No More Learning

Jan. --April 1759.
"Friedrich a sinking ship; and to leap from the deck of him,/
'-- with a spurn which he took for insolent! The Anhalt-
"Dessauers particularly, who were once of his very Army,
"half Prussians for generations back, he reckoned to have
"used him scandalously ill.
"This Year the requisition on the Four Anhalts, -- which
'th'ey submit to patiently, as people who have leapt into the
"wrong ship, -- is, in precise tale: of money, 330,000 tbalers
'(about 50,000i. ); recruits, 2,200; horses, 1,800. In Saxony,
"besides the fixed Taxes, strict confiscation of Meissen
"Potteries and every Royalty, there were exacted heavy
"' Contributions,' more and more heavy, from the few opulent
"Towns, chiefly fromLeipzig; which were wrung out, latterly,
"under great severities, -- 'chief merchants of Leipzig all
"clapt in prison, kept on bread and water till they yielded,'
"-- as great severities as would suffice, but not greater; which
"also was noted. Unfortunate chief merchants of Leipzig, --
"with Briihl and Polish Majesty little likely to indemnify
"them! Unfortunate Country altogether. An intelligent
"Saxon, who is vouched for as impartial, bears witness as
"follows: 'And this I know, that the oppressions and plunder-
"'ings of the Austrians and Reichsfolk, in Saxony, turned all
"'hearts away from them; and it was publicly said, We had
"'rather bear the steady burden of the Prussians than such
'"help as these our pretended Deliverers bring. '* Whereby,
"on the whole, the poor Country got its back broken, and
"could never look up in the world since. Resource First was
"abundantly severe.
"Resource Second is strangest of all; -- and has given rise
"to criticism enough! It is no other than that of issuing baise
'money; mixing your gold and silver coin with copper, --this,
"one grieves to say, is the Second and extreme resource. 'A
"rude method,. -- would we had a better, -- of suspending
"Cash-payments,and paying by bank-notes instead! ' thinks
"Friedrich, I suppose. From his Prussian Mints, from his
"Saxon" (which are his for the present), "andfrom the little
"Anhalt-Bernburg Mint" (of which he expressly purchased
the sad privilege, --for we are not a Coiner, we are a King
reduced to suspend Cash-payments, for the time being),
"Friedrich poured out over all Germany, in all manner of
* Stenzel (citing from Kriegskanzlei, which I have not), v. 137n.
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? CHAP. I. ] PRELIMINARIES TO A FOURTH CAMPAIGN. 93
Jau. --April 1759.
"kinds, huge quantities of bad Coin. This, so long as it would
"last, is more and more a copious fountain of supply. This,
"for the first time, has had to appear as an item in War-
"Budget 1759: and it fails in no following, but expands more
"and more. It was done through Ephraim, the not lovely "Berlin Jew, whom we used to hear of in Voltaire's time; --
"through Ephraim and two others, Ephraim as President: in
"return for a net Sum, these shall have privilege to coin such
"and such amounts, so and so alloyed; shall pay to General
"Tauentzien, Army Treasurer, at fixed terms, the Sums spe-
cified: 'Go, and do it; our Mint-Officers sharply watching
"'you; Mint-Officers, and General Tauentzien' (with a young
"HerrLessing, as his Chief Clerk, of whom the King knows
"nothing): 'Go, ye unlovely! ' And Ephraim and Company
"are making a great deal of money by the unlovely job.
"Ephraim is the pair of tongs; the hand, and the unlovely job,
"are a royal mans. Alas, yes. And none of us knows better
"than King Friedrich, perhaps few of us as well, how little
"lovely a job it was; how shockingly unkingly it was,--
"though a practice not unknown to German Kings and King-
"lets before his time, and since down almost to ours. * In fact,
"these are all unkingly practices; and the English Subsidy
"itself is distasteful to a proud Friedrich: but what, in those
"circumstances, can any Friedrich do?
"The first coinages of Ephraim had, it seems, in them
"about 3-7ths of copper; something less than the half, and
"more than the third," -- your gold sovereign grown to be
"worth 28s. 6d. "But yearly it grew worse; and in 1762"
(English Subsidy having failed) "matters had got inverted;
"and there was three times as much copper as silver. Com-
"merce, as was natural, went rocking and tossing, as on a sea
"under earthquakes; but there was always ready money
"among Friedrich's soldiers, as among no other: nor did the
"common people, or retail purchasers, suffer byit. 'Hah, an
"'Ephraimite! ' they would say, grinning not ill-humouredly,
"at sight of one of these pieces; some of which they had more
"specifically named 'Blue-gowns'" (owing to a tint of blue
perceivable, in spite of the industrious plating in real silver,
* In Strnzel (v. 141), enumeration of eight or nine unhappy Potentates,
who were busy with it in those same years.
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? 94 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX.
Jan. --April 1759.
or at least "boiling in some solution" of it); "these they would
"salute with this rhyme, then current:
"Von aussen schon, won innen sclilimm; Outside noble, inside slim:
"Von aus*en Friedrich, von innen Eph~ OutsideFriedrich, inside Ephraim.
* "raim.
"By this time, whatever of money, from any source, can
"be scraped together in Friedrich's world, flows wholly into
"the Army-Chest, as the real citadel of life. In these latter
"years of the War, beginning, I could guess, from 1759, all
"Civil expenditures, and wages of Officials, cease to be paid
"in money; nobody of that kind sees the colour even of bad
"coin; but is paid only in 'Paper Assignments,'in Promises
"to Pay 'after the Peace. ' These Paper Documents made no
"pretence to the rank of Currency: such holders of them as
"had money, or friends, and could wait, got punctual pay-
"ment when the term did arrive; but those that could not,
"suffered greatly; having to negotiate their debentures on
"ruinous terms, -- sometimes at an expense of three-fourths.
"--I will add Friedrich's practical Schedule of Amounts
"from all these various Sources; and what Friedrich's own
"view of the Sources was, when he could survey them from
"the safe distance.
"Schedule of Amounts" (say for 1761). "To make up the
"Twenty-five Million thalers, necessary for the Army, there
"are:
"From our Prussian Countries, ruined, harried as Thalers.
"they have been 4 millions only.
"From Saxony and the other Wringings, . . 7 millions.
"English Subsidy (4 of good gold; becoppered
"into double), 8 ,,
"From Ephraim and his Farm of the Mint (Mftiiz-
? ? Patent) 7
"In sum Twenty-six Millions; leaving you one Million of mar-
"gin, --and always a plenty of cash in hand for incidental
"sundries. *
"Friedrich's own view of these sad matters, as he closes
"his History of the Seven-Years War" (at "Berlin, 17thDecem-
"ber 1763 ), "is in these words: 'May Heaven grant, -- if
"'Heaven deign to look down on the paltry concerns of men,
"'that the unalterable and flourishing destiny of this Country
* Preuss, ii. 388.
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? CHiP. I. ] PRELIMINARIES TO A FOURTH CAMPAIGN. 95
Jm. -April 1759.
'"preserve the Sovereigns who shall govern it, from the
"' scourges and calamities which Prussia has suffered in these
"'times of trouble and subversion; that they may never again
"'be forced to recur to the violent and fatal remedies which
'"we (Tun) have been obliged to employ in maintenance of
'"the State against the ambitious hatred of the Sovereigns of
"'Europe, who wished to annihilate the House of Branden-
'"burg, and exterminate from the world whatever bore the
"'Prussian name! '"*
Of the Small-War in Spring 1759. There are Five
Disruptions of that grand Cordon (February--April);
and Ferdinand of Brunswick fights his Battle of
Bergen (April 13th).
Friedrich, being denied an aggressive course this
Year, by no means sits idly expectant and defensive
in the interim; but, all the more vigorously, as is ob-
servable, from February onwards, strikes out from him
on every side: endeavouring to spoil the Enemy's Ma-
gazines, and cripple his operations in that way. So
that there was, all winter through, a good deal of
Small-War (some of it not Small), of more importance
than usual, -- chiefly of Friedrich's originating, with
the above view, or of Ferdinand his Ally's, on a still
more pressing score. And, on the whole, that immense
Austrian-French Cordon, which goes from the Carpathi-
ans to the Ocean, had by no means a quiet time; but
was broken into, and violently hurled back, in different
parts: some four, or even five, -- attacks upon it in
all; three of them by Prince Henri, -- in two of which
Duke Ferdinand's people cooperated; the business being
for mutual behoof. These latter Three were famous in
the world, that Winter; and indeed are still recognis- * (Euvres de Frederic, v. 234.
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? 96 FRlEDRlCH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book SIX.
2J Jan. 1759.
able as brilliant procedures of their kind; though, ex-
cept dates and results, we can afford almost nothing of
them here. These Three, intended chiefly against
Reichs people and their Posts and Magazines, fell out
on the western and middle part of the Cordon. Another
attack was in the extreme eastward, and was for Fried-
rich's own behoof; under Fouquet's management; --
intended against the Austrian-Moravian Magazines and
Preparations, but had little success. Still another as-
sault or invasive outroad, northward against the Russian
Magazines, there also was; of which by and by. Be-
sides all which, and more memorable than all, Duke
Ferdinand, for vital reasons of his own, fought a Battle
this Spring, considerable Battle, and did not gain it;
which made great noise in the world.
It is not necessary the reader should load his me-
mory with details of all these preliminary things; on
the contrary, it is necessary that he keep his memory
clear for the far more important things that lie ahead
of these, and entertain these in a summary way, as a
kind of foreground to what is coming. Perhaps the
following Fractions of Note, which put matters in some-
thing of Chronological or Synoptical form, will suffice
him, or more than suffice. He is to understand that
the grand tug of War, this Year, gradually turns out
not to be hereabouts, nor with Daun and his adjacen-
cies at all, but with the Russians, who arrive from the
opposite Northern quarter; and that all else will prove
to be merely prefatory and nugatory in comparison.
January 2d, 1759: Frank furt-on-Maipi, though it is aReich-
stadt, finds itself suddenly become French. "Prince de Soubise
"lies between Mayn and Lahn, with his 25,000; beautifully
"safe and convenient, -- though ill off for a place-of-arms in
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? CHAP. I. ] PRELIMINARIES TO A FOURTH CAMPAIGN. 97
itl Jan. 1759.
"those parts. Opulent Frankfurt, on his right; how handy
"would that be, were not Reichs Law so express! Marburg,
"Giessen are outposts of his; on which side one of Ferdinand s
"people, Prince von Ysenburg, watches him with an 8 or
"10,000, capable of mischief in that quarter.
"On the Eve of Newyear's day, or on the auspicious Day
"itself, Soubise requests, of the Frankfurt Authorities, per-
"mission for a regiment of his to march through that Imperial
"City. To which, by law and theory, the Imperial City can
"say Yes or No; but practically cannot, without grave incon-
"venience, say other than Yes, though most Frankfurters
"wish it could. 'Yes,' answer the Frankfurt Magnates; Yes,
"surely, under the known conditions. Tuesday, January 2d,
"about 5 in the morning, while all is still dark in Frankfurt,
"regiment Nassau appears, accordingly, at the Sachsen-
"hausen Gate, Townguard people all ready to receive it and
"escort it through; and is admitted as usual. Quite as usual:
"but instead of being escorted through, it orders, in calm
"peremptory voice, the Townguard, To ground arms; with
"calm rapidity, proceeds to admit ten other regiments or
"battalions, six of them German; seizes the artillery on the
"Walls, seizes all the other Gates: -- and poor Frankfurt
"finds itself tied hand and foot, almost before it is out of bed!
"Done with great exactitude, with the minimum of confusion,
"and without a hurt skin to anybody. The Inhabitants stood
"silent, gazing; the Townguard laid down their arms, and
"went home. Totally against law; but cleverly done; perhaps
"Soubise's chief exploit in the world; certainly the one real
"success the French have yet had.
"Soubise made haste to summon the Magistrates:'Law of
'"Necessity alone, most honoured Sirs! Reichs Law is clear
"'against me. But all the more shall private liberties, re-
"'ligions, properties, in this Imperial Free-Town, be sacred
"'to us. Defence against any aggression; and the strictest of
"'discipline observed. Depend on me, I bid you! ' -- And
"kept his word to an honourable degree, they say; orinab-
"sence, made it be kept, during the Four Years that follow.
"Most Frankfurters are, at heart, Anti-French: but Soubise's
"affability was perfect; and he gave evening parties of a
"sublime character; the Magistrates all appearing there,
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. XI. 1
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? 98 FRIEDBICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX.
16th Feb. -- 2d March 1759.
"in their square perukes and long gowns, with a mournful
"joy. "*
Soubise soon went home, to assist in important businesses,
-- Invasion of England, no less; let England look to itself this
Summer! -- and Broglio succeeded him, as Army-Captain in
the Frankfurt parts; with laurels accruing, more or less.
Soubise, like Broglio, began withRossbach; Soubise ends with
Frankfurt, for the present; where Broglio also gains his chief
laurels, as will shortly be seen. Frankfurt is a great gain to
France, though an illicit one. It puts a bar on Duke Ferdinand
in that quarter; secures a starting-point for attacks onHessen,
Hanover; for cooperation withContades and the Lower Rhine.
It is the one success France has yet had in this War, or pretty
much that it ever had in it. Due to Prince de Soubise, in that
illegal fashion. -- A highly remarkable little Boy, now in his
tenth year, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, has his wondering eyes
on these things: and, short while hence, meets daily, on the
stairs and lobbies at home, a pleasant French Official Gentle-
man who is quartered there; between whom and Papa occur
rubs, -- as readers may remember, and shall hear in April
coming.
Grand Cordon disrupted: Erfurt Country, l&th February--
2d March. "About six weeks after this Frankfurt achievement,
"certain Reichsfolk and Austrian Auxiliaries are observed to
"be cutting down endless timber, '18,800 palisades, 6,000
"' trees of 60feet,' and other huge furnishings, from the poor
"Duke of Gotha's woods; evidently meaning to fortify thein-
"selves in Erfurt. Upon which Prince Henri detaches a Gen-
"eral Knobloch thitherward, Duke Ferdinand contributing
"4,000 to meet him there; which combined expedition, after
"some sharp knocking and shoving, entirely disrooted the
"Austrians and Reichsfolk, and sent them packing. Had them
"quite torn out by the end of the month; and had planned 'to
"' attack them on two sides at once' (March 2d), with a view
"of swallowing them whole, -- when they (these Reichs
"Volscians, in such a state of flutter) privately hastened off,
"one and all of them, the day before. "**
This was Breakage First of the Grand Cordon; an explosive
hurling of it back out of those Erfurt parts. Done by Prince
>> Tempelhof, m. 7-8; Stenzel, v. 198-200.
** Narrative, in Hetden-Geschichte, v. 1022 et seq.
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? CHAP, i. l PRELIMINARIES TO A FOURTH CAMPAIGN. 99
4th-31tt March 1759.
Henri's people, in concert with Duke Ferdinand's, -- who were
mutually interested in the thing.
Breakage Second: Erfurt-Fulda Country, 31st March -- 8th
April. "About the end of March, these intrusive Austrian
"Reichsfolk made some attempt to come back into those
"Countries; but again got nothing but hard knocks; and gave
"up the Erfurt project. For, close following on this First,
"there "was a Second still deeper and rougher Breakage, in
"those same regions; the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick
"dashing through, on a special Errand of Ferdinand's own"
(of which presently), "with an 8 or 10,000, in his usual fiery
"manner; home into the very bowels of the Reich (April 3d,
"and for a week onward); and returning with 'above 2,000
"' prisoners' in hand; especiallywith a Reich well frightened
"behind him;--still in time for "Duke Ferdinand's Adventure"
(in fact, for his Battle of Bergen, of which we are to hear).
"Had been well assisted by Prince Henri, who 'made danger-
"'ous demonstrations in the distance,' and was extremely
"diligent, -- though the interest was chiefly Ferdinand's, this
"time. "* -- Contemporary with that First Erfurt Business,
"there went on, 300 miles away from it, in the quite opposite
"direction, another of the same; -- too curious to be omitted.
Across the Polish Frontier: February 24th -- March 4th.
"In
"the end of February, General Wobersnow, an active man,
"was detached from Grlogau, Over into Poland, Posen way,
"To overturn the Russian provision-operations thereabouts;
"in particular, to look into a certain high-flying Polack, a
"Prince Sulkowski of those parts; who with all diligence is
"gathering food, in expectation of the Russian advent; and
"indeed has formally 'declared War against the King of
"'Prussia;' having the right, he says, as a Polish Magnate,
"subject only to his own high thought in such affairs. The
"Russians and their wars are dear to Sulkowski. He fell
"prisoner in their cause, at Zorndorf, last Autumn; was stuck,
"like all the others, Soltikof himself among them, into the
"vaulted parts of Custrin Garrison: 'I am sorry I have no
"'Siberia for you,' said Friedrich, looking, not in a benign
"way, on the captive Dignitaries, that hot afternoon; 'goto
'"Ciistrin, and see what you have provided for yourselves! '
"Which they had to do; nothing, for certain days, but
* Tempelhof, in. 19-22.
7*
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? 100 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX.
4th March 1759.
"cellarage to lodge in; King inexorable, deaf to remonstrance.
"Which possibly may have contributed to kindle Sulkowski
"into these extremely high proceedings.
"At any rate, Wobersnow punctually looks in upon him:
"seizes his considerable stock of Russian proviants; his belli-
"gerent force, his high person itself; and in one luckless hour,
"snuffs him out from the list of potentates. His belligerent
"force, about 1,000 Polacks, were all compelled, 'by the
"'cudgel,' say my authorities, to take Prussian service" (in
garrison-regiments, and well scattered about, I suppose); "his
"own high person found itself sitting locked in Grlogau, left
"to its reflexions. Sat thus 'till the War ended,' say some;
"certainly till the Sulkowski War had been sufficiently ex-
ploded by the laughter of mankind. " Here are, succinctly,
the dates of this small memorability:
"End of February, Wobersnow gathers, at Glogau, a
"force of about 8,000 horse and foot. Marched, 24th February,
"over Oder Bridge, straight into Poland; that same night,
"to the neighbourhood of Lissa and Reisen (Sulkowski's
"dominion), about thirty miles north-east of Glogau. Sul-
"kowski done next day; -- part of the capture is 'fifteen
"'small guns. ' Wobersnow goes, next, forPosen; arrives,
"28th February; destroys Russian Magazine, ransoms Jews.
"Shoots out other detachments on the Magazine Enterprise;
"-- detaches Platen along the Wartha, where are picked up
"various items, among others 'eighty tuns of brandy,' -- but
"himself proceeds no farther than Posen. March 4th, sets
"out again from Posen, homewards. "* We shall hear again
of Wobersnow, in a much more important way, before long.
To the Polish Republic so-called, Friedrich explained
politely, not apologetically: "Since you allow the Russians to
march through you in attack of me, it is evident to your just
minds that the attacked party must have similar privilege. "
"Truly! " answered they, in their just minds, generally; and
made no complaint about Sulkowski (though Polish Majesty
and Primate endeavoured to be loud about 'Invasion' and the
like): -- and indeed Polish Republic was lying, for a long
* Nachrichl lion der Vniernehmnng des General-Majors von Wobersnow
in Polen, im Feb. und Man 1759: In Seyfarth, Beylagen, n. 526-529. Hel-
den-Geschichle, v. 829.
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? CHAP. I. ] PRELIMINARIES TO A FOURTH CAMPAIGN. 101
13th April 1759.
while past, as if broken-backed; on the public highway; a
Nation anarchic every fibre of it, and under the feet and
hoofs of travelling Neighbours, especially of Russian Neigh-
bours; and is not now capable of saying much for itself in
such cases, or of doing any thing at all.
Frankfurt Country, April 13th: Duke Ferdinands Battle of
Bergen. "Duke Ferdinand, fully aware what a stroke that
"seizure of Frankfurt was to him, resolved to risk a long
"march at this bad season, and attempt to drive the French
"out. Contades was absent in Paris, -- no fear of an attack
"from Contades's Army; Broglio's in Frankfurt, grown now
"to about 35,000, can perhaps be beaten if vigorously at-
tacked. Ferdinand appoints a rendezvous at Fulda, of
"various Corps, Prince Ysenburg's and others, that lie
"nearest, Hessians many of them, Hanoverians others; pro-
ceeds, himself, to Fulda, with a few attendants " (a drive of
about 200 miles); -- "having left Lord George Sackville"
(mark the sad name of him! ) -- Sackville, head of the
"English, and General Sporken a Hanoverian, -- to take
"charge in Miinster Country, during his absence. It was
"from Fulda that he shot out the Hereditary Prince on that
"important Errand we lately spoke of, under the head of
'"Breakage Second,'-- namely, to clear his right flank, and
"scare theReich well off him, while he should be marching
"on Frankfurt. All which, Henri assisting from the distance,
"the Hereditary Prince performed to perfection, --and was
"back (April 8th), in excellent time for the Battle.
"Ferdinand stayed hardly a day in Fulda, ranking him-
"self and getting on the road. Did his long march of above
"100 miles, without accident or loss of time; -- of course,
"scaring home the Broglio Outposts in haste enough', and
"awakening Broglio's attention in a high degree; -- and
"arrives, Thursday, April 12th, atWindecken, a Village
"about fifteen miles north-east of Frankfurt; where he passes
"the night under arms; intending Battle on the morrow.
"Brogliois all assembled, 35,000 strong; his Assailant, with
"the Hereditary Prince come in, counts rather under 30,000.
"Broglio is posted in, and on both sides of, Bergen, ahigh-
"lying Village, directly on Ferdinand's road to Frankfurt.
"Windecken is about fifteen miles from Frankfurt; Bergen
"about six: -- idle Tourists of our Time, on their return from
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? 102 PRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX.
13th April 1759.
"Homburg to that City, leave Bergen a little on their left.
"The ground is mere hills, woody dales, marshy brooks;
"Broglio's position, with its Village, and Hill, and ravines,
"and advantages, is the choicest of the region; and Broglio's
"methods, procedures and arrangements in it, are applauded
"by all judges.
"Friday, 13th April 1759, Ferdinand is astir bv "comes on, along one of those woody valleys, pickeering, re-
"connoitering ;^--- in the end, directly up the Hill of Bergen;
"straight upon the key-point. It is about 10 A. m. , when the
"batteries and musketries awaken there; very loud indeed,
"for perhaps two hours or more. Prince von Ysenburg is
"leader of Ferdinand's attacking party. Their attack is hot
"and fierce, and they stick to it steadily; though garden-
"hedges, orchards and impediments are many, and Broglio,
"with much cannon helping, makes vigorous defence. These
"Ysenburgers fought till their cartridges were nearly spent,
"and Ysenburg himself lay killed; but could not take
"Bergen. Nor could the Hereditary Prince; who, in aid of
"them, tried it in flank, with his own usual impetuosity re-
"kindling theirs, and at first with some success; but was him-
"self taken in flank by Broglio's Reserve, and obliged to
"desist. No getting ofBergen by that method.
"Military critics say coolly, 'You should have smashed it
"'well with cannon, first' (which Ferdinand had not in
"stock here); 'and especially have flung grenadoes into it,
"'till it was well in flame: impossible otherwise! '* The
"Ysenburgers and Hereditary Prince withdraw. No pursuit
"of them; or almost less than none; for the one or two
"French regiments that tried it (against order), nearly got
"cut up. Broglio, like a very Daun at Kolin, had strictly
"forbidden all such attempts: 'On no temptation quit your
"'ground! ' s
"TheBattle, after this, lay quiet all afternoon; Ferdinand
"still insight; motioning much, to tempt French valour into
"chasing of him. But all in vain: Broglio, though his sub-
alterns kept urging, remonstrating, was peremptory not to
"stir. Whereupon, towards evening, across certain woody
"Heights, perhaps still with some hope of drawing him out,
"Ferdinand made some languid attempt on Broglio's wing,
* Mauvillon, n. 19.
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? CHAP. I. ] PRELIMINARIES TO A FOURTH CAMPAIGN. 103
lith-20th April 1759.
"or wings; -- and this also failing, had to give up the affair.
"He continued cannonading till deep in the night; withdrew
"to Windecken: and about two next morning, marched for
"home, --still with little or no pursuit: but without hope of
"Frankfurt henceforth. And in fact, has a painful Summer
"ahead.
"Ferdinand had lost 5 cannon, and of killed and wounded
"2,500; the French counted their loss at about 1,900. * The
"joy of France over this immense victory was extraordinary.
"Broglio was made Prince of the Reich, Marechal de France;
"would have been raised to the stars, had one been able, --
"for the time being. 'And your immense victory,' so sneered
"the bystanders, 'consists in not being beaten, under those
'"excellent conditions; -- perhaps victory is a rarity just
"'now'"
This is the Battle which our Boy-Friend Johann Wolf-
gang watched with such interest, from his garret-window,
Hour after hour; all Frankfurt simmering round him, in such
a whirlpool of self-contradictory emotions; till towards even-
ing, when, in long rows of carts, poor wounded Hessians and
Hanoverians came jolting in, and melted every heart into
pityt into wailing sorrow, and eagerness to help. A little
later, Papa Goethe, stepping down stairs, came across the
Official French Gentleman; who said radiantly: "Doubtless
"you congratulate yourself and us on this victory to his
"Majesty's arms. " "Not a whit (Keineswegs)" answered Papa
Goethe, a stiff kind of man, nowise in the mood of con-
gratulating: "on the contrary, I wish they had chased you to
"the Devil, though I had had to go too! " Which was a great
relief to his feelings, though a dangerous one in the cir-
cumstances. **
Breakage Third: Over the Metal Mountains into Bohmen'
{April 14th-20th). "Ferdinand's Battle was hardly ending,
"when Prince Henri poured across the Mountains, -- in two
"columns, Htilsen leading the inferior or rightmost one, --
"into Leitmeritz-Eger Country; and made a most successful
"business of the Austrian Magazines he found there. Maga-
zines all filled; Enemy all galloping for Prag: -- Daun
* Mauvillon, n. 10-19; Tempelhof, m. 26-31.
** Goethe's Werke (Stuttgart und Tubingen, 1829), xxiv. (Dichtung und
Wahrheit, i. ) 153-157.
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? 104 FRIEDRICII LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX.
16th April--5th May 1759.
"himself, who is sitting vigilant, far in the interior, at
"Jaromirtz this month past, was thrown into huge flurry, for
"some days! Speedy Henri (almost on the one condition of
"being speedy) had his own will of the Magazines: burnt,
"Hiilsen and he, 'about 600,000^. worth' ot Austrian pro-
"vender in those parts, 'what would have kept 50,000 men
"' five months in bread' (not to mention hay at all); gave the
"Enemy sore slaps (caught about 3,000 of him, not yet got on
"gallop for Prag); burnt his 200 boats on the Elbe: -- forced
"him to begin anew at the beginning; and did, in effect,
"considerably lame and retard certain of his operations
"through the Summer. Speedy Henri marched for home,
"April 20th; and was all across the Mountains, April 23d:
"a profitable swift nine days. "* -- And on the sixth day
hence, he will have something similar, and still more im-
portant, on foot. A swift man, when he must!
Breakage Fourth: Into Mahren (April 16th-21st). "This is
"Fouquet's attempt, alluded to above; of which, -- as every
"reader must be satisfied with Small-War, -- we will give
"only the dates. Fouquet, ranking at Leobschiitz, in Neisse
"Country, did break through into Mahren, pushing the
"Austrians before him; but found the Magazines either
"emptied, or too inaccessible for any worth they had; --
"could do nothing on the Magazines; and returned without
"result; home at Leobschiitz again on the fifth day. "** This,
however, had a sequel for Fouquet; which, as it brought the
King himself into those neighbourhoods, we shall have to
mention, farther on.
Breakage Fifth: Into Franken (May 50i--June 1st). "This
"was Prince Henri's Invasion of the Bamberg-Nurnberg
"Countries; a much sharper thing than in any former Year.
"Much the most famous, and," luckily for us, "the last of
"the Small-War affairs for the present. Started, -- from
"Tschopau region, Bamberg way, -- April29th--May 5th.
"In Three Columns: Finck leftmost, and foremost (Fink had
"marched, April 29th, pretending to mean for Bohemia);
"after whom Knobloch; and (May 5th) the Prince himself.
"Who has an eye to the Keichs Magazines and Preparations,
"as usual; -- nay, an eye to their Camp of Rendezvous, and
* Tempelhof, m. 47-53; Helden-Geschichte, v. 968-966.
** HMen-Geschichle, V. 958-963; Tempelhof, in. 44-47.
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? CHAP. I. ] PRELIMINARIES TO A FOURTH CAMPAIGN. 105
5th May -- 1st June 1759.
"to a fight with their miscellaneous Selves and Auxiliaries, if
"they will stand fight. 'You will have to leave Saxony, and
'"help us with the Russians, soon: beat those Reichs people
"' first! ' urged the King; 'well-beaten, they will not trouble
"'Saxony for a while. ' If they will stand fight? But they
"would not at all. They struck their tents everywhere;
"burnt their own Magazines, in some cases; and only went
"mazing hither and thither, -- gravitating all upon Niirn-
"berg, and an impregnable Camp which they have in that
"neighbourhood. Supreme Zweibriick was himself with
"them; many Croats, Austrians, led by Maguire and others;
"all marching, whirling at a mighty rate; with a countenance
"sometimes of vigour, but always with Niirnberg Camp in
"rear. There was swift marching, really beautiful manoeuver-
"ing here and there; sharp bits of fighting, too, almost in the
"battle-form:-- Maguire tried, or was tor trying, a stroke
"with Finck; but made off hastily, glad to get away. *
"May 11th, at Himmelskron in Baireuth, one Riedesel of
"theirs had fairly to ground arms, self and 2,500, and become
"prisoners of war. " Much of this manoeuvering and scuffling
was in Baireuth Territory. Twice, or even thrice, Prince
Henri was in Baireuth Town: 'marched through Baireuth,'
say the careless Old Books. Through Baireuth: -- No Wil-
helmina now there, with her tremulous melodies of welcome!
Wilhelmina's loves, and terrors for her loved, are now all
still. Perhaps her poor Daughter of Wiirtemberg, wandering
unjustly disgraced, is there; Papa, the widower Margraf, is
for marrying again: ** -- march on, Prince Henri!
"In Bamberg," says a Note from Archenholz, "the Reichs "troops burnt their Magazine; and made for Niirnberg, as
"usual; but left some thousand or two of Croats, who would
"not yet. Knobloch and his Prussians appeared shortly
"after; summoned Bamberg, which agreed to receive them;
"and were for taking possession; but found the Croats deter-
"mined otherwise. Fight ensued; fight in the streets; which,
"in hideousness of noises, if in nothing else, was beyond
"parallel. The inhabitants sat all quaking in their cellars;
"not an inhabitant was to be seen: a City dead, -- and given
* Tempelhof, in. 64. ** Married, 20th September 1759 (aBrunBwick Princess, Sister's-daughter
of his late Wife); died within four years.
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? 106 FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED. [book XIX.
5th May --1st June 1759.
"up to the demons, in this manner. Not for some hours were
"the Croats got entirely trampled out. Bamberg, as usual,
"became a Prussian place-of-arms; was charged to pay
"ransom of 40,000/. ; -- 'cannot possibly! ' -- did pay some
"14,000/. , and gave bills for the remainder. "* Whichbills,
let us mark withal, the Kaiser in Reichs Diet decreed to
be invalid: 'Don't pay them!