"* This is the night of February 18th; third
night after Iglau was had, and the Magazines in it gone to
ashes.
night after Iglau was had, and the Magazines in it gone to
ashes.
Thomas Carlyle
1742.
Year). * * "A day or two after this" (no matter what), "I
went to the German Play, the only spectacle which is yet
"fairly afoot in Berlin. In passing in, I noticed the Duchess
"Dowager of Wiirtemberg, who had arrived, during my
"absence, with a numerous and brilliant suite, as well to
"salute the King and the Queens" (King off, on his Moravian
Business, before she came), "and to unite herself more in-
"timately with our Court, as to see the Three Princes her
"Children settled in their new place, where, by consent of
"the States of Wiirtemberg, they are to be educatedhence-
"forth.
"As I had not yet had myself presented to the Duchess, I
"did not presume to approach too near, and passed up into
"the Theatre. But she noticed me in the side-scenes; asked
"who I was" (such a handsome fashionable fellow), "and
"sent me order to come immediately and pay my respects.
"To be sure, I did so; was most graciously received; and, of
"course, called early next day at her Palace. Her Grrand-
"Chamberlain had appointed me the hour of noon. He now
"introduced me accordingly: bnt what was my surprise to find
"the Princess in bed; in a negligee all new from the laundress,
"and the gallantest that art could imagine! On a table, ready
"to her hand, at the dossier or bed-head, stood a little Basin
"silver-gilt, filled with Holy Water: the rest was decorated
"with extremely precious Relics, with a Crucifix, and a Rosary
"of rock-crystal. Her dress, the cushions, quilt, all was of
"Marseilles stuff, in the finest series of colours, garnished
"with superb lace. Her cap was of Alen^on lace, knotted
"with a ribbon of green and gold. Figure to yourself,
"in this gallant deshabille, a charming Princess, who has
"all the wit, perfection of manner -- and is still only thirty-
"seven, with a beauty that was once so brilliant! Bound the
"celestial bed were courtiers, doctors, almoners, mostly in
"devotional postures; the three young Princes; and a Dame
"d'Atours, who seemed to look slightly ennuyee or bored. " I
had the honour to kiss her Serene Highness's hand, and
to talk a great many peppered insipidities suitable to the
Dinner followed, more properly supper, with lights
kindled: "Only I cannot dress, you know," her High-
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? CHAP. IX. ] WILHELMINA AT THE FRANKFURT GAIETIES. 145
31st Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
ness had said; "I never do, except for the Queen-
Mother's parties;" -- and rang for her maids. So that
you are led out to the Anteroom, and go grinning
about, till a new and still more charming deshabille
be completed, and her most Serene Highness can receive
you again: "Now Messieurs! Pshaw, one is always
stupid, no esprit at all except by candle-light! " --
After which, such a dinner, unmatchable for elegance,
for exquisite gastronomy, for Attic-Paphian brilliancy
and charm! And indeed there followed hereupon, for
weeks on weeks, a series of such unmatchable little
dinners; chief parts, under that charming Presidency,
being done by "Grand Chamberlain Baron de" Some-
thing-or-other, "by your humble servant Bielfeld, M.
"Jordan, and a Marquis d'Argens, famous Provencal
"gentleman now in the suite of her Highness:"* --
feasts of the Barmecide, I much doubt, poor Bielfeld
being in this Chapter very fantastic, misdateinl to a
mad extent; and otherwise, except as to general effect,
worth little serious belief.
We shall meet this Paphian Dowager again (Cru-
cifix and Myrtle joined); meet especially her D'Argens,
and her Three little Princes more or less; -- where-
fore, mark slightly (besides the d'Argens as above):
"1 ? . The Eldest little Prince, Karl Eugen; made'Reigning-
"Duke' within three years hence" (Mamma falling into trouble
with the Stande): "a man still gloomily famous in Germany"
(Poet Schiller's Duke of Wiirtemberg), "of inarticulate, ex-
"tremely arbitrary turn -- married Wilhelmina's Daughter
"by and by" (with horrible usage of her); "and otherwise
"gave Friedrich and the world cause to think of him.
"2? . The Second little Prince, Friedrich Eugen, Prussian
"(General of some mark, who will incidentally turn up again.
* Bielfeld, ii. 74-78.
Carlijle, Frederick the Great. V1U 10
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? 146 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XHT.
31st Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
"He was afterwards Successor to the Dukedom" (Karl Eugen
dying childless); "and married his Daughter to Paul of Rus-
"sia, from whom descend the Autocrats there to this day.
"3? . Youngest little Prince, Ludwig Eugen, a respectable
'' Prussian Officer, and later a French one: he is that' Due de
"Wirtemberg' who corresponds with Voltaire" (inscrutable
to readers, in most of the Editions); "and need not be men-
"tioned farther. "*
But enough of all this. It is time we were in
Mahren, where the Expedition must be blazing well
ahead, if things have gone as expected.
* See Michaelis, iii. 449; Preuss. i. 476; &c. &c.
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? CHAP. X. ] MORAVIAN FORAY. 147
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
CHAPTER X.
FRIEDRICH DOES IIIS MORAVIAN EXPEDITION, WHICH
PROVES A MERE MORAVIAN FORAY.
While these Coronation splendours had been going
on, Friedrich, in the Moravian regions, was making
experiences of a rather painful kind; his Expedition
prospering there far otherwise than he had expected.
This winter Expedition to Mahren was one of the first
Friedrich had ever undertaken on the Joint-stock Prin-
ciple; and it proved of a kind rather to disgust him
with that method in affairs of war.
A deeply disappointing Expedition. The country
hereabouts was in bad posture of defence; nothing be-
tween us and Vienna itself, in a manner. Rushing
briskly forward, living on the country where needful,
on that Iglau Magazine, on one's own Sechelles re-
sources; rushing on, with the Saxons, with the French,
emulous on the right hand and the left, a Captain like
Friedrich might have gone far; Vienna itself, -- who
knows! -- not yet quite beyond the reach of'him.
Here was a way to check Khevenhuller in his Bavarian
Operations, and whirl him back, doublequick, for an-
other object nearer home! -- But, alas, neither the
Saxons nor the French would rush on, in the least
emulous. The Saxons dragged heavily arear; the
French Detachment (a poor 5,000 under Polastron, all
that a captious Broglio could be persuaded to grant)
would not rush at all, but paused on the very frontier
of Moravia, Broglio so ordering, and there hung supine,
or indeed went home.
10*
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? 148 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
Friedrich remonstrated, argued, turned back to en-
courage; but it was in vain. The Saxon Bastard
Princes "lived for days in any Schloss they found
comfortable;" complaining always that there was no
victual for their Troops; that the Prussians, always
ahead, had eaten the country. No end to haggling;
and, except on Friedrich's part, no hearty beginning to
real business. "If you wish at all to be 'King of
Moravia,' what is this! " thinks Friedrich justly.
Broglio, too, was unmanageable, -- piqued. that
Valori, not Broglio, had started the thing; -- showed
himself captious, dark, hysterically effervescent, now
over-cautious, and again capable of rushing blindly
headlong.
To Broglio the fact at Linz, which everybody
saw to be momentous, was overwhelming. Magnanimous
Se'gur, and his Linz "all wedged with beams," what a
road have they gone! Said so valiantly they would
make defence; and did it, scarcely for four days: Ja-
nuary 24th; before this Expedition could begin! True,
M. le Mare'chal, too true: -- and is that a reason for
hanging back in this Mahren Business: or for pushing
on in it, double-quick, with all one's strength? "But
our Conquests on the Donau," thinks Broglio, "what
will become of them, -- and of us! " To Broglio,
justly apprehensive about his own posture at Prag and
on the Donau, there never was such a chance of at
once raking back all Austrians homewards, post-haste
out of those countries. But Broglio could by no means
see it so, -- headstrong, blusterous, over-cautious and
hysterically headlong old gentleman; whose conduct at
Prag here brought Strasburg vividly to Friedrich's me-
mory. Upon which, as upon the ghost of Broglio's
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? CHAP. x. ] MORAVIAN FORAY. 149
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
Breeches, Valori had to hear "incessant sarcasms" at.
this time.
In a word, from February 5th, when Friedrich, ac-
cording to bargain, rendezvoused his Prussians at
Wischau to begin this Expedition, till April 5th, when
he re-rendezvoused them (at the same Wischau, as
chanced) for the purpose of ending it and going home,
-- Friedrich, wrestling his utmost with Human Stupid-
ity, "mit der Dummheit" (as Schiller sonorously says),
"against which the very gods are unvictorious," had
probably two of the most provoking months of his Life,
or of this First Silesian War, which was fruitful in
such to him. For the common cause he accomplished
nearly nothing by this Moravian Expedition. But, to
his own mind, it was rich in experiences, as to the
Joint-stock Principle, as to the Partners he now had.
And it doubtless quickened his steps towards getting
personally out of this imbroglio of big French-German
Wars, -- home to Berlin, with Peace and Silesia in his
pocket, -- which had all along been the goal of his
endeavours. As a feat of war it is by no means worth
detailing, in this place, -- though succinct Stille, and
bulkier German Books give lucid account, should any-
body chance to be curious. * Only under the other
aspect, as Friedrich's experience of Partnership, and
especially of his now Partners, are present readers
concerned to have, in brief form, some intelligible
notion of it.
Jglau is got, hut not the Magazine at Iglau.
Friedrich was punctual at Wischau; Headquarters there
(midway between Olmiitz and Briinn), Prussians all assembled,
* Stille, Campaigns of the King of Prussia, i. 1-55; HeUen-Geschichte,
ii-548-611; (Euvrcs tie Frediric, il. 110-114; Orlich, ii. ; &c. &o.
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? 150 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
5th February 1742. Wischau is some eighty miles east or
inward of Iglau; the French and Saxons are to meet us about
Trebitsch, a couple of marches from that Teutschbrod of
theirs, and well within one march of Iglau, on our route
thither. The French and Saxons are at Trebitsch, accord-
ingly; but their minds and will seem to be far elsewhere.
Rutowsky and the Chevalier de Saxe command the Saxons
(20,000 strong on paper, 16,000 in reality); Comte de Po-
lastron the French, who are 5,000, all Horse. Along with
whom, professedly as French Volunteer, has come the Comte
de Saxe, capricious Maurice (Mare'chal de Saxe that will be),
who has always viewed this Expedition with disfavour. Ex-
cellency Valori is with the French Detachment, or rather poor
Valori is everywhere; running about, from quarter to quarter,
sometimes to Prag itself; assiduous to heal rents everywhere;
clapping cement into manifold cracks, from day to day.
Through Valori we get some interesting glimpses into the
secret Tiumours and manoeuvres of Comte Maurice. It is
known otherwise Comte Maurice was no friend to Belleisle,
but looked for his promotion from the opposite or Noailles
party, in the French Court: at present, as Valori perceives,
he has got the ear of Broglio, and put much sad stuff into the
loud foolish mind of him.
To these Saxon gentlemen, being Bastard-Royal and im-
portant to conciliate, Friedrich has in a highflown way
assigned the Schloss of Budischau for quarters, an excellent
superbly magnificent mansion in the neighbourhood of Tre-
bitsch, "nothing like it to be seen except in theatres, on the
"Drop-scene of The Enchanted Island;"* where they make
themselves so comfortable, says Friedrich, there is no getting
them roused to do anything for three days to come. And yet
the work is urgent, and plenty of it. "Iglau, first of all,"
urges Friedrich, "where the Austrians, 10,000 or so, under
Prince Lobkowitz, have posted themselves" (right flank of
that long straggle of Winter Cantonments, which goes left-
wards to Budweis and farther), "and made Magazines: pos-
session of Iglau is the foundation-stone of our affairs. And if we
would have Iglau with the Magazines and not without, surely
there is not a moment to be wasted! " In vain; the Saxon
* Stille, Campaigns, p. 14.
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? CHAP. X. ] MORAVIAN FORAY. 151
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
Bastard Princes feel themselves very comfortable. It was
Sunday, the 11th of February, when our function with them
was completed: and, instead of next morning early, it is Wed-
nesday afternoon before Prince Dietrich of Anhalt-Dessau,
with the Saxon and French party roused to join his Prussians
and him, can at last take the road for Iglau. Prince Dietrich
makes now the reverse of delay; marches all night,
"bivouacks in woods near Iglau," warming himself at stick-
fires till the day break; takes Iglau by merely marching into
it and scattering 2,000 Pandours, so soon as day has broken;
but finds the Magazines not there. Lobko witz carted off what
he could, then burnt "Seventeen Barns yesterday;" and is
himself off towards Budweis Headquarters and the Bohemian
bogs again. This comes of lodging Saxon royal gentlemen
too well.
The Saxons think Iglau enough; the French go home.
Nay, Iglau taken, the affair grows worse than ever. Our
Saxons now declare that they understand their orders to be
completed; that their Court did not mean them to march
farther, but only to hold by Iglau, a solid footing in Moravia,
which will suffice for the present. Fancy Friedrich; fancy
Valori, and the cracks he will have to fill! Friedrich, in
astonishment and indignation, sends a messenger to Dresden:
"Would the Polish Majesty he' King of Moravia,' then, or not
be? " Remonstrances at Budischau rise higher and higher;
Valori, to prevent total explosion, flies over once, in the dead
of the night, to deal with Rutowsky and Brothers. Rutowsky
himself seems partly persuadable, though dreadfully ill of
rheumatism. They rouse Comte Maurice; and Valori, by
this Comte's caprices, is driven out of patience. "He talked
"with a flippant sophistry, almost with an insolence," says
Valori; "nay, at last, he made me a gesture in speaking," --
what gesture, thumb to nose, or what, the shuddering imagi-
nation dare not guess! But Valori, nettled to the quick,
"repeated it," and otherwise gave him as good as he brought.
"He ended by a gesture which displeased me" "and
"went to bed.
"* This is the night of February 18th; third
night after Iglau was had, and the Magazines in it gone to
ashes. Which the Saxons think is conquest enough.
* Valori, i. 148,149.
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? 152 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book xm.
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
Poor Polish Majesty, -- poor Karl Albert, above all, now
"Kaiser Karl VII. ," with nothing but those French for breath
to his nostrils! With his fine French Army of the Oriflamme,
Karl Albert should have pushed along last Autumn; and not
merely "read the Paper" which Friedrich sent him to that
effect, " and then laid it aside. " They will never have another
chance, his French and he, -- unless we call this again a
chance; which they are again squandering! Linz went by
capitulation; January 24th, the very day of one's "Election
as they called it: and ever since that day of Linz, the series
of disasters has continued rapid and uniform in those parts.
Linz gone, the rest of the French posts did not even wait to
capitulate; but crackled all off, they and our Conquests on
the Donau, like a train of gun-powder, and left the ground
bare. And General von Barenklau (Bear's-claw), with the
hideous fellow called Mentzel, Colonel of Pandours, they have
broken through into Bavaria itself, from the Tyrol; climbing
by Berchtesgaden and the wild Salzburg Mountains, regard-
less of Winter, and of poor Bavarian militia-folk; -- and have
taken Miinchen, one's very Capital, one's very House and
Home! -- Poor Karl Albert, -- and, what is again remarkable,
it was the very day while he was getting "crowned" at Frank-
furt, "with Oriental pomp," that Mentzel was about entering
Miinchen with his Pandours. * And this poor Archduke of the
Austrias, King of Bohemia, Kaiser of the Holy Romish Reich
Teutsch by Nation, is becoming Titular merely, and owns
next to nothing in these extensive Sovereignties. Judge if
there is not call for despatch on all sides! -- The Polish Ma-
jesty sent instant rather angry order to his Saxons, "Forward,
with you; what else! We would be King in Mahren! "
The Saxons then have to march forward; but we can fancy
with what a will. Rutowsky flings up his command on this
Order (let us hope, from rheumatism partly), and goes home;
leaving the Chevalier de Saxe to preside in room of him. As
for Polastron, he produces Order from Broglio, "Iglau got,
return straightway;" must and will cross over into Bohemia
again; and does. Nay, the Comtede Saxe had, privately in
his pocket, a Commission to supersede Polastron, and take
command himself, should Polastron make difficulties about
* Coronation was February 12th; Capitulation to Mentzel, "Miinchen,
February 13th," is in Guerre de Bohime, ii. 56-59.
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? CHAP. x. l MORAVIAN FORAY. 153
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
turning back. Poor Pola8tron made no difficulties: Maurice
and he vanish accordingly from this Adventure, and only
the unwilling Saxons remain with Friedrich. Poor Polastron
("a poor weak creature," says Friedrich, "fitter for his bre-
"viary than anything else") fell sick, from the hardships of
campaigning; and soon diea, in those Bohemian parts. Mau-
rice i3 heard of, some weeks hence, besieging Eger; -- very
handsomely capturing Eger: * -- on which service Broglio
had ordered him after his return. The former Commandant
of the Siege, not very progressive, had just died; and Broglio,
with reason (all the more for his late Moravian procedures)
was passionate to have done there. One of the first auspicious
exploits of Maurice, that of Eger; which paved the way to his
French fortunes, and more or less sublime glories, in this War.
Friedrich recognised his ingenuities, impetuosities, and supe-
rior talent in war; wrote highflown Letters of praises, now
and then, in years coming; but, we may guess, would hardly
wish to meet Maurice in the way of joint-stock business
again.
Friedrich submerges the Moravian Countries; but cannot Briinn,
which is the indispensable point.
February 19th, these sad Iglau matters once settled, Frie-
drich, followed by the Saxons, plunges forward into Moravia;
spreads himself over the country, levying heavy contribu-
tions , with strict discipline nevertheless; intent to get hold of
Briinn and its Spielberg, if he could. Briinn is the strong
place of Moravia; has a garrison of 6 or 7,000; still better,
has the valiant Roth, whom we knew in Neisse once, for Com-
mandant: Briinn will not be had gratis.
Schwerin, with a Detachment of 5,000 horse and foot, Po-
sadowsky, Ziethen, Schmettau Junior commanding under
him, has dashed along far in the van; towards Upper Austria,
through the Town of Horn, towards Vienna itself; levying,
he also, heavy contributions, -- with a hand of iron, and not
much of a glove on it, as we judge. There is a grim enough
Proclamation (in the name of a "frightfully injured Kaiser,"
as well as Kaiser's Ally), still extant, bearing Sehwerin's
signature, and the date "Stein, 26th February 1712. " ** Stein
* 19th April 1742 (Guerre de Boheme, ii. 78-85).
** In Helden-Geschichte, ii. 556.
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? 154 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
is on the Donau, a mile or two from Krems, and twice as far
from Mautern, where the now Kaiser was in Autumn last.
Forty and odd miles short of Vienna: this proved thePisgah
of Schwerin in that direction, as it had done of Karl Albert.
Ziethen with his Hussars coursed some 20 miles farther, on the
Vienna Highway; and got the length of Stockerau; a small
Town, notable slightly, ever since, as the Prussian Nan-plus-
ultra in that line.
Meanwhile, Prince Lobkowitz is rallying; has quitted
Budweis and the Bohemian Bogs, for some check of these
insolences. Lobkowitz, rallying to himself what Vienna force
there is, comes, now in good strength, to Waidhofen (rearward
of Horn, far rearward of Stein and Stockerau), so that Ziethen
and Schwerin have to draw homeward again. Lobkowitz
fortifies himself in Waidhofen; gathers Magazines there, as if
towards weightier enterprises. For indeed much is rallying,
in a dangerous manner; and Moravia is now far other than
when Friedrich planned this Expedition. And at Vienna,
25th February last, there was held Secret Council, and (much
to Robinson's regret) a quite high Resolution come to, --
which Friedrich gets to know of, and does not forget again.
The Saxnns have no Cannon for Briinn, cannot afford any; there
is a high Resolution taken at Vienna (February 25th): Fried-
rich quits the Moravian Enterprise.
Friedrich keeps his Headquarter, all this while, closer and
closer upon Briinn. First, chiefly at a Town called Znaim,
on the River Taya; many-branched river, draining all those
North-western parts; which sends its winding waters down to
Presburg, -- latterly in junction with those of the Morawa
from North, which washes Olmiitz, drains the Northern and
Eastern parts, and gives the Country its name of "Moravia. "
Briinn lies north-east of Friedrich, while in Znaim, some fifty
miles; the Saxon headquarter is at Kromau, midway towards
that City. After Znaim, he shifts inward, to Selowitz, still
in the same Taya Valley, but much nearer Briinn; and there
continues. *
Striving hard for Briinn; striving hard, under difficulties,
* At Znaim, 19th February -- 9th March; at Selowitz, 13th March --
5th April (ROdenbeck, i. 65).
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? CHAP. X. ]| MORAVIAN FORAY. 155
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
for so many things distant and near; we may fancy him busy
enough; -- and are surprised at the fractions of light Jordan
Correspondence which he still finds time for. Pretty bits of
Letters, in prose and doggerel, from and to those Moravian
Villages; Jordan, "twicea week," bearing the main weight;
Friedrich, oftener than one could hope, flinging some word
of answer, -- very intent on Berlin gossip, we can notice.
"Vattel is still here, your Majesty,"* insinuates Jordan: --
young Vattel, afterwards of the Droit des Genu, whom his Ma-
jesty might have kept, but did not. -- What more of your
D'Argens, then; anything in your D'Argens? Friedrich will
ask. "For certain, D'Argens is full of esprit," answers Jordan,
in a dextrous way; and How the Effulgent of Wiirtemberg
"has quarrelled outright with her D'Argens, and will not eat
off silver (d' argent), lest she have to name him by accident! "
-- with other gossip, in a fine brief airy form, at which Jordan
excels. Cheering the rare leisure hour, in one's Tent at Selo-
witz, Pohrlitz, Irrlitz, far away! -- There are also orders
about Cicero and Books. Of Business for most part, or of pri-
vate feelings, nothing: Berlin gossip, and Books for one's
reading, are the staple. But to return.
Out from Headquarters, diligent operations shoot forth,
far enough, along those Taya-Morawa Valleys, where Hunga-
rian "Insurgents" are beginning to be dangerous. South of
Briinn, all round Briinn, are diligent operations, frequent
skirmishings, constant strict levyings of contributions. The
saving operation, Friedrich well sees, would be to get hold of
Briinn: but, unluckily, How? Vigilant Both scorns all sum-
moning; sallies continually in a dangerous manner; and at
length, when closer pressed, burns all the Villages round him:
"we counted as many as sixteen villages laid in ashes," says
Friedrich. Here is small comfort of outlook.
And then the Saxons, at Kromau or wherever they may
be: no end of trouble and vexation with these Saxons. Their
quarters are not fairly allotted, they say; we make exchange
of quarters, without improvement noticeable. "One fine day,
"on some slight alarm, they came rushing over to us, all in
"panic; ruined, merely by Pandour noises, had not we
"inarched them back, and reinstated them. " Friedrich sends
* CEuvres, xvii. 163, &c.
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? 156 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book xm.
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
to Silesia for reinforcements of his own, which he can depend
upon. Sends to Silesia, to Glatz and the Young Dessauer;
-- nay to Brandenburg and the Old Dessauer, ultimately.
Finding Roth would not yield, he has sent to Dresden for
Siege Artillery: Polish Majesty there, titular "King of Mo-
ravia," answers that he cannot meet the expense of carriage.
"He had just purchased a green diamond which would have
"carried them thither and back again:" What can be done
with such a man? -- And by this time, early in March, Hunga-
rian "Moriamur pro liege" begins to show itself. Clouds of
Hungarian Insurgents, of the Tolpatch, Pandour sort, mount
over the Carpathians on us, all round the east, from south to
north; and threaten to penetrate Silesia itself. So that we
have to sweep laboriously the Morawa-Taya Valleys; and
undertake first one and then another outroad, or sharp swift
sally, against those troublesome barbarians.
And more serious still, Prince Karl and the regular Army,
quickened by such Khevenhiiller-Barenklau successes in the
Donau Countries, are beginning to stir. Prince Karl, re-
turning from Vienna and its consultations, took command,
4th March; * with whom has come old Graf von Konigseck,
an experienced head to advise with; Prince Karl is in motion,
skirting us southward, about Waidhofen, where Lobkowitz
lay waiting him with Magazines ready. Rumour says, the
force in those parts is already 40,000, with more daily coming
in. Friedrich has of his own, apart from the Saxons, some
24,000. Prince Karl, with so many heavy troops, and with
unlimited supply of light, is very capable of doing mischief:
he has orders (and Friedrich now knows of it) To go in upon
us; -- such their decision in Secret Council at Vienna, on
the 25th of February last, That he must go and fight us: --
"Better we met him with fewer thrums on our hands! " thinks
Friedrich; and beckons the Old Dessauer out of Brandenburg
withal. "Swift, your Serenity; hitherward with 20,000!
Which the Old Dessauer (having 30,000 to pick from, late
Camp-of-G6ttin people) at once sets about. Will be a secu-
rity, in any event! ** To finish with Brtinn, Friedrich has sent
for Siege-Artillery of his own; he urges Chevalier de Saxe to
close with him round Briinn, and batter it energetically into
* Helden-Geschichle, ii. 557.
** Orlich, i. 221: Date of the Order, "13th March 1742. "
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? chap. X. ] MORAVIAN FORAY. 157
30th March 1742.
swift surrender. Is it not the one thing needful? Chevalier
de Saxe admits, half - promises; does not perform. Being
again urged, Why have not you performed? he answers,
"Alas, your Majesty, here are Orders for me to join Marshal
Broglio at Prag, and retire altogether out of this! "
"Altogether out of it," thinks Friedrich to himself: "may
all the Powers be thanked! Then I too, without disgrace, can
go altogether out of it; -- and it shall be a sharp eye that sees
me in joint-stock with you again, M. le Chevalier. " Friedrich
has written in his History, and Valori used to hear him often
say in words, Never were tidings welcomer than these, that
the Saxons were about to desert him in this manner. Go;
and may all the Devils -- But we will not fall into profane
swearing. It is proper to get out of this Enterprise at one's
best speed, and never get into the like of it again! Friedrich
(on this strange Saxon revelation, 30th March) takes instant
order for assembling at Wischau again, for departing towards
Olmiitz; thence homewards, with deliberate celerity, by the
Landskron mountain-country, Tribau, Zwittau, Leutomischl,
and the way he came. He has countermanded his Silesian
reinforcements; these and the rest shall rendezvous at Chru-
dim in Bohemia; whitherwards the Two Dessauers are bound:
-- in Briinn, with its wrecked environs, famed Spielberg
looking down from its conical height, and sixteen villages in
ashes, Roth shall do his own way henceforth.
The Saxons pushed straight homewards; did not
"rejoin Broglio," rejoin anybody,-- had, in fact, done
with this First Silesian War, as it proved; and were
ready for the opposite side, on a Second falling out!
Their march, this time, was long and harassing, --
sad bloody passage in it, from Pandours and hostile
Village-people, almost at starting, "four Companies of
"our Rearguard cut down to nine men; Village burnt,
"and Villagers exterminated (sic), by the rescuing
"party. " * They arrived at Leitmeritz and their own
Border, "hardly above 8,000 effective. " Naturally, in
* Details in Helden-Geschichle, ii. 606: in &c. &c.
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? 158 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
30th March 1742.
a highly indignant humour; and much disposed to
blame somebody. To the poor Polish Non- Moravian
Majesty, enlightened by his Briihls and Staff-Officers,
it became a fixed truth that the blame was all Fried-
rich's, -- "starving us, marching us about! " -- that
Friedrich's conduct to us was abominable, and deserved
fixed resentment. Which accordingly it got, from the
simple Polish Majesty, otherwise a good-natured crea-
ture; -- got, and kept.
Year). * * "A day or two after this" (no matter what), "I
went to the German Play, the only spectacle which is yet
"fairly afoot in Berlin. In passing in, I noticed the Duchess
"Dowager of Wiirtemberg, who had arrived, during my
"absence, with a numerous and brilliant suite, as well to
"salute the King and the Queens" (King off, on his Moravian
Business, before she came), "and to unite herself more in-
"timately with our Court, as to see the Three Princes her
"Children settled in their new place, where, by consent of
"the States of Wiirtemberg, they are to be educatedhence-
"forth.
"As I had not yet had myself presented to the Duchess, I
"did not presume to approach too near, and passed up into
"the Theatre. But she noticed me in the side-scenes; asked
"who I was" (such a handsome fashionable fellow), "and
"sent me order to come immediately and pay my respects.
"To be sure, I did so; was most graciously received; and, of
"course, called early next day at her Palace. Her Grrand-
"Chamberlain had appointed me the hour of noon. He now
"introduced me accordingly: bnt what was my surprise to find
"the Princess in bed; in a negligee all new from the laundress,
"and the gallantest that art could imagine! On a table, ready
"to her hand, at the dossier or bed-head, stood a little Basin
"silver-gilt, filled with Holy Water: the rest was decorated
"with extremely precious Relics, with a Crucifix, and a Rosary
"of rock-crystal. Her dress, the cushions, quilt, all was of
"Marseilles stuff, in the finest series of colours, garnished
"with superb lace. Her cap was of Alen^on lace, knotted
"with a ribbon of green and gold. Figure to yourself,
"in this gallant deshabille, a charming Princess, who has
"all the wit, perfection of manner -- and is still only thirty-
"seven, with a beauty that was once so brilliant! Bound the
"celestial bed were courtiers, doctors, almoners, mostly in
"devotional postures; the three young Princes; and a Dame
"d'Atours, who seemed to look slightly ennuyee or bored. " I
had the honour to kiss her Serene Highness's hand, and
to talk a great many peppered insipidities suitable to the
Dinner followed, more properly supper, with lights
kindled: "Only I cannot dress, you know," her High-
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? CHAP. IX. ] WILHELMINA AT THE FRANKFURT GAIETIES. 145
31st Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
ness had said; "I never do, except for the Queen-
Mother's parties;" -- and rang for her maids. So that
you are led out to the Anteroom, and go grinning
about, till a new and still more charming deshabille
be completed, and her most Serene Highness can receive
you again: "Now Messieurs! Pshaw, one is always
stupid, no esprit at all except by candle-light! " --
After which, such a dinner, unmatchable for elegance,
for exquisite gastronomy, for Attic-Paphian brilliancy
and charm! And indeed there followed hereupon, for
weeks on weeks, a series of such unmatchable little
dinners; chief parts, under that charming Presidency,
being done by "Grand Chamberlain Baron de" Some-
thing-or-other, "by your humble servant Bielfeld, M.
"Jordan, and a Marquis d'Argens, famous Provencal
"gentleman now in the suite of her Highness:"* --
feasts of the Barmecide, I much doubt, poor Bielfeld
being in this Chapter very fantastic, misdateinl to a
mad extent; and otherwise, except as to general effect,
worth little serious belief.
We shall meet this Paphian Dowager again (Cru-
cifix and Myrtle joined); meet especially her D'Argens,
and her Three little Princes more or less; -- where-
fore, mark slightly (besides the d'Argens as above):
"1 ? . The Eldest little Prince, Karl Eugen; made'Reigning-
"Duke' within three years hence" (Mamma falling into trouble
with the Stande): "a man still gloomily famous in Germany"
(Poet Schiller's Duke of Wiirtemberg), "of inarticulate, ex-
"tremely arbitrary turn -- married Wilhelmina's Daughter
"by and by" (with horrible usage of her); "and otherwise
"gave Friedrich and the world cause to think of him.
"2? . The Second little Prince, Friedrich Eugen, Prussian
"(General of some mark, who will incidentally turn up again.
* Bielfeld, ii. 74-78.
Carlijle, Frederick the Great. V1U 10
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? 146 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XHT.
31st Jan. --12th Feb. 1742.
"He was afterwards Successor to the Dukedom" (Karl Eugen
dying childless); "and married his Daughter to Paul of Rus-
"sia, from whom descend the Autocrats there to this day.
"3? . Youngest little Prince, Ludwig Eugen, a respectable
'' Prussian Officer, and later a French one: he is that' Due de
"Wirtemberg' who corresponds with Voltaire" (inscrutable
to readers, in most of the Editions); "and need not be men-
"tioned farther. "*
But enough of all this. It is time we were in
Mahren, where the Expedition must be blazing well
ahead, if things have gone as expected.
* See Michaelis, iii. 449; Preuss. i. 476; &c. &c.
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? CHAP. X. ] MORAVIAN FORAY. 147
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
CHAPTER X.
FRIEDRICH DOES IIIS MORAVIAN EXPEDITION, WHICH
PROVES A MERE MORAVIAN FORAY.
While these Coronation splendours had been going
on, Friedrich, in the Moravian regions, was making
experiences of a rather painful kind; his Expedition
prospering there far otherwise than he had expected.
This winter Expedition to Mahren was one of the first
Friedrich had ever undertaken on the Joint-stock Prin-
ciple; and it proved of a kind rather to disgust him
with that method in affairs of war.
A deeply disappointing Expedition. The country
hereabouts was in bad posture of defence; nothing be-
tween us and Vienna itself, in a manner. Rushing
briskly forward, living on the country where needful,
on that Iglau Magazine, on one's own Sechelles re-
sources; rushing on, with the Saxons, with the French,
emulous on the right hand and the left, a Captain like
Friedrich might have gone far; Vienna itself, -- who
knows! -- not yet quite beyond the reach of'him.
Here was a way to check Khevenhuller in his Bavarian
Operations, and whirl him back, doublequick, for an-
other object nearer home! -- But, alas, neither the
Saxons nor the French would rush on, in the least
emulous. The Saxons dragged heavily arear; the
French Detachment (a poor 5,000 under Polastron, all
that a captious Broglio could be persuaded to grant)
would not rush at all, but paused on the very frontier
of Moravia, Broglio so ordering, and there hung supine,
or indeed went home.
10*
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? 148 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
Friedrich remonstrated, argued, turned back to en-
courage; but it was in vain. The Saxon Bastard
Princes "lived for days in any Schloss they found
comfortable;" complaining always that there was no
victual for their Troops; that the Prussians, always
ahead, had eaten the country. No end to haggling;
and, except on Friedrich's part, no hearty beginning to
real business. "If you wish at all to be 'King of
Moravia,' what is this! " thinks Friedrich justly.
Broglio, too, was unmanageable, -- piqued. that
Valori, not Broglio, had started the thing; -- showed
himself captious, dark, hysterically effervescent, now
over-cautious, and again capable of rushing blindly
headlong.
To Broglio the fact at Linz, which everybody
saw to be momentous, was overwhelming. Magnanimous
Se'gur, and his Linz "all wedged with beams," what a
road have they gone! Said so valiantly they would
make defence; and did it, scarcely for four days: Ja-
nuary 24th; before this Expedition could begin! True,
M. le Mare'chal, too true: -- and is that a reason for
hanging back in this Mahren Business: or for pushing
on in it, double-quick, with all one's strength? "But
our Conquests on the Donau," thinks Broglio, "what
will become of them, -- and of us! " To Broglio,
justly apprehensive about his own posture at Prag and
on the Donau, there never was such a chance of at
once raking back all Austrians homewards, post-haste
out of those countries. But Broglio could by no means
see it so, -- headstrong, blusterous, over-cautious and
hysterically headlong old gentleman; whose conduct at
Prag here brought Strasburg vividly to Friedrich's me-
mory. Upon which, as upon the ghost of Broglio's
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? CHAP. x. ] MORAVIAN FORAY. 149
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
Breeches, Valori had to hear "incessant sarcasms" at.
this time.
In a word, from February 5th, when Friedrich, ac-
cording to bargain, rendezvoused his Prussians at
Wischau to begin this Expedition, till April 5th, when
he re-rendezvoused them (at the same Wischau, as
chanced) for the purpose of ending it and going home,
-- Friedrich, wrestling his utmost with Human Stupid-
ity, "mit der Dummheit" (as Schiller sonorously says),
"against which the very gods are unvictorious," had
probably two of the most provoking months of his Life,
or of this First Silesian War, which was fruitful in
such to him. For the common cause he accomplished
nearly nothing by this Moravian Expedition. But, to
his own mind, it was rich in experiences, as to the
Joint-stock Principle, as to the Partners he now had.
And it doubtless quickened his steps towards getting
personally out of this imbroglio of big French-German
Wars, -- home to Berlin, with Peace and Silesia in his
pocket, -- which had all along been the goal of his
endeavours. As a feat of war it is by no means worth
detailing, in this place, -- though succinct Stille, and
bulkier German Books give lucid account, should any-
body chance to be curious. * Only under the other
aspect, as Friedrich's experience of Partnership, and
especially of his now Partners, are present readers
concerned to have, in brief form, some intelligible
notion of it.
Jglau is got, hut not the Magazine at Iglau.
Friedrich was punctual at Wischau; Headquarters there
(midway between Olmiitz and Briinn), Prussians all assembled,
* Stille, Campaigns of the King of Prussia, i. 1-55; HeUen-Geschichte,
ii-548-611; (Euvrcs tie Frediric, il. 110-114; Orlich, ii. ; &c. &o.
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? 150 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
5th February 1742. Wischau is some eighty miles east or
inward of Iglau; the French and Saxons are to meet us about
Trebitsch, a couple of marches from that Teutschbrod of
theirs, and well within one march of Iglau, on our route
thither. The French and Saxons are at Trebitsch, accord-
ingly; but their minds and will seem to be far elsewhere.
Rutowsky and the Chevalier de Saxe command the Saxons
(20,000 strong on paper, 16,000 in reality); Comte de Po-
lastron the French, who are 5,000, all Horse. Along with
whom, professedly as French Volunteer, has come the Comte
de Saxe, capricious Maurice (Mare'chal de Saxe that will be),
who has always viewed this Expedition with disfavour. Ex-
cellency Valori is with the French Detachment, or rather poor
Valori is everywhere; running about, from quarter to quarter,
sometimes to Prag itself; assiduous to heal rents everywhere;
clapping cement into manifold cracks, from day to day.
Through Valori we get some interesting glimpses into the
secret Tiumours and manoeuvres of Comte Maurice. It is
known otherwise Comte Maurice was no friend to Belleisle,
but looked for his promotion from the opposite or Noailles
party, in the French Court: at present, as Valori perceives,
he has got the ear of Broglio, and put much sad stuff into the
loud foolish mind of him.
To these Saxon gentlemen, being Bastard-Royal and im-
portant to conciliate, Friedrich has in a highflown way
assigned the Schloss of Budischau for quarters, an excellent
superbly magnificent mansion in the neighbourhood of Tre-
bitsch, "nothing like it to be seen except in theatres, on the
"Drop-scene of The Enchanted Island;"* where they make
themselves so comfortable, says Friedrich, there is no getting
them roused to do anything for three days to come. And yet
the work is urgent, and plenty of it. "Iglau, first of all,"
urges Friedrich, "where the Austrians, 10,000 or so, under
Prince Lobkowitz, have posted themselves" (right flank of
that long straggle of Winter Cantonments, which goes left-
wards to Budweis and farther), "and made Magazines: pos-
session of Iglau is the foundation-stone of our affairs. And if we
would have Iglau with the Magazines and not without, surely
there is not a moment to be wasted! " In vain; the Saxon
* Stille, Campaigns, p. 14.
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? CHAP. X. ] MORAVIAN FORAY. 151
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
Bastard Princes feel themselves very comfortable. It was
Sunday, the 11th of February, when our function with them
was completed: and, instead of next morning early, it is Wed-
nesday afternoon before Prince Dietrich of Anhalt-Dessau,
with the Saxon and French party roused to join his Prussians
and him, can at last take the road for Iglau. Prince Dietrich
makes now the reverse of delay; marches all night,
"bivouacks in woods near Iglau," warming himself at stick-
fires till the day break; takes Iglau by merely marching into
it and scattering 2,000 Pandours, so soon as day has broken;
but finds the Magazines not there. Lobko witz carted off what
he could, then burnt "Seventeen Barns yesterday;" and is
himself off towards Budweis Headquarters and the Bohemian
bogs again. This comes of lodging Saxon royal gentlemen
too well.
The Saxons think Iglau enough; the French go home.
Nay, Iglau taken, the affair grows worse than ever. Our
Saxons now declare that they understand their orders to be
completed; that their Court did not mean them to march
farther, but only to hold by Iglau, a solid footing in Moravia,
which will suffice for the present. Fancy Friedrich; fancy
Valori, and the cracks he will have to fill! Friedrich, in
astonishment and indignation, sends a messenger to Dresden:
"Would the Polish Majesty he' King of Moravia,' then, or not
be? " Remonstrances at Budischau rise higher and higher;
Valori, to prevent total explosion, flies over once, in the dead
of the night, to deal with Rutowsky and Brothers. Rutowsky
himself seems partly persuadable, though dreadfully ill of
rheumatism. They rouse Comte Maurice; and Valori, by
this Comte's caprices, is driven out of patience. "He talked
"with a flippant sophistry, almost with an insolence," says
Valori; "nay, at last, he made me a gesture in speaking," --
what gesture, thumb to nose, or what, the shuddering imagi-
nation dare not guess! But Valori, nettled to the quick,
"repeated it," and otherwise gave him as good as he brought.
"He ended by a gesture which displeased me" "and
"went to bed.
"* This is the night of February 18th; third
night after Iglau was had, and the Magazines in it gone to
ashes. Which the Saxons think is conquest enough.
* Valori, i. 148,149.
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? 152 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book xm.
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
Poor Polish Majesty, -- poor Karl Albert, above all, now
"Kaiser Karl VII. ," with nothing but those French for breath
to his nostrils! With his fine French Army of the Oriflamme,
Karl Albert should have pushed along last Autumn; and not
merely "read the Paper" which Friedrich sent him to that
effect, " and then laid it aside. " They will never have another
chance, his French and he, -- unless we call this again a
chance; which they are again squandering! Linz went by
capitulation; January 24th, the very day of one's "Election
as they called it: and ever since that day of Linz, the series
of disasters has continued rapid and uniform in those parts.
Linz gone, the rest of the French posts did not even wait to
capitulate; but crackled all off, they and our Conquests on
the Donau, like a train of gun-powder, and left the ground
bare. And General von Barenklau (Bear's-claw), with the
hideous fellow called Mentzel, Colonel of Pandours, they have
broken through into Bavaria itself, from the Tyrol; climbing
by Berchtesgaden and the wild Salzburg Mountains, regard-
less of Winter, and of poor Bavarian militia-folk; -- and have
taken Miinchen, one's very Capital, one's very House and
Home! -- Poor Karl Albert, -- and, what is again remarkable,
it was the very day while he was getting "crowned" at Frank-
furt, "with Oriental pomp," that Mentzel was about entering
Miinchen with his Pandours. * And this poor Archduke of the
Austrias, King of Bohemia, Kaiser of the Holy Romish Reich
Teutsch by Nation, is becoming Titular merely, and owns
next to nothing in these extensive Sovereignties. Judge if
there is not call for despatch on all sides! -- The Polish Ma-
jesty sent instant rather angry order to his Saxons, "Forward,
with you; what else! We would be King in Mahren! "
The Saxons then have to march forward; but we can fancy
with what a will. Rutowsky flings up his command on this
Order (let us hope, from rheumatism partly), and goes home;
leaving the Chevalier de Saxe to preside in room of him. As
for Polastron, he produces Order from Broglio, "Iglau got,
return straightway;" must and will cross over into Bohemia
again; and does. Nay, the Comtede Saxe had, privately in
his pocket, a Commission to supersede Polastron, and take
command himself, should Polastron make difficulties about
* Coronation was February 12th; Capitulation to Mentzel, "Miinchen,
February 13th," is in Guerre de Bohime, ii. 56-59.
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? CHAP. x. l MORAVIAN FORAY. 153
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
turning back. Poor Pola8tron made no difficulties: Maurice
and he vanish accordingly from this Adventure, and only
the unwilling Saxons remain with Friedrich. Poor Polastron
("a poor weak creature," says Friedrich, "fitter for his bre-
"viary than anything else") fell sick, from the hardships of
campaigning; and soon diea, in those Bohemian parts. Mau-
rice i3 heard of, some weeks hence, besieging Eger; -- very
handsomely capturing Eger: * -- on which service Broglio
had ordered him after his return. The former Commandant
of the Siege, not very progressive, had just died; and Broglio,
with reason (all the more for his late Moravian procedures)
was passionate to have done there. One of the first auspicious
exploits of Maurice, that of Eger; which paved the way to his
French fortunes, and more or less sublime glories, in this War.
Friedrich recognised his ingenuities, impetuosities, and supe-
rior talent in war; wrote highflown Letters of praises, now
and then, in years coming; but, we may guess, would hardly
wish to meet Maurice in the way of joint-stock business
again.
Friedrich submerges the Moravian Countries; but cannot Briinn,
which is the indispensable point.
February 19th, these sad Iglau matters once settled, Frie-
drich, followed by the Saxons, plunges forward into Moravia;
spreads himself over the country, levying heavy contribu-
tions , with strict discipline nevertheless; intent to get hold of
Briinn and its Spielberg, if he could. Briinn is the strong
place of Moravia; has a garrison of 6 or 7,000; still better,
has the valiant Roth, whom we knew in Neisse once, for Com-
mandant: Briinn will not be had gratis.
Schwerin, with a Detachment of 5,000 horse and foot, Po-
sadowsky, Ziethen, Schmettau Junior commanding under
him, has dashed along far in the van; towards Upper Austria,
through the Town of Horn, towards Vienna itself; levying,
he also, heavy contributions, -- with a hand of iron, and not
much of a glove on it, as we judge. There is a grim enough
Proclamation (in the name of a "frightfully injured Kaiser,"
as well as Kaiser's Ally), still extant, bearing Sehwerin's
signature, and the date "Stein, 26th February 1712. " ** Stein
* 19th April 1742 (Guerre de Boheme, ii. 78-85).
** In Helden-Geschichte, ii. 556.
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? 154 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
is on the Donau, a mile or two from Krems, and twice as far
from Mautern, where the now Kaiser was in Autumn last.
Forty and odd miles short of Vienna: this proved thePisgah
of Schwerin in that direction, as it had done of Karl Albert.
Ziethen with his Hussars coursed some 20 miles farther, on the
Vienna Highway; and got the length of Stockerau; a small
Town, notable slightly, ever since, as the Prussian Nan-plus-
ultra in that line.
Meanwhile, Prince Lobkowitz is rallying; has quitted
Budweis and the Bohemian Bogs, for some check of these
insolences. Lobkowitz, rallying to himself what Vienna force
there is, comes, now in good strength, to Waidhofen (rearward
of Horn, far rearward of Stein and Stockerau), so that Ziethen
and Schwerin have to draw homeward again. Lobkowitz
fortifies himself in Waidhofen; gathers Magazines there, as if
towards weightier enterprises. For indeed much is rallying,
in a dangerous manner; and Moravia is now far other than
when Friedrich planned this Expedition. And at Vienna,
25th February last, there was held Secret Council, and (much
to Robinson's regret) a quite high Resolution come to, --
which Friedrich gets to know of, and does not forget again.
The Saxnns have no Cannon for Briinn, cannot afford any; there
is a high Resolution taken at Vienna (February 25th): Fried-
rich quits the Moravian Enterprise.
Friedrich keeps his Headquarter, all this while, closer and
closer upon Briinn. First, chiefly at a Town called Znaim,
on the River Taya; many-branched river, draining all those
North-western parts; which sends its winding waters down to
Presburg, -- latterly in junction with those of the Morawa
from North, which washes Olmiitz, drains the Northern and
Eastern parts, and gives the Country its name of "Moravia. "
Briinn lies north-east of Friedrich, while in Znaim, some fifty
miles; the Saxon headquarter is at Kromau, midway towards
that City. After Znaim, he shifts inward, to Selowitz, still
in the same Taya Valley, but much nearer Briinn; and there
continues. *
Striving hard for Briinn; striving hard, under difficulties,
* At Znaim, 19th February -- 9th March; at Selowitz, 13th March --
5th April (ROdenbeck, i. 65).
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? CHAP. X. ]| MORAVIAN FORAY. 155
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
for so many things distant and near; we may fancy him busy
enough; -- and are surprised at the fractions of light Jordan
Correspondence which he still finds time for. Pretty bits of
Letters, in prose and doggerel, from and to those Moravian
Villages; Jordan, "twicea week," bearing the main weight;
Friedrich, oftener than one could hope, flinging some word
of answer, -- very intent on Berlin gossip, we can notice.
"Vattel is still here, your Majesty,"* insinuates Jordan: --
young Vattel, afterwards of the Droit des Genu, whom his Ma-
jesty might have kept, but did not. -- What more of your
D'Argens, then; anything in your D'Argens? Friedrich will
ask. "For certain, D'Argens is full of esprit," answers Jordan,
in a dextrous way; and How the Effulgent of Wiirtemberg
"has quarrelled outright with her D'Argens, and will not eat
off silver (d' argent), lest she have to name him by accident! "
-- with other gossip, in a fine brief airy form, at which Jordan
excels. Cheering the rare leisure hour, in one's Tent at Selo-
witz, Pohrlitz, Irrlitz, far away! -- There are also orders
about Cicero and Books. Of Business for most part, or of pri-
vate feelings, nothing: Berlin gossip, and Books for one's
reading, are the staple. But to return.
Out from Headquarters, diligent operations shoot forth,
far enough, along those Taya-Morawa Valleys, where Hunga-
rian "Insurgents" are beginning to be dangerous. South of
Briinn, all round Briinn, are diligent operations, frequent
skirmishings, constant strict levyings of contributions. The
saving operation, Friedrich well sees, would be to get hold of
Briinn: but, unluckily, How? Vigilant Both scorns all sum-
moning; sallies continually in a dangerous manner; and at
length, when closer pressed, burns all the Villages round him:
"we counted as many as sixteen villages laid in ashes," says
Friedrich. Here is small comfort of outlook.
And then the Saxons, at Kromau or wherever they may
be: no end of trouble and vexation with these Saxons. Their
quarters are not fairly allotted, they say; we make exchange
of quarters, without improvement noticeable. "One fine day,
"on some slight alarm, they came rushing over to us, all in
"panic; ruined, merely by Pandour noises, had not we
"inarched them back, and reinstated them. " Friedrich sends
* CEuvres, xvii. 163, &c.
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? 156 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book xm.
5th Feb. --5th April 1742.
to Silesia for reinforcements of his own, which he can depend
upon. Sends to Silesia, to Glatz and the Young Dessauer;
-- nay to Brandenburg and the Old Dessauer, ultimately.
Finding Roth would not yield, he has sent to Dresden for
Siege Artillery: Polish Majesty there, titular "King of Mo-
ravia," answers that he cannot meet the expense of carriage.
"He had just purchased a green diamond which would have
"carried them thither and back again:" What can be done
with such a man? -- And by this time, early in March, Hunga-
rian "Moriamur pro liege" begins to show itself. Clouds of
Hungarian Insurgents, of the Tolpatch, Pandour sort, mount
over the Carpathians on us, all round the east, from south to
north; and threaten to penetrate Silesia itself. So that we
have to sweep laboriously the Morawa-Taya Valleys; and
undertake first one and then another outroad, or sharp swift
sally, against those troublesome barbarians.
And more serious still, Prince Karl and the regular Army,
quickened by such Khevenhiiller-Barenklau successes in the
Donau Countries, are beginning to stir. Prince Karl, re-
turning from Vienna and its consultations, took command,
4th March; * with whom has come old Graf von Konigseck,
an experienced head to advise with; Prince Karl is in motion,
skirting us southward, about Waidhofen, where Lobkowitz
lay waiting him with Magazines ready. Rumour says, the
force in those parts is already 40,000, with more daily coming
in. Friedrich has of his own, apart from the Saxons, some
24,000. Prince Karl, with so many heavy troops, and with
unlimited supply of light, is very capable of doing mischief:
he has orders (and Friedrich now knows of it) To go in upon
us; -- such their decision in Secret Council at Vienna, on
the 25th of February last, That he must go and fight us: --
"Better we met him with fewer thrums on our hands! " thinks
Friedrich; and beckons the Old Dessauer out of Brandenburg
withal. "Swift, your Serenity; hitherward with 20,000!
Which the Old Dessauer (having 30,000 to pick from, late
Camp-of-G6ttin people) at once sets about. Will be a secu-
rity, in any event! ** To finish with Brtinn, Friedrich has sent
for Siege-Artillery of his own; he urges Chevalier de Saxe to
close with him round Briinn, and batter it energetically into
* Helden-Geschichle, ii. 557.
** Orlich, i. 221: Date of the Order, "13th March 1742. "
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? chap. X. ] MORAVIAN FORAY. 157
30th March 1742.
swift surrender. Is it not the one thing needful? Chevalier
de Saxe admits, half - promises; does not perform. Being
again urged, Why have not you performed? he answers,
"Alas, your Majesty, here are Orders for me to join Marshal
Broglio at Prag, and retire altogether out of this! "
"Altogether out of it," thinks Friedrich to himself: "may
all the Powers be thanked! Then I too, without disgrace, can
go altogether out of it; -- and it shall be a sharp eye that sees
me in joint-stock with you again, M. le Chevalier. " Friedrich
has written in his History, and Valori used to hear him often
say in words, Never were tidings welcomer than these, that
the Saxons were about to desert him in this manner. Go;
and may all the Devils -- But we will not fall into profane
swearing. It is proper to get out of this Enterprise at one's
best speed, and never get into the like of it again! Friedrich
(on this strange Saxon revelation, 30th March) takes instant
order for assembling at Wischau again, for departing towards
Olmiitz; thence homewards, with deliberate celerity, by the
Landskron mountain-country, Tribau, Zwittau, Leutomischl,
and the way he came. He has countermanded his Silesian
reinforcements; these and the rest shall rendezvous at Chru-
dim in Bohemia; whitherwards the Two Dessauers are bound:
-- in Briinn, with its wrecked environs, famed Spielberg
looking down from its conical height, and sixteen villages in
ashes, Roth shall do his own way henceforth.
The Saxons pushed straight homewards; did not
"rejoin Broglio," rejoin anybody,-- had, in fact, done
with this First Silesian War, as it proved; and were
ready for the opposite side, on a Second falling out!
Their march, this time, was long and harassing, --
sad bloody passage in it, from Pandours and hostile
Village-people, almost at starting, "four Companies of
"our Rearguard cut down to nine men; Village burnt,
"and Villagers exterminated (sic), by the rescuing
"party. " * They arrived at Leitmeritz and their own
Border, "hardly above 8,000 effective. " Naturally, in
* Details in Helden-Geschichle, ii. 606: in &c. &c.
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? 158 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
30th March 1742.
a highly indignant humour; and much disposed to
blame somebody. To the poor Polish Non- Moravian
Majesty, enlightened by his Briihls and Staff-Officers,
it became a fixed truth that the blame was all Fried-
rich's, -- "starving us, marching us about! " -- that
Friedrich's conduct to us was abominable, and deserved
fixed resentment. Which accordingly it got, from the
simple Polish Majesty, otherwise a good-natured crea-
ture; -- got, and kept.
