Kings"
and Queens that will be governed by a Jesuit Guarini,
and a Briihl of the Twelve Tailors, sometimes pay dear
for it.
and Queens that will be governed by a Jesuit Guarini,
and a Briihl of the Twelve Tailors, sometimes pay dear
for it.
Thomas Carlyle
At
"present, our one thought must be, To do War in such a way
"as may cure our Enemies of their wish to break Peace again
"too soon. I embrace you with all my heart. I have had no
"end of business (terriblement a faire). " -- F. *
The March into Saxony, in Three Columns.
Ahead of that last Note, from an earlier hour of
the same day, Thursday, 26th August, there is speed-
ing forth, to all Three Generals of Division, this Order
(take Duke Ferdinand's copy):
"I hereby order that Your Dilection (Ew. Liebden), with
"all the regiments and corps in the Column standing under
"your command, Shall now, without more delay,get on march,
"on the 29th inst. ; and proceed, according to the March-
"Tables and Instructions already given, to execute what Your
"Dilection has got in charge. " -- F.
The same Thursday 26th, Excellency Mitchell, in-
formed by Podewils of the King's wish to see him at
Potsdam, gets under way from Berlin; arrives "just
"time enough to speak with the King before he sat
"down to supper. " Very many things to be consulted
of, and deliberatively touched upon, with Mitchell and
England; no end of things and considerations, for Eng-
land and King Friedrich, in this that is now about to
burst forth on an astonished world! --Over in London,
we observe, just in the hours when Mitchell was
harnessing for Potsdam, and so many Orders and Let-
ters were speeding their swiftest in that quarter, there
is going forward, on Tower-Hill yonder, the following
Operation:
* (Enures, xxvi. '_116.
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? 250 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [book Xvn.
26th Ang. 1756.
"London, Thursday, 26th August 1756. About five in the
"afternoon, a noted Admiral" (only in Effigy as yet; but who
has been held in miserable durance, and too actual question
of death or life, ever since his return:'Oh, yes, indeed f Hang
him at once,' -- if that can be a remedy! ) "was, after having
"been privately shown to many ladies and gentlemen, brought,
"-- in an open sedan, guarded by a number of young gentle-
"men under arms, with drums beating, colours flying, --to
"Tower-Hill, where a Gallows had been erected for him at
"six the same morning. He was richly dressed, in a blue and
"gold coat, buff waistcoat, trimmed, &c. in full uniform.
"When brought under the Gallows, he staid a small space,
"till his clergyman (a chimney-sweeper) had given him some
"admonitions: that done, he was drawn, by pulleys, to the top
"of the Gallows, which was twenty feet high; every person
"expressing as much satisfaction as if it had been the real
"man.
"He remained there, guarded by the above volunteers,
"without any molestation, two hours; when, upon a supposi-
tion of being obstructed by the Governor of the Tower, some
"sailors appeared, who wanted to pull him down, in order to
"drag him along the streets. But a fire being kindled, which
"consisted of tar-barrels, faggots, tables, tubs, &c. , he was
"consumed in about half an hour. " *
That is their employment on Tower-Hill, over yonder,
while Mitchell is getting under way to see Friedrich.
Mitchell continued at Potsdam over Friday; and
was still in eager consultation that night, when the
King said to him, with a certain expressiveness of
glance: "Bon soir, then; -- Tomorrow morning about
four! " And on the morrow, Saturday 28th, Mitchell
reports hurriedly:
* * "Amiust returned to Berlin, in time to write to your
"Lordship. This morning, between four and five, I took leave
"of the King of Prussia. He went immediately upon the
"Parade; mounted on horseback; and, after a very short
* Old Newpapers (. Gentleman's Magazine, xxvi. 409).
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? cnAp. iv. ] priedrich's qttestion At Vienna. 251
i8lh Aug. --9th Sept. 1756.
"exercise of his Troops, put himself at their head; and
"marched directly forBelitz" (half way toBrietzen, Treuen-
brietzen,as they call it); "where, Tomorrow, he will enter the
"Saxon Territory," -- as, at their respective points, his two
other Columns will; and begin, who shall say what terrible
game; incalculable to your Lordship and me, with such Opera-
tions afoot on Tower-Hill! * --
Seven Hussar Regiments of Duke Ferdinand's
Column got the length of Leipzig that Sunday Even-
ing, 29th; and took possession of the place. ** Duke
Ferdinand to right of the King, Duke of Brunswick-
Bevern to left, -- the Three Columns cross the Border,
at points, say 80 miles from one another; occasionally,
on the march, bending to rightwards and leftwards, to
take in the principal Towns, and make settlements
there, the two might be above 100 miles from Fried-
rich on each hand. The length of march for each
Column, -- Ferdinand "from Leipzig, by Chemnitz,
"Freyberg, Dippoldiswalde, to the Village of Cotta"
(Pirna neighbourhood, south of Elbe); Bevern, "through
"the Lausitz, by Bautzen, to Lohmen" (same neigh-
bourhood, north of Elbe); King Friedrich, to Dresden,
by the course of the Elbe itself, -- was not far from
equal, and may be called about 150 miles. They
marched with diligence, not with hurry; had their
pauses, rest-days, when business required. They got
to their ground, with the simultaneousness appointed,
on the eleventh or twelfth day.
The middle Column, under the King, where
Marshal Keith is second in command, goes by Torgau
* Mitchell Papers, vi. 804 ("To Lord Holderness, 28th August 1756").
** InHelden-Geschichte, m. TSl, his "Proclamation" there, "29thAugust
1756. "
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? 252 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [book XVII.
28th Aug. --9th Sept. 1756.
(detaching Moritz of Dessau to pick up Wittenberg,
and ruin the slight works there); crosses the Elbe at
Torgau, September 2d; marches, cantoning itself day
after day, along the southern bank of the River; leaves
Meissen to the left, I perceive, does not pass through
Meissen; comes first at Wilsdruf on ground where we
have been, -- and portions of it, I doubt not, were
billeted in Kesselsdorf; and would take a glance at the
old Field, if they had time. There is strict discipline
in all the Columns; the authorities complying on sum-
mons, and arranging what is needful. Nobody resists;
townguards at once ground arms, and there is no sol-
dier visible; -- soldiers all ebbing away, whitherward
we guess. *
At Wilsdruf, Friedrich first learns for certain, that
the Saxon Army, with King, with Briihl and other
chief personages, are withdrawn to Pirna, to the inex-
pugnable Konigstein and Rock-Country. The Saxon
Army had begun assembling there, September 1st,
directly on the news that Friedrich was across the
Border; September 9th, on Friedrich's approach, the
King and Dignitaries move off thither, from Dresden,
out of his way. Excellency Broglio has put them on
that plan. Which may have its complexities for Fried-
rich, hopes Broglio, -- though perhaps its still greater
for some other parties concerned! For Briihl and Polish
Majesty, as will appear by and by, nothing could have
turned out worse.
Meanwhile Friedrich pushes on: "Forward, all the
same. " Polish Majesty, dating from Struppen, in the
Pirna Country, has begun a Correspondence with
* Helden-CeicMchte, in. 732-3; (Euvrei de Frederic, iv. 81.
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? CHAP. IT. ] FRIEDKICH's QUESTION AT VIENNA. 253
28th Aug. --9th Sept. 1756.
Friedrich, very polite on both hands; and his Adjutant-
General, the Chevalier Meagher (" Chevalier de Marre" as Valori calls him, -- Ma'ar, as he calls himself in
Irish) has just had, at Wilsdruf, an Interview with
Friedrich; but is far from having got settlement on the
terms he wished. Polish Majesty magnanimously as-
senting to "a Road through his Country for military
purposes;" offers "the strictest Neutrality, strictest
friendship even; has done, and will do, no injury what-
ever to his Prussian Majesty" -- ("Did we ever sign
anything? " whisper comfortably Bruhl and he to one
another); -- "expects, therefore, that his Prussian
Majesty will march on, whither he is bound; and leave
him unmolested here. "*
That was Meagher's message; that is the purport of
all his Polish Majesty's Eleven Letters to Friedrich,
which precede or follow, -- reiterating with a certain
ovine obstinacy, insensible to time or change, That
such is Polish Majesty's fixed notion: "Strict neutrality,
friendship even; and leave me unmolested here. "**
"Strict neutrality, yes: but disperse your Army, then,"
answers Friedrich; "send your Army back to its can-
tonments: I must myself have the keeping of my High-
way, lest I lose it, as in 1744. " This is Friedrich's
answer; this, at first, and for some time coming;
though, as the aspects change, and the dangerous
elements heap themselves higher, Friedrich's answer
will rise with them, and his terms, like the Sibyl's,
become worse and worse. This is the utmost that
<< Helden-Ceschichte, m. 774. ** In (Euvres de Frediric, lv. 285-260 ("29th August -- 10th September
-- 18th September,''1756), are collected now, the Eleven Letters, with their
Answers.
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? 254 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [book xvn.
9th Sept. 1756.
Meagher, at Wilsdruf, can make of it; and this, in
conceivable circumstances, will grow less and less.
Next day, September 9th, Friedrich, with some
Battalions, entered Dresden, most of his Column taking
Camp near by; General Wylich had entered yesterday,
and is already Commandant there. Friedrich sends,
by Feldmarschall Keith, highest Officer of his Column,
his homages to her Polish Majesty: -- nothing given
us of Keith's Interview; except, by a side-wind, "That
"Majesty complained of those Prussian Sentries, walk-
"ing about in certain of her corridors" (with an eye to
Something, it may be feared! ) -- of which, doubtless,
Keith undertook to make report. Friedrich himself
waits upon the Junior Princes, who are left here: is
polite and gracious as ever, though strict, and with
business enough; lodges, for his own part, "in the
Garden-House of Princess Moczinska;" -- and next
morning, leads off his Column, a short march eastward,
to the Pirna Country; where, on the right and on the
left, Ferdinand at Cotta, Bevern at Lohmen, he finds
the other Two in their due positions. Head quarter
is Gross-Sedlitz (westernmost skirt of the Rock-region);
and will have to continue so, much longer than had
been expected.
The Diplomatic world in Dresden is in great emo-
tion; more especially, just at present This morning,
before leaving, Friedrich had to do an exceedingly
strict thing: secure the Originals of those Menzel Do-
cuments. Originals indispensable to him, for justifying
his new procedures upon Saxony. So that there has
been, at the Palace, a Scene this morning, of a very
high and dissonant nature, -- "Marshal Keith" in it,
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? CHAP. IV. ] friedrich's QUESTION AT VIENNA. 255
10th Sept. 1756.
"Marshal Keith making a second visit" (say some
loose and false Accounts); -- the facts being strictly
as follows.
Far from removing those Prussian sentries com-
plained of last night, here seems to be a double strength
of them this morning. And her Polish Majesty, a
severe, hard-featured old Lady, has been filled with indignant amazement by a Prussian Officer, -- Major
von Wangenheim, I believe it is, -- requiring, in the
King of Prussia's name, the Keys of that Archive-
room; Prussian Majesty absolutely needing sight, for a
little while, of certain Papers there. "Enter that room?
Archives of a crowned Head? Let me see the living
mortal that will dare to do it! " -- one fancies the in-
dignant Polish Majesty's answer; and how, calling for
materials, she "openly sealed the door in question," in
Wangenheim's presence. As this is a celebrated Pas-
sage, which has been reported in several loose ways,
let us take it from the primary source, Chancery-style
and all. Graf von Sternberg, Austrian Excellency,
writing from the spot and at the hour, informs his own
Court, and through that all Courts, in these solemnly
Official terms:
"Dresden, 10th September 1756. The Queen's Majesty,
"this forenoon, has called to her all the Foreign Ministers
"now at Dresden; and in Highest Own Person has signified
"to us, How, the Prussian intrusions and hostilities being
"already known, Highest said Queen's Majesty would now
"simply state what had farther taken place this morning:
"Highest said Queen's Majesty, to wit, had, in her own
"name, requested the King of Prussia, in conformity with his
"assurances" (by Keith, yesternight) "of paying every
"regard for Her and the Koyal Family, To remove the
"Prussian Sentries pacing about in those Corridors," -- Cor-
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? 256 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [book XVII.
10th Sept. 1756.
ridors which lead to the Secret Archives, important to some
of us! -- "Instead of which, the said King had not only
"doubled his Sentries there; but also, by an Officer, de-
"manded the Keys of the Archive-Apartment" (just alluded
to)! "And as the Queen's Majesty, for security of all writings
"there, offered to seal the Door of it herself, and did so, there
"and then, -- the said Officer had so little respect, that he
"clapped his own seal thereon too.
"Nor was he content therewith," -- not by any means! --
"but the same Officer" (having been with Wylich, Com-
mandant here) "came back, a short time after, and made for
"opening of the Door himself. Which being announced to
"the Queen's Majesty, she in her own person, (Hochstdieselbe,
"Highest-the-Same) went out again; and standing before
"the Door, informed him, 'How Highest-the-Same had too
"' much regard to his Prussian Majesty's given assurance, to
'"believe that such order could proceed from the King. ' As
"the Officer, however, replied, 'That he was sorry to have
"' such an order to execute; but that the order was serious and
"'precise; and that he, by not executing it, would expose
"'himself to the greatest responsibility,' Her Majestycon-
"tinued standing before the Door; and said to the Officer,
'"If he meant to use force, he might upon Her make his be-
"'ginning. '" There is for you, HerrWangenheim! --
"Upon which said Officer had gone away, to report anew
"to the King" (I think, only to Wylich the Commandant;
King now a dozen miles off, not so easily reported to, and his
mind known); "and in the mean while Her Majesty had
"called to her the Prussian and English Ambassadors" (Mahl-
zahnand Stormont; sorry both of them, but how entirely re-
sourceless, -- especially Mahlzahn! ), "and had represented
"and repeated to them the above; beseeching that by their
"remonstrances and persuasions they would induce the King
"of Prussia, conformably with his given assurance, to forbear.
"Instead, however, of any fruit from such remonstrances and
"urgencies, final Order came, 'That, Queen's Majesty's own
"' Highest Person notwithstanding, force must be used. '
"Whereupon her Majesty, to avoid actual mistreatment,
"had been obliged to" -- to become passive, and, no Keys
being procurable from her, see a smith with his picklocks give
these Prussians admission. Legation-Secretary Plessmann
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? CHAP. IV. ] FRIBDRICH's QUESTION AT VIENNA. 257
10th Sept. 1756.
was there (Menzel one fancies sitting, rather pale, in an ad-
jacent room*); and they knew what to do. Their smith
opens the required Box for them (one of several "all lying
packed for Warsaw," says Friedrich); from which soon
taking what they needed, Wangenheim and Wylich withdrew
with their booty, and readers have the fruit of it to this day.
"Which unheard-of procedure, be pleased, your Excellencies,
"to report to your respective Courts. " **
Poor old Lady, what a situation! And I believe
she never saw her poor old Husband again. The day
he went to Pirna (morning of yesterday, September 9th,
Friedrich entering in the evening), these poor Spouses
had, little dreaming of it, taken leave of one another
forevermore. Such profit lies in your Brtihl.
Kings"
and Queens that will be governed by a Jesuit Guarini,
and a Briihl of the Twelve Tailors, sometimes pay dear
for it. They, or their representatives, are sure to do
so. Kings and Queens, -- yes, and if that were all:
but their poor Countries, too? Their Countries; --
well, their Countries did not hate Beelzebub, in his
various shapes, enough. Their Countries should have
been in watch against Beelzebub in the shape of Briihls;
-- watching, and also "praying" in a heroic manner,
now fallen obsolete in these impious times!
* Supra, p. 185.
** Gesammelte Nachrtchlen, i. 222 (or "No. 26" of that Collection)
(Euvres de Frederic, iv. ? 83.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. IX. 1<
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? 258 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [bookxvn.
10th Sept. -- 1st Oct. 1756.
CHAPTER V.
FRIEDRICH BLOCKADES THE SAXONS IN PIRNA COUNTRY.
Friedrich reckons himself to have 65,000 men in
Saxony. Schwerin is issuing from Silesia, through the
Glatz Mountains, for Bohemia, at the head of 40,000.
The Austrian force is inferior in quantity, and far from
ready: -- Two "Camps," in Bohemia they have; the
chief one under Browne (looking, or intending, this
Saxon way), and a smaller under Piccolomini, in the
Konigshof-Kolin region: -- if well run into from front
and rear, both Browne and Piccolomini might be beauti-
fully handled; and a gash be cut in Austria, which
might incline her to be at peace again! Nothing hinders
but this paltry Camp of the Saxons; itself only 18,000
strong, but in a Country of such strength. And this
does hinder, effectually while it continues: "How march
to Bohemia, and leave the road blocked in our rear? "
The Saxon Camp did continue, -- unmanageable
by any method, for five weeks to come; the season of
war-operations gone, by that time: -- and Friedrich's
First Campaign, rendered mostly fruitless in this
manner, will by no means check the Austrian truculen-
cies, as by his velocity he hoped to do. No; but, on
the contrary, will rouse the Austrians, French and all
Enemies, to a tenfold pitch of temper. And bring upon
himself, from an astonished and misunderstanding
Public, such tempests and world-tornados of loud-roar-
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? CHAP, v. ] THE SAXONS BLOCKADED IN PIRNA. 259
10th Sept. --1st Oct. 1756.
ing obloquy, as even he, Friedrich, had never endured
before.
To readers of a touring habit this Saxon Country is perhaps well known. For the last half-century, it
has been growing more and more famous, under the
name of "Saxon Switzerland (Sachsische Schweitz)," in-
stead of "Misnian Highlands (Meissnische Sochland)"
which it used to be called. A beautiful enough and
extremely rugged Country; interesting to the picturesque
mind. Begins rising, in soft Hills, on both sides of
the Elbe, a few miles east of Dresden, as you ascend
the River; till it rises into Hills of wild character,
getting ever wilder, and riven into wondrous chasms
and precipices. Extends, say almost twenty miles up
the River, to Tetschen and beyond, in this eastern
direction; and with perhaps ten miles of breadth on
each side of the River': area of the Rock-region, there-
fore, is perhaps some four hundred square miles. The
Falkenberg (what we should call Hawkscrag), north-
eastward in the Lausitz, the Schneeberg (SnowMountain),
south-eastward on the Bohemian border, are about
thirty-five miles apart: these two are both reckoned to
be in it, -- its last outposts on that eastern side. But
the limits of it are fixed by custom only, and depend
on no natural condition.
We might define it as the Sandstone neck of the
Metal Mountains: a rather lower block, of Sandstone,
intercalated into the Metal-Mountain range, which
otherwise, on both hands, is higher, and of harder
rocks. Southward (as shoulder to this sandstone neck)
lies, continuous, broad and high, the "Metal-Mountain
range" specially so-called: northward and north-east-
17*
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? 260 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [book XVII.
10th Sept. --1st Oct. 1756.
ward there rise, beyond that Falkenberg, many-
mountains, solitary or in groups, -- "the Metal
Mountains" fading-out here into "the Lausitz Hills,"
still in fine picturesque fashion, which are Northern
Border to the great Bohemian "Basin of the Elbe,"
after you emerge from this Sandstone Country.
Saxon Switzerland is not very high anywhere; 2,000
feet is a notable degree of height: but it is torn and
tumbled into stone labyrinths, chasms and winding
rock-walls, as few regions are. Grows pine-wood, to
the topmost height; pine-trees far aloft look quietly
down upon you, over sheer precipices, on your intricate
path. On the slopes of the Hills is grass enough; in
the intervals are Villages and husbandries, are corn
and milk for the laborious natives, -- who depend
mainly on quarrying, and pine-forest work: pines and
freestone, rafts of long slim pines, and big stone barges,
are what one sees upon the Kiver there. A Note, not
very geological, says of it:
"Elbe sweeps freely through this Country, for ages and
"aeons past; curling himself a little into snake-figure, and
"with increased velocity, but silent mostly, and trim to the
"edge, a fine flint-coloured river; -- though in aeons long
"anterior it must have been a very different matter for tor-
"rents and water-power. The Country is one huge Block of
"Sandstone, so many square miles of that material; ribbed,
"channelled, torn and quarried, in this manner, -- by the
"everbusy elements, for a million of Ages past! Chiefly by
"the Elbe himself, since he got to be a River, and became
"cosmic and personal; ceasing to be a mere watery chaos of
"Lakes and Deluges hereabouts. For the Sandstone was of
"various degrees of hardness; tenacious as marble some
"parts of it, soft almost as sand other parts. And the primor-
"dial diluviums and world-old torrents, great and small,
"rushing down from the Bohemian Highlands, from the Saxon
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? CHAP, v. ] THE SAXONS BLOCKADED IN PIRNA. 261
10th Sept. -- 1st Oct. 1756.
"Metal-Mountains, with such storming, gurgling, and swash-
"ing, have swept away the soft parts, and left the hard stand-
ing in this chaotic manner, and bequeathed it all to the
"Elbe, and the common frosts and rains of these human
"ages.
"Elbe has now a trim course; but Elbe too is busyquar-
"rying and mining, where not artificially held in; -- and you
"notice at every outlet of a Brook from the interior, north
"side and south side, how busy the Brook has been. Boring,
"grinding, undermining; much helped by the frosts, by the
"rains. JEons ago, the Brook was a lake, in the interior;
"but was every moment labouring to get out; till it has cut
"for itself that mountain gullet, or sheer-down chasm, and
"brought out with it an Alluvium or Delta, -- on which, since
"Adam's time, human creatures have built a Hamlet. That
"is the origin, or unwritten history, of most hamlets and
"cultivated spots you fall in with here: they are the waste
"shavings of the Brook, working millions of years, for its
"own object of getting into the Elbe in level circumstances.
"Ploughed fields, not without fertility, are in the interior, if
"you ascend that Brook; the Hamlet at the delta or mouth
"of it, is as if built upon its tongue and into its gullet: think
"how picturesque, in the November rains, for example!
"The road," one road, "from Dresden to Aussig, to
"Lobositz, Budin, Prag, runs up the river-brink (south
"brink); or, in our day, as Prag-Dresden Railway, thunders
"through those solitudes; strangely awakening their echoes;
"and inviting even the bewildered Tourist to reflect, if he
"could. The bewildered Tourist sees rock-walls heaven-
"high on both hands of him; River and he rushing on be-
"tween, by law of gravitation, law of ennui (which are laws
"of Nature both), with a narrow strip of sky in full gallop
"overhead; and has little encouragement to reflect, except
"upon his own sorrows, and delirious circumstances, physical
"and moral. 'How much happier, were I lying in my bed! '
"thinks the bewildered Tourist; -- does strive withal to ad-
"mire the Picturesque, but with little success; notices the
"'Bastei (Bastion),' and other rigorously prescribed points of
"the Sublime and Beautiful, which are to be 'done. ' That
"you will have to do, my friend: step out, you will have to go
"on that Pinnacle, with indifferent Hotel attached; on that
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? 262 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [book XVIt.
10th Sept. -- 1st Oct. 1756.
"iron balcony, aloft among the clouds yonder; and shudder
"to project over Elbe-flood from such altitudes, admiringthe
"Picturesque in prescribed manner.
"This Country has for its permanent uses, timber, free-
"stone, modicum of milk and haver, serviceable to the
"generality; -- and to his Polish Majesty, at present, it is as
"the very Ark of Noah: priceless at this juncture; being the
"strongest military country in the world. Excellent strength
"in it; express Fortresses; especially one Fortress called the
"Konigstein, not far from Schandau, of a towering pre-
"cipitous nature, with 'a well900feet deep' in it, and pleasant
"Village outside at the base; -- Fortress which is still, in our
"day, reckoned a safe place for the Saxon Archives and pre-
ciosities. Impregnable to gunpowder artillery; not to be
"had except by hunger. And then, farther down the River,
"close by Pirna, presiding over Pirna, as that Konigstein in
"some sort does over Schandau, is the Sonnenstein: bonnen-
"stein too was a Fortress in those days of Friedrich, but not
"impregnable, if judged worth taking. The Austrians took
"it, a year or two hence; Friedrich retook it, dismantled it:
"the Sonnenstein is now a Madhouse," say the Guide-Books.
"Sonnenstein stands close east or up-stream of Pirna,
"which is a town of 5,000 souls, by much the largest in those
"parts; Konigstein a little down-stream of Schandau, which
"latter is on the opposite or north side of the River. These
"are the two chief Towns, which do all the trade of this
"region; picturesque places both: -- the Tourist remembers
"Pirna? Standing on its sleek table or stair-step, by the
"River's edge; well above floodmark; green, shaggy or
"fringy mountains looking down on it to rearward; in front,
"beyond the River, nothing visible but mile-long cream-
"coloured rock-wall, with bushes at bottom and top, wall
"quarried by Elbe, as you can see. Pirna is near the be-
ginning" (properly end, but we start from Dresden) "or
"western extremity of Saxon Schweitz. Schandau, almost
"at the opposite or eastern extremity, is still more pic-
"turesque; standing on the delta of a little Brook, with high
"rock-cliffs, with garden-shrubberies, sanded walks, tufts of
"forest-umbrage; a bright-painted, almost operatic-looking
"place, -- with spa-waters, if I recollect:" yes truly, and the
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? CHAP, v. ] THE SAXONS BLOCKADED IN PIRNA. 263
10th Sept. --1st Oct. 1756.
"Bath Season" making its packages in great haste, breaking
up prematurely, this Year (1756)! --
Directly on arriving at Gross-Sedlitz, Friedrich
takes ocular survey of this Country, which is already
not unknown to him. He finds that the Saxons have
secured themselves within the Mountains; a rocky
streamlet, Brook of Gottleube, which issues into Elbe
just between Gross-Sedlitz and them, "through a dell
of eighty or a hundred feet deep," serving as their
first defence; well in front of the mere rocky Heights
and precipices behind it, which stretch continuously
along to southward, six miles or more, from Pima and
the south brink of Elbe. At Langen-Hennersdorf,
which is the southernmost part, these Heights make an
elbow inwards, by Leopoldshayn, towards the Konig-
stein, which is but four miles off; here too the Saxons
are defended by a Brook (running straight towards
Konigstein, this one) in front of their Heights; and
stand defensive, in this way, along a rock-bulwark of
ten miles long: the passes all secured by batteries, by
abatis, palisades, mile after mile, as Friedrich rides ob-
servant leftward: behind them, Elbe rushing swifter
through his rock-walls yonder, with chasms and intri-
cate gorges; defending them inexpugnably to rear.
Six miles long of natural bulwark (six to Henners-
dorf), where the gross of the Saxons lie; then to
Konigstein four other miles, sufficiently, if more
sparsely, beset by them. "No stronger position in the
world," Friedrich thinks;* -- and that it is impossible
* ffiuures de Frederic, iv. 83, 84 (not a very distinct Account; and far
from accurate in the details, -- which are left without effectual correction
even in the best Editions).
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? 264 SEVEN-YEARS WAE BEGINS. [book XVII.
10th Sept. --1st Oct. 1756.
to force this place, without a loss of life dispropor-
tionate even to its importance at present. Not to say
that the Saxons will make terms all the easier, before
bloodshed rise between us; -- and furthermore that
Hunger (for we hear they have provision only for two
weeks) may itself soon do it. "Wedge them in, there-
fore; block every outgate, every entrance; nothing to
get in, except gradually Hunger. Hunger, and on our
part rational Offers, will suffice. "That is Friedrich's
plan; good in itself, -- though the ovine obstinacy,
and other circumstances, retarded the execution of it
to an unexpected extent, lamentable to Friedrich and
to some others.
The Prussian-Saxon military operations for the
next five weeks need not detain us. Their respective
positions are on the Heights behind that Brook Gott-
leube, and on the plainer Country in front of it, -- the
Prussians lie, first Division of them, from Gross-Sedlitz
to Zehist, under the King; the second Division from
Zehist to Cotta, and onward by "the Eothschenke"
(Bed-House Tavern), by Markersbach, and sparsely
as far as Hellendorf on the Prag Highway; other
Divisions watching Elbe itself, have Batteries and
Posts on the north side of it, and so on. To which
add only these straggles of Note, as further elucida-
tive:
"The Saxons, between Elbe and their Lines, possess
"about thirty square miles of country. From Pirna or Son-
"nenstein to Konigstein, as the crow flies, may be five miles
"east to west; but by Langen-Heimersdorf, and the elbow
"there, itwillbeten: at Konigstein, moreover, Elbe makes
"an abrupt turn northward for a couple of miles, instead of
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? CHAP, v. ] THE SAXONS BLOCKADED IN PIRNA. 265
19th Sept. --1st Oct. 1756.
"westward as heretofore, turning abruptly westward again
"after that: so that the Saxon 'Camp,' or Occupancy here,
"is an irregular Trapezium, with Pirna and Konigstein for
"vertices, and with area estimable as above, -- ploughable,
"a fair portion of it, and not without corn of its own. So
"that the 'two-weeks provision' spun themselves out (short
"allowance aiding) to two-months, before actual famine
"came.
* * "The High-road from the Lausitz parts crosses
"Elbe at Pirna; falls into the Dresden-PragHigh-road there;
"and from Pirna towards Toplitz, for the first few miles, this
"latter runs through the Prussian Posts; but we may guess
"it is not much travelled at present. North of Elbe, too,
"the Prussians have batteries on the fit points; detachments
"of due force, from Gross-Sedlitz Bridge-of-Pontoons all
"round to Schandau, or beyond; could fire upon the Konig-
"stein, across the River: they have plugged up the Saxon
"position everywhere. They have a Battery especially, and
"strong post, to cannonade the Bridge at Pirna, should the
"Saxons think of trying there. It is now the one Saxon or
"even Half-Saxon Bridge, Sonnenstein and Pirna command
"the Saxon end of it, a strong battery the Prussian end: a
"Bridge lying mainly idle, Tike the general Highway to
"Toplitz at this time. Beyond the Konigstein, again, at a
"place called Wendisch-Fahre (Wends'-Ferry), the Prussians
"have, by means of boats swinging wide at anchor on the
"swift current, what is called a Flying-bridge, with which
"the north side can communicate with the south. They have
"a post at Nieder-Raden (Ober Raden, railway station in our
"time, is on the south side): Nether Raden is an interesting
"little Hamlet, mostly invisible to mankind (built in the
"throat of the stone chasms there), from which you begin
"mounting to the Bastei far aloft. A Raden to be noted, Dy "the Tourist and us. "
Little, or even nothing, of fighting there is: why
should there be? The military operations are a dead-
lock, and require no word. Thirty thousand, half of
the Prussian Force, lie, vigilant as lynxes, blockading
here; other half, 32,000, under Marshal Keith, have
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? 266 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [book XVII.
10th Sept.
"present, our one thought must be, To do War in such a way
"as may cure our Enemies of their wish to break Peace again
"too soon. I embrace you with all my heart. I have had no
"end of business (terriblement a faire). " -- F. *
The March into Saxony, in Three Columns.
Ahead of that last Note, from an earlier hour of
the same day, Thursday, 26th August, there is speed-
ing forth, to all Three Generals of Division, this Order
(take Duke Ferdinand's copy):
"I hereby order that Your Dilection (Ew. Liebden), with
"all the regiments and corps in the Column standing under
"your command, Shall now, without more delay,get on march,
"on the 29th inst. ; and proceed, according to the March-
"Tables and Instructions already given, to execute what Your
"Dilection has got in charge. " -- F.
The same Thursday 26th, Excellency Mitchell, in-
formed by Podewils of the King's wish to see him at
Potsdam, gets under way from Berlin; arrives "just
"time enough to speak with the King before he sat
"down to supper. " Very many things to be consulted
of, and deliberatively touched upon, with Mitchell and
England; no end of things and considerations, for Eng-
land and King Friedrich, in this that is now about to
burst forth on an astonished world! --Over in London,
we observe, just in the hours when Mitchell was
harnessing for Potsdam, and so many Orders and Let-
ters were speeding their swiftest in that quarter, there
is going forward, on Tower-Hill yonder, the following
Operation:
* (Enures, xxvi. '_116.
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? 250 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [book Xvn.
26th Ang. 1756.
"London, Thursday, 26th August 1756. About five in the
"afternoon, a noted Admiral" (only in Effigy as yet; but who
has been held in miserable durance, and too actual question
of death or life, ever since his return:'Oh, yes, indeed f Hang
him at once,' -- if that can be a remedy! ) "was, after having
"been privately shown to many ladies and gentlemen, brought,
"-- in an open sedan, guarded by a number of young gentle-
"men under arms, with drums beating, colours flying, --to
"Tower-Hill, where a Gallows had been erected for him at
"six the same morning. He was richly dressed, in a blue and
"gold coat, buff waistcoat, trimmed, &c. in full uniform.
"When brought under the Gallows, he staid a small space,
"till his clergyman (a chimney-sweeper) had given him some
"admonitions: that done, he was drawn, by pulleys, to the top
"of the Gallows, which was twenty feet high; every person
"expressing as much satisfaction as if it had been the real
"man.
"He remained there, guarded by the above volunteers,
"without any molestation, two hours; when, upon a supposi-
tion of being obstructed by the Governor of the Tower, some
"sailors appeared, who wanted to pull him down, in order to
"drag him along the streets. But a fire being kindled, which
"consisted of tar-barrels, faggots, tables, tubs, &c. , he was
"consumed in about half an hour. " *
That is their employment on Tower-Hill, over yonder,
while Mitchell is getting under way to see Friedrich.
Mitchell continued at Potsdam over Friday; and
was still in eager consultation that night, when the
King said to him, with a certain expressiveness of
glance: "Bon soir, then; -- Tomorrow morning about
four! " And on the morrow, Saturday 28th, Mitchell
reports hurriedly:
* * "Amiust returned to Berlin, in time to write to your
"Lordship. This morning, between four and five, I took leave
"of the King of Prussia. He went immediately upon the
"Parade; mounted on horseback; and, after a very short
* Old Newpapers (. Gentleman's Magazine, xxvi. 409).
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? cnAp. iv. ] priedrich's qttestion At Vienna. 251
i8lh Aug. --9th Sept. 1756.
"exercise of his Troops, put himself at their head; and
"marched directly forBelitz" (half way toBrietzen, Treuen-
brietzen,as they call it); "where, Tomorrow, he will enter the
"Saxon Territory," -- as, at their respective points, his two
other Columns will; and begin, who shall say what terrible
game; incalculable to your Lordship and me, with such Opera-
tions afoot on Tower-Hill! * --
Seven Hussar Regiments of Duke Ferdinand's
Column got the length of Leipzig that Sunday Even-
ing, 29th; and took possession of the place. ** Duke
Ferdinand to right of the King, Duke of Brunswick-
Bevern to left, -- the Three Columns cross the Border,
at points, say 80 miles from one another; occasionally,
on the march, bending to rightwards and leftwards, to
take in the principal Towns, and make settlements
there, the two might be above 100 miles from Fried-
rich on each hand. The length of march for each
Column, -- Ferdinand "from Leipzig, by Chemnitz,
"Freyberg, Dippoldiswalde, to the Village of Cotta"
(Pirna neighbourhood, south of Elbe); Bevern, "through
"the Lausitz, by Bautzen, to Lohmen" (same neigh-
bourhood, north of Elbe); King Friedrich, to Dresden,
by the course of the Elbe itself, -- was not far from
equal, and may be called about 150 miles. They
marched with diligence, not with hurry; had their
pauses, rest-days, when business required. They got
to their ground, with the simultaneousness appointed,
on the eleventh or twelfth day.
The middle Column, under the King, where
Marshal Keith is second in command, goes by Torgau
* Mitchell Papers, vi. 804 ("To Lord Holderness, 28th August 1756").
** InHelden-Geschichte, m. TSl, his "Proclamation" there, "29thAugust
1756. "
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? 252 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [book XVII.
28th Aug. --9th Sept. 1756.
(detaching Moritz of Dessau to pick up Wittenberg,
and ruin the slight works there); crosses the Elbe at
Torgau, September 2d; marches, cantoning itself day
after day, along the southern bank of the River; leaves
Meissen to the left, I perceive, does not pass through
Meissen; comes first at Wilsdruf on ground where we
have been, -- and portions of it, I doubt not, were
billeted in Kesselsdorf; and would take a glance at the
old Field, if they had time. There is strict discipline
in all the Columns; the authorities complying on sum-
mons, and arranging what is needful. Nobody resists;
townguards at once ground arms, and there is no sol-
dier visible; -- soldiers all ebbing away, whitherward
we guess. *
At Wilsdruf, Friedrich first learns for certain, that
the Saxon Army, with King, with Briihl and other
chief personages, are withdrawn to Pirna, to the inex-
pugnable Konigstein and Rock-Country. The Saxon
Army had begun assembling there, September 1st,
directly on the news that Friedrich was across the
Border; September 9th, on Friedrich's approach, the
King and Dignitaries move off thither, from Dresden,
out of his way. Excellency Broglio has put them on
that plan. Which may have its complexities for Fried-
rich, hopes Broglio, -- though perhaps its still greater
for some other parties concerned! For Briihl and Polish
Majesty, as will appear by and by, nothing could have
turned out worse.
Meanwhile Friedrich pushes on: "Forward, all the
same. " Polish Majesty, dating from Struppen, in the
Pirna Country, has begun a Correspondence with
* Helden-CeicMchte, in. 732-3; (Euvrei de Frederic, iv. 81.
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? CHAP. IT. ] FRIEDKICH's QUESTION AT VIENNA. 253
28th Aug. --9th Sept. 1756.
Friedrich, very polite on both hands; and his Adjutant-
General, the Chevalier Meagher (" Chevalier de Marre" as Valori calls him, -- Ma'ar, as he calls himself in
Irish) has just had, at Wilsdruf, an Interview with
Friedrich; but is far from having got settlement on the
terms he wished. Polish Majesty magnanimously as-
senting to "a Road through his Country for military
purposes;" offers "the strictest Neutrality, strictest
friendship even; has done, and will do, no injury what-
ever to his Prussian Majesty" -- ("Did we ever sign
anything? " whisper comfortably Bruhl and he to one
another); -- "expects, therefore, that his Prussian
Majesty will march on, whither he is bound; and leave
him unmolested here. "*
That was Meagher's message; that is the purport of
all his Polish Majesty's Eleven Letters to Friedrich,
which precede or follow, -- reiterating with a certain
ovine obstinacy, insensible to time or change, That
such is Polish Majesty's fixed notion: "Strict neutrality,
friendship even; and leave me unmolested here. "**
"Strict neutrality, yes: but disperse your Army, then,"
answers Friedrich; "send your Army back to its can-
tonments: I must myself have the keeping of my High-
way, lest I lose it, as in 1744. " This is Friedrich's
answer; this, at first, and for some time coming;
though, as the aspects change, and the dangerous
elements heap themselves higher, Friedrich's answer
will rise with them, and his terms, like the Sibyl's,
become worse and worse. This is the utmost that
<< Helden-Ceschichte, m. 774. ** In (Euvres de Frediric, lv. 285-260 ("29th August -- 10th September
-- 18th September,''1756), are collected now, the Eleven Letters, with their
Answers.
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? 254 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [book xvn.
9th Sept. 1756.
Meagher, at Wilsdruf, can make of it; and this, in
conceivable circumstances, will grow less and less.
Next day, September 9th, Friedrich, with some
Battalions, entered Dresden, most of his Column taking
Camp near by; General Wylich had entered yesterday,
and is already Commandant there. Friedrich sends,
by Feldmarschall Keith, highest Officer of his Column,
his homages to her Polish Majesty: -- nothing given
us of Keith's Interview; except, by a side-wind, "That
"Majesty complained of those Prussian Sentries, walk-
"ing about in certain of her corridors" (with an eye to
Something, it may be feared! ) -- of which, doubtless,
Keith undertook to make report. Friedrich himself
waits upon the Junior Princes, who are left here: is
polite and gracious as ever, though strict, and with
business enough; lodges, for his own part, "in the
Garden-House of Princess Moczinska;" -- and next
morning, leads off his Column, a short march eastward,
to the Pirna Country; where, on the right and on the
left, Ferdinand at Cotta, Bevern at Lohmen, he finds
the other Two in their due positions. Head quarter
is Gross-Sedlitz (westernmost skirt of the Rock-region);
and will have to continue so, much longer than had
been expected.
The Diplomatic world in Dresden is in great emo-
tion; more especially, just at present This morning,
before leaving, Friedrich had to do an exceedingly
strict thing: secure the Originals of those Menzel Do-
cuments. Originals indispensable to him, for justifying
his new procedures upon Saxony. So that there has
been, at the Palace, a Scene this morning, of a very
high and dissonant nature, -- "Marshal Keith" in it,
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? CHAP. IV. ] friedrich's QUESTION AT VIENNA. 255
10th Sept. 1756.
"Marshal Keith making a second visit" (say some
loose and false Accounts); -- the facts being strictly
as follows.
Far from removing those Prussian sentries com-
plained of last night, here seems to be a double strength
of them this morning. And her Polish Majesty, a
severe, hard-featured old Lady, has been filled with indignant amazement by a Prussian Officer, -- Major
von Wangenheim, I believe it is, -- requiring, in the
King of Prussia's name, the Keys of that Archive-
room; Prussian Majesty absolutely needing sight, for a
little while, of certain Papers there. "Enter that room?
Archives of a crowned Head? Let me see the living
mortal that will dare to do it! " -- one fancies the in-
dignant Polish Majesty's answer; and how, calling for
materials, she "openly sealed the door in question," in
Wangenheim's presence. As this is a celebrated Pas-
sage, which has been reported in several loose ways,
let us take it from the primary source, Chancery-style
and all. Graf von Sternberg, Austrian Excellency,
writing from the spot and at the hour, informs his own
Court, and through that all Courts, in these solemnly
Official terms:
"Dresden, 10th September 1756. The Queen's Majesty,
"this forenoon, has called to her all the Foreign Ministers
"now at Dresden; and in Highest Own Person has signified
"to us, How, the Prussian intrusions and hostilities being
"already known, Highest said Queen's Majesty would now
"simply state what had farther taken place this morning:
"Highest said Queen's Majesty, to wit, had, in her own
"name, requested the King of Prussia, in conformity with his
"assurances" (by Keith, yesternight) "of paying every
"regard for Her and the Koyal Family, To remove the
"Prussian Sentries pacing about in those Corridors," -- Cor-
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? 256 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [book XVII.
10th Sept. 1756.
ridors which lead to the Secret Archives, important to some
of us! -- "Instead of which, the said King had not only
"doubled his Sentries there; but also, by an Officer, de-
"manded the Keys of the Archive-Apartment" (just alluded
to)! "And as the Queen's Majesty, for security of all writings
"there, offered to seal the Door of it herself, and did so, there
"and then, -- the said Officer had so little respect, that he
"clapped his own seal thereon too.
"Nor was he content therewith," -- not by any means! --
"but the same Officer" (having been with Wylich, Com-
mandant here) "came back, a short time after, and made for
"opening of the Door himself. Which being announced to
"the Queen's Majesty, she in her own person, (Hochstdieselbe,
"Highest-the-Same) went out again; and standing before
"the Door, informed him, 'How Highest-the-Same had too
"' much regard to his Prussian Majesty's given assurance, to
'"believe that such order could proceed from the King. ' As
"the Officer, however, replied, 'That he was sorry to have
"' such an order to execute; but that the order was serious and
"'precise; and that he, by not executing it, would expose
"'himself to the greatest responsibility,' Her Majestycon-
"tinued standing before the Door; and said to the Officer,
'"If he meant to use force, he might upon Her make his be-
"'ginning. '" There is for you, HerrWangenheim! --
"Upon which said Officer had gone away, to report anew
"to the King" (I think, only to Wylich the Commandant;
King now a dozen miles off, not so easily reported to, and his
mind known); "and in the mean while Her Majesty had
"called to her the Prussian and English Ambassadors" (Mahl-
zahnand Stormont; sorry both of them, but how entirely re-
sourceless, -- especially Mahlzahn! ), "and had represented
"and repeated to them the above; beseeching that by their
"remonstrances and persuasions they would induce the King
"of Prussia, conformably with his given assurance, to forbear.
"Instead, however, of any fruit from such remonstrances and
"urgencies, final Order came, 'That, Queen's Majesty's own
"' Highest Person notwithstanding, force must be used. '
"Whereupon her Majesty, to avoid actual mistreatment,
"had been obliged to" -- to become passive, and, no Keys
being procurable from her, see a smith with his picklocks give
these Prussians admission. Legation-Secretary Plessmann
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? CHAP. IV. ] FRIBDRICH's QUESTION AT VIENNA. 257
10th Sept. 1756.
was there (Menzel one fancies sitting, rather pale, in an ad-
jacent room*); and they knew what to do. Their smith
opens the required Box for them (one of several "all lying
packed for Warsaw," says Friedrich); from which soon
taking what they needed, Wangenheim and Wylich withdrew
with their booty, and readers have the fruit of it to this day.
"Which unheard-of procedure, be pleased, your Excellencies,
"to report to your respective Courts. " **
Poor old Lady, what a situation! And I believe
she never saw her poor old Husband again. The day
he went to Pirna (morning of yesterday, September 9th,
Friedrich entering in the evening), these poor Spouses
had, little dreaming of it, taken leave of one another
forevermore. Such profit lies in your Brtihl.
Kings"
and Queens that will be governed by a Jesuit Guarini,
and a Briihl of the Twelve Tailors, sometimes pay dear
for it. They, or their representatives, are sure to do
so. Kings and Queens, -- yes, and if that were all:
but their poor Countries, too? Their Countries; --
well, their Countries did not hate Beelzebub, in his
various shapes, enough. Their Countries should have
been in watch against Beelzebub in the shape of Briihls;
-- watching, and also "praying" in a heroic manner,
now fallen obsolete in these impious times!
* Supra, p. 185.
** Gesammelte Nachrtchlen, i. 222 (or "No. 26" of that Collection)
(Euvres de Frederic, iv. ? 83.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. IX. 1<
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? 258 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [bookxvn.
10th Sept. -- 1st Oct. 1756.
CHAPTER V.
FRIEDRICH BLOCKADES THE SAXONS IN PIRNA COUNTRY.
Friedrich reckons himself to have 65,000 men in
Saxony. Schwerin is issuing from Silesia, through the
Glatz Mountains, for Bohemia, at the head of 40,000.
The Austrian force is inferior in quantity, and far from
ready: -- Two "Camps," in Bohemia they have; the
chief one under Browne (looking, or intending, this
Saxon way), and a smaller under Piccolomini, in the
Konigshof-Kolin region: -- if well run into from front
and rear, both Browne and Piccolomini might be beauti-
fully handled; and a gash be cut in Austria, which
might incline her to be at peace again! Nothing hinders
but this paltry Camp of the Saxons; itself only 18,000
strong, but in a Country of such strength. And this
does hinder, effectually while it continues: "How march
to Bohemia, and leave the road blocked in our rear? "
The Saxon Camp did continue, -- unmanageable
by any method, for five weeks to come; the season of
war-operations gone, by that time: -- and Friedrich's
First Campaign, rendered mostly fruitless in this
manner, will by no means check the Austrian truculen-
cies, as by his velocity he hoped to do. No; but, on
the contrary, will rouse the Austrians, French and all
Enemies, to a tenfold pitch of temper. And bring upon
himself, from an astonished and misunderstanding
Public, such tempests and world-tornados of loud-roar-
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? CHAP, v. ] THE SAXONS BLOCKADED IN PIRNA. 259
10th Sept. --1st Oct. 1756.
ing obloquy, as even he, Friedrich, had never endured
before.
To readers of a touring habit this Saxon Country is perhaps well known. For the last half-century, it
has been growing more and more famous, under the
name of "Saxon Switzerland (Sachsische Schweitz)," in-
stead of "Misnian Highlands (Meissnische Sochland)"
which it used to be called. A beautiful enough and
extremely rugged Country; interesting to the picturesque
mind. Begins rising, in soft Hills, on both sides of
the Elbe, a few miles east of Dresden, as you ascend
the River; till it rises into Hills of wild character,
getting ever wilder, and riven into wondrous chasms
and precipices. Extends, say almost twenty miles up
the River, to Tetschen and beyond, in this eastern
direction; and with perhaps ten miles of breadth on
each side of the River': area of the Rock-region, there-
fore, is perhaps some four hundred square miles. The
Falkenberg (what we should call Hawkscrag), north-
eastward in the Lausitz, the Schneeberg (SnowMountain),
south-eastward on the Bohemian border, are about
thirty-five miles apart: these two are both reckoned to
be in it, -- its last outposts on that eastern side. But
the limits of it are fixed by custom only, and depend
on no natural condition.
We might define it as the Sandstone neck of the
Metal Mountains: a rather lower block, of Sandstone,
intercalated into the Metal-Mountain range, which
otherwise, on both hands, is higher, and of harder
rocks. Southward (as shoulder to this sandstone neck)
lies, continuous, broad and high, the "Metal-Mountain
range" specially so-called: northward and north-east-
17*
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? 260 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [book XVII.
10th Sept. --1st Oct. 1756.
ward there rise, beyond that Falkenberg, many-
mountains, solitary or in groups, -- "the Metal
Mountains" fading-out here into "the Lausitz Hills,"
still in fine picturesque fashion, which are Northern
Border to the great Bohemian "Basin of the Elbe,"
after you emerge from this Sandstone Country.
Saxon Switzerland is not very high anywhere; 2,000
feet is a notable degree of height: but it is torn and
tumbled into stone labyrinths, chasms and winding
rock-walls, as few regions are. Grows pine-wood, to
the topmost height; pine-trees far aloft look quietly
down upon you, over sheer precipices, on your intricate
path. On the slopes of the Hills is grass enough; in
the intervals are Villages and husbandries, are corn
and milk for the laborious natives, -- who depend
mainly on quarrying, and pine-forest work: pines and
freestone, rafts of long slim pines, and big stone barges,
are what one sees upon the Kiver there. A Note, not
very geological, says of it:
"Elbe sweeps freely through this Country, for ages and
"aeons past; curling himself a little into snake-figure, and
"with increased velocity, but silent mostly, and trim to the
"edge, a fine flint-coloured river; -- though in aeons long
"anterior it must have been a very different matter for tor-
"rents and water-power. The Country is one huge Block of
"Sandstone, so many square miles of that material; ribbed,
"channelled, torn and quarried, in this manner, -- by the
"everbusy elements, for a million of Ages past! Chiefly by
"the Elbe himself, since he got to be a River, and became
"cosmic and personal; ceasing to be a mere watery chaos of
"Lakes and Deluges hereabouts. For the Sandstone was of
"various degrees of hardness; tenacious as marble some
"parts of it, soft almost as sand other parts. And the primor-
"dial diluviums and world-old torrents, great and small,
"rushing down from the Bohemian Highlands, from the Saxon
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? CHAP, v. ] THE SAXONS BLOCKADED IN PIRNA. 261
10th Sept. -- 1st Oct. 1756.
"Metal-Mountains, with such storming, gurgling, and swash-
"ing, have swept away the soft parts, and left the hard stand-
ing in this chaotic manner, and bequeathed it all to the
"Elbe, and the common frosts and rains of these human
"ages.
"Elbe has now a trim course; but Elbe too is busyquar-
"rying and mining, where not artificially held in; -- and you
"notice at every outlet of a Brook from the interior, north
"side and south side, how busy the Brook has been. Boring,
"grinding, undermining; much helped by the frosts, by the
"rains. JEons ago, the Brook was a lake, in the interior;
"but was every moment labouring to get out; till it has cut
"for itself that mountain gullet, or sheer-down chasm, and
"brought out with it an Alluvium or Delta, -- on which, since
"Adam's time, human creatures have built a Hamlet. That
"is the origin, or unwritten history, of most hamlets and
"cultivated spots you fall in with here: they are the waste
"shavings of the Brook, working millions of years, for its
"own object of getting into the Elbe in level circumstances.
"Ploughed fields, not without fertility, are in the interior, if
"you ascend that Brook; the Hamlet at the delta or mouth
"of it, is as if built upon its tongue and into its gullet: think
"how picturesque, in the November rains, for example!
"The road," one road, "from Dresden to Aussig, to
"Lobositz, Budin, Prag, runs up the river-brink (south
"brink); or, in our day, as Prag-Dresden Railway, thunders
"through those solitudes; strangely awakening their echoes;
"and inviting even the bewildered Tourist to reflect, if he
"could. The bewildered Tourist sees rock-walls heaven-
"high on both hands of him; River and he rushing on be-
"tween, by law of gravitation, law of ennui (which are laws
"of Nature both), with a narrow strip of sky in full gallop
"overhead; and has little encouragement to reflect, except
"upon his own sorrows, and delirious circumstances, physical
"and moral. 'How much happier, were I lying in my bed! '
"thinks the bewildered Tourist; -- does strive withal to ad-
"mire the Picturesque, but with little success; notices the
"'Bastei (Bastion),' and other rigorously prescribed points of
"the Sublime and Beautiful, which are to be 'done. ' That
"you will have to do, my friend: step out, you will have to go
"on that Pinnacle, with indifferent Hotel attached; on that
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? 262 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [book XVIt.
10th Sept. -- 1st Oct. 1756.
"iron balcony, aloft among the clouds yonder; and shudder
"to project over Elbe-flood from such altitudes, admiringthe
"Picturesque in prescribed manner.
"This Country has for its permanent uses, timber, free-
"stone, modicum of milk and haver, serviceable to the
"generality; -- and to his Polish Majesty, at present, it is as
"the very Ark of Noah: priceless at this juncture; being the
"strongest military country in the world. Excellent strength
"in it; express Fortresses; especially one Fortress called the
"Konigstein, not far from Schandau, of a towering pre-
"cipitous nature, with 'a well900feet deep' in it, and pleasant
"Village outside at the base; -- Fortress which is still, in our
"day, reckoned a safe place for the Saxon Archives and pre-
ciosities. Impregnable to gunpowder artillery; not to be
"had except by hunger. And then, farther down the River,
"close by Pirna, presiding over Pirna, as that Konigstein in
"some sort does over Schandau, is the Sonnenstein: bonnen-
"stein too was a Fortress in those days of Friedrich, but not
"impregnable, if judged worth taking. The Austrians took
"it, a year or two hence; Friedrich retook it, dismantled it:
"the Sonnenstein is now a Madhouse," say the Guide-Books.
"Sonnenstein stands close east or up-stream of Pirna,
"which is a town of 5,000 souls, by much the largest in those
"parts; Konigstein a little down-stream of Schandau, which
"latter is on the opposite or north side of the River. These
"are the two chief Towns, which do all the trade of this
"region; picturesque places both: -- the Tourist remembers
"Pirna? Standing on its sleek table or stair-step, by the
"River's edge; well above floodmark; green, shaggy or
"fringy mountains looking down on it to rearward; in front,
"beyond the River, nothing visible but mile-long cream-
"coloured rock-wall, with bushes at bottom and top, wall
"quarried by Elbe, as you can see. Pirna is near the be-
ginning" (properly end, but we start from Dresden) "or
"western extremity of Saxon Schweitz. Schandau, almost
"at the opposite or eastern extremity, is still more pic-
"turesque; standing on the delta of a little Brook, with high
"rock-cliffs, with garden-shrubberies, sanded walks, tufts of
"forest-umbrage; a bright-painted, almost operatic-looking
"place, -- with spa-waters, if I recollect:" yes truly, and the
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? CHAP, v. ] THE SAXONS BLOCKADED IN PIRNA. 263
10th Sept. --1st Oct. 1756.
"Bath Season" making its packages in great haste, breaking
up prematurely, this Year (1756)! --
Directly on arriving at Gross-Sedlitz, Friedrich
takes ocular survey of this Country, which is already
not unknown to him. He finds that the Saxons have
secured themselves within the Mountains; a rocky
streamlet, Brook of Gottleube, which issues into Elbe
just between Gross-Sedlitz and them, "through a dell
of eighty or a hundred feet deep," serving as their
first defence; well in front of the mere rocky Heights
and precipices behind it, which stretch continuously
along to southward, six miles or more, from Pima and
the south brink of Elbe. At Langen-Hennersdorf,
which is the southernmost part, these Heights make an
elbow inwards, by Leopoldshayn, towards the Konig-
stein, which is but four miles off; here too the Saxons
are defended by a Brook (running straight towards
Konigstein, this one) in front of their Heights; and
stand defensive, in this way, along a rock-bulwark of
ten miles long: the passes all secured by batteries, by
abatis, palisades, mile after mile, as Friedrich rides ob-
servant leftward: behind them, Elbe rushing swifter
through his rock-walls yonder, with chasms and intri-
cate gorges; defending them inexpugnably to rear.
Six miles long of natural bulwark (six to Henners-
dorf), where the gross of the Saxons lie; then to
Konigstein four other miles, sufficiently, if more
sparsely, beset by them. "No stronger position in the
world," Friedrich thinks;* -- and that it is impossible
* ffiuures de Frederic, iv. 83, 84 (not a very distinct Account; and far
from accurate in the details, -- which are left without effectual correction
even in the best Editions).
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? 264 SEVEN-YEARS WAE BEGINS. [book XVII.
10th Sept. --1st Oct. 1756.
to force this place, without a loss of life dispropor-
tionate even to its importance at present. Not to say
that the Saxons will make terms all the easier, before
bloodshed rise between us; -- and furthermore that
Hunger (for we hear they have provision only for two
weeks) may itself soon do it. "Wedge them in, there-
fore; block every outgate, every entrance; nothing to
get in, except gradually Hunger. Hunger, and on our
part rational Offers, will suffice. "That is Friedrich's
plan; good in itself, -- though the ovine obstinacy,
and other circumstances, retarded the execution of it
to an unexpected extent, lamentable to Friedrich and
to some others.
The Prussian-Saxon military operations for the
next five weeks need not detain us. Their respective
positions are on the Heights behind that Brook Gott-
leube, and on the plainer Country in front of it, -- the
Prussians lie, first Division of them, from Gross-Sedlitz
to Zehist, under the King; the second Division from
Zehist to Cotta, and onward by "the Eothschenke"
(Bed-House Tavern), by Markersbach, and sparsely
as far as Hellendorf on the Prag Highway; other
Divisions watching Elbe itself, have Batteries and
Posts on the north side of it, and so on. To which
add only these straggles of Note, as further elucida-
tive:
"The Saxons, between Elbe and their Lines, possess
"about thirty square miles of country. From Pirna or Son-
"nenstein to Konigstein, as the crow flies, may be five miles
"east to west; but by Langen-Heimersdorf, and the elbow
"there, itwillbeten: at Konigstein, moreover, Elbe makes
"an abrupt turn northward for a couple of miles, instead of
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? CHAP, v. ] THE SAXONS BLOCKADED IN PIRNA. 265
19th Sept. --1st Oct. 1756.
"westward as heretofore, turning abruptly westward again
"after that: so that the Saxon 'Camp,' or Occupancy here,
"is an irregular Trapezium, with Pirna and Konigstein for
"vertices, and with area estimable as above, -- ploughable,
"a fair portion of it, and not without corn of its own. So
"that the 'two-weeks provision' spun themselves out (short
"allowance aiding) to two-months, before actual famine
"came.
* * "The High-road from the Lausitz parts crosses
"Elbe at Pirna; falls into the Dresden-PragHigh-road there;
"and from Pirna towards Toplitz, for the first few miles, this
"latter runs through the Prussian Posts; but we may guess
"it is not much travelled at present. North of Elbe, too,
"the Prussians have batteries on the fit points; detachments
"of due force, from Gross-Sedlitz Bridge-of-Pontoons all
"round to Schandau, or beyond; could fire upon the Konig-
"stein, across the River: they have plugged up the Saxon
"position everywhere. They have a Battery especially, and
"strong post, to cannonade the Bridge at Pirna, should the
"Saxons think of trying there. It is now the one Saxon or
"even Half-Saxon Bridge, Sonnenstein and Pirna command
"the Saxon end of it, a strong battery the Prussian end: a
"Bridge lying mainly idle, Tike the general Highway to
"Toplitz at this time. Beyond the Konigstein, again, at a
"place called Wendisch-Fahre (Wends'-Ferry), the Prussians
"have, by means of boats swinging wide at anchor on the
"swift current, what is called a Flying-bridge, with which
"the north side can communicate with the south. They have
"a post at Nieder-Raden (Ober Raden, railway station in our
"time, is on the south side): Nether Raden is an interesting
"little Hamlet, mostly invisible to mankind (built in the
"throat of the stone chasms there), from which you begin
"mounting to the Bastei far aloft. A Raden to be noted, Dy "the Tourist and us. "
Little, or even nothing, of fighting there is: why
should there be? The military operations are a dead-
lock, and require no word. Thirty thousand, half of
the Prussian Force, lie, vigilant as lynxes, blockading
here; other half, 32,000, under Marshal Keith, have
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? 266 SEVEN-YEARS WAR BEGINS. [book XVII.
10th Sept.
