Neuhaus, farther from the
Moldau and its uses, but more imminent on Austria,
would be easy to seize; aud would frighten the Enemy
more.
Moldau and its uses, but more imminent on Austria,
would be easy to seize; aud would frighten the Enemy
more.
Thomas Carlyle
[book XV.
9th--16th Sept. 1744.
again, in very various humour, on this young King. If
only the French do their duty, and hang well on the
skirts of Marshal Traun (or of Prince Karl, the
Cloak of Traun), who is hastening hitherward all he
can.
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? CHAP. m. ] FRIEDRICH COMES UPON PRINCE KARL. 31
Uth Sept. 1744.
CHAPTER III.
FRIEDRICH, DILIGENT IN HIS BOHEMIAN CONQUESTS, UN-
EXPECTEDLY COMES UPON PRINCE KARL, WITH NO
FRENCH ATTENDING HIM.
This electrically sudden operation on Prag was
considered by astonished mankind, whatever else they
might think about it, a decidedly brilliant feat of War:
falling like a bolt out of the blue, -- like three bolts,
suddenly coalescing over Prag, and striking it down.
Friedrich himself, though there is nothing of boast
audible here or anywhere, was evidently very well
satisfied; and thought the aspects good. There is Prince
Karl whirling instantly back from his Strasburg Pro-
spects; the general St. Vitus' Dance of Austrian things,
rising higher and higher in these home parts: --
reasonable hope that "in the course of one Campaign,"
proud obstinate Austria might feel itself so wrung and
screwed as to be glad of Peace with neighbours not
wishing War. That was the young King's calculation
at this time. And, had France done at all as it pro-
mised, -- or had the young King himself been con-
siderably wiser than he was, -- he had not been dis-
appointed in the way we shall see!
Friedrich admits he did not understand War, at
this period. His own scheme now was: To move to-
wards the south-west, there to abolish Bathyani and
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? 32 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [BOOK XV.
17th Sept. 1744.
his Tolpatches, who are busy gathering Magazines for
Prince Karl's advent; to seize the said Magazines,
which will be very useful to us; then advance straight
towards the Passes of the Bohemian Mountains. Towns
of Furth, Waldmiinchen, unfortunate Town of Cham
(burnt by Trenck, where masons are now busy); these
stand successive in the grand Pass, through which the
highway runs; some hundred miles or so from where
we are: march, at one's swiftest, thitherward, Bathyani's
Magazines to help; and there await Prince Karl? It
was Friedrich's own notion; not a bad one, though not
the best. The best, he admits, would have been: To
stay pretty much where he was, abolish Bathyani's
Tolpatch people, seizing their Magazines, and collect-
ing others; in general, well rooting and fencing him-
self in Prag, and in the Circles that lie thereabouts
upon the Elbe, -- bounded to southward by the Sazawa
(branch of the Moldau), which runs parallel to the
Elbe; -- but well refusing to stir much farther at such
an advanced season of the year.
That second plan would have been the wisest: --
then why not follow it? Too tame a plan for the
youthful mind. Besides, we perceive, as indeed is in-
timated by himself, he dreaded the force of public
opinion in France. "Aha, look at your King of Prussia
again. Gone to conquer Bohemia: and, except the
Three Circles he himself is to have of it, lets Bohemia
go to the winds! " This sort of thing, Friedrich ad-
mits, he dreaded too much, at that young period; so
loud had the criticisms been on him, in the time of the
Breslau Treaty: "Out upon your King of Prussia; call
you that an honourable Ally! " Undoubtedly, a weak-
ness in the young King; inasmuch, says he, as "every
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? CHAP. III. ] FRIEDRICH COMES UPON PRINCE KARL. 33
17th Sept. 1744.
"General" (and every man, add we) "should look to
"the fact, not to the rumour of the fact. " Well; but,
at least, he will adopt his own other notion; that of
making for the Passes of the Bohemian Mountains; to
abolish Bathyani at the least, and lock the door upon
Prince Karl's advent? That was his own plan; and,
though second-best, that also would have done well,
had there been no third.
But there was, as we hinted, a third plan, ardently
favoured by Belleisle, whose war-talent Friedrich much
respected at this time: plan built on Belleisle's reminis-
cences of the old Tabor-Budweis businesses, and totally
inapplicable now. Belleisle said, "Go south-east, not
south-west; right towards the Austrian Frontier itself;
that will frighten Austria into a fine tremor. Shut up
the roads from Austria: Budweis, Neuhaus; seize those
two Highroad Towns, and keep them, if you would
hold Bohemia; the want of them was our ruin there. "
Your ruin, yes: but your enemy was not coming from
Alsace and the south-west then. He was coming from
Austria; and your own home lay on the south-west: it
is all different now! Friedrich might well think him-
self bewitched not to have gone for Cham and Furth,
and the Passes of the Bohmer-Wald, according to his
own notion. But so it was; he yielded to the big re-
putation of Belleisle, and to fear of what the world
would say of him in France; a weakness which he will
perhaps be taught not to repeat. In fact, he is now
about to be taught several things; -- and will have to
pay his school-wages as he goes.
Coriyie, Frederick the Great, VIII.
3
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? 34
SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [book XV.
17th--27th Sept. 1744.
Friedrich, leaving small Garrison in Prag, rushes swiftly
up the Moldau Valley, upon the Tabor-Budweis Coun-
try; to please his French Friends.
Friedrich made no delay in Prag; in haste at this
late time of year. September 17th, on the very mor-
row of the Siege, the Prussians get in motion south-
ward; on the 19th, Friedrich, from his post to north of
the City, defiles through Prag, on march to Kunraditz,
-- first stage on that questionable Expedition up the
Moldau Valley, right bank; towards Tabor, Budweis,
Neuhaus; to threaten Austria, and please Belleisle and
the French.
Prag is left under General Einsiedel with a small
garrison of 5,000; -- Einsiedel, a steady elderly gen-
tleman, favourite of Friedrich Wilhelm's, has brief
order, or outline of order to be filled up by his own
good sense. Posadowsky follows the march, with as
many meal-wagons as possible, -- draught-cattle in very
ineffectual condition. Our main Magazine is at Leit-
meritz (should have been brought on to Prag, thinks
Friedrich); Commissariat very ill-managed in compari-
son to what it ought to be, -- to what it shall be, if
we ever live to make another Campaign. Heavy ar-
tillery is left in Prag (another fault); and from each
regiment, one of its baggage-wagons. * "We rest a
"day here at Kunraditz: 21st September, get to the
"Sazawa River; -- 22d, to Bistritz (rest a day); --
"26th, to Miltschin; and 27th, to Tabor:" -- But the
Diary would be tedious.
* Helden-GeschiMe, 1. 1083; Orlich, u. 41 et sqq. ; Frederic, ui. 59; &c.
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? CBXT. m. ] PRIEDRICH COMES UPON PRINCE KARL. 35
19th --27th Sept. 1744. :
Friedrich goes in two Columns; one along the great road
towards Tabor, under Schwerin this, and Friedrich mainly
with him; the other to the right, along the River's bank, under
Leopold, Young Dessauer, which has to goby wild country
roads, or now and then roads of its own making; and much
needs the pioneer (a difficult march in the shortening days).
Posadowsky follows with the proviant, drawn by cattle of
the horse and ox species, daily falling down starved: great
swearing there too, I doubt not! GeneralNassau is vanguard,
and stretches forward successfully at a much lighter pace.
There are two Rivers, considerable branches of the Mol-
dau, coming from eastward; which, and first of them the
Sazawa, concern us here. After mounting the southern Up-
lands from Prag for a day or two, you then begin to drop
again, into the hollow of a River called Sazawa, important in
Bohemian Wars. It is of winding course, the first consider-
able branch of the Moldau, rising in Teutschbrod Country,
seventy or eighty miles to east of us: in regard to Sazawa,
there is, at present, no difficulty about crossing, the Country
being all ours. After the Sazawa, mount again, long miles,
day after day, through intricate stony desolation, rocks, bogs,
untrimmed woods, you will get to Tabor, which is the crown
of that rough moor country: from Prag to Tabor is some sixty
miles. After Tabor the course of those brown mountain-
brooks is all towards the Luschnitz, the next considerable
branch of the Moldau; branch still longer and more winding
than the Sazawa; Budweis stands on this branch; and there
you are out of the stony moors and in a rich champaign, com-
fortable to man and horse, were you but once there, after
plodding through the desolations. But from that Sazawa to
the Luschnitz, mounting and falling in such fashion, there
must be six-score miles or thereby. Plod along; and keep a
sharp eye upon the whirling clouds of Pandours, for those too
have got across upon us, -- added to the other tempests of
Autumn.
On the ninth day of their march, the Prussians begin to
descry on the horizon ahead the steeples and chimney-tops of
Tabor, on its high scarped rock, or "Hill of Zisca," -- for it
was Zisca and his Hussites that built themselves this Bit of
Inexpugnability, and named it Tabor from their Bibles, -- in
those waste mountain regions. On the tenth day (27th Sept. ),
3*
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? 36 SECOND SILESIAN WAR, [book XV.
19th Sept. --2d Oct. 1744.
the Prussians without difficulty took Tabor; walls being
ruined, garrison small. We lie at Tabor till the 30th, last
day of September. Thence, 2d October, part of us to Moldau
Tein leftwards; where cross the Moldau by a Bridge, --
'Bridge' one has heard of, in oldBroglio times; -- cross there,
with intent (easily successful) to snatch that 'Castle ofFrauen-
berg,' darling of Broglio, for which he fought his Pharsalia of
a Sahay to no purpose!
Both Columns got united at Tabor; and paused for a day
or two, to rest, and gather up their draggled skirts there. The
Expedition does not improve in promise, as we advance in it;
the march one of the most untowardly; and Posadowsky
comes up with only half of his provision-carts, -- half of his
cattle having fallen down of bad weather, hill-roads, and
starvation; what could he do? That is an ominous circum-
stance, not the less.
Three things are against the Prussians on this
March; two of them accidental things. First, there is,
at this late season too, the intrinsic nature of the
Country; which Friedrich with emphasis describes as
boggy, stony, precipitous; a waste, hungry, and al-
together barren Country, -- too emphatically so de-
scribed. But then secondly, what might have been
otherwise, the Population, worked upon by Austrian
officials, all fly from the sight of us; nothing but fireless
deserted hamlets; and the corn, if they ever had any,
all thrashed and hidden. No amount of money can
purchace any service from them. Poor dark creatures;
not loving Austria much, but loving some others even
less, it would appear. Of bigoted Papist Creed, for
one thing; that is a great point. We do not meddle
with their worship more or less; but we are Heretics,
and they hate us as the Night. Which is a dreadful
difficulty you always have in Bohemia: nowhere but
in the Circle of Konigsgratz, where there are Hussites
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? cmr. m,] FRIEDKICH COMES UPON PRINCE KARL. 37
Sept. -Oct. 1744.
(far to the rear of us at this time), will you find it
otherwise. This is difficulty second.
Then, thirdly, what much aggravates it, -- we ne-
glected to abolish Bathyani! And here are Bathyani's
Pandours come across the Moldau on us. Plenty of
Pandours; -- to whom '10,000 fresh Hungarians,' of
a new Insurrection which has been got up there, are
daily speeding forward to add themselves: -- such a
swarm of hornets, as darkens the very daylight for
you. Vain to scourge them down, to burn them off by
blaze of gunpowder: they fly fast; but are straightway
back again. They lurk in these bushy wildernesses,
scraggy woods: no foraging possible, unless whole re-
giments are sent out to do it; you cannot get a letter
safely carried for them. They are an unspeakable
contemptible grief to the earnest leader of men. -- Let
us proceed, however; it will serve nothing to complain.
Let us hope the French sit well on the skirts of Prince
Karl: these sorrowful labours may all turn to good, in
that case.
Friedrich pushes on from Tabor; shoots partly (as
we have seen) across the Moldau, to the left bank as
well; captures romantic Frauenberg on its high rock,
where Broglio got into such a fluster once. We could
push to Pisek, too, and make a 'Bivouac of Pisek,' if
we lost our wits! Nassau is in Budweis, in Neuhaus;
and proper garrisons are gone thither: nothing wanting
on our side of the business. But these Pandours, these
10,000 Insurrection Hungarians, with their Trencks
spurring them! A continual unblessed swarm of hornets,
these; which shut out the very light of day from us.
Too literally, the light of day: we can get no free
messaging from part to part of our own Army even.
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? 38 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [book XV.
Sept. --Oct. 1744.
"As many as six Orderlies have been despatched to an
"outlying General; and not one of them could get
"through to him. They have snapt up three Letter-
"bags destined for the King himself. For four weeks
"he is absolutely shut out from the rest of Europe;"
knows not in the least what the Kaiser, or the Most
Christian or any other King, is doing; or whether the
French are sitting well on Prince Karl's skirts, or not
attempting that at all. This also is a thing to be
amended, a thing you had to learn, your Majesty? An
Army absolutely shut out from news, from letters, messages to or fro, and groping its way in darkness,
owing to these circumambient thunder-clouds of Tol-
patches, is not a well-situated Army! And, alas, when
at last the Letterbag did get through, and -- But let
us not anticipate!
At Tabor there arose two opinions; which, in spite
of the King's presence, was a new difficulty. South
from Tabor a day's march, the Highway splits; left-
hand goes to Neuhaus, direct way for Vienna; right-
hand, or straight-forward rather, goes to Budweis,
bearing upon Linz: which of these two? Nassau has
already seized Budweis; and it is a habitable champaign
country in comparison.
Neuhaus, farther from the
Moldau and its uses, but more imminent on Austria,
would be easy to seize; aud would frighten the Enemy
more. Leopold the Young Dessauer is for Budweis;
rapid Schwerin, a hardy outspoken man, is emphatic
for the other place as Head-quarter. So emphatic are
both that the two Generals quarrel there; andFriedrich
needs his authority to keep them from outbreaks, from
open incompatibility henceforth, which would be de-
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? CHAP. m. ] FRIEDRICH COMES UPON PRINCE KARL. 39
Sept. --Oct. 1744. ,
structive to the service. For the rest, Friedrich seizes
both places; sends a detachment to Neuhaus as well;
but holds by Budweis and the Moldau region with his
main Army; which was not quite gratifying to the
hardy Schwerin. On the opposite or left bank, holding
Frauenberg, the renowned Hill-fortress there, we make
inroads at discretion: but the country is woody, favour-
able to Pandours; and the right bank is our chief scene
of action. How we are to maintain ourselves in this
country? To winter in these towns between theSazawa
and the Luschnitz? Unless the French sit well on
Prince Karl's skirts, it will not be possible.
The French are little grateful for the Pleasure done
them at such ruinous Expense.
French sitting well on Prince Karl's skirts? They
are not molesting Prince Karl in the smallest; never
tried such a thing; -- are turned away to the Brisgau,
to the Upper Rhine country; gone to besiege Freyburg
there, and seize Towns about the Lake of Constance,
as if there were no Friedrich in the game! It must be
owned the French do liberally pay off old scores against
Friedrich, -- if, except in their own imagination, they
had old scores against him. No man ever delivered
them from a more imminent peril; and they, the rope
once cut that was strangling them, magnificently forget
who cut it; and celebrate only their own distinguished
conduct during and after the operation. To a degree
truly wonderful.
It was moonlight, clear as day that night, 23d August,
when Prince Karl had to recross the Rhine, close in their
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? 40 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [book XV.
Sept. --Oct. 1744.
neighbourhood;* --and instead of harassing Prince Karl
'to half or to whole ruin,' as the bargain was, their
distinguished conduct consisted in going quietly to their
beds (old Mare'chal de Noailles even calling back some
of his too forward subalterns), and joyfully leaving
Prince Karl, then and afterwards,^ to cross the Rhine,
and march for Bohmen at his own perfect convenience.
'Seckendorf will sit on Karl's skirts,' they said:
'too late for us, this season; next season, you shall
'see! ' Such was their theory, after Louis got that
cathartic, and rose from bed. Schmettau, with his im-
portunities, which at last irritated everybody, could
make nothing more of it. 'Let the King of France crown his glories by the Siege of Freyburg, the con-
quest of Brisgau: -- for behoof of the poor Kaiser,
don't you observe? Hither Austria is the Kaiser's; --
and furthermore, were Freyburg gone, there will be
no invading of Elsass again' (which is another privately
very interesting point)!
And there, at Freyburg, the Most Christian King
now is, and his Army up to the knees in mud, con-
quering Hither Austria; besieging Freyburg, with much
difficulty owing to the wet, -- besieging there with
what energy; a spectacle to the world! And has, for
the present, but one wife, no mistress either! With
rapturous eyes France looks on; with admiration too
big for words. Voltaire, I have heard, made pilgrimage
to Freyburg, with rhymed Panegyric in his pocket;
saw those miraculous operations of a Most Christian
King miraculously awakened; and had the honour to
present said Panegyric; and be seen, for the first time,
by the royal eyes, -- which did not seem to relish him * Guerre de Boheme, in. 196.
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? CHAP. HI. ] FRIEDRICH COMES UPON PRINCE KARL. 41
25th Sept. 1744.
much. * Since the first days of October, Freyburg had
been under constant assault; "amid rains, amid frosts;
a siege long and murderous" (to the besieging party);
--and was not got till November 5th; not quite entirely,
the Citadels of it, till November 25th; Majesty gone
home to Paris, to illuminations and triumphal arches,
in the interim. ** It had been a difficult and bloody
conquest to him, this of Freyburg and the Brisgau
Country; and I never heard that either the Kaiser or he
got sensible advantage by it, -- though Prince Karl,
on the present occasion, might be said to get a great
deal.
"Seckendorf will do your Prince Karl," they had
cried always: "Seckendorf and his Prussian Majesty!
Are not we conquering Hither Austria here, for the
Kaiser's behoof? " Seckendorf they did officially appoint
to pursue; appoint or allow; -- and laid all the blame
on Seckendorf; who perhaps deserved his share of it.
Very certain it is, Seckendorf did little or nothing to
Prince Karl; marched "leisurely behind him through
the Ober-Pfalz," -- skirting Baireuth Country, Karl
and he, to Wilhelmina's grief;***--"leisurely behind
him at a distance of four days," knew better than
meddle with Prince Karl. So that Prince Karl, "in
twenty-one marches," disturbed only by the elements
and bad roads, reached Waldmunchen, 25th September,
in the Furth-Cham Country ;t and was heard to ex-
claim: "We are let off for the fright, then (Nous voila
* The Panegyric (Ejntre au Rot devanl Fribourg) is in (Enures de Vol-
taire, xvu. 184.
** Adelung, iv. 266; Barbier, n. 414 (13th November, &e. ), for the illu-
minations, grand in the extreme, in spite of wild rains and winds.
*** Her Letters ((Euvres de Frediric, xxvu. I. 133, &c. ).
t Ranke, m. 187.
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? 42
SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [book XV.
Sept. --Oct. 1744.
"quittes pour la peur)! " -- Seckendorf, finding nothing
to live upon in Ober-Pfalz, could not attend Prince
Karl farther; but turned leftwards home to Bavaria;
made a kind of Second "Reconquest of Bavaria" (on
exactly the same terms as the First, Austrian occupants
being all called off to assist in Bohmen again); -- con-
cerning which, here is an Excerpt:
"Seckendorf, following at his leisure, and joined by the
"Hessians andPfalzers, so as now to exceed 30,000, leaves
"Prince Karl and the rest of the enterprise to do as it can;
"and applies himself, for his own share, as the needfullest
"thing, to getting hold of Bavaria again, that his poor Kaiser
"may have where to lay his head, and pay old servants their
"wages. Dreadfully exclaimed against, the old gentleman,
"especially by the French co-managers: 'Why did not the
"'old traitor stick in the rear of Prince Karl, in the difficult
"'passes, and drive him prone, -- while we went besieging
"'Freyburg, and poaching about, trying for a bit of the
"'Brisgau while chance served! ' A traitor beyond doubt;
"probably bought with money down, thinks Valori. But,
"after all, what could Seckendorf do? He is now of weight
"for Barenklau and Bavaria, not for much more. He does
"sweep Barenklau and his Austrians from Bavaria, clear out
"(in the course of this October), all but Ingolstadt and two or
"three strong towns, -- Passau especially, 'which can be
"'blockaded, and afterwards besieged if needful. ' For the
"rest, he is dreadfully ill off for provisions, incapable of the
"least attempt on Passau (as Friedrich urged, on hearing of
"him again); and will have to canton himself in home quar-
ters, and live by his shifts till Spring.
"The noise of French censure rises loud, against not
"themselves, but against Seckendorf: -- Friedrich, before
"that Tolpatch eclipse of Correspondence" (when three of his
Letterbags were seized, and he fell quite dark), "had too well
"foreboded, and contemptuously expressed his astonishment
"at the blame both were well earning: Passau, said he, cannot
"you go at least upon Passau; which might alarm the enemy
"a little, and drag him homewards? 'Adieu, my dearSecken-
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? CHAP. HI. ] FRIEDRICH COMES UPON PRINCE KARL. 43
Sept. -- Oct. 1744.
"'dorf, your Officer will tell you how we did the Siege of
"'Prag. You and your French are wetted hens (poules
'"mouillees),' -- cowering about like drenched hens in a day
"of set rain. 'As I hear nothing of either of you, I must try
"'to get out of this business without your help,' -- otherwise
it will be ill for me indeed! * "Which latter expression
"alarmed the French, and set them upon writing and bust-
"ling, but not upon doing anything. "
"Prince Karl had crossed the Rhine unmolested, in the
"clearest moonlight, August 23d-24th; Seckendorf was not
"wholly got to Heilbronn, September 8th: a pretty way be-
"hind Prince Karl! The 6,000 Hessians, formerly in English
"pay, indignantLandgrafWilhelm"(who never could forgive
that Machiavellian conduct of Carteret at Hanau, never till
he found out what it really was) "has, this year, put into
"French pay. And they have now joined Seckendorf;**
"Prince Friedrich" (Britannic Majesty's Son-in-law), "not
"good fat Uncle George, commanding them henceforth: --
"with extreme lack of profit to Prince Friedrich, to the
"Hessians, and to the French, as will appear in time. These
"6,000, and certain thousands of Pfalzers likewise in French
"pay, are now with Seckendorf, and have raised him to above
"30,000; -- it is the one fruit King Friedrich has got by that
"'Union of Frankfurt,' and by all his long prospective
"haggling, and struggling for a 'Union of German Princes
"'in general. ' Two pears, after that long shaking of the
"tree; both pears rotten, or indeed falling into Seckendorf,
"who is a basket of such quality! 'Seckendorf, increased in
"'this munificent manner, can he still do nothing? ' cry the
"French: 'the old traitor! ' -- 'I have no magazines,' said
"Seckendorf, 'nothing to live upon, to shoot with; no
"'money! ' And it is a mutual crescendo between the 'per-
"'fidious Seckendorf'and them; without work done. In the
"Nurnberg Country, some Hussars of his picked up Lord
"Holderness, an English Ambassador making for Venice by
"that bad route. 'Prisoner, are not you? ' But they did not
* Excerpted Fragment of a Letter from Friedrich, -- (exact date not
given, date of Excerpt is, Donauw&rth Country, 23d September 1744),--
which the French Agent in Seckendorf s Army had a reading of (Cainpagnes
<te Coigny, iv. 185-187; ib. 216-219: cited in Adelung, iv. 225). ** Espagnac, n. 13; Buchholz, n. 123.
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? 44 SECOND SHESIAN WAR. [book XV.
Sept. --Oct. 1744.
"use him ill; on consideration, the Heads of ImperialDepart-
"ments gave him a Pass, and he continued his Venetian
"Journey (result of it zero) without farther molestation that
"1 heard of. *
"These French-Seckendorf cunctations, recriminations,
"and drenched-hen procedures, are an endless sorrow to poor
"Kaiser Karl; who at length can stand it no longer; but re-
solves, since at least Bavaria, though moneyless and in
"ruins, is his, he will in person go thither; confident that
"there will be victual and equipment discoverable for self and
"Army, were he there. Remonstrances avail not: 'Ask me
"'to die with honour, ask me not to lie rotting here;'** --
"and quits Frankfurt, and the Reich's-Diet and its babble,
"17th October 1744 (small sorrow, were it for the last time), --
"and enters hisMunchen in the course of a week. *** Miincnen
"is transported with joy to see the Legitimate Sovereign
"again; and blazes into illuminations, -- forgetful who
"caused its past wretchedness, hoping only all wretchedness
"is now ended. Let ruined huts, and Cham and the burnt
"Towns, rebuild themselves; the wasted hedges make up
"their gaps again: here is the King come home f Here, sure
"enough, is an unfortunate Kaiser of the Holy Romish Reich,
"who can once more hope to pay his milk-scores, being a
"loved Kurfiirst of Bavaria at least. Very dear to the hearts
"of these poor people; -- and to their purses, interests and
"skins, has not he in another sense been dear? What a price
"the ambitions and cracked fantasms of that weak brain nave
"cost the seemingly innocent population! Population har-
"ried, hungered down, dragged off to perish in Italian Wars;
"a Country burnt, tribulated, torn to ruin, under the harrow
"of Fate and ruffian Trenck and Company. Britannic
"George, rather a dear morsel too, has come much cheaper
"hitherto. England is not yet burnt; nothing burning there,
"-- except the dull fire of deliriums; Natural Stupidities all
"set flaming, which (whatever it may be in the way of loss) is
"not felt as a loss, but rather as a comfort for the time being;
"? -- and in fact there are only, say, a forty or fifty thousand
"armed Englishmen rotted down, and scarcely a Hundred
* Adelung, iv. 222. ** Ibid. iv. 241.
**? 17tn October 1744, leaves Frankfurt; arrives in Munohen, 23d (Ade-
lung, iv. 241-244).
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? CHAP, m. ] FRIEDRICH COMES UPOK PRINCE KARL. 45
23d Oct. 1744.
"Millions of money yet spent. Nothing to speak of, in the
"Cause of Human Liberty. Why Populations suffer for their
"guilty Kings? My friend, it is the Populations too that are
"guilty in having such Kings. Reverence, sacred Respect
"for Human Worth, sacred Abhorrence of Human Unworth,
"have you considered what it means? These poorPopula-
"tions have it not, or for long generations have had it less and
"less. Hence, by degrees, this sort of'Kings'to them, and
"enormous consequences following! "
KarlVII. got back to Miinchen, 23d October 1743;
and the tarbarrels being once burnt, and indispensable
sortings effected, he went to the field along with
Seckendorf, to encourage his men under Seckendorf,
and urge the French by all considerations to come
on. And really did what he could, poor man. But
the cordage of his life had been so strained and torn,
he was not now good for much; alas, it had been but
little he was ever good for. A couple of dear Kur-
fiirsts, his Father and he; have stood these Bavarian
Countries very high, since the Battle of Blenheim and
downwards!
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9th--16th Sept. 1744.
again, in very various humour, on this young King. If
only the French do their duty, and hang well on the
skirts of Marshal Traun (or of Prince Karl, the
Cloak of Traun), who is hastening hitherward all he
can.
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? CHAP. m. ] FRIEDRICH COMES UPON PRINCE KARL. 31
Uth Sept. 1744.
CHAPTER III.
FRIEDRICH, DILIGENT IN HIS BOHEMIAN CONQUESTS, UN-
EXPECTEDLY COMES UPON PRINCE KARL, WITH NO
FRENCH ATTENDING HIM.
This electrically sudden operation on Prag was
considered by astonished mankind, whatever else they
might think about it, a decidedly brilliant feat of War:
falling like a bolt out of the blue, -- like three bolts,
suddenly coalescing over Prag, and striking it down.
Friedrich himself, though there is nothing of boast
audible here or anywhere, was evidently very well
satisfied; and thought the aspects good. There is Prince
Karl whirling instantly back from his Strasburg Pro-
spects; the general St. Vitus' Dance of Austrian things,
rising higher and higher in these home parts: --
reasonable hope that "in the course of one Campaign,"
proud obstinate Austria might feel itself so wrung and
screwed as to be glad of Peace with neighbours not
wishing War. That was the young King's calculation
at this time. And, had France done at all as it pro-
mised, -- or had the young King himself been con-
siderably wiser than he was, -- he had not been dis-
appointed in the way we shall see!
Friedrich admits he did not understand War, at
this period. His own scheme now was: To move to-
wards the south-west, there to abolish Bathyani and
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? 32 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [BOOK XV.
17th Sept. 1744.
his Tolpatches, who are busy gathering Magazines for
Prince Karl's advent; to seize the said Magazines,
which will be very useful to us; then advance straight
towards the Passes of the Bohemian Mountains. Towns
of Furth, Waldmiinchen, unfortunate Town of Cham
(burnt by Trenck, where masons are now busy); these
stand successive in the grand Pass, through which the
highway runs; some hundred miles or so from where
we are: march, at one's swiftest, thitherward, Bathyani's
Magazines to help; and there await Prince Karl? It
was Friedrich's own notion; not a bad one, though not
the best. The best, he admits, would have been: To
stay pretty much where he was, abolish Bathyani's
Tolpatch people, seizing their Magazines, and collect-
ing others; in general, well rooting and fencing him-
self in Prag, and in the Circles that lie thereabouts
upon the Elbe, -- bounded to southward by the Sazawa
(branch of the Moldau), which runs parallel to the
Elbe; -- but well refusing to stir much farther at such
an advanced season of the year.
That second plan would have been the wisest: --
then why not follow it? Too tame a plan for the
youthful mind. Besides, we perceive, as indeed is in-
timated by himself, he dreaded the force of public
opinion in France. "Aha, look at your King of Prussia
again. Gone to conquer Bohemia: and, except the
Three Circles he himself is to have of it, lets Bohemia
go to the winds! " This sort of thing, Friedrich ad-
mits, he dreaded too much, at that young period; so
loud had the criticisms been on him, in the time of the
Breslau Treaty: "Out upon your King of Prussia; call
you that an honourable Ally! " Undoubtedly, a weak-
ness in the young King; inasmuch, says he, as "every
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? CHAP. III. ] FRIEDRICH COMES UPON PRINCE KARL. 33
17th Sept. 1744.
"General" (and every man, add we) "should look to
"the fact, not to the rumour of the fact. " Well; but,
at least, he will adopt his own other notion; that of
making for the Passes of the Bohemian Mountains; to
abolish Bathyani at the least, and lock the door upon
Prince Karl's advent? That was his own plan; and,
though second-best, that also would have done well,
had there been no third.
But there was, as we hinted, a third plan, ardently
favoured by Belleisle, whose war-talent Friedrich much
respected at this time: plan built on Belleisle's reminis-
cences of the old Tabor-Budweis businesses, and totally
inapplicable now. Belleisle said, "Go south-east, not
south-west; right towards the Austrian Frontier itself;
that will frighten Austria into a fine tremor. Shut up
the roads from Austria: Budweis, Neuhaus; seize those
two Highroad Towns, and keep them, if you would
hold Bohemia; the want of them was our ruin there. "
Your ruin, yes: but your enemy was not coming from
Alsace and the south-west then. He was coming from
Austria; and your own home lay on the south-west: it
is all different now! Friedrich might well think him-
self bewitched not to have gone for Cham and Furth,
and the Passes of the Bohmer-Wald, according to his
own notion. But so it was; he yielded to the big re-
putation of Belleisle, and to fear of what the world
would say of him in France; a weakness which he will
perhaps be taught not to repeat. In fact, he is now
about to be taught several things; -- and will have to
pay his school-wages as he goes.
Coriyie, Frederick the Great, VIII.
3
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? 34
SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [book XV.
17th--27th Sept. 1744.
Friedrich, leaving small Garrison in Prag, rushes swiftly
up the Moldau Valley, upon the Tabor-Budweis Coun-
try; to please his French Friends.
Friedrich made no delay in Prag; in haste at this
late time of year. September 17th, on the very mor-
row of the Siege, the Prussians get in motion south-
ward; on the 19th, Friedrich, from his post to north of
the City, defiles through Prag, on march to Kunraditz,
-- first stage on that questionable Expedition up the
Moldau Valley, right bank; towards Tabor, Budweis,
Neuhaus; to threaten Austria, and please Belleisle and
the French.
Prag is left under General Einsiedel with a small
garrison of 5,000; -- Einsiedel, a steady elderly gen-
tleman, favourite of Friedrich Wilhelm's, has brief
order, or outline of order to be filled up by his own
good sense. Posadowsky follows the march, with as
many meal-wagons as possible, -- draught-cattle in very
ineffectual condition. Our main Magazine is at Leit-
meritz (should have been brought on to Prag, thinks
Friedrich); Commissariat very ill-managed in compari-
son to what it ought to be, -- to what it shall be, if
we ever live to make another Campaign. Heavy ar-
tillery is left in Prag (another fault); and from each
regiment, one of its baggage-wagons. * "We rest a
"day here at Kunraditz: 21st September, get to the
"Sazawa River; -- 22d, to Bistritz (rest a day); --
"26th, to Miltschin; and 27th, to Tabor:" -- But the
Diary would be tedious.
* Helden-GeschiMe, 1. 1083; Orlich, u. 41 et sqq. ; Frederic, ui. 59; &c.
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? CBXT. m. ] PRIEDRICH COMES UPON PRINCE KARL. 35
19th --27th Sept. 1744. :
Friedrich goes in two Columns; one along the great road
towards Tabor, under Schwerin this, and Friedrich mainly
with him; the other to the right, along the River's bank, under
Leopold, Young Dessauer, which has to goby wild country
roads, or now and then roads of its own making; and much
needs the pioneer (a difficult march in the shortening days).
Posadowsky follows with the proviant, drawn by cattle of
the horse and ox species, daily falling down starved: great
swearing there too, I doubt not! GeneralNassau is vanguard,
and stretches forward successfully at a much lighter pace.
There are two Rivers, considerable branches of the Mol-
dau, coming from eastward; which, and first of them the
Sazawa, concern us here. After mounting the southern Up-
lands from Prag for a day or two, you then begin to drop
again, into the hollow of a River called Sazawa, important in
Bohemian Wars. It is of winding course, the first consider-
able branch of the Moldau, rising in Teutschbrod Country,
seventy or eighty miles to east of us: in regard to Sazawa,
there is, at present, no difficulty about crossing, the Country
being all ours. After the Sazawa, mount again, long miles,
day after day, through intricate stony desolation, rocks, bogs,
untrimmed woods, you will get to Tabor, which is the crown
of that rough moor country: from Prag to Tabor is some sixty
miles. After Tabor the course of those brown mountain-
brooks is all towards the Luschnitz, the next considerable
branch of the Moldau; branch still longer and more winding
than the Sazawa; Budweis stands on this branch; and there
you are out of the stony moors and in a rich champaign, com-
fortable to man and horse, were you but once there, after
plodding through the desolations. But from that Sazawa to
the Luschnitz, mounting and falling in such fashion, there
must be six-score miles or thereby. Plod along; and keep a
sharp eye upon the whirling clouds of Pandours, for those too
have got across upon us, -- added to the other tempests of
Autumn.
On the ninth day of their march, the Prussians begin to
descry on the horizon ahead the steeples and chimney-tops of
Tabor, on its high scarped rock, or "Hill of Zisca," -- for it
was Zisca and his Hussites that built themselves this Bit of
Inexpugnability, and named it Tabor from their Bibles, -- in
those waste mountain regions. On the tenth day (27th Sept. ),
3*
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? 36 SECOND SILESIAN WAR, [book XV.
19th Sept. --2d Oct. 1744.
the Prussians without difficulty took Tabor; walls being
ruined, garrison small. We lie at Tabor till the 30th, last
day of September. Thence, 2d October, part of us to Moldau
Tein leftwards; where cross the Moldau by a Bridge, --
'Bridge' one has heard of, in oldBroglio times; -- cross there,
with intent (easily successful) to snatch that 'Castle ofFrauen-
berg,' darling of Broglio, for which he fought his Pharsalia of
a Sahay to no purpose!
Both Columns got united at Tabor; and paused for a day
or two, to rest, and gather up their draggled skirts there. The
Expedition does not improve in promise, as we advance in it;
the march one of the most untowardly; and Posadowsky
comes up with only half of his provision-carts, -- half of his
cattle having fallen down of bad weather, hill-roads, and
starvation; what could he do? That is an ominous circum-
stance, not the less.
Three things are against the Prussians on this
March; two of them accidental things. First, there is,
at this late season too, the intrinsic nature of the
Country; which Friedrich with emphasis describes as
boggy, stony, precipitous; a waste, hungry, and al-
together barren Country, -- too emphatically so de-
scribed. But then secondly, what might have been
otherwise, the Population, worked upon by Austrian
officials, all fly from the sight of us; nothing but fireless
deserted hamlets; and the corn, if they ever had any,
all thrashed and hidden. No amount of money can
purchace any service from them. Poor dark creatures;
not loving Austria much, but loving some others even
less, it would appear. Of bigoted Papist Creed, for
one thing; that is a great point. We do not meddle
with their worship more or less; but we are Heretics,
and they hate us as the Night. Which is a dreadful
difficulty you always have in Bohemia: nowhere but
in the Circle of Konigsgratz, where there are Hussites
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? cmr. m,] FRIEDKICH COMES UPON PRINCE KARL. 37
Sept. -Oct. 1744.
(far to the rear of us at this time), will you find it
otherwise. This is difficulty second.
Then, thirdly, what much aggravates it, -- we ne-
glected to abolish Bathyani! And here are Bathyani's
Pandours come across the Moldau on us. Plenty of
Pandours; -- to whom '10,000 fresh Hungarians,' of
a new Insurrection which has been got up there, are
daily speeding forward to add themselves: -- such a
swarm of hornets, as darkens the very daylight for
you. Vain to scourge them down, to burn them off by
blaze of gunpowder: they fly fast; but are straightway
back again. They lurk in these bushy wildernesses,
scraggy woods: no foraging possible, unless whole re-
giments are sent out to do it; you cannot get a letter
safely carried for them. They are an unspeakable
contemptible grief to the earnest leader of men. -- Let
us proceed, however; it will serve nothing to complain.
Let us hope the French sit well on the skirts of Prince
Karl: these sorrowful labours may all turn to good, in
that case.
Friedrich pushes on from Tabor; shoots partly (as
we have seen) across the Moldau, to the left bank as
well; captures romantic Frauenberg on its high rock,
where Broglio got into such a fluster once. We could
push to Pisek, too, and make a 'Bivouac of Pisek,' if
we lost our wits! Nassau is in Budweis, in Neuhaus;
and proper garrisons are gone thither: nothing wanting
on our side of the business. But these Pandours, these
10,000 Insurrection Hungarians, with their Trencks
spurring them! A continual unblessed swarm of hornets,
these; which shut out the very light of day from us.
Too literally, the light of day: we can get no free
messaging from part to part of our own Army even.
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? 38 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [book XV.
Sept. --Oct. 1744.
"As many as six Orderlies have been despatched to an
"outlying General; and not one of them could get
"through to him. They have snapt up three Letter-
"bags destined for the King himself. For four weeks
"he is absolutely shut out from the rest of Europe;"
knows not in the least what the Kaiser, or the Most
Christian or any other King, is doing; or whether the
French are sitting well on Prince Karl's skirts, or not
attempting that at all. This also is a thing to be
amended, a thing you had to learn, your Majesty? An
Army absolutely shut out from news, from letters, messages to or fro, and groping its way in darkness,
owing to these circumambient thunder-clouds of Tol-
patches, is not a well-situated Army! And, alas, when
at last the Letterbag did get through, and -- But let
us not anticipate!
At Tabor there arose two opinions; which, in spite
of the King's presence, was a new difficulty. South
from Tabor a day's march, the Highway splits; left-
hand goes to Neuhaus, direct way for Vienna; right-
hand, or straight-forward rather, goes to Budweis,
bearing upon Linz: which of these two? Nassau has
already seized Budweis; and it is a habitable champaign
country in comparison.
Neuhaus, farther from the
Moldau and its uses, but more imminent on Austria,
would be easy to seize; aud would frighten the Enemy
more. Leopold the Young Dessauer is for Budweis;
rapid Schwerin, a hardy outspoken man, is emphatic
for the other place as Head-quarter. So emphatic are
both that the two Generals quarrel there; andFriedrich
needs his authority to keep them from outbreaks, from
open incompatibility henceforth, which would be de-
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? CHAP. m. ] FRIEDRICH COMES UPON PRINCE KARL. 39
Sept. --Oct. 1744. ,
structive to the service. For the rest, Friedrich seizes
both places; sends a detachment to Neuhaus as well;
but holds by Budweis and the Moldau region with his
main Army; which was not quite gratifying to the
hardy Schwerin. On the opposite or left bank, holding
Frauenberg, the renowned Hill-fortress there, we make
inroads at discretion: but the country is woody, favour-
able to Pandours; and the right bank is our chief scene
of action. How we are to maintain ourselves in this
country? To winter in these towns between theSazawa
and the Luschnitz? Unless the French sit well on
Prince Karl's skirts, it will not be possible.
The French are little grateful for the Pleasure done
them at such ruinous Expense.
French sitting well on Prince Karl's skirts? They
are not molesting Prince Karl in the smallest; never
tried such a thing; -- are turned away to the Brisgau,
to the Upper Rhine country; gone to besiege Freyburg
there, and seize Towns about the Lake of Constance,
as if there were no Friedrich in the game! It must be
owned the French do liberally pay off old scores against
Friedrich, -- if, except in their own imagination, they
had old scores against him. No man ever delivered
them from a more imminent peril; and they, the rope
once cut that was strangling them, magnificently forget
who cut it; and celebrate only their own distinguished
conduct during and after the operation. To a degree
truly wonderful.
It was moonlight, clear as day that night, 23d August,
when Prince Karl had to recross the Rhine, close in their
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? 40 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [book XV.
Sept. --Oct. 1744.
neighbourhood;* --and instead of harassing Prince Karl
'to half or to whole ruin,' as the bargain was, their
distinguished conduct consisted in going quietly to their
beds (old Mare'chal de Noailles even calling back some
of his too forward subalterns), and joyfully leaving
Prince Karl, then and afterwards,^ to cross the Rhine,
and march for Bohmen at his own perfect convenience.
'Seckendorf will sit on Karl's skirts,' they said:
'too late for us, this season; next season, you shall
'see! ' Such was their theory, after Louis got that
cathartic, and rose from bed. Schmettau, with his im-
portunities, which at last irritated everybody, could
make nothing more of it. 'Let the King of France crown his glories by the Siege of Freyburg, the con-
quest of Brisgau: -- for behoof of the poor Kaiser,
don't you observe? Hither Austria is the Kaiser's; --
and furthermore, were Freyburg gone, there will be
no invading of Elsass again' (which is another privately
very interesting point)!
And there, at Freyburg, the Most Christian King
now is, and his Army up to the knees in mud, con-
quering Hither Austria; besieging Freyburg, with much
difficulty owing to the wet, -- besieging there with
what energy; a spectacle to the world! And has, for
the present, but one wife, no mistress either! With
rapturous eyes France looks on; with admiration too
big for words. Voltaire, I have heard, made pilgrimage
to Freyburg, with rhymed Panegyric in his pocket;
saw those miraculous operations of a Most Christian
King miraculously awakened; and had the honour to
present said Panegyric; and be seen, for the first time,
by the royal eyes, -- which did not seem to relish him * Guerre de Boheme, in. 196.
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? CHAP. HI. ] FRIEDRICH COMES UPON PRINCE KARL. 41
25th Sept. 1744.
much. * Since the first days of October, Freyburg had
been under constant assault; "amid rains, amid frosts;
a siege long and murderous" (to the besieging party);
--and was not got till November 5th; not quite entirely,
the Citadels of it, till November 25th; Majesty gone
home to Paris, to illuminations and triumphal arches,
in the interim. ** It had been a difficult and bloody
conquest to him, this of Freyburg and the Brisgau
Country; and I never heard that either the Kaiser or he
got sensible advantage by it, -- though Prince Karl,
on the present occasion, might be said to get a great
deal.
"Seckendorf will do your Prince Karl," they had
cried always: "Seckendorf and his Prussian Majesty!
Are not we conquering Hither Austria here, for the
Kaiser's behoof? " Seckendorf they did officially appoint
to pursue; appoint or allow; -- and laid all the blame
on Seckendorf; who perhaps deserved his share of it.
Very certain it is, Seckendorf did little or nothing to
Prince Karl; marched "leisurely behind him through
the Ober-Pfalz," -- skirting Baireuth Country, Karl
and he, to Wilhelmina's grief;***--"leisurely behind
him at a distance of four days," knew better than
meddle with Prince Karl. So that Prince Karl, "in
twenty-one marches," disturbed only by the elements
and bad roads, reached Waldmunchen, 25th September,
in the Furth-Cham Country ;t and was heard to ex-
claim: "We are let off for the fright, then (Nous voila
* The Panegyric (Ejntre au Rot devanl Fribourg) is in (Enures de Vol-
taire, xvu. 184.
** Adelung, iv. 266; Barbier, n. 414 (13th November, &e. ), for the illu-
minations, grand in the extreme, in spite of wild rains and winds.
*** Her Letters ((Euvres de Frediric, xxvu. I. 133, &c. ).
t Ranke, m. 187.
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? 42
SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [book XV.
Sept. --Oct. 1744.
"quittes pour la peur)! " -- Seckendorf, finding nothing
to live upon in Ober-Pfalz, could not attend Prince
Karl farther; but turned leftwards home to Bavaria;
made a kind of Second "Reconquest of Bavaria" (on
exactly the same terms as the First, Austrian occupants
being all called off to assist in Bohmen again); -- con-
cerning which, here is an Excerpt:
"Seckendorf, following at his leisure, and joined by the
"Hessians andPfalzers, so as now to exceed 30,000, leaves
"Prince Karl and the rest of the enterprise to do as it can;
"and applies himself, for his own share, as the needfullest
"thing, to getting hold of Bavaria again, that his poor Kaiser
"may have where to lay his head, and pay old servants their
"wages. Dreadfully exclaimed against, the old gentleman,
"especially by the French co-managers: 'Why did not the
"'old traitor stick in the rear of Prince Karl, in the difficult
"'passes, and drive him prone, -- while we went besieging
"'Freyburg, and poaching about, trying for a bit of the
"'Brisgau while chance served! ' A traitor beyond doubt;
"probably bought with money down, thinks Valori. But,
"after all, what could Seckendorf do? He is now of weight
"for Barenklau and Bavaria, not for much more. He does
"sweep Barenklau and his Austrians from Bavaria, clear out
"(in the course of this October), all but Ingolstadt and two or
"three strong towns, -- Passau especially, 'which can be
"'blockaded, and afterwards besieged if needful. ' For the
"rest, he is dreadfully ill off for provisions, incapable of the
"least attempt on Passau (as Friedrich urged, on hearing of
"him again); and will have to canton himself in home quar-
ters, and live by his shifts till Spring.
"The noise of French censure rises loud, against not
"themselves, but against Seckendorf: -- Friedrich, before
"that Tolpatch eclipse of Correspondence" (when three of his
Letterbags were seized, and he fell quite dark), "had too well
"foreboded, and contemptuously expressed his astonishment
"at the blame both were well earning: Passau, said he, cannot
"you go at least upon Passau; which might alarm the enemy
"a little, and drag him homewards? 'Adieu, my dearSecken-
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? CHAP. HI. ] FRIEDRICH COMES UPON PRINCE KARL. 43
Sept. -- Oct. 1744.
"'dorf, your Officer will tell you how we did the Siege of
"'Prag. You and your French are wetted hens (poules
'"mouillees),' -- cowering about like drenched hens in a day
"of set rain. 'As I hear nothing of either of you, I must try
"'to get out of this business without your help,' -- otherwise
it will be ill for me indeed! * "Which latter expression
"alarmed the French, and set them upon writing and bust-
"ling, but not upon doing anything. "
"Prince Karl had crossed the Rhine unmolested, in the
"clearest moonlight, August 23d-24th; Seckendorf was not
"wholly got to Heilbronn, September 8th: a pretty way be-
"hind Prince Karl! The 6,000 Hessians, formerly in English
"pay, indignantLandgrafWilhelm"(who never could forgive
that Machiavellian conduct of Carteret at Hanau, never till
he found out what it really was) "has, this year, put into
"French pay. And they have now joined Seckendorf;**
"Prince Friedrich" (Britannic Majesty's Son-in-law), "not
"good fat Uncle George, commanding them henceforth: --
"with extreme lack of profit to Prince Friedrich, to the
"Hessians, and to the French, as will appear in time. These
"6,000, and certain thousands of Pfalzers likewise in French
"pay, are now with Seckendorf, and have raised him to above
"30,000; -- it is the one fruit King Friedrich has got by that
"'Union of Frankfurt,' and by all his long prospective
"haggling, and struggling for a 'Union of German Princes
"'in general. ' Two pears, after that long shaking of the
"tree; both pears rotten, or indeed falling into Seckendorf,
"who is a basket of such quality! 'Seckendorf, increased in
"'this munificent manner, can he still do nothing? ' cry the
"French: 'the old traitor! ' -- 'I have no magazines,' said
"Seckendorf, 'nothing to live upon, to shoot with; no
"'money! ' And it is a mutual crescendo between the 'per-
"'fidious Seckendorf'and them; without work done. In the
"Nurnberg Country, some Hussars of his picked up Lord
"Holderness, an English Ambassador making for Venice by
"that bad route. 'Prisoner, are not you? ' But they did not
* Excerpted Fragment of a Letter from Friedrich, -- (exact date not
given, date of Excerpt is, Donauw&rth Country, 23d September 1744),--
which the French Agent in Seckendorf s Army had a reading of (Cainpagnes
<te Coigny, iv. 185-187; ib. 216-219: cited in Adelung, iv. 225). ** Espagnac, n. 13; Buchholz, n. 123.
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? 44 SECOND SHESIAN WAR. [book XV.
Sept. --Oct. 1744.
"use him ill; on consideration, the Heads of ImperialDepart-
"ments gave him a Pass, and he continued his Venetian
"Journey (result of it zero) without farther molestation that
"1 heard of. *
"These French-Seckendorf cunctations, recriminations,
"and drenched-hen procedures, are an endless sorrow to poor
"Kaiser Karl; who at length can stand it no longer; but re-
solves, since at least Bavaria, though moneyless and in
"ruins, is his, he will in person go thither; confident that
"there will be victual and equipment discoverable for self and
"Army, were he there. Remonstrances avail not: 'Ask me
"'to die with honour, ask me not to lie rotting here;'** --
"and quits Frankfurt, and the Reich's-Diet and its babble,
"17th October 1744 (small sorrow, were it for the last time), --
"and enters hisMunchen in the course of a week. *** Miincnen
"is transported with joy to see the Legitimate Sovereign
"again; and blazes into illuminations, -- forgetful who
"caused its past wretchedness, hoping only all wretchedness
"is now ended. Let ruined huts, and Cham and the burnt
"Towns, rebuild themselves; the wasted hedges make up
"their gaps again: here is the King come home f Here, sure
"enough, is an unfortunate Kaiser of the Holy Romish Reich,
"who can once more hope to pay his milk-scores, being a
"loved Kurfiirst of Bavaria at least. Very dear to the hearts
"of these poor people; -- and to their purses, interests and
"skins, has not he in another sense been dear? What a price
"the ambitions and cracked fantasms of that weak brain nave
"cost the seemingly innocent population! Population har-
"ried, hungered down, dragged off to perish in Italian Wars;
"a Country burnt, tribulated, torn to ruin, under the harrow
"of Fate and ruffian Trenck and Company. Britannic
"George, rather a dear morsel too, has come much cheaper
"hitherto. England is not yet burnt; nothing burning there,
"-- except the dull fire of deliriums; Natural Stupidities all
"set flaming, which (whatever it may be in the way of loss) is
"not felt as a loss, but rather as a comfort for the time being;
"? -- and in fact there are only, say, a forty or fifty thousand
"armed Englishmen rotted down, and scarcely a Hundred
* Adelung, iv. 222. ** Ibid. iv. 241.
**? 17tn October 1744, leaves Frankfurt; arrives in Munohen, 23d (Ade-
lung, iv. 241-244).
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? CHAP, m. ] FRIEDRICH COMES UPOK PRINCE KARL. 45
23d Oct. 1744.
"Millions of money yet spent. Nothing to speak of, in the
"Cause of Human Liberty. Why Populations suffer for their
"guilty Kings? My friend, it is the Populations too that are
"guilty in having such Kings. Reverence, sacred Respect
"for Human Worth, sacred Abhorrence of Human Unworth,
"have you considered what it means? These poorPopula-
"tions have it not, or for long generations have had it less and
"less. Hence, by degrees, this sort of'Kings'to them, and
"enormous consequences following! "
KarlVII. got back to Miinchen, 23d October 1743;
and the tarbarrels being once burnt, and indispensable
sortings effected, he went to the field along with
Seckendorf, to encourage his men under Seckendorf,
and urge the French by all considerations to come
on. And really did what he could, poor man. But
the cordage of his life had been so strained and torn,
he was not now good for much; alas, it had been but
little he was ever good for. A couple of dear Kur-
fiirsts, his Father and he; have stood these Bavarian
Countries very high, since the Battle of Blenheim and
downwards!
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