le Marechal, for so
forgetting
that fact!
Thomas Carlyle
365
April--May 1741.
poor creature may have got by that sad operation; --
which all Saxony sighed to the heart on hearing of;
for it was always hoped he had some real religion, and
would deliver them from that Babylonish Captivity
again! He married Kaiser Joseph I. 's Daughter, --
Maria Theresa's Cousin, and by an Elder Brother; --
this, too, ought surely to be something in the Anti-
Pragmatic line? It is true, Kur-Baiern has to Wife
another Daughter of Kaiser Joseph's; but she is the
younger: "I am senior there, at least! " thinks the
foolish man.
Too true, he had finally, in past years, to sign
Pragmatic Sanction; no help for it, no hope without
it, in that Polish-Election time. He will have to eat
his Covenant, therefore, as the first step in Anti-
Pragmatism; and he is extremely in doubt as to the
How, sometimes as to the Whether. And shifts and whirls,
accordingly, at a great rate, in these months and years;
now on Maria Theresa's side, deluded by shadows from
Vienna, and getting into Russian Partition-Treaties;
anon tickled by Belleisle into the reverse posture; then
again reversing. An idle, easy-tempered, yet greedy
creature', who, what with religious apostasy in early
manhood, what with flaccid ambitions since, and idle
gapings after shadows, has lost helm in this world; and
will make a very bad voyage for self and country.
His Palinurus and chief Counsellor, at present and
afterwards, is a Count von Briihl, once Page to August
the Strong; now risen to such height: Briihl of the
Threehundred and Sixty-five suits of clothes; whom it
has grown wearisome even to laugh at. A cunning
little wretch, they say, and of deft tongue; but surely
among the unwisest of all the Sons of Adam in that
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? 366 FIRST SILKSIAN WAR. [book XII.
April--May 174L
day, and such a Palinurus as seldom steered before.
Kur-Sachsen, being Reichs-Vicar in the Northern Parts,
-- (Kur-Baiern and Kur-Pfalz, as friends and good
Wittelsbacher Cousins surely ought, in a crisis like
this, have agreed to be Joint-Vicars in the Southern
Parts, and no longer quarrel upon it), -- Kur-Sachsen
has a good deal to do in the Election preludings, for-
malities and prearrangements; and is capable, as Kur-
Pfalz and Cousin always are, of serving as chisel to
Belleisle's mallet, in such points, which will plentifully
turn up.
5". King of Sardinia. -- Reichs-Vicar in Italian
Parts is Charles Amadeus King of Sardinia (tough old
Victor's Son, whom we have heard of): an office mostly
honorary; suitable to the important individual who
keeps the Door of the Alps. Charles Amadeus had
signed the Pragmatic Sanction; but eats his Covenant,
like the others, on example of France; -- having, as
he now bethinks himself, claims on the Milanese. There
are two claimants on the Milanese, then; the Spanish
Termagant, and he? Yes; and they will have their
difficulties, their extensive tusslings in Italian War and
otherwise, to make an adjustment of it; and will give
Belleisle (at least the Doorkeeper will) an immensity of
trouble, in years coming.
In this way do the Pragmatic people eat their own
Covenant, one after the other, and are not ashamed;
-- till all have eaten, or as good as eaten; and, almost
within year and day, Pragmatic Sanction is a vanished
quantity; and poor Kaiser Karl's life-labour is not
worth the sheep-skin and stationery it cost him. History
reports in sum, That "nobody kept the Pragmatic
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? CHAP. XI. ] BELLEISLE AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 367
April--May 1741.
Sanction; that the few" (strictly speaking, the one)
"who acted by it, would have done precisely the same,
"though there had never been such a Document in
"existence. " To George II. , it is, was and will be, the
Keystone of Nature, the true Anti-French palladium
of mankind; and he, dragging the unwilling Dutch
after him, will do great things for it: but nobody else
does anything at all. Might we hope to bid adieu to
it, in this manner, and never to mention it again! --
Document more futile there had not been in Nature,
nor will be. Friedrich had not yet fought at Mollwitz
in assertion of his Silesian claim, when the poor Pope,
-- poor soul, who had no Covenant to eat, but took
pattern by others, --- claimed, in solemn Allocution,
Parma and Piacenza for the Holy See. * All the world
is claiming. Of the Court of Wiirtemberg and its
Protestings, and "extensive Deduction" about nothing
at all, we do not speak; ** nor of Montmorency claiming
Luxemburg, of which he is Titular "Duke; nor of
Monsignore di Guastalla claiming Mantua; nor of --
In brief, the fences are now down; a broad French gap
in those miles of elaborate paling, which are good only
as fire-wood henceforth, and any ass may rush in and
claim a bellyful. Great are the works of Belleisle! --
Concerning the Imperial Election (Kaiserwahl) that is to
be; Candidates for Kaisership.
At equal step with the ruining of Pragmatic Sanction,
goes on that spoiling of Grand-Duke Franz's Election
to the Kaisership: these two operations run parallel;
or rather, under different forms, they are one and the
* Adelung, ii. S76 (5th April 1741). ** Ibid. 195, 403.
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? 368 FIRST SULESIAN WAR. [bOOKSH.
April--May 1711.
same operation. "To assist, as a Most Christian neigh-
boar ought, in picking out the fit Kaiser," was
Belleisle's ostensible mission; and indeed this does in-
clude virtually his whole errand. Till three months
after Belleisle's appearance in the business-, Grand-
Duke Franz never doubted but he should be Kaiser;
Friedrich's offers to help him in it he had scorned,
as the offer of a fifth wheel to his chariot, already
rushing on with four. "Here is Kur-Bohmen, Austria's
own vote," counts the Grand-Duke; "Kur-Sacksen,
doing Prussian-Partition Treaties for us; Kur-Trier,
our fat little Schonborn, Austrian to the bone; Kur-
Mainz, important chairman, regulator of the Conclave;
here are Four Electors for ui: then also Kur-Pfalz, he
surely, in return for the Berg-Julich service; finally,
and liable to no question, Kur-Hanover, little George
of England with his endless guineas and resources, a
little Jack-the-Giantkiller, greater than all Giants, Paladin
of the Pragmatic and us: here are Six Electors of the
Nine. Let Brandenburg and the Bavarian Couple,
Kur-Baiern and Kur-Koln, do their pleasure! " This
was Grand-Duke Franz's calculation.
By the time Belleisle had been three months in
Germany, the Grand-Duke's notion had changed; and
he began "applying to the Sea-Powers," "to Russia,"
and all round. In Belleisle's sixth month, the Grand-
Duke, after such demolition of Pragmatic, and such
disasters and contradictions as had been, saw his case
to be desperate; though he still stuck to it, Austrian-
like, -- or rather, Austria for him stuck to it, the
Grand-Duke being careless of such things; -- and in-
deed, privately, never did give in, even . after the
Election, as we shall have to note.
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? CHAP. XI. ] BELLEISLE AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 369
April--May 1741.
The Reich itself being mainly a Phantasm or En-
chanted Wiggery, its "Kaiser-Choosing" (Kaiserwaht),
-- now getting under way at Frankfurt, with pre-
liminary outskirts at Regensburg, and in the Chancery
of Mainz, -- is very phantasmal, not to say ghastly;
and forbidding, not inviting, to the human eye. Nine
Kurfursts, Choosers of Teutschland's real Captain; in
none of whom is there much thought for Teutschland
or its interests, -- and indeed in hardly more than
One of whom (Prussian Friedrich, if readers will know
it) is there the least thought that way; but, in general,
much indifference to things divine or diabolic, and
thought for one's own paltry profits and losses only!
So it has long been; and so it now is, more than usual.
-- Consider again, are Enchanted Wiggeries a beau-
tiful thing, in this extremely earnest World? --
The Kaiserwahl is an affair depending much on
processions, proclamations, on delusions optical, acoustic;
on palaverings, manoeuvrings, holdings back, then
hasty pushings forward; and indeed is mainly, in more
senses than one, under guidance of the Prince of the
Power of the Air. Unbeautiful, like a World-Parlia-
ment of Nightmares (if the reader could conceive such
a thing); huge formless, tongueless monsters of that
species, doing their "three readings," -- under Presi-
dency or chief-pipership as above! Belleisle, for his
part, is consummately skilful, and manages as only
himself could. Keeps his game well hidden, not a
hint or whisper of it except in studied proportions;
spreads out his lines, his birdlime; tickles, entices,
astonishes; goes his rounds, like a subtle Fowler taking
captive the minds of men; a Phoebus-Apollo, god of
melody and of the sun, filling his net with birds.
Carhjle, Frederick lite Great. VI, 24
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? 370 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [book SB.
April--May 1741.
I believe, old Kur-Pfalz, for the sake of French
neighbourhood, and Berg-and-Jiilich, were there nothing
more, was very helpful to him; -- in March past, when
the Election was to have been, when it would have
gone at once in favour of the Grand-Duke, Kur-Pfalz
got the Election "postponed a little. " Postponing,
procrastinating; then again pushing violently on, when
things are ripe: Belleisle has only to give signal to a
fit Kur-Pfalz. In all Kurfurst Courts, the French Am-
bassadors sing diligently to the tune Belleisle sets
them; and Courts give ear, or will do, when the charmer
himself arrives.
Kur-Sachsen, as above hinted, was his most delicate
operation, in the charming or trout-tickling way. And
Kur-Sachsen, -- and poor Saxony, ever since, -- knows
if he did not do it well! "Deduct this Kur-Sachsen
from the Austrian side," calculates Belleisle; "add him
to ours, it is almost an equality of votes. Kur-Baiern,
our own Imperial Candidate; Kur-Koln, his Brother;
Kur-Pfalz, by genealogy his Cousin (not to mention
Berg-Jiilich matters): here are three Wittelsbachers,
knit together; three sure votes; King Friedrich, Knr-
Brandenburg, there is a fourth; -- and if Kur-Sachsen
would join? " But who knows if Kur-Sachsen will!
The poor soul has himself thoughts of being Kaiser;
then no thoughts, and again some: thoughts which
Belleisle knows how to handle. "Yes, Kaiser yon,
your Majesty; excellent! " And sets to consider the
methods: "Hm, ha, -- hm! Think, your Majesty:
ought not that Bohemian Vote to be excluded, for one
thing? Kur-Bohmen is fallen into the distaff, Maria
Theresa herself cannot vote. Surely question will rise,
Whether distaff can, validly, hand it over to distaffs
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? CHAP. XI. ] BELLEISLE AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 371
April--May 1741.
husband, as they are about doing? Whether, in fact,
Kur-Bohmen is not in abeyance for this time? " "So! "
answered Kur-Sachsen, Reichs-Vicarius. And there-
upon meetings were summoned; Nightmare Committees
sat on this matter under the Reichs-Vicar, slowly
hatching it; and at length brought out, "Kur-Bohmen
not transferable by the distaff; Kur-Bohmen in abeyance
for this time. " Greatly to the joy of Belleisle; infinitely
to the chagrin of her Hungarian Majesty, -- who
declared it a crying injustice (though I believe legally
done in every point); and by and by, even made it a
plea of Nullity, destructive to the Election altogether,
when her Hungarian Majesty's affairs looked up again,
and the world would listen to Austrian sophistries and
obstinacies. This was an essential service from Kur-
Sachsen. *
After which Kur-Sachsen's own poor Kaisership
died away into "Hm, ha, hm! " again, with a grateful
Belleisle. Who nevertheless dexterously retained Kur-
Sachsen as ally; tickling the poor wretch with other
baits. Of the Kaiser he had really meant all along,
there was dead silence, except between the parties; no
whisper heard, for six months after it had been agreed
upon; none, for two or near three months after formal
settlement, and signing and sealing. Karl Albert's
Treaty with Belleisle was, 18th May 1741; and he
did not declare himself a Candidate till lst-14th July
following. ** Belleisle understands the Nightmare Par-
liaments, the electioneering art, and how to deal with
* Began, indistinctly, "in March* (1741); languid "for some months"
(Adelung, ii. 292); "November 4th," was settled in the negative, "Kur-
Bohmen not to have a vote" (Maria Thcrenens Leben, p. 47n. ).
** Adelung, ii. 357, 421.
524*
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? 372 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [BOOK XII.
April--May 1741*
Enchanted Wiggeries. More perfect master, in that
sad art, has not turned up on record to one's afflicted
mind. Such a Sungod, and doing such a Scavengerism!
Belleisle, in the sixth month (end of August 1741)
feels sure of a majority. How Belleisle managed, after
that, to checkmate George of England, and make even
George vote for him, and the Kaiserwahl to be
unanimous against Grand-Duke Franz, will be seen.
Great are Belleisle's doings in this world, if they were
useful either to God or man, or to Belleisle himself
first of all! --
Teutschland to be carved into something of Symmetry,
should the Belleisle Enterprises succeed.
Belleisle's schemes, in the rear of all this labour,
are grandiose to a degree. Men wonder at the First
Napoleon's mad notions in that kind. But no Napo-
leon, in the fire of the revolutionary element; no Sham-
Napoleon, in the ashes of it; hardly a Parisian Jour-
nalist of imaginative turn, speculating on the First
Nation of the Universe and what its place is, -- could
go higher than did this grandiose Belleisle; a man
with clear thoughts in his head, under a torpid
Louis XV. Let me see, thinks Belleisle. Germany
with our Bavarian for Kaiser; Germany to be cut into,
say, Four little Kingdoms: 10. Bavaria with the lean
Kaiserhood; 20. Saxony, fattened by its share of
Austria; 3o. Prussia the like; 40. Austria itself,
shorn down as above, and shoved out to the re-
mote Hungarian parts: voila. These, not reckoning
Hanover, which perhaps we cannot get just yet, are
Four pretty Sovereignties. Three, or Two, of these
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? CHAP. XI. ] BELLEISLE AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 373
April--May 1741.
hireable by gold, it is to be hoped. And will not
France have a glorious time of it; playing master
of the revels there, egging one against the other! Yes,
Germany is then, what Nature designed it, a Province
of France: little George of Hanover himself, and who
knows but England after him, may one day find their
fate inevitable, like the others. 0 Louis, O my King,
is not this an outlook? Louis le Grand was great; but
you are likely to be Louis the Grandest; and here is
a World shaped, at last, after the real pattern!
Such are, in sad truth, Belleisle's schemes; not yet
entirely hatched into daylight or articulation; but be-
coming articulate, to himself and others, more and
more. Reader, keep them well in mind: I had rather
not speak of them again. They are essential to our
Story; but they are afflictively vain, contrary to the
Laws of Fact; and can, now or henceforth, in no wise
be. My friend, it was not Beelzebub, nor Mephisto-
pheles, nor Autolycus-Apollo that built this world and
us; it was Another. And you will get your crown well
rapped, M.
le Marechal, for so forgetting that fact!
France is an extremely pretty creature; but this of
making France the supreme Governor and God's-
Vicegerent of Nations, is, was and remains, one of the
maddest notions. France at its ideal best, and with a
demigod for King over it, were by no means fit for
such function; nay of many Nations, is eminently the
unfittest for it. And France at its worst or nearly so,
with a Louis XV. over it by way of demigod --, 0
Belleisle, what kind of France is this; shining in your
grandiose imagination, in such contrast to the stingy
fact: like a creature consisting of two enormous wings,
five hundred yards in potential extent, and no body
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? 374 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [bOOK ? U.
April--May 174. 1.
bigger than that of a common Cock, weighing three
pounds avoirdupois. Cock with his own gizzard much
out of sorts, too!
It was 'early in March'* when Belleisle ,| the Arti-
ficial Sungod, quitted Paris on this errand. He came
by the Moselle road; called on the Rhine Kurfiirsts,
Koln, Trier, Mainz; dazzling them, so far as possible,
with his splendour for the mind and for the eye. He
proceeded next to Dresden, which is a main card; and
where there is immense manipulation needed, and the
most delicate trout-tickling; this being a skittish fish,
and an important, though a foolish. Belleisle was at
Dresden when the Battle of Mollwitz fell out: what a
windfall into Belleisle's game! He ran across to Fried-
rich at Mollwitz, to congratulate, to consult, -- as we
shall see anon.
Belleisle, I am informed, in this preliminary Tour
of his, speaks only, or hints only (except in the proper
quarters), of Election Business; of the need there per-
haps is, on the part of an Age growing in liberal ideas,
to exclude the Austrian Grand-Duke; to curb that
ponderous, harsh, ungenerous House of Austria, too
long lording it over generous Germany; and to set up
some better House, -- Bavaria, for example; Saxony,
for example? Of his plans in the rear of this he is
silent; speaks only by hints, by innuendos, to the
proper parties. But ripening or ripe, plans do he to
rear; far-stretching, high-soaring; in part, dark at Ver-
sailles; -- darkly fermenting, not yet developed, in
Belleisle's own head; only the Future Kaiser a luminous
* Adelung, ii. 305.
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? CHAP. XI. ] BELLEISLE AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 375
April--Majr 1741.
fixed point, shooting beams across the grandiose Crea-
tion-Process going on there.
By the end of August 1741, Belleisle had become
certain of his game; 24th January, he saw himself as
if winner. Before August, he had got his Electors
manipulated, tickled to his purpose, by the witchery
of a Phoebus-Autolycus or Diplomatic Sungod; majority
secured for a Bavarian Kaiser, and against an Austrian
one. And in the course of that Month, -- what was
still more considerable! -- he was getting, under mild
pretexts, about a Hundred Thousand armed Frenchmen
gently wafted over upon the soil of Germany. Two
complete French Armies, 40,000 each (plus their Re-
serves), one over the Upper Rhine, one over the Lower;
about which we shall hear a great deal in time coming!
Under mild pretexts: "Peaceable as lambs, don't you
observe? Merely to protect Freedom of Election, in
this fine neighbour country; and as allies to our Friend
of Bavaria, should he chance to be new Kaiser, and
to persist in his modest claims otherwise. " This was
his crowning stroke. Which finished straightway the
remnants of Pragmatic Sanction and of every obstacle;
and in a shining manner swept the roads clear. And
so, on January 24th following, the Election, long held
back by Belleisle's manoeuvrings, actually takes effect,
-- in favour of Karl Albert, our invaluable Bavarian
Friend. Austria is left solitary in the Reich; Prag-
matic Sanction, Keystone of Nature, which Belleisle
and France had sworn to keep in, is openly torn out
by Belleisle and by France and the majority of man-
kind; and Belleisle sees himself, to all appearance,
winner.
This was the' harvest reaped by Belleisle, within
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? 376 FIRST SILESIAN WAE. [bOOK XII.
April--May 1741.
year and day; after endless manoeuvring, such as only
a Belleisle in the character of Diplomatic Sungod could
do. Beyond question, the distracted ambitions of
several German Princes have been kindled by Belleisle;
what we called the rotten thatch of Germany is well
on fire. This diligent sowing in the Reich, -- to judge
by the 100,000 armed men here, and the counter
hundreds of thousands arming, -- has been a pretty
stroke of dragon's-teeth husbandry on Belleisle's part.
Belleisle on Visit to Friedrich; sees Friedrich besiege
Brieg, with Effect.
It was April 26th, when Marechal de Belleisle,
with his Brother the Chevalier, with Valori and
other bright accompaniment, arrived ia Friedrich's
Camp. "Camp of Mollwitz," so named; between Moll-
witz and Brieg; where Friedrich is still resting, in a
vigilant expectant condition; and, except it be the
taking of Brieg, has nothing military on hand. Wednes-
day, 26th April, the distinguished Excellency, --
escorted for the last three miles by 120 Horse, and
the other customary ceremonies, -- makes his appear-
ance: no doubt an interesting one to Friedrich, for
this and the days next following. Their talk is not
reported anywhere: nor is it said with exactitude how
far, whether wholly now, or only in part now, Belleisle
expounded his sublime ideas to Friedrich; or what
precise reception they got. Friedrich himself writes
long afterwards of the event; but, as usual, without
precision, except in general effect. Now, or some time
after, Friedrich says he found Belleisle, one morning,
with brow clouded, knit into intense meditation: "Have
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? CHAP. XI. ] BELLEISLE AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 377
April--May 1741.
you had bad news, M. le Mardchal? " asks Friedrich.
"No, oh no! I am considering what we shall make of
that Moravia? " -- "Moravia; Hm! " Friedrich sup-
presses the glance that is rising to his eyes: "Can't
you give it to Saxony, then? Buy Saxony into the
Plan with it! " "Excellent," answers Belleisle, and
unpuckers his stern brow again.
Friedrich thinks highly, and about this time often
says so, of the man Belleisle: but as to the man's
effulgencies, and wide-winged Plans, none is less
seduced by them than Friedrich: "Your chickens are
not hatched, M. le Mardchal; some of us hope they
never will be, -- though the incubation-process may
have uses for some of us! " Friedrich knows that the
Kaisership given to any other than Grand-Duke Franz
will be mostly an imaginary quantity. "A grand
Symbolic Cloak in the eyes of the vulgar; but empty
of all things, empty even of cash, for the last Two
Hundred Years: Austria can wear it to advantage; no
other mortal. Hang it on Austria, which is a solid
human figure, -- so. " And Friedrich wishes, and
hopes always, Maria Theresa will agree with him, and
get it for her Husband. "But to hang it on Bavaria,
which is a lean bare pole? Oh, M. le Mar^chal! --
And those Four Kingdoms of yours: what a brood of
poultry, those? Chickens happily yet wwhatched; --
eggs addle, I should venture to hope: -- only do go
on incubating, M. le Marechal! " That is Friedrich's
notion of the thing. Belleisle stayed with Friedrich
"a few days," say the Books. After which, Friedrich,
finding Belleisle too winged a creature, corresponded,
in preference, with Fleury and the Head Sources; --
who are always intensely enough concerned about
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? 378 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [bOOK m
27th April 1741.
those "aces" falling to him, and how the same are to
be "shared. "*
Instead of parade or review in honour of Belleisle,
there happened to be a far grander military show, of
the practical kind. The Siege of Brieg, the Opening
of the Trenches before Brieg, chanced to be just ready,
on Belleisle's arrival; -- and would have taken effect,
we find, that very night, April 26th, had not a sudden
wintry outburst, or "tempest of extraordinary violence,"
prevented. Next night, night of the 27th-28th, under
shine of the full Moon, in the open champaign country,
on both sides of the River, it did take effect. An un-
commonly fine thing of its sort; as one can still see by
reading Friedrich's strict Program for it, -- a most
minute, precise and all-anticipating Program, which
still interests military men, as Friedrich's first Piece in
that kind, -- and comparing therewith the Narratives
of the performance which ensued. **
Kalkstein, Friedrich's old Tutor, is Captain of the
Siege; under him Jeetz, long used to blockading about
Brieg. The silvery Oder has its due bridges for com-
munication; all is in readiness, and waiting manifold
as in the slip, -- and there is Engineer Walrave, our
Glogau Dutch friend, who shall, at the right instant,
"with his straw-rope (Strohseil) mark out the first
parallel," and be swift about it! There are 2,000
diggers, with the due implements, fascines, equipments;
duly divided, into Twelve equal Parties, and "always
* Details, in llelden-Geschichle, i. 912, 962, 916; in CEnvret dc Frederic,
ii. 79, 80; &c.
** Ordrn und Dispositiones (sic), wornach sich der Generol-Lieuleiuist
von Kalckstein bei Brdffnung der Trancheen &c. (LEuvrcn de Frederic, utx.
39-44): the Program. llelden-Geschichle, i. 916-28: the Narrative.
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? qHAP. XI. J BELLEISLB AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 379
4th May 1741.
two spademen to one pickman" (which indicates soft
sandy ground): these, with the escorting or covering
battalions, Twelve Parties they also, on both sides of
the River, are to be in their several stations at the
fixed moments; man, musket, mattock, strictly exact.
They are to advance at Midnight; the covering batta-
lions so many yards ahead: no speaking is permissible,
nor the least tobacco-smoking; no drum to be allowed
for fear of accident; no firing, unless you are fired on.
The covering battalions are all to "lie flat, so soon as
"they get to their ground, all but the Officers and
"sentries. " To rear of these, stand Walrave and assist-
ants, silent, with their straw-rope; -- silent, then anon
swift, and in whisper or almost by dumb-show, "Now,
then! " After whom the diggers, fascine-men, workers,
each in his kind, shall fall-to, silently, and dig and
work as for life.
'AH which is done; exact as clockwork: beautiful
to see, or half-see, and speak of to your Belleisle, in
the serene moonlight! Half an hour's marching, half
an hour's swift digging: the Town-clock of Brieg was
hardly striking One, when "they had dug themselves
in. " And, before daybreak, they had, in two batteries,
fifty cannon in position, with a proper set of mortars
(other side the River), -- ready to astonish Piccolomini
and his Austrians; who had not had the least whisper
of them, all night, though it was full moon. Graf von
Piccolomini, an active gallant person, had refused
terms, some time before; and was hopefully intent on
doing his best. And now, suddenly, there rose round
Piccolomini such a tornado of cannonading and bom-
bardment, day after day, always "three guns of ours
playing against one of theirs," that his guns got ruined;
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? 380 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [eOOKXH.
April--May 1741.
that "his hay-magazines took fire," --, and the Schloss
itself, which was adjacent to them, took fire (a sad
thing to Friedrich, who commanded pause, that they
might try quenching, but in vain); -- and that in
short, Piccolomini, could not stand it; but on the 4th
of May, precisely after one week's experience, hung
out the white flag, and "beat chamade at 3 of the
afternoon. " He was allowed to march out, next morning,
with escort to Neisse; parole pledged, Not to serve
against us for two years coming.
Friedrich in person (I rather guess, Belleisle not
now at his side) saw the Garrison march out; -- kept
Piccolomini to dinner; a gallant Piccolomini, who had
hoped to do better, but could not. This was a pretty
enough piece of Siege-practice. Torstenson, with his
Swedes, had furiously besieged Brieg in 1642, a
hundred years ago; and could do nothing to it. Nothing,
but withdraw again, futile; leaving 1,400 of his people
dead. Friedrich, the Austrian Garrison once out, set
instantly about repairing the works, and improving
them into impregnability, -- our ugly friend Walrave
presiding over that operation too.
Belleisle, we may believe, so long as he continued,
was full of polite wonder over these things; perhaps
had critical advices here and there, which would be
politely received. It is certain he came out extremely
brilliant, gifted and agreeable, in the eyes of Friedrich;
who often afterwards, not in the very strictest language,
calls him a great man, great soldier, and by far the
considerablest person you French have. It is no less
certain, Belleisle displayed, so far as displayable, his
magnificent Diplomatic Ware to the best advantage.
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? CHAP. XI. ] BELLEISLE AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 381
April--May 1741.
To which, we perceive, the young King answered,
"Magnificent, indeed! " but would not bite all at once;
and rather preferred corresponding with Fleury, on
business points, keeping the matter dextrously hanging,
in an illuminated element of hope and contingency, for
the present.
K Belleisle, after we know not how many days, re-
turned to Dresden; perfected his work at Dresden, or
shoved it well forward, with "that Moravia" as bait.
"Yes, King of Moravia, you, your Polish Majesty, shall
be! " -- and it is said the simple creature did so style
himself, by and by, in certain rare Manifestoes, which
still exist in the cabinets of the curious. Belleisle
next, after only a few days, went to Munch en; to
operate on Karl Albert Kur-Baiern, a willing subject.
And, in short, Belleisle whirled along incessantly, torch
in hand; making his "circuit of the German Courts,"
-- details of said circuit not to be followed by us
farther. One small thing only I have found remember-
able; probably true, though vague. At Munchen, still
more out at Nymphenburg, the fine Country-Palace
not far off, there was of course long conferencing, long
consulting, secret and intense, between Belleisle with
his people and Karl Albert with his. Karl Albert, as
we know, was himself willing. But a certain Baron
von TJnertl, -- heavy-built Bavarian of the old type,
an old stager in the Bavarian Ministries, -- was of
far other disposition. One day, out at Nymphenburg,
Unertl got to the Council-room, while Belleisle and
Company were there: TJnertl found the Apartment
locked, absolutely no admittance; and heard voices,
the Kurfurst's and French voices, eagerly at work
inside. "Admit me, Gracious Herr; urn Gottes Willen,
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April--May 1741.
poor creature may have got by that sad operation; --
which all Saxony sighed to the heart on hearing of;
for it was always hoped he had some real religion, and
would deliver them from that Babylonish Captivity
again! He married Kaiser Joseph I. 's Daughter, --
Maria Theresa's Cousin, and by an Elder Brother; --
this, too, ought surely to be something in the Anti-
Pragmatic line? It is true, Kur-Baiern has to Wife
another Daughter of Kaiser Joseph's; but she is the
younger: "I am senior there, at least! " thinks the
foolish man.
Too true, he had finally, in past years, to sign
Pragmatic Sanction; no help for it, no hope without
it, in that Polish-Election time. He will have to eat
his Covenant, therefore, as the first step in Anti-
Pragmatism; and he is extremely in doubt as to the
How, sometimes as to the Whether. And shifts and whirls,
accordingly, at a great rate, in these months and years;
now on Maria Theresa's side, deluded by shadows from
Vienna, and getting into Russian Partition-Treaties;
anon tickled by Belleisle into the reverse posture; then
again reversing. An idle, easy-tempered, yet greedy
creature', who, what with religious apostasy in early
manhood, what with flaccid ambitions since, and idle
gapings after shadows, has lost helm in this world; and
will make a very bad voyage for self and country.
His Palinurus and chief Counsellor, at present and
afterwards, is a Count von Briihl, once Page to August
the Strong; now risen to such height: Briihl of the
Threehundred and Sixty-five suits of clothes; whom it
has grown wearisome even to laugh at. A cunning
little wretch, they say, and of deft tongue; but surely
among the unwisest of all the Sons of Adam in that
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? 366 FIRST SILKSIAN WAR. [book XII.
April--May 174L
day, and such a Palinurus as seldom steered before.
Kur-Sachsen, being Reichs-Vicar in the Northern Parts,
-- (Kur-Baiern and Kur-Pfalz, as friends and good
Wittelsbacher Cousins surely ought, in a crisis like
this, have agreed to be Joint-Vicars in the Southern
Parts, and no longer quarrel upon it), -- Kur-Sachsen
has a good deal to do in the Election preludings, for-
malities and prearrangements; and is capable, as Kur-
Pfalz and Cousin always are, of serving as chisel to
Belleisle's mallet, in such points, which will plentifully
turn up.
5". King of Sardinia. -- Reichs-Vicar in Italian
Parts is Charles Amadeus King of Sardinia (tough old
Victor's Son, whom we have heard of): an office mostly
honorary; suitable to the important individual who
keeps the Door of the Alps. Charles Amadeus had
signed the Pragmatic Sanction; but eats his Covenant,
like the others, on example of France; -- having, as
he now bethinks himself, claims on the Milanese. There
are two claimants on the Milanese, then; the Spanish
Termagant, and he? Yes; and they will have their
difficulties, their extensive tusslings in Italian War and
otherwise, to make an adjustment of it; and will give
Belleisle (at least the Doorkeeper will) an immensity of
trouble, in years coming.
In this way do the Pragmatic people eat their own
Covenant, one after the other, and are not ashamed;
-- till all have eaten, or as good as eaten; and, almost
within year and day, Pragmatic Sanction is a vanished
quantity; and poor Kaiser Karl's life-labour is not
worth the sheep-skin and stationery it cost him. History
reports in sum, That "nobody kept the Pragmatic
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? CHAP. XI. ] BELLEISLE AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 367
April--May 1741.
Sanction; that the few" (strictly speaking, the one)
"who acted by it, would have done precisely the same,
"though there had never been such a Document in
"existence. " To George II. , it is, was and will be, the
Keystone of Nature, the true Anti-French palladium
of mankind; and he, dragging the unwilling Dutch
after him, will do great things for it: but nobody else
does anything at all. Might we hope to bid adieu to
it, in this manner, and never to mention it again! --
Document more futile there had not been in Nature,
nor will be. Friedrich had not yet fought at Mollwitz
in assertion of his Silesian claim, when the poor Pope,
-- poor soul, who had no Covenant to eat, but took
pattern by others, --- claimed, in solemn Allocution,
Parma and Piacenza for the Holy See. * All the world
is claiming. Of the Court of Wiirtemberg and its
Protestings, and "extensive Deduction" about nothing
at all, we do not speak; ** nor of Montmorency claiming
Luxemburg, of which he is Titular "Duke; nor of
Monsignore di Guastalla claiming Mantua; nor of --
In brief, the fences are now down; a broad French gap
in those miles of elaborate paling, which are good only
as fire-wood henceforth, and any ass may rush in and
claim a bellyful. Great are the works of Belleisle! --
Concerning the Imperial Election (Kaiserwahl) that is to
be; Candidates for Kaisership.
At equal step with the ruining of Pragmatic Sanction,
goes on that spoiling of Grand-Duke Franz's Election
to the Kaisership: these two operations run parallel;
or rather, under different forms, they are one and the
* Adelung, ii. S76 (5th April 1741). ** Ibid. 195, 403.
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? 368 FIRST SULESIAN WAR. [bOOKSH.
April--May 1711.
same operation. "To assist, as a Most Christian neigh-
boar ought, in picking out the fit Kaiser," was
Belleisle's ostensible mission; and indeed this does in-
clude virtually his whole errand. Till three months
after Belleisle's appearance in the business-, Grand-
Duke Franz never doubted but he should be Kaiser;
Friedrich's offers to help him in it he had scorned,
as the offer of a fifth wheel to his chariot, already
rushing on with four. "Here is Kur-Bohmen, Austria's
own vote," counts the Grand-Duke; "Kur-Sacksen,
doing Prussian-Partition Treaties for us; Kur-Trier,
our fat little Schonborn, Austrian to the bone; Kur-
Mainz, important chairman, regulator of the Conclave;
here are Four Electors for ui: then also Kur-Pfalz, he
surely, in return for the Berg-Julich service; finally,
and liable to no question, Kur-Hanover, little George
of England with his endless guineas and resources, a
little Jack-the-Giantkiller, greater than all Giants, Paladin
of the Pragmatic and us: here are Six Electors of the
Nine. Let Brandenburg and the Bavarian Couple,
Kur-Baiern and Kur-Koln, do their pleasure! " This
was Grand-Duke Franz's calculation.
By the time Belleisle had been three months in
Germany, the Grand-Duke's notion had changed; and
he began "applying to the Sea-Powers," "to Russia,"
and all round. In Belleisle's sixth month, the Grand-
Duke, after such demolition of Pragmatic, and such
disasters and contradictions as had been, saw his case
to be desperate; though he still stuck to it, Austrian-
like, -- or rather, Austria for him stuck to it, the
Grand-Duke being careless of such things; -- and in-
deed, privately, never did give in, even . after the
Election, as we shall have to note.
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? CHAP. XI. ] BELLEISLE AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 369
April--May 1741.
The Reich itself being mainly a Phantasm or En-
chanted Wiggery, its "Kaiser-Choosing" (Kaiserwaht),
-- now getting under way at Frankfurt, with pre-
liminary outskirts at Regensburg, and in the Chancery
of Mainz, -- is very phantasmal, not to say ghastly;
and forbidding, not inviting, to the human eye. Nine
Kurfursts, Choosers of Teutschland's real Captain; in
none of whom is there much thought for Teutschland
or its interests, -- and indeed in hardly more than
One of whom (Prussian Friedrich, if readers will know
it) is there the least thought that way; but, in general,
much indifference to things divine or diabolic, and
thought for one's own paltry profits and losses only!
So it has long been; and so it now is, more than usual.
-- Consider again, are Enchanted Wiggeries a beau-
tiful thing, in this extremely earnest World? --
The Kaiserwahl is an affair depending much on
processions, proclamations, on delusions optical, acoustic;
on palaverings, manoeuvrings, holdings back, then
hasty pushings forward; and indeed is mainly, in more
senses than one, under guidance of the Prince of the
Power of the Air. Unbeautiful, like a World-Parlia-
ment of Nightmares (if the reader could conceive such
a thing); huge formless, tongueless monsters of that
species, doing their "three readings," -- under Presi-
dency or chief-pipership as above! Belleisle, for his
part, is consummately skilful, and manages as only
himself could. Keeps his game well hidden, not a
hint or whisper of it except in studied proportions;
spreads out his lines, his birdlime; tickles, entices,
astonishes; goes his rounds, like a subtle Fowler taking
captive the minds of men; a Phoebus-Apollo, god of
melody and of the sun, filling his net with birds.
Carhjle, Frederick lite Great. VI, 24
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? 370 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [book SB.
April--May 1741.
I believe, old Kur-Pfalz, for the sake of French
neighbourhood, and Berg-and-Jiilich, were there nothing
more, was very helpful to him; -- in March past, when
the Election was to have been, when it would have
gone at once in favour of the Grand-Duke, Kur-Pfalz
got the Election "postponed a little. " Postponing,
procrastinating; then again pushing violently on, when
things are ripe: Belleisle has only to give signal to a
fit Kur-Pfalz. In all Kurfurst Courts, the French Am-
bassadors sing diligently to the tune Belleisle sets
them; and Courts give ear, or will do, when the charmer
himself arrives.
Kur-Sachsen, as above hinted, was his most delicate
operation, in the charming or trout-tickling way. And
Kur-Sachsen, -- and poor Saxony, ever since, -- knows
if he did not do it well! "Deduct this Kur-Sachsen
from the Austrian side," calculates Belleisle; "add him
to ours, it is almost an equality of votes. Kur-Baiern,
our own Imperial Candidate; Kur-Koln, his Brother;
Kur-Pfalz, by genealogy his Cousin (not to mention
Berg-Jiilich matters): here are three Wittelsbachers,
knit together; three sure votes; King Friedrich, Knr-
Brandenburg, there is a fourth; -- and if Kur-Sachsen
would join? " But who knows if Kur-Sachsen will!
The poor soul has himself thoughts of being Kaiser;
then no thoughts, and again some: thoughts which
Belleisle knows how to handle. "Yes, Kaiser yon,
your Majesty; excellent! " And sets to consider the
methods: "Hm, ha, -- hm! Think, your Majesty:
ought not that Bohemian Vote to be excluded, for one
thing? Kur-Bohmen is fallen into the distaff, Maria
Theresa herself cannot vote. Surely question will rise,
Whether distaff can, validly, hand it over to distaffs
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? CHAP. XI. ] BELLEISLE AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 371
April--May 1741.
husband, as they are about doing? Whether, in fact,
Kur-Bohmen is not in abeyance for this time? " "So! "
answered Kur-Sachsen, Reichs-Vicarius. And there-
upon meetings were summoned; Nightmare Committees
sat on this matter under the Reichs-Vicar, slowly
hatching it; and at length brought out, "Kur-Bohmen
not transferable by the distaff; Kur-Bohmen in abeyance
for this time. " Greatly to the joy of Belleisle; infinitely
to the chagrin of her Hungarian Majesty, -- who
declared it a crying injustice (though I believe legally
done in every point); and by and by, even made it a
plea of Nullity, destructive to the Election altogether,
when her Hungarian Majesty's affairs looked up again,
and the world would listen to Austrian sophistries and
obstinacies. This was an essential service from Kur-
Sachsen. *
After which Kur-Sachsen's own poor Kaisership
died away into "Hm, ha, hm! " again, with a grateful
Belleisle. Who nevertheless dexterously retained Kur-
Sachsen as ally; tickling the poor wretch with other
baits. Of the Kaiser he had really meant all along,
there was dead silence, except between the parties; no
whisper heard, for six months after it had been agreed
upon; none, for two or near three months after formal
settlement, and signing and sealing. Karl Albert's
Treaty with Belleisle was, 18th May 1741; and he
did not declare himself a Candidate till lst-14th July
following. ** Belleisle understands the Nightmare Par-
liaments, the electioneering art, and how to deal with
* Began, indistinctly, "in March* (1741); languid "for some months"
(Adelung, ii. 292); "November 4th," was settled in the negative, "Kur-
Bohmen not to have a vote" (Maria Thcrenens Leben, p. 47n. ).
** Adelung, ii. 357, 421.
524*
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? 372 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [BOOK XII.
April--May 1741*
Enchanted Wiggeries. More perfect master, in that
sad art, has not turned up on record to one's afflicted
mind. Such a Sungod, and doing such a Scavengerism!
Belleisle, in the sixth month (end of August 1741)
feels sure of a majority. How Belleisle managed, after
that, to checkmate George of England, and make even
George vote for him, and the Kaiserwahl to be
unanimous against Grand-Duke Franz, will be seen.
Great are Belleisle's doings in this world, if they were
useful either to God or man, or to Belleisle himself
first of all! --
Teutschland to be carved into something of Symmetry,
should the Belleisle Enterprises succeed.
Belleisle's schemes, in the rear of all this labour,
are grandiose to a degree. Men wonder at the First
Napoleon's mad notions in that kind. But no Napo-
leon, in the fire of the revolutionary element; no Sham-
Napoleon, in the ashes of it; hardly a Parisian Jour-
nalist of imaginative turn, speculating on the First
Nation of the Universe and what its place is, -- could
go higher than did this grandiose Belleisle; a man
with clear thoughts in his head, under a torpid
Louis XV. Let me see, thinks Belleisle. Germany
with our Bavarian for Kaiser; Germany to be cut into,
say, Four little Kingdoms: 10. Bavaria with the lean
Kaiserhood; 20. Saxony, fattened by its share of
Austria; 3o. Prussia the like; 40. Austria itself,
shorn down as above, and shoved out to the re-
mote Hungarian parts: voila. These, not reckoning
Hanover, which perhaps we cannot get just yet, are
Four pretty Sovereignties. Three, or Two, of these
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? CHAP. XI. ] BELLEISLE AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 373
April--May 1741.
hireable by gold, it is to be hoped. And will not
France have a glorious time of it; playing master
of the revels there, egging one against the other! Yes,
Germany is then, what Nature designed it, a Province
of France: little George of Hanover himself, and who
knows but England after him, may one day find their
fate inevitable, like the others. 0 Louis, O my King,
is not this an outlook? Louis le Grand was great; but
you are likely to be Louis the Grandest; and here is
a World shaped, at last, after the real pattern!
Such are, in sad truth, Belleisle's schemes; not yet
entirely hatched into daylight or articulation; but be-
coming articulate, to himself and others, more and
more. Reader, keep them well in mind: I had rather
not speak of them again. They are essential to our
Story; but they are afflictively vain, contrary to the
Laws of Fact; and can, now or henceforth, in no wise
be. My friend, it was not Beelzebub, nor Mephisto-
pheles, nor Autolycus-Apollo that built this world and
us; it was Another. And you will get your crown well
rapped, M.
le Marechal, for so forgetting that fact!
France is an extremely pretty creature; but this of
making France the supreme Governor and God's-
Vicegerent of Nations, is, was and remains, one of the
maddest notions. France at its ideal best, and with a
demigod for King over it, were by no means fit for
such function; nay of many Nations, is eminently the
unfittest for it. And France at its worst or nearly so,
with a Louis XV. over it by way of demigod --, 0
Belleisle, what kind of France is this; shining in your
grandiose imagination, in such contrast to the stingy
fact: like a creature consisting of two enormous wings,
five hundred yards in potential extent, and no body
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? 374 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [bOOK ? U.
April--May 174. 1.
bigger than that of a common Cock, weighing three
pounds avoirdupois. Cock with his own gizzard much
out of sorts, too!
It was 'early in March'* when Belleisle ,| the Arti-
ficial Sungod, quitted Paris on this errand. He came
by the Moselle road; called on the Rhine Kurfiirsts,
Koln, Trier, Mainz; dazzling them, so far as possible,
with his splendour for the mind and for the eye. He
proceeded next to Dresden, which is a main card; and
where there is immense manipulation needed, and the
most delicate trout-tickling; this being a skittish fish,
and an important, though a foolish. Belleisle was at
Dresden when the Battle of Mollwitz fell out: what a
windfall into Belleisle's game! He ran across to Fried-
rich at Mollwitz, to congratulate, to consult, -- as we
shall see anon.
Belleisle, I am informed, in this preliminary Tour
of his, speaks only, or hints only (except in the proper
quarters), of Election Business; of the need there per-
haps is, on the part of an Age growing in liberal ideas,
to exclude the Austrian Grand-Duke; to curb that
ponderous, harsh, ungenerous House of Austria, too
long lording it over generous Germany; and to set up
some better House, -- Bavaria, for example; Saxony,
for example? Of his plans in the rear of this he is
silent; speaks only by hints, by innuendos, to the
proper parties. But ripening or ripe, plans do he to
rear; far-stretching, high-soaring; in part, dark at Ver-
sailles; -- darkly fermenting, not yet developed, in
Belleisle's own head; only the Future Kaiser a luminous
* Adelung, ii. 305.
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? CHAP. XI. ] BELLEISLE AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 375
April--Majr 1741.
fixed point, shooting beams across the grandiose Crea-
tion-Process going on there.
By the end of August 1741, Belleisle had become
certain of his game; 24th January, he saw himself as
if winner. Before August, he had got his Electors
manipulated, tickled to his purpose, by the witchery
of a Phoebus-Autolycus or Diplomatic Sungod; majority
secured for a Bavarian Kaiser, and against an Austrian
one. And in the course of that Month, -- what was
still more considerable! -- he was getting, under mild
pretexts, about a Hundred Thousand armed Frenchmen
gently wafted over upon the soil of Germany. Two
complete French Armies, 40,000 each (plus their Re-
serves), one over the Upper Rhine, one over the Lower;
about which we shall hear a great deal in time coming!
Under mild pretexts: "Peaceable as lambs, don't you
observe? Merely to protect Freedom of Election, in
this fine neighbour country; and as allies to our Friend
of Bavaria, should he chance to be new Kaiser, and
to persist in his modest claims otherwise. " This was
his crowning stroke. Which finished straightway the
remnants of Pragmatic Sanction and of every obstacle;
and in a shining manner swept the roads clear. And
so, on January 24th following, the Election, long held
back by Belleisle's manoeuvrings, actually takes effect,
-- in favour of Karl Albert, our invaluable Bavarian
Friend. Austria is left solitary in the Reich; Prag-
matic Sanction, Keystone of Nature, which Belleisle
and France had sworn to keep in, is openly torn out
by Belleisle and by France and the majority of man-
kind; and Belleisle sees himself, to all appearance,
winner.
This was the' harvest reaped by Belleisle, within
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? 376 FIRST SILESIAN WAE. [bOOK XII.
April--May 1741.
year and day; after endless manoeuvring, such as only
a Belleisle in the character of Diplomatic Sungod could
do. Beyond question, the distracted ambitions of
several German Princes have been kindled by Belleisle;
what we called the rotten thatch of Germany is well
on fire. This diligent sowing in the Reich, -- to judge
by the 100,000 armed men here, and the counter
hundreds of thousands arming, -- has been a pretty
stroke of dragon's-teeth husbandry on Belleisle's part.
Belleisle on Visit to Friedrich; sees Friedrich besiege
Brieg, with Effect.
It was April 26th, when Marechal de Belleisle,
with his Brother the Chevalier, with Valori and
other bright accompaniment, arrived ia Friedrich's
Camp. "Camp of Mollwitz," so named; between Moll-
witz and Brieg; where Friedrich is still resting, in a
vigilant expectant condition; and, except it be the
taking of Brieg, has nothing military on hand. Wednes-
day, 26th April, the distinguished Excellency, --
escorted for the last three miles by 120 Horse, and
the other customary ceremonies, -- makes his appear-
ance: no doubt an interesting one to Friedrich, for
this and the days next following. Their talk is not
reported anywhere: nor is it said with exactitude how
far, whether wholly now, or only in part now, Belleisle
expounded his sublime ideas to Friedrich; or what
precise reception they got. Friedrich himself writes
long afterwards of the event; but, as usual, without
precision, except in general effect. Now, or some time
after, Friedrich says he found Belleisle, one morning,
with brow clouded, knit into intense meditation: "Have
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? CHAP. XI. ] BELLEISLE AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 377
April--May 1741.
you had bad news, M. le Mardchal? " asks Friedrich.
"No, oh no! I am considering what we shall make of
that Moravia? " -- "Moravia; Hm! " Friedrich sup-
presses the glance that is rising to his eyes: "Can't
you give it to Saxony, then? Buy Saxony into the
Plan with it! " "Excellent," answers Belleisle, and
unpuckers his stern brow again.
Friedrich thinks highly, and about this time often
says so, of the man Belleisle: but as to the man's
effulgencies, and wide-winged Plans, none is less
seduced by them than Friedrich: "Your chickens are
not hatched, M. le Mardchal; some of us hope they
never will be, -- though the incubation-process may
have uses for some of us! " Friedrich knows that the
Kaisership given to any other than Grand-Duke Franz
will be mostly an imaginary quantity. "A grand
Symbolic Cloak in the eyes of the vulgar; but empty
of all things, empty even of cash, for the last Two
Hundred Years: Austria can wear it to advantage; no
other mortal. Hang it on Austria, which is a solid
human figure, -- so. " And Friedrich wishes, and
hopes always, Maria Theresa will agree with him, and
get it for her Husband. "But to hang it on Bavaria,
which is a lean bare pole? Oh, M. le Mar^chal! --
And those Four Kingdoms of yours: what a brood of
poultry, those? Chickens happily yet wwhatched; --
eggs addle, I should venture to hope: -- only do go
on incubating, M. le Marechal! " That is Friedrich's
notion of the thing. Belleisle stayed with Friedrich
"a few days," say the Books. After which, Friedrich,
finding Belleisle too winged a creature, corresponded,
in preference, with Fleury and the Head Sources; --
who are always intensely enough concerned about
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? 378 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [bOOK m
27th April 1741.
those "aces" falling to him, and how the same are to
be "shared. "*
Instead of parade or review in honour of Belleisle,
there happened to be a far grander military show, of
the practical kind. The Siege of Brieg, the Opening
of the Trenches before Brieg, chanced to be just ready,
on Belleisle's arrival; -- and would have taken effect,
we find, that very night, April 26th, had not a sudden
wintry outburst, or "tempest of extraordinary violence,"
prevented. Next night, night of the 27th-28th, under
shine of the full Moon, in the open champaign country,
on both sides of the River, it did take effect. An un-
commonly fine thing of its sort; as one can still see by
reading Friedrich's strict Program for it, -- a most
minute, precise and all-anticipating Program, which
still interests military men, as Friedrich's first Piece in
that kind, -- and comparing therewith the Narratives
of the performance which ensued. **
Kalkstein, Friedrich's old Tutor, is Captain of the
Siege; under him Jeetz, long used to blockading about
Brieg. The silvery Oder has its due bridges for com-
munication; all is in readiness, and waiting manifold
as in the slip, -- and there is Engineer Walrave, our
Glogau Dutch friend, who shall, at the right instant,
"with his straw-rope (Strohseil) mark out the first
parallel," and be swift about it! There are 2,000
diggers, with the due implements, fascines, equipments;
duly divided, into Twelve equal Parties, and "always
* Details, in llelden-Geschichle, i. 912, 962, 916; in CEnvret dc Frederic,
ii. 79, 80; &c.
** Ordrn und Dispositiones (sic), wornach sich der Generol-Lieuleiuist
von Kalckstein bei Brdffnung der Trancheen &c. (LEuvrcn de Frederic, utx.
39-44): the Program. llelden-Geschichle, i. 916-28: the Narrative.
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? qHAP. XI. J BELLEISLB AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 379
4th May 1741.
two spademen to one pickman" (which indicates soft
sandy ground): these, with the escorting or covering
battalions, Twelve Parties they also, on both sides of
the River, are to be in their several stations at the
fixed moments; man, musket, mattock, strictly exact.
They are to advance at Midnight; the covering batta-
lions so many yards ahead: no speaking is permissible,
nor the least tobacco-smoking; no drum to be allowed
for fear of accident; no firing, unless you are fired on.
The covering battalions are all to "lie flat, so soon as
"they get to their ground, all but the Officers and
"sentries. " To rear of these, stand Walrave and assist-
ants, silent, with their straw-rope; -- silent, then anon
swift, and in whisper or almost by dumb-show, "Now,
then! " After whom the diggers, fascine-men, workers,
each in his kind, shall fall-to, silently, and dig and
work as for life.
'AH which is done; exact as clockwork: beautiful
to see, or half-see, and speak of to your Belleisle, in
the serene moonlight! Half an hour's marching, half
an hour's swift digging: the Town-clock of Brieg was
hardly striking One, when "they had dug themselves
in. " And, before daybreak, they had, in two batteries,
fifty cannon in position, with a proper set of mortars
(other side the River), -- ready to astonish Piccolomini
and his Austrians; who had not had the least whisper
of them, all night, though it was full moon. Graf von
Piccolomini, an active gallant person, had refused
terms, some time before; and was hopefully intent on
doing his best. And now, suddenly, there rose round
Piccolomini such a tornado of cannonading and bom-
bardment, day after day, always "three guns of ours
playing against one of theirs," that his guns got ruined;
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? 380 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [eOOKXH.
April--May 1741.
that "his hay-magazines took fire," --, and the Schloss
itself, which was adjacent to them, took fire (a sad
thing to Friedrich, who commanded pause, that they
might try quenching, but in vain); -- and that in
short, Piccolomini, could not stand it; but on the 4th
of May, precisely after one week's experience, hung
out the white flag, and "beat chamade at 3 of the
afternoon. " He was allowed to march out, next morning,
with escort to Neisse; parole pledged, Not to serve
against us for two years coming.
Friedrich in person (I rather guess, Belleisle not
now at his side) saw the Garrison march out; -- kept
Piccolomini to dinner; a gallant Piccolomini, who had
hoped to do better, but could not. This was a pretty
enough piece of Siege-practice. Torstenson, with his
Swedes, had furiously besieged Brieg in 1642, a
hundred years ago; and could do nothing to it. Nothing,
but withdraw again, futile; leaving 1,400 of his people
dead. Friedrich, the Austrian Garrison once out, set
instantly about repairing the works, and improving
them into impregnability, -- our ugly friend Walrave
presiding over that operation too.
Belleisle, we may believe, so long as he continued,
was full of polite wonder over these things; perhaps
had critical advices here and there, which would be
politely received. It is certain he came out extremely
brilliant, gifted and agreeable, in the eyes of Friedrich;
who often afterwards, not in the very strictest language,
calls him a great man, great soldier, and by far the
considerablest person you French have. It is no less
certain, Belleisle displayed, so far as displayable, his
magnificent Diplomatic Ware to the best advantage.
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? CHAP. XI. ] BELLEISLE AND THE COVENANT-BREAKERS. 381
April--May 1741.
To which, we perceive, the young King answered,
"Magnificent, indeed! " but would not bite all at once;
and rather preferred corresponding with Fleury, on
business points, keeping the matter dextrously hanging,
in an illuminated element of hope and contingency, for
the present.
K Belleisle, after we know not how many days, re-
turned to Dresden; perfected his work at Dresden, or
shoved it well forward, with "that Moravia" as bait.
"Yes, King of Moravia, you, your Polish Majesty, shall
be! " -- and it is said the simple creature did so style
himself, by and by, in certain rare Manifestoes, which
still exist in the cabinets of the curious. Belleisle
next, after only a few days, went to Munch en; to
operate on Karl Albert Kur-Baiern, a willing subject.
And, in short, Belleisle whirled along incessantly, torch
in hand; making his "circuit of the German Courts,"
-- details of said circuit not to be followed by us
farther. One small thing only I have found remember-
able; probably true, though vague. At Munchen, still
more out at Nymphenburg, the fine Country-Palace
not far off, there was of course long conferencing, long
consulting, secret and intense, between Belleisle with
his people and Karl Albert with his. Karl Albert, as
we know, was himself willing. But a certain Baron
von TJnertl, -- heavy-built Bavarian of the old type,
an old stager in the Bavarian Ministries, -- was of
far other disposition. One day, out at Nymphenburg,
Unertl got to the Council-room, while Belleisle and
Company were there: TJnertl found the Apartment
locked, absolutely no admittance; and heard voices,
the Kurfurst's and French voices, eagerly at work
inside. "Admit me, Gracious Herr; urn Gottes Willen,
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