"I am now about marching to the
Mountain
region, to
"settle the chain of quarters there; and if you will come,
"you will find the roads free and safe.
"settle the chain of quarters there; and if you will come,
"you will find the roads free and safe.
Thomas Carlyle
The Schloss
is full of Austrian Officers, bustling about, intending
to quarter, when the King enters. They, and the
force they still had in Lissa, could easily have taken
him: but how could they know? Friedrich was sur18*
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? 276 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII.
5th Dec. 1757.
prised; but had to put the best face on it. * "Bon
soir, Messieurs. '" said he, with a gay tone, stepping
in: "Is there still room left, think you? " The Austrians,
bowing to the dust, make way reverently to the divi-
nity that hedges a King of this sort; mutely escort him
to the best room (such the popular account); and for
certain, make off, they and theirs, towards the Bridge,
which lies a little farther east, at the end of the Vil-
lage.
Weistritz or Schweidnitz Water is a biggish muddy
stream in that part; gushing and eddying; not voiceless,
vexed by mills and their wears. Some firing there was
from Croats in the lower houses of the Village, and
they had a cannon at the farther Bridge-end; but they
were glad to get away, and vanish in the Night; muddy
Weistritz singing hoarse adieu to their cannon and
them. Prussian grenadiers plunged indignant into the
houses; made short work of the musketries there. In
few minutes, every Croat and Austrian was across, or
silenced otherwise too well; Prussian cannon now going
in the rear of them, and continuing to go, -- such had
been the order, "till the powder you have is done. "
Fire of musketry and occasional cannon lasts, all night,
from the Lissa or Prussian side of the River, -- "lest
they burn this Bridge, or attempt some mischief. " A
thing far from their thoughts, in present circumstances.
The Prussian Host at Saara, hearing these noises,
took to its arms again; and marched after the Bang.
Thick darkness; silence; tramp, tramp: -- a Prussian
grenadier broke out, with solemn tenor voice again,
into Church-Music; a known Church-Hymn, of the
* In Kutzen (pp. 121, 209 et seq. ), explanation of the true circum-
stances, and source of the mistake.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 277
5th Dec. 1757.
homely Te-Deum kind; in which five-and-twenty thou-
sand other voices, and all the regimental bands, soon
join:
"Nun danket alle Golt "Now thank God, one and all,
"Mil tierzen, Mund und Hdnden, "With heart, with voice, with hands-a,
"Der grosse Dinge thut "Who wonders great hath done,
"An uns und alien Enden"* "To us and to all lands-a. "
And thus they advance; melodious, far-sounding, through
the hollow Night, once more in a highly remarkable
manner. A pious people, of right Teutsch stuff, tender
though stout; and, except perhaps Oliver Cromwell's
handful of Ironsides, probably the most perfect soldiers
ever seen hitherto. Arriving at the end of Lissa, and
finding all safe as it should be there, they make their
bivouac, their parallelogram of two lines, miles long
across the fields, left wing resting on Lissa, right on
Guckerwitz; and, -- having, I should think, at least
tobacco to depend on, and healthy joyful hearts, --
pass the night in a thankful, comfortable manner.
Leuthen was the most complete of all Friedrich's
victories; two hours more of daylight, as Friedrich him-
self says, and it would have been the most decisive of
this century. ** As it was, the ruin of this big Army,
80,000 against 30,000,*** was as good as total; and a
world of Austrian hopes suddenly collapsed; and all
their Silesian Apparatus, making sure of Silesia beyond
art if, was tumbled into wreck, -- by this one stroke
it had got, smiting the corner-stone of it as if with un-
* Miiller, p. 48.
** (Euvres de Frideric, iv. 167.
? ? ? "89,200 was the Austrian strength before the Battle" (deduct the
Garrisons of Schweidnitz and Liegnitz): Preuss, u. 109 (from the Staff-
Officers).
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? 278 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVnt.
5th-26th Doc. 1757.
expected lightning. On the morrow after Leuthen, Friedrich laid siege to Breslau; Karl had left a garri-
son of 17,000 in it, and a stout Captain, one Sprecher,
determined on defence: such interests hung on Breslau,
such immensities of stores were in it, had there been nothing else, friedrich, pushing with all his strength,
in spite of had weather and of Sprecher's industrious
defence, got it in twelve days. * Sprecher had posted
placards on the gallows and up and down, terrifically
proclaiming that any man convicted of mentioning sur-
render should be instantly hanged: but Friedrich's
bombardment was strong, his assaults continual: and
the ditches were threatening to freeze. On the seventh
day of the siege, a Laboratorium blew up; on the ninth,
a Powder-magazine, carrying a lump of the rampart
away with it. Sprecher had to capitulate: Prisoners of
War, we 17,000; our cannons, ammunitions (most
opulent, including what we took from Bevern lately);
these, we, and Breslau altogether; alas, it is all yours
again.
Liegnitz Garrison, seeing no hope, consented to
withdraw on leave. ** Schweidnitz cannot be besieged
till Spring come: except Schweidnitz, Maria Theresa,
the high Kaiserinn, has no foot of ground in Silesia,
which she thought to be hers again. Gone utterly,
Patents and all; Schweidnitz alone waiting till Spring.
To the lively joy of Silesia in general; to the thrice-
lively sorrow and alarm of certain individuals, leading
Catholic Ecclesiastics mainly, who had misread the
signs of the times in late months! There is one Schaff-
* 7th-19th December: Diarinm &c. of it in Helden-Geschichle, iv.
955-961.
** 26th Decembers Helden-Geschichte, iv. 1016.
Jfr,''
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHES. 279
5th-26m Dec. 1757.
gotsch, Archbishop or head-man of them, especially,
who is now in a bad way. Never was such royal
favour; never such ingratitude, say the Books at weari-
some length. Schaffgotsch was a showy man of quality,
nephew of the quondam Austrian Governor, whom
Friedrich, across a good deal of Papal and other oppo-
sition, got pushed into the Catholic Primacy, and took
some pains to make comfortable there, -- Order of the
Black Eagle, guest at Potsdam, and the like; -- having
a kind of fancy for the airy Schaffgotsch, as well as
judging him suitable for this Silesian High-Priesthood,
with his moderate ideas and quality ways, -- which I
have heard were a little dissolute withal. To the whole
of which Schaffgotsch proved signally traitorous and
ingrate; and had plucked off the Black Eagle (say the
Books, nearly breathless over such a sacrilege) on some
public occasion, prior to Leuthen, and trampled it under
his feet, the unworthy fellow. Schaffgotsch's pathetic
Letter to Friedrich, in the new days posterior to
Leuthen, and Friedrich's contemptuous inexorable an-
swer, we could give, but do not: why should we? Oh
King, I know your difficulties, and what epoch it is.
But, of a truth, your airy dissolute Schaffgotsch, as a
grateful "Archbishop and Grand-Vicar," is almost
uglier to me than as a Traitor ungrateful for it; and
shall go to the Devil in his own way! They would not
have him in Austria; he was not well received at
Rome; happily died before long. * Friedrich was not
cruel to Schaffgotsch or the others, contemptuously
mild rather; but he knew henceforth what to expect of
them, and slightly changed this and that in his Silesian
methods in consequence.
* Preusa, n. 113, 114; Kutzen, pp. 12,155-160, for the real particulars.
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? 280 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book xviii.
5th-26th Dec. 1757.
Of Prince Karl let us add a word. On the morrow
after Leuthen, Captain Prince de Ligne and old Papa
D'Ahremberg could find little or no Army; they stept
across to Grabschen, a village on the safe side of the
Lohe, and there found Karl and Daun: "rather silent,
"both; one of them looking, 'Who would have thought
"'it! ' the other, 'Didn't I tell you? '" -- and knowing
nothing, they either, where the Army was. Army was,
in fact, as yet nowhere. "Croat fellows, in this Farm-
"stead of ours," says De Ligne, "had fallen to shooting
"pigeons. " The night had been unusually dark; the
Austrian Army had squatted into woods, into office-
houses, farm-villages, over a wide space of country;
and only as the day rose, began to dribble in. By
count, they are still 50,000; but heart-broken, beaten
as men seldom were. "What sound is that? " men
asked yesterday at Brieg, forty miles off; and nobody
could say, except that it was some huge Battle, fateful
of Silesia and world. Breslau had it louder; Breslau
was still more anxious. "What is all that? " asked
somebody (might be Deblin the Shoemaker, for any-
thing I know) of an Austrian sentry there: "That?
That is the Prussians giving us such a beating as we
never had. " What news for Deblin the Shoemaker, if
he is still above ground! --
"Prince Karl, gathering his distracted fragments, put
"17,000 into Breslau by way of ample garrison there; and
"with the rest made off circuitously for Schweidnitz; thence
"for Landshut, and down the Mountains, home to Konigs-
"gratz, -- self and Army in the most wrecked condition.
"Chased byZiethen; Ziethen 'sticking always to the hocks
"of them,' as Friedrich eagerly enjoins on him; or some-
"times it is, 'sitting on the breeches of them:' for about a
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? BATTLE OF LEUTHEN.
281
lec. 1757.
fortnight to come. * Ziethen took 2,000prisoners; no end
)f baggages, of wagons left in the difficult places: wild
weather even for Ziethen, still more for Karl, among the
Silesian-Bohemian Hill-roads: heavy rains, deep muds,
;hen sudden glass, with cutting snowblasts: 'An Army not
i little dilapidatedwrites Prince Karl, almost with tears
n his eyes; 'Army without linens, without clothes; in con-
dition truly sad and pitiable; and has always, so close
are the enemy, to encamp, though without tents. '** Did
lot get to Kbnigsgratz, and safe shelter, for ten days
nore. Counted, at Konigsgratz in the Christmas time,
J7,000rank and file, -- '22,000 of whom are gone to hos-
pital,' by the Doctor's report.
"Universal astonishment, indignation, even incredulity,
s the humour at Vienna: the high Kaiserinn herself, kept
n the dark for some time, becomes dimly aware; and by
lis military employments, and appoints Daun instead.
Prince Karl withdrew to his Government of the Nether-
ands; and with the aid of generous liquors, and what
latural magnanimity he had, spent a noiseless life thence-
'orth; Sword laid entirely on the shelf; and immortal
jrlory, as of Alexander and the like, quite making its exit
'rom the scene, convivial or other. 'The first General in
he world,' so he used to be ten years ago, in Austria, in
England, Holland, the thrice-greatest of Generals: but
low he has tried Friedrich in Five pitched Battles (Czaslau,
iohenfriedberg, Sohr, thenPrag, thenLeuthen); -- been
leaten every time, under every form of circumstance; and
iow, at Leuthen, the fifth beating is such, no public,
lowever ignorant, can stand it farther. The ignorant
mblic changes its long-eared eulogies into contumeliously
lorrid shrieks of condemnation; in which one is still farther
rom joining. 'That crossing of the Rhine,' says Friedrich,
was a belle chose; but flatterers blew him into dangerous
self-conceit; besides he was ill-obeyed, as others of us
have been. '*** Adieu to him, poor redfaced soul; -- and * Eleven Royal Autographs: in Blumenthal, Life of De Ziethen (n.
94-111), a feeble incorrect Translation of them. ** Kutzen, p. 134 (" Prince Karl to the Kaiser, December 14th").
** "Prince deLigne, Memoires surFrideric (Berlin, 1789), p. 38" (PreusSi
11S).
Kaiser Franz's own
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? 282 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVrrt.
5th-26th Dec. 1757.
"good liquor to him, -- at least if he can take it in mo-
deration! "
The astonishment of all men, wise and simple, at
this sudden oversetting of the scene of things, and
turning of the gazetteer-diplomatic theatre bottom
uppermost, was naturally extreme, especially in gazet-
teer and diplomatic circles; and the admiration, willing
or unwilling, of Friedrich, in some most essential
points of him, rose to a high pitch. Better soldier, it
is clear, has not been heard of in the modern ages.
Heroic constancy, courage superior to fate: several
clear features of a hero; -- pity he were such a liar
withal, and ignorant of common honesty; thought the
simple sort, in a bewildered manner, endeavouring to
forget the latter features, or think them not irreconcilable.
Military judges, of most various quality, down to this
day, pronounce Leuthen to be essentially the finest
Battle of the century; and indeed one of the prettiest
feats ever done by man in his Fighting Capacity. Na-
poleon, for instance, who had run over these Battles of
Friedrich (apparently somewhat in haste, but always
with a word upon them which is worth gathering from
such a source), speaks thus of Leuthen: "This Battle
"is a masterpiece of movements, of manoeuvres, and of
"resolution; enough to immortalise Friedrich, and rank
"him among the greatest Generals. Manifests, in the
"highest degree, both his moral qualities and his mili-
"tary. "*
How the English Walpoles, in Parliament and out
* Montholon, Memoires &. C. de Napoleon, vn. 211. This Napoleon Sum-
mary of Friedrich's Campaigns, and these brief Bits of Criticism, aro plea-
sant reading, though the fruit evidently of slight study, and do credit to
Napoleon perhaps still more than to Friedrich.
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? CHAP. I. ] BATTLE OP LEUTHEN. 283
5th-26th Dec. 1757.
of it; how the Prussian Sulzers, D'Argenses, the ga-
zetteer and vague public, may have spoken and written
at that time, when the matter was fresh and on every-
body's tongue, --judge still by two small symptoms
which we have to show:
1? . A Letter of FriedricKs to D'Argens (Diirgoy, near
Breslau, 19th December 1757). -- "Your friendship seduces
"you, mon cher; I am but a paltry knave (polisson) in com-
parison with 'Alexander,' and not worthy to tie the shoe-
"latchets of 'Caesar! ' Necessity, who is the mother of in-
"dustry, has made me act, and have recourse to desperate
"remedies in evils of a like nature.
"We have got here" (this day, by capitulation of Breslau)
"from fourteen to fifteen thousand prisoners: so that, in all,
"I have above twenty-three thousand of the Queen's troops
"in my hands, fifteen Generals, and above seven hundred
"Officers. 'Tis a plaster on my wounds, but it is far enough
"from healing them.
"I am now about marching to the Mountain region, to
"settle the chain of quarters there; and if you will come,
"you will find the roads free and safe. I was sorry at the
"Abba's treason," -- paltryDePrades, of whom we heard
enough already. *
2? . A Pottery-Apotheosis of Friedrich. -- "There stands
"on this mantelpiece," says one of my Correspondents, the
amiable Smelfungus, in short, whom readers are acquainted
with, "a small China Mug, not of bad shape; declaring
"itself, in one obscure corner, to be made at Worcester,
"'R. I. , Worcester, 1757' (late in the season, I presume,
"demand being brisk); which exhibits, all round it, a diligent
"Potter's-Apotheosis of Friedrich, hastily got up to meet the
"general enthusiasm of English mankind. Worth, while it
"lasts unbroken, a moment's inspection from you in hurrying
"along.
"Front side, when you take our Mug by the handle for
"drinking from it, offers a poor well-meant China Portrait,
"labelled King op Pbussia: copy of Friedrich's Portrait, by
* (Euvres de Fviiiric, xix. il.
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? 284 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
5th-26th Dec 1757.
"Pesne, twenty years too young for the time, smiling out
"nobly upon you; upon whom there descends with rapidity
"a small Genius (more like a Cupid who had hastily forgotten
"his bow, and goes headforemost on another errand) to drop
"a wrea'th on this deserving head; -- wreath far too small for
"ever getting on (owing to distance, let us hope), though
"the artless Painter makes no sign; and indeed both Genius
"and wreath, as he gives them, look almost like a big insect,
"which the King will be apt to treat harshly if he notice it.
"On the opposite side; again, separated from Friedrich's
"back by the handle, is an enormous image of Fame, with
"wings filling half the Mug, with two trumpets going at once
"(a bass, probably, and a treble), who flies with great ease;
"and between her eager face and the unexpectant one of
"Friedrich (who is 180? off, and knows nothing of it) stands
"a circular Trophy, or Imbroglio of drums, pikes, muskets,
"cannons, field-flags and the like; very slightly tied
"together, -- the knot, if there is one, being hidden by
"some fantastic bit of scroll or escutcheon, with a Fame and
"one trumpet scratched on it; -- and high out of the Im-
"broglio rise three standards inscribed with Names, which
"we perceive are intended to be names of Friedrich's
"Victories; standards notable at this day, with Names which
"I will punctually give you.
"Standard first, which flies to the westward or leftward,
"round its staff, and gives us to read, 'Welham' (non-
"extant, too; may mean Welmina or Lobositz), 'Rossbach'
"(very good), 'Breslau' (poor Bevern's, thought a victory in
"Worcester, at this time! ). Standard third, which flies to
"eastward or right hand, has 'Neumark' (thatis, Neumarkt
"and the Austrian Bread-ovens, 4th December); 'Lissa' (not
"yet Leuthen in English nomenclature); and'Breslau' again,
"which means the capture of Breslau City this time, and is a
"real success, 7th-19th December; -- giving us the ap-
proximate date, Christmas 1757, to this hasty Mug. A Mug
"got up for temporary English enthusiasm, and the ac-
cidental instruction of posterity. It is of tolerable China;
"holds a good pint, 'To the Protestant Hero, with all the
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OP LEUTHEN. 285
5th-26th Dec. 1757.
"honours;' -- and offers, in little, a curious eyehole into
"the then England, with its then lights and notions, which
"is now so deep hidden from us, under volcanic ashes, French
"Revolutions, and the wrecks of a Hundred very decadent
"Years. "
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? 286 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book xvm. ,
Jan. -- April 1758.
CHAPTER XI.
WINTER IN BRESLAU: THIRD CAMPAIGN OPENS.
Friedrich during those grand victories, is suffering
sadly in health, "colique depuis /wit jours, neither sleep
nor appetite;" "eight months of mere anguishes and
agitations do wear one down. " He is tired too, he says,
of the mere business talk, coarse and rugged, which
has been his allotment lately; longs for some humanly
roofed kind of lodging, and a little talk that shall have
flavour in it. * The troops once all in their Winter-
quarters, he sits down in Breslau as his own wintering
place: place of relaxation, -- of rest, or at least of
changed labour, -- no man needing it more. There
for some three months he had a tolerable time; per-
haps, by contrast, almost a delightful. Readers must
imagine it; we have no details allowed us, nor any
time for them even if we had.
There come various visitors, various gaieties, --
King's Birthday (January 24th); quality Balls, "at
which Royal Majesty sometimes deigned to show him-
self. " A lively Breslau, in comparison. Sister Amelia
paid a beautiful visit of a fortnight or more: Sister
Amelia, and along with her, two married Cousins (once
Margravines of Schwedt), whose Husbands, little Brother
Ferdinand, and Eugene of Wurtemberg, are wintering
here. The Marquis D'Argens, how exquisitely treated
* Letters of his to Prince Henri (December 26th &c. : (Euvres, xxvi.
167, 169; Stenzel, v. 129).
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? CfiAP. XI. ] WINTER IN BRESLAU. 287
Jan. -Aprif 1758.
we shall see, is a principal figure; Excellency Mitchell,
deep in very important business just now, is another.
Reader de Catt (he who once, in a Dutch River-Boat,
got into conversation with the snuffy gentleman in black
wig) made his new appearance, this Winter, -- needed
now, since De Prades is off. "Should you have known
me again? " asked Friedrich. "Hardly, in that dress;
besides, your Majesty looks thinner. " "That I can be-
lieve, with the cursed life I have been leading! "*
There came also, day not given, a Captain Guichard
("Major Quintus Icilius" that is to be) with his new
Book on the Art Military of the Ancients, Memoires
Militaires sur les Grecs et les Romains;** which cannot
but be welcome to Friedrich. A solid account of that
matter, by the first man who had ever understood both
War and Greek. Far preferable to Folard's, a man
without Greek at all, and with military ideas not a
little fantastic here and there. Of Captain Guichard,
were his Book once read, and himself a little known,
there will be more to say. For the present, fancy him
retained as supernumerary: -- and in regard to Fried-
rich's Winter generally, accept the following small hints,
small but direct:
Friedrich to If Argens (three different times).
10. On the road to Leuthen " (Torgau, 15th November 1757).
* * I have been obliged to have the Abbe* arrested" (De
Prades, of whom enough, long since); "he has been playing
"the spy, and I have many evident proofs of it. That is very
"infamous and very ungrateful. -- I have made a prodigious
"quantity of verses (prodigieusement de vers). If I live, I will
"show them you in Winter-quarters: if I perish, they are
* BOdenbeck, i. 285.
La Haye, 2 tomes, 4to, 1757 (Nicolai, Anekdoten, vi. 134).
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? 288 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVin.
Jan. -- April 1758.
"bequeathed to you, and I have ordered that they be put
"into your hand. "
"Adieu, my dear Marquis. I fancy you to be in bed:
"don't rot there; -- and remember you have promised to
"join me in Winter-quarters:"-- on this latter point Friedrich
is very urgent, amiably eager; prepared to wrap the poor
Marquis in cotton, and carry him and lodge him, like glass
with care. * For example:
2? . While settling the Winter-quarters ("Striegau, 26th
"December 1757:" Siege of Breslau done ten days ago). * *
"What a pleasure to hear you are coming! Your travelling
"you can do in your own way. I have chosen a party of
"LightHorse (Jdger), who will appear atBerlin to conduct
"you. You can make short journeys: the first to Frankfurt,
"the second to Crossen, the third to Griinberg, fourth to
"Glogau, fifth to Parchwitz, sixth to Breslau. I have
"directed that horses be ordered for you, that your rooms
"be warmed everywhere, and good fowls ready on all roads.
"Your apartment in this House" (Royal House in Breslau,
which the King has built for himself years ago) "is carpeted,
"hermetically shut. You shall suffer nothing from draughts
"or from noise. "**--Lucky Marquis; what a landlord! Came
accordingly; staid till deep in April, -- waiting latterly for
weather, I perceive; long after the King himself was off.
Thus:
3? . Friedrich on the field again for five weeks past Q' Miinster-
"berg, 23d April, 1758"). "Adieu, dear Marquis; I fancy
"you are now in Berlin again. Go to Charlottenburg when-
"ever and how you like; take care of yourself; and be ready
"for the beginning of October next! -- As to me, mon cher,
"I am off to fight windmills and ostriches (Autruches), that
"is Russians and Austrians (Autrichiens). Adieu, mon
"cher. ***
There circulated in the Newspapers, this Winter,
something of what was called a Letter from Friedrich
to Maria Theresa, formally proposing Peace, after these
magnificent successes. And certainly, of all things in
the Earth, Friedrich would have best liked Peace, this
? (Burnet de Frideric, xix. 43. "Ib. xix. 48. <<? * lb. xix. *>>.
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? CHAP. XI. ] WINTER IS BRESLAU. 289
Jan. -- April 1758.
year, last year,and for the next five years: "Go home,
then, good neighbours; don't break into my house,
don't cut my poor throat, and we will be friends again! "
Friedrich, it appears, had actually, finding or making
opportunity, sent some polite Letter, of pacific tenor,
in his light clever way, to that address;-- not without
momentary hopes of perhaps getting good from it. *
And the Kaiserinn herself, Austria's high Mother, did,
they say, after such a Leuthen coming on the back of
such a Rossbach, feel discouraged; but the Pompadour
(not France's Mother, whatever she might be to France)
was of far other mind: "Do not speak of it, ma Reine!
Double or quits, that is our game: can we yield for a
little ill-luck? Never! "
France dismisses its D'Argenson, "What Armies
are these of his; flying home on us, like draggled
poultry, across the Rhine! " -- summons the famed
Belleisle to be War-Minister, and give things an eagle-
quality:** France engages to pay its subsidies better
(France now the general paying party, Austria, Sweden,
Russia itself, all looking to France,-- would she were
as punctual as England used to be! ), -- in a word,
engages to be magnanimous extremely, and will hear
of nothing but persistence. "Shall not we reap, then,
where there is such a harvest standing white to us? "
Kaunitz admits that there never will again be such a
chance. -- Peace, it is clear enough, will not be got
of these people by any Letter, or human device what-
ever, except simply by uttermost, more or less mira-
culous fighting for it. Friedrich is profoundly aware
* In Preuss, u. 130 (Friedrich's Letter mostly given; -- bearer a Prince
von Lobkowitz, prisoner atLeuthen, now going home on handsome terms):
Stenzel, v. 124 (for the per-contra feeling). . .
? ? "26th February 1758" (Barbier, iv. 258).
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. X. 19
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? 290 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII.
Jan April 1738.
of this fact; -- is busy completing his Army: 145,000
for the field, this Year, 53,000 the Silesian part, "a
good many of them Austrian deserters;" * and is closing
an important Subsidy Treaty with England, -- of which
more anon.
And if this is the mood in France and Austria,
think what Russia's will be! The Czarina is not dead
of dropsy, as some had expected, but, on the contrary,
alive, and fiercer than ever; furious against Apraxin,
and determined that Fermor, his successor, shall defy
Winter, and begin work at once. She has indignantly
dismissed Apraxin (to be tried by Court Martial, he);
dismisses Bestuchef the Chancellor; appoints a new
General, Fermor by name; orders Fermor to go and
lose not a moment, now in the depth of Winter since
it was not done in the crown of Summer, and take
possession of East Preussen in her name.
Which Fermor does; 16th January, crosses the bor-
der again, 31,000 in all, without opposition except from
the frost; plants himself up and down, -- only two poor
Prussian battalions there; who retire with their effects,
especially "with seven wagons of money. " January
22d, Fermor enters Konigsberg; publishes no end of
proclamations, manifestoes, rescripts, to inform the poor
people, trembling at the Cossack atrocities of last Year,
"That his august Sovereign Elizabeth of All the Rus-
sias has now become Proprietress of East Preussen,
which shall be perfectly protected and exquisitely well
governed henceforth; and that all men of official or
social position have, accordingly, to come and take the
oath to her, with the due alacrity and punctuality, at
their peril. "
* Stenzel, v. 155.
t
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is full of Austrian Officers, bustling about, intending
to quarter, when the King enters. They, and the
force they still had in Lissa, could easily have taken
him: but how could they know? Friedrich was sur18*
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? 276 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII.
5th Dec. 1757.
prised; but had to put the best face on it. * "Bon
soir, Messieurs. '" said he, with a gay tone, stepping
in: "Is there still room left, think you? " The Austrians,
bowing to the dust, make way reverently to the divi-
nity that hedges a King of this sort; mutely escort him
to the best room (such the popular account); and for
certain, make off, they and theirs, towards the Bridge,
which lies a little farther east, at the end of the Vil-
lage.
Weistritz or Schweidnitz Water is a biggish muddy
stream in that part; gushing and eddying; not voiceless,
vexed by mills and their wears. Some firing there was
from Croats in the lower houses of the Village, and
they had a cannon at the farther Bridge-end; but they
were glad to get away, and vanish in the Night; muddy
Weistritz singing hoarse adieu to their cannon and
them. Prussian grenadiers plunged indignant into the
houses; made short work of the musketries there. In
few minutes, every Croat and Austrian was across, or
silenced otherwise too well; Prussian cannon now going
in the rear of them, and continuing to go, -- such had
been the order, "till the powder you have is done. "
Fire of musketry and occasional cannon lasts, all night,
from the Lissa or Prussian side of the River, -- "lest
they burn this Bridge, or attempt some mischief. " A
thing far from their thoughts, in present circumstances.
The Prussian Host at Saara, hearing these noises,
took to its arms again; and marched after the Bang.
Thick darkness; silence; tramp, tramp: -- a Prussian
grenadier broke out, with solemn tenor voice again,
into Church-Music; a known Church-Hymn, of the
* In Kutzen (pp. 121, 209 et seq. ), explanation of the true circum-
stances, and source of the mistake.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 277
5th Dec. 1757.
homely Te-Deum kind; in which five-and-twenty thou-
sand other voices, and all the regimental bands, soon
join:
"Nun danket alle Golt "Now thank God, one and all,
"Mil tierzen, Mund und Hdnden, "With heart, with voice, with hands-a,
"Der grosse Dinge thut "Who wonders great hath done,
"An uns und alien Enden"* "To us and to all lands-a. "
And thus they advance; melodious, far-sounding, through
the hollow Night, once more in a highly remarkable
manner. A pious people, of right Teutsch stuff, tender
though stout; and, except perhaps Oliver Cromwell's
handful of Ironsides, probably the most perfect soldiers
ever seen hitherto. Arriving at the end of Lissa, and
finding all safe as it should be there, they make their
bivouac, their parallelogram of two lines, miles long
across the fields, left wing resting on Lissa, right on
Guckerwitz; and, -- having, I should think, at least
tobacco to depend on, and healthy joyful hearts, --
pass the night in a thankful, comfortable manner.
Leuthen was the most complete of all Friedrich's
victories; two hours more of daylight, as Friedrich him-
self says, and it would have been the most decisive of
this century. ** As it was, the ruin of this big Army,
80,000 against 30,000,*** was as good as total; and a
world of Austrian hopes suddenly collapsed; and all
their Silesian Apparatus, making sure of Silesia beyond
art if, was tumbled into wreck, -- by this one stroke
it had got, smiting the corner-stone of it as if with un-
* Miiller, p. 48.
** (Euvres de Frideric, iv. 167.
? ? ? "89,200 was the Austrian strength before the Battle" (deduct the
Garrisons of Schweidnitz and Liegnitz): Preuss, u. 109 (from the Staff-
Officers).
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? 278 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVnt.
5th-26th Doc. 1757.
expected lightning. On the morrow after Leuthen, Friedrich laid siege to Breslau; Karl had left a garri-
son of 17,000 in it, and a stout Captain, one Sprecher,
determined on defence: such interests hung on Breslau,
such immensities of stores were in it, had there been nothing else, friedrich, pushing with all his strength,
in spite of had weather and of Sprecher's industrious
defence, got it in twelve days. * Sprecher had posted
placards on the gallows and up and down, terrifically
proclaiming that any man convicted of mentioning sur-
render should be instantly hanged: but Friedrich's
bombardment was strong, his assaults continual: and
the ditches were threatening to freeze. On the seventh
day of the siege, a Laboratorium blew up; on the ninth,
a Powder-magazine, carrying a lump of the rampart
away with it. Sprecher had to capitulate: Prisoners of
War, we 17,000; our cannons, ammunitions (most
opulent, including what we took from Bevern lately);
these, we, and Breslau altogether; alas, it is all yours
again.
Liegnitz Garrison, seeing no hope, consented to
withdraw on leave. ** Schweidnitz cannot be besieged
till Spring come: except Schweidnitz, Maria Theresa,
the high Kaiserinn, has no foot of ground in Silesia,
which she thought to be hers again. Gone utterly,
Patents and all; Schweidnitz alone waiting till Spring.
To the lively joy of Silesia in general; to the thrice-
lively sorrow and alarm of certain individuals, leading
Catholic Ecclesiastics mainly, who had misread the
signs of the times in late months! There is one Schaff-
* 7th-19th December: Diarinm &c. of it in Helden-Geschichle, iv.
955-961.
** 26th Decembers Helden-Geschichte, iv. 1016.
Jfr,''
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHES. 279
5th-26m Dec. 1757.
gotsch, Archbishop or head-man of them, especially,
who is now in a bad way. Never was such royal
favour; never such ingratitude, say the Books at weari-
some length. Schaffgotsch was a showy man of quality,
nephew of the quondam Austrian Governor, whom
Friedrich, across a good deal of Papal and other oppo-
sition, got pushed into the Catholic Primacy, and took
some pains to make comfortable there, -- Order of the
Black Eagle, guest at Potsdam, and the like; -- having
a kind of fancy for the airy Schaffgotsch, as well as
judging him suitable for this Silesian High-Priesthood,
with his moderate ideas and quality ways, -- which I
have heard were a little dissolute withal. To the whole
of which Schaffgotsch proved signally traitorous and
ingrate; and had plucked off the Black Eagle (say the
Books, nearly breathless over such a sacrilege) on some
public occasion, prior to Leuthen, and trampled it under
his feet, the unworthy fellow. Schaffgotsch's pathetic
Letter to Friedrich, in the new days posterior to
Leuthen, and Friedrich's contemptuous inexorable an-
swer, we could give, but do not: why should we? Oh
King, I know your difficulties, and what epoch it is.
But, of a truth, your airy dissolute Schaffgotsch, as a
grateful "Archbishop and Grand-Vicar," is almost
uglier to me than as a Traitor ungrateful for it; and
shall go to the Devil in his own way! They would not
have him in Austria; he was not well received at
Rome; happily died before long. * Friedrich was not
cruel to Schaffgotsch or the others, contemptuously
mild rather; but he knew henceforth what to expect of
them, and slightly changed this and that in his Silesian
methods in consequence.
* Preusa, n. 113, 114; Kutzen, pp. 12,155-160, for the real particulars.
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? 280 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book xviii.
5th-26th Dec. 1757.
Of Prince Karl let us add a word. On the morrow
after Leuthen, Captain Prince de Ligne and old Papa
D'Ahremberg could find little or no Army; they stept
across to Grabschen, a village on the safe side of the
Lohe, and there found Karl and Daun: "rather silent,
"both; one of them looking, 'Who would have thought
"'it! ' the other, 'Didn't I tell you? '" -- and knowing
nothing, they either, where the Army was. Army was,
in fact, as yet nowhere. "Croat fellows, in this Farm-
"stead of ours," says De Ligne, "had fallen to shooting
"pigeons. " The night had been unusually dark; the
Austrian Army had squatted into woods, into office-
houses, farm-villages, over a wide space of country;
and only as the day rose, began to dribble in. By
count, they are still 50,000; but heart-broken, beaten
as men seldom were. "What sound is that? " men
asked yesterday at Brieg, forty miles off; and nobody
could say, except that it was some huge Battle, fateful
of Silesia and world. Breslau had it louder; Breslau
was still more anxious. "What is all that? " asked
somebody (might be Deblin the Shoemaker, for any-
thing I know) of an Austrian sentry there: "That?
That is the Prussians giving us such a beating as we
never had. " What news for Deblin the Shoemaker, if
he is still above ground! --
"Prince Karl, gathering his distracted fragments, put
"17,000 into Breslau by way of ample garrison there; and
"with the rest made off circuitously for Schweidnitz; thence
"for Landshut, and down the Mountains, home to Konigs-
"gratz, -- self and Army in the most wrecked condition.
"Chased byZiethen; Ziethen 'sticking always to the hocks
"of them,' as Friedrich eagerly enjoins on him; or some-
"times it is, 'sitting on the breeches of them:' for about a
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? BATTLE OF LEUTHEN.
281
lec. 1757.
fortnight to come. * Ziethen took 2,000prisoners; no end
)f baggages, of wagons left in the difficult places: wild
weather even for Ziethen, still more for Karl, among the
Silesian-Bohemian Hill-roads: heavy rains, deep muds,
;hen sudden glass, with cutting snowblasts: 'An Army not
i little dilapidatedwrites Prince Karl, almost with tears
n his eyes; 'Army without linens, without clothes; in con-
dition truly sad and pitiable; and has always, so close
are the enemy, to encamp, though without tents. '** Did
lot get to Kbnigsgratz, and safe shelter, for ten days
nore. Counted, at Konigsgratz in the Christmas time,
J7,000rank and file, -- '22,000 of whom are gone to hos-
pital,' by the Doctor's report.
"Universal astonishment, indignation, even incredulity,
s the humour at Vienna: the high Kaiserinn herself, kept
n the dark for some time, becomes dimly aware; and by
lis military employments, and appoints Daun instead.
Prince Karl withdrew to his Government of the Nether-
ands; and with the aid of generous liquors, and what
latural magnanimity he had, spent a noiseless life thence-
'orth; Sword laid entirely on the shelf; and immortal
jrlory, as of Alexander and the like, quite making its exit
'rom the scene, convivial or other. 'The first General in
he world,' so he used to be ten years ago, in Austria, in
England, Holland, the thrice-greatest of Generals: but
low he has tried Friedrich in Five pitched Battles (Czaslau,
iohenfriedberg, Sohr, thenPrag, thenLeuthen); -- been
leaten every time, under every form of circumstance; and
iow, at Leuthen, the fifth beating is such, no public,
lowever ignorant, can stand it farther. The ignorant
mblic changes its long-eared eulogies into contumeliously
lorrid shrieks of condemnation; in which one is still farther
rom joining. 'That crossing of the Rhine,' says Friedrich,
was a belle chose; but flatterers blew him into dangerous
self-conceit; besides he was ill-obeyed, as others of us
have been. '*** Adieu to him, poor redfaced soul; -- and * Eleven Royal Autographs: in Blumenthal, Life of De Ziethen (n.
94-111), a feeble incorrect Translation of them. ** Kutzen, p. 134 (" Prince Karl to the Kaiser, December 14th").
** "Prince deLigne, Memoires surFrideric (Berlin, 1789), p. 38" (PreusSi
11S).
Kaiser Franz's own
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? 282 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVrrt.
5th-26th Dec. 1757.
"good liquor to him, -- at least if he can take it in mo-
deration! "
The astonishment of all men, wise and simple, at
this sudden oversetting of the scene of things, and
turning of the gazetteer-diplomatic theatre bottom
uppermost, was naturally extreme, especially in gazet-
teer and diplomatic circles; and the admiration, willing
or unwilling, of Friedrich, in some most essential
points of him, rose to a high pitch. Better soldier, it
is clear, has not been heard of in the modern ages.
Heroic constancy, courage superior to fate: several
clear features of a hero; -- pity he were such a liar
withal, and ignorant of common honesty; thought the
simple sort, in a bewildered manner, endeavouring to
forget the latter features, or think them not irreconcilable.
Military judges, of most various quality, down to this
day, pronounce Leuthen to be essentially the finest
Battle of the century; and indeed one of the prettiest
feats ever done by man in his Fighting Capacity. Na-
poleon, for instance, who had run over these Battles of
Friedrich (apparently somewhat in haste, but always
with a word upon them which is worth gathering from
such a source), speaks thus of Leuthen: "This Battle
"is a masterpiece of movements, of manoeuvres, and of
"resolution; enough to immortalise Friedrich, and rank
"him among the greatest Generals. Manifests, in the
"highest degree, both his moral qualities and his mili-
"tary. "*
How the English Walpoles, in Parliament and out
* Montholon, Memoires &. C. de Napoleon, vn. 211. This Napoleon Sum-
mary of Friedrich's Campaigns, and these brief Bits of Criticism, aro plea-
sant reading, though the fruit evidently of slight study, and do credit to
Napoleon perhaps still more than to Friedrich.
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? CHAP. I. ] BATTLE OP LEUTHEN. 283
5th-26th Dec. 1757.
of it; how the Prussian Sulzers, D'Argenses, the ga-
zetteer and vague public, may have spoken and written
at that time, when the matter was fresh and on every-
body's tongue, --judge still by two small symptoms
which we have to show:
1? . A Letter of FriedricKs to D'Argens (Diirgoy, near
Breslau, 19th December 1757). -- "Your friendship seduces
"you, mon cher; I am but a paltry knave (polisson) in com-
parison with 'Alexander,' and not worthy to tie the shoe-
"latchets of 'Caesar! ' Necessity, who is the mother of in-
"dustry, has made me act, and have recourse to desperate
"remedies in evils of a like nature.
"We have got here" (this day, by capitulation of Breslau)
"from fourteen to fifteen thousand prisoners: so that, in all,
"I have above twenty-three thousand of the Queen's troops
"in my hands, fifteen Generals, and above seven hundred
"Officers. 'Tis a plaster on my wounds, but it is far enough
"from healing them.
"I am now about marching to the Mountain region, to
"settle the chain of quarters there; and if you will come,
"you will find the roads free and safe. I was sorry at the
"Abba's treason," -- paltryDePrades, of whom we heard
enough already. *
2? . A Pottery-Apotheosis of Friedrich. -- "There stands
"on this mantelpiece," says one of my Correspondents, the
amiable Smelfungus, in short, whom readers are acquainted
with, "a small China Mug, not of bad shape; declaring
"itself, in one obscure corner, to be made at Worcester,
"'R. I. , Worcester, 1757' (late in the season, I presume,
"demand being brisk); which exhibits, all round it, a diligent
"Potter's-Apotheosis of Friedrich, hastily got up to meet the
"general enthusiasm of English mankind. Worth, while it
"lasts unbroken, a moment's inspection from you in hurrying
"along.
"Front side, when you take our Mug by the handle for
"drinking from it, offers a poor well-meant China Portrait,
"labelled King op Pbussia: copy of Friedrich's Portrait, by
* (Euvres de Fviiiric, xix. il.
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? 284 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVIII.
5th-26th Dec 1757.
"Pesne, twenty years too young for the time, smiling out
"nobly upon you; upon whom there descends with rapidity
"a small Genius (more like a Cupid who had hastily forgotten
"his bow, and goes headforemost on another errand) to drop
"a wrea'th on this deserving head; -- wreath far too small for
"ever getting on (owing to distance, let us hope), though
"the artless Painter makes no sign; and indeed both Genius
"and wreath, as he gives them, look almost like a big insect,
"which the King will be apt to treat harshly if he notice it.
"On the opposite side; again, separated from Friedrich's
"back by the handle, is an enormous image of Fame, with
"wings filling half the Mug, with two trumpets going at once
"(a bass, probably, and a treble), who flies with great ease;
"and between her eager face and the unexpectant one of
"Friedrich (who is 180? off, and knows nothing of it) stands
"a circular Trophy, or Imbroglio of drums, pikes, muskets,
"cannons, field-flags and the like; very slightly tied
"together, -- the knot, if there is one, being hidden by
"some fantastic bit of scroll or escutcheon, with a Fame and
"one trumpet scratched on it; -- and high out of the Im-
"broglio rise three standards inscribed with Names, which
"we perceive are intended to be names of Friedrich's
"Victories; standards notable at this day, with Names which
"I will punctually give you.
"Standard first, which flies to the westward or leftward,
"round its staff, and gives us to read, 'Welham' (non-
"extant, too; may mean Welmina or Lobositz), 'Rossbach'
"(very good), 'Breslau' (poor Bevern's, thought a victory in
"Worcester, at this time! ). Standard third, which flies to
"eastward or right hand, has 'Neumark' (thatis, Neumarkt
"and the Austrian Bread-ovens, 4th December); 'Lissa' (not
"yet Leuthen in English nomenclature); and'Breslau' again,
"which means the capture of Breslau City this time, and is a
"real success, 7th-19th December; -- giving us the ap-
proximate date, Christmas 1757, to this hasty Mug. A Mug
"got up for temporary English enthusiasm, and the ac-
cidental instruction of posterity. It is of tolerable China;
"holds a good pint, 'To the Protestant Hero, with all the
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OP LEUTHEN. 285
5th-26th Dec. 1757.
"honours;' -- and offers, in little, a curious eyehole into
"the then England, with its then lights and notions, which
"is now so deep hidden from us, under volcanic ashes, French
"Revolutions, and the wrecks of a Hundred very decadent
"Years. "
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? 286 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book xvm. ,
Jan. -- April 1758.
CHAPTER XI.
WINTER IN BRESLAU: THIRD CAMPAIGN OPENS.
Friedrich during those grand victories, is suffering
sadly in health, "colique depuis /wit jours, neither sleep
nor appetite;" "eight months of mere anguishes and
agitations do wear one down. " He is tired too, he says,
of the mere business talk, coarse and rugged, which
has been his allotment lately; longs for some humanly
roofed kind of lodging, and a little talk that shall have
flavour in it. * The troops once all in their Winter-
quarters, he sits down in Breslau as his own wintering
place: place of relaxation, -- of rest, or at least of
changed labour, -- no man needing it more. There
for some three months he had a tolerable time; per-
haps, by contrast, almost a delightful. Readers must
imagine it; we have no details allowed us, nor any
time for them even if we had.
There come various visitors, various gaieties, --
King's Birthday (January 24th); quality Balls, "at
which Royal Majesty sometimes deigned to show him-
self. " A lively Breslau, in comparison. Sister Amelia
paid a beautiful visit of a fortnight or more: Sister
Amelia, and along with her, two married Cousins (once
Margravines of Schwedt), whose Husbands, little Brother
Ferdinand, and Eugene of Wurtemberg, are wintering
here. The Marquis D'Argens, how exquisitely treated
* Letters of his to Prince Henri (December 26th &c. : (Euvres, xxvi.
167, 169; Stenzel, v. 129).
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? CfiAP. XI. ] WINTER IN BRESLAU. 287
Jan. -Aprif 1758.
we shall see, is a principal figure; Excellency Mitchell,
deep in very important business just now, is another.
Reader de Catt (he who once, in a Dutch River-Boat,
got into conversation with the snuffy gentleman in black
wig) made his new appearance, this Winter, -- needed
now, since De Prades is off. "Should you have known
me again? " asked Friedrich. "Hardly, in that dress;
besides, your Majesty looks thinner. " "That I can be-
lieve, with the cursed life I have been leading! "*
There came also, day not given, a Captain Guichard
("Major Quintus Icilius" that is to be) with his new
Book on the Art Military of the Ancients, Memoires
Militaires sur les Grecs et les Romains;** which cannot
but be welcome to Friedrich. A solid account of that
matter, by the first man who had ever understood both
War and Greek. Far preferable to Folard's, a man
without Greek at all, and with military ideas not a
little fantastic here and there. Of Captain Guichard,
were his Book once read, and himself a little known,
there will be more to say. For the present, fancy him
retained as supernumerary: -- and in regard to Fried-
rich's Winter generally, accept the following small hints,
small but direct:
Friedrich to If Argens (three different times).
10. On the road to Leuthen " (Torgau, 15th November 1757).
* * I have been obliged to have the Abbe* arrested" (De
Prades, of whom enough, long since); "he has been playing
"the spy, and I have many evident proofs of it. That is very
"infamous and very ungrateful. -- I have made a prodigious
"quantity of verses (prodigieusement de vers). If I live, I will
"show them you in Winter-quarters: if I perish, they are
* BOdenbeck, i. 285.
La Haye, 2 tomes, 4to, 1757 (Nicolai, Anekdoten, vi. 134).
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? 288 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XVin.
Jan. -- April 1758.
"bequeathed to you, and I have ordered that they be put
"into your hand. "
"Adieu, my dear Marquis. I fancy you to be in bed:
"don't rot there; -- and remember you have promised to
"join me in Winter-quarters:"-- on this latter point Friedrich
is very urgent, amiably eager; prepared to wrap the poor
Marquis in cotton, and carry him and lodge him, like glass
with care. * For example:
2? . While settling the Winter-quarters ("Striegau, 26th
"December 1757:" Siege of Breslau done ten days ago). * *
"What a pleasure to hear you are coming! Your travelling
"you can do in your own way. I have chosen a party of
"LightHorse (Jdger), who will appear atBerlin to conduct
"you. You can make short journeys: the first to Frankfurt,
"the second to Crossen, the third to Griinberg, fourth to
"Glogau, fifth to Parchwitz, sixth to Breslau. I have
"directed that horses be ordered for you, that your rooms
"be warmed everywhere, and good fowls ready on all roads.
"Your apartment in this House" (Royal House in Breslau,
which the King has built for himself years ago) "is carpeted,
"hermetically shut. You shall suffer nothing from draughts
"or from noise. "**--Lucky Marquis; what a landlord! Came
accordingly; staid till deep in April, -- waiting latterly for
weather, I perceive; long after the King himself was off.
Thus:
3? . Friedrich on the field again for five weeks past Q' Miinster-
"berg, 23d April, 1758"). "Adieu, dear Marquis; I fancy
"you are now in Berlin again. Go to Charlottenburg when-
"ever and how you like; take care of yourself; and be ready
"for the beginning of October next! -- As to me, mon cher,
"I am off to fight windmills and ostriches (Autruches), that
"is Russians and Austrians (Autrichiens). Adieu, mon
"cher. ***
There circulated in the Newspapers, this Winter,
something of what was called a Letter from Friedrich
to Maria Theresa, formally proposing Peace, after these
magnificent successes. And certainly, of all things in
the Earth, Friedrich would have best liked Peace, this
? (Burnet de Frideric, xix. 43. "Ib. xix. 48. <<? * lb. xix. *>>.
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? CHAP. XI. ] WINTER IS BRESLAU. 289
Jan. -- April 1758.
year, last year,and for the next five years: "Go home,
then, good neighbours; don't break into my house,
don't cut my poor throat, and we will be friends again! "
Friedrich, it appears, had actually, finding or making
opportunity, sent some polite Letter, of pacific tenor,
in his light clever way, to that address;-- not without
momentary hopes of perhaps getting good from it. *
And the Kaiserinn herself, Austria's high Mother, did,
they say, after such a Leuthen coming on the back of
such a Rossbach, feel discouraged; but the Pompadour
(not France's Mother, whatever she might be to France)
was of far other mind: "Do not speak of it, ma Reine!
Double or quits, that is our game: can we yield for a
little ill-luck? Never! "
France dismisses its D'Argenson, "What Armies
are these of his; flying home on us, like draggled
poultry, across the Rhine! " -- summons the famed
Belleisle to be War-Minister, and give things an eagle-
quality:** France engages to pay its subsidies better
(France now the general paying party, Austria, Sweden,
Russia itself, all looking to France,-- would she were
as punctual as England used to be! ), -- in a word,
engages to be magnanimous extremely, and will hear
of nothing but persistence. "Shall not we reap, then,
where there is such a harvest standing white to us? "
Kaunitz admits that there never will again be such a
chance. -- Peace, it is clear enough, will not be got
of these people by any Letter, or human device what-
ever, except simply by uttermost, more or less mira-
culous fighting for it. Friedrich is profoundly aware
* In Preuss, u. 130 (Friedrich's Letter mostly given; -- bearer a Prince
von Lobkowitz, prisoner atLeuthen, now going home on handsome terms):
Stenzel, v. 124 (for the per-contra feeling). . .
? ? "26th February 1758" (Barbier, iv. 258).
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. X. 19
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? 290 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII.
Jan April 1738.
of this fact; -- is busy completing his Army: 145,000
for the field, this Year, 53,000 the Silesian part, "a
good many of them Austrian deserters;" * and is closing
an important Subsidy Treaty with England, -- of which
more anon.
And if this is the mood in France and Austria,
think what Russia's will be! The Czarina is not dead
of dropsy, as some had expected, but, on the contrary,
alive, and fiercer than ever; furious against Apraxin,
and determined that Fermor, his successor, shall defy
Winter, and begin work at once. She has indignantly
dismissed Apraxin (to be tried by Court Martial, he);
dismisses Bestuchef the Chancellor; appoints a new
General, Fermor by name; orders Fermor to go and
lose not a moment, now in the depth of Winter since
it was not done in the crown of Summer, and take
possession of East Preussen in her name.
Which Fermor does; 16th January, crosses the bor-
der again, 31,000 in all, without opposition except from
the frost; plants himself up and down, -- only two poor
Prussian battalions there; who retire with their effects,
especially "with seven wagons of money. " January
22d, Fermor enters Konigsberg; publishes no end of
proclamations, manifestoes, rescripts, to inform the poor
people, trembling at the Cossack atrocities of last Year,
"That his august Sovereign Elizabeth of All the Rus-
sias has now become Proprietress of East Preussen,
which shall be perfectly protected and exquisitely well
governed henceforth; and that all men of official or
social position have, accordingly, to come and take the
oath to her, with the due alacrity and punctuality, at
their peril. "
* Stenzel, v. 155.
t
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