Oldenburg's force was but some 2,000; Pirna
Saxons most of them: -- such a winter Oldenburg has
had with these Saxons; bursting out into actual mus-
ketry upon him once; Oldenburg, volcanically steady,
summoning the Prussian part, "To me, true Prussian
Bursche!
Saxons most of them: -- such a winter Oldenburg has
had with these Saxons; bursting out into actual mus-
ketry upon him once; Oldenburg, volcanically steady,
summoning the Prussian part, "To me, true Prussian
Bursche!
Thomas Carlyle
Victory or else death, there is nothing else for us;
"one or the other we must have. All the world here is of that
"temper. What! you would have everybody sacrifice his life
"for the State, and you would not have your Brothers give the
"example? Ah, my dear Sister, at this crisis, there is no room
"for bargaining. Either at the summit of glorious success, or
"else abolished altogether. This Campaign now coming is
"like that of Pharsalia for Rome, or that of Leuctra for the
"Greeks" -- a Campaign we verily shall have to win, or go to
wreck upon! *
* (Euvres de Frideric, xxvn. i. 891.
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? 68 SEVEN YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book Xvnr.
9tli Slay -- 13th Jane 1757.
Friedrich shortly after Prag (To his Mother, Letter still
extant in Autograph, without date). -- "My Brothers and 1
"are still well. The whole Campaign runs risk of being lost
"to the Austrians; and I find myself free, with 150,000 men.
"Add to this, that we are masters of a Kingdom" (Bohemia
here), "which is obliged to furnish us with troops and money.
"The Austrians are dispersed like straw before the wind. I
"will send a part of my troops to compliment Messieurs the
"French; and am going" (if I once had Prag! ) "to pursue the
"Austrians with the rest of my Army. "*
Friedrich, who keeps his emotions generally to
himself, does not, as will be seen, remain quite silent
to us throughout this great Year; but, by accident, has
left us some rather impressive gleanings in that kind;
-- and certainly in no year could such accident have
been luckier to us; this of 1757 being, in several re-
spects, the greatest of his Life. From nearly the top-
most heights down to the lowest deeps, his fortunes os-
cillated this year; and probably, of all the sons of
Adam, nobody's outlooks and reflexions had in them,
successive and simultaneous, more gigantic forms of
fear and of hope. He is on a very high peak at this
moment; suddenly emerging from his thick cloud, into
thunderous victory of that kind; and warning all
Pythons what they get by meddling with the Sungod!
Loud enough, far-clanging, is the sound of the silver
bow; gazetteers and men all on pause at such new
Phoebus Apollo risen in his wrath; -- the Victory at
Prag considered to be much more annihilative than it
really was. At London, Lord Holderness had his
Tower-guns in readiness, waiting for something of the
kind; and "the joy of the people was frantic. "**
* (Euvres de Frederic, xxvl. 75.
? ? Mitchell Papers and Memoirs (i. e. the Printed Selection, 2 voll. ,
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? CHAP, rn. ] PRAG CANNOT BE GOT AT ONCE. 59
9th May -- ISth June 1757.
Very dominant, our "Protestant Champion" yonder,
on his Ziscaberg; bidding the enormous Pompadour-
Theresa combinations, the French, Austrian, Swedish,
Russian populations and dread sovereigns, check their
proud waves, and hold at mid-flood. It is thought,
had he in effect "annihilated" the Austrian force at
Prag, that day (Friday, 6th May, as he might have
done by waiting till Saturday 7th), he could then, with
the due rapidity, rapidity being indispensable in the
affair, have become master of Prag, which meant of
Bohemia altogether; and have stormed forward, as his
program bore, into the heart of an Austria still terror-
stricken, unrallied; -- in which case, it is calculated,
the French, the Russians, Swedes, much more the Reich
and such like, would all have drawn bridle; and Austria
itself have condescended to make Peace with a Neigh-
bour of such quality, and consent to his really modest
desire of being let alone! Possible, all this, -- think
Retzow and others. * But the King had not waited till
to-morrow; no persuasion could make him wait: and it
is idle speculating on the small turns which here, as
everywhere, can produce such deflections of course.
Beyond question, Prag is not captured, and may,
as now garrisoned, require a great deal of capturing:
-- and perhaps it is but a peak, this high dominancy
of Friedrich's, not a solid table-land, till much more
have been done! Friedrich has nothing of the Gascon:
but there may well be conceivable at this time a certain
London, 1850; -- wMofc ytllfr be the oftenest cited by us, "Papers and
Hitmoin"), I. 249: "Holderness to Mitchell, 20th May 1757. " Mitchell is
now attending Friedrich; his Letter from Keith's Camp, during the thunder
of "Friday, May 6th," is given, ib. i. 248.
* See Retiow, I. 100-108; &c.
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? 60 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII'
9th May -- ISth Juno 1757.
glow of internal pride, like that of Phoebus amid the
piled tempests, -- like that of the One Man prevailing,
if but for a short season, against the Devil and All
Men: "I have made good my bit of resolution so far:
here are the Austrians beaten at the set day, and Prag
summoned to surrender, as per program! " --
Intrinsically, Prag is not a strong City: we have
seen it taken in few days; in one night; -- and again,
as in Belleisle's time, we have seen it making tough
defence for a series of weeks. It depends on the gar-
rison, what extent of garrison (the circuit of it being
so immense), and what height of humour. There are
now 46,000 men caged in it, known to have con-
siderable magazines; and Friedrich, aware that it will
cost trouble, bends all his strength upon it, and from
his two camps, Ziscaberg, Weissenberg, due Bridges
uniting, Keith and he batter it violently, aiming chiefly
at the Magazines (which are not all bomb-proof); and
hope they may succeed before it is too late.
The Vienna people are in the depths of amazement and discouragement; almost of terror, had it not been
for a few, or especially for one high heart among them.
Feldmarschall Daun, on the news of May 6th, hastily
fell back, joined by the wrecks of the right wing,
which fled Sazawa way. Brunswick-Bevern, with a
20,000, is detached to look after Daun; finds Daun
still on the retreat; greedily collecting reinforcements
from the homeward quarter; and hanging back, though
now double or so of Bevern's strength. Amazement
and discouragement are the general feeling among
Friedrich's enemies. Notable to see how the whole
hostile world marching in upon him, -- French, Rus-
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? CHAP, m. ] PRAG CANNOT BE GOT AT ONCE. 61
jlh May -- 13th June 1757.
sians, much more the Reich, poor faltering entity, --
pauses, as with its breath taken away, at news of Prag;
and, arrested on the sudden, with lifted foot, ceases to
stride forward; and merely tramp-tramps on the same
place (nay in part, in the Reich part, visibly tramps
backward), for above a month ensuing! Who knows
whether, practically, any of them will come on;* and
not leave Austria by itself to do the duel with Fried-
rich? If Prag were but got, and the 46,000 well locked
away, it would be very salutary for Friedrich's affairs!
-- Week after week, the City holds out; and there
seems no hope of it, except by hunger, and burning
their Magazines by red-hot balls.
Colonel Mayer with his "Free-Corps" Party makes a
Visit, of didactic Nature, to the Reich.
Friedrich, as we saw, on entering Bohmen, had
shot off a Light Detachment under Colonel Mayer,
southward, to seize any Austrian Magazines there were,
especially one big Magazine at Pilsen:-- which Mayer
has handsomely done, May 2d (Pilsen "a bigger Ma-
gazine than Jung-Buntzlau, even"); after which Mayer is
now off westward, into the Ober-Pfalz, into the Niirn-
berg Countries; to teach the Reich a small lesson, since
they will not listen to Plotho. Prag Battle, as happens,
had already much chilled the ardour of the Reich!
Mayer has two Free-Corps, his own and another; about
1,300 of foot; to which are added a 200 of hussars.
They have 5 cannon, carry otherwise a minimum of
baggage; are swift wild fellows, sharp of stroke; and
* See Correspondence du Comte de Saint-Germain, an Eye-witness, 1. 108
cited in Preuss, u. 50); &c. &c.
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? 62 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII.
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
do, for the time, prove didactic to the Reich; bringing
home to its very bosom the late great lesson of the
Ziscaberg, in an applied form. Mayer made a pretty
course of it, into the Ober-Pfalz Countries; scattering
the poor Execution Drill-Sergeants and incipiencies of
preparation, the deliberative County Meetings, Kreis-
Convents: ransoming Cities, Nttrnberg for one city,
whose cries went to Friedrich on the Ziscaberg, and
wide over the world. * Nttrnberg would have been but
too happy to "refuse its contingent to the Reich's Army,"
as many others would have been (poor Kur-Baiern
hurrying off a kind of Embassy to Friedrich, great
terror reigning among the wigs of Regensburg, and
everybody drawing back that could), -- had not Im-
perial menaces, and an Event that fell out by and by
in Prag Country, forced compliance.
Mayer's Expedition made a loud noise in the News-
papers; and was truly of a shining nature in its kind;
very perfectly managed on Mayer's part, and has traits
in it which are amusing to read, had one time. Take
one small glance from Pauli:
"AtFurth in Anspach, 1st June" (after six-days screwing
of Nttrnberg from without, which we had no cannon to take),
"a Gratuity for the Prussian troops" (amount not stated)
"was demanded and given: at Schwabach, farther up the
"Regnitz River, they took quarters; no exemption made,
"clergy and laity alike getting soldiers billeted. Meat and
''drink had to be given them; as also 100 Carolines" (guineas
and better), "and twenty new uniforms. Upon which, next
"day, they marched to Zirndorf, and the Reichsgraf Piickler's
"Mansion, the Schloss of Farrenbach there. Mayer took
* la Htldtn-Geschichte, iv. 360-367, the Nttrnberg Letter and Response
(31st May-5th June 1757): in Pauli, Leben grosser Helden (ra, 159 et seq. ),
Account of the Mayer Expedition; also in ffllitair-Lacikon, ra. 29 (quoting
from Pauli).
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? CHAP, m. ] PRAG CANNOT BE GOT AT ONCE. 63
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
"quarter in the Schloss itself. Here the noble owners got up
"a ball for Mayer's entertainment; and did all they could
"contrive to induce a light treatment from him. " Figure it,
the neighbouring nobility and gentry in gala; Mayer too in
his best uniform, and smiling politely, with those "bright
"little black eyes" of his! For he was a brilliant airy kind of
fellow, and had much of the chevalier, as well as of the par-
tisan, when requisite!
"Out of Farrenbach, theMayerpeople circulated upon all
"the neighbouring Lordships; at Wilhermsdorf, the Reichs-
"Fiirst von Hohenlohe" (a, too busy Anti-Prussian) "had the
"worst brunt to bear. The adjacentBaireuth lands" (dear
Wilhelmina, fancy her too in such neighbourhood! ) "were to
"the utmost spared all billeting, and even all transit," --
though wandering sergeants of the Reich's Force, "one
"sergeant with the Wurzburg Herr Commissarius and eight
"common men, did get picked up on Bayreuth ground: and
"this or the other Anspach Official (Anspach being dis-
affected), too busy on the wrong side, found himself sud-
"denly Prisoner of War; but was given up, at Wilhelmina's "gracious request. On Bamberg he was sharp as flint; and
"had to be; theBambergers, reinforced at last by 'Circle-
"Militias (Kreis-truppen)' in quantity, being called out in
"mass against him; andatVach, an actual Passage of Fight
"had occurred. "
Of the "Affair at Vach," pretty little Drawn-Battle
(mostly an affair of art), Mayer versus "Kreis-troops ot
"the amount of 6,000, with twelve cannon, or some
"say twenty-four" (which they couldn't handle); and
how Mayer cunningly took a position unassailable,
"burnt Bridges of the Regnitz River," and, plying his
five cannon against these ardent awkward people, stood
cheerful on the other side; and then at last, in good
time, whisked himself off to the Hill of Culmbach,
with all his baggage, inexpugnable there for three days:
-- of all this, though it is set down at full length, we
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? 64
SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII.
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
can say nothing. * And will add only that, having
girt himself and made his packages, Mayer left the
Hill of Culmbach; and deliberately wended home, by
Coburg and other Countries where he had business,
eating his way; and early in July was safe in the
Metal Mountains again; having fluttered the Volscians
in their Frankenland Corioli to an unexpected extent.
It is one of five or six such sallies Friedrich made
upon the Reich, sometimes upon the Austrians and
Reich together, to tumble up their magazines and pre-
parations. Rapid unexpected inroads, year after year;
done chiefly by the Free-Corps; and famous enough to
the then Gazetteers. Of which, or of their doers, as
we can in time coming afford little or no notice, let us
add this small Note on the Free-Corps topic, which is
a large one in the Books, but must not interrupt us
again:
"Before this War was done" say my Authorities, "there
"came gradually to be twenty-one Prussian Free-Corps," --
foot almost all; there being already Hussars in quantity, ever
since the first Silesian experiences. "Notable Aggregates
"they were of loose wandering fellows, broken Saxons,
"Prussians, French; 'Hungarian-Protestant'some of them,
'"Deserters from all the Armies'not a few; attracted by the
"fame of Friedrich, -- as the Colonels enlisting them had
"been; Mayer himself, for instance, was by birth a Vienna
"man; and had been in many services and wars, from his
"fifteenth year and onwards. Most miscellaneous, these
"Prussian Free-Corps; a swift faculty the indispensable
"thing, by no means a particular character: but well-dis-
"ciplined, well-captained; who generally managed their
"work well.
"They were, by origin, of Anti-Tolpatch nature, got up
"on the diamond-cut-diamond principle; they stole a good
* Pauli, in. 159, &c. (who gives Mayer's own Letter, and others, upon Vach).
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? CHAP. m. ] PRAG CANNOT BE OOT AT ONCE. 65
9th May -- 13th Jane 1757.
"deal, with order sometimes, and oftener without; but there
"was nothing of the old Mentzel-Trenck atrocity permitted
"them, or ever imputed to them; and they did, usually with
"good military talent, sometimes conspicuously good, what
"was required of them. Regular Generals, of a high merit,
"one or two of their Captains came to be: Wunsch, forex-
"ample; Werner, in some sort; and, but for his sudden
"death, this Mayer himself. Others of them, asVonHordt
"(Hard is his Swedish name); and 'Quintus Icilius' (by
"nature, Guichard, of whom we shall hear a great deal in the
"Friedrich circle by and by), are distinguished as honourably
"intellectual and cultivated persons. *
"Poor Mayer died within two years hence (5th January
"1759); of fever, caught by unheard-of exertions and over-
fatigues; after many exploits, and with the highest pro-
spects opening on him. A man of many adventures, of many
"qualities; a wild dash of chivalry in him all along, and much
"military and other talent crossed in the growing. In the
"dull old Books, I read one other fact which is vivid to me,
"That Wilhelmina, as sequel of those first Franconian
"exploits and procedures, 'had given him her Order of
"Knighthood, Order of Sincerity and Fidelity,'" -- poor dear
Princess, what an interest to Wilhelmina, this flash of her
Brother's thunder thrown into those Franconian parts, and
across her own pungent anxieties and sorrowfully affectionate
thoughts, in those weeks! --
Shortly after Mayer, about the time when Mayer
was wending homeward, General von Oldenburg, a very
valiant punctual old General, was pushed out westward
upon Erfurt, a City of Kur-Mainz's, to give Kur-Mainz
a similar monition. And did it handsomely, impressively
upon the Gazetteer world at least and the Erfurt po-
pulations, -- though we can afford it no room in this
* Count de Hordt's Memoirs (autobiographical, or in the first-person!
English Translation, London, 1806; (too French Originals, a worse in 1789,
and a better now at last), Preface, i. -xn. In Helden-Geschichte, v. 102-104,
93, a detailed " List of the Free-Corps in 1758" (twelve of foot, two of horse, at that time): see Preuss, n. 372 n. ; Pauli (ubi supra), Life of Mayer,
Carlyle, Frederick tlie Great. X. 5
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? 66 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [bOOK XvIII.
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
place.
Oldenburg's force was but some 2,000; Pirna
Saxons most of them: -- such a winter Oldenburg has
had with these Saxons; bursting out into actual mus-
ketry upon him once; Oldenburg, volcanically steady,
summoning the Prussian part, "To me, true Prussian
Bursche! " -- and hanging nine of the mutinous Saxons.
And has coerced and compesced them (all that did not
contrive to desert) into soldierly obedience; and, 20th
June, appears at the Gate of Erfurt with them, to do
his delicate errand there. Sharply conclusive, though
polite and punctual. "Send to Kur-Mainz, say you?
Well, as to your Citadel, and those 1,400 soldiers all
moving peaceably off thither, -- Yes. As to your City:
within one hour, Gate open to us, or we open it! "*
And Oldenburg marches in, as vice-sovereign for the
time: -- but, indeed, has soon to leave again; owing
to what Event in the distance, will be seen!
If Prag Siege go well, these Mayer-Oldenburg ex-
peditions will have an effect on the Reich: but if it go
ill, what are they, against Austria with its force of
steady pressure? All turns on the issue of Prag Siege:
-- a fact extremely evident to Friedrich too! But these
are what in the interim can be done. One neglects no
opportunity, tries by every method.
Of the singular quasi-bewitched Condition of England;
and what is to be hoped from it, for the Common Cause,
if Prag go amiss.
On the Britannic side too, the outlooks are not
good; -- much need Friedrich were through his Prag
* In Helden-Geschichte (v. 371-384), copious Account, with the Missives
to and from, the Reichs-Pleadings that followed, the &c. &c. Militair-
hexikm, g Oldenburg.
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? CHAP. m. | PRAG CANNOT BE GOT AT ONCE. 67
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
affair, and "hastening with forty thousand to help his
Allies," -- that is, Royal Highness of Cumberland and
Britannic Purse, his only allies at this moment . Royal
Highness and Army of Observation (should have been
67,000, are 50 to 60,000, hired Germans; troops good
enough, were they tolerably led) finds the Hanover
Program as bad as Schmettau and Friedrich ever
represented it; and, already, -- unless Prag go well,
-- wears, to the understanding eye, a very contingent
aspect. D'Estrees outnumbers him; D'Estrees, too, is
something of a soldier, -- a very considerable advantage
in affairs of war.
D'Estrees, since April, is in Wesel; gathering in
the revenues, changing the Officialities: much out of
discipline, they say; -- "hanging" gradually "1,000
maraudeurs;" in round numbers 1,000 this year. *
D'Estrees does not yet push forward, owing to Prag.
If he do -- It is well known how Royal Highness
fared when he did, and what a Campaign Royal
Highness made of it this Year 1757! How the Weser
did prove wadeable, as Schmettau had said to no pur-
pose; wadeable, bridgeable; and Royal Highness had
to wriggle back, ever back; no stand to be made, or
far worse than none: back, ever back, till he got into
the Sea, for that matter, and to the end of more than
one thing! Poor man, friends say he has an incurable
Hanover Ministry, a Program that is inexecutable. As
yet he has not lost head, any head he ever had: but
he is wonderful, he; -- and his England is! We shall
have to look at him once again; and happily once
only. Here, from my Constitutional Historian, are
some Passages which we may as well read in the
* Stenzel, v. 65; Retzow, 1. 173.
5*
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? 68
SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [bOOK XvIII.
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
present interim of expectation. I label, and try to
arrange:
1. England in Crisis. "England is indignant with its Hero
"of Culloden and his Campaign 1757; Dut really has no
"business to complain. Royal Highness of Cumberland,
"wriggling helplessly in that manner, is a fair representative
"of the England that now is. For years back, there has been,
"in regard to all things Foreign or Domestic, in thatCountry,
"by way of Nationalaction, the miserablest haggling as to
"which of various little-competent persons shall act tor the
"Nation. A melancholy condition indeed! --
"But the fact is, his Grace of Newcastle, ever since his
"poor Brother Pelham died(who was always a solid, loyal kind
"of man, though a dull; and had always, with patient affection,
"furnished his Grace, much unsupplied otherwise, with Com-
"mon-Sense hitherto), is quite insecure in Parliament, and
"knows not what hand to turn to. Fox is contemptuous of
"him; Pitt entirely impatient of him; Duke of Cumberland
"(great in the glory of Culloden) is aiming to oust him, and
"bear rule with his Young Nephew, the new Rising Sun, as
"the poor Papa and Grandfather gets old. Even Carteret
"(Earl Granville, as they now call him, a Carteret much
"changed since those high-soaring Worms-Hanau times! )
"was applied to. But the answer was -- what could the an-
"swerbe? High-soaring Carteret, scandalously overset and
"hurled out in that Hanau time, had already tried once (long
"ago, and with such result! ) to spring in again, and'deliver
"'his Majesty from factions;' and actually had made a
''' Granville Ministry;' Ministry which fell again in one day. *
"To the complete disgust of Carteret-Granville;--who, ever
"since, sits ponderously dormant (kind of Fixture in the
"Privy Council, this long while back); and is resigned, in a
"big contemptuous way, to have had his really considerable
"career closed upon him by the smallest of mankind; and,
"except occasional blurts of strong rugged speech which
"come from him, and a good deal of wine taken into him, dis-
"dains making further debate with the world and its elect
"Newcastles. Carteret, at this crisis, was again applied to,
* "llth February 1746" (Thackeray, Life of Chatham, I. 146).
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? CHAP, m. j PRAG CANNOT BE GOT AT ONCE. 69
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
""Cannot you? In behalf of an afflicted old King? ' But
"Carteret answered, No. *
"In short, it is admitted and bewailed by everybody,
"seldom was there seen such a Government of England (and
"England has seen some strange Governments), as in these
"last Three Years. Chaotic Imbecility reigning pretty
"supreme. Ruler's Work, -- policy, administration, govern-
'Unce, guidance, performance in any kind, -- where is it toe found? For if even a Walpole, when his Talking-Appa-
ratus gets out of gear upon him, is reduced to extremities,
"though the stoutest of men, -- fancy what it will be, in like
"case, and how the Acting-Apparatuses and Affairs generally
"will go, with a poor hysterical Newcastle, now when his
"Common-Sense is fatally withdrawn! The poor man has no
"resource but to shuffle about in aimless perpetual fidget;
"endeavouring vainly to say Yes and No to all questions,
"Foreign and Domestic, that may rise. Whereby, in the
"Affairs of England, there has, as it were, universal St.
"Vitus'-dance supervened, at an important crisis: and the
"Preparations for America, and for a down-right Life-and-
"Death Wrestle with France on the Jenkins's-Ear Question,
"are quite in a bad way. In an ominously bad. Why cannot
"we draw a veil over these things! " --
2. Pitt, and the Hour of Tide. "The fidgetings and
"shufflings, the subtleties, inane trickeries, and futile hither- "ings and thitherings of Newcastle may be imagined: a man
"not incapable of trick; but anxious to be well with every-
"body; and to answer Yes andiHo to almost everything, -- and
"not a little puzzled, poor soul, to get through, in thatim-
"possible way! Such a paralysis of wriggling imbecility
"fallen over England, in this great crisis of its fortunes, as is
"still painful to contemplate: and indeed it has been mostly
"shaken out of mind by the modern Englishman; who tries to
"laugh at it, instead of weeping and considering, which would
"better beseem. Pitt speaks with a tragical vivacity, in all
"ingenious dialects, lively though serious; and with a depth
"of sad conviction, which is apt to be slurred over and missed
"altogether by a modern reader. Speaks as if this brave
"English Nation were about ended; little or no hope left for
"it; here a gleam of possibility, and there a gleam, which
* Thackeray, Life ofChatham, i. 264.
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? 70 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVIII-
Uth May -- 13th June 1757.
"soon vanishes again in the fatal murk of impotencies, do-
"nothingisms. Very sad to the heart of Pitt. A once brave
"Nation arrived at its critical point, and doomed to higgle
"and puddle there till it drown in the gutters: considerably
"tragical to Pitt; who is lively, ingenious, and, though not
"quitting the Parliamentary tone for the Hebrew-Prophetic,
"far more serious than the modern reader thinks.
"In Walpole'sBook* there is the liveliest Picture of this
"dismalParliamentary Hellbroth, -- such a Mother of Dead "Dogs as one has seldom looked into! For the Hour is great;
"and the Honourable Gentlemen, I must say, are small. The
"Hour, little as you dream of it, my Honourable Friends, is
"pregnant with questions that are immense. Wide Con-
"tinents, long Epochs and iEons hang on this poor jargoning
"of yours; the Eternal Destinies are asking their much-
"favoured Nation, "Will you, can you? " -- much-favoured "stupidity, and taking refuge in laughter. The Eternal
"Destinies are very patient with some Nations; and can dis-
regard their follies, for a long while; and have their Crom-
"well, have their Pitt, or what else is essential, ready for the
"poor Nation, in a grandly silent way!
"Certain it is, -- though how could poor Newcastle know
"it at all! -- here is again the hour of tide for England. Tide
"is full again; has been flowing long hundreds of years, and
"is full: certain, too, that time and tide wait on no man or
"nation. In a dialect different from Cromwell's or Pitt's, but
"with a sense true to theirs, I call it the Eternal Destinies
"knocking at England's door again: 'Are you ready for the
''' crisis, birth-point of long Ages to you, which is now come? '
"Greater question had not been, for centuries past. None to
"be named with it since that high Spiritual Question (truly a
"much higher, and which was in fact the parent of this, and. of
"all of high and great that lay ahead), which England and
"Oliver Cromwell were there to answer: 'Will you hold by
"Consecrated Formulas, then, you English, and expect salva-
"tion from traditions of the elders; or are you for Divine
"Realities, as the one sacred and indispensable thing? '
"Which they did answer, in what way we know. Truly the
"Highest Question; which, if a Nation can answer well, it
"Nation h
that manner. Astonished at its own Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of George II.
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? SHAP. m. J PRAG CANNOT BE GOT AT ONCE. 71
9th May -- 18th June 1757.
"will grow in this world, and may come to be considerable,
"and to have many high Questions to answer, -- this of Pitt's,
"for example. And the Answers given do always extend
"through coming ages; and do always bear harvests, ac-
cursed or else blessed, according as the Answers were. A
"thing awfully true, if you have eye for it; -- a thing to make
"Honourable Gentlemen serious, even in the age of percus-
sion-caps! No, my friend, Newcastleisms, impious Pol-
"trooneries, in a Nation, do not die: -- neither (thank God)
"do Cromwellisms and pious Heroisms; but are alive for the
"poorNation, even in its somnambulencies, in its stupidest
"dreams. For Nations have their somnambulencies; and, at
"any rate, the questions put to Nations, in different ages, vary
"much. Not in any age, or turning-point in History, had
"England answered the Destinies in such a dialect as now,
"under its Newcastle and National Palaver. "
3. Of Walpole, as Recording Angel. "Walpole's George "the Second is a Book of far more worth than is commonly
"ascribed to it; almost the one original English Book yet
"written on those times, -- which, by the accident of Pitt, are
"still memorable to us. But for Walpole, --burning like a
"small steady light there, shining faithfully, if stingily, on the
"evil and the good, -- that sordid muddle of the Pelham
"Parliaments, which chanced to be the element of things now
"recognisable enough as great, would be forever unintel-
ligible. He is unusually accurate, punctual, lucid; an
"irrefragable authority on English points. And if, in regard
"to Foreign, he cannot be called an understanding witness,
"he has read the best Documents accessible, has conversed
"with select Ambassadors (Mitchell and the like, as we can
"guess); and has informed himself to a degree far beyond
"most of his contemporaries. In regard to Pitt's Speeches,
"in particular, his brief jottings, done rapidly while the
"matter was still shining to him, are the only Reports that
"have the least human resemblance. We may thank Walpole
"that Pitt is not dumb to us, as well as dark. Very curious
"little scratchings and etchings, those of Walpole; frugal,
"swift, but punctual and exact; hasty pen-and-ink outlines;
"at first view, all barren; bald as an invoice, seemingly; but
"which yield you, after long study there and elsewhere, a
"conceivable notion of what and how excellent these Pitt
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? 72 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII
9th May -- 13tll June 1757.
"Speeches may have been. Airy, winged, like arrow-flights
"of Phoebus Apollo;'very superlative Speeches indeed.
"Walpole's Book is carefully printed, -- few errors in it like
"that 'Chapeau' for Chasot" which readers remember: --
"but, in respect to editing, may be characterised as still want-
ing an Editor. A Book unedited; little but lazy ignorance
"of a very hopeless type, thick contented darkness, traceable
"throughout in the marginal part. No attempt at an Index,
"or at any of the natural helps to a reader now at such
"distance from it. Nay, till you have at least marked, on
"the top of each page, what Month and Year it actually is,
"the Book cannot De read at all, -- except by an idle crea-
'' ture, doing worse than nothing under the name of reading! "
4. Pitt's Speeches, foreshadowing What. "It is a kind of
"epoch in your studies of modern English History when you
"get to understand of Pitt's Speeches, that they are not Par-
"hamentary Eloquences, but things which with his whole soul
"he means, and is intent to do. This surprising circumstance,
"when at last become undeniable, makes, on the sudden, an
"immense difference for the Speeches and you! Speeches are
"not a thing of high moment to this Editor; it is the Thing
"spoken, and how far the speaker means to do it, that this
"Editor inquires for. Too many Speeches there are, which
''he hears admired all round, and has privately to entertain a
"very horrid notion of! Speeches, the finest in quality (were
"quality really 'fine' conceivable in such case), which want a
"corresponding fineness of source and intention, correspond-
ing nobleness of purport, conviction, tendency; these, if we
"will reflect, are frightful instead of beautiful. Yes; -- and
"always the frightfuller, the'finer' they are; the faster and
"and farther they go, sowing themselves in the dim vacancy
"of men's minds. For Speeches, like all human things,
"though the act is now little remembered, do always rank
"themselves as forever blessed or as forever unblessed.
"Sheep or goats; on the right hand of the Final Judge, or
"else on the left. There are Speeches which can be called
"true; and, again, Speeches which are not true: -- Heavens,
"only think what these latter are! Sacked wind, which you
"are intended to sow, -- that you may reap the whirlwind!
"After long reading, I find Chatham's Speeches to be what he
"pretends they are: true,and worth speaking then and there.
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? CHAP. ni. ] PRAG CANNOT BE GOT AT ONCE. 73
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
"Noble indeed, I can call them with you: the highly noble
"Foreshadow, necessary preface and accompaniment of
"Actions which are still nobler. A very singular phenomenon
"within those walls, or without!
"Pitt, though nobly eloquent, is a Man of Action, not of
"Speech: an authentically Royal kind of Man. And if there
"were a Plutarch in these times, with a good deal of leisure
"on his hands, he might run a Parallel between Friedrich and
"Chatham. Two radiant Kings; very shining Men of Action
"both; both of them hard bested, as the case often is. For
"your born King will generally have, if not 'all Europe
"against him,' at least pretty much all the Universe. Chat-
"ham's course to Kingship was not straight or smooth, -- as
"Friedrich, too, had his well-nigh fatal difficulties on the
"road. Again says the Plutarch, they are very brave men
"both; and of a clearness and veracity peculiar among their
"contemporaries.
"one or the other we must have. All the world here is of that
"temper. What! you would have everybody sacrifice his life
"for the State, and you would not have your Brothers give the
"example? Ah, my dear Sister, at this crisis, there is no room
"for bargaining. Either at the summit of glorious success, or
"else abolished altogether. This Campaign now coming is
"like that of Pharsalia for Rome, or that of Leuctra for the
"Greeks" -- a Campaign we verily shall have to win, or go to
wreck upon! *
* (Euvres de Frideric, xxvn. i. 891.
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? 68 SEVEN YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book Xvnr.
9tli Slay -- 13th Jane 1757.
Friedrich shortly after Prag (To his Mother, Letter still
extant in Autograph, without date). -- "My Brothers and 1
"are still well. The whole Campaign runs risk of being lost
"to the Austrians; and I find myself free, with 150,000 men.
"Add to this, that we are masters of a Kingdom" (Bohemia
here), "which is obliged to furnish us with troops and money.
"The Austrians are dispersed like straw before the wind. I
"will send a part of my troops to compliment Messieurs the
"French; and am going" (if I once had Prag! ) "to pursue the
"Austrians with the rest of my Army. "*
Friedrich, who keeps his emotions generally to
himself, does not, as will be seen, remain quite silent
to us throughout this great Year; but, by accident, has
left us some rather impressive gleanings in that kind;
-- and certainly in no year could such accident have
been luckier to us; this of 1757 being, in several re-
spects, the greatest of his Life. From nearly the top-
most heights down to the lowest deeps, his fortunes os-
cillated this year; and probably, of all the sons of
Adam, nobody's outlooks and reflexions had in them,
successive and simultaneous, more gigantic forms of
fear and of hope. He is on a very high peak at this
moment; suddenly emerging from his thick cloud, into
thunderous victory of that kind; and warning all
Pythons what they get by meddling with the Sungod!
Loud enough, far-clanging, is the sound of the silver
bow; gazetteers and men all on pause at such new
Phoebus Apollo risen in his wrath; -- the Victory at
Prag considered to be much more annihilative than it
really was. At London, Lord Holderness had his
Tower-guns in readiness, waiting for something of the
kind; and "the joy of the people was frantic. "**
* (Euvres de Frederic, xxvl. 75.
? ? Mitchell Papers and Memoirs (i. e. the Printed Selection, 2 voll. ,
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? CHAP, rn. ] PRAG CANNOT BE GOT AT ONCE. 59
9th May -- ISth June 1757.
Very dominant, our "Protestant Champion" yonder,
on his Ziscaberg; bidding the enormous Pompadour-
Theresa combinations, the French, Austrian, Swedish,
Russian populations and dread sovereigns, check their
proud waves, and hold at mid-flood. It is thought,
had he in effect "annihilated" the Austrian force at
Prag, that day (Friday, 6th May, as he might have
done by waiting till Saturday 7th), he could then, with
the due rapidity, rapidity being indispensable in the
affair, have become master of Prag, which meant of
Bohemia altogether; and have stormed forward, as his
program bore, into the heart of an Austria still terror-
stricken, unrallied; -- in which case, it is calculated,
the French, the Russians, Swedes, much more the Reich
and such like, would all have drawn bridle; and Austria
itself have condescended to make Peace with a Neigh-
bour of such quality, and consent to his really modest
desire of being let alone! Possible, all this, -- think
Retzow and others. * But the King had not waited till
to-morrow; no persuasion could make him wait: and it
is idle speculating on the small turns which here, as
everywhere, can produce such deflections of course.
Beyond question, Prag is not captured, and may,
as now garrisoned, require a great deal of capturing:
-- and perhaps it is but a peak, this high dominancy
of Friedrich's, not a solid table-land, till much more
have been done! Friedrich has nothing of the Gascon:
but there may well be conceivable at this time a certain
London, 1850; -- wMofc ytllfr be the oftenest cited by us, "Papers and
Hitmoin"), I. 249: "Holderness to Mitchell, 20th May 1757. " Mitchell is
now attending Friedrich; his Letter from Keith's Camp, during the thunder
of "Friday, May 6th," is given, ib. i. 248.
* See Retiow, I. 100-108; &c.
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? 60 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII'
9th May -- ISth Juno 1757.
glow of internal pride, like that of Phoebus amid the
piled tempests, -- like that of the One Man prevailing,
if but for a short season, against the Devil and All
Men: "I have made good my bit of resolution so far:
here are the Austrians beaten at the set day, and Prag
summoned to surrender, as per program! " --
Intrinsically, Prag is not a strong City: we have
seen it taken in few days; in one night; -- and again,
as in Belleisle's time, we have seen it making tough
defence for a series of weeks. It depends on the gar-
rison, what extent of garrison (the circuit of it being
so immense), and what height of humour. There are
now 46,000 men caged in it, known to have con-
siderable magazines; and Friedrich, aware that it will
cost trouble, bends all his strength upon it, and from
his two camps, Ziscaberg, Weissenberg, due Bridges
uniting, Keith and he batter it violently, aiming chiefly
at the Magazines (which are not all bomb-proof); and
hope they may succeed before it is too late.
The Vienna people are in the depths of amazement and discouragement; almost of terror, had it not been
for a few, or especially for one high heart among them.
Feldmarschall Daun, on the news of May 6th, hastily
fell back, joined by the wrecks of the right wing,
which fled Sazawa way. Brunswick-Bevern, with a
20,000, is detached to look after Daun; finds Daun
still on the retreat; greedily collecting reinforcements
from the homeward quarter; and hanging back, though
now double or so of Bevern's strength. Amazement
and discouragement are the general feeling among
Friedrich's enemies. Notable to see how the whole
hostile world marching in upon him, -- French, Rus-
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? CHAP, m. ] PRAG CANNOT BE GOT AT ONCE. 61
jlh May -- 13th June 1757.
sians, much more the Reich, poor faltering entity, --
pauses, as with its breath taken away, at news of Prag;
and, arrested on the sudden, with lifted foot, ceases to
stride forward; and merely tramp-tramps on the same
place (nay in part, in the Reich part, visibly tramps
backward), for above a month ensuing! Who knows
whether, practically, any of them will come on;* and
not leave Austria by itself to do the duel with Fried-
rich? If Prag were but got, and the 46,000 well locked
away, it would be very salutary for Friedrich's affairs!
-- Week after week, the City holds out; and there
seems no hope of it, except by hunger, and burning
their Magazines by red-hot balls.
Colonel Mayer with his "Free-Corps" Party makes a
Visit, of didactic Nature, to the Reich.
Friedrich, as we saw, on entering Bohmen, had
shot off a Light Detachment under Colonel Mayer,
southward, to seize any Austrian Magazines there were,
especially one big Magazine at Pilsen:-- which Mayer
has handsomely done, May 2d (Pilsen "a bigger Ma-
gazine than Jung-Buntzlau, even"); after which Mayer is
now off westward, into the Ober-Pfalz, into the Niirn-
berg Countries; to teach the Reich a small lesson, since
they will not listen to Plotho. Prag Battle, as happens,
had already much chilled the ardour of the Reich!
Mayer has two Free-Corps, his own and another; about
1,300 of foot; to which are added a 200 of hussars.
They have 5 cannon, carry otherwise a minimum of
baggage; are swift wild fellows, sharp of stroke; and
* See Correspondence du Comte de Saint-Germain, an Eye-witness, 1. 108
cited in Preuss, u. 50); &c. &c.
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? 62 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII.
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
do, for the time, prove didactic to the Reich; bringing
home to its very bosom the late great lesson of the
Ziscaberg, in an applied form. Mayer made a pretty
course of it, into the Ober-Pfalz Countries; scattering
the poor Execution Drill-Sergeants and incipiencies of
preparation, the deliberative County Meetings, Kreis-
Convents: ransoming Cities, Nttrnberg for one city,
whose cries went to Friedrich on the Ziscaberg, and
wide over the world. * Nttrnberg would have been but
too happy to "refuse its contingent to the Reich's Army,"
as many others would have been (poor Kur-Baiern
hurrying off a kind of Embassy to Friedrich, great
terror reigning among the wigs of Regensburg, and
everybody drawing back that could), -- had not Im-
perial menaces, and an Event that fell out by and by
in Prag Country, forced compliance.
Mayer's Expedition made a loud noise in the News-
papers; and was truly of a shining nature in its kind;
very perfectly managed on Mayer's part, and has traits
in it which are amusing to read, had one time. Take
one small glance from Pauli:
"AtFurth in Anspach, 1st June" (after six-days screwing
of Nttrnberg from without, which we had no cannon to take),
"a Gratuity for the Prussian troops" (amount not stated)
"was demanded and given: at Schwabach, farther up the
"Regnitz River, they took quarters; no exemption made,
"clergy and laity alike getting soldiers billeted. Meat and
''drink had to be given them; as also 100 Carolines" (guineas
and better), "and twenty new uniforms. Upon which, next
"day, they marched to Zirndorf, and the Reichsgraf Piickler's
"Mansion, the Schloss of Farrenbach there. Mayer took
* la Htldtn-Geschichte, iv. 360-367, the Nttrnberg Letter and Response
(31st May-5th June 1757): in Pauli, Leben grosser Helden (ra, 159 et seq. ),
Account of the Mayer Expedition; also in ffllitair-Lacikon, ra. 29 (quoting
from Pauli).
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? CHAP, m. ] PRAG CANNOT BE GOT AT ONCE. 63
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
"quarter in the Schloss itself. Here the noble owners got up
"a ball for Mayer's entertainment; and did all they could
"contrive to induce a light treatment from him. " Figure it,
the neighbouring nobility and gentry in gala; Mayer too in
his best uniform, and smiling politely, with those "bright
"little black eyes" of his! For he was a brilliant airy kind of
fellow, and had much of the chevalier, as well as of the par-
tisan, when requisite!
"Out of Farrenbach, theMayerpeople circulated upon all
"the neighbouring Lordships; at Wilhermsdorf, the Reichs-
"Fiirst von Hohenlohe" (a, too busy Anti-Prussian) "had the
"worst brunt to bear. The adjacentBaireuth lands" (dear
Wilhelmina, fancy her too in such neighbourhood! ) "were to
"the utmost spared all billeting, and even all transit," --
though wandering sergeants of the Reich's Force, "one
"sergeant with the Wurzburg Herr Commissarius and eight
"common men, did get picked up on Bayreuth ground: and
"this or the other Anspach Official (Anspach being dis-
affected), too busy on the wrong side, found himself sud-
"denly Prisoner of War; but was given up, at Wilhelmina's "gracious request. On Bamberg he was sharp as flint; and
"had to be; theBambergers, reinforced at last by 'Circle-
"Militias (Kreis-truppen)' in quantity, being called out in
"mass against him; andatVach, an actual Passage of Fight
"had occurred. "
Of the "Affair at Vach," pretty little Drawn-Battle
(mostly an affair of art), Mayer versus "Kreis-troops ot
"the amount of 6,000, with twelve cannon, or some
"say twenty-four" (which they couldn't handle); and
how Mayer cunningly took a position unassailable,
"burnt Bridges of the Regnitz River," and, plying his
five cannon against these ardent awkward people, stood
cheerful on the other side; and then at last, in good
time, whisked himself off to the Hill of Culmbach,
with all his baggage, inexpugnable there for three days:
-- of all this, though it is set down at full length, we
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? 64
SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII.
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
can say nothing. * And will add only that, having
girt himself and made his packages, Mayer left the
Hill of Culmbach; and deliberately wended home, by
Coburg and other Countries where he had business,
eating his way; and early in July was safe in the
Metal Mountains again; having fluttered the Volscians
in their Frankenland Corioli to an unexpected extent.
It is one of five or six such sallies Friedrich made
upon the Reich, sometimes upon the Austrians and
Reich together, to tumble up their magazines and pre-
parations. Rapid unexpected inroads, year after year;
done chiefly by the Free-Corps; and famous enough to
the then Gazetteers. Of which, or of their doers, as
we can in time coming afford little or no notice, let us
add this small Note on the Free-Corps topic, which is
a large one in the Books, but must not interrupt us
again:
"Before this War was done" say my Authorities, "there
"came gradually to be twenty-one Prussian Free-Corps," --
foot almost all; there being already Hussars in quantity, ever
since the first Silesian experiences. "Notable Aggregates
"they were of loose wandering fellows, broken Saxons,
"Prussians, French; 'Hungarian-Protestant'some of them,
'"Deserters from all the Armies'not a few; attracted by the
"fame of Friedrich, -- as the Colonels enlisting them had
"been; Mayer himself, for instance, was by birth a Vienna
"man; and had been in many services and wars, from his
"fifteenth year and onwards. Most miscellaneous, these
"Prussian Free-Corps; a swift faculty the indispensable
"thing, by no means a particular character: but well-dis-
"ciplined, well-captained; who generally managed their
"work well.
"They were, by origin, of Anti-Tolpatch nature, got up
"on the diamond-cut-diamond principle; they stole a good
* Pauli, in. 159, &c. (who gives Mayer's own Letter, and others, upon Vach).
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? CHAP. m. ] PRAG CANNOT BE OOT AT ONCE. 65
9th May -- 13th Jane 1757.
"deal, with order sometimes, and oftener without; but there
"was nothing of the old Mentzel-Trenck atrocity permitted
"them, or ever imputed to them; and they did, usually with
"good military talent, sometimes conspicuously good, what
"was required of them. Regular Generals, of a high merit,
"one or two of their Captains came to be: Wunsch, forex-
"ample; Werner, in some sort; and, but for his sudden
"death, this Mayer himself. Others of them, asVonHordt
"(Hard is his Swedish name); and 'Quintus Icilius' (by
"nature, Guichard, of whom we shall hear a great deal in the
"Friedrich circle by and by), are distinguished as honourably
"intellectual and cultivated persons. *
"Poor Mayer died within two years hence (5th January
"1759); of fever, caught by unheard-of exertions and over-
fatigues; after many exploits, and with the highest pro-
spects opening on him. A man of many adventures, of many
"qualities; a wild dash of chivalry in him all along, and much
"military and other talent crossed in the growing. In the
"dull old Books, I read one other fact which is vivid to me,
"That Wilhelmina, as sequel of those first Franconian
"exploits and procedures, 'had given him her Order of
"Knighthood, Order of Sincerity and Fidelity,'" -- poor dear
Princess, what an interest to Wilhelmina, this flash of her
Brother's thunder thrown into those Franconian parts, and
across her own pungent anxieties and sorrowfully affectionate
thoughts, in those weeks! --
Shortly after Mayer, about the time when Mayer
was wending homeward, General von Oldenburg, a very
valiant punctual old General, was pushed out westward
upon Erfurt, a City of Kur-Mainz's, to give Kur-Mainz
a similar monition. And did it handsomely, impressively
upon the Gazetteer world at least and the Erfurt po-
pulations, -- though we can afford it no room in this
* Count de Hordt's Memoirs (autobiographical, or in the first-person!
English Translation, London, 1806; (too French Originals, a worse in 1789,
and a better now at last), Preface, i. -xn. In Helden-Geschichte, v. 102-104,
93, a detailed " List of the Free-Corps in 1758" (twelve of foot, two of horse, at that time): see Preuss, n. 372 n. ; Pauli (ubi supra), Life of Mayer,
Carlyle, Frederick tlie Great. X. 5
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? 66 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [bOOK XvIII.
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
place.
Oldenburg's force was but some 2,000; Pirna
Saxons most of them: -- such a winter Oldenburg has
had with these Saxons; bursting out into actual mus-
ketry upon him once; Oldenburg, volcanically steady,
summoning the Prussian part, "To me, true Prussian
Bursche! " -- and hanging nine of the mutinous Saxons.
And has coerced and compesced them (all that did not
contrive to desert) into soldierly obedience; and, 20th
June, appears at the Gate of Erfurt with them, to do
his delicate errand there. Sharply conclusive, though
polite and punctual. "Send to Kur-Mainz, say you?
Well, as to your Citadel, and those 1,400 soldiers all
moving peaceably off thither, -- Yes. As to your City:
within one hour, Gate open to us, or we open it! "*
And Oldenburg marches in, as vice-sovereign for the
time: -- but, indeed, has soon to leave again; owing
to what Event in the distance, will be seen!
If Prag Siege go well, these Mayer-Oldenburg ex-
peditions will have an effect on the Reich: but if it go
ill, what are they, against Austria with its force of
steady pressure? All turns on the issue of Prag Siege:
-- a fact extremely evident to Friedrich too! But these
are what in the interim can be done. One neglects no
opportunity, tries by every method.
Of the singular quasi-bewitched Condition of England;
and what is to be hoped from it, for the Common Cause,
if Prag go amiss.
On the Britannic side too, the outlooks are not
good; -- much need Friedrich were through his Prag
* In Helden-Geschichte (v. 371-384), copious Account, with the Missives
to and from, the Reichs-Pleadings that followed, the &c. &c. Militair-
hexikm, g Oldenburg.
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? CHAP. m. | PRAG CANNOT BE GOT AT ONCE. 67
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
affair, and "hastening with forty thousand to help his
Allies," -- that is, Royal Highness of Cumberland and
Britannic Purse, his only allies at this moment . Royal
Highness and Army of Observation (should have been
67,000, are 50 to 60,000, hired Germans; troops good
enough, were they tolerably led) finds the Hanover
Program as bad as Schmettau and Friedrich ever
represented it; and, already, -- unless Prag go well,
-- wears, to the understanding eye, a very contingent
aspect. D'Estrees outnumbers him; D'Estrees, too, is
something of a soldier, -- a very considerable advantage
in affairs of war.
D'Estrees, since April, is in Wesel; gathering in
the revenues, changing the Officialities: much out of
discipline, they say; -- "hanging" gradually "1,000
maraudeurs;" in round numbers 1,000 this year. *
D'Estrees does not yet push forward, owing to Prag.
If he do -- It is well known how Royal Highness
fared when he did, and what a Campaign Royal
Highness made of it this Year 1757! How the Weser
did prove wadeable, as Schmettau had said to no pur-
pose; wadeable, bridgeable; and Royal Highness had
to wriggle back, ever back; no stand to be made, or
far worse than none: back, ever back, till he got into
the Sea, for that matter, and to the end of more than
one thing! Poor man, friends say he has an incurable
Hanover Ministry, a Program that is inexecutable. As
yet he has not lost head, any head he ever had: but
he is wonderful, he; -- and his England is! We shall
have to look at him once again; and happily once
only. Here, from my Constitutional Historian, are
some Passages which we may as well read in the
* Stenzel, v. 65; Retzow, 1. 173.
5*
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? 68
SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [bOOK XvIII.
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
present interim of expectation. I label, and try to
arrange:
1. England in Crisis. "England is indignant with its Hero
"of Culloden and his Campaign 1757; Dut really has no
"business to complain. Royal Highness of Cumberland,
"wriggling helplessly in that manner, is a fair representative
"of the England that now is. For years back, there has been,
"in regard to all things Foreign or Domestic, in thatCountry,
"by way of Nationalaction, the miserablest haggling as to
"which of various little-competent persons shall act tor the
"Nation. A melancholy condition indeed! --
"But the fact is, his Grace of Newcastle, ever since his
"poor Brother Pelham died(who was always a solid, loyal kind
"of man, though a dull; and had always, with patient affection,
"furnished his Grace, much unsupplied otherwise, with Com-
"mon-Sense hitherto), is quite insecure in Parliament, and
"knows not what hand to turn to. Fox is contemptuous of
"him; Pitt entirely impatient of him; Duke of Cumberland
"(great in the glory of Culloden) is aiming to oust him, and
"bear rule with his Young Nephew, the new Rising Sun, as
"the poor Papa and Grandfather gets old. Even Carteret
"(Earl Granville, as they now call him, a Carteret much
"changed since those high-soaring Worms-Hanau times! )
"was applied to. But the answer was -- what could the an-
"swerbe? High-soaring Carteret, scandalously overset and
"hurled out in that Hanau time, had already tried once (long
"ago, and with such result! ) to spring in again, and'deliver
"'his Majesty from factions;' and actually had made a
''' Granville Ministry;' Ministry which fell again in one day. *
"To the complete disgust of Carteret-Granville;--who, ever
"since, sits ponderously dormant (kind of Fixture in the
"Privy Council, this long while back); and is resigned, in a
"big contemptuous way, to have had his really considerable
"career closed upon him by the smallest of mankind; and,
"except occasional blurts of strong rugged speech which
"come from him, and a good deal of wine taken into him, dis-
"dains making further debate with the world and its elect
"Newcastles. Carteret, at this crisis, was again applied to,
* "llth February 1746" (Thackeray, Life of Chatham, I. 146).
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? CHAP, m. j PRAG CANNOT BE GOT AT ONCE. 69
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
""Cannot you? In behalf of an afflicted old King? ' But
"Carteret answered, No. *
"In short, it is admitted and bewailed by everybody,
"seldom was there seen such a Government of England (and
"England has seen some strange Governments), as in these
"last Three Years. Chaotic Imbecility reigning pretty
"supreme. Ruler's Work, -- policy, administration, govern-
'Unce, guidance, performance in any kind, -- where is it toe found? For if even a Walpole, when his Talking-Appa-
ratus gets out of gear upon him, is reduced to extremities,
"though the stoutest of men, -- fancy what it will be, in like
"case, and how the Acting-Apparatuses and Affairs generally
"will go, with a poor hysterical Newcastle, now when his
"Common-Sense is fatally withdrawn! The poor man has no
"resource but to shuffle about in aimless perpetual fidget;
"endeavouring vainly to say Yes and No to all questions,
"Foreign and Domestic, that may rise. Whereby, in the
"Affairs of England, there has, as it were, universal St.
"Vitus'-dance supervened, at an important crisis: and the
"Preparations for America, and for a down-right Life-and-
"Death Wrestle with France on the Jenkins's-Ear Question,
"are quite in a bad way. In an ominously bad. Why cannot
"we draw a veil over these things! " --
2. Pitt, and the Hour of Tide. "The fidgetings and
"shufflings, the subtleties, inane trickeries, and futile hither- "ings and thitherings of Newcastle may be imagined: a man
"not incapable of trick; but anxious to be well with every-
"body; and to answer Yes andiHo to almost everything, -- and
"not a little puzzled, poor soul, to get through, in thatim-
"possible way! Such a paralysis of wriggling imbecility
"fallen over England, in this great crisis of its fortunes, as is
"still painful to contemplate: and indeed it has been mostly
"shaken out of mind by the modern Englishman; who tries to
"laugh at it, instead of weeping and considering, which would
"better beseem. Pitt speaks with a tragical vivacity, in all
"ingenious dialects, lively though serious; and with a depth
"of sad conviction, which is apt to be slurred over and missed
"altogether by a modern reader. Speaks as if this brave
"English Nation were about ended; little or no hope left for
"it; here a gleam of possibility, and there a gleam, which
* Thackeray, Life ofChatham, i. 264.
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? 70 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVIII-
Uth May -- 13th June 1757.
"soon vanishes again in the fatal murk of impotencies, do-
"nothingisms. Very sad to the heart of Pitt. A once brave
"Nation arrived at its critical point, and doomed to higgle
"and puddle there till it drown in the gutters: considerably
"tragical to Pitt; who is lively, ingenious, and, though not
"quitting the Parliamentary tone for the Hebrew-Prophetic,
"far more serious than the modern reader thinks.
"In Walpole'sBook* there is the liveliest Picture of this
"dismalParliamentary Hellbroth, -- such a Mother of Dead "Dogs as one has seldom looked into! For the Hour is great;
"and the Honourable Gentlemen, I must say, are small. The
"Hour, little as you dream of it, my Honourable Friends, is
"pregnant with questions that are immense. Wide Con-
"tinents, long Epochs and iEons hang on this poor jargoning
"of yours; the Eternal Destinies are asking their much-
"favoured Nation, "Will you, can you? " -- much-favoured "stupidity, and taking refuge in laughter. The Eternal
"Destinies are very patient with some Nations; and can dis-
regard their follies, for a long while; and have their Crom-
"well, have their Pitt, or what else is essential, ready for the
"poor Nation, in a grandly silent way!
"Certain it is, -- though how could poor Newcastle know
"it at all! -- here is again the hour of tide for England. Tide
"is full again; has been flowing long hundreds of years, and
"is full: certain, too, that time and tide wait on no man or
"nation. In a dialect different from Cromwell's or Pitt's, but
"with a sense true to theirs, I call it the Eternal Destinies
"knocking at England's door again: 'Are you ready for the
''' crisis, birth-point of long Ages to you, which is now come? '
"Greater question had not been, for centuries past. None to
"be named with it since that high Spiritual Question (truly a
"much higher, and which was in fact the parent of this, and. of
"all of high and great that lay ahead), which England and
"Oliver Cromwell were there to answer: 'Will you hold by
"Consecrated Formulas, then, you English, and expect salva-
"tion from traditions of the elders; or are you for Divine
"Realities, as the one sacred and indispensable thing? '
"Which they did answer, in what way we know. Truly the
"Highest Question; which, if a Nation can answer well, it
"Nation h
that manner. Astonished at its own Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of George II.
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? SHAP. m. J PRAG CANNOT BE GOT AT ONCE. 71
9th May -- 18th June 1757.
"will grow in this world, and may come to be considerable,
"and to have many high Questions to answer, -- this of Pitt's,
"for example. And the Answers given do always extend
"through coming ages; and do always bear harvests, ac-
cursed or else blessed, according as the Answers were. A
"thing awfully true, if you have eye for it; -- a thing to make
"Honourable Gentlemen serious, even in the age of percus-
sion-caps! No, my friend, Newcastleisms, impious Pol-
"trooneries, in a Nation, do not die: -- neither (thank God)
"do Cromwellisms and pious Heroisms; but are alive for the
"poorNation, even in its somnambulencies, in its stupidest
"dreams. For Nations have their somnambulencies; and, at
"any rate, the questions put to Nations, in different ages, vary
"much. Not in any age, or turning-point in History, had
"England answered the Destinies in such a dialect as now,
"under its Newcastle and National Palaver. "
3. Of Walpole, as Recording Angel. "Walpole's George "the Second is a Book of far more worth than is commonly
"ascribed to it; almost the one original English Book yet
"written on those times, -- which, by the accident of Pitt, are
"still memorable to us. But for Walpole, --burning like a
"small steady light there, shining faithfully, if stingily, on the
"evil and the good, -- that sordid muddle of the Pelham
"Parliaments, which chanced to be the element of things now
"recognisable enough as great, would be forever unintel-
ligible. He is unusually accurate, punctual, lucid; an
"irrefragable authority on English points. And if, in regard
"to Foreign, he cannot be called an understanding witness,
"he has read the best Documents accessible, has conversed
"with select Ambassadors (Mitchell and the like, as we can
"guess); and has informed himself to a degree far beyond
"most of his contemporaries. In regard to Pitt's Speeches,
"in particular, his brief jottings, done rapidly while the
"matter was still shining to him, are the only Reports that
"have the least human resemblance. We may thank Walpole
"that Pitt is not dumb to us, as well as dark. Very curious
"little scratchings and etchings, those of Walpole; frugal,
"swift, but punctual and exact; hasty pen-and-ink outlines;
"at first view, all barren; bald as an invoice, seemingly; but
"which yield you, after long study there and elsewhere, a
"conceivable notion of what and how excellent these Pitt
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? 72 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII
9th May -- 13tll June 1757.
"Speeches may have been. Airy, winged, like arrow-flights
"of Phoebus Apollo;'very superlative Speeches indeed.
"Walpole's Book is carefully printed, -- few errors in it like
"that 'Chapeau' for Chasot" which readers remember: --
"but, in respect to editing, may be characterised as still want-
ing an Editor. A Book unedited; little but lazy ignorance
"of a very hopeless type, thick contented darkness, traceable
"throughout in the marginal part. No attempt at an Index,
"or at any of the natural helps to a reader now at such
"distance from it. Nay, till you have at least marked, on
"the top of each page, what Month and Year it actually is,
"the Book cannot De read at all, -- except by an idle crea-
'' ture, doing worse than nothing under the name of reading! "
4. Pitt's Speeches, foreshadowing What. "It is a kind of
"epoch in your studies of modern English History when you
"get to understand of Pitt's Speeches, that they are not Par-
"hamentary Eloquences, but things which with his whole soul
"he means, and is intent to do. This surprising circumstance,
"when at last become undeniable, makes, on the sudden, an
"immense difference for the Speeches and you! Speeches are
"not a thing of high moment to this Editor; it is the Thing
"spoken, and how far the speaker means to do it, that this
"Editor inquires for. Too many Speeches there are, which
''he hears admired all round, and has privately to entertain a
"very horrid notion of! Speeches, the finest in quality (were
"quality really 'fine' conceivable in such case), which want a
"corresponding fineness of source and intention, correspond-
ing nobleness of purport, conviction, tendency; these, if we
"will reflect, are frightful instead of beautiful. Yes; -- and
"always the frightfuller, the'finer' they are; the faster and
"and farther they go, sowing themselves in the dim vacancy
"of men's minds. For Speeches, like all human things,
"though the act is now little remembered, do always rank
"themselves as forever blessed or as forever unblessed.
"Sheep or goats; on the right hand of the Final Judge, or
"else on the left. There are Speeches which can be called
"true; and, again, Speeches which are not true: -- Heavens,
"only think what these latter are! Sacked wind, which you
"are intended to sow, -- that you may reap the whirlwind!
"After long reading, I find Chatham's Speeches to be what he
"pretends they are: true,and worth speaking then and there.
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? CHAP. ni. ] PRAG CANNOT BE GOT AT ONCE. 73
9th May -- 13th June 1757.
"Noble indeed, I can call them with you: the highly noble
"Foreshadow, necessary preface and accompaniment of
"Actions which are still nobler. A very singular phenomenon
"within those walls, or without!
"Pitt, though nobly eloquent, is a Man of Action, not of
"Speech: an authentically Royal kind of Man. And if there
"were a Plutarch in these times, with a good deal of leisure
"on his hands, he might run a Parallel between Friedrich and
"Chatham. Two radiant Kings; very shining Men of Action
"both; both of them hard bested, as the case often is. For
"your born King will generally have, if not 'all Europe
"against him,' at least pretty much all the Universe. Chat-
"ham's course to Kingship was not straight or smooth, -- as
"Friedrich, too, had his well-nigh fatal difficulties on the
"road. Again says the Plutarch, they are very brave men
"both; and of a clearness and veracity peculiar among their
"contemporaries.
