The ill-informed world, entirely unaware of what Friedrich had been
studying and ascertaining, to his bitter sorrow, for four years past,
was extremely astonished at the part he took in those French-English
troubles; extremely provoked at his breaking out again into a Third
Silesian War, greater than all the others, and kindling all Europe in
such a way. The ill-informed world rang violently, then and long after,
with a Controversy, "Was it of his beginning, or Not of his beginning?"
Controversy, which may in our day be considered as settled by unanimous
mankind; finished forever; and can now have no interest for any
creature.
Omitting that, our problem is (were it possible in brief compass), To
set forth, by what authentic traits there are,--not the "ambitious,"
"audacious," voracious and highly condemnable Friedrich of the
Gazetteers,--but the thrice-intricately situated Friedrich of Fact. What
the Facts privately known to Friedrich were, in what manner known; and
how, in a more complex crisis than had yet been, Friedrich demeaned
himself: upon which latter point, and those cognate to it, readers ought
not to be ignorant, if now fallen indifferent on so many other points of
the Affair. What a loud-roaring, loose and empty matter is this tornado
of vociferation which men call "Public Opinion"! Tragically howling
round a man; who has to stand silent the while; and scan, wisely under
pain of death, the altogether inarticulate, dumb and inexorable matter
which the gods call Fact! Friedrich did read his terrible Sphinx-riddle;
the Gazetteer tornado did pipe and blow. King Friedrich, in contrast
with his Environment at that time, will most likely never be portrayed
to modern men in his real proportions, real aspect and attitude then and
there,--which are silently not a little heroic and even pathetic, when
well seen into;--and, for certain, he is not portrayable at present,
on our side of the Sea. But what hints and fractions of feature we
authentically have, ought to be given with exactitude, especially with
brevity, and left to the ingenuous imagination of readers.
The secret sources of the Third Silesian War, since called "Seven-Years
War," go back to 1745; nay, we may say, to the First Invasion of Silesia
in 1740. For it was in Maria Theresa's incurable sorrow at loss of
Silesia, and her inextinguishable hope to reconquer it, that this and
all Friedrich's other Wars had their origin. Twice she had signed Peace
with Friedrich, and solemnly ceded Silesia to him: but that too, with
the Imperial Lady, was by no means a finis to the business. Not that
she meant to break her Treaties; far from her such a thought,--in the
conscious form. Though, alas, in the unconscious, again, it was always
rather near! practically, she reckoned to herself, these Treaties would
come to be broken, as Treaties do not endure forever; and then, at the
good moment, she did purpose to be ready. "Silesia back to us; Pragmatic
Sanction complete in every point! Was not that our dear Father's will,
monition of all our Fathers and their Patriotisms and Traditionary
Heroisms; and in fact, the behest of gods and men?" Ten years ago, this
notion had been cut down to apparent death, in a disastrous manner, for
the second time. But it did not die in the least: it never thinks of
dying; starts always anew, passionate to produce itself again as action
valid at last; and lives in the Imperial Heart with a tenacity that is
strange to observe. Still stranger, in the envious Valet-Heart,--in that
of Bruhl, who had far less cause!
The Peace of Dresden, Christmas, 1745, seemed to be an act of
considerable magnanimity on Friedrich's part. It was, at the first blush
of it, "incredible" to Harrach, the Austrian Plenipotentiary; whose
embarrassed, astonished bow we remember on that occasion, with English
Villiers shedding pious tears. But what is very remarkable withal is
a thing since discovered: [INFRA, next Note (p. 276).] That Harrach,
magnanimous signature hardly yet dry, did then straightway, by order of
his Court, very privately inquire of Bruhl, "There is Peace, you see;
what they call Peace:--but our TREATY OF WARSAW, for Partition of this
magnanimous man, stands all the same; does n't it?" To which, according
to the Documents, Bruhl, hardly escaped from the pangs of death, and
still in a very pale-yellow condition, had answered in effect, "Hah,
say you so? One's hatred is eternal;--but that man's iron heel! Wait a
little; get Russia to join in the scheme!"--and hung back; the willing
mind, but the too terrified! And in this way, like a famishing dog in
sight of a too dangerous leg of mutton, Bruhl has ever since rather
held back; would not re-engage at all, for almost two years, even on
the Czarina's engaging; and then only in a cautious, conditional and
hypothetic manner,--though with famine increasing day by day in sight
of the desired viands. His hatred is fell; but he would fain escape with
back unbroken.
HOW FRIEDRICH DISCOVERED THE MYSTERY. CONCERNING MENZEL AND WEINGARTEN.
Friedrich has been aware of this mystery, at least wide awake to it and
becoming ever more instructed, for almost four years. Traitor Menzel the
Saxon Kanzellist--we, who have prophetically read what he had to confess
when laid hold of, are aware, though as yet, and on to 1757, it is a
dead secret to all mortals but himself and "three others"--has been busy
for Prussia ever since "the end of 1752." Got admittance to the Presses;
sent his first Excerpt "about the time of Easter-Fair, 1753,"--time
of Voltaire's taking wing. And has been at work ever since. Copying
Despatches from the most secret Saxon Repositories; ready always on
Excellency Mahlzahn's indicating the Piece wanted; and of late, I should
think, is busier than ever, as the Saxon Mystery, which is also an
Austrian and Russian one, gets more light thrown into it, and seems to
be fast ripening towards action of a perilous nature. The first Excerpts
furnished by Menzel, readers can judge how enigmatic they were. These
Menzel Papers, copies mainly of Petersburg or Vienna DESPATCHES to
Bruhl, with Bruhl's ANSWERS,--the principal of which were subsequently
printed in their best arrangement and liveliest point of vision [In
Friedrich's Manifestoes, chiefly in MEMOIRE RAISONNE SUR LA CONDUITE DES
COURS DE VIENNE ET DE SAXE (compiled from the MENZEL ORIGINALS, so
soon as these were got hold of: Berlin, Autumn, 1756). A solid and
able Paper; rapidly done, by one Count Herzberg, who rose high in
after times. Reprinted, with many other "Pieces" and "Passages," in
_Gesammelte Nachrichten und Urkunden,_--which is a "Collection" of such
(2 vols., 113 Nos. small 8vo, no Place, 1757, my Copy of it).]--are by
no means a luminous set of Documents to readers at this day. Think what
a study they were at Potsdam in 1753, while still in the chaotic state;
fished out, more or less at random, as Menzel could lay hold of them,
or be directed to them; the enigma clearing itself only by intense
inspection, and capability of seeing in the dark!
It appears,--if you are curious on the anecdotic part,--
"Winterfeld was the first that got eye on this dangerous Saxon
Mystery; some Ex-Saxon, about to settle in Berlin, giving hint of it
to Winterfeld; who needed only a hint. So soon as Winterfeld convinced
himself that there was weight in the affair, he imparted it to
Friedrich: 'Scheme of partitioning, your Majesty, of picking
quarrel, then overwhelming and partitioning; most serious scheme,
Austrian-Russian as well as Saxon; going on steadily for years past, and
very lively at this time!' If true, Friedrich cannot but admit that this
is serious enough: important, thrice over, to discover whether it is
true;--and gives Winterfeld authority to prosecute it to the bottom, in
Dresden or wherever the secret may lie. Who thereupon charged Mahlzahn,
the Prussian Minister at Dresden, to find some proper Menzel, and bestir
himself. How Mahlzahn has found his Menzel, and has bestirred himself,
we saw. Thief-keys were made to pattern in Berlin; first set did not
fit, second did; and stealthy Menzel gains admittance to that Chamber of
the Archives, can steal thither on shoes of felt when occasion serves,
and copy what you wish,--for a consideration. Intermittently, since
about Easter-Fair, 1753. Three persons are cognizant of it, Winterfeld,
Mahlzahn, Friedrich; three, and no more. Probably the abstrusest study;
and the most intense, going on in the world at that epoch. [Rotzow,
_Charakteristik des Siebenjahrigen Krieges _(Berlin, 1802), i. 23.]
"At a very early stage of the Menzel Excerpts it became manifest that
certain synchronous Austrian Ditto would prove highly elucidative; that,
in fact, it would be indispensable to get hold of these as well. Which
also Winterfeld has managed to do. A deep-headed man, who has his eyes
about him; and is very apt to manage what he undertakes. One Weingarten
Junior, a Secretary in the Austrian Embassy at Berlin (Excellency
Peubla's second Secretary), has his acquaintanceships in Berlin Society;
and for one thing, as Winterfeld discovers, is 'madly in love' with
some Chambermaid or quasi-chambermaid (let us call her Chambermaid),
'Daughter of the Castellan at Charlottenburg.' Winterfeld, through the
due channels, applied to this Chambermaid, 'Get me a small secret Copy
of such and such Despatches, out of your Weingarten; it will be well for
you and him; otherwise perhaps not well!' Chambermaid, hope urging,
or perhaps hope and fear, did her best; Weingarten had to yield the
required product and products, as required. By this Weingarten, from
some date not long after Menzel's first mysterious Dresden Excerpts,
the necessary Austrian glosses, so far as possible to Weingarten on the
indications given him, have been regularly had, for the two or three
years past.
"Weingarten first came to be seriously suspected June, 1756 (Weingarten
Junior, let us still say, for there was a Senior of unstained fidelity);
'June 15th,' Excellency Peubla pointedly demands him from Friedrich and
the Berlin Police: 'Weingarten Junior, my SECOND Secretar, fugitive and
traitor; hidden somewhere!' ["BERLIN, 22d JUNE: Every research making
for Mr. Weingatten,--in vain hitherto" (_Gentleman's Magazine, _xxvi.,
i. e. for 1756, p. 363).] Excellency Peubla is answered, 24th June: 'We
would so fain catch him, if we could! We have tried at Stendal,--not
there: tried his Mother-in-law; knows nothing: have forborne laying up
his poor Wife and Children; and hope her Imperial Majesty will
have pity on that poor creature, who is fallen so miserable.'
[_Helden-Geschichte,_ iii. 713.] So that Excellency Peubla had nothing
for it but to compose himself; to honor the unstainable fidelity of
Weingarten Senior by a public piece of promotion, which soon ensued; and
let the Junior run. Weingarten Junior, on the first suspicion, had
vanished with due promptitude,--was not to be unearthed again. We
perceive he has married his Charlottenburg Beauty, and there are
helpless babies. It seems, he lived long years after, in the Altmark, as
a Herr von Weiss,'--his reflections manifold, but unknown. [Retzow, i.
37.] What is much notabler, Cogniazzo, the Austrian Veteran, heard
Weingarten's MASTER, Graf von Peubla, talk of the 'GRAND MYSTERE,' soon
after, and how Friedrich had heard of it, not from Weingarten alone, but
from Gross-Furst PETER, Russian Heir-Apparent! [Cogniazzo, i. 225.]
"As to Menzel, he did not get away. Menzel, as we saw, lasted in free
activity till 1757; and was then put under lock and key. Was not hanged;
sat prisoner for twenty-seven years after; overgrown with hair, legs
and arms chained together, heavy iron bar uniting both ankles; diet
bread-and-water;--for the rest, healthy; and died, not very miserable it
is said, in 1784. Shocking traitors, Weingarten and he."
Yes, a diabolical pair, they, sure enough:--and the thing they betrayed
against their Masters, was that a celestial thing? Servants of the Devil
do fall out; and Servants not of the Devil are fain, sometimes, to raise
a quarrel of that kind!--
The then world, as we said, was one loud uproar of logic on the right
reading and the wrong of those Sibylline Documents: "Did your King of
Prussia interpret them aright, or even try it? Did not he use them as a
cloak for highway robbery, and swallowing of a peaceable Saxony, bad man
that he surely is?" For Friedrich's demeanor, this time again, when
it came to the acting point, was of eminent rapidity; almost a swifter
lion-spring than ever; and it brought on him, in the aerial or vocal
way, its usual result: huge clamor of rage and logic from uninformed
mankind. Clamorous rage and logic, which has now sunk irresuscitably
dead;--nothing of it much worth mentioning to modern readers, scarcely
even its HIC JACET (in Footnotes, for the benefit of the curious!),--and
it is, at last, a thing not doubtful to anybody that Friedrich, in that
matter did read aright. So that now the loud uproar is reduced to one
small question with us, What did he read in those Menzel Documents? What
Fact lying in them was it that Friedrich had to read? Here, smelted down
by repeated roastings, is succinct answer;--for the ultimate fragment of
incombustible here as elsewhere, will go into a nutshell, once the
continents of Diplomatist-Gazetteer logic and disorderly stable-litter,
threatening to heap themselves over the very stars, have been faithfully
burnt away.
Readers heard of a "Union of Warsaw," early in 1745, concluded by the
Sea-Powers and the Saxon-Polish and Hungarian Majesties: very
harmless UNION of Warsaw, public to all the world,--but with a certain
thrice-secret "TREATY of Warsaw" (between Polish and Hungarian Majesty
themselves two, the Sea-Powers being horror-struck by mention of
it) which had followed thereupon, in an eager and wonderful manner.
Thrice-secret Treaty, for Partitioning Friedrich, and settling the
respective shares of his skin. Treaty which, to denote its origin, we
called of Warsaw; though it was not finished there (shares of skin so
difficult to settle), and "Treaty of LEIPZIG, 18th May, 1745," is
its ALIAS in Books:--of which Treaty, as the Sea-Powers had recoiled
horror-struck, there was no whisper farther, to them or to the rest of
exoteric mankind;--though it has been one of the busiest Entities ever
since. From the Menzel Documents, I know not after what circuitous
gropings and searchings, Friedrich first got notice of that Treaty:
[Now printed in _OEuvres de Frederic,_ iv. 40-42.] figure his look on
discovering it!
We said it was the remarkablest bit of sheepskin in its Century. Readers
have heard too, That it was proposed to Bruhl, by a grateful Austria,
directly on signing the Peace of Dresden: "Our Partition-Treaty stands
all the same, does it not?"--and in what humor Bruhl answered: "Hah? Get
Russia to join!" Both these facts, That there is a Treaty of Warsaw and
that this is the Austrian-Saxon temper and intention towards him and
it, Friedrich learned from the Menzel Documents. And if the reader will
possess himself of these two facts, and understand that they are of a
germinative, most vital quality, indestructible by the times and the
chances; and have been growing and developing themselves, day and night
ever since, in a truly wonderful manner,--the reader knows in substance
what Menzel had to reveal.
Russia was got to join;--there are methods of operating on Russia, and
kindling a poor fat Czarina into strange suspicions and indignations.
In May, 1746, within six months of the Peace of Dresden, a Treaty of
Petersburg, new version of the Warsaw one, was brought to parchment;
Czarina and Empress-Queen signing,--Bruhl dying to sign, but not daring.
How Russia has been got to join, and more and more vigorously bear a
hand; how Bruhl's rabidities of appetite, and terrors of heart, have
continued ever since; how Austria and Russia,--Bruhl aiding with
hysterical alacrity, haunted by terror (and at last mercifully EXCUSED
from signing),--have, year after year, especially in this last year,
1755, brought the matter nearer and nearer perfection; and the Two
Imperial Majesties, with Bruhl to rear, wait only till they are fully
ready, and the world gives opportunity, to pick a quarrel with
Friedrich, and overwhelm and partition him, according to covenant: This,
wandering through endless mazes of detail, is in sum what the Menzel
Documents disclose to Friedrich and us. How, in a space of ten years,
the small seed-grain of a Treaty of Warsaw, or Treaty of Petersburg,
planted and nourished in that manner, in the Satan's Invisible World,
has grown into a mighty Tree there,--prophetic of Facts near at hand;
which were extremely sanguinary to the Human Race for the next Seven
Years.
This is the sum-total: but for Friedrich's sake, and to illustrate
the situation, let us take a few glances more, into the then Satan's
Invisible World, which had become so ominously busy round Friedrich and
others. The Czarina, we say, was got to engage; 22d May, 1746, there
came a Treaty of Petersburg duly valid, which is that of Warsaw under a
new name: and still Bruhl durst not, for above a year coming,--not till
August 15th, 1747; [MEMOIRE RAISONNE (in _Gesammelte Nachrichten _), i.
459.] and then, only in a hypothetic half-and-half way, with fear and
trembling, though with hunger unspeakable, in sight of the viands. A
very wretched Bruhl, as seen in these Menzel Documents. On poor Polish
Majesty Bruhl has played the sorcerer, this long while, and ridden him
as he would an enchanted quadruped, in a shameful manner: but how, in
turn (as we study Menzel), is Bruhl himself hagridden, hunted by his
own devils, and leads such a ghastly phantasmal existence yonder, in
the Valley of the Shadow of CLOTHES,--mere Clothes, metaphorical and
literal! ["MONTREZ-MOI DES VERTUS, PAS DES CULOTTES (Have you no virtues
then to show me; nothing but pain of breeches)!" exclaimed an impatient
French Traveller, led about in Bruhl's Palace one day: Archenholtz,
_Geschichte des Siebenjahrigen Krieges,_ i. 63.] Wretched Bruhl,
agitated with hatreds of a rather infernal nature, and with terrors of
a not celestial, comes out on our sympathies, as a dog almost
pitiable,--were that possible, with twelve tailors sewing for him, and a
Saxony getting shoved over the precipices by him.
A famishing dog in the most singular situation. What he dare do, he
does, and with such a will. But there is almost only one thing safe to
him: that of egging on the Czarina against Friedrich; of coining lies to
kindle Czarish Majesty; of wafting on every wind rumors to that end, and
continually besieging with them the empty Czarish mind. Bruhl has many
Conduits, "the Sieur de Funck," "the Sieur Gross" plenty of Legationary
Sieurs and Conduits;--which issue from all quarters on Petersburg, and
which find there a Reservoir, and due Russian SERVICE-PIPES, prepared
for them;--and Bruhl is busy. "Commerce of Dantzig to be ruined,"
suggests he, "that is plain: look at his Asiatic Companies, his Port of
Embden. Poland is to be stirred up;--has not your Czarish Majesty
heard of his intrigues there? Courland, which is almost become your
Majesty's--cunningly snatched by your Majesty's address, like a valuable
moribund whale adrift among the shallows,--this bad man will have it
out to sea again, with the harpoons in it; fairly afloat amid the Polish
Anarchies again!" These are but specimens of Bruhl. Or we can give such
in Bruhl's own words, if the reader had rather. Here are Two, which have
the advantage of brevity:--
1.... The Sieur de Funck, Saxon Minister at Petersburg, wrote to Count
Bruhl, 9th July, 1755 (says an inexorable Record), "That the Sieur Gross
[now Minister of Russia at Dresden, who vanished out of Berlin like an
angry sky-rocket some years ago] would do a good service to the Common
Cause, if he wrote to his Court, 'That the King of Prussia had found a
channel in Courland, by which he learned all the secrets of the Russian
Court;'" and Sieur Funck added, "that it was expected good use could be
made of such a story with her Czarish Majesty."--To which Count Bruhl
replies, 23d July, "That he has instructed the Sieur Gross, who will not
fail to act in consequence."
2. Sieur Prasse, same Funck's Secretary of Legation, at Petersburg,
writes to Count Bruhl, 12th April, 1756:--
"I am bidden signify to your Excellency that it is greatly wished,
in order to favor certain views, you would have the goodness to cause
arrive in Petersburg, by different channels, the following intelligence:
'That the King of Prussia, on pretext of Commerce, is sending officers
and engineers into the Ukraine, to reconnoitre the Country and excite a
rebellion there.' And this advice, be pleased to observe, is not to come
direct from the Saxon Court, nor by the Envoy Gross, but by some third
party,--to the end there may be no concert noticed;--as they [L'ON, the
"service-pipes," and managing Excellencies, Russian and Austrian] have
given the same commission to other Ministers, so that the news shall
come from more places than one.
"They [the said managing Excellencies] have also required me to write to
the Baron de Sack," our Saxon Minister in Sweden, "upon it, which I will
not fail to do; and they assured me that our Court's advantage was
not less concerned in it than that of their own; adding these words
[comfortable to one's soul], 'The King of Prussia [in 1745] gave Saxony
a blow which it will feel for fifty years; but we will give him one
which he will feel for a hundred.'"
To which beautiful suggestion Excellency Bruhl answers, 2d June, 1756:
"As to the Secret Commission of conveying to Petersburg, by concealed
channels, Intelligence of Prussian machinations in the Ukraine, we are
still busy finding out a right channel; and they [L'ON, the managing
Excellencies] shall very soon, one way or the other, see the effect of
my personal inclination to second what is so good an intention, though
a little artful (UN PEU ARTIFICIEUSE,"--UN PEU, nothing to speak of)!
[MEMOIRE RAISONNE (in _ Gesammelte Nachrichten _), i. 424-425; and ib.
472.]
Fancy a poor fat Czarina, of many appetites, of little judgment,
continually beaten upon in this manner by these Saxon-Austrian artists
and their Russian service-pipes. Bombarded with cunningly devised
fabrications, every wind freighted for her with phantasmal rumors, no
ray of direct daylight visiting the poor Sovereign Woman; who is lazy,
not malignant if she could avoid it: mainly a mass of esurient oil,
with alkali on the back of alkali poured in, at this rate, for ten years
past; till, by pouring and by stirring, they get her to the state of
SOAP and froth! Is it so wonderful that she does, by degrees, rise into
eminent suspicion, anger, fear, violence and vehemence against her bad
neighbor? One at last begins to conceive those insane whirls, continual
mad suspicions, mad procedures, which have given Friedrich such
vexation, surprise and provocation in the years past.
Friedrich is always specially eager to avoid ill-will from Russia; but
it has come, in spite of all he could do and try. And these procedures
of the Czarish Majesty have been so capricious, unintelligible,
perverse, and his feeling is often enough irritation, temporary
indignation,--which we know makes Verses withal! I can nowhere learn
from those Prussian imbroglios of Books, what the Friedrich Sayings
or Satirical Verses properly were: Retzow speaks of a PRODUKT, one
at least, known in interior Circles. [Retzow, i. 34.] PRODUKT which
decidedly requires publication, beyond anything Friedrich ever
wrote;--though one can do without it too, and invoke Fancy in defect of
Print. The sharpness of Friedrich's tongue we know; and the diligence of
birds of the air. To all her other griefs against the bad man, this has
given the finish in the tender Czarish bosom;--and like an envenomed
drop has set the saponaceous oils (already dosed with alkali, and
well in solution) foaming deliriously over the brim, in never-imagined
deluges of a hatred that is unappeasable;--very costly to Friedrich and
mankind. Rising ever higher, year by year; and now risen, to what height
judge by the following:--
AT PETERSBURG, 14th-15th MAY, 1753, "There was Meeting of the Russian
Senate, with deliberation held for these two days; and for issue this
conclusion come to:--
"That it should be, and hereby is, settled as a fundamental maxim of the
Russia Empire, Not only to oppose any farther aggrandizement of the
King of Prussia, but to seize the first convenient opportunity for
overwhelming (ECRASER), by superior force, the House of Brandenburg
[Hear, hear!], and reducing it to its former state of mediocrity."
[MEMOIRE RAISONNE (in _Gesammelte Nachrichten _), i. 421.] Leg of mutton
to be actually gone into. With what an enthusiasm of "Hear, hear!" from
Bruhl and kindred parties; especially from Bruhl,--who, however, dare
not yet bite, except hypothetically, such his terrors and tremors. Or,
look again (same Senate),
AT PETERSBURG, (OCTOBER, 1755): "To which Fundamental Maxim, articulately
fixed ever since those Maydays of 1753, the august Russian Sanhedrim,
deliberating farther in October, 1755, adds this remarkable extension,
"That it is our resolution to attack the King of Prussia without farther
discussion, whensoever the said King shall attack any Ally of Russia's,
or shall himself be attacked by any of them." Hailed by Bruhl, as
natural, with his liveliest approval. "A glorious Deliberation, that,
indeed!" writes he: "It clears the way of action for Russia's Allies in
this matter; and for us too; though nobody can blame us, if we proceed
with the extremest caution,"--and rather wait till the Bear is nearly
killed. [MEMOIRE RAISONNE (in _Gesammelte Nachrichten_ ), i. 422.]
Many marvels Friedrich had deciphered out of this Weingarten-Menzel
Apocalypse of Satan's Invisible World; and one often fancies Friedrich's
tone of mind, in his intense inspecting of that fateful continent
of darkness, and his labyrinthic stepping by degrees to the oracular
points, which have a light in them when flung open. But in respect of
practical interest, this of October, 1755 (which would get to Potsdam
probably in few weeks after) must have surpassed all the others. Marvels
many, one after the other: [For example, or in recapitulation: a Treaty
of Warsaw or Leipzig, to partition him (18th May, 1745); Treaty of
Petersburg (22d May, 1746, new form of Warsaw Treaty, with Czarina
superadded); tremulous Quasi-Accession thereto of his Polish Majesty
(most tremulous, hypothetic Quasi-Accession, "Yes-AND-No," 15th August,
1747, and often afterwards); first Deliberation of the Russian Senate,
15th May, 1753; &c. &c. For example, or in recapitulation: a Treaty
of Warsaw or Leipzig, to partition him (18th May, 1745); Treaty of
Petersburg (22d May, 1746, new form of Warsaw Treaty, with Czarina
superadded); tremulous Quasi-Accession thereto of his Polish Majesty
(most tremulous, hypothetic Quasi-Accession, "Yes-AND-No," 15th August,
1747, and often afterwards); first Deliberation of the Russian Senate,
15th May, 1753; &c. &c.] no doubt left, long since, of the constant
disposition, preparation and fixed intention to partition him. But
here, in this last indication by the Russian Senate,--which kindles into
dismal evidence so many other enigmatic tokens,--there has an ulterior
oracular point disclosed itself to Friedrich; in vaguer condition, but
not less indubitable, and much more perilous: namely, That now, at last
(end of 1755), the Two Imperial Majesties, very eager both, consider
that the time is come. And are--as Friedrich looks abroad on the
Austrian-Russian marchings of troops, campings, and unusual military
symptoms and combinations--visibly preparing to that end.
"They have agreed to attack me next Year (1756), if they can; and next
again (1757), without IF:" so Friedrich, putting written word and public
occurrence together, gradually reads; and so, all readers will see,
the fact was,--though Imperial Majesty at Schonbrunn, as we shall find,
strove to deny it when applied to; and scouted, as mere fiction
and imagination, the notion of such an "Agreement." Which I infer,
therefore, NOT to have existed in parchment; not in parchment, but
only in reality, and as a mutual Bond registered in--shall we say "in
Heaven", as some are wont?--registered, perhaps, in TWO Places, very
separate indeed! No truer "Agreement" ever did exist;--though a devout
Imperial Majesty denies it, who would shudder at the lie direct.
Poor Imperial Majesty: who can tell her troubles and straits in this
abstruse time! Heaven itself ordering her to get back the Silesia of her
Fathers, if she could;--yet Heaven always looking dubious, surely, upon
this method of doing it. By solemn Public Treaties signed in sight
of all mankind; and contrariwise, in the very same moments, by Secret
Treaties, of a fell nature, concocted underground, to destroy the life
of these! Imperial Majesty flatters herself it may be fair: "Treaty of
Dresden, Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle; Treaties wrung from me by force, the
tyrannic Sea-Powers screwing us; Kaunitz can tell! A consummate Kaunitz;
who has provided remedies. Treaties do get broken. Besides, I will
not go to War, unless HE the Bad One of Prussia do!"--Alas, your noble
Majesty, plain it at least is, your love of Silesia is very strong. And
consummate Kaunitz and it have led you into strange predicaments. The
Pompadour, for instance: who was it that answered, "JE NE LA CONNAIS
PAS; I don't know her!"? How gladly would the Imperial Maria Theresa,
soul of Propriety, have made that answer! But she did not; she had to
answer differently. For Kaunitz was imperative: "A kind little Note to
the Pompadour; one, and then another and another; it is indispensable,
your Imperial Majesty!" And Imperial Majesty always had to do it. And
there exist in writing, at this hour, various flattering little Notes
from Imperial Majesty to that Address; which begin, "MA COUSINE,"
"PRINCESSE ET COUSINE," say many witnesses; nay "MADAME MA TRES CHERE
SOEUR," says one good witness: [Hormayr (cited in Preuss, i. 433 n.),--as
are Duclos; Montgaillard; MEMOIRES DE RICHELIEU; &c.]--Notes which ought
to have been printed, before this, or given at least to the Museums.
"My Cousin," "Princess and Cousin," "Madame my dearest Sister:" Oh,
high Imperial Soul, with what strange bed-fellows does Misery of various
kinds bring us acquainted!
Friedrich was blamably imprudent in regard to Pompadour, thinks Valori:
"A little complaisance might have--what might it not have done!--" But
his Prussian Majesty would not. And while the Ministers of all the
other Powers allied with France "went assiduously to pay their court
to Madame, the Baron von Knyphausen alone, by his Master's order, never
once went." ["Don't! JE NE LA CONNAIS PAS"],--while the Empress-Queen
was writing her the most flattering letters. The Prince of Prussia,
King's eldest Brother, wished ardently to obtain her Portrait, and had
applied to me for it; as had Prince Henri to my Predecessor. The King,
who has such gallant and seductive ways when he likes, could certainly
have reconciled this "celebrated Lady",--a highly important Improper
Female to him and others. [Valori, i. 320.]
Yes; but he quite declined, not counting the costs. Costs may be
immediate; profits are remote,--remote, but sure. Costs did indeed prove
considerable, perhaps far beyond his expectation; though, I flatter
myself, they never awoke much remorse in him, on that score!--
Friedrich's Enigma, towards the end of 1755 and onwards, is becoming
frightfully stringent; and the solution, "What practically will be the
wise course for me?" does not lessen in abstruse intricacy, but the
reverse, as it grows more pressing. A very stormy and dubious Future,
truly! Two circumstances in it will be highly determinative: one of
them evident to Friedrich; the other unknown to him, and to all mortals,
except two or three. FIRST,
That there will be an English-French War straightway; and that, as
usual, the French, weaker at sea, will probably attack Hanover;--
that is to say, bring the War home to one's own door, and ripen
into fulfilment those Austrian-Russian Plots. This is the evident
circumstance, fast coming on; visible to Friedrich and to everybody.
But that, in such event, Austria will join, not with England, but with
France: this is a SECOND circumstance, guessable by nobody; known
only to Kaunitz and a select one or two; but which also will greatly
complicate Friedrich's position, and render his Enigma indeed
astonishingly intricate, as well as stringent for solution!