Friedrich's successes in this department, the
rather as Embden and Ost-Friesland have in our time
ceased to be Prussian, are not much worth speaking
of; but they connect themselves with some points still
slightly memorable to us.
rather as Embden and Ost-Friesland have in our time
ceased to be Prussian, are not much worth speaking
of; but they connect themselves with some points still
slightly memorable to us.
Thomas Carlyle
55
13th-16th July 1751.
with him. * On catching view of Ost-Friesland Border,
see, on the Border-Line, what an Arch got on its feet:
Triumphal Arch, of frondent ornaments, inscriptions
and insignia; "of quite extraordinary magnificence-," Arch which "sets every one into the agreeablest ad-
miration. " Above a hundred such Arches spanned the
road at different points; multitudinous enthusiasm re-
verently escorting, "more than 20,000" by count; till
we enter Embden; where all is cannon-salvo, and three-
times-three; the thunder-shots continuing, "above 2,000
"of them from the walls, not to speak of response from
"the ships in harbour. " Embden glad enough, as
would appear, and Ost-Friesland glad enough, to see
their new King. July 13th, 1751; after waiting above
six years.
Next day, his Majesty gave audience to the new
"Asiatic Shipping Company" (of which anon), to the
Stande, and Magisterial persons; -- with many ques-
tions, I doubt not, about your new embankments, new
improvements, prospects; there being much procedure
that way, in all manner of kinds, since the new Dynasty
came in, now six years ago. Embankments on your
River, wide spaces changed from ooze to meadow; on
the Dollart still more, which has lain 500 years hidden
from the sun. Does any reader know the Dollart?
Ost-Friesland has awakened to wonderful new indus-
tries within these six years; urged and guided by the
new King, who has great things in view for it, besides
what are in actual progress.
That of dikes, sea-embankments, for example; to
* Helden- Geschichte, ra. 506; Seyfarth, n. 145; llodenbeck, i. 216 (who
gives a foolish German myth, of Voltaire's being passed off for the King's
Baboon, &c. ; Voltaire not being there at all).
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 56 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
13th-16th July 1751.
Ost-Friesland, as to Holland, they are the first condi-
tion of existence; and, in the past times, of extreme
Parliamentary vitality, have been slipping a good deal
out of repair. Ems River, in those flat rainy countries,
has ploughed out for itself a very wide embouchure, as
boundary between Groningen and Ost-Friesland.
Muddy Ems, bickering with the German Ocean, does
not forget to act, if Parliamentary Commissioners do.
These dikes, 120 miles of dike, mainly along both
banks of this muddy Ems River, are now water-tight
again, to the comfort of flax and clover: and this is
but one item of the diking now on foot. Readers do
not know the Dollart, that uppermost round gulf, not
far from Embden itself, in the waste embouchure of
Ems with its continents of mud and tide. Five hun-
dred years ago, that ugly whirl of muddy surf, 100
square miles in area, was a fruitful field, "50 Villages
"upon it, one Town, several Monasteries, and 50,000
"souls:" till on Christmas midnight, A. d. 1277, the
winds and the storm-rains having got to their height,
Ocean and Ems did, "about midnight," undermine the
place, folded it over like a friable bed-quilt, or mon-
strous doomed griddle-cake, and swallowed it all away.
Most of it, they say, that night, the whole of it within
ten years coming;* -- and there it has hung, like an
unlovely goitre at the throat of Embden, ever since.
One little dot of an Island, with six houses on it, near
the Embden shore, is all that is left. Where probably
his Majesty landed (July 15th, being in a Yacht that
day); but did not see, afar off, the "sunk steeple-top,"
which is fabled to be visible at low-water.
* BUsching, Erdbeschreibung, v. 815, 816; Freuss, i. 308, 309.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. YHI. ] OST-FKIESLAND. 57
13th-16th July 1751.
Upon this Dollart itself there is now to be diking
tried; King's Domain-Kammer showing the example.
Which Official Body did accordingly (without Blue-
Books, but in good working case otherwise) break
ground, few months hence; and victoriously achieved
a Polder, or Diked Territory, "worth about 2,000? . an-
nually;" "which, in 1756, was sold to the Stdnde-" at
twenty-five years' purchase, let us say, or for 50,000J.
An example of convincing nature; which many others,
and ever others, have followed since; to gradual con-
siderable diminution of the Dollart, and relief of Ost-
Friesland on this side. Furtherance of these things is
much a concern of Friedrich's. The second day after
his arrival, those audiences and ceremonials done,
Friedrich and suite got on board a Yacht, and sailed
about all over this Dollart, twenty miles out to sea;
dined on board; and would have, if the weather was
bright (which I hope), a pleasantly edifying day. The
harbour is much in need of dredging, the building
docks considerably in disrepair; but shall be refitted if
this King live and prosper. He has declared Embden
a "Free-Haven," inviting trade to it from all peaceable
Nations; -- and readers do not know (though Sir Jonas
Hanway and the jealous mercantile world well did)
what magnificent Shipping Companies and Sea-Enter-
prises, of his devising, are afoot there. Of which, one
word, and no second shall follow:
"September 1st, 1750, those Carrousel gaieties scarce
"done, 'The Asiatic Trading Company' stept formally into
"existence; Embden the Headquarters of it;* chief Manager
"a Ritter De la Touche; one of the Directors our fantastic
* Patent, or Freyheits-Brief, in Helden-Geschichte, in. 457, 458.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 58 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
13th-16th July 1751.
"Bielfeld, thus turned to practical value. A Company pa-
"tronised, in all ways, by the King; but, for the rest,
"founded, not on his money; founded on voluntary shares,
"which, to the regret of Han way and- others, have had much
"popularity in commercial circles. Will trade to China. A
"thing looked at with umbrage by the English, by the Dutch.
"A shame thatEnglish people should encourage such schemes,
"says Hanway. Which nevertheless many Dutch and many
"English private persons do, -- among the latter, one English
"Lady (name unknown, but I always suspect 'MissBarbara
"'Wyndham, of the College, Salisbury'), concerning whom
"there will be honourable notice, by and by.
"At the time of Friedrich's visit, the Asiatic Company is
"in full vogue; making ready its first ship for Canton. First
'ship, Konig von Preussen (tons burden not given), actually
"sailed 17th February next (1752); and was followed by a
"second, named Town of Embden, on the 19th of September
"following; both of which prosperously reached Canton, and
"prosperously returned with cargoes of satisfactory profit.
'The first of them, Konig von Preussen, had been boarded in
"the Downs by an English Captain Thomson and his Frigate,
'and detained, some days,--till Thomson 'took Seven English
"seamen out of her. ' 'Act of Parliament, express! ' said his
"Grace of Newcastle. Which done, Thomson found that the
"English jealousies would have to hold their hand; no farther,
"whatever one's wishes may be.
"Nay within a year hence, January 24th, 1753, Friedrich
"founded another Company for India: 'Bengalische Handels-
''gesellschaft;' which also sent out its pair of ships, perhaps
"oftener than once; and pointed, as the other was doing, to
"wide fields of enterprise, for some time. But luck was
"wanting. And, 'in part, mismanagement,' and, in whole,
"the Seven-Years War put an end to both Companies before
"long. Friedrich is full of these thoughts, among his other
"Industrialisms; and never quits them for discouragement,
"but tries again, when the obstacles cease to be insuperable.
"Ever since the acquisition of Ost-Friesland, the furtherance
'of Sea-Commerce had been one of Friedrich's chosen ob-
'jects. 'Let us carry our own goods at least, Silesian linens,
"'Memel timbers, stock-fish; what need of theDutch to do it? '
"And in many branches his progress had been remarkable,--
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. VIII. ] THE SHIPPING INTERESTS. 59
13th-16th July 1751.
"especially in this carrying trade, while the War lasted, and
"crippled all Anti-English belligerents. Upon which, indeed,
"ana the conduct of the English Privateers to him, there is a
"Controversy going on with the English Court in those years
"(began in 1747), most distressful to his Grace of Newcastle;
"-- which in part explains those stingy procedures of Captain
"Thomson ('Home, you seven English sailors! ') when the
"first Canton ship put to sea. That Controversy is by no
"means ended after three years, but on the contrary, after
"two years more, comes to a crisis quite shocking to his Grace
"of Newcastle, and defying all solution on his Grace's side,--
"the other Party, after such delays, five years waiting, having
"settled it for himself! " Of which, were the crisis come, we
will give some account.
On the third day of his Visit, Friedrich drove to
Aurich, the seat of Government, and official little
Capital of Ost-Friesland; where triumphal arches, joy-
ful reverences, concourses, demonstrations, sumptuous
Dinner one item, awaited his Majesty: I know not if,
in the way thither or back, he passed those "Three
"huge Oaks" (or the rotted stems or roots of them)
"under which the Ancient Frisians, Lords of all be-
"tween Weser and Rhine, were wont to assemble in "Parliament" (without Fourth Estate, or any Eloquence
except of the purely Business sort), -- or what his
thoughts on the late Ost-Friesland Bandbox Parlia-
ments may have been! He returned to Embden
that night; and on the morrow, started homewards;
we may fancy, tolerably pleased with what he had
seen.
"King Friedrich's main Objects of Pursuit, in this Period,"
says a certain Author, whom we often follow, "I define as
"being Three. 1? . Reform of the Law; 2? . Furtherance of
"Husbandry and Industry in all kinds, especially of Shipping
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 60 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
13th-16th July 1751.
"from Embden; 3? . Improvement of his own Domesticities
"and Household Enjoyments," -- renewal of the Reinsberg Program, in short.
"In the First of these objects," continues he, "King
"Friedrich's success was very considerable, and got him
"great fame in the world. In his Second head of efforts, that
"of improving the Industries and Husbandries among his
"People, his success, though less noised of in foreign parts,
"was to the near observer still more remarkable. A perennial
"business with him, this; which, even in the time of War,
"he never neglects; and which springs out like a stemmed
"flood, whenever Peace leaves him free for it. His labours
"by all methods to awaken new branches of industry, to
"cherish and further the old, are incessant, manifold, un-
"wearied; and will surprise the uninstructed reader, when he
"comes to study them. An airy, poetising, bantering, lightly
"brilliant King, supposed to be serious mainly in things of
"War, how is he moiling and toiling, like an ever-vigilant
"Land-Steward, like the most industrious City Merchant,
"hardest-working Merchant's Clerk, to increase his industrial
'' Capital by any the smallest item!
"One day, these things will deserve to be studied to the
"bottom; and to be set forth, by writing hands that are com-
"petent, for the instruction and example of Workers, -- that
"is to say, of all men, Kings most of all, when there are
"again Kings. At present, lean only say they astonish me,
"and put me to shame: the unresting diligence displayed in
"them, and the immense sum-total of them, -- whatman, in
"any the noblest pursuit, can say that he has stood to it, six-
"and-forty years long, in the style of this man? Nor did the
"harvest fail; slow sure harvest, which sufficed a patient
"Friedrich in his own day; harvest now, in our day, visible
"to everybody: in a Prussia all shooting into manufactures,
"into commerces, opulences, -- I only hope, not too fast, and
"on more solid terms than are universal at present! Those
"things might be didactic, truly, in various points, to this
"Generation; and worth looking back upon, from its high
"laissez-faire altitudes, its triumphant Scrip-transactions,
"and continents of gold nuggets, --pleasing, it doubts not,
"to all the gods. To write well of what is called 'Political
"Economy'(meaning thereby increase of money's-worth) is
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. VIII. ] THE SHIPPING INTERESTS. 61
13th-16th July 1751.
"reckoned meritorious, and our nearest approach to the
"rational sublime. But to accomplish said increase in a high
"and indisputable degree; and indisputably very much by
"your own endeavours wisely regulating those of others, does
"not that approach still nearer the sublime?
"To prevent disappointment, I ought to add thatFriedrich
"is the reverse of orthodox in 'Political Economy;' that he
"had not faith in Free-Trade, but the reverse;-- nor had
"ever heard of those Ultimate Evangels, unlimited Compe-
"tition, fair Start, and perfervid Race by all the world (to-
"wards 'Cheap-and-Nasty,' as the likeliest winning-post for
"all the world), which have since been vouchsafed us. Pro-
"bably in the world there was never less of a Free-Trader!
"Constraint, regulation, encouragement, discouragement,
"reward, punishment; these he never doubted were the
"method, and that government was good everywhere if wise,
"bad only if not wise. And sure enough these methods, where
"human justice and the earnest sense and insight of a Fried-
"rich preside over them, have results which differ notably
"from opposite cases that can be imagined! The desperate
"notion of giving up government altogether, as a relief from
"human blockheadism in your governors, and their want
"even of a wish to be just or wise, had not entered into the
'' thoughts of Friedrich; nor driven him upon trying to believe
"that such, in regard to any Human Interest whatever, was,
"or could be except for a little while in extremely developed
"cases, the true way of managing it. How disgusting, ac-
cordingly, is the Prussia of Friedrich to a Hanbury
"Williams^ who has bad eyes and dirty spectacles, and hates
"Friedrich: how singular and lamentable to a Mirabeau
"Junior, who has good eyes, and loves him! No knave, no
"impertinent blockhead even, can follow his own beautiful
"devices here; but is instantly had up, or comes upon a turn-
"pike strictly shut for him. 'Was the like ever heard of? '
"snarls Hanbury furiously (as an angry dog might, in a laby-
rinth it sees not the least use for): 'What unspeakable want
"' of liberty! ' -- and reads to you as if he were lying outright;
"but generally is not, only exaggerating, tumbling upside
"down, to a furious degree; knocking against the labyrinth
"he sees not the least use for. Mirabeau's Gospel of Free-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 62 THE TEN YEAKS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
13th-16th July 1751.
"Trade, preached in 1788,*-- a comparatively recent Per-
formance, though now some seventy or eighty years the
"senior of an English (unconscious) Facsimile, which we have
"all had the pleasure of knowing, --will fall to be noticed
"afterwards" (not by this Editor, we hope! ).
"Many of Friedrich's restrictive notions, -- as that of
"watching with such anxiety that 'money' (gold or silver
"coin) be not carried out of the Country,-- will be found
"mistakes, not in orthodox Dismal Science as now taught,
''but in the nature of things; and indeed the Dismal Science
"will generally excommunicate them in the lump, -- too heed-
"less that Fact has conspicuously vindicated the general sum-
"total of them, and declared it to be much truer than it seems
"to the Dismal Science. Dismal Science (if that were im-
"portant to me) takes insufficient heed, and does not dis-
"criminate between times past and times present, times here
"and times there. "
Certain it is, King Friedrich's success in National
Husbandry was very great. The details of the very many new Manufactures, new successful ever-spreading
Enterprises, fostered into existence by Friedrich; his
Canal-makings, Road-makings, Bog-drainings, Colonis-
ings, and unwearied endeavourings in that kind, --
will require a Technical Philosopher one day; and will
well reward such study, and trouble of recording in a
human manner; but must lie massed up in mere out-
line on the present occasion. Friedrich, as Land-
Father, Shepherd of the People, was great on the
Husbandry side also; and we are to conceive him as a
man of excellent practical sense, doing unweariedly
* Monarchic Prussienne, he calls it (aLondrcs, privately Paris, 1788),
8 roll. 8vo. ; which is a Dead-Sea of Statistics, compiled by industrious
Major Mauvillon, with this fresh-current of a 'Gospel' . shining through it,
very fresh and brisk, of few yards breadth; dedicated to Papa, the true
Protevangelist of the thing.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP, vni. ] THE SHIPPING INTERESTS. 63
13th-16th July 1751.
his best in that kind, all his life long. Alone among
modern Kings; his late Father the one exception;
and even his Father hardly surpassing him in that
particular.
In regard to Embden and the Shipping interests,
Ost-Friesland awakened very ardent speculations,
which were a novelty in Prussian affairs; nothing of
Foreign Trade, except into the limited Baltic, had
been heard of there since the Great Elector's time.
The Great Elector had ships, Forts on the Coast of
Africa; and tried hard for Atlantic Trade, -- out of
this same Embden; where, being summoned to protect
in the troubles, he had got some footing as Contingent
Heir withal, and kept a "Prussian Battalion" a good
while. And now, on much fairer terms, not less dili-
gently turned to account, it is his Great-Grandson's
turn.
Friedrich's successes in this department, the
rather as Embden and Ost-Friesland have in our time
ceased to be Prussian, are not much worth speaking
of; but they connect themselves with some points still
slightly memorable to us. How, for example, his
vigilances and endeavours on this score brought him
into rubbings, not collisions, but jealousies and grat-
ings, with the English and Dutch, the reader will see
anon.
Law-reform is gloriously prosperous; Husbandry
the like, and Shipping Interest itself as yet. But in
the Third grand Head, that of realising the Reinsberg
Program, beautifying his Domesticities, and bringing
his own Hearth and Household nearer the Ideal, Fried-
rich was nothing like so successful; in fact had no suc-
cess at all. That flattering Reinsberg Program, it is
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 64 THE TEN TEARS OF PEACE. [BOOK XVI.
13th-16th July 1751.
singular how Friedrich cannot help trying it by every
new chance, nor cast the notion out of him that there
must be a kind of Muses'-Heaven realisable on Earth!
That is the Biographic Phenomenon which has sur-
vived of those Years; and to that we will almost
exclusively address ourselves, on behalf of ingenuous
readers.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. rx. 1 SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 65
April 1751 --July 1752.
CHAPTER IX.
SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT.
VoltAire's Visit lasted, in all, about Thirty-two
Months; and is divisible into Three Acts or Stages.
The first we have seen: how it commenced in bright-
ness as of the sun, and ended, by that Hirsch business,
in whirlwinds of smoke and soot, -- Voltaire retiring,
on his passionate prayer, to that silent Country-house
which he calls the Marquisat; there to lie in hospital,
and wash himself a little, and let the skies wash them-
selves.
The Hirsch business having blown over, as all
things do, Voltaire resumed his place among the Court-
Planets, and did his revolutions; striving to forget that
there ever was a Hirsch, or a soot-explosion of that
nature. In words nobody reminded him of it, the
King least of all: and by degrees, matters were again
tolerably glorious, and all might have gone well enough;
though the primal perfect splendour, such fuliginous
reminiscence being ineffaceable, never could be quite
re-attained. The diamond Cross of Merit, the Chamber-
lain gold Key, hung bright upon the man; a man the
admired of men. He had work to do: work of his
own which he reckoned priceless (that immortal Siecle
de Louis Quatorze; which he stood by, and honestly
did, while here; the one fixed axis in those fooleries
and whirlings of his); -- work for the King, "two
CurUjle, Frederick the Great. IX. 5
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 66 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
April 1751--July 1752.
hours, one hour, a day," which the King reckoned
priceless in its sort. For Friedrich himself Voltaire
has, with touches of real love coming out now and
then, a very sincere admiration mixed with fear; and
delights in shining to him, and being well with him,
as the greatest pleasure now left in life. Besides the
King, he had society enough, French in type, and
brilliant enough: plenty of society; or, at his wish,
what was still better, none at all. He was bedded,
boarded, lodged, as if beneficent fairies had done it
for him; and for all these things no price asked, you
might say, but that he would not throw himself out of
window! Had the man been wise -- But he was not
wise. He had, if no big gloomy devil in him among
the bright angels that were there, a multitude of raven-
ing tumultuary imps, or little devils very ill-chained;
and was lodged, he and his restless little devils, in a
skin far too thin for him and them! --
Beckoning up the matter, one cannot find that
Voltaire ever could have been a blessing at Berlin,
either for Friedrich or himself; and it is to be owned
that Friedrich was not wise in so longing for him, or
clasping him so frankly in his arms. As Friedrich,
by this time, probably begins to discover; -- though
indeed to Friedrich the thing is of finite moment; by
no means of infinite, as it was to Voltaire. "At worst,
nothing but a little money thrown away! " thinks Fried-
rich: "Sure enough, this is a strange Trismegistus,
this of mine: star fire-work shall we call him, or ter-
restrial smoke-and-soot work? But one can fence one-
self against the blind vagaries of the man; and get a
great deal of good by him, in the lucid intervals. " To
Voltaire himself the position is most agitating; but
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IX. ] SECOND ACT OP THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 67
April 1751 --July 1752.
then its glories, were there nothing more! Besides he
is always thinking to quit it shortly; which is a great
sedative in troubles. What with intermittencies (safe
hidings in one's Marquisat, or vacant inter-lunar cave),
with alternations of offence and reconcilement; what
with occasional actual flights to Paris (whitherward
Voltaire is always busy to keep a postern open; and
of which there is frequent talk, and almost continual
thought, all along), flights to be called "visits," and
privately intending to be final, but never proving so,
-- the Voltaire-Friedrich relation, if left to itself, might
perhaps long have straggered about, and not ended as
it did.
But, alas, no relation can be left to itself in this
world -- especially if you have a porous skin! There
were other French here, as well as Voltaire, revolving
in the Court-circle; and that, beyond all others, proved
the fatal circumstance to him. "Ne savez-vous pas,
"Don't you know," said he to Chancellor Jarriges one
day, "that when there are two Frenchmen in a For-
eign Court or Country, one of them must die (faut
"que Vun des deux pe'risse)? " * Which shocked the
mind of Jarriges; but had a kind of truth, too. Jew
Hirsch, run into for low smuggling purposes, had been
a Cape of Storms, difficult to weather; but the continual
lee-shore were those French, -- with a heavy gale on,
and one of the rashest pilots! He did strike the
breakers there, at last; and it is well known, total
shipwreck was the issue. Our Second Act, holding
out dubiously, in continual perils, till Autumn 1752,
will have to pass then into a Third of darker com-
plexion, and into a Catastrophe very dark indeed.
* Seyfarth, n. 191; &c. &c.
5*
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 68 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
April 1751 --July 1752.
Catastrophe, which, by further ill accident, proved
noisy in the extreme; producing world-wide shrieks
from the one party, stone-silence from the other; which were answered by unlimited hooting, catcalling and
haha-ing from all parts of the World-Theatre, upon
both the shrieky and the silent party; catcalling
not fallen quite dead to this day. To Friedrich the
catcalling was not momentous (being used to such
things); though to poor Voltaire it was unlimitedly so:
-- and to readers interested in this memorable Pair of
Men, the rights and the wrongs of the Affair ought to
be rendered authentically conceivable, now at last.
Were it humanly possible, -- after so much catcalling
at random! Smelfungus has a right to say, speaking
of this matter:
"Never was such ajumble of loud-roaring ignorances, de-
"lusions and confusions, as the current Records of it are.
"Editors, especially French Editors, treating of a Hyper-
"borean, Cimmerian subject, like this, are easy-going crea-
''tures. And truly they have left it for us in a wonderful state.
"Dateless, much of it, by nature; and, by the lazy Editors,
"misdated into very chaos; jumbling along there, inmad de-
"fiance of top and bottom; often the very Year given wrong:
"-- full everywhere of lazy darkness, irradiated only by
"stupid rages, ill-directed mockeries: -- and for issue, cheer-
"fully malicious hootings from the general mob of mankind,
"with unbounded contempt of their betters; which is not
"pleasant to see. When mobs do get together, round any
"signal object; and editorial gentlemen, with talent for it,
"pour out from their respective barrel-heads, in a persuasive
"manner, instead of knowledge, ignorance set on fire, they
"are capable of carrying it far! -- Will it be possible to pick
"out the small glimmerings of real light, from this mad dance
"of will-o'-wisps and fire-flies thrown into agitation? "
It will be very difficult, my friend; -- why did
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IX. l SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 69
April 1751--July 1752.
not you yourself do it? Most true, "those actual Vol-
"taire-Friedrich Letters of the time are a resource,
"and pretty much the sole one: Letters a good few,
"still extant; which all had their bit of meaning; and
"have it still, if well tortured till they give it out, or
"give some glimmer of it out:" -- but you have not
tortured them; you have left it to me, if I would! As
I assuredly will not (never fear, reader! ) -- except in
the thriftiest degree.
Detached Features (not fabulous) of Voltaire and his
Berlin-Potsdam Environment in 1751--2.
To the outside crowd of observers, and to himself
in good moments, Voltaire represents his situation as
the finest in the world:
"Potsdam is Sparta and Athens joined in one; nothing but
"reviewing and poetry day by day. The Algarottis, the Mau-
"pertuises, are here; have each his work, serious for himself;
"then gay Supper with a King, who is a great man and the
"soul of good company. " ** Sparta and Athens, I tell you:
"a Camp of Mars and the Garden of Epicurus; trumpets and
"violins, War and Philosophy. I have my time all to myself;
"am at Court and in freedom, -- if I were not entirely free,
"neither an enormous Pension, nor a Gold Key tearing out
"one's pocket, nor a halter (licou), which they call cordon of
"an Order, nor even the Suppers with a Philosopher who has
"gained Five Battles, could yield me the least happiness. " *
Looked at by you, my outside friends, -- ah, had I health
and you here, what a situation!
But seen from within, it is far otherwise. Alongside of
these warblings of a heart grateful to the first of Kings, there
goes on a series of utterances to Niece Denis, remarkable for
the misery driven into meanness that can be read in them. Ill
* (Encres, lxxiv. 325, 326, 333 ("Letters, to D'Argental and others,
27th April --8th May 1751").
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 70 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
April 1751 --July 1752.
health, discontent, vague terror, suspicion that dare not go
to sleep; a strange vague terror, shapeless or taking all
shapes: a body diseased and a mind diseased. Fear, quaking
continually for nothing at all, is not to be borne in a hand-
some manner. And it passes, often enough (in these poor
Letters), into transient malignity, into gusts of trembling
hatred, with a tendency to relieve oneself by private scandal
of the house we are in. Seldom was a miserabler wrong-side
seen to a bit of royal tapestry. A man hunted by the little de-
vils that dwell unchained within himself; like Pentheus by
the Maenads, like Actason by his own Dogs. Nay, without devils, with only those terrible bowels of mine, and scorbutic
gums, it is bad enough: "Glorious promotions to me here,"
sneers he bitterly; "but one thing is indisputable, I have lost
"seven of my poor residue of teeth since I came! " In truth,
we are in a sadly scorbutic state; and that, and the devils we
lodge within ourselves, is the one real evil. Could not Suspi-
cion -- why cannot she! -- take her natural rest; and all
these terrors vanish? Oh! M. de Voltaire! -- The practical
purport, to Niece Denis, always is: Keep my retreat to Paris
open; in the name of Heaven, no obstruction that way!
Miserable indeed; a man fatally unfit for his pre-
sent element! But he has Two considerable Sedatives,
all along; two, and no third visible to me. Sedative
First: that he can, at any time, quit this illustrious
Tartarus-Elysium, the envy of mankind; -- and in-
deed, practically, he is always as if on the slip; think-
ing to be off shortly, for a time, or in permanence;
can be off at once, if things grow too bad. Sedative
Second is far better: His own labour on Louis Quatorze,
which is steadily going on, and must have been a
potent quietus in those Court-whirl-winds inward and
outward.
From Berlin, already in Autumn 1750, Voltaire writes to
D'Argental: "Ishan't go to Italy this Autumn" (nor ever in
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IX. ] SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIEE VISIT. ,71
April 1751--July 1752.
my life), "as I had projected. But I will come to see you in
"the course of November" (far from it, 1 got into Steuer-
ScAeme then! ) --And again, after some weeks: "I have put
"off my journey to Italy for a year. Next Winter too, there-
fore, I shall see you," on the road thither. "To my Country,
"since you live in it, I will make frequent visits," very!
"Italy and the King of Prussia are two old passions with me;
"but I cannot treat Frederic-le-Grand as I can the Holy
"Father, with a mere look in passing. "* Let this one, to
which many might be added, serve as sample of Sedative
First, or the power and intention to be off before long.
In regard to Sedative Second, again: * * "The happiest
"'circumstance is, 'I brought with me all my Louis-Four-
"' teenth Papers and Excerpts. I get from Leipzig, if no nearer,
"'whatever Books are needed; and labour faithfully at this
immortal Production. Yes, day by day, to see growing,
by the cunning of one's own right hand, such perennial Solo-
mon's-Temple of a Stecle de Louis Quatorze: -- which of your
King's or truculent Tiglath Pilesers, could do that? To poor
me, even in the Potsdam tempests, it is possible: what ugliest
day is not beautiful that sees a stone or two added there! --
Daily Voltaire sees himself at work on his Steele, on those fine
terms; trowel in one hand, weapon of war in the other. And
does actually accomplish it, in the course of this Year 1751,
-- with a great deal of punctuality and severe pains-taking;
which readers of our day, fallen careless of the subject, are
little aware of, on Voltaire's behalf. Voltaire's reward was, that
he did not go mad in that Berlin element, but had throughout
a bower-anchor to ride by. '' The King of France continues me
"as Gentleman of the Chamber, say you; but has taken away
"my Title of Historiographer? That latter, however, shall
"still be my function. 'My present independence has given
"' weight to my verdicts on matters. Probably I never could
"'have written this Book at Paris. ' A consolation for one's
"exile, mon enfant. " **
It is proper also to observe that, besides shining at the
* To D'Argental, "Berlin, 14th September, -- Potsdam, 15th October,
1750" {CEuvres, lxxiv. 220, 237).
** To Niece Denis {lEuvres, LXXrv. 247, &c &c. ), "28th October 1750,"
>>nd subsequent dates.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.
13th-16th July 1751.
with him. * On catching view of Ost-Friesland Border,
see, on the Border-Line, what an Arch got on its feet:
Triumphal Arch, of frondent ornaments, inscriptions
and insignia; "of quite extraordinary magnificence-," Arch which "sets every one into the agreeablest ad-
miration. " Above a hundred such Arches spanned the
road at different points; multitudinous enthusiasm re-
verently escorting, "more than 20,000" by count; till
we enter Embden; where all is cannon-salvo, and three-
times-three; the thunder-shots continuing, "above 2,000
"of them from the walls, not to speak of response from
"the ships in harbour. " Embden glad enough, as
would appear, and Ost-Friesland glad enough, to see
their new King. July 13th, 1751; after waiting above
six years.
Next day, his Majesty gave audience to the new
"Asiatic Shipping Company" (of which anon), to the
Stande, and Magisterial persons; -- with many ques-
tions, I doubt not, about your new embankments, new
improvements, prospects; there being much procedure
that way, in all manner of kinds, since the new Dynasty
came in, now six years ago. Embankments on your
River, wide spaces changed from ooze to meadow; on
the Dollart still more, which has lain 500 years hidden
from the sun. Does any reader know the Dollart?
Ost-Friesland has awakened to wonderful new indus-
tries within these six years; urged and guided by the
new King, who has great things in view for it, besides
what are in actual progress.
That of dikes, sea-embankments, for example; to
* Helden- Geschichte, ra. 506; Seyfarth, n. 145; llodenbeck, i. 216 (who
gives a foolish German myth, of Voltaire's being passed off for the King's
Baboon, &c. ; Voltaire not being there at all).
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 56 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
13th-16th July 1751.
Ost-Friesland, as to Holland, they are the first condi-
tion of existence; and, in the past times, of extreme
Parliamentary vitality, have been slipping a good deal
out of repair. Ems River, in those flat rainy countries,
has ploughed out for itself a very wide embouchure, as
boundary between Groningen and Ost-Friesland.
Muddy Ems, bickering with the German Ocean, does
not forget to act, if Parliamentary Commissioners do.
These dikes, 120 miles of dike, mainly along both
banks of this muddy Ems River, are now water-tight
again, to the comfort of flax and clover: and this is
but one item of the diking now on foot. Readers do
not know the Dollart, that uppermost round gulf, not
far from Embden itself, in the waste embouchure of
Ems with its continents of mud and tide. Five hun-
dred years ago, that ugly whirl of muddy surf, 100
square miles in area, was a fruitful field, "50 Villages
"upon it, one Town, several Monasteries, and 50,000
"souls:" till on Christmas midnight, A. d. 1277, the
winds and the storm-rains having got to their height,
Ocean and Ems did, "about midnight," undermine the
place, folded it over like a friable bed-quilt, or mon-
strous doomed griddle-cake, and swallowed it all away.
Most of it, they say, that night, the whole of it within
ten years coming;* -- and there it has hung, like an
unlovely goitre at the throat of Embden, ever since.
One little dot of an Island, with six houses on it, near
the Embden shore, is all that is left. Where probably
his Majesty landed (July 15th, being in a Yacht that
day); but did not see, afar off, the "sunk steeple-top,"
which is fabled to be visible at low-water.
* BUsching, Erdbeschreibung, v. 815, 816; Freuss, i. 308, 309.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. YHI. ] OST-FKIESLAND. 57
13th-16th July 1751.
Upon this Dollart itself there is now to be diking
tried; King's Domain-Kammer showing the example.
Which Official Body did accordingly (without Blue-
Books, but in good working case otherwise) break
ground, few months hence; and victoriously achieved
a Polder, or Diked Territory, "worth about 2,000? . an-
nually;" "which, in 1756, was sold to the Stdnde-" at
twenty-five years' purchase, let us say, or for 50,000J.
An example of convincing nature; which many others,
and ever others, have followed since; to gradual con-
siderable diminution of the Dollart, and relief of Ost-
Friesland on this side. Furtherance of these things is
much a concern of Friedrich's. The second day after
his arrival, those audiences and ceremonials done,
Friedrich and suite got on board a Yacht, and sailed
about all over this Dollart, twenty miles out to sea;
dined on board; and would have, if the weather was
bright (which I hope), a pleasantly edifying day. The
harbour is much in need of dredging, the building
docks considerably in disrepair; but shall be refitted if
this King live and prosper. He has declared Embden
a "Free-Haven," inviting trade to it from all peaceable
Nations; -- and readers do not know (though Sir Jonas
Hanway and the jealous mercantile world well did)
what magnificent Shipping Companies and Sea-Enter-
prises, of his devising, are afoot there. Of which, one
word, and no second shall follow:
"September 1st, 1750, those Carrousel gaieties scarce
"done, 'The Asiatic Trading Company' stept formally into
"existence; Embden the Headquarters of it;* chief Manager
"a Ritter De la Touche; one of the Directors our fantastic
* Patent, or Freyheits-Brief, in Helden-Geschichte, in. 457, 458.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 58 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
13th-16th July 1751.
"Bielfeld, thus turned to practical value. A Company pa-
"tronised, in all ways, by the King; but, for the rest,
"founded, not on his money; founded on voluntary shares,
"which, to the regret of Han way and- others, have had much
"popularity in commercial circles. Will trade to China. A
"thing looked at with umbrage by the English, by the Dutch.
"A shame thatEnglish people should encourage such schemes,
"says Hanway. Which nevertheless many Dutch and many
"English private persons do, -- among the latter, one English
"Lady (name unknown, but I always suspect 'MissBarbara
"'Wyndham, of the College, Salisbury'), concerning whom
"there will be honourable notice, by and by.
"At the time of Friedrich's visit, the Asiatic Company is
"in full vogue; making ready its first ship for Canton. First
'ship, Konig von Preussen (tons burden not given), actually
"sailed 17th February next (1752); and was followed by a
"second, named Town of Embden, on the 19th of September
"following; both of which prosperously reached Canton, and
"prosperously returned with cargoes of satisfactory profit.
'The first of them, Konig von Preussen, had been boarded in
"the Downs by an English Captain Thomson and his Frigate,
'and detained, some days,--till Thomson 'took Seven English
"seamen out of her. ' 'Act of Parliament, express! ' said his
"Grace of Newcastle. Which done, Thomson found that the
"English jealousies would have to hold their hand; no farther,
"whatever one's wishes may be.
"Nay within a year hence, January 24th, 1753, Friedrich
"founded another Company for India: 'Bengalische Handels-
''gesellschaft;' which also sent out its pair of ships, perhaps
"oftener than once; and pointed, as the other was doing, to
"wide fields of enterprise, for some time. But luck was
"wanting. And, 'in part, mismanagement,' and, in whole,
"the Seven-Years War put an end to both Companies before
"long. Friedrich is full of these thoughts, among his other
"Industrialisms; and never quits them for discouragement,
"but tries again, when the obstacles cease to be insuperable.
"Ever since the acquisition of Ost-Friesland, the furtherance
'of Sea-Commerce had been one of Friedrich's chosen ob-
'jects. 'Let us carry our own goods at least, Silesian linens,
"'Memel timbers, stock-fish; what need of theDutch to do it? '
"And in many branches his progress had been remarkable,--
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. VIII. ] THE SHIPPING INTERESTS. 59
13th-16th July 1751.
"especially in this carrying trade, while the War lasted, and
"crippled all Anti-English belligerents. Upon which, indeed,
"ana the conduct of the English Privateers to him, there is a
"Controversy going on with the English Court in those years
"(began in 1747), most distressful to his Grace of Newcastle;
"-- which in part explains those stingy procedures of Captain
"Thomson ('Home, you seven English sailors! ') when the
"first Canton ship put to sea. That Controversy is by no
"means ended after three years, but on the contrary, after
"two years more, comes to a crisis quite shocking to his Grace
"of Newcastle, and defying all solution on his Grace's side,--
"the other Party, after such delays, five years waiting, having
"settled it for himself! " Of which, were the crisis come, we
will give some account.
On the third day of his Visit, Friedrich drove to
Aurich, the seat of Government, and official little
Capital of Ost-Friesland; where triumphal arches, joy-
ful reverences, concourses, demonstrations, sumptuous
Dinner one item, awaited his Majesty: I know not if,
in the way thither or back, he passed those "Three
"huge Oaks" (or the rotted stems or roots of them)
"under which the Ancient Frisians, Lords of all be-
"tween Weser and Rhine, were wont to assemble in "Parliament" (without Fourth Estate, or any Eloquence
except of the purely Business sort), -- or what his
thoughts on the late Ost-Friesland Bandbox Parlia-
ments may have been! He returned to Embden
that night; and on the morrow, started homewards;
we may fancy, tolerably pleased with what he had
seen.
"King Friedrich's main Objects of Pursuit, in this Period,"
says a certain Author, whom we often follow, "I define as
"being Three. 1? . Reform of the Law; 2? . Furtherance of
"Husbandry and Industry in all kinds, especially of Shipping
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 60 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
13th-16th July 1751.
"from Embden; 3? . Improvement of his own Domesticities
"and Household Enjoyments," -- renewal of the Reinsberg Program, in short.
"In the First of these objects," continues he, "King
"Friedrich's success was very considerable, and got him
"great fame in the world. In his Second head of efforts, that
"of improving the Industries and Husbandries among his
"People, his success, though less noised of in foreign parts,
"was to the near observer still more remarkable. A perennial
"business with him, this; which, even in the time of War,
"he never neglects; and which springs out like a stemmed
"flood, whenever Peace leaves him free for it. His labours
"by all methods to awaken new branches of industry, to
"cherish and further the old, are incessant, manifold, un-
"wearied; and will surprise the uninstructed reader, when he
"comes to study them. An airy, poetising, bantering, lightly
"brilliant King, supposed to be serious mainly in things of
"War, how is he moiling and toiling, like an ever-vigilant
"Land-Steward, like the most industrious City Merchant,
"hardest-working Merchant's Clerk, to increase his industrial
'' Capital by any the smallest item!
"One day, these things will deserve to be studied to the
"bottom; and to be set forth, by writing hands that are com-
"petent, for the instruction and example of Workers, -- that
"is to say, of all men, Kings most of all, when there are
"again Kings. At present, lean only say they astonish me,
"and put me to shame: the unresting diligence displayed in
"them, and the immense sum-total of them, -- whatman, in
"any the noblest pursuit, can say that he has stood to it, six-
"and-forty years long, in the style of this man? Nor did the
"harvest fail; slow sure harvest, which sufficed a patient
"Friedrich in his own day; harvest now, in our day, visible
"to everybody: in a Prussia all shooting into manufactures,
"into commerces, opulences, -- I only hope, not too fast, and
"on more solid terms than are universal at present! Those
"things might be didactic, truly, in various points, to this
"Generation; and worth looking back upon, from its high
"laissez-faire altitudes, its triumphant Scrip-transactions,
"and continents of gold nuggets, --pleasing, it doubts not,
"to all the gods. To write well of what is called 'Political
"Economy'(meaning thereby increase of money's-worth) is
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. VIII. ] THE SHIPPING INTERESTS. 61
13th-16th July 1751.
"reckoned meritorious, and our nearest approach to the
"rational sublime. But to accomplish said increase in a high
"and indisputable degree; and indisputably very much by
"your own endeavours wisely regulating those of others, does
"not that approach still nearer the sublime?
"To prevent disappointment, I ought to add thatFriedrich
"is the reverse of orthodox in 'Political Economy;' that he
"had not faith in Free-Trade, but the reverse;-- nor had
"ever heard of those Ultimate Evangels, unlimited Compe-
"tition, fair Start, and perfervid Race by all the world (to-
"wards 'Cheap-and-Nasty,' as the likeliest winning-post for
"all the world), which have since been vouchsafed us. Pro-
"bably in the world there was never less of a Free-Trader!
"Constraint, regulation, encouragement, discouragement,
"reward, punishment; these he never doubted were the
"method, and that government was good everywhere if wise,
"bad only if not wise. And sure enough these methods, where
"human justice and the earnest sense and insight of a Fried-
"rich preside over them, have results which differ notably
"from opposite cases that can be imagined! The desperate
"notion of giving up government altogether, as a relief from
"human blockheadism in your governors, and their want
"even of a wish to be just or wise, had not entered into the
'' thoughts of Friedrich; nor driven him upon trying to believe
"that such, in regard to any Human Interest whatever, was,
"or could be except for a little while in extremely developed
"cases, the true way of managing it. How disgusting, ac-
cordingly, is the Prussia of Friedrich to a Hanbury
"Williams^ who has bad eyes and dirty spectacles, and hates
"Friedrich: how singular and lamentable to a Mirabeau
"Junior, who has good eyes, and loves him! No knave, no
"impertinent blockhead even, can follow his own beautiful
"devices here; but is instantly had up, or comes upon a turn-
"pike strictly shut for him. 'Was the like ever heard of? '
"snarls Hanbury furiously (as an angry dog might, in a laby-
rinth it sees not the least use for): 'What unspeakable want
"' of liberty! ' -- and reads to you as if he were lying outright;
"but generally is not, only exaggerating, tumbling upside
"down, to a furious degree; knocking against the labyrinth
"he sees not the least use for. Mirabeau's Gospel of Free-
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 62 THE TEN YEAKS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
13th-16th July 1751.
"Trade, preached in 1788,*-- a comparatively recent Per-
formance, though now some seventy or eighty years the
"senior of an English (unconscious) Facsimile, which we have
"all had the pleasure of knowing, --will fall to be noticed
"afterwards" (not by this Editor, we hope! ).
"Many of Friedrich's restrictive notions, -- as that of
"watching with such anxiety that 'money' (gold or silver
"coin) be not carried out of the Country,-- will be found
"mistakes, not in orthodox Dismal Science as now taught,
''but in the nature of things; and indeed the Dismal Science
"will generally excommunicate them in the lump, -- too heed-
"less that Fact has conspicuously vindicated the general sum-
"total of them, and declared it to be much truer than it seems
"to the Dismal Science. Dismal Science (if that were im-
"portant to me) takes insufficient heed, and does not dis-
"criminate between times past and times present, times here
"and times there. "
Certain it is, King Friedrich's success in National
Husbandry was very great. The details of the very many new Manufactures, new successful ever-spreading
Enterprises, fostered into existence by Friedrich; his
Canal-makings, Road-makings, Bog-drainings, Colonis-
ings, and unwearied endeavourings in that kind, --
will require a Technical Philosopher one day; and will
well reward such study, and trouble of recording in a
human manner; but must lie massed up in mere out-
line on the present occasion. Friedrich, as Land-
Father, Shepherd of the People, was great on the
Husbandry side also; and we are to conceive him as a
man of excellent practical sense, doing unweariedly
* Monarchic Prussienne, he calls it (aLondrcs, privately Paris, 1788),
8 roll. 8vo. ; which is a Dead-Sea of Statistics, compiled by industrious
Major Mauvillon, with this fresh-current of a 'Gospel' . shining through it,
very fresh and brisk, of few yards breadth; dedicated to Papa, the true
Protevangelist of the thing.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP, vni. ] THE SHIPPING INTERESTS. 63
13th-16th July 1751.
his best in that kind, all his life long. Alone among
modern Kings; his late Father the one exception;
and even his Father hardly surpassing him in that
particular.
In regard to Embden and the Shipping interests,
Ost-Friesland awakened very ardent speculations,
which were a novelty in Prussian affairs; nothing of
Foreign Trade, except into the limited Baltic, had
been heard of there since the Great Elector's time.
The Great Elector had ships, Forts on the Coast of
Africa; and tried hard for Atlantic Trade, -- out of
this same Embden; where, being summoned to protect
in the troubles, he had got some footing as Contingent
Heir withal, and kept a "Prussian Battalion" a good
while. And now, on much fairer terms, not less dili-
gently turned to account, it is his Great-Grandson's
turn.
Friedrich's successes in this department, the
rather as Embden and Ost-Friesland have in our time
ceased to be Prussian, are not much worth speaking
of; but they connect themselves with some points still
slightly memorable to us. How, for example, his
vigilances and endeavours on this score brought him
into rubbings, not collisions, but jealousies and grat-
ings, with the English and Dutch, the reader will see
anon.
Law-reform is gloriously prosperous; Husbandry
the like, and Shipping Interest itself as yet. But in
the Third grand Head, that of realising the Reinsberg
Program, beautifying his Domesticities, and bringing
his own Hearth and Household nearer the Ideal, Fried-
rich was nothing like so successful; in fact had no suc-
cess at all. That flattering Reinsberg Program, it is
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 64 THE TEN TEARS OF PEACE. [BOOK XVI.
13th-16th July 1751.
singular how Friedrich cannot help trying it by every
new chance, nor cast the notion out of him that there
must be a kind of Muses'-Heaven realisable on Earth!
That is the Biographic Phenomenon which has sur-
vived of those Years; and to that we will almost
exclusively address ourselves, on behalf of ingenuous
readers.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. rx. 1 SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 65
April 1751 --July 1752.
CHAPTER IX.
SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT.
VoltAire's Visit lasted, in all, about Thirty-two
Months; and is divisible into Three Acts or Stages.
The first we have seen: how it commenced in bright-
ness as of the sun, and ended, by that Hirsch business,
in whirlwinds of smoke and soot, -- Voltaire retiring,
on his passionate prayer, to that silent Country-house
which he calls the Marquisat; there to lie in hospital,
and wash himself a little, and let the skies wash them-
selves.
The Hirsch business having blown over, as all
things do, Voltaire resumed his place among the Court-
Planets, and did his revolutions; striving to forget that
there ever was a Hirsch, or a soot-explosion of that
nature. In words nobody reminded him of it, the
King least of all: and by degrees, matters were again
tolerably glorious, and all might have gone well enough;
though the primal perfect splendour, such fuliginous
reminiscence being ineffaceable, never could be quite
re-attained. The diamond Cross of Merit, the Chamber-
lain gold Key, hung bright upon the man; a man the
admired of men. He had work to do: work of his
own which he reckoned priceless (that immortal Siecle
de Louis Quatorze; which he stood by, and honestly
did, while here; the one fixed axis in those fooleries
and whirlings of his); -- work for the King, "two
CurUjle, Frederick the Great. IX. 5
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 66 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
April 1751--July 1752.
hours, one hour, a day," which the King reckoned
priceless in its sort. For Friedrich himself Voltaire
has, with touches of real love coming out now and
then, a very sincere admiration mixed with fear; and
delights in shining to him, and being well with him,
as the greatest pleasure now left in life. Besides the
King, he had society enough, French in type, and
brilliant enough: plenty of society; or, at his wish,
what was still better, none at all. He was bedded,
boarded, lodged, as if beneficent fairies had done it
for him; and for all these things no price asked, you
might say, but that he would not throw himself out of
window! Had the man been wise -- But he was not
wise. He had, if no big gloomy devil in him among
the bright angels that were there, a multitude of raven-
ing tumultuary imps, or little devils very ill-chained;
and was lodged, he and his restless little devils, in a
skin far too thin for him and them! --
Beckoning up the matter, one cannot find that
Voltaire ever could have been a blessing at Berlin,
either for Friedrich or himself; and it is to be owned
that Friedrich was not wise in so longing for him, or
clasping him so frankly in his arms. As Friedrich,
by this time, probably begins to discover; -- though
indeed to Friedrich the thing is of finite moment; by
no means of infinite, as it was to Voltaire. "At worst,
nothing but a little money thrown away! " thinks Fried-
rich: "Sure enough, this is a strange Trismegistus,
this of mine: star fire-work shall we call him, or ter-
restrial smoke-and-soot work? But one can fence one-
self against the blind vagaries of the man; and get a
great deal of good by him, in the lucid intervals. " To
Voltaire himself the position is most agitating; but
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IX. ] SECOND ACT OP THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 67
April 1751 --July 1752.
then its glories, were there nothing more! Besides he
is always thinking to quit it shortly; which is a great
sedative in troubles. What with intermittencies (safe
hidings in one's Marquisat, or vacant inter-lunar cave),
with alternations of offence and reconcilement; what
with occasional actual flights to Paris (whitherward
Voltaire is always busy to keep a postern open; and
of which there is frequent talk, and almost continual
thought, all along), flights to be called "visits," and
privately intending to be final, but never proving so,
-- the Voltaire-Friedrich relation, if left to itself, might
perhaps long have straggered about, and not ended as
it did.
But, alas, no relation can be left to itself in this
world -- especially if you have a porous skin! There
were other French here, as well as Voltaire, revolving
in the Court-circle; and that, beyond all others, proved
the fatal circumstance to him. "Ne savez-vous pas,
"Don't you know," said he to Chancellor Jarriges one
day, "that when there are two Frenchmen in a For-
eign Court or Country, one of them must die (faut
"que Vun des deux pe'risse)? " * Which shocked the
mind of Jarriges; but had a kind of truth, too. Jew
Hirsch, run into for low smuggling purposes, had been
a Cape of Storms, difficult to weather; but the continual
lee-shore were those French, -- with a heavy gale on,
and one of the rashest pilots! He did strike the
breakers there, at last; and it is well known, total
shipwreck was the issue. Our Second Act, holding
out dubiously, in continual perils, till Autumn 1752,
will have to pass then into a Third of darker com-
plexion, and into a Catastrophe very dark indeed.
* Seyfarth, n. 191; &c. &c.
5*
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 68 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
April 1751 --July 1752.
Catastrophe, which, by further ill accident, proved
noisy in the extreme; producing world-wide shrieks
from the one party, stone-silence from the other; which were answered by unlimited hooting, catcalling and
haha-ing from all parts of the World-Theatre, upon
both the shrieky and the silent party; catcalling
not fallen quite dead to this day. To Friedrich the
catcalling was not momentous (being used to such
things); though to poor Voltaire it was unlimitedly so:
-- and to readers interested in this memorable Pair of
Men, the rights and the wrongs of the Affair ought to
be rendered authentically conceivable, now at last.
Were it humanly possible, -- after so much catcalling
at random! Smelfungus has a right to say, speaking
of this matter:
"Never was such ajumble of loud-roaring ignorances, de-
"lusions and confusions, as the current Records of it are.
"Editors, especially French Editors, treating of a Hyper-
"borean, Cimmerian subject, like this, are easy-going crea-
''tures. And truly they have left it for us in a wonderful state.
"Dateless, much of it, by nature; and, by the lazy Editors,
"misdated into very chaos; jumbling along there, inmad de-
"fiance of top and bottom; often the very Year given wrong:
"-- full everywhere of lazy darkness, irradiated only by
"stupid rages, ill-directed mockeries: -- and for issue, cheer-
"fully malicious hootings from the general mob of mankind,
"with unbounded contempt of their betters; which is not
"pleasant to see. When mobs do get together, round any
"signal object; and editorial gentlemen, with talent for it,
"pour out from their respective barrel-heads, in a persuasive
"manner, instead of knowledge, ignorance set on fire, they
"are capable of carrying it far! -- Will it be possible to pick
"out the small glimmerings of real light, from this mad dance
"of will-o'-wisps and fire-flies thrown into agitation? "
It will be very difficult, my friend; -- why did
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IX. l SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 69
April 1751--July 1752.
not you yourself do it? Most true, "those actual Vol-
"taire-Friedrich Letters of the time are a resource,
"and pretty much the sole one: Letters a good few,
"still extant; which all had their bit of meaning; and
"have it still, if well tortured till they give it out, or
"give some glimmer of it out:" -- but you have not
tortured them; you have left it to me, if I would! As
I assuredly will not (never fear, reader! ) -- except in
the thriftiest degree.
Detached Features (not fabulous) of Voltaire and his
Berlin-Potsdam Environment in 1751--2.
To the outside crowd of observers, and to himself
in good moments, Voltaire represents his situation as
the finest in the world:
"Potsdam is Sparta and Athens joined in one; nothing but
"reviewing and poetry day by day. The Algarottis, the Mau-
"pertuises, are here; have each his work, serious for himself;
"then gay Supper with a King, who is a great man and the
"soul of good company. " ** Sparta and Athens, I tell you:
"a Camp of Mars and the Garden of Epicurus; trumpets and
"violins, War and Philosophy. I have my time all to myself;
"am at Court and in freedom, -- if I were not entirely free,
"neither an enormous Pension, nor a Gold Key tearing out
"one's pocket, nor a halter (licou), which they call cordon of
"an Order, nor even the Suppers with a Philosopher who has
"gained Five Battles, could yield me the least happiness. " *
Looked at by you, my outside friends, -- ah, had I health
and you here, what a situation!
But seen from within, it is far otherwise. Alongside of
these warblings of a heart grateful to the first of Kings, there
goes on a series of utterances to Niece Denis, remarkable for
the misery driven into meanness that can be read in them. Ill
* (Encres, lxxiv. 325, 326, 333 ("Letters, to D'Argental and others,
27th April --8th May 1751").
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 70 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
April 1751 --July 1752.
health, discontent, vague terror, suspicion that dare not go
to sleep; a strange vague terror, shapeless or taking all
shapes: a body diseased and a mind diseased. Fear, quaking
continually for nothing at all, is not to be borne in a hand-
some manner. And it passes, often enough (in these poor
Letters), into transient malignity, into gusts of trembling
hatred, with a tendency to relieve oneself by private scandal
of the house we are in. Seldom was a miserabler wrong-side
seen to a bit of royal tapestry. A man hunted by the little de-
vils that dwell unchained within himself; like Pentheus by
the Maenads, like Actason by his own Dogs. Nay, without devils, with only those terrible bowels of mine, and scorbutic
gums, it is bad enough: "Glorious promotions to me here,"
sneers he bitterly; "but one thing is indisputable, I have lost
"seven of my poor residue of teeth since I came! " In truth,
we are in a sadly scorbutic state; and that, and the devils we
lodge within ourselves, is the one real evil. Could not Suspi-
cion -- why cannot she! -- take her natural rest; and all
these terrors vanish? Oh! M. de Voltaire! -- The practical
purport, to Niece Denis, always is: Keep my retreat to Paris
open; in the name of Heaven, no obstruction that way!
Miserable indeed; a man fatally unfit for his pre-
sent element! But he has Two considerable Sedatives,
all along; two, and no third visible to me. Sedative
First: that he can, at any time, quit this illustrious
Tartarus-Elysium, the envy of mankind; -- and in-
deed, practically, he is always as if on the slip; think-
ing to be off shortly, for a time, or in permanence;
can be off at once, if things grow too bad. Sedative
Second is far better: His own labour on Louis Quatorze,
which is steadily going on, and must have been a
potent quietus in those Court-whirl-winds inward and
outward.
From Berlin, already in Autumn 1750, Voltaire writes to
D'Argental: "Ishan't go to Italy this Autumn" (nor ever in
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IX. ] SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIEE VISIT. ,71
April 1751--July 1752.
my life), "as I had projected. But I will come to see you in
"the course of November" (far from it, 1 got into Steuer-
ScAeme then! ) --And again, after some weeks: "I have put
"off my journey to Italy for a year. Next Winter too, there-
fore, I shall see you," on the road thither. "To my Country,
"since you live in it, I will make frequent visits," very!
"Italy and the King of Prussia are two old passions with me;
"but I cannot treat Frederic-le-Grand as I can the Holy
"Father, with a mere look in passing. "* Let this one, to
which many might be added, serve as sample of Sedative
First, or the power and intention to be off before long.
In regard to Sedative Second, again: * * "The happiest
"'circumstance is, 'I brought with me all my Louis-Four-
"' teenth Papers and Excerpts. I get from Leipzig, if no nearer,
"'whatever Books are needed; and labour faithfully at this
immortal Production. Yes, day by day, to see growing,
by the cunning of one's own right hand, such perennial Solo-
mon's-Temple of a Stecle de Louis Quatorze: -- which of your
King's or truculent Tiglath Pilesers, could do that? To poor
me, even in the Potsdam tempests, it is possible: what ugliest
day is not beautiful that sees a stone or two added there! --
Daily Voltaire sees himself at work on his Steele, on those fine
terms; trowel in one hand, weapon of war in the other. And
does actually accomplish it, in the course of this Year 1751,
-- with a great deal of punctuality and severe pains-taking;
which readers of our day, fallen careless of the subject, are
little aware of, on Voltaire's behalf. Voltaire's reward was, that
he did not go mad in that Berlin element, but had throughout
a bower-anchor to ride by. '' The King of France continues me
"as Gentleman of the Chamber, say you; but has taken away
"my Title of Historiographer? That latter, however, shall
"still be my function. 'My present independence has given
"' weight to my verdicts on matters. Probably I never could
"'have written this Book at Paris. ' A consolation for one's
"exile, mon enfant. " **
It is proper also to observe that, besides shining at the
* To D'Argental, "Berlin, 14th September, -- Potsdam, 15th October,
1750" {CEuvres, lxxiv. 220, 237).
** To Niece Denis {lEuvres, LXXrv. 247, &c &c. ), "28th October 1750,"
>>nd subsequent dates.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.
