Friedrich Wilhelm feels this sad contrast very much;
the more, as the soldier is his own chattel withal, and
of superlative inches: Friedrich Wilhelm flames up into
wrath; sends off swift messengers to bring these Judges,
one and all, instantly into his presence.
the more, as the soldier is his own chattel withal, and
of superlative inches: Friedrich Wilhelm flames up into
wrath; sends off swift messengers to bring these Judges,
one and all, instantly into his presence.
Thomas Carlyle
"decide on the weal or woe of Europe, and give law
"to the Nation,"* -- in a manner! Which Wilhel-
mina did not think a celestial prospect even then.
Who knows but, of all the offers she had, "four" or
three "crowned heads" among them, this final modest
honest one may be intrinsically the best? Take your
portion, if inevitable, and be thankful! --
The Betrothal follows in about a week; Sunday,
3d June 1731; with great magnificence, in presence of
the high guests and all the world: and Wilhelmina is
the affianced Bride of Friedrich of Baireuth: -- and
that enormous Double-Marriage Tragicomedy, of Much
Ado about Nothing, is at last ended. Courage, friends;
all things do end! --
The high guests hereupon go their ways again;
and the Court of Berlin, one cannot but suppose, col-
lapses, as after a great effort finished. Do not Fried-
rich Wilhelm and innumerable persons, -- the readers
and the writer of this History included, -- feel a stone
rolled off their hearts? -- It is now, and not till now,
that Queen Sophie falls sick, and like to die; and
reproaches Wilhelmina with killing her. Friedrich
Wilhelm hopes confidently, not; waits out at Potsdam,
for a few days, till this killing danger pass; then de-
parts, with double impetuosity, for Preussen, and
despatch of Public Business; such a mountain of Do-
mestic Business being victoriously got under.
Poor King, his life, this long while, has been a
series of earthquakes and titanic convulsions. Narrow
Wilhelmina, i. 143.
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? 140 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [bOOKTOI
June 1731.
miss he has had, of pulling down his house about his
ears, and burying self, son, wife, family and fortunes,
under the ruin-heap, -- a monument to remote pos-
terity. Never was such an enchanted dance, of well-
intentioned Royal Bear with poetic temperament, piped
to by two black-artists, for the Kaiser's and Pragmatic
Sanction's sake! Let Tobacco-Parliament also rejoice;
for truly the play was growing dangerous, of late. King
and Parliament, we may suppose, return to Public
Business with double vigour.
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? CHAP. IV. ] CRIMINAL JUSTICE IK PREUSSEN. 141
June 1731.
CHAPTER IV.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE, IN PREUSSEN AND ELSEWHERE.
Not that his Majesty, while at the deepest in do-
mestic intricacies, ever neglects Public Business. This
very summer, he is raising Hussar Squadrons; bent to
introduce the Hussar kind of soldiery into his Army;
-- a good deal of horse-breaking and new sabre-exer-
cise, needed for that object. * The affairs of the Reich
have at no moment been out of his eye;-- glad to see
the Kaiser edging round to the Sea-Powers again, and
things coming into their old posture, in spite of that
sad Treaty of Seville.
Nay, for the last two years, while the domestic vol-
canoes were at their worst, his Majesty has been ex-
tensively dealing with a new question which has risen,
that of the Salzburg Protestants; concerning which we
shall hear more anon. Far and wide, in the Diets and
elsewhere, he has been diligently, piously and with
solid judgment, handling this question of the poor Salz-
burgers; and has even stored up moneys in intended
solace of them (for he foresees what the end will be);
-- moneys which, it appears about this time, a certain Official over in Preussen has been peculating! In the
end of June, his Majesty sets off to Preussen on the
usual Inspection Tour; which we should not mention,
? Fassmann, pp. 417-418.
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? 142 CROWN-PRISfCE RETRIEVED. [book Tin,
July 1731.
were it not in regard to that same Official, and to some-
thing very rhadamanthine and particular which befel
him; significant of what his Majesty can do in the way
of prompt justice.
Case of Schlubhut.
The Konigsberg Domain-Board (Kriegs- und Do-
manen-Kammer)\\$A fallen awry, in various points, of
late; several things known to be out at elbows in that
Country; the Kammer Raths evidently lax at their
post; for which reason they have been sharply ques-
tioned, and shaken by the collar, so to speak. Nay
there is one Rath, a so-called Nobleman of those parts,
by name Schlubhut, who has been found actually de-
faulting; peculating from that pious hoard intended for
the Salzburgers: -- he is proved, and confesses, to
have put into his own scandalous purse no less than
11,000 thalers, some say 30,000 (almost 5,0001. ),
which belonged to the Public Treasury and the Salz-
burg Protestants! These things, especially this latter
unheard-of Schlubhut thing, the Supreme Court at
Berlin (Criminal-Collegium) have been sitting on, for
some time; and, in regard to Schlubhut, they have
brought out a result, which Friedrich Wilhelm not a
little admires at. Schlubhut clearly guilty of the de-
falcation, say they; but he has moneys, landed pro-
perties: let him refund, principal and interest; and have,
say, three or four years' imprisonment, by way of me-
mento. "Years' imprisonment? Refund? Is theft in
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? cHap. it. ] criminal justice in precssen. 143
July 1781.
the highest quarters a thing to be let off for refunding? "
growls his Majesty; and will not confirm this sentence
of his Criminal-Collegium; but leaves it till he get to
the spot, and see with his own eyes. Schlubhut, in
arrest or mild confinement all this while, ought to be
bethinking himself more than he is!
Once on the spot, judge if the KOnigsberg Domain-
Kammer had not a stiff muster to pass; especially if
Schlubhut's drill-exercise was gentle! Schlubhut, sum-
moned to private interview with his Majesty, carries
his head higher than could be looked for: Is very
sorry; knows not how it happened; meant always to
refund; will refund, to the last penny, and make all
good. -- "Refund? Does He (Er) know what stealing
means, then? How the commonest convicted private
thief finds the gallows his portion; much more a public
magistrate convicted of theft? Is He aware that He,
in a very especial manner, deserves hanging, then? "
-- Schlubhut looks offended dignity; conscious of rank,
if also of quasi-theft: "Es ist nicht Manier (it is not the
"polite thing) to hang a Prussian Nobleman on those
"light terms! " answers Schlubhut, high-mannered at
the wrong time: "I can and will pay the money back! "
-- Noble-man? Money back? "I will none of His
scoundrelly money. " To strait Prison with this
Schurke! -- And thither he goes accordingly: unhap-
piest of mortals; to be conscious of rank, not at the
right place, when about to steal the money, but at the
wrong, when answering to Rhadamanthus on it!
And there, sure enough, Schlubhut lies, in his pri-
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? 144 CROWN-PRIXCE RETRIEVED. [book VIII.
July 1731.
son on the Schlossplatz, or Castle Square, of Konigs-
berg, all night; and hears, close by the Domdnen-
Kammer, which is in the same Square, Domanen-Kammer
-where his Office used to be, a terrible sound of car-
pentering go on; -- unhappiest of Prussian Noblemen.
And in the morning, see, a high gallows built; close
in upon the Domain-Kammer, looking into the very
windows of it: -- and there, sure enough, the unfor-
tunate Schlubhut dies the thiefs death, few hours hence;
speaking or thinking what, no man reports to me.
Death was certain for him; inevitable as fate. And so
he vibrates there, admonitory to the other Paths, for
days, -- some say for weeks, -- till by humble peti-
tion they got the gallows removed. The stumps of it,
sawed close by the stones, were long after visible in
that Schlossplatz of Konigsberg. Here is prompt justice
with a witness! Did readers ever hear of such a thing?
There is no doubt about the fact,* -- though in all
Prussian Books it is loosely smeared over, without the
least precision of detail; and it was not till after long
searching that I could so much as get it dated: July
1731, while Friedrich Crown-Prince is still in eclipse
at Ciistrin, and some six weeks after Wilhelmina's be-
trothal. And here furthermore, direct from the then
Schlubhut precincts, is a stray Note, meteorological
chiefly; but worth picking up, since it is authentic.
"Wehlau," we observe, is on the road homewards
again, -- on our return from uttermost Memel, -- a
* Benekendorf (Anonymous): Karakterzllge au$ dem Leben K6nig Fried-
rich Wilhelm I. (Berlin, 1788), vii. 15-20. FBrster (ii. 268), &c. &c.
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? CHAP. IV. ] CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN PKETJSSEN. 145
July 1731.
day's journey hitherwards of that place, half a day's
thitherwards of Konigsberg:
"Tuesday 10th July 1731. King dining with General
"Dockum atWehlau," -- where he had been again reviewing,
for about forty hours, all manner of regiments brought to
rendezvous there for the purpose, poor "General Katte with
"his regiment" among them; -- King at dinner with General
Dockum after all that, "took the resolution to be off to
"Konigsberg; and arrived here at the stroke of midnight, in
"a deluge of rain. " This brings us within a day, or two
days, of Schlubhut's death. Terrible "combat of Bisons
"ft/re, or Auerochsen, with such manes, suchheads), of two
"wild Bisons against six wild Bears," then ensued; and the
Schlubhut human tragedy; I know not in what sequence,--
rather conjecture the Schlubhut had gone first. Pillau, road
to Dantzig, on the narrow strip between the Frische Haf and
Baltic, is the next stage homewards; at Pillau, General
Finckenstein (excellent old Tutor of the Crown-Prince) is
Commandant; and expects his rapid Majesty, day and hour
given, to me not known. Majesty goes in three carriages;
Old Dessauer, Grumkow, Seckendorf, Ginkel are among his
suite; weather still very electric:
"AtFischhausen, half way to Pillau, Majesty had a bout
"of elk-hunting; killed sixty elks" (Melton-Mowbray may
consider it), -- " creatures of the deer sort, nimble as roes,
"but strong as bulls, and four palms higher than the biggest
"horse, -- to the astonishment of Seckendorf, Ginkel and the
"strangers there. Half-an-hour short of Pillau, furious electri-
"city again; thunderbolt shivered an oak-tree fifteen yards
"from Majesty's carriage. And at Pillau itself, the Battalion
"in Garrison there,drawn out in arms,by Count Finckenstein,
"to receive his Majesty" (rain over by this time, we can hope),
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. IV, 10
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? 146 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [boOKTOI,
July 1731.
"had suddenly to rush forward and take new ground; Frische "Haf, on some pressure from the elements, having suddenly
"gushed out, two hundred paces beyond its old watermark
"in that place. "*
Pillau, Fischhausen, -- this is where the excellent
old Adalbert stamped the earth with his life "in the
shape of a cross" eight hundred years ago: and these
are the new phenomena there! -- The General Dockum,
Colonel of Dragoons, whom his Majesty dined with at
Wehlau, got his death not many months after. One
of Dockum's Dragoon Lieutenants felt insulted at some-
thing, and demanded his discharge: discharge given, he
challenged Dockum, duel of pistols, and shot him dead. **
Nothing more to be said of Dockum, nor of that Lieute-
nant, in military annals.
Case of the Criminal-Collegium itself.
And thus was the error of the Criminal - Collegium
rectified in re Schlubhut. For it is not in name only,
but in fact, that this Sovereign is Supreme Judge, and
bears the sword in God's stead, -- interfering now and
then, when need is, in this terrible manner. In the
same dim authentic Benekendorf (himself a member of
the Criminal-Collegium in later times), and from him
in all the Books, is recorded another interference some-
what in the comic vein; which also we may give. Un-
disputed fact, again totally without precision or details;
? See Mauvlllon, 11. 293-297; -- correcting by Fassmann, p. 422.
<<? 7th April 1782 (Militair-Lexikon, 1. 365).
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? CHAT. IV. ] CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN PREUSSEN. 147
1731.
not even dateable, except that, on study, we perceive
it may have been before this Schlubhut's execution, and
after the Criminal-Collegium had committed their error
about him, -- must have been while this of Schlubhut
was still vividly in mind. Here is the imprecise but in-
dubitable fact, as the Prussian Dryasdust has left us
his smear of it:
"One morning early" (might be before Schlubhut
was hanged, and while only sentence of imprisonment
and restitution lay on him), General Graf von Donhof,
Colonel of a Musketeer regiment, favourite old soldier,
-- who did vote on the mild side in that Court-Martial
on the Crown-Prince lately; but I hope has been for-
given by his Majesty, being much esteemed by him
these long years past; -- this Donhof, early one morn-
ing, calls upon the King, with a grimly lamenting air.
"What is wrong, Herr General? " -- "Your Majesty,
my best musketeer, an excellent soldier and of good
inches, fell into a mistake lately, -- bad company
getting round the poor fellow; they, he among them,
slipt into a House and stole something; trifle and with-
out violence: pay is but three half-pence, your Majesty,
and the Devil tempts men! Well, the Criminal-Colle-
gium have condemned him to be hanged; an excellent
soldier and of good inches, for that one fault. Noble-
man Schlubhut was 'to make restitution,' they decreed:
that was their decree on Schlubhut, one of their own
set; and this poor soldier, six feet three, your Majesty,
is to dance on the top of nothing for a three-halfpenny
matter! " -- So would Donhof represent the thing, --
10*
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? 148 CROWK-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [BOOK VIII.
1731.
"fact being," says my Dryasdust, "it was a case of
"housebreaking with theft to the value of 6,000 thalers,
"and this musketeer the ringleader! " -- Well; but was
Schlubhut sentenced to hanging? Do you keep two
weights and two measures, in that Criminal-Collegium
of yours, then?
Friedrich Wilhelm feels this sad contrast very much;
the more, as the soldier is his own chattel withal, and
of superlative inches: Friedrich Wilhelm flames up into
wrath; sends off swift messengers to bring these Judges,
one and all, instantly into his presence. The Judges
are still in their dressing-gowns, shaving, breakfasting;
they make what haste they can. So soon as the first
three or four are reported to be in the anteroom, Fried-
rich Wilhelm, in extreme impatience, has them called
in; starts discoursing with them upon the two weights
and two measures. Apologies, subterfuges do but pro-
voke him farther; it is not long till he starts up, growl-
ing terribly: "lhr Schurken (Ye Scoundrels), how could
"you? " and smites down upon the crowns of them with
the Royal Cudgel itself. Fancy the hurry-scurry, the
unforensic attitudes and pleadings! Royal Cudgel rains
blows, right and left: blood is drawn, crowns cracked,
crowns nearly broken; and "several Judges lost a few
teeth, and had their noses battered," before they could
get out. The second relay meeting them in this dila-
pidated state, on the staircases, dashed home again
without the honour of a royal interview. * Let them
learn to keep one balance, and one set of weights, in
* Benckcndorf, vii. 83. Forster, li. 270.
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? CHAP. ry. J CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN PKETJSSEN. 149
1731.
their Law-Court henceforth. -- This is an actual scene,
of date Berlin 1731 or thereby; unusual in the annals
of Themis. Of which no constitutional country can
hope to see the fellow, were the need never so pressing.
-- I wish his Majesty had been a thought more equal,
when he was so rhadamanthine! Schlubhut he hanged,
Schlubhut being only Schlubhut's chattel; this mus-
keteer, his Majesty's own chattel, he did not hang, but
set him shouldering arms again, after some preliminary
dusting! --
His Majesty was always excessively severe on de-
falcations; any Chancellor with his Exchequer-bills gone
wrong, would have fared ill in that Country. One Trea-
sury dignitary, named Wilke (who had "dealt in tall
recruits," as a kind of bye trade, and played foul in
some slight measure), the King was clear for hanging:
his poor Wife galloped to Potsdam, shrieking mercy;
upon which Friedrich Wilhelm had him whipt by the
hangman, and stuck for life into Spandau. Still more
tragical was poor Hesse's case. Hesse, some Domain
Rath out at Konigsberg, concerned with moneys, was found with account-books in a state of confusion, and
several thousands short, when the outcome was cleared
up. What has become of these thousands, Sir? Poor
old Hesse could not tell: "God is my witness, no penny
of them ever stuck to me," asseverated poor old Hesse;
''but where they are--? My account-books are in such
a state; -- alas, and my poor old memory is not what
it was! " They brought him to Berlin; in the end they
actually hanged the poor old soul; -- and then after-
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? 150
[book Vin.
CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED.
1731.
wards in his dusty lumber-rooms, hidden in pots, stuffed
into this nook and that, most or all of the money was
found! * Date and document exist for all these cases,
though my Dryasdust gives none; and the cases are in-
dubitable; very rhadamanthine indeed. The soft quality
of mercy, -- ah yes, it is beautiful and blessed, when
permissible (though thrice-accursed, when not): but it is
on the hard quality of justice, first of all, that Empires
are built up, and beneficent and lasting things become
achievable to mankind, in this world! --
Skipper Jenkins in the Gulf of Florida.
A couple of weeks before Schlubhut's death, the
English Newspapers are somewhat astir, -- in the way
of narrative merely, as yet. Ship Rebecca, Captain
Robert Jenkins Master, had arrived in the Port of Lon-
don, with a strange story in her logbook. Of which,
after due sifting, this is accurately the substance:
"London, 23d-27(ft June 1731. Captain Jenkins left this
"Port with the Rebecca, several months ago; sailed to Jamai-
"ca, for a cargo of sugar. He took in his cargo at Jamaica;
"put to sea again, 5th April 1731, and proceeded on the voy-
"age homewards; with indifferent winds, for the first fort-
"night. April 20th, with no wind or none that would suit, he
"was hanging about in the entrance of the Gulf of Florida,
"not far from the Havanna," -- almost too near it, I should
think; but these baffling winds! -- "not far from the Havan-
? FBrster (ii. 269), Ac. &o.
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? CHAP. IV. ] CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN PRBUSSEN. 151
1731.
"na, when a Spanish Guarda-Costa hove in sight; came down
"on Jenkins, and furiously boarded him: 'Scoundrel, what do
"you want; contrabanding in these seas? Jamaica, say you?
"Sugar? Likely! Let us see your logwood, hides, Spanish
"pieces of eight! ' And broke in upon Jenkins, shipand per-
"son, in a most extraordinary manner. Tore up his hatches;
"plunged down, seeking logwood, hides, pieces of eight;
"found none, -- not the least trace of contraband on board of
"Jenkins. They brought up his quadrants, sextants, how-
"ever; likewise his stock of tallow candles: they shook and
"rummaged him, and all things, for pieces of eight; furiously
"advised him, cutlass in hand, to confess guilt. They slashed
"the head of Jenkins, his left ear almost off. Order had been
"given, 'Scalp him! ' -- but as he hadnohair, they omitted
"that; merely brought away the wig, and slashed: -- still no
"confession, nor any pieces of eight. They hung him up to
"the yard-arm, -- actual neck-halter, but it seems to have
"been tarry, and did not run: -- still no confession. They
"hoisted him higher, tied his cabin-boy to his feet; neck-
"halter then became awfully stringent upon Jenkins; had
"not the cabin-boy (without head to speak of) sliptthrough,
"noose being tarry; which was a sensible relief to Jenkins.
"Before very death, they lowered Jenkins, 'Confess,
"scoundrel, then! ' Scoundrel could not confess; spoke of
"'British Majesty's flag, peaceable English subject on the high
"seas. ' -- 'British Majesty; high seas! ' answered they, and
"again hoisted. Thrice over they tried Jenkins in this man-
ner at the yard-arm, once with cabin-boy at his feet: never
"had man such a day, outrageous whiskerando cutthroats
"tossing him about, his poor Rebecca and him, atsuchrate!
"Sun getting low, and not the least trace of contraband
"found, they made a last assault on Jenkins; clutched the
"bloody slit ear of him; tore it mercilessly off; flung it in his
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? 152 CROWN-PBINCB RETRIEVED. [book VIII.
1731.
"face, 'Carry that to your King, and tell him of it! ' Then
"went their way; taking Jenkins's tallow candles, and the
"best of his sextants with them; so that he could hardly
"work his passage home again, for want of latitudes; -- and
"has lost in goods 112/. , not to speak of his ear. Strictly true
"all this; ship's company, if required, will testify on their
"oath. "*
These surely are singular facts; calculated to awaken
a maritime public careful of its honour. Which they
did, -- after about eight years, as the reader will see!
For the present, there are growlings in the coffeehouses;
and, "Thursday, 28th June," say the Newspapers, "This
"day Captain Jenkins with his Owners," ear in his
pocket, I hope, "went out to Hampton Court to lay
"the matter before his Grace of Newcastle:" "Please
your Grace, it is hardly three months since the illus-
trious Treaty of Vienna was signed; Dutch and we
leading in the Termagant of Spain, and nothing but
halcyon weather to be looked for on that side! " Grace
of Newcastle, anxious to avoid trouble with Spain,
answers I can only fancy what; and nothing was done
upon Jenkins and his ear;** -- may "keep it in cotton,"
if he like; shall have "a better ship" for some solace-
ment. This is the first emergence of Jenkins and his
ear upon negligent mankind. He and it will mar-
vellously reemerge, one day! --
* Daily Journal (and the other London Newspapers), 12th-17th June
(o. s. ) 1731. Coxe, Walpole, 1. 579, 560 (indistinct, and needing correction).
"The Spaniards own they did a wittj* fhing,
Who cropt oar ears, and sent thorn to the King. **
Pope (date not given me).
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? CHAP. IV. ] CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN PREC6SEN. 1*53
1731.
Baby Carlos gets his Apanage.
But in regard to that Treaty of Vienna, seventh
and last of the travail-throes for Baby Carlos's Apa-
nage, let the too oblivious reader accept the following
Extract, to keep him on a level with Public "Events,"
as they are pleased to denominate themselves:
"By that dreadful Treaty of Seville, Cardinal Fleury and
"the Spaniards should have joined with England, and coerced
"the Kaiser vi et armis to admit Spanish Garrisons" (instead
of neutral) "into Parma and Piacenza, and so secure Baby
"Carlos his heritage there, which all Nature was in travail
"till he got. 'War in Italy to a certainty! " said all the
"Newspapers, after Seville: and Crown-Prince Friedrich, we
"saw, was running off to have a stroke in said War; -- in-
evitable, as the Kaiser still obstinately refused. And the
"English, and great George their King, were ready. Neverthe-
"less no War came. Old Fleury, not wanting war, wanting
"only to fish out something useful for himself, -- Lorraine
"how welcome, and indeed the smallest contributions are wel-
"come! -- old Fleury manoeuvred, hung back; till theSpa-
"niards and Termagant Elizabeth lost all patience, and the
"very English were weary, and getting suspicious. Where-
"upon the Kaiser edged round to the Sea-Powers again, or
"they to him; and comfortable As-you-were was got accom-
plished: much to the joy of Friedrich Wilhelm and others.
"Here are some of the dates to these sublime phenomena:
"March 16th, 1731, Treaty of Vienna, England and the
"Kaiser coalescing again into comfortable As-you-were.
"Treaty done by Robinson" (Sir Thomas, ultimately Earl of
Grantham, whom we shall often hear of in time coming);
"was confirmed and enlarged by a kind of second edition
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? 154 CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [bookVHT.
1731.
"22d July 1731; Dutch joining, Spain itself acceding, and all
"being now right. Which could hardly have been ex-
pected.
"For before the first edition of that Treaty, and while
"Robinson at Vienna was still labouring like Hercules in it,
-- the poor Duke of Parma died. Died; and no vestige of a
''' Spanish Garrison' yet there, to induct Baby Carlos accord-
ing to old bargain. On the contrary, the Kaiser himself
"took possession, -- 'till once the Duke's Widow, who de-
"' clares herself in the family-way, be brought to bed! If of
"' a Son, of course he must have the Duchies; if of a Daughter
"'only, then Carlos shall get them, let not Robinson fear. '
"The due months ran, but neither son nor daughter came;
"and the Treaty of Vienna, first edition and also second, was
"signed; and,
"October 20th, 1731, Spanish Garrisons, no longer a hypo-
"thesis but a bodily fact, 6,000 strong, 'convoyed by the Bri-
"'tish Fleet,' came into Leghorn, and proceeded to lodge
"themselves in the long-litigated Parma and Piacenza; --
"and, in fine, the day after Christmas, blessed be Heaven,
"December 2Qth, Baby Carlos in highest person came in:
"Baby Carlos (more power to him) got the Duchies, and we
"hope there was an end. No young gentleman ever had such
"a pother to make among his fellow-creatures about a little
"heritable property. If Baby Carlos's performance in it be
"anything in proportion, he will be a supereminent so-
vereign!
"There is still some haggle about Tuscany, the Duke of
"which is old and heirless; Last of the Medici, as he proved.
"Baby Carlos would much like to have Tuscany too; but that
"is a Fief of the Empire, and might easily be better disposed
"of, thinks the Kaiser. A more or less uncertain point, that
"of Tuscany; as many points are! Last of the Medici com-
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? CHAP. IV. ] CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN PREUSSEN. 155
1731.
"plained, in a polite manner, that they were parting his
"clothes before he had put them off: however, having no
"strength, he did not attempt resistance, but politely com-
"posed himself, 'Well, then! '* Do readers need to bein-
formed that this same Baby Carlos came to be King of
"Naples, and even ultimately to be Carlos III. of Spain, --
"leaving a younger Son to be King of Naples, ancestor of the
"now Majesty there? "
And thus, after such Diplomatic earthquakes and
travail of Nature, there is at last birth; the Seventh
Travail-throe has been successful, in some measure suc-
cessful. Here actually is Baby Carlos's Apanage; there
probably, by favour of Heaven and of the Sea-Powers,
will the Kaiser's Pragmatic Sanction be, one day.
Treaty of Seville, most imminent of all those dreadful
Imminencies of War, has passed off as they all did;
peaceably adjusts itself into Treaty of Vienna: A Ter-
magant, as it were, sated; a Kaiser hopeful to be so,
Pragmatic Sanction and all: for the Sea-Powers and
everybody mere halcyon weather henceforth, -- not
extending to the Gulf of Florida and Captain Jenkins,
as would seem! Robinson, who did the thing, -- an
expert man, bred to business as old Horace Walpole's
Secretary, at Soissons and elsewhere, and now come to
act on his own score, -- regards this Treaty of Vienna
(which indeed had its multiform difficulties) as a thing
to immortalise a man.
? Scheil, II. S19-221; Coze's Walpole, i. 346; Coxe'a House of Austria
(London, 1854), lii. 151.
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? 156
CROWN-PRINCE RETRIEVED. [book VIII.
1731.
Crown-Prince has, long since, by Papa's order,
written to the Kaiser, to thank Imperial Majesty for
that beneficent intercession, which has proved the saving
of his life, as Papa inculcates. We must now see a
little how the saved Crown-Prince is getting on, in his
eclipsed state, among the Domain Sciences at Ciistrin.