After having defrayed the expenses of travelling for me and my friend
Schell, for whose remarkable history I will endeavour to find a few pages
in due course, I divided the three hundred ducats which remained with
him, and, having stayed a month at Vienna, he went to join the regiment
of Pallavicini, in which he had obtained a lieutenant-colonel's
commission, and which was then in Italy.
Here I found my cousin, Baron Francis Trenck, the famous partisan and
colonel of pandours, imprisoned at the arsenal, and involved in a most
perplexing prosecution.
This Trenck was my father's brother's son. His father had been a colonel
and governor of Leitschau, and had possessed considerable lordships in
Sclavonia, those of Pleternitz, Prestowacz, and Pakratz. After the siege
of Vienna, in 1683, he had left the Prussian service for that of Austria,
in which he remained sixty years.
That I may not here interrupt my story, I shall give some account of the
life of my cousin Baron Francis Trenck, so renowned in the war of 1741,
in another part, and who fell, at last, the shameful sacrifice of envy
and avarice, and received the reward of all his great and faithful
services in the prison of the Spielberg.
The vindication of the family of the Trencks requires I should speak of
him; nor will I, in this, suffer restraint from the fear of any man,
however powerful. Those indeed who sacrificed a man most ardent in his
country's service to their own private and selfish views, are now in
their graves.
I shall insert no more of his history here than what is interwoven with
my own, and relate the rest in its proper place.
A revision of his suit was at this time instituted. Scarcely was I
arrived in Vienna before his confidential agent, M. Leber, presented me
to Prince Charles and the Emperor; both knew the services of Trenck, and
the malice of his enemies; therefore, permission for me to visit him in
his prison, and procure him such assistance as he might need, was readily
granted. On my second audience, the Emperor spoke so much in my
persecuted cousin's favour that I became highly interested; he commanded
me to have recourse to him on all occasions; and, moreover, owned the
president of the council of war was a man of a very wicked character, and
a declared enemy of Trenck. This president was the Count of Lowenwalde,
who, with his associates, had been purposely selected as men proper to
oppress the best of subjects.
The suit soon took another face; the good Empress Queen, who had been
deceived, was soon better informed, and Trenck's innocence appeared, on
the revision of the process most evidently. The trial, which had cost
them twenty-seven thousand florins, and the sentence which followed, were
proved to have been partial and unjust; and that sixteen of Trenck's
officers, who most of them had been broken for different offences, had
perjured themselves to insure his destruction.
It is a most remarkable circumstance that public notice was given, in the
_Vienna Gazette_, to the following purport.
"All those who have any complaints to make against Trenck, let them
appear, and they shall receive a ducat per day, so long as the
prosecution continues."
It will readily be imagined how fast his accusers would increase, and
what kind of people they were. The pay of these witnesses alone amounted
to fifteen thousand florins. I now began the labour in concurrence with
Doctor Gerhauer, and the cause soon took another turn; but such was the
state of things, it would have been necessary to have broken all the
members of the council of war, as well as counsellor Weber, a man of
great power. Thus, unfortunately, politics began to interfere with the
course of justice.
The Empress Queen gave Trenck to understand she required he should ask
her pardon; and on that condition all proceedings should be stopped, and
he immediately set at liberty. Prince Charles, who knew the court of
Vienna, advised me also to persuade my cousin to comply; but nothing
could shake his resolution. Feeling his right and innocence, he demanded
strict justice; and this made ruin more swift.
I soon learned Trenck must fall a sacrifice--he was rich--his enemies
already had divided among them more than eighty thousand florins of his
property, which was all sequestered, and in their hands. They had
treated him too cruelly, and knew him too well, not to dread his
vengeance the moment he should recover his freedom.
I was moved to the soul at his sufferings, and as he had vented public
threats, at the prospect of approaching victory over his enemies, they
gained over the Court Confessor: and, dreading him as they did, put every
wily art in practice to insure his destruction. I therefore, in the
fulness of my heart, made him the brotherly proposition of escaping, and,
having obtained his liberty, to prove his innocence to the Empress Queen.
I told him my plan, which might easily have been put in execution, and
which he seemed perfectly decided to follow.
Some days after, I was ordered to wait on field-marshal Count Konigseck,
governor of Vienna. This respectable old gentleman, whose memory I shall
ever revere, behaved to me like a father and the friend of humanity,
advised me to abandon my cousin, who he gave me clearly to understand had
betrayed me by having revealed my proposed plan of escape, willing to
sacrifice me to his ambition in order to justify the purity of his
intentions to the court, and show that, instead of wishing to escape, he
only desired justice.
Confounded at the cowardly action of one for whom I would willingly have
sacrificed my life, and whom I only sought to deliver, I resolved to
leave him to his fate, and thought myself exceedingly happy that the
worthy field-marshal would, after a fatherly admonition, smother all
farther inquiry into this affair.
I related this black trait of ingratitude to Prince Charles of Lorraine,
who prevailed on me to again see my cousin, without letting him know I
knew what had passed, and still to render him every service in my power.
Before I proceed I will here give the reader a per-'trait of this Trenck.
He was a man of superior talents and unbounded ambition; devoted, even
fanatically, to his sovereign; his boldness approached temerity; he was
artful of mind, wicked of heart, vindictive and unfeeling. His cupidity
equalled the utmost excess of avarice, even in his thirty-third year, in
which he died. He was too proud to receive favours or obligations from
any man, and was capable of ridding himself of his best friend if he
thought he had any claims on his gratitude or could get possession of his
fortune.
He knew I had rendered him very important services, supposed his cause
already won, having bribed the judges, who were to revise the sentence,
with thirty thousand florins, which money I received from his friend
Baron Lopresti, and conveyed to these honest counsellors. I knew all his
secrets, and nothing more was necessary to prompt his suspicious and bad
heart to seek my destruction.
Scarcely had a fortnight elapsed, after his having first betrayed me,
before the following remarkable event happened.
I left him one evening to return home, taking under my coat a bag with
papers and documents relating to the prosecution, which I had been
examining for him, and transcribing. There were at this time about five-
and-twenty officers in Vienna who had laid complaints against him, and
who considered me as their greatest enemy because I had laboured
earnestly in his defence. I was therefore obliged, on all occasions, to
be upon my guard. A report had been propagated through Vienna that I was
secretly sent by the King of Prussia to free my cousin from imprisonment;
he, however, constantly denied, to the hour of his death, his ever having
written to me at Berlin; hence also it will follow the letter I received
had been forged by Jaschinsky.
Leaving the Arsenal, I crossed the court, and perceived I was closely
followed by two men in grey roquelaures, who, pressing upon my heels,
held loud and insolent conversation concerning the runaway Prussian
Trenck. I found they sought a quarrel, which was a thing of no great
difficulty at that moment, for a man is never more disposed to duelling
than when he has nothing to lose, and is discontented with his condition.
I supposed they were two of the accusing officers broken by Trenck, and
endeavoured to avoid them, and gain the Jew's place.
Scarcely had I turned down the street that leads thither before they
quickened their pace. I turned round, and in a moment received a thrust
with a sword in the left side, where I had put my bag of papers, which
accident alone saved my life; the sword pierced through the papers and
slightly grazed the skin. I instantly drew, and the heroes ran. I
pursued, one of them tripped and fell. I seized him; the guard came up:
he declared he was an officer of the regiment of Kollowrat, showed his
uniform, was released, and I was taken to prison. The Town Major came
the next day, and told me I had intentionally sought a quarrel with two
officers, Lieutenants F---g and K---n. These kind gentlemen did not
reveal their humane intention of sending me to the other world.
I was alone, could produce no witness, they were two. I must necessarily
be in the wrong, and I remained six days in prison. No sooner was I
released, than these my good friends sent to demand satisfaction for the
said pretended insult. The proposal was accepted, and I promised to be
at the Scotch gate, the place appointed by them, within an hour. Having
heard their names, I presently knew them to be two famous swaggerers, who
were daily exercising themselves in fencing at the Arsenal, and where
they often visited Trenck. I went to my cousin to ask his assistance,
related what had happened, and, as the consequences of this duel might be
very serious, desired him to give me a hundred ducats, that I might be
able to fly if either of them should fall.
Hitherto I had expended my own money on his account, and had asked no
reimbursement; but what was my astonishment when this wicked man said to
me, with a sneer, "Since, good cousin, you have got into a quarrel
without consulting me, you will also get out of it without my aid!" As I
left him, he called me back to tell me, "I will take care and pay your
undertaker;" for he certainly believed I should never return alive.
I ran now, half-despairing, to Baron Lopresti, who gave me fifty ducats
and a pair of pistols, provided with which I cheerfully repaired to the
field of battle.
Here I found half a dozen officers of the garrison. As I had few
acquaintances in Vienna, I had no second, except an old Spanish invalid
captain, named Pereyra, who met me going in all haste, and, having
learned whither, would not leave me.
Lieutenant K---n was the first with whom I fought, and who received
satisfaction by a deep wound in the right arm. Hereupon I desired the
spectators to prevent farther mischief; for my own part I had nothing
more to demand. Lieutenant F---g next entered the lists, with threats,
which were soon quieted by a lunge in the belly. Hereupon Lieutenant M-
f, second to the first wounded man, told me very angrily--"Had I been
your man, you would have found a very different reception." My old
Spaniard of eighty proudly and immediately advanced, with his long
whiskers and tottering frame, and cried--"Hold! Trenck has proved
himself a brave fellow, and if any man thinks proper to assault him
further, he must first take a breathing with me." Everybody laughed at
this bravado from a man who scarcely could stand or hold a sword. I
replied--"Friend, I am safe, unhurt, and want not aid; should I be
disabled, you then, if you think proper, may take my place; but, as long
as I can hold a sword, I shall take pleasure in satisfying all these
gentlemen one after another." I would have rested myself a moment, but
the haughty M-f, enraged at the defeat of his friend, would not give me
time, but furiously attacked me, and, having been wounded twice, once in
the hand and again in the groin, he wanted to close and sink me to the
grave with himself, but I disarmed and threw him.
None of the others had any desire to renew the contest. My three enemies
were sent bleeding to town; and, as M---f appeared to be mortally
wounded, and the Jesuits and Capuchins of Vienna refused me an asylum, I
fled to the convent of Keltenberg.
I wrote from the convent to Colonel Baron Lopresti, who came to me. I
told him all that had passed, and by his good offices had liberty, in a
week, to appear once more at Vienna.
The blood of Lieutenant F---g was in a corrupt state, and his wound,
though not in itself dangerous, made his life doubtful. He sent to
entreat I would visit him, and, when I went, having first requested I
would pardon him, gave me to understand I ought to beware of my cousin. I
afterwards learned the traitorous Trenck had promised Lieutenant F---g a
company and a thousand ducats if he would find means to quarrel with me
and rid the world of me. He was deeply in debt, and sought the
assistance of Lieutenant K-n; and had not the papers luckily preserved
me, I had undoubtedly been despatched by his first lunge. To clear
themselves of the infamy of such an act, these two worthy gentlemen had
pretended I had assaulted them in the streets.
I could no more resolve to see my ungrateful and dangerous kinsman, who
wished to have me murdered because I knew all his secrets, and thought he
should be able to gain his cause without obligation to me or my
assistance. Notwithstanding all his great qualities, his marked
characteristic certainly was that of sacrificing everything to his
private views, and especially to his covetousness, which was so great
that, even at his time of life, though his fortune amounted to a million
and a half, he did not spend per day more than thirty kreutzers.
No sooner was it known that I had forsaken Trenck than General Count
Lowenwalde, his most ardent enemy, and president of the first council of
war, by which he had been condemned, desired to speak to me, promised
every sort of good fortune and protection, if I would discover what means
had secretly been employed in the revision of the process; and went so
far as to offer me four thousand florins if I would aid the prosecution
against my cousin. Here I learned the influence of villains in power,
and the injustice of judges at Vienna. The proposal I rejected with
disdain, and rather determined to seek my fortune in the East Indies than
continue in a country where, under the best of Queens, the most loyal of
subjects, and first of soldiers, might be rendered miserable by
interested, angry, and corrupt courtiers. Certain it is, as I now can
prove, though the bitterest of my enemies, and whose conduct towards me
merited my whole resentment, he was the best soldier in the Austrian
army, had been liberal of his blood and fortune in the Imperial service,
and would still so have continued had not his wealth, and his contempt
for Weber and Lowenwalde put him in the power of those wretches who were
the avowed enemies of courage and patriotism, and who only could maintain
their authority, and sate their thirst of gain, by the base and wicked
arts of courts. Had my cousin shared the plunder of the war among these
men, he had not fallen the martyr of their intrigues, and died in the
Spielberg. His accusers were, generally, unprincipled men of ruined
fortunes, and so insufficient were their accusations that a useful member
of society ought not, for any or all of them, to have suffered an hour's
imprisonment. Being fully informed, both of all the circumstances of the
prosecution and the inmost secrets of his heart, justice requires I
should thus publicly declare this truth and vindicate his memory. While
living he was my bitterest enemy, and even though dead, was the cause of
all my future sufferings; therefore the account I shall give of him will
certainly be the less liable to suspicion, where I shall show that he, as
well as myself, deserved better of Austria.
I was resolved forever to forsake Vienna. The friends of Trenck all
became distrustful of him because of his ingratitude to me. Prince
Charles still endeavoured to persuade me to a reconciliation, and gave me
a letter of recommendation to General Brown, who then commanded the
Imperial army in Italy. But more anxious of going to India, I left
Vienna in August, 1748, desirous of owing no obligation to that city or
its inhabitants, and went for Holland. Meantime, the enemies of Trenck
found no one to oppose their iniquitous proceedings, and obtained a
sentence of imprisonment, in the Spielberg, where he too late repented
having betrayed his faithful adviser, and prudent friend. I pitied him,
and his judges certainly deserved the punishment they inflicted: yet to
his last moments he showed his hatred towards me was rooted, and, even in
the grave, strove by his will to involve me in misfortune, as will
hereafter be seen.
I fled from Vienna, would to God it had been for ever; but fate by
strange ways, and unknown means, brought me back where Providence thought
proper I should become a vessel of wrath and persecution: I was to enact
my part in Europe, and not in Asia. At Nuremberg I met with a body of
Russians, commanded by General Lieuwen, my mother's relation, who were
marching to the Netherlands, and were the peace-makers of Europe. Major
Buschkow, whom I had known when Russian resident at Vienna, prevailed on
me to visit him, and presented me to the General. I pleased him, and may
say, with truth, he behaved to me like a friend and a father. He advised
me to enter into the Russian service, and gave me a company of dragoons,
in the regiment of Tobolski, on condition I should not leave him, but
employ myself in his cabinet: and his confidence and esteem for me were
unbounded.
Peace followed; the army returned to Moravia, without firing a musket,
and the head-quarters were fixed at Prosnitz.
In this town a public entertainment was given, by General Lieuwen, on the
coronation day of the Empress Elizabeth; and here an adventure happened
to me, which I shall ever remember, as a warning to myself, and insert as
a memento to others.
The army physician, on this day, kept a Faro bank for the entertainment
of the guests. My stock of money consisted of two and twenty ducats.
Thirst of gain, or perhaps example, induced me to venture two of these,
which I immediately lost, and very soon, by venturing again to regain
them, the whole two and twenty. Chagrined at my folly, I returned home:
I had nothing but a pair of pistols left, for which, because of their
workmanship, General Woyekow had offered me twenty ducats. These I took,
intending by their aid to attempt to retrieve my loss. Firing of guns
and pistols was heard throughout the town, because of the festival, and
I, in imitation of the rest, went to the window and fired mine. After a
few discharges, one of my pistols burst, and endangered my own hand, and
wounded my servant. I felt a momentary despondency, stronger than I ever
remember to have experienced before; insomuch that I was half induced,
with the remaining pistol, to shoot myself through the head. I however,
recovered my spirits, asked my servant what money he had, and received
from him three ducats. With these I repaired, like a desperate gamester,
once more to the Faro table, at the General's, again began to play, and
so extraordinary was my run of luck, I won at every venture. Having
recovered my principal, I played on upon my winnings, till at last I had
absolutely broke the Doctor's bank: a new bank was set up, and I won the
greatest part of this likewise, so that I brought home about six hundred
ducats.
Rejoiced at my good fortune, but recollecting my danger, I had the
prudence to make a solemn resolution never more to play at any game of
chance, to which I have ever strictly adhered.
It were to be wished young men would reflect upon the effects of gaming,
remembering that the love of play has made the most promising and
virtuous, miserable; the honest, knaves; and the sincere, deceivers and
liars. Officers, having first lost all their own money, being entrusted
with the soldiers' pay, have next lost that also; and thus been
cashiered, and eternally disgraced. I might, at Prosnitz, have been
equally rash and culpable. The first venture, whether the gamester wins
or loses, ensures a second; and, with that, too often destruction. My
good fortune was almost miraculous, and my subsequent resolution very
uncommon; and I entreat and conjure my children, when I shall no longer
be living to advise and watch for their welfare, most determinedly to
avoid play. I seemed preserved by Providence from this evil but to
endure much greater.
General Lieuwen, my kind patron, sent me, from Crakow, to conduct a
hundred and forty sick men down the Vistula to Dantzic, where there were
Russian vessels to receive and transport them to Riga.
I requested permission of the General to proceed forward and visit my
mother and sister, whom I was very desirous to see: at Elbing, therefore,
I resigned the command to Lieutenant Platen, and, attended by a servant,
rode to the bishopric of Ermeland, where I appointed an interview with
them in a frontier village.
Here an incident happened that had nearly cost me my life. The
Prussians, some days before, had carried off a peasant's son from this
village, as a recruit. The people were all in commotion. I wore
leathern breeches, and the blue uniform of the Russian cavalry. They
took me for a Prussian, at the door, and fell upon me with every kind of
weapon. A chasseur, who happened to be there, and the landlord, came to
my assistance, while I, battling with the peasants, had thrown two of
them down. I was delivered, but not till I had received two violent
bruises, one on the left arm, and another which broke the bridge of my
nose. The landlord advised me to escape as fast as possible, or that the
village would rise and certainly murder me; my servant, therefore, who
had retired for defence, with a pair of pistols, into the oven, got ready
the horses and we rode off.
I had my bruises dressed at the next village; my hand and eyes were
exceedingly swelled, but I was obliged to ride two miles farther, to the
town of Ressel, before I could find an able surgeon, and here I so far
recovered in a week, that I was able to return to Dantzic. My brother
visited me while at Ressel, but my good mother had the misfortune, as she
was coming to me, to be thrown out of her carriage, by which her arm was
broken, so that she and my sister were obliged to return, and I never saw
her more.
I was now at Dantzic, with my sick convoy, where another most remarkable
event happened, which I, with good reason, shall ever remember.
I became acquainted with a Prussian officer, whose name I shall conceal
out of respect to his very worthy family; he visited me daily, and we
often rode out together in the neighbourhood of Dantzic.
My faithful servant became acquainted with his, and my astonishment was
indeed great when he one day said to me, with anxiety, "Beware, sir, of a
snare laid for you by Lieutenant N-; he means to entice you out of town
and deliver you up to the Prussians." I asked him where he learned this.
"From the lieutenant's servant," answered he, "who is my friend, and
wishes to save me from misfortune."
I now, with the aid of a couple of ducats, discovered the whole affair,
and learned it was agreed, between the Prussian resident, Reimer, and the
lieutenant, that the latter should entice me into the suburb of Langfuhr,
where there was an inn on the Prussian territories. Here eight
recruiting under-officers were to wait concealed, and seize me the moment
I entered the house, hurry me into a carriage, and drive away for
Lauenberg in Pomerania. Two under-officers were to escort me, on
horseback, as far as the frontiers, and the remainder to hold and prevent
me from calling for help, so long as we should remain on the territories
of Dantzic.
I farther learned my enemies were only to be armed with sabres, and that
they were to wait behind the door. The two officers on horseback were to
secure my servant, and prevent him from riding off and raising an alarm.
These preparations might easily have been rendered fruitless, by my
refusing to accept the proposal of the lieutenant, but vanity gave me
other advice, and resentment made me desirous of avenging myself for such
detestable treachery.
Lieutenant N--- came, about noon, to dine with me as usual, was more
pensive and serious than I had ever observed him before, and left me at
four in the afternoon, after having made a promise to ride early next day
with him as far as Langfuhr. I observed my consent gave him great
pleasure, and my heart then pronounced sentence on the traitor. The
moment he had left me I went to the Russian resident, M. Scheerer, an
honest Swiss, related the whole conspiracy, and asked whether I might not
take six of the men under my command for my own personal defence. I told
him my plan, which he at first opposed; but seeing me obstinate, he
answered at last, "Do as you please; I must know nothing of the matter,
nor will I make myself responsible."
I immediately joined my soldiers, selected six men, and took them, while
it was dark, opposite the Prussian inn, hid them in the corn, with an
order to run to my help with their firelocks loaded the first discharge
they should hear, to seize all who should fall into their power, and only
to fire in case of resistance. I provided them with fire-arms, by
concealing them in the carriage which brought them to their hiding-place.
Notwithstanding all these precautions, I still thought it necessary to
prevent surprise, by informing myself what were the proceedings of my
enemies, lest my intelligence should have been false; and I learned from
my spies that, at four in the morning, the Prussian resident, Reimer, had
left the city with post horses.
I loaded mine and my servant's horse and pocket pistols, prepared my
Turkish sabre, and, in gratitude to the lieutenant's man, promised to
take him into my service, being convinced of his honesty.
The lieutenant cheerfully entered about six in the morning, expatiated on
the fineness of the weather, and jocosely told me I should be very kindly
received by the handsome landlady of Langfuhr.
I was soon ready; we mounted, and left the town, attended by our
servants. Some three hundred paces from the inn, my worthy friend
proposed that we should alight and let our servants lead the horses, that
we might enjoy the beauty of the morning. I consented, and having
dismounted, observed his treacherous eyes sparkle with pleasure.
The resident, Reimer, was at the window of the inn, and called out, as
soon as he saw me, "Good-morrow, captain, good-morrow; come, come in,
your breakfast is waiting." I, sneering, smiled, and told him I had not
time at present. So saying, I continued my walk, but my companion would
absolutely force me to enter, took me by the arm, and partly struggled
with me, on which, losing all patience, I gave him a blow which almost
knocked him down, and ran to my horses as if I meant to fly.
The Prussians instantly rushed from behind their door, with clamour, to
attack me. I fired at the first; my Russians sprang from their hiding-
place, presented their pieces, and called, _Stuy_, _stuy_, _yebionnamat_.
The terror of the poor Prussians may well be supposed. All began to run.
I had taken care to make sure of my lieutenant, and was next running to
seize the resident, but he had escaped out of the back door, with the
loss only of his white periwig. The Russians had taken four prisoners,
and I commanded them to bestow fifty strokes upon each of them in the
open street. An ensign, named Casseburg, having told me his name, and
that he had been my brother's schoolfellow, begged remission, and excused
himself on the necessity which he was under to obey his superiors. I
admitted his excuses and suffered him to go. I then drew my sword and
bade the lieutenant defend himself; but he was so confused, that, after
drawing his sword, he asked my pardon, laid the whole blame upon the
resident, and had not the power to put himself on his guard. I twice
jerked his sword out of his hand, and, at last, taking the Russian
corporal's cane, I exhausted my strength with beating him, without his
offering the least resistance. Such is the meanness of detected
treachery. I left him kneeling, saying to him, "Go, rascal, now, and
tell your comrades the manner in which Trenck punishes robbers on the
highway."
The people had assembled round us during the action, to whom I related
the affair, and the attack having happened on the territories of Dantzic,
the Prussians were in danger of being stoned by the populace. I and my
Russians marched off victorious, proceeded to the harbour, embarked, and
three or four days after, set sail for Riga.
It is remarkable that none of the public papers took any notice of this
affair; no satisfaction was required. The Prussians, no doubt, were
ashamed of being defeated in an attempt so perfidious.
I since have learnt that Frederic, no doubt by the false representations
of Reimer, was highly irritated, and what afterwards happened proves his
anger pursued me through every corner of the earth, till at last I fell
into his power at Dantzic, and suffered a martyrdom most unmerited and
unexampled.
The Prussian envoy, Goltz, indeed, made complaints to Count Bestuchef,
concerning this Dantzic skirmish, but received no satisfaction. My
conduct was justified in Russia, I having defended myself against
assassins, as a Russian captain ought.
Some dispassionate readers may blame me for not having avoided this
rencontre, and demanded personal satisfaction of Lieutenant N---. But I
have through life rather sought than avoided danger. My vanity and
revenge were both roused. I was everywhere persecuted by the Prussians,
and I was therefore determined to show that, far from fearing, I was able
to defend myself.
I hired the servant of the lieutenant, whom I found honest and faithful,
and whom I comfortably settled in marriage, at Vienna, in 1753. After my
ten years' imprisonment, I found him poor, and again took him into my
service, in which he died, at Zwerbach, in 1779.