On account of some pieces which they
"are adding to the set, you will have to wait a few days; but
"I flatter myself this delay will contribute to your satisfac-
"tion, and produce for you a toy that will give you pleasure,
"and make you remember your old Adorer.
"are adding to the set, you will have to wait a few days; but
"I flatter myself this delay will contribute to your satisfac-
"tion, and produce for you a toy that will give you pleasure,
"and make you remember your old Adorer.
Thomas Carlyle
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? 132 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED, [book XX.
3d Nov. 1760.
themselves, with no mistake made, to Mollendorf's, to
Ziethen's, left and the saddle-flap there, and fall on.
The night is pitch-dark, says Archenholtz; you cannot
see your hand before you. Old Hulsen's bridle-horses
were all shot away, when he heard this alarm, far off:
no horse left; and he is old, and has his own bruises.
He seated himself on a cannon; and so rides, and ar-
rives; right welcome the sight of him, doubt not! And
the Fight rages still for an hour or more.
To an observant Mollendorf, watching about all day,
the importance and all-importance of Siptitz Summit, if
it can be got, is probably known; to Daun it is alarm-
ingly well known, when he hears of it. Daun is zeal-
ously urgent on Lacy, on O'Donnell; who do try what
they can; send reinforcements, and the like; but nothing
that proves useful. O'Donnell is not the man for such
a crisis: Lacy, too, it is remarked, has always been
more expert in ducking out of Friedrich's way than in
fighting anybody. * In fine, such is the total darkness,
the difficulty, the uncertainty, most or all of the rein-
forcements sent halted short, in the belly of the Night,
uncertain where; and their poor friends got altogether
beaten and driven away.
About 9 at night, all the Austrians are rolling off,
eastward, eastward. Prussians goading them forward
what they could (firing not quite done till 10); and
that all-important pommel of the saddle is indisputably
won. The Austrians settled themselves, in a kind of
half-moon shape, close on the suburbs of Torgau; the
Prussians in a parallel half-moon posture, some furlongs
behind them. The Austrians sat but a short time; not
a moment longer than was indispensable. Daun per-
* Archenholtz's sour remark.
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF TORGAU. 133
3d Nov. 1760.
ceives that the key of his ground is gone from him;
that he will have to send a second Courier to Vienna.
And, above all things, that he must forthwith get across
the Elbe and away. Lucky for him that he has Three
Bridges (or Four, including the Town Bridge), and
that his Baggage is already all across and standing on
wheels. With excellent despatch and order Daun winds
himself across, -- all of him that is still coherent; and
indeed, in the distant parts of the Battle-field, wander-
ing Austrian parties were admonished hitherward by
the River's voice in the great darkness, -- and Daun's
loss in prisoners, though great, was less than could
have been expected: 8,000 in all.
Till towards one in the morning, the Prussians, in
their half-moon, had not learned what he was doing.
About one they pushed into Torgau, and across the
Town Bridge; found 26 pontoons, -- all the rest packed
off except these 26; -- and did not follow farther. Lacy
retreated by the other or left bank of the River, to guard
against attempts from that side. Next day there was
pursuit of Lacy; some prisoners and furnitures got from
him, but nothing of moment: Daun and Lacy joined at
Dresden; took post, as usual, behind their inaccessible
Plauen Chasms. Sat there, in view of the chasing
Prussians, without farther loss than this of Torgau,
and of a Campaign gone to water again. What an
issue, for the third time! * --
On Torgau-field, behind that final Prussian half-
moon, there reigned, all night, a confusion which no
* Tempelhof, iv. 291-318; Archenholtz, n. 159-174; Retzow, n. 299 et
seq. ; Umstdndliche Beschrribung dps &c. (inSeyfarth, Beyiagen, n. 823-
848): in Heldcn-Geschiclite, or in Anonymous of Hamburg (iv. 245-300), the
Daun Despatches, the Lists, &c
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? 134 FRIEDEICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
3d Nov. 1760.
tongue can express. Poor wounded men by the hun-
dred and the thousand, weltering in their blood, on the
cold wet ground; not surgeons or nurses, but merciless
predatory sutlers, equal to murder if necessary, waiting
on them and on the happier that were dead. "Unutter-
able! " says Archenholtz; who, though wounded, had
crawled or got carried to some village near. The living
wandered about in gloom and uncertainty; lucky he whose haversack was still his, and a crust of bread in
it: water was a priceless luxury, almost nowhere dis-
coverable. Prussian Generals roved about with their
Staff-Officers, seeking to re-form their Battalions; to
little purpose. They had grown indignant, in some in-
stances, and were vociferously imperative and minatory;
"but in the dark who needed mind them? -- they went
"raving elsewhere, and, for the first time, Prussian
"word-of-command saw itself futile. " Pitch darkness,
bitter cold, ground trampled into mire. On Siptitz Hill
there is nothing that will burn: farther back, in the
Domitsch Woods, are numerous fine fires, to which
Austrians and Prussians alike gather: "Peace and truce
between us; tomorrow morning, we will see which are
prisoners, which are captors. " So pass the wild hours,
all hearts longing for the dawn, and what decision it
will bring.
Friedrich, at Elsnig, found every hut full of wounded,
and their surgeries, and miseries silent or loud. He
himself took shelter in the little Church; passed the
night there. Busy about many things; -- "using the
altar," it seems, "by way of writing-table" (self or secre-
taries kneeling, shall we fancy, on those new terms? ),
"and the stairs of it as seat. " Of the final Ziethen-
Lestwitz effort he would scarcely hear the musketry or
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF TORGAU. 135
3d Nov. 1760.
cannonade, being so far away from it. At what hour,
or from whom first, he learned that the Battle of Torgau
had become Victory in the night-time, I know not: the
Anecdote-Books send him out in his cloak, wandering
up and down before daybreak; standing by the soldiers'
fires; and at length, among the Woods, in the faint
incipiency of dawn, meeting a Shadow which proves
to be Ziethen himself in the body, with embraces and
congratulations: -- evidently mythical, though dramatic.
Reach him the news soon did; and surely none could
be welcomer. Headquarters change from the altar-steps
in Elsnig Church to secular rooms in Torgau. Ziethen
has already sped forth on the skirts of Lacy; whole
Army follows next day; and, on the War-theatre it is,
on the sudden, a total change of scene. Conceivable to
readers without the details.
Hopes there were of getting back Dresden itself;
but that, on closer view, proved unattemptable. Daun
kept his Plauen Chasm, his few square miles of ground
beyond; the rest of Saxony was Friedrich's, as hereto-
fore. Loudon had tried hard on Kosel for a week;
storming once, and a second time, very fiercely, Goltz
being now near; but could make nothing of it; and, on
wind of Goltz, went his way. * The Russians, on sound
of Torgau, shouldered arms, and made for Poland.
Daun, for his own share, went to Vienna this Winter;
in need of surgery, and other things. The population
there is rather disposed to be grumbly on its once heroic
Fabius; wishes the Fabius were a little less cunctatory.
But Imperial Majesty herself, one is proud to relate,
* Hofbericht von der Belagprung von Kosel, im October 1760 (Seyfarth,
Beylagen, ii. 798-801)i began, "October 21st;" ended, "at daybreak, Octo-
ber 27th. "
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? 136 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
3d Nov. 1760.
drove out, in Old Roman spirit, some miles, to meet
him, her defeated ever-honoured Daun, and to inquire
graciously about his health, which is so important to
the State*
Torgau was Daun's last Battle: Daun's last Battle;
and, what is more to the joy of readers and their Editor
here, was Friedrich's last, -- so that the remaining Two
Campaigns may fairly be condensed to an extreme de-
gree; and a few Chapters more will deliver us altogether
from this painful element! --
Daun lost at Torgau, by his own account, "about
11,000 men," --should have said, according to Tempel-
hof, and even to neutral persons, "above 12,000 killed
"and wounded, plus 8,000 prisoners, 45 cannon, 29
"flags, 1 standard (or horse-flag),"** which brings him
to at least 20,000 minus; -- the Prussian loss, heavy
enough too, being, by Tempelholfs admission, "between
13 and 14,000, of whom 4,000 prisoners. " The sore
loss, not so computable in arithmetic, -- but less sore to
Daun, perhaps, than to most people, -- is that of being
beaten, and having one's Campaign reduced to water
again. No Conquest of Saxony, any more than of Si-
lesia, possible to Daun, this Year. In Silesia, thanks to
Loudon, small thanks to Loudon's Chief, they have got
Glatz: Kosel they could not get; fiery Loudon himself
stormed and blazed to no purpose there, and had to
hurry home on sight of Goltz and relief. Glatz is
the net sum-total. Daun knows all this; but in a
stoical arithmetical manner, and refuses to be flurried
by it.
Friedrich, as we said, had hoped something might
* Archenholtz, n. 179. ** Tempelhof, iv. 213; Kausler, p. 726.
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF TORGAU. 137
m 3d Nov. 1760.
be done in Saxony on the defeated Daun; -- perhaps
Dresden itself be got back from him, and his Army
altogether sent to winter in Bohemia again? But it
proved otherwise. Daun showed not the least disposi-
tion to quit his Plauen Chasm, or fall into discourage-
ment: and after some weeks of diligent trial, on Fried-
rich's part, and much running about in those central
and Hill-ward parts, Friedrich found he would have
to be content with his former allotment of Saxon
territory, and to leave the Austrians quiet in theirs.
Took winter-quarters accordingly, and let the Enemy
take. Cantoned himself, in that Meissen - Frey berg
Country, in front of the Austrians and their impassable
Plauens and Chasms; -- pretty much as in the past
Year, only that the Two Armies lay at a greater
distance, and were more peaceable, as if by mutual
consent.
Headquarter of the King is Leipzig; where the King
did not arrive till December 8th, -- such adjusting and
arranging has he had, and incessant running to and
fro. He lived in the "Apel House, New Neumarkt,
No. 16;"* the same he had occupied in 1757, in the
Rossbach time. "Ach! how lean your Majesty has
"grown! " said the Mistress of it, at sight of him again
(mythically, I should fancy, though it is in the Anec-
dote-Books). "Lean, ja wohl," answered he: "and
"what wonder, with Three Women" (Theresa, Czarina,
Pompadour) "hanging on the throat of me all this
"while! " But we propose to look in upon him our-
selves, in this Apel House, on more authentic terms,
by and by. Read, meanwhile, these Two bits of Auto-
graph, thrown off incidentally, at different places, in
* ROdenbeck, n. 65.
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? 138 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
3d Nov. 1760.
the previous busy journeyings over Meissen-Freyberg
Country:
1. Friedrich to Marquis D'Argens (at Berlin).
"Meissen, 10th November 1760.
* * "I drove the enemy to the Gates of Dresden; they
"occupy their Camp of last Year; all my skill is not enough
"to dislodge them," -- (Chasm of Plauen, "a place im-
"pregnable, were it garrisoned by chimney-sweeps," says
'' the King once). We have saved our reputation by the Day
"of Torgau: but don't imagine our enemies are so disheart-
"ened as to desire Peace. Duke Ferdinand's affairs are not
"inagood way" (missed Wesel, of which presently; -- and,
alas also, George II. died, this day gone a fortnight, which is
far worse for us, if we knew it! ) -- "I fear the French will
"preserve through Winter the advantages they gained during
"the Campaign.
"In a word, I see all black, as if I were at the bottom of a
"tomb. Have some compassion on the situation I am in;
"conceive that I disguise nothing from you, and yet that I do
"not detail to you all my embarrassments, my apprehensions
"and troubles. Adieu, dear Marquis; write to me sometimes,
"-- don't forget a poor devil, who curses ten times a day his
"fatal existence, and could wish he already were in those
"Silent Countries from which nobody returns with news. "*
2. The Second, of different complexion, is a still
more interesting little Autograph, date elsewhere, far-
ther on, in those wanderings. Madame Camas, Widow
of the Colonel Camas whom we knew twenty years ago,
is "Queen's Ober-Hofmeisterinn (Lady in Chief)," --
to whom the King's Letters are always pretty:
Friedrich to Madame Camas (at Magdeburg, with the Queen's
Majesty).
"Neustadt, 18th November 1760. "I am exact in answering, and eager to satisfy you" (in
? (Euvres ie Frederic, xix. 204, 6.
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF TORGAU. 139
3d Nov. 1760.
that matter of the porcelain): "you shall have a breakfast-set,
"my good Mamma; six coffee-cups, very pretty, well diapered,
"and tricked out with all the little embellishments which in-
"crease their value.
On account of some pieces which they
"are adding to the set, you will have to wait a few days; but
"I flatter myself this delay will contribute to your satisfac-
"tion, and produce for you a toy that will give you pleasure,
"and make you remember your old Adorer. It is curious
"how old people's habits agree. For four years past I have
"given up suppers, as incompatible with the Trade I am
"obliged to follow; and in marching days, my dinner consists
"of a cup of chocolate.
"We hurried off, like fools, quite inflated with our Vic-
"tory, to try if we could not chase the Austrians out of Dres-
"den: they made a mockery of us from the tops of their
"mountains. So I have withdrawn, like a bad little boy, to
"conceal myself, out of spite, in one of the wretchedest vil-
lages in Saxony. And here the first thing will be to drive
"the Circle gentlemen" (Reichs Army) "out of Freyberginto
"Chemnitz, and get ourselves room to quarter and something
"to live upon. It is, I swear to you, a dog of a life" (or even
a she-dog, chienne de vie), "the like of which nobody but Don
"Quixote ever led before me. All this tumbling and toiling,
"and bother and confusion that never ceases, has made me so
"old that you would scarcely know me again. On the right
"side of my head the hair is all gray; my teeth break and fall "out;T have got my face wrinkled like the falbalas of a petti-
coat; my back bent like a fiddle-bow; and spirit sad and
"downcast like a monk of La Trappe. I forewarn you of all
"this, lest, in case we should meet again in flesh and bone,
"you might feel yourself too violently shocked by my ap-
pearance. There remains to me nothing but the heart, --
"-- which has undergone no change, and which will preserve,
"so long as I breathe, its feelings of esteem and of tender
"friendship for my good Mamma. Adieu. "* To which
add only this on Duke Ferdinand, "whose affairs," we just
heard, "are not in a good way:"
* (Euvres de Frederic, xvm. 144.
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? 140 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
3d Nov. 1760.
Fight ofKloster Kampen (Night of October 15th-16th); Wesel
not to be had by Duke Ferdinand.
After Warburg (July 31st, while Friedrich was on the eve
of crossing Elbe on new adventures, Dresden Siege having
failed him), Duke Ferdinand made no figure to the Gazet-
teers; fought no Battle farther; and has had a Campaign,
which is honourable only to judges of a higher than the Gazet-
teer sort.
By Warburg Ferdinand had got the Diemel; on the north
bank of which he spread himself out, impassable to Broglio,
who lay trying on the opposite bank: -- "No Hanover by this
road. " Broglio thereupon drew back a little; pushed out cir-
cuitously from his right wing, which reaches far eastward of
Ferdinand, a considerable Brigade, -- circuitously, round by
the Weser-Fulda Country, and beyond the embouchure of
Diemel, -- to try it by that method. Got actually a few miles
into Hanoverian territory, by that method; laid holdof Got-
tingen, also of Miinden, which secures a road thither: and at
Gottingen there, "ever since August 4th," Broglio has been
throwing up works, and shooting out hussar parties to a good
distance; -- intending, it would seem, to maintain himself,
and to be mischievous, in that post. Would, in fact, fain
entice Ferdinand across the Weser, to help Gottingen.
"Across Weser, yes; -- and so leave Broglio free to take
Lippstadt from me, as he might after a short siege," thinks
Ferdinand always; "which would beautifully shorten Brog-
lio's communication" (quite direct then, and without inter-
ruption, all the way to Wesel), "and make Hanover itself,
Hanover and Brunswick, the central Seat of War! " Which
Ferdinand, grieved as he is for Gottingen, will by no means
consent to.
Ferdinand, strong only as one to two, cannot hinder Brog-
lio, though he tries variously; and is much at a loss, seeing
Broglio irrepressibly busy this way, all through August and
on into September; -- has heard, however, from Wesel,
through secret partisans there, That Wesel, considered alto-
gether out of risk, is left in a very weak condition; weak in
garrison, weak even in gunners. Reflecting upon which, in
his difficulties, Ferdinand asks himself, "A sudden stroke at
Wesel, 200 miles away, might it not astonish Broglio, who is
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? CHAP. v. ]
3J Nov. 1760.
BATTLE OF TORGAIT.
141so busy on us just here? " -- and, September 22d, despatches
the Hereditary Prince on that errand. A man likely for it, if
there be one in the world: -- unable to do it, however, as the
issue told. Here is what I find noted.
"September 22d, the Erbprinz, with a chosen Corps of
"15,000, mostly English, left these Diemel regions towards
"Wesel, at his speediest. September 29th, Erbprinz and
"vanguard, Corps rapidly following, are got to Dorsten,
"within 20 miles of Wesel. A most swift Erbprinz; likely for
"such work. And it is thought by judges, Had he had either
"siege-artillery or scaling apparatus, he might really have
"attacked Wesel with good chance upon it. But he has not
"even a ladder ready, much less a siege-gun. Siege-guns
"are at Bielefeld" (come from Bremen, 1 suppose, by English
boating, up the Weser so far); "but that is six-score miles of
"wheel-carriage; roads bad, and threatening to be worse, as
"it is equinoctial weather. There is nothing for it but to wait
"for those guns.
"The Erbprinz, hopefully waiting, does his endeavour in
"the interim; throws a bridge over the Rhine, pounces upon
"Cleve garrison (prisoners, with their furnitures), pounces
"upon this and that; 'spreads terror' on the French there-
"abouts 'up to Diisseldorf and Koln,' -- and on Broglio
"himself, so far off, the due astonishment. 'Wesel to be
"snatched, -- ye Heavens! Our Netherlands road cut off:
"Diisseldorf, Koln, our Rhine Magazines, all and sundry,
"fallen to the hawks, -- who, the lighter-winged of them,
"might pay visits in France itself! ' Broglio has to suspend
"his Gottingen operations, and detach Marquis de Castries
"with (say ultimately, for Castries is to grow and gather by
"the road) 35,000,to relieve Wesel. Castries marches double-
"quick; weather very rainy; -- arrives in those parts, October
"13th; -- hardly a gun from Bielefeld come to hand yet, Erb-
"prinz merely filling men with terror. And so,
"October 14th, after two weeks and a day, the Hereditary
"Prince sees, not guns from Bielefeld, but Castries pushing
"into Wesel a 7,000 of additional garrison, -- and the Enter-
"prise on Wesel grown impossible. Impossible, and pro-
"bably far more; Castries in a condition to devour us, if he
"prove sharp. It behoves the Hereditary Prince to be him-
"self sharp; -- which he undoubtedly was, in this sharp
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? 142 FRIEDEICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
3d Nov. 1760.
"crisis. Next day, our Erbprinz, taking survey of Castries in
"his strong ground of KlosterKampen, decides, like a gallant
"fellow, to attack fern; -- and straightway does it. Breaks,
"that same night (October 15th-16th, 1760), stealthily,
"through woods and with precautions, into Castries' Post; --
"intending surprisal, and mere ruin to Castries. And there
"ensued, not the Surprisal as it turned out, but the Battle of
"Kloster Kampen; which again proved unsuccessful, or only
"half successful, to the Hereditary Prince. A many-winged,
"intricate Night-Battle; to be read of in Books. This is
"where the Chevalier DAssas, he or Somebody, gave the
"alarm to the Castries people at the expense of his life. M
"moi, Auvergne, Ho, Auvergne! ' shouted DAssas (if it was
"DAssas at all), when the stealthy English came upon him;
"who was at once cut down. * It is certain, Auvergne gave
"fire; awoke Castries bodily; and saved him from what was
"otherwise inevitable. Surprise now there was none farther;
"but a complex Fight, managed in the darkness with uncom-
"mon obstinacy; ending in withdrawal of the Erbprinz, as
"from a thing that could not be done. His loss in killed,
"wounded, and prisoners, was 1,638; that of Castries, by his
"own counting, 2,036: but Kloster Kampen, in the wide-
"awake state, could not be won.
"During the Fight, theErbprinz'sRhine-Bridge had burst
"in two: his ammunition was running short; -- and, it would
"seem, there is no retreat, either! The Erbprinz put a bold
"face on the matter, stood to Castries in a threatening atti-
"tude; manoeuvered skilfully for two days longer, face still
* Preuss (n. 270n. ) asserts it to be proved, in "Miscellen aus der neu-
eslen ausldndinchen Lilteralur (1824, No. 3 p. 409)," a Book which none of
us ever saw, "That the real hero" (equal to a Roman Decius or more)
"was not Captain D'Assas, of the Regiment Auvergne, but a poor Private
"Soldier of it, called Dubois"! -- Is not this a strange turn, after such be-
pensioning, be-painting, singing and celebrating,as rose upon poorD'Assas,
or the Family of D'Assas, twenty years afterwards (1777-1790)! -- Both
Dubois and D'Assas, I conclude, lay among the slain at Kloster Kampen,
silent they forever: -- and a painful doubt does rise, As to the miraculous
operation of Posthumous Rumour and Wonder; and Whether there was
any "miracle of heroism," or other miracle at all, and not rather a poor
nocturnal accident, -- poor sentry in the edge of the wood, shrieking out,
on apparition of the stealthy English, "Ho, Auvergne, help! " probably
firing withal; and getting killed in consequence? Won nostrum est.
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF TORGAU. 143
3d Nov. 1760.
"to Castries, till the Bridge was got mended; then, night of
"October 18th-19th, crossed to his own side; gathered up his
"goods; and at a deliberate pace marched home, on those
"terms; -- doing some useful fighting by the road. "*
Had lost nothing, say his admirers, "but one cannon,
which burst. " One burst cannon left on the field of Kloster
Kampen; -- but also, as we see, his errand along with it; and
1,600good fighters lost and burst: which was more important!
Criticisms there were on it in England, perhaps of the unwise
sort generally; sorrow in the highest quarter. "An unac-
countable expedition," Walpole calls it, "on which Prince
"Ferdinand suddenly dispatched his Nephew, at the head of
"a considerable force, towards the frontiers of Holland," --
merely to see the country there? -- "which occasioned much
"solicitude in England, as the Main Army, already unequal
"to that of France, was thus rendered much weaker. King
"George felt it with much anxiety. "** An unaccountable
Enterprise, my poor Gazetteer friends, ? --very evidently an
unsuccessful one, so far asWesel went. Many English fallen
in it, too: "the English showed here again a ganz ausnehmende
Tapferkeit" says Mauvillon; and probably their share of the
loss was proportionate.
Clearly enough there is no Wesel to be had. Neither
could Broglio, though disturbed in his Gottingen fortifyings
and operations, be ejected out of Gottingen. Ferdinand, on failure of Wesel, himself marched to Gottingen, and tried for
some days; but found he could not, in such weather, tear out
that firmly-rooted French Post, but must be content to "mask
it," for the present; and, this done, withdrew (December 13th)
to his winter-quarters near by, as did Broglio to his, -- about
the time Friedrich and Daun had finally settled in theirs.
Ferdinand's Campaigns henceforth, which turn all
on the defence of Hanover, are highly recommended to
professional readers; but, to the laic sort, do not prove
interesting in proportion to the trouble. In fact, the
huge War henceforth begins everywhere, or everywhere
* Mauvillon, n. 120-129; Tempelhof, n. 325-332.
** Walpole'a George Second, m. 299.
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? 144 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
3d Nov. 1760.
except in Pitt's department of it, to burn lower, like a
lamp with the oil getting done; and has less of bril-
liancy than formerly. "Let us try for Hanover," the
Belleisles, Choiseuls, and wise French heads had said
to themselves: "Canada, India, everything is lost; but
were dear Hanover well in our clutch, Hanover would
be a remedy for many things! " Through the remaining
Campaigns, as in this now done, that is their fixed plan.
Ferdinand, by unwearied effort, succeeded in defending
Hanover, -- nothing of it but that inconsiderable slice
or skirt round Grottingen, which they kept long, could
ever be got by the French. Ferdinand defended Han-
over; and wore out annually the big French Armies
which were missioned thither, as in the spasm of an
expiring last effort by this poor hag-ridden France, --
at an expense to her, say, of 50,000 men per year.
Which was good service on Ferdinand's part; but
done less and less in the shining or universally notable
way.
So that with him too we are henceforth, thank
Heaven, permitted and even bound to be brief. Hardly
above two Battles more from him, if even two: -- and
mostly the wearied Reader's imagination left to con-
ceive for itself those intricate strategies, and endless
manoeuverings on the Diemel and the Dill, on the Ohm
River and the Schwalm and the Lippe, or wherever they
may be, with small help from a wearied Editor! --
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? CHAP. vI. ] WINTER-QUARTEES 1760-61.
Dec. 1760--April 1761.
CHAPTER VI.
WINTER-QUARTERS 1760-61.
A melancholy little event, which afterwards proved
unexpectedly unfortunate for Friedrich, had happened
in England, ten days before the Battle of Torgau.
Saturday, 25th October 1760, George II. , poor old
gentleman, suddenly died. . He was in his 77th year;
feeble, but not feebler than usual, -- unless, perhaps,
the unaccountable news from Kloster Kampen may have
been too agitating to the dim old mind? On the Mon-
day of this week he had, "from a tent in Hyde Park,"
presided at a Review of dragoons; and on Thursday, as
his Coldstream Guards were on march for Portsmouth
and foreign service, "was in his Portico at Kensington
to see them pass;" -- full of zeal always in regard to
military matters, and to this War in particular. Satur-
day, by sunrise he was on foot; took his cup of choco-
late; inquired about the wind, and the chances of mails
arriving; opened his window, said he would have a
turn in the Gardens, the morning being so fine. It
was now between 7 and 8. The Valet then withdrew
with the chocolate apparatus; but had hardly shut the
door, when he heard a deep sigh, and fall of some-
thing, -- "billet of wood from the fire? " thought he;
-- upon which, hurrying back, he found it was the
King, who had dropt from his seat, "as if in attempting
to ring the bell. " King said faintly, "Call Amelia,"
and instantly died. Poor deaf Amelia (Friedrich's old
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. XII. 10
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? 146 FHIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
Dec. 1760 --April 1761.
love, now grown old and deaf) listened wildly for some
faint sound from those lips now mute forever. George
Second was no more; his grandson George Third was
now King*
Intrinsically taken, this seemed no very great event
for Friedrich, for Pitt, for England or mankind: but it
proved otherwise. The merit of this poor King de-
ceased, who had led his Nation stumbling among the
chimney-pots at such a rate in these mad German Wars
for Twenty Years past, was, That he did now stand
loyal to the Enterprise, now when it had become sane
indeed; now when the Nation was broad awake, and
a Captain had risen to guide it out of that perilous
posture, into never-expected victory and triumph! Poor
old George had stood by his Pitt, by his Ferdinand,
with a perfect loyalty at all turns; and been devoted,
heart and soul and breeches-pocket, to completely
beating Bourbon's oppressive ideas out of Bourbon's
head. A little fact, but how important, then and there!
Under the Successor, all this may be different: --
ghastly beings, Old Tutors, Favourites, Mother's-
Favourites, flit, as yet invisible, on the new back-
stairs; -- should Bute and Company get into the fore-
ground, people will then know how important it was.
Walpole says:
"The Yorkes" (Ex-Chancellor Hardwicke people) "had
"long distasted this War:" yes, and been painfully obliged
to hold their tongues: "but now," within a month or so of the
old King's death, "there was published, under Lord Hard-
"wicke's countenance, a Tract setting forth the burden and
"ill-policy of our German measures. It was called Con-
"siderations on the German War; was ably written, and
"changed many men's minds. " This is the famous "Mauduit
* Old Newspapers (in Gentleman's Magazine, xn. 486-88).
? 132 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED, [book XX.
3d Nov. 1760.
themselves, with no mistake made, to Mollendorf's, to
Ziethen's, left and the saddle-flap there, and fall on.
The night is pitch-dark, says Archenholtz; you cannot
see your hand before you. Old Hulsen's bridle-horses
were all shot away, when he heard this alarm, far off:
no horse left; and he is old, and has his own bruises.
He seated himself on a cannon; and so rides, and ar-
rives; right welcome the sight of him, doubt not! And
the Fight rages still for an hour or more.
To an observant Mollendorf, watching about all day,
the importance and all-importance of Siptitz Summit, if
it can be got, is probably known; to Daun it is alarm-
ingly well known, when he hears of it. Daun is zeal-
ously urgent on Lacy, on O'Donnell; who do try what
they can; send reinforcements, and the like; but nothing
that proves useful. O'Donnell is not the man for such
a crisis: Lacy, too, it is remarked, has always been
more expert in ducking out of Friedrich's way than in
fighting anybody. * In fine, such is the total darkness,
the difficulty, the uncertainty, most or all of the rein-
forcements sent halted short, in the belly of the Night,
uncertain where; and their poor friends got altogether
beaten and driven away.
About 9 at night, all the Austrians are rolling off,
eastward, eastward. Prussians goading them forward
what they could (firing not quite done till 10); and
that all-important pommel of the saddle is indisputably
won. The Austrians settled themselves, in a kind of
half-moon shape, close on the suburbs of Torgau; the
Prussians in a parallel half-moon posture, some furlongs
behind them. The Austrians sat but a short time; not
a moment longer than was indispensable. Daun per-
* Archenholtz's sour remark.
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF TORGAU. 133
3d Nov. 1760.
ceives that the key of his ground is gone from him;
that he will have to send a second Courier to Vienna.
And, above all things, that he must forthwith get across
the Elbe and away. Lucky for him that he has Three
Bridges (or Four, including the Town Bridge), and
that his Baggage is already all across and standing on
wheels. With excellent despatch and order Daun winds
himself across, -- all of him that is still coherent; and
indeed, in the distant parts of the Battle-field, wander-
ing Austrian parties were admonished hitherward by
the River's voice in the great darkness, -- and Daun's
loss in prisoners, though great, was less than could
have been expected: 8,000 in all.
Till towards one in the morning, the Prussians, in
their half-moon, had not learned what he was doing.
About one they pushed into Torgau, and across the
Town Bridge; found 26 pontoons, -- all the rest packed
off except these 26; -- and did not follow farther. Lacy
retreated by the other or left bank of the River, to guard
against attempts from that side. Next day there was
pursuit of Lacy; some prisoners and furnitures got from
him, but nothing of moment: Daun and Lacy joined at
Dresden; took post, as usual, behind their inaccessible
Plauen Chasms. Sat there, in view of the chasing
Prussians, without farther loss than this of Torgau,
and of a Campaign gone to water again. What an
issue, for the third time! * --
On Torgau-field, behind that final Prussian half-
moon, there reigned, all night, a confusion which no
* Tempelhof, iv. 291-318; Archenholtz, n. 159-174; Retzow, n. 299 et
seq. ; Umstdndliche Beschrribung dps &c. (inSeyfarth, Beyiagen, n. 823-
848): in Heldcn-Geschiclite, or in Anonymous of Hamburg (iv. 245-300), the
Daun Despatches, the Lists, &c
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? 134 FRIEDEICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
3d Nov. 1760.
tongue can express. Poor wounded men by the hun-
dred and the thousand, weltering in their blood, on the
cold wet ground; not surgeons or nurses, but merciless
predatory sutlers, equal to murder if necessary, waiting
on them and on the happier that were dead. "Unutter-
able! " says Archenholtz; who, though wounded, had
crawled or got carried to some village near. The living
wandered about in gloom and uncertainty; lucky he whose haversack was still his, and a crust of bread in
it: water was a priceless luxury, almost nowhere dis-
coverable. Prussian Generals roved about with their
Staff-Officers, seeking to re-form their Battalions; to
little purpose. They had grown indignant, in some in-
stances, and were vociferously imperative and minatory;
"but in the dark who needed mind them? -- they went
"raving elsewhere, and, for the first time, Prussian
"word-of-command saw itself futile. " Pitch darkness,
bitter cold, ground trampled into mire. On Siptitz Hill
there is nothing that will burn: farther back, in the
Domitsch Woods, are numerous fine fires, to which
Austrians and Prussians alike gather: "Peace and truce
between us; tomorrow morning, we will see which are
prisoners, which are captors. " So pass the wild hours,
all hearts longing for the dawn, and what decision it
will bring.
Friedrich, at Elsnig, found every hut full of wounded,
and their surgeries, and miseries silent or loud. He
himself took shelter in the little Church; passed the
night there. Busy about many things; -- "using the
altar," it seems, "by way of writing-table" (self or secre-
taries kneeling, shall we fancy, on those new terms? ),
"and the stairs of it as seat. " Of the final Ziethen-
Lestwitz effort he would scarcely hear the musketry or
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF TORGAU. 135
3d Nov. 1760.
cannonade, being so far away from it. At what hour,
or from whom first, he learned that the Battle of Torgau
had become Victory in the night-time, I know not: the
Anecdote-Books send him out in his cloak, wandering
up and down before daybreak; standing by the soldiers'
fires; and at length, among the Woods, in the faint
incipiency of dawn, meeting a Shadow which proves
to be Ziethen himself in the body, with embraces and
congratulations: -- evidently mythical, though dramatic.
Reach him the news soon did; and surely none could
be welcomer. Headquarters change from the altar-steps
in Elsnig Church to secular rooms in Torgau. Ziethen
has already sped forth on the skirts of Lacy; whole
Army follows next day; and, on the War-theatre it is,
on the sudden, a total change of scene. Conceivable to
readers without the details.
Hopes there were of getting back Dresden itself;
but that, on closer view, proved unattemptable. Daun
kept his Plauen Chasm, his few square miles of ground
beyond; the rest of Saxony was Friedrich's, as hereto-
fore. Loudon had tried hard on Kosel for a week;
storming once, and a second time, very fiercely, Goltz
being now near; but could make nothing of it; and, on
wind of Goltz, went his way. * The Russians, on sound
of Torgau, shouldered arms, and made for Poland.
Daun, for his own share, went to Vienna this Winter;
in need of surgery, and other things. The population
there is rather disposed to be grumbly on its once heroic
Fabius; wishes the Fabius were a little less cunctatory.
But Imperial Majesty herself, one is proud to relate,
* Hofbericht von der Belagprung von Kosel, im October 1760 (Seyfarth,
Beylagen, ii. 798-801)i began, "October 21st;" ended, "at daybreak, Octo-
ber 27th. "
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? 136 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
3d Nov. 1760.
drove out, in Old Roman spirit, some miles, to meet
him, her defeated ever-honoured Daun, and to inquire
graciously about his health, which is so important to
the State*
Torgau was Daun's last Battle: Daun's last Battle;
and, what is more to the joy of readers and their Editor
here, was Friedrich's last, -- so that the remaining Two
Campaigns may fairly be condensed to an extreme de-
gree; and a few Chapters more will deliver us altogether
from this painful element! --
Daun lost at Torgau, by his own account, "about
11,000 men," --should have said, according to Tempel-
hof, and even to neutral persons, "above 12,000 killed
"and wounded, plus 8,000 prisoners, 45 cannon, 29
"flags, 1 standard (or horse-flag),"** which brings him
to at least 20,000 minus; -- the Prussian loss, heavy
enough too, being, by Tempelholfs admission, "between
13 and 14,000, of whom 4,000 prisoners. " The sore
loss, not so computable in arithmetic, -- but less sore to
Daun, perhaps, than to most people, -- is that of being
beaten, and having one's Campaign reduced to water
again. No Conquest of Saxony, any more than of Si-
lesia, possible to Daun, this Year. In Silesia, thanks to
Loudon, small thanks to Loudon's Chief, they have got
Glatz: Kosel they could not get; fiery Loudon himself
stormed and blazed to no purpose there, and had to
hurry home on sight of Goltz and relief. Glatz is
the net sum-total. Daun knows all this; but in a
stoical arithmetical manner, and refuses to be flurried
by it.
Friedrich, as we said, had hoped something might
* Archenholtz, n. 179. ** Tempelhof, iv. 213; Kausler, p. 726.
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF TORGAU. 137
m 3d Nov. 1760.
be done in Saxony on the defeated Daun; -- perhaps
Dresden itself be got back from him, and his Army
altogether sent to winter in Bohemia again? But it
proved otherwise. Daun showed not the least disposi-
tion to quit his Plauen Chasm, or fall into discourage-
ment: and after some weeks of diligent trial, on Fried-
rich's part, and much running about in those central
and Hill-ward parts, Friedrich found he would have
to be content with his former allotment of Saxon
territory, and to leave the Austrians quiet in theirs.
Took winter-quarters accordingly, and let the Enemy
take. Cantoned himself, in that Meissen - Frey berg
Country, in front of the Austrians and their impassable
Plauens and Chasms; -- pretty much as in the past
Year, only that the Two Armies lay at a greater
distance, and were more peaceable, as if by mutual
consent.
Headquarter of the King is Leipzig; where the King
did not arrive till December 8th, -- such adjusting and
arranging has he had, and incessant running to and
fro. He lived in the "Apel House, New Neumarkt,
No. 16;"* the same he had occupied in 1757, in the
Rossbach time. "Ach! how lean your Majesty has
"grown! " said the Mistress of it, at sight of him again
(mythically, I should fancy, though it is in the Anec-
dote-Books). "Lean, ja wohl," answered he: "and
"what wonder, with Three Women" (Theresa, Czarina,
Pompadour) "hanging on the throat of me all this
"while! " But we propose to look in upon him our-
selves, in this Apel House, on more authentic terms,
by and by. Read, meanwhile, these Two bits of Auto-
graph, thrown off incidentally, at different places, in
* ROdenbeck, n. 65.
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? 138 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
3d Nov. 1760.
the previous busy journeyings over Meissen-Freyberg
Country:
1. Friedrich to Marquis D'Argens (at Berlin).
"Meissen, 10th November 1760.
* * "I drove the enemy to the Gates of Dresden; they
"occupy their Camp of last Year; all my skill is not enough
"to dislodge them," -- (Chasm of Plauen, "a place im-
"pregnable, were it garrisoned by chimney-sweeps," says
'' the King once). We have saved our reputation by the Day
"of Torgau: but don't imagine our enemies are so disheart-
"ened as to desire Peace. Duke Ferdinand's affairs are not
"inagood way" (missed Wesel, of which presently; -- and,
alas also, George II. died, this day gone a fortnight, which is
far worse for us, if we knew it! ) -- "I fear the French will
"preserve through Winter the advantages they gained during
"the Campaign.
"In a word, I see all black, as if I were at the bottom of a
"tomb. Have some compassion on the situation I am in;
"conceive that I disguise nothing from you, and yet that I do
"not detail to you all my embarrassments, my apprehensions
"and troubles. Adieu, dear Marquis; write to me sometimes,
"-- don't forget a poor devil, who curses ten times a day his
"fatal existence, and could wish he already were in those
"Silent Countries from which nobody returns with news. "*
2. The Second, of different complexion, is a still
more interesting little Autograph, date elsewhere, far-
ther on, in those wanderings. Madame Camas, Widow
of the Colonel Camas whom we knew twenty years ago,
is "Queen's Ober-Hofmeisterinn (Lady in Chief)," --
to whom the King's Letters are always pretty:
Friedrich to Madame Camas (at Magdeburg, with the Queen's
Majesty).
"Neustadt, 18th November 1760. "I am exact in answering, and eager to satisfy you" (in
? (Euvres ie Frederic, xix. 204, 6.
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF TORGAU. 139
3d Nov. 1760.
that matter of the porcelain): "you shall have a breakfast-set,
"my good Mamma; six coffee-cups, very pretty, well diapered,
"and tricked out with all the little embellishments which in-
"crease their value.
On account of some pieces which they
"are adding to the set, you will have to wait a few days; but
"I flatter myself this delay will contribute to your satisfac-
"tion, and produce for you a toy that will give you pleasure,
"and make you remember your old Adorer. It is curious
"how old people's habits agree. For four years past I have
"given up suppers, as incompatible with the Trade I am
"obliged to follow; and in marching days, my dinner consists
"of a cup of chocolate.
"We hurried off, like fools, quite inflated with our Vic-
"tory, to try if we could not chase the Austrians out of Dres-
"den: they made a mockery of us from the tops of their
"mountains. So I have withdrawn, like a bad little boy, to
"conceal myself, out of spite, in one of the wretchedest vil-
lages in Saxony. And here the first thing will be to drive
"the Circle gentlemen" (Reichs Army) "out of Freyberginto
"Chemnitz, and get ourselves room to quarter and something
"to live upon. It is, I swear to you, a dog of a life" (or even
a she-dog, chienne de vie), "the like of which nobody but Don
"Quixote ever led before me. All this tumbling and toiling,
"and bother and confusion that never ceases, has made me so
"old that you would scarcely know me again. On the right
"side of my head the hair is all gray; my teeth break and fall "out;T have got my face wrinkled like the falbalas of a petti-
coat; my back bent like a fiddle-bow; and spirit sad and
"downcast like a monk of La Trappe. I forewarn you of all
"this, lest, in case we should meet again in flesh and bone,
"you might feel yourself too violently shocked by my ap-
pearance. There remains to me nothing but the heart, --
"-- which has undergone no change, and which will preserve,
"so long as I breathe, its feelings of esteem and of tender
"friendship for my good Mamma. Adieu. "* To which
add only this on Duke Ferdinand, "whose affairs," we just
heard, "are not in a good way:"
* (Euvres de Frederic, xvm. 144.
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? 140 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
3d Nov. 1760.
Fight ofKloster Kampen (Night of October 15th-16th); Wesel
not to be had by Duke Ferdinand.
After Warburg (July 31st, while Friedrich was on the eve
of crossing Elbe on new adventures, Dresden Siege having
failed him), Duke Ferdinand made no figure to the Gazet-
teers; fought no Battle farther; and has had a Campaign,
which is honourable only to judges of a higher than the Gazet-
teer sort.
By Warburg Ferdinand had got the Diemel; on the north
bank of which he spread himself out, impassable to Broglio,
who lay trying on the opposite bank: -- "No Hanover by this
road. " Broglio thereupon drew back a little; pushed out cir-
cuitously from his right wing, which reaches far eastward of
Ferdinand, a considerable Brigade, -- circuitously, round by
the Weser-Fulda Country, and beyond the embouchure of
Diemel, -- to try it by that method. Got actually a few miles
into Hanoverian territory, by that method; laid holdof Got-
tingen, also of Miinden, which secures a road thither: and at
Gottingen there, "ever since August 4th," Broglio has been
throwing up works, and shooting out hussar parties to a good
distance; -- intending, it would seem, to maintain himself,
and to be mischievous, in that post. Would, in fact, fain
entice Ferdinand across the Weser, to help Gottingen.
"Across Weser, yes; -- and so leave Broglio free to take
Lippstadt from me, as he might after a short siege," thinks
Ferdinand always; "which would beautifully shorten Brog-
lio's communication" (quite direct then, and without inter-
ruption, all the way to Wesel), "and make Hanover itself,
Hanover and Brunswick, the central Seat of War! " Which
Ferdinand, grieved as he is for Gottingen, will by no means
consent to.
Ferdinand, strong only as one to two, cannot hinder Brog-
lio, though he tries variously; and is much at a loss, seeing
Broglio irrepressibly busy this way, all through August and
on into September; -- has heard, however, from Wesel,
through secret partisans there, That Wesel, considered alto-
gether out of risk, is left in a very weak condition; weak in
garrison, weak even in gunners. Reflecting upon which, in
his difficulties, Ferdinand asks himself, "A sudden stroke at
Wesel, 200 miles away, might it not astonish Broglio, who is
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? CHAP. v. ]
3J Nov. 1760.
BATTLE OF TORGAIT.
141so busy on us just here? " -- and, September 22d, despatches
the Hereditary Prince on that errand. A man likely for it, if
there be one in the world: -- unable to do it, however, as the
issue told. Here is what I find noted.
"September 22d, the Erbprinz, with a chosen Corps of
"15,000, mostly English, left these Diemel regions towards
"Wesel, at his speediest. September 29th, Erbprinz and
"vanguard, Corps rapidly following, are got to Dorsten,
"within 20 miles of Wesel. A most swift Erbprinz; likely for
"such work. And it is thought by judges, Had he had either
"siege-artillery or scaling apparatus, he might really have
"attacked Wesel with good chance upon it. But he has not
"even a ladder ready, much less a siege-gun. Siege-guns
"are at Bielefeld" (come from Bremen, 1 suppose, by English
boating, up the Weser so far); "but that is six-score miles of
"wheel-carriage; roads bad, and threatening to be worse, as
"it is equinoctial weather. There is nothing for it but to wait
"for those guns.
"The Erbprinz, hopefully waiting, does his endeavour in
"the interim; throws a bridge over the Rhine, pounces upon
"Cleve garrison (prisoners, with their furnitures), pounces
"upon this and that; 'spreads terror' on the French there-
"abouts 'up to Diisseldorf and Koln,' -- and on Broglio
"himself, so far off, the due astonishment. 'Wesel to be
"snatched, -- ye Heavens! Our Netherlands road cut off:
"Diisseldorf, Koln, our Rhine Magazines, all and sundry,
"fallen to the hawks, -- who, the lighter-winged of them,
"might pay visits in France itself! ' Broglio has to suspend
"his Gottingen operations, and detach Marquis de Castries
"with (say ultimately, for Castries is to grow and gather by
"the road) 35,000,to relieve Wesel. Castries marches double-
"quick; weather very rainy; -- arrives in those parts, October
"13th; -- hardly a gun from Bielefeld come to hand yet, Erb-
"prinz merely filling men with terror. And so,
"October 14th, after two weeks and a day, the Hereditary
"Prince sees, not guns from Bielefeld, but Castries pushing
"into Wesel a 7,000 of additional garrison, -- and the Enter-
"prise on Wesel grown impossible. Impossible, and pro-
"bably far more; Castries in a condition to devour us, if he
"prove sharp. It behoves the Hereditary Prince to be him-
"self sharp; -- which he undoubtedly was, in this sharp
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? 142 FRIEDEICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
3d Nov. 1760.
"crisis. Next day, our Erbprinz, taking survey of Castries in
"his strong ground of KlosterKampen, decides, like a gallant
"fellow, to attack fern; -- and straightway does it. Breaks,
"that same night (October 15th-16th, 1760), stealthily,
"through woods and with precautions, into Castries' Post; --
"intending surprisal, and mere ruin to Castries. And there
"ensued, not the Surprisal as it turned out, but the Battle of
"Kloster Kampen; which again proved unsuccessful, or only
"half successful, to the Hereditary Prince. A many-winged,
"intricate Night-Battle; to be read of in Books. This is
"where the Chevalier DAssas, he or Somebody, gave the
"alarm to the Castries people at the expense of his life. M
"moi, Auvergne, Ho, Auvergne! ' shouted DAssas (if it was
"DAssas at all), when the stealthy English came upon him;
"who was at once cut down. * It is certain, Auvergne gave
"fire; awoke Castries bodily; and saved him from what was
"otherwise inevitable. Surprise now there was none farther;
"but a complex Fight, managed in the darkness with uncom-
"mon obstinacy; ending in withdrawal of the Erbprinz, as
"from a thing that could not be done. His loss in killed,
"wounded, and prisoners, was 1,638; that of Castries, by his
"own counting, 2,036: but Kloster Kampen, in the wide-
"awake state, could not be won.
"During the Fight, theErbprinz'sRhine-Bridge had burst
"in two: his ammunition was running short; -- and, it would
"seem, there is no retreat, either! The Erbprinz put a bold
"face on the matter, stood to Castries in a threatening atti-
"tude; manoeuvered skilfully for two days longer, face still
* Preuss (n. 270n. ) asserts it to be proved, in "Miscellen aus der neu-
eslen ausldndinchen Lilteralur (1824, No. 3 p. 409)," a Book which none of
us ever saw, "That the real hero" (equal to a Roman Decius or more)
"was not Captain D'Assas, of the Regiment Auvergne, but a poor Private
"Soldier of it, called Dubois"! -- Is not this a strange turn, after such be-
pensioning, be-painting, singing and celebrating,as rose upon poorD'Assas,
or the Family of D'Assas, twenty years afterwards (1777-1790)! -- Both
Dubois and D'Assas, I conclude, lay among the slain at Kloster Kampen,
silent they forever: -- and a painful doubt does rise, As to the miraculous
operation of Posthumous Rumour and Wonder; and Whether there was
any "miracle of heroism," or other miracle at all, and not rather a poor
nocturnal accident, -- poor sentry in the edge of the wood, shrieking out,
on apparition of the stealthy English, "Ho, Auvergne, help! " probably
firing withal; and getting killed in consequence? Won nostrum est.
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF TORGAU. 143
3d Nov. 1760.
"to Castries, till the Bridge was got mended; then, night of
"October 18th-19th, crossed to his own side; gathered up his
"goods; and at a deliberate pace marched home, on those
"terms; -- doing some useful fighting by the road. "*
Had lost nothing, say his admirers, "but one cannon,
which burst. " One burst cannon left on the field of Kloster
Kampen; -- but also, as we see, his errand along with it; and
1,600good fighters lost and burst: which was more important!
Criticisms there were on it in England, perhaps of the unwise
sort generally; sorrow in the highest quarter. "An unac-
countable expedition," Walpole calls it, "on which Prince
"Ferdinand suddenly dispatched his Nephew, at the head of
"a considerable force, towards the frontiers of Holland," --
merely to see the country there? -- "which occasioned much
"solicitude in England, as the Main Army, already unequal
"to that of France, was thus rendered much weaker. King
"George felt it with much anxiety. "** An unaccountable
Enterprise, my poor Gazetteer friends, ? --very evidently an
unsuccessful one, so far asWesel went. Many English fallen
in it, too: "the English showed here again a ganz ausnehmende
Tapferkeit" says Mauvillon; and probably their share of the
loss was proportionate.
Clearly enough there is no Wesel to be had. Neither
could Broglio, though disturbed in his Gottingen fortifyings
and operations, be ejected out of Gottingen. Ferdinand, on failure of Wesel, himself marched to Gottingen, and tried for
some days; but found he could not, in such weather, tear out
that firmly-rooted French Post, but must be content to "mask
it," for the present; and, this done, withdrew (December 13th)
to his winter-quarters near by, as did Broglio to his, -- about
the time Friedrich and Daun had finally settled in theirs.
Ferdinand's Campaigns henceforth, which turn all
on the defence of Hanover, are highly recommended to
professional readers; but, to the laic sort, do not prove
interesting in proportion to the trouble. In fact, the
huge War henceforth begins everywhere, or everywhere
* Mauvillon, n. 120-129; Tempelhof, n. 325-332.
** Walpole'a George Second, m. 299.
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? 144 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
3d Nov. 1760.
except in Pitt's department of it, to burn lower, like a
lamp with the oil getting done; and has less of bril-
liancy than formerly. "Let us try for Hanover," the
Belleisles, Choiseuls, and wise French heads had said
to themselves: "Canada, India, everything is lost; but
were dear Hanover well in our clutch, Hanover would
be a remedy for many things! " Through the remaining
Campaigns, as in this now done, that is their fixed plan.
Ferdinand, by unwearied effort, succeeded in defending
Hanover, -- nothing of it but that inconsiderable slice
or skirt round Grottingen, which they kept long, could
ever be got by the French. Ferdinand defended Han-
over; and wore out annually the big French Armies
which were missioned thither, as in the spasm of an
expiring last effort by this poor hag-ridden France, --
at an expense to her, say, of 50,000 men per year.
Which was good service on Ferdinand's part; but
done less and less in the shining or universally notable
way.
So that with him too we are henceforth, thank
Heaven, permitted and even bound to be brief. Hardly
above two Battles more from him, if even two: -- and
mostly the wearied Reader's imagination left to con-
ceive for itself those intricate strategies, and endless
manoeuverings on the Diemel and the Dill, on the Ohm
River and the Schwalm and the Lippe, or wherever they
may be, with small help from a wearied Editor! --
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? CHAP. vI. ] WINTER-QUARTEES 1760-61.
Dec. 1760--April 1761.
CHAPTER VI.
WINTER-QUARTERS 1760-61.
A melancholy little event, which afterwards proved
unexpectedly unfortunate for Friedrich, had happened
in England, ten days before the Battle of Torgau.
Saturday, 25th October 1760, George II. , poor old
gentleman, suddenly died. . He was in his 77th year;
feeble, but not feebler than usual, -- unless, perhaps,
the unaccountable news from Kloster Kampen may have
been too agitating to the dim old mind? On the Mon-
day of this week he had, "from a tent in Hyde Park,"
presided at a Review of dragoons; and on Thursday, as
his Coldstream Guards were on march for Portsmouth
and foreign service, "was in his Portico at Kensington
to see them pass;" -- full of zeal always in regard to
military matters, and to this War in particular. Satur-
day, by sunrise he was on foot; took his cup of choco-
late; inquired about the wind, and the chances of mails
arriving; opened his window, said he would have a
turn in the Gardens, the morning being so fine. It
was now between 7 and 8. The Valet then withdrew
with the chocolate apparatus; but had hardly shut the
door, when he heard a deep sigh, and fall of some-
thing, -- "billet of wood from the fire? " thought he;
-- upon which, hurrying back, he found it was the
King, who had dropt from his seat, "as if in attempting
to ring the bell. " King said faintly, "Call Amelia,"
and instantly died. Poor deaf Amelia (Friedrich's old
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. XII. 10
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? 146 FHIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
Dec. 1760 --April 1761.
love, now grown old and deaf) listened wildly for some
faint sound from those lips now mute forever. George
Second was no more; his grandson George Third was
now King*
Intrinsically taken, this seemed no very great event
for Friedrich, for Pitt, for England or mankind: but it
proved otherwise. The merit of this poor King de-
ceased, who had led his Nation stumbling among the
chimney-pots at such a rate in these mad German Wars
for Twenty Years past, was, That he did now stand
loyal to the Enterprise, now when it had become sane
indeed; now when the Nation was broad awake, and
a Captain had risen to guide it out of that perilous
posture, into never-expected victory and triumph! Poor
old George had stood by his Pitt, by his Ferdinand,
with a perfect loyalty at all turns; and been devoted,
heart and soul and breeches-pocket, to completely
beating Bourbon's oppressive ideas out of Bourbon's
head. A little fact, but how important, then and there!
Under the Successor, all this may be different: --
ghastly beings, Old Tutors, Favourites, Mother's-
Favourites, flit, as yet invisible, on the new back-
stairs; -- should Bute and Company get into the fore-
ground, people will then know how important it was.
Walpole says:
"The Yorkes" (Ex-Chancellor Hardwicke people) "had
"long distasted this War:" yes, and been painfully obliged
to hold their tongues: "but now," within a month or so of the
old King's death, "there was published, under Lord Hard-
"wicke's countenance, a Tract setting forth the burden and
"ill-policy of our German measures. It was called Con-
"siderations on the German War; was ably written, and
"changed many men's minds. " This is the famous "Mauduit
* Old Newspapers (in Gentleman's Magazine, xn. 486-88).
