PRUSSIAN MAJESTIES.
The Double-Marriage negotiation hung fire, in the end of 1728; but
everybody thought, especially Queen Sophie thought, it would come to
perfection; old Ilgen, almost the last thing he did, shed tears of joy
about it. These fine outlooks received a sad shock in the Year now come;
when secret grudges burst out into open flame; and Berlin, instead
of scenic splendors for a Polish Majesty, was clangorous with note of
preparation for imminent War. Probably Queen Sophie never had a
more agitated Summer than this of 1729. We are now arrived at that
thrice-famous Quarrel, or almost Duel, of Friedrich Wilhelm and his
Britannic Brother-in-law little George II.; and must try to riddle
from those distracted Paper-masses some notice of it, not wholly
unintelligible to the reader. It is loudly talked of, loudly, but alas
also loosely to a degree, in all manner of dull Books; and is at once
thrice-famous and extremely obscure. The fact is, Nature intended it for
eternal oblivion;--and that, sure enough, would have been its fate long
since, had not persons who were then thought to be of no importance, but
are now seen to be of some, stood connected with it more or less.
Friedrich Wilhelm, for his own part, had seen in the death of George
I. an evil omen from the English quarter; and all along, in spite of
transient appearances to the contrary, had said to himself, "If the
First George, with his solemnities and tacit sublimities, was offensive
now and then, what will the Second George be? The Second George has been
an offence from the beginning!" In which notions the Smoking Parliament,
vitally interested to do it, in these perilous Soissons times, big
with the fate of the Empire and Universe, is assiduous to confirm his
Majesty. The Smoking Parliament, at Potsdam, at Berlin, in the solitudes
of Wusterhausen, has been busy; and much tobacco, much meditation and
insinuation have gone up, in clouds more abstruse than ever, since the
death of George I.
It is certain, George II. was a proud little fellow; very high and
airy in his ways; not at all the man to Friedrich Wilhelm's heart, nor
reciprocally. A man of some worth, too; "scrupulously kept his word,"
say the witnesses: a man always conscious to himself, "Am not I a man
of honor, then?" to a punctilious degree. For the rest, courageous as a
Welf; and had some sense withal,--though truly not much, and indeed, as
it were, none at all in comparison to what he supposed he had!--One can
fancy the aversion of the little dapper Royalty to this heavy-footed
Prussian Barbarian, and the Prussian Barbarian's to him. The bloody nose
in childhood was but a symbol of what passed through life. In return for
his bloody nose, little George, five years the elder, had carried off
Caroline of Anspach; and left Friedrich Wilhelm sorrowing, a neglected
cub,--poor honest Beast tragically shorn of his Beauty. Offences could
not fail; these two Cousins went on offending one another by the mere
act of living simultaneously. A natural hostility, that between
George II. and Friedrich Wilhelm; anterior to Caroline of Anspach, and
independent of the collisions of interest that might fall out between
them. Enmity as between a glancing self-satisfied fop, and a loutish
thick-soled man of parts, who feels himself the better though the less
successful. House-Mastiff seeing itself neglected, driven to its
hutch, for a tricksy Ape dressed out in ribbons, who gets favor in the
drawing-room.
George, I perceive by the very State-Papers, George and his English
Lords have a provoking slighting tone towards Friedrich Wilhelm; they
answer his violent convictions, and thoroughgoing rapid proposals,
by brief official negation, with an air of superiority,--traces of, a
polite sneer perceptible, occasionally. A mere Clown of a King, thinks
George; a mere gesticulating Coxcomb, thinks Friedrich Wilhelm.
"MEIN BRUDER DER COMODIANT, My Brother the Play-actor" (parti-colored
Merry-Andrew, of a high-flying turn)! was Friedrich Wilhelm's private
name for him, in after days. Which George repaid by one equal to it, "My
Brother the Head-Beadle of the Holy Roman Empire,"--"ERZ-SANDSTREUER,"
who solemnly brings up the SANDBOX (no blotting-paper yet in use)
when the Holy Roman Empire is pleased to write. "ERZ-SANDSTREUER,
Arch-Sandbox-Beadle of the HEILIGE ROMISCHE REICH;" it is a lumbering
nickname, but intrinsically not without felicity, and the wittiest thing
I know of little George.
Special cause of quarrel they had none that was of the least
significance; and, at this time, prudent friends were striving to unite
them closer and closer, as the true policy for both; English Townshend
himself rather wishing it, as the best Prussian Officials eagerly
did; Queen Sophie passionate for it; and only a purchased Grumkow, a
Seckendorf and the Tobacco-Parliament set against it. The Treaty of
Wusterhausen was not known; but the fact of some Treaty made or
making, some Imperial negotiation always going on, was too evident; and
Friedrich Wilhelm's partialities to the Kaiser and his Seckendorf could
be a secret nowhere.
Negotiation always going on, we say; for such indeed was the case,--the
Kaiser striving always to be loose again (having excellent reasons,
a secret bargain to the contrary, to wit!) in regard to that
Julich-and-Berg Succession; proposing "substitutes for Julich and Berg;"
and Friedrich Wilhelm refusing to accept any imaginable substitute,
anything but the article itself. So that, I believe, the Treaty of
Wusterhausen was never perfectly ratified, after all; but hung, for so
many years, always on the point of being so. These are the uses of your
purchased Grumkow, and of riding the length of a Terrestrial Equator
keeping a Majesty in company. If, by a Double-Marriage with England,
that intricate web of chicanery had been once fairly slit in two, and
new combinations formed, on a basis not of fast-and-loose, could it have
been of disadvantage to either of the Countries, or to either of their
Kings?--Real and grave causes for agreement we find; real or grave
causes for quarrel none anywhere. But light or imaginary causes, which
became at last effectual, can be enumerated, to the length of three or
four.
CAUSE FIRST: THE HANOVER JOINT-HERITAGES, WHICH ARE NOT IN A LIQUID
STATE.
FIRST, the "Ahlden Heritage" was one cause of disagreement, which
lasted long. The poor Mother of George II. and of Queen Sophie had
left considerable properties; "three million THALERS," that is 900,000
pounds, say some; but all was rather in an unliquid state, not so much
as her Will was to be had. The Will, with a 10,000 pounds or so, was in
the hands of a certain Graf von Bar, one of her confidants in that
sad imprisonment: "money lent him," Busching says, [_Beitrage zur
Lebensgeschichte denkwurdiger Personen_ (Halle, 1783-1789), i. 306, ?
NUSSLER. Some distracted fractions of Business Correspondence with this
Bar, in _Memoirs of Sophia Dorothea, _--unintelligible as usual there.]
"to set up a Wax-Bleachery at Cassel:"--and the said Count von Bar was
off with it, Testamentary Paper and all; gone to the REICHSHOFRATH at
Vienna, supreme Judges, in the Empire, of such matters. Who accordingly
issued him a "Protection," to start with: so that when the Hanover
people attempted to lay hold of the questionable wax-bleaching Count, at
Frankfurt-on-Mayn,--secretly sending "a lieutenant and twelve men" for
that object,--he produces his Protection Paper, and the lieutenant and
twelve men had to hasten home again. [Ibid.] Count von Bar had to be
tried at law,--never ask with what results;--and this itself was a long
story. Then as to the other properties of the poor Duchess, question
arises, Are they ALLODIA, or are they FEUDA,--that is to say, shall the
Son have them, or the Daughter? In short, there was no end to questions.
Friedrich Wilhelm has an Envoy at Hanover, one Kannegiesser, laboring
at Hanover, the second of such he has been obliged to send; who finds
plenty of employment in that matter. "My Brother the COMODIANT quietly
put his Father's Will in his pocket, I have heard; and paid no regard
to it (except what he was compelled to pay, by Chesterfield and others):
will he do the like with his poor Mother's Will?" Patience,
your Majesty: he is not a covetous man, but a self-willed and a
proud,--always conscious to himself that he is the soul of honor, this
poor Brother King!
Nay withal, before these testamentary bickerings are settled, here has
a new Joint-Heritage fallen: on which may rise discussions. Poor Uncle
Ernst of Osnabruck--to whom George I., chased by Death, went galloping
for shelter that night, and who could only weep over his poor Brother
dead--has not survived him many months. The youngest Brother of the lot
is now gone too. Electress Sophie's Seven are now all gone. She had six
sons: four became Austrian soldiers, three of whom perished in war
long since; the other three, the Bishop, the King, the eldest of the
Soldiers, have all died within two years (1726-1728): [Michaelis, i.
153. See Feder, _Kurfurstinn Sophie;_ Hoppe, _Geschichte der Stadt
Hannover;_ &c.] Sophie Charlotte, "Republican Queen" of Prussia,
Friedrich Wilhelm's Mother, whom we knew long since, was the one
Daughter. Her also Uncle Ernst saw die, in his youth, as we may
remember. They are all dead. And now the Heritages are to settle, at
least the recent part of them. Let Kannegiesser keep his eyes open.
Kannegiesser is an expert high-mannered man; but said to be subject to
sharpness of temper; and not in the best favor with the Hanover people.
That is Cause FIRST.
CAUSE SECOND: THE TROUBLES OF MECKLENBURG.
Then, secondly, there is the business of Mecklenburg; deplorable
Business for Mecklenburg, and for everybody within wind of it,--my poor
readers included. Readers remember--what reader can ever forget?--that
extraordinary Duke of Mecklenburg, the "Unique of Husbands," as we had
to call him, who came with his extraordinary Duchess, to wait on her
Uncle Peter, the Russian (say rather SAMOEIDIC) Czar, at Magdeburg, a
dozen years ago? We feared it was in the fates we might meet that man
again; and so it turns out! The Unique of Husbands has proved also to
be the unluckiest of Misgoverning Dukes in his Epoch; and spreads mere
trouble all round him. Mecklenburg is in a bad way, this long while,
especially these ten years past. "Owing to the Charles-Twelfth Wars," or
whatever it was owing to, this unlucky Duke had fallen into want of more
money; and impoverished Mecklenburg alleged that it was in no condition
to pay more. Almost on his accession, while the tar-barrels were still
blazing, years before we ever saw him, he demanded new subvention
from his RITTERS (the "Squires" of the Country); subvention new in
Mecklenburg, though common in other sovereign German States, and at
one time in Mecklenburg too. The Ritters would not pay; the Duke would
compel them: Ritters appeal to Kaiser in Reichshofrath, who proves
favorable to the Ritters. Duke still declines obeying Kaiser; asserts
that "he is himself in such matter the sovereign:" Kaiser fulminates
what of rusty thunder he has about him; to which the Duke, flung on
his back by it, still continues contumacious in mind and tongue: and so
between thunder and contumacy, as between hammer and stithy, the poor
Country writhes painfully ever since, and is an affliction to everybody
near it.
For ten years past, the unluckiest of Misgoverning Dukes has been in
utter controversy with his Ritters;--at law with them before the Courts
of the Empire, nay occasionally trying certain of them himself, and
cutting off their heads; getting Russian regiments, and then obliged to
renounce Russian regiments;--in short, a very great trouble to
mankind thereabouts. [Michaelis, ii. 416-435.] So that the Kaiser in
Reichshofrath, about the date indicated (Year 1719), found good to
send military coercion on him; and intrusted that function to the
Hanover-Brunswick people, to George I. more especially; to whom, as
"KREIS-HAUPTMANN" ("Captain of the Circle," Circle of Lower-Saxony, where
the contumacy had occurred), such function naturally fell. The Hanover
Sovereignty, sending 13,000 men, horse, foot and artillery into
Mecklenburg, soon did their function, with only some slight flourishes
of fighting on the part of the contumacious Duke,--in which his chief
Captain, one Schwerin, distinguishes himself: Kurt von Schwerin, whom
we shall know better by and by, for he went into the Prussian service
shortly after. Colonel von Schwerin did well what was in him; but could
not save a refractory Duke, against such odds. The contumacious Duke was
obliged to fly his country;--deposed, or, to begin with, suspended, a
Brother of his being put in as interim Duke:--and the Unique of Husbands
and paragon of Mismanaging Dukes lives about Dantzig ever since, on a
Pension allowed him by his interim Brother; contumacious to the last;
and still stirring up strife, though now with diminished means, Uncle
Peter being now dead, and Russian help much cut off.
The Hanover Sovereignties did their function soon enough: but their
"expenses for it," these they have in vain demanded ever since. No
money to be got from Mecklenburg; and Mecklenburg owes us "ten tons of
gold,"--that is to say, 1,000,000 thalers, "tou" being the tenth part
of a million in that coin. Hanover, therefore, holds possession--and
has held ever since, with competent small military force--of certain
Districts in Mecklenburg: Taxes of these will subsist our soldiery in
the interim, and yield interest; the principal once paid, we at once
give them up; principal, by these schedules, if you care to count them,
is one million thalers (ten TONNEN GOLDES, as above said), or about
150,000 pounds. And so it has stood for ten years past; Mecklenburg the
most anarchic of countries, owing to the kind of Ritters and kind of
Duke it has. Poor souls, it is evident they have all lost their beaten
road, and got among the IGNES FATUI and peat-pools: none knows the
necessities and sorrows of this poor idle Duke himself! In his young
years, before accession, he once tried soldiering; served one campaign
with Charles XII., but was glad to "return to Hamburg" again, to the
peaceable scenes of fashionable life there. [See _German Spy_ (London,
1725, by Lediard, Biographer of Marlborough) for a lively picture of the
then Hamburg,--resort of Northern Moneyed Idleness, as well as of better
things.] Then his Russian Unique of Wives:--his probable adventures,
prior and subsequent, in Uncle Peter's sphere, can these have been
pleasant to him? The angry Ritters, too, their country had got much
trampled to pieces in the Charles-Twelfth Wars, Stralsund Sieges: money
seemed necessary to the Duke, and the Ritters were very scarce of it.
Add, on both sides, pride and want of sense, with mutual anger going on
CRESCENDO; and we have the sad phenomenon now visible: A Duke fled to
Dantzig, anarchic Ritters none the better for his going; Duke perhaps
threatening to return, and much flurrying his poor interim Brother,
and stirring up the Anarchies:--in brief, Mecklenburg become a house on
fire, for behoof of neighbors and self.
In these miserable brabbles Friedrich Wilhelm did not hitherto
officially interfere; though not uninterested in them; being a next
neighbor, and even, by known treaties, "eventual heir," should the
Mecklenburg Line die out. But we know he was not in favor with the
Kaiser, in those old years; so the military coercion had been done by
other hands, and he had not shared in the management at all. He merely
watched the course of things; always advised the Duke to submit to Law,
and be peaceable; was sometimes rather sorry for him, too, as would
appear.
Last year, however (1728),--doubtless it was one of Seckendorf's minor
measures, done in Tobacco-Parliament,--Friedrich Wilhelm, now a pet of
the Kaiser's, is discovered to be fairly concerned in that matter; and
is conjoined with the Hanover-Brunswick Commissioners for Mecklenburg;
Kaiser specially requiring that his Prussian Majesty shall "help in
executing Imperial Orders" in the neighboring Anarchic Country. Which
rather huffed little George,--hitherto, since, his Father's death,
the principal, or as good as sole Commissioner,--if so big a Britannic
Majesty COULD be huffed by paltry slights of that kind! Friedrich
Wilhelm, who has much meditated Mecklenburg, strains his intellect,
sometimes to an intense degree, to find out ways of settling it: George,
who has never cared to meditate it, nor been able if he had, is capable
of sniffing scornfully at Friedrich Wilhelm's projects on the matter,
and dismissing them as moonshine. [Dubourgay Despatches and the Answers
to them (more than once).] To a wise much-meditative House-Mastiff,
can that be pleasant, from an unthinking dizened creature of the Ape
species? The troubles of Mecklenburg, and discrepancies thereupon, are
capable of becoming a SECOND source of quarrel.
CAUSES THIRD AND FOURTH:--AND CAUSE FIFTH, WORTH ALL THE OTHERS.
Cause THIRD is the old story of recruiting; a standing cause between
Prussia and all its neighbors. And the FOURTH cause is the tiniest of
all: the "Meadow of Clamei." Meadow of Clamei, some square yards of
boggy ground; which, after long study, one does find to exist in the
obscurest manner, discoverable in the best Maps of Germany,--some twenty
miles south of the Elbe river, on the boundary between Hanover-Luneburg
and Prussia-Magdeburg, dubious on which side of the boundary. Lonesome
unknown Patch of Meadow, lying far amid peaty wildernesses in those
Salzwedel regions: unknown to all writing mortals as yet; but which
threatens, in this summer of 1729, to become famous as Runnymead among
the Meadows of History! And the FIFTH cause--In short, there was no
real "cause" of the least magnitude; the effect was produced by the
combination of many small and imaginary ones. For if there is a will to
quarrel, we know there is a way. And perhaps the FIFTH namable cause, in
efficiency worth all the others together, might be found in the
Debates of the Smoking Parliament that season, were the Journal of its
Proceedings extant! We gather symptoms, indisputable enough, of very
diligent elaborations and insinuations there; and conclude that to
have been the really effective cause. Clouds had risen between the two
Courts; but except for the Tobacco-Parliament, there never could have
thunder come from them.
Very soon after George's accession there began clouds to rise; the
perfectly accomplished little George assuming a severe and high air
towards his rustic Brother-in-Law. "We cannot stand these Prussian
enlistments and encroachments; rectify these, in a high and severe
manner!" says George to his Hanover Officials. George is not warm on his
throne till there comes in, accordingly, from the Hanover Officials a
Complaint to that effect, and even a List of Hanoverian subjects who
are, owing to various injustices, now serving in the Prussian ranks:
"Your Prussian Majesty is requested to return us these men!"
This List is dated 22d January, 1728; George only a few months old
in his new authority as yet. The Prussian Majesty grumbles painfully
responsive: "Will, with eagerness, do whatever is just; most surely! But
is his Britannic Majesty aware? Hanover Officials are quite misinformed
as to the circumstances;"--and does not return any of the men. Merely
a pacific grumble, and nothing done in regard to the complaints. Then
there is the Meadow of Clamei which we spoke of: "That belongs to
Brandenburg, you say? Nevertheless the contiguous parts of Hanover
have rights upon it. Some 'eight cart-loads of hay,' worth say almost 5
pounds or 10 pounds sterling: who is to mow that grass, I wonder?"--
Friedrich Wilhelm feels that all this is a pettifogging vexatious course
of procedure; and that his little Cousin the COMODIANT is not treating
him very like a gentleman. "Is he, your Majesty!" suggests the Smoking
Parliament.--About the middle of March, Dubourgay hears Borck, an
Official not of the Grumkow party, sulkily commenting on "the
constant hostility of the Hanover Ministry to us" in all manner of
points;---inquires withal, Could not Mecklenburg be somehow settled, his
Prussian Majesty being somewhat anxious upon it? [Despatch, 17th March,
1729.] Anxious, yes: his poor Majesty, intensely meditative of such a
matter in the night-watches, is capable of springing out of bed, with an
"Eureka! I have found what will do!" and demanding writing materials.
He writes or dictates in his shirt, the good anxious Majesty; despatches
his Eureka by estafette on the wings of the wind: and your Townshend,
your UNmeditative George, receives it with curt official negative, and a
polite sneer. [Dubourgay, 12th-14th April, 1729; and the Answer from St.
James's.]
A few weeks farther on, this is what the Newspapers report of
Mecklenburg, in spite of his Prussian Majesty's desire to have some
mercy shown the poor infatuated Duke: "The Elector of Hanover and the
Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel," his Britannic Majesty and Squire in
that sad business, "REFUSE to withdraw their forces out of Mecklenburg,
or part with the Chest of the Revenues thereof, until an entire
satisfaction be given them for the arrears of the Charges they have been
at in putting the Sentence of the Aulic Council [Kaiser's REICHSHOFRATH
and rusty thunder] into execution against the said Duke." [Salmon's
_Chronological Historian_ (London, 1748,--a Book never to be quoted
without caution), ii. 216;--date (translated into new style), 10th July,
1729.]
Matters grew greatly worse when George paid his first Visit to Hanover
in character of King, early in the Summer of 1729. Part of his road lies
through Prussian Territory: "Shall he have free post-horses, as his late
Majesty was wont?" asks the Prussian Official person. "If he write to
request them, yes," answers Friedrich Wilhelm; "if he don't write, no."
George does not write; pays for his post-horses;--flourishes along to
Hanover, in absolute silence towards his clownish Brother-in-Law. You
would say he looks over the head of him, as if there were no such clown
in existence;--he has never yet so much as notified his arrival. "What
is this? There exists no Prussia, then, for little George?" Friedrich
Wilhelm's inarticulate, interjectionary utterances, in clangorous
metallic tone, we can fancy them, now and then; and the
Tobacco-Parliament is busy! British Minister Dubourgay, steady old
military gentleman, who spells imperfectly, but is intent to keep down
mischief, writes at last to Hanover, submissively suggesting, "Could
not, as was the old wont, some notification of the King's arrival be
sent hither, which would console his Prussian Majesty?" To which my
Lord Townshend answers, "Has not been the custom, I am informed [WRONG
informed, your Lordship]; not necessary in the circumstances." Which is
a high course between neighbors and royal gentlemen and kinsfolk. The
Prussian Court hereupon likewise shuts its lips; no mention of the
Hanoverian Court, not even by her Majesty and to Englishmen, for several
weeks past. [Dubourgay.] Some inarticulate metallic growl, in private,
at dinner or in the TABAKS-COLLEGIUM: the rest is truculent silence.
Nor are our poor Hanover Recruits (according to our List of Pressed
Hanoverians) in the least sent back; nor the Clamei Meadows settled;
"Big Meadow" or "Little one," both of which the Brandenburgers have mown
in the mean time.
Hanover Pressed men not coming home,--I think, not one of them,--the
Hanover Officials decide to seize such Prussian Soldiers as happen to be
seizable, in Hanover Territory. The highway in that border-country runs
now on this side of the march, now on that;--watch well, and you will
get Prussian Soldiers from time to time! Which the Hanover people do;
and seize several, common men and even officers. Here is once more a
high course of proceeding. Here is coal to raise smoke enough, if well
blown upon,--which, with Seckendorf and Grumkow working the bellows,
we may well fancy it was! But listen to what follows, independently of
bellows.
On the 28th June, 1729, hay lying now quite dry upon the Meadow of
Clamei, lo, the Bailiff of Hanoverian Buhlitz, Unpicturesque Traveller
will find the peat-smoky little Village of Buhlitz near by a dusty
little Town called Luchow, midway from Hamburg to Magdeburg; altogether
peaty, mossy country; in the Salzwedel district, where used to be Wendic
populations, and a Marck or Border Fortress of Salzwedel set up against
them:--Bailiff of Buhlitz, I say, sallies forth with several carts, with
all the population of the Village, with a troop of horse to escort, and
probably flags flying and some kind of drums beating;--publicly rakes
together the hay, defiant of the Prussian Majesty and all men; loads
it on his carts, and rolls home with it; leaving to the Brandenburgers
nothing but stubble and the memory of having mown for Hanover to eat.
This is the 28th June, 1729; King of Prussia is now at Magdeburg,
reviewing his troops; within a hundred miles of these contested
quag-countries: who can blame him that he flames up now into clear blaze
of royal indignation? The correspondence henceforth becomes altogether
lively: but in the Britannic Archives there is nothing of it,--Dubourgay
having received warning from my Lord Townshend to be altogether ignorant
of the matter henceforth, and let the Hanover Officials manage it. His
Prussian Majesty returns home in the most tempestuous condition.
We may judge what a time Queen Sophie had of it; what scenes there were
with Crown-Prince Friedrich and Wilhelmina, in her Majesty's Apartment
and elsewhere! Friedrich Wilhelm is fast mounting to the red-hot pitch.
The bullyings, the beatings even, of these poor Children, love-sick
one of them, are lamentable to hear of, as all the world has
heard:--"Disobedient unnatural whelps, biting the heels of your poor old
parent mastiff in his extreme need, what is to be done with you?" Fritz
he often enough beats, gives a slap to with his rattan; has hurled
a plate at him, on occasion, when bad topics rose at table; nay at
Wilhelmina too, she says: but the poor children always ducked, and
nothing but a little noise and loss of crockery ensued. Fritz he
deliberately detests, as a servant of the Devil, incorrigibly rebelling
against the paternal will, and going on those dissolute courses: a silly
French cockatoo, suspected of disbelief in Scripture; given to nothing
but fifing and play-books; who will bring Prussia aud himself to a bad
end. "God grant he do not finish on the gallows!" sighed the sad Father
once to Grumkow. The records of these things lie written far and wide,
in the archives of many countries as well as in Wilhelmina's Book.
To me there was one undiplomatic reflection continually present:
Heavens, could nobody have got a bit of rope, and hanged those two
Diplomatic swindlers; clearly of the scoundrel genus, more than common
pickpockets are? Thereby had certain young hearts, and honest old ones
too, escaped being broken; and many a thing might have gone better than
it did. JARNI-BLEU, Herr Feldzeugmeister, though you are an orthodox
Protestant, this thousand-fold perpetual habit of distilled lying seems
to me a bad one. I do not blame an old military gentleman, with a brow
so puckered as yours, for having little of the milk of human kindness so
called: but this of breaking, by force of lies merely, and for your own
uses, the hearts of poor innocent creatures, nay of grinding them
slowly in the mortar, and employing their Father's hand to do it withal;
this--Herr General, forgive me, but there are moments when I feel as if
the extinction of probably the intensest scoundrel of that epoch might
have been a satisfactory event!--Alas, it could not be. Seckendorf is
lying abroad for his Kaiser; "the only really able man we have," says
Eugene sometimes. Snuffles and lisps; and travels in all, as they
count, about 25,000 miles, keeping his Majesty in company. Here are
some glimpses into the interior, dull but at first-hand, which are worth
clipping and condensing from Dubourgay, with their dates:--
30th JULY, 1729. To the respectable old Brigadier, this day or
yesterday, "her Majesty, all in tears, complained of her situation: King
is nigh losing his senses on account of the differences with Hanover;
goes from bed to bed in the night-time, and from chamber to chamber,
'like one whose brains are turned.' Took a fit, at two in the morning,
lately, to be off to Wusterhausen:"--about a year ago Seckendorf and
Grumkow had built a Lodge out there, where his Majesty, when he liked,
could be snug and private with them: thither his Majesty now rushed, at
two in the morning; but seemingly found little assuagement. "Since
his return, he gives himself up entirely to drink:--Seckendorf," the
snuffling Belial, "is busy, above ground and below; has been heard
saying He alone could settle these businesses, Double-Marriage and all,
would her Majesty but trust him!"--
"The King will not suffer the Prince-Royal to sit next his Majesty
at table, but obliges him to go to the lower end; where things are so
ordered," says the sympathetic Dubourgay, "that the poor Prince often
rises without getting one bit,"--woe's me! "Insomuch that the Queen was
obliged two days ago [28th July, 1729, let us date such an occurrence]
to send, by one of the servants who could be trusted, a Box of cold
fowls and other eatables for his Royal Highness's subsistence!"
[Dubourgay, 30th July, 1729.]
In the first blaze of the outrage at Clamei, Friedrich Wilhelm's ardent
mind suggested to him the method of single combat: defiance of George,
by cartel, To give the satisfaction of a gentleman. There have been such
instances on the part of Sovereigns; though they are rare: Karl Ludwig
of the Pfalz, Winter-king's Son, for example, did, as is understood,
challenge Turenne for burning the Pfalz (FIRST burning that poor country
got); but nothing came of it, owing to Turenne's prudence. Friedrich
Wilhelm sees well that it all comes from George's private humor: Why
should human blood be shed except George's and mine? Friedrich Wilhelm
is decisive for sending off the cartel; he has even settled the
particulars, and sees in his glowing poetic mind how the transaction may
be: say, at Hildesheim for place; Derschau shall be my second; Brigadier
Sutton (if anybody now know such a man) may be his. Seconds, place and
general outline he has schemed out, and fixed, so far as depends on one
party; will fairly fence and fight this insolent little Royal Gentleman;
give the world a spectacle (which might have been very wholesome to
the world) of two Kings voiding their quarrel by duel and fair personal
fence.
In England the report goes, "not without foundation," think Lord Hervey
and men of sarcastic insight in the higher circles, That it was his
Britannic Majesty who "sent or would have sent a challenge of single
combat to his Prussian Majesty," the latter being the passive party!
Report flung into an INVERSE posture, as is liable to happen; "going"
now with its feet uppermost; "not without foundation," thinks Lord
Hervey. "But whether it [the cartel] was carried and rejected, or
whether the prayers and remonstrances of Lord Townshend prevented the
gauntlet being actually thrown down, is a point which, to me [Lord
Hervey] at least, has never been cleared." [Lord Hervey, _Memoirs of
George II._ (London, 1848), i. 127.]
The Prussian Ministers, no less than Townshend would, feel well that
this of Duel will never do. Astonishment, FLEBILE LULIBRIUM, tragical
tehee from gods and men, will come of the Duel! But how to turn it
aside? For the King is determined. His truculent veracity of mind
points out this as the real way for him; reasoning, entreating are to
no purpose. "The true method, I tell you! As to the world and
its cackling,--let the world cackle!" At length Borck hits on a
consideration: "Your Majesty has been ill lately; hand perhaps not so
steady as usual? Now if it should turn out that your Majesty proved so
inferior to yourself as to--Good Heavens!" This, it is said, was the
point that staggered his Majesty. Tobacco-Parliament, and Borck there,
pushed its advantage: the method of duel (prevalent through the
early part of July, I should guess) was given up. [Bielfeld, _Lettres
familieres et autres_ (Second edition, 2 vols. Leide, 1767), i. 117,
118.] Why was there no Hansard in that Institution of the Country?
Patience, idle reader! We shall get some scraps of the Debates on
other subjects, by and by.--But hear Dubourgay again, in the absence of
Morning Newspapers:--
AUGUST 9th, 1729. "Berlin looks altogether warlike. At Magdeburg they
are busy making ovens to bake Ammunition-bread; Artillery is getting
hauled out of the Arsenal here;" all is clangor, din of preparation.
"It is said the King will fall on Mecklenburg;" can at once, if he like.
"These intolerable usages from England [Seckendorf is rumored to
have said], can your Majesty endure them forever? Why not marry
the Prince-Royal, at once, to another Princess, and have done with
them!"--or words to that effect, as reported by Court-rumor to her
Majesty and Dubourgay. And there is a Princess talked of for this Match,
Russian Princess, little Czar's Sister (little Czar to have Wilhelmina,
Double-Marriage to be with Russia, not with England); but the little
Czar soon died, little Czar's Sister went out of sight, or I know not
what happened, and only brief rumor came of that.
As for the Crown-Prince, he has not fallen desperate; no; but appears
to have strange schemes in him, deep under cover. "He has said to a
confidant [Wilhelmina, it is probable], 'As to his ill-treatment, he
well knew how to free himself of that [will fly to foreign parts, your
Highness?], and would have done so long since, were it not for his
Sister, upon whom the whole weight of his Father's resentment would then
fall. Happen what will, therefore, he is resolved to share with her all
the hardships which the King his Father may be pleased to put upon her."
[Dubourgay, 11th August, 1729.] Means privately a flight to England,
Dubourgay sees, and in a reticent diplomatic way is glad to see.
I possess near a dozen Hanoverian and Prussian Despatches upon this
strange Business; but should shudder to inflict them on any innocent
reader. Clear, grave Despatches, very brief and just, especially on the
Prussian side: and on a matter too, which truly is not lighter than any
other Despatch matter of that intrinsically vacant Epoch:--O reader,
would I could bury all vacant talk and writing whatsoever, as I do these
poor Despatches about the "eight cart-loads of hay"! Friedrich Wilhelm
is fair-play itself; will do all things, that Earth or Heaven can
require of him. Only, he is much in a hurry withal; and of this the
Hanover Officials take advantage, perhaps unconsciously, to keep him in
provocation. He lies awake at night, his heart is sore, and he has
fled to drink. Towards the middle of August,--here again is a
phenomenon,--"he springs out of bed in the middle of night," has again
an EUREKA as to this of Clamei: "Eureka, I see now what will bring a
settlement!" and sends off post-haste to Kannegiesser at Hanover. To
Kannegiesser,--Herr Reichenbach, the special Envoy in this matter, being
absent at the moment, gone to the Gohrde, I believe, where Britannic
Majesty itself is: but Kannegiesser is there, upon the Ahlden Heritages;
acquainted with the ground, a rather precise official man, who will
serve for the hurry we are in. Post-haste; dove with olive-branch cannot
go too quick;--Kannegiesser applying for an interview, not with the
Britannic Majesty, who is at Gohrde, hunting, but with the Hanover
Council, is--refused admittance. Here are Herr Kannegiesser's official
Reports; which will themselves tell the rest of the story, thank
Heaven:--
TO HIS PRUSSIAN MAJESTY (From Herr Kannegiesser).
No. 1. "DONE AT HANOVER, 15th AUGUST, 1729.
"On the 15th day of August, at ten o'clock in the morning, I received
Two Orders of Council [these are THE EUREKA, never ask farther what they
are]; despatched on the 13th instant at seven in the evening; whereupon
I immediately went to the Council-chamber here; and informed the Herr
von Hartoff, Private Secretary, who met me in a room adjoining, 'That,
having something to propose to his Ministry [now sitting deliberative in
the interior here; something to propose to his Ministry] on the part of
the Prussian Ministers, it was necessary I should speak to them.' Herr
von Hartoff, after having reported my demand, let me know, 'He had
received orders from the Ministry to defer what I had to say to another
time.'
"I replied, 'That, since I could not be allowed the honor of an audience
at that time, I thought myself obliged to acquaint him I had received an
Order from Berlin to apply to the Ministry of this place, in the name
of the Ministers of Prussia, and make the most pressing instances for
a speedy Answer to a Letter lately delivered to them by Herr Hofrath
Reichenbath [my worthy Assistant here; Answer to his Letter in the first
place]; and to desire that the Answer might be lodged in my hands, in
order to remit it with safety.'
"Herr von Hartoff returned immediately to the Council-chamber; and after
having told the Ministers what I had said, brought me the following
answer, in about half-a-quarter of an hour [seven minutes by the watch]:
'That the Ministers of this Court would not fail answering the said
Letter as soon as possible; and would take care to give me notice of it,
and send the Answer to me.'"
That was all that the punctual Kannegiesser could get out of them.
"But," continues he, "not thinking this reply sufficient, I added,
'That delays being dangerous, I would come again the next day for a more
precise answer.'"
Rather a high-mannered positive man, this Kannegiesser, of the Ahlden
Heritages; not without sharpness of temper, if the Hanover Officials
drive it too far.
No. 2.--"AT HANOVER, 16th AUGUST, 1729.
"According to the orders received from the King my Master, and pursuant
of my promise of yesterday, I went at noon this day to the Castle
(SCHLOSS), for the purpose, of making appearance in the Council-chamber,
where the Ministers were assembled.
"I let them know I was there, by Van Hartoff, Privy Secretary; and, in
the mildest terms, desired to be admitted to speak with them. Which was
refused me a second time; and the following answer delivered me by Van
Hartoff: 'That since the Prussian Ministers had intrusted me with this
Commission, the Ministers of this Court had directed him to draw up my
yesterday's Proposals in writing, and report them to the Council.'
"Whereupon I said, 'I could not conceive any reason why I was the only
person who could not be admitted to audience. That, however, as the
Ministers of this Court were pleased to authorize him, Herr von Hartoff,
to receive my Proposals, I was obliged to tell him,' as the first or
preliminary point of my Commission, 'I had received orders to be very
pressing with the said Ministers of this Court, for an Answer to
a Letter from the Prussian Ministry, lately delivered by Herr
Legationsrath von Reichenbach; and finding that the said Answer was not
yet finished, I would stay two days for it, that I might be more secure
of getting it. But that then I should come to put them in mind of
it, and desire audience in order to acquit myself of the REST of my
Commission.'
"The Privy Secretary drew up what I said in writing. Immediately
afterwards he reported it to the Ministry, and brought me this answer:
'That the Ministers of this Court would be as good as their word of
yesterday, and answer the above-mentioned Letter with all possible
expedition.' After which we parted."
No. 3.--"AT HANOVER, 17th AUGUST, 1729
"At two in the afternoon, this day, Herr von Hartoff came to my house;
and let me know 'He had business of consequence from the Ministry, and
that he would return at five.' By my direction he was told, 'I should
expect him.'
"At the time appointed he came; and told me, 'That the Ministers of the
Court, understanding from him that I designed to ask audience to-morrow,
did not doubt but my business would be to remind them of the
Answer which I had demanded yesterday and the day before. That such
applications were not customary among sovereign Princes; that they, the
Ministers; 'dared not treat farther in that affair with me; that they
desired me not to mention it to them again till they had received
directions from his Britannic Majesty, to whom they had made their
report; and that as soon as they received their instructions, the result
of these should be communicated to me.'
"To this I replied, 'That I did not expect the Ministers of this Court
would refuse me the audience which I designed to ask to-morrow; and that
therefore I would not fail of being at the Council-chamber at eleven,
next day,' according to bargain, 'to know their answer to the rest of
my Proposals.'--Secretary Von Hartoff would not hear of this resolution;
and assured me positively he had orders to listen to nothing more on the
subject from me. After which he left me?"
No. 4.--"AT HANOVER, 18th AUGUST, 1729.
"At eleven, this day, I went to the Council-chamber, for the third time;
and desired Secretary Hartoff 'To prevail with the Ministry to allow me
to speak with them, and communicate what the King of Prussia had ordered
me to propose.'
"Herr von Hartoff gave them an account of my request; and brought me for
answer, 'That I must wait a little, because the Ministers were not yet
all assembled.'" Which I did. "But after having made me stay almost an
hour, and after the President of the Council was come, Herr von Hartoff
came out to me; and repeated what he had said yesterday, in very
positive and absolute terms, 'That the Ministers were resolved not to
see me, and had expressly forbid him taking any Paper at my hands.'
"To which I replied, 'That this was very hard usage; and the world would
see how the King of Prussia would relish it. But having strict orders
from his Majesty, my most gracious Master, to make a Declaration to the
Ministers of Hanover in his name; and finding Herr von Hartoff would
neither receive it, nor take a copy of it, I had only to tell him that
I was under the necessity of leaving it in writing,--and had brought the
Paper with me,'" let Herr von Hartoff observe!--"'And that now, as the
Council were pleased to refuse to take it, I was obliged to leave the
said Declaration on a table in an adjoining room, in the presence of
Herr von Hartoff and other Secretaries of the Council, whom I desired to
lay it before the Ministry.'
"After this I went home; but had scarcely entered my apartment, when
a messenger returned me the Declaration, still sealed as I left it, by
order of the Ministers: and perceiving I was not inclined to receive it,
he laid it on my table, and immediately left the house." [A Letter
from an English Traveller to his Friend at London, relating to the
Differences betwixt the Courts of Prussia and Hanover, with Copies of,
&c. Translated from the French (London, A. Millar, at Buchanan's
Head, 1730), pp. 29-34. An excellent distinct little Pamphlet; very
explanatory in this matter,--like the smallest rushlight in a dark
cellar of shot-lumber.]
Whereupon Kannegiesser, without loss of a moment, returns to Berlin,
19th August; and reports progress.
Simple honest Orson of a Prussian Majesty, what a bepainted, beribboned
insulting Play-actor Majesty has he fallen in with!--"Hm, so? Hm, na!"
and I see the face of him, all colors of the prism, and eyes in a fine
frenzy; betokening thundery weather to some people! Instantly he orders
44,000 men to get on march; [Friedrich Wilhelm's "Manifesto" is in
_Mauvillon,_ ii. 210-215, dated "20th August, 1729" (the day after
Kannegieseer's return).] and these instantly begin to stir; small
preparation needed, ever-ready being the word with them. From heavy
guns, ammunition-wagons and draught-horses, down to the last buckle of a
spatterdash, things are all ticketed and ready in his Majesty's
country; things, and still more evidently men. Within a week, the amazed
Gazetteers (Newspaper Editors we now call them) can behold the actual
advent of horse, foot and artillery regiments at Magdeburg; actual
rendezvous begun, and with a frightful equable velocity going on day
after day. On the 15th day of September, if Fate's almanac hold
steady, there will be 44,000 of them ready there. Such a mass of
potential-battle as George or the Hanover Officiality are--ready to
fight?
Alas, far enough from that. Forces of their own they have, after a sort;
subsidized Hessians, Danes, these they can begin to stir up; but they
have not a regiment ready for fighting; and have NOTHING, if all were
ready, which this 44,000 cannot too probably sweep out of the world.
I suppose little George must have exhibited some prismatic colors of
countenance, too. This insulted Orson is swinging a tremendous club upon
the little peruked ribboned high gentleman, promenading loftily in
his preserves yonder! The Prussian forces march, steady, continual;
Crown-Prince Friedrich's regiment of Giants is on march, expressly under
charge of Friedrich himself:--the young man's thoughts are not recorded
for us; only that he gets praise from his Father, so dexterous and
perfect is he with the Giants and their getting into gear. Nor is there,
says our Foreign Correspondent, the least truth, in your rumor that the
Prussian forces, officers or men, marched with bad will; "conspicuously
the reverse is the truth, as I myself can testify." [Pamphlet cited
above.] And his Britannic Majesty, now making a dreadful flutter to
assemble as fast as possible, is like to get quite flung into the bogs
by this terrible Orson!--
What an amazement, among the Gazetteers: thunder-clouds of war mounting
up over the zenith in this manner, and blotting out the sun; may produce
an effect on the Congress of Soissons? Presumably: and his Imperial
Majesty, left sitting desolate on his Pragmatic Sanction, gloomily
watching events, may find something turn up to his advantage? Prussia
and England are sufficiently in quarrel, at any rate; perhaps almost too
much.--The Pope, in these circumstances, did a curious thing. The Pope,
having prayed lately for rain and got it, proceeds now, in the end of
September, while such war-rumors are still at their height in Rome, to
pray, or even do a Public Mass, or some other so-called Pontificality,
"in the Chapel of Philip Neri in the New Church," by way of still
more effectual miracle. Prays, namely, That Heaven would be graciously
pleased to foment, and blow up to the proper degree, this quarrel
between the two chief Heretic Powers, Heaven's chief enemies, whereby
Holy Religion might reap a good benefit, if it pleased Heaven. But, this
time, the miracle did not go off according to program. ["Extract of
a Letter from Rome, 24th September, 1729," in Townshend's Despatch,
Whitehall, 10th Outober, 1729.]
For at this point, before the Pope had prayed, but while the troops and
artillery were evidently all on march ("Such an artillery as I," who am
Kaiser's Artillery-Master, "for my poor part, never had the happiness
to see before in any country," snuffles Seckendorf in the Smoking
Parliament), and now swords are, as it were, drawn, and in the air
make horrid circles,--the neighbors interfere: "Heavens I put up your
swords!"--and the huge world-wide tumult suddenly (I think, in the very
first days of this month September) collapses, sinks into something you
can put into a snuff-box.
Of course it could never come to actual battle, after all. Too high
a pickle-herring tragedy that. Here is a COMODIANT not wanting to be
smitten into the bogs; an honest Orson who wants nothing, nor has ever
wanted, but fair-play. Fair-play; and not to be insulted on the streets,
or have one's poor Hobby quite knocked from under one!--Neighbors, as we
say, struck in; France, Holland, all the neighbors, at this point:
"Do it by arbitration; Wolfenbuttel for the one, Sachsen-Gotha for the
other; Commissioners to meet at Brunswick!" And that, accordingly, was
the course fixed upon; and settlement, by that method, was accomplished,
without difficulty, in some six months hence. [16th April, 1730
(Forster, ii. 105).] Whether Clamei was awarded to Hanover or to
Brandenburg, I never knew, or how the hay of it is cut at this moment.
I only know there was no battle on the subject; though at one time there
was like to be such a clash of battle as the old Markgraves never had
with their old Wends; not if we put all their battlings into one.
Seckendorf's radiant brow has to pucker itself again: this fine project,
of boiling the Kaiser's eggs by setting the world on fire, has not
prospered after all. The gloomy old villain came to her Majesty one day,
[Dubourgay, 30th July, 1729.] while things were near the hottest; and
said or insinuated, He was the man that could do these businesses, and
bring about the Double-Marriage itself, if her Majesty were not so harsh
upon him. Whereupon her Majesty, reporting to Dubourgay, threw out the
hint, "What if we (that is, you) did give him a forty or fifty thousand
thalers verily, for he will do anything for money?" To which Townshend
answers from the Gohrde, to the effect: "Pooh, he is a mere bag of
noxious futilities; consists of gall mainly, and rusty old lies and
crotchets; breathing very copperas through those old choppy lips of his:
let him go to the--!" Next Spring, at the happy end of the Arbitration,
which he had striven all he could to mar and to retard, he fell quite
ill; took to his bed for two days,--colics, or one knows not what;--"and
I can't say I am very sorry for him," writes the respectable Dubourgay.
[25th April, 1730.] On the 8th day of September, 1729, Friedrich
Crown-Prince re-enters Potsdam [Ib. 11th Sept. 1729.] with his two
battalions of Giants; he has done so well, the King goes out from Berlin
to see him march in with them; rejoicing to find something of a soldier
in the young graceless, after all. "The King distributed 100,000 thalers
(15,000 pounds) among his Army;" being well pleased with their behavior,
and doubtless right glad to be out of such a Business. The Ahlden
Heritages will now get liquidated; Mecklenburg,--our Knyphausen, with
the Hanover Consorts, will settle Mecklenburg; and all shall be well
again, we hope!--
The fact, on some of these points, turned out different; but it was now
of less importance. As to Knyphausen's proceedings at Mecklenburg, after
the happy Peace, they were not so successful as had been hoped. Need
of quarrel, however, between the Majesties, there henceforth was not in
Mecklenburg; and if slight rufflings and collisions did arise, it was
not till after our poor Double-Marriage was at any rate quite out of the
game, and they are without significance to us. But the truth is, though
Knyphausen did his best, no settlement came; nor indeed could ever come.
Shall we sum up that sorry matter here, and wash our hands of it?
TROUBLES OF MECKLENBURG, FOR THE LAST TIME.
Knyphausen, we say, proved futile; nor could human wit have succeeded.
The exasperated Duke was contumacious, irrational; the two Majesties
kept pulling different ways upon him. Matters grew from very bad to
worse; and Mecklenburg continued long a running sore. Not many months
after this (I think, still in 1729), the irrational Duke, having got
money out of Russia, came home again from Dantzig; to notable increase
of the Anarchies in Mecklenburg, though without other result for
himself. The irrational Duke proved more contumacious than ever, fell
into deeper trouble than ever;--at length (1733) he made Proclamation
to the Peasantry to rise and fight for him; who did turn out, with their
bill-hooks and bludgeons, under Captains named by him, "to the amount of
18,000 Peasants,"--with such riot as may be fancied, but without other
result. So that the Hanover Commissioners decided to seize the very
RESIDENZ Cities (Schwerin and Domitz) from this mad Duke, and make the
country clear of him,--his Brother being Interim Manager always, under
countenance of the Commissioners. Which transactions, especially
which contemplated seizure of the Residence Cities, Friedrich Wilhelm,
eventual heir, could not see with equanimity at all. But having no
forces in the country, what could he do? Being "Joint-Commissioner"
this long while past, though without armed interference hitherto, he
privately resolves that he will have forces there; the rather as the
poor Duke professes penitence, and flies to him for help. Poor soul,
his Russian Unique of Wives has just died, far enough away from him this
long while past: what a life they have had, these two Uniques!--
Enough, "on the 19th of October, 1733, Lieutenant-General
Schwerin,"--the same who was Colonel Schwerin, the Duke's chief Captain
here, at the beginning of these troubles, now Lientenant-General and a
distinguished PRUSSIAN officer,--"marches into Mecklenburg with
three regiments, one of foot, two of horse:" [Buchholz, i. 122, 142;
Michaelis, ii. 433, 437.] he, doubtless, will help in quelling those
Peasant and other Anarchies? Privately his mission is most delicate. He
is not to fight with the Hanoverians; is delicately but effectually to
shove them well away from the Residence Cities, and fasten himself
down in those parts. Which the Lieutenant-General dexterously does.
"A night's quarter here in Parchim,"--such is the Lieutenant-General's
request, polite but impressive, from the outskirts of that little Town,
a Town essential to certain objects, and in fact the point he is aiming
at: "night's quarter; you cannot refuse it to this Prussian Company
marching under the Kaiser's Commission?" No, the Hanoverian Lieutenant
of Foot dare not take upon him to refuse:--but next morning, he is
himself invited to withdraw, the Prussians having orders to continue
here in Parchim! And so with the other points and towns, that are
essential in the enterprise on hand. A dexterous Lieutenant-General this
Schwerin:--his two Horse-Colonels are likewise men to be noted; Colonel
Wreech, with a charming young Wife, perhaps a too charming; Colonel
Truchsess von Waldburg, known afterwards, with distinction, in London
Society and widely otherwise. And thus, in the end of 1733, the
Mecklenburg Residence Cities, happen what may, are secured for their
poor irrational Duke. These things may slightly ruffle some tempers at
Hanover; but it is now 1733, and our poor Double-Marriage is clean out
of the game by that time!--
The irrational Duke could not continue in his Residence Cities, with the
Brother administering over him; still proving contumacious, he needed
absolutely to be driven out, to Wismar or I know not whither; went
wandering about for almost twenty years to come; disturbed, and stirring
up disturbance. Died 1747, still in that sad posture; Interim Brother,
with Posterity, succeeding. [Michaelis, ii. 434-440.] But Hanover and
Prussia interfered no farther; the brother administered on his own
footing, "supported by troops hired from Hamburg. Hanover and Prussia,
400 Hanoverians, 200 Prussians, merely retained hold of their respective
Hypothecs [Districts held in pawn] till the expenses should be
paid,"--million of THALERS, and by those late anarchies a new heavy
score run up.
Prussia and Hanover retained hold of their Hypothecs; for as to the
expenses, what hope was there? Fifty years hence we find the Prussian
Hypothecs occupied as at first; and "rights of enlistment exercised."
Never in this world were those expenses paid;--nor could be, any part
of them. The last accounts were: George III. of England, on marrying,
in 1761, a Mecklenburg Princess,--"Old Queen Charlotte," then young
enough,--handsomely tore up the bill; and so ended that part of a
desperate debt. But of the Prussian part there was no end, nor like to
be any: "down to this day [says Buchholz, in 1775], two squadrons of
the Ziethen Hussars usually lie there," and rights of enlisting are
exercised. I conclude, the French Revolution and its Wars wiped away
this other desperate item. And now let us hope that Mecklenburg is
better off than formerly,--that, at least, our hands are clear of it in
time coming. I add only, with satisfaction, that this Unique of Dukes
was no ancestor of Old Queen Charlotte's, but only a remote Welsh-Uncle,
far enough apart;--cannot be too far.
ONE NUSSLER SETTLES THE AHLDEN HERITAGES; SENDS THE MONEY HOME IN BOXES.
Knyphausen did not settle Mecklenburg, as we perceive! Neither did
Kannegiesser and the unliquidated Heritages prosper, at Hanover, quite
to perfection. One Heritage, that of Uncle Osnabruck, little George
flatly refused to share: FEUDUM the whole of that, not ALLODIUM any part
of it, so that a Sister cannot claim. Which, I think, was confirmed by
the Arbitrators at Brunswick; thereby ending that. Then as to the Ahlden
ALLODIA or FEUDA,--Kannegiesser, blamably or not, never could make
much of the business. A precise strict man, as we saw at the Hanover
Council-room lately; whom the Hanover people did not like. So he made
little of it. Nay at the end of next year (December, 1730), sending in
his accounts to Berlin, he demands, in addition to the three thalers (or
nine shillings) daily allowed him, almost a second nine shillings for
sundries, chiefly for "hair-powder and shoe-blacking"! And is
instantly recalled; and vanishes from History at this point. [Busching,
_Beitrage,_ i. 307, &c.? Nussler.]
Upon which Friedrich Wilhelm selects another; "sends deal boxes along
with him," to bring home what cash there is. This one's name is Nussler;
an expectant Prussian Official, an adroit man, whom we shall meet again
doing work. He has the nine shillings a day, without hair-powder
or blacking, while employed here; at Berlin no constant salary
whatever,--had to "borrow 75 pounds for outfit on this business;"--does
a great deal of work without wages, in hope of effective promotion by
and by. Which did follow, after tedious years; Friedrich Wilhelm finding
him, on such proof (other proof will not do), FIT for promoting to
steady employment.
Nussler was very active at Hanover, and had his deal boxes; but hardly
got them filled according to hope. However, in some eighteen months he
had actually worked out, in difficult instalments, about 13,000 pounds,
and dug the matter to the bottom. He came home with his last instalment,
not disapproved of, to Berlin (May, 1732); six years after the poor
Duchess's death, so the Ahlden ALLODIA too had their end.