for seizing, he bursts the barrier of Neumarkt; dashes
in upon the thousand Croats; flings out the Croats in
extreme hurry, musketry and sabre acting on them;
they find their Height beset, their retreat cut off, and
that they must vanish.
in upon the thousand Croats; flings out the Croats in
extreme hurry, musketry and sabre acting on them;
they find their Height beset, their retreat cut off, and
that they must vanish.
Thomas Carlyle
org/access_use#pd-google
? 248 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES XO A HEIGHT, [book Xvin.
3d-5ihDec. 1757.
that does not issue in mere blazings, mad audacities
and chaotic despair, but advances with its eyes open,
measuredly, counting its steps, to the wrestling-place,
-- this is a godlike thing; much available to mankind
in all the battles they have; battles with steel, or of
whatever sort.
Friedrich, at Parchwitz, assembled his Captains, and
spoke to them; it was the night after Ziethen came in,
night of December 3d, 1757; and Ziethen, no doubt,
was there: for it is an authentic meeting, this at Parch-
witz, and the words were taken down.
FriedricKs Speech to his Generals (Parchwitz, 3d
December 1757). *
"It is not unknown to you, Meine Herren, what
"disasters have befallen here, while we were busy with
"the French and Reichs Army. Schweidnitz is gone;
"Duke of Bevern beaten; Breslau gone, and ajl our
"war-stores there; good part of Silesia gone: and, in
"fact, my embarrassments would be at the insuperable
"pitch, had not I boundless trust in you, and your
"qualities, which have been so often manifested, as
"soldiers and sons of your Country. Hardly one among
"you but has distinguished himself by some nobly me-
"morable action: all these services to the State and me
"I know well, and will never forget.
"I flatter myself, therefore, that, in this case too,
"nothing will be wanting which the State has a right
"to expect of your valour. The hour is at hand. I
"should think I had done nothing, if I left the Austri-
"ans in possession of Silesia. Let me apprise you.
* From Keuoto, I. 240-242 (slightly abridged).
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? CHAP. IX. ] FRIEDRICH MARCHES FOR SILESIA. 249
Sd-Sth Dec. 1757.
"then: I intend, in spite of the Rules of Art, to attack
"Prince Karl's Army, which is nearly thrice our
"strength, wherever I find it. The question is not of
"his numbers, or the strength of his position: all this,
"by courage, by the skill of our methods, we will try
"to make good. This step I must risk, or everything
"is lost. We must beat the enemy, or perish all of us
"before his batteries. So I read the case; so I will
"act in it.
"Make this my determination known to all Officers
"of the Army; prepare the men for what work is now
"to ensue, and say that I hold myself entitled to de-
"mand exact fulfilment of orders. For you, when I
"reflect that you are Prussians, can I think that you
"will act unworthily? But if there should be one
"or another who dreads to share all dangers with me,
"he," -- continued his Majesty, with an interrogative
look, and then pausing for answer, "can have his Dis-
charge this evening, and shall not suffer the least re-
proach from me. " -- Modest strong bass murmur;
meaning "No, by the Eternal! " if you looked into the
eyes and faces of the group. Never will Retzow Junior
forget that scene, and how effulgently eloquent the
veteran physiognomies were.
"Hah, I knew it," said the King, with his most
radiant smile, "none of you would desert me! I depend
"on your help, then; and on victory as sure. " -- The
speech winds up with a specific passage: "The Cavalry
"regiment that does not on the instant, on order given,
"dash full plunge into the enemy, I will, directly after
"the Battle, unhorse, and make it a Garrison regiment.
"The Infantry battalion which, meet with what it may,
"shows the least signs of hesitating, loses its colours
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? 250 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII.
3d-5tlj Doc. 1757.
"and its sabres, and I cut the trimmings from its uni-
"form! Now good night, Gentlemen: shortly we have
"either beaten the Enemy, or we never see one another
"again. "
An excellent temper in this Army; a rough vein of
heroism in it, steady to the death; -- and plenty of
hope in it too, hope in Vater Fritz. "Never mind,"
the soldiers used to say, in John Duke of Marlborough's
time, "Corporal John will get us through it! " -- That
same evening Friedrich rode into the Camp, where the
regiments he had were now all gathered, out of their
cantonments, to march on the morrow. First regiment
he came upon was the Life-Guard Cuirassiers: the men,
in their accustomed way, gave him good evening, which
he cheerily returned. Some of the more veteran sort
asked, ruggedly confidential, as well as loyal: "What
is thy news, then, so late? " "Good news, children
(Kinder): tomorrow you will beat the Austrians tightly I"
"That we will, by--! " answered they. -- "But think
only where they stand yonder, and how they have
entrenched themselves? " said Friedrich. "And if they
had the Devil in front and all round them, we will
knock them out; only thou lead us on! " -- "Well, I
will see what you can do: now lay you down, and
sleep sound; and good sleep to you. " "Good night,
Fritz! " answer all;* as Fritz ambles on to the next
regiment, to which, as to every one, he will have some
word.
Was it the famous Pommern regiment, this that he
next spoke to, -- who answered Loudon's summons to
them once (as shall be noticed by and by) in a way
ineffable, though unforgettable? Manteuffel of Foot;
* Milller, p. 21.
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? CHAP. IX. ] PRIEDRICH MARCHES FOR SILESIA. 251
3d-5thDoc. 1757.
yes, no other! * They have their own opinion of their
capacities against an enemy, and do not want for a
good conceit of themselves. "Well, children, how
think you it will be tomorrow? They are twice as
strong as we. " "Never thou mind that; there are no
Pommerners among them; thou knowest what thePom-
merners can do! " -- Friedrich: "Yea, truly, that do I;
otherwise I durst not risk the battle. Now good sleep
to you; tomorrow, then, we shall either have beaten the
Enemy or else be all dead. " "Yea," answered the
whole regiment; "dead, or else the Enemy beaten:" and
so went to deep sleep, preface to a deeper for many of
them, -- as beseems brave men. In this world it
much beseems the brave man, uncertain about so many
things, to be certain of himself for one thing.
These snatches of Camp Dialogue, much more the
Speech preserved to us by Retzow Junior, appear to
be true; though as to the dates, the circumstances, there
has been debating. ** Other Anecdotes, dubious or more,
still float about in quantity; -- of which let us give
only one; that of the Deserter (which has merit as a
myth). "What made thee desert, then? " "Hm, alas,
your Majesty, we were got so down in the world, and
had such a time of it! " -- "Well, try it one day more; and
if we cannot mend matters, thou and I will both desert. "
A learned Doctor, one of the most recent on these
matters, is astonished why the Histories of Friedrich
should be such dreary reading, and Friedrich him-
self so prosaic', barren an object; and lays the blame
upon the Age, insensible to real greatness: led away
by claptrap Napoleonisms, regardless of expense. Upon
which Smelfungus takes him up, with a twitch:
* Archenholtz, n. CI; and Kutzen, p. 35. ** Kutzen, pp. 175-181.
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? 252 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book xvni.
Sd-5thDec. 1757.
"To my sad mind, Herr Doctor, it seems ascribable rather
"to the Dryasdust of these Ages, especially to the Prussian
"Dryasdust, sitting comfortable in his Academies, waving
"sublimely his long ears as he tramples human Heroisms into
"unintelligible pipeclay and dreary continents of sand and
"cinders, with the Doctors all applauding.
"Had the sacred Poet, or man of real Human Genius, been
"at his work, for the thousand years last past, instead of idly
"fiddling far away from his work, -- which surely is definable
"as being very mainly, That of interpreting human Heroisms;
"of painfully extricating, and extorting from the circumam-
"bient chaos of muddy babble, rumour and mendacity, some
"not inconceivable human and divine Image of them, more and
"more clear, complete and credible for mankind (poor mankind
"dumbly looking up to him for guidance, as to what it shall
"think of God and of Men in this Scene of Things); -- I cal"culate, we should by this time have had a different Friedrich
"of it; 0 Heavens, a different world of it, in so many respects!
"My esteemed Herr Doctor, it is too painful a subject.
"Godlike fabulous Achilles, and the old Greek Kings of men,
"one perceives, after study, to be dim enough Grazier Sover-
eigns, 'living among infinite dung,' till their sacred Poet
"extricated them. And our imsacred all-desecrating Dryas-
"dust, --Herr Doctor, I must say, it fills me with despair!
"Authentic human Heroisms, not fabulous a whit, but true to
"the bone, and by all appearance very much nobler than
"those of godlike Achilles and pious YEneas ever could have
"been, --left in this manner, trodden under foot of man and
"beast; man and beast alike insensible that there is anything
"but common mud under foot, and grateful to anybody that
"will assure them there is nothing. Oh Doctor, oh Doctor!
"And the results of it -- You need not go exclusively 'to
"France' to look at them. They are too visible in the so-
called 'Social Hierarchies,' and sublime gilt Doggeries,
"sacred and secular, of all Modern Countries! Let us be
"silent, my friend. "--
"Prussian Dryasdust," he says elsewhere, "does make a
"terrible job of it; especially when he attempts to weep
"through his pipe-clay, or rise with his long ears into the
"moral sublime. As to the German People, Ifind that they
"dimly have not wanted sensibility to Friedrich; that their
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? ,CHAP, ix. ] FRIEDRICH MARCfiES FOR SILESIA. 253
3d-5! h Dec. 1757.
"multitudes of Anecdotes, still circulating among them in
"print and viva voce, are proof of this. Thereby they have at
"least made a Myth of Friedrich's History, and given some
"rhythmus,life and cheerful human substantiality to his work
"and him. Accept these Anecdotes as the Epic they could
"not write of him, but were longing to hear from somebody
"who could. Who has not yet appeared among mankind,
"nor will for some time. Alas, my friend, on piercing through
"the bewildering nimbus of babble, malignity, mendacity,
"which veils sevenfold the Face of Friedrich from us, and
"getting to see some glimpses of the Face itself, one is sorrow-
"fully struck dumb once more. What a suicidal set of
"creatures; commanding as with one voice, That there shall
"be no Heroism more among them; that all shall be Doggery
"and Commonplace henceforth. 'Ach, mein lieber Sulzer, you
"' don't know that damned brood! ' Well, well. 'Solo-
"mon's Temple,' the Moslem say, 'had to be built under the
"chirping of ten thousand Sparrows. ' Ten thousand of them;
"committee of the whole house, unanimously of the opposite
"view; -- and could not quite hinder it. That too is some-
"thing! "--
More to our immediate purpose is this other thing:
That the Austrians have been in Council of War; and,
on deliberation, have decided to come out of their de-
fences; to quit their strong Camp, which lies so eligibly,
ahead of Breslau and arear of Lissa and of Schweidnitz
Water yonder; to cross Schweidnitz Water, leave Lissa
behind them; and meet this offensively aggressive
Friedrich in pitched fight. Several had voted, No,
why stir? -- Daun especially, and others with emphasis.
"No need of fighting at all," said Daun: "we can de-
fend Schweidnitz Water; ruin him before he ever get
across. " "Defend? Be assaulted by an Army like
his? " urges Lucchesi, the other Chief General: "It is
totally unworthy of us! We have gained the game;
all the honours ours; let us have done with it. Give
him battle, since he fortunately wishes it; we finish
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? 254 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [boOX XvIII.
4th Dec. 1757.
him, and gloriously finish the War too! " So argued
Lucchesi, with vivacity, persistency, -- to his own ill
luck, but evidently with approval from Prince Karl.
Everybody sees, this is the way to Prince Karl's
favour at present. "Have not I reconquered Silesia? "
thinks Prince Karl to himself; and beams applause on
the high course, not the low prudent one. * In a word,
the Austrians decide on stepping out to meet Friedrich
in open battle: it was the first time they ever did so;
and it was likewise the last.
Sunday, December 4th, at four in the morning,
Friedrich has marched from Parchwitz, straight towards
the Austrian Camp;"** he hears, one can fancy with
what pleasure, that the Austrians are advancing towards
him, and will not need to be forced in their strong
position. His march is in four columns, Friedrich in
the vanguard; quarters to be Neumarkt, a little Town
about fourteen miles off. Within some miles of Neumarkt, early in the afternoon, he learns that there are
a thousand Croats in the place, the Austrian Bakery
at work there, and engineer people marking out an
Austrian Camp. "On the Height beyond Neumarkt,
that will be? " thinks Friedrich; for he knows this
ground, having often done reviews here; to Breslau all
the way on both hands, not a rood of it but is familiar
to him. Which was a singular advantage, say the
critics; and a point the Austrian Council of War should
have taken more thought of.
Friedrich, before entering Neumarkt, sends a regi-
ment to ride quietly round it on both sides, and to seize
that Height he knows of. Height once seized, or ready
* Kutzen, pp. 45-48, *? MOller, p. 26.
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? CHAP. IS. ] FEIEDRICH MARCHES FOR SILESIA. 255
4th Dec. 1757.
for seizing, he bursts the barrier of Neumarkt; dashes
in upon the thousand Croats; flings out the Croats in
extreme hurry, musketry and sabre acting on them;
they find their Height beset, their retreat cut off, and
that they must vanish. Of the 1,000 Croats, "569 were
taken prisoners, and 120 slain," in this unexpected
sweeping out of Neumarkt. Better still, in Neumarkt
is found the Austrian Bakery, set up and in full work;
-- delivers you 80,000 bread-rations hot and hot,
which little expected to go such a road. On the
Height, the Austrian stakes and engineer-tools were
found sticking in the ground; so hasty had the flight been. How Prince Karl came to expose his Bakery, his
staff of life so far ahead of him? Prince Karl, it is
clear, was a little puffed up with high thoughts at this
time. The capture of Schweidnitz, the late "Mal-
plaquet" (poorish Anti-Bevern Malplaquet), capture of
Breslau, and the low and lost condition of Friedrich's
Silesian affairs, had more or less turned everybody's
head, -- everybody's except Feldmarschall Daun's
alone: -- and witty mess-tables, we already said, were
in the daily habit of mocking at Friedrich's march to-
wards them with aggressive views, and called his in-
significant little Army the "Potsdam Guard-Parade. "*
That was the common triumphant humour; naturally
shared in by Prince Karl; the ready way to flatter him
being to sing in that tune. Nobody otherwise can ex-
plain, and nobody in anywise can justify, Prince Karl's
ignorance of Friedrich's advance, his almost voluntary
losing of his staff of life in that manner.
Prince Karl's soldiers have each (in the cold form)
three-days provision in their haversacks: they have
* Cogniazo, n. 417-422.
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? 256 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XviII.
ilh Dec. 1757.
come across the Weistritz River (more commonly called
Schweidnitz Water), which was also the height of con-
temptuous imprudence; and lie encamped, this night, --
in long line, not ill chosen (once the River is behind),
-- perpendicular to Friedrich's march, some ten miles
ahead of him. Since crossing, they had learned with
surprise, How their Bakery and Croats had been snapt
up; that Friedrich was not at a distance, but near; --
and that arrangements could not be made too soon!
Their position intersects the Great Road at right angles,
as we hint; and has villages, swamps, woody knolls;
especially, on each wing, good defences. Their right
wing leans on Nypern and its impassable peatbogs, a
Village two or three miles north from the Great Road;
their centre is close behind another Village called
Leuthen, about as far south from it: length of their
bivouac is about five miles; which will become six or
so, had Nadasti once taken post, who is to form the
left wing, and go down as far as Sagschiitz, southward
of Leuthen. Seven battalions are in this Village of
Leuthen, eight in Nypern, all the Villages secured;
woods, scraggy abatis, redoubts, not forgotten: their
cannon are numerous, though of light calibre. Friedrich
has at least 71 heavy pieces; and 10 of them are
formidably heavy, -- brought from the walls of Glogau,
with terrible labour to Ziethen; but with excellent
effect, on this occasion and henceforth. They got the
name of "Boomers, Bellowers (Die Brummer)," those
Ten. Friedrich was in great straits about artillery;
and Retzow Senior recommended this hauling up of
the Ten Bellowers, which became celebrated in the
years coming. And now we are on the Battle-ground,
and must look into the Battle itself, if we can.
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? CHAP. X. ]
5th Dec. 1757.
BATTLE OF LEUTHEN.
257CHAPTER X.
BATTLE OF LEDTHEN.
From Neumarkt, on Monday, long before day, the
Prussians, all but a small party left there to guard the
Bakery and Army Properties, are out again; in four
columns; towards what may lie ahead. Friedrich, as
usual in such cases, for obvious reasons, rides with the
vanguard. To Borne, the first Village on the Highway,
is some seven or eight miles. The air is damp, the
dim incipiences of dawn struggling among haze; a
little way on this side Borne, we come on ranks of
cavalry drawn across the Highway, stretching right and
left into the dim void: Austrian Army this, then?
Push up to it; see what it is, at least.
It proves to be poor General Nostitz, with his three
Saxon regiments of dragoons, famous since Kolin day,
and a couple of Hussar regiments, standing here as
outpost; -- who ought to have been more alert; but
they could not see through the dark, and so, instead of
catching, are caught. The Prussians fall upon them,
front and flank, tumble them into immediate wreck; drive
the whole outpost at full gallop home, through Borne,
upon Nypern and the right wing, -- without news ex-
cept of this symbolical sort. Saxon regiments are quite
ruined, "540 of them prisoners" (poor Nostitz himself
not prisoner, but wounded to death*); and the ground
clear in this quarter.
* Died in Breslau, the twelfth day after (Seyfarth, n. 362).
Carlyle. Frederick the Great. X. 17
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? 258 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book Xvin.
5th Dec. 1757.
Friedrich, on the farther side of Borne, calls halt,
till the main body arrive; rides forward, himself and
staff, to the highest of a range or suite of knolls, some
furlongs ahead; sees there in full view, far and wide,
the Austrians drawn up before him. From Nypern to
Sagschiitz yonder; miles in length; and so distinct,
while the light mended and the hazes faded, "that you
could have counted them" (through your glasses), "man
by man. " A highly interesting sight to Friedrich;
who continues there in the profoundest study, and calls
up some horse regiments of the vanguard to maintain
this Height and the range of Heights running south
from it. And there, I think, the King is mainly to
be found, looking now at the Austrians, now at his
own people, for some three hours to come. His plan
of Battle is soon clear to him: Nypern, with its bogs
and scrags, on the Austrian right wing, is tortuous
impossible ground, as he well remembers, no good pro-
spect for us there: better ground for us on their left
yonder, at Leuthen, even at Sagschiitz farther south,
whither they are stretching themselves. Attempt their
left wing; try our "Oblique Order" upon that, with all
the skill that is in us; perhaps we can do it rightly
this time, and prosper accordingly! That is Friedrich's
plan of action. The four columns once got to Borne,
shall fall into two; turn to the right, and go southward,
ever southward: -- they are to become our two Lines
of Battle, were they once got to the right point south-
ward. Well opposite Sagschiitz, that will be the point
for facing to left, and marching up, -- in "Oblique
Order," with the utmost faculty they have!
"The Oblique Order, Schrage Stellung" let the hasty
reader pause to understand, "is an old plan practised by
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? CHAf. X. l BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. - 259
5th Dec. 1757.
"Epaminondas, and revived by Friedrich, -- who has tried it
"in almost all his Battles more or less, from Hohenfriedberg
"forward to Prag, Kolin, Rossbach; but never could, in all
"points, get it rightly done till now, atLeuthen, in the highest
"time of need. 'It is a particular manoeuvre,' says Archen-
"holtz, rather sergeant-wise, 'which indeed other troops are
"'now' (1793) 'in the habit of imitating; but which, up to this
"'present time, none butPrussian troops can execute with the
"' precision and velocity indispensable to it. You divide your
"'line into many pieces; you can push these forward stair-
"' wise, so that they shall halt close to one another,' obliquely,
"to either hand; 'and so, on a minimum of ground, Dring
"'your mass of men to the required point at the required
"' angle. Friedrich invented this mode of getting into posi-
"' tion; by its close ranking, by its depth, and the manner of
'"movement used, it had some resemblance totheMacedo-
"'nian Phalanx,' -- chiefly in the latter point, I should guess;
"for when arrived at its place, it is no deeper than common.
"'Forming itself in this way, a mass of troops takes up in pro-
"' portion very little ground; and it shows in the distance, by
'"reason of the mixed uniforms and standards, a totally
"' chaotic mass of men heaped on one another,' going in rapid "mazes this way and that, 'But it needs only that the Com-
'"mander lift his finger; instantly this living coil of knotted
"'intricacies develops itself in perfect order, and with a speed
"' like that of mountain rivers, when the ice breaks,' -- is
"upon its Enemy. "*
"Your Enemy is ranked as here, in long line, three or two
"to one. You march towards him, but keep him uncertain
"as to how you will attack; then do on a sudden march up,
"not parallel to him, but oblique, at an angle of 45? , -- swilt,
"vehement, in over-powering numbers, on the wing you have
"chosen. Roll that wing together, ruined, in upon its own
"line, you may roll the whole five miles of line into disorder
"and ruin, and always be in overpowering number at the
"point of dispute. Provided, only, you are swift enough
"about it, sharp enough! But extraordinary swiftness, sharp-
"ness, precision is the indispensable condition; -- by no
"means try it otherwise; none but Prussians, drilled by an
'' Old Dessauer, capable of doing it. This is the Schr&ge Ord-
* Arohenholtz, i. 209.
17*
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? 260 SEVEN-YEAES WAE KISES TO A HEIGHT, [book Xvm.
5th Dec. 1757.
"nung, about which there has been such commentating and
"controversying among military people: whether Friedxich
"invented it, whether Caesar did it, how Epaminondas, how
"Alexander atArbela; how" -- Which shall not in the least
concern us on this occasion.
The four columns rustled themselves into two, and
turned southward on the two sides of Borne; -- south-
ward henceforth, for about two hours; as if straight
towards the Magic Mountain, the Zobtenberg, far off,
which is conspicuous over all that region. Their
steadiness, their swiftness and exactitude were un-
surpassable. "It was a beautiful sight," says Tempel-
hof, an Eyewitness: "The heads of the columns were
"constantly on the same level, and at the distance
"necessary for forming; all flowed on exact, as if in a
"review. And you could read in the eyes of our brave
"troops the noble temper they were in. "* I know not
at what point of their course, or for how long, but it
was from the column nearest him, which is to be first
line, that the King heard, borne on the winds amid
their field-music, as they marched there, the sound of
Psalms, -- many-voiced melody of a Church Hymn, well
known to him; which had broken out, band accom-
panying, among those otherwise silent men. The fact is
very certain, very strange to me: details not very precise,
except that here, as specimen, is a verse of their Hymn:
"Grant that with zeal and skill, this day, I do"What me to do behoves, what thou command'st me to;"Grant that I do it sharp, at point of moment fit,
>' And when I do it, grant me good success in it. "
"Gieb dass ich thv? unit Fleiss was mir zu thun gebuhret,
** Wozu mich dein Befehl in meinein Stande fuhret,
"Gteo' dass icKs thue bald, itt der Zeit da icVs soil;
"Und wenn ich's thu', so gieb dass es gerathe tooW. "**
* Tempelhof, I. 288, 287.
** "Hymn-Hook of Porst" (PrussianSternhold-and-Hopkins), "p. 689:" cited in Preuss, H. 107.
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? CHAT. X. ] BATTLE OP LEUTHEN. 261
Stb Dec. 1757.
One has heard the voice of waters, one has paused in
the mountains at the voice of far-off Covenanter psalms;
but a voice like this, breaking the commanded silences,
one has not heard. "Shall we order that to cease, your
Majesty? " "By no means," said the King; whose
hard heart seems to have been touched by it, as might
well be. Indeed there is in him, in those grim days,
a tone as of trust in the Eternal, as of real religious
piety and faith, scarcely noticeable elsewhere in his
History. His religion, and he had in withered forms
a good deal of it, if we will look well, being almost
always in a strictly voiceless state, -- nay, ultra-
voiceless, or voiced the wrong way, as is too well
known. "By no means! " answered he; and a moment
after, said to some one, Ziethen probably: "With men
like these, don't you think I shall have victory this
day! "
The loss of their Saxon Forepost proved more im-
portant to the Austrians than it seemed; -- not com-
putable in prisoners, or killed and wounded. The
Height named Scheuberg, -- "Borne Rise" (so we might
call it, which has got its Pillar of memorial since, with
gilt Victory atop*); -- where Friedrich now is and
where the Austrians are not, is at once a screen and a
point of vision to Friedrich. By loss of their Nostitz
Forepost, they had lost view of Friedrich, and never
could recover view of him; could not for hours learn
distinctly what he was about; and when he did come
in sight again, it was in a most unexpected place! On
the farther side of Borne, edge of the big expanse of
open country there, Friedrich has halted; ridden with
his adjutants to the top of "the Scheuberg (Shy-hill),"
"t Not till 1854 (Kutzen, pp. 194,195).
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? 262 SEVEN-YEARS WAR EISES TQ A HEIGHT, [book xvm.
5tJ>> pec, J757.
as the Books call it, though it is more properly a blunt
Knoll or "Rise," -- the nearest of a Chain of Knolls,
or swells in the ground, which runs from north to south
on that part
.
Except the Zobtenberg, rising blue and massive,
on the southern horizon (famous mythologic Mountain,
reminding you of an Arthur's Seat in shape too, only
bigger and solitary), this Country, for many miles
round, has nothing that could be called a Hill; it is
definable as a bare wide-waving champaign, with slight
bumps on it, or slow heavings and sinkings. Country
mostly under culture, though it is of sandy quality;
one or two sluggish brooks in it; and reedy meres or
mires, drained in our day. It is dotted with Hamlets
of the usual kind; and has patches of scraggy fir. Your
horizon, even where bare, is limited, owing to the wavy
heavings of the ground; windmills and church-belfries
are your only resource, and even these, from about
Leuthen and the Austrian position, leave the Borne
quarter mostly invisible to you. Leuthen Belfry, the
same which may have stood a hundred years before
this Battle, ends in a small tile-roof, open only at the
gables: -- "Leuthen Belfry," says a recent Tourist, "is
"of small resource for a view. To south you can see
"some distance, Sagschiitz, Lobetintz, and other Ham-
"lets, amid scraggy fir-patches, and meadows, once
"miry pools; but to north, you are soon shut in by a
"swell or slow rise, with two windmills upon it" (im-
portant to readers at present); "and to eastward"
(Breslau side and Lissa side), "or to westward" (Fried-
rich's side), "one has no view, except of the old warped
"rafters and their old mouldy tiles within few inches;
"or, if by audacious efforts at each end, to the risk of
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 263
Mil Dec. 1757.
"your neck, you get a transient peep, it is stopt, far
"short of Borne, by the slow irregular heavings, with
"or without fir about them. "*
In short, Friedrich keeps possession of that Borne
ridge of Knolls, escorted by Cavalry in good numbers;
twinkling about in an enigmatic way: -- "Prussian
right wing yonder," think the Austrians; "whitherward,
or what can they mean? " -- and keeps his own columns
and the Austrian lines in view; himself and his move-
ments invisible, or worse, to the Austrian Generals
from any spyglass or conjecture they can employ. The Austrian Generals are in windmills, on church-
belfries, here, there; diligently scanning the abstruse
phenomenon, of which so little can be seen. Daun,
who had always been against this adventure, thinks it
probable the vanished Prussians are retiring southward:
for Bohemia and our Magazines probably. "These good
people are smuggling off {Die guten Leute paschen ab)"
said he: "let them go in peace. "** Daun, that morning,
in his reconnoiterings, had asked of a peasant, "What
is that, then? " (meaning the top of a Village-steeple in
the distance, but thought by the peasant to be meaning
something nearer hand). "That is the Hill our King
chases the Austrians over, when he is reviewing here! "
Which Daun reported at head-quarters with a grin. ***
Lucchesi, on the other hand, scanning those Borne
Hills, and the Cavalry of Friedrich's escort twinkling
hither and thither on them, becomes convinced to a
moral certainty, That yonder is the Prussian Vanguard,
probable extremity of left wing; and that he, Lucchesi,
here at Nypern, is to be attacked. "Attacked, you? "
* Tourist's Note, penes me.
-- Mailer, p. M. -- Nlcolai, Anekdottn, IT. 34.
? 248 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES XO A HEIGHT, [book Xvin.
3d-5ihDec. 1757.
that does not issue in mere blazings, mad audacities
and chaotic despair, but advances with its eyes open,
measuredly, counting its steps, to the wrestling-place,
-- this is a godlike thing; much available to mankind
in all the battles they have; battles with steel, or of
whatever sort.
Friedrich, at Parchwitz, assembled his Captains, and
spoke to them; it was the night after Ziethen came in,
night of December 3d, 1757; and Ziethen, no doubt,
was there: for it is an authentic meeting, this at Parch-
witz, and the words were taken down.
FriedricKs Speech to his Generals (Parchwitz, 3d
December 1757). *
"It is not unknown to you, Meine Herren, what
"disasters have befallen here, while we were busy with
"the French and Reichs Army. Schweidnitz is gone;
"Duke of Bevern beaten; Breslau gone, and ajl our
"war-stores there; good part of Silesia gone: and, in
"fact, my embarrassments would be at the insuperable
"pitch, had not I boundless trust in you, and your
"qualities, which have been so often manifested, as
"soldiers and sons of your Country. Hardly one among
"you but has distinguished himself by some nobly me-
"morable action: all these services to the State and me
"I know well, and will never forget.
"I flatter myself, therefore, that, in this case too,
"nothing will be wanting which the State has a right
"to expect of your valour. The hour is at hand. I
"should think I had done nothing, if I left the Austri-
"ans in possession of Silesia. Let me apprise you.
* From Keuoto, I. 240-242 (slightly abridged).
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? CHAP. IX. ] FRIEDRICH MARCHES FOR SILESIA. 249
Sd-Sth Dec. 1757.
"then: I intend, in spite of the Rules of Art, to attack
"Prince Karl's Army, which is nearly thrice our
"strength, wherever I find it. The question is not of
"his numbers, or the strength of his position: all this,
"by courage, by the skill of our methods, we will try
"to make good. This step I must risk, or everything
"is lost. We must beat the enemy, or perish all of us
"before his batteries. So I read the case; so I will
"act in it.
"Make this my determination known to all Officers
"of the Army; prepare the men for what work is now
"to ensue, and say that I hold myself entitled to de-
"mand exact fulfilment of orders. For you, when I
"reflect that you are Prussians, can I think that you
"will act unworthily? But if there should be one
"or another who dreads to share all dangers with me,
"he," -- continued his Majesty, with an interrogative
look, and then pausing for answer, "can have his Dis-
charge this evening, and shall not suffer the least re-
proach from me. " -- Modest strong bass murmur;
meaning "No, by the Eternal! " if you looked into the
eyes and faces of the group. Never will Retzow Junior
forget that scene, and how effulgently eloquent the
veteran physiognomies were.
"Hah, I knew it," said the King, with his most
radiant smile, "none of you would desert me! I depend
"on your help, then; and on victory as sure. " -- The
speech winds up with a specific passage: "The Cavalry
"regiment that does not on the instant, on order given,
"dash full plunge into the enemy, I will, directly after
"the Battle, unhorse, and make it a Garrison regiment.
"The Infantry battalion which, meet with what it may,
"shows the least signs of hesitating, loses its colours
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? 250 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XvIII.
3d-5tlj Doc. 1757.
"and its sabres, and I cut the trimmings from its uni-
"form! Now good night, Gentlemen: shortly we have
"either beaten the Enemy, or we never see one another
"again. "
An excellent temper in this Army; a rough vein of
heroism in it, steady to the death; -- and plenty of
hope in it too, hope in Vater Fritz. "Never mind,"
the soldiers used to say, in John Duke of Marlborough's
time, "Corporal John will get us through it! " -- That
same evening Friedrich rode into the Camp, where the
regiments he had were now all gathered, out of their
cantonments, to march on the morrow. First regiment
he came upon was the Life-Guard Cuirassiers: the men,
in their accustomed way, gave him good evening, which
he cheerily returned. Some of the more veteran sort
asked, ruggedly confidential, as well as loyal: "What
is thy news, then, so late? " "Good news, children
(Kinder): tomorrow you will beat the Austrians tightly I"
"That we will, by--! " answered they. -- "But think
only where they stand yonder, and how they have
entrenched themselves? " said Friedrich. "And if they
had the Devil in front and all round them, we will
knock them out; only thou lead us on! " -- "Well, I
will see what you can do: now lay you down, and
sleep sound; and good sleep to you. " "Good night,
Fritz! " answer all;* as Fritz ambles on to the next
regiment, to which, as to every one, he will have some
word.
Was it the famous Pommern regiment, this that he
next spoke to, -- who answered Loudon's summons to
them once (as shall be noticed by and by) in a way
ineffable, though unforgettable? Manteuffel of Foot;
* Milller, p. 21.
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? CHAP. IX. ] PRIEDRICH MARCHES FOR SILESIA. 251
3d-5thDoc. 1757.
yes, no other! * They have their own opinion of their
capacities against an enemy, and do not want for a
good conceit of themselves. "Well, children, how
think you it will be tomorrow? They are twice as
strong as we. " "Never thou mind that; there are no
Pommerners among them; thou knowest what thePom-
merners can do! " -- Friedrich: "Yea, truly, that do I;
otherwise I durst not risk the battle. Now good sleep
to you; tomorrow, then, we shall either have beaten the
Enemy or else be all dead. " "Yea," answered the
whole regiment; "dead, or else the Enemy beaten:" and
so went to deep sleep, preface to a deeper for many of
them, -- as beseems brave men. In this world it
much beseems the brave man, uncertain about so many
things, to be certain of himself for one thing.
These snatches of Camp Dialogue, much more the
Speech preserved to us by Retzow Junior, appear to
be true; though as to the dates, the circumstances, there
has been debating. ** Other Anecdotes, dubious or more,
still float about in quantity; -- of which let us give
only one; that of the Deserter (which has merit as a
myth). "What made thee desert, then? " "Hm, alas,
your Majesty, we were got so down in the world, and
had such a time of it! " -- "Well, try it one day more; and
if we cannot mend matters, thou and I will both desert. "
A learned Doctor, one of the most recent on these
matters, is astonished why the Histories of Friedrich
should be such dreary reading, and Friedrich him-
self so prosaic', barren an object; and lays the blame
upon the Age, insensible to real greatness: led away
by claptrap Napoleonisms, regardless of expense. Upon
which Smelfungus takes him up, with a twitch:
* Archenholtz, n. CI; and Kutzen, p. 35. ** Kutzen, pp. 175-181.
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? 252 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book xvni.
Sd-5thDec. 1757.
"To my sad mind, Herr Doctor, it seems ascribable rather
"to the Dryasdust of these Ages, especially to the Prussian
"Dryasdust, sitting comfortable in his Academies, waving
"sublimely his long ears as he tramples human Heroisms into
"unintelligible pipeclay and dreary continents of sand and
"cinders, with the Doctors all applauding.
"Had the sacred Poet, or man of real Human Genius, been
"at his work, for the thousand years last past, instead of idly
"fiddling far away from his work, -- which surely is definable
"as being very mainly, That of interpreting human Heroisms;
"of painfully extricating, and extorting from the circumam-
"bient chaos of muddy babble, rumour and mendacity, some
"not inconceivable human and divine Image of them, more and
"more clear, complete and credible for mankind (poor mankind
"dumbly looking up to him for guidance, as to what it shall
"think of God and of Men in this Scene of Things); -- I cal"culate, we should by this time have had a different Friedrich
"of it; 0 Heavens, a different world of it, in so many respects!
"My esteemed Herr Doctor, it is too painful a subject.
"Godlike fabulous Achilles, and the old Greek Kings of men,
"one perceives, after study, to be dim enough Grazier Sover-
eigns, 'living among infinite dung,' till their sacred Poet
"extricated them. And our imsacred all-desecrating Dryas-
"dust, --Herr Doctor, I must say, it fills me with despair!
"Authentic human Heroisms, not fabulous a whit, but true to
"the bone, and by all appearance very much nobler than
"those of godlike Achilles and pious YEneas ever could have
"been, --left in this manner, trodden under foot of man and
"beast; man and beast alike insensible that there is anything
"but common mud under foot, and grateful to anybody that
"will assure them there is nothing. Oh Doctor, oh Doctor!
"And the results of it -- You need not go exclusively 'to
"France' to look at them. They are too visible in the so-
called 'Social Hierarchies,' and sublime gilt Doggeries,
"sacred and secular, of all Modern Countries! Let us be
"silent, my friend. "--
"Prussian Dryasdust," he says elsewhere, "does make a
"terrible job of it; especially when he attempts to weep
"through his pipe-clay, or rise with his long ears into the
"moral sublime. As to the German People, Ifind that they
"dimly have not wanted sensibility to Friedrich; that their
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? ,CHAP, ix. ] FRIEDRICH MARCfiES FOR SILESIA. 253
3d-5! h Dec. 1757.
"multitudes of Anecdotes, still circulating among them in
"print and viva voce, are proof of this. Thereby they have at
"least made a Myth of Friedrich's History, and given some
"rhythmus,life and cheerful human substantiality to his work
"and him. Accept these Anecdotes as the Epic they could
"not write of him, but were longing to hear from somebody
"who could. Who has not yet appeared among mankind,
"nor will for some time. Alas, my friend, on piercing through
"the bewildering nimbus of babble, malignity, mendacity,
"which veils sevenfold the Face of Friedrich from us, and
"getting to see some glimpses of the Face itself, one is sorrow-
"fully struck dumb once more. What a suicidal set of
"creatures; commanding as with one voice, That there shall
"be no Heroism more among them; that all shall be Doggery
"and Commonplace henceforth. 'Ach, mein lieber Sulzer, you
"' don't know that damned brood! ' Well, well. 'Solo-
"mon's Temple,' the Moslem say, 'had to be built under the
"chirping of ten thousand Sparrows. ' Ten thousand of them;
"committee of the whole house, unanimously of the opposite
"view; -- and could not quite hinder it. That too is some-
"thing! "--
More to our immediate purpose is this other thing:
That the Austrians have been in Council of War; and,
on deliberation, have decided to come out of their de-
fences; to quit their strong Camp, which lies so eligibly,
ahead of Breslau and arear of Lissa and of Schweidnitz
Water yonder; to cross Schweidnitz Water, leave Lissa
behind them; and meet this offensively aggressive
Friedrich in pitched fight. Several had voted, No,
why stir? -- Daun especially, and others with emphasis.
"No need of fighting at all," said Daun: "we can de-
fend Schweidnitz Water; ruin him before he ever get
across. " "Defend? Be assaulted by an Army like
his? " urges Lucchesi, the other Chief General: "It is
totally unworthy of us! We have gained the game;
all the honours ours; let us have done with it. Give
him battle, since he fortunately wishes it; we finish
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? 254 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [boOX XvIII.
4th Dec. 1757.
him, and gloriously finish the War too! " So argued
Lucchesi, with vivacity, persistency, -- to his own ill
luck, but evidently with approval from Prince Karl.
Everybody sees, this is the way to Prince Karl's
favour at present. "Have not I reconquered Silesia? "
thinks Prince Karl to himself; and beams applause on
the high course, not the low prudent one. * In a word,
the Austrians decide on stepping out to meet Friedrich
in open battle: it was the first time they ever did so;
and it was likewise the last.
Sunday, December 4th, at four in the morning,
Friedrich has marched from Parchwitz, straight towards
the Austrian Camp;"** he hears, one can fancy with
what pleasure, that the Austrians are advancing towards
him, and will not need to be forced in their strong
position. His march is in four columns, Friedrich in
the vanguard; quarters to be Neumarkt, a little Town
about fourteen miles off. Within some miles of Neumarkt, early in the afternoon, he learns that there are
a thousand Croats in the place, the Austrian Bakery
at work there, and engineer people marking out an
Austrian Camp. "On the Height beyond Neumarkt,
that will be? " thinks Friedrich; for he knows this
ground, having often done reviews here; to Breslau all
the way on both hands, not a rood of it but is familiar
to him. Which was a singular advantage, say the
critics; and a point the Austrian Council of War should
have taken more thought of.
Friedrich, before entering Neumarkt, sends a regi-
ment to ride quietly round it on both sides, and to seize
that Height he knows of. Height once seized, or ready
* Kutzen, pp. 45-48, *? MOller, p. 26.
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? CHAP. IS. ] FEIEDRICH MARCHES FOR SILESIA. 255
4th Dec. 1757.
for seizing, he bursts the barrier of Neumarkt; dashes
in upon the thousand Croats; flings out the Croats in
extreme hurry, musketry and sabre acting on them;
they find their Height beset, their retreat cut off, and
that they must vanish. Of the 1,000 Croats, "569 were
taken prisoners, and 120 slain," in this unexpected
sweeping out of Neumarkt. Better still, in Neumarkt
is found the Austrian Bakery, set up and in full work;
-- delivers you 80,000 bread-rations hot and hot,
which little expected to go such a road. On the
Height, the Austrian stakes and engineer-tools were
found sticking in the ground; so hasty had the flight been. How Prince Karl came to expose his Bakery, his
staff of life so far ahead of him? Prince Karl, it is
clear, was a little puffed up with high thoughts at this
time. The capture of Schweidnitz, the late "Mal-
plaquet" (poorish Anti-Bevern Malplaquet), capture of
Breslau, and the low and lost condition of Friedrich's
Silesian affairs, had more or less turned everybody's
head, -- everybody's except Feldmarschall Daun's
alone: -- and witty mess-tables, we already said, were
in the daily habit of mocking at Friedrich's march to-
wards them with aggressive views, and called his in-
significant little Army the "Potsdam Guard-Parade. "*
That was the common triumphant humour; naturally
shared in by Prince Karl; the ready way to flatter him
being to sing in that tune. Nobody otherwise can ex-
plain, and nobody in anywise can justify, Prince Karl's
ignorance of Friedrich's advance, his almost voluntary
losing of his staff of life in that manner.
Prince Karl's soldiers have each (in the cold form)
three-days provision in their haversacks: they have
* Cogniazo, n. 417-422.
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? 256 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book XviII.
ilh Dec. 1757.
come across the Weistritz River (more commonly called
Schweidnitz Water), which was also the height of con-
temptuous imprudence; and lie encamped, this night, --
in long line, not ill chosen (once the River is behind),
-- perpendicular to Friedrich's march, some ten miles
ahead of him. Since crossing, they had learned with
surprise, How their Bakery and Croats had been snapt
up; that Friedrich was not at a distance, but near; --
and that arrangements could not be made too soon!
Their position intersects the Great Road at right angles,
as we hint; and has villages, swamps, woody knolls;
especially, on each wing, good defences. Their right
wing leans on Nypern and its impassable peatbogs, a
Village two or three miles north from the Great Road;
their centre is close behind another Village called
Leuthen, about as far south from it: length of their
bivouac is about five miles; which will become six or
so, had Nadasti once taken post, who is to form the
left wing, and go down as far as Sagschiitz, southward
of Leuthen. Seven battalions are in this Village of
Leuthen, eight in Nypern, all the Villages secured;
woods, scraggy abatis, redoubts, not forgotten: their
cannon are numerous, though of light calibre. Friedrich
has at least 71 heavy pieces; and 10 of them are
formidably heavy, -- brought from the walls of Glogau,
with terrible labour to Ziethen; but with excellent
effect, on this occasion and henceforth. They got the
name of "Boomers, Bellowers (Die Brummer)," those
Ten. Friedrich was in great straits about artillery;
and Retzow Senior recommended this hauling up of
the Ten Bellowers, which became celebrated in the
years coming. And now we are on the Battle-ground,
and must look into the Battle itself, if we can.
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? CHAP. X. ]
5th Dec. 1757.
BATTLE OF LEUTHEN.
257CHAPTER X.
BATTLE OF LEDTHEN.
From Neumarkt, on Monday, long before day, the
Prussians, all but a small party left there to guard the
Bakery and Army Properties, are out again; in four
columns; towards what may lie ahead. Friedrich, as
usual in such cases, for obvious reasons, rides with the
vanguard. To Borne, the first Village on the Highway,
is some seven or eight miles. The air is damp, the
dim incipiences of dawn struggling among haze; a
little way on this side Borne, we come on ranks of
cavalry drawn across the Highway, stretching right and
left into the dim void: Austrian Army this, then?
Push up to it; see what it is, at least.
It proves to be poor General Nostitz, with his three
Saxon regiments of dragoons, famous since Kolin day,
and a couple of Hussar regiments, standing here as
outpost; -- who ought to have been more alert; but
they could not see through the dark, and so, instead of
catching, are caught. The Prussians fall upon them,
front and flank, tumble them into immediate wreck; drive
the whole outpost at full gallop home, through Borne,
upon Nypern and the right wing, -- without news ex-
cept of this symbolical sort. Saxon regiments are quite
ruined, "540 of them prisoners" (poor Nostitz himself
not prisoner, but wounded to death*); and the ground
clear in this quarter.
* Died in Breslau, the twelfth day after (Seyfarth, n. 362).
Carlyle. Frederick the Great. X. 17
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? 258 SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT, [book Xvin.
5th Dec. 1757.
Friedrich, on the farther side of Borne, calls halt,
till the main body arrive; rides forward, himself and
staff, to the highest of a range or suite of knolls, some
furlongs ahead; sees there in full view, far and wide,
the Austrians drawn up before him. From Nypern to
Sagschiitz yonder; miles in length; and so distinct,
while the light mended and the hazes faded, "that you
could have counted them" (through your glasses), "man
by man. " A highly interesting sight to Friedrich;
who continues there in the profoundest study, and calls
up some horse regiments of the vanguard to maintain
this Height and the range of Heights running south
from it. And there, I think, the King is mainly to
be found, looking now at the Austrians, now at his
own people, for some three hours to come. His plan
of Battle is soon clear to him: Nypern, with its bogs
and scrags, on the Austrian right wing, is tortuous
impossible ground, as he well remembers, no good pro-
spect for us there: better ground for us on their left
yonder, at Leuthen, even at Sagschiitz farther south,
whither they are stretching themselves. Attempt their
left wing; try our "Oblique Order" upon that, with all
the skill that is in us; perhaps we can do it rightly
this time, and prosper accordingly! That is Friedrich's
plan of action. The four columns once got to Borne,
shall fall into two; turn to the right, and go southward,
ever southward: -- they are to become our two Lines
of Battle, were they once got to the right point south-
ward. Well opposite Sagschiitz, that will be the point
for facing to left, and marching up, -- in "Oblique
Order," with the utmost faculty they have!
"The Oblique Order, Schrage Stellung" let the hasty
reader pause to understand, "is an old plan practised by
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? CHAf. X. l BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. - 259
5th Dec. 1757.
"Epaminondas, and revived by Friedrich, -- who has tried it
"in almost all his Battles more or less, from Hohenfriedberg
"forward to Prag, Kolin, Rossbach; but never could, in all
"points, get it rightly done till now, atLeuthen, in the highest
"time of need. 'It is a particular manoeuvre,' says Archen-
"holtz, rather sergeant-wise, 'which indeed other troops are
"'now' (1793) 'in the habit of imitating; but which, up to this
"'present time, none butPrussian troops can execute with the
"' precision and velocity indispensable to it. You divide your
"'line into many pieces; you can push these forward stair-
"' wise, so that they shall halt close to one another,' obliquely,
"to either hand; 'and so, on a minimum of ground, Dring
"'your mass of men to the required point at the required
"' angle. Friedrich invented this mode of getting into posi-
"' tion; by its close ranking, by its depth, and the manner of
'"movement used, it had some resemblance totheMacedo-
"'nian Phalanx,' -- chiefly in the latter point, I should guess;
"for when arrived at its place, it is no deeper than common.
"'Forming itself in this way, a mass of troops takes up in pro-
"' portion very little ground; and it shows in the distance, by
'"reason of the mixed uniforms and standards, a totally
"' chaotic mass of men heaped on one another,' going in rapid "mazes this way and that, 'But it needs only that the Com-
'"mander lift his finger; instantly this living coil of knotted
"'intricacies develops itself in perfect order, and with a speed
"' like that of mountain rivers, when the ice breaks,' -- is
"upon its Enemy. "*
"Your Enemy is ranked as here, in long line, three or two
"to one. You march towards him, but keep him uncertain
"as to how you will attack; then do on a sudden march up,
"not parallel to him, but oblique, at an angle of 45? , -- swilt,
"vehement, in over-powering numbers, on the wing you have
"chosen. Roll that wing together, ruined, in upon its own
"line, you may roll the whole five miles of line into disorder
"and ruin, and always be in overpowering number at the
"point of dispute. Provided, only, you are swift enough
"about it, sharp enough! But extraordinary swiftness, sharp-
"ness, precision is the indispensable condition; -- by no
"means try it otherwise; none but Prussians, drilled by an
'' Old Dessauer, capable of doing it. This is the Schr&ge Ord-
* Arohenholtz, i. 209.
17*
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? 260 SEVEN-YEAES WAE KISES TO A HEIGHT, [book Xvm.
5th Dec. 1757.
"nung, about which there has been such commentating and
"controversying among military people: whether Friedxich
"invented it, whether Caesar did it, how Epaminondas, how
"Alexander atArbela; how" -- Which shall not in the least
concern us on this occasion.
The four columns rustled themselves into two, and
turned southward on the two sides of Borne; -- south-
ward henceforth, for about two hours; as if straight
towards the Magic Mountain, the Zobtenberg, far off,
which is conspicuous over all that region. Their
steadiness, their swiftness and exactitude were un-
surpassable. "It was a beautiful sight," says Tempel-
hof, an Eyewitness: "The heads of the columns were
"constantly on the same level, and at the distance
"necessary for forming; all flowed on exact, as if in a
"review. And you could read in the eyes of our brave
"troops the noble temper they were in. "* I know not
at what point of their course, or for how long, but it
was from the column nearest him, which is to be first
line, that the King heard, borne on the winds amid
their field-music, as they marched there, the sound of
Psalms, -- many-voiced melody of a Church Hymn, well
known to him; which had broken out, band accom-
panying, among those otherwise silent men. The fact is
very certain, very strange to me: details not very precise,
except that here, as specimen, is a verse of their Hymn:
"Grant that with zeal and skill, this day, I do"What me to do behoves, what thou command'st me to;"Grant that I do it sharp, at point of moment fit,
>' And when I do it, grant me good success in it. "
"Gieb dass ich thv? unit Fleiss was mir zu thun gebuhret,
** Wozu mich dein Befehl in meinein Stande fuhret,
"Gteo' dass icKs thue bald, itt der Zeit da icVs soil;
"Und wenn ich's thu', so gieb dass es gerathe tooW. "**
* Tempelhof, I. 288, 287.
** "Hymn-Hook of Porst" (PrussianSternhold-and-Hopkins), "p. 689:" cited in Preuss, H. 107.
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? CHAT. X. ] BATTLE OP LEUTHEN. 261
Stb Dec. 1757.
One has heard the voice of waters, one has paused in
the mountains at the voice of far-off Covenanter psalms;
but a voice like this, breaking the commanded silences,
one has not heard. "Shall we order that to cease, your
Majesty? " "By no means," said the King; whose
hard heart seems to have been touched by it, as might
well be. Indeed there is in him, in those grim days,
a tone as of trust in the Eternal, as of real religious
piety and faith, scarcely noticeable elsewhere in his
History. His religion, and he had in withered forms
a good deal of it, if we will look well, being almost
always in a strictly voiceless state, -- nay, ultra-
voiceless, or voiced the wrong way, as is too well
known. "By no means! " answered he; and a moment
after, said to some one, Ziethen probably: "With men
like these, don't you think I shall have victory this
day! "
The loss of their Saxon Forepost proved more im-
portant to the Austrians than it seemed; -- not com-
putable in prisoners, or killed and wounded. The
Height named Scheuberg, -- "Borne Rise" (so we might
call it, which has got its Pillar of memorial since, with
gilt Victory atop*); -- where Friedrich now is and
where the Austrians are not, is at once a screen and a
point of vision to Friedrich. By loss of their Nostitz
Forepost, they had lost view of Friedrich, and never
could recover view of him; could not for hours learn
distinctly what he was about; and when he did come
in sight again, it was in a most unexpected place! On
the farther side of Borne, edge of the big expanse of
open country there, Friedrich has halted; ridden with
his adjutants to the top of "the Scheuberg (Shy-hill),"
"t Not till 1854 (Kutzen, pp. 194,195).
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? 262 SEVEN-YEARS WAR EISES TQ A HEIGHT, [book xvm.
5tJ>> pec, J757.
as the Books call it, though it is more properly a blunt
Knoll or "Rise," -- the nearest of a Chain of Knolls,
or swells in the ground, which runs from north to south
on that part
.
Except the Zobtenberg, rising blue and massive,
on the southern horizon (famous mythologic Mountain,
reminding you of an Arthur's Seat in shape too, only
bigger and solitary), this Country, for many miles
round, has nothing that could be called a Hill; it is
definable as a bare wide-waving champaign, with slight
bumps on it, or slow heavings and sinkings. Country
mostly under culture, though it is of sandy quality;
one or two sluggish brooks in it; and reedy meres or
mires, drained in our day. It is dotted with Hamlets
of the usual kind; and has patches of scraggy fir. Your
horizon, even where bare, is limited, owing to the wavy
heavings of the ground; windmills and church-belfries
are your only resource, and even these, from about
Leuthen and the Austrian position, leave the Borne
quarter mostly invisible to you. Leuthen Belfry, the
same which may have stood a hundred years before
this Battle, ends in a small tile-roof, open only at the
gables: -- "Leuthen Belfry," says a recent Tourist, "is
"of small resource for a view. To south you can see
"some distance, Sagschiitz, Lobetintz, and other Ham-
"lets, amid scraggy fir-patches, and meadows, once
"miry pools; but to north, you are soon shut in by a
"swell or slow rise, with two windmills upon it" (im-
portant to readers at present); "and to eastward"
(Breslau side and Lissa side), "or to westward" (Fried-
rich's side), "one has no view, except of the old warped
"rafters and their old mouldy tiles within few inches;
"or, if by audacious efforts at each end, to the risk of
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? CHAP. X. ] BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. 263
Mil Dec. 1757.
"your neck, you get a transient peep, it is stopt, far
"short of Borne, by the slow irregular heavings, with
"or without fir about them. "*
In short, Friedrich keeps possession of that Borne
ridge of Knolls, escorted by Cavalry in good numbers;
twinkling about in an enigmatic way: -- "Prussian
right wing yonder," think the Austrians; "whitherward,
or what can they mean? " -- and keeps his own columns
and the Austrian lines in view; himself and his move-
ments invisible, or worse, to the Austrian Generals
from any spyglass or conjecture they can employ. The Austrian Generals are in windmills, on church-
belfries, here, there; diligently scanning the abstruse
phenomenon, of which so little can be seen. Daun,
who had always been against this adventure, thinks it
probable the vanished Prussians are retiring southward:
for Bohemia and our Magazines probably. "These good
people are smuggling off {Die guten Leute paschen ab)"
said he: "let them go in peace. "** Daun, that morning,
in his reconnoiterings, had asked of a peasant, "What
is that, then? " (meaning the top of a Village-steeple in
the distance, but thought by the peasant to be meaning
something nearer hand). "That is the Hill our King
chases the Austrians over, when he is reviewing here! "
Which Daun reported at head-quarters with a grin. ***
Lucchesi, on the other hand, scanning those Borne
Hills, and the Cavalry of Friedrich's escort twinkling
hither and thither on them, becomes convinced to a
moral certainty, That yonder is the Prussian Vanguard,
probable extremity of left wing; and that he, Lucchesi,
here at Nypern, is to be attacked. "Attacked, you? "
* Tourist's Note, penes me.
-- Mailer, p. M. -- Nlcolai, Anekdottn, IT. 34.
