Could I have read the book of fate, and have seen the forty years'
fearful afflictions that were to follow, I certainly should not have
rejoiced at this my escape from Glatz. One year's patience might have
appeased the irritated monarch, and, taking a retrospect of all that has
passed, I now find it would have been a fortunate circumstance, had the
good and faithful Schell and I never met, since he also fell into a train
of misfortunes, which I shall hereafter relate, and from which he could
never extricate himself, but by death. The sufferings which I have since
undergone will be read with astonishment.
It is my consolation that both the laws of honour and nature justify the
action. I may serve as an example of the fortitude with which danger
ought to be encountered, and show monarchs that in Germany, as well as in
Rome, there are men who refuse to crouch beneath the yoke of despotism,
and that philosophy and resolution are stronger than even those lords of
slaves, with all their threats, whips, tortures, and instruments of
death.
In Prussia, where my sufferings might have made me supposed the worst of
traitors, is my innocence universally acknowledged; and instead of
contempt, there have I gained the love of the whole nation, which is the
best compensation for all the ills I have suffered, and for having
persevered in the virtuous principles taught me in my youth, persecuted
as I have been by envy and malicious power. I have not time further to
moralise; the numerous incidents of my life would otherwise swell this
volume to too great an extent.
Thus in freedom at Braunau, on the Bohemian frontiers, I sent the two
horses, with the corporal's sword, back to General Fouquet, at Glatz. The
letter accompanying them was so pleasing to him that all the sentinels
before my prison door, as well as the guard under arms, and all those we
passed, were obliged to run the gauntlet, although the very day before he
had himself declared my escape was now rendered impossible. He, however,
was deceived; and thus do the mean revenge themselves on the miserable,
and the tyrant on the innocent.
And now for the first time did I quit my country, and fly like Joseph
from the pit into which his false brethren had cast him; and in this the
present moment of joy for my escape, the loss even of friends and country
appeared to me the excess of good fortune.
The estates which had been purchased by the blood of my forefathers were
confiscated; and thus was a youth, of one of the noblest families in the
land, whose heart was all zeal for the service of his King and country,
and who was among those most capable to render them service, banished by
his unjust and misled King, and treated like the worst of miscreants,
malefactors, and traitors.
I wrote to the King, and sent him a true state of my case; sent
indubitable proofs of my innocence, and supplicated justice, but received
no answer.
In this the monarch may be justified, at least in my apprehension. A
wicked man had maliciously and falsely accused me; Colonel Jaschinsky had
made him suspect me for a traitor, and it was impossible he should read
my heart. The first act of injustice had been hastily committed; I had
been condemned unheard, unjudged; and the injustice that had been done me
was known too late; Frederic the Great found he was not infallible.
Pardon I would not ask, for I had committed no offence; and the King
would not probably own, by a reverse of conduct, he had been guilty of
injustice. My resolution increased his obstinacy: but, in the discussion
of the cause, our power was very unequal.
The monarch once really loved me; he meant my punishment should only be
temporary, and as a trial of my fidelity. That I had been condemned to
no more than a year's imprisonment had never been told me, and was a fact
I did not learn till long after.
Major Doo, who, as I have said, was the creature of Fouquet, a mean and
covetous man, knowing I had money, had always acted the part of a
protector as he pretended to me, and continually told me I was condemned
for life. He perpetually turned the conversation on the great credit of
his general with the King, and his own great credit with the general. For
the present of a horse, on which I rode to Glatz, he gave me freedom of
walking about the fortress; and for another, worth a hundred ducats, I
rescued Ensign Reitz from death, who had been betrayed when endeavouring
to effect our escape. I have been assured that on that very day on which
I snatched his sword from his side, desperately passed through the
garrison, and leaped the walls of the rampart, he was expressly come to
tell me, after some prefatory threats, that by his general's
intercession, my punishment was only to be a year's imprisonment, and
that consequently I should be released in a few days.
How vile were means like these to wrest money from the unfortunate! The
King, after this my mad flight, certainly was never informed of the
major's base cunning; he could only be told that, rather than wait a few
days, I had chosen, in this desperate manner, to make my escape, and go
over to the enemy.
Thus deceived and strengthened in his suspicion, must he not imagine my
desire to forsake my country, and desert to the enemy, was unbounded? How
could he do otherwise than imprison a subject who thus endeavoured to
injure him and aid his foes? Thus, by the calumnies of wicked men, did
my cruel destiny daily become more severe; and at length render the
deceived monarch irreconcilable and cruel.
Yet how could it be supposed that I would not willingly have remained
three weeks longer in prison, to have been honourably restored to
liberty, to have prevented the confiscation of my estate, and to have
once more returned to my beloved mistress at Berlin.
And now was I in Bohemia, a fugitive stranger without money, protector,
or friend, and only twenty years of age.
In the campaign of 1744 I had been quartered at Braunau with a weaver,
whom I advised and assisted to bury his effects, and preserve them from
being plundered. The worthy man received us with joy and gratitude. I
had lived in this same house but two years before as absolute master of
him and his fate. I had then nine horses and five servants, with the
highest and most favourable hopes of futurity; but now I came a fugitive,
seeking protection, and having lost all a youth like me had to lose.
I had but a single louis-d'or in my purse, and Schell forty kreutzers, or
some three shillings; with this small sum, in a strange country, we had
to cure his sprain, and provide for all our wants.
I was determined not to go to my cousin Trenck at Vienna, fearful this
should seem a justification of all my imputed treasons; I rather wished
to embark for the East Indies, than to have recourse to this expedient.
The greater my delicacy was the greater became my distress. I wrote to
my mistress at Berlin, but received no answer; possibly because I could
not indicate any certain mode of conveyance. My mother believed me
guilty, and abandoned me; my brothers were still minors, and my friend at
Schweidnitz could not aid me, being gone to Konigsberg.
After three weeks' abode at Braunau, my friend recovered of his lameness.
We had been obliged to sell my watch, with his scarf and gorget, to
supply our necessities, and had only four florins remaining.
From the public papers I learned my cousin, the Austrian Trenck, was at
this time closely confined, and under criminal prosecution. It will
easily be imagined what effect this news had upon me.
Never till now had I felt any inconvenience from poverty; my wants had
all been amply supplied, and I had ever lived among, and been highly
loved and esteemed by, the first people of the land. I was destitute,
without aid, and undetermined how to seek employment, or obtain fame.
At length I determined to travel on foot to Prussia to my mother, and
obtain money from her, and afterwards enter into the Russian service.
Schell, whose destiny was linked to mine, would not forsake me. We
assumed false names: I called myself Knert, and Schell, Lesch; then,
obtaining passports, like common deserters, we left Braunau on the 21st
of January, in the evening, unseen of any person, and proceeded towards
Bielitz in Poland. A friend I had at Neurode gave me a pair of pocket
pistols, a musket, and three ducats; the money was spent at Braunau. Here
let me take occasion to remark I had lent this friend, in urgent
necessity, a hundred ducats, which he still owed me; and when I sent to
request payment, he returned me three, as if I had asked charity.
Though a circumstantial description of our travels alone would fill a
volume, I shall only relate the most singular accidents which happened to
us; I shall also insert the journal of our route, which Schell had
preserved, and gave me in 1776, when he came to see me at
Aix-la-Chapelle, after an absence of thirty years.
This may be called the first scene in which I appeared as an adventurer,
and perhaps my good fortune may even have overbalanced the bad, since I
have escaped death full thirty times when the chances were a hundred to
one against me; certain it is I undertook many things in which I seemed
to have owed my preservation to the very rashness of the action, and in
which others equally brave would have found death.
JOURNAL OF TRAVELS ON FOOT.
From Braunau, in Bohemia, through Bielitz, in Poland, to Meseritsch, and
from Meseritsch, by Thorn, to Ebling; in the whole 169 miles, {3}
performed without begging or stealing.
January 18th, 1747.--From Braunau, by Politz, to Nachod, three miles, we
having three florins forty-five kreutzers in our purse.
Jan. 19.--To Neustadt. Here Schell bartered his uniform for an old coat,
and a Jew gave him two florins fifteen kreutzers in exchange; from hence
we went to Reichenau; in all, three miles.
Jan. 20.--We went to Leitomischl, five miles. Here I bought a loaf hot
out of the oven, which eating greedily, had nearly caused my death. This
obliged us to rest a day, and the extravagant charge of the landlord
almost emptied our purse.
Jan. 22.--From Trubau, to Zwittau, in Moravia, four miles.
Jan. 23.--To Sternberg, six miles. This day's journey excessively
fatigued poor Schell, his sprained ankle being still extremely weak.
Jan. 24.--To Leipnik, four miles, in a deep snow, and with empty
stomachs. Here I sold my stock-buckle for four florins.
Jan. 25.--To Freiberg, by Weiskirch, to Drahotusch, five miles. Early in
the morning we found a violin and case on the road; the innkeeper in
Weiskirch gave us two florins for it, on condition that he should return
it to the owner on proving his right, it being worth at least twenty.
Jan. 26.--To Friedek, in Upper Silesia, two miles.
Jan. 27.--To a village, four miles and a half.
Jan. 28.--Through Skotschau, to Bielitz, three miles. This was the last
Austrian town on the frontiers of Poland, and Captain Capi, of the
regiment of Marischall, who commanded the garrison, demanded our
passports. We had false names, and called ourselves common Prussian
deserters; but a drummer, who had deserted from Glatz, knew us, and
betrayed us to the captain, who immediately arrested us very rudely, and
sent us on foot to Teschin (refusing us a hearing), four miles distant.
Here we found Lieut.-Colonel Baron Schwarzer, a perfectly worthy man, who
was highly interested in our behalf, and who blamed the irregular
arbitrary conduct of Captain Capi. I frankly related my adventures, and
he used every possible argument to persuade me, instead of continuing my
journey through Poland to go to Vienna, but in vain; my good genius, this
time, preserved me--would to God it ever had! How many miseries had I
then avoided, and how easily might I have escaped the snares spread for
me by the powerful, who have seized on my property, and in order to
secure it, have hitherto rendered me useless to the state by depriving me
of all post or preferment.
I returned, therefore, a second time to Beilitz, travelling these four
miles once more. Schwarzer lent us his own horse and four ducats, which
I have since repaid, but which I shall never forget, as they were of
signal service to me, and procured me a pair of new boots.
Irritated against Captain Capi, we passed through Beilitz without
stopping, went immediately to Biala, the first town in Poland, and from
thence sent Capi a challenge to fight me, with sword or pistol, but
received no answer; and his non-appearance has ever confirmed him in my
opinion a rascal.
And here suffer me to take a retrospective view of what was my then
situation. By the orders of Capi I was sent prisoner as a contemptible
common deserter, and was unable to call him to account. In Poland,
indeed, I had that power, but was despised as a vagabond because of my
poverty. What, alas! are the advantages which the love of honour,
science, courage, or desire of fame can bestow, wanting the means that
should introduce us to, and bid us walk erect in the presence of our
equals? Youth depressed by poverty, is robbed of the society of those
who best can afford example and instruction. I had lived familiar with
the great, men of genius had formed and enlightened me; I had been
enumerated among the favourites of a court; and now was I a stranger,
unknown, unesteemed, nay, condemned, obliged to endure the extremes of
cold, hunger, and thirst; to wander many a weary mile, suffering both in
body and mind, while every step led me farther from her whom most I
loved, and dearest; yet had I no fixed plan, no certain knowledge in what
these my labours and sufferings should end.
I was too proud to discover myself; and, indeed, to whom could I discover
myself in a strange land? My name might have availed me in Austria, but
in Austria, where this name was known, would I not remain; rather than
seek my fortune there, I was determined to shun whatever might tend to
render me suspicious in the eyes of my country. How liable was a temper
so ardent as mine, in the midst of difficulties, fatigues, and
disappointments, hard to endure, to betray me into all those errors of
which rash youth, unaccustomed to hardship, impatient of contrariety, are
so often guilty! But I had taken my resolution, and my faithful Schell,
to whom hunger or ease, contempt or fame, for my sake, were become
indifferent, did whatever I desired.
Once more to my journal.
Feb. 1.--We proceeded four miles from Biala to Oswintzen, I having
determined to ask aid from my sister, who had married Waldow, and lived
much at her case on a fine estate at Hanmer, in Brandenburg, between
Lansberg, on the Warta and Meseritsch, a frontier town of Poland. For
this reason we continued our route all along the Silesian confines to
Meseritsch.
Feb. 2.--To Bobrek and Elkusch, five miles. We suffered much this day
because of the snow, and that the lightness of our dress was ill suited
to such severe weather. Schell, negligently, lost our purse, in which
were nine florins. I had still, however, nineteen grosch in my pocket
(about half-a-crown).
Feb. 3.--To Crumelew, three miles; and
Feb. 4.--To Wladowiegud Joreck, three miles more; and from thence, on.
Feb. 5.--To Czenstochowa, where there is a magnificent convent,
concerning which, had I room, I might write many remarkable things, much
to the disgrace of its inhabitants.
We slept at an inn kept by a very worthy man, whose name was Lazar. He
had been a lieutenant in the Austrian service, where he had suffered
much, and was now become a poor innkeeper in Poland. We had not a penny
in our purse, and requested a bit of bread. The generous man had
compassion on us, and desired us to sit down and eat with himself. I
then told him who we were, and trusted him with the motives of our
journey. Scarcely had we supped, before a carriage arrived with three
people. They had their own horses, a servant and a coachman.
This is a remarkable incident, and I must relate it circumstantially,
though as briefly as possible.
We had before met this carriage at Elkusch, and one of these people had
asked Schell where we were going; he had replied, to Czenstochowa; we
therefore had not the least suspicion of them, notwithstanding the danger
we ran.
They lay at the inn, saluted us, but with indifference, not seeming to
notice us, and spoke little. We had not been long in bed, before our
host came to awaken us, and told us with surprise, these pretended
merchants were sent to arrest us from Prussia; that they had offered,
first, fifty, afterwards, a hundred ducats, if he would permit them to
take us in his house, and carry us into Silesia: that he had firmly
rejected the proposal, though they had increased their promises: and that
at last they had given him six ducats to engage his silence.
We clearly saw these were an officer and under-officers sent by General
Fouquet, to recover us. We conjectured by what means they had discovered
our route, and imagined the information they had received could only come
from one Lieutenant Molinie, of the garrison of Habelschwert, who had
come to visit Schell, as a friend, during our stay at Braunau. He had
remained with us two days, and had asked many questions concerning the
road we should take, and he was the only one who knew it. He was
probably the spy of Fouquet, and the cause of what happened afterwards,
which, however, ended in the defeat of our enemies.
The moment I heard of this infamous treachery, I was for entering with my
pistols primed, into the enemy's chamber, but was prevented by Schell and
Lazar: the latter entreated me, in the strongest manner, to remain at his
house till I should receive a supply from my mother, that I might be
enabled to continue my journey with more ease and less danger: but his
entreaties were ineffectual; I was determined to see her, uncertain as I
was of what effect my letter had produced. Lazar assured me, we should,
most infallibly, be attacked on the road. "So much the better," retorted
I; "that will give me an opportunity of despatching them, sending them to
the other world, and shooting them as I would highwayman." They departed
at break of day, and took the road to Warsaw.
We would have been gone, likewise, but Lazar, in some sort, forcibly
detained us, and gave us the six ducats he had received from the
Prussians, with which we bought us each a shirt, another pair of pocket
pistols, and other urgent necessaries; then took an affectionate leave of
our host, who directed us on our way, and we testified our gratitude for
the great services done us.
Feb. 6.--From Czenstochowa to Dankow, two miles. Here we expected an
attack. Lazar had told us our enemies had one musket: I also had a
musket, and an excellent sabre, and each of us was provided with a pair
of pistols. They knew not we were so well armed, which perhaps was the
cause of their panic, when they came to engage.
Feb. 7.--We took the road to Parsemechi: we had not been an hour on the
road, before we saw a carriage; as we drew near, we knew it to be that of
our enemies, who pretended it was set in the snow. They were round it,
and when they saw us approach, began to call for help. This, we guessed,
was an artifice to entrap us. Schell was not strong; they would all have
fallen upon me, and we should easily have been carried off, for they
wanted to take us alive.
We left the causeway about thirty paces, answering--"we had not time to
give them help;" at which they all ran to their carriage, drew out their
pistols, and returning full speed after us, called, "Stop, rascals!" We
began to run, but I suddenly turning round, presented my piece, and shot
the nearest dead on the spot. Schell fired his pistols; our oppressors
did the same, and Schell received a ball in the neck at this discharge.
It was now my turn; I took out my pistols, one of the assailants fled,
and I enraged, pursued him three hundred paces, overtook him, and as he
was defending himself with his sword, perceiving he bled, and made a
feeble resistance, pressed upon him, and gave him a stroke that brought
him down. I instantly returned to Schell, whom I found in the power of
two others that were dragging him towards the carriage, but when they saw
me at their heels, they fled over the fields. The coachman, perceiving
which way the battle went, leaped on his box, and drove off full speed.
Schell, though delivered, was wounded with a ball in the neck, and by a
cut in the right hand, which had made him drop his sword, though he
affirmed he had run one of his adversaries through.
I took a silver watch from the man I had killed, and was going to make
free with his purse, when Schell called, and showed me a coach and six
coming down a hill. To stay would have exposed us to have been
imprisoned as highwaymen; for the two fugitives who had escaped us would
certainly have borne witness against us. Safety could only be found in
flight. I, however, seized the musket and hat of him I had first killed,
and we then gained the copse, and after that the forest. The road was
round about, and it was night before we reached Parsemechi.
Schell was besmeared with blood; I had bound up his wound the best I
could; but in Polish villages no surgeons are to be found: and he
performed his journey with great difficulty. We met with two Saxon under-
officers here, who were recruiting for the regiment of guards at Dresden.
My six feet height and person pleased them, and they immediately made
themselves acquainted with me. I found them intelligent, and entrusted
them with our secret, told them who we were, related the battle we had
that day had with our pursuers, and I had not reason to repent of my
confidence in them. Schell had his wounds dressed, and we remained seven
days with these good Saxons, who faithfully kept us company.
I learned, meantime, that of the four men by whom we had been assaulted,
one only, and the coachman, returned to Glatz. The name of the officer
who undertook this vile business was Gersdorf; he had a hundred and fifty
ducats in his pocket when found dead. How great would our good fortune
have been, had not that cursed coach and six, by its appearance, made us
take to flight; since the booty would have been most just! Fortune, this
time, did not favour the innocent; and though treacherously attacked, I
was obliged to escape like a guilty wretch. We sold the watch to a Jew
for four ducats, the hat for three florins and a half, and the musket for
a ducat, Schell being unable to carry it farther. We left most of this
money behind us at Parsemechi. A Jew surgeon sold us some dear
plaisters, which we took with us and departed.
Feb. 15.--From Parsemechi, through Vielum, to Biala, four miles.
Feb. 16.--Through Jerischow to Misorcen, four miles and a half.
Feb. 17.--To Osterkow and Schwarzwald, three miles.
Feb. 18.--To Sdune, four miles.
Feb. 19.--To Goblin two miles.
Here we arrived wholly destitute of money. I sold my coat to a Jew, who
gave me four florins and a coarse waggoner's frock, in exchange, which I
did not think I should long need, as we now drew nearer to where my
sister lived, and where I hoped I should be better equipped. Schell,
however, grew weaker and weaker; his wounds healed slowly, and were
expensive; the cold was also injurious to him, and, as he was not by
nature cleanly in his person, his body soon became the harbour of every
species of vermin to be picked up in Poland. We often arrived wet and
weary, to our smoky, reeking stove-room. Often were we obliged to lie on
straw, or bare boards; and the various hardships we suffered are almost
incredible. Wandering as we did, in the midst of winter, through Poland,
where humanity, hospitality, and gentle pity, are scarcely so much as
known by name; where merciless Jews deny the poor traveller a bed, and
where we disconsolately strayed, without bread, and almost naked: these
were sufferings, the full extent of which he only can conceive by whom
they have been felt. My musket now and then procured us an occasional
meal of tame geese, and cocks and hens, when these were to be had;
otherwise, we never took or touched anything that was not our own. We
met with Saxon and Prussian recruiters at various places; all of whom, on
account of my youth and stature, were eager to inveigle me. I was highly
diverted to hear them enumerate all the possibilities of future
greatness, and how liable I was hereafter to become a corporal: nor was I
less merry with their mead, ale, and brandy, given with an intent to make
me drunk. Thus we had many artifices to guard against; but thus had we
likewise, very luckily for us, many a good meal gratis.
Feb. 21.--We went from Goblin to Pugnitz, three miles and a half.
Feb. 22.--Through Storchnest to Schmiegel, four miles.
Here happened a singular adventure. The peasants at this place were
dancing to a vile scraper on the violin: I took the instrument myself,
and played while they continued their hilarity. They were much pleased
with my playing: but when I was tired, and desired to have done, they
obliged me, first by importunities, and afterwards by threats, to play on
all night. I was so fatigued, I thought I should have fainted; at length
they quarrelled among themselves. Schell was sleeping on a bench, and
some of them fell upon his wounded hand: he rose furious: I seized our
arms, began to lay about me, and while all was in confusion, we escaped,
without further ill-treatment.
What ample subject of meditation on the various turns of fate did this
night afford! But two years before I danced at Berlin with the daughters
and sisters of kings: and here was I, in a Polish hut, a ragged, almost
naked musician, playing for the sport of ignorant rustics, whom I was at
last obliged to fight.
I was myself the cause of the trifling misfortune that befell me on this
occasion. Had not my vanity led me to show these poor peasants I was a
musician, I might have slept in peace and safety. The same vain desire
of proving I knew more than other men, made me through life the continued
victim of envy and slander. Had nature, too, bestowed on me a weaker or
a deformed body, I had been less observed, less courted, less sought, and
my adventures and mishaps had been fewer. Thus the merits of the man
often become his miseries; and thus the bear, having learned to dance,
must live and die in chains.
This ardour, this vanity, or, if you please, this emulation, has,
however, taught me to vanquish a thousand difficulties, under which
others of cooler passions and more temperate desires would have sunk. May
my example remain a warning; and thus may my sufferings become somewhat
profitable to the world, cruel as they have been to myself! Cruel they
were, and cruel they must continue; for the wounds I have received are
not, will not, cannot be healed.
Feb. 23.--From Schmiegel to Rakonitz, and from thence to Karger Holland,
four miles and a half. Here we sold, to prevent dying of hunger, a shirt
and Schell's waistcoat for eighteen grosch, or nine schostacks. I had
shot a pullet the day before, which necessity obliged us to eat raw. I
also killed a crow, which I devoured alone, Schell refusing to taste.
Youth and hard travelling created a voracious appetite, and our eighteen
grosch were soon expended.
Feb. 24.--We came through Benzen to Lettel, four miles. Here we halted a
day, to learn the road to Hammer, in Brandenburg, where my sister lived.
I happened luckily to meet with the wife of a Prussian soldier who lived
at Lettel, and belonged to Kolschen, where she was born a vassal of my
sister's husband. I told her who I was, and she became our guide.
Feb. 26.--To Kurschen and Falkenwalde.
Feb. 27.--Through Neuendorf and Oost, and afterwards through a pathless
wood, five miles and a half to Hammer, and here I knocked at my sister's
door at nine o'clock in the evening.