Of the
Pragmatic
Army, silence henceforth,
rather than speech!
rather than speech!
Thomas Carlyle
19
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? 290 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [bOOKXIV.
27th June 1743.
"Some six hours followed of thrice-intricate deploying,
"planting of field-pieces, counter-batteries; ranking, re-
"ranking, shuffling hither and then thither of horse and foot;
"Noailles's cannonade proceeding all the while; the English,
"still considerably exposed to it, and standing it like stones;
"chivalrous Grammont, and with better reason the English,
"much wishing these preliminaries were done. A difficult
"business, that of deploying here. The Pragmatic had no
"room, jammed so against the Spessart Hills, and obliged to
"lean from the River and Noailles's cannon; had to rank itself
"in six, some say in eight lines; horse behind foot, as well as
"on flank; unsatisfactory to the military mind: and I think
"had not done shuffling and re-shuffling at 2 p. m. , -- when the
"Enemy came bursting on, with a peremptory finish to it,
"'Enough of that, Messieurs les Anylais! ' 'Too much of it, a
"great deal! ' thought Messieurs grimly, in response. And
"there ensued a really furious clash of host against host;
"French chivalry (Maison-du-R/ri, Black, Mousquetaires, the
"Flower of their Horse regiments) dashing, in right Gallic
"frenzy, on their natural enemies, -- on the English, thatis;
"who, I find, were mainly on the left wing there, horse and
"foot; and had mainly (the Austrians and they, very mainly)
"the work to do; -- and did, with an effort, and luck helping,
"manage to doit.
"'Grammont breaks orders! Thrice-blamableGrammont! '
"exclaim Noailles and others, sorrowfully wringing their
"hands. Even so! Grammont had waited seven mortal hours;
"one's courage burning all the while, courage perhaps rather
'' burning down, -- and not the least use coming of it. Gram-
"monthad, in natural impatience, gradually edged forward;
"and, in the end, was being cannonaded and pricked into by
"the Enemy; -- and did at last, with his Maison-du-Roi, dash
"across that essential Hollow Way, and plunge in upon them
"on their own side of it. And 'the English foot gave their
"volley too soon;' and Grammont did, in effect, partly repulse
"and disorder the front ranks of them; and, blazing up un-
controllable, at sight of those first ranks in disorder, did press
"home upon them more and more; get wholly into the affair,
"bringing on his Infantry as well: 'Let us finish it wholly,
"now that our hand is in! ' -- and took one cannon from the
"Enemy; and did other feats.
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 291
27th June 1743.
"So furious was that first charge of his; 'Maison-du-Roi
"covering itself with glory,' -- for a short while. Maison-du-
"Roi broke three lines of the Enemy" (three, not 'five'); "did
"in some places actually break through. ; in others 'could not,
"but galloped along the front. ' Three of their lines: but the
"fourth line would not break; much the contrary, it advanced
"(Austrians and English) with steady fire, hotter and hotter:
"upon this fourth line Maison-du-Roi had, itself, to break,
"pretty much altogether, and rush home again, in ruinous
"condition. 'Our front lines made lanes for them; terribly
"maltreating them with musketry on right and left, as they
"galloped through. ' And this was the end of Gratnmont's
"successes, this charge of horse; for his infantry had no luck
"anywhere; and the essential crisis of the Battle had been
"here. It continued still a good while; plenty of cannonading,
"fusillading, but in sporadic detached form; a confused series
"of small shocks and knocks; which were mostly, or all, un-
"fortunate for Grammont; and which at length knocked him
"quite off the field. 'He was now interlaced with the English,'
"moans Noailles; 'so that my cannon, not to shoot Grammont
"as well as the English, had to cease firing! ' Well, yes; that
"is true, M. le Mare'chal; but that is not so important as you
"would have it. The English had stood nine hours in this fire
"of yours; by degrees, leaning well away from it; answering
"it with counter-batteries; and were not yet ruined by it,
"when the Grammont crisis came! Noailles should have
"dashed fresh troops across his Bridges, and tried to handle
"them well. Noailles did not do that; or do anything but
"wring his hands.
"The Fight lasted four hours; ever hotter on the English
"part, ever less hot on the French" (fire of anthracite-coal
versus flame of dry wood, which latter at last sinks ashy. ') --
"and ended in total defeat of the French. The French In-
"fantry by no means behaved as their Cavalry had done. The
"Gardes Franfaises" (fire burning ashy, after seven hours of
taming), "when Grammont ordered them up to take the Eng-
"lish in flank, would hardly come on at all, or stand one push.
"They threw away their arms, and plunged into the River,
"like a drove of swimmers; getting drowned in great numbers.
"So that their comrades nicknamed them ''Canards du Mein
"(Ducks of the Mayn):' and inEnglish messrooms, there went
19*
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? 292 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [bOOKXiV.
27th June 1743.
"afterwards a saying: 'The French had, in reality, Three
"Bridges; one of them not wooden, and carpeted with blue
"cloth! ' Such the wit of military mankind. "
* * "The English, it appears, did something by mere
"shouting. Partial huzzahs and counter-huzzahs between
"the Infantries were going on at one time, when Stair hap-
"pened to gallop up:'Stop that,' said Stair; 'let us do it right.
"Silence; then, One and all, when I give you signal! ' And
Stair, at the right moment, lifting his hat, there burst out such
"a thunder-growl, edged with melodious ire in alt, as quite
"seemed to strike a damp into the French, says my authority,
"and they never shouted more. ' * * 'Our ground in many parts
"was under rye,' hedgeless fields of rye, chief grain-crop of
"that sandy country. 'We had already wasted above 120,000
'' acres of it,' still in the unripe state, so hungry were we, man
"and horse, 'since crossing to Aschaffenburg;' -- fighting for
"your Cause of Liberty, ye benighted ones!
"King Friedrich's private accounts, deformed by ridicule,
"are, That the Britannic Majesty, his respectable old Uncle,
"finding the French there barring his way to breakfast, under-
"stood simply that there must and should be fighting, of the
"toughest; but had no plan or counsel farther: that ne did at
"first ride up, to see what was what with his own eyes; but
'' that his horse ran away with him, frightened at the cannon;
"upon which he hastily got down; drew sword; put himself at
"the head of his Hanoverian Infantry" (on the right wing),
"and stood, -- left foot drawn back, sword pushed out, in the
"form of a fencing-master doing lunge, -- steadily in that
"defensive attitude, inexpugnable like the rocks, till all was
"over, and victory gained. This is defaced by the spirit of
"ridicule, and not quite correct. Britannic Majesty's horse"
(one of those 500 fine animals) "did, it is certain, at last
"dangerously run away with him; upon which he took to his
"feet and his Hanoverians. But he had been repeatedly on
"horseback, in the earlier stages; galloping about, to look
"with his own eyes, could they have availed him; and was
"heard encouraging his people, and speaking even in the
"English language, 'Steady, my boys; fire, my brave hoys,
'" give them fire; they will soon run! ' * Latterly, there can be
* lEuvres de Frideric (iii. 14): compare Anonymous , Life of the D<<te
of Cumberland (p. Sin. ); Henderson's Life of ditto; &o.
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 293
27th June 1743.
"no doubt, he stands" (and to our imagination, he may fitly
stand throughout) "in the above attitude of lunge; no fear in
"him, and no plan;'sans peur el sans avis,' as we might term it.
"Like a real Hanoverian Sovereign of England; like England
"it8elf,and its ways in those German Wars. A typical epitome
"of long sections of English History, that attitude of lunge! --
"The English Officers also, it is evident, behaved in their
"usual way: -- without knowledge of war, without fear of
"death, or regard to utmost peril or difficulty ? , cheering their
"men, and keeping them steady upon the throats of the
"French, so far as might be. And always, after that first
"stumble with the French Horse was mended, they kept
"gaining ground, thrusting back the Enemy, not over the
"Dettingen Brook and Moorground only, but, knock after
"knock, out of his woody or other coverts, back and ever back,
"towards Welzheim, Kahl, and those Two Bridges of his. The
"flamyFrench" (ligneous fire burning lower and lower, versus
anthracitic glowing brighter and brighter) "found that they
"had a bad time of it; -- found, in fact, that they could not
"stand it; and tumbled finally, in great torrents, across their
"Bridges on the Mayn, many leaping into the River, the Eng-
"lish sitting dreadfully on the skirts of them. So that had the
"English had their Cavalry in readiness to pursue, Noailles's
"Army, in the humour it had sunk to, was ruined, and the
"Victory would have been conspicuously great. But they
"had, as too common, nothing ready. Impetuous Stair strove
"to get ready; 'pushed out the Grey Dragoons' for one item.
"But the Authorities refused Stair's counsel, as rash again;
"and made no effectual pursuit at all; -- too glad that they
"had brushed their Battle-field triumphantly clear, and got
"out of that fatal pinfold in an honourable manner.
"They stayed on the ground till 10 at night; settling, or
"trying to settle, many things. The Surgeons were busy as
"bees, Dut able for Officers only; -- 'Dress ATM first! ' said the
"glorious Duke of Cumberland, pointing to a young French-
"man" (Excellency Fe'nelon's Son, grand- nephew oiTelemaque)
"who was worse wounded than his Highness. Quite in the
"Philip-Sydney fashion; which was much taken notice of.
'"AH this while, we had next to nothing to eat' (says one in-
formant). -- " Ten p. m. : after which, leaving a politeLettev to
"Noailles, 'That he would take care of our Wounded, and
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? 294
[book XIV.
EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING.
27th Julie 1743.
"bury our Slain as well as his own,' we march" (through a
pour of rain) "to Hanau, where our victuals are, and 12,000
"new Hessians and Hanoverians by this time.
"Noailles politely bandaged the Wounded, buried the
"Dead. Noailles, gathering his scattered batallions, found
"that he hadlost 2,659 men; no ruinous loss to him, -- the
"Enemy's being at least equal, and all his Wounded fallen
"Prisoners of War. No ruinous loss to Noailles, had it not
"been the loss of Victory, -- which was a sore blow to French
"feeling; and, adding itself to those Broglio disgraces, anew
"discouragement to Most Christian Majesty. Victory indis-
putably Jost: -- but is it not Grammont's blame altogether?
a a. March of the Allied Army.
/*. Position of the Allied Army be-
fore the Battle.
c. Two Bridges at Seligenstadt.
ttddd. French Batteries.
e. French Forces under Grammont,
fff. Disposition of Noailles's Army.
g. Gardes Francaises attacking in
flank.
h. Are driven into the River.
iii. Retreat of the French.
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 295
27th Jane 1743.
"Grammont bears it, as we saw; and it is heavily laid on him.
"But my own conjecture is, forty thousand enraged people, of
"English and other Platt-Teutsch type, would have been very
"difficult to pin up, into captivity or death instead of break-
"fast, in that manner: and it is possible if poor Grammont had
"not mistaken, some other would have done so, and the
"hungry Baresarks (their blood fairly up, as is evident) would
"have ended in getting through. " *
This was all the Fighting that King George got of
his Pragmatic Army: the gain from conquest made by
it was, That it victoriously struggled back to its
bread-cupboard. Stair, about two months hence, in the
mere loitering and higgling that there was, quitted the
Pragmatic; magnanimously silent on his many wrongs
and disgusts, desirous only of "returning to the
plough," as he expressed himself. The lofty man;
wanted several requisites for being a Marlborough;
wanted a Sarah Jennings, as the preliminary of all! --
We will not attend the lazy movements and procedures
of the Pragmatic Army farther; which were of al-
together futile character, even in the temporary Ga-
zetteer estimate; and are to be valued at zero, and left
charitably in oblivion by a pious posterity. Stair, the
one brigntish-looking man in it, being gone, there re-
main Majesty with his D'Ahrembergs, Neippergs, and
* Espagnac, i. 193; Guerre de HohSme ,i. 231. -- Gentleman's Magazine,
vol. (xiii. (Tor 1743), pp. 328-481; -- containing Carteret's Despatch from
the field; followed by many other Letters and indistinct Narrations from
Officers present (p. 434, "Plan of the Battle," blotchy, indecipherable
in parts , bat essentially rather true), -- is worth examining. See likewise
Anonymous, Memoirs of the late Duke of Cumberland (Lond. 1767; the Au-
thor an ignorant, much-adoring military man, who has made some study,
and is not so stupid as he looks), pp. 56-78; and Henderson (ignorant he
too, much-adoring, and not military), Life of the Duke of Cumberland (Lond.
1766), pp. 32-48. Noailles's Official Account (ingeniously at a loss what to
? ay), in Campagnes, ii. b. 242-253, 306-310. CEuvres de Frederic, iii. 11-14
(incorrect in many of the details).
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? 296 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [bOOK XIV.
July--Aug. 1743.
the Martial Boy; Generals Cope, Hawley, Wade, and
many of leaden character, remain: -- let the leaden be
wrapped in lead.
It was not a successful Army, this Pragmatic. Det-
tingen itself, in spite of the rumouring of Gazetteers
and temporary persons, had no result, -- except the
extremely bad one, That it inflated to alarming height
the pride and belligerent humour of his Britannic,
especially of her Hungarian Majesty; and made Peace
more difficult than ever. That of getting Ostein, with
his Austrian leanings, chosen Kur-Mainz, -- that too
turned out ill: and perhaps, in the course of the next
few months, we shall judge that, had Ostein leant
against Austria, it had been better for Austria and
Ostein.
Of the Pragmatic Army, silence henceforth,
rather than speech! --
One thing we have to mark, his Britannic Majesty,
commander of such an Army, -- and of such a Purse,
which is still more stupendous, -- has risen, in the Ga-
zetteer estimate and his own, to a high pitch of im-
portance. To be Supreme Jove of Teutschland, in a
manner; and acts, for the present Summer, in that
sublime capacity. Two Diplomatic feats of his, -- one
a Treaty done and tumbled down again, the other a
Treaty done and let stand ("Treaty of Worms," and
"Conferences," or iVon-Treaty "of Hanau"), -- are of
moment in this History and that of the then World.
Of these two Transactions, due both of them to such
an Army and such a Purse, we shall have to take
some notice by and by; the rest shall belong to
Night and her leaden sceptre -- much good may they
do her!
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? CHAP. T. ] BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 297
8th July 1743.
Some ten days after Dettingen, Broglio (who was
crackling off from Donauworth, in view of the Lines of
Schellenberg, that very 27th of June) ended his retreat
to the Rhine Countries; "glorious," though rather swift,
and eaten into by the Tolpatcheries of Prince Karl.
"July 8th, at Wimpfen" (in the Neckar Region, some
way South of Dettingen), Broglio delivers his Troops
to Mar^chal de Noailles's care; and, next morning,
rushes off towards Strasburg, and quiet Official life, as
Governor there.
"The day after his arrival," says Friedrich, "he
"gave a grand ball in Strasburg:"* "Behold your
conquering hero safe again, my friends! " An ungrate-
ful Court judged otherwise of the hero. Took his
Strasburg Government from him, gave it to Mar^chal
de Coigny; ordered the hero to his Estates in the
Country, Normandy, if I remember; -- where he soon
died of apoplexy, poor man; and will trouble none of
us again. "A man born for surprises," said Friedrich
long since, in the Strasburg Doggerel. Lost his indis-
pensable garnitures, at the Ford of Secchia once; and
now, in these last twelve months, is considered to have
done a series of blustery explosions, derogatory to the
glory of France, and ruinous to that sublime Belleisle
Enterprise for one thing.
A ruined Enterprise that, at any rate; seldom was
Enterprise better ruined. Here, under Broglio, amid
the titterings of mankind, has the tail of the Oriflamme
gone the same bad road as its head did; -- into zero
and outer darkness; leaving the expenses to pay. Like
a mad tavern-brawl of one's own raising, the biggest
that ever was. Has cost already, I should guess, some
* CEuvret de Frediric, iii. 10.
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? 298 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [bOOKXIV.
26th July 174S.
80,000 French drilled Men, paid down, on the nail, to ,
the inexorable Fates: and of coined Millions, -- how
many? In subsidies, in equipments, in waste, in loss
and wreck: Dryasdust could not have told me, had he
tried. And then the breakages, damages still charge-
able; the probable after-clap? For you cannot quite
gratuitously tweak people by the nose, in your wanton
humour, over your wine! -- One willing man, or Most
Christian Majesty, can at any time begin a quarrel;
but there need always two or more to end it again.
Most Christian Majesty is not so sensible of this
fact as he afterwards became; but what with Broglio
and the extinct Oriflamme, what with Dettingen and
the incipient Pragmatic, he is heartily disgusted and
discouraged; and wishes he had not thought of cutting
Germany in Four. July 26th, Most Christian Majesty
applies to the German Diet; signifying "That he did
indeed undertake to help the Kaiser, according to
treaties; but was the farthest in the world from mean-
ing to invade Germany, on his own score. That he
had and has no quarrel, except with Austria as Kaiser's
enemy; and is ready to be friends even with Austria.
And now indeed intends to withdraw his troops wholly
from the German territory. And can therefore hope
that all unpleasantness will cease, between the German
Nation and him; and that perhaps the Kaiser will he
able to make peace with her Majesty of Hungary on
softer terms than at one time seemed likely. If only
the animosities of sovereign persons would assuage
themselves, and each of us would look without passion
at the issue really desirable for him! "*
* Espagnac, f. 200. Adelung, ill. b. 199 (26th July); lb. 201 (the An-
swer to it, 16th August).
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF DETTINGEN.
26th July 1743.
That is now, 26th July 1743, King Louis's story
for himself to the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire,
Teutsch by Nation, sitting at Frankfurt in rather dis-
consolate circumstances. The Diet naturally answered,
"Ja wold, Ja ivohl," in intricate official language, --
nobody need know what the Diet answered. But what
the Hungarian Majesty answered, strong and high in
such Britannic backing, -- this was of such unex-
pected tone, that it fixed everybody's attention; and
will very specially require to be noted by us, in the
course of a week or two.
We said, her Hungarian Majesty was getting
crowned in Bohemia, getting personally homaged in
Upper Austria, about to get vice-homaged in Bavaria
itself, -- nothing but glorious pomp, but loyalty loudly
vocal, in Prag, in Linz and the once afflicted Coun-
tries; -- at her return to Vienna, she has met the news
of Dettingen; and is ready to strike the stars with her
sublime head. "My little Paladin become Supreme
Jove, too: aha! "
Britannic Majesty holds Ms Conferences of Ilanau.
Britannic Majesty stayed two whole months in
Hanau, brushing himself up again after that fierce bout;
and considering, with much dubitation, What is the
next thing? "Go in upon Noailles" (who is still
hanging about here, with Broglio coming on in the
exploded state); "wreck Broglio and him! Go in upon
the French! " so urges Stair always: rash Stair, urgent
to the edge of importunity; English Officers and Martial
Boy urgently backing Stair; while the Hanoverian Of-
ficers and Martial Parent are steady to the other view.
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? 300 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
7th July--1st Aug. 1743.
So that, in respect of War, the next thing, for two
months coming, was absolutely nothing, and to the end
of the Campaign was nothing worth a moment's notice
from us. But on the Diplomatic side, there were two
somethings, Conferences at Hanau with poor Kaiser
Karl, and Treaty at Worms with the King of Sardinia;
which, as minus quantities or things less than nothing,
-- turned out to be highly considerable for his Britan-
nic Majesty and us.
Hanau, 7 th July-- 1st August, 1743. "Poor Kaiser Karl
'' had left Augsburg, June 26th, -- while his Broglio was ferry -
"iDg at Donauworth, and his Seckendorf treatying for Armi-
"stice at Nieder-Schonfeld,-- the very day before Dettingen
"What a piece of news to him, that Dettingen, on his return
"to Frankfurt!
"A few days after Dettingen, July 3d, Noailles, who is still
"within call, came across to see this poor stepson of Fortune;
"gives piteous account of him, if any one were now curious on
"that head: How he bitterly complains of Broglio, oftheno-
"subsidies sent, and is driven nearly desperate; -- not a penny
"in his pocket, beyond all. Upon which latter clause Noailles
"munificently advanced him a 6,0<XM. , 'Draught of 40,000
"crowns, in my own name; which doubtless the King, in his
"compassion, will see good to sanction. ' * His feelings on the
"loss of Dettingen may be pictured. But he had laid his ac-
"count with such things; -- prepared for the worst, since that
"Interview with Broglio and Conti; one plan now left, Peace,
"cost what it will! "
"The poor Kaiser had already, as we saw, got into hopes
"of bargaining with his Britannic Majesty; and now he in-
"stantly sets about it, whileHanau is victorious head-quarters.
"Britannic Majesty is not himself very forward; but Carteret,
"I rather judge, had taken up the notion; and on his Majesty's
"and Carteret's part, there is actually the wish and attempt to
"pacificate the Reich; to do something tolerable for the poor
* CampaQnes de Noailles (Amsterdam, 1760: this is a Sequel, or rather
vice versa, to that which we have called Des Trots Marechaux, being of tho
tame Collection), i. 316-328.
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? CHAP. V. J BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 301
7th July--1st Aug. 1743.
"Kaiser, as well as satisfactory to the Hungarian Majesty, --
"satisfactory, or capable of being (by the Purse-holder) in-
"sisted on as such.
"And so the Landgraf of Hessen, excellent Wilhelm, King
"George's friend and gossip, is come over to that little Town
"of Hanau, which is his own, in the Schloss of which King
"George is lodged: and there, between Carteret and our
"Landgraf,--the King of Prussia's Ambassador (Herr Kling-
"graf), and one or two selectly zealous Official persons, as-
"sisting or watching, -- we have 'Conferences of Hanau'
"going on; in a zealous fashion; all parties eager for Peace
"to Kaiser and Reich, and in good hope of bringing it about.
"The wish, ardent to a degree, had been the Kaiser's first of
"all. The scheme, I guess, was chiefly of Carteret's devi-
"sing; who, in his magnificent mind, regardless of expense,
"thinks it may be possible, and discerns well what a stroke it
"will be for the Cause of Liberty, and how glorious for a Bri-
"tannic Majesty's Adviser in such circumstances. July 7th,
"the Conferences began; and, so frank and loyal were the
"parties, in a week's time matters were advanced almost to
"completion, the fundamental outlines of a bargain settled,
"and almost ready for signing.
"'Give me my Bavaria again! ' the Kaiser had always
"said: 'I am Head of the Reich, and have nothing to live
"upon! ' On one preliminary, Carteret had always been in-
exorable: 'Have done with your French auxiliaries; send
"every soul of them home; the German soil once cleared of
"them, much will be possible; till then nothing. ' Kaiser:
"Well, give me back my Bavaria; my Bavaria, and some-
"thing suitable to live upon, as Head of the Reich: some
"decent Annual Pension, till Bavaria come into paying con-
dition, -- cannot you, who are so wealthy? And Bavaria
"might be made aKingdom, if you wished to do the handsome
"thing. 1 will renounce my Austrian Pretensions, quit utter-
"ly my French Alliances; consent to have her Hungarian
"Majesty's august Consort made King of the Romans' (which
"means Kaiser after me), 'and in fact be very safe to the
"House of Austria and the Cause of Liberty. ' To all this the
"thrice unfortunate gentleman, titular Emperor of the World,
"and unable now to pay his milk-scores, is eager to consent.
"To continue crossing the Abysses on bridges of French rain-
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? 302 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
7th July--1st Aug. 1743.
"bow? Nothing but French subsidies to subsist on; and
"these how paid, -- Noailles's private pocket knows how! ' I
"consent,' said the Kaiser; 'will forgive and forget, and by-
"gones shall be bygones all round! ' 'Fair on his Imperial
"Majesty's part,' admits Carteret; 'we will try to be persuasive
"at Vienna. Difficult, but we will try. ' In a week matters
"had come to this point; and the morrow, July 15th, was ap-
pointed for signing. Most important of Protocols, founda-
"tion-stone of Peace to Teutschland; King Friedrich and the
"impartial Powers approving, with Britannic George and
"drawn sword presiding.
"King Friedrich approves heartily; and hopes it will do.
"Landgraf Wilhelm is proud to have saved his Kaiser, --
"who so glad as the Landgraf and his Kaiser? Carteret, too,
"is very glad; exulting, as he well may, to have composed
"these world-deliriums, or concentrated them upon peccant
"France, he with his single head, and to have got a value out
"of that absurd Pragmatic Army, after all. A man of magni-
"ficent ideas; who hopes 'to bring Friedrich over to his
"mind;' to unite poor Teutschland against such Oriflamme
"Invasions and intolerable interferences, and to settle the ac-
"count of France for a long while. He is the only English
"Minister who speaks German, knows German situations,
"interests, ways; or has the least real understanding of this
"huge German Imbroglio in which England is voluntarily
"weltering. And truly, had Carteret been King of England,
"which he was not, -- nay, had King Friedrich ever got to
"understand, instead of misunderstand, what Carteret was, --
"here might have been a considerable affair!
"But it now, at the eleventh hour, came upon magnificent
"Carteret, now seemingly for the first time in its full force,
"That he Carteret was not the master; that there was a be-
"wildered Parliament at home, a poor peddling Duke of New-
"castle leader of the same, with his Lords of the Regency,
"who could fatally put a negative on all this, unless they were
"first gained over. On the morrow, July 15th, Carteret, in-
"stead of signing, as expected, has to -- propose a fortnight's
"delay till he consult in England! Absolutely would not and
"could not sign, till a Courier to England went and returned.
"To Landgraf Wilhelm's, to Klinggraf's and the Kaiser's
"very great surprise, disappointment and suspicion. But
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 303
7th July--1st Aug. 1743.
"Carteret was inflexible: 'will only take a fortnight,' said he;
"'and I can hope all will yet be well! '
"The Courier came back punctually in a fortnight. His
"Message was presented at Hanau, August 1st, -- and ran
"conclusively to the effect: 'No! We, Noodle of Newcastle,
"and my other Lords of Regency, do not consent; much less,
"will undertake to carry the thing through Parliament: By
"no manner of means! So that Carteret's lately towering
"Affair had to collapse ignominiously, in that manner; poor
"Carteret protesting his sorrow, his unalterable individual
"wishes and future endeavours, not to speak of his Britannic
"Majesty's, -- and politely pressing on the poor Kaiser a gift
"of 15,000/. (first weekly instalment of the 'Annual Pension'
"that had, in theory, been set apart for him); which the
"Kaiser, though indigent, declined. *
"The disgust of Landgraf Wilhelm was infinite; who,
"honest man, saw in all this merely an artifice of Carteret's,
"To undo the Kaiser with his French Allies, to quirk him out
"of his poor help from the French, and have him at their
"mercy. 'Shame on it! ' cried Landgraf Wilhelm aloud, and
"many others less aloud, Klinggraf and King Friedrich
"among them: 'What a Carteret! ' The Landgraf turned
"away with indignation from perfidious England; and began
"forming quite opposite connexions. 'You shall not even
"have my hired 6,000, you perfidious! Thing done with such
"dexterity of art too! ' thought the -Landgraf, -- and con-
tinued to think, till evidence turned up, after many months. **
"This was Friedrich's opinion too, -- permanently, I be-
"lieve; -- and that of nearly all the world, till the thing and
"the Doer of the thing were contemptuously forgotten. A
"piece of Macchiavellism on the part of Carteret and perfi-
"dious Albion, -- equal in refined cunning to that of the Ships
"with foul bottom, which vanished from Cadiz two years ago,
"and were admired with a shudder by Continental mankind
"who could see into millstones!
"This is the second stroke of Macchiavellian Art by those
* Adelung, iii. 6. 206, 209-212; see Coxe, Memoirs of Pelham (London,
1829), i. 75, 469.
** Carteret Papers (in British Museum), Additional Mss. No. 22,529
(Hay 1743--January 1745); in No. 22,527 (January--September 1742) are
other Landgraf-Wilhelm pieces of Correspondence.
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?
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? 290 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [bOOKXIV.
27th June 1743.
"Some six hours followed of thrice-intricate deploying,
"planting of field-pieces, counter-batteries; ranking, re-
"ranking, shuffling hither and then thither of horse and foot;
"Noailles's cannonade proceeding all the while; the English,
"still considerably exposed to it, and standing it like stones;
"chivalrous Grammont, and with better reason the English,
"much wishing these preliminaries were done. A difficult
"business, that of deploying here. The Pragmatic had no
"room, jammed so against the Spessart Hills, and obliged to
"lean from the River and Noailles's cannon; had to rank itself
"in six, some say in eight lines; horse behind foot, as well as
"on flank; unsatisfactory to the military mind: and I think
"had not done shuffling and re-shuffling at 2 p. m. , -- when the
"Enemy came bursting on, with a peremptory finish to it,
"'Enough of that, Messieurs les Anylais! ' 'Too much of it, a
"great deal! ' thought Messieurs grimly, in response. And
"there ensued a really furious clash of host against host;
"French chivalry (Maison-du-R/ri, Black, Mousquetaires, the
"Flower of their Horse regiments) dashing, in right Gallic
"frenzy, on their natural enemies, -- on the English, thatis;
"who, I find, were mainly on the left wing there, horse and
"foot; and had mainly (the Austrians and they, very mainly)
"the work to do; -- and did, with an effort, and luck helping,
"manage to doit.
"'Grammont breaks orders! Thrice-blamableGrammont! '
"exclaim Noailles and others, sorrowfully wringing their
"hands. Even so! Grammont had waited seven mortal hours;
"one's courage burning all the while, courage perhaps rather
'' burning down, -- and not the least use coming of it. Gram-
"monthad, in natural impatience, gradually edged forward;
"and, in the end, was being cannonaded and pricked into by
"the Enemy; -- and did at last, with his Maison-du-Roi, dash
"across that essential Hollow Way, and plunge in upon them
"on their own side of it. And 'the English foot gave their
"volley too soon;' and Grammont did, in effect, partly repulse
"and disorder the front ranks of them; and, blazing up un-
controllable, at sight of those first ranks in disorder, did press
"home upon them more and more; get wholly into the affair,
"bringing on his Infantry as well: 'Let us finish it wholly,
"now that our hand is in! ' -- and took one cannon from the
"Enemy; and did other feats.
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 291
27th June 1743.
"So furious was that first charge of his; 'Maison-du-Roi
"covering itself with glory,' -- for a short while. Maison-du-
"Roi broke three lines of the Enemy" (three, not 'five'); "did
"in some places actually break through. ; in others 'could not,
"but galloped along the front. ' Three of their lines: but the
"fourth line would not break; much the contrary, it advanced
"(Austrians and English) with steady fire, hotter and hotter:
"upon this fourth line Maison-du-Roi had, itself, to break,
"pretty much altogether, and rush home again, in ruinous
"condition. 'Our front lines made lanes for them; terribly
"maltreating them with musketry on right and left, as they
"galloped through. ' And this was the end of Gratnmont's
"successes, this charge of horse; for his infantry had no luck
"anywhere; and the essential crisis of the Battle had been
"here. It continued still a good while; plenty of cannonading,
"fusillading, but in sporadic detached form; a confused series
"of small shocks and knocks; which were mostly, or all, un-
"fortunate for Grammont; and which at length knocked him
"quite off the field. 'He was now interlaced with the English,'
"moans Noailles; 'so that my cannon, not to shoot Grammont
"as well as the English, had to cease firing! ' Well, yes; that
"is true, M. le Mare'chal; but that is not so important as you
"would have it. The English had stood nine hours in this fire
"of yours; by degrees, leaning well away from it; answering
"it with counter-batteries; and were not yet ruined by it,
"when the Grammont crisis came! Noailles should have
"dashed fresh troops across his Bridges, and tried to handle
"them well. Noailles did not do that; or do anything but
"wring his hands.
"The Fight lasted four hours; ever hotter on the English
"part, ever less hot on the French" (fire of anthracite-coal
versus flame of dry wood, which latter at last sinks ashy. ') --
"and ended in total defeat of the French. The French In-
"fantry by no means behaved as their Cavalry had done. The
"Gardes Franfaises" (fire burning ashy, after seven hours of
taming), "when Grammont ordered them up to take the Eng-
"lish in flank, would hardly come on at all, or stand one push.
"They threw away their arms, and plunged into the River,
"like a drove of swimmers; getting drowned in great numbers.
"So that their comrades nicknamed them ''Canards du Mein
"(Ducks of the Mayn):' and inEnglish messrooms, there went
19*
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? 292 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [bOOKXiV.
27th June 1743.
"afterwards a saying: 'The French had, in reality, Three
"Bridges; one of them not wooden, and carpeted with blue
"cloth! ' Such the wit of military mankind. "
* * "The English, it appears, did something by mere
"shouting. Partial huzzahs and counter-huzzahs between
"the Infantries were going on at one time, when Stair hap-
"pened to gallop up:'Stop that,' said Stair; 'let us do it right.
"Silence; then, One and all, when I give you signal! ' And
Stair, at the right moment, lifting his hat, there burst out such
"a thunder-growl, edged with melodious ire in alt, as quite
"seemed to strike a damp into the French, says my authority,
"and they never shouted more. ' * * 'Our ground in many parts
"was under rye,' hedgeless fields of rye, chief grain-crop of
"that sandy country. 'We had already wasted above 120,000
'' acres of it,' still in the unripe state, so hungry were we, man
"and horse, 'since crossing to Aschaffenburg;' -- fighting for
"your Cause of Liberty, ye benighted ones!
"King Friedrich's private accounts, deformed by ridicule,
"are, That the Britannic Majesty, his respectable old Uncle,
"finding the French there barring his way to breakfast, under-
"stood simply that there must and should be fighting, of the
"toughest; but had no plan or counsel farther: that ne did at
"first ride up, to see what was what with his own eyes; but
'' that his horse ran away with him, frightened at the cannon;
"upon which he hastily got down; drew sword; put himself at
"the head of his Hanoverian Infantry" (on the right wing),
"and stood, -- left foot drawn back, sword pushed out, in the
"form of a fencing-master doing lunge, -- steadily in that
"defensive attitude, inexpugnable like the rocks, till all was
"over, and victory gained. This is defaced by the spirit of
"ridicule, and not quite correct. Britannic Majesty's horse"
(one of those 500 fine animals) "did, it is certain, at last
"dangerously run away with him; upon which he took to his
"feet and his Hanoverians. But he had been repeatedly on
"horseback, in the earlier stages; galloping about, to look
"with his own eyes, could they have availed him; and was
"heard encouraging his people, and speaking even in the
"English language, 'Steady, my boys; fire, my brave hoys,
'" give them fire; they will soon run! ' * Latterly, there can be
* lEuvres de Frideric (iii. 14): compare Anonymous , Life of the D<<te
of Cumberland (p. Sin. ); Henderson's Life of ditto; &o.
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 293
27th June 1743.
"no doubt, he stands" (and to our imagination, he may fitly
stand throughout) "in the above attitude of lunge; no fear in
"him, and no plan;'sans peur el sans avis,' as we might term it.
"Like a real Hanoverian Sovereign of England; like England
"it8elf,and its ways in those German Wars. A typical epitome
"of long sections of English History, that attitude of lunge! --
"The English Officers also, it is evident, behaved in their
"usual way: -- without knowledge of war, without fear of
"death, or regard to utmost peril or difficulty ? , cheering their
"men, and keeping them steady upon the throats of the
"French, so far as might be. And always, after that first
"stumble with the French Horse was mended, they kept
"gaining ground, thrusting back the Enemy, not over the
"Dettingen Brook and Moorground only, but, knock after
"knock, out of his woody or other coverts, back and ever back,
"towards Welzheim, Kahl, and those Two Bridges of his. The
"flamyFrench" (ligneous fire burning lower and lower, versus
anthracitic glowing brighter and brighter) "found that they
"had a bad time of it; -- found, in fact, that they could not
"stand it; and tumbled finally, in great torrents, across their
"Bridges on the Mayn, many leaping into the River, the Eng-
"lish sitting dreadfully on the skirts of them. So that had the
"English had their Cavalry in readiness to pursue, Noailles's
"Army, in the humour it had sunk to, was ruined, and the
"Victory would have been conspicuously great. But they
"had, as too common, nothing ready. Impetuous Stair strove
"to get ready; 'pushed out the Grey Dragoons' for one item.
"But the Authorities refused Stair's counsel, as rash again;
"and made no effectual pursuit at all; -- too glad that they
"had brushed their Battle-field triumphantly clear, and got
"out of that fatal pinfold in an honourable manner.
"They stayed on the ground till 10 at night; settling, or
"trying to settle, many things. The Surgeons were busy as
"bees, Dut able for Officers only; -- 'Dress ATM first! ' said the
"glorious Duke of Cumberland, pointing to a young French-
"man" (Excellency Fe'nelon's Son, grand- nephew oiTelemaque)
"who was worse wounded than his Highness. Quite in the
"Philip-Sydney fashion; which was much taken notice of.
'"AH this while, we had next to nothing to eat' (says one in-
formant). -- " Ten p. m. : after which, leaving a politeLettev to
"Noailles, 'That he would take care of our Wounded, and
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? 294
[book XIV.
EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING.
27th Julie 1743.
"bury our Slain as well as his own,' we march" (through a
pour of rain) "to Hanau, where our victuals are, and 12,000
"new Hessians and Hanoverians by this time.
"Noailles politely bandaged the Wounded, buried the
"Dead. Noailles, gathering his scattered batallions, found
"that he hadlost 2,659 men; no ruinous loss to him, -- the
"Enemy's being at least equal, and all his Wounded fallen
"Prisoners of War. No ruinous loss to Noailles, had it not
"been the loss of Victory, -- which was a sore blow to French
"feeling; and, adding itself to those Broglio disgraces, anew
"discouragement to Most Christian Majesty. Victory indis-
putably Jost: -- but is it not Grammont's blame altogether?
a a. March of the Allied Army.
/*. Position of the Allied Army be-
fore the Battle.
c. Two Bridges at Seligenstadt.
ttddd. French Batteries.
e. French Forces under Grammont,
fff. Disposition of Noailles's Army.
g. Gardes Francaises attacking in
flank.
h. Are driven into the River.
iii. Retreat of the French.
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 295
27th Jane 1743.
"Grammont bears it, as we saw; and it is heavily laid on him.
"But my own conjecture is, forty thousand enraged people, of
"English and other Platt-Teutsch type, would have been very
"difficult to pin up, into captivity or death instead of break-
"fast, in that manner: and it is possible if poor Grammont had
"not mistaken, some other would have done so, and the
"hungry Baresarks (their blood fairly up, as is evident) would
"have ended in getting through. " *
This was all the Fighting that King George got of
his Pragmatic Army: the gain from conquest made by
it was, That it victoriously struggled back to its
bread-cupboard. Stair, about two months hence, in the
mere loitering and higgling that there was, quitted the
Pragmatic; magnanimously silent on his many wrongs
and disgusts, desirous only of "returning to the
plough," as he expressed himself. The lofty man;
wanted several requisites for being a Marlborough;
wanted a Sarah Jennings, as the preliminary of all! --
We will not attend the lazy movements and procedures
of the Pragmatic Army farther; which were of al-
together futile character, even in the temporary Ga-
zetteer estimate; and are to be valued at zero, and left
charitably in oblivion by a pious posterity. Stair, the
one brigntish-looking man in it, being gone, there re-
main Majesty with his D'Ahrembergs, Neippergs, and
* Espagnac, i. 193; Guerre de HohSme ,i. 231. -- Gentleman's Magazine,
vol. (xiii. (Tor 1743), pp. 328-481; -- containing Carteret's Despatch from
the field; followed by many other Letters and indistinct Narrations from
Officers present (p. 434, "Plan of the Battle," blotchy, indecipherable
in parts , bat essentially rather true), -- is worth examining. See likewise
Anonymous, Memoirs of the late Duke of Cumberland (Lond. 1767; the Au-
thor an ignorant, much-adoring military man, who has made some study,
and is not so stupid as he looks), pp. 56-78; and Henderson (ignorant he
too, much-adoring, and not military), Life of the Duke of Cumberland (Lond.
1766), pp. 32-48. Noailles's Official Account (ingeniously at a loss what to
? ay), in Campagnes, ii. b. 242-253, 306-310. CEuvres de Frederic, iii. 11-14
(incorrect in many of the details).
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? 296 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [bOOK XIV.
July--Aug. 1743.
the Martial Boy; Generals Cope, Hawley, Wade, and
many of leaden character, remain: -- let the leaden be
wrapped in lead.
It was not a successful Army, this Pragmatic. Det-
tingen itself, in spite of the rumouring of Gazetteers
and temporary persons, had no result, -- except the
extremely bad one, That it inflated to alarming height
the pride and belligerent humour of his Britannic,
especially of her Hungarian Majesty; and made Peace
more difficult than ever. That of getting Ostein, with
his Austrian leanings, chosen Kur-Mainz, -- that too
turned out ill: and perhaps, in the course of the next
few months, we shall judge that, had Ostein leant
against Austria, it had been better for Austria and
Ostein.
Of the Pragmatic Army, silence henceforth,
rather than speech! --
One thing we have to mark, his Britannic Majesty,
commander of such an Army, -- and of such a Purse,
which is still more stupendous, -- has risen, in the Ga-
zetteer estimate and his own, to a high pitch of im-
portance. To be Supreme Jove of Teutschland, in a
manner; and acts, for the present Summer, in that
sublime capacity. Two Diplomatic feats of his, -- one
a Treaty done and tumbled down again, the other a
Treaty done and let stand ("Treaty of Worms," and
"Conferences," or iVon-Treaty "of Hanau"), -- are of
moment in this History and that of the then World.
Of these two Transactions, due both of them to such
an Army and such a Purse, we shall have to take
some notice by and by; the rest shall belong to
Night and her leaden sceptre -- much good may they
do her!
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? CHAP. T. ] BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 297
8th July 1743.
Some ten days after Dettingen, Broglio (who was
crackling off from Donauworth, in view of the Lines of
Schellenberg, that very 27th of June) ended his retreat
to the Rhine Countries; "glorious," though rather swift,
and eaten into by the Tolpatcheries of Prince Karl.
"July 8th, at Wimpfen" (in the Neckar Region, some
way South of Dettingen), Broglio delivers his Troops
to Mar^chal de Noailles's care; and, next morning,
rushes off towards Strasburg, and quiet Official life, as
Governor there.
"The day after his arrival," says Friedrich, "he
"gave a grand ball in Strasburg:"* "Behold your
conquering hero safe again, my friends! " An ungrate-
ful Court judged otherwise of the hero. Took his
Strasburg Government from him, gave it to Mar^chal
de Coigny; ordered the hero to his Estates in the
Country, Normandy, if I remember; -- where he soon
died of apoplexy, poor man; and will trouble none of
us again. "A man born for surprises," said Friedrich
long since, in the Strasburg Doggerel. Lost his indis-
pensable garnitures, at the Ford of Secchia once; and
now, in these last twelve months, is considered to have
done a series of blustery explosions, derogatory to the
glory of France, and ruinous to that sublime Belleisle
Enterprise for one thing.
A ruined Enterprise that, at any rate; seldom was
Enterprise better ruined. Here, under Broglio, amid
the titterings of mankind, has the tail of the Oriflamme
gone the same bad road as its head did; -- into zero
and outer darkness; leaving the expenses to pay. Like
a mad tavern-brawl of one's own raising, the biggest
that ever was. Has cost already, I should guess, some
* CEuvret de Frediric, iii. 10.
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? 298 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [bOOKXIV.
26th July 174S.
80,000 French drilled Men, paid down, on the nail, to ,
the inexorable Fates: and of coined Millions, -- how
many? In subsidies, in equipments, in waste, in loss
and wreck: Dryasdust could not have told me, had he
tried. And then the breakages, damages still charge-
able; the probable after-clap? For you cannot quite
gratuitously tweak people by the nose, in your wanton
humour, over your wine! -- One willing man, or Most
Christian Majesty, can at any time begin a quarrel;
but there need always two or more to end it again.
Most Christian Majesty is not so sensible of this
fact as he afterwards became; but what with Broglio
and the extinct Oriflamme, what with Dettingen and
the incipient Pragmatic, he is heartily disgusted and
discouraged; and wishes he had not thought of cutting
Germany in Four. July 26th, Most Christian Majesty
applies to the German Diet; signifying "That he did
indeed undertake to help the Kaiser, according to
treaties; but was the farthest in the world from mean-
ing to invade Germany, on his own score. That he
had and has no quarrel, except with Austria as Kaiser's
enemy; and is ready to be friends even with Austria.
And now indeed intends to withdraw his troops wholly
from the German territory. And can therefore hope
that all unpleasantness will cease, between the German
Nation and him; and that perhaps the Kaiser will he
able to make peace with her Majesty of Hungary on
softer terms than at one time seemed likely. If only
the animosities of sovereign persons would assuage
themselves, and each of us would look without passion
at the issue really desirable for him! "*
* Espagnac, f. 200. Adelung, ill. b. 199 (26th July); lb. 201 (the An-
swer to it, 16th August).
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF DETTINGEN.
26th July 1743.
That is now, 26th July 1743, King Louis's story
for himself to the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire,
Teutsch by Nation, sitting at Frankfurt in rather dis-
consolate circumstances. The Diet naturally answered,
"Ja wold, Ja ivohl," in intricate official language, --
nobody need know what the Diet answered. But what
the Hungarian Majesty answered, strong and high in
such Britannic backing, -- this was of such unex-
pected tone, that it fixed everybody's attention; and
will very specially require to be noted by us, in the
course of a week or two.
We said, her Hungarian Majesty was getting
crowned in Bohemia, getting personally homaged in
Upper Austria, about to get vice-homaged in Bavaria
itself, -- nothing but glorious pomp, but loyalty loudly
vocal, in Prag, in Linz and the once afflicted Coun-
tries; -- at her return to Vienna, she has met the news
of Dettingen; and is ready to strike the stars with her
sublime head. "My little Paladin become Supreme
Jove, too: aha! "
Britannic Majesty holds Ms Conferences of Ilanau.
Britannic Majesty stayed two whole months in
Hanau, brushing himself up again after that fierce bout;
and considering, with much dubitation, What is the
next thing? "Go in upon Noailles" (who is still
hanging about here, with Broglio coming on in the
exploded state); "wreck Broglio and him! Go in upon
the French! " so urges Stair always: rash Stair, urgent
to the edge of importunity; English Officers and Martial
Boy urgently backing Stair; while the Hanoverian Of-
ficers and Martial Parent are steady to the other view.
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? 300 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
7th July--1st Aug. 1743.
So that, in respect of War, the next thing, for two
months coming, was absolutely nothing, and to the end
of the Campaign was nothing worth a moment's notice
from us. But on the Diplomatic side, there were two
somethings, Conferences at Hanau with poor Kaiser
Karl, and Treaty at Worms with the King of Sardinia;
which, as minus quantities or things less than nothing,
-- turned out to be highly considerable for his Britan-
nic Majesty and us.
Hanau, 7 th July-- 1st August, 1743. "Poor Kaiser Karl
'' had left Augsburg, June 26th, -- while his Broglio was ferry -
"iDg at Donauworth, and his Seckendorf treatying for Armi-
"stice at Nieder-Schonfeld,-- the very day before Dettingen
"What a piece of news to him, that Dettingen, on his return
"to Frankfurt!
"A few days after Dettingen, July 3d, Noailles, who is still
"within call, came across to see this poor stepson of Fortune;
"gives piteous account of him, if any one were now curious on
"that head: How he bitterly complains of Broglio, oftheno-
"subsidies sent, and is driven nearly desperate; -- not a penny
"in his pocket, beyond all. Upon which latter clause Noailles
"munificently advanced him a 6,0<XM. , 'Draught of 40,000
"crowns, in my own name; which doubtless the King, in his
"compassion, will see good to sanction. ' * His feelings on the
"loss of Dettingen may be pictured. But he had laid his ac-
"count with such things; -- prepared for the worst, since that
"Interview with Broglio and Conti; one plan now left, Peace,
"cost what it will! "
"The poor Kaiser had already, as we saw, got into hopes
"of bargaining with his Britannic Majesty; and now he in-
"stantly sets about it, whileHanau is victorious head-quarters.
"Britannic Majesty is not himself very forward; but Carteret,
"I rather judge, had taken up the notion; and on his Majesty's
"and Carteret's part, there is actually the wish and attempt to
"pacificate the Reich; to do something tolerable for the poor
* CampaQnes de Noailles (Amsterdam, 1760: this is a Sequel, or rather
vice versa, to that which we have called Des Trots Marechaux, being of tho
tame Collection), i. 316-328.
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? CHAP. V. J BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 301
7th July--1st Aug. 1743.
"Kaiser, as well as satisfactory to the Hungarian Majesty, --
"satisfactory, or capable of being (by the Purse-holder) in-
"sisted on as such.
"And so the Landgraf of Hessen, excellent Wilhelm, King
"George's friend and gossip, is come over to that little Town
"of Hanau, which is his own, in the Schloss of which King
"George is lodged: and there, between Carteret and our
"Landgraf,--the King of Prussia's Ambassador (Herr Kling-
"graf), and one or two selectly zealous Official persons, as-
"sisting or watching, -- we have 'Conferences of Hanau'
"going on; in a zealous fashion; all parties eager for Peace
"to Kaiser and Reich, and in good hope of bringing it about.
"The wish, ardent to a degree, had been the Kaiser's first of
"all. The scheme, I guess, was chiefly of Carteret's devi-
"sing; who, in his magnificent mind, regardless of expense,
"thinks it may be possible, and discerns well what a stroke it
"will be for the Cause of Liberty, and how glorious for a Bri-
"tannic Majesty's Adviser in such circumstances. July 7th,
"the Conferences began; and, so frank and loyal were the
"parties, in a week's time matters were advanced almost to
"completion, the fundamental outlines of a bargain settled,
"and almost ready for signing.
"'Give me my Bavaria again! ' the Kaiser had always
"said: 'I am Head of the Reich, and have nothing to live
"upon! ' On one preliminary, Carteret had always been in-
exorable: 'Have done with your French auxiliaries; send
"every soul of them home; the German soil once cleared of
"them, much will be possible; till then nothing. ' Kaiser:
"Well, give me back my Bavaria; my Bavaria, and some-
"thing suitable to live upon, as Head of the Reich: some
"decent Annual Pension, till Bavaria come into paying con-
dition, -- cannot you, who are so wealthy? And Bavaria
"might be made aKingdom, if you wished to do the handsome
"thing. 1 will renounce my Austrian Pretensions, quit utter-
"ly my French Alliances; consent to have her Hungarian
"Majesty's august Consort made King of the Romans' (which
"means Kaiser after me), 'and in fact be very safe to the
"House of Austria and the Cause of Liberty. ' To all this the
"thrice unfortunate gentleman, titular Emperor of the World,
"and unable now to pay his milk-scores, is eager to consent.
"To continue crossing the Abysses on bridges of French rain-
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? 302 EUROPEAN WAR NOT ENDING. [book XIV.
7th July--1st Aug. 1743.
"bow? Nothing but French subsidies to subsist on; and
"these how paid, -- Noailles's private pocket knows how! ' I
"consent,' said the Kaiser; 'will forgive and forget, and by-
"gones shall be bygones all round! ' 'Fair on his Imperial
"Majesty's part,' admits Carteret; 'we will try to be persuasive
"at Vienna. Difficult, but we will try. ' In a week matters
"had come to this point; and the morrow, July 15th, was ap-
pointed for signing. Most important of Protocols, founda-
"tion-stone of Peace to Teutschland; King Friedrich and the
"impartial Powers approving, with Britannic George and
"drawn sword presiding.
"King Friedrich approves heartily; and hopes it will do.
"Landgraf Wilhelm is proud to have saved his Kaiser, --
"who so glad as the Landgraf and his Kaiser? Carteret, too,
"is very glad; exulting, as he well may, to have composed
"these world-deliriums, or concentrated them upon peccant
"France, he with his single head, and to have got a value out
"of that absurd Pragmatic Army, after all. A man of magni-
"ficent ideas; who hopes 'to bring Friedrich over to his
"mind;' to unite poor Teutschland against such Oriflamme
"Invasions and intolerable interferences, and to settle the ac-
"count of France for a long while. He is the only English
"Minister who speaks German, knows German situations,
"interests, ways; or has the least real understanding of this
"huge German Imbroglio in which England is voluntarily
"weltering. And truly, had Carteret been King of England,
"which he was not, -- nay, had King Friedrich ever got to
"understand, instead of misunderstand, what Carteret was, --
"here might have been a considerable affair!
"But it now, at the eleventh hour, came upon magnificent
"Carteret, now seemingly for the first time in its full force,
"That he Carteret was not the master; that there was a be-
"wildered Parliament at home, a poor peddling Duke of New-
"castle leader of the same, with his Lords of the Regency,
"who could fatally put a negative on all this, unless they were
"first gained over. On the morrow, July 15th, Carteret, in-
"stead of signing, as expected, has to -- propose a fortnight's
"delay till he consult in England! Absolutely would not and
"could not sign, till a Courier to England went and returned.
"To Landgraf Wilhelm's, to Klinggraf's and the Kaiser's
"very great surprise, disappointment and suspicion. But
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? CHAP. v. ] BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 303
7th July--1st Aug. 1743.
"Carteret was inflexible: 'will only take a fortnight,' said he;
"'and I can hope all will yet be well! '
"The Courier came back punctually in a fortnight. His
"Message was presented at Hanau, August 1st, -- and ran
"conclusively to the effect: 'No! We, Noodle of Newcastle,
"and my other Lords of Regency, do not consent; much less,
"will undertake to carry the thing through Parliament: By
"no manner of means! So that Carteret's lately towering
"Affair had to collapse ignominiously, in that manner; poor
"Carteret protesting his sorrow, his unalterable individual
"wishes and future endeavours, not to speak of his Britannic
"Majesty's, -- and politely pressing on the poor Kaiser a gift
"of 15,000/. (first weekly instalment of the 'Annual Pension'
"that had, in theory, been set apart for him); which the
"Kaiser, though indigent, declined. *
"The disgust of Landgraf Wilhelm was infinite; who,
"honest man, saw in all this merely an artifice of Carteret's,
"To undo the Kaiser with his French Allies, to quirk him out
"of his poor help from the French, and have him at their
"mercy. 'Shame on it! ' cried Landgraf Wilhelm aloud, and
"many others less aloud, Klinggraf and King Friedrich
"among them: 'What a Carteret! ' The Landgraf turned
"away with indignation from perfidious England; and began
"forming quite opposite connexions. 'You shall not even
"have my hired 6,000, you perfidious! Thing done with such
"dexterity of art too! ' thought the -Landgraf, -- and con-
tinued to think, till evidence turned up, after many months. **
"This was Friedrich's opinion too, -- permanently, I be-
"lieve; -- and that of nearly all the world, till the thing and
"the Doer of the thing were contemptuously forgotten. A
"piece of Macchiavellism on the part of Carteret and perfi-
"dious Albion, -- equal in refined cunning to that of the Ships
"with foul bottom, which vanished from Cadiz two years ago,
"and were admired with a shudder by Continental mankind
"who could see into millstones!
"This is the second stroke of Macchiavellian Art by those
* Adelung, iii. 6. 206, 209-212; see Coxe, Memoirs of Pelham (London,
1829), i. 75, 469.
** Carteret Papers (in British Museum), Additional Mss. No. 22,529
(Hay 1743--January 1745); in No. 22,527 (January--September 1742) are
other Landgraf-Wilhelm pieces of Correspondence.
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