Karl and Daun: "rather silent,
"both; one of them looking, 'Who would have thought
"'it! ' the other, 'Didn't I tell you? '" -- and knowing
nothing, they either, where the Army was. Army was,
in fact, as yet nowhere. "Croat fellows, in this Farm-
"stead of ours," says De Ligne, "had fallen to shooting
"pigeons. " The night had been unusually dark; the
Austrian Army had squatted into woods, into office-
houses, farm-villages, over a wide space of country;
and only as the day rose, began to dribble in. By
count, they are still 50,000; but heart-broken, beaten
as men seldom were. "What sound is that? " men
asked yesterday at Brieg, forty miles off; and nobody
could say, except that it was some huge Battle, fateful
of Silesia and world. Breslau had it louder; Breslau
was still more anxious. "What is all that? " asked
somebody (might be Deblin the Shoemaker, for any-
thing I know) of an Austrian sentry there: "That?
That is the Prussians giving us such a beating as we
never had. " What news for Deblin the Shoemaker, if
he is still above ground! --
"Prince Karl, gathering his distracted fragments, put
"17,000 into Breslau by way of ample garrison there; and
"with the rest made off circuitously for Schweidnitz; thence
"for Landshut, and down the Mountains, home to Konigs-
"gratz, -- self and Army in the most wrecked condition.
"Chased byZiethen; Ziethen 'sticking always to the hocks
"of them,' as Friedrich eagerly enjoins on him; or some-
"times it is, 'sitting on the breeches of them:' for about a
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? BATTLE OF LEUTHEN.
281
lec. 1757.
fortnight to come. * Ziethen took 2,000prisoners; no end
)f baggages, of wagons left in the difficult places: wild
weather even for Ziethen, still more for Karl, among the
Silesian-Bohemian Hill-roads: heavy rains, deep muds,
;hen sudden glass, with cutting snowblasts: 'An Army not
i little dilapidatedwrites Prince Karl, almost with tears
n his eyes; 'Army without linens, without clothes; in con-
dition truly sad and pitiable; and has always, so close
are the enemy, to encamp, though without tents. '** Did
lot get to Kbnigsgratz, and safe shelter, for ten days
nore. Counted, at Konigsgratz in the Christmas time,
J7,000rank and file, -- '22,000 of whom are gone to hos-
pital,' by the Doctor's report.
"Universal astonishment, indignation, even incredulity,
s the humour at Vienna: the high Kaiserinn herself, kept
n the dark for some time, becomes dimly aware; and by
lis military employments, and appoints Daun instead.
Prince Karl withdrew to his Government of the Nether-
ands; and with the aid of generous liquors, and what
latural magnanimity he had, spent a noiseless life thence-
'orth; Sword laid entirely on the shelf; and immortal
jrlory, as of Alexander and the like, quite making its exit
'rom the scene, convivial or other. 'The first General in
he world,' so he used to be ten years ago, in Austria, in
England, Holland, the thrice-greatest of Generals: but
low he has tried Friedrich in Five pitched Battles (Czaslau,
iohenfriedberg, Sohr, thenPrag, thenLeuthen); -- been
leaten every time, under every form of circumstance; and
iow, at Leuthen, the fifth beating is such, no public,
lowever ignorant, can stand it farther. The ignorant
mblic changes its long-eared eulogies into contumeliously
lorrid shrieks of condemnation; in which one is still farther
rom joining. 'That crossing of the Rhine,' says Friedrich,
was a belle chose; but flatterers blew him into dangerous
self-conceit; besides he was ill-obeyed, as others of us
have been. '*** Adieu to him, poor redfaced soul; -- and * Eleven Royal Autographs: in Blumenthal, Life of De Ziethen (n.
94-111), a feeble incorrect Translation of them. ** Kutzen, p. 134 (" Prince Karl to the Kaiser, December 14th").
** "Prince deLigne, Memoires surFrideric (Berlin, 1789), p. 38" (PreusSi
11S).
Kaiser Franz's own
? ?
of them, rush down to help Nadasti; but they are met
by the crowding fugitives, the chasing Prussians; are
themselves thrown into disorder, and can do no good
whatever. They arrive on the ground, flurried, blown;
have not the least time to take breath and order: the
fewest of them ever got fairly ranked, none of them
ever stood above one push: all goes rolling wildly back
upon the centre about Leuthen. Chaos come on us;-- and all for mere lack of time: could Nadasti but once
stretch out one minute into twenty! But he cannot.
Nadasti does not himself lose head; skilfully covers the
retreat, trying to rally once and again. Not for the
first few furlongs, till the ditches, till the firwood,
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? 268 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVm.
5th Dec. 1757.
quagmires are all done, could Ziethen, now on the
open ground, fairly hew in; "take whole battalions
prisoners;" drive the crowd in an altogether stormy
manner; and wholly confound the matter in this
part.
Prince Karl, his messengers flying madly, has
struggled as man seldom did to put himself in some
posture about Leuthen, to get up some defences there.
Leuthen itself, the churchyard of it especially, is on
the defensive. Men are bringing cannon to the wind-
mills , to the swelling ground on the north side of Leu-
then; they dig ditches, build batteries, -- could they
but make Time halt, and Friedrich with him, for one
quarter of an hour! But they cannot. By the extreme
of diligence, the Austrians have in some measure swung
themselves into a new position, or imperfect Line round
Leuthen as a centre, -- Lucchesi, voluntarily or by
order, swinging southwards on the one hand; Nadasti
swinging northwards by compulsion; -- new Line
at an angle say of 75? to the old one. And here,
for an hour more, there was stiff fighting, the stiffest
of the day; -- of which, take one direct glimpse, from
the Austrian side, furnished by a Young Gentleman
famous afterwards:
Leuthen, let us premise, is a long Hamlet of the usual
littery sort; with two rows, in some parts three, of farm-
houses, barns, cattle-stalls; with Church, or even with two
Churches, a Protestant and a Catholic; goes from east to west
above a mile in length. With the wrecks of Nadasti tumbling
into it pell-mell from the south-east, and Lucchesi desperately
endeavouring to swing round from the north-west, not quite
incoherently, and the Prussian fire-storm for accompaniment,
Leuthen is probably the most chaotic place in the Planet
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? IAP. X. 1 BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. ? 69
1 Dec. 1^57.
arth, during that hour or so (from half-past two to half-past
three) while the agony lasted. At one o'clock Nadasti was
attacked; at two, he is tumbling in mid-career towards
Leuthen: I guess the date of this Excerpt, or testimony by a
Notable Eyewitness, may be half-past two; crisis of the
agony just about to begin: and before four it was all finished
again. Eye-witness is the young Prince de Ligne, now
Captain in an Austrian regiment of Foot; and standing here this perilous posture, having been called in as part of the
Reserve. He says:
"Cry had risen for theReserve,"in which was my regiment,
"that it must come on as fast as possible," -- to Leuthen, west
'us yonder. "We ran what we could run. Our Lieutenant-
"Colonel fell killed almost at the first; beyond this we lost
"our Major, and indeed all the Officers but three, -- three
"only, and about eleven or twelve of the Volunteer or Cadet
"kind. We had crossed two successive ditches, which lay in
"an orchard to left of the first houses in Leuthen; and were
"beginning to form in front of the Village. But there was no
"standing of it. Besides a general cannonade such as can
"hardly be imagined, there was a rain of case-shot upon this
"Battalion, of which I, as there was no Colonel left, had to
"take command; and a third Battalion of the Royal Prussian
Footguards, which had already made several of our regi-
ments pass that kind of muster, gave, at a distance of eighty
"paces, the liveliest fire on us. It stood as if on the parade-
"ground, that third Battalion, and waited for us, without
"stirring.
"The Austrian regiment Andlau, at our right hand, could
"not get itself formed properly by reason of the houses; it
"was standing thirty deep, and sometimes its shot hit us on
"the back. On my left the Austrian regiment Merci ran its
"ways; and I was glad of that, in comparison. By no method
"or effort could I get the dragoons ofBatthyani, who stood
fifty yards in rear of me, to cut-in a little, and help me out,"
-- no good cutting hereabouts, think the dragoons of Bat-
lyani. "My soldiers, who were still tired with running, and
"had no cannon (these either from necessity or choice they
"had left behind), were got scattered, fewer in number, and
"were fighting mainly out of sullenness. More our honour,
"than the notion of doing good in the affair, prevented us
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? 270 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES 10 A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
5th Dec. 1757.
"from running off. An Ensign of the regiment Arberg helped
"me a while to form, from his and my own fragments, a kind
"of line; but he was shot down. Two Officers of the Grena-
"diers brought me what they still had. Some Hungarians,
"too, were luckily got together. But at last, as, with all helps
"and the remnants of my own brave Battalion, I had come
"down to at most 200, 1 drew back to the Height where the
"Windmill is,"* -- where many have drawn back, and are
standing in sheltered places, a hundred deep, say our Books.
Stiff fighting at Leuthen; especially furious till
Leu then Churchyard, a place with high stone walls,
was got. Leuthen Village, we observe, was crammed
with Austrians spitting fire from every coign of van-
tage; Church and Churchyard especially are a citadel
of death. Cannon playing from the Windmill Heights,
too; -- moments are inestimable. The Prussian Com-
mander (name charitably hidden), at Leuthen Church-
yard, seems to hesitate in the murderous fire-deluge:
Major Mollendorf, nameable from that day forward,
growling, "No time this for study," dashes out him-
self, "Ein andrer Mann (Follow me whoever is a man)! "
-- smashes-in the Church Gate of the place, nine mus-
kets blazing on him through it; smashes, after a des-
perate struggle, the Austrians clean out of it, and con-
quers the citadel. **
The Austrians, on confused terms, made stiff dis-
pute in this second position, for about an hour. The
Prussian Reserve was ordered up by Friedrich; the
Prussian left wing, which had stood "refused," about
Radaxdorf, till now: at one time nearly all the Prus-
sians were in fire. Friedrich is here, is there, wherever
* Kutzen, p. 103 (from "Prince de Ligne's Diary, I. 63, German Trans-
lation").
Mttller, p. 42.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 271
5th Dec. 1757.
the press was greatest; "Prince Ferdinand," whom we
now and then find named, as a diligent little fellow,
and ascertain to be here in this and other Battles
of Friedrich's, -- "Prince Ferdinand at one time
"pointed his cannon on the Bush or Fir Clump of Radax-
"dorf; -- an aide-de-camp came to him with message:
"'You are firing on the King; the King is yonder! '
"At which Ferdinand" (his dear little Brother) "erschrack"
or almost fainted with terror. *
Stiff dispute; and had the Austrians possessed the
Prussian dexterity in manoeuvering, and a Friedrich
been among them, -- perhaps? But on their own terms,
there was from the first little hope in it. "Behind the
"Windmills they are a hundred men deep;" by and by,
your Windmills, riddled to pieces, have to be aban-
doned; the Prussian left wing rushing on with bayonets,
will not all of you have to go? Lucchesi, with his
abundant Cavalry, seeing this latter movement and the
Prussian flank bare in that part, will do a stroke upon
them; -- and this proved properly the finale of the
matter, final to both Lucchesi and it.
The Prussian flank was to appearance bare in that
leftward quarter; but only to appearance: Driesen with
the left wing of Horse is in a Hollow hard by; strictly
charged by Friedrich to protect said flank, and take
nothing else in hand. Driesen lets Lucchesi gallop by,
in this career of his; then emerges, ranked, and comes
storming in upon Lucchesi's back, -- entirely con-
founding his astonished Cavalry and their career.
Astonished Cavalry bullet-storm on this side of them,
edge of sword on that, take wing in all direc-
tions (or all except to west and south) quite over
* Katzen, p. 110.
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? 272 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XnH.
5th Dec. 1757.
the horizon; Lucchesi himself gets killed, -- crosses a
still wider horizon, poor man. He began the ruin, and
he ends it. For now Driesen takes the bared Austrians
in flank, in rear; and all goes tumbling here too, and
in few minutes is a general deluge rearward towards
Saara and Lissa side.
At Saara the Austrians, sun just sinking, made a
third attempt to stand; but it was hopelessly faint this
time; went all asunder at the first push; and flowed
then, torrent-wise, towards all its Bridges over the
Schweidnitz Water, towards Breslau by every method.
There are four Bridges, Stabelwitz below Lissa; Grold-
schmieden, Hermannsdorf, above; and the main one
at Lissa itself, a standing Bridge on the Highroad (also
of wood); and by this the chief torrent flows; Prussian
horse pursuing vigorously; Prussian Infantry drawn up .
at Saara, resting some minutes after such a day's work. *
Truly a memorable bit of work; no finer done for
a hundred years, or for hundreds of years; and the
results of it manifold, immediate and remote. About
10,000 Austrians are left on the field, 3,000 of them
slain; prisoners already 12,000, in a short time 21,000;
flags 51, cannon 116; -- "Conquest of Silesia" gone
to water; Prince Karl and Austria fallen from their
high hopes, in one day. The Prussians lost in killed
1,141, in wounded 5,118; 85 had been taken prisoners
about Sagschiitz and Gohlau, in the first struggle
there. ** There and at Leuthen Village had been the
* Archenholtz, i. 209; Seyfarth, Beylagen, n. 243-252 (by an eyewitness,
intelligent succinct Account of the Battle and previous March; ib. 252-272,
of the Sieges &c. following); Preusa, n. 112, &c. ; Tempelhof, i. 276.
** Kutzen, pp. 118,125.
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? AP. X. ] BATTLE OP LEUTHEN. 273
Deo. 1757.
two tough passages; about an hour each; in three hours
the Battle was done. "Meine Herren" said Friedrich,
that night at parole, "after such a spell of work, you
leserve rest. This day will bring the renown of
"your name, and of the Nation's, to the latest pos-
terity. "
High and low had shone this day; especially these
four: Ziethen, Driesen, Retzow, -- and above all
oritz' of Dessau. Riding up the line, as night fell,
Friedrich, in passing Moritz and the right wing, drew
bridle for an instant: "I congratulate you on the Vic-
tory, Herr Feldmarschall! " cried he cheerily, and
with emphasis on the last word. Moritz, still very
busy, answered slightly; and Friedrich repeated louder,
"Don't you hear that I congratulate you, Herr Feld-
marschall! " -- a glad sound to Moritz, who ever
since Kolin had stood rather in the shadow. "You
"have helped me, and performed every order, as none
"ever did before in any battle," added the grateful
King.
Riding up the line, all now grown dusky, Friedrich
asks, "Any battalion a mind to follow me to Lissa? "
'hree battalions volunteering, follow him; three are
plenty. At Saara, on the Great Road, things are
fallen utterly dark. "Landlord, bring a lantern, and
"escort. " Landlord of the poor Tavern at Saara
escorts obediently; lantern in his right hand, left hand
holding by the King's stirrup-leather, -- King (Excellency or General, as the Landlord thinks him) wishing to speak with the man. Will the reader consent
to their Dialogue, which is dullish, but singular to
have in an authentic form, with Nicolai as voucher? *
* Anekdolen, m. 231-235.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. X. 18
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? 274 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
5th Dec. 1757.
Like some poor old horse-shoe, ploughed-up on the
field. Two farthings worth of rusty old iron; now
little other than a curve of brown rust: but it galloped
at the Battle of Leuthen; that is something! --
King. "Come near; catch me by the stirrup-leather"
(Landlord with lantern does so). "We are on the Breslau
"Great Road, that goes through Lissa, aren't we? "
Landlord. "Yea, Excellenz. "
King. "Who are you? "
Landlord. "YourExcellenz, I am theKratschmer" (Silesian
for Landlord) "at Saara. "
King. "You have had a great deal to suffer, I suppose. "
Landlord. "Ach, your Excellenz, had not I! For the last
"eight-and-forty hours, since the Austrians came across
"Schweidnitz Water, my poor house has been crammed to the
"door with them, so many servants they have; and such a
"bullying and tumbling:--they have driven me half mad; and
"I am cleanplundered out. "
King. "I am sorry indeed to hear that! -- Were there
"Generals too in your house? What said they? Tell me,
"then. "
Landlord. "With pleasure, your Excellenz. Well; yester-
'' day noon, I had Prince Karl in my parlour, and his Adju-
tants and people all crowding about.
Such a questioning
"and bothering! Hundreds came dashing in, and other
"hundreds were sent out: in and out they went all night; no
"sooner was one gone, than ten came. I had to keep a roar-
"ing fire in the kitchen all night; so many officers crowding
"to it to warm themselves. And they talked and babbled this
"and that. One would say, That our King was coming on,
"then,'with his Potsdam Guard-Parade. ' Another answers,
luOach, he daren't come! He will run for it; we will let him run. ' But now my delight is, our King has paid them their
"fooleries so prettily this afternoon! "
King. "When got you rid of your high guests? "
Landlord. "About nine this morning the Prince got to "horse; and not long after three, he came past again, with a
"swarm of officers; all going full speed for Lissa. So full of
"bragging when they came; and now they were off, wrong
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? CHAP. X. l BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 275
5th Dec. 1757.
"side foremost! I saw how it was. And ever after him, the
"flood of them ran, High-road not broad enough, -- an hour
"and more before it ended. Such a pellmell, such a welter,
"cavalry and musketeers all jumbled: our King must have
"given them a dreadful lathering. That is what they have got
"by their bragging and their lying, -- for, yourExcellenz,
"these people said, too, 'Our King was forsaken by his own
"Generals, all his first people had gone and left him:' what I
"never in this world will believe. "
King (not liking even rumour of that kind). "There you
"are right; never can such a thing be believed of my Army. "
Landlord (whom this "my" has transfixed). "Mein Gott,
"you are our gnttdigster Konig (most gracious King) yourself!
"Pardon, pardon, if, in my stupidity, I have" --
King. "No, you are an honest man:--probably, a Pro-
testant? "
Landlord. "Joa,joa, Ihr Majestat, lam of your Majesty's
"creed! "
Crack-crack! At this point the Dialogue is cut
short by sudden musket-shots from the woody fields to
right; crackle of about twelve shots in all; which hurt
nothing but some horse's feet, -- had been aimed at
the light, and too low. Instantly the light is blown
out, and there is a hunting out of Croats; Lissa or
environs not evacuated yet, it seems; and the King's
Entrance takes place under volleyings and canno-
nadings.
King rides directly to the Schloss, which is still a
fine handsome house, off the one street of that poor
Village, -- north side of street; well railed off, and its
old fences now trimmed into flower-plots. The Schloss
is full of Austrian Officers, bustling about, intending
to quarter, when the King enters. They, and the
force they still had in Lissa, could easily have taken
him: but how could they know? Friedrich was sur18*
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? 276 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII.
5th Dec. 1757.
prised; but had to put the best face on it. * "Bon
soir, Messieurs. '" said he, with a gay tone, stepping
in: "Is there still room left, think you? " The Austrians,
bowing to the dust, make way reverently to the divi-
nity that hedges a King of this sort; mutely escort him
to the best room (such the popular account); and for
certain, make off, they and theirs, towards the Bridge,
which lies a little farther east, at the end of the Vil-
lage.
Weistritz or Schweidnitz Water is a biggish muddy
stream in that part; gushing and eddying; not voiceless,
vexed by mills and their wears. Some firing there was
from Croats in the lower houses of the Village, and
they had a cannon at the farther Bridge-end; but they
were glad to get away, and vanish in the Night; muddy
Weistritz singing hoarse adieu to their cannon and
them. Prussian grenadiers plunged indignant into the
houses; made short work of the musketries there. In
few minutes, every Croat and Austrian was across, or
silenced otherwise too well; Prussian cannon now going
in the rear of them, and continuing to go, -- such had
been the order, "till the powder you have is done. "
Fire of musketry and occasional cannon lasts, all night,
from the Lissa or Prussian side of the River, -- "lest
they burn this Bridge, or attempt some mischief. " A
thing far from their thoughts, in present circumstances.
The Prussian Host at Saara, hearing these noises,
took to its arms again; and marched after the Bang.
Thick darkness; silence; tramp, tramp: -- a Prussian
grenadier broke out, with solemn tenor voice again,
into Church-Music; a known Church-Hymn, of the
* In Kutzen (pp. 121, 209 et seq. ), explanation of the true circum-
stances, and source of the mistake.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 277
5th Dec. 1757.
homely Te-Deum kind; in which five-and-twenty thou-
sand other voices, and all the regimental bands, soon
join:
"Nun danket alle Golt "Now thank God, one and all,
"Mil tierzen, Mund und Hdnden, "With heart, with voice, with hands-a,
"Der grosse Dinge thut "Who wonders great hath done,
"An uns und alien Enden"* "To us and to all lands-a. "
And thus they advance; melodious, far-sounding, through
the hollow Night, once more in a highly remarkable
manner. A pious people, of right Teutsch stuff, tender
though stout; and, except perhaps Oliver Cromwell's
handful of Ironsides, probably the most perfect soldiers
ever seen hitherto. Arriving at the end of Lissa, and
finding all safe as it should be there, they make their
bivouac, their parallelogram of two lines, miles long
across the fields, left wing resting on Lissa, right on
Guckerwitz; and, -- having, I should think, at least
tobacco to depend on, and healthy joyful hearts, --
pass the night in a thankful, comfortable manner.
Leuthen was the most complete of all Friedrich's
victories; two hours more of daylight, as Friedrich him-
self says, and it would have been the most decisive of
this century. ** As it was, the ruin of this big Army,
80,000 against 30,000,*** was as good as total; and a
world of Austrian hopes suddenly collapsed; and all
their Silesian Apparatus, making sure of Silesia beyond
art if, was tumbled into wreck, -- by this one stroke
it had got, smiting the corner-stone of it as if with un-
* Miiller, p. 48.
** (Euvres de Frideric, iv. 167.
? ? ? "89,200 was the Austrian strength before the Battle" (deduct the
Garrisons of Schweidnitz and Liegnitz): Preuss, u. 109 (from the Staff-
Officers).
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? 278 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVnt.
5th-26th Doc. 1757.
expected lightning. On the morrow after Leuthen, Friedrich laid siege to Breslau; Karl had left a garri-
son of 17,000 in it, and a stout Captain, one Sprecher,
determined on defence: such interests hung on Breslau,
such immensities of stores were in it, had there been nothing else, friedrich, pushing with all his strength,
in spite of had weather and of Sprecher's industrious
defence, got it in twelve days. * Sprecher had posted
placards on the gallows and up and down, terrifically
proclaiming that any man convicted of mentioning sur-
render should be instantly hanged: but Friedrich's
bombardment was strong, his assaults continual: and
the ditches were threatening to freeze. On the seventh
day of the siege, a Laboratorium blew up; on the ninth,
a Powder-magazine, carrying a lump of the rampart
away with it. Sprecher had to capitulate: Prisoners of
War, we 17,000; our cannons, ammunitions (most
opulent, including what we took from Bevern lately);
these, we, and Breslau altogether; alas, it is all yours
again.
Liegnitz Garrison, seeing no hope, consented to
withdraw on leave. ** Schweidnitz cannot be besieged
till Spring come: except Schweidnitz, Maria Theresa,
the high Kaiserinn, has no foot of ground in Silesia,
which she thought to be hers again. Gone utterly,
Patents and all; Schweidnitz alone waiting till Spring.
To the lively joy of Silesia in general; to the thrice-
lively sorrow and alarm of certain individuals, leading
Catholic Ecclesiastics mainly, who had misread the
signs of the times in late months! There is one Schaff-
* 7th-19th December: Diarinm &c. of it in Helden-Geschichle, iv.
955-961.
** 26th Decembers Helden-Geschichte, iv. 1016.
Jfr,''
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHES. 279
5th-26m Dec. 1757.
gotsch, Archbishop or head-man of them, especially,
who is now in a bad way. Never was such royal
favour; never such ingratitude, say the Books at weari-
some length. Schaffgotsch was a showy man of quality,
nephew of the quondam Austrian Governor, whom
Friedrich, across a good deal of Papal and other oppo-
sition, got pushed into the Catholic Primacy, and took
some pains to make comfortable there, -- Order of the
Black Eagle, guest at Potsdam, and the like; -- having
a kind of fancy for the airy Schaffgotsch, as well as
judging him suitable for this Silesian High-Priesthood,
with his moderate ideas and quality ways, -- which I
have heard were a little dissolute withal. To the whole
of which Schaffgotsch proved signally traitorous and
ingrate; and had plucked off the Black Eagle (say the
Books, nearly breathless over such a sacrilege) on some
public occasion, prior to Leuthen, and trampled it under
his feet, the unworthy fellow. Schaffgotsch's pathetic
Letter to Friedrich, in the new days posterior to
Leuthen, and Friedrich's contemptuous inexorable an-
swer, we could give, but do not: why should we? Oh
King, I know your difficulties, and what epoch it is.
But, of a truth, your airy dissolute Schaffgotsch, as a
grateful "Archbishop and Grand-Vicar," is almost
uglier to me than as a Traitor ungrateful for it; and
shall go to the Devil in his own way! They would not
have him in Austria; he was not well received at
Rome; happily died before long. * Friedrich was not
cruel to Schaffgotsch or the others, contemptuously
mild rather; but he knew henceforth what to expect of
them, and slightly changed this and that in his Silesian
methods in consequence.
* Preusa, n. 113, 114; Kutzen, pp. 12,155-160, for the real particulars.
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? 280 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book xviii.
5th-26th Dec. 1757.
Of Prince Karl let us add a word. On the morrow
after Leuthen, Captain Prince de Ligne and old Papa
D'Ahremberg could find little or no Army; they stept
across to Grabschen, a village on the safe side of the
Lohe, and there found Karl and Daun: "rather silent,
"both; one of them looking, 'Who would have thought
"'it! ' the other, 'Didn't I tell you? '" -- and knowing
nothing, they either, where the Army was. Army was,
in fact, as yet nowhere. "Croat fellows, in this Farm-
"stead of ours," says De Ligne, "had fallen to shooting
"pigeons. " The night had been unusually dark; the
Austrian Army had squatted into woods, into office-
houses, farm-villages, over a wide space of country;
and only as the day rose, began to dribble in. By
count, they are still 50,000; but heart-broken, beaten
as men seldom were. "What sound is that? " men
asked yesterday at Brieg, forty miles off; and nobody
could say, except that it was some huge Battle, fateful
of Silesia and world. Breslau had it louder; Breslau
was still more anxious. "What is all that? " asked
somebody (might be Deblin the Shoemaker, for any-
thing I know) of an Austrian sentry there: "That?
That is the Prussians giving us such a beating as we
never had. " What news for Deblin the Shoemaker, if
he is still above ground! --
"Prince Karl, gathering his distracted fragments, put
"17,000 into Breslau by way of ample garrison there; and
"with the rest made off circuitously for Schweidnitz; thence
"for Landshut, and down the Mountains, home to Konigs-
"gratz, -- self and Army in the most wrecked condition.
"Chased byZiethen; Ziethen 'sticking always to the hocks
"of them,' as Friedrich eagerly enjoins on him; or some-
"times it is, 'sitting on the breeches of them:' for about a
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? BATTLE OF LEUTHEN.
281
lec. 1757.
fortnight to come. * Ziethen took 2,000prisoners; no end
)f baggages, of wagons left in the difficult places: wild
weather even for Ziethen, still more for Karl, among the
Silesian-Bohemian Hill-roads: heavy rains, deep muds,
;hen sudden glass, with cutting snowblasts: 'An Army not
i little dilapidatedwrites Prince Karl, almost with tears
n his eyes; 'Army without linens, without clothes; in con-
dition truly sad and pitiable; and has always, so close
are the enemy, to encamp, though without tents. '** Did
lot get to Kbnigsgratz, and safe shelter, for ten days
nore. Counted, at Konigsgratz in the Christmas time,
J7,000rank and file, -- '22,000 of whom are gone to hos-
pital,' by the Doctor's report.
"Universal astonishment, indignation, even incredulity,
s the humour at Vienna: the high Kaiserinn herself, kept
n the dark for some time, becomes dimly aware; and by
lis military employments, and appoints Daun instead.
Prince Karl withdrew to his Government of the Nether-
ands; and with the aid of generous liquors, and what
latural magnanimity he had, spent a noiseless life thence-
'orth; Sword laid entirely on the shelf; and immortal
jrlory, as of Alexander and the like, quite making its exit
'rom the scene, convivial or other. 'The first General in
he world,' so he used to be ten years ago, in Austria, in
England, Holland, the thrice-greatest of Generals: but
low he has tried Friedrich in Five pitched Battles (Czaslau,
iohenfriedberg, Sohr, thenPrag, thenLeuthen); -- been
leaten every time, under every form of circumstance; and
iow, at Leuthen, the fifth beating is such, no public,
lowever ignorant, can stand it farther. The ignorant
mblic changes its long-eared eulogies into contumeliously
lorrid shrieks of condemnation; in which one is still farther
rom joining. 'That crossing of the Rhine,' says Friedrich,
was a belle chose; but flatterers blew him into dangerous
self-conceit; besides he was ill-obeyed, as others of us
have been. '*** Adieu to him, poor redfaced soul; -- and * Eleven Royal Autographs: in Blumenthal, Life of De Ziethen (n.
94-111), a feeble incorrect Translation of them. ** Kutzen, p. 134 (" Prince Karl to the Kaiser, December 14th").
** "Prince deLigne, Memoires surFrideric (Berlin, 1789), p. 38" (PreusSi
11S).
Kaiser Franz's own
? ?
