And herewith ended my pleadings and my hopes. I had sacrificed my
property, laboured through sixty-three inferior suits, and lost this
great cause without a trial. I could have remained satisfied with the
loss of the personal property: the booty of a soldier, like the wealth
amassed by a minister, appears to me little better than a public robbery;
but the acquirements of my ancestors, my birth-right by descent, of these
I could not be deprived without excessive cruelty. Oh patience!
patience!--Yet shall my children never become the footmen, nor grooms, of
those who have robbed them of their inheritance; and to them I bequeathed
my rights in all their power: nor shall any man prevent my crying aloud,
so long as justice shall not be done.
The president, it is true, did not immediately possess himself of the
estates, but he took good care his friends should have them at such rates
that the sale of them did not bring the fiscal treasury 150,000 florins,
while I, in real and personal property, lost a million and a half; nay,
probably a sum equal to this in personal property alone.
The summa _inscriptitia et emptitia_ for all these great estates only
amounted to 149,000 florins, and this was to be paid by the chamber, but
the president thought proper to deduct 10,000 on pretence the cattle had
been driven off the estate of Pakratz; and, further, 36,000 more, under
the shameful pretence that Trenck, to recruit his pandours, had drained
the estates of 3,600 vassals, who had never returned; the estates,
therefore, must make them good at the rate of thirty florins per head,
which would have amounted to 108,000 florins; but, with much difficulty,
this sum was reduced, as above stated, to 36,000 florins, each vassal
reckoned at ten florins per head. Thus was I obliged, from the property
of my family, to pay for 3,600 men who had gloriously died in war, in
defence of the contested rights of the great Maria Theresa; who had
raised so many millions of contributions for her in the countries of her
enemies; who, sword in hand, had stormed and taken so many towns, and
dispersed, or taken prisoners, so many thousands of her foes. Would this
be believed by listening nations?
All deductions made for legacies, fees, and formalities, there remained
to me 63,000 florins, with which I purchased the lordship of Zwerbach,
and I was obliged to pay 6,000 florins for my naturalisation. Thus, when
the sums are enumerated which I expended on the suits of Trenck, received
from my friends at Berlin and Petersburg, it will be found that I cannot,
at least, have been a gainer by having been made the universal heir of
the immensely rich Trenck. With regret I write these truths in support
of my children's claims, that they may not, in my grave, reproach me for
having neglected the duty of a father.
I will mere add a few particulars which may afford the reader matter for
meditation, cause him to commiserate my fate, and give a picture of the
manner in which the prosecution was carried on against Trenck.
One Schygrai, a silly kind of beggarly baron, who was treated as a
buffoon, was invited in the year 1743 to dine with Baron Pejaczewitz,
when Trenck happened to be present. The conversation happened to turn on
a kind of brandy made in this country, and Trenck jocularly said he
annually distilled this sort of brandy from cow-dung to the value of
thirty thousand florins. Schygrai supposed him serious, and wished to
learn the art, which Trenck promised to teach him Pejaczewitz told him he
could give him thirty thousand load of dung.
"But where shall I get the wood?" said Schygrai. "I will give you thirty
thousand klafters," answered Trenck. The credulous baron, thinking
himself very fortunate, desired written promises, which they gave him;
and that of Trenck ran thus:
"I hereby permit and empower Baron Schygrai to sell gratis, in the
forest of Tscherra Horra, thirty thousand klafters of wood.
"Witness my hand,
"TRENCK."
Trenck was no sooner dead than the Baron brought his note, and made
application to the court. His attorney was the noted Bussy, and the
court decreed the estates of Trenck should pay at the rate of one form
thirty kreutzers per klafter, or forty-five thousand florins, with all
costs, and an order was given to the administrators to pay the money.
Just at this time I arrived at Vienna, from Petersburg. Doctor Berger,
the advocate of Trenck, told me the affair would admit of no delay. I
hastened to the Empress, and obtained an order to delay payment. An
inquiry was instituted, and this forest of Tscherra Horra was found to be
situated in Turkey. The absurdity and injustice were flagrant, and it
was revoked. I cannot say how much of these forty-five thousand florins
the Baron had promised to the noble judge and the attorney. I only know
that neither of them was punished. Had not some holidays luckily
intervened, or had the attorney expected my arrival, the money would have
been paid, and an ineffectual attempt to obtain retribution would have
been the consequence, as happened in many similar instances.
I have before mentioned the advertisement inviting all who had any
demands or complaints against Trenck to appear, with the promise of a
ducat a day; and it is mere proper to add that the sum of fifteen
thousand florins was brought to account, and paid out of the estates of
Trenck. For this shameful purpose some thousand of florins were paid
besides to this species of claimants and though, after examination, their
pretensions all proved to be futile, and themselves were cast in damages,
yet was none of this money ever refunded, or the false claimants
punished. Among these the pretended daughter of General Schwerin
received two thousand florins, notorious as was her character. Again,
Trenck was accused of having appropriated the money to his own use, and
treated as if convicted. After his death a considerable demand was
accordingly made. I happening, however, to meet with Ruckhardt, his
quarter-master, he with asseverations declared that, instead of being
indebted to the regiment, the regiment was more than a hundred thousand
florins indebted to him, advised me to get attestations from the
captains, and assured me he himself would give in a clear statement of
the regiment's accounts.
I followed his advice, hastened to the regiment, and obtained so many
proofs, that the quarter-master of the regiment, who, with the major, had
in reality pocketed the money, was imprisoned and put in irons. What
became of the thief or the false witness afterward I know not; I only
know that nothing was refunded, that the quarter-master found protectors,
detained the money, and, some years after this vile action, purchased a
commission. One instance more.
Trenck, to the corps of infantry he commanded, added a corps of hussars,
which he raised and provided with horses and accoutrements sold by
auction. My demand on this account was upwards of sixty thousand
florins, to which I received neither money nor reply. He had also
expended a hundred thousand florins for the raising and equipping his
three thousand pandours; in consequence of which a signed agreement had
been given by the Government that these hundred thousand florins should
be repaid to his heir, or he, the heir, should receive the command of the
regiment. The regiment, however, at his decease, was given to General
Simschen; and as for the agreement, care was taken it should never come
into my hands. Thus these hundred thousand florins were lost.
Yet it has been wickedly affirmed he was imprisoned in the Spielberg for
having embezzled the regiment's money; whereas, I would to God I only was
in possession of the sums he expended on this regiment; for he considered
the regiment as his own; and great as was his avarice, still greater was
his desire of fame, and greater still his love for his Empress, for whom
he would gladly have yielded both property and life.
Within respect to the money that was to have been repaid for improvement
of the estates, I must add, these estates were bought at a time when the
country had been left desolate by the Turks, and the reinstalment of such
places as had fallen into their hands, and the erecting of farmhouses,
mills, stocking them with horses, cattle, and seed corn, according to my
poor estimate, could not amount to less than eighty thousand florins; but
I was forbidden to go into Sclavonia, and the president offered, as an
indemnification, four thousand florins. Everybody was astonished, but
he, within the utmost coolness, told me I must either accept this or
nothing. The hearers of this sentence cast their eyes up to heaven and
pitied me. I remonstrated, and thereby only made the matter worse. Grief
and anxiety occasioned me to take a journey into Italy, passing through
Venice, Rome, and Florence.
On my return to Vienna, I, by a friendly interference in behalf of a
woman whose fears rather than guilt had brought her into danger, became
suspected myself; and the very officious officers of the police had me
imprisoned as a coiner without the least grounds for any such accusation
except their own surmises. I was detained unheard nine days, and when,
having been heard, I had entirely justified myself, was again restored to
liberty; public declaration was then made in the Gazette that the
officers of the police had acted too precipitately.
This was the satisfaction granted, but this did not content me. I
threatened the counsellor by whom my character had been so aspersed, and
the Empress, condescending to mediate, bestowed on me a captainship of
cavalry in the Cordova cuirassiers.
Such was the recompense I received for wounds so deep, and such the
neglect into which I was thrown at Vienna. Discontent led me to join my
regiment in Hungary.
Here I gained the applause of my colonel, Count Bettoni, who himself told
the Empress I, more than any other, had contributed to the forming of the
regiment. It may well be imagined how a man like me, accustomed, as I
had been, to the first company of the first courts, must pass my time
among the Carpathian mountains, where neither society nor good books were
to be found, nor knowledge, of which I was enamoured, improved. The
conversation of Count Bettoni, and the chase, together with the love of
the general of the regiment, old Field-marshal Cordova, were my only
resources; the persecutions, neglect, and even contempt, I received at
Vienna, were still the same.
In the year 1754, in the month of March, my mother died in Prussia, and I
requested the permission of the court that held the inheritance of
Trenck, as a _fidei commissum_, to make a journey to Dantzic to settle
some family affairs with my brothers and sister, my estates being
confiscated. This permission was granted, and thither I went in May,
where I once more fell into the hands of the Prussians; which forms the
second great and still more gloomy epoch in my life. All who read what
follows will shudder, will commiserate him who, feeling himself innocent,
relates afflictions he has miserably encountered and gloriously overcome.
I left Hungary, where I was in garrison, for Dantzic, where I had desired
my brothers and sister to meet me that we might settle our affairs. My
principal intent, however, was a journey to Petersburg, there to seek the
advice and aid of my friends, for law and persecution were not yet ended
at Vienna; and my captain's pay and small income scarcely sufficed to
defray charges of attorneys and counsellors.
It is here most worthy of remark that I was told by Prince Ferdinand of
Brunswick, governor of Magdeburg, he had received orders to prepare my
prison at Magdeburg before I set out from Hungary.
Nay, more; it had been written from Vienna to Berlin that the King must
beware of Trenck, for that he would be at Dantzic at the time when the
King was to visit his camp in Prussia.
What thing more vile, what contrivance more abominable, could the
wickedest wretch on earth find to banish a man his country, that he might
securely enjoy the property of which the other had been robbed? That
this was done I have living witnesses in his highness Prince Ferdinand of
Brunswick and the Berlin ministry, from whose mouths I learned this
artifice of villainy. It is the more necessary to establish this truth,
because no one can comprehend why the _Great Frederic_ should have
proceeded against me in a manner so cruel that, when it comes to be
related, must raise the indignation of the just, and move hearts of iron
to commiserate.
Men so vile, so wicked, as I have described them, in conjunction with one
Weingarten, secretary to Count Puebla, then Austrian minister at Berlin,
have brought on me these my misfortunes.
This was the Weingarten who, as is now well known, betrayed all the
secrets of the Austrian court to Frederic, who at length was discovered
in the year 1756, and who, when the war broke out, remained in the
service of Prussia. This same Weingarten, also, not only caused my
wretchedness, but my sister's ruin and death, as he likewise did the
punishment and death of three innocent men, which will hereafter be
shown.
It is an incontrovertible truth that I was betrayed and sold by men in
Vienna whose interest it was that I should be eternally silenced.
I was immediately visited by my brothers and sister on my arrival at
Dantzic, where we lived happy in each other's company during a fortnight,
and an amicable partition was made of my mother's effects; my sister
perfectly justified herself concerning the manner in which I was obliged
to fly from her house an the year 1746: our parting was kind, and as
brother and sister ought to part.
Our only acquaintance in Dantzic was the Austrian resident, M. Abramson,
to whom I brought letters of recommendation from Vicuna, and whose
reception of us was polite even to extravagance.
This Abramson was a Prussian born, and had never seen Vienna, but
obtained his then office by the recommendation of Count Bestuchef,
without security for his good conduct, or proof of his good morals,
heart, or head. He was in close connection with the Prussian resident,
Reimer; and was made the instrument of my ruin.
Scarcely had my brothers and sister departed before I determined to make
a voyage by sea to Russia. Abramson contrived a thousand artifices, by
which he detained me a week longer in Dantzic, that, he in conjunction
with Reimer, might make the necessary preparations.
The King of Prussia had demanded that the magistrates of Dantzic should
deliver me up; but this could not be done without offending the Imperial
court, I being a commissioned officer in that service, with proper
passports; it was therefore probable that this negotiation required
letters should pass and repass; and for this reason Abramson was employed
to detain me some days longer, till, by the last letters from Berlin, the
magistrates of Dantzic were induced to violate public safety and the laws
of nations. Abramson, I considered as my best friend, and my person as
in perfect security; he had therefore no difficulty in persuading me to
stay.
The day of supposed departure on board a Swedish ship for Riga
approached, and the deceitful Abramson promised me to send one of his
servants to the port to know the hour. At four in the afternoon he told
me he had himself spoken to the captain, who said he would not sail till
the next day; adding that he, Abramson, would expect me to breakfast, and
would then accompany me to the vessel. I felt a secret inquietude which
made me desirous of leaving Dantzic, and immediately to send all my
luggage, and to sleep on board. Abramson prevented me, dragging me
almost forcibly along with him, telling me he had much company, and that
I must absolutely dine and sup at his house; accordingly I did not return
to my inn till eleven at night.
I was but just in bed when I heard a tremendous knocking at my chamber
door, which was not shut, and two of the city magistrates with twenty
grenadiers entered my chamber, and surrounded my bed so suddenly that I
had not time to take to my arms and defend myself. My three servants had
been secured and I was told that the most worthy magistracy of Dantzic
was obliged to deliver me up as a delinquent to his majesty the King of
Prussia.
What were my feelings at seeing myself thus betrayed! They silently
conducted me to the city prison, where I remained twenty-four hours.
About noon Abramson came to visit me, affected to be infinitely concerned
and enraged, and affirmed he had strongly protested against the
illegality of this proceeding to the magistracy, as I was actually in the
Austrian service; but that they had answered him the court of Vienna had
afforded them a precedent, for that, in 1742, they had done the same by
the two sons of the burgomaster Rutenberg, of Dantzic, and that,
therefore, they were justified in making reprisal; and likewise, they
durst not refuse the most earnest request accompanied with threats, of
the King of Prussia.
Their plea of retaliation originated as follows:--There was a kind of
club at Vienna, the members of which were seized for having committed the
utmost extravagance and debauchery, two of whom were the sons of the
burgomaster Rutenberg, and who were sentenced to the pillory. Great sums
were offered by the father to avoid this public disgrace, but
ineffectually--they were punished, their punishment was legal, and had no
similarity whatever to my case, nor could it any way justly give pretence
of reprisal.
Abramson, who had in reality entered no protest whatever, but rather
excited the magistracy, and acted in concert with Reimer, advised me to
put my writings and other valuable effects into his hands, otherwise they
would be seized. He knew I had received letters of exchange from my
brothers and sister, about seven thousand florins, and these I gave him,
but kept my ring, worth about four thousand, and some sixty guineas,
which I had in my purse. He then embraced me, declared nothing should be
neglected to effect my immediate deliverance; that even he would raise
the populace for that purpose; that I could not be given up to the
Prussians in less than a week, the magistracy being still undetermined in
an affair so serious, and he left me, shedding abundance of crocodile
tears, like the most affectionate of friends.
The next night two magistrates, with their posse, came to my prison,
attended by resident Reimer, a Prussian officer and under officers, and
into their hands I was delivered. The pillage instantly began; Reimer
tore off my ring, seized my watch, snuff-box, and all I had, not so much
as sending me a coat or shirt from my effects; after which, they put me
into a close coach with three Prussians. The Dantzic guard accompanied
the carriage to the city gate, that was opened to let me pass; after
which the Dantzic dragoons escorted me as far as Lauenburg in Pomerania.
I have forgotten the date of this miserable day; but to the best of my
memory, it must have been in the beginning of June. Thirty Prussian
hussars, commanded by a lieutenant, relieved the dragoons at Lauenburg,
and thus was I escorted from garrison to garrison, till I arrived at
Berlin.
Hence it was evidently falsely affirmed, by the magistracy of Dantzic,
and the conspirator Abramson, who wrote in his own excuse to Vienna, that
my seizure must be attributed wholly to my own imprudence, and that I had
exposed myself to this arrest by going without the city gates, where I
was taken and carried off; nor was it less astonishing that the court of
Vienna should not have demanded satisfaction for the treachery of the
Dantzickers toward an Austrian officer. I have incontrovertibly proved
this treachery, after I had regained my liberty Abramson indeed they
could not punish, for during my imprisonment he had quitted the Austrian
for the Prussian service, where he gradually became so contemptible, that
in the year 1764, when I was released from my imprisonment, he was
himself imprisoned in the house of correction; and his wife, lately so
rich, was obliged to beg her bread. Thus have I generally lived to see
the fall of my betrayers; and thus have I found that, without indulging
personal revenge, virtue and fortitude must at length triumph over the
calumniator and the despot.
This truth will be further proved hereafter, nor can I behold, unmoved,
the open shame in which my persecutors live, and how they tremble in my
presence, their wicked deeds now being known to the world Nay, monarchs
may yet punish their perfidy:--Yet not so!--May they rather die in
possession of wealth they have torn from me! I only wish the pity and
respect of the virtuous and the wise.
But, though Austria has never resented the affront commenced on the
person of an officer in its service, still have I a claim on the city of
Dantzic, where I was thus treacherously delivered up, for the effects I
there was robbed of, the amount of which is between eleven and twelve
thousand florins. This is a case too clear to require argument, and the
publication of this history will make it known to the world. This claim
also, among others, I leave to the children of an unfortunate father.
Enough of digression; let us attend to the remarkable events which
happened on the dismal journey to Berlin. I was escorted from garrison
to garrison, which were distant from each other two, three, or at most
five miles; wherever I came, I found compassion and respect. The
detachment of hussars only attended me two days; it consisted of twelve
men and an officer, who rode with me in the carriage.
The fourth day I arrived at ---, where the Duke of Wirtemberg, father of
the present Grand Duchess of Russia, was commander, and where his
regiment was in quarters. The Duke conversed with me, was much moved,
invited me to dine, and detained me all the day, where I was not treated
as a prisoner. I so far gained his esteem that I was allowed to remain
there the next day; the chief persons of the place were assembled, and
the Duchess, whom he had lately married, testified every mark of pity and
consideration. I dined with him also on the third day, after which I
departed in an open carriage, without escort, attended only by a
lieutenant of his regiment.
I must relate this, event circumstantially for it not only proves the
just and noble character of the Duke, but likewise that there are moments
in which the brave may appear cowards, the clear-sighted blind, and the
wise foolish; nay, one might almost be led to conclude, from this, that
my imprisonment at Magdeburg, was the consequence of predestination,
since I remained riveted in stupor, in despite of suggestions,
forebodings, and favourable opportunities. Who but must be astonished,
having read the daring efforts I made at Glatz, at this strange
insensibility now in the very crisis of my fate? I afterwards was
convinced it was the intention of the noble-minded Duke that I should
escape, and that he must have given particular orders to the successive
officers. He would probably have willingly subjected himself to the
reprimands of Frederic if I would have taken to fight. The journey
through the places where his regiment was stationed continued five days,
and I everywhere passed the evenings in the company of the officers, the
kindness of whom was unbounded I slept in their quarters without
sentinel, and travelled in their carriages, without other guard than a
single officer in the carriage. In various places the high road was not
more than two, and sometimes one mile from the frontier road; therefore
nothing could have been easier than to have escaped; yet did the same
Trenck, who in Glatz had cut his way through thirty men to obtain his
freedom, that Trenck, who had never been acquainted with fear, now remain
four days bewildered, and unable to come to any determination.
In a small garrison town, I lodged in the house of a captain of cavalry,
and continually was treated by him with every mark of friendship. After
dinner he rode at the head of his squadron to water the horse, unsaddled.
I remained alone in the house, entered the stable, saw three remaining
horses, with saddles and bridles; in my chamber was my sword and a pair
of pistols. I had but to mount one of the horses and fly to the opposite
gate. I meditated on the project, and almost resolved to put it in
execution, but presently became undetermined by some secret impulse. The
captain returned some time after, and appeared surprised to find me still
there. The next day he accompanied me alone in his carriage; we came to
a forest, he saw some champignons, stopped, asked me to alight, and help
him to gather them; he strayed more than a hundred paces from me, and
gave me entire liberty to fly; yet notwithstanding all this, I
voluntarily returned, suffering myself to be led like a sheep to the
slaughter.
I was treated so well, during my stay at this place, and escorted with so
much negligence, that I fell into a gross error. Perceiving they
conveyed me straight to Berlin, I imagined the King wished to question me
concerning the plan formed for the war, which was then on the point of
breaking out. This plan I perfectly knew, the secret correspondence of
Bestuchef having all passed through my hands, which circumstance was much
better known at Berlin than at Vienna. Confirmed in this opinion, and
far from imagining the fate that awaited me, I remained irresolute,
insensible, and blind to danger. Alas, how short was this hope! How
quickly was it succeeded by despair! when, after four days' march, I
quitted the district under the command of the Duke of Wirtemberg, and was
delivered up to the first garrison of infantry at Coslin! The last of
the Wirtemberg officers, when taking leave of me, appeared to be greatly
affected; and from this moment till I came to Berlin, I was under a
strong escort, and the given orders were rigorously observed.