I add only, what readers are
vaguely aware of, that King Louis did not die; that
he lay at death's door for precisely one week (8th-15th
August), symptoms mending on the 15th.
vaguely aware of, that King Louis did not die; that
he lay at death's door for precisely one week (8th-15th
August), symptoms mending on the 15th.
Thomas Carlyle
6 SECOND SILESIAN WAH.
[book XV.
July-- Aug. 1744.
his 70,000, pressing victoriously over the Rhine; which
stayed the French in these sacrilegious procedures.
Prince Karl gets across the Rhine (20th June--2d July
1744. )
Prince Karl, some weeks ago, at Heilbronn, joined
his Rhine Army, which had gathered thither from the
Austrian side, through Baiern, and from the Hither-
Austrian or Swabian Winter-quarters; with full intent
to be across the Rhine, and home upon Elsass and the
Compensation Countries this Summer, under what dif-
ficulties soever. Karl, or as some whisper, old Marshal
Traun, who is nominally second in command, do make
a glorious campaign of it, this Year; -- and lift the
Cause of Liberty, at one time, to the highest pitch it
ever reached. Here, in brief terms, is Prince Karl's
Operation on the Rhine, much admired by military
men:
"Stockstadt, June 20th, 1744. Some thirty and odd miles
"north of Mannheim, the Rhine, before turning westward at
"Mainz, makes one other of its many Islands (of which there
"are hundreds since the leap at Schaffhausen): one other,
"and I think the biggest of them all; perhaps two miles by
"five; which the Germans call Kuhkopf (Covrhea. d), from the
"shape it has, -- a narrow semi-ellipse; Kiver there splitting
"in two, one split (the western) going straight, the other
"bending luxuriantly round: so that the Am<2-head or straight
"end of the Island lies towards France, and the round end,
"or cow-lips (so to speak) towards native Teutschland, and
"the woody Hills of the Berg-Strasse thereabouts. Stock-
"stadt, chief little Town looking over into this Cowhead
"Island, lies under the chin: understand only farther that
"the German branch carries more than two-thirds of the
"River; that on the Island itself there is no town, or post of
"defence; and thatStockstadt is the place for getting over.
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? CHAP. I. ] PRELIMINARY. 7
July--Aug. 1744.
"Coigny and the French, some 40,000, are guarding the River
"hereabouts, with lines, with batteries, cordons, the best
"they can; Seckendorf, with 20,000 more ("Imperial'Old-
"Bavarian Troops, revivified, recruited by French pay), is
"in his garrison of Philipsburg, ready to help when needed:"
--not moulting now, at Wembdingen, in that dismal manner;
new-feathered now into 'Kaiser's Army;' waiting in his Phi-
lipsburg to guard the River there. "Coigny's French have
"ramparts, ditches, not quite unfurnished, on their own
"shore, opposite this CowheadIsland (Isle de Heron, as they
"call it); looking over to the hind-head, namely: but they
"have nothing considerable there; and in the Island itself,
"nothing whatever. 'If now Stockstadt were suddenly
'snatched by us,' thinks Karl; -- 'if a few pontoons were
'nimbly swung in? '
"June 20th, -- Coigny's people all shooting feu-de-joie, for
"that never enough to be celebrated Capture of Menin and
"the Dutch Barrier a fortnight ago, -- this is managed to be
"done. The active General Barenklau, active Brigadier
"Daun under him, pushes rapidly across into Kuhkopf;
"rapidly throws up entrenchments, ramparts, mounts cannon,
"digs himself in, -- greatly to Coigny's astonishment; whose
"people hereabouts, and in all their lines and posts, are busy
"shooting feu-de-joie for those immortal Dutch victories, at
"the moment, and never dreaming of such a thing. Fresh
"force floods in, Prince Karl himself arrives next day, in
"support of Barenklau; Coigny (head - quarters at Speyer,
"forty miles south) need not attempt dislodging him; but
"must stand upon his guard, and prepare for worse. Which
"he does with diligence; shifting northward into those Stock-
"stadt-Mainz parts; calling Seckendorf across the River, and
"otherwise doing his best, --for about ten days more, when
"worse, and almost worst, did verily befal him.
"No attempt was made on Barenklau; nor, beyond the
"alarming of the Coigny-Seckendorf people, did anything
"occur in Cowhead Island, --unless it were the finis of an
"ugly bully and ruffian, who has more than once afflicted us:
"which may be worth one word. Colonel Mentzel" (copper-
faced Colonel, originally Playactor, "Spy in Persia," and I
know not what) "had been at the seizure of Kuhkopf; a pro-
minent man. Whom, on the fifth day after ('June 25th').
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? 8 SECOND SILESIAN WAK. [book XV.
July --Aug. 1744.
"Prince Karl overwhelmed with joy, by handing him aPatent
"of Generalcy: 'Just received from Court, my Friend, on
"' account of your merits old and late. ' -- 'Aha,' said Baren-
"klau, congratulating warmly: 'Dine with me, then, Herr
''' General Mentzel, this very day. The Prince himself is to be
"'there, Highness of Hessen-Darmstadt, and who not; all are
"'impatient to drink your health! ' "Mentzel had a glorious
"dinner; still more glorious drink,-- Prince Karl and the
"others, it is said, egging him into much wild bluster and
"gasconade, to season their much wine. Eminent swill of
"drinking, with the loud coarse talk supposable, on the part
"of Mentzel and consorts did go on, in this manner, allafter-
"noon: in the evening, drunk Mentzel came out for air; went
"strutting and staggering about; emerging finally on the
"platform of some rampart, face of him huge and red as that
"of the foggiest rising Moon; -- and stood, looking over into
"the Lorraine Country; belching out a storm of oaths, as to
"his taking it, as to his doing this and that; and was even
"flourishing his sword by way of accompaniment; when, lo,
"whistling slightly through the summer air, a rifle-ball from
"some sentry on the French side (writers say, it was a French
"drummer, grown impatient, and snatching a sentry's piece)
"took the brain of him, or the belly of him; and he rushed
"down at once, a totally collapsed monster, and mere heap
"of dead ruin, never to trouble mankind more. " * For which
my readers and I are rather thankful. Voltaire; and perhaps
other memorable persons, sometimes mention this brute (mira-
culous to the Plebs and Gazetteers); otherwise eternal obli-
vion were the best we could do with him. Trenck also, readers
will be glad to understand, ends in jail and bedlam by and by.
"Prince Karl had not the least intention of crossing by
"this CowheadIsland. Nevertheless he set about two other
"Bridges in the neighbourhood, nearer Mainz (few miles
"below that City); kept manceuvering his Force, in huge
"half-moon, round that quarter, and mysteriously up and
"down; alarming Coigny wholly into the Mainz region. For
"the space of ten days; and then, stealing off to Schrock, a
"little Rhine Village above Philipsburg, many miles away
"from Coigny and his vigilances, he --
* Guerre tfe Bohime, in. 165.
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? CHAP. I. ] PRELIMINARY. 9
3d July 1744.
"Night of 30th June -- 1st July, Suddenly shot Pandour
"Trenck, followed by Nadasti and 6,000, across at Schrock;
"who scattered Seckendorf's poor outposts thereabouts to the
"winds; 'built a bridge before morning, and next day an-
"'other. ' Next day Prince Karl in person appeared; and on
"the 3d of July, had his whole Army with its luggages across;
"and had seized the Lines of Lauterburg and Weissenburg
"(celebrated northern defence of Elsass), -- much to Coigny's
"amazement; and remained inexpugnable there, withElsass
"open to him, and to Coigny shut, for the present! * Coigny
"made bitter wailj accusation, blame of Seckendorf, blame
"of men and of things; even tried some fighting, Seckendorf
"too doing feats, to recover those Lines of Weissenburg: but
"could not do it. And, in fact, blazing to and fro in that
"excited rather than luminous condition, could not do any-
"thing; except retire into the strong posts of the background;
"and send express on express, swifter than the wind if you
"can, to a victorious King overturning the Dutch Barrier:
'"Help, your Majesty, or we are lost; and France is -- what
'"shallI say! '"
"Admirable feat of Strategy! What a General, this
Prince Karl! " exclaimed mankind,? -- Cause-of-Liberty
mankind with special enthusiasm; and took to writing
Lives of Prince Karl,** as well as tar-burning and te-
rleum-'mg on an extensive scale. For it had sent the
Cause of Liberty bounding up again to the top of
things, this of crossing the Rhine, in such fashion.
And in effect, the Cause of Liberty, and Prince Karl
himself, had risen hereby to their acme or culminating
point in World-History; not to continue long at such
height, little as they dreamt of that, among their tar-
burnings. The feat itself, -- contrived by Nadasti,
* Adelung, lv. 139-141.
** For instance, The Life of his Highness Prince Charles of&c. ,with&c. &c.
(London, 1746); one of the most distracted Blotches ever published under
the name of Book; -- awakening thoughts of a public dimness very con-
siderable indeed, to which this could offer itself as lamp!
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? 10 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [BOOK XV.
July--Aug. 1744.
people say, and executed (what was the real difficulty)
by Traun, -- brought Prince Karl very great renown,
this Year; and is praised by Friedrich himself, now
and afterwards, as masterly, as Julius Caesar's method,
and the proper way of crossing rivers (when execut-
able) in face of an enemy. And indeed Prince Karl,
owing to Traun or not, is highly respectable in the
way of Generalship at present; and did in these Five
Months, from June onward, really considerable things.
At his very acme of Life, as well as of Generalship;
which, alas, soon changed, poor man; never to cul-
minate again. He had got, at the beginning of the
Year, the high Maria Theresa's one Sister, Archduchess
Maria Anna, to Wife;* the crown of long mutual at-
tachment: she safe now at Brussels, diligent Co-Regent,
and in a promising family-way; he here walking on
victorious: -- need any man be happier? No man
can be supremely happy long; and this General's
strategic felicity and his domestic were fatally cut
down almost together. The Cause of Liberty, too,
now at the top of its orbit, was -- But let us stick by
our Excerpting!
"Dunkirk, 19th July 1744" (Princess Ulrique's Wedding,
just two days ago). "King Louis, on hearing of the Job's-
"news from Elsass, instantly suspended his Conquests in
"Flanders; detached Noailles, detached this one and that,
"double-quick, Division after Division (leaving Saxe, with
"45,000, to his own resources, and the fatuities of Marshal
"Wade); and, 19th July, himself hastens off from Dunkirk
"(leaving much of the luggage, but not the Chateauroux
"behind him), to save his Country, poor soul. But could not,
* Age then twenty-five gone: "born 14th September 1718; married to
"Prince Karl, 7th January 1744; died, of childbirth, 16th December same
. '? year'' (Hormayr, (Esterreichischer Plutarch, rv. erstes Bandchen, 54).
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? CHAP. I. ]
8th Aug. 1744.
PRELIMINARY.
11"in the least, save it; the reverse rather. August 4th, he
"gottoMetz, Belleisle's strong Town, about 100 miles from
"the actual scene; his detached reinforcements, say 50,000
"men or so, hanging out ahead like flame-clouds, butuncer-
"tain how to act; -- Noailles being always cunctatious, in
"Compeller; -- and then,
"Metz, August8th, TheMostChristian King fell ill; danger-!
"ously, dreadfully, just like to die. Which entirely paralysed
"Noailles and Company, or reduced them to mere hysterics,
"and excitement of the unluminous kind. And filled France
"in general, Paris in particular, with terror, lamentation,
"prayers of forty hours; and such a paroxysm of hero-worship
"as was never seen for such an object before. " *
For the Cause of Liberty here, we consider, was
the culminating moment; Elsass, Lorraine, and the
Three Bishoprics lying in their quasi-moribund condi-
tion; Austrian claims of Compensation ceasing to be
visions of the heated brain, and gaining some footing
on the Earth as facts. Prince Karl is here actually in
Elsass, master of the strong passes; elate in heart, he
and his; France, again, as if fallen paralytic, into
temporary distraction; offering for resistance nothing
hitherto but that universal wailing of mankind, Hero-
worship of a thrice-lamentable nature, and the Prayers
of Forty-Hours! Most Christian Majesty, now in ex-
tremis, centre of the basest hubbub that ever was, is
dismissing Chateauroux. Noailles, Coigny and Company
hang well back upon the Hill regions, and strong
posts which are not yet menaced; or fly vaguely, more
or less distractedly, hither and thither; not in the least
like fighting Karl, much less like beating him. Karl
has Germany free at his back (nay it is a German
"time of crisis, and
Louis himself nothing of a Cloud? * Espaguac, ii,12; Adelung, iv. 180; Fastes de Louis XV, n. 423; &c. &c.
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? 12 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [book XV.
8th Aug. 1744.
population round him here); neither haversack nor
cartridge-box like to fail: before him are only a
Noailles and consorts, flying vaguely about, -- and
there is in Karl, or under the same cloak with him at
present, a talent of manoeuvering men, which even
Friedrich finds masterly. If old Marshal Wade, at the
other end of the line, should chance to awaken and
press home on Saxe, and his remnant of French, with
right vigour? In fact, there was not, that I can see,
for centuries past, not even at the Siege of Lille
in Marlborough's time, a more imminent peril for
France.
Friedrich decides to intervene.
King Friedrich, on hearing of these Rhenish
emergencies and of King Louis's heroic advance to the
rescue, perceived that for himself too the moment was
come; and hastened to inform heroic Louis, That
though the terms of their Bargain were not yet com-
pleted, Sweden, Russia and other points being still in
a pendent condition, he, Friedrich, -- with an eye to
success of their Joint Adventure, and to the indis-
pensability of joint action, energy, and the top of one's
speed now or never, -- would, by the middle of this
same August, be on the field with 100,000 men. "An
invasion of Bohemia, will not that astonish Prince
Karl; and bring him to his Rhine-Bridges again? Over
which, if your Most Christian Majesty be active, he
will not get, except in a half or wholly ruined state.
Follow him close; send the rest of your force to
threaten Hanover; sit well on the skirts of Prince Karl.
Him as he hurries homeward, ruined or half-ruined,
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? CHAP. I. ] PRELIMINARY. 13
9ih Aug. 1744.
him, or whatever Austrian will fight, I do my best to
beat. We may have Bohemia, and a beaten Austria,
this very Autumn: see, -- and, in one Campaign,
there is Peace ready for us! " This is Friedrich's
scheme of action; success certain, thinks he, if only
there be energy, activity, on your side, as there shall
be on mine; -- and has sent Count Schmettau, filled
with fiery speed and determination, to keep the French
full of the like, and concert mutual operations.
"Magnanimous! " exclaim Noailles and the paralysed
French Gentlemen (King Louis, I think, now past
speech, for Schmettau only came, August 9th): "Most
sublime behaviour, on his Prussian Majesty's part! "
own they. And truly it is a fine manful indifference
(by no means so common as it should be) to all inter-
ests, to all considerations, but that of a Joint Enter-
prise one has engaged in. And truly, furthermore, it
was immediate salvation to the paralysed French Gen-
tlemen, in that alarming crisis; though they did not
much recognise it afterwards as such; and indeed were
conspicuously forgetful of all parts of it, when their
own danger was over.
Maria Theresa's feelings may be conceived;
George II. 's feelings; and what the Cause of Liberty in
general felt, and furiously said and complained, when, --1
suddenly as a Deus ex machind, or Supernal Genie in the
Minor Theatres, -- Friedrich stept in. Precisely in
this supreme crisis, 7th August 1744, Friedrich's
Minister, Graf von Dohna, at Vienna, has given notice
of the Frankfurt Union, and solemn Engagement
entered into: "Obliged in honour and conscience; will
"and must now step forth to right an injured Kaiser;
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? 14 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [book XV.
July--Aug. 1744.
"cannot stand these high procedures against an Im-
"perial Majesty chosen by all the Princes of the Reich,
"this unheard-of protest that the Kaiser is no Kaiser,
"as if all Germany were but Austria and the Queen of
"Hungary's. Prussian Majesty has not the least
"quarrel of his own with the Queen of Hungary,
"stands true, and will stand, by the Treaty of Berlin
"and Breslau; -- only, with certain other German
"Princes, has done what all German Princes and
"peoples not Austrian are bound to do, on behalf of
"their down-trodden Kaiser, formed a Union of Frank-
"furt; and will, with armed hand if indispensable,
"endeavour to see right done in that matter. "*
This is the astonishing fact for the Cause of Liberty,
and no clamour and execration will avail anything.
This man is prompt, too; does not linger in getting
out his sword, when he has talked of it. Prince Karl's
Operation is likely to be marred amazingly. If this
swift King (comparable to the old Serpent for devices)
were to burst forth from his Silesian strengths; tread
sharply on the tail of Prince Karl's Operation, and
bring back the formidably fanged head of it out of
Alsace, five hundred miles all at once, -- there would
be a business!
We will now quit the Rhine Operations, which in-
deed are not now of moment; Friedrich being suddenly
the key of events again.
I add only, what readers are
vaguely aware of, that King Louis did not die; that
he lay at death's door for precisely one week (8th-15th
August), symptoms mending on the 15th. In the
interim, -- Grand-Almoner Pitz-James (Uncle of our
* In Adelung, iv. 155-6, the Declaration itself (Audience, "7th August
1744;" Dohna off homeward "on the second day after
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? CHAP. I. ] PRELIMINARY. 15
July --Aug. 1744.
Conte di Spinelli) insisting that a certain Cardinal,
who had got the Sacraments in hand, should insist;
and endless ministerial intrigue being busy, -- mori-
bund Louis had, when it came to the Sacramental
point, been obliged to dismiss his Chateauroux. Poor
Chateauroux; an unfortunate female; yet, one almost
thinks, the best man among them: dismissed at Metz
here, and like to be mobbed! That was the one issue
of King Louis's death-sickness. Sublime sickness;
during which all Paris wept aloud, in terror and sor-
row, like a child that has lost its mother and sees a
mastiff coming; wept sublimely, and did the Prayers
of Forty-Hours; and called King Louis Le Bien-aime
(The Well-beloved): -- merely some obstruction in the
royal bowels, it turned out; -- a good cathartic, and
the Prayers of Forty-Hours, quite reinstated matters.
Nay reinstated even Chateauroux, some time after, --
"the Devil being well again," and, as the Proverb
says, quitting his monastic view. Reinstated Chateau-
roux: but this time, poor creature, she continued only
about a day: -- "Sudden fever, from excitement," said
the Doctors: "Fever? Poison you mean! " whispered
others, and looked for changes in the Ministry. Enough,
oh enough! --
Old Marshal Wade did not awaken, though bawled
to by his Ligoniers and others, and much shaken about,
poor old gentleman. "No artillery to speak of," mur-
mured he; "want baggage-wagons, too! " and lay still.
"Here is artillery! " answered the Official people;
"With my own money I will buy you baggage-
wagons! " answered the high Maria Anna, in her own
name and her Prince Karl's, who are Joint-Governors
there. Possibly he would have awakened, had they
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? 16 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [fioOKXV.
July--Aug. 1744.
given him time. But time, in War especially, is the
thing that is never given. Once Friedrich had struck
in, the moment was gone by. Poor old Wade! Of
him also enough.
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? CHAP. n. ] FRIEDRICH CAPTURES PRAG.
15th Aug. 1744.
CHAPTER II.
FRIEDRICH MARCHES UPON PRAG, CAPTURES PRAG.
It was on Saturday, "early in the morning," 15th
August 1744, that Friedrich set out, attended by his
two eldest Brothers, Prince of Prussia and Prince
Henri, from Potsdam, towards this new Adventure,
which proved so famous since. Sudden, swift, to the
world's astonishment; -- actually on march here, in
three Columns (two through Saxony by various routes
south-eastward, one from Silesia through Glatz south-
westward), to invade Bohemia: rumour says 100,000
strong, fact itself says upwards of 80,000, on their
various routes, converging towards Prag* His Columns,
especially his Saxon Columns, are already on the road;
he joins one Column, this night, at Wittenberg; and is
bent, through Saxony, towards the frontiers of Bohemia,
at the utmost military speed he has.
Through Saxony about 60,000 go: he has got the
Kaiser's Order to the Government of Saxony, "Our
august Ally, requiring on our Imperial business a
transit through you;" -- and Winterfeld, an excellent
soldier and negotiator, has gone forward to present
said Order. A Document which flurries the Dresden
Officials beyond measure. Their King is in Warsaw;
their King, if here, could do little; and indeed has
* Helden-Geschichte, n. 1165. Orlich (n. 25, 27) enumerates the various
regiments.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. VIII. 2
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? 18
- [book XV. Kth Aug. 1744.
SECOND SILBSIAN WAR.
been inclining to Maria Theresa this long while. And
Winterfeld insists on such despatch; -- and not even
the Duke of Weissenfels is in Town. Dresden Officials
"send off five couriers and thirteen estafettes" to the
poor old Duke;* get hirh" at last; and -- The march
is already taking effect; they may as well consent to
it: what can they do but consent! In the uttermost
flurry, they had set to fortifying Dresden; all hands
driving palisades, picking, delving, making coupures
(trenches, or sunk barricades) in the streets; -- fatally
aware that it can avail nothing. Is not this the Kaiser's
Order? Prussians, to the amount of 60,000, are across
our Frontiers, rapidly speeding on.
"Friedrich's Manifesto, --under the modest Title, 'An-
"'zeige der Ursachen (Advertisement of the Causes which have
'"induced his Prussian Majesty to send the Romish Kaiser's
"'Majesty some Auxiliary Troops),' -- had appeared in the
"Berlin Newspapers, Thursday 13th, only two days before.
"An astonishment to all mankind; which gave rise to endless
"misconceptions of Friedrich; but which, supporting itself
"on proofs, on punctually excerpted foot-notes, is intrinsically
"a modest, quiet Piece; and, what is singular in Manifestoes,
"has nothing, or almost nothing, in it that is not, so far as it
"goes, a perfect statement of the fact. 'Auxiliary troops,
"' that is our essential character. No war with her Hungarian
"'Majesty, or with any other, on our own score. But her
"'Hungarian Majesty, how has she treated the Romish
"'Kaiser, her and our and the Reich's Sovereign Head, and
"'to what pass reduced him; refusing him Peace on any
"'terms, except those of self-annihilation; denying that he
"'is aKaiser at all;' -- and enumerates the various Imperial
"injuries, with proof given, quiet foot-notes by way of proof;
"and concludes in these words: 'For himself his Majesty re-
"'quires nothing. The question here is not of his Majesty's
"' own interest at all' (everything his Majesty required, or re-
* llelden- Geschichle, u. 1163.
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? CHAP, n. ] FRIEDRICH CAPTURES PRAG. 19
15a Aug. 1744.
"quires, is by the Treaty of Berlin solemnly his, if the Reich
"andits Laws endure): 'and he has taken up arms simply
'"and solely in the view of restoringto the Reich its freedom,
"' to the Kaiser his Headship of the Reich, and to all Europe
'"the Peace which is so desirable. '*
"'Pretences, subterfuges, lies! ' exclaimed the Austrian
"and Allied Public everywhere, or strove to exclaim; espe-
cially the English Public, which had no difficulty in so
"doing; -- a Public comfortably blank as to German facts or
"non-facts; and finding with amazement only this a very
"certain fact, That hereby is their own Pragmatic thunder
"checked in mid-volley in a most surprising manner, and the
"triumphant Cause of Liberty brought to jeopardy again.
'"Perfidious, ambitious, capricious! ' exclaimed they: 'a
'"Prince without honour, without truth, without constancy;'
"--and completed, for themselves, in hot rabid humour, that
"English Theory of Friedrich which has prevailed ever since.
"Perhaps the most surprising item of which is this latter, very
"prominent in those old times, That Friedrich has no 'con-
"'stancy,' but follows his 'caprices' and accidental whirls of
"impulse: -- item which has dropped away in our times,
"though the others stand as stable as ever. A monument of
"several! things! Friedrich's suddenness is an essential part
"of what fighting talent he has: if the Public, thrown into
"flurry, cannot judge it well, they must even misjudge it:
"whathelp is there?
"That the above were actually Friedrich's reasons for
"venturing into this Big Game again, is not now disputable.
"And as to the rumour, which rose afterwards (and was
"denied, and could only be denied diplomatically to the ear,
"if even to the ear), That Friedrich by Secret Article was
"'to have for himself the Three Bohemian Circles, Konigs-
"'gratz, Bunzlau, Leitmeritz, which lie between Schlesien
"' and Sachsen,'**--there is not a doubt but Friedrich had so
"bargained, 'Very well, if we can get said Circles! ' and
"would right cheerfully have kept and held them, had the big
"game gone in all points completely well (game, To reinstate
"the Kaiser both in Bohemia and Bavaria) by Friedrich's fine
"playing. Not a doubt of all this: --nor of what an ex-
* Given in Seyfarth, Beylage, i. 121-136, with date, "August 1744. "
** Uelden-Geschichle, i. 1081 > Schtfll, H. 349.
2*
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? 20 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [BOOK XV.
15th Aug. --2d Sept. 1744.
"tremely hypothetic outlook it then and always was; greatly
"too weak for enticing such a man. "
Friedrich goes in Three Columns. One, on the
south or left shore of the Elbe, coming in various
branches under Friedrich himself; this alone will touch
on Dresden, pass on the south side of Dresden; gather
itself about Pirna (in the Saxon Switzerland so-called,
a notable locality); thence over the Metal Mountains
into Bohmen, by Toplitz, by Lowositz, Leitmeritz, and
the Highway called the Pascopol, famous in war. The
Second Column, under Leopold the Young Dessauer,
goes on the other or north side of the Elbe, at a fair
distance; marching through the Lausitz (rendezvous or
starting-point was Bautzen in the Lausitz) straight
south, to meet the King at Leitmeritz, where the grand
Magazine is to be; and thence, still south, straight
upon Prag', in conjunction with his Majesty or parallel
to him. * These are the Two Saxon Columns. The
Third Column, under Schwerin, collects itself in the
interior of Silesia; is issuing, by Glatz Country, through
the Giant Mountains, Bohmische Kamme (Bohemian
Combs, as they are called, which Tourists know), by
the Pass of Braunau, -- disturbing the dreams of Riibe-
zahl, if Riibezahl happen to be there. This, say 20,000,
will come down upon Prag from the eastern side; and
be first on the ground (31st August), -- first by one
day. In the home parts of Silesia, well eastward of
Glatz, there is left another Force of 20,000, which can
go across the Austrian Border there, and hang upon
the Hills, threatening Olmiitz and the Moravian
Countries, should need be.
* Helden-Geschichte, 1. 1081.
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? CHAP. n. l FRIEDRICH CAPTURES PRAG. 21
15th Aug. -- 2d Sept. 1744.
And so, in its Three Columns, from west, from
north, from east, the march, with a steady swiftness,
proceeds. Important especially those Two Saxon
Columns from west and north: 60,000 of them, "with
a frightful (entsetzlich) quantity of big guns coming up
the Elbe. " Much is coming up the Elbe; indispensable
Highway for this Enterprise. Three months' provi-
sions, endless artillery and provender, is on the Elbe;
480 big boats, with immense Vorspann (of trace-horses,
dreadful swearing, too, as I have heard), will pass
through the middle of Dresden: not landing by any
means. 'No, be assured of it, ye Dresdeners, all flur-
ried, palisaded, barricaded; no hair of you shall be
harmed. ' After a day or two, the flurry of Saxony
subsided; Prussians, under strict discipline, molest no
private person; pay their way; keep well aloof, to
south and to north, of Dresden (all but the necessary
ammunition-escorts do); -- and require of the Official
people nothing but what the Law of the Reich au-
thorises to 'Imperial Auxiliaries' in such case. "The
Saxons themselves," Friedrich observes, "had some
"40,000, but scattered about; King in Warsaw: --
"dreadful terror; making coupures and tetes-de-pont; -- "could have made no defence. " Had we diligently
spent eight days on them! reflects he afterwards. "To
"seize Saxony" (and hobble it with ropes, so that at
any time you could pin it motionless, and even, if need
were, milk the substance out of it), "would not have
"detained us eight days. "* Which would have been
the true plan, had we known what was getting ready
there! Certain it is, Friedrich did no mischief, paid
for everything; anxious to keep well with Saxony;
* (Euvres de Frederic, hi. 53.
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? 22 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [bOOKXV.
15th Aug. --2d Sept. 1744.
hoping always they might join him again, in such a
Cause. 'Cause dear to every Patriot German Prince,'
urges Friedrich, -- though Briihl, and the Polish, once
"Moravian," Majesty are of a very different opinion! --
"Maria Theresa, her thoughts at hearing of it may be
"imagined: 'The Evil Genius of my House afoot again! My
"'high projects on Elsass and Lorraine; Husband for Kaiser,
"'Elsass for the Reich and him, Lorraine for myself and him;
"'--gone probably to water! ' Nevertheless she said (an
"Official person heard her say), 'My right is known to
"'God; God will protect me, as He has already done. '* And
"rose very strong, and magnanimously defiant again; --
"perhaps, at the bottom of her heart, almost glad withal that
"she would now have a stroke for her dear Silesia again, un-
hindered by Paladin George and his Treaties and notions.
"What measures, against this nefarious Prussian outbreak,
"hateful to gods and men, are possible, she rapidly takes: in
"Bohemia, in Bavaria and her other Countries, that are
"threatened or can help. And abates nothing of heart or
"hope; -- praying withal, immensely, she and her People,
"according to the mode they have. Sending for Prince Karl,
"we need not say, double-quick, as the very first thing.
"Of Maria Theresa in Hungary, -- for she ran to Presburg
"again with her woes (August 16th, Diet just assembling
"there),--let us say only that Hungary was again chivalrous;
"that old Palfy and the general Hungarian Nation answered
"in the old tone, -- Vivat Maria; Ad Arma, adArma! with
"Tolpatches, Pandours, Warasdins; -- and, in short, that
"great and small, in infinite 'Insurrection,' have still a stroke
"of battle in them pro Rege Nostro. Scarcely above a District
"or two (as the Jaszers an&Kauers, in their over-cautious way)
"making the least difficulty.
July-- Aug. 1744.
his 70,000, pressing victoriously over the Rhine; which
stayed the French in these sacrilegious procedures.
Prince Karl gets across the Rhine (20th June--2d July
1744. )
Prince Karl, some weeks ago, at Heilbronn, joined
his Rhine Army, which had gathered thither from the
Austrian side, through Baiern, and from the Hither-
Austrian or Swabian Winter-quarters; with full intent
to be across the Rhine, and home upon Elsass and the
Compensation Countries this Summer, under what dif-
ficulties soever. Karl, or as some whisper, old Marshal
Traun, who is nominally second in command, do make
a glorious campaign of it, this Year; -- and lift the
Cause of Liberty, at one time, to the highest pitch it
ever reached. Here, in brief terms, is Prince Karl's
Operation on the Rhine, much admired by military
men:
"Stockstadt, June 20th, 1744. Some thirty and odd miles
"north of Mannheim, the Rhine, before turning westward at
"Mainz, makes one other of its many Islands (of which there
"are hundreds since the leap at Schaffhausen): one other,
"and I think the biggest of them all; perhaps two miles by
"five; which the Germans call Kuhkopf (Covrhea. d), from the
"shape it has, -- a narrow semi-ellipse; Kiver there splitting
"in two, one split (the western) going straight, the other
"bending luxuriantly round: so that the Am<2-head or straight
"end of the Island lies towards France, and the round end,
"or cow-lips (so to speak) towards native Teutschland, and
"the woody Hills of the Berg-Strasse thereabouts. Stock-
"stadt, chief little Town looking over into this Cowhead
"Island, lies under the chin: understand only farther that
"the German branch carries more than two-thirds of the
"River; that on the Island itself there is no town, or post of
"defence; and thatStockstadt is the place for getting over.
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? CHAP. I. ] PRELIMINARY. 7
July--Aug. 1744.
"Coigny and the French, some 40,000, are guarding the River
"hereabouts, with lines, with batteries, cordons, the best
"they can; Seckendorf, with 20,000 more ("Imperial'Old-
"Bavarian Troops, revivified, recruited by French pay), is
"in his garrison of Philipsburg, ready to help when needed:"
--not moulting now, at Wembdingen, in that dismal manner;
new-feathered now into 'Kaiser's Army;' waiting in his Phi-
lipsburg to guard the River there. "Coigny's French have
"ramparts, ditches, not quite unfurnished, on their own
"shore, opposite this CowheadIsland (Isle de Heron, as they
"call it); looking over to the hind-head, namely: but they
"have nothing considerable there; and in the Island itself,
"nothing whatever. 'If now Stockstadt were suddenly
'snatched by us,' thinks Karl; -- 'if a few pontoons were
'nimbly swung in? '
"June 20th, -- Coigny's people all shooting feu-de-joie, for
"that never enough to be celebrated Capture of Menin and
"the Dutch Barrier a fortnight ago, -- this is managed to be
"done. The active General Barenklau, active Brigadier
"Daun under him, pushes rapidly across into Kuhkopf;
"rapidly throws up entrenchments, ramparts, mounts cannon,
"digs himself in, -- greatly to Coigny's astonishment; whose
"people hereabouts, and in all their lines and posts, are busy
"shooting feu-de-joie for those immortal Dutch victories, at
"the moment, and never dreaming of such a thing. Fresh
"force floods in, Prince Karl himself arrives next day, in
"support of Barenklau; Coigny (head - quarters at Speyer,
"forty miles south) need not attempt dislodging him; but
"must stand upon his guard, and prepare for worse. Which
"he does with diligence; shifting northward into those Stock-
"stadt-Mainz parts; calling Seckendorf across the River, and
"otherwise doing his best, --for about ten days more, when
"worse, and almost worst, did verily befal him.
"No attempt was made on Barenklau; nor, beyond the
"alarming of the Coigny-Seckendorf people, did anything
"occur in Cowhead Island, --unless it were the finis of an
"ugly bully and ruffian, who has more than once afflicted us:
"which may be worth one word. Colonel Mentzel" (copper-
faced Colonel, originally Playactor, "Spy in Persia," and I
know not what) "had been at the seizure of Kuhkopf; a pro-
minent man. Whom, on the fifth day after ('June 25th').
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? 8 SECOND SILESIAN WAK. [book XV.
July --Aug. 1744.
"Prince Karl overwhelmed with joy, by handing him aPatent
"of Generalcy: 'Just received from Court, my Friend, on
"' account of your merits old and late. ' -- 'Aha,' said Baren-
"klau, congratulating warmly: 'Dine with me, then, Herr
''' General Mentzel, this very day. The Prince himself is to be
"'there, Highness of Hessen-Darmstadt, and who not; all are
"'impatient to drink your health! ' "Mentzel had a glorious
"dinner; still more glorious drink,-- Prince Karl and the
"others, it is said, egging him into much wild bluster and
"gasconade, to season their much wine. Eminent swill of
"drinking, with the loud coarse talk supposable, on the part
"of Mentzel and consorts did go on, in this manner, allafter-
"noon: in the evening, drunk Mentzel came out for air; went
"strutting and staggering about; emerging finally on the
"platform of some rampart, face of him huge and red as that
"of the foggiest rising Moon; -- and stood, looking over into
"the Lorraine Country; belching out a storm of oaths, as to
"his taking it, as to his doing this and that; and was even
"flourishing his sword by way of accompaniment; when, lo,
"whistling slightly through the summer air, a rifle-ball from
"some sentry on the French side (writers say, it was a French
"drummer, grown impatient, and snatching a sentry's piece)
"took the brain of him, or the belly of him; and he rushed
"down at once, a totally collapsed monster, and mere heap
"of dead ruin, never to trouble mankind more. " * For which
my readers and I are rather thankful. Voltaire; and perhaps
other memorable persons, sometimes mention this brute (mira-
culous to the Plebs and Gazetteers); otherwise eternal obli-
vion were the best we could do with him. Trenck also, readers
will be glad to understand, ends in jail and bedlam by and by.
"Prince Karl had not the least intention of crossing by
"this CowheadIsland. Nevertheless he set about two other
"Bridges in the neighbourhood, nearer Mainz (few miles
"below that City); kept manceuvering his Force, in huge
"half-moon, round that quarter, and mysteriously up and
"down; alarming Coigny wholly into the Mainz region. For
"the space of ten days; and then, stealing off to Schrock, a
"little Rhine Village above Philipsburg, many miles away
"from Coigny and his vigilances, he --
* Guerre tfe Bohime, in. 165.
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? CHAP. I. ] PRELIMINARY. 9
3d July 1744.
"Night of 30th June -- 1st July, Suddenly shot Pandour
"Trenck, followed by Nadasti and 6,000, across at Schrock;
"who scattered Seckendorf's poor outposts thereabouts to the
"winds; 'built a bridge before morning, and next day an-
"'other. ' Next day Prince Karl in person appeared; and on
"the 3d of July, had his whole Army with its luggages across;
"and had seized the Lines of Lauterburg and Weissenburg
"(celebrated northern defence of Elsass), -- much to Coigny's
"amazement; and remained inexpugnable there, withElsass
"open to him, and to Coigny shut, for the present! * Coigny
"made bitter wailj accusation, blame of Seckendorf, blame
"of men and of things; even tried some fighting, Seckendorf
"too doing feats, to recover those Lines of Weissenburg: but
"could not do it. And, in fact, blazing to and fro in that
"excited rather than luminous condition, could not do any-
"thing; except retire into the strong posts of the background;
"and send express on express, swifter than the wind if you
"can, to a victorious King overturning the Dutch Barrier:
'"Help, your Majesty, or we are lost; and France is -- what
'"shallI say! '"
"Admirable feat of Strategy! What a General, this
Prince Karl! " exclaimed mankind,? -- Cause-of-Liberty
mankind with special enthusiasm; and took to writing
Lives of Prince Karl,** as well as tar-burning and te-
rleum-'mg on an extensive scale. For it had sent the
Cause of Liberty bounding up again to the top of
things, this of crossing the Rhine, in such fashion.
And in effect, the Cause of Liberty, and Prince Karl
himself, had risen hereby to their acme or culminating
point in World-History; not to continue long at such
height, little as they dreamt of that, among their tar-
burnings. The feat itself, -- contrived by Nadasti,
* Adelung, lv. 139-141.
** For instance, The Life of his Highness Prince Charles of&c. ,with&c. &c.
(London, 1746); one of the most distracted Blotches ever published under
the name of Book; -- awakening thoughts of a public dimness very con-
siderable indeed, to which this could offer itself as lamp!
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? 10 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [BOOK XV.
July--Aug. 1744.
people say, and executed (what was the real difficulty)
by Traun, -- brought Prince Karl very great renown,
this Year; and is praised by Friedrich himself, now
and afterwards, as masterly, as Julius Caesar's method,
and the proper way of crossing rivers (when execut-
able) in face of an enemy. And indeed Prince Karl,
owing to Traun or not, is highly respectable in the
way of Generalship at present; and did in these Five
Months, from June onward, really considerable things.
At his very acme of Life, as well as of Generalship;
which, alas, soon changed, poor man; never to cul-
minate again. He had got, at the beginning of the
Year, the high Maria Theresa's one Sister, Archduchess
Maria Anna, to Wife;* the crown of long mutual at-
tachment: she safe now at Brussels, diligent Co-Regent,
and in a promising family-way; he here walking on
victorious: -- need any man be happier? No man
can be supremely happy long; and this General's
strategic felicity and his domestic were fatally cut
down almost together. The Cause of Liberty, too,
now at the top of its orbit, was -- But let us stick by
our Excerpting!
"Dunkirk, 19th July 1744" (Princess Ulrique's Wedding,
just two days ago). "King Louis, on hearing of the Job's-
"news from Elsass, instantly suspended his Conquests in
"Flanders; detached Noailles, detached this one and that,
"double-quick, Division after Division (leaving Saxe, with
"45,000, to his own resources, and the fatuities of Marshal
"Wade); and, 19th July, himself hastens off from Dunkirk
"(leaving much of the luggage, but not the Chateauroux
"behind him), to save his Country, poor soul. But could not,
* Age then twenty-five gone: "born 14th September 1718; married to
"Prince Karl, 7th January 1744; died, of childbirth, 16th December same
. '? year'' (Hormayr, (Esterreichischer Plutarch, rv. erstes Bandchen, 54).
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? CHAP. I. ]
8th Aug. 1744.
PRELIMINARY.
11"in the least, save it; the reverse rather. August 4th, he
"gottoMetz, Belleisle's strong Town, about 100 miles from
"the actual scene; his detached reinforcements, say 50,000
"men or so, hanging out ahead like flame-clouds, butuncer-
"tain how to act; -- Noailles being always cunctatious, in
"Compeller; -- and then,
"Metz, August8th, TheMostChristian King fell ill; danger-!
"ously, dreadfully, just like to die. Which entirely paralysed
"Noailles and Company, or reduced them to mere hysterics,
"and excitement of the unluminous kind. And filled France
"in general, Paris in particular, with terror, lamentation,
"prayers of forty hours; and such a paroxysm of hero-worship
"as was never seen for such an object before. " *
For the Cause of Liberty here, we consider, was
the culminating moment; Elsass, Lorraine, and the
Three Bishoprics lying in their quasi-moribund condi-
tion; Austrian claims of Compensation ceasing to be
visions of the heated brain, and gaining some footing
on the Earth as facts. Prince Karl is here actually in
Elsass, master of the strong passes; elate in heart, he
and his; France, again, as if fallen paralytic, into
temporary distraction; offering for resistance nothing
hitherto but that universal wailing of mankind, Hero-
worship of a thrice-lamentable nature, and the Prayers
of Forty-Hours! Most Christian Majesty, now in ex-
tremis, centre of the basest hubbub that ever was, is
dismissing Chateauroux. Noailles, Coigny and Company
hang well back upon the Hill regions, and strong
posts which are not yet menaced; or fly vaguely, more
or less distractedly, hither and thither; not in the least
like fighting Karl, much less like beating him. Karl
has Germany free at his back (nay it is a German
"time of crisis, and
Louis himself nothing of a Cloud? * Espaguac, ii,12; Adelung, iv. 180; Fastes de Louis XV, n. 423; &c. &c.
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? 12 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [book XV.
8th Aug. 1744.
population round him here); neither haversack nor
cartridge-box like to fail: before him are only a
Noailles and consorts, flying vaguely about, -- and
there is in Karl, or under the same cloak with him at
present, a talent of manoeuvering men, which even
Friedrich finds masterly. If old Marshal Wade, at the
other end of the line, should chance to awaken and
press home on Saxe, and his remnant of French, with
right vigour? In fact, there was not, that I can see,
for centuries past, not even at the Siege of Lille
in Marlborough's time, a more imminent peril for
France.
Friedrich decides to intervene.
King Friedrich, on hearing of these Rhenish
emergencies and of King Louis's heroic advance to the
rescue, perceived that for himself too the moment was
come; and hastened to inform heroic Louis, That
though the terms of their Bargain were not yet com-
pleted, Sweden, Russia and other points being still in
a pendent condition, he, Friedrich, -- with an eye to
success of their Joint Adventure, and to the indis-
pensability of joint action, energy, and the top of one's
speed now or never, -- would, by the middle of this
same August, be on the field with 100,000 men. "An
invasion of Bohemia, will not that astonish Prince
Karl; and bring him to his Rhine-Bridges again? Over
which, if your Most Christian Majesty be active, he
will not get, except in a half or wholly ruined state.
Follow him close; send the rest of your force to
threaten Hanover; sit well on the skirts of Prince Karl.
Him as he hurries homeward, ruined or half-ruined,
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? CHAP. I. ] PRELIMINARY. 13
9ih Aug. 1744.
him, or whatever Austrian will fight, I do my best to
beat. We may have Bohemia, and a beaten Austria,
this very Autumn: see, -- and, in one Campaign,
there is Peace ready for us! " This is Friedrich's
scheme of action; success certain, thinks he, if only
there be energy, activity, on your side, as there shall
be on mine; -- and has sent Count Schmettau, filled
with fiery speed and determination, to keep the French
full of the like, and concert mutual operations.
"Magnanimous! " exclaim Noailles and the paralysed
French Gentlemen (King Louis, I think, now past
speech, for Schmettau only came, August 9th): "Most
sublime behaviour, on his Prussian Majesty's part! "
own they. And truly it is a fine manful indifference
(by no means so common as it should be) to all inter-
ests, to all considerations, but that of a Joint Enter-
prise one has engaged in. And truly, furthermore, it
was immediate salvation to the paralysed French Gen-
tlemen, in that alarming crisis; though they did not
much recognise it afterwards as such; and indeed were
conspicuously forgetful of all parts of it, when their
own danger was over.
Maria Theresa's feelings may be conceived;
George II. 's feelings; and what the Cause of Liberty in
general felt, and furiously said and complained, when, --1
suddenly as a Deus ex machind, or Supernal Genie in the
Minor Theatres, -- Friedrich stept in. Precisely in
this supreme crisis, 7th August 1744, Friedrich's
Minister, Graf von Dohna, at Vienna, has given notice
of the Frankfurt Union, and solemn Engagement
entered into: "Obliged in honour and conscience; will
"and must now step forth to right an injured Kaiser;
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? 14 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [book XV.
July--Aug. 1744.
"cannot stand these high procedures against an Im-
"perial Majesty chosen by all the Princes of the Reich,
"this unheard-of protest that the Kaiser is no Kaiser,
"as if all Germany were but Austria and the Queen of
"Hungary's. Prussian Majesty has not the least
"quarrel of his own with the Queen of Hungary,
"stands true, and will stand, by the Treaty of Berlin
"and Breslau; -- only, with certain other German
"Princes, has done what all German Princes and
"peoples not Austrian are bound to do, on behalf of
"their down-trodden Kaiser, formed a Union of Frank-
"furt; and will, with armed hand if indispensable,
"endeavour to see right done in that matter. "*
This is the astonishing fact for the Cause of Liberty,
and no clamour and execration will avail anything.
This man is prompt, too; does not linger in getting
out his sword, when he has talked of it. Prince Karl's
Operation is likely to be marred amazingly. If this
swift King (comparable to the old Serpent for devices)
were to burst forth from his Silesian strengths; tread
sharply on the tail of Prince Karl's Operation, and
bring back the formidably fanged head of it out of
Alsace, five hundred miles all at once, -- there would
be a business!
We will now quit the Rhine Operations, which in-
deed are not now of moment; Friedrich being suddenly
the key of events again.
I add only, what readers are
vaguely aware of, that King Louis did not die; that
he lay at death's door for precisely one week (8th-15th
August), symptoms mending on the 15th. In the
interim, -- Grand-Almoner Pitz-James (Uncle of our
* In Adelung, iv. 155-6, the Declaration itself (Audience, "7th August
1744;" Dohna off homeward "on the second day after
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? CHAP. I. ] PRELIMINARY. 15
July --Aug. 1744.
Conte di Spinelli) insisting that a certain Cardinal,
who had got the Sacraments in hand, should insist;
and endless ministerial intrigue being busy, -- mori-
bund Louis had, when it came to the Sacramental
point, been obliged to dismiss his Chateauroux. Poor
Chateauroux; an unfortunate female; yet, one almost
thinks, the best man among them: dismissed at Metz
here, and like to be mobbed! That was the one issue
of King Louis's death-sickness. Sublime sickness;
during which all Paris wept aloud, in terror and sor-
row, like a child that has lost its mother and sees a
mastiff coming; wept sublimely, and did the Prayers
of Forty-Hours; and called King Louis Le Bien-aime
(The Well-beloved): -- merely some obstruction in the
royal bowels, it turned out; -- a good cathartic, and
the Prayers of Forty-Hours, quite reinstated matters.
Nay reinstated even Chateauroux, some time after, --
"the Devil being well again," and, as the Proverb
says, quitting his monastic view. Reinstated Chateau-
roux: but this time, poor creature, she continued only
about a day: -- "Sudden fever, from excitement," said
the Doctors: "Fever? Poison you mean! " whispered
others, and looked for changes in the Ministry. Enough,
oh enough! --
Old Marshal Wade did not awaken, though bawled
to by his Ligoniers and others, and much shaken about,
poor old gentleman. "No artillery to speak of," mur-
mured he; "want baggage-wagons, too! " and lay still.
"Here is artillery! " answered the Official people;
"With my own money I will buy you baggage-
wagons! " answered the high Maria Anna, in her own
name and her Prince Karl's, who are Joint-Governors
there. Possibly he would have awakened, had they
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? 16 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [fioOKXV.
July--Aug. 1744.
given him time. But time, in War especially, is the
thing that is never given. Once Friedrich had struck
in, the moment was gone by. Poor old Wade! Of
him also enough.
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? CHAP. n. ] FRIEDRICH CAPTURES PRAG.
15th Aug. 1744.
CHAPTER II.
FRIEDRICH MARCHES UPON PRAG, CAPTURES PRAG.
It was on Saturday, "early in the morning," 15th
August 1744, that Friedrich set out, attended by his
two eldest Brothers, Prince of Prussia and Prince
Henri, from Potsdam, towards this new Adventure,
which proved so famous since. Sudden, swift, to the
world's astonishment; -- actually on march here, in
three Columns (two through Saxony by various routes
south-eastward, one from Silesia through Glatz south-
westward), to invade Bohemia: rumour says 100,000
strong, fact itself says upwards of 80,000, on their
various routes, converging towards Prag* His Columns,
especially his Saxon Columns, are already on the road;
he joins one Column, this night, at Wittenberg; and is
bent, through Saxony, towards the frontiers of Bohemia,
at the utmost military speed he has.
Through Saxony about 60,000 go: he has got the
Kaiser's Order to the Government of Saxony, "Our
august Ally, requiring on our Imperial business a
transit through you;" -- and Winterfeld, an excellent
soldier and negotiator, has gone forward to present
said Order. A Document which flurries the Dresden
Officials beyond measure. Their King is in Warsaw;
their King, if here, could do little; and indeed has
* Helden-Geschichte, n. 1165. Orlich (n. 25, 27) enumerates the various
regiments.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. VIII. 2
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? 18
- [book XV. Kth Aug. 1744.
SECOND SILBSIAN WAR.
been inclining to Maria Theresa this long while. And
Winterfeld insists on such despatch; -- and not even
the Duke of Weissenfels is in Town. Dresden Officials
"send off five couriers and thirteen estafettes" to the
poor old Duke;* get hirh" at last; and -- The march
is already taking effect; they may as well consent to
it: what can they do but consent! In the uttermost
flurry, they had set to fortifying Dresden; all hands
driving palisades, picking, delving, making coupures
(trenches, or sunk barricades) in the streets; -- fatally
aware that it can avail nothing. Is not this the Kaiser's
Order? Prussians, to the amount of 60,000, are across
our Frontiers, rapidly speeding on.
"Friedrich's Manifesto, --under the modest Title, 'An-
"'zeige der Ursachen (Advertisement of the Causes which have
'"induced his Prussian Majesty to send the Romish Kaiser's
"'Majesty some Auxiliary Troops),' -- had appeared in the
"Berlin Newspapers, Thursday 13th, only two days before.
"An astonishment to all mankind; which gave rise to endless
"misconceptions of Friedrich; but which, supporting itself
"on proofs, on punctually excerpted foot-notes, is intrinsically
"a modest, quiet Piece; and, what is singular in Manifestoes,
"has nothing, or almost nothing, in it that is not, so far as it
"goes, a perfect statement of the fact. 'Auxiliary troops,
"' that is our essential character. No war with her Hungarian
"'Majesty, or with any other, on our own score. But her
"'Hungarian Majesty, how has she treated the Romish
"'Kaiser, her and our and the Reich's Sovereign Head, and
"'to what pass reduced him; refusing him Peace on any
"'terms, except those of self-annihilation; denying that he
"'is aKaiser at all;' -- and enumerates the various Imperial
"injuries, with proof given, quiet foot-notes by way of proof;
"and concludes in these words: 'For himself his Majesty re-
"'quires nothing. The question here is not of his Majesty's
"' own interest at all' (everything his Majesty required, or re-
* llelden- Geschichle, u. 1163.
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? CHAP, n. ] FRIEDRICH CAPTURES PRAG. 19
15a Aug. 1744.
"quires, is by the Treaty of Berlin solemnly his, if the Reich
"andits Laws endure): 'and he has taken up arms simply
'"and solely in the view of restoringto the Reich its freedom,
"' to the Kaiser his Headship of the Reich, and to all Europe
'"the Peace which is so desirable. '*
"'Pretences, subterfuges, lies! ' exclaimed the Austrian
"and Allied Public everywhere, or strove to exclaim; espe-
cially the English Public, which had no difficulty in so
"doing; -- a Public comfortably blank as to German facts or
"non-facts; and finding with amazement only this a very
"certain fact, That hereby is their own Pragmatic thunder
"checked in mid-volley in a most surprising manner, and the
"triumphant Cause of Liberty brought to jeopardy again.
'"Perfidious, ambitious, capricious! ' exclaimed they: 'a
'"Prince without honour, without truth, without constancy;'
"--and completed, for themselves, in hot rabid humour, that
"English Theory of Friedrich which has prevailed ever since.
"Perhaps the most surprising item of which is this latter, very
"prominent in those old times, That Friedrich has no 'con-
"'stancy,' but follows his 'caprices' and accidental whirls of
"impulse: -- item which has dropped away in our times,
"though the others stand as stable as ever. A monument of
"several! things! Friedrich's suddenness is an essential part
"of what fighting talent he has: if the Public, thrown into
"flurry, cannot judge it well, they must even misjudge it:
"whathelp is there?
"That the above were actually Friedrich's reasons for
"venturing into this Big Game again, is not now disputable.
"And as to the rumour, which rose afterwards (and was
"denied, and could only be denied diplomatically to the ear,
"if even to the ear), That Friedrich by Secret Article was
"'to have for himself the Three Bohemian Circles, Konigs-
"'gratz, Bunzlau, Leitmeritz, which lie between Schlesien
"' and Sachsen,'**--there is not a doubt but Friedrich had so
"bargained, 'Very well, if we can get said Circles! ' and
"would right cheerfully have kept and held them, had the big
"game gone in all points completely well (game, To reinstate
"the Kaiser both in Bohemia and Bavaria) by Friedrich's fine
"playing. Not a doubt of all this: --nor of what an ex-
* Given in Seyfarth, Beylage, i. 121-136, with date, "August 1744. "
** Uelden-Geschichle, i. 1081 > Schtfll, H. 349.
2*
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? 20 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [BOOK XV.
15th Aug. --2d Sept. 1744.
"tremely hypothetic outlook it then and always was; greatly
"too weak for enticing such a man. "
Friedrich goes in Three Columns. One, on the
south or left shore of the Elbe, coming in various
branches under Friedrich himself; this alone will touch
on Dresden, pass on the south side of Dresden; gather
itself about Pirna (in the Saxon Switzerland so-called,
a notable locality); thence over the Metal Mountains
into Bohmen, by Toplitz, by Lowositz, Leitmeritz, and
the Highway called the Pascopol, famous in war. The
Second Column, under Leopold the Young Dessauer,
goes on the other or north side of the Elbe, at a fair
distance; marching through the Lausitz (rendezvous or
starting-point was Bautzen in the Lausitz) straight
south, to meet the King at Leitmeritz, where the grand
Magazine is to be; and thence, still south, straight
upon Prag', in conjunction with his Majesty or parallel
to him. * These are the Two Saxon Columns. The
Third Column, under Schwerin, collects itself in the
interior of Silesia; is issuing, by Glatz Country, through
the Giant Mountains, Bohmische Kamme (Bohemian
Combs, as they are called, which Tourists know), by
the Pass of Braunau, -- disturbing the dreams of Riibe-
zahl, if Riibezahl happen to be there. This, say 20,000,
will come down upon Prag from the eastern side; and
be first on the ground (31st August), -- first by one
day. In the home parts of Silesia, well eastward of
Glatz, there is left another Force of 20,000, which can
go across the Austrian Border there, and hang upon
the Hills, threatening Olmiitz and the Moravian
Countries, should need be.
* Helden-Geschichte, 1. 1081.
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? CHAP. n. l FRIEDRICH CAPTURES PRAG. 21
15th Aug. -- 2d Sept. 1744.
And so, in its Three Columns, from west, from
north, from east, the march, with a steady swiftness,
proceeds. Important especially those Two Saxon
Columns from west and north: 60,000 of them, "with
a frightful (entsetzlich) quantity of big guns coming up
the Elbe. " Much is coming up the Elbe; indispensable
Highway for this Enterprise. Three months' provi-
sions, endless artillery and provender, is on the Elbe;
480 big boats, with immense Vorspann (of trace-horses,
dreadful swearing, too, as I have heard), will pass
through the middle of Dresden: not landing by any
means. 'No, be assured of it, ye Dresdeners, all flur-
ried, palisaded, barricaded; no hair of you shall be
harmed. ' After a day or two, the flurry of Saxony
subsided; Prussians, under strict discipline, molest no
private person; pay their way; keep well aloof, to
south and to north, of Dresden (all but the necessary
ammunition-escorts do); -- and require of the Official
people nothing but what the Law of the Reich au-
thorises to 'Imperial Auxiliaries' in such case. "The
Saxons themselves," Friedrich observes, "had some
"40,000, but scattered about; King in Warsaw: --
"dreadful terror; making coupures and tetes-de-pont; -- "could have made no defence. " Had we diligently
spent eight days on them! reflects he afterwards. "To
"seize Saxony" (and hobble it with ropes, so that at
any time you could pin it motionless, and even, if need
were, milk the substance out of it), "would not have
"detained us eight days. "* Which would have been
the true plan, had we known what was getting ready
there! Certain it is, Friedrich did no mischief, paid
for everything; anxious to keep well with Saxony;
* (Euvres de Frederic, hi. 53.
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? 22 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [bOOKXV.
15th Aug. --2d Sept. 1744.
hoping always they might join him again, in such a
Cause. 'Cause dear to every Patriot German Prince,'
urges Friedrich, -- though Briihl, and the Polish, once
"Moravian," Majesty are of a very different opinion! --
"Maria Theresa, her thoughts at hearing of it may be
"imagined: 'The Evil Genius of my House afoot again! My
"'high projects on Elsass and Lorraine; Husband for Kaiser,
"'Elsass for the Reich and him, Lorraine for myself and him;
"'--gone probably to water! ' Nevertheless she said (an
"Official person heard her say), 'My right is known to
"'God; God will protect me, as He has already done. '* And
"rose very strong, and magnanimously defiant again; --
"perhaps, at the bottom of her heart, almost glad withal that
"she would now have a stroke for her dear Silesia again, un-
hindered by Paladin George and his Treaties and notions.
"What measures, against this nefarious Prussian outbreak,
"hateful to gods and men, are possible, she rapidly takes: in
"Bohemia, in Bavaria and her other Countries, that are
"threatened or can help. And abates nothing of heart or
"hope; -- praying withal, immensely, she and her People,
"according to the mode they have. Sending for Prince Karl,
"we need not say, double-quick, as the very first thing.
"Of Maria Theresa in Hungary, -- for she ran to Presburg
"again with her woes (August 16th, Diet just assembling
"there),--let us say only that Hungary was again chivalrous;
"that old Palfy and the general Hungarian Nation answered
"in the old tone, -- Vivat Maria; Ad Arma, adArma! with
"Tolpatches, Pandours, Warasdins; -- and, in short, that
"great and small, in infinite 'Insurrection,' have still a stroke
"of battle in them pro Rege Nostro. Scarcely above a District
"or two (as the Jaszers an&Kauers, in their over-cautious way)
"making the least difficulty.
