Amélie [another sister, Comtesse Palatine] writes me that she has
answered the king of Prussia, and makes many jokes about it. I would
reply to her in the same tone, but since the day before yesterday I
have lost all desire to laugh and joke. We received news that, the
orders of my son [with the army of Italy] not having been followed,
the lines before Turin have been forced; my son has two severe wounds:
one in the thigh, but a flesh wound only; the other through the right
arm, without the bone being broken. The surgeons assure us there is
no danger to life; God grant it! For two days I have done nothing but
weep; they tell me he is not in danger, but his sufferings grieve me;
my eyes are so swollen and red I cannot see out of them.
The siege of Turin and the catastrophe that has ended it, almost
costing me the life of my son, makes me sigh more than ever for peace.
I have been so harassed for the last three days that I think I should
have lost my mind if the anxiety had lasted longer. I have constantly
said that they ought to make those two kings of Spain [she means
the claimants of the throne, Philippe V. and the Archduke Charles]
wrestle together, and whichever had the strongest wrist should win;
such a singular combat to settle the fate of a kingdom would be more
Christian than to shed the blood of so many men.
We have here a species of pietists who are what they call quietists;
but they are much better than the pietists of Germany; they are not
so debauched. The King of Siam, when our king wanted to convert him
to Christianity, replied that he thought people could be saved in all
religions, and that God, who had willed that the leaves of the trees
should be of different colored greens, wished to be worshipped in
diverse manners; therefore the King of France ought to continue to
serve God in the way to which he was accustomed; while, for himself,
he should adore God in his way, and if God wished him to change He
would inspire him with the will to do so. I think that king was not
far wrong. I believe that a long time will elapse before the last
judgment; we have not yet seen Antichrist.
I thank you for the medals you have sent me; but I should like to
receive those that are made against France. I already have the most
insulting,--those that were struck in the reign of King William. The
king and the ministers have them, therefore you need not hesitate to
send them to me on the first occasion.[5]
I have received your letters from Heidelberg and Frankfort, and I
answered them; but my letters to you, dear Louise, are all in the
packet to my aunt which has been detained so long that we are nearly
crazy about it. But that is what the all-powerful dame and the
ministers succeed in--far better than they do in governing the kingdom.