They had lost nine of their own cannon, and all of
those Prussian nine which they once had, except one:
eight cannon minus, in all.
those Prussian nine which they once had, except one:
eight cannon minus, in all.
Thomas Carlyle
Unfortunate Schulenburg did at last come
* Kausler, Atlas der merkwitrdigsien Schlachlen, p. 232.
** CEuvres de Frederic, ii, 73.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF MOLLWITZ. 323
10th April 1741.
up: --had he miscalculated the distances, then? Once
on the ground, he will find he does not reach to Herms-
dorf after all, and that there is now too much room!
What his degree of fault was I know not; Friedrich
has long been dissatisfied with these Dragoons of Schu-
lenburg; "good for nothing, I always told you" (at
that Skirmish of Baumgarten): and now here is the
General himself fallen blundering! -- In respect of
Horse, the Austrians are more than two to one; to
make out our deficiency, the King, imitating some-
thing he had read about Gustavus Adolphus, inter-
calates the Horse-Squadrons, on each wing, with two
Battalions of Grenadiers, and so lengthens them; --
"a manoeuvre not likely to be again imitated," he
admits.
All these movements and arrangements are effected
above a mile from Mollwitz, no Enemy yet visible.
Once effected, we advance again with music sounding,
sixty pieces of artillery well in front, steady, steady!
-- across the floor of snow which is soon beaten smooth
enough, the stage, this day, of a great adventure. And
now there is the Enemy's left wing, Romer and his
Horse; their right wing wider away, and not yet, by
a good space, within cannon-range of us. It is to-
wards Two of the afternoon; Schulenburg now on his
ground, laments that he will not reach to Hermsdorf;
-- but it may be dangerous now to attempt repairing
that error? At Two of the clock, being now fairly
within distance, we salute Romer and the Austrian left,
with all our sixty cannon; and the sound of drums and
clarionets is drowned in universal artillery thunder.
Incessant, for they take (by order) to "swift-shooting,"
which is almost of the swiftness of musketry in our
21*
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? 324 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [book XII.
10th April 17*1.
Prussian practice; and from sixty cannon, going at
that rate, we may fancy some effect. The Austrian
Horse of the left wing do not like it; all the less as
the Austrians, rather short of artillery, have nothing
yet to reply with.
No Cavalry can stand long there, getting shivered
in that way; in such a noise, were there nothing more.
"Are we to stand here like milestones, then, and be all
shot without a stroke struck? " "Steady! " answers
Romer. But nothing can keep them steady: "To be
shot like dogs (wie Hwde)\ For God's sake (Um Got-
tes Willen), lead us forward, then, to have a stroke at
them! " -- in tones ever more plangent, plaintively in-
dignant; growing ungovernable. And Romer can get
no orders; Neipperg is on the extreme right, many
things still to settle there; and here is the cannon-
thunder going, and soon their very musketry will open.
And -- and there is Schulenburg, for one thing, stretch-
ing himself out eastwards (rightwards) to get hold of
Hermsdorf; thinking this an opportunity for the ma-
noeuvre. "Forward! " cries Romer; and his Thirty
Squadrons, like bottled whirlwind now at last let loose,
dash upon Schulenburg's poor Ten (five of them of
Schulenburg's own regiment), -- who are turned side-
ways too, trotting towards Hermsdorf, at the wrong
moment, -- and dash them into wild ruin. That must
have been a charge! That was the beginning of hours
of chaos, seemingly irretrievable, in that Prussian right
wing.
For the Prussian Horse fly wildly; and it is in
vain to rally. The King is among them; has come in
hot haste, conjuring and commanding: poor Schulen-
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? Chap. X. ] BATTLE OF MOLLWITZ. 325
10th April 17dl.
burg addresses his own regiment, "Oh shame, shame!
shall it be told, then? " rallies his own regiment, and
some others; charges fiercely in with them again; gets
a sabre-slash across the face, -- does not mind the
sabre-slash, small bandaging will do; -- gets a bullet
through the head (or through the heart, it is not said
which); * and falls down dead; his regiment going to
the winds again, and his care of it and of other things
concluding in this honourable manner. Nothing can
rally that right wing; or the more you rally, the worse
it fares: they are clearly no match for Romer, these
Prussian Horse. They fly along the front of their own
First Line of Infantry, they fly between the Two Lines;
Romer chasing, -- till the fire of the Infantry (intoler-
able to our enemies, and hitting some even of our
fugitive friends) repels him. For the notable point in
all this was the conduct of the Infantry; and how it
stood in these wild vortexes of ruin; impregnable, im-
movable, as if every man of it were stone; and steadily
poured out deluges of fire, -- "five Prussian shots for
two Austrian:"-- such is perfect discipline against im-
perfect; and the iron ramrod against the wooden.
The intolerable fire repels Romer, when he trenches
on the Infantry: however, he captures nine of the Prus-
sian sixty guns; has scattered their Horse to the winds;
and charges again and again, hoping to break the In-
fantry too, -- till a bullet kills him, the gallant Romer;
and some other has to charge and try. It was thought,
had Goldlein with his Austrian Infantry advanced to
support RSmer at this juncture, the Battle had been
gained. Five times, before Romer fell and after, the
Austrians charged here; tried the Second Line too;
>> llelden-Geschichte, i. 899.
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? 326 FIRST S1LESIAN WAR. [bOOKJn.
10th April 1741.
tried once to take Prince Leopold in rear there. But
Prince Leopold faced round, gave intolerable fire; on
one face as on the other, he, or the Prussian Infantry
anywhere, is not to be broken. "Prince Friedrich,''
one of the Margraves of Schwedt, King's Cousin, whom
we did not know before, fell in these wild rallyings
and wrestlings; "by a cannon-ball, at the King's hand,"
not said otherwise where. He had come as Volunteer,
few weeks ago, out of Holland, where he was a rising
General: he has met his fate here, -- and Margraf'
Karl, his Brother, who also gets wounded, will be a
mournful man to-night.
The Prussian Horse, this right wing of it, is a
ruined body; boiling in wild disorder, flooding rapidly
away to rearward, -- which is the safest direction to
retreat upon. They "sweep away the King's person
with them," say some cautious people; others say, what
is the fact, that Schwerin entreated, and as it were
commanded, the King to go; the Battle being, to all
appearance, irretrievable. Go he did, with small escort,
and on a long ride, -- to Oppeln, a Prussian post,
thirty-five miles rearward, where there is a Bridge over
the Oder and a safe country beyond. So much is in-
dubitable; and that he despatched an Aide-de-Camp to
gallop into Brandenburg, and tell the Old Dessauer,
"Bestir yourself! Here all seems lost! " -- and vanished
from the Field, doubtless in very desperate humour.
Upon which the extraneous world has babbled a good
deal, "Cowardice! Wanted courage: Haha! " in its
usual foolish way; not worth answer from him or from
us. Friedrich's demeanour, in that disaster of his right
wing, was furious despair rather; and neither Schulen-
burg nor Margraf Friedrich, nor any of the captains,
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLK OF MOLLWITZ. 327
10th April 1741.
killed or left living, was supposed to have sinned by
"cowardice" in a visible degree! --
Indisputable it is, though there is deep mystery
upon it, the King vanishes from Mollvvitz Field at this
point for sixteen hours, into the regions of Myth, "into
Fairyland," as would once have been said; but reap-
pears unharmed in tomorrow's daylight: at which time,
not sooner, readers shall hear what little is to be said
of this obscure and much-disfigured small affair. For
the present we hasten back to Mollwitz, -- where the
murderous thunder rages unabated all this while; the
very noise of it alarming mankind for thirty miles
round. At Breslau, which is thirty good miles off,
horrible dull grumble was heard from the southern
quarter ("still better, if you put a staff in the ground,
and set your ear to it"); and from the steeple-tops,
there was dim cloudland of powder-smoke discernible
in the horizon there. "At Liegnitz," which is twice
the distance, "the earth sensibly shook,"* -- at least
the air did, and the nerves of men.
"Had Goldlein but advanced with his Foot, in
"support of gallant Romer! " say the Austrian Books.
But Goldlein did not advance; nor is it certain he
would have found advantage in so doing: Goldlein,
where he stands, has difficulty enough to hold his own.
For the notable circumstance, miraculous to military
men, still is, How the Prussian Foot (men who had
never been in fire, but whom Friedrich Wilhelm had
drilled for twenty years) stand their ground, in this
distraction of the Horse. Not even the Two outlying
Grenadier Battalions will give way: those poor inter-
calated Grenadiers, when their Horse fled on the right
* Hclden-Geschichtc; and Jordan's Letter, infra.
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? 328 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [BOOKXn.
10th April 1711.
and on the left, they stand there, like a fixed stone-
dam in that wild whirlpool of ruin. They fix bayonets,
"bring their two field-pieces to flank" (Winterfeld was
Captain there), and, from small arms and big, deliver
such a fire as was very unexpected. Nothing to be
made of Winterfeld and them. They invincibly hurl
back charge after charge; and, with dogged steadiness,
manoeuvre themselves into the general Line again; or
into contact with the Three superfluous Battalions, ar-
ranged en potencc, whom we heard of. Those Three,
ranked athwart in this right wing ("like a lid," be-
tween First Line and Second), maintained themselves
in like impregnable fashion, -- Winterfeld command-
ing; -- and proved unexpectedly, thinks Friedrich, the
saving of the whole. For they also stood their ground
immovable, like rocks; steadily spouting fire-torrents.
Five successive charges storm upon them, fruitless:
"Steady, mcine Kinder; fix bayonets, handle ramrods!
There is the Horse-deluge thundering in upon you;
reserve your fire, till you see the whites of their eyes,
and get the word; then give it them, and again give
it them; see whether any man or any horse can stand
it! "
Neipperg, soon after Romer fell, had ordered Gold-
lein forward: Giildlein with his Infantry did advance,
gallantly enough; but to no purpose. Giildlein was
soon shot dead; and his Infantry had to fall back
again, ineffectual or worse. Iron ramrods against
wooden; five shots to two: what is there but falling
back? Neipperg sent fresh Horse from his right wing,
with Berlichingen, a new famed General of Horse;
Neipperg is furiously bent to improve his advantage,
to break those Prussians, who are mere musketeers left
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OP MOLLWITZ. 329
lOlh April 1741.
bare, and thinks that will settle the account: but it
could in no wise be done. The Austrian Horse, after
their fifth trial, renounce charging; fairly refuse to
charge any more; and withdraw dispirited out of ball-
range, or in search of things not impracticable. The
Hussar part of them did something of plunder to rear-
ward; -- and, besides poor Maupertuis's adventure (of
which by and by), and an attempt on the Prussian
baggage and knapsacks, which proved to be "too well
guarded," -- "burnt the Church of Pampitz," as some
small consolation. The Prussians had stript their knap-
sacks, and left them in Pampitz: the Austrians, it was
noticed, stript theirs in the Field; built walls of them,
and fired behind the same, in a kneeling, more or less
protected posture, -- which did not avail them much.
In fact, the Austrian Infantry too, all Austrians,
hour . after hour, are getting wearier of it: neither In-
fantry nor Cavalry can stand being riddled by swift
shot in that manner. In spite of their knapsack walls,
various regiments have shrunk out of ball-range; and
several cannot, by any persuasion, be got to come into
it again. Others, who do reluctantly advance, -- see
what a figure they make; man after man edging away
as he can, so that the regiment "stands forty to eighty
"men deep, with lanes through it every two or three
"yards;" permeable everywhere to Cavalry, if we had
them; and turning nothing to the enemy but colour-
sergeants and bare poles of a regiment! And Romer
is dead, and Goldlein of the Infantry is dead. And
on their right wing, skirted by that marshy Brook of
Laugwitz, -- Austrian right wing had been weakened
by detachments, when Berlichingen rode off to succeed
Romer, -- the Austrians are suffering: Posadowsky's
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? 330 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [bOOKXII.
10th April 1741.
Horse (among whom is Rothenburg, once vanguard),
strengthened by remnants who have rallied here, are
at last prospering, after reverses. And the Prussian
fire of small arms, at such rate, has lasted now for five
hours. The Austrian Army, becoming instead of a we''
a mere series of flying tatters, forming into stripes or
lanes in the way we see, appears to have had abou;
enough.
These symptoms are not hidden from Schwerin.
His own ammunition, too, he knows is running scarce,
and fighters here and there are searching the slain for
cartridges: Schwerin closes his ranks, trims and tightens
himself a little; breaks forth into universal field-music,
and with banners spread, starts in mass wholly, "For-
wards! " Forwards toward these Austrians and the
setting sun.
An intelligent Austrian Officer, writing next week
from Neisse, * confesses he never saw anything more
beautiful. "I can well say, I never in my life saw
"anything more beautiful. They marched with the
"greatest steadiness, arrow-straight, and their front
"like a line (schnurgleich), as if they had been upon
"parade. The glitter of their clear arms shone strangely
"in the setting sun, and the fire from them went on
"no otherwise than a continued peal of thunder. " Grand
picture indeed; but not to be enjoyed as a Work of
Art, for it is coming upon us! "The spirits of onr
"Army sank altogether," continues he; "the Foot
"plainly giving way, Horse refusing to come forward,
"all this wavering towards dissolution:" -- so that
Neipperg, to avoid worse, gives the word to go; and
they roll off at double-quick time, through Mollwitz,
* Fcldiuge der Premsen (above cited), i. 38.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OP MOLLWITZ. 331
lOth April 1741.
over Laugwitz Bridge and Brook, towards Grotkau by
what routes they can. The sun is just sunk; a quarter
to eight, says the intelligent Austrian Officer, -- while
the Austrian Army, much to its amazement, tumbles
forth in this bad fashion.
They had lost nine of their own cannon, and all of
those Prussian nine which they once had, except one:
eight cannon minus, in all. Prisoners of them were
few, and none of much mark: two Feldmarshals, Ro-
mer and Goldlein, lie among the dead; four more of
that rank are wounded. Four standards too are gone;
certain kettle-drums and the like trophies, not in great
number. Lieutenant-General Browne was of these re-
treating Austrians; a little fact worth noting: of his
actions this day, or of his thoughts (which latter surely
must have been considerable), no hint anywhere. The
Austrians were not much chased; though they might
have been, -- fresh Cavalry (two Ohlau regiments,
drawn hither by the sound* having hung about to rear
of them, for some time past; unable to get into the
Fight, or to do any good till now, Schwerin, they
say, though he had two wounds, was for pursuing
vigorously: but Leopold of Anhalt over-persuaded him;
urged the darkness, the uncertainty. Berlichingen, with
their own Horse, still partly covered their rear; and
the Prussians, Ohlauers included, were but weak in
that branch of the service. Pursuit lasted little more
than two miles, and was. never hot. The loss of men,
on both sides, was not far from equal, and rather in
favour of the Austrian side: -- Austrians counted in
killed, wounded and missing, 4,410 men; Prussians
* Interesting correct account of thoir movements and adventures this
day and some previous days, in Nicolai, Anckdolen, ii. 142-148.
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? 332 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [book Xn.
10th April 1741.
4,613; * -- but the Prussians bivouacked on the ground,
or quartered in these Villages, with victory to crown
them, and the thought that their hard day's-work had
been well done. Besides Margraf Friedrich, Volunteer
from Holland, there lay among the slain Colonel Count
von Finckenstein (Old Tutor's Son), King's friend from
boyhood, and much loved. He was of the six whom
we saw consulting at the door at Reinsberg, during a
certain ague-fit; and he now rests silent here, while
the matter has only come thus far.
Such was Mollwitz, the first Battle for Silesia;
which had to cost many Battles first and last. Silesia
will be gained, we can expect, by fighting of this kind
in an honest cause. But here is something already
gained, which is considerable, and about which there
is no doubt. A new Military Power, it would appear,
has come upon the scene; the Gazetteer-and-Diplomatie
world will have to make itself familiar with a name
not much heard of hitherto among the Nations. "A
Nation which can fight," think the Gazetteers; "fight
almost as the very Swedes did; and is led on by its
King too, -- who may prove, in his way, a very
Charles XII. , or small Macedonia's Madman, for aught
one knows? " In which latter branch of their prognos-
tic the Gazetteers were much out. --
The Fame of this Battle, which is now so sunk ont
of memory, was great in Europe; and struck, like a
huge war-gong, with long resonance, through the
general ear. M. de Voltaire had run across to Lille in
those Spring days: there is a good Troop of Players
* Orlich, i. 108; Kanaler, p. 235, correct; Helden-Gcschichte, i. 895, in-
correct.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF MOLLWITZ. 333
10th April 1741.
in Lille; a Niece, Madame Denis, wife of some Military
Commissariat Denis, important in those parts, can lodge
the divine Emilie and me: -- and one could at last
see MaJiomet, after five years of struggling, get upon
the boards, if not yet in Paris by a great way, yet in
Lille, which is something. Mahomet is getting upon the
boards on those terms; and has proceeded, not amiss,
through an Act or two, when a Note from the King of
Prussia was handed to Voltaire, announcing the victory
of Mollwitz. Which delightful Note Voltaire stopt the
performance till he read to the Audience: "Bravissimo! "
answered the Audience. "You will see," said M. de
Voltaire to the friends about him, "this Piece at Moll-
"witz will make mine succeed:" which proved to be
the fact. * For the French are Anti-Austrian; and
smell great things in the wind. "That man is mad,
your Most Christian Majesty? " "Not quite; or at
any rate not mad only! " think Louis and his Belle-
isle now.
Dimly poring in those old Books, and squeezing
one's way into face-to-face view of the extinct Time,
we begin to notice what a clangorous rumour was in
Mollwitz to the then generation of mankind; -- beto-
kening many things; universal European War, as the
first thing. Which duly came to pass; as did, at a
slower rate, the ulterior thing, not yet so apparent,
that indeed a new hour had struck on the Time
Horologe, that a New Epoch had risen. Yes, my
friends. New Charles XII. or not, here truly has a
new Man and King come upon the scene: capable per-
haps of doing something? Slumberous Europe, rotting
amid its blind pedantries, its lazy hypocrisies, conscious
* Voltaire, lEumcs (Vic Privcc), ii. 74.
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? 334 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [bOOK XU.
10 th April 1741.
and unconscious: this man is capable of shaking it a
little out of its stupid refuges of lies, and ignominious
wrappages and bed-clothes, which will be its grave-
clothes otherwise; and of intimating to it, afar off, that
there is still a Veracity in Things, and a Mendacity in
Sham-Things, and that the difference of the two is in-
finitely more considerable than was supposed.
This Mollwitz is a most deliberate, regulated,
ponderously impressive (gravitatiscJi) Feat of Arms, as
the reader sees; done all by Regulation methods, with
orthodox exactitude; in a slow, weighty, almost
pedantic, but highly irrefragable manner. It is the
triumph of Prussian Discipline; of military orthodoxy
well put in practice: the honest outcome of good natural
stuff in those Brandenburgers, and of the supreme
virtues of Drill. Neipperg and his Austrians had much
despised Prussian soldiering: "Keep our soup hot,"
cried they, on running out this day to rank themselves,
"hot a little, till we drive these fellows to the Devil! "
That was their opinion, about noon this day: but that
is an opinion they have renounced for all remaining
days and years. -- It is a Victory due properly to
Friedrich Wilhelm, and the Old Dessauer, who are far
away from it. Friedrich Wilhelm, though dead, fights
here, and the others only do his bidding on this
occasion. His Son, as yet, adds nothing of his own;
though he will ever henceforth begin largely adding,
-- right careful withal to lose nothing, for the Friedrich
Wilhelm contribution is invaluable, and the basis of
everything: -- but it is curious to see in what contrast
this first Battle of Friedrich's is with his latter and
last ones.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OP MOLLWITZ. 335
10th April 1741.
Considering the Battle of Mollwitz, and then, in
contrast, the intricate Pragmatic Sanction, and what
their consequences were and their antecedents, it is
curious once more! This, then, is what the Pragmatic
Sanction has come to? Twenty years of world-wide
diplomacy, cunningly-devised spider-threads overnetting
all the world, have issued here. Your Congresses of
Cambray, of Soissons, your Grumkow-Seckendorf
Machiavelisms, all these might as well have lain in
their bed. Ileal Pragmatic Sanction would have been,
A well-trained Army and your Treasury full. Your
Treasury is empty (nothing in it but those foolish
200,000 English guineas, and the passionate cry for
more): and your Army is not trained as 'this Prussian
one; cannot keep its ground against this one. Of all
those long-headed Potentates, simple Friedrich Wilhelm,
son of Nature, who had the honesty to do what Nature
taught him, has come out gainer. You all laughed at
him as a fool: do you begin to see now who was
wise, who fool? He has an Army that "advances on
"you with glittering musketry, steady as on the
"parade-ground, and pours out fire like one continuous
"thunderpeal;" so that, strange as it seems, you find
there will actually be nothing for you but -- taking to
your heels, shall we say? -- rolling off with despatch,
as second-best! These things are of singular omen.
Here stands one that will avenge Friedrich Wilhelm,
-- if Friedrich Wilhelm were not already sufficiently
avenged by the mere verdict of facts, which is palpably
coming out, as Time peels the wiggeries away from
them more and more. Mollwitz and such places are
full of veracity; and no head is so thick as to resist
conviction in that kind.
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? 336
FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [liOOK xi;.
10th April 17-U.
Of Friedrich's Disappearance into Fairyland, vi the
interim; and of Maupertuis's similar Adventure.
Of the King's Flight, or sudden disappearance into
Fairyland, during this First Battle, the King himself,
who alone could have told us fully, maintained always
rigorous silence, and nowhere drops the least hint. 8"
that the small fact has come down to us involved in a
great bulk of fabulous cobwebs, mostly of an ? 11-
natured character, set a-going by Voltaire, Valori and
others (which fabulous process, in the good-naturei!
form, still continues itself); and, except for Nicolai^
good industry (in his Anckdoten-Hook), we should have
difficulty even in guessing, not to say understanding,
as is now partly possible. The few real particulars
-- and those do verify themselves, and hang perfectly
together, when the big globe of fable is burnt off froii:
them, -- are to the following effect.
"Battle lost," said Schwerin, "but what is the loss
of a Battle to that of your Majesty's own Person? For
Heaven's sake, go; get across the Oder; be you safe,
till this decide itself! " That was reasonable counsel.
If defeated, Schwerin can hope to retreat upon Ohlau.
upon Breslau, and save the Magazines. This side the
Oder, all will be movements, a whirlpool of Hussars:
but beyond the Oder, all is quiet, open. To Oldau,
to Glogau, nay home to Brandenburg and the Old
Dessauer with his Camp at Gottin, the road is free, by
the other side of the Oder. -- Schwerin and Prince
Leopold urging him, the King did ride away; at what
hour, with what suite, nor with what adventures (not
mostly fabulous) is not known: -- but it was towards
Lowen, fifteen miles off (where he crossed Neisse
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF MOLLWITZ. 337
10th April 1741.
River, the other day); and thence towards Oppeln, on
the Oder, eighteen miles farther; and the pace was
swift. Leopold, on reflection, ordered off a Squadron
of Gens d'Armes to overtake his Majesty, at Lowen or
sooner; which they never did. Passing Pampitz, the
King threw Fredersdorf a word, who was among the
baggage there: "To Oppeln; bring the Purse, the Privy
Writings; swift! " Which Fredersdorf, and the Clerks
(and another Herr, who became Nicolai's Father-in-law
in after years) did; and joined the King at Lowen;
but I hope stopped there.
The King's suite was small, names not given; but
by the time he got to Lowen, being joined by cavalry
fugitives and the like, it had got to be seventy per-
sons: too many for the King. He selected what was
his of them; ordered the gates to be shut behind him
on all others, and again rode away. The Leopold
Squadron of Gens d'Armes did not arrive till after his
departure; and having here lost trace of him, called
halt, and billeted for the night. The King speeds
silently to Oppeln on his excellent bay horse, the
worse-mounted gradually giving in. At Oppeln is a
Bridge over the Oder, a free Country beyond: Regi-
ment La Motte lay, and as the King thinks, still lies
in Oppeln; -- but in that he is mistaken. Regiment
La Motte is with the baggage at Pampitz, all this
day; and a wandering Hussar Party, some sixty Aus-
trians, have taken possession of Oppeln. The King,
and the few who had not yet broken down, arrive at
the Gate of Oppeln, late, under cloud of night: "Who
goes? " cried the sentry from withim. "Prussians! A
Prussian Courier! " answer they; -- and are fired upoa
through the gratings; and immediately draw back, and
Carlyle, Frederick Ihe Great. VI. 22
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? 338 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [book m
10th April 1741.
vanish unhurt into Night again. "Had those Hussars
only let him in! " said Austria afterwards: but they
had not such luck. It was at this point, according to
Valori, that the King burst forth into audible ejacula-
tions of a lamentable nature. There is no getting over,
then, even to Brandenburg, and in an insolvent condi-
tion. Not open insolvency and bankrupt disgrace; no,
ruin, and an Austrian jail, is the one outlook. "0 mom
Dieu, 0 God, it is too much (e'en est trop)! " with other
the like snatches of lamentation; * which are not in-
conceivable in a young man, sleepless for the third
night, in these circumstances; but which Valori knows
nothing of, except by malicious rumour from the valet
class, -- who have misinformed Valori about several
other points.
The King riding diligently, with or without ejacula-
tions, back towards Lowen, comes at an early hour to
the Mill of Hilbersdorf, within a mile-and-half of that
place. He alights at the Mill; sends one of his at-
tendants, almost the only one now left, to inquire what
is in Lowen. The answer, we know, is: "A squadron
of Gens dArmes there; furthermore, a Prussian Adjutant
come to say, Victory at Mollwitz! " Upon which the
King mounts again; -- issues into daylight, and con-
cludes these mythical adventures. That "in Lowen, in
"the shop at the corner of the Market-place, Widow
"Panzern, subsequently Wife Something-else, made his
"Majesty a cup of coffee, and served a roast fowl
"along with it," cannot but be welcome news, if true;
and that "his Majesty got to Mollwitz again before
"dark that same day;"** is liable to no controversy.
In this way was Friedrich snatched by Morgante
* Valori, i. 104. ** Fuchs, p. 11.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF MOLLWITZ. 339
XOth April 1741.
* Kausler, Atlas der merkwitrdigsien Schlachlen, p. 232.
** CEuvres de Frederic, ii, 73.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF MOLLWITZ. 323
10th April 1741.
up: --had he miscalculated the distances, then? Once
on the ground, he will find he does not reach to Herms-
dorf after all, and that there is now too much room!
What his degree of fault was I know not; Friedrich
has long been dissatisfied with these Dragoons of Schu-
lenburg; "good for nothing, I always told you" (at
that Skirmish of Baumgarten): and now here is the
General himself fallen blundering! -- In respect of
Horse, the Austrians are more than two to one; to
make out our deficiency, the King, imitating some-
thing he had read about Gustavus Adolphus, inter-
calates the Horse-Squadrons, on each wing, with two
Battalions of Grenadiers, and so lengthens them; --
"a manoeuvre not likely to be again imitated," he
admits.
All these movements and arrangements are effected
above a mile from Mollwitz, no Enemy yet visible.
Once effected, we advance again with music sounding,
sixty pieces of artillery well in front, steady, steady!
-- across the floor of snow which is soon beaten smooth
enough, the stage, this day, of a great adventure. And
now there is the Enemy's left wing, Romer and his
Horse; their right wing wider away, and not yet, by
a good space, within cannon-range of us. It is to-
wards Two of the afternoon; Schulenburg now on his
ground, laments that he will not reach to Hermsdorf;
-- but it may be dangerous now to attempt repairing
that error? At Two of the clock, being now fairly
within distance, we salute Romer and the Austrian left,
with all our sixty cannon; and the sound of drums and
clarionets is drowned in universal artillery thunder.
Incessant, for they take (by order) to "swift-shooting,"
which is almost of the swiftness of musketry in our
21*
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? 324 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [book XII.
10th April 17*1.
Prussian practice; and from sixty cannon, going at
that rate, we may fancy some effect. The Austrian
Horse of the left wing do not like it; all the less as
the Austrians, rather short of artillery, have nothing
yet to reply with.
No Cavalry can stand long there, getting shivered
in that way; in such a noise, were there nothing more.
"Are we to stand here like milestones, then, and be all
shot without a stroke struck? " "Steady! " answers
Romer. But nothing can keep them steady: "To be
shot like dogs (wie Hwde)\ For God's sake (Um Got-
tes Willen), lead us forward, then, to have a stroke at
them! " -- in tones ever more plangent, plaintively in-
dignant; growing ungovernable. And Romer can get
no orders; Neipperg is on the extreme right, many
things still to settle there; and here is the cannon-
thunder going, and soon their very musketry will open.
And -- and there is Schulenburg, for one thing, stretch-
ing himself out eastwards (rightwards) to get hold of
Hermsdorf; thinking this an opportunity for the ma-
noeuvre. "Forward! " cries Romer; and his Thirty
Squadrons, like bottled whirlwind now at last let loose,
dash upon Schulenburg's poor Ten (five of them of
Schulenburg's own regiment), -- who are turned side-
ways too, trotting towards Hermsdorf, at the wrong
moment, -- and dash them into wild ruin. That must
have been a charge! That was the beginning of hours
of chaos, seemingly irretrievable, in that Prussian right
wing.
For the Prussian Horse fly wildly; and it is in
vain to rally. The King is among them; has come in
hot haste, conjuring and commanding: poor Schulen-
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? Chap. X. ] BATTLE OF MOLLWITZ. 325
10th April 17dl.
burg addresses his own regiment, "Oh shame, shame!
shall it be told, then? " rallies his own regiment, and
some others; charges fiercely in with them again; gets
a sabre-slash across the face, -- does not mind the
sabre-slash, small bandaging will do; -- gets a bullet
through the head (or through the heart, it is not said
which); * and falls down dead; his regiment going to
the winds again, and his care of it and of other things
concluding in this honourable manner. Nothing can
rally that right wing; or the more you rally, the worse
it fares: they are clearly no match for Romer, these
Prussian Horse. They fly along the front of their own
First Line of Infantry, they fly between the Two Lines;
Romer chasing, -- till the fire of the Infantry (intoler-
able to our enemies, and hitting some even of our
fugitive friends) repels him. For the notable point in
all this was the conduct of the Infantry; and how it
stood in these wild vortexes of ruin; impregnable, im-
movable, as if every man of it were stone; and steadily
poured out deluges of fire, -- "five Prussian shots for
two Austrian:"-- such is perfect discipline against im-
perfect; and the iron ramrod against the wooden.
The intolerable fire repels Romer, when he trenches
on the Infantry: however, he captures nine of the Prus-
sian sixty guns; has scattered their Horse to the winds;
and charges again and again, hoping to break the In-
fantry too, -- till a bullet kills him, the gallant Romer;
and some other has to charge and try. It was thought,
had Goldlein with his Austrian Infantry advanced to
support RSmer at this juncture, the Battle had been
gained. Five times, before Romer fell and after, the
Austrians charged here; tried the Second Line too;
>> llelden-Geschichte, i. 899.
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? 326 FIRST S1LESIAN WAR. [bOOKJn.
10th April 1741.
tried once to take Prince Leopold in rear there. But
Prince Leopold faced round, gave intolerable fire; on
one face as on the other, he, or the Prussian Infantry
anywhere, is not to be broken. "Prince Friedrich,''
one of the Margraves of Schwedt, King's Cousin, whom
we did not know before, fell in these wild rallyings
and wrestlings; "by a cannon-ball, at the King's hand,"
not said otherwise where. He had come as Volunteer,
few weeks ago, out of Holland, where he was a rising
General: he has met his fate here, -- and Margraf'
Karl, his Brother, who also gets wounded, will be a
mournful man to-night.
The Prussian Horse, this right wing of it, is a
ruined body; boiling in wild disorder, flooding rapidly
away to rearward, -- which is the safest direction to
retreat upon. They "sweep away the King's person
with them," say some cautious people; others say, what
is the fact, that Schwerin entreated, and as it were
commanded, the King to go; the Battle being, to all
appearance, irretrievable. Go he did, with small escort,
and on a long ride, -- to Oppeln, a Prussian post,
thirty-five miles rearward, where there is a Bridge over
the Oder and a safe country beyond. So much is in-
dubitable; and that he despatched an Aide-de-Camp to
gallop into Brandenburg, and tell the Old Dessauer,
"Bestir yourself! Here all seems lost! " -- and vanished
from the Field, doubtless in very desperate humour.
Upon which the extraneous world has babbled a good
deal, "Cowardice! Wanted courage: Haha! " in its
usual foolish way; not worth answer from him or from
us. Friedrich's demeanour, in that disaster of his right
wing, was furious despair rather; and neither Schulen-
burg nor Margraf Friedrich, nor any of the captains,
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLK OF MOLLWITZ. 327
10th April 1741.
killed or left living, was supposed to have sinned by
"cowardice" in a visible degree! --
Indisputable it is, though there is deep mystery
upon it, the King vanishes from Mollvvitz Field at this
point for sixteen hours, into the regions of Myth, "into
Fairyland," as would once have been said; but reap-
pears unharmed in tomorrow's daylight: at which time,
not sooner, readers shall hear what little is to be said
of this obscure and much-disfigured small affair. For
the present we hasten back to Mollwitz, -- where the
murderous thunder rages unabated all this while; the
very noise of it alarming mankind for thirty miles
round. At Breslau, which is thirty good miles off,
horrible dull grumble was heard from the southern
quarter ("still better, if you put a staff in the ground,
and set your ear to it"); and from the steeple-tops,
there was dim cloudland of powder-smoke discernible
in the horizon there. "At Liegnitz," which is twice
the distance, "the earth sensibly shook,"* -- at least
the air did, and the nerves of men.
"Had Goldlein but advanced with his Foot, in
"support of gallant Romer! " say the Austrian Books.
But Goldlein did not advance; nor is it certain he
would have found advantage in so doing: Goldlein,
where he stands, has difficulty enough to hold his own.
For the notable circumstance, miraculous to military
men, still is, How the Prussian Foot (men who had
never been in fire, but whom Friedrich Wilhelm had
drilled for twenty years) stand their ground, in this
distraction of the Horse. Not even the Two outlying
Grenadier Battalions will give way: those poor inter-
calated Grenadiers, when their Horse fled on the right
* Hclden-Geschichtc; and Jordan's Letter, infra.
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? 328 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [BOOKXn.
10th April 1711.
and on the left, they stand there, like a fixed stone-
dam in that wild whirlpool of ruin. They fix bayonets,
"bring their two field-pieces to flank" (Winterfeld was
Captain there), and, from small arms and big, deliver
such a fire as was very unexpected. Nothing to be
made of Winterfeld and them. They invincibly hurl
back charge after charge; and, with dogged steadiness,
manoeuvre themselves into the general Line again; or
into contact with the Three superfluous Battalions, ar-
ranged en potencc, whom we heard of. Those Three,
ranked athwart in this right wing ("like a lid," be-
tween First Line and Second), maintained themselves
in like impregnable fashion, -- Winterfeld command-
ing; -- and proved unexpectedly, thinks Friedrich, the
saving of the whole. For they also stood their ground
immovable, like rocks; steadily spouting fire-torrents.
Five successive charges storm upon them, fruitless:
"Steady, mcine Kinder; fix bayonets, handle ramrods!
There is the Horse-deluge thundering in upon you;
reserve your fire, till you see the whites of their eyes,
and get the word; then give it them, and again give
it them; see whether any man or any horse can stand
it! "
Neipperg, soon after Romer fell, had ordered Gold-
lein forward: Giildlein with his Infantry did advance,
gallantly enough; but to no purpose. Giildlein was
soon shot dead; and his Infantry had to fall back
again, ineffectual or worse. Iron ramrods against
wooden; five shots to two: what is there but falling
back? Neipperg sent fresh Horse from his right wing,
with Berlichingen, a new famed General of Horse;
Neipperg is furiously bent to improve his advantage,
to break those Prussians, who are mere musketeers left
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OP MOLLWITZ. 329
lOlh April 1741.
bare, and thinks that will settle the account: but it
could in no wise be done. The Austrian Horse, after
their fifth trial, renounce charging; fairly refuse to
charge any more; and withdraw dispirited out of ball-
range, or in search of things not impracticable. The
Hussar part of them did something of plunder to rear-
ward; -- and, besides poor Maupertuis's adventure (of
which by and by), and an attempt on the Prussian
baggage and knapsacks, which proved to be "too well
guarded," -- "burnt the Church of Pampitz," as some
small consolation. The Prussians had stript their knap-
sacks, and left them in Pampitz: the Austrians, it was
noticed, stript theirs in the Field; built walls of them,
and fired behind the same, in a kneeling, more or less
protected posture, -- which did not avail them much.
In fact, the Austrian Infantry too, all Austrians,
hour . after hour, are getting wearier of it: neither In-
fantry nor Cavalry can stand being riddled by swift
shot in that manner. In spite of their knapsack walls,
various regiments have shrunk out of ball-range; and
several cannot, by any persuasion, be got to come into
it again. Others, who do reluctantly advance, -- see
what a figure they make; man after man edging away
as he can, so that the regiment "stands forty to eighty
"men deep, with lanes through it every two or three
"yards;" permeable everywhere to Cavalry, if we had
them; and turning nothing to the enemy but colour-
sergeants and bare poles of a regiment! And Romer
is dead, and Goldlein of the Infantry is dead. And
on their right wing, skirted by that marshy Brook of
Laugwitz, -- Austrian right wing had been weakened
by detachments, when Berlichingen rode off to succeed
Romer, -- the Austrians are suffering: Posadowsky's
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? 330 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [bOOKXII.
10th April 1741.
Horse (among whom is Rothenburg, once vanguard),
strengthened by remnants who have rallied here, are
at last prospering, after reverses. And the Prussian
fire of small arms, at such rate, has lasted now for five
hours. The Austrian Army, becoming instead of a we''
a mere series of flying tatters, forming into stripes or
lanes in the way we see, appears to have had abou;
enough.
These symptoms are not hidden from Schwerin.
His own ammunition, too, he knows is running scarce,
and fighters here and there are searching the slain for
cartridges: Schwerin closes his ranks, trims and tightens
himself a little; breaks forth into universal field-music,
and with banners spread, starts in mass wholly, "For-
wards! " Forwards toward these Austrians and the
setting sun.
An intelligent Austrian Officer, writing next week
from Neisse, * confesses he never saw anything more
beautiful. "I can well say, I never in my life saw
"anything more beautiful. They marched with the
"greatest steadiness, arrow-straight, and their front
"like a line (schnurgleich), as if they had been upon
"parade. The glitter of their clear arms shone strangely
"in the setting sun, and the fire from them went on
"no otherwise than a continued peal of thunder. " Grand
picture indeed; but not to be enjoyed as a Work of
Art, for it is coming upon us! "The spirits of onr
"Army sank altogether," continues he; "the Foot
"plainly giving way, Horse refusing to come forward,
"all this wavering towards dissolution:" -- so that
Neipperg, to avoid worse, gives the word to go; and
they roll off at double-quick time, through Mollwitz,
* Fcldiuge der Premsen (above cited), i. 38.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OP MOLLWITZ. 331
lOth April 1741.
over Laugwitz Bridge and Brook, towards Grotkau by
what routes they can. The sun is just sunk; a quarter
to eight, says the intelligent Austrian Officer, -- while
the Austrian Army, much to its amazement, tumbles
forth in this bad fashion.
They had lost nine of their own cannon, and all of
those Prussian nine which they once had, except one:
eight cannon minus, in all. Prisoners of them were
few, and none of much mark: two Feldmarshals, Ro-
mer and Goldlein, lie among the dead; four more of
that rank are wounded. Four standards too are gone;
certain kettle-drums and the like trophies, not in great
number. Lieutenant-General Browne was of these re-
treating Austrians; a little fact worth noting: of his
actions this day, or of his thoughts (which latter surely
must have been considerable), no hint anywhere. The
Austrians were not much chased; though they might
have been, -- fresh Cavalry (two Ohlau regiments,
drawn hither by the sound* having hung about to rear
of them, for some time past; unable to get into the
Fight, or to do any good till now, Schwerin, they
say, though he had two wounds, was for pursuing
vigorously: but Leopold of Anhalt over-persuaded him;
urged the darkness, the uncertainty. Berlichingen, with
their own Horse, still partly covered their rear; and
the Prussians, Ohlauers included, were but weak in
that branch of the service. Pursuit lasted little more
than two miles, and was. never hot. The loss of men,
on both sides, was not far from equal, and rather in
favour of the Austrian side: -- Austrians counted in
killed, wounded and missing, 4,410 men; Prussians
* Interesting correct account of thoir movements and adventures this
day and some previous days, in Nicolai, Anckdolen, ii. 142-148.
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? 332 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [book Xn.
10th April 1741.
4,613; * -- but the Prussians bivouacked on the ground,
or quartered in these Villages, with victory to crown
them, and the thought that their hard day's-work had
been well done. Besides Margraf Friedrich, Volunteer
from Holland, there lay among the slain Colonel Count
von Finckenstein (Old Tutor's Son), King's friend from
boyhood, and much loved. He was of the six whom
we saw consulting at the door at Reinsberg, during a
certain ague-fit; and he now rests silent here, while
the matter has only come thus far.
Such was Mollwitz, the first Battle for Silesia;
which had to cost many Battles first and last. Silesia
will be gained, we can expect, by fighting of this kind
in an honest cause. But here is something already
gained, which is considerable, and about which there
is no doubt. A new Military Power, it would appear,
has come upon the scene; the Gazetteer-and-Diplomatie
world will have to make itself familiar with a name
not much heard of hitherto among the Nations. "A
Nation which can fight," think the Gazetteers; "fight
almost as the very Swedes did; and is led on by its
King too, -- who may prove, in his way, a very
Charles XII. , or small Macedonia's Madman, for aught
one knows? " In which latter branch of their prognos-
tic the Gazetteers were much out. --
The Fame of this Battle, which is now so sunk ont
of memory, was great in Europe; and struck, like a
huge war-gong, with long resonance, through the
general ear. M. de Voltaire had run across to Lille in
those Spring days: there is a good Troop of Players
* Orlich, i. 108; Kanaler, p. 235, correct; Helden-Gcschichte, i. 895, in-
correct.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF MOLLWITZ. 333
10th April 1741.
in Lille; a Niece, Madame Denis, wife of some Military
Commissariat Denis, important in those parts, can lodge
the divine Emilie and me: -- and one could at last
see MaJiomet, after five years of struggling, get upon
the boards, if not yet in Paris by a great way, yet in
Lille, which is something. Mahomet is getting upon the
boards on those terms; and has proceeded, not amiss,
through an Act or two, when a Note from the King of
Prussia was handed to Voltaire, announcing the victory
of Mollwitz. Which delightful Note Voltaire stopt the
performance till he read to the Audience: "Bravissimo! "
answered the Audience. "You will see," said M. de
Voltaire to the friends about him, "this Piece at Moll-
"witz will make mine succeed:" which proved to be
the fact. * For the French are Anti-Austrian; and
smell great things in the wind. "That man is mad,
your Most Christian Majesty? " "Not quite; or at
any rate not mad only! " think Louis and his Belle-
isle now.
Dimly poring in those old Books, and squeezing
one's way into face-to-face view of the extinct Time,
we begin to notice what a clangorous rumour was in
Mollwitz to the then generation of mankind; -- beto-
kening many things; universal European War, as the
first thing. Which duly came to pass; as did, at a
slower rate, the ulterior thing, not yet so apparent,
that indeed a new hour had struck on the Time
Horologe, that a New Epoch had risen. Yes, my
friends. New Charles XII. or not, here truly has a
new Man and King come upon the scene: capable per-
haps of doing something? Slumberous Europe, rotting
amid its blind pedantries, its lazy hypocrisies, conscious
* Voltaire, lEumcs (Vic Privcc), ii. 74.
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? 334 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [bOOK XU.
10 th April 1741.
and unconscious: this man is capable of shaking it a
little out of its stupid refuges of lies, and ignominious
wrappages and bed-clothes, which will be its grave-
clothes otherwise; and of intimating to it, afar off, that
there is still a Veracity in Things, and a Mendacity in
Sham-Things, and that the difference of the two is in-
finitely more considerable than was supposed.
This Mollwitz is a most deliberate, regulated,
ponderously impressive (gravitatiscJi) Feat of Arms, as
the reader sees; done all by Regulation methods, with
orthodox exactitude; in a slow, weighty, almost
pedantic, but highly irrefragable manner. It is the
triumph of Prussian Discipline; of military orthodoxy
well put in practice: the honest outcome of good natural
stuff in those Brandenburgers, and of the supreme
virtues of Drill. Neipperg and his Austrians had much
despised Prussian soldiering: "Keep our soup hot,"
cried they, on running out this day to rank themselves,
"hot a little, till we drive these fellows to the Devil! "
That was their opinion, about noon this day: but that
is an opinion they have renounced for all remaining
days and years. -- It is a Victory due properly to
Friedrich Wilhelm, and the Old Dessauer, who are far
away from it. Friedrich Wilhelm, though dead, fights
here, and the others only do his bidding on this
occasion. His Son, as yet, adds nothing of his own;
though he will ever henceforth begin largely adding,
-- right careful withal to lose nothing, for the Friedrich
Wilhelm contribution is invaluable, and the basis of
everything: -- but it is curious to see in what contrast
this first Battle of Friedrich's is with his latter and
last ones.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OP MOLLWITZ. 335
10th April 1741.
Considering the Battle of Mollwitz, and then, in
contrast, the intricate Pragmatic Sanction, and what
their consequences were and their antecedents, it is
curious once more! This, then, is what the Pragmatic
Sanction has come to? Twenty years of world-wide
diplomacy, cunningly-devised spider-threads overnetting
all the world, have issued here. Your Congresses of
Cambray, of Soissons, your Grumkow-Seckendorf
Machiavelisms, all these might as well have lain in
their bed. Ileal Pragmatic Sanction would have been,
A well-trained Army and your Treasury full. Your
Treasury is empty (nothing in it but those foolish
200,000 English guineas, and the passionate cry for
more): and your Army is not trained as 'this Prussian
one; cannot keep its ground against this one. Of all
those long-headed Potentates, simple Friedrich Wilhelm,
son of Nature, who had the honesty to do what Nature
taught him, has come out gainer. You all laughed at
him as a fool: do you begin to see now who was
wise, who fool? He has an Army that "advances on
"you with glittering musketry, steady as on the
"parade-ground, and pours out fire like one continuous
"thunderpeal;" so that, strange as it seems, you find
there will actually be nothing for you but -- taking to
your heels, shall we say? -- rolling off with despatch,
as second-best! These things are of singular omen.
Here stands one that will avenge Friedrich Wilhelm,
-- if Friedrich Wilhelm were not already sufficiently
avenged by the mere verdict of facts, which is palpably
coming out, as Time peels the wiggeries away from
them more and more. Mollwitz and such places are
full of veracity; and no head is so thick as to resist
conviction in that kind.
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? 336
FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [liOOK xi;.
10th April 17-U.
Of Friedrich's Disappearance into Fairyland, vi the
interim; and of Maupertuis's similar Adventure.
Of the King's Flight, or sudden disappearance into
Fairyland, during this First Battle, the King himself,
who alone could have told us fully, maintained always
rigorous silence, and nowhere drops the least hint. 8"
that the small fact has come down to us involved in a
great bulk of fabulous cobwebs, mostly of an ? 11-
natured character, set a-going by Voltaire, Valori and
others (which fabulous process, in the good-naturei!
form, still continues itself); and, except for Nicolai^
good industry (in his Anckdoten-Hook), we should have
difficulty even in guessing, not to say understanding,
as is now partly possible. The few real particulars
-- and those do verify themselves, and hang perfectly
together, when the big globe of fable is burnt off froii:
them, -- are to the following effect.
"Battle lost," said Schwerin, "but what is the loss
of a Battle to that of your Majesty's own Person? For
Heaven's sake, go; get across the Oder; be you safe,
till this decide itself! " That was reasonable counsel.
If defeated, Schwerin can hope to retreat upon Ohlau.
upon Breslau, and save the Magazines. This side the
Oder, all will be movements, a whirlpool of Hussars:
but beyond the Oder, all is quiet, open. To Oldau,
to Glogau, nay home to Brandenburg and the Old
Dessauer with his Camp at Gottin, the road is free, by
the other side of the Oder. -- Schwerin and Prince
Leopold urging him, the King did ride away; at what
hour, with what suite, nor with what adventures (not
mostly fabulous) is not known: -- but it was towards
Lowen, fifteen miles off (where he crossed Neisse
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF MOLLWITZ. 337
10th April 1741.
River, the other day); and thence towards Oppeln, on
the Oder, eighteen miles farther; and the pace was
swift. Leopold, on reflection, ordered off a Squadron
of Gens d'Armes to overtake his Majesty, at Lowen or
sooner; which they never did. Passing Pampitz, the
King threw Fredersdorf a word, who was among the
baggage there: "To Oppeln; bring the Purse, the Privy
Writings; swift! " Which Fredersdorf, and the Clerks
(and another Herr, who became Nicolai's Father-in-law
in after years) did; and joined the King at Lowen;
but I hope stopped there.
The King's suite was small, names not given; but
by the time he got to Lowen, being joined by cavalry
fugitives and the like, it had got to be seventy per-
sons: too many for the King. He selected what was
his of them; ordered the gates to be shut behind him
on all others, and again rode away. The Leopold
Squadron of Gens d'Armes did not arrive till after his
departure; and having here lost trace of him, called
halt, and billeted for the night. The King speeds
silently to Oppeln on his excellent bay horse, the
worse-mounted gradually giving in. At Oppeln is a
Bridge over the Oder, a free Country beyond: Regi-
ment La Motte lay, and as the King thinks, still lies
in Oppeln; -- but in that he is mistaken. Regiment
La Motte is with the baggage at Pampitz, all this
day; and a wandering Hussar Party, some sixty Aus-
trians, have taken possession of Oppeln. The King,
and the few who had not yet broken down, arrive at
the Gate of Oppeln, late, under cloud of night: "Who
goes? " cried the sentry from withim. "Prussians! A
Prussian Courier! " answer they; -- and are fired upoa
through the gratings; and immediately draw back, and
Carlyle, Frederick Ihe Great. VI. 22
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? 338 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [book m
10th April 1741.
vanish unhurt into Night again. "Had those Hussars
only let him in! " said Austria afterwards: but they
had not such luck. It was at this point, according to
Valori, that the King burst forth into audible ejacula-
tions of a lamentable nature. There is no getting over,
then, even to Brandenburg, and in an insolvent condi-
tion. Not open insolvency and bankrupt disgrace; no,
ruin, and an Austrian jail, is the one outlook. "0 mom
Dieu, 0 God, it is too much (e'en est trop)! " with other
the like snatches of lamentation; * which are not in-
conceivable in a young man, sleepless for the third
night, in these circumstances; but which Valori knows
nothing of, except by malicious rumour from the valet
class, -- who have misinformed Valori about several
other points.
The King riding diligently, with or without ejacula-
tions, back towards Lowen, comes at an early hour to
the Mill of Hilbersdorf, within a mile-and-half of that
place. He alights at the Mill; sends one of his at-
tendants, almost the only one now left, to inquire what
is in Lowen. The answer, we know, is: "A squadron
of Gens dArmes there; furthermore, a Prussian Adjutant
come to say, Victory at Mollwitz! " Upon which the
King mounts again; -- issues into daylight, and con-
cludes these mythical adventures. That "in Lowen, in
"the shop at the corner of the Market-place, Widow
"Panzern, subsequently Wife Something-else, made his
"Majesty a cup of coffee, and served a roast fowl
"along with it," cannot but be welcome news, if true;
and that "his Majesty got to Mollwitz again before
"dark that same day;"** is liable to no controversy.
In this way was Friedrich snatched by Morgante
* Valori, i. 104. ** Fuchs, p. 11.
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF MOLLWITZ. 339
XOth April 1741.
