"Here, then, are Three streams or
Armaments
pouring
"forward upon Prag; perhaps some G0,000 men in all: -- a
"good deal uncertain what they are to do at Prag, except
"arrive simultaneously so far as possible.
"forward upon Prag; perhaps some G0,000 men in all: -- a
"good deal uncertain what they are to do at Prag, except
"arrive simultaneously so far as possible.
Thomas Carlyle
] MAYOJl OF LANDSHUT SPEAKING.
101
4th Dec. 1741.
"Official friendship with those Gentlemen who, as Biirger-
"meisters, and as old and as new Members of Council, have
"forlong years made themselves renowned among us, I will
"entertain, in respect of the former" (the old), "afirmcon-
"fidence That the zeal they have so strongly manifested for
"behoof of the most serene Archducal House of Austria will
"henceforth burn in them for our most Beloved Land's-Prince
"whom God has now given us, that the fire of their lately
"plighted truth and devotion, towards his Royal Majesty,
"shall shine not in words only, but in works, and be ex-
"tinguished only with their lives. " (Can that be, O Spener or
Speer? Are we alarm-clocks, that need only to be wound up,
and told at what hour, and for whom? ) "God, who puts Kings
"in and casts them out, has given to us a no less potent
"Sovereign than supremely loving Land's-Father, who, by
"the renown of his more than royal virtues, had taken captive
"the hearts of his future subjects and children still sooner
"than even by his arms, familiar otherwise to victory, he did
"the Land. And who shall be puissant and mighty enough,
"now to lead men's minds in a contrary direction; to control
"the Most High Power, ruler over hearts and Lands, who had
"decreed it should be so; and again to change this change? "
(HearSpener: he has taken great pains with his Discourse,
and understands composition! )
"This change, Higb-honoured Gentlemen," of the Catholic
persuasion, "is also for you a not unhappy one. For our now
"as pious as wise King will, especially in one most vital point,
"take pattern by the King of all Kings; and means to be lord
"of his subjects only, not of the consciences of his subjects.
"He requires nothing from you but what you are already
"boundby God, by conscience and duty, to render: to wit,
"obedience and inviolable unbroken fidelity. And by that,
"and without more asked than that, you will render your-
"selves worthy of his protection, and become partakers of the
"Royal favour. Nay you will render yourselves all the
"worthier in that high quarter, and the more meritorious
"towards our civic commonweal, the more you, High-
"honoured Gentlemen," of the Catholic persuasion, '' accept,
"with all frankness of colleague-love and amity, me and the
"Evangelical brother Baths now introduced by Boyal grace
"and power; and make the new position generously tenable
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? 102 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
4th Dec. 1741.
"and available to us; -- and thereby bind with us the more
"firmly the band of peace and colleague-unity, for helping up
"this dear, and for some years greatly fallen, Town along
"with us.
"We, for our poor part, will, one and all, strive only to
"surpass each other in obedience and faith to our Most
"Gracious King. We will, as Regents of the Citizenry com-
"mitted to us, go before them with a good example; and prove
"to all and every one, That, little and in war untenable as our
"Landshutis, it shall, in extent and impregnability of faith
"towards its Most Dearest Land's-Prince, approve itself un-
"conquerable. As well I as" -- Professes now, in the most
intricate phraseology, that he, and Fischer and Umminger
(giving not only the titles, but a succinct history of all three,
in a single sentence, before he comes to the verb! ), bring a true
heart, ace. &c. -- Or would the reader perhaps like to see it in
natura, as a specimen of German human-nature, and the art
these Silesian spinners have in drawing out their yarns?
"As well I as" (1<<. ) "The Titular Herr Johann David
"Fischer, distinguished trader and merchant of this Town,
"who, by his tradings in and beyond our Silesian Countries,
"has made himself renowned, and by his merit and address in
"particular instances" (delicate instances known to Landshut,
not to us) "has made himself beloved, who has now been in-
stalled as Raths-Senior; and also as" (2<<. ) "The Titular
"Herr Johann Casper Riiffer, well-respected Citizen, and
"Revenue-office Manager here, who for many years has with
"much fidelity and vigilance managed theRevenue-office,and
"who for his experience in the economic constitution of this
"Town has been ail-graciously nominated Raths-Herr; -- and
"not less" (3o. ) "The Titular Johann Jacob Umminger,
"whilome Advocate at Law in Breslau, who, for his good
"studies in Law, and manifested skill in the practice of Law,
"has been ail-graciously nominated Supernumerary Councillor
"and Notary's-Adjunct among us: -- As well I as these Three
"not only assure you, High - honoured Gentlemen, of all
"imaginable estimation and return of love on our part; but do
"likewise assure all and sundry these respectable Herren
"Town-Jurats" (specially present), "representing here the
"universal well-beloved Citizenry of our Town, -- that we
"bring a heart sincere, and intent only on aiming at the wel-
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? CHAP. VI. ] MAYOR OF LANDSHUT SPEAKING. 103
4th Dec. 1741.
"fare of aCitizenry so loveworthy. We have the firm purpose,
"by God's grace, so to order qur walk, and so to conduct our
"government that we may, one day, when summoned from
"our judgment-seats to answer before the Universal Judgment-
"seat of Christ, be able to say, with that pious King and Judge
"of Israel: 'Lord, thou knowest if we have walked uprightly
"before Thee. ' And we hope to understand that the rewards
"of justice, in that Life, will be much more than those of in-
justice in this.
"We believe that the Most High will, in so far, bless these
"our honest purposes and wholesome endeavours, as that the
"actual fruits thereof will in time coming, and when Peace
"now soon expected (which God grant) has returned to us, be
"manifest; and that if, in our Office, as is common, we should
"rather have thorns of persecution than roses of recompense
"to expect, yet to each of us there will at last accrue praise in
"the Earth and reward in Heaven. " (Hear Spener! )
"Meanwhile we will unite all our wishes, That the
"Almighty may vouchsafe to his Royal Majesty, our now All-
"dearest Duke and Land's-Father, many long years of life
"and of happy reign; and maintain this All-highest Royal-
"Prussian and Elector-Brandenburgic House in supremest
"splendour and prosperity, undisturbed to the end of all
"Days; and along with it, our Town-Council, and whole
"Merchantry and Citizenry, safe under this Prussian Sceptre,
"in perpetual blessing, peace and unity" (what a modest
prayer! ): "to all which may Heaven speak its powerful
"Amen! "
Whereupon solemn waving of hats; indistinct sough
of loyal murmur from the universal Landshut Popu-
lation; after which, continued to the due extent, they
return to their spindles and shuttles again.
* Uelden-Geichichte, ii. 416-22.
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? 104 FIRST SILESIAST WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
Oct. --Dec. 1741.
CHAPTER VII.
FRIEDRICH PURPOSES TO MEND THE KLEIN-SCHNELLENDORF
FAILURE: FORTUNES OF THE BELLEISLE ARMAMENT.
We shall not dwell upon the movements of the
French into Germany for the purpose of overwhelming
Austria, and setting up Four subordinate little
Sovereignties to take their orders from Louis XV.
The plan was of the mad sort, not recognised by-
Nature at all; the diplomacy was wide, expensive,
grandiose, but vain and baseless; nor did the soldiering
that followed take permanent hold of men's memory.
Human nature cannot afford to follow out these loud
inanities; and, at a certain distance of time, is bound
to forget them, as ephemera of no account in the
general sum. Difficult to say what profit human nature
could get out of such transactions. There was no good
soldiering on the part of the French, except by gleams
here and there; bad soldiering for the most part, and
the cause was radically bad. Let us be brief with it;
try to snatch from it, huge rotten heap of old exuvise
and forgotten noises and deliriums, what fractions of
perennial may turn up for us, carefully forgetting the
rest.
Maillebois with his 40,000, we have seen how they
got to Osnabrilck, and effectually stilled the war-fervour
of little George II. ; sent him home, in fact, to England
a checkmated man, he riding out of Osnabruck by one
gate, the French at the same moment marching in by
the other. There lies Maillebois ever since; and will
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? CHAP. VII. ] FORTUNES OF THE BELLEISLE ARMAMENT. 105 *
Oct. -Dcc. 1741.
lie, cantoned over Westphalia, "not nearer than three
leagues to the boundary of Hanover," for a year and
more. There let Maillebois lie, till we see him called
away elsewhither; upon which the gallant little George,
checkmate being lifted, will get into notable military
activity, and attempt to draw his sword again, --
though without success, owing to the laggard Dutch.
Which also, as British subjects, if not otherwise, the
readers of this Book will wish to see something of.
Maillebois did not quite keep his stipulated distance
of "three leagues from the boundary" (being often
short of victual), and was otherwise no good neighbour.
Among his Field-Officers, there is visible (sometimes
in trouble about quarters and the like) a Marquis du
Chatelet, -- who, I find, is Husband or Ex-Husband
to the divine Emilie, if readers care to think of that! *
Other known face, or point of interest for or against,
does not turn up in the Maillebois Operation in those
parts.
<
As for the other still grander Army, Army of the
Oriflamme as we have called it, -- which would be
Belleisle's, were not he so overwhelmed with embas-
sy ing, and persuading the Powers of Germany, -- this,
since we last saw it, has struck into a new course,
which it is essential to indicate. The major part of it
(Four rear Divisions, if readers recollect) lay at Ingol-
stadt, its place of arms; while the Vanward Three Di-
visions, under Maurice Comte de Saxe, flowed onward,
joining with Bavaria at Passau; down the Donau
Country, to Linz and farther, terrifying Vienna itself;
and driving all the Court to Presburg, with (fabulous)
* Campagnes (i. 45, 193); and French Peerage-Books, ? Du Chainlet.
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? 106 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book Xin.
Oct. --Dec. 1741.
"Moriamur pro Rege nostro Maria Tlieresid" but -with
actual armament of Tolpatches, Pandours, Warasdins,
Uscocks and the like unsightly beings of a predatory
centaur nature. Which fine Hungarian Armament,
and others still more ominous, have been diligently
going on, while Karl Albert sat enjoying his Hom-
agings at Linz, his Pisgah-views Vienna-ward; and asking
himself, "Shall we venture forward, and capture Vienna,
then? "
The question is intricate, and there are many se-
cret biassings concerned in the solution of it. Friedrich,
before Klein-Schnellendorf time, had written eagerly,
had sent Schmettau with eager message, "Push for-
ward; it is feasible, even easy: cut the matter by the
root! " This, they say, was Karl Albert's own notion;
had not the French overruled him; -- not willing,
some guess, he should get Austria, and become too in-
dependent of them all at once. Nay, it appears Karl
Albert had inducements of his own towards Bohemia
rather. The French have had Kur-Sachsen to manage
withal; and there are interests in Bohemia of his and
theirs, -- clippings of Bohemia promised him as bribes,
besides that "Kingdom of Moravia," to get his 21,000
set on march. "Clippings of Bohemia? Interests of
Kur-Sachsen's in that Country? " asks Karl Albert with
alarm; and thinks it will be safer, were he himself pre-
sent there, while Saxony and France do the clippings
in question! Sure enough, he did not push on. Belle-
isle, from the distance, strongly opined otherwise; Karl
Albert himself had jealous fears about Bohmen. Fried-
rich's importunities and urgencies were useless: and the
one chance there ever was for Karl Albert, for Belleisle
and the Ruin of Austria, vanished without return.
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? CHAP. VII. ] FORTUNES OF THE BELLEISLE ARMAMENT. 107
2<<h Oct. 1741.
Karl Albert has turned off, leftwards, towards his
Bohemian Enterprises: French, Bavarians, Saxons, by
their several routes, since the last days of October, are
all on march that way. We will mark an exact date
here and there, as fixed point for the reader's fancy.
Poor Karl Albert, he had sat some six weeks at Linz,
-- about three weeks since that Homaging there
(October 2d); -- imaginary Sovereign of Upper Aus-
tria; looking over to Vienna and the Promised Land in
general. And that fine Pisgah-view was all he ever
had of it. Of Austrian or other Conquests earthly or
heavenly, there came none to him in this Adventure;
-- mere minus quantities they all proved. For a few
weeks more, there are, blended with awful portents, an
imaginary gleam or two in other quarters; after which,
nothing but black horror and disgrace, deepening
downwards into utter darkness, for the poor man.
Belleisle is an imaginary Sungod; but the poor Icarus,
tempted aloft in that manner into the earnest elements,
and melting at once into quills and rags, is a tragic
reality! -- Let us to our dates:
"October 24/fc, The Bavarian Troops, who had lain at
"MauternontheDonau some time, forty miles from Vienna
"and the PromisedLand, got under way again; -- not forward,
"but sharp to left, or northward, towards theBohemian parts.
"Thither all the Belleisle Armaments are now bound; and a
"general rallying of them is to be at Prag; for conquest of
"that Country, as more inviting than Austria at present.
"Comte de Saxe, who had lain atSt. Polten, a march to south-
"wardof Mautern, he with the Vanward of the great Belleisle
"Army, bestirred himself at the same time; and followed
"steadily (Karl Albert in person was with Saxe), at a handy
"distance, by parallel roads. To Prag may be about 200
"miles. Across the Mannhartsberg Country, clear out of
"Austria, into Bohmen, towards Prag. At Budweis, or be-
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? 108 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
Oct. --Dec. 1741.
"tween that and Tabor, -- Towns of our old friend Zisca's, of
"which we shall hear farther in these Wars; Towns important
"by their intricate environment of rock and bog, far up among
"the springs of the Moldau, -- there can these Bavarians, and
"this French Vanward of Belleisle, halt a little, till the other
"parties, who are likewise on march, get within distance.
"For in these same days, as hinted above, the Rearward of
"the Belleisle Army (Four Divisions, strength not accurately
"given) pushes forward from Donauworth, well rested,
"through the Bavarian Passes, towards Bohemia and Frag:
"these have a longer march (say 250 miles), to north-east;
"and the leader of them is one I'olastron, destined unhappily
"to meet us on a future occasion. With them go certain other
"Bavarians; accompanying or preceding, as in the Vanward
"case. And then the Saxons (21,000 strong, a fine little Army,
"all that Saxony has) are, at the same time, come across the
"Metal Mountains (Erzf/ebirye), in quest of those Bohemian
"clippings, of that Kingdom of Moravia; and march from the
"westward upon Prag, -- Rutowski leading them. Comte de
"Rutowsky, Comte de Saxe's Half-Brother, one of the Three-
"hundred and fifty-four; -- with whom is Chevalier de Saxe,
"asecond younger ditto; and 1 think there is still a third,
"who shall go unnamed. In this grand Oriflamme Expedition,
"Four of the Royal-Saxon Bastards altogether. " Who cost
us more distinguishing than they are worth!
Chief General of these Saxons, says an authentic Author,
is Rutowsky; got from a Polish mother, I should guess: he
commands in chief here; -- once had a regiment under Fried-
rich Wilhelm, for a while; but has not much head for
strategy, it may be feared. But mark that Fourth individual
of the Three-hundred and fifty-four, who has a great deal.
Fourth individual, called Comte de Saxe, who is now in that
French Vanward a good way to east, was (must I again remind
you! ) the produce of the fair Aurora von Kb'nigsmark, Sister
of the Konigsmark who vanished instantaneously from the
light of day at Hanover long since, and has never re-appeared
more. It was in search of him that Aurora, who was indeed a
shining creature (terribly insolvent all her life, whose charms
even Charles XII. durst not fronts, came to Dresden; and, --
in this Comte de Saxe, men see the result. Tall enough,
restless enough; most eupeptic, brisk, with a great deal of
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? CHAP. vn. ] FORTUNES OF THE BELLEISLE ARMAMENT. 109
7tli Nov. 1741.
wild faculty, -- running to waste, nearly all. There, with his
black arched eyebrows, black swift physically-smiling eyes,
stands Monseigneur le Comte, one of the strongest-bodied and
most dissolute-minded men now living on our Planet. He is
now turned of forty: no man has been in such adventures, has
swum through such seas of transcendent eupepticity de-
termined to nave its fill. In this new Quasi-sacred French
Enterprise, under the Banner of Belleisle and the Chateauroux,
he has at last, after many trials, unconsciously found his cul-
mination; and will do exploits of a wonderful nature, -- very
worthy of said Banner and its patrons.
"Here, then, are Three streams or Armaments pouring
"forward upon Prag; perhaps some G0,000 men in all: -- a
"good deal uncertain what they are to do at Prag, except
"arrive simultaneously so far as possible. Belleisle, far off,
"has fallen sick in these critical days. Comte de Saxe cannot
"see his way in the matter at all: 'What are we to live upon,'
"asks Comte de Saxe, 'were there nothing more! ' -- For,
"simultaneously with these Three Armaments on march, there
"is an important Austrian one, likewise on the road for Prag:
"that of Grand-Duke Franz, who ha? left Presburg, with say
"30,000 (including the Pandour element); and duly meets the
"Neipperg, or late Silesian Army; -- well capable, now, to do
"a stroke upon the Three Armaments, if he be speedy ? ' No-
vember 7th' it was when Grand-Duke Franz picked up
"Neipperg, 'at Frating,' deep in Moravia (November 7th, the
"very day while Friedrich was getting homagod in Breslau),
"and turned him north-westward again. The Grand-Duke,
"in such strength, marches Prag-ward what he can; might be
"there before the French, were he swift; and is at any rate in
"disagreeable proximity to that Budweis - Tabor Country,
"appointed as one's halting-place. "
And Belleisle, in these critical days, is -- consider it! --
"Poor Belleisle, he has all the Election Votes ready; he has
"done unspeakable labours in the diplomatic way; and leaves
"Europe in ebullition and conflagration behind him. He has
"all these Armies in motion, and has got rid of'that Moravia,'
"--given it to Saxony, who adds the title 'King of Moravia'
"to his other dignities, and has set on march those 21,000 men.
'"Would he were ready with them! ' Belleisle had been saying,
"ever since the Treaty for them, -- Treaty was, September
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? 110 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
25th Nov. 1741.
"19th. Belleisle, to expedite him, came to Dresden" (what
day is not said, but deep in October); "intending next for the
"Prag Country, there to commence General, the diplomacies
"being satisfactorily done. Valori ran over from Berlin to
"wait upon him there. Alas, the Saxons are on march, or
"nearly so; but the great man himself, worn down with these
"Herculean labours, has fallen into rheumatic fever; is in bed,
"out at Hubertsburg (serene Country Palace of his Moravian
"Polish Majesty); and cannot get the least well, to march in
"person with the Three Armaments, with the flood of things
"he has set reeling and whirling at such rate.
"The sympathies of Valori go deep at this spectacle. The
"Alcides, who was carrying the axis of the world, fallen down
"in physical rheumatism! But what can sympathies avail?
"The great man sees the Saxons march without him. The
"great man, getting no alleviation from physicians, de-
"termines, in hispatriotic heroism, to surrender glory itself;
"writes home to Court, 'That he is lamed, disabled utterly;
"that they must nominate another General. ' And they no-
"minate another; nominate Broglio, the fat choleric Marshal,
"of Italian breed and physiognomy, whom we saw at Stras-
"burg last year, when Friedrich was there. Broglio will
"quit Strasburg too soon, and come. A man fierce in righting,
"skilled too in tactics; totally incompetent in strategy, or the
"art of leading armies, and managing campaigns; -- defective
"in intelligence indeed, not wise to discern; dim of vision,
"violent of temper; subject to sudden cranks, a head-long,
"very positive, loud, dull and angry kind of man; with whose
"tumultuous imbecilities the great Belleisle will be sore tried
"by and by. 'I reckon this,' Valori says, 'the root of all our
"woes;' this Letter which the great Belleisle wrote home to
"Court. Let men mark it, therefore, as a cardinal point,--
"and snatch out the date, when they have opportunity upon
"the Archives of France. *
"Monseigneur the Comte de Saxe, before quitting the
"Vienna Countries, had left some 10,000French and Ba-
"varians, posted chiefly in Linz, under a Comte de Se'gur, to
"maintain those Donau Conquests, which have cost only the
"trouble of marching into them. Count Khevenhuller has
"ceased working at the ramparts of Vienna, nothing of siege
* See Valori, 1. 131.
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? CHAP. VII. ] FORTUNES OF THE BELLEISLE ARMAMENT. Ill
aa Nov. 1741.
"to be apprehended now, civic terror joyfully vanishing
"again; and busies himself collecting an Army at Vienna,
"with intent of looking into those same French Se'gurs, before
"long. It is probable the so-called Conquests on the Donau
"will not be very permanent.
"November ldth-Slst, The three Belleisle Armaments,
"Karl Albert's first, have, simultaneously enough for the case,
"arrived on three sides of Prag; and lie looking into it, --
"extremely uncertain what to do when there. To Comte de
"Saxe, toSchmettau, who is still here, the outlook of this
"grand Belleisle Army, standing shelterless, provisionless,
"grim winter at hand, long hundreds of miles from home or
"Help, is in the highest degree questionable, though the others
"seem to make little of it: 'Fight the Grand-Duke when he
"comes,'say they; 'beat him, and--' 'Or suppose, he won't
"fight? Or suppose we are beaten by him? ' answer Saxe and
"Schmettau, like men of knowledge, in the same boat with
"men of none. 'We have no strong place, or footing in this
"Country: what are we to do? Take Prag! ' advises Comte de
"Saxe, with earnestness, day after day. * 'Take Prag: but
"how? ' answer they. 'By escalade, by surprise, and sword
"in hand,' answers he: 'Ogilvy their General has but 3,000,
"and is perhaps no wizard at his trade: we can do it, thus and
"thus, and then farther thus; and I perceive we are a lost
"Army if we don't! ' So counsels Maurice Comte de Saxe,
"brilliant, fervent in his military view; -- and, before it is
"quite too late, Schmettau and he persuade Karl Albert, per-
suade Rutowsky chief of the Saxons; and Count Polastron,
"Gaisson or whatever subaltern Counts there are, of French
"type, have to accede, and be saved in spite of themselves.
"And so,
"Saturday Night, 25th November 1741, brightest of moon-
"shiny nights, our dispositions are all made: Several attacks,
"three if fremember; one of them false, under some Polastron,
"Gaisson, from the south side; a couple of them true, from the
"north-west and the south-east sides, -- under Maurice with
"bisFrench, and Eutowsky with his Saxons, these two. And
"there is great marching 'on the side of the Karl-Thor
"(Charles-Gate),' where Rutowsky is; and by Count Maurice
"'behind the Wischerad;' -- and shortly after midnight, the
* His Letters on it to Earl Albert and others (in Espagnac, i. 94-99).
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? 112 TIRST SILBSIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
25th Nov. 1741.
"grand game begins. That Frencli-Polastron attack, false,
"though with dreadful cannonade from the south, attracts
"poor Ogilvy with almost all his forces to that quarter; while
"the couple of Saxon Captains (ltutowsky not at once success-
"ful, Maurice with his French completely so) break in upon
"Ogilvy from rearward, on the right flank and on the left;
"and ruin the poor man. Military readers will find the whole
"detail of it well given in Espagnac. Looser account is to be
"had in the Book they call Mauvillon's. *
One thing I remember always: the bright moonlight;
steeples of Prag towering serene in silvery silence, and on a
sudden the wreaths of volcanic fire breaking out all round
them. The opposition was but trifling, null in some places,
poor Ogilvy being nothing of a wizard, and his garrison very
small. It fell chiefly on Kutowsky; who met it with creditable
vigour, till relieved by the others. Comte Maurice, too, did a
shifty thing. Circling round by the outside of the Wischerad,
by rural roads in the bright moonshine, he had got to the Wall
at last, hollow slope and sheer wall; and was putting-to his
scaling-ladders, -- when, by ill luck, they proved too short!
Ten feet or so; hopelessly too short. Casting his head round,
Maurice notices the Gallows hard by: "There, see you, are a
few short ladders: mes enfans, bring me these, and we will
splice with rope! " Supplemented by the gallows, Maurice
soon gets in, cuts down the one poor sentry; rushes to the
Market-place, finds all his Brothers rushing, embraces them
with " Victoire. '" and, "You see I am eldest; bound to be fore-
most of you! "
"No point in all the War made a finer blaze in the French
"imagination, or figured better in the French gazettes, than
"this of the Scaladeof Prag, 25th November 1741. And surely
"it was important to get hold of Prag: nevertheless in-
"trinsically it is no great thing, but an opportune small thing,
"done by the Comte de Saxe, in spite of such contradiction as
"we saw. "
It was while news of this exploit was posting to-
wards Berlin, but not yet arrived there, that Friedrich,
* Derniire Guerre de Boheme, i. 252-264. Saxe's own Account (Letter
to Chevalier de Folard) is in Espagnac, i. 89 et sqq.
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? CHAP. VII. ] FORTUNES OF THE BELLEISLE ARMAMENT. 113
Mb Nov. 1741.
passing through the apartment, intimated to Hyndford,
"Milord, all is divulged, our Klein-Schnellendorf mys-
tery ,public as the housetops;" and vanished with a
shrug of the shoulders, -- thinking doubtless to him-
self, "What is our next move to be in consequence? "
Treaty with Kur-Baiern (November 4th) he had al-
ready signed in consequence, expressly declaring for
Kur-Baiern, and the French intentions towards him.
This news from Prag, -- Prag handsomely captured,
if Vienna had been foolishly neglected, -- put him
upon a new Adventure, of which in following Chapters
we shall hear more.
The French safe in Prag; Kaiserwahl just
coming on.
Grand-Duke Franz, with that respectable amount
of Army under him, ought surely to have advanced on
Prag, and done some stroke of war for relief of it,
while time yet was. Grand-Duke Franz, his Brother
Karl with him and his old Tutor Neipperg, both of
whom are thought to have some skill in war, did ad-
vance accordingly. But then withal there was risk at
Prag; and he always paused again, and waited to con-
sider. From Frating, on the 16th,* he had got to
Neuhaus, quite across Mahren into Bohemian ground,
and there joined with Lobkowitz and what Bohemian
force there was; by this time an Army which you
would have called much stronger than the French.
Forward, therefore! Yes; but with pauses, with consi-
derations. Pause of two days at Neuhaus; thence to
Tabor (famed Zisca's Tabor), a safe post, where again
pause three days. From Tabor is broad highway to
* Espagnac, 1. 87.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. VII. 8
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? 114 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
25th Nov. 1741.
Prag, only sixty miles off now: -- screwing their reso-
lution to the sticking-point, Grand-Duke and Consorts
advance at length with fixed determination, all Friday,
all Saturday (November 24th, 25th), part of Sunday
too, not thinking it shall be only part; and their light
troops are almost within sight of Prag, when -- they
learn that Prag is scaladed the night before, and quite
settled; that there is nothing except destruction to be
looked for in Prag! Back again, therefore, to the
Tabor-and-Budweis land. They strike into that boggy
broken country about Budweis, some 120 miles south
of Prag; and will there wait the signs of the times.
Grand-Duke Franz had seen war, under Secken-
dorf, under Wallis and otherwise, in the disastrous
Turk Countries; but, though willing enough, was never
much of a soldier: as to Neipperg, among his own men
especially, the one cry is, He ought to go about his
business out of Austrian Armies, as an imbecile and
even a traitor. "Is it conceivable that Friedrich could
have beaten us, in that manner, except by buying
Neipperg in the first place? Neipperg and the gener-
ality of them, in that luckless Silesian Business?
Glogau scaladed with the loss of half-a-dozen men;
Brieg gone within a week; Neisse ditto: and Mollwitz,
above all, where, in spite of Eomer and such Horse-
charging as was never seen, we had to melt, dissolve,
and roll away in the glitter of the evening sun! " The
common notion is, they are traitors, partial-traitors, one
and all. * -- Poor Neipperg, he has seen hard service,
had ugly work to do: it was he that gave away Bel-
grad to the Turks (so interpreting his orders), and the
Grand Vizier, calling him Dog of a Giaour, spat in
* Guerre de Boheme, s&piiis.
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? gHAP. VII. ] FORTUNES OF THE BELLEISLE ARMAMENT. 115
25th Nov. 1741.
his face, not far from hanging him; and the Kaiser and
Vienna people, on his coming home, threw him into
prison, and were near cutting off his head. And again,
after such sleety marchings through the Mountains, he
has had to dissolve at Mollwitz; float away in military
deluge in the manner we saw. And now, next winter,
here is he lodged among the upland bogs at Budweis,
escorted by mere curses. What a life is the soldier's,
like other men's; what a master is the world! Aulic
Cabinet is not all-wise; but may readily be wiser than
the vulgar, and, with a Maria Theresa at its head, it
is incapable of truculent impiety like that. Neipperg,
guilty of not being a Eugene, is not hanged as a
traitor; but placed quietly as Commandant in Luxem-
burg, spends there the afternoon of his life, in a more
commodious manner. Friedrich had, of late, rather
admired his movements on the Neisse River; and found
him a stiff article to deal with.
The French, now with Prag for their place of arms,
stretched themselves as far as Pisek, some seventy
miles south-westward; occupied Pisek, Pilsen and other
Towns and posts, on the south-west side, some seventy
miles from Prag; looking towards the Bavarian Passes
and homeward succours that might come: the Saxons,
a while after, got as far as Teutschbrod, eighty miles
on the south-eastward or Moravian hand. Behind these
outposts, Prag may be considered to hang on Silesia,
and have Friedrich for security. This, in front or as
forecourt of Friedrich's Silesia, this inconsiderable sec-
tion, was all of Bohemian Country the French and Con-
federates ever held, and they did not hold this long.
As for Karl Albert, he had his new pleasant Dream of
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? 116 FIRST SIUBSIAN WAR ENDS. [bOOK XIII.
7th Dec. 1741.
Sovereignty at Prag; Titular of Upper Austria, and
now of Bohmen as well; and enjoyed his Feast of the
Barmecide, and glorious repose in the captured Metro-
polis, after difficulty overcome. December 7th, he was
homaged (a good few of the Nobility attending, for
which they smarted afterwards), with much procession-
ing, blaring and te-deum-ing: on the 19th he rolled
off, home to Miinchen; there to await still higher
Romish-Imperial glories, which it is hoped are now at
hand.
A day or two after the Capture of Prag, Marechal
de Belleisle, partially cured of his rheumatisms, had
hastened to appear in that City; and for above four
weeks he continued there, settling, arranging, ordering
all things, in the most consummate manner, with that
fine military head of his. About Christmas time, jar-
rived Marechal deBroglio, his unfortunate successor or
substitute; to whom he made everything over; 'and
hastened off for Frankfurt, where the final crisis of
Kcdserwahl is now at hand, and the topstone of his
work is to be brought out with shouting. Marechal de
Broglio had an unquiet Winter of it in his new
command; and did not extend his quarters, but the
contrary.
Broglio has a Bivouac of Fisek; Khevenhuller looks
in upon the Donau Conquests.
Grand-Duke Franz edged himself at last a little
out of that Tabor-Budweis region', and began looking
Prag-ward again; -- hung about, for some time, with
his Hungarian light-troops scouring the country; but
still keeping Prag respectfully to right, at seventy
miles distance. December 28th, to Broglio's alarm, he
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? CHAP. VII.
4th Dec. 1741.
"Official friendship with those Gentlemen who, as Biirger-
"meisters, and as old and as new Members of Council, have
"forlong years made themselves renowned among us, I will
"entertain, in respect of the former" (the old), "afirmcon-
"fidence That the zeal they have so strongly manifested for
"behoof of the most serene Archducal House of Austria will
"henceforth burn in them for our most Beloved Land's-Prince
"whom God has now given us, that the fire of their lately
"plighted truth and devotion, towards his Royal Majesty,
"shall shine not in words only, but in works, and be ex-
"tinguished only with their lives. " (Can that be, O Spener or
Speer? Are we alarm-clocks, that need only to be wound up,
and told at what hour, and for whom? ) "God, who puts Kings
"in and casts them out, has given to us a no less potent
"Sovereign than supremely loving Land's-Father, who, by
"the renown of his more than royal virtues, had taken captive
"the hearts of his future subjects and children still sooner
"than even by his arms, familiar otherwise to victory, he did
"the Land. And who shall be puissant and mighty enough,
"now to lead men's minds in a contrary direction; to control
"the Most High Power, ruler over hearts and Lands, who had
"decreed it should be so; and again to change this change? "
(HearSpener: he has taken great pains with his Discourse,
and understands composition! )
"This change, Higb-honoured Gentlemen," of the Catholic
persuasion, "is also for you a not unhappy one. For our now
"as pious as wise King will, especially in one most vital point,
"take pattern by the King of all Kings; and means to be lord
"of his subjects only, not of the consciences of his subjects.
"He requires nothing from you but what you are already
"boundby God, by conscience and duty, to render: to wit,
"obedience and inviolable unbroken fidelity. And by that,
"and without more asked than that, you will render your-
"selves worthy of his protection, and become partakers of the
"Royal favour. Nay you will render yourselves all the
"worthier in that high quarter, and the more meritorious
"towards our civic commonweal, the more you, High-
"honoured Gentlemen," of the Catholic persuasion, '' accept,
"with all frankness of colleague-love and amity, me and the
"Evangelical brother Baths now introduced by Boyal grace
"and power; and make the new position generously tenable
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? 102 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
4th Dec. 1741.
"and available to us; -- and thereby bind with us the more
"firmly the band of peace and colleague-unity, for helping up
"this dear, and for some years greatly fallen, Town along
"with us.
"We, for our poor part, will, one and all, strive only to
"surpass each other in obedience and faith to our Most
"Gracious King. We will, as Regents of the Citizenry com-
"mitted to us, go before them with a good example; and prove
"to all and every one, That, little and in war untenable as our
"Landshutis, it shall, in extent and impregnability of faith
"towards its Most Dearest Land's-Prince, approve itself un-
"conquerable. As well I as" -- Professes now, in the most
intricate phraseology, that he, and Fischer and Umminger
(giving not only the titles, but a succinct history of all three,
in a single sentence, before he comes to the verb! ), bring a true
heart, ace. &c. -- Or would the reader perhaps like to see it in
natura, as a specimen of German human-nature, and the art
these Silesian spinners have in drawing out their yarns?
"As well I as" (1<<. ) "The Titular Herr Johann David
"Fischer, distinguished trader and merchant of this Town,
"who, by his tradings in and beyond our Silesian Countries,
"has made himself renowned, and by his merit and address in
"particular instances" (delicate instances known to Landshut,
not to us) "has made himself beloved, who has now been in-
stalled as Raths-Senior; and also as" (2<<. ) "The Titular
"Herr Johann Casper Riiffer, well-respected Citizen, and
"Revenue-office Manager here, who for many years has with
"much fidelity and vigilance managed theRevenue-office,and
"who for his experience in the economic constitution of this
"Town has been ail-graciously nominated Raths-Herr; -- and
"not less" (3o. ) "The Titular Johann Jacob Umminger,
"whilome Advocate at Law in Breslau, who, for his good
"studies in Law, and manifested skill in the practice of Law,
"has been ail-graciously nominated Supernumerary Councillor
"and Notary's-Adjunct among us: -- As well I as these Three
"not only assure you, High - honoured Gentlemen, of all
"imaginable estimation and return of love on our part; but do
"likewise assure all and sundry these respectable Herren
"Town-Jurats" (specially present), "representing here the
"universal well-beloved Citizenry of our Town, -- that we
"bring a heart sincere, and intent only on aiming at the wel-
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? CHAP. VI. ] MAYOR OF LANDSHUT SPEAKING. 103
4th Dec. 1741.
"fare of aCitizenry so loveworthy. We have the firm purpose,
"by God's grace, so to order qur walk, and so to conduct our
"government that we may, one day, when summoned from
"our judgment-seats to answer before the Universal Judgment-
"seat of Christ, be able to say, with that pious King and Judge
"of Israel: 'Lord, thou knowest if we have walked uprightly
"before Thee. ' And we hope to understand that the rewards
"of justice, in that Life, will be much more than those of in-
justice in this.
"We believe that the Most High will, in so far, bless these
"our honest purposes and wholesome endeavours, as that the
"actual fruits thereof will in time coming, and when Peace
"now soon expected (which God grant) has returned to us, be
"manifest; and that if, in our Office, as is common, we should
"rather have thorns of persecution than roses of recompense
"to expect, yet to each of us there will at last accrue praise in
"the Earth and reward in Heaven. " (Hear Spener! )
"Meanwhile we will unite all our wishes, That the
"Almighty may vouchsafe to his Royal Majesty, our now All-
"dearest Duke and Land's-Father, many long years of life
"and of happy reign; and maintain this All-highest Royal-
"Prussian and Elector-Brandenburgic House in supremest
"splendour and prosperity, undisturbed to the end of all
"Days; and along with it, our Town-Council, and whole
"Merchantry and Citizenry, safe under this Prussian Sceptre,
"in perpetual blessing, peace and unity" (what a modest
prayer! ): "to all which may Heaven speak its powerful
"Amen! "
Whereupon solemn waving of hats; indistinct sough
of loyal murmur from the universal Landshut Popu-
lation; after which, continued to the due extent, they
return to their spindles and shuttles again.
* Uelden-Geichichte, ii. 416-22.
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? 104 FIRST SILESIAST WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
Oct. --Dec. 1741.
CHAPTER VII.
FRIEDRICH PURPOSES TO MEND THE KLEIN-SCHNELLENDORF
FAILURE: FORTUNES OF THE BELLEISLE ARMAMENT.
We shall not dwell upon the movements of the
French into Germany for the purpose of overwhelming
Austria, and setting up Four subordinate little
Sovereignties to take their orders from Louis XV.
The plan was of the mad sort, not recognised by-
Nature at all; the diplomacy was wide, expensive,
grandiose, but vain and baseless; nor did the soldiering
that followed take permanent hold of men's memory.
Human nature cannot afford to follow out these loud
inanities; and, at a certain distance of time, is bound
to forget them, as ephemera of no account in the
general sum. Difficult to say what profit human nature
could get out of such transactions. There was no good
soldiering on the part of the French, except by gleams
here and there; bad soldiering for the most part, and
the cause was radically bad. Let us be brief with it;
try to snatch from it, huge rotten heap of old exuvise
and forgotten noises and deliriums, what fractions of
perennial may turn up for us, carefully forgetting the
rest.
Maillebois with his 40,000, we have seen how they
got to Osnabrilck, and effectually stilled the war-fervour
of little George II. ; sent him home, in fact, to England
a checkmated man, he riding out of Osnabruck by one
gate, the French at the same moment marching in by
the other. There lies Maillebois ever since; and will
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? CHAP. VII. ] FORTUNES OF THE BELLEISLE ARMAMENT. 105 *
Oct. -Dcc. 1741.
lie, cantoned over Westphalia, "not nearer than three
leagues to the boundary of Hanover," for a year and
more. There let Maillebois lie, till we see him called
away elsewhither; upon which the gallant little George,
checkmate being lifted, will get into notable military
activity, and attempt to draw his sword again, --
though without success, owing to the laggard Dutch.
Which also, as British subjects, if not otherwise, the
readers of this Book will wish to see something of.
Maillebois did not quite keep his stipulated distance
of "three leagues from the boundary" (being often
short of victual), and was otherwise no good neighbour.
Among his Field-Officers, there is visible (sometimes
in trouble about quarters and the like) a Marquis du
Chatelet, -- who, I find, is Husband or Ex-Husband
to the divine Emilie, if readers care to think of that! *
Other known face, or point of interest for or against,
does not turn up in the Maillebois Operation in those
parts.
<
As for the other still grander Army, Army of the
Oriflamme as we have called it, -- which would be
Belleisle's, were not he so overwhelmed with embas-
sy ing, and persuading the Powers of Germany, -- this,
since we last saw it, has struck into a new course,
which it is essential to indicate. The major part of it
(Four rear Divisions, if readers recollect) lay at Ingol-
stadt, its place of arms; while the Vanward Three Di-
visions, under Maurice Comte de Saxe, flowed onward,
joining with Bavaria at Passau; down the Donau
Country, to Linz and farther, terrifying Vienna itself;
and driving all the Court to Presburg, with (fabulous)
* Campagnes (i. 45, 193); and French Peerage-Books, ? Du Chainlet.
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? 106 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book Xin.
Oct. --Dec. 1741.
"Moriamur pro Rege nostro Maria Tlieresid" but -with
actual armament of Tolpatches, Pandours, Warasdins,
Uscocks and the like unsightly beings of a predatory
centaur nature. Which fine Hungarian Armament,
and others still more ominous, have been diligently
going on, while Karl Albert sat enjoying his Hom-
agings at Linz, his Pisgah-views Vienna-ward; and asking
himself, "Shall we venture forward, and capture Vienna,
then? "
The question is intricate, and there are many se-
cret biassings concerned in the solution of it. Friedrich,
before Klein-Schnellendorf time, had written eagerly,
had sent Schmettau with eager message, "Push for-
ward; it is feasible, even easy: cut the matter by the
root! " This, they say, was Karl Albert's own notion;
had not the French overruled him; -- not willing,
some guess, he should get Austria, and become too in-
dependent of them all at once. Nay, it appears Karl
Albert had inducements of his own towards Bohemia
rather. The French have had Kur-Sachsen to manage
withal; and there are interests in Bohemia of his and
theirs, -- clippings of Bohemia promised him as bribes,
besides that "Kingdom of Moravia," to get his 21,000
set on march. "Clippings of Bohemia? Interests of
Kur-Sachsen's in that Country? " asks Karl Albert with
alarm; and thinks it will be safer, were he himself pre-
sent there, while Saxony and France do the clippings
in question! Sure enough, he did not push on. Belle-
isle, from the distance, strongly opined otherwise; Karl
Albert himself had jealous fears about Bohmen. Fried-
rich's importunities and urgencies were useless: and the
one chance there ever was for Karl Albert, for Belleisle
and the Ruin of Austria, vanished without return.
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? CHAP. VII. ] FORTUNES OF THE BELLEISLE ARMAMENT. 107
2<<h Oct. 1741.
Karl Albert has turned off, leftwards, towards his
Bohemian Enterprises: French, Bavarians, Saxons, by
their several routes, since the last days of October, are
all on march that way. We will mark an exact date
here and there, as fixed point for the reader's fancy.
Poor Karl Albert, he had sat some six weeks at Linz,
-- about three weeks since that Homaging there
(October 2d); -- imaginary Sovereign of Upper Aus-
tria; looking over to Vienna and the Promised Land in
general. And that fine Pisgah-view was all he ever
had of it. Of Austrian or other Conquests earthly or
heavenly, there came none to him in this Adventure;
-- mere minus quantities they all proved. For a few
weeks more, there are, blended with awful portents, an
imaginary gleam or two in other quarters; after which,
nothing but black horror and disgrace, deepening
downwards into utter darkness, for the poor man.
Belleisle is an imaginary Sungod; but the poor Icarus,
tempted aloft in that manner into the earnest elements,
and melting at once into quills and rags, is a tragic
reality! -- Let us to our dates:
"October 24/fc, The Bavarian Troops, who had lain at
"MauternontheDonau some time, forty miles from Vienna
"and the PromisedLand, got under way again; -- not forward,
"but sharp to left, or northward, towards theBohemian parts.
"Thither all the Belleisle Armaments are now bound; and a
"general rallying of them is to be at Prag; for conquest of
"that Country, as more inviting than Austria at present.
"Comte de Saxe, who had lain atSt. Polten, a march to south-
"wardof Mautern, he with the Vanward of the great Belleisle
"Army, bestirred himself at the same time; and followed
"steadily (Karl Albert in person was with Saxe), at a handy
"distance, by parallel roads. To Prag may be about 200
"miles. Across the Mannhartsberg Country, clear out of
"Austria, into Bohmen, towards Prag. At Budweis, or be-
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? 108 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
Oct. --Dec. 1741.
"tween that and Tabor, -- Towns of our old friend Zisca's, of
"which we shall hear farther in these Wars; Towns important
"by their intricate environment of rock and bog, far up among
"the springs of the Moldau, -- there can these Bavarians, and
"this French Vanward of Belleisle, halt a little, till the other
"parties, who are likewise on march, get within distance.
"For in these same days, as hinted above, the Rearward of
"the Belleisle Army (Four Divisions, strength not accurately
"given) pushes forward from Donauworth, well rested,
"through the Bavarian Passes, towards Bohemia and Frag:
"these have a longer march (say 250 miles), to north-east;
"and the leader of them is one I'olastron, destined unhappily
"to meet us on a future occasion. With them go certain other
"Bavarians; accompanying or preceding, as in the Vanward
"case. And then the Saxons (21,000 strong, a fine little Army,
"all that Saxony has) are, at the same time, come across the
"Metal Mountains (Erzf/ebirye), in quest of those Bohemian
"clippings, of that Kingdom of Moravia; and march from the
"westward upon Prag, -- Rutowski leading them. Comte de
"Rutowsky, Comte de Saxe's Half-Brother, one of the Three-
"hundred and fifty-four; -- with whom is Chevalier de Saxe,
"asecond younger ditto; and 1 think there is still a third,
"who shall go unnamed. In this grand Oriflamme Expedition,
"Four of the Royal-Saxon Bastards altogether. " Who cost
us more distinguishing than they are worth!
Chief General of these Saxons, says an authentic Author,
is Rutowsky; got from a Polish mother, I should guess: he
commands in chief here; -- once had a regiment under Fried-
rich Wilhelm, for a while; but has not much head for
strategy, it may be feared. But mark that Fourth individual
of the Three-hundred and fifty-four, who has a great deal.
Fourth individual, called Comte de Saxe, who is now in that
French Vanward a good way to east, was (must I again remind
you! ) the produce of the fair Aurora von Kb'nigsmark, Sister
of the Konigsmark who vanished instantaneously from the
light of day at Hanover long since, and has never re-appeared
more. It was in search of him that Aurora, who was indeed a
shining creature (terribly insolvent all her life, whose charms
even Charles XII. durst not fronts, came to Dresden; and, --
in this Comte de Saxe, men see the result. Tall enough,
restless enough; most eupeptic, brisk, with a great deal of
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? CHAP. vn. ] FORTUNES OF THE BELLEISLE ARMAMENT. 109
7tli Nov. 1741.
wild faculty, -- running to waste, nearly all. There, with his
black arched eyebrows, black swift physically-smiling eyes,
stands Monseigneur le Comte, one of the strongest-bodied and
most dissolute-minded men now living on our Planet. He is
now turned of forty: no man has been in such adventures, has
swum through such seas of transcendent eupepticity de-
termined to nave its fill. In this new Quasi-sacred French
Enterprise, under the Banner of Belleisle and the Chateauroux,
he has at last, after many trials, unconsciously found his cul-
mination; and will do exploits of a wonderful nature, -- very
worthy of said Banner and its patrons.
"Here, then, are Three streams or Armaments pouring
"forward upon Prag; perhaps some G0,000 men in all: -- a
"good deal uncertain what they are to do at Prag, except
"arrive simultaneously so far as possible. Belleisle, far off,
"has fallen sick in these critical days. Comte de Saxe cannot
"see his way in the matter at all: 'What are we to live upon,'
"asks Comte de Saxe, 'were there nothing more! ' -- For,
"simultaneously with these Three Armaments on march, there
"is an important Austrian one, likewise on the road for Prag:
"that of Grand-Duke Franz, who ha? left Presburg, with say
"30,000 (including the Pandour element); and duly meets the
"Neipperg, or late Silesian Army; -- well capable, now, to do
"a stroke upon the Three Armaments, if he be speedy ? ' No-
vember 7th' it was when Grand-Duke Franz picked up
"Neipperg, 'at Frating,' deep in Moravia (November 7th, the
"very day while Friedrich was getting homagod in Breslau),
"and turned him north-westward again. The Grand-Duke,
"in such strength, marches Prag-ward what he can; might be
"there before the French, were he swift; and is at any rate in
"disagreeable proximity to that Budweis - Tabor Country,
"appointed as one's halting-place. "
And Belleisle, in these critical days, is -- consider it! --
"Poor Belleisle, he has all the Election Votes ready; he has
"done unspeakable labours in the diplomatic way; and leaves
"Europe in ebullition and conflagration behind him. He has
"all these Armies in motion, and has got rid of'that Moravia,'
"--given it to Saxony, who adds the title 'King of Moravia'
"to his other dignities, and has set on march those 21,000 men.
'"Would he were ready with them! ' Belleisle had been saying,
"ever since the Treaty for them, -- Treaty was, September
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? 110 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
25th Nov. 1741.
"19th. Belleisle, to expedite him, came to Dresden" (what
day is not said, but deep in October); "intending next for the
"Prag Country, there to commence General, the diplomacies
"being satisfactorily done. Valori ran over from Berlin to
"wait upon him there. Alas, the Saxons are on march, or
"nearly so; but the great man himself, worn down with these
"Herculean labours, has fallen into rheumatic fever; is in bed,
"out at Hubertsburg (serene Country Palace of his Moravian
"Polish Majesty); and cannot get the least well, to march in
"person with the Three Armaments, with the flood of things
"he has set reeling and whirling at such rate.
"The sympathies of Valori go deep at this spectacle. The
"Alcides, who was carrying the axis of the world, fallen down
"in physical rheumatism! But what can sympathies avail?
"The great man sees the Saxons march without him. The
"great man, getting no alleviation from physicians, de-
"termines, in hispatriotic heroism, to surrender glory itself;
"writes home to Court, 'That he is lamed, disabled utterly;
"that they must nominate another General. ' And they no-
"minate another; nominate Broglio, the fat choleric Marshal,
"of Italian breed and physiognomy, whom we saw at Stras-
"burg last year, when Friedrich was there. Broglio will
"quit Strasburg too soon, and come. A man fierce in righting,
"skilled too in tactics; totally incompetent in strategy, or the
"art of leading armies, and managing campaigns; -- defective
"in intelligence indeed, not wise to discern; dim of vision,
"violent of temper; subject to sudden cranks, a head-long,
"very positive, loud, dull and angry kind of man; with whose
"tumultuous imbecilities the great Belleisle will be sore tried
"by and by. 'I reckon this,' Valori says, 'the root of all our
"woes;' this Letter which the great Belleisle wrote home to
"Court. Let men mark it, therefore, as a cardinal point,--
"and snatch out the date, when they have opportunity upon
"the Archives of France. *
"Monseigneur the Comte de Saxe, before quitting the
"Vienna Countries, had left some 10,000French and Ba-
"varians, posted chiefly in Linz, under a Comte de Se'gur, to
"maintain those Donau Conquests, which have cost only the
"trouble of marching into them. Count Khevenhuller has
"ceased working at the ramparts of Vienna, nothing of siege
* See Valori, 1. 131.
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? CHAP. VII. ] FORTUNES OF THE BELLEISLE ARMAMENT. Ill
aa Nov. 1741.
"to be apprehended now, civic terror joyfully vanishing
"again; and busies himself collecting an Army at Vienna,
"with intent of looking into those same French Se'gurs, before
"long. It is probable the so-called Conquests on the Donau
"will not be very permanent.
"November ldth-Slst, The three Belleisle Armaments,
"Karl Albert's first, have, simultaneously enough for the case,
"arrived on three sides of Prag; and lie looking into it, --
"extremely uncertain what to do when there. To Comte de
"Saxe, toSchmettau, who is still here, the outlook of this
"grand Belleisle Army, standing shelterless, provisionless,
"grim winter at hand, long hundreds of miles from home or
"Help, is in the highest degree questionable, though the others
"seem to make little of it: 'Fight the Grand-Duke when he
"comes,'say they; 'beat him, and--' 'Or suppose, he won't
"fight? Or suppose we are beaten by him? ' answer Saxe and
"Schmettau, like men of knowledge, in the same boat with
"men of none. 'We have no strong place, or footing in this
"Country: what are we to do? Take Prag! ' advises Comte de
"Saxe, with earnestness, day after day. * 'Take Prag: but
"how? ' answer they. 'By escalade, by surprise, and sword
"in hand,' answers he: 'Ogilvy their General has but 3,000,
"and is perhaps no wizard at his trade: we can do it, thus and
"thus, and then farther thus; and I perceive we are a lost
"Army if we don't! ' So counsels Maurice Comte de Saxe,
"brilliant, fervent in his military view; -- and, before it is
"quite too late, Schmettau and he persuade Karl Albert, per-
suade Rutowsky chief of the Saxons; and Count Polastron,
"Gaisson or whatever subaltern Counts there are, of French
"type, have to accede, and be saved in spite of themselves.
"And so,
"Saturday Night, 25th November 1741, brightest of moon-
"shiny nights, our dispositions are all made: Several attacks,
"three if fremember; one of them false, under some Polastron,
"Gaisson, from the south side; a couple of them true, from the
"north-west and the south-east sides, -- under Maurice with
"bisFrench, and Eutowsky with his Saxons, these two. And
"there is great marching 'on the side of the Karl-Thor
"(Charles-Gate),' where Rutowsky is; and by Count Maurice
"'behind the Wischerad;' -- and shortly after midnight, the
* His Letters on it to Earl Albert and others (in Espagnac, i. 94-99).
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? 112 TIRST SILBSIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
25th Nov. 1741.
"grand game begins. That Frencli-Polastron attack, false,
"though with dreadful cannonade from the south, attracts
"poor Ogilvy with almost all his forces to that quarter; while
"the couple of Saxon Captains (ltutowsky not at once success-
"ful, Maurice with his French completely so) break in upon
"Ogilvy from rearward, on the right flank and on the left;
"and ruin the poor man. Military readers will find the whole
"detail of it well given in Espagnac. Looser account is to be
"had in the Book they call Mauvillon's. *
One thing I remember always: the bright moonlight;
steeples of Prag towering serene in silvery silence, and on a
sudden the wreaths of volcanic fire breaking out all round
them. The opposition was but trifling, null in some places,
poor Ogilvy being nothing of a wizard, and his garrison very
small. It fell chiefly on Kutowsky; who met it with creditable
vigour, till relieved by the others. Comte Maurice, too, did a
shifty thing. Circling round by the outside of the Wischerad,
by rural roads in the bright moonshine, he had got to the Wall
at last, hollow slope and sheer wall; and was putting-to his
scaling-ladders, -- when, by ill luck, they proved too short!
Ten feet or so; hopelessly too short. Casting his head round,
Maurice notices the Gallows hard by: "There, see you, are a
few short ladders: mes enfans, bring me these, and we will
splice with rope! " Supplemented by the gallows, Maurice
soon gets in, cuts down the one poor sentry; rushes to the
Market-place, finds all his Brothers rushing, embraces them
with " Victoire. '" and, "You see I am eldest; bound to be fore-
most of you! "
"No point in all the War made a finer blaze in the French
"imagination, or figured better in the French gazettes, than
"this of the Scaladeof Prag, 25th November 1741. And surely
"it was important to get hold of Prag: nevertheless in-
"trinsically it is no great thing, but an opportune small thing,
"done by the Comte de Saxe, in spite of such contradiction as
"we saw. "
It was while news of this exploit was posting to-
wards Berlin, but not yet arrived there, that Friedrich,
* Derniire Guerre de Boheme, i. 252-264. Saxe's own Account (Letter
to Chevalier de Folard) is in Espagnac, i. 89 et sqq.
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? CHAP. VII. ] FORTUNES OF THE BELLEISLE ARMAMENT. 113
Mb Nov. 1741.
passing through the apartment, intimated to Hyndford,
"Milord, all is divulged, our Klein-Schnellendorf mys-
tery ,public as the housetops;" and vanished with a
shrug of the shoulders, -- thinking doubtless to him-
self, "What is our next move to be in consequence? "
Treaty with Kur-Baiern (November 4th) he had al-
ready signed in consequence, expressly declaring for
Kur-Baiern, and the French intentions towards him.
This news from Prag, -- Prag handsomely captured,
if Vienna had been foolishly neglected, -- put him
upon a new Adventure, of which in following Chapters
we shall hear more.
The French safe in Prag; Kaiserwahl just
coming on.
Grand-Duke Franz, with that respectable amount
of Army under him, ought surely to have advanced on
Prag, and done some stroke of war for relief of it,
while time yet was. Grand-Duke Franz, his Brother
Karl with him and his old Tutor Neipperg, both of
whom are thought to have some skill in war, did ad-
vance accordingly. But then withal there was risk at
Prag; and he always paused again, and waited to con-
sider. From Frating, on the 16th,* he had got to
Neuhaus, quite across Mahren into Bohemian ground,
and there joined with Lobkowitz and what Bohemian
force there was; by this time an Army which you
would have called much stronger than the French.
Forward, therefore! Yes; but with pauses, with consi-
derations. Pause of two days at Neuhaus; thence to
Tabor (famed Zisca's Tabor), a safe post, where again
pause three days. From Tabor is broad highway to
* Espagnac, 1. 87.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. VII. 8
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? 114 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
25th Nov. 1741.
Prag, only sixty miles off now: -- screwing their reso-
lution to the sticking-point, Grand-Duke and Consorts
advance at length with fixed determination, all Friday,
all Saturday (November 24th, 25th), part of Sunday
too, not thinking it shall be only part; and their light
troops are almost within sight of Prag, when -- they
learn that Prag is scaladed the night before, and quite
settled; that there is nothing except destruction to be
looked for in Prag! Back again, therefore, to the
Tabor-and-Budweis land. They strike into that boggy
broken country about Budweis, some 120 miles south
of Prag; and will there wait the signs of the times.
Grand-Duke Franz had seen war, under Secken-
dorf, under Wallis and otherwise, in the disastrous
Turk Countries; but, though willing enough, was never
much of a soldier: as to Neipperg, among his own men
especially, the one cry is, He ought to go about his
business out of Austrian Armies, as an imbecile and
even a traitor. "Is it conceivable that Friedrich could
have beaten us, in that manner, except by buying
Neipperg in the first place? Neipperg and the gener-
ality of them, in that luckless Silesian Business?
Glogau scaladed with the loss of half-a-dozen men;
Brieg gone within a week; Neisse ditto: and Mollwitz,
above all, where, in spite of Eomer and such Horse-
charging as was never seen, we had to melt, dissolve,
and roll away in the glitter of the evening sun! " The
common notion is, they are traitors, partial-traitors, one
and all. * -- Poor Neipperg, he has seen hard service,
had ugly work to do: it was he that gave away Bel-
grad to the Turks (so interpreting his orders), and the
Grand Vizier, calling him Dog of a Giaour, spat in
* Guerre de Boheme, s&piiis.
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? gHAP. VII. ] FORTUNES OF THE BELLEISLE ARMAMENT. 115
25th Nov. 1741.
his face, not far from hanging him; and the Kaiser and
Vienna people, on his coming home, threw him into
prison, and were near cutting off his head. And again,
after such sleety marchings through the Mountains, he
has had to dissolve at Mollwitz; float away in military
deluge in the manner we saw. And now, next winter,
here is he lodged among the upland bogs at Budweis,
escorted by mere curses. What a life is the soldier's,
like other men's; what a master is the world! Aulic
Cabinet is not all-wise; but may readily be wiser than
the vulgar, and, with a Maria Theresa at its head, it
is incapable of truculent impiety like that. Neipperg,
guilty of not being a Eugene, is not hanged as a
traitor; but placed quietly as Commandant in Luxem-
burg, spends there the afternoon of his life, in a more
commodious manner. Friedrich had, of late, rather
admired his movements on the Neisse River; and found
him a stiff article to deal with.
The French, now with Prag for their place of arms,
stretched themselves as far as Pisek, some seventy
miles south-westward; occupied Pisek, Pilsen and other
Towns and posts, on the south-west side, some seventy
miles from Prag; looking towards the Bavarian Passes
and homeward succours that might come: the Saxons,
a while after, got as far as Teutschbrod, eighty miles
on the south-eastward or Moravian hand. Behind these
outposts, Prag may be considered to hang on Silesia,
and have Friedrich for security. This, in front or as
forecourt of Friedrich's Silesia, this inconsiderable sec-
tion, was all of Bohemian Country the French and Con-
federates ever held, and they did not hold this long.
As for Karl Albert, he had his new pleasant Dream of
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? 116 FIRST SIUBSIAN WAR ENDS. [bOOK XIII.
7th Dec. 1741.
Sovereignty at Prag; Titular of Upper Austria, and
now of Bohmen as well; and enjoyed his Feast of the
Barmecide, and glorious repose in the captured Metro-
polis, after difficulty overcome. December 7th, he was
homaged (a good few of the Nobility attending, for
which they smarted afterwards), with much procession-
ing, blaring and te-deum-ing: on the 19th he rolled
off, home to Miinchen; there to await still higher
Romish-Imperial glories, which it is hoped are now at
hand.
A day or two after the Capture of Prag, Marechal
de Belleisle, partially cured of his rheumatisms, had
hastened to appear in that City; and for above four
weeks he continued there, settling, arranging, ordering
all things, in the most consummate manner, with that
fine military head of his. About Christmas time, jar-
rived Marechal deBroglio, his unfortunate successor or
substitute; to whom he made everything over; 'and
hastened off for Frankfurt, where the final crisis of
Kcdserwahl is now at hand, and the topstone of his
work is to be brought out with shouting. Marechal de
Broglio had an unquiet Winter of it in his new
command; and did not extend his quarters, but the
contrary.
Broglio has a Bivouac of Fisek; Khevenhuller looks
in upon the Donau Conquests.
Grand-Duke Franz edged himself at last a little
out of that Tabor-Budweis region', and began looking
Prag-ward again; -- hung about, for some time, with
his Hungarian light-troops scouring the country; but
still keeping Prag respectfully to right, at seventy
miles distance. December 28th, to Broglio's alarm, he
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? CHAP. VII.
