Public and he have been
mistaken
in their hopes.
Thomas Carlyle
" especially.
Brevity being incumbent on us, we shall say only
that the Hyndford-Podewils operations had been speeded,
day and night; brought to finis, in the form of Signed
Preliminaries, as "Treaty of Breslau, 11th June 1742;"
and had gone to Friedrich's satisfaction in every par-
ticular. Thanks to the useful Hyndford, -- to the
willing mind of his Britannic Majesty, once so indignant,
but made willing, nay passionately eager, by his love
of Human Liberty and the pressure of events! To
Hyndford, some weeks hence,* -- I conclude, on Fried-
rich's request, -- there was Order of the Thistle sent;'
and grandest investiture ever seen, almost, done by
* 2d August (llelden-Geschichte, ii. 729).
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? 198 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [bookxiii.
11th June--11th July 1742.
Friedrich upon Hyndford (Jordan, Keyserling, Schwerin,
and the Sword of State busy in it; Two Queens and
all the Berlin firmament looking on); and, perhaps
better still, on Friedrich's part there was gift of a Silver
Dinner-Service; gift of the Royal Prussian Arms (which
do enrich ever since the Shield of those Scottish Car-
michaels, as doubtless the Dinner-Service does their
Plate-chest); -- and abundant praise and honour to
the useful Hyndford, heavy of foot, but sure, who had
reached the goal.
This welcome Treaty, signed at Breslau, June 11th,
and confirmed by "Treaty of Berlin, July 28th," in
more explicit solemn manner, to the self-same effect,
can be read by him that runs (if compelled to read
Treaties);* the terms, in compressed form, are:
1o. "Silesia, Lower and Upper, to beyond the watershed
"and the Oppa-stream, -- reserving only the Principality of
"Teschen, with pertinents, which used to be reckoned
'! Silesian, and the ulterior Mountain-tops" (Mountain-tops
good for what? thought Friedrich, a year or two after-
wards! )-- "Silesia wholly, within those limits, andfurther-
"more the County Grlatz and its dependencies, are and remain
",the property of Friedrich and of his Heirs male or female;
"igiven up, and made his, to all intents and purposes, forever-
"more. With which Friedrich, to the like long date, engages
"to rest satisfied, and claim nothing further anywhere.
2>>. "Silesian Dutch-English Debt" (Loan of about Two
Millions, better half of it English, contracted by the late
Kaiser, on Silesian security, in that dreadful Polish-Election
crisis, when the Sea-Powers would not help, but left it to their
Stock-brokers), "is undertaken by Friedrich, who will pay
"interest on the same till liquidated.
3o. "Religion to stand where it is. Prussian Majesty not
"to meddle in this present or in other Wars of her Hungarian
? In Helden-Geschichle, i. 1061-4 (Treaty of Breslau), lb. '1065-70 (that
of Berlin); to be found also in. Wenek. Bousset, Scholl, Adelnng, &c.
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? CHAP. XIV. J PEACE OF BRESLAU. 199
11th June--Hth July 1742.
"Majesty, except with his ardent wishes that General Peace
"would ensue, and that all his friends, Hungarian Majesty
"among others, were living in good agreement around him. "
This is the Treaty of Breslau (June 11th, 1742),
or, in second more solemn edition, Treaty of Berlin
(July 28th following); signed, ratified, guaranteed by
his Britannic Majesty for one,* and firmly planted on
the Diplomatic adamant (at least on the Diplomatic
parchment) of this world. And now: Homewards, then;
march! --
Huge huzzahing, herald-trumpeting, bob-major-ing,
bursts forth from all Prussian Towns, especially from
all Silesian ones, in those June days, as the drums
beat homewards; elaborate Illuminations, in the short
nights; with bonfires, with transparencies, -- Trans-
parency inscribed "Frederico Magno (To Friedrich the
Great)" in one small instance, still of premature na-
ture. **
Omitting very many things, about Silesian For-
tresses, Army Cantons, Silesian settlements, military
and civil, which would but weary the reader, we add
only this from Bielfeld: dusty Transit of a victorious
Majesty, now on the threshold of home. Precise date
(which Bielfeld prudently avoids guessing at) is July
Uth, 1742; "M. de Pollnitz and I are in the suite of
"the King:
"We never stopped on the road, except some hours at
"Frankfurt-on-Oder, where the Fair was just going on. On
"approaching the Town, we found the highway lined on both
* Treaty of Westminster, between Friedrich and George, 29th (18th)
November 1742 (Sehflll, ii. 313).
** Helden-Geschichlc (ii. 702-729) is endless on these Illuminations; the
Jnoer case, of Frcderico Mayno (Jauer in Silesia) is of June 15th (ib. 712).
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? 200 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [bOOKXIH.
11th July 1742.
"sides with crowds of traders, and other strangers of all
"nations; who had come out, attracted by curiosity to see the
"conqueror of Silesia, and had ranged themselves in two rows
"there. His Majesty's entry into Frankfurt, although a very
"triumphant one, was far from being ostentatious. We passed
"like lightning before the eyes of the spectators, and we were
"so covered with dust, that it was difficult to distinguish the
"colour of our coats and the features of our faces. We made
"some purchases at Frankfurt; and arrived safely in the
"Capital" (next day), "where the King was received amidst
"the acclamations of his People. "*
Here is a successful young King; is not he? Has
plunged into the Mahlstrom for his jewelled gold Cup,
and comes up with it, alive, unlamed. Will he, like
that Diver of Schiller's, have to try the feat a second
time? Perhaps a second time, and even a third! --
* Bielfeld, li. 51.
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? BOOK XIV.
THE SURROUNDING EUROPEAN WAR DOES NOT END.
August 1742--July 1744.
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? July--Aug. 1742.
CHAPTER I.
FRIEDRICH RESUMES HIS PEACEABLE PURSUITS.
Friedrich's own Peace being made on such terms,
his wish and hope was, that it might soon be followed
by a general European one; that, the live-coal, which
had kindled this War, being quenched, the War itself
might go out. Silesia is his; farther interest in the
Controversy, except that it would end itself in some
fair manner, he has none. "Silesia being settled,"
think many, thinks Friedrich for one, "what else of
real and solid is there to settle? "
The European Public, or benevolent individuals of
it everywhere, indulged also in this hope. "How
glorious is my King, the youngest of the Kings and
the grandest! " exclaims Voltaire (in his Letters to
Friedrich, at this time), and reexelaims, till Friedrich
has to interfere, and politely stop it: "A King who
carries in the one hand an all-conquering sword, but
in the other a blessed olive-branch, and is the Arbiter
of Europe for Peace or War! " "Friedrich the Third"
(so Voltaire calls him, counting ill, or misled by igno-
rance of German nomenclature), "Friedrich the Third,
"I mean Friedrich the Great (Frederic le Grand)"
will do this, and do that; -- probably the first
emergence of that epithet in human speech, as yet in a
quite private hypothetic way. * Opinions about Fried-
* Letters of Voltaire, in (Euvres de Frederic. xxii. 100,_&c. : this last
Letter is of date, "July 1742," -- almost contemporary with the "Jauer
Transparency" noticed above.
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? 204 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
Jnly--Aug. 1742.
rich's conduct, about his talents, his moralities, there
were many (all wide of the mark): but this seemed
clear, That the weight of such a sword as his, thrown
into either scale, would be decisive; and that he
evidently now wished peace. An unquestionable fact,
that latter! Wished it, yes, right heartily; and also
strove to hope, -- though with less confidence than the
benevolent outside Public, as knowing the interior of
the elements better.
These hopes, how fond they were, we now all
know. True, my friends, the live-coal which kindled
this incendiary whirlpool (one of the live-coals, first of
them that spread actual flame in these European parts,
and first of them all except Jenkins's Ear) is out,
fairly withdrawn; but the fire, you perceive, rages not
the less. The fire will not quench itself, I doubt, till
the bitumen, sulphur, and other angry fuel have run
much lower! Austria has fighting men in abundance,
England behind it has guineas; Austria has got in-
juries, then successes: -- there is in Austria withal a
dumb pride, quite equal in pretensions to the vocal
vanity of France, and far more stubborn of humour.
The First Nation of the Universe, rashly hurling its
fine-throated hunting-pack, or Army of the Oriflamme,
into Austria, -- see what a sort of badgers, and
gloomily indignant bears, it has awakened there! Fried-
rich ha<f to take arms again; and an unwelcome task
it was to him, and a sore and costly. We shall be
obliged (what is our grand difficulty in this History) to
note, in their order, the series of European occurrences;
and, tedious as the matter now is, keep readers ac-
quainted with the current of that big War; in which,
except Friedrich broad awake, and the Ear of Jenkins
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? CHAP. I. ] PEACEABLE PURSUITS RESUMED. 205
July--Aug. 1742.
in somnambulancy, there is now next to nothing to in-
terest a human creature.
It is an error still prevalent in England, though
long since exploded everywhere else, that Friedrich
wanted new wars, "new successful robberies," as our
Gazetteers called them; and didr wilfully plunge into
this War again, in the hope of again doing a stroke in
that kind. English readers, on consulting the facts a
little, will not hesitate to sweep that notion altogether
away. Shadow of basis, except in their own angry
uninformed imaginations, they will find it never had;
and that precisely the reverse is manifest in Friedrich's
History. A perfectly clear-sighted Friedrich; able to
discriminate shine from substance; and gravitating al-
ways towards the solid, the actual. That of "gloire"
which he owns to at starting, we saw how soon it
died out, choked in the dire realities. That of Con-
quering Hero, in the Macedonia's-madman style, was
at all times far from him, if the reader knew it, --
perhaps never farther from any King who had such
allurements to it, such opportunities for it. This his
First Expedition to Silesia, -- a rushing out to seize
your own stolen horse, while the occasion answered, --
was a voluntary one; produced, we may say, by Fried-
rich's own thought and the Invisible Powers. But the
rest were all purely compulsory, -- to defend the horse
he had seized. Clear necessities, and Powers very
Visible, were the origin of all his other Expeditions
and Warlike Struggles, which lasted to the end of his
life.
That recent "Moravian Foray;" the joint-stock
principle in War-matters; and the terrible pass a man
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? 206 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
July--Aug. 1742.
might reduce himself to, at that enormous gaming-table
of the gods, if he lingered there: think what con-
siderations these had been for him! So that "his look
became farouche" in the sight of Valori; and the
spectre of Euin kept him company, and such hell-dogs
were in chase of him; -- till Czaslau, when the dice
fell kind again! All this had been didactic on a young
docile man. He was but thirty gone. And if readers
mark such docility at those years, they will find con-
siderable meaning in it. Here are prudence, mo-
deration, clear discernment; very unusual veracity of
intellect, as we define it, -- which quality, indeed, is
the summary and victorious outcome of all manner of
good qualities, and faithful performances, in a man.
"Given up to strong delusions," in the tragical way
many are, Friedrich was not; and, in practical matters,
very seldom indeed "believed a lie. "
Certain it is, he now resumes his old Reinsberg
Program of Life; probably with double relish, after
such experiences the other way; and prosecutes it with
the old ardour; hoping much that his History will be
of halcyon pacific nature, after all. Would the mad
War-whirlpool but quench itself; dangerous for singe-
ing a near neighbour, who is only just got out of it!
Fain would he be arbiter, and help to quench it; but
it will not quench. For a space of Two Years or more
(till August 1744, Twenty-six Months in all), Fried-
rich, busy on his own affairs, with carefully neutral
aspect towards this War, yet with sword ready for
drawing in case of need, looks on with intense
vigilance; using his wisest interference, not too often
either, in that sense and in that only, "Be at Peace;
oh, come to Peace! " -- and finds that the benevolent
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? CHAP. I. ] PEACEABLE PURSUITS RESUMED. 207
Jaly--Aug. 1742.
Public and he have been mistaken in their hopes. For
the next Two Years, we say: -- for the first Year (or
till about August 1743), with hope not much abated,
and little actual interference needed; for the latter
Twelve-month, with hope ever more abating; inter-
ference, warning, almost threatening ever more needed,
and yet of no avail, as if they had been idle talking
and gesticulation on his part: -- till, in August 1744,
he had to -- But the reader shall gradually see it, if
by any method we can show it him, in something
of its real sequence; and shall judge of it by his own
light.
Friedrich's Domestic History was not of noisy na-
ture, during this interval: -- and indeed in the be-
wildered Records given of it, there is nothing visible,
at first, but one wide vortex of simmering inanities;
leading to the desperate conclusion that Friedrich had
no domestic history at all. Which latter is by no
means the fact! Your poor Prussian Dryasdust (with-
out even an Index to help you) being at least authen-
tic, if you look a long time intensely and on many
sides, features do at last dawn out of those sad
vortexes; and you find the old Reinsberg Program
risen to activity again; and all manner of peaceable
projects going on. Friedrich visits the Baths of Aachen
(what we call Aix-la-Chapelle); has the usual In-
spections, business activities, recreations, visits of
friends. He opens his Opera-House, this first winter.
He enters on Law-reform, strikes decisively into that
grand problem; hoping to perfect it. What is still more
significant, he in private begins writing his Memoirs.
And furthermore, gradually determines on having a
little Country House, place of escape from his big
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? 208 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
Jnly--Aug. 1742.
Potsdam Palace; and gets plans drawn for it, -- place
which became very famous, by the name of Sans-Souci,
in times coming. His thoughts are wholly pacific; of
Life to Minerva and the Arts, not to Bellona and the
Battles: -- and yet he knows well, this latter too is
an inexorable element. About his Army, he is quietly
busy; augmenting, improving it; the staff of life to
Prussia and him.
Silesian Fortress-building, under ugly Walrave, goes
on at a steadily swift rate. Much Silesian settlement
goes on; fixing of the Prussian-Austrian Boundaries
without; of the Catholic-Protestant limits within: rapid,
not too rough, remodelling of the Province from Aus-
trian into Prussian, in the Financial, Administrative
and every other respect: -- in all which important
operations, the success was noiseless, but is considered
to have been perfect, or nearly so. Cannot we, from
these enormous Paper-masses, carefully riddled, afford
the reader a glimpse or two, to quicken his imagination
of these things?
Settles the Silesian Boundaries, the Silesian Arrangements;
with manifest profit to Silesia and himself.
In regard to the Marches, HerrNiissler, as natural, was
again the person employed. Nussler, shifty soul, wide-awake
at all times, has already seen this Country; "noticed the Pass
"into Grlatz with its blockhouse, and perceived that his
"Majesty would want it. " From September 22d to December
12th, 1742, the actual Operation went on; ratified, completely
set at rest, 16th January following. * Nussler serves on three
thalers (nine shillings) a-day. The Austrian Head-Com-
missioner has 5/. (thirty thalers) a-day; but he is an elderly
* Busching, Beylrage, ? Nussler: and Biisching's Mayazin, b. x. (Halle,
1776) j where, pp. 475-538, Is a "Geschichte der &c. Schlesischen Granzschei-
dung im lahre 1742," in great amplitude and authenticity.
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? CHAP. I. ] PEACEABLE PURSUITS RESUMED. 209
July--Aug. 1742.
fat gentleman, pursy, scant of breath; cannot stand the rapid
galloping about, and thousand-fold inspecting and detailing;
leaves it all to Nussler; who goes like the wind. Thus, for
example, Nussler dictates, at evening from his saddle, the
mutual Protocol of the day's doings; Old Pursy sitting by,
impatient for supper, and making no criticisms. Then at
night, Nussler privately mounts again; privately, by moon-
light, gallops over the ground they are to deal with next day,
and takes notice of everything. No wonder the boundary-
pillars, set up in such manner, which stand to this day, bear
marks that Prussia here and there has had fair play! -- Poor
Niissler has no fixed appointment yet, except one of about
1001. a-year: in all my travels, I have seen no man of equal
faculty at lower wages. Nor did he ever get any signal pro-
motion, or the least exuberance of wages, this poor Nussler;
-- unless it be that he got trained to perfect veracity of work-
manship, and to be a man without dry-rot in the soul of him;
which indeed is incalculable wages. Income of 1001. a-year,
and no dry-rot in the soul of you anywhere; income of 100,000I.
a-year, and nothing but dry- and wet-rot in the soul of you
(ugly appetites, unveracities, blusterous conceits, -- and
probably, as symbol of all things, a potbelly to your poor body
itself): Oh, my friends!
In settling the Spiritual or internal Catholic-Protestant
limits of Silesia, Friedrich did also a workmanlike thing.
Perfect fairness between Protestant and Catholic; to that he
is bound, and never needed binding. But it is withal his
intention to be King in Catholic Silesia; and that no Holy
Father, or other extraneous individual, shall intrude with in-
convenient pretensions there. He accordingly nominates the
now Bishop of Neisse and natural Primate of Silesia, --
Cardinal von Sinzendorf, who has made submission for any
late Austrian peccadilloes, and thoroughly reconciled himself,
-- nominates Sinzendorf'Vicar-General' of the Country; who
is to relieve the Pope of Silesian trouble, and be himself
Quasi-Supreme of the Catholic Church there. "No offence,
Holy Papa of Christian Mankind! Your holy religion is, and
shall be, intact in these parts; but the palliums, bulls, and
other holy wares and interferences, are not needed here. On
that footing, be pleased to rest content. "
Curljif, Frederick the Great. VII. 14
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? 210 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
July--Aug. 1742.
The Holy Father shrieked his loudest (which is now a
quite calculable loudness, nothing like so loud as it once was);
declared he would' himself join the Army of Martyrs, sooner;'
and summoned Sinzendorf to Rome: 'What kind of Hinge are
you, Cardinalis of the Grates of -- Husht! Shrieked his
loudest, we say, but, as nobody minded it, and as Sinzendorf
would not come, had to let the matter take its course. * And,
gradually noticing what correct observance of essentials there
was, he even came quite round, into a high state of satisfaction
with this Heretic King, in the course of a few years. Friedrich
and the Pope were very polite to each other thenceforth;
always ready to do little mutual favours. And it is to be re-
marked, Friedrich's management of his Clergy, Protestant
and Catholic, was always excellent; true, in a considerable
degree, to the real law of things; gentle, but strict, and with-
out shadow of hypocrisy, -- in which last fine particular he is
singularly unique among Modern Sovereigns.
He recognises honestly the uses of Religion, though he
himself has little; takes a good deal of pains with his Preach-
ing Clergy, from the Army-Chaplain upwards, -- will suggest
texts to them, with scheme of sermon, on occasion; -- is
always anxious to have, as Clerical Functionary, the right
man in the important place; and for the rest, expects to be
obeyed by them, as by his Sergeants and Corporals. Indeed
the reverend men feel themselves to be a body of Spiritual
Sergeants, Corporals and Captains; to whom obedience is the
rule, and discontent a thing not to be indulged in by any
means. And it is worth noticing, how well they seem to thrive
in this completely submissive posture; how much real
Christian worth is traceable in their labours and them; and
what a fund of piety and religious faith, in rugged effectual
form, exists in the Armies and Populations of such a
King. ** * *
By degrees the Miinchows and Official, Persons intrusted
with Silesia, got it wrought in all respects, financial, admi-
nistrative, judicial, secular and spiritual, into the Prussian
* Adelnng, iii. a. 197-200.
? * In 1780, at Berlin, the population being 140,000, there are of eccle-
"siaslic kind only 140; that is 1 to the 1,000; -- at Miinchon, there are
"thirty times as many in proportion" (Mirabeau, Monarchic PrusHennc,
viii. 342; quoting Nicolai).
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? CHAP. 1. 1 PEACEABLE PURSUITS RESUMED. 211
Jaly-Aug. 1742.
model: a long tough job; but one that proved well worth
doing. * In this state, counts one authority, it was worth to
Prussia "about six times what it had been to "Austria;" --
from some other forgotten source, I have seen the computation
"eight times. " In money revenue, at the end of Friedrich's
reign, it is a little more than twice; the " eight times" and the
"six times," which are but loose multiples, refer, I suppose,
to population, trade, increase of national wealth, of new
regiments yielded by new cantons, and the like. **
Six or eight times as useful to Prussia: and to the Inha-
bitants what multiple of usefulness shall we give? To be
governed on principles fair and rational, that is to say, con-
formable to Nature's appointment in that respect; and to be
governed on principles which contradict the very rules of
Cocker, and with impious disbelief of the very Multiplica-
tion Table: the one is a perpetual Gospel of Cosmos and
Heaven to every unit of the Population; the other a Gospel
of Chaos and Beelzebub to every unit of them: there is no
multiple to be found in Arithmetic which will express that!
-- Certain of these advantages, in the new Government, are
seen at once; others, the still more valuable, do not appear,
except gradually and after many days and years. With the
one and the other, Schlesien appears to have been tolerably
content. From that Year 1742 to this, Schlesien has expressed
by word and symptom nothing but thankfulness for the
Transfer it underwent; and there is, for the last Hundred
Years, no part of the Prussian Dominion more loyal to the
Hohenzollerns (who are the Authors of Prussia, without whom
Prussia had never been), than this their latest acquisition,
when once it too got moulded into their own image. ***
* In Preuss (i. 197-200), the various steps (from 1740 to 1806).
** Westphalen, in Feldziine des Herzogs Ferdinand (printed, Berlin, 1859,
written 100 years before by that well-informed person), i. 65, says in the
rough "six times :" Preuss, iv. 292, gives, very indistinctly, the ciphers of
Revenue, in 1740 and some later Year: according to Friedrich himself
(CEaores, ii. 102), the Silesian Revenue at first was "3,600,000 thalers"
(540,000(. , little more than Half a Million); Population, a Million-and-
Half.
<>> preusS] I. i93, an(j iD. 200 (Note from Klein, a Silesian Jurist): "Fa-
vour not merit formerly ;" "Magistracies a regular branch of/rarfe,-" --
"highway robbers on a strangely familiar footing with the old Breslau
magistrates;" &c. &c.
14*
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? 212 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [bOOKXiV.
July--Aug. 1742.
Opening of the Opera-House at Berlin.
* * December 7th, this Winter, Carnival being come or
just coming, Friedrich opens his NewOpera-House, for be-
hoof of the cultivated Berlin classes: a fine Edifice,
which had been diligently built by Knobelsdorf, while
those Silesian battlings went on. "One of the largest and
"finest Opera-houses in the whole world; like a sumptuous
"Palace rather. Stands free on all sides, space for 1,000
"Coaches round it; Five great Entrances, five persons can
"walk abreast through each; and inside -- you should see,
"you should hear! Boxes more like rooms or boudoirs, free
"view and perfect hearing of the stage from every point: air
"pure and free everywhere; water aloft, not only for theatri-
"cal cascades, but to drown out anyfire or risk of fire. "* This
is Seyfarth's account, still capable of confirmation by travel-
ling readers of a musical turn. I have seen Operas with much
more brilliancy of gas and gilding; but none nearly so conve-
nient to the human mind and sense; or where the audience
(not now a gratis one) attended to the music in so meritorious
away.
"Perhaps it will attract moneyed strangers to frequent our
Capital? " -- some guess, that was Friedrich's thought. "At
all events, it is a handsome piece of equipage, for a musical
King and People; not to be neglected in the circumstances.
Thalia, in general, -- let us not neglect Thalia, in such a
dearth of worshipable objects. " Nor did he neglect Thalia.
The trouble Friedrich took with his Opera, with his Dancing-
Apparatus, French Comedy, and the rest of that affair, was
very great. Much greater, surely, than this Editor would
have thought of taking; though, on reflection, he does not
presume to blame. The world is dreadfully scant of worship-
able objects: and if your Theatre is your own, to sweep away
intrusive nonsense continually from the gates of it? Friedrich's
Opera costs him heavy sums (surely I once knew approximately
what, but the sibylline leaf is gone again upon the winds! ) --
and he admits gratis a select public, and that only. ** "This
"Winter, 1742-3, was unusually magnificent at Court: balls,
"wirthschaften" (kind of mimic fairs), "sledgeparties, mas-
"querades, and theatricals of all sorts; -- and once even,
* Seyfarth, i. 234'; Nicolai, Beschreibunn von Berlin, i. 169.
** Preuss, i. 277; and Preuss, Buch fur jederwann, i. 100.
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? CHAP. I. ] PEACEABLE PURSUITS RESUMED. 213
85th Aug'. 1742. '*
"December 2d, the new Golden Table-Service" (cost of it
200,000/. ) was in action, when the Two Queens (Queen
Regnant and Queen Mother) "dined with his Majesty! "
Friedrich takes the Waters at Aachen, where Voltaire
comes to see him.
Months before that of the Opera-House or those
Silesian settlements, Friedrich, in the end of August,
what is the first thing visible in his Domestic History,
makes a visit, for health's sake, to Aachen (Aix-la-
Chapelle so-called), with a view to the waters there.
Intends to try for a little improvement in health, as
the basis of ulterior things. Health has naturally
suffered a little in these War-hardships; and the Doc-
tors recommend Aix. After Wesel, and the West-
phalian Inspections, Friedrich, accordingly, proceeds
to Aix; and for about a fortnight (25th August -- 9th
September) drinks the waters in that old resting-place
of Charlemagne; -- particulars not given in the Books;
except that "he lodged with Bacge" (if any mortal now
knew Bacge), and did an Audience or so to select per-
sons now unknown. He is not entirely incognito, but
is without royal state; the "guard of twenty men, the
escort of 150 men," being no men of his, but pre-
sumably mere Townguard of Aix coming in an honor-
ary way. Aix is proud to see him; he himself is in-
tent on the waters here at old Aix:
Aquisgranum, wbsregalis.
Sedes llegni principalis: --
My friend, this was Charlemagne's high place; and his
dust lies here, these thousand years last past. And
there used to soar "a very large Gilt Eagle," ten feet
wide or so, aloft on the Cathedral-steeple there; Eagle
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? 214 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
July--Aug. 1742.
turned southward when the Kaiser was in Franken-
land, eastward when he was in Teutsch or Teuton-
land; in fact, pointing out the Kaiser's whereabouts to
loyal mankind. * Eagle which shines on me as a
human fact; luminously gilt, through the dark Dry-
asdustic Ages, gone all spectral under Dryasdust's sad
handling.
Brevity being incumbent on us, we shall say only
that the Hyndford-Podewils operations had been speeded,
day and night; brought to finis, in the form of Signed
Preliminaries, as "Treaty of Breslau, 11th June 1742;"
and had gone to Friedrich's satisfaction in every par-
ticular. Thanks to the useful Hyndford, -- to the
willing mind of his Britannic Majesty, once so indignant,
but made willing, nay passionately eager, by his love
of Human Liberty and the pressure of events! To
Hyndford, some weeks hence,* -- I conclude, on Fried-
rich's request, -- there was Order of the Thistle sent;'
and grandest investiture ever seen, almost, done by
* 2d August (llelden-Geschichte, ii. 729).
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? 198 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [bookxiii.
11th June--11th July 1742.
Friedrich upon Hyndford (Jordan, Keyserling, Schwerin,
and the Sword of State busy in it; Two Queens and
all the Berlin firmament looking on); and, perhaps
better still, on Friedrich's part there was gift of a Silver
Dinner-Service; gift of the Royal Prussian Arms (which
do enrich ever since the Shield of those Scottish Car-
michaels, as doubtless the Dinner-Service does their
Plate-chest); -- and abundant praise and honour to
the useful Hyndford, heavy of foot, but sure, who had
reached the goal.
This welcome Treaty, signed at Breslau, June 11th,
and confirmed by "Treaty of Berlin, July 28th," in
more explicit solemn manner, to the self-same effect,
can be read by him that runs (if compelled to read
Treaties);* the terms, in compressed form, are:
1o. "Silesia, Lower and Upper, to beyond the watershed
"and the Oppa-stream, -- reserving only the Principality of
"Teschen, with pertinents, which used to be reckoned
'! Silesian, and the ulterior Mountain-tops" (Mountain-tops
good for what? thought Friedrich, a year or two after-
wards! )-- "Silesia wholly, within those limits, andfurther-
"more the County Grlatz and its dependencies, are and remain
",the property of Friedrich and of his Heirs male or female;
"igiven up, and made his, to all intents and purposes, forever-
"more. With which Friedrich, to the like long date, engages
"to rest satisfied, and claim nothing further anywhere.
2>>. "Silesian Dutch-English Debt" (Loan of about Two
Millions, better half of it English, contracted by the late
Kaiser, on Silesian security, in that dreadful Polish-Election
crisis, when the Sea-Powers would not help, but left it to their
Stock-brokers), "is undertaken by Friedrich, who will pay
"interest on the same till liquidated.
3o. "Religion to stand where it is. Prussian Majesty not
"to meddle in this present or in other Wars of her Hungarian
? In Helden-Geschichle, i. 1061-4 (Treaty of Breslau), lb. '1065-70 (that
of Berlin); to be found also in. Wenek. Bousset, Scholl, Adelnng, &c.
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? CHAP. XIV. J PEACE OF BRESLAU. 199
11th June--Hth July 1742.
"Majesty, except with his ardent wishes that General Peace
"would ensue, and that all his friends, Hungarian Majesty
"among others, were living in good agreement around him. "
This is the Treaty of Breslau (June 11th, 1742),
or, in second more solemn edition, Treaty of Berlin
(July 28th following); signed, ratified, guaranteed by
his Britannic Majesty for one,* and firmly planted on
the Diplomatic adamant (at least on the Diplomatic
parchment) of this world. And now: Homewards, then;
march! --
Huge huzzahing, herald-trumpeting, bob-major-ing,
bursts forth from all Prussian Towns, especially from
all Silesian ones, in those June days, as the drums
beat homewards; elaborate Illuminations, in the short
nights; with bonfires, with transparencies, -- Trans-
parency inscribed "Frederico Magno (To Friedrich the
Great)" in one small instance, still of premature na-
ture. **
Omitting very many things, about Silesian For-
tresses, Army Cantons, Silesian settlements, military
and civil, which would but weary the reader, we add
only this from Bielfeld: dusty Transit of a victorious
Majesty, now on the threshold of home. Precise date
(which Bielfeld prudently avoids guessing at) is July
Uth, 1742; "M. de Pollnitz and I are in the suite of
"the King:
"We never stopped on the road, except some hours at
"Frankfurt-on-Oder, where the Fair was just going on. On
"approaching the Town, we found the highway lined on both
* Treaty of Westminster, between Friedrich and George, 29th (18th)
November 1742 (Sehflll, ii. 313).
** Helden-Geschichlc (ii. 702-729) is endless on these Illuminations; the
Jnoer case, of Frcderico Mayno (Jauer in Silesia) is of June 15th (ib. 712).
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? 200 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [bOOKXIH.
11th July 1742.
"sides with crowds of traders, and other strangers of all
"nations; who had come out, attracted by curiosity to see the
"conqueror of Silesia, and had ranged themselves in two rows
"there. His Majesty's entry into Frankfurt, although a very
"triumphant one, was far from being ostentatious. We passed
"like lightning before the eyes of the spectators, and we were
"so covered with dust, that it was difficult to distinguish the
"colour of our coats and the features of our faces. We made
"some purchases at Frankfurt; and arrived safely in the
"Capital" (next day), "where the King was received amidst
"the acclamations of his People. "*
Here is a successful young King; is not he? Has
plunged into the Mahlstrom for his jewelled gold Cup,
and comes up with it, alive, unlamed. Will he, like
that Diver of Schiller's, have to try the feat a second
time? Perhaps a second time, and even a third! --
* Bielfeld, li. 51.
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? BOOK XIV.
THE SURROUNDING EUROPEAN WAR DOES NOT END.
August 1742--July 1744.
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? July--Aug. 1742.
CHAPTER I.
FRIEDRICH RESUMES HIS PEACEABLE PURSUITS.
Friedrich's own Peace being made on such terms,
his wish and hope was, that it might soon be followed
by a general European one; that, the live-coal, which
had kindled this War, being quenched, the War itself
might go out. Silesia is his; farther interest in the
Controversy, except that it would end itself in some
fair manner, he has none. "Silesia being settled,"
think many, thinks Friedrich for one, "what else of
real and solid is there to settle? "
The European Public, or benevolent individuals of
it everywhere, indulged also in this hope. "How
glorious is my King, the youngest of the Kings and
the grandest! " exclaims Voltaire (in his Letters to
Friedrich, at this time), and reexelaims, till Friedrich
has to interfere, and politely stop it: "A King who
carries in the one hand an all-conquering sword, but
in the other a blessed olive-branch, and is the Arbiter
of Europe for Peace or War! " "Friedrich the Third"
(so Voltaire calls him, counting ill, or misled by igno-
rance of German nomenclature), "Friedrich the Third,
"I mean Friedrich the Great (Frederic le Grand)"
will do this, and do that; -- probably the first
emergence of that epithet in human speech, as yet in a
quite private hypothetic way. * Opinions about Fried-
* Letters of Voltaire, in (Euvres de Frederic. xxii. 100,_&c. : this last
Letter is of date, "July 1742," -- almost contemporary with the "Jauer
Transparency" noticed above.
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? 204 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
Jnly--Aug. 1742.
rich's conduct, about his talents, his moralities, there
were many (all wide of the mark): but this seemed
clear, That the weight of such a sword as his, thrown
into either scale, would be decisive; and that he
evidently now wished peace. An unquestionable fact,
that latter! Wished it, yes, right heartily; and also
strove to hope, -- though with less confidence than the
benevolent outside Public, as knowing the interior of
the elements better.
These hopes, how fond they were, we now all
know. True, my friends, the live-coal which kindled
this incendiary whirlpool (one of the live-coals, first of
them that spread actual flame in these European parts,
and first of them all except Jenkins's Ear) is out,
fairly withdrawn; but the fire, you perceive, rages not
the less. The fire will not quench itself, I doubt, till
the bitumen, sulphur, and other angry fuel have run
much lower! Austria has fighting men in abundance,
England behind it has guineas; Austria has got in-
juries, then successes: -- there is in Austria withal a
dumb pride, quite equal in pretensions to the vocal
vanity of France, and far more stubborn of humour.
The First Nation of the Universe, rashly hurling its
fine-throated hunting-pack, or Army of the Oriflamme,
into Austria, -- see what a sort of badgers, and
gloomily indignant bears, it has awakened there! Fried-
rich ha<f to take arms again; and an unwelcome task
it was to him, and a sore and costly. We shall be
obliged (what is our grand difficulty in this History) to
note, in their order, the series of European occurrences;
and, tedious as the matter now is, keep readers ac-
quainted with the current of that big War; in which,
except Friedrich broad awake, and the Ear of Jenkins
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? CHAP. I. ] PEACEABLE PURSUITS RESUMED. 205
July--Aug. 1742.
in somnambulancy, there is now next to nothing to in-
terest a human creature.
It is an error still prevalent in England, though
long since exploded everywhere else, that Friedrich
wanted new wars, "new successful robberies," as our
Gazetteers called them; and didr wilfully plunge into
this War again, in the hope of again doing a stroke in
that kind. English readers, on consulting the facts a
little, will not hesitate to sweep that notion altogether
away. Shadow of basis, except in their own angry
uninformed imaginations, they will find it never had;
and that precisely the reverse is manifest in Friedrich's
History. A perfectly clear-sighted Friedrich; able to
discriminate shine from substance; and gravitating al-
ways towards the solid, the actual. That of "gloire"
which he owns to at starting, we saw how soon it
died out, choked in the dire realities. That of Con-
quering Hero, in the Macedonia's-madman style, was
at all times far from him, if the reader knew it, --
perhaps never farther from any King who had such
allurements to it, such opportunities for it. This his
First Expedition to Silesia, -- a rushing out to seize
your own stolen horse, while the occasion answered, --
was a voluntary one; produced, we may say, by Fried-
rich's own thought and the Invisible Powers. But the
rest were all purely compulsory, -- to defend the horse
he had seized. Clear necessities, and Powers very
Visible, were the origin of all his other Expeditions
and Warlike Struggles, which lasted to the end of his
life.
That recent "Moravian Foray;" the joint-stock
principle in War-matters; and the terrible pass a man
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? 206 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
July--Aug. 1742.
might reduce himself to, at that enormous gaming-table
of the gods, if he lingered there: think what con-
siderations these had been for him! So that "his look
became farouche" in the sight of Valori; and the
spectre of Euin kept him company, and such hell-dogs
were in chase of him; -- till Czaslau, when the dice
fell kind again! All this had been didactic on a young
docile man. He was but thirty gone. And if readers
mark such docility at those years, they will find con-
siderable meaning in it. Here are prudence, mo-
deration, clear discernment; very unusual veracity of
intellect, as we define it, -- which quality, indeed, is
the summary and victorious outcome of all manner of
good qualities, and faithful performances, in a man.
"Given up to strong delusions," in the tragical way
many are, Friedrich was not; and, in practical matters,
very seldom indeed "believed a lie. "
Certain it is, he now resumes his old Reinsberg
Program of Life; probably with double relish, after
such experiences the other way; and prosecutes it with
the old ardour; hoping much that his History will be
of halcyon pacific nature, after all. Would the mad
War-whirlpool but quench itself; dangerous for singe-
ing a near neighbour, who is only just got out of it!
Fain would he be arbiter, and help to quench it; but
it will not quench. For a space of Two Years or more
(till August 1744, Twenty-six Months in all), Fried-
rich, busy on his own affairs, with carefully neutral
aspect towards this War, yet with sword ready for
drawing in case of need, looks on with intense
vigilance; using his wisest interference, not too often
either, in that sense and in that only, "Be at Peace;
oh, come to Peace! " -- and finds that the benevolent
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? CHAP. I. ] PEACEABLE PURSUITS RESUMED. 207
Jaly--Aug. 1742.
Public and he have been mistaken in their hopes. For
the next Two Years, we say: -- for the first Year (or
till about August 1743), with hope not much abated,
and little actual interference needed; for the latter
Twelve-month, with hope ever more abating; inter-
ference, warning, almost threatening ever more needed,
and yet of no avail, as if they had been idle talking
and gesticulation on his part: -- till, in August 1744,
he had to -- But the reader shall gradually see it, if
by any method we can show it him, in something
of its real sequence; and shall judge of it by his own
light.
Friedrich's Domestic History was not of noisy na-
ture, during this interval: -- and indeed in the be-
wildered Records given of it, there is nothing visible,
at first, but one wide vortex of simmering inanities;
leading to the desperate conclusion that Friedrich had
no domestic history at all. Which latter is by no
means the fact! Your poor Prussian Dryasdust (with-
out even an Index to help you) being at least authen-
tic, if you look a long time intensely and on many
sides, features do at last dawn out of those sad
vortexes; and you find the old Reinsberg Program
risen to activity again; and all manner of peaceable
projects going on. Friedrich visits the Baths of Aachen
(what we call Aix-la-Chapelle); has the usual In-
spections, business activities, recreations, visits of
friends. He opens his Opera-House, this first winter.
He enters on Law-reform, strikes decisively into that
grand problem; hoping to perfect it. What is still more
significant, he in private begins writing his Memoirs.
And furthermore, gradually determines on having a
little Country House, place of escape from his big
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? 208 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
Jnly--Aug. 1742.
Potsdam Palace; and gets plans drawn for it, -- place
which became very famous, by the name of Sans-Souci,
in times coming. His thoughts are wholly pacific; of
Life to Minerva and the Arts, not to Bellona and the
Battles: -- and yet he knows well, this latter too is
an inexorable element. About his Army, he is quietly
busy; augmenting, improving it; the staff of life to
Prussia and him.
Silesian Fortress-building, under ugly Walrave, goes
on at a steadily swift rate. Much Silesian settlement
goes on; fixing of the Prussian-Austrian Boundaries
without; of the Catholic-Protestant limits within: rapid,
not too rough, remodelling of the Province from Aus-
trian into Prussian, in the Financial, Administrative
and every other respect: -- in all which important
operations, the success was noiseless, but is considered
to have been perfect, or nearly so. Cannot we, from
these enormous Paper-masses, carefully riddled, afford
the reader a glimpse or two, to quicken his imagination
of these things?
Settles the Silesian Boundaries, the Silesian Arrangements;
with manifest profit to Silesia and himself.
In regard to the Marches, HerrNiissler, as natural, was
again the person employed. Nussler, shifty soul, wide-awake
at all times, has already seen this Country; "noticed the Pass
"into Grlatz with its blockhouse, and perceived that his
"Majesty would want it. " From September 22d to December
12th, 1742, the actual Operation went on; ratified, completely
set at rest, 16th January following. * Nussler serves on three
thalers (nine shillings) a-day. The Austrian Head-Com-
missioner has 5/. (thirty thalers) a-day; but he is an elderly
* Busching, Beylrage, ? Nussler: and Biisching's Mayazin, b. x. (Halle,
1776) j where, pp. 475-538, Is a "Geschichte der &c. Schlesischen Granzschei-
dung im lahre 1742," in great amplitude and authenticity.
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? CHAP. I. ] PEACEABLE PURSUITS RESUMED. 209
July--Aug. 1742.
fat gentleman, pursy, scant of breath; cannot stand the rapid
galloping about, and thousand-fold inspecting and detailing;
leaves it all to Nussler; who goes like the wind. Thus, for
example, Nussler dictates, at evening from his saddle, the
mutual Protocol of the day's doings; Old Pursy sitting by,
impatient for supper, and making no criticisms. Then at
night, Nussler privately mounts again; privately, by moon-
light, gallops over the ground they are to deal with next day,
and takes notice of everything. No wonder the boundary-
pillars, set up in such manner, which stand to this day, bear
marks that Prussia here and there has had fair play! -- Poor
Niissler has no fixed appointment yet, except one of about
1001. a-year: in all my travels, I have seen no man of equal
faculty at lower wages. Nor did he ever get any signal pro-
motion, or the least exuberance of wages, this poor Nussler;
-- unless it be that he got trained to perfect veracity of work-
manship, and to be a man without dry-rot in the soul of him;
which indeed is incalculable wages. Income of 1001. a-year,
and no dry-rot in the soul of you anywhere; income of 100,000I.
a-year, and nothing but dry- and wet-rot in the soul of you
(ugly appetites, unveracities, blusterous conceits, -- and
probably, as symbol of all things, a potbelly to your poor body
itself): Oh, my friends!
In settling the Spiritual or internal Catholic-Protestant
limits of Silesia, Friedrich did also a workmanlike thing.
Perfect fairness between Protestant and Catholic; to that he
is bound, and never needed binding. But it is withal his
intention to be King in Catholic Silesia; and that no Holy
Father, or other extraneous individual, shall intrude with in-
convenient pretensions there. He accordingly nominates the
now Bishop of Neisse and natural Primate of Silesia, --
Cardinal von Sinzendorf, who has made submission for any
late Austrian peccadilloes, and thoroughly reconciled himself,
-- nominates Sinzendorf'Vicar-General' of the Country; who
is to relieve the Pope of Silesian trouble, and be himself
Quasi-Supreme of the Catholic Church there. "No offence,
Holy Papa of Christian Mankind! Your holy religion is, and
shall be, intact in these parts; but the palliums, bulls, and
other holy wares and interferences, are not needed here. On
that footing, be pleased to rest content. "
Curljif, Frederick the Great. VII. 14
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? 210 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
July--Aug. 1742.
The Holy Father shrieked his loudest (which is now a
quite calculable loudness, nothing like so loud as it once was);
declared he would' himself join the Army of Martyrs, sooner;'
and summoned Sinzendorf to Rome: 'What kind of Hinge are
you, Cardinalis of the Grates of -- Husht! Shrieked his
loudest, we say, but, as nobody minded it, and as Sinzendorf
would not come, had to let the matter take its course. * And,
gradually noticing what correct observance of essentials there
was, he even came quite round, into a high state of satisfaction
with this Heretic King, in the course of a few years. Friedrich
and the Pope were very polite to each other thenceforth;
always ready to do little mutual favours. And it is to be re-
marked, Friedrich's management of his Clergy, Protestant
and Catholic, was always excellent; true, in a considerable
degree, to the real law of things; gentle, but strict, and with-
out shadow of hypocrisy, -- in which last fine particular he is
singularly unique among Modern Sovereigns.
He recognises honestly the uses of Religion, though he
himself has little; takes a good deal of pains with his Preach-
ing Clergy, from the Army-Chaplain upwards, -- will suggest
texts to them, with scheme of sermon, on occasion; -- is
always anxious to have, as Clerical Functionary, the right
man in the important place; and for the rest, expects to be
obeyed by them, as by his Sergeants and Corporals. Indeed
the reverend men feel themselves to be a body of Spiritual
Sergeants, Corporals and Captains; to whom obedience is the
rule, and discontent a thing not to be indulged in by any
means. And it is worth noticing, how well they seem to thrive
in this completely submissive posture; how much real
Christian worth is traceable in their labours and them; and
what a fund of piety and religious faith, in rugged effectual
form, exists in the Armies and Populations of such a
King. ** * *
By degrees the Miinchows and Official, Persons intrusted
with Silesia, got it wrought in all respects, financial, admi-
nistrative, judicial, secular and spiritual, into the Prussian
* Adelnng, iii. a. 197-200.
? * In 1780, at Berlin, the population being 140,000, there are of eccle-
"siaslic kind only 140; that is 1 to the 1,000; -- at Miinchon, there are
"thirty times as many in proportion" (Mirabeau, Monarchic PrusHennc,
viii. 342; quoting Nicolai).
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? CHAP. 1. 1 PEACEABLE PURSUITS RESUMED. 211
Jaly-Aug. 1742.
model: a long tough job; but one that proved well worth
doing. * In this state, counts one authority, it was worth to
Prussia "about six times what it had been to "Austria;" --
from some other forgotten source, I have seen the computation
"eight times. " In money revenue, at the end of Friedrich's
reign, it is a little more than twice; the " eight times" and the
"six times," which are but loose multiples, refer, I suppose,
to population, trade, increase of national wealth, of new
regiments yielded by new cantons, and the like. **
Six or eight times as useful to Prussia: and to the Inha-
bitants what multiple of usefulness shall we give? To be
governed on principles fair and rational, that is to say, con-
formable to Nature's appointment in that respect; and to be
governed on principles which contradict the very rules of
Cocker, and with impious disbelief of the very Multiplica-
tion Table: the one is a perpetual Gospel of Cosmos and
Heaven to every unit of the Population; the other a Gospel
of Chaos and Beelzebub to every unit of them: there is no
multiple to be found in Arithmetic which will express that!
-- Certain of these advantages, in the new Government, are
seen at once; others, the still more valuable, do not appear,
except gradually and after many days and years. With the
one and the other, Schlesien appears to have been tolerably
content. From that Year 1742 to this, Schlesien has expressed
by word and symptom nothing but thankfulness for the
Transfer it underwent; and there is, for the last Hundred
Years, no part of the Prussian Dominion more loyal to the
Hohenzollerns (who are the Authors of Prussia, without whom
Prussia had never been), than this their latest acquisition,
when once it too got moulded into their own image. ***
* In Preuss (i. 197-200), the various steps (from 1740 to 1806).
** Westphalen, in Feldziine des Herzogs Ferdinand (printed, Berlin, 1859,
written 100 years before by that well-informed person), i. 65, says in the
rough "six times :" Preuss, iv. 292, gives, very indistinctly, the ciphers of
Revenue, in 1740 and some later Year: according to Friedrich himself
(CEaores, ii. 102), the Silesian Revenue at first was "3,600,000 thalers"
(540,000(. , little more than Half a Million); Population, a Million-and-
Half.
<>> preusS] I. i93, an(j iD. 200 (Note from Klein, a Silesian Jurist): "Fa-
vour not merit formerly ;" "Magistracies a regular branch of/rarfe,-" --
"highway robbers on a strangely familiar footing with the old Breslau
magistrates;" &c. &c.
14*
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? 212 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [bOOKXiV.
July--Aug. 1742.
Opening of the Opera-House at Berlin.
* * December 7th, this Winter, Carnival being come or
just coming, Friedrich opens his NewOpera-House, for be-
hoof of the cultivated Berlin classes: a fine Edifice,
which had been diligently built by Knobelsdorf, while
those Silesian battlings went on. "One of the largest and
"finest Opera-houses in the whole world; like a sumptuous
"Palace rather. Stands free on all sides, space for 1,000
"Coaches round it; Five great Entrances, five persons can
"walk abreast through each; and inside -- you should see,
"you should hear! Boxes more like rooms or boudoirs, free
"view and perfect hearing of the stage from every point: air
"pure and free everywhere; water aloft, not only for theatri-
"cal cascades, but to drown out anyfire or risk of fire. "* This
is Seyfarth's account, still capable of confirmation by travel-
ling readers of a musical turn. I have seen Operas with much
more brilliancy of gas and gilding; but none nearly so conve-
nient to the human mind and sense; or where the audience
(not now a gratis one) attended to the music in so meritorious
away.
"Perhaps it will attract moneyed strangers to frequent our
Capital? " -- some guess, that was Friedrich's thought. "At
all events, it is a handsome piece of equipage, for a musical
King and People; not to be neglected in the circumstances.
Thalia, in general, -- let us not neglect Thalia, in such a
dearth of worshipable objects. " Nor did he neglect Thalia.
The trouble Friedrich took with his Opera, with his Dancing-
Apparatus, French Comedy, and the rest of that affair, was
very great. Much greater, surely, than this Editor would
have thought of taking; though, on reflection, he does not
presume to blame. The world is dreadfully scant of worship-
able objects: and if your Theatre is your own, to sweep away
intrusive nonsense continually from the gates of it? Friedrich's
Opera costs him heavy sums (surely I once knew approximately
what, but the sibylline leaf is gone again upon the winds! ) --
and he admits gratis a select public, and that only. ** "This
"Winter, 1742-3, was unusually magnificent at Court: balls,
"wirthschaften" (kind of mimic fairs), "sledgeparties, mas-
"querades, and theatricals of all sorts; -- and once even,
* Seyfarth, i. 234'; Nicolai, Beschreibunn von Berlin, i. 169.
** Preuss, i. 277; and Preuss, Buch fur jederwann, i. 100.
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? CHAP. I. ] PEACEABLE PURSUITS RESUMED. 213
85th Aug'. 1742. '*
"December 2d, the new Golden Table-Service" (cost of it
200,000/. ) was in action, when the Two Queens (Queen
Regnant and Queen Mother) "dined with his Majesty! "
Friedrich takes the Waters at Aachen, where Voltaire
comes to see him.
Months before that of the Opera-House or those
Silesian settlements, Friedrich, in the end of August,
what is the first thing visible in his Domestic History,
makes a visit, for health's sake, to Aachen (Aix-la-
Chapelle so-called), with a view to the waters there.
Intends to try for a little improvement in health, as
the basis of ulterior things. Health has naturally
suffered a little in these War-hardships; and the Doc-
tors recommend Aix. After Wesel, and the West-
phalian Inspections, Friedrich, accordingly, proceeds
to Aix; and for about a fortnight (25th August -- 9th
September) drinks the waters in that old resting-place
of Charlemagne; -- particulars not given in the Books;
except that "he lodged with Bacge" (if any mortal now
knew Bacge), and did an Audience or so to select per-
sons now unknown. He is not entirely incognito, but
is without royal state; the "guard of twenty men, the
escort of 150 men," being no men of his, but pre-
sumably mere Townguard of Aix coming in an honor-
ary way. Aix is proud to see him; he himself is in-
tent on the waters here at old Aix:
Aquisgranum, wbsregalis.
Sedes llegni principalis: --
My friend, this was Charlemagne's high place; and his
dust lies here, these thousand years last past. And
there used to soar "a very large Gilt Eagle," ten feet
wide or so, aloft on the Cathedral-steeple there; Eagle
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? 214 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
July--Aug. 1742.
turned southward when the Kaiser was in Franken-
land, eastward when he was in Teutsch or Teuton-
land; in fact, pointing out the Kaiser's whereabouts to
loyal mankind. * Eagle which shines on me as a
human fact; luminously gilt, through the dark Dry-
asdustic Ages, gone all spectral under Dryasdust's sad
handling.
