] SEVENTH
CAMPAIGN
OPENS.
Thomas Carlyle
m.
, we have just been in the "Church of St.
"Mary ofCasan" ("Oh, my friends, Orthodox Religion, first
"of all! "), doing Te-Deums, and the other Divine Offices, for
the thrice-happy Revolution and Deliverance now vouchsafed
us and you! And the Herr Doctor, under outburst of the
chimes of St. Mary, and of the jubilant Soldieries and Popu-
lations, sees the Czarina saluting to right and left; and Priests,
with their assistants and crucifixes (" Dehold them, ye Ortho-
"dox; is there anything equal to true Religion? "), walking
before her Hackney Coach.
"On the one step of her Coach," continues theHerr Doctor,
"stood Grigorei Grigorjewitsh Orlow," so he spells him, "and
'' in front of it, with drawn sword, rode the Field-marshal and
"Hetman Count Kirila Grigorjewitsh Rasomowski, Colonel
"of the Ismailow Guard. Lieutenant-General (soon to be
"General-Ordnance-Master) Villebois came galloping up;
"leapt from his horse under our windows, and placed himself
"on the other step of the Coach. The procession passed before
"our house; going first to the New stone Palace, then to the
"Old wooden Winter Palace. Common Russians shouted
"mockingly up to us, 'Your god' (meaning the Czar) 'is
"'dead! ' And others, 'He is gone; we will have no more of
'"him! "'
About this hour of the day, at Oranienbaum {Orange-Tree,
some twenty miles from here, and from Peterhof guess ten or
twelve), Czar Peter is drilling zealously his brave Holsteiners
(2,000or more, "the flower of all my troops "); and has not,for
hours after, the least inkling of all this. Catharine had been
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? 286 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
Jan. --July 1762.
across to visit him, on Wednesday, no farther back; and had
kindled Oranienbaum into opera, into illumination and what
not. Thursday (yesterday), Czar and Czarina met at some
Grandee's festivity, who lives between their two Residences.
This day the Czar is appointed for Peterhof; tomorrow, July
10th (Peter-and-Paul's grand Holiday), Czar, Czarina, and
united Court were to have done the Festivities together there,
-- with Czarina's powder-mine of Plot laid under them; which
latter has exploded one day sooner, in the present happy
manner! The poor Czar, this day, on getting to Peterhof, and
finding Czarina vanished, understood too well: he saw "big
"smoke-clouds rise suddenly overPetersburg region," withal,
-- "Ha, she has cannon going for her yonder; salvoing and
"homaging! " -- and rushed back to Oranienbaum half mad.
Old Miinnich undertook to save him, by one, by two or even
three different methods, "Only order me, and stand up to it
with sword bare! " -- but Peter's wits were all flying miscel-
laneously about, and he could resolve on nothing.
Peter and his Czarina never met more. Saturday (tomorrow), he abdicates; drives over to Peterhof, expecting, as per
bargain, interview with his Wife; freedom to retire to Hol-
stein, and "every sort of kindness compatible with his situa-
tion:" but is met there instead, on the staircases, by brutal
people, who tear the orders off his coat, at length the very
clothes off his back, -- and pack him away toRopscha, a quiet
Villa some miles off, to sit silent there till Orlof and Company
have considered. Consideration is: "ToHolstein? He has
an Anti-Danish Russian Army just now in that neighbour-
hood; he will not be safe in Holstein; -- where will he be
safe? " Saturday 17th, Peter's seventh day inRopscha, the
Orlofs (Scarred Orlof, and Four other miscreants, one of them
a Prince, one a Playactor) came over, and murdered poor
Peter, in a treacherous, and even bungling and disgusting,
and altogether hideous manner. "A glass of burgundy"
(poisoned burgundy), "your Highness? " said they, at dinner
with his poor Highness. On the back of which, the burgundy
having failed and been found out, came grappling and
hauling, trampling, shrieking, and at last strangulation.
Surely the Devil will reward such a Five of his Elect?
But we detain Herr Bttsching: it is still only Friday morn-
ing, 9th of the month; and the Czarina's Hackney Coach,
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? CHAP. X. ] HAS NEWS FROM PETERSBURG}. 287
Jan. --July 1762.
in the manner of a comet and tail, has just gone into other
streets:
"After this terrible uproar had left our quarter, I hastened
"to the Danish Ambassador, Count Haxthausen, who lived
"near me, to bring him the important news that the Czar was
"said to be dead. The Count was just about to burn a mass
"of Papers, fearing the mob would plunder his house; but he
"did not proceed with it now, and thanked Heaven for saving
"his Country. His Secretary of Legation, my friend Schu-
"macher, gave me all the money he had in his pockets, to dis-
"tribute amongst the poor; and I returned home. Directly
"after, there passed our house, at a rate as if the horses were
"running away, a common two-horse coach, in which sat
"Head-Tutor (Ober-Hofmeister) von Panin with the Grand
"Duke" (famous Czar Paul, that is to be), "who was still in
"his nightgown," poor frightened little boy! --
"Not long after, I saw some of the loot-guards, in the
"public street near the Winter Palace, selling, at rates dog-
"cheap, their new uniforms after the Prussian cut, which they
"had stript off; whi 1st others, singing merrily, carried about,
"stuck on the top of their muskets, or on their bayonets, their
"new grenadier caps of Prussian fashion. * I saw several
"soldiers, out on errand or otherwise, seizing the coaches they
"met in the streets, and driving on in them. Others ap-
propriated the eatables which hucksters carried about in
"baskets. But, in all this wild tumult, nobody was killed;
"and only at Oranienbaum a few Holstein soldiers got
"wounded by some low Russians, in their wantonness.
"July 11th, the disorder amongst the soldiers was at its
"height; yet still much less than might have been expected.
"Many ot them entered the houses of Foreigners, and de-
"manded money. Seeing a number of them come into my
"house, I hastily put a quantity of roubles and half-roubles in
"my pocket, and went out with a servant, especially with a
"cheerful face, to meet them," -- and no harm was done.
I "Saturday, July 17th, was the day of the Czar's death; on
"the same 17th, theEmpress was informed of it; and next day,
"his body was brought from Ropscha to the Convent of St.
"Alexander Newski, near Petersburg. Here it lay in state
"three days; nay, an Imperial Manifesto even ordered that
* See in Hermann (v. 291) the Saxon Ambassador's Report.
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? 288 FRIBDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
Jan. --July 1762.
"the last honours and duty be paid to it. July 20th, I drove
"thither with my Wife; and to be able to view the body more
"minutely, we passed twice through the room where it lay"
(An uncommonly broad neckcloth on it, did you observe? )
"Owing to the rapid dissolution, it had to be interred on the
"following day: -- and it was a touching circumstance that
"this happened to be the very day on which the Czar had
"fixed to start from Petersburg on his Campaign against
"Denmark. "*
Catharine, one must own with a shudder, has not
attained the Autocracy of All the Russias gratis. Let
us hope she would once, -- till driven upon a dire
alternative, -- have herself shuddered to purchase at
such a price. A kind of horror haunts one's notion of
her redhanded brazen-faced Orlofs and her, which all
the cosmetics of the world will never quite cover. And
yet, on the spot, in Petersburg at the moment --!
Read this Clipping from Smelfungus, on a collateral
topic:
"In Buschincfs Magazine are some Love-letters from the
"old Marshal Munnich to Catharine just after this event,
"which are psychologically curious. Love-letters, for they
"partake of that character; though the man is 82, and has
"had such breakages and vicissitudes in this Earth. Alive
"yet, it would seem; and full of ambitions. Unspeakably
"beautiful is this young Woman to him; radiant as ox-eyed
"Juno, as Diana of the silver bow, -- such a power in her to
"gratify the avarices, ambitions, cupidities of an insatiable
"old fellow: Oh divine young Empress, Aurora of bright
"Summer epochs, rosy-fingered daughter of the Sun, -- grant
"me the governing of This, the administering of That: and
"see what a thing I will make of it (I, an inventive old gen-
"tleman), for your Majesty's honour and glory, and my own
"advantage! ** Innumerable persons of less note than
* Biisching, vI. 464-467.
** BUsching, Magazin fur die neue Historie und Geographie (Halle, Year
1782), xvi. 413-477 (22 Letlers, and only thrice or so a word of Response
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? CHAP. X. ] HAS NEWS FROM PETERSBURG. 289
Jan. --July 1762.
"Miinnich have their Biographies, and are known to the
"reading public and in all barbers'-shops, if that were an ad-
vantage to them. Very considerable, this Miinnich, as a
"soldier, for one thing. And surely had very strange ad-
ventures; an original German character withal: -- about
"the stature of Belleisle, for example; and not quite unlike
"Belleisle, in some of his ways? Came originally from the
"swamps of Oldenburg, or Lower Weser Country, -- son of a
"Deichgrafe (Ditch-Superintendent) there. Requiescant in
"oblivious silence, Belleisle and he; it is better than being
"lied of, and maundered of, and blotched and blundered of.
"Biographies were once rhythmic, earnest as death or as
"life, earnest as transcendant human Insight risen to the
"Singing pitch; some Homer, nay some Psalmist or Evange-
"list, spokesman of reverent Populations, was the Biographer.
"Rhythmic, with exactitude, investigation to the very mar-
"row; this, or else oblivion, Biography should now, and at all
"times, be; but is not, -- by any manner of means. With
"what results is visible enough, if you will look! Human
"Stupor, fallen into the dishonest, lazy, andunflogged con-
"dition, is truly an awful thing. "
Catharine did not persist in her Anti-Prussian de-
termination. July 9th, the Manifesto had been in-
dignantly emphatic on Prussia; July 22d, in a Note
to Goltz from the Czarina, it was all withdrawn again. *
Looking into the deceased Czar's Papers, she found
that Friedrich's Letters to him had contained nothing
of wrong or offensive; always excellent advices, on the
contrary, -- advice, among others, To be conciliatory
to his clever-witted Wife, and to make her his ally,
not his opponent, in living and reigning. In Konigs-
berg (July 16th, seven days after July 9th), the
Russian Governor, just on the point of quitting,
from "ma Divinite:" dates, "Narva, 4th August 1762" . . . "Petersburg,
3d October 1762").
* ROdenbeck, n. 171.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. XII. 19
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? 290 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
Jan. --July 1762.
emitted Proclamation, to everybody's horror: "No;
altered all that; under pain of death, your Oath to
Russia still valid! " Which, for the next ten days, or
till his new Proclamation, made such a Konigsberg of
it as may be imagined. The sight of those Letters is
understood to have turned the scale; which had hung
wavering till July 22d in the Czarina's mind. "Can
it be good," she might privately think withal, "to
begin our reign by kindling a foolish War again? "
How Friedrich received the news of July 9th, and
into what a crisis it threw him, we shall soon see. His
Campaign had begun July 1st; -- and has been sum
moning us home, into its horizon, for some time.
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? CHAP. XI. ] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS.
9th May -- 1st July 1762.
CHAPTEE XI.
SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS.
Friedrich's plan of Campaign is settled long since:
Recapture Schweidnitz; clear Silesia of the enemy;
Silesia and all our own Dominions clear, we can then
stand fencible against the Austrian perseverances. Peace,
one day, they must grant us. The general tide of
European things is changed by these occurrences in
Petersburg and London. Peace is evidently near.
France and England are again beginning to negotiate;
no Pitt now to be rigorous. The tide of War has
been wavering at its summit for two years past; and
now, with this of Russia, and this of Bute instead of
Pitt, there is ebb everywhere, and all Europe de-
termining for peace. Steady at the helm, as hereto-
fore, a Friedrich, with the world-current in his favour,
may hope to get home after all.
Austrian Headquarters had been at Waldenburg,
under Loudon or his Lieutenants, all Winter. Loudon
returned thither from Vienna, April 7th; but is not to
command in chief, this Year, -- Schweidnitz still
sticking in some people's throats: "Dangerous; a man
with such rash practices, rapidities and Pandour ten-
dencies! " Daun is to command in Silesia; Loudon,
under him, obscure to us henceforth, and inoffensive
to Official people. Reichs Army shall take charge of
Saxony; nominally a Reichs Army, though there are
35,000 Austrians in it, as the soul of it, under some .
19*
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? 292 FEIEDRlCH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
9th May--1st July 1762.
Serbelloni, some Stollberg as Chief -- (the fact, I be-
lieve, is: Serbelloni got angrily displaced on that
"crossing of the Mulda by Prince Henri, May 13th;"
Prince of Zweibriick had angrily abdicated the year
before; and a Prince von Stollberg is now Generalis-
simo of Reich and Allies: but it is no kind of matter),
-- some Stollberg, with Serbelloni, Haddick, Maguire,
and suchlike, in subaltern places. Cunctator Daun, in
spite of his late sleepy ways, is to be Headman again:
this surely is a cheering circumstance to Friedrich;
Loudon, not Daun, being the only man he ever got
much ill of hitherto.
Daun arrives in Waldenburg, May 9th; and to
show that he is not cunctatory, steps out within a week
after. May 15th, he has descended from his Moun-
tains; has swept round by the back and by the front
of Schweidnitz, far and wide, into the Plain Country,
and encamped himself crescent-wise, many miles in
length, Headquarter near the Zobtenberg. Bent fondly
round Schweidnitz; meaning, as is evident, to defend
Schweidnitz against all comers, -- his very position
symbolically intimating: "I will fight for it, Prussian
Majesty, if you like! "
Prussian Majesty, however, seemed to take no
notice of him; and, what was very surprising, kept his
old quarters: "a Cantonment, or Chain of Posts, ten
"miles long; Schweidnitz Water on his right flank,
"Oder on his left;" perfectly safe, as he perceives,
being able to assemble in four hours, if Daun try any-
thing. * And, in fact, sat there, and did not come
into the Field at all for five weeks or more; -- waiting
till Czernichef's 20,000 arrive, who are on march from
* Tempelhof, vi. 66.
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? CHAP. XI.
] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS. 293
9th May -- 1st July 1762.
Thorn since June 2d. Mere small-war goes on in the
interim; world getting all greener and flowrier; the
Glatz Highlands, to one's left yonder (Owl-Mountains,
Eulenqebirge so-called), lying magically blue and mys-
terious: -- on the Plain in front of them, ten miles
from the final peaks of them, is Schweidnitz Fortress,
lying full in view, with a picked Garrison of 12,000
under a picked Captain, and all else of defence or im-
pregnability; and Friedrich privately determined to
take it, though by methods of his own choosing, and
which cannot commence till Czernichef come. Daun,
with his right wing, has hold of those Highland Regions,
and cautiously guards them; can, when he pleases,
wend back to Waldenburg Country; and at once, with
his superior numbers, block all passages, and sit there
impregnable. The methods of dislodging him are ob-
scure to Friedrich himself; but methods there must be,
dislodged he must be, and sent packing. Without
that, all siege of Schweidnitz is flatly impossible.
June 27th, Friedrich's Headquarter is Tintz, Czer-
nichef now nigh:* two days ago (June 25th), Czerni-
chef's Cossacks "crossed the Oder at Auras," -- with
how different objects from those they used to have!
July 1st, Czernichef himself is here, in full tale and
equipment. Had encamped, a day ago, on the Field
of Lissa; where Majesty reviewed him, inspected and
manceuvered him, with great mutual satisfaction. "Field
of Lissa;" it is where our poor Prussian people en-
camped on the night of Leuthen, with their "Nun
danket alle Gott," five years ago, in memorable cir-
cumstances: to what various uses are Earth's Fields
liable!
* Tempelhof, vi. 76.
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? 294 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
9th May -- 1st July 1762.
Friedrich, by degrees, has considerably changed
his opinion, and bent towards the late Keith's, about
Russian Soldiery: a Soldiery of most various kinds;
from predatory Cossacks and Calmucks to those noble
Grenadiers, whom we saw sit down on the Walls of
Schweidnitz when their work was done. A perfectly
steady obedience is in these men; at any and all times,
obedient, to the death if needful, and with a silence,
with a steadfastness as of rocks and gravitation. Which
is a superlative quality in soldiers. Good in Nations
too, within limits; and much a distinction in the Rus-
sian Nation: rare, or almost unique, in these unruly
Times. The Russians have privately had their ad-
mirations of Friedrich, all this while; and called him
by I forget what unpronounceable vernacular epithet,
signifying "Son of Lightning," or some such thing. *
No doubt they are proud to have a stroke of service
under such a one, since Father Peter Feodorowitsh graciously orders it: the very Cossacks show an alert-
ness, a vivacity; and see cheery possibilities ahead, in
Countries not yet plundered out. They stayed with
Friedrich only Three Weeks, -- Russia being an un-
certain Country. As we have seen above; though
Friedrich, who is vitally concerned, has not yet seen!
But their junction with him, and review by him in the
Field of Lissa, had its uses by and by; and may be
counted an epoch in Russian History, if nothing more.
The poor Russian Nation, most pitiable of loyal Na-
tions, -- struggling patiently ahead, on those bad
terms, under such Catins and foul Nightmares, -- has
it, shall we say, quite gone without conquest in this
* Buchholz, Neveste Pi'eussisch- Brandenburgische Geschichte (1775),
vol. n. (page irrecoverable).
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? CHAP. XI. ] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS. 295
1st July 1762.
mad War? Perhaps, not quite. It has at least shown
Europe that it possesses fighting qualities: a changed
Nation, since Karl XII. beat them easily, at Narva,
8,000 to 80,000 in the snowy morning, long since! --
Czernichef once come, and in his place in the Camp
of Tintz, business instantly begins, -- business, and a
press of it, in right earnest; -- upon the hitherto idle
Daun. July 1st, there is general complex Advance
everywhere on Friedrich's part; general attempt to-
wards the Mountains. Upon which Daun, well awake,
at once rolls universally thitherward again; takes post
in front of the Mountains, -- on the Heights of Kunzen-
dorf, to wit (Loudon's old post in Bunzelwitz time);
-- and elaborately spreads himself out in defence
there. "Take him multifariously by the left flank,
get between him and his Magazine at Braunau! " thinks
Friedrich. Discovering which, Daun straightway hitches
back into the Mountains altogether, leaving Kunzen-
dorf to Friedrich's use as main camp. His outmost
Austrians, on the edge of the Mountain Country, and
back as far as suitable, Daun elaborately posts; and
entrenches himself behind them in all the commanding
points, -- Schweidnitz still well in sight; and Braunau
and the roads to it well capable of being guarded.
Daun's Headquarter is Tannhausen; Burkersdorf, Lud-
wigsdorf, if readers can remember them, are frontward
posts: -- in his old imperturbable way, Daun sits there
waiting events.
And for near three weeks there ensues a very multi-
plex series of rapid movements, and alarming demon-
strations, on Daun's front, on Daun's right flank;
with serious extensive effort (masked in that way) to
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? 296 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
lst-18th July 1762.
turn Daun's left flank, and push round by Landshut
Country upon Bohemia and Braunau. Effort very
serious indeed on that Landshut side: conducted at
first by Friedrich in person, with General Wied (called
also iVfuwied, a man of mark since Liegnitz time) as
second under him; latterly by Wied himself, as Fried-
rich found it growing dubious or hopeless. That was
Friedrich's first notion of the Daun problem. There
are rapid marches here, there, round that western or
left flank of Daun; sudden spurts of fierce fighting,
oftenest with a stiff climb as preliminary: but not the
least real success on Daun. Daun perfectly com-
prehends what is on foot; refuses to take shine for
substance; stands massed, or grouped, at his own skil-
ful judgment, in the proper points for Braunau, still
more for Schweidnitz; and is very vigilant and imper-
turbable.
Kunzendorf Heights, which are not of the Hills,
but in front of them, with a strip of flat still inter-
vening; --? these, we said, Daun had at once quitted:
and these are now Friedrich's; -- but yield him a very
complex prospect at present. A line of opposing
Heights, Burkersdorf, Ludwigsdorf, Leuthmannsdorf,
bristling with abundant cannon; behind is the mul-
tiplex sea of Hills, rising higher and higher, to the
ridge of theEulenberg in Glatz Country 10 or 12 miles
southward: Daun, with forces much superior, calmly
lord of all that; infinitely needing to be ousted, could
one but say how! Friedrich begins to perceive that
Braunau will not do; that he must contrive some other
plan. General Wied he still leaves to prosecute the
Braunau scheme: perhaps there is still some chance in
it; at lowest it will keep Daun's attention thitherward.
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? CHAP. XI. ] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS. 297
lst-18th July 1762.
And Wied perseveres upon Braunau; and Braunau
proving impossible, pushes past it deeper into Bohemia,
Daun loftily regardless of him. Wied's marches and
attempts were of approved quality; though unsuccess-
ful in the way of stirring Daun. Wied's Light troops
went scouring almost as far as Prag, -- especially a
500 Cossacks that were with him, following their old
fashion, in a new Country. To the horror of Austria;
who shrieked loudly, feeling them in her own bowels;
though so quiet, while they were in other people's on
her score. This of the 500 Cossacks under Wied, if
this were anything, was all of actual work that Fried-
rich had from his Czernichef Allies; -- nothing more
of real or actual while they stayed, though something
of imaginary or ostensible which had its importance,
as we shall see.
Friedrich, in the third week, recalls Wied: "Braunau
clearly impossible; only let us still keep up appear-
ances! " July 18th, Wied is in Kunzendorf Country
again; on an important new enterprise, or method with
the Daun Problem, in which Wied is to bear a principal
hand. That is to say, The discomfiture and overturn
of Daun's right wing, if we can, -- since his left has
proved impossible. This was the Storming of Burkers-
dorf Heights; Friedrich's new plan. Which did prove
successful, and is still famous in the Annals of War:
reckoned by all judges a beautiful plan, beautifully
executed, and once more a wonderful achieving of what
seemed the impossible, when it had become the indis-
pensable. One of Friedrich's prettiest feats; and the
last of his notable performances in this War. Readers
ought not to be left without some shadowy authentic
notion of it; though the real portraiture or image
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? 298 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
lst-18th July 1762.
(which is achievable too, after long study) is for the
professional soldier only, -- for whom Tempelhof, good
maps, and plenty of patience, are the recipe.
"The scene is the Wall of Heights, running east and west,
"parallel to Friedrich's Position at Kunzendorf; which form
"the Face, or decisive beginning, of that Mountain Glacis
"spreading up ten miles farther, towards Glatz Country.
"They, these Heights called of Burkersdorf, are in effect
"Daun's right wing; vitally precious to Daun, who has taken
"every pains about them. Burkersdorf Height (or Heights,
"for there are two, divided by the Brook Weistritz; but we
"shall neglect the eastern or lower, which is ruled by the
"other, and stands or falls along with it), Burkersdorf Height
"is the principal: a Hill of some magnitude (short way south
"of the Village of Burkersdorf, which also is Daun's); Hill
"falling rather steep down, on two of its sides, namely on the
"north side, which is towards Friedrich and Kunzendorf, and
"on the east side, where Weistritz Water, as yet only aBrook,
"gushes out from the Mountains, -- hastening towards
"Schweidnitz or Schweidnitz-Water; towards Lissa and
"Leuthen Country, where we have seen it on an important
"night. Weistritz, at this part, has scarped the eastern flank
"of Burkersdorf Height; and made for itself a pleasant little
"Valley there: this is the one Pass into the Mountains. A
"Valley of level bottom; where Daun has a terrific trench
"and sunk battery level with the ground, capable of sweeping
"to destruction whoever enters there without leave.
"East from Burkersdorf Lesser Height (which we neglect
"for the present), and a little farther inwards or south, are
"Two other Heights: Ludwigsdorf and Leuthmannsdorf;
"which also need capture, as adjuncts of Burkersdorf, or
"second line to Burkersdorf; and are abundantly difficult,
"though not so steep as Burkersdorf.
"The Enterprise, therefore, divides itself into two. Wied
"is to do the Ludwigsdorf-Leuthmannsdorf part; Mollendorf,
"the Burkersdorf. The strength of guns in these places,
"especially on Burkersdorf, -- we know Daun's habit in that
"particular; and need say nothing. Man-devouring bat-
"teries, abatis; battalions palisaded to the teeth, 'the pales
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? CHAP. XI. ] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS. 299
17th July 1762.
"strong as masts, and room only for a musket-barrel be-
''tween;' nay, they are 'furnished with a lath or cross-strap
"all along, for resting your gun-barrel on and taking aim:' --
"so careful is Daun. The ground itself is intricate, in parts
"impracticably steep; everywhere full of bushes, gnarls, and
"impediments. Seldom was there such a problem altogether!
"Friedrich's position, as we say, is Kunzendorf Heights, with
"Schweidnitz and his old ground of Bunzelwitz to rear,
"Czernichef and others lying there, and Wiirben and the old
"Villages and Heights again occupied as posts: -- what a
"tale of Egyptian bricks has one to bake, your Majesty, on
"certain fields of this world; and with such insufficiency of
"raw-material sometimes! "
By the 16th of July, Friedrich's plans are com-
plete. Contrived, I must say, with a veracity and
opulent potency of intellect, flashing clear into the
matter, and yet careful of the smallest practical detail.
Friday 17</(, Mollendorf, with men and furnitures com-
plete, circles off north-westward by Wiirben (for the
benefit of certain onlookers), but will have circled
round to Burkersdorf neighbourhood two days hence;
by which time also Wied will be quietly in his place
thereabouts, with a view to business on the 20th and
21st. Mollendorf, Wied and everything, are prosper-
ously under way in this manner, -- when, on the
afternoon of that same Friday 17th,* Czernichef steps
over, most privately, to headquarters: with what a bit
of news! "A Revolution in Petersburg" {July 9th, as
we saw above, or as Herr Biisching saw); "Czar Peter,
your Majesty's adorer, is dethroned, perhaps murdered;
your Majesty's enemies, in the name of Czarina
Catharine, order me instantly homeward with my
20,000! " This is true news, this of Czernichef. A
* Compare Tempelhof, vi. 99, and ROdenbeck, n. 164.
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? 300 FREEDBICHNOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
17th July 1762.
most unexpected, overwhelming Revolution in those
Northern Parts; -- not needing to be farther touched
upon in this place.
What here concerns us is, Friedrich's feelings on
hearing of it; which no reader can now imagine.
Horror, amazement, pity, very poignant; grief for
one's hapless friend Peter, for one's still more hapless
self! "The Sisyphus stone, which we had got dragged
to the top, the chains all beautifully slack these three
months past, -- has it leapt away again? And on
the eve of Burkersdorf, and our grand Daun problem! "
Truly, the Destinies have been quite dramatic with
this King, and have contrived the moment of hitting
him to the heart. He passionately intreats Czernichef
to be helpful to him, -- which Czernichef would fain
be, only how can he? To be helpful; at least to keep
the matter absolutely secret yet for some hours: this
the obliging Czernichef will do. And Friedrich re-
mains, Czernichef having promised this, in the throes
of desperate consideration and uncertainty, hour after
hour, -- how many hours I do not know. It is con-
fidently said,* Friedrich had the thought of forcibly
disarming Czernichef and his 20,000: -- in which
case he must have given up the Daun Enterprise; for
without Czernichef as a positive quantity, much more
with Czernichef as a negative, it is impossible. But,
at any rate, most luckily for himself, he came upon a
milder thought: "Stay with us yet three days, merely
in the semblance of Allies, no service required of you,
but keeping the matter a dead secret; -- on the fourth
day go, with my eternal thanks! " This is his milder
proposal; urged with his best efforts upon the obliging
* Retzow, n. 415.
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? CHAP. XI. ] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS. 301
20th July 1762.
Czernichef: who is in huge difficulty, and sees it to be
at peril of his head, but generously consents. It is the
same Czernichef who got lodged in Ciistrin cellars, on
one occasion: know, 0 King, -- the King, before this,
does begin to know, -- that Russians too can have
something of heroic, and can recognise a hero when
they see him! In this fine way does Friedrich get the
frightful chasm, or sudden gap of the ground under
him, bridged over for the moment; and proceeds upon
Burkersdorf all the same.
Of the Attack itself we propose to say almost no-
thing. It consists of Two Parts, Wied and Mollen-
dorf, which are intensely Real; and of a great many
more which are Scenic chiefly, -- some of them Scenic
to the degree of Drury-Lane itself, as we perceive; --
all cunningly devised, and beautifully playing into
one another, both the real and the scenic. Evening of
the 20th, Friedrich is on his ground, according to
Program. Friedrich, -- who has now his Mollendorf
and Wied beside him again, near this Village of
Burkersdorf; and has his completely-scenic Czernichef,
and partly-scenic Ziethen and others, all in their places
behind him, -- quietly crushes Daun's people out of
Burkersdorf Village; and furthermore, so soon as Night
has fallen, bursts up, for his own uses, Burkersdorf
old Castle, and its obstinate handful of defenders,
which was a noisier process. Which done, he diligently
sets to trenching, building batteries in that part; will
have forty formidable guns, howitzers a good few of
them, ready before sunrise. And so,
Wednesday, 21st July 1762, All Prussians are in
motion, far and wide; especially Mollendorf and Wied
(versus O'Kelly and Prince de Ligne), -- which Pair
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"Mary ofCasan" ("Oh, my friends, Orthodox Religion, first
"of all! "), doing Te-Deums, and the other Divine Offices, for
the thrice-happy Revolution and Deliverance now vouchsafed
us and you! And the Herr Doctor, under outburst of the
chimes of St. Mary, and of the jubilant Soldieries and Popu-
lations, sees the Czarina saluting to right and left; and Priests,
with their assistants and crucifixes (" Dehold them, ye Ortho-
"dox; is there anything equal to true Religion? "), walking
before her Hackney Coach.
"On the one step of her Coach," continues theHerr Doctor,
"stood Grigorei Grigorjewitsh Orlow," so he spells him, "and
'' in front of it, with drawn sword, rode the Field-marshal and
"Hetman Count Kirila Grigorjewitsh Rasomowski, Colonel
"of the Ismailow Guard. Lieutenant-General (soon to be
"General-Ordnance-Master) Villebois came galloping up;
"leapt from his horse under our windows, and placed himself
"on the other step of the Coach. The procession passed before
"our house; going first to the New stone Palace, then to the
"Old wooden Winter Palace. Common Russians shouted
"mockingly up to us, 'Your god' (meaning the Czar) 'is
"'dead! ' And others, 'He is gone; we will have no more of
'"him! "'
About this hour of the day, at Oranienbaum {Orange-Tree,
some twenty miles from here, and from Peterhof guess ten or
twelve), Czar Peter is drilling zealously his brave Holsteiners
(2,000or more, "the flower of all my troops "); and has not,for
hours after, the least inkling of all this. Catharine had been
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? 286 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
Jan. --July 1762.
across to visit him, on Wednesday, no farther back; and had
kindled Oranienbaum into opera, into illumination and what
not. Thursday (yesterday), Czar and Czarina met at some
Grandee's festivity, who lives between their two Residences.
This day the Czar is appointed for Peterhof; tomorrow, July
10th (Peter-and-Paul's grand Holiday), Czar, Czarina, and
united Court were to have done the Festivities together there,
-- with Czarina's powder-mine of Plot laid under them; which
latter has exploded one day sooner, in the present happy
manner! The poor Czar, this day, on getting to Peterhof, and
finding Czarina vanished, understood too well: he saw "big
"smoke-clouds rise suddenly overPetersburg region," withal,
-- "Ha, she has cannon going for her yonder; salvoing and
"homaging! " -- and rushed back to Oranienbaum half mad.
Old Miinnich undertook to save him, by one, by two or even
three different methods, "Only order me, and stand up to it
with sword bare! " -- but Peter's wits were all flying miscel-
laneously about, and he could resolve on nothing.
Peter and his Czarina never met more. Saturday (tomorrow), he abdicates; drives over to Peterhof, expecting, as per
bargain, interview with his Wife; freedom to retire to Hol-
stein, and "every sort of kindness compatible with his situa-
tion:" but is met there instead, on the staircases, by brutal
people, who tear the orders off his coat, at length the very
clothes off his back, -- and pack him away toRopscha, a quiet
Villa some miles off, to sit silent there till Orlof and Company
have considered. Consideration is: "ToHolstein? He has
an Anti-Danish Russian Army just now in that neighbour-
hood; he will not be safe in Holstein; -- where will he be
safe? " Saturday 17th, Peter's seventh day inRopscha, the
Orlofs (Scarred Orlof, and Four other miscreants, one of them
a Prince, one a Playactor) came over, and murdered poor
Peter, in a treacherous, and even bungling and disgusting,
and altogether hideous manner. "A glass of burgundy"
(poisoned burgundy), "your Highness? " said they, at dinner
with his poor Highness. On the back of which, the burgundy
having failed and been found out, came grappling and
hauling, trampling, shrieking, and at last strangulation.
Surely the Devil will reward such a Five of his Elect?
But we detain Herr Bttsching: it is still only Friday morn-
ing, 9th of the month; and the Czarina's Hackney Coach,
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? CHAP. X. ] HAS NEWS FROM PETERSBURG}. 287
Jan. --July 1762.
in the manner of a comet and tail, has just gone into other
streets:
"After this terrible uproar had left our quarter, I hastened
"to the Danish Ambassador, Count Haxthausen, who lived
"near me, to bring him the important news that the Czar was
"said to be dead. The Count was just about to burn a mass
"of Papers, fearing the mob would plunder his house; but he
"did not proceed with it now, and thanked Heaven for saving
"his Country. His Secretary of Legation, my friend Schu-
"macher, gave me all the money he had in his pockets, to dis-
"tribute amongst the poor; and I returned home. Directly
"after, there passed our house, at a rate as if the horses were
"running away, a common two-horse coach, in which sat
"Head-Tutor (Ober-Hofmeister) von Panin with the Grand
"Duke" (famous Czar Paul, that is to be), "who was still in
"his nightgown," poor frightened little boy! --
"Not long after, I saw some of the loot-guards, in the
"public street near the Winter Palace, selling, at rates dog-
"cheap, their new uniforms after the Prussian cut, which they
"had stript off; whi 1st others, singing merrily, carried about,
"stuck on the top of their muskets, or on their bayonets, their
"new grenadier caps of Prussian fashion. * I saw several
"soldiers, out on errand or otherwise, seizing the coaches they
"met in the streets, and driving on in them. Others ap-
propriated the eatables which hucksters carried about in
"baskets. But, in all this wild tumult, nobody was killed;
"and only at Oranienbaum a few Holstein soldiers got
"wounded by some low Russians, in their wantonness.
"July 11th, the disorder amongst the soldiers was at its
"height; yet still much less than might have been expected.
"Many ot them entered the houses of Foreigners, and de-
"manded money. Seeing a number of them come into my
"house, I hastily put a quantity of roubles and half-roubles in
"my pocket, and went out with a servant, especially with a
"cheerful face, to meet them," -- and no harm was done.
I "Saturday, July 17th, was the day of the Czar's death; on
"the same 17th, theEmpress was informed of it; and next day,
"his body was brought from Ropscha to the Convent of St.
"Alexander Newski, near Petersburg. Here it lay in state
"three days; nay, an Imperial Manifesto even ordered that
* See in Hermann (v. 291) the Saxon Ambassador's Report.
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? 288 FRIBDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
Jan. --July 1762.
"the last honours and duty be paid to it. July 20th, I drove
"thither with my Wife; and to be able to view the body more
"minutely, we passed twice through the room where it lay"
(An uncommonly broad neckcloth on it, did you observe? )
"Owing to the rapid dissolution, it had to be interred on the
"following day: -- and it was a touching circumstance that
"this happened to be the very day on which the Czar had
"fixed to start from Petersburg on his Campaign against
"Denmark. "*
Catharine, one must own with a shudder, has not
attained the Autocracy of All the Russias gratis. Let
us hope she would once, -- till driven upon a dire
alternative, -- have herself shuddered to purchase at
such a price. A kind of horror haunts one's notion of
her redhanded brazen-faced Orlofs and her, which all
the cosmetics of the world will never quite cover. And
yet, on the spot, in Petersburg at the moment --!
Read this Clipping from Smelfungus, on a collateral
topic:
"In Buschincfs Magazine are some Love-letters from the
"old Marshal Munnich to Catharine just after this event,
"which are psychologically curious. Love-letters, for they
"partake of that character; though the man is 82, and has
"had such breakages and vicissitudes in this Earth. Alive
"yet, it would seem; and full of ambitions. Unspeakably
"beautiful is this young Woman to him; radiant as ox-eyed
"Juno, as Diana of the silver bow, -- such a power in her to
"gratify the avarices, ambitions, cupidities of an insatiable
"old fellow: Oh divine young Empress, Aurora of bright
"Summer epochs, rosy-fingered daughter of the Sun, -- grant
"me the governing of This, the administering of That: and
"see what a thing I will make of it (I, an inventive old gen-
"tleman), for your Majesty's honour and glory, and my own
"advantage! ** Innumerable persons of less note than
* Biisching, vI. 464-467.
** BUsching, Magazin fur die neue Historie und Geographie (Halle, Year
1782), xvi. 413-477 (22 Letlers, and only thrice or so a word of Response
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? CHAP. X. ] HAS NEWS FROM PETERSBURG. 289
Jan. --July 1762.
"Miinnich have their Biographies, and are known to the
"reading public and in all barbers'-shops, if that were an ad-
vantage to them. Very considerable, this Miinnich, as a
"soldier, for one thing. And surely had very strange ad-
ventures; an original German character withal: -- about
"the stature of Belleisle, for example; and not quite unlike
"Belleisle, in some of his ways? Came originally from the
"swamps of Oldenburg, or Lower Weser Country, -- son of a
"Deichgrafe (Ditch-Superintendent) there. Requiescant in
"oblivious silence, Belleisle and he; it is better than being
"lied of, and maundered of, and blotched and blundered of.
"Biographies were once rhythmic, earnest as death or as
"life, earnest as transcendant human Insight risen to the
"Singing pitch; some Homer, nay some Psalmist or Evange-
"list, spokesman of reverent Populations, was the Biographer.
"Rhythmic, with exactitude, investigation to the very mar-
"row; this, or else oblivion, Biography should now, and at all
"times, be; but is not, -- by any manner of means. With
"what results is visible enough, if you will look! Human
"Stupor, fallen into the dishonest, lazy, andunflogged con-
"dition, is truly an awful thing. "
Catharine did not persist in her Anti-Prussian de-
termination. July 9th, the Manifesto had been in-
dignantly emphatic on Prussia; July 22d, in a Note
to Goltz from the Czarina, it was all withdrawn again. *
Looking into the deceased Czar's Papers, she found
that Friedrich's Letters to him had contained nothing
of wrong or offensive; always excellent advices, on the
contrary, -- advice, among others, To be conciliatory
to his clever-witted Wife, and to make her his ally,
not his opponent, in living and reigning. In Konigs-
berg (July 16th, seven days after July 9th), the
Russian Governor, just on the point of quitting,
from "ma Divinite:" dates, "Narva, 4th August 1762" . . . "Petersburg,
3d October 1762").
* ROdenbeck, n. 171.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. XII. 19
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? 290 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
Jan. --July 1762.
emitted Proclamation, to everybody's horror: "No;
altered all that; under pain of death, your Oath to
Russia still valid! " Which, for the next ten days, or
till his new Proclamation, made such a Konigsberg of
it as may be imagined. The sight of those Letters is
understood to have turned the scale; which had hung
wavering till July 22d in the Czarina's mind. "Can
it be good," she might privately think withal, "to
begin our reign by kindling a foolish War again? "
How Friedrich received the news of July 9th, and
into what a crisis it threw him, we shall soon see. His
Campaign had begun July 1st; -- and has been sum
moning us home, into its horizon, for some time.
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? CHAP. XI. ] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS.
9th May -- 1st July 1762.
CHAPTEE XI.
SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS.
Friedrich's plan of Campaign is settled long since:
Recapture Schweidnitz; clear Silesia of the enemy;
Silesia and all our own Dominions clear, we can then
stand fencible against the Austrian perseverances. Peace,
one day, they must grant us. The general tide of
European things is changed by these occurrences in
Petersburg and London. Peace is evidently near.
France and England are again beginning to negotiate;
no Pitt now to be rigorous. The tide of War has
been wavering at its summit for two years past; and
now, with this of Russia, and this of Bute instead of
Pitt, there is ebb everywhere, and all Europe de-
termining for peace. Steady at the helm, as hereto-
fore, a Friedrich, with the world-current in his favour,
may hope to get home after all.
Austrian Headquarters had been at Waldenburg,
under Loudon or his Lieutenants, all Winter. Loudon
returned thither from Vienna, April 7th; but is not to
command in chief, this Year, -- Schweidnitz still
sticking in some people's throats: "Dangerous; a man
with such rash practices, rapidities and Pandour ten-
dencies! " Daun is to command in Silesia; Loudon,
under him, obscure to us henceforth, and inoffensive
to Official people. Reichs Army shall take charge of
Saxony; nominally a Reichs Army, though there are
35,000 Austrians in it, as the soul of it, under some .
19*
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? 292 FEIEDRlCH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
9th May--1st July 1762.
Serbelloni, some Stollberg as Chief -- (the fact, I be-
lieve, is: Serbelloni got angrily displaced on that
"crossing of the Mulda by Prince Henri, May 13th;"
Prince of Zweibriick had angrily abdicated the year
before; and a Prince von Stollberg is now Generalis-
simo of Reich and Allies: but it is no kind of matter),
-- some Stollberg, with Serbelloni, Haddick, Maguire,
and suchlike, in subaltern places. Cunctator Daun, in
spite of his late sleepy ways, is to be Headman again:
this surely is a cheering circumstance to Friedrich;
Loudon, not Daun, being the only man he ever got
much ill of hitherto.
Daun arrives in Waldenburg, May 9th; and to
show that he is not cunctatory, steps out within a week
after. May 15th, he has descended from his Moun-
tains; has swept round by the back and by the front
of Schweidnitz, far and wide, into the Plain Country,
and encamped himself crescent-wise, many miles in
length, Headquarter near the Zobtenberg. Bent fondly
round Schweidnitz; meaning, as is evident, to defend
Schweidnitz against all comers, -- his very position
symbolically intimating: "I will fight for it, Prussian
Majesty, if you like! "
Prussian Majesty, however, seemed to take no
notice of him; and, what was very surprising, kept his
old quarters: "a Cantonment, or Chain of Posts, ten
"miles long; Schweidnitz Water on his right flank,
"Oder on his left;" perfectly safe, as he perceives,
being able to assemble in four hours, if Daun try any-
thing. * And, in fact, sat there, and did not come
into the Field at all for five weeks or more; -- waiting
till Czernichef's 20,000 arrive, who are on march from
* Tempelhof, vi. 66.
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? CHAP. XI.
] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS. 293
9th May -- 1st July 1762.
Thorn since June 2d. Mere small-war goes on in the
interim; world getting all greener and flowrier; the
Glatz Highlands, to one's left yonder (Owl-Mountains,
Eulenqebirge so-called), lying magically blue and mys-
terious: -- on the Plain in front of them, ten miles
from the final peaks of them, is Schweidnitz Fortress,
lying full in view, with a picked Garrison of 12,000
under a picked Captain, and all else of defence or im-
pregnability; and Friedrich privately determined to
take it, though by methods of his own choosing, and
which cannot commence till Czernichef come. Daun,
with his right wing, has hold of those Highland Regions,
and cautiously guards them; can, when he pleases,
wend back to Waldenburg Country; and at once, with
his superior numbers, block all passages, and sit there
impregnable. The methods of dislodging him are ob-
scure to Friedrich himself; but methods there must be,
dislodged he must be, and sent packing. Without
that, all siege of Schweidnitz is flatly impossible.
June 27th, Friedrich's Headquarter is Tintz, Czer-
nichef now nigh:* two days ago (June 25th), Czerni-
chef's Cossacks "crossed the Oder at Auras," -- with
how different objects from those they used to have!
July 1st, Czernichef himself is here, in full tale and
equipment. Had encamped, a day ago, on the Field
of Lissa; where Majesty reviewed him, inspected and
manceuvered him, with great mutual satisfaction. "Field
of Lissa;" it is where our poor Prussian people en-
camped on the night of Leuthen, with their "Nun
danket alle Gott," five years ago, in memorable cir-
cumstances: to what various uses are Earth's Fields
liable!
* Tempelhof, vi. 76.
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? 294 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
9th May -- 1st July 1762.
Friedrich, by degrees, has considerably changed
his opinion, and bent towards the late Keith's, about
Russian Soldiery: a Soldiery of most various kinds;
from predatory Cossacks and Calmucks to those noble
Grenadiers, whom we saw sit down on the Walls of
Schweidnitz when their work was done. A perfectly
steady obedience is in these men; at any and all times,
obedient, to the death if needful, and with a silence,
with a steadfastness as of rocks and gravitation. Which
is a superlative quality in soldiers. Good in Nations
too, within limits; and much a distinction in the Rus-
sian Nation: rare, or almost unique, in these unruly
Times. The Russians have privately had their ad-
mirations of Friedrich, all this while; and called him
by I forget what unpronounceable vernacular epithet,
signifying "Son of Lightning," or some such thing. *
No doubt they are proud to have a stroke of service
under such a one, since Father Peter Feodorowitsh graciously orders it: the very Cossacks show an alert-
ness, a vivacity; and see cheery possibilities ahead, in
Countries not yet plundered out. They stayed with
Friedrich only Three Weeks, -- Russia being an un-
certain Country. As we have seen above; though
Friedrich, who is vitally concerned, has not yet seen!
But their junction with him, and review by him in the
Field of Lissa, had its uses by and by; and may be
counted an epoch in Russian History, if nothing more.
The poor Russian Nation, most pitiable of loyal Na-
tions, -- struggling patiently ahead, on those bad
terms, under such Catins and foul Nightmares, -- has
it, shall we say, quite gone without conquest in this
* Buchholz, Neveste Pi'eussisch- Brandenburgische Geschichte (1775),
vol. n. (page irrecoverable).
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? CHAP. XI. ] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS. 295
1st July 1762.
mad War? Perhaps, not quite. It has at least shown
Europe that it possesses fighting qualities: a changed
Nation, since Karl XII. beat them easily, at Narva,
8,000 to 80,000 in the snowy morning, long since! --
Czernichef once come, and in his place in the Camp
of Tintz, business instantly begins, -- business, and a
press of it, in right earnest; -- upon the hitherto idle
Daun. July 1st, there is general complex Advance
everywhere on Friedrich's part; general attempt to-
wards the Mountains. Upon which Daun, well awake,
at once rolls universally thitherward again; takes post
in front of the Mountains, -- on the Heights of Kunzen-
dorf, to wit (Loudon's old post in Bunzelwitz time);
-- and elaborately spreads himself out in defence
there. "Take him multifariously by the left flank,
get between him and his Magazine at Braunau! " thinks
Friedrich. Discovering which, Daun straightway hitches
back into the Mountains altogether, leaving Kunzen-
dorf to Friedrich's use as main camp. His outmost
Austrians, on the edge of the Mountain Country, and
back as far as suitable, Daun elaborately posts; and
entrenches himself behind them in all the commanding
points, -- Schweidnitz still well in sight; and Braunau
and the roads to it well capable of being guarded.
Daun's Headquarter is Tannhausen; Burkersdorf, Lud-
wigsdorf, if readers can remember them, are frontward
posts: -- in his old imperturbable way, Daun sits there
waiting events.
And for near three weeks there ensues a very multi-
plex series of rapid movements, and alarming demon-
strations, on Daun's front, on Daun's right flank;
with serious extensive effort (masked in that way) to
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? 296 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
lst-18th July 1762.
turn Daun's left flank, and push round by Landshut
Country upon Bohemia and Braunau. Effort very
serious indeed on that Landshut side: conducted at
first by Friedrich in person, with General Wied (called
also iVfuwied, a man of mark since Liegnitz time) as
second under him; latterly by Wied himself, as Fried-
rich found it growing dubious or hopeless. That was
Friedrich's first notion of the Daun problem. There
are rapid marches here, there, round that western or
left flank of Daun; sudden spurts of fierce fighting,
oftenest with a stiff climb as preliminary: but not the
least real success on Daun. Daun perfectly com-
prehends what is on foot; refuses to take shine for
substance; stands massed, or grouped, at his own skil-
ful judgment, in the proper points for Braunau, still
more for Schweidnitz; and is very vigilant and imper-
turbable.
Kunzendorf Heights, which are not of the Hills,
but in front of them, with a strip of flat still inter-
vening; --? these, we said, Daun had at once quitted:
and these are now Friedrich's; -- but yield him a very
complex prospect at present. A line of opposing
Heights, Burkersdorf, Ludwigsdorf, Leuthmannsdorf,
bristling with abundant cannon; behind is the mul-
tiplex sea of Hills, rising higher and higher, to the
ridge of theEulenberg in Glatz Country 10 or 12 miles
southward: Daun, with forces much superior, calmly
lord of all that; infinitely needing to be ousted, could
one but say how! Friedrich begins to perceive that
Braunau will not do; that he must contrive some other
plan. General Wied he still leaves to prosecute the
Braunau scheme: perhaps there is still some chance in
it; at lowest it will keep Daun's attention thitherward.
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? CHAP. XI. ] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS. 297
lst-18th July 1762.
And Wied perseveres upon Braunau; and Braunau
proving impossible, pushes past it deeper into Bohemia,
Daun loftily regardless of him. Wied's marches and
attempts were of approved quality; though unsuccess-
ful in the way of stirring Daun. Wied's Light troops
went scouring almost as far as Prag, -- especially a
500 Cossacks that were with him, following their old
fashion, in a new Country. To the horror of Austria;
who shrieked loudly, feeling them in her own bowels;
though so quiet, while they were in other people's on
her score. This of the 500 Cossacks under Wied, if
this were anything, was all of actual work that Fried-
rich had from his Czernichef Allies; -- nothing more
of real or actual while they stayed, though something
of imaginary or ostensible which had its importance,
as we shall see.
Friedrich, in the third week, recalls Wied: "Braunau
clearly impossible; only let us still keep up appear-
ances! " July 18th, Wied is in Kunzendorf Country
again; on an important new enterprise, or method with
the Daun Problem, in which Wied is to bear a principal
hand. That is to say, The discomfiture and overturn
of Daun's right wing, if we can, -- since his left has
proved impossible. This was the Storming of Burkers-
dorf Heights; Friedrich's new plan. Which did prove
successful, and is still famous in the Annals of War:
reckoned by all judges a beautiful plan, beautifully
executed, and once more a wonderful achieving of what
seemed the impossible, when it had become the indis-
pensable. One of Friedrich's prettiest feats; and the
last of his notable performances in this War. Readers
ought not to be left without some shadowy authentic
notion of it; though the real portraiture or image
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? 298 FRIEDRICH NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
lst-18th July 1762.
(which is achievable too, after long study) is for the
professional soldier only, -- for whom Tempelhof, good
maps, and plenty of patience, are the recipe.
"The scene is the Wall of Heights, running east and west,
"parallel to Friedrich's Position at Kunzendorf; which form
"the Face, or decisive beginning, of that Mountain Glacis
"spreading up ten miles farther, towards Glatz Country.
"They, these Heights called of Burkersdorf, are in effect
"Daun's right wing; vitally precious to Daun, who has taken
"every pains about them. Burkersdorf Height (or Heights,
"for there are two, divided by the Brook Weistritz; but we
"shall neglect the eastern or lower, which is ruled by the
"other, and stands or falls along with it), Burkersdorf Height
"is the principal: a Hill of some magnitude (short way south
"of the Village of Burkersdorf, which also is Daun's); Hill
"falling rather steep down, on two of its sides, namely on the
"north side, which is towards Friedrich and Kunzendorf, and
"on the east side, where Weistritz Water, as yet only aBrook,
"gushes out from the Mountains, -- hastening towards
"Schweidnitz or Schweidnitz-Water; towards Lissa and
"Leuthen Country, where we have seen it on an important
"night. Weistritz, at this part, has scarped the eastern flank
"of Burkersdorf Height; and made for itself a pleasant little
"Valley there: this is the one Pass into the Mountains. A
"Valley of level bottom; where Daun has a terrific trench
"and sunk battery level with the ground, capable of sweeping
"to destruction whoever enters there without leave.
"East from Burkersdorf Lesser Height (which we neglect
"for the present), and a little farther inwards or south, are
"Two other Heights: Ludwigsdorf and Leuthmannsdorf;
"which also need capture, as adjuncts of Burkersdorf, or
"second line to Burkersdorf; and are abundantly difficult,
"though not so steep as Burkersdorf.
"The Enterprise, therefore, divides itself into two. Wied
"is to do the Ludwigsdorf-Leuthmannsdorf part; Mollendorf,
"the Burkersdorf. The strength of guns in these places,
"especially on Burkersdorf, -- we know Daun's habit in that
"particular; and need say nothing. Man-devouring bat-
"teries, abatis; battalions palisaded to the teeth, 'the pales
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? CHAP. XI. ] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS. 299
17th July 1762.
"strong as masts, and room only for a musket-barrel be-
''tween;' nay, they are 'furnished with a lath or cross-strap
"all along, for resting your gun-barrel on and taking aim:' --
"so careful is Daun. The ground itself is intricate, in parts
"impracticably steep; everywhere full of bushes, gnarls, and
"impediments. Seldom was there such a problem altogether!
"Friedrich's position, as we say, is Kunzendorf Heights, with
"Schweidnitz and his old ground of Bunzelwitz to rear,
"Czernichef and others lying there, and Wiirben and the old
"Villages and Heights again occupied as posts: -- what a
"tale of Egyptian bricks has one to bake, your Majesty, on
"certain fields of this world; and with such insufficiency of
"raw-material sometimes! "
By the 16th of July, Friedrich's plans are com-
plete. Contrived, I must say, with a veracity and
opulent potency of intellect, flashing clear into the
matter, and yet careful of the smallest practical detail.
Friday 17</(, Mollendorf, with men and furnitures com-
plete, circles off north-westward by Wiirben (for the
benefit of certain onlookers), but will have circled
round to Burkersdorf neighbourhood two days hence;
by which time also Wied will be quietly in his place
thereabouts, with a view to business on the 20th and
21st. Mollendorf, Wied and everything, are prosper-
ously under way in this manner, -- when, on the
afternoon of that same Friday 17th,* Czernichef steps
over, most privately, to headquarters: with what a bit
of news! "A Revolution in Petersburg" {July 9th, as
we saw above, or as Herr Biisching saw); "Czar Peter,
your Majesty's adorer, is dethroned, perhaps murdered;
your Majesty's enemies, in the name of Czarina
Catharine, order me instantly homeward with my
20,000! " This is true news, this of Czernichef. A
* Compare Tempelhof, vi. 99, and ROdenbeck, n. 164.
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? 300 FREEDBICHNOT TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XX.
17th July 1762.
most unexpected, overwhelming Revolution in those
Northern Parts; -- not needing to be farther touched
upon in this place.
What here concerns us is, Friedrich's feelings on
hearing of it; which no reader can now imagine.
Horror, amazement, pity, very poignant; grief for
one's hapless friend Peter, for one's still more hapless
self! "The Sisyphus stone, which we had got dragged
to the top, the chains all beautifully slack these three
months past, -- has it leapt away again? And on
the eve of Burkersdorf, and our grand Daun problem! "
Truly, the Destinies have been quite dramatic with
this King, and have contrived the moment of hitting
him to the heart. He passionately intreats Czernichef
to be helpful to him, -- which Czernichef would fain
be, only how can he? To be helpful; at least to keep
the matter absolutely secret yet for some hours: this
the obliging Czernichef will do. And Friedrich re-
mains, Czernichef having promised this, in the throes
of desperate consideration and uncertainty, hour after
hour, -- how many hours I do not know. It is con-
fidently said,* Friedrich had the thought of forcibly
disarming Czernichef and his 20,000: -- in which
case he must have given up the Daun Enterprise; for
without Czernichef as a positive quantity, much more
with Czernichef as a negative, it is impossible. But,
at any rate, most luckily for himself, he came upon a
milder thought: "Stay with us yet three days, merely
in the semblance of Allies, no service required of you,
but keeping the matter a dead secret; -- on the fourth
day go, with my eternal thanks! " This is his milder
proposal; urged with his best efforts upon the obliging
* Retzow, n. 415.
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? CHAP. XI. ] SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS. 301
20th July 1762.
Czernichef: who is in huge difficulty, and sees it to be
at peril of his head, but generously consents. It is the
same Czernichef who got lodged in Ciistrin cellars, on
one occasion: know, 0 King, -- the King, before this,
does begin to know, -- that Russians too can have
something of heroic, and can recognise a hero when
they see him! In this fine way does Friedrich get the
frightful chasm, or sudden gap of the ground under
him, bridged over for the moment; and proceeds upon
Burkersdorf all the same.
Of the Attack itself we propose to say almost no-
thing. It consists of Two Parts, Wied and Mollen-
dorf, which are intensely Real; and of a great many
more which are Scenic chiefly, -- some of them Scenic
to the degree of Drury-Lane itself, as we perceive; --
all cunningly devised, and beautifully playing into
one another, both the real and the scenic. Evening of
the 20th, Friedrich is on his ground, according to
Program. Friedrich, -- who has now his Mollendorf
and Wied beside him again, near this Village of
Burkersdorf; and has his completely-scenic Czernichef,
and partly-scenic Ziethen and others, all in their places
behind him, -- quietly crushes Daun's people out of
Burkersdorf Village; and furthermore, so soon as Night
has fallen, bursts up, for his own uses, Burkersdorf
old Castle, and its obstinate handful of defenders,
which was a noisier process. Which done, he diligently
sets to trenching, building batteries in that part; will
have forty formidable guns, howitzers a good few of
them, ready before sunrise. And so,
Wednesday, 21st July 1762, All Prussians are in
motion, far and wide; especially Mollendorf and Wied
(versus O'Kelly and Prince de Ligne), -- which Pair
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