Peace had been concluded nine months. I was forgotten. At last, when I
supposed all hope lost, the 25th of December, and the day of freedom,
came. At the hour of parade, Count Schlieben, lieutenant of the guards,
brought orders for my release!
The sub-governor supposed me weaker in intellect than I was, and would
not too suddenly tell me these tidings. He knew not the presence of
mind, the fortitude, which the dangers I had seen had made habitual.
My doors for the LAST TIME resounded! Several people entered; their
countenances were cheerful, and the sub-governor at their head at length
said, "This time, my dear Trenck, I am the messenger of good news. Prince
Ferdinand has prevailed on the King to let your irons be taken off."
Accordingly, to work went the smith. "You shall also," continued he,
"have a better apartment." "I am free, then," said I. "Speak! fear not!
I can moderate my transports."
"Then you are free!" was the reply.
The sub-governor first embraced me, and afterwards his attendants.
He asked me what clothes I would wish. I answered, the uniform of my
regiment. The tailor took my measure. Reichmann told him it must be
made by the morning. The man excused himself because it was Christmas
Eve. "So, then, this gentleman must remain in his dungeon because it is
holiday with you." The tailor promised to be ready.
I was taken to the guard-room, congratulations were universal, and the
town-major administered the oath customary to all state prisoners.
1st. That I should avenge myself on no man.
2nd. That I should neither enter the Prussian nor Saxon states.
3rd. That I should never relate by speech or in writing what had
happened to me.
4th. And that, so long as the King lived, I should neither serve in a
civil nor military capacity.
Count Schlieben delivered me a letter from the imperial minister, General
Reidt, to the following purport:--That he rejoiced at having found an
opportunity of obtaining my liberty from the King, and that I must obey
the requisitions of Count Schlieben, whose orders were to accompany me to
Prague.
"Yes, dear Trenck," said Schlieben, "I am to conduct you through Dresden
to Prague, with orders not to suffer you to speak to any one on the road.
I have received three hundred ducats, to defray the expenses of
travelling. As all things cannot be prepared today, the, sub-governor
has determined we shall depart to-morrow night."
I acquiesced, and Count Schlieben remained with me; the others returned
to town, and I dined with the major and officers on guard, with General
Walrabe in his prison.
Once at liberty, I walked about the fortifications, to collect the money
I had concealed in my dungeon. To every man on guard I gave a ducat, to
the sentinels, each three, and ten ducats to be divided among the relief-
guard. I sent the officer on guard a present from Prague, and the
remainder of my money I bestowed on the widow of the worthy Gelfhardt. He
was no more, and she had entrusted the thousand florins to a young
soldier, who, spending them too freely, was suspected, betrayed her, and
she passed two years in prison. Gelfhardt never received any punishment;
he was in the field. Had he left any children, I should have provided
for them. To the widow of the man who hung himself before my prison
door, in the year 1756, I gave thirty ducats, lent me by Schlieben.
The night was riotous, the guard made merry, and I passed most of it in
their company. I was visited by all the generals of the garrison on
Christmas morning, for I was not allowed to enter the town. I dressed,
viewed myself in the glass, and found pleasure; but the tumult of my
passions, the congratulations I received, and the vivacity round me,
prevented my remembering incidents minutely.
Yet how wonderful an alteration in the countenances of those by whom I
had been guarded! I was treated with friendship, attention, and
flattery. And why? Because these fetters had dropped off which I had
never justly borne.
Evening came, and with it Count Schlieben, a waggon, and four
post-horses. After an affecting farewell, we departed. I shed tears at
leaving Magdeburg. It seems strange that I lived here ten years, yet
never saw the town.
The duration of my imprisonment at Magdeburg was nearly ten years, and
with the term of my imprisonment at Glatz, the time is eleven years. Thus
was I robbed of time, my body weakened, my health impaired, so that in my
decline of life, a second time, I suffer the gloom and chains of the
dungeon at Magdeburg.
The reader would now hope that my calamities were at an end; yet, upon my
honour, I would prefer the suffering of the Star Fort to those I have
since endured in Austria, especially while Krugel and Zetto were my
referendaries and curators.
At this moment I am obliged to be guarded in my expressions. I have put
my enemies to shame; but the hope of justice or reward is vain. No
rewards are bestowed on him who, with the consciousness of integrity,
demands, and does not deplore. The facts I shall relate will seem
incredible, yet I have, in my own hands, the vouchers of their veracity.
"If my right hand is guilty of writing untruths in this book, may the
executioner sever it from my body, and, in the memory of posterity, may I
live a villain!"
I will proceed with my history.
On the 2nd of January I arrived, with Count Schlieben, at Prague; the
same day he delivered me to the governor, the Duke of Deuxponts. He
received me with kindness; we dined with him two days, and all Prague
were anxious to see a man who had surmounted ten years of suffering so
unheard of as mine. Here I received three thousand florins, and paid
General Reidt his three hundred ducats, which he had advanced Count
Schlieben, for my journey, the repayment of which he demanded in his
letter, although he had received ten thousand florins. The expense of
returning I also paid to Schlieben, made him a present, and provided
myself with some necessaries. After remaining a few days at Prague, a
courier arrived from Vienna, to whom I was obliged to pay forty florins,
with an order from government to bring me from Prague to Vienna. My
sword was demanded; Captain Count Wela, and two inferior officers,
entered the carriage, which I was obliged to purchase, in company with
me, and brought me to Vienna. I took up a thousand florins more, in
Prague, to defray these expenses, and was obliged, in Vienna, to pay the
captain fifty ducats for travelling charges back.
I was brought back like a criminal, was sent as a prisoner to the
barracks, there kept in the chamber of Lieutenant Blonket, with orders
that I should be suffered to write to no one, speak to no one, without a
ticket from the counsellors Kempt or Huttner.
Thus I remained six weeks; at length, the colonel of the regiment of
Poniatowsky, the present field-marshal, Count Alton, spoke to me. I
related what I supposed were the reasons of my being kept a prisoner in
Vienna; and to the exertions of this man am I indebted that the
intentions of my enemies were frustrated, which were to have me
imprisoned as insane in the fortress of Glatz. Had they once removed me
from Vienna, I should certainly have pined away my life in a madhouse.
Yet I could never obtain justice against these men. The Empress was
persuaded that my brain was affected, and that I uttered threats against
the King of Prussia. The election of a king of the Romans was then in
agitation, and the court was apprehensive lest I should offend the
Prussian envoy. General Reidt had been obliged to promise Frederic that
I should not appear in Vienna, and that they should hold a wary eye over
me. The Empress-Queen felt compassion for my supposed disease, and asked
if no assistance could be afforded me; to which they answered, I had
several times let blood, but that I still was a dangerous man. They
added, that I had squandered four thousand florins in six days at Prague;
that it would be proper to appoint guardians to impede such
extravagancies.
Count Alton spoke of me and my hard destiny to the Countess Parr,
mistress of the ceremonies to the Empress-Queen. The late Emperor
entered the chamber, and asked whether I ever had any lucid intervals.
"May it please your Majesty," answered Alton, "he has been seven weeks in
my barracks, and I never met a more reasonable man. There is mystery in
this affair, or he could not be treated as a madman. That he is not so
in anywise I pledge my honour."
The next day the Emperor sent Count Thurn, grand-master of the Archduke
Leopold, to speak to me. In him I found an enlightened philosopher, and
a lover of his country. To him I related how I had twice been betrayed,
twice sold at Vienna, during my imprisonment; to him showed that my
administrators had acted in this vile manner that I might be imprisoned
for life, and they remain in possession of my effects. We conversed for
two hours, during which many things were said that prudence will not
permit me to repeat. I gained his confidence, and he continued my friend
till death. He promised me protection, and procured me an audience of
the Emperor.
I spoke with freedom; the audience lasted an hour. At length the Emperor
retired into the next apartment. I saw the tears drop from his eyes. I
fell at his feet, and wished for the presence of a Rubens or Apelles, to
preserve a scene so honourable to the memory of the monarch, and paint
the sensations of an innocent man, imploring the protection of a
compassionate prince. The Emperor tore himself from me, and I departed
with sensations such as only those can know who, themselves being
virtuous, have met with wicked men. I returned to the barracks with joy,
and an order the next day came for my release. I went with Count Alton
to the Countess Parr, and by her mediation I obtained an audience with
the Empress.
I cannot describe how much she pitied my sufferings and admired my
fortitude. She told me she was informed of the artifices practised
against me in Vienna; she required me to forgive my enemies, and pass all
the accounts of my administrators. "Do not complain of anything," said
she, "but act as I desire--I know all--you shall be recompensed by me;
you deserve reward and repose, and these you shall enjoy."
I must either sign whatever was given to sign, or be sent to a madhouse.
I received orders to accompany M. Pistrich to Counsellor Ziegler; thither
I went, and the next day was obliged to sign, in their presence, the
following conditions:--
First--That I acknowledged the will of Trenck to be valid.
Secondly--That I renounced all claim to the Sclavonian estates, relying
alone on her Majesty's favour.
Thirdly--That I solemnly acquitted my accountants and curators. And,
Lastly--That I would not continue in Vienna.
This I must sign, or languish in prison.
How did my blood boil while I signed! This confidence I had in myself
assured me I could obtain employment in any country of Europe, by the
labours of my mind, and the recital of all my woes. At that time I had
no children; I little regretted what I had lost, or the poor portion that
remained.
I determined to avoid Austria eternally. My pride would never suffer me,
by insidious arts, to approach the throne. I knew no such mode of
soliciting for justice, hence I was not a match for my enemies; hence my
misfortunes. Appeals to justice were represented as the splenetic
effusions of a man never to be satisfied. My too sensitive heart was
corroded by the treatment I met at Vienna. I, who with so much fortitude
had suffered so much in the cause of Vienna, I, on whom the eyes of
Germany were fixed, to behold what should be the reward of these
sufferings, I was again, in this country, kept a prisoner, and delivered
to those by whom I had been plundered as a man insane!
Before my intended departure to seek my fortune, I fell ill, and sickness
almost brought me to the grave. The Empress, in her great clemency, sent
one of her physicians and a friar to my assistance, both of whom I was
obliged to pay.
At this time I refused a major's commission, for which I was obliged to
pay the fees. Being excluded from actual service, to me the title was of
little value; my rank in the army had been equal ten years before in
other service. The following words, inserted in my commission, are not
unworthy of remark:--"Her Majesty, in consequence of my fidelity for her
service, demonstrated during a long imprisonment, my endowments and
virtues, had been graciously pleased to grant me, in the Imperial
service, the rank of major."--The rank of major!--From this preamble who
would not have expected either the rank of general, or the restoration of
my great Sclavonian estates? I had been fifteen years a captain of
cavalry, and then was I made an invalid major three-and-twenty years ago,
and an invalid major I still remain! Let all that has been related be
called to mind, the manner in which I had been pillaged and betrayed; let
Vienna, Dantzic, and Magdeburg he remembered; and be this my promotion
remembered also! Let it be known that the commission of major might be
bought for a few thousand florins! Thirty thousand florins only of the
money I had been robbed of would have purchased a colonel's commission. I
should then have been a companion for generals.
During the thirty-six years that I have been in the service of Austria, I
never had any man of rank, any great general, my enemy, except Count
Grassalkowitz, and he was only my enemy because he had conceived a
friendship for my estates.
My character was never calumniated, nor did any worthy man ever speak of
me but with respect. Who were, who are, my enemies?--Jesuits, monks,
unprincipled advocates, wishing to become my curators, referendaries, who
died despicable, or now live in houses of correction. Such as live, live
in dread of a similar end, for the Emperor Joseph is able to discover the
truth. Alas! the truth is discovered so late; age has now nearly
rendered me an invalid. Men with hearts so base ought, indeed, to become
the scavengers of society, that, terrified by their example, succeeding
judges may not rack the heart of an honest man, seize on the possessions
of the orphan and the widow, and expel virtue out of Austria.
I attended the levee of Prince Kaunitz. Not personally known to him, he
viewed in me a crawling insect. I thought somewhat more proudly; my
actions were upright, and so should my body be. I quitted the apartment,
and was congratulated by the mercenary Swiss porter on my good fortune of
having obtained an audience!
I applied to the field-marshal, from whom I received this answer--"If you
cannot purchase, my dear Trenck, it will be impossible to admit you into
service; besides, you are too old to learn our manoeuvres." I was then
thirty-seven. I briefly replied, "Your excellency mistakes my character.
I did not come to Vienna to serve as an invalid major. My curators have
taken good care I should have no money to purchase; but had I millions, I
would never obtain rank in the army by that mode." I quitted the room
with a shrug. The next day I addressed a memorial to the Empress. I did
not re-demand my Sclavonian estates, I only petitioned.
First--That those who had carried off quintals of silver and gold from
the premises, and had rendered no account to me or the treasury, should
refund at least a part.
Secondly--That they should be obliged to return the thirty-six thousand
florins taken from my inheritance, and applied to a hospital.
Thirdly--That the thirty-six thousand florins might be repaid, which
Count Grassalkowitz had deducted from the allodial estates, for three
thousand six hundred pandours who had fallen in the service of the
Empress; I not being bound to pay for the lives of men who had died in
defence of the Empress.
Fourthly--I required that fifteen thousand florins, which had been
deducted from my capital, and applied to the Bohemian fortifications,
should likewise be restored, together with the fifteen thousand which had
been unduly paid to the regiment of Trenck.
Fifthly--I reclaimed the twelve thousand florins which I had been robbed
of at Dantzic by the treachery of the Imperial Resident, Abramson; and
public satisfaction from the magistracy of Dantzic, who had delivered me
up, so contrary to the laws of nations, to the Prussian power.
I likewise claimed the interest of six per cent, for seventy-six thousand
florins, detained by the Hungarian Chamber, which amounted to twenty
thousand florins; I having been allowed five per cent., and at last four.
I insisted on the restoration of my Sclavonian estates, and a proper
allowance for improvements, which the very sentence of the court had
granted, and which amounted to eighty thousand florins.
I petitioned for an arbitrator; I solicited justice concerning rights,
but received no answer to this and a hundred other petitions!
I must here speak of transactions during my imprisonment. I had bought a
house in Vienna in the year 1750; the price was sixteen thousand florins,
thirteen thousand of which I had paid by instalments. The receipts were
among my writings; these writings, with my other effects, were taken from
me at Dantzic, in the year 1754; nor have I, to this hour, been able to
learn more than that my writings were sent to the administrators of my
affairs at Vienna. With respect to my houses and property in Dantzic, in
what manner these were disposed of no one could or would say.
After being released at Magdeburg, I inquired concerning my house, but no
longer found it mine. Those who had got possession of my writings must
have restored the acquittances to the seller, consequently he could re-
demand the whole sum. My house was in other hands, and I was brought in
debtor six thousand florins for interest and costs of suit. Thus were
house and money gone. Whom can I accuse?
Again, I had maintained, at my own expense Lieutenant Schroeder, who had
deserted from Glatz, and for whom I obtained a captain's commission in
the guard of Prince Esterhazy, at Eisenstadt. His misconduct caused him
to be cashiered. In my administrator's accounts I found the following
"To Captain Schroeder, for capital, interest, and costs of suit, sixteen
hundred florins."
It was certain I was not a penny indebted to this person; I had no
redress, having been obliged to pass and sign all their accounts.
I, four years afterwards, obtained information concerning this affair: I
met Schroeder, knew him, and inquired whether he had received these
sixteen hundred florins. He answered in the affirmative. "No one
believed you would ever more see the light. I knew you would serve me,
and that you would relieve my necessities. I went and spoke to Dr.
Berger; he agreed we should halve the sum, and his contrivance was, I
should make oath I had lent you a thousand florins, without having
received your note. The money was paid me by M. Frauenberger, to whom I
agreed to send a present of Tokay, for Madam Huttner."
This was the manner in which my curators took care of my property! Many
instances I could produce, but I am too much agitated by the
recollection. I must speak a word concerning who and what my curators
were.
The Court Counsellor, Kempf, was my administrator, and Counsellor Huttner
my referendary. The substitute of Kempf was Frauenberger, who, being
obliged to act as a clerk at Prague during the war, appointed one Krebs
as a sub-substitute; whether M. Krebs had also a sub-substitute is more
than I am able to say.
Dr. Bertracker was _fidei commiss-curator_, though there was no _fidei
commissum_ existing. Dr. Berger, as Fidei Commiss-Advocate, was
superintendent, and to them all salaries were to be paid.
Let us see what was the business this company had to transact. I had
seventy-six thousand florins in the Hungarian Chamber, the interest of
which was to be yearly received, and added to the capital: this was their
employment, and was certainly so trifling that any man would have
performed it gratis. The war made money scarce, and the discounting of
bills with my ducats was a profitable trade to my curators. Had it been
honestly employed, I should have found my capital increased, after my
imprisonment, full sixty thousand florins. Instead of these I received
three thousand florins at Prague, and found my capital diminished seven
thousand florins.
Frauenberger and Berger died rich; and I must be confined as a madman,
lest this deputy should have been proved a rogue. This is the clue to
the acquittal I was obliged to sign:--Madam K--- was a lady of the
bedchamber at court; she could approach the throne: her chamber
employments, indeed, procured her the keys of doors that to me were
eternally locked.
Not satisfied with this, Kempf applied to the Empress, informed her they
were acquitted, not recompensed, and that Frauenberger required four
thousand florins for remuneration. The Empress laid an interdict on the
half of my income and pension. Thus was I obliged to live in poverty;
banished the Austrian dominions, where my seventy-six thousand florins
were reduced to sixty-three, the interest of which I could only receive;
and that burthened by the above interdict, the _fidei commissum_, and
administratorship.
The Empress during my sickness ordered that my captain's pay, during my
ten years' imprisonment, should be given me, amounting to eight thousand
florins; which pay she also settled on me as a pension. By this pension
I never profited; for, during twenty-three years, that and more was
swallowed by journeys to Vienna, chicanery of courtiers and agents, and
costs of suits. Of the eight thousand florins three were stolen; the
court physician must be paid thrice as much as another, and what remained
after my recovery was sunk in the preparations I had made to seek my
fortune elsewhere.
How far my captain's pay was matter of right or favour, let the world
judge, being told I went in the service of Vienna to the city of Dantzic.
Neither did this restitution of pay equal the sum I had sent the Imperial
Minister to obtain my freedom. I remained nine months in my dungeon
after the articles were signed, unthought of; and, when mentioned by the
Austrians, the King had twice rejected the proposal of my being set free.
The affair happened as follows, as I received it from Prince Henry,
Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, and the Minister, Count Hertzberg:--General
Reidt had received my ten thousand florins full six months, and seemed to
remember me no more. One gala day, on the 21st of December, the King
happened to be in good humour; and Her Majesty the Queen, the Princess
Amelia, and the present monarch, said to the Imperial Minister, "This is
a fit opportunity for you to speak in behalf of Trenck." He accordingly
waited his time, did speak, and the King replied, "Yes."
The joy of the whole company appeared so great that Frederic _the Great_
was offended!
Other circumstances which contributed to promote this affair, the reader
will collect from my history. That there were persons in Vienna who
desired to detain me in prison is indubitable, from their proceedings
after my return. My friends in Berlin and my money were my deliverers.
Walking round Vienna, having recovered from my sickness, the broad
expanse of heaven inspired a consciousness of freedom and pleasure
indescribable. I heard the song of the lark. My heart palpitated, my
pulse quickened, for I recollected I was not in chains. "Happen," said
I, "what may, my will and heart are free."
An incident happened which furthered my project of getting away from
Austria. Marshal Laudohn was going to Aix-la-Chapelle to take the
waters. He went to take his leave of the Countess Parr; I was present
the Empress entered the chamber, and the conversation turning upon
Laudohn's journey, she said to me, "The baths are necessary to the re-
establishment of your health, Trenck." I was ready, and followed him in
two days, where we remained about three months.
The mode of life at Aix-la-Chapelle and Spa pleased me, where men of all
nations meet, and where princes mingle with persons of all ranks. One
day here procured me more pleasure than a whole life in Vienna.
I had scarcely remained a month before the Countess Parr wrote to me that
the Empress had provided for me, and would make my fortune as soon as I
returned to Vienna. I tried to discover in what it consisted, but in
vain. The death of the Emperor Francis at Innsbruck occasioned the
return of General Laudohn, and I followed him, on foot, to Vienna.
By means of the Countess Parr I obtained an audience. The Empress said
to me, "I will prove to you, Trenck, that I keep my word. I have insured
your fortune; I will give you a rich and prudent wife." I replied, "Most
gracious Sovereign, I cannot determine to marry, and, if I could, my
choice is already made at Aix-la-Chapelle."--"How! are you married,
then?"--"Not yet, please your Majesty."--"Are you promised?"
"Yes."--"Well, well, no matter for that; I will take care of that affair;
I am determined on marrying you to the rich widow of M---, and she
approves my choice. She is a good, kind woman, and has fifty thousand
florins a year. You are in want of such a wife."
I was thunderstruck. This bride was a canting hypocrite of sixty-three,
covetous, and a termagant. I answered, "I must speak the truth to your
Majesty; I could not consent did she possess the treasures of the whole
earth. I have made my choice, which, as an honest man, I must not
break." The Empress said, "Your unhappiness is your own work. Act as
you think proper; I have done." Here my audience ended. I was not
actually affianced at that time to my present wife, but love had
determined my choice.
Marshal Laudohn promoted the match. He was acquainted with my heart and
the warmth of my passion, and perceived that I could not conquer the
desire of vengeance on men by whom I had been so cruelly treated. He and
Professor Gellert advised me to take this mode of calming passions that
often inspired projects too vast, and that I should fly the company of
the great. This counsel was seconded by my own wishes. I returned to
Aix-la-Chapelle in December, 1766, and married the youngest daughter of
the former Burgomaster De Broe. He was dead; he had lived on his own
estate in Brussels, where my wife was born and educated. My wife's
mother was sister to the Vice-Chancellor of Dusseldorf, Baron Robert,
Lord of Roland. My wife was with me in most parts of Europe. She was
then young, handsome, worthy, and virtuous, has borne me eleven children,
all of whom she has nursed herself; eight of them are still living and
have been properly educated. Twenty-two years she has borne a part of
all my sufferings, and well deserves reward.
During my abode in Vienna I made one effort more. I sought an audience
with the present Emperor Joseph, related all that had happened to me, and
remarked such defects as I had observed in the regulations of the
country. He heard me, and commanded me to commit my thoughts to writing.
My memorial was graciously received. I also gave a full account of what
had happened to me in various countries, which prudence has occasioned me
to express more cautiously in these pages. My memorial produced no
effect, and I hastened back to Aix-la-Chapelle.