"The Quadi and the Lygii," says Dryasdust,
in a groping manner: Quadi and consorts, in the fifth
or sixth Century, continues he with more confidence,
shifted Rome-ward, following the general track of con-
temporaneous mankind; weak remnant of Quadi was
?
in a groping manner: Quadi and consorts, in the fifth
or sixth Century, continues he with more confidence,
shifted Rome-ward, following the general track of con-
temporaneous mankind; weak remnant of Quadi was
?
Thomas Carlyle
But, on the
other Frontier, neither England nor Holland could take
umbrage," -- points clearly to Silesia then, your Excellency
Dickens? *
Alas, yes! Troops and military equipments are, for
days past, evidently wending towards Frankfurt, to-
wards Crossen, and even the Newspapers now hint that
something is on hand in that quarter. Nay, this same
day, Tuesday 6th December, there has come out brief
Official Announcement, to all the Foreign Ministers at
Berlin, Excellency Dickens among them, "That his
"Royal Majesty, our most all-gracious Herr, has taken
"the resolution to advance a Body of Troops into
"Schlesien," -- rather out of friendly views towards
Austria (much business lying between us about Schle-
sien), not out of hostile views by any means, as all
Excellencies shall assure their respective Courts. ** An-
nouncement which had thrown the Excellency Dickens
into such a frame of mind, before he got his Audience
to-day! --
Saturday following, which was December 10th,
Marquis de Beauvau had his Audience of leave; in-
tending for Paris shortly: Audience very gracious;
covertly hinting, on both sides, more than it said; end-
ing in these words, on the King's side, which have
become famous: "Adieu, then, M. le Marquis. I believe
"I am going to play your game; if the aces fall to me,
"we will share (Je vais, je crois, jouer votre jeu: si let
"as me viennent, nous partagerons)! " ***
To Botta, all this while, Friedrich strove to be
specially civil; took him out to Charlottenburg, that
* Raumer (from State-Paper Office), pp. 63, 64.
** Copy of the Paper, in Helden-Geschichle, i. 447.
*** Voltaire, CEuvres (Siecle de Louis XV, c. 6), xxviii. 74.
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? CHAP. IX. ] RESOLUTION FORMED AT REINSBERG. 167
llth Dec. 1740.
same Saturday, with the Queen and other guests; but
Botta, and all the world, being now certain about
Silesia, and that no amount of mud, or other terror on
the roads, would be regarded, Botta's thoughts in this
evening party are not of cheerful nature. Next day,
Sunday, December 11th, he too gets his Audience of
leave; and cannot help bursting out, when the King
plainly tells him what is now afoot, and that the
Prussian Ambassador has got instructions what to offer
upon it at Vienna. "Sire, you are going to ruin the
"House of Austria," cried Botta, "and to plunge your-
self into destruction (vous abtmer) at the same time! "
-- "Depends on the Queen," said Friedrich, "to accept
"the Offers I have made her. " Botta sank silent,
seemed to reflect, but gathering himself again, added
with an ironical air and tone of voice, "They are fine
"Troops, those of yours, Sire. Ours have not the
"same splendour of appearance; but they have looked
"the wolf in the face. Think, I conjure you, what you
"are getting into! " Friedrich answered with vivacity,
a little nettled at the ironical tone of Botta, and his
mixed sympathy and menace: "You find my troops are
"beautiful; perhaps I shall convince you they are
"good too. " Yes, Excellency Botta, goodish troops;
and very capable "to look the wolf in the face," --
or perhaps in the tail too, before all end! "Botta
"urged and entreated that at least there should be
"some delay in executing this project. But the King
"gave him to understand that it was now too late, and
"that the Rubicon was passed. " *
The secret is now out, therefore; Invasion of
Silesia certain and close at hand. "A day or two
* Friedrich's own Account ((Emm, ii. 57).
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? 168 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book SI.
ISthDec. mn.
before marching," may have been this very day when
Botta got his audience, the King assembled his Chief
Generals, all things ready out in the Frankfurt-Crossen
region yonder; and spoke to them as follows; briefly
and to the point:
"Gentlemen, I am undertaking a War, in which I have no
"allies but your valour and your goodwill. My cause is just;
"my resources are what we ourselves can do; and the issue lies
"in Fortune. Kemember continually the glory which your
"Ancestors acquired in the plains of Warsaw, at Fehrbellin,
"and in the Expedition to Preussen" (across the Frische Haf
"on ice, that time). "Your lot is in your own hands: dis-
"tinctionsand rewards wait upon your fine actions which shall
"merit them.
"But what need have I to excite you to glory? It is the one
"thing you keep before your eyes; the sole object worthy of
'' your labours. We are going to front troops who, under Prince
"Eugene, had the highest reputation. Though Prince Eugene
"is gone, we shall have to measure our strength against brave
"soldiers: the greater will be the honour if we can conquer.
"Adieu, go forth. I will follow you straightway, to the rendez-
vous of glory which awaits us. " *
Masked Ball, at Berlin, llth-lSth, December.
On the evening of Tuesday 12th, there was, as
usual, Masked (or Half-Masked) Ball, at the Palace.
As usual; but this time it has become mentionable in
World-History. Bielfeld, personally interested, gives
us a vivid glance into it; -- which, though pretending
to be real and contemporaneous, is unfortunately
mythical only, and done at a great interval of years
(dates, and even slight circumstances of fact, refusing
to conform); -- which, however, for the truth there is
in it, we will give, as better than nothing. Bielfeld's
pretended date is, "Berlin, 15th December;" should
* (Euvres de FrMeric, ii. 58.
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? CHAP. IX. ] RESOLUTION FORMED AT REINSBERG. 169
13th Dec. 1740.
Lave been 14th, -- wrong by a day, after one's best
effort!
"Berlin, Iblh December 1740. As for me, dear Sister, I am
"like a shuttlecock whom the Kings of Prussia and of England
"hit with their rackets, and knock to and fro. The night be-
"fore last, I was at the Palace Evening Party (Assemblee)\
"which is a sort of Ball, where you go in domino, but without
"mask on the face. The Queen was there, and all the Court.
"About eight o'clock the King also made his appearance. His
"Majesty, noticingM. de G* *" (that is de Guidiken, or Guy
Dickens), "English Minister, addressed him; led him into the
"embrasure of a window, and talked alone with him for more
"than an hour" (uncertain, probably apocryphal this). "I
"threw, from time to time, a stolen glance at this dialogue,
"which appeared to me to be very lively. A moment after,
"being just dancing with Madame the Countess de -- Three-
"Asterisks, -- I felt myself twitched by the domino; and turn-
"ing, was much surprised to see that it was the King; who
"took me aside, and said, 'Are your boots oiled (Vos boites
"sont-elles graissees, Are you ready for a journey)? ' I replied,
"'Sire, they will always be so for your Majesty's service. ' --
"'Well, then, Truchsess and you are for England; the day
"'after tomorrow you go. Speak to M. de Podewils! ' --
"This was said like a flash of lightning. His Majesty passed
"into another apartment; and I, I went to finish my minuet
"with the Lady; who had been not less astonished to see me
"disappear from her eyes, in the middle of the dance, than I
"was at what the King said to me. " * Next morning, I --
The fact is, next morning, Truchsess and I began
preparation for the Court of London, -- and we did
there, for many months afterwards, strive our best to
keep the Britannic Majesty in some kind of tune, amid
the prevailing discord of events; -- fact interesting to
some. And the other fact, interesting to everybody,
though Bielfeld has not mentioned it, is, That King
Friedrich, the same next morning, punctually "at the
* Bielfeld, i. 167, 168.
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? 170 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book u
13th. Dec. 1740.
stroke of 9," rolled away Frankfurt-ward, -- into the
First Silesian War! Tuesday, "13th December, this
"morning the King, privately quitting the Ball, has
"gone" (after some little snatch of sleep, we will hope)
"for Frankfurt, to put himself at the head of his
"Troops. "* Bellona his companion for long years hence-
forth, instead of Minerva and the Muses, as he had
been anticipating.
Hereby is like to be fulfilled (except that Friedrich
himself is perhaps this "little stone") what Friedrich
prophesied to his Voltaire, the day after hearing of the
Kaiser's Death: "I believe there will, by June next,
"be more talk of cannon, soldiers, trenches, than of
"actresses, and dancers for the ballet. This small
"Event changes the entire system of Europe. It is
"the little stone which Nebuchadnezzar saw, in his
"dream, loosening itself, and rolling down on the
"Image made of Four Metals, which it shivers to
"ruin. " **
* Dickens (in State-Paper Office), 13th December 1740; see also/fei-
den-Gcschichle, i. 452; &c. &c.
** Friedrich to Voltaire, busy gathering actors at that time, 26th Oct.
1740 ((Enures de Frederic, xxii. 49).
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? BOOK XII.
FIKST SILESIAN WAR, AWAKENING A GENERAL
EUROPEAN ONE, BEGINS.
December 1740--May 1741.
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? 13th-16thDec. 1740.
CHAPTER L
OF SCHLESIEN', OR SILESIA.
Schlesien, what we call Silesia, lies in elliptic
shape, spread on the top of Europe, partly girt with
mountains, like the crown or crest to that part of the
Earth; -- highest table-land of Germany or of the
Cisalpine Countries; and sending rivers into all the
seas. The summit or highest level of it is in the
south-west; longest diameter is from north-west to
south-east. From Crossen, whither Friedrich is now
driving, to the Jablunka Pass, which issues upon
Hungary, is above 250 miles; the axis, therefore, or
longest diameter, of our Ellipse we may call 250
English miles; -- its shortest or conjugate diameter,
from Friedland in Bohemia (Wallenstein's old Fried-
land), by Breslau across the Oder to the Polish
frontier, is about 100. The total area of Schlesien is
counted to be some 20,000 square miles, nearly the
third of England Proper.
Schlesien, -- will the reader learn to call it by
that name, on occasion? for in these sad Manuscripts
of ours the names alternate, -- is a fine, fertile, useful
and beautiful Country. It leans sloping, as we hinted,
to the East and to the North; a long curved buttress
of Mountains (" Biesengebirge, Giant Mountains," is their
best-known name in foreign countries) holding it up on
the South and West sides. This Giant-Mountain Kange,
-- which is a kind of continuation of the Saxon-
Bohemian "Metal Mountains (Erzgebirge)" and of the
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? 174 FIRST SILESIAN WAH. [book m
13th-16th Dec. 1740.
straggling Lausitz Mountains, to westward of these, --
shapes itself like a bill-hook (or elliptically, as was
said): handle and hook together may be some 200
miles in length. The precipitous side of this is, in
general, turned outwards, towards Bohmen, Mahren,
TJngarn (Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary, in our dialects);
and Schlesien lies inside, irregularly sloping down, to-
wards the Baltic and towards the utmost East. From
the Bohemian side of these Mountains there rise Two
Rivers: Elbe, tending for the West; Morawa for the
South; -- Morawa, crossing Moravia, gets into the
Donau, and thence into the Black-Sea; while Elbe,
after intricate adventures among the mountains, and
then prosperously across the plains, is out, with its
many ships, into the Atlantic. Two rivers, we say,
from the Bohemian or steep side: and again, from the
Silesian side, there rise other Two, the Oder and the
Weichsel (Vistula); which start pretty near one another
in the South-East, and, after wide windings, get both
into the Baltic, at a good distance apart.
For the first thirty, or in parts, fifty miles from
the Mountains, Silesia slopes somewhat rapidly; and is
still to be called a Hill-country, rugged extensive
elevations diversifying it: but after that, the slope is
gentle, and at length insensible, or noticeable only by
the way the waters run. From the central part of tit,
Schlesien pictures itself to you as a plain; growing
ever flatter, ever sandier, as it abuts on the monotonous
endless sand-flats of Poland, and the Brandenburg
territories; nothing but Boundary Stones with their
brass inscriptions marking where the transition is; and
only some Fortified Town, not far off, keeping the
door of the Country secure in that quarter.
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? CHAP. I. ]
175
OF SCHLESIEN.
13th-16tli Dec. 1740.
On the other hand, the Mountain part of Schlesien
is [very picturesque; not of Alpine height anywhere
(the Schnee-Koppe itself is under 5,000 feet), so that
verdure and forest wood fail almost nowhere among
the Mountains; and multiplex industry, besung by
rushing torrents and the swift young rivers, nestles
itself high up; and from wheat-husbandry, madder and
maize husbandry, to damask-weaving, metallurgy,
charcoal-burning, tar-distillery, Schlesien has many
trades, and has long been expert and busy at them to
a high degree. A very pretty Ellipsis, or irregular
Oval, on the summit of the European Continent; --
"like the palm of a left-hand well stretched-out, with
the Eiesengebirge for thumb! " said a certain Herr to
me, stretching out his arm in that fashion towards the
north-west. Palm, well stretched-out, measuring 250
miles; and the cross way 100. There are still beavers
in Schlesien; the Katzbach River has gold grains in
*it, a kind of Pactolus not now worth working; and in
the scraggy lonesome pine-woods, grimy individuals,
with kindled mounds of pine-branches and smoke care-
fully kept down by sods, are sweating out a substance
which they inform you is to be tar.
Historical Epochs of Schlesien; -- after the Quads
and Marchmen.
Who first lived in Schlesien, or lived long since in
it, there is no use in asking, nor in telling if one
knew.
"The Quadi and the Lygii," says Dryasdust,
in a groping manner: Quadi and consorts, in the fifth
or sixth Century, continues he with more confidence,
shifted Rome-ward, following the general track of con-
temporaneous mankind; weak remnant of Quadi was
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? 176 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [bookID.
13th-lCth Dec. 1740.
thereupon overpowered by Slavic populations, and their
Country became Polish, which the eastern rim of it
still essentially is. That was the end of the Quadi in
those parts, says History. But they cannot speak nor
appeal for themselves; History has them much at
discretion. Rude burial urns, with a handful of ashes
in them, have been dug up in different places; these
are all the Archives and Histories the Quadi now
have. It appears their name signifies Wicked. They
are those poor Quadi (Wicked People) who always go
along with the Marcomanni (Marchmen), in the beadroll
Histories one reads; and I almost guess they must have
been of the same stock: "Wickeds and Borderers;''
considered, on both sides of the Border, to belong to
the Dangerous Classes in those times. Two things are
certain: First, quad and its derivatives have, to this
day, in the speech of rustic Germans, something of that
meaning, -- "nefarious," at least "injurious," "hate-
ful, and to be avoided:" for example, quad&el, "a*
nettle-burn;" quetschen, "to smash" (say, your thumb
while hammering); &c. &c. And then a second thing:
The Polish equivalent word is Zle (Biisching says
Zlezi); hence Zlezien, Schlesien, meaning merely Batl-
land, Quadland, what we might call Damagitis. , or
Country where you get into Trouble. That is the
etymology, or what passes for such. As to the History
of Schlesien, hitherwards of these burial urns dug up
in different places, I notice, as not yet entirely buriable,
Three Epochs.
First Epoch; Christianity: a. d. 966. Introduction of Chris-
tianity; to the length of founding a Bishoprick that year, so
hopeful were the aspects; "Bishoprick of Schmoger"
(Schmnyram, dim little Village still discoverable on the Polish
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? chap, i. ]
177
OF SCHLESIEN.
Uth-lCth Dec. 1710.
frontier, not far from the Town of Namslau); Bishoprick
which, after one removal farther inward, got across the Oder,
to "Wratislav," which we now callBreslau; and sticks there,
as Bishoprick of Breslau, to this day. Year 966: it was in
Adalbert, our Prussian Saint and Missionary's younger time.
Pleaching, by zealous Polacks, must have been going on,
while Adalbert, Bright in Nobleness, was studying at
Magdeburg, and ripening for high things in the general
estimation. This was a new gift from the Polacks, this of
Christianity; an infinitely more important one than that nick-
name of "Zlezien," or u Damagitia. " stuck upon the poor
Country, had been.
Second Epoch; Gel gradually cut loose from Poland: a. d.
1139-1159. Twenty years of great trouble in Poland, which
were of lasting benefit to Schlesien. In 1139 the Polack King,
a very potent Majesty whom we could name but do not, died;
and left his Dominions shared by punctual bequest among his
five sons. Punctual bequest did avail: but the eldest Son
(who was King, and had Schlesien with much else to his share)
began to encroach, to grasp; upon which the others rose upon
him, flung him out into exile; redivided; and hoped now they
might have quiet. Hoped, but were disappointed; and could
come to no sure bargain for the next twenty years, -- not till
"the eldest brother," first author of these strifes, "died an
exile in Holstein," or was just about dying, and had agreed
to take Schlesien for all claims, and be quiet thenceforth.
His, this eldest's, Three Sons did accordingly, in 1159,
get Schlesien instead of him; their uncles proving honourable.
Schlesien thereby was happy enough to get cut loose from
Poland, and to continue loose; steering a course of its own;
-- parting farther and farther from Poland and its habits and
fortunes. These Three Sons, of the late Polish Majesty who
died in exile in Holstein, are the "Piast Dukes," much talked
of in Silesian Histories: of whose merits I specify this only,
That they so soon as possible strove to be German. They
were Progenitors of all "the Piast Dukes," Proprietors of
Schlesien thenceforth, till the last of them died out in 1675, --
and a certain Erbverbriiderung they had entered into could not
take effect at that time. Their merits as Sovereign Dukes
seem to have been considerable; a certain piety, wisdom and
nobleness of mind not rare among them; and no doubt it was
Corljie, Frederick the Great. VI. 12
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? 178
FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [book Xn.
13th-l6th Dec. 174. 0.
partly their merit, if partly also their good luck, that they took
to Germany, and leant thitherward; steering looser and looser
from Poland, in their new circumstances. They themselves
by degrees became altogether German; their Countries, by
silent immigration, introduction of the arts, the composures
and sobrieties, became essentially so. On the eastern rim
there is still aPolack remnant, its territories very sandy, its
condition very bad; remnant which surely ought to cease its
Polack jargon, and learn some dialect of intelligible Teutsch,
as the first condition of improvement. In all other parts,
Teutsch reigns; and Schlesien is a green abundant Country;
full of metallurgy, damask-weaving, grain-husbandry, in-
stead of gasconade, gilt anarchy, rags, dirt, and Nie
Pozwalam.
a. d. 1327; Get completely cut loose. The Piast Dukes, who
soon ceased to be Polish, and hung rather upon Bohemia, and
thereby upon Germany, made a great step in that direction,
when King Johann, old Ich-Dicn whom we ought to recollect,
persuaded most of them, all of them but two, "pretio ac prece,"
to become Feudatories (Quasi-Feudatories, but of a sovereign
sort) to his Crown of Bohemia. The two who stood out, re-
sisting prayer and price, were the Duke of Jauer and the
Duke of Schweidnitz, -- lofty-minded gentlemen, perhaps a
thought too lofty. But these also Johann's son, little Kaiser
KarirV. , "marrying their heiress," contrived to bring in; --
one fruitful adventure of little Karl's, among the many waste-
ful he made, in the German Reich. Schlesien is henceforth 8
bit of the Kingdom of Bohemia; indissolubly hooked to Ger-
many; and its progress in the arts and composures, under
wise Piasts with immigrating Germans, we guess to have be-
come doubly rapid. *
Third Epoch; Adopt the Reformation: a. d. 1414-1517. Schle-
sien , hanging to Bohemia in this manner, extensively adopted
Huss's doctrines; still more extensively Luther's; and that
was a difficult element in its lot, though, I believe, an un-
speakably precious one. It cost above a Century of sad
tumults, Zisca Wars; nay above Two Centuries, including
the sad Thirty-years War; -- which miseries, in Bohemia
Proper, were sometimes very sad and even horrible. But
Schlesien, the outlying Country, did, in all this, suffer less
* Busching, Erdbeschrcibitng, viii. 725; Hubner, t. 94.
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? CHAP. I. ] OP SCHLESIEN. 179
13a-16th Dec. 1740.
than Bohemia Proper; and did not lose its Evangelical Doc-
trine in result, as unfortunate Bohemia did, and sink into
sluttish "fanatical torpor, and big Crucifixes of japanned Tin
by the wayside," though in the course of subsequent years,
named of Peace, it was near doing so. Here are the steps, or
unavailing counter-steps, in that latter direction:
a. d. 1537. Occurred, as we know, the Erbverbrilderung;
Duke of Liegnitz, and of other extensive heritages, making
Deed of Brotherhood with Kur-Brandenburg; -- Deed for-
bidden, and so far as might be, rubbed out and annihilated
by the then King of Bohemia, subsequently Kaiser, Ferdi-
nand I. , Karl V. s Brother. Duke of Liegnitz had to give up
his parchments, and become zero in that matter: Kur-Bran-
denburg entirely refused to do so; kept his parchments, to see
if they would not turn to something.
a. d. 1624. Schlesien, especially the then Duke of Liegnitz
(great-grandson of the Erboerbriiderung one), and poor Johann
George, Duke of Jagerndorf, cadet of the then Kur-Branden-
burg, went warmly ahead into the Winter-King project, first
fire of the Thirty-years War; sufferings from Papal en-
croachment , in high quarters, being really extreme. Warmly
ahead; and had to smart sharply for it; --poor Johann George
with forfeiture of Jagerndorf, with Reiches-Acht (Ban of the
Empire), and total ruin; fighting against which he soon died.
Act of Ban and Forfeiture was done tyrannously, said most
men; and it was persisted in equally so, till men ceased speak-
ing of it;-- Jagerndorf Duchy, fruit of the Act, was held by
Austria, ever after, in defiance of the Laws of the Reich.
Religious Oppression lay heavy on Protestant Schlesien
thenceforth; and many lukewarm individualities were brought
back to Orthodoxy by that method, successful in the diligent
skilled hands of Jesuit Reverend Fathers, with fiscals and
soldiers in the rear of them.
a. d. 1648. Treaty of Westphalia mended much of this, and
set fair limits to Papist encroachment; -- had said Treaty
been kept: but how could it? By Orthodox Authority, anxious
to recover lost souls, or at least to have loyal subjects, it was
publicly kept in name; and tacitly, in substance, it was
violated more and more. -- Of the "Blossoming of Silesian
Literature," spoken of in Books; of the Poet Opitz, Poets
Logau, Hoffmannswaldau, who burst into a kind of Song
12*
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? 180 FIRST SILESIAH WAR. [boOKHI.
13th-10th Dec. 1740,
better or worse at this Period, we will remember nothing; but
request the reader to remember it, if he is tunefully given, or
thinks it a good symptom of Schlesien.
a. d. 1707. Treaty of Altranstadt: between Kaiser Joseph!
and Karl XII. Swedish Karl, marching through those parts,
-- out of Poland, in chase of August the Physically Strong,
towards Saxony^ there to beat him soft, -- was waited upon
by Silesian Deputations of a lamentable nature; was en-
treated, for the love of Christ and His Evangel, to "Protect
us poor Protestants, and get the Treaty of Westphalia
observed on our behalf, and fair play shown! " Which Karl
did; Kaiser Joseph, with such weight of French War lying
on him, being much struck with the tone of that dangerous
Swede. The Pope rebuked Kaiser Joseph for such compliance
in the Silesian matter: "Holy Father," answered this Kaiser
(not of distinguished orthodoxy in the House), "I am too
flad he did not ask me to become Lutheran; I know not how
should have helped myself! *"
These are the Three Epochs; -- most things, in re-
spect of this Third or Reformation Epoch, stepping
steadily downward hitherto. As to the Fourth Epoch,
dating "13th Dec. 1740," which continues, up to our
day and farther, and is the final and crowning Epoch
of Silesian History, -- read in the following Chapters.
* Pauli, Allqemeine PreusHscheStaats-Geschichle (viii. 298-592); Biisch-
ing, Erdbeschreibung (viii. 700-39); &c. -- Heinrich Wuttke, Fiiedrichs dcs
Grossen Besitzergreifung von Schlesien (Seizure of Silesia by Friedrich,
2 voll. Leipzig, 1843), I mention only lest ingenuous readers should be
tempted by the Title to buy it. Wuttke begins at the Creation of the
World; and having, in two heavy volumes, at last struggled down close
to the Besiizcrjreifung or Seizure in question, calls halt; and stands (at
ease, we will hope) immovably there for the seventeen years since.
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? cnAP. n. l FRIEDRICH MARCHES ON GLOGAU.
181
13th-16th Dec. 1740.
CHAPTER II.
FRIEDRICH MARCHES ON GLOGAU.
At what hour Friedrich ceased dancing on that
famous Ball-night of Bielfeld's, and how long he slept
after, or whether at all, no Bielfeld even mythically
says: but next morning, as is patent to all the world,
Tuesday 13th December 1740, at the stroke of nine,
he steps into his carriage; and with small escort rolls
away towards Frankfurt-on-Oder; * out upon an Enter-
prise which will have results for himself and others.
Two youngish military men, Adjutants-General
both, were with him, Wartenslcben, Borck; both once
fellow Captains in the Potsdam Giants, and much in
his intimacy ever since. Wartensleben we once saw
at Brunswick, on a Masonic occasion; Borck, whom we
here see for the first time, is not the Colonel Borck
(properly Major-General) who did the Herstal Opera-
tion lately; still less is he the venerable old Minister,
Marlborough Veteran, and now Field-Marshal Borck,
whom Hotham treated with, on a certain occasion.
There are numerous Borcks always in the King's ser-
vice; nor are these three, except by loose cousinry, re-
lated to one another. The Borcks all come from
Stettin quarter; a brave kindred, and old enough, --
"Old as the Devil, Das ist so old als de Borcken und
de Duwel" says the Pomeranian Proverb; -- the Ad-
jutant-General, a junior member of the clan, chances
to be the notablest of them at this moment. Wartens-
* Helden-Geschichle, i. 452; Preuss, Throttbetteigung, p. 456.
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? 182 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [book HI.
13th-10th Dec. 1740.
leben, Borck, and a certain Colonel von der Golz,
whom also the King much esteems, these are his com-
pany on this drive. For escort, or guard of honour
out of Berlin to the next stages, there is a small body
of Hussars, Life-guard and other Cavalry, "perhaps
500 horse in all. "
They drive rapidly, through the gray Winter;
reach Frankfurt on the Oder, sixty miles or more;
where no doubt there is military business waiting.
They are forward, on the morrow, for dinner, forty
miles farther, at a small Town called Crossen, which
looks over into Silesia; and is, for the present, head-
quarters to a Prussian Army, standing ready there
and in the environs. Standing ready, or hourly march-
ing in, and rendezvousing; now about 28,000 strong,
horse and foot. A Rearguard of Ten or Twelve
Thousand will march from Berlin in two days, pause
hereabouts, and follow according to circumstances:
Prussian Army will then be some 40,000 in all.
Schwerin has been Commander, manager and main-
spring of the business hitherto: henceforth it is to be
the King; but Schwerin under him will still have a
Division of his own.
Among the Regiments, we notice "Schulenburg
Horse-Grenadiers," -- come along from Landsberg
hither, these Horse-Grenadiers, with little Schulenburg
at the head of them; -- "Dragoon Regiment Bay-
reuth," "Lifeguard Carbineers," "Derschau of Foot;"
and other Regiments and figures slightly known to us,
or that will be better known. * Rearguard, just getting
under way at Berlin, has for leaders the Prince of
Holstein-Beck ("Holstem-Vaisselle," say wags, since
* List in Helden-Geschichte, i. 453.
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other Frontier, neither England nor Holland could take
umbrage," -- points clearly to Silesia then, your Excellency
Dickens? *
Alas, yes! Troops and military equipments are, for
days past, evidently wending towards Frankfurt, to-
wards Crossen, and even the Newspapers now hint that
something is on hand in that quarter. Nay, this same
day, Tuesday 6th December, there has come out brief
Official Announcement, to all the Foreign Ministers at
Berlin, Excellency Dickens among them, "That his
"Royal Majesty, our most all-gracious Herr, has taken
"the resolution to advance a Body of Troops into
"Schlesien," -- rather out of friendly views towards
Austria (much business lying between us about Schle-
sien), not out of hostile views by any means, as all
Excellencies shall assure their respective Courts. ** An-
nouncement which had thrown the Excellency Dickens
into such a frame of mind, before he got his Audience
to-day! --
Saturday following, which was December 10th,
Marquis de Beauvau had his Audience of leave; in-
tending for Paris shortly: Audience very gracious;
covertly hinting, on both sides, more than it said; end-
ing in these words, on the King's side, which have
become famous: "Adieu, then, M. le Marquis. I believe
"I am going to play your game; if the aces fall to me,
"we will share (Je vais, je crois, jouer votre jeu: si let
"as me viennent, nous partagerons)! " ***
To Botta, all this while, Friedrich strove to be
specially civil; took him out to Charlottenburg, that
* Raumer (from State-Paper Office), pp. 63, 64.
** Copy of the Paper, in Helden-Geschichle, i. 447.
*** Voltaire, CEuvres (Siecle de Louis XV, c. 6), xxviii. 74.
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? CHAP. IX. ] RESOLUTION FORMED AT REINSBERG. 167
llth Dec. 1740.
same Saturday, with the Queen and other guests; but
Botta, and all the world, being now certain about
Silesia, and that no amount of mud, or other terror on
the roads, would be regarded, Botta's thoughts in this
evening party are not of cheerful nature. Next day,
Sunday, December 11th, he too gets his Audience of
leave; and cannot help bursting out, when the King
plainly tells him what is now afoot, and that the
Prussian Ambassador has got instructions what to offer
upon it at Vienna. "Sire, you are going to ruin the
"House of Austria," cried Botta, "and to plunge your-
self into destruction (vous abtmer) at the same time! "
-- "Depends on the Queen," said Friedrich, "to accept
"the Offers I have made her. " Botta sank silent,
seemed to reflect, but gathering himself again, added
with an ironical air and tone of voice, "They are fine
"Troops, those of yours, Sire. Ours have not the
"same splendour of appearance; but they have looked
"the wolf in the face. Think, I conjure you, what you
"are getting into! " Friedrich answered with vivacity,
a little nettled at the ironical tone of Botta, and his
mixed sympathy and menace: "You find my troops are
"beautiful; perhaps I shall convince you they are
"good too. " Yes, Excellency Botta, goodish troops;
and very capable "to look the wolf in the face," --
or perhaps in the tail too, before all end! "Botta
"urged and entreated that at least there should be
"some delay in executing this project. But the King
"gave him to understand that it was now too late, and
"that the Rubicon was passed. " *
The secret is now out, therefore; Invasion of
Silesia certain and close at hand. "A day or two
* Friedrich's own Account ((Emm, ii. 57).
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? 168 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book SI.
ISthDec. mn.
before marching," may have been this very day when
Botta got his audience, the King assembled his Chief
Generals, all things ready out in the Frankfurt-Crossen
region yonder; and spoke to them as follows; briefly
and to the point:
"Gentlemen, I am undertaking a War, in which I have no
"allies but your valour and your goodwill. My cause is just;
"my resources are what we ourselves can do; and the issue lies
"in Fortune. Kemember continually the glory which your
"Ancestors acquired in the plains of Warsaw, at Fehrbellin,
"and in the Expedition to Preussen" (across the Frische Haf
"on ice, that time). "Your lot is in your own hands: dis-
"tinctionsand rewards wait upon your fine actions which shall
"merit them.
"But what need have I to excite you to glory? It is the one
"thing you keep before your eyes; the sole object worthy of
'' your labours. We are going to front troops who, under Prince
"Eugene, had the highest reputation. Though Prince Eugene
"is gone, we shall have to measure our strength against brave
"soldiers: the greater will be the honour if we can conquer.
"Adieu, go forth. I will follow you straightway, to the rendez-
vous of glory which awaits us. " *
Masked Ball, at Berlin, llth-lSth, December.
On the evening of Tuesday 12th, there was, as
usual, Masked (or Half-Masked) Ball, at the Palace.
As usual; but this time it has become mentionable in
World-History. Bielfeld, personally interested, gives
us a vivid glance into it; -- which, though pretending
to be real and contemporaneous, is unfortunately
mythical only, and done at a great interval of years
(dates, and even slight circumstances of fact, refusing
to conform); -- which, however, for the truth there is
in it, we will give, as better than nothing. Bielfeld's
pretended date is, "Berlin, 15th December;" should
* (Euvres de FrMeric, ii. 58.
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? CHAP. IX. ] RESOLUTION FORMED AT REINSBERG. 169
13th Dec. 1740.
Lave been 14th, -- wrong by a day, after one's best
effort!
"Berlin, Iblh December 1740. As for me, dear Sister, I am
"like a shuttlecock whom the Kings of Prussia and of England
"hit with their rackets, and knock to and fro. The night be-
"fore last, I was at the Palace Evening Party (Assemblee)\
"which is a sort of Ball, where you go in domino, but without
"mask on the face. The Queen was there, and all the Court.
"About eight o'clock the King also made his appearance. His
"Majesty, noticingM. de G* *" (that is de Guidiken, or Guy
Dickens), "English Minister, addressed him; led him into the
"embrasure of a window, and talked alone with him for more
"than an hour" (uncertain, probably apocryphal this). "I
"threw, from time to time, a stolen glance at this dialogue,
"which appeared to me to be very lively. A moment after,
"being just dancing with Madame the Countess de -- Three-
"Asterisks, -- I felt myself twitched by the domino; and turn-
"ing, was much surprised to see that it was the King; who
"took me aside, and said, 'Are your boots oiled (Vos boites
"sont-elles graissees, Are you ready for a journey)? ' I replied,
"'Sire, they will always be so for your Majesty's service. ' --
"'Well, then, Truchsess and you are for England; the day
"'after tomorrow you go. Speak to M. de Podewils! ' --
"This was said like a flash of lightning. His Majesty passed
"into another apartment; and I, I went to finish my minuet
"with the Lady; who had been not less astonished to see me
"disappear from her eyes, in the middle of the dance, than I
"was at what the King said to me. " * Next morning, I --
The fact is, next morning, Truchsess and I began
preparation for the Court of London, -- and we did
there, for many months afterwards, strive our best to
keep the Britannic Majesty in some kind of tune, amid
the prevailing discord of events; -- fact interesting to
some. And the other fact, interesting to everybody,
though Bielfeld has not mentioned it, is, That King
Friedrich, the same next morning, punctually "at the
* Bielfeld, i. 167, 168.
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? 170 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book u
13th. Dec. 1740.
stroke of 9," rolled away Frankfurt-ward, -- into the
First Silesian War! Tuesday, "13th December, this
"morning the King, privately quitting the Ball, has
"gone" (after some little snatch of sleep, we will hope)
"for Frankfurt, to put himself at the head of his
"Troops. "* Bellona his companion for long years hence-
forth, instead of Minerva and the Muses, as he had
been anticipating.
Hereby is like to be fulfilled (except that Friedrich
himself is perhaps this "little stone") what Friedrich
prophesied to his Voltaire, the day after hearing of the
Kaiser's Death: "I believe there will, by June next,
"be more talk of cannon, soldiers, trenches, than of
"actresses, and dancers for the ballet. This small
"Event changes the entire system of Europe. It is
"the little stone which Nebuchadnezzar saw, in his
"dream, loosening itself, and rolling down on the
"Image made of Four Metals, which it shivers to
"ruin. " **
* Dickens (in State-Paper Office), 13th December 1740; see also/fei-
den-Gcschichle, i. 452; &c. &c.
** Friedrich to Voltaire, busy gathering actors at that time, 26th Oct.
1740 ((Enures de Frederic, xxii. 49).
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? BOOK XII.
FIKST SILESIAN WAR, AWAKENING A GENERAL
EUROPEAN ONE, BEGINS.
December 1740--May 1741.
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? 13th-16thDec. 1740.
CHAPTER L
OF SCHLESIEN', OR SILESIA.
Schlesien, what we call Silesia, lies in elliptic
shape, spread on the top of Europe, partly girt with
mountains, like the crown or crest to that part of the
Earth; -- highest table-land of Germany or of the
Cisalpine Countries; and sending rivers into all the
seas. The summit or highest level of it is in the
south-west; longest diameter is from north-west to
south-east. From Crossen, whither Friedrich is now
driving, to the Jablunka Pass, which issues upon
Hungary, is above 250 miles; the axis, therefore, or
longest diameter, of our Ellipse we may call 250
English miles; -- its shortest or conjugate diameter,
from Friedland in Bohemia (Wallenstein's old Fried-
land), by Breslau across the Oder to the Polish
frontier, is about 100. The total area of Schlesien is
counted to be some 20,000 square miles, nearly the
third of England Proper.
Schlesien, -- will the reader learn to call it by
that name, on occasion? for in these sad Manuscripts
of ours the names alternate, -- is a fine, fertile, useful
and beautiful Country. It leans sloping, as we hinted,
to the East and to the North; a long curved buttress
of Mountains (" Biesengebirge, Giant Mountains," is their
best-known name in foreign countries) holding it up on
the South and West sides. This Giant-Mountain Kange,
-- which is a kind of continuation of the Saxon-
Bohemian "Metal Mountains (Erzgebirge)" and of the
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? 174 FIRST SILESIAN WAH. [book m
13th-16th Dec. 1740.
straggling Lausitz Mountains, to westward of these, --
shapes itself like a bill-hook (or elliptically, as was
said): handle and hook together may be some 200
miles in length. The precipitous side of this is, in
general, turned outwards, towards Bohmen, Mahren,
TJngarn (Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary, in our dialects);
and Schlesien lies inside, irregularly sloping down, to-
wards the Baltic and towards the utmost East. From
the Bohemian side of these Mountains there rise Two
Rivers: Elbe, tending for the West; Morawa for the
South; -- Morawa, crossing Moravia, gets into the
Donau, and thence into the Black-Sea; while Elbe,
after intricate adventures among the mountains, and
then prosperously across the plains, is out, with its
many ships, into the Atlantic. Two rivers, we say,
from the Bohemian or steep side: and again, from the
Silesian side, there rise other Two, the Oder and the
Weichsel (Vistula); which start pretty near one another
in the South-East, and, after wide windings, get both
into the Baltic, at a good distance apart.
For the first thirty, or in parts, fifty miles from
the Mountains, Silesia slopes somewhat rapidly; and is
still to be called a Hill-country, rugged extensive
elevations diversifying it: but after that, the slope is
gentle, and at length insensible, or noticeable only by
the way the waters run. From the central part of tit,
Schlesien pictures itself to you as a plain; growing
ever flatter, ever sandier, as it abuts on the monotonous
endless sand-flats of Poland, and the Brandenburg
territories; nothing but Boundary Stones with their
brass inscriptions marking where the transition is; and
only some Fortified Town, not far off, keeping the
door of the Country secure in that quarter.
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? CHAP. I. ]
175
OF SCHLESIEN.
13th-16tli Dec. 1740.
On the other hand, the Mountain part of Schlesien
is [very picturesque; not of Alpine height anywhere
(the Schnee-Koppe itself is under 5,000 feet), so that
verdure and forest wood fail almost nowhere among
the Mountains; and multiplex industry, besung by
rushing torrents and the swift young rivers, nestles
itself high up; and from wheat-husbandry, madder and
maize husbandry, to damask-weaving, metallurgy,
charcoal-burning, tar-distillery, Schlesien has many
trades, and has long been expert and busy at them to
a high degree. A very pretty Ellipsis, or irregular
Oval, on the summit of the European Continent; --
"like the palm of a left-hand well stretched-out, with
the Eiesengebirge for thumb! " said a certain Herr to
me, stretching out his arm in that fashion towards the
north-west. Palm, well stretched-out, measuring 250
miles; and the cross way 100. There are still beavers
in Schlesien; the Katzbach River has gold grains in
*it, a kind of Pactolus not now worth working; and in
the scraggy lonesome pine-woods, grimy individuals,
with kindled mounds of pine-branches and smoke care-
fully kept down by sods, are sweating out a substance
which they inform you is to be tar.
Historical Epochs of Schlesien; -- after the Quads
and Marchmen.
Who first lived in Schlesien, or lived long since in
it, there is no use in asking, nor in telling if one
knew.
"The Quadi and the Lygii," says Dryasdust,
in a groping manner: Quadi and consorts, in the fifth
or sixth Century, continues he with more confidence,
shifted Rome-ward, following the general track of con-
temporaneous mankind; weak remnant of Quadi was
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? 176 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [bookID.
13th-lCth Dec. 1740.
thereupon overpowered by Slavic populations, and their
Country became Polish, which the eastern rim of it
still essentially is. That was the end of the Quadi in
those parts, says History. But they cannot speak nor
appeal for themselves; History has them much at
discretion. Rude burial urns, with a handful of ashes
in them, have been dug up in different places; these
are all the Archives and Histories the Quadi now
have. It appears their name signifies Wicked. They
are those poor Quadi (Wicked People) who always go
along with the Marcomanni (Marchmen), in the beadroll
Histories one reads; and I almost guess they must have
been of the same stock: "Wickeds and Borderers;''
considered, on both sides of the Border, to belong to
the Dangerous Classes in those times. Two things are
certain: First, quad and its derivatives have, to this
day, in the speech of rustic Germans, something of that
meaning, -- "nefarious," at least "injurious," "hate-
ful, and to be avoided:" for example, quad&el, "a*
nettle-burn;" quetschen, "to smash" (say, your thumb
while hammering); &c. &c. And then a second thing:
The Polish equivalent word is Zle (Biisching says
Zlezi); hence Zlezien, Schlesien, meaning merely Batl-
land, Quadland, what we might call Damagitis. , or
Country where you get into Trouble. That is the
etymology, or what passes for such. As to the History
of Schlesien, hitherwards of these burial urns dug up
in different places, I notice, as not yet entirely buriable,
Three Epochs.
First Epoch; Christianity: a. d. 966. Introduction of Chris-
tianity; to the length of founding a Bishoprick that year, so
hopeful were the aspects; "Bishoprick of Schmoger"
(Schmnyram, dim little Village still discoverable on the Polish
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? chap, i. ]
177
OF SCHLESIEN.
Uth-lCth Dec. 1710.
frontier, not far from the Town of Namslau); Bishoprick
which, after one removal farther inward, got across the Oder,
to "Wratislav," which we now callBreslau; and sticks there,
as Bishoprick of Breslau, to this day. Year 966: it was in
Adalbert, our Prussian Saint and Missionary's younger time.
Pleaching, by zealous Polacks, must have been going on,
while Adalbert, Bright in Nobleness, was studying at
Magdeburg, and ripening for high things in the general
estimation. This was a new gift from the Polacks, this of
Christianity; an infinitely more important one than that nick-
name of "Zlezien," or u Damagitia. " stuck upon the poor
Country, had been.
Second Epoch; Gel gradually cut loose from Poland: a. d.
1139-1159. Twenty years of great trouble in Poland, which
were of lasting benefit to Schlesien. In 1139 the Polack King,
a very potent Majesty whom we could name but do not, died;
and left his Dominions shared by punctual bequest among his
five sons. Punctual bequest did avail: but the eldest Son
(who was King, and had Schlesien with much else to his share)
began to encroach, to grasp; upon which the others rose upon
him, flung him out into exile; redivided; and hoped now they
might have quiet. Hoped, but were disappointed; and could
come to no sure bargain for the next twenty years, -- not till
"the eldest brother," first author of these strifes, "died an
exile in Holstein," or was just about dying, and had agreed
to take Schlesien for all claims, and be quiet thenceforth.
His, this eldest's, Three Sons did accordingly, in 1159,
get Schlesien instead of him; their uncles proving honourable.
Schlesien thereby was happy enough to get cut loose from
Poland, and to continue loose; steering a course of its own;
-- parting farther and farther from Poland and its habits and
fortunes. These Three Sons, of the late Polish Majesty who
died in exile in Holstein, are the "Piast Dukes," much talked
of in Silesian Histories: of whose merits I specify this only,
That they so soon as possible strove to be German. They
were Progenitors of all "the Piast Dukes," Proprietors of
Schlesien thenceforth, till the last of them died out in 1675, --
and a certain Erbverbriiderung they had entered into could not
take effect at that time. Their merits as Sovereign Dukes
seem to have been considerable; a certain piety, wisdom and
nobleness of mind not rare among them; and no doubt it was
Corljie, Frederick the Great. VI. 12
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? 178
FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [book Xn.
13th-l6th Dec. 174. 0.
partly their merit, if partly also their good luck, that they took
to Germany, and leant thitherward; steering looser and looser
from Poland, in their new circumstances. They themselves
by degrees became altogether German; their Countries, by
silent immigration, introduction of the arts, the composures
and sobrieties, became essentially so. On the eastern rim
there is still aPolack remnant, its territories very sandy, its
condition very bad; remnant which surely ought to cease its
Polack jargon, and learn some dialect of intelligible Teutsch,
as the first condition of improvement. In all other parts,
Teutsch reigns; and Schlesien is a green abundant Country;
full of metallurgy, damask-weaving, grain-husbandry, in-
stead of gasconade, gilt anarchy, rags, dirt, and Nie
Pozwalam.
a. d. 1327; Get completely cut loose. The Piast Dukes, who
soon ceased to be Polish, and hung rather upon Bohemia, and
thereby upon Germany, made a great step in that direction,
when King Johann, old Ich-Dicn whom we ought to recollect,
persuaded most of them, all of them but two, "pretio ac prece,"
to become Feudatories (Quasi-Feudatories, but of a sovereign
sort) to his Crown of Bohemia. The two who stood out, re-
sisting prayer and price, were the Duke of Jauer and the
Duke of Schweidnitz, -- lofty-minded gentlemen, perhaps a
thought too lofty. But these also Johann's son, little Kaiser
KarirV. , "marrying their heiress," contrived to bring in; --
one fruitful adventure of little Karl's, among the many waste-
ful he made, in the German Reich. Schlesien is henceforth 8
bit of the Kingdom of Bohemia; indissolubly hooked to Ger-
many; and its progress in the arts and composures, under
wise Piasts with immigrating Germans, we guess to have be-
come doubly rapid. *
Third Epoch; Adopt the Reformation: a. d. 1414-1517. Schle-
sien , hanging to Bohemia in this manner, extensively adopted
Huss's doctrines; still more extensively Luther's; and that
was a difficult element in its lot, though, I believe, an un-
speakably precious one. It cost above a Century of sad
tumults, Zisca Wars; nay above Two Centuries, including
the sad Thirty-years War; -- which miseries, in Bohemia
Proper, were sometimes very sad and even horrible. But
Schlesien, the outlying Country, did, in all this, suffer less
* Busching, Erdbeschrcibitng, viii. 725; Hubner, t. 94.
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? CHAP. I. ] OP SCHLESIEN. 179
13a-16th Dec. 1740.
than Bohemia Proper; and did not lose its Evangelical Doc-
trine in result, as unfortunate Bohemia did, and sink into
sluttish "fanatical torpor, and big Crucifixes of japanned Tin
by the wayside," though in the course of subsequent years,
named of Peace, it was near doing so. Here are the steps, or
unavailing counter-steps, in that latter direction:
a. d. 1537. Occurred, as we know, the Erbverbrilderung;
Duke of Liegnitz, and of other extensive heritages, making
Deed of Brotherhood with Kur-Brandenburg; -- Deed for-
bidden, and so far as might be, rubbed out and annihilated
by the then King of Bohemia, subsequently Kaiser, Ferdi-
nand I. , Karl V. s Brother. Duke of Liegnitz had to give up
his parchments, and become zero in that matter: Kur-Bran-
denburg entirely refused to do so; kept his parchments, to see
if they would not turn to something.
a. d. 1624. Schlesien, especially the then Duke of Liegnitz
(great-grandson of the Erboerbriiderung one), and poor Johann
George, Duke of Jagerndorf, cadet of the then Kur-Branden-
burg, went warmly ahead into the Winter-King project, first
fire of the Thirty-years War; sufferings from Papal en-
croachment , in high quarters, being really extreme. Warmly
ahead; and had to smart sharply for it; --poor Johann George
with forfeiture of Jagerndorf, with Reiches-Acht (Ban of the
Empire), and total ruin; fighting against which he soon died.
Act of Ban and Forfeiture was done tyrannously, said most
men; and it was persisted in equally so, till men ceased speak-
ing of it;-- Jagerndorf Duchy, fruit of the Act, was held by
Austria, ever after, in defiance of the Laws of the Reich.
Religious Oppression lay heavy on Protestant Schlesien
thenceforth; and many lukewarm individualities were brought
back to Orthodoxy by that method, successful in the diligent
skilled hands of Jesuit Reverend Fathers, with fiscals and
soldiers in the rear of them.
a. d. 1648. Treaty of Westphalia mended much of this, and
set fair limits to Papist encroachment; -- had said Treaty
been kept: but how could it? By Orthodox Authority, anxious
to recover lost souls, or at least to have loyal subjects, it was
publicly kept in name; and tacitly, in substance, it was
violated more and more. -- Of the "Blossoming of Silesian
Literature," spoken of in Books; of the Poet Opitz, Poets
Logau, Hoffmannswaldau, who burst into a kind of Song
12*
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? 180 FIRST SILESIAH WAR. [boOKHI.
13th-10th Dec. 1740,
better or worse at this Period, we will remember nothing; but
request the reader to remember it, if he is tunefully given, or
thinks it a good symptom of Schlesien.
a. d. 1707. Treaty of Altranstadt: between Kaiser Joseph!
and Karl XII. Swedish Karl, marching through those parts,
-- out of Poland, in chase of August the Physically Strong,
towards Saxony^ there to beat him soft, -- was waited upon
by Silesian Deputations of a lamentable nature; was en-
treated, for the love of Christ and His Evangel, to "Protect
us poor Protestants, and get the Treaty of Westphalia
observed on our behalf, and fair play shown! " Which Karl
did; Kaiser Joseph, with such weight of French War lying
on him, being much struck with the tone of that dangerous
Swede. The Pope rebuked Kaiser Joseph for such compliance
in the Silesian matter: "Holy Father," answered this Kaiser
(not of distinguished orthodoxy in the House), "I am too
flad he did not ask me to become Lutheran; I know not how
should have helped myself! *"
These are the Three Epochs; -- most things, in re-
spect of this Third or Reformation Epoch, stepping
steadily downward hitherto. As to the Fourth Epoch,
dating "13th Dec. 1740," which continues, up to our
day and farther, and is the final and crowning Epoch
of Silesian History, -- read in the following Chapters.
* Pauli, Allqemeine PreusHscheStaats-Geschichle (viii. 298-592); Biisch-
ing, Erdbeschreibung (viii. 700-39); &c. -- Heinrich Wuttke, Fiiedrichs dcs
Grossen Besitzergreifung von Schlesien (Seizure of Silesia by Friedrich,
2 voll. Leipzig, 1843), I mention only lest ingenuous readers should be
tempted by the Title to buy it. Wuttke begins at the Creation of the
World; and having, in two heavy volumes, at last struggled down close
to the Besiizcrjreifung or Seizure in question, calls halt; and stands (at
ease, we will hope) immovably there for the seventeen years since.
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? cnAP. n. l FRIEDRICH MARCHES ON GLOGAU.
181
13th-16th Dec. 1740.
CHAPTER II.
FRIEDRICH MARCHES ON GLOGAU.
At what hour Friedrich ceased dancing on that
famous Ball-night of Bielfeld's, and how long he slept
after, or whether at all, no Bielfeld even mythically
says: but next morning, as is patent to all the world,
Tuesday 13th December 1740, at the stroke of nine,
he steps into his carriage; and with small escort rolls
away towards Frankfurt-on-Oder; * out upon an Enter-
prise which will have results for himself and others.
Two youngish military men, Adjutants-General
both, were with him, Wartenslcben, Borck; both once
fellow Captains in the Potsdam Giants, and much in
his intimacy ever since. Wartensleben we once saw
at Brunswick, on a Masonic occasion; Borck, whom we
here see for the first time, is not the Colonel Borck
(properly Major-General) who did the Herstal Opera-
tion lately; still less is he the venerable old Minister,
Marlborough Veteran, and now Field-Marshal Borck,
whom Hotham treated with, on a certain occasion.
There are numerous Borcks always in the King's ser-
vice; nor are these three, except by loose cousinry, re-
lated to one another. The Borcks all come from
Stettin quarter; a brave kindred, and old enough, --
"Old as the Devil, Das ist so old als de Borcken und
de Duwel" says the Pomeranian Proverb; -- the Ad-
jutant-General, a junior member of the clan, chances
to be the notablest of them at this moment. Wartens-
* Helden-Geschichle, i. 452; Preuss, Throttbetteigung, p. 456.
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? 182 FIRST SILESIAN WAR. [book HI.
13th-10th Dec. 1740.
leben, Borck, and a certain Colonel von der Golz,
whom also the King much esteems, these are his com-
pany on this drive. For escort, or guard of honour
out of Berlin to the next stages, there is a small body
of Hussars, Life-guard and other Cavalry, "perhaps
500 horse in all. "
They drive rapidly, through the gray Winter;
reach Frankfurt on the Oder, sixty miles or more;
where no doubt there is military business waiting.
They are forward, on the morrow, for dinner, forty
miles farther, at a small Town called Crossen, which
looks over into Silesia; and is, for the present, head-
quarters to a Prussian Army, standing ready there
and in the environs. Standing ready, or hourly march-
ing in, and rendezvousing; now about 28,000 strong,
horse and foot. A Rearguard of Ten or Twelve
Thousand will march from Berlin in two days, pause
hereabouts, and follow according to circumstances:
Prussian Army will then be some 40,000 in all.
Schwerin has been Commander, manager and main-
spring of the business hitherto: henceforth it is to be
the King; but Schwerin under him will still have a
Division of his own.
Among the Regiments, we notice "Schulenburg
Horse-Grenadiers," -- come along from Landsberg
hither, these Horse-Grenadiers, with little Schulenburg
at the head of them; -- "Dragoon Regiment Bay-
reuth," "Lifeguard Carbineers," "Derschau of Foot;"
and other Regiments and figures slightly known to us,
or that will be better known. * Rearguard, just getting
under way at Berlin, has for leaders the Prince of
Holstein-Beck ("Holstem-Vaisselle," say wags, since
* List in Helden-Geschichte, i. 453.
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