leurs
compatriotes
aux
"e?
"e?
Thomas Carlyle
634-C37), "Hafbeiicht von der am 29.
October
1769 bey Meuro" (chiefly bey Pretsch) "vorgefallenen Action;" ib. n. 543n. ? * Tempelhof, m. 287-289.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? chAp, vi. ] henri's mArch of fIfty hours. 257
4th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1759.
Silesian 13,000; -- November 2d, Hiilsen is actually
at Muskau, and his 13,000 magnified by rumour to
20,000. Hearing of which, Daun takes the road (No-
vember 4th); quits his gloriously palisaded Camp of
Schilda; feels that retreat on Dresden, or even home to
Bohemia altogether, is the one course left.
And now, the important Bautzen Colloquy of Sa-
turday September lbth, having here brought its three or
more Courses of Activity to a pause, -- we will glance
at the far more important Thursday 13th, other side
the Ocean:
Above Quebec, Night of September 12-13th, In profound
silence, on the stream of the St. Lawrence far away, a
notable adventure is going on. Wolfe, from two points well
above Quebec ("As a last shift, we will try that way"), with
about 5,000 men, is silently descending in rafts; with pur-
pose to climb the Heights somewhere on this side the City,
and be in upon it, if Fate will. An enterprise of almost
sublime nature; very great, if it can succeed. The cliffs all
beset to his left hand, Montcalm in person guarding Quebec
with his main strength.
Wolfe silently descends; mind made up; thoughts hushed
quiet into one great thought; in the ripple of the perpetual
waters, under the grim cliffs and the eternal stars. Con-
versing with his people, he was heard to recite some pas-
sages of Gray's Elegy, lately come out to those parts; of
which, says an ear-witness, he expressed his admiration to
an enthusiastic degree: "Ah, these are tones of the Eternal
Melodies, are not they? A man might thank Heaven had
he such a gift; almost as we might for succeeding here, Gen-
tlemen! "* Next morning (Thursday 13th September 1759),
* Professor Robison, then a Navy-lieutenant, in the raft along with
Wolfe, afterwards a well-known Professor of iVufum/P/u7osop/ly at Edin-
burgh , was often heard, by persons whom I have heard again, to repeat
this Anecdote. See Playfair, Biographical Account of Professor Robison, --
in Transactions of Royal Society of Edinburgh, vn. 495 et seq.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. XI. 17
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 258 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book xn.
4th Oct. --4th Nov. 1759.
Wolfe, with his 5,000, is found to have scrambled up by
some woody Neck in the heights, which was not quite pre-
cipitous; has trailed one cannon with him, the seamen busy
bringing up another; and by 10 of the clock, stands ranked
(really somewhat in the Friedrich way, though on a small
scale); ready at all points for Montcalm, but refusing to be
over-ready.
Montcalm, on first hearing of him, had made haste:
"Oui, je les vois oil Us ne doivent pas etre; je vais les ecraser
(to smash them)! " said he, by way of keeping his people in
heart. And marches up, beautifully skilful, neglecting none
of his advantages. Has numerous Canadian sharpshooters,
preliminary Indians in the bushes, with a provoking fire:
"Steady! orders Wolfe; "from you, not one shot till they
"are within thirty yards. " And Montcalm, volleying and
advancing, can get no response, more than from Druidic
stones; till at thirty yards, the stones became vocal, -- and
continue so at a dreadful rate; and, in a space of seventeen
minutes, have blown Montcalm's regulars, and the gallant
Montcalm himself, and their second in command, and their
third, into ruin and destruction. In about seven minutes
more, the agony was done; "English falling on with the
bayonet, Highlanders with the claymore;" fierce pursuit,
route total: -- and Quebec and Canada as good as finished.
The thing is yet well known to every Englishman;* and how
Wolfe himself died in it, his beautiful death.
Truly a bit of right soldierhood, this Wolfe. Manages
his small resources in a consummate manner; invents, con-
trives, attempts and reattempts, irrepressible by difficulty
or discouragement. How could a Friedrich himself have
managed this Quebec in a more artistic way? The small
Battle itself, 5,000 to a side, and such odds of Savagery and
Canadians, reminds you of one of Friedrich's: wise arrange* The military details of it seem to be very ill known (witness Colonel
Beatson's otherwise rather careful Pamphlet, The Plains of Abraham, writ-
ten quite lately, which we are soon to cite farther); and they would well
deserve describing, in the Seyfarth-Bcylagen, or even in the Tempelhof way,
-- could an English Officer, on the spot as this Colonel was, be found to do
it! -- Details are in Beatson (quite another "Beatson"), Naval and Military History, u. 300-308; in Gentleman's Magazine for 1759, the Despatches and
particulars: see also Walpole, George the Second, m. 217-222.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? chAp, vi. ]' henrI's mArch of fIfty hours. 259
4th Oct. --4th Nov. 1759.
ments; exact foresight, preparation corresponding ^ caution
with audacity; inflexible discipline, silent till its time come,
and then blazing out as we see. The prettiest soldiering I
have heard of among the English for several generations.
Amherst, Commander-in-chief, is diligently noosing, and
tying up, the French military settlements, Niagara, Ti-
conderago; Canada all round: but this is the heart or wind-
pipe of it; keep this firm, and, in the circumstances, Canada
is yours.
Colonel Beatson, in his recent Pamphlet, The Plains of
Abraham,-- which, especially on the military side, is dis-
tressingly ignorant and shallow, though not intentionally
incorrect anywhere, -- gives Extracts from a Letter of Mont-
calm's ("Quebec, 24th August 1759"), which is highly worth
reading, had we room. It predicts to a hairsbreadth, not
only the way "M. Wolfe, if he understands his trade, will
"take to beat and ruin me if we meet in fight;" but also, --
with a sagacity singular to look at, in the years 1775-7, and
perhaps still more in the years 1860-3, -- what will be the
consequences to those unruly English, Colonial and other.
"If he beat me here, France has lost America utterly,"
thinks Montcalm: "Yes; -- and one's only consolation is,
"In ten years farther, America will be in revolt against
"England! " Montcalm's style of writing is not exemplary;
but his power of faithful observation, his sagacity, and talent
of prophecy are so considerable, we are tempted to give the
ipsissima verba of his long Letter in regard to those two points,
-- the rather as it seems to have fallen much out of sight in
our day:
Montcalm to a Cousin in France.
"Camp before Quebec, 24th August 1759.
"Monsieur et cher Cousin, -- Here I am, for more than
"three months past, at handgrips with M. Wolfe; who ceases
"not day or night to bombard Quebec, with a fury which is
"almost unexampled in the Siege of a Place one intends to
"retain after taking it. " . . . "Will never take it in that
"way, however, by attacking from the River or south shore;
"only ruins us, but does not enrich himself. Not an inch
"nearer his object than he was three months ago; and in one
17*
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 260 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book TO.
4th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1759.
"month more the equinoctial storms will blow his Fleet and
"him away. -- Quebec, then, and the preservation of the
"Colony, you think, must be as good as safe? " "Alas, the
"fact is far otherwise. The capture of Quebec depends on
"what we call a stroke-of-hand"-- (But let us take to the
Original now, for Prediction First): --
"La prise de Quebec de? pend d'un coup de main. Les Anglais
"sont mai^tres de la rivie`re: ils n'ont qu'a` effectuer une descente
"sur la rive ou` cette Ville, sans fortifications et sans de? fense, est
"situe? e. Les voila` en e? tat de me pre? senter la bataille; que je ne
"pourrais plus refuser, et que je ne devrais pas gagner. M.
"Wolfe, en effet, s'il entend son me? tier, n'a qu'a` essuyer le
"premier feu, venir ensuite a` grands pas sur mon arme? e, faire
"a` bout portant sa de? charge; mes Canadiens, sans discipline,
"sourds a` la voix du tambour et des instrumens militaires,
"de? range? s par cette escarre, ne sauront plus reprendre leurs
"rangs. Ils sont d'ailleurs sans bai? onnettes pour re? pondre a`
"celles de F ennemi: il ne leur reste qu'a` fuir, -- et me voila`
"battu sans resource. " (This is a curiously exact Prediction ! )
"'I won't survive, however; defeat here, in this stage of
"'our affairs, means loss of America altogether: "il est des
"situations ou` il ne reste plus a` un Ge? ne? ral que de pe? rir avec
"honneur. " -- "Mes sentimens sont franc? ais, et ils le seront
"jusque dans le tombeau, si dans le tombeau on est encore quelque
"chose.
"Je me consolerai du moins de ma de? faite, et de la perte de
"la Colonie, par Vintime persuasion ou` je suis" (Prediction
Second, which is still more curious); "que cette de? faite vaudra,
"un jour, a` ma Patrie plus qu'une victoire; et que le vainqueur,
"en s'agrandissant, trouverait (sic) un tombeau dans son agran-
"dissement me^me.
"Ce que favance ici, mon cher Cousin, vous parai^tra un
"paradoxe: mais un moment de re? flexion politique, un coup
"d'oeil sur la situation des choses en Ame? rique, et la ve? rite? de
"mon opinion brillera dans tout son jour. " 'Nobody will obey,
'unless necessity compel him: voila` les hommes; ge^ne of any
'kind a nuisance to them; and of all men in the world les
'Anglais are the most impatient of obeying anybody. ' "Mais
"si ce sont-la` les Anglais de tEurope, c'est encore plus les
"Anglais d'Ame? rique. Une grande partie de ces Colons sont les
"enfans de ces hommes qui s'expatrie`rent dans ces temps de
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? chAp, vi. l henrI's mArch of fIfty hours. 261
4th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1759.
"trouble ou` Vancienne Angleterre, en proie aux divisions, e? tait
"attaque? e dans ses privile`ges et droits; et alle`rent chercher en
"Ame? rique une terre ou` ils pussent vivre et mourir libres et
"presque inde? pendants: -- et ces enfans n'ont pas de? ge? ne? re? des
"sentimens re? publicains de leurs pe`res. D'autres sont des
"hommes ennemis de tout frein, de tout assuje? tissement, que le
"gouvernement y a transporte? s pour leurs crimes. D'autres,
"enfin, sont un ramas de diffe? rentes nations de VEurope, qui
"tiennent tre`s-peu a` Vancienne Angleterre par le coeur et le
"sentiment; tous, en ge? ne? ral, ne se soucient gue`res du Roi ni du
"Parlement d'Angleterre.
"Je les connais bien, -- non sur des rapports e? trangers, mais
"sur des correspondances et des informations secre`tes, que f ai
"moi-me^me me? nage? es; et dont, un jour, si Dieu me pre^te vie,
"je pourrai faire usage a` l'avantage de ma Patrie. Pour sur-
"croi^t de bonheur pour eux, tous ces Colons sont parvenues,
"dans un e? tat tre`s-florissant; ils sont nombreux et riches: -- ils
"recueillent dans le sein de leur patrie toutes les ne? cessite? s de la
"vie. L'ancienne Angleterre a e? te? assez sotte, et assez dupe,
"pour leur laisser e? tablir chez eux les arts, les me? tiers, les manu-
"factures: -- c'est a` dire, qu'elle leur a laisse? briser la chaine de
"besoins qui les liait, qui les attachait a` elle, et qui les fait
"de? pendants. Aussi toutes ces Colonies Anglaises auraient-elles
"depuis long-temps secoue? le joug, chaque province aurait forme?
"une petite re? publique inde? pendante, si la crainte de voir les
"Franc? ais a` leur porte n'avait e? te? un frein qui les avait retenu.
"Mai^tres pour mai^tres, ils ont pre? fe? re?
leurs compatriotes aux
"e? trangers; prenant cependant pour maxime de n'obe? ir que le
"moins qu'ils pourraient. Mais que le Canada vint a` e^tre conquis,
"et que les Canadiens et ces Colons ne fussent plus qu'une seul
"peuple, -- et la premie`re occasion ou` l'ancienne Angleterre
"semblerait toucher a` leurs inte? re^ts, croyez-vous, mon cher
"Cousin, que ces Colons obe? iront? Et qu'auraient-ils a` craindre
"en se re? voltant? " * * "Je suis si su^r de ce que j'e? cris, que
"je ne donnerais pas dix ans apre`s la conque^te du Canada pour
"en voir l'accomplissement.
"Voila` ce que, comme Franc? ais, me console aujourd'hui du
"danger imminent, que court ma Patrie, de voir celte Colonie
"perduepour elle. "*
* InBeatson, Lieutenant-Colonel R. E. , The Plains of Abraham; Note>>
original and selected (Gibraltar, Garrison Library Press,1858), pp. 38 et seq. :
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? &62 FRIEpRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. ? [book X<<.
4th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1759.
Montcalm had been in the Belleisle Retreat from
Prag (December 1742); in the terrible Exilles Business
(July 1747), where the Chevalier de Belleisle and 4 or
5,000 lost their lives in about an hour. Captain Cook
was at Quebec, Master in the Royal Navy; "sounding
the River, and putting down buoys. " Bougainville,
another famous Navigator, was Aide-de-Camp of Mont-
calm. There have been far-sounding Epics built to-
gether on less basis than lies ready here, in this Cap-
ture of Quebec; -- which itself, as the Decision that
America is to be English and not French, is surely an
Epoch in World-History! Montcalm was forty-eight
when he perished; Wolfe, thirty-three. Montcalm's
skull is in the Ursulines Convent at Quebec, -- shown
to the idly curious to this day. *
It was on October 17th, -- while Friedrich lay at
Sophienthal, lamed of gout, and Soltikof had privately
fixed for home (went that day week), . --- that this
glorious bit of news reached England. It was only
three days after that other, bad and almost hopeless
news, from the same quarter; news of poor Wolfe's
Repulse, on the other or eastern side of Quebec, July
31st, known to us already, not known in England till
October 14th. Heightened by such contrast, the news
filled all men with a strange mixture of emotions.
"The incidents of Dramatic Fiction," says one who
was sharer in it, "could not have been conducted with
"more address to lead an audience from despondency
"to sudden exultation, than Accident had here pre-
Extract from "Leltrcs de M. le Marquis de Montcalm a MM, De Berr^er et De
"la Moli: 1757-1759 (Londres, 1777)," --which is not in the British-Museum
Library, on applying; and seems to be a forgotten Book.
* Lieutenant-Colonel Beatson, pp. 28, 15.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? chAp, vi. ] Henri's mArch of fIfty hours. 263
4th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1759.
"pared to excite the passions of a whole People. They
"despaired; they triumphed; and they wept, -- for
"Wolfe had fallen in the hour of victory! Joy, grief,
"curiosity, astonishment, were painted in every counte-
"nance: the more they inquired, the higher their ad-
"miration rose. Not an incident but was heroic and
"affecting. "* America ours; but the noble Wolfe now
not! ?
What Pitt himself said of these things, we do not
much hear. On the meeting of his Parliament, about
a month hence, his Speech, somebody having risen to
congratulate and eulogise him, is still recognisably of
royal quality, if we evoke it from the Walpole Notes.
Very modest, very noble, true; and with fine pieties
and magnanimities delicately audible in it: "Not a
"week all Summer but has been a crisis, in which I
"have not known whether I should not be torn to
"pieces, instead of being commended, as now by the
"Honourable Member. The hand of Divine Providence;
"the more a man is versed in business, the more he
"everywhere traces that! " . . . "Success has given us
"unanimity, not unanimity success. For my own poor
"share, I could not have dared as I have done, except
"in these times. Other Ministers have hoped as well,
"but have not been so circumstanced to dare so much. "
. . . "I think the stone almost rolled to the top of the
"hill; but let us have a care; it may rebound, and
"hideously drag us down with it again. " **
The essential truth, moreover, is, Pitt has become
King of England; so lucky has poor England, in its
hour of crisis, again been. And the difference between
an England guided by some kind of Friedrich (tempo-
* Walpole, in. 219. ** Ibid. m. 225; Thackeray, I. 446.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 264 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX.
4th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1759.
rary Friedrich, absolute, though of insecure tenure),
and by a Newcastle and the Clack of Tongues, is very
great! But for Pitt, there had been no Wolfe, no Am-
herst; Duke Ferdinand had been the Royal Highness
of Cumberland, -- and all things going round him in
St. Vitus, at their old rate. This man is a King, for
the time being, -- King really of the Friedrich type;
-- and rules, Friedrich himself not more despotically,
where need is. Pitt's War-Offices, Admiralties, were
not of themselves quick-going entities; but Pitt made
them go. Slow-paced Lords in Office have remonstrated,
on more than one occasion: "Impossible, Sir; these
things cannot be got ready at the time you order! "
"My Lord, they indispensably must," Pitt would
answer (a man always reverent of coming facts, know-
ing how inexorable they are); and if the Negative
continued obstinate in argument, he has been known
to add: "My Lord, to the King's service, it is a fixed
necessity of time. Unless the time is kept, I will im-
peach your Lordship! " Your Lordship's head will
come to lie at your Lordship's feet! Figure a poor
Duke of Newcastle, listening to such a thing; -- and
knowing that Pitt will do it; and that he can, such is
his favour with universal England; -- and trembling
and obeying. War-requisites for land and for sea are got
ready with a Prussian punctuality, -- at what multiple
of the Prussian expense, is a smaller question for Pitt. It is about eighteen months ago that Pownal, Gov-
ernor of New England, a kind of half-military person,
not without sound sense, though sadly intricate of utter-
ance, -- of whom Pitt, just entering on Office, has, I
suppose, asked an opinion on America, as men do of
Learned Counsel on an impending Lawsuit of magnitude,
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? chAp, vi. ] henrI's mArch of fIfty hours. 265
4th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1759.
-- had answered, in his long-winded, intertwisted,
nearly inextricable way, to the effect, "Sir, I incline
to fear, on the whole, that the Action will not lie, --
that, on the whole, the French will eat America from
us in spite of our teeth. "* January 15th, 1758, that
is the Pownal Opinion-of-Counsel;-- and on September
13th, 1759, this is what we have practically come to.
And on September 7th, 1760, within twelve months
more, -- Amherst, descending the Rapids from Ticon-
derago side, and two other little Armies, ascending
from Quebec and Louisburg, to meet him at Montreal,
have proved punctual almost to an hour; and are in
condition to extinguish, by triple pressure (or what we
called noosing), the French Governor-General in Mon-
treal, a Monsieur de Vaudreuil, and his Montreal and
his Canada altogether; and send the French bodily
home out of those Continents. ** Which may dispense
us from speaking farther on the subject.
From the Madras region, too, from India and out-
rageous Lally, the news are good. Early in Spring
last, poor Lally, -- a man of endless talent and courage,
but of dreadfully emphatic loose tongue, in fact of a
blazing ungoverned Irish turn of mind, -- had instantly,
on sight of some small Succours from Pitt, to raise his
siege of Madras, retire to Pondichery; and, in fact, go
plunging and tumbling downhill, he and his India with
him, at an ever-faster rate, till they also had got to
the Abyss. "My policy is in these five words, No
Englishman in this Peninsula," wrote he, a year ago, on
landing in India; and now it is to be No Frenchman,
* In Thackeray, n. 421-452, Pownal's intricate Report (his "Discourse"
or whatever he calls it, "on the Defence of the Inland Frontiers" his &c.
&c. ), of date "15th January 1758. "
** Capitulation between Amherst and Vaudreuil ("Montreal, 8th Sep-
tember 1760"), in 55 Articles: in Beatson, iii. 274-283.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 266 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XiX.
<<h Oct. -- -1th Nov. 1759.
and there is one word in the five to be altered! -- Of
poor Lally, zealous and furious over-much, and nearly
the most unfortunate and worst-used "man of genius"
I ever read of, whose lion-like struggles against French
Official people, and against Pitt's Captains and their
sea-fights and siegings, would deserve a volume to
themselves, we have said, and can here say, as good
as nothing, -- except that they all ended, for Lally
and French India, in total surrender, 16th January
1761; and that Lally, some years afterwards, for toils
undergone and for services done, got, when accounts
came to be liquidated, death on the scaffold. Dates I
give below. * "Gained Fontenoy for us," said many
persons; -- undoubtedly gained various things for us,
fought for us Berserkir-like on all occasions; hoped, in
the end, to be Marshal ;de France, and undertook a
Championship of India, which issues in this way!
America and India, it is written, are both to be Pitt's.
Let both, if possible, remain silent to us henceforth.
As to the Invasion-of-England Scheme, Pitt says
he does [not expect the French will invade us; but if
they do, he is ready. **
* 28th April 1758, Lands at Pondichery; instantly proceeds upon Fort
St. David. 2d June 1758, Takes it: meant to have gone now on Madras;
but finds he has no money; --goes extorting money from Black Potentates
about, Rajah of Travancore, &c, in a violent and extraordinary style; and
can get little. Nevertheless, 14th December 1758, Lays Siege to Madras.
16th February 1759, Is obliged to quit trenches at Madras, and retire
dismally upon Pondichery, -- to mere indigence, mutiny ("ten mutinies"),
Official conspiracy, and chaos come again.
22d January 1760, Makes outrush on Wandewash, and the English
posted there; is beaten, driven back into Pondichery. April 1760, Is
besieged in Pondichery. 16th January 1761, Is taken, Pondichery, French
India, and he; -- to Madras he, lest the French Official party kill him, as
they attempt to do.
23d September 1761, Arrives, prisoner, in England; thence, on parole,
to France and Paris, 21st October. November 1762, To Bastille: waits trial
nineteen months; trial lasts two years. 6th May 1766, To be beheuded, --
9th May, was. See Bealson, ii. 369-372, 96-110, &c. ; Voltairo (Fragments
sur riudo) in (Euvres, xxix. 183-253; Bioyraphie Uniicrselle, ? Lally.
** Speech, 4th November, supra.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. VII. ] CATASTROPHE OF MAXEN. 267
18th Nov. 1759.
CHAPTER VII.
FRIEDRICH REAPPEARS ON THE FIELD, AND IN SEVEN
DAYS AFTER COMES THE CATASTROPHE OF MAXEN.
November 6th-8th, Daun had gone to Meissen
Country: fairly ebbing homeward; Henri following,
with Hillsen joined, -- not vehemently attacking the
rhinoceros, but judiciously pricking him forward. Daun
goes at his slowest step: in many divisions, covering a
wide circuit; sticking to all the strong posts, till his own
time for quitting them: slow, sullenly cautious; like a
man descending dangerous precipices back foremost,
and will not be hurried. So it had lasted about a week;
Daun for the last four days sitting restive, obstinate,
but Henri pricking into him more and more, till the
rhinoceros seemed actually about lifting himself, --
when Friedrich in person arrived in* his Brother's
Camp. *
At theSchloss of Herschstein, a mile or two behind
Lommatsch, which is Henri's headquarter (still to west-
ward of Meissen; Daun hanging on, seven or eight
miles to south-eastward ahead; loth to go, but actually
obliged), -- it was there, Tuesday November 13th,
that the King met his Brother again. A King free of
his gout; in joyful spirits; and high of humour, -- like
a man risen indignant, once more got to his feet, after
three-months oppressions and miseries from the un-
worthy. "Too high," mourns Retzow, in a gloomy
* Tempelhof, in. 301-305.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 268 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED.
1769 bey Meuro" (chiefly bey Pretsch) "vorgefallenen Action;" ib. n. 543n. ? * Tempelhof, m. 287-289.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? chAp, vi. ] henri's mArch of fIfty hours. 257
4th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1759.
Silesian 13,000; -- November 2d, Hiilsen is actually
at Muskau, and his 13,000 magnified by rumour to
20,000. Hearing of which, Daun takes the road (No-
vember 4th); quits his gloriously palisaded Camp of
Schilda; feels that retreat on Dresden, or even home to
Bohemia altogether, is the one course left.
And now, the important Bautzen Colloquy of Sa-
turday September lbth, having here brought its three or
more Courses of Activity to a pause, -- we will glance
at the far more important Thursday 13th, other side
the Ocean:
Above Quebec, Night of September 12-13th, In profound
silence, on the stream of the St. Lawrence far away, a
notable adventure is going on. Wolfe, from two points well
above Quebec ("As a last shift, we will try that way"), with
about 5,000 men, is silently descending in rafts; with pur-
pose to climb the Heights somewhere on this side the City,
and be in upon it, if Fate will. An enterprise of almost
sublime nature; very great, if it can succeed. The cliffs all
beset to his left hand, Montcalm in person guarding Quebec
with his main strength.
Wolfe silently descends; mind made up; thoughts hushed
quiet into one great thought; in the ripple of the perpetual
waters, under the grim cliffs and the eternal stars. Con-
versing with his people, he was heard to recite some pas-
sages of Gray's Elegy, lately come out to those parts; of
which, says an ear-witness, he expressed his admiration to
an enthusiastic degree: "Ah, these are tones of the Eternal
Melodies, are not they? A man might thank Heaven had
he such a gift; almost as we might for succeeding here, Gen-
tlemen! "* Next morning (Thursday 13th September 1759),
* Professor Robison, then a Navy-lieutenant, in the raft along with
Wolfe, afterwards a well-known Professor of iVufum/P/u7osop/ly at Edin-
burgh , was often heard, by persons whom I have heard again, to repeat
this Anecdote. See Playfair, Biographical Account of Professor Robison, --
in Transactions of Royal Society of Edinburgh, vn. 495 et seq.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. XI. 17
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 258 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book xn.
4th Oct. --4th Nov. 1759.
Wolfe, with his 5,000, is found to have scrambled up by
some woody Neck in the heights, which was not quite pre-
cipitous; has trailed one cannon with him, the seamen busy
bringing up another; and by 10 of the clock, stands ranked
(really somewhat in the Friedrich way, though on a small
scale); ready at all points for Montcalm, but refusing to be
over-ready.
Montcalm, on first hearing of him, had made haste:
"Oui, je les vois oil Us ne doivent pas etre; je vais les ecraser
(to smash them)! " said he, by way of keeping his people in
heart. And marches up, beautifully skilful, neglecting none
of his advantages. Has numerous Canadian sharpshooters,
preliminary Indians in the bushes, with a provoking fire:
"Steady! orders Wolfe; "from you, not one shot till they
"are within thirty yards. " And Montcalm, volleying and
advancing, can get no response, more than from Druidic
stones; till at thirty yards, the stones became vocal, -- and
continue so at a dreadful rate; and, in a space of seventeen
minutes, have blown Montcalm's regulars, and the gallant
Montcalm himself, and their second in command, and their
third, into ruin and destruction. In about seven minutes
more, the agony was done; "English falling on with the
bayonet, Highlanders with the claymore;" fierce pursuit,
route total: -- and Quebec and Canada as good as finished.
The thing is yet well known to every Englishman;* and how
Wolfe himself died in it, his beautiful death.
Truly a bit of right soldierhood, this Wolfe. Manages
his small resources in a consummate manner; invents, con-
trives, attempts and reattempts, irrepressible by difficulty
or discouragement. How could a Friedrich himself have
managed this Quebec in a more artistic way? The small
Battle itself, 5,000 to a side, and such odds of Savagery and
Canadians, reminds you of one of Friedrich's: wise arrange* The military details of it seem to be very ill known (witness Colonel
Beatson's otherwise rather careful Pamphlet, The Plains of Abraham, writ-
ten quite lately, which we are soon to cite farther); and they would well
deserve describing, in the Seyfarth-Bcylagen, or even in the Tempelhof way,
-- could an English Officer, on the spot as this Colonel was, be found to do
it! -- Details are in Beatson (quite another "Beatson"), Naval and Military History, u. 300-308; in Gentleman's Magazine for 1759, the Despatches and
particulars: see also Walpole, George the Second, m. 217-222.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? chAp, vi. ]' henrI's mArch of fIfty hours. 259
4th Oct. --4th Nov. 1759.
ments; exact foresight, preparation corresponding ^ caution
with audacity; inflexible discipline, silent till its time come,
and then blazing out as we see. The prettiest soldiering I
have heard of among the English for several generations.
Amherst, Commander-in-chief, is diligently noosing, and
tying up, the French military settlements, Niagara, Ti-
conderago; Canada all round: but this is the heart or wind-
pipe of it; keep this firm, and, in the circumstances, Canada
is yours.
Colonel Beatson, in his recent Pamphlet, The Plains of
Abraham,-- which, especially on the military side, is dis-
tressingly ignorant and shallow, though not intentionally
incorrect anywhere, -- gives Extracts from a Letter of Mont-
calm's ("Quebec, 24th August 1759"), which is highly worth
reading, had we room. It predicts to a hairsbreadth, not
only the way "M. Wolfe, if he understands his trade, will
"take to beat and ruin me if we meet in fight;" but also, --
with a sagacity singular to look at, in the years 1775-7, and
perhaps still more in the years 1860-3, -- what will be the
consequences to those unruly English, Colonial and other.
"If he beat me here, France has lost America utterly,"
thinks Montcalm: "Yes; -- and one's only consolation is,
"In ten years farther, America will be in revolt against
"England! " Montcalm's style of writing is not exemplary;
but his power of faithful observation, his sagacity, and talent
of prophecy are so considerable, we are tempted to give the
ipsissima verba of his long Letter in regard to those two points,
-- the rather as it seems to have fallen much out of sight in
our day:
Montcalm to a Cousin in France.
"Camp before Quebec, 24th August 1759.
"Monsieur et cher Cousin, -- Here I am, for more than
"three months past, at handgrips with M. Wolfe; who ceases
"not day or night to bombard Quebec, with a fury which is
"almost unexampled in the Siege of a Place one intends to
"retain after taking it. " . . . "Will never take it in that
"way, however, by attacking from the River or south shore;
"only ruins us, but does not enrich himself. Not an inch
"nearer his object than he was three months ago; and in one
17*
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 260 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book TO.
4th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1759.
"month more the equinoctial storms will blow his Fleet and
"him away. -- Quebec, then, and the preservation of the
"Colony, you think, must be as good as safe? " "Alas, the
"fact is far otherwise. The capture of Quebec depends on
"what we call a stroke-of-hand"-- (But let us take to the
Original now, for Prediction First): --
"La prise de Quebec de? pend d'un coup de main. Les Anglais
"sont mai^tres de la rivie`re: ils n'ont qu'a` effectuer une descente
"sur la rive ou` cette Ville, sans fortifications et sans de? fense, est
"situe? e. Les voila` en e? tat de me pre? senter la bataille; que je ne
"pourrais plus refuser, et que je ne devrais pas gagner. M.
"Wolfe, en effet, s'il entend son me? tier, n'a qu'a` essuyer le
"premier feu, venir ensuite a` grands pas sur mon arme? e, faire
"a` bout portant sa de? charge; mes Canadiens, sans discipline,
"sourds a` la voix du tambour et des instrumens militaires,
"de? range? s par cette escarre, ne sauront plus reprendre leurs
"rangs. Ils sont d'ailleurs sans bai? onnettes pour re? pondre a`
"celles de F ennemi: il ne leur reste qu'a` fuir, -- et me voila`
"battu sans resource. " (This is a curiously exact Prediction ! )
"'I won't survive, however; defeat here, in this stage of
"'our affairs, means loss of America altogether: "il est des
"situations ou` il ne reste plus a` un Ge? ne? ral que de pe? rir avec
"honneur. " -- "Mes sentimens sont franc? ais, et ils le seront
"jusque dans le tombeau, si dans le tombeau on est encore quelque
"chose.
"Je me consolerai du moins de ma de? faite, et de la perte de
"la Colonie, par Vintime persuasion ou` je suis" (Prediction
Second, which is still more curious); "que cette de? faite vaudra,
"un jour, a` ma Patrie plus qu'une victoire; et que le vainqueur,
"en s'agrandissant, trouverait (sic) un tombeau dans son agran-
"dissement me^me.
"Ce que favance ici, mon cher Cousin, vous parai^tra un
"paradoxe: mais un moment de re? flexion politique, un coup
"d'oeil sur la situation des choses en Ame? rique, et la ve? rite? de
"mon opinion brillera dans tout son jour. " 'Nobody will obey,
'unless necessity compel him: voila` les hommes; ge^ne of any
'kind a nuisance to them; and of all men in the world les
'Anglais are the most impatient of obeying anybody. ' "Mais
"si ce sont-la` les Anglais de tEurope, c'est encore plus les
"Anglais d'Ame? rique. Une grande partie de ces Colons sont les
"enfans de ces hommes qui s'expatrie`rent dans ces temps de
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? chAp, vi. l henrI's mArch of fIfty hours. 261
4th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1759.
"trouble ou` Vancienne Angleterre, en proie aux divisions, e? tait
"attaque? e dans ses privile`ges et droits; et alle`rent chercher en
"Ame? rique une terre ou` ils pussent vivre et mourir libres et
"presque inde? pendants: -- et ces enfans n'ont pas de? ge? ne? re? des
"sentimens re? publicains de leurs pe`res. D'autres sont des
"hommes ennemis de tout frein, de tout assuje? tissement, que le
"gouvernement y a transporte? s pour leurs crimes. D'autres,
"enfin, sont un ramas de diffe? rentes nations de VEurope, qui
"tiennent tre`s-peu a` Vancienne Angleterre par le coeur et le
"sentiment; tous, en ge? ne? ral, ne se soucient gue`res du Roi ni du
"Parlement d'Angleterre.
"Je les connais bien, -- non sur des rapports e? trangers, mais
"sur des correspondances et des informations secre`tes, que f ai
"moi-me^me me? nage? es; et dont, un jour, si Dieu me pre^te vie,
"je pourrai faire usage a` l'avantage de ma Patrie. Pour sur-
"croi^t de bonheur pour eux, tous ces Colons sont parvenues,
"dans un e? tat tre`s-florissant; ils sont nombreux et riches: -- ils
"recueillent dans le sein de leur patrie toutes les ne? cessite? s de la
"vie. L'ancienne Angleterre a e? te? assez sotte, et assez dupe,
"pour leur laisser e? tablir chez eux les arts, les me? tiers, les manu-
"factures: -- c'est a` dire, qu'elle leur a laisse? briser la chaine de
"besoins qui les liait, qui les attachait a` elle, et qui les fait
"de? pendants. Aussi toutes ces Colonies Anglaises auraient-elles
"depuis long-temps secoue? le joug, chaque province aurait forme?
"une petite re? publique inde? pendante, si la crainte de voir les
"Franc? ais a` leur porte n'avait e? te? un frein qui les avait retenu.
"Mai^tres pour mai^tres, ils ont pre? fe? re?
leurs compatriotes aux
"e? trangers; prenant cependant pour maxime de n'obe? ir que le
"moins qu'ils pourraient. Mais que le Canada vint a` e^tre conquis,
"et que les Canadiens et ces Colons ne fussent plus qu'une seul
"peuple, -- et la premie`re occasion ou` l'ancienne Angleterre
"semblerait toucher a` leurs inte? re^ts, croyez-vous, mon cher
"Cousin, que ces Colons obe? iront? Et qu'auraient-ils a` craindre
"en se re? voltant? " * * "Je suis si su^r de ce que j'e? cris, que
"je ne donnerais pas dix ans apre`s la conque^te du Canada pour
"en voir l'accomplissement.
"Voila` ce que, comme Franc? ais, me console aujourd'hui du
"danger imminent, que court ma Patrie, de voir celte Colonie
"perduepour elle. "*
* InBeatson, Lieutenant-Colonel R. E. , The Plains of Abraham; Note>>
original and selected (Gibraltar, Garrison Library Press,1858), pp. 38 et seq. :
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? &62 FRIEpRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. ? [book X<<.
4th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1759.
Montcalm had been in the Belleisle Retreat from
Prag (December 1742); in the terrible Exilles Business
(July 1747), where the Chevalier de Belleisle and 4 or
5,000 lost their lives in about an hour. Captain Cook
was at Quebec, Master in the Royal Navy; "sounding
the River, and putting down buoys. " Bougainville,
another famous Navigator, was Aide-de-Camp of Mont-
calm. There have been far-sounding Epics built to-
gether on less basis than lies ready here, in this Cap-
ture of Quebec; -- which itself, as the Decision that
America is to be English and not French, is surely an
Epoch in World-History! Montcalm was forty-eight
when he perished; Wolfe, thirty-three. Montcalm's
skull is in the Ursulines Convent at Quebec, -- shown
to the idly curious to this day. *
It was on October 17th, -- while Friedrich lay at
Sophienthal, lamed of gout, and Soltikof had privately
fixed for home (went that day week), . --- that this
glorious bit of news reached England. It was only
three days after that other, bad and almost hopeless
news, from the same quarter; news of poor Wolfe's
Repulse, on the other or eastern side of Quebec, July
31st, known to us already, not known in England till
October 14th. Heightened by such contrast, the news
filled all men with a strange mixture of emotions.
"The incidents of Dramatic Fiction," says one who
was sharer in it, "could not have been conducted with
"more address to lead an audience from despondency
"to sudden exultation, than Accident had here pre-
Extract from "Leltrcs de M. le Marquis de Montcalm a MM, De Berr^er et De
"la Moli: 1757-1759 (Londres, 1777)," --which is not in the British-Museum
Library, on applying; and seems to be a forgotten Book.
* Lieutenant-Colonel Beatson, pp. 28, 15.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? chAp, vi. ] Henri's mArch of fIfty hours. 263
4th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1759.
"pared to excite the passions of a whole People. They
"despaired; they triumphed; and they wept, -- for
"Wolfe had fallen in the hour of victory! Joy, grief,
"curiosity, astonishment, were painted in every counte-
"nance: the more they inquired, the higher their ad-
"miration rose. Not an incident but was heroic and
"affecting. "* America ours; but the noble Wolfe now
not! ?
What Pitt himself said of these things, we do not
much hear. On the meeting of his Parliament, about
a month hence, his Speech, somebody having risen to
congratulate and eulogise him, is still recognisably of
royal quality, if we evoke it from the Walpole Notes.
Very modest, very noble, true; and with fine pieties
and magnanimities delicately audible in it: "Not a
"week all Summer but has been a crisis, in which I
"have not known whether I should not be torn to
"pieces, instead of being commended, as now by the
"Honourable Member. The hand of Divine Providence;
"the more a man is versed in business, the more he
"everywhere traces that! " . . . "Success has given us
"unanimity, not unanimity success. For my own poor
"share, I could not have dared as I have done, except
"in these times. Other Ministers have hoped as well,
"but have not been so circumstanced to dare so much. "
. . . "I think the stone almost rolled to the top of the
"hill; but let us have a care; it may rebound, and
"hideously drag us down with it again. " **
The essential truth, moreover, is, Pitt has become
King of England; so lucky has poor England, in its
hour of crisis, again been. And the difference between
an England guided by some kind of Friedrich (tempo-
* Walpole, in. 219. ** Ibid. m. 225; Thackeray, I. 446.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 264 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX.
4th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1759.
rary Friedrich, absolute, though of insecure tenure),
and by a Newcastle and the Clack of Tongues, is very
great! But for Pitt, there had been no Wolfe, no Am-
herst; Duke Ferdinand had been the Royal Highness
of Cumberland, -- and all things going round him in
St. Vitus, at their old rate. This man is a King, for
the time being, -- King really of the Friedrich type;
-- and rules, Friedrich himself not more despotically,
where need is. Pitt's War-Offices, Admiralties, were
not of themselves quick-going entities; but Pitt made
them go. Slow-paced Lords in Office have remonstrated,
on more than one occasion: "Impossible, Sir; these
things cannot be got ready at the time you order! "
"My Lord, they indispensably must," Pitt would
answer (a man always reverent of coming facts, know-
ing how inexorable they are); and if the Negative
continued obstinate in argument, he has been known
to add: "My Lord, to the King's service, it is a fixed
necessity of time. Unless the time is kept, I will im-
peach your Lordship! " Your Lordship's head will
come to lie at your Lordship's feet! Figure a poor
Duke of Newcastle, listening to such a thing; -- and
knowing that Pitt will do it; and that he can, such is
his favour with universal England; -- and trembling
and obeying. War-requisites for land and for sea are got
ready with a Prussian punctuality, -- at what multiple
of the Prussian expense, is a smaller question for Pitt. It is about eighteen months ago that Pownal, Gov-
ernor of New England, a kind of half-military person,
not without sound sense, though sadly intricate of utter-
ance, -- of whom Pitt, just entering on Office, has, I
suppose, asked an opinion on America, as men do of
Learned Counsel on an impending Lawsuit of magnitude,
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? chAp, vi. ] henrI's mArch of fIfty hours. 265
4th Oct. -- 4th Nov. 1759.
-- had answered, in his long-winded, intertwisted,
nearly inextricable way, to the effect, "Sir, I incline
to fear, on the whole, that the Action will not lie, --
that, on the whole, the French will eat America from
us in spite of our teeth. "* January 15th, 1758, that
is the Pownal Opinion-of-Counsel;-- and on September
13th, 1759, this is what we have practically come to.
And on September 7th, 1760, within twelve months
more, -- Amherst, descending the Rapids from Ticon-
derago side, and two other little Armies, ascending
from Quebec and Louisburg, to meet him at Montreal,
have proved punctual almost to an hour; and are in
condition to extinguish, by triple pressure (or what we
called noosing), the French Governor-General in Mon-
treal, a Monsieur de Vaudreuil, and his Montreal and
his Canada altogether; and send the French bodily
home out of those Continents. ** Which may dispense
us from speaking farther on the subject.
From the Madras region, too, from India and out-
rageous Lally, the news are good. Early in Spring
last, poor Lally, -- a man of endless talent and courage,
but of dreadfully emphatic loose tongue, in fact of a
blazing ungoverned Irish turn of mind, -- had instantly,
on sight of some small Succours from Pitt, to raise his
siege of Madras, retire to Pondichery; and, in fact, go
plunging and tumbling downhill, he and his India with
him, at an ever-faster rate, till they also had got to
the Abyss. "My policy is in these five words, No
Englishman in this Peninsula," wrote he, a year ago, on
landing in India; and now it is to be No Frenchman,
* In Thackeray, n. 421-452, Pownal's intricate Report (his "Discourse"
or whatever he calls it, "on the Defence of the Inland Frontiers" his &c.
&c. ), of date "15th January 1758. "
** Capitulation between Amherst and Vaudreuil ("Montreal, 8th Sep-
tember 1760"), in 55 Articles: in Beatson, iii. 274-283.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 266 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XiX.
<<h Oct. -- -1th Nov. 1759.
and there is one word in the five to be altered! -- Of
poor Lally, zealous and furious over-much, and nearly
the most unfortunate and worst-used "man of genius"
I ever read of, whose lion-like struggles against French
Official people, and against Pitt's Captains and their
sea-fights and siegings, would deserve a volume to
themselves, we have said, and can here say, as good
as nothing, -- except that they all ended, for Lally
and French India, in total surrender, 16th January
1761; and that Lally, some years afterwards, for toils
undergone and for services done, got, when accounts
came to be liquidated, death on the scaffold. Dates I
give below. * "Gained Fontenoy for us," said many
persons; -- undoubtedly gained various things for us,
fought for us Berserkir-like on all occasions; hoped, in
the end, to be Marshal ;de France, and undertook a
Championship of India, which issues in this way!
America and India, it is written, are both to be Pitt's.
Let both, if possible, remain silent to us henceforth.
As to the Invasion-of-England Scheme, Pitt says
he does [not expect the French will invade us; but if
they do, he is ready. **
* 28th April 1758, Lands at Pondichery; instantly proceeds upon Fort
St. David. 2d June 1758, Takes it: meant to have gone now on Madras;
but finds he has no money; --goes extorting money from Black Potentates
about, Rajah of Travancore, &c, in a violent and extraordinary style; and
can get little. Nevertheless, 14th December 1758, Lays Siege to Madras.
16th February 1759, Is obliged to quit trenches at Madras, and retire
dismally upon Pondichery, -- to mere indigence, mutiny ("ten mutinies"),
Official conspiracy, and chaos come again.
22d January 1760, Makes outrush on Wandewash, and the English
posted there; is beaten, driven back into Pondichery. April 1760, Is
besieged in Pondichery. 16th January 1761, Is taken, Pondichery, French
India, and he; -- to Madras he, lest the French Official party kill him, as
they attempt to do.
23d September 1761, Arrives, prisoner, in England; thence, on parole,
to France and Paris, 21st October. November 1762, To Bastille: waits trial
nineteen months; trial lasts two years. 6th May 1766, To be beheuded, --
9th May, was. See Bealson, ii. 369-372, 96-110, &c. ; Voltairo (Fragments
sur riudo) in (Euvres, xxix. 183-253; Bioyraphie Uniicrselle, ? Lally.
** Speech, 4th November, supra.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. VII. ] CATASTROPHE OF MAXEN. 267
18th Nov. 1759.
CHAPTER VII.
FRIEDRICH REAPPEARS ON THE FIELD, AND IN SEVEN
DAYS AFTER COMES THE CATASTROPHE OF MAXEN.
November 6th-8th, Daun had gone to Meissen
Country: fairly ebbing homeward; Henri following,
with Hillsen joined, -- not vehemently attacking the
rhinoceros, but judiciously pricking him forward. Daun
goes at his slowest step: in many divisions, covering a
wide circuit; sticking to all the strong posts, till his own
time for quitting them: slow, sullenly cautious; like a
man descending dangerous precipices back foremost,
and will not be hurried. So it had lasted about a week;
Daun for the last four days sitting restive, obstinate,
but Henri pricking into him more and more, till the
rhinoceros seemed actually about lifting himself, --
when Friedrich in person arrived in* his Brother's
Camp. *
At theSchloss of Herschstein, a mile or two behind
Lommatsch, which is Henri's headquarter (still to west-
ward of Meissen; Daun hanging on, seven or eight
miles to south-eastward ahead; loth to go, but actually
obliged), -- it was there, Tuesday November 13th,
that the King met his Brother again. A King free of
his gout; in joyful spirits; and high of humour, -- like
a man risen indignant, once more got to his feet, after
three-months oppressions and miseries from the un-
worthy. "Too high," mourns Retzow, in a gloomy
* Tempelhof, in. 301-305.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:30 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijf Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 268 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED.
