Ever since the end of November last year, Crown-Prince Friedrich, in
the eclipsed state, at Custrin, has been prosecuting his probationary
course, in the Domain Sciences and otherwise, with all the patience,
diligence and dexterity he could. It is false, what one reads in some
foolish Books, that Friedrich neglected the functions assigned him as
assessor in the KRIEGS-UND DOMANEN-KAMMER. That would not have been the
safe course for him! The truth still evident is, he set himself with
diligence to learn the Friedrich-Wilhelm methods of administering
Domains, and the art of Finance in general, especially of Prussian
Finance, the best extant then or since;--Finance, Police, Administrative
Business;--and profited well by the Raths appointed as tutors to him,
in the respective branches. One Hille was his Finance-tutor; whose
"KOMPENDIUM," drawn up and made use of on this occasion, has been
printed in our time; and is said to be, in brief compass, a
highly instructive Piece; throwing clear light on the exemplary
Friedrich-Wilhelm methods. [Preuss, i. 59 n.] These the Prince did
actually learn; and also practise, all his life,--"essentially following
his Father's methods," say the Authorities,--with great advantage to
himself, when the time came.
Solid Nicolai hunted diligently after traces of him in the Assessor
business here; and found some: Order from Papa, to "make Report, upon
the Glass-works of the Neumark:" Autograph signatures to common Reports,
one or two; and some traditions of his having had a hand in planning
certain Farm-Buildings still standing in those parts:--but as the
Kammer Records of Custrin, and Custrin itself, were utterly burnt by the
Russians in 1758, such traces had mostly vanished thirty years before
Nicolai's time. [Nicolai, _Anekdoten,_ vi. 193.] Enough have turned up
since, in the form of Correspondence with the King and otherwise: and it
is certain the Crown-Prince did plan Farm-Buildings;--"both Carzig and
Himmelstadt (Carzig now called FRIEDRICHSFELDE in consequence)," [See
Map] dim mossy Steadings, which pious Antiquarianism can pilgrim to if
it likes, were built or rebuilt by him:--and it is remarkable withal how
thoroughly instructed Friedrich Wilhelm shows himself in such matters;
and how paternally delighted to receive such proposals of improvement
introducible at the said Carzig and Himmelstadt, and to find young
Graceless so diligent, and his ideas even good. [Forster, ii. 390, 387,
391.] Perhaps a momentary glance into those affairs may be permitted
farther on.
The Prince's life, in this his eclipsed state, is one of constraint,
anxiety, continual liability; but after the first months are well over,
it begins to be more supportable than we should think. He is fixed to
the little Town; cannot be absent any night, without leave from the
Commandant; which, however, and the various similar restrictions, are
more formal than real. An amiable Crown-Prince, no soul in Custrin but
would run by night or by day to serve him. He drives and rides about, in
that green peaty country, on Domain business, on visits, on permissible
amusement, pretty much at his own modest discretion. A green flat
region, made of peat and sand; human industry needing to be always busy
on it: raised causeways with incessant bridges, black sedgy ditch on
this hand and that; many meres, muddy pools, stagnant or flowing waters
everywhere; big muddy Oder, of yellowish-drab color, coming from the
south, big black Warta (Warthe) from the Polish fens in the east, the
black and yellow refusing to mingle for some miles. Nothing of the
picturesque in this country; but a good deal of the useful, of the
improvable by economic science; and more of fine productions in it, too,
of the floral, and still more interesting sorts, than you would suspect
at first sight. Friedrich's worst pinch was his dreadful straitness of
income; checking one's noble tendencies on every hand: but the gentry
of the district privately subscribed gifts for him (SE COTISIRENT,
says Wilhelmina); and one way and other he contrived to make ends meet.
Munchow, his President in the Kammer, next to whom sits Friedrich,
"King's place standing always ready but empty there," is heartily his
friend; the Munchows are diligent in getting up balls, rural gayeties,
for him; so the Hilles,--nay Hille, severe Finance Tutor, has a Mamsell
Hille whom it is pleasant to dance with; [Preuss, i. 59.] nor indeed
is she the only fascinating specimen, or flower of loveliness, in those
peaty regions, as we shall see. On the whole, his Royal Highness,
after the first paroxysms of Royal suspicion are over, and forgiveness
beginning to seem possible to the Royal mind, has a supportable time of
it; and possesses his soul in patience, in activity and hope.
Unpermitted things, once for all, he must avoid to do: perhaps he will
gradually discover that many of them were foolish things better not
done. He walks warily; to this all things continually admonish. We trace
in him some real desire to be wise, to do and learn what is useful if
he can here. But the grand problem, which is reality itself to him,
is always, To regain favor with Papa. And this, Papa being what he is,
gives a twist to all other problems the young man may have, for
they must all shape themselves by this; and introduces something of
artificial,--not properly of hypocritical, for that too is fatal if
found out,--but of calculated, reticent, of half-sincere, on the Son's
part: an inevitable feature, plentifully visible in their Correspondence
now and henceforth. Corresponding with Papa and his Grumkow, and
watched, at every step, by such an Argus as the Tobacco-Parliament,
real frankness of speech is not quite the recommendable thing; apparent
frankness may be the safer! Besides mastery in the Domain Sciences, I
perceive the Crown-Prince had to study here another art, useful to him
in after life: the art of wearing among his fellow-creatures a polite
cloak-of-darkness. Gradually he becomes master of it as few are: a man
politely impregnable to the intrusion of human curiosity; able to look
cheerily into the very eyes of men, and talk in a social way face to
face, and yet continue intrinsically invisible to them. An art no less
essential to Royalty than that of the Domain Sciences itself; and,--if
at all consummately done, and with a scorn of mendacity for help, as in
this case,--a difficult art. It is the chief feature in the Two or
Three Thousand LETTERS we yet have of Friedrich's to all manner of
correspondents: Letters written with the gracefulest flowing rapidity;
polite, affable,--refusing to give you the least glimpse into his real
inner man, or tell you any particular you might impertinently wish to
know.
As the History of Friedrich, in this Custrin epoch, and indeed in all
epochs and parts, is still little other than a whirlpool of simmering
confusions, dust mainly, and sibylline paper-shreds, in the pages of
poor Dryasdust, perhaps we cannot do better than snatch a shred or two
(of the partly legible kind, or capable of being made legible) out of
that hideous caldron; pin them down at their proper dates; and try if
the reader can, by such means, catch a glimpse of the thing with his own
eyes. Here is shred first; a Piece in Grumkow's hand.
This treats of a very grand incident; which forms an era or
turning-point in the Custrin life. Majesty has actually, after hopes
long held out of such a thing, looked in upon the Prodigal at Custrin,
in testimony of possible pardon in the distance;--sees him again, for
the first time since that scene at Wesel with the drawn sword, after
year and day. Grumkow, for behoof of Seckendorf and the Vienna people,
has drawn a rough "Protocol" of it; and here it is, snatched from the
Dust-whirlwinds, and faithfully presented to the English reader. His
Majesty is travelling towards Sonnenburg, on some grand Knight-of-Malta
Ceremony there; and halts at Custrin for a couple of hours as he
passes:--
GRUMKOW'S "PROTOKOLL" OF THE 15th AUGUST, 1731; OR SUMMARY OF WHAT TOOK
PLACE AT CUSTRIN THAT DAY.
"His Majesty arrived at Custrin yesterday [GESTERN Monday 15th,--hour
not mentioned], and proceeded at once to the Government House, with an
attendance of several hundred persons. Major-General Lepel," Commandant
of Custrin, "Colonel Derschau and myself are immediately sent for to
his Majesty's apartment there. Privy-Councillor Walden," Prince's
Hofmarschall, a solid legal man, "is ordered by his Majesty to bring
the Crown-Prince over from his house; who accordingly in a few minutes,
attended by Rohwedel and Natzmer," the two Kammerjunkers, "entered the
room where his Majesty and we were.
"So soon as his Majesty, turning round, had sight of him, the
Crown-Prince fell at his feet. Having bidden him rise, his Majesty said
with a severe mien:--
"'You will now bethink yourself what passed year and day ago; and
how scandalously you saw fit to behave yourself, and what a godless
enterprise you took in hand. As I have had you about me from the
beginning, and must know you well, I did all in the world that was in my
power, by kindness and by harshness, to make an honorable man of you. As
I rather suspected your evil purpose, I treated you in the harshest and
sharpest way in the Saxon Camp,' at Radewitz, in those gala days, 'in
hopes you would consider yourself, and take another line of conduct;
would confess your faults to me, and beg forgiveness. But all in vain;
you grew ever more stiffnecked. When a young man gets into follies with
women, one may try to overlook it as the fault of his age: but to do
with forethought basenesses (LACHETEEN) and ugly actions; 'that is
unpardonable. You thought to carry it through with your headstrong
humor: but hark ye, my lad (HORE, MEIN KERL), if thou wert sixty or
seventy instead of eighteen, thou couldst not cross my resolutions.'
It would take a bigger man to do that, my lad! 'And as, up to this date
(BIS DATO) I have managed to sustain myself against any comer, there
will be methods found of bringing thee to reason too!--
"'How have not I, on all occasions, meant honorably by you! Last time I
got wind of your debts, how did I, as a Father, admonish you to tell me
all; I would pay all, you were only to tell me the truth. Whereupon you
said, There were still two thousand thalers beyond the sum named. I paid
these also at once; and fancied I had made peace with you. And then it
was found, by and by, you owed many thousands more; and as you now knew
you could not pay, it was as good as if the money had been stolen;--not
to reckon how the French vermin, Montholieu and partner, cheated you
with their new loans.' Pfui!--'Nothing touched me so much [continues his
Majesty, verging towards the pathetic], as that you had not any trust in
me. All this that I was doing for aggrandizement of the House, the Army
and Finances, could only be for you, if you made yourself worthy of it!
I here declare I have done all things to gain your friendship;--and
all has been in vain!' At which words the Crown-Prince, with a very
sorrowful gesture, threw himself at his Majesty's feet,"--tears
(presumably) in both their eyes by this time.
"'Was it not your intention to go to England?' asked his Majesty farther
on. The Prince answered 'JA!'--'Then hear what the consequences would
have been. Your Mother would have got into the greatest misery; I could
not but have suspected she was the author of the business. Your Sister I
would have cast, for life, into a place where she never would have seen
sun and moon again. Then on with my Army into Hanover, and burn and
ravage; yes, if it had cost me life, land and people. Your thoughtless
and godless conduct, see what it was leading to. I intended to employ
you in all manner of business, civil, military; but how, after such an
action, could I show the face of you to my Officers (soldiers) and
other servants?--The one way of repairing all this is, That you seek,
regardless of your very life in comparison, to make the fault good
again!' At which words the Crown-Prince mournfully threw himself at
his Royal Majesty's feet; begging to be put upon the hardest proofs:
He would endure all things, so as to recover his Majesty's grace and
esteem.
"Whereupon the King asked him: 'Was it thou that temptedst Katte; or
did Katte tempt thee?' The Crown-Prince without hesitation answered, 'I
tempted him.'--'I am glad to hear the truth from you, at any rate.'"
The Dialogue now branches out, into complex general form; out of which,
intent upon abridging, we gather the following points. King LOQUITUR:--
"How do you like your Custrin life? Still as much aversion to
Wusterhausen, and to wearing your shroud [STERBEKITTEL, name for the
tight uniform you would now be so glad of, and think quite other than a
shroud!] as you called it?" Prince's answer wanting.--"Likely enough my
company does not suit you: I have no French manners, and cannot bring
out BON-MOTS in the PETIT-MAITRE way; and truly regard all that as a
thing to be flung to the dogs. I am a German Prince, and mean to live
and die in that character. But you can now say what you have got by your
caprices and obstinate heart; hating everything that I liked; and if I
distinguished any one, despising him! If an Officer was put in arrest,
you took to lamenting about him. Your real friends, who intended
your good, you hated and calumniated; those that flattered you, and
encouraged your bad purpose, you caressed. You see what that has come
to. In Berlin, in all Prussia for some time back, nobody asks after you,
Whether you are in the world or not; and were it not one or the other
coming from Custrin who reports you as playing tennis and wearing French
hair-bags, nobody would know whether you were alive or dead."
Hard sayings; to which the Prince's answers (if there were any beyond
mournful gestures) are not given. We come now upon Predestination, or
the GNADENWAHL; and learn (with real interest, not of the laughing
sort alone) how his "Majesty, in the most conclusive way, set forth the
horrible results of that Absolute-Decree notion; which makes out God
to be the Author of Sin, and that Jesus Christ died only for some! Upon
which the Crown-Prince vowed and declared (HOCH UND THEUER), he was now
wholly of his Majesty's orthodox opinion."
The King, now thoroughly moved, expresses satisfaction at the orthodoxy;
and adds with enthusiasm, "When godless fellows about you speak against
your duties to God, the King and your Country, fall instantly on your
knees, and pray with your whole soul to Jesus Christ to deliver you from
such wickedness, and lead you on better ways. And if it come in earnest
from your heart, Jesus, who would have all men saved, will not leave you
unheard." No! And so may God in his mercy aid you, poor son Fritz. And
as for me, in hopes the time coming will show fruits, I forgive you what
is past.--To which the Crown-Prince answered with monosyllables, with
many tears; "kissing his Majesty's feet;"--and as the King's eyes were
not dry, he withdrew into another room; revolving many things in his
altered soul.
"It being his Majesty's birthday [4th August by OLD STYLE, 15th by NEW,
forty-third birthday], the Prince, all bewept and in emotion, followed
his Father; and, again falling prostrate, testified such heartfelt joy,
gratitude and affection over this blessed anniversary, as quite touched
the heart of Papa; who at last clasped him in his arms [poor soul, after
all!], and hurried out to avoid blubbering quite aloud. He stept into
his carriage," intending for Sonnenburg (chiefly by water) this evening,
where a Serene Cousin, one of the Schwedt Margraves, Head Knight of
Malta, has his establishment.
"The Crown-Prince followed his Majesty out; and, in the presence of many
hundred people, kissed his Majesty's feet" again (linen gaiters, not
Day-and-Martin shoes); "and was again embraced by his Majesty, who said,
'Behave well, as I see you mean, and I will take care of you,' which
threw the Crown-Prince into such an ecstasy of joy as no pen
can express;" and so the carriages rolled away,--towards the
Knights-of-Malta business and Palace of the Head Knight of Malta, in the
first place. [Forster, iii. 50-54.]
These are the main points, says Grumkow, reporting next day; and the
reader must interpret them as he can, A Crown-Prince with excellent
histrionic talents, thinks the reader. Well; a certain exaggeration,
immensity of wish becoming itself enthusiasm; somewhat of that: but
that is by no means the whole or even the main part of the phenomenon,
O reader. This Crown-Prince has a real affection to his Father, as we
shall in time convince ourselves. Say, at lowest, a Crown-Prince loyal
to fact; able to recognize overwhelming fact, and aware that he must
surrender thereto. Surrender once made, the element much clears itself;
Papa's side of the question getting fairly stated for the first time.
Sure enough, Papa, is God's Vicegerent in several undeniable respects,
most important some of them: better try if we can obey Papa.
Dim old Fassmann yields a spark or two,--as to his Majesty's errand at
Sonnenburg. Majesty is going to preside to-morrow "at the Installation
of young Margraf Karl, new HERRMEISTER (Grand-Master) of the Knights
of St. John" there; "the Office having suddenly fallen vacant lately."
Office which is an heirloom;--usually held by one of the Margraves,
half-uncles of the King,--some junior of them, not provided for
at Schwedt or otherwise. Margraf Albert, the last occupant, an old
gentleman of sixty, died lately, "by stroke of apoplexy while at
dinner;" [21st June, 1731: Fassmann, p. 423; Pollnitz, ii. 390.]--and
his eldest Son, Margraf Karl, with whom his Majesty lodges to-night, is
now Herrmeister. "Majesty came at 6 P.M. to Sonnenburg [must have left
Custrin about five]; forty-two Ritters made at Sonnenburg next day,"--a
certain Colonel or Lieutenant-General von Wreech, whom we shall soon
see again, is one of them; Seckendorf another. "Fresh RITTER-SCHLAG
["Knight-stroke," Batch of Knights dubbed] at Sonnenburg, 29th September
next," which shall not the least concern us. Note Margraf Karl, however,
the new Herrmeister; for he proves a soldier of some mark, and will turn
up again in the Silesian Wars;--as will a poor Brother of his still more
impressively, "shot dead beside the King," on one occasion there.
We add this of Dickens, for all the Diplomatists, and a discerning
public generally, are much struck with the Event at Custrin; and take
to writing of it as news;--and "Mr. Ginkel," Dutch Ambassador here, an
ingenious, honest and observant man, well enough known to us, has
been out to sup with the Prince, next day; and thus reports of him to
Dickens: "Mr. Ginkel, who supped with the Prince on Thursday last,"
day after the Interview, "tells me that his Royal Highness is extremely
improved since he had seen him; being grown much taller; and that his
conversation is surprising for his age, abounding in good sense and the
prettiest turns of expression." [Despatch, 18th August, 1731.]
Here are other shreds, snatched from the Witch-Caldron, and pinned down,
each at its place; which give us one or two subsequent glimpses:--
POTSDAM, 21st AUGUST, 1731 (King to Wolden the Hofmarschall)....
"Crown-Prince shall travel over, and personally inspect, the following
Domains: Quartschen, Himmelstadt, Carzig, Massin, Lebus, Gollow and
Wollup," dingy moor-farms dear to Antiquarians; "travel over these and
not any other. Permission always to be asked, of his Royal Majesty, in
writing, and mention made to which of them the Crown-Prince means to go.
Some one to be always in attendance, who can give him fit instruction
about the husbandry; and as the Crown-Prince has yet only learned the
theory, he must now be diligent to learn the same practically. For
which end it must be minutely explained to him, How the husbandry is
managed,--how ploughed, manured, sown, in every particular; and what
the differences of good and bad husbandry are, so that he may be able
of himself to know and judge the same. Of Cattle-husbandry too, and the
affairs of Brewing (VIEHZUCHT UND BRAUWESEN), the due understanding
to be given him; and in the matter of Brewing, show him how things are
handled, mixed, the beer drawn off, barrelled, and all how they do
with it (WIE UBERALL DABEI VERFAHREN); also the malt, how it must be
prepared, and what like, when good. Useful discourse to be kept up with
him on these journeys; pointing out how and why this is and that, and
whether it could not be better:"--O King of a thousand!--"Has liberty to
shoot stags, moorcocks (HUHNER) and the like; and a small-hunt [KLEINE
JAGD, not a PARFORCE or big one] can be got up for his amusement now
and then;" furthermore "a little duck-shooting from boat," on the sedgy
waters there,--if the poor soul should care about it. Wolden, or one of
the Kammerjunkers, to accompany always, and be responsible. "No MADCHEN
or FRAUENSMENSCH," no shadow of womankind;--"keep an eye on him, you
three!"
These things are in the Prussian Archives; of date the week after that
interview. In two weeks farther, follows the Prince's speculation
about Carzig and the Building of a Farmstead there; with Papa's
"real contentment that you come upon such proposals, and seek to make
improvements. Only"--
WUSTERHAUSEN, 11th SEPTEMBER (King to Crown-Prince).... "Only you must
examine whether there is meadow-ground enough, and how many acres
can actually be allotted to that Farm. [Hear his Majesty!] Take a
Land-surveyor with you; and have all well considered; and exactly inform
yourself what kind of land it is, whether it can only grow rye, or
whether some of it is barley-land: you must consider it YOURSELF, and
do it all out of your own head, though you may consult with others about
it. In grazing-ground (HUTHUNG) I think it will not fail; if only the
meadow-land"--in fact, it fails in nothing; and is got all done ("wood
laid out to season straightway," and "what digging and stubbing there
is, proceeded with through the winter"): done in a successful and
instructive manner, both Carzig and Himmelstadt, though we will say
nothing farther of them. [Forster, i. 387-392.]
CUSTRIN, 22d SEPTEMBER (Crown-Prince to Papa).... "Have been at Lebus;
excellent land out there; fine weather for the husbandman." "Major
Roder," unknown Major, "passed this way; and dined with me, last
Wednesday. He has got a pretty fellow (SCHONEN KERL) for my Most
All-Gracious Father's regiment [the Potsdam Giants, where I used to be];
whom I could not look upon without bleeding heart. I depend on my Most
All-Gracious Father's Grace, that he will be good to me: I ask for
nothing and no happiness in the world but what comes from You; and hope
You will, some day, remember me in grace, and give me the Blue Coat
to put on again!" [BRIEFWECHSEL MIT VATER (OEuvres, xxvii. part 3d, p.
27).]--To which Papa answers nothing, or only "Hm, na, time MAY come!"
Carzig goes on straightway; Papa charmed to grant the moneys; "wood laid
out to season," and much "stubbing and digging" set on foot, before
the month ends. Carzig; and directly on the heel of it, on like terms,
Himmelstadt,--but of all this we must say no more. It is clear the
Prince is learning the Domain Sciences; eager to prove himself a perfect
son in the eyes of Papa. Papa, in hopeful moments, asks himself: "To
whom shall we marry him, then; how settle him?" But what the Prince,
in his own heart, thought of it all; how he looked, talked, lived, in
unofficial times? Here has a crabbed dim Document turned up, which,
if it were not nearly undecipherable to the reader and me, would throw
light on the point:--
SCHULENBURG'S THREE LETTERS TO GRUMKOW, ON VISITS TO THE CROWN-PRINCE,
DURING THE CUSTRIN TIME.
The reader knows Lieutenant-General Schulenburg; stiff little military
gentleman of grave years, nephew of the maypole EMERITA who is
called Duchess of Kendal in England. "Had a horse shot under him at
Malplaquet;" battlings and experiences enough, before and since. Has
real sense, abundant real pedantry; a Prussian soldier every inch. He
presided in the Copenick Court-martial; he is deeply concerned in these
Crown-Prince difficulties. His Majesty even honors him by expecting he
should quietly keep a monitorial eye upon the Crown-Prince;--being his
neighbor in those parts; Colonel-Commandant of a regiment of Horse at
Landsberg not many miles off. He has just been at Vienna [September,
1731 (_Militair-Lexikon,_ iii. 433).] on some "business",
(quasi-diplomatic probably, which can remain unknown to us); and has
reported upon it, or otherwise finished it off, at Berlin;--whence
rapidly home to Landsberg again. On the way homewards, and after getting
home, he writes these three Letters; off-hand and in all privacy, and
of course with a business sincerity, to Grumkow;--little thinking they
would one day get printed, and wander into these latitudes to be scanned
and scrutinized! Undoubtedly an intricate crabbed Document to us; but
then an indubitable one. Crown-Prince, Schulenburg himself, and the
actual figure of Time and Place, are here mirrored for us, with a
business sincerity, in the mind of Schulenburg,--as from an accidental
patch of water; ruffled bog-water, in sad twilight, and with sedges and
twigs intervening; but under these conditions we do look with our own
eyes!
Could not one, by any conceivable method, interpret into legibility this
abstruse dull Document; and so pick out here and there a glimpse, actual
face-to-face view, of Crown-Prince Friedrich in his light-gray frock
with the narrow silver tresses, in his eclipsed condition there in the
Custrin region? All is very mysterious about him; his inward
opinion about all manner of matters, from the GNADENWAHL to the late
Double-Marriage Question. Even his outward manner of life, in its
flesh-and-blood physiognomy,--we search in vain through tons of dusty
lucubration totally without interest, to catch here and there the corner
of a feature of it. Let us try Schulenburg. We shall know at any rate
that to Grumkow, in the Autumn 1731, these words were luculent and
significant: consciously they tell us something of young Friedrich;
unconsciously a good deal of Lieutenant-General Schulenburg, who
with his strict theologies, his military stiffnesses, his reticent,
pipe-clayed, rigorous and yet human ways, is worth looking at, as
an antique species extinct in our time. He is just home from Vienna,
getting towards his own domicile from Berlin, from Custrin, and has
seen the Prince. He writes in a wretched wayside tavern, or post-house,
between Custrin and Landsberg,--dates his letter "WIEN (Vienna)," as if
he were still in the imperial City, so off-hand is he.
No. 1. TO HIS EXCELLENZ (add a shovelful of other titles)
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL HERR BARON VON GRUMKOW, PRESIDENT OF THE KRIEGES-UND
DOMANEN-DIRECTORIUM, OF THE (in fact, Vice-President of the
Tobacco-Parliament) IN BERLIN.
"WIEN [properly Berlin-Landsberg Highway, other side of Custrin], 4th
October, 1731.
"I regret much to have missed the pleasure of seeing your Excellency
again before I left Berlin. I set off between seven and eight in the
morning yesterday, and got to Custrin [seventy miles or so] before
seven at night. But the Prince had gone, that day, to the Bailliage of
Himmelstadt" (up the Warta Country, eastward some five-and-thirty miles,
much preparatory digging and stubbing there); and he "slept at Massin
[circuitous road back], where he shot a few stags this morning. As I
was told he might probably dine at Kammin [still nearer Custrin, twelve
miles from it; half that distance east of Zorndorf,--mark that, O reader
(see Map)] with Madam Colonel Schoning, I drove thither. He had arrived
there a moment before me." And who is Madam Schoning, lady of Kammin
here?--Patience, reader.
"I found him much grown; an air of health and gayety about him. He
caressed me greatly (ME GRACIEUSA FORT); afterwards questioned me about
my way of life in Vienna; and asked, if I had diverted myself well
there? I told him what business had been the occasion of my journey,
and that this rather than amusements had occupied me; for the rest, that
there had been great affluence of company, and no lack of diversions. He
spoke a long time to Madam de Wreech "--
"Wrochem" Schulenburg calls her: young Wife of Lieutenant-General von
Wreech, a Marlborough Campaigner, made a Knight of Malta the other day;
[_Militair-Lexikon,_ iv. 269.]--HIS charming young Wife, and Daughter of
Madam Colonel Schoning our hostess here; lives at Tamsel, in high
style, in these parts: mark the young Lady well,--"who did not appear
indifferent to him." No!--"and in fact she was in all her beauty; a
complexion of lily and rose."
Charming creature; concerning whom there are anecdotes still afloat, and
at least verses of this Prince's writing; not too well seen by Wreech,
lately made a Knight of Malta, who, though only turning forty, is
perhaps twice her age. The beautifulest, cleverest,--fancy it; and
whether the peaty Neumark produces nothing in the floral kind!
"We went to dinner; he asked me to sit beside him. The conversation
fell, among other topics, on the Elector Palatine's Mistress," crotchety
old gentleman, never out of quarrels, with Heidelberg Protestants, heirs
of Julich and Berg, and in general with an unreasonable world, whom
we saw at Mannheim last year; has a Mistress,--"Elector Valatine's
Mistress, called Taxis. Crown-Prince said: 'I should like to know what
that good old gentleman does with a Mistress?' I answered, that the
fashion had come so much in vogue, Princes did not think they were
Princes unless they had mistresses; and that I was amazed at the
facility of women, how they could shut their eyes on the sad reverse of
fortune nearly inevitable for them;--and instanced the example of Madam
Gravenitz"--
"Gravenitz;" example lately fallen out at Wurtemberg, as we predicted.
Prayers of the Country, "Deliver us from evil," are now answered there:
Gravenitz quite over with it! Alas, yes; lately fallen from her high
estate in Wurtemberg, and become the topic of dinner-tables; seized by
soldiers in the night-time; vain her high refusals, assurances of being
too unwell to dress, "Shall go in your shift, then,"--is in prison,
totally eclipsed. [Michaelis, iii. 440; Pollnitz, i. 297.] Calming her
fury, she will get out; and wearisomely wander about in fashionable
capitals, TOUJOURS UN LAVEMENT A SES TROUSSES!
"There were other subjects touched upon; and I always endeavored to
deduce something of moral instruction from them," being a military
gentleman of the old school.
"Among other things, he said, He liked the great world, and was charmed
to observe the ridiculous weak side of some people. 'That is excellent,'
said I, 'if one profit by it oneself: but if it is only for amusement,
such a motive is worth little; we should rather look out for our own
ridiculous weak side.' On rising, Hofmarschall Wolden said to me,"
without much sincerity, "'YOU have done well to preach a little morality
to him.' The Prince went to a window, and beckoned me thither.
"'You have learned nothing of what is to become of me?' said he. I
answered: 'It is supposed your Royal Highness will return to Berlin,
when the Marriage [Wilhelmina's] takes place; but as to what will come
next, I have heard nothing. But as your Highness has friends, they will
not fail to do their endeavor; and M. de Grumkow has told me he would
try to persuade the King to give you a regiment, in order that your
Highness might have something to do.' It seemed as if that would give
him pleasure. I then took the liberty of saying: 'Monseigneur, the most,
at present, depends on yourself.--'How so?' asked he. I answered, 'It is
only by showing good conduct, and proofs of real wisdom and worth, that
the King's entire favor can be gained First of all, to fear God'"--And,
in fact, I launched now into a moral preachment, or discursive Dialogue,
of great length; much needing to have the skirts of it tucked up, in
a way of faithful abridgment, for behoof of poor English readers. As
follows:--
"SCHULENBURG: If your Highness behave well, the King will accord what
you want: but it is absolutely necessary to begin by that.--PRINCE: I do
nothing that can displease the King.--SCHULENBURG: It would be a little
soon yet! But I speak of the future. Your Highness, the grand thing I
recommend is to fear God! Everybody says, you have the sentiments of an
honest man; excellent, that, for a beginning; but without the fear of
God, your Highness, the passions stifle the finest sentiments. Must lead
a life clear of reproach; and more particularly on the chapter of women!
Need not imagine you can do the least thing without the King's knowing
it: if your Highness take the bad road, he will wish to correct it; the
end will be, he will bring you back to live beside him; which will
not be very agreeable.--PRINCE: Hmph, No!--SCHULENBURG: Of the ruin to
health I do not speak; I--PRINCE: Pooh, one is young, one is not master
of that;"--and, in fact, on this delicate chapter, which runs to some
length, Prince answers as wildish young fellows will; quizzing my grave
self, with glances even at his Majesty, on alleged old peccadilloes of
ours. Which allegations or inferences I rebutted with emphasis. "But,
I confess, though I employed all my rhetoric, his mind did not seem
to alter; and it will be a miracle if he change on this head." Alas,
General! Can't be helped, I fear!
"He said he was not afraid of anything so much as of living constantly
beside the King.--SCHULENBURG: Arm yourself with patience, Monseigneur,
if that happen. God has given you sense enough; persevere to use it
faithfully on all occasions, you will gain the good graces of the
King.--PRINCE: Impossible; beyond my power, indeed, said he; and made a
thousand objections.--SCHULENBURG: Your Highness is like one that will
not learn a trade because you do not already know it. Begin; you will
certainly never know it otherwise! Before rising in the morning, form a
plan for your day,"--in fact, be moral, oh, be moral!
His Highness now got upon the marriages talked of for him; an important
point for the young man. He spoke, hopefully rather, of the marriage
with the Princess of Mecklenburg,--Niece of the late Czar Peter the
Great; Daughter of that unhappy Duke who is in quarrel with his Ritters,
and a trouble to all his neighbors, and to us among the number. Readers
recollect that young Lady's Serene Mother, and a meeting she once had
with her Uncle Peter,--at Magdeburg, a dozen years ago, in a public
drawing-room with alcove near; anecdote not lightly to be printed in
human types, nor repeated where not necessary. The Mother is now dead;
Father still up to the eyes in puddle and trouble: but as for the
young Lady herself, she is Niece to the now Czarina Anne; by law of
primogeniture Heiress of all the Russias; something of a match truly!
"But there will be difficulties; your Highness to change your religion,
for one thing?--PRINCE: Won't, by any means:--SCHULENBURG: And give up
the succession to Prussia?--PRINCE: A right fool if I did!--SCHULENBURG:
Then this marriage comes to nothing.--Thereupon next he said, If the
Kaiser is so strong for us, let him give me his second Daughter;"
lucky Franz of Lorraine is to get the first.--"SCHULENBURG: Are
you serious?--PRINCE: Why not? with a Duchy or two it would do very
well.--SCHULENBURG: No Duchies possible under the Pragmatic Sanction,
your Highness: besides, your change of religion?--PRINCE: Oh, as to
that, never!--Then this marriage also comes to nothing Of the English,
and their Double-Marriage, and their Hotham brabble, he spoke lightly,
as of an extinct matter,--in terms your Excellency will like.
"But, said I, since you speak so much of marriages, I suppose you wish
to be married?--PRINCE: No; but if the King absolutely will have it, I
will marry to obey him. After that, I will shove my wife into the corner
(PLANTERAI LA MA FEMME), and live after my own fancy.--SCHULENBURG:
Horrible to think of! For, in the first place, your Highness, is it not
written in the Law of God, Adulterers shall not inherit the Kingdom of
Heaven?" And in the second place; and in the third and fourth place!--To
all which he answered as wild young fellows do, especially if you force
marriage on them. "I can perceive, if he marries, it will only be to
have more liberty than now. It is certain, if he had his elbows free, he
would strike out (S'EN DONNERAIT A GAUCHE). He said to me several
times: 'I am young; I want to profit by my youth.'" A questionable young
fellow, Herr General; especially if you force marriage on him.
"This conversation done," continues the General, "he set to talking with
the Madam Wreech," and her complexion of lily and rose; "but he did not
stay long; drove off about five [dinner at the stroke of twelve in those
countries], inviting me to see him again at Custrin, which I promised."
And so the Prince is off in the Autumn sunset, driving down the peaty
hollow of the Warta, through unpicturesque country, which produces
Wreechs and incomparable flowers nevertheless. Yes; and if he look a
six miles to the right, there is the smoke of the evening kettles from
Zorndorf, rising into the sky; and across the River, a twenty miles to
the left, is Kunersdorf: poor sleepy sandy hamlets; where nettles of the
Devil are to be plucked one day!--
"The beautiful Wreech drove off to Tamsel," her fine house; I to this
wretched tavern; where, a couple of hours after that conversation, I
began writing it all down, and have nothing else to do for the night.
Your Excellency's most moral, stiff-necked, pipe-clayed and extremely
obedient,
"VON SCHULENBUBG."
[Forster, iii. 65-71.]
This young man may be orthodox on Predestination, and outwardly growing
all that a Papa could wish; but here are strange heterodoxies, here is
plenty of mutinous capricious fire in the interior of him, Herr General!
In fact, a young man unfortunately situated; already become solitary in
Creation; has not, except himself, a friend in the world available just
now. Tempestuous Papa storms one way, tempestuous Mamma Nature another;
and between the outsids and the inside there are inconsistencies enough.
Concerning the fair Wreech of Tamsel, with her complexion of lily and
rose, there ensued by and by much whispering, and rumoring underbreath;
which has survived in the apocryphal Anecdote-Books, not in too distinct
a form. Here, from first hand, are three words, which we may take to be
the essence of the whole. Grumkow reporting, in a sordid, occasionally
smutty, spy manner, to his Seckendorf, from Berlin, eight or ten months
hence, has this casual expression: "He [King Friedrich Wilhelm] told
me in confidence that Wreech, the Colonel's Wife, is--to P. R.
(Prince-Royal); and that Wreech vowed he would not own it for his. And
his Majesty in secret is rather pleased," adds the smutty spy. [Grumkow
to Seckendorf, Berlin, 20th August, 1732 (Forster, iii. 112).] Elsewhere
I have read that the poor object, which actually came as anticipated
(male or female, I forget), did not live long;--nor had Friedrich, by
any opportunity, another child in this world. Domestic Tamsel had
to allay itself as it best could; and the fair Wreech became much
a stranger to Friedrich,--surprisingly so to Friedrich the KING, as
perhaps we may see.--
Predestination, GNADENWAHL, Herr General: what is orthodoxy
on Predestination, with these accompaniments! [For Wreech, see
_Benekendorf,_ v. 94; for Schulenburg, ib. 26;--and _Militair-Lexikon,_
iii. 432, 433, and iv. 268, 269. Vacant on the gossiping points;
cautiously official, both these.] We go now to the Second Letter and the
Third,--from Landsberg about a fortnight later:--
No. 2. TO HIS EXCELLENCY (shovelful of titles) VON GRUMKOW, IN BERLIN.
"LANDSBERG, 19th October, 1731.
"The day before yesterday [that is, Wednesday, 17th October] I received
an Order, To have only fifty Horse at that post, and"--Order which shows
us that there has fallen out some recruiting squabble on the Polish
Frontier hereabouts; that the Polack gentlemen have seized certain
Corporals of ours, but are about restoring them; Order and affair
which we shall omit. "Corporals will be got back: but as these Polack
gentlemen: will see, by the course taken, that we have no great stomach
for BITING, I fancy they will grow more insolent; then, 'ware who tries
to recruit there for the future!
"On the same day I was apprised, from Custrin, That the Prince-Royal
had resolved on an excursion to Carzig, and thence to the Bailliage of
Himmelstadt [digging and stubbing now on foot at Himmelstadt too], which
is but a couple of miles ["DEMI-MILLE" German.] from this; that there
would be a little hunt between the two Bailliages; and that if I chose
to come, I might, and the Prince would dine with me."--Which I did; and
so, here again, Thursday, 18th October, 1731, in those remote Warta-Oder
Countries, is a glimpse of his Royal Highness at first hand. Schulenburg
continues; not even taking a new paragraph, which indeed he never
does:--
"They had shut up a couple of SPIESSER (young roes), and some stags, in
the old wreck of a SAUGARTEN [Boar-park, between Carzig and Himmelstadt;
FAST RUINIRTEN SAUGARTEN, he calls it, daintily throwing in a touch of
German here]: the Prince shot one or two of them, and his companions the
like; but it does not seem as if this amusement were much to his taste.
He went on to Himmelstadt; and at noon he arrived here," in my poor
Domicile at Landsberg.
"At one o'clock we went to table, and sat till four. He spoke only of
very indifferent things; except saying to me: 'Do you know, the King
has promised 400,000 crowns (60,000 pounds) towards disengaging those
Bailliages of the Margraf of Baireuth's,'"--old Margraf, Bailliages
pawned to raise ready cash; readers remember what interminable
Law-pleading there was, till Friedrich Wilhelm put it into a liquid
state, "Pay me back the moneys, then!" [Supra, pp. 161-163.]--"'400,000
thalers to the old Margraf, in case his Prince (Wilhelmina's now
Bridegroom) have a son by my Sister.' I answered, I had heard nothing
of it.--'But,' said he, 'that is a great deal of money! And some hundred
thousands more have gone the like road, to Anspach, who never will be
able to repay. For all is much in disorder at Anspach. Give the Margraf
his Heron-hunt (CHASSE AU HERON), he cares for nothing; and his people
pluck him at no allowance.' I said: That if these Princes would regulate
their expenditure, they might, little by little, pay off their debts;
that I had been told at Vienna the Baireuth Bailliages were mortgaged on
very low terms, those who now held them making eight or ten per cent of
their money;"--that the Margraf ought to make an effort; and so on. "I
saw very well that these Loans the King makes are not to his mind.
"Directly on rising from table, he went away; excusing himself to me,
That he could not pass the night here; that the King would not like
his sleeping in the Town; besides that he had still several things
to complete in a Report he was sending off to his Majesty. He went
to Nassin, and slept there. For my own share, I did not press him to
remain; what I did was rather in the way of form. There were with him
President Munchow," civil gentleman whom we know, "an Engineer Captain
Reger, and the three Gentlemen of his Court," Wolden, Rohwedel, Katzmer
who once twirled his finger in a certain mouth, the insipid fellow.
[MAP GOES HERE----------------missing]
"He is no great eater; but I observed he likes the small dishes (PETITS
PLATS) and the high tastes: he does not care for fish; though I had very
fine trouts, he never touched them. He does not take brown soup (SOUPE
AU BOUILLON). It did not seem to me he cared for wine: he tastes at all
the wines; but commonly stands by burgundy with water.
"I introduced to him all the Officers of my Regiment who are here; he
received them in the style of a king [EN ROI, plenty of quiet pride in
him, Herr General]. It is certain he feels what he is born to; and if
ever he get to it, will stand on the top of it. As to me, I mean to keep
myself retired; and shall see of him as little as I can. I perceive well
he does not like advice," especially when administered in the way of
preachment, by stiff old military gentlemen of the all-wise stamp;--"and
does not take pleasure except with people inferior to him in mind. His
first aim is to find out the ridiculous side of every one, and he loves
to banter and quiz. It is a fault in a Prince: he ought to know people's
faults, and not to make them known to anybody whatever,"--which, we
perceive, is not quite the method with private gentlemen of the all-wise
type!--
"I speak to your Excellency as a friend; and assure you he is a Prince
who has talent, but who will be the slave of his passions (SE FERA
DOMINER PAR SES PASSIONS,"--not a felicitous prophecy, Herr General);
"and will like nobody but such as encourage him therein. For me, I think
all Princes are cast in the same mould; there is only a more and a less.
"At parting, he embraced me twice; and said, 'I am sorry I cannot stay
longer; but another time I will profit better.' Wolden [one of the
Three] told me he could not describe how well-intentioned for your
Excellency the Prince-Royal is [cunning dog!], who says often to Wolden
[doubtless guessing it will be re-said], 'If I cannot show him my
gratitude, I will his posterity:'"--profoundly obliged to the Grumkow
kindred first and last!--"I remain your Excellency's" most pipe-clayed
"VON SCHULENBURG."
[Forster, iii. 71-73.]
And so, after survey of the spademen at Carzig and Himmelstadt (where
Colonel Wreech, by the way, is AMTS-HAUPTMANN, official Head-Man), after
shooting a SPIESSER or two, and dining and talking in this sort, his
Royal Highness goes to sleep at Massin; and ends one day of his then
life. We proceed to Letter No. 3.
A day or two after No. 2, it would appear, his Majesty, who is commonly
at Wusterhausen hunting in this season, has been rapidly out to
Crossen, in these Landsberg regions (to south, within a day's drive
of Landsberg), rapidly looking after something; Grumkow and another
Official attending him;--other Official, "Truchsess," is Truchsess von
Waldburg, a worthy soldier and gentleman of those parts, whom we shall
again hear of. In No. 3 there is mention likewise of the "Kurfurst of
Koln,"--Elector of Cologne; languid lanky gentleman of Bavarian breed,
whom we saw last year at Bonn, richest Pluralist of the Church; whom
doubtless our poor readers have forgotten again. Mention of him; and
also considerable sulky humor, of the Majesty's-Opposition kind, on
Schulenburg's part; for which reason, and generally as a poor direct
reflex of time and place,--reflex by ruffled bog-water, through sedges,
and in twilight; dim but indubitable,--we give the Letter, though the
Prince is little spoken of in it:--
No. 3. TO THE EXCELLENCY GRUMKOW (as above), IN BERLIN.
"LANDSBERG, 22d October (Monday), 1731.
"MONSIEUR,--I trust your Excellency made your journey to Crossen with
all the satisfaction imaginable. Had I been warned sooner, I would
have come; not only to see the King, but for your Excellency's sake
and Truchsess's: but I received your Excellency's Letter only yesterday
morning; so I could not have arrived before yesternight, and that late;
for it is fifty miles off, and one has to send relays beforehand; there
being no post-horses on that road.
"We are,--not to make comparisons,--like Harlequin! No sooner out of
one scrape, than we get into another; and all for the sake of those Big
Blockheads (L'AMOUR DE CES GRANDS COLOSSES). What the Kurfurst of Koln
has done, in his character of Bishop of Osnabruck,"--a deed not known
to this Editor, but clearly in the way of snubbing our recruiting
system,--"is too droll: but if we avenge ourselves, there will be high
play, and plenty of it, all round our borders! If such things would make
any impression on the spirit, of our Master: but they do not;
they"--in short, this recruiting system is delirious, thinks the stiff
Schulenburg; and scruples not to say so, though not in his place
in Parliament, or even Tobacco-Parliament. For there is a Majesty's
Opposition in all lands and times. "We ruin the Country," says the
Honorable Member, "sending annually millions of money out of it, for a
set of vagabond fellows (GENS A SAC ET A CORDE), who will never do us
the least service. One sees clearly it is the hand of God," darkening
some people's understanding; "otherwise it might be possible their eyes
would open, one time or another!"--A stiff pipe-clayed gentleman of
great wisdom, with plenty of sulphur burning in the heart of him. The
rest of his Letter is all in the Opposition strain (almost as if from
his place in Parliament, only far briefer than is usual "within these
walls"); and winds up with a glance at Victor Amadeus's strange feat, or
rather at the Son's feat done upon Victor, over in Sardinia; preceded by
this interjectionary sentence on a Prince nearer home:--
"As to the Prince-Royal, depend on it he will do whatever is required of
him [marry anybody you like &c.], if you give him more elbow-room,
for that is whither he aims.--Not a bad stroke that, of the King of
Sardinia"--Grand news of the day, at that time; now somewhat forgotten,
and requiring a word from us:
Old King Victor Amadeus of Sardinia had solemnly abdicated in favor of
his Son; went, for a twelvemonth or more, into private felicity with an
elderly Lady-love whom he had long esteemed the first of women;--tired
of such felicity, after a twelvemonth; demanded his crown back, and
could not get it! Lady-love and he are taken prisoners; lodged in
separate castles: [2d September, 1730 abdicated, went to Chambery;
reclaims, is locked in Rivoli, 8th October, 1731 (news of it just come
to Schulenburg); dies there, 31st October, 1732, his 67th year.] and the
wrath of the proud old gentleman is Olympian in character,--split an oak
table, smiting it while he spoke (say the cicerones);--and his silence,
and the fiery daggers he looks, are still more emphatic. But the young
fellow holds out; you cannot play handy-dandy with a king's crown, your
Majesty! say his new Ministers. Is and will continue King. "Not a bad
stroke of him," thinks Schulenburg,----"especially if his Father meant
to play him the same trick," that is, clap him in prison. Not a bad
stroke;--which perhaps there is another that could imitate, "if HIS Papa
gave him the opportunity! But THIS Papa will take good care; and the
Queen will not forget the Sardinian business, when he talks again of
abdicating," as he does when in ill-humor.--
"But now had not we better have been friends with England, should war
rise upon that Sardinian business? General Schulenburg,"--the famed
Venetian Field-marshal, bruiser of the Turks in Candia, [Same who was
beaten by Charles XII. before; a worthy soldier nevertheless, say
the Authorities: LIFE of him by Varnhagen von Ense (_Biographische
Denkmale,_ Berlin, 1845).] my honored Uncle, who sometimes used to visit
his Sister the Maypole, now EMERITA, in London, and sip beer and take
tobacco on an evening, with George I. of famous memory,--he also "writes
me this Victor-Amadeus news, from Paris;" so that it is certain; Ex-King
locked in Rivoli near a fortnight ago: "he, General Schulenburg, says
farther, To judge by the outside, all appears very quiet; but many
think, at the bottom of the bag it will not be the same."--
"I am, with respect," your Excellency's much in buckram,
"LE COMTE DE SCHOULENBOURG."
[Forster, iii. 73-75.]
So far Lieutenant-General Schulenburg; whom we thank for these
contemporary glimpses of a young man that has become historical, and of
the scene he lived in. And with these three accidental utterances, as
if they (which are alone left) had been the sum of all he said in the
world, let the Lieutenant-General withdraw now into silence: he will
turn up twice again, after half a score of years, once in a nobler than
talking attitude, the close-harnessed, stalwart, slightly atrabiliar
military gentleman of the old Prussian school.
These glimpses of the Crown-Prince, reflected on us in this manner, are
not very luculent to the reader,--light being indifferent, and mirror
none of the best:--but some features do gleam forth, good and not so
good; which, with others coming, may gradually coalesce into something
conceivable. A Prince clearly of much spirit, and not without petulance;
abundant fire, much of it shining and burning irregularly at present;
being sore held down from without, and anomalously situated. Pride
enough, thinks Schulenburg, capricious petulance enough,--likely to go
into "a reign of the passions," if we live. As will be seen!--
Wilhelmina was betrothed in June last: Wilhelmina, a Bride these six
months, continues to be much tormented by Mamma. But the Bridegroom,
Prince of Baireuth, is gradually recommending himself to persons of
judgment, to Wilhelmina among others. One day he narrowly missed an
unheard-of accident: a foolish servant, at some boar-hunt, gave him a
loaded piece on the half-cock; half-cock slipped in the handling; bullet
grazed his Majesty's very temple, was felt twitching the hair there;--ye
Heavens! Whereupon impertinent remarks from some of the Dessau people
(allies of Schwedt and the Margravine in high colors); which were
well answered by the Prince, and noiselessly but severely checked by
a well-bred King. [Wilhelmina, i. 356.] King has given the Prince of
Baireuth a regiment; and likes him tolerably, though the young man will
not always drink as could be wished. Wedding, in spite of clouds from
her Majesty, is coming steadily on.
HIS MAJESTY'S BUILDING OPERATIONS.
"This year," says Fassmann, "the building operations both in Berlin and
Stettin,"--in Stettin where new fortifications are completed, in Berlin
where gradually whole new quarters are getting built,--"were exceedingly
pushed forward (AUSSERST POUSSIRT)." Alas, yes; this too is a
questionable memorable feature of his Majesty's reign. Late Majesty,
old King Friedrich I., wishful,--as others had been, for the growth of
Berlin, laid out a new Quarter, and called it Friedrichs Stadt; scraggy
boggy ground, planned out into streets, Friedrichs Strasse the chief
street, with here and there a house standing lonesomely prophetic on it.
But it is this present Majesty, Friedrich Wilhelm, that gets the plan
executed, and the Friedrichs Strasse actually built, not always in a
soft or spontaneous manner. Friedrich Wilhelm was the AEdile of his
Country, as well as the Drill-sergeant; Berlin City did not rise of
its own accord, or on the principle of leave-alone, any more than the
Prussian Army itself. Wreck and rubbish Friedrich Wilhelm will not leave
alone, in any kind; but is intent by all chances to sweep them from the
face of the Earth, that something useful, seemly to the Royal mind, may
stand there instead. Hence these building operations in the Friedrich
Street and elsewhere, so "exceedingly pushed forward."
The number of scraggy waste places he swept clear, first and last, and
built tight human dwellings upon, is almost uncountable. A common gift
from him (as from his Son after him) to a man in favor, was that of a
new good House,--an excellent gift. Or if the man is himself able to
build, Majesty will help him, incite him: "Timber enough is in the
royal forests; stone, lime are in the royal quarries; scraggy waste is
abundant: why should any man, of the least industry or private capital,
live in a bad house?" By degrees, the pressure of his Majesty upon
private men to build with encouragement became considerable, became
excessive, irresistible; and was much complained of, in these years
now come. Old Colonel Derschau is the King's Agent, at Berlin, in this
matter; a hard stiff man; squeezes men, all manner of men with the least
capital, till they build.
Nussler, for example, whom we once saw at Hanover, managing a certain
contested Heritage for Friedrich Wilhelm; adroit Nussler, though he has
yet got no fixed appointment, nor pay except by the job, is urged to
build;--second year hence, 1733, occurs the case of Nussler, and is
copiously dwelt upon by Busching his biographer: "Build yourself a
house in the Friedrichs Strasse!" urges Derschau. "But I have no pay, no
capital!" pleads Nussler.--"Tush, your Father-in-law, abstruse Kanzler
von Ludwig, in Halle University, monster of law-learning there, is not
he a monster of hoarded moneys withal? He will lend you, for his own
and his Daughter's sake. [Busching, _Beitrage,_ i. 324.] Or shall his
Majesty compel him?" urges Derschau. And slowly, continually turns the
screw upon Nussler, till he too raises for himself a firm good house in
the Friedrichs Stadt,--Friedrichs Strasse, or STREET, as they now call
it, which the Tourist of these days knows. Substantial clear ashlar
Street, miles or half-miles long; straight as a line:--Friedrich Wilhelm
found it scrag and quagmire; and left it what the Tourist sees, by these
hard methods. Thus Herr Privy-Councillor Klinggraf too, Nussler's next
neighbor: he did not want to build; far from it; but was obliged, on
worse terms than Nussler. You have such work, founding your house;--for
the Nussler-Klinggraf spot was a fish-pool, and "carps were dug up" in
founding;--such piles, bound platform of solid beams; "4,000 thalers
gone before the first stone is laid:" and, in fact, the house must be
built honestly, or it will be worse for the house and you. "Cost me
12,000 thalers (1,800 pounds) in all, and is worth perhaps 2,000!"
sorrowfully ejaculates Nussler, when the job is over. Still worse with
Privy-Councillor Klinggraf: his house, the next to Nussler's, is worth
mere nothing to him when built; a soap-boiler offers him 800 thalers
(120 pounds) for it; and Nussler, to avoid suffocation, purchases
it himself of Klinggraf for that sum. Derschau, with his slow
screw-machinery, is very formidable;--and Busching knows it for a
fact, "that respectable Berlin persons used to run out of the way
of Burgermeister Koch and him, when either of them turned up on the
streets!"
These things were heavy to bear. Truly, yes; where is the liberty of
private capital or liberty of almost any kind, on those terms? Liberty
to ANNIHILATE rubbish and chaos, under known conditions, you may have;
but not the least liberty to keep them about you, though never so fond
of doing it! What shall we say? Nussler and the Soap-boiler do both live
in houses more human than they once had. Berlin itself, and some other
things, did not spring from Free-trade. Berlin City would, to this day,
have been a Place of SCRUBS ("the BERLIN," a mere appellative noun to
that effect), had Free-trade always been the rule there. I am sorry his
Majesty transgresses the limits;--and we, my friends, if we can make
our Chaos into Cosmos by firing Parliamentary eloquence into it, and
bombarding it with Blue-Books, we will much triumph over his Majesty,
one day!--
Thus are the building operations exceedingly pushed forward, the Ear
of Jenkins torn off, and Victor Amadeus locked in ward, while our
Crown-Prince, in the eclipsed state, is inspected by a Sage in
pipe-clay, and Wilhelmina's wedding is coming on.