The posting of the Five Armies this Winter--Five of them in Germany, not
counting the Russians, who have vanished to Cimmeria over the horizon,
for their months of rest--is something wonderful, and strikes the
picturesque imagination. Such a Chain of Posts, for length, if for
nothing else! From the centre of Bohemia eastward, Daun's Austrians are
spread all round the western Silesian Border and the southeastern
Saxon; waited on by Prussians, in more or less proximity. Next are
the Reichsfolk; scattered over Thuringen and the Franconian Countries;
fronting partly into Hessen and Duke Ferdinand's outskirts:--the main
body of Duke Ferdinand is far to westward, in Munster Country, vigilant
upon Contades, with the Rhine between. Contades and Soubise,--adjoining
on the Reichsfolk are these Two French Armies: Soubise's, some 25,000,
in Frankfurt-Ems Country, between the Mayn and the Lahn, with its back
to the Rhine; then Contades, onward to Maes River and the Dutch Borders,
with his face to the Rhine,--and Duke Ferdinand observant of him on the
other side. That is the "CORDON of Posts" or winter-quarters this Year.
"From the Giant Mountains and the Metal Mountains, to the Ocean;--to the
mouth of Rhine," may we not say; "and back again to the Swiss Alps or
springs of Rhine, that Upper-Rhine Country being all either French or
Austrian, and a basis for Soubise?" [Archenholtz, i. 306.] Not to speak
of Ocean itself, and its winged War-Fleets, lonesomely hovering and
patrolling; or of the Americas and Indies beyond!
"This is such a Chain of mutually vigilant Winter-quarters," says
Archenholtz, "as was never drawn in Germany, or in Europe, before."
Chain of about 300,000 fighting men, poured out in that lengthy manner.
Taking their winter siesta there, asleep with one eye open, till
reinforced for new business of death and destruction against Spring.
Pathetic surely, as well as picturesque. "Three Campaigns there have
already been," sighs the peaceable observer: "Three Campaigns, surely
furious enough; Eleven Battles in them," [Stenzel, v. 185. This,
I suppose, would be his enumeration: LOBOSITZ (1756); PRAG, KOLIN,
Hastenbeck, Gross-Jagersdorf, ROSSBACH, Breslau, LEUTHEN, (1757);
Crefeld, ZORNDORF, HOCHKIRCH (1758): "eleven hitherto in all."] a Prag,
a Kolin, Leuthen, Rossbach;--must there still be others, then, to
the misery of poor mankind?" thus sigh many peaceful persons. Not
considering what are, and have been, the rages, the iniquities, the loud
and silent deliriums, the mad blindnesses and sins of mankind; and what
amount, of CALCINING these may reasonably take. Not calcinable in three
Campaigns at all, it would appear! Four more Campaigns are needed: then
there will be innocuous ashes in quantity; and a result unexpected, and
worth marking in World-History.
It is notably one of Friedrich's fond hopes,--of which he keeps up
several, as bright cloud-hangings in the haggard inner world he now
has,--that Peace is just at hand; one right struggle more, and Peace
must come! And on the part of Britannic George and him, repeated
attempts were made,--one in the end of this Year 1759;--but one and all
of them proved futile, and, unless for accidental reasons, need not be
mentioned here. Many men, in all nations, long for Peace; but there are
Three Women at the top of the world who do not; their wrath, various in
quality, is great in quantity, and disasters do the reverse of appeasing
it.
The French people, as is natural, are weary of a War which yields them
mere losses and disgraces; "War carried on for Austrian whims, which
likewise seem to be impracticable!" think they. And their Bernis
himself, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who began this sad French-Austrian
Adventure, has already been remonstrating with Kaunitz, and grumbling
anxiously, "Could not the Swedes, or somebody, be got to mediate? Such
a War is too ruinous!" Hearing which, the Pompadour is shocked at the
favorite creature of her hands; hastens to dismiss him ("Be Cardinal
then, you ingrate of a Bernis; disappear under that Red Hat!")--and
appoints, in his stead, one Choiseul (known hitherto as STAINVILLE,
Comte de Stainville, French Excellency at Vienna, but now made Duke on
this promotion), Duc de Choiseul; [Minister of Foreign Affairs,
"11th November, 1758" (Barbier, iv. 294).] who is a Lorrainer, or
Semi-Austrian, by very birth; and probably much fitter for the place. A
swift, impetuous kind of man, this Choiseul, who is still rather young
than otherwise; plenty of proud spirit in him, of shifts, talent of the
reckless sort; who proved very notable in France for the next twenty
years.
French trade being ruined withal, money is running dreadfully low:
but they appoint a new Controller-General; a M. de Silhouette, who is
thought to have an extraordinary creative genius in Finance. Had he but
a Fortunatus-Purse, how lucky were it! With Fortunatus Silhouette as
purse-holder, with a fiery young Choiseul on this hand, and a fiery
old Belleisle on that, Pompadour meditates great things this
Year,--Invasions of England; stronger German Armies; better German
Plans, and slashings home upon Hanover itself, or the vital point;--and
flatters herself, and her poor Louis, that there is on the anvil, for
1759, such a French Campaign as will perhaps astonish Pitt and another
insolent King. Very fixed, fell and feminine is the Pompadour's humor
in this matter. Nor is the Czarina's less so; but more, if possible;
unappeasable except by death. Imperial Maria Theresa has masculine
reasons withal; great hopes, too, of late. Of the War's ending till flat
impossibility stop it, there is no likelihood.
To Pitt this Campaign 1759, in spite of bad omens at the outset, proved
altogether splendid: but greatly the reverse on Friedrich's side; to
whom it was the most disastrous and unfortunate he had yet made, or did
ever make. Pitt at his zenith in public reputation; Friedrich never so
low before, nothing seemingly but extinction near ahead, when this Year
ended. The truth is, apart from his specific pieces of ill-luck, there
had now begun for Friedrich a new rule of procedure, which much altered
his appearance in the world. Thrice over had he tried by the aggressive
or invasive method; thrice over made a plunge at the enemy's heart,
hoping so to disarm or lame him: but that, with resources spent to such
a degree, is what he cannot do a fourth time: he is too weak henceforth
to think of that.
Prussia has always its King, and his unrivalled talent; but that is
pretty much the only fixed item: Prussia VERSUS France, Austria, Russia,
Sweden and the German Reich, what is it as a field of supplies for war!
Except its King, these are failing, year by year; and at a rate fatally
SWIFT in comparison. Friedrich cannot now do Leuthens, Rossbachs;
far-shining feats of victory, which astonish all the world. His fine
Prussian veterans have mostly perished; and have been replaced by new
levies and recruits; who are inferior both in discipline and native
quality;--though they have still, people say, a noteworthy taste of the
old Prussian sort in them; and do, in fact, fight well to the last. But
"it is observable," says Retzow somewhere, and indeed it follows from
the nature of the case, "that while the Prussian Army presents always
its best kind of soldiers at the beginning of a war, Austria, such are
its resources in population, always improves in that particular, and its
best troops appear in the last campaigns." In a word, Friedrich stands
on the defensive henceforth; disputing his ground inch by inch: and is
reduced, more and more, to battle obscurely with a hydra-coil of enemies
and impediments; and to do heroisms which make no noise in the Gazettes.
And, alas, which cannot figure in History either,--what is more a sorrow
to me here!
Friedrich, say all judges of soldiership and human character who have
studied Friedrich sufficiently, "is greater than ever," in these four
Years now coming. [Berenhorst, in _Kriegskunst;_ Retzow; &c.] And
this, I have found more and more to be a true thing; verifiable and
demonstrable in time and place,--though, unluckily for us, hardly in
this time or this place at all! A thing which cannot, by any method,
be made manifest to the general reader; who delights in shining
summary feats, and is impatient of tedious preliminaries and
investigations,--especially of MAPS, which are the indispensablest
requisite of all. A thing, in short, that belongs peculiarly to
soldier-students; who can undergo the dull preliminaries, most dull but
most inexorably needed; and can follow out, with watchful intelligence,
and with a patience not to be wearied, the multifarious topographies,
details of movements and manoeuvrings, year after year, on such a
Theatre of War. What is to be done with it here! If we could, by
significant strokes, indicate, under features true so far as they went,
the great wide fire-flood that was raging round the world; if we could,
carefully omitting very many things, omit of the things intelligible and
decipherable that concern Friedrich himself, nothing that had meaning:
IF indeed--! But it is idle preluding. Forward again, brave reader,
under such conditions as there are!
Friedrich's Winter in Breslau was of secluded, silent, sombre character,
this time; nothing of stir in it but from work only: in marked contrast
with the last, and its kindly visitors and gayeties. A Friedrich given
up to his manifold businesses, to his silent sorrows. "I have passed my
winter like a Carthusian monk," he writes to D'Argens: "I dine alone; I
spend my life in reading and writing; and I do not sup. When one is sad,
it becomes at last too burdensome to hide one's grief continually; and
it is better to give way to it by oneself, than to carry one's gloom
into society. Nothing solaces me but the vigorous application required
in steady and continuous labor. This distraction does force one to put
away painful ideas, while it lasts: but, alas, no sooner is the work
done, than these fatal companions present themselves again, as if
livelier than ever. Maupertuis was right: the sum of evil does certainly
surpass that of good:--but to me it is all one; I have almost nothing
more to lose; and my few remaining days, what matters it much of what
complexion they be?" ["Breslau, 1st March, 1759," To D'Argens (_OEuvres
de Frederic,_ xix. 56).]
The loss of his Wilhelmina, had there been no other grief, has darkened
all his life to Friedrich. Readers are not prepared for the details of
grief we could give, and the settled gloom of mind they indicate. A loss
irreparable and immeasurable; the light of life, the one loved heart
that loved him, gone. His passionate appeals to Voltaire to celebrate
for him in verse his lost treasure, and at least make her virtues
immortal, are perhaps known to readers: [ODE SUR LA MORT DE S. A. S.
MADAME LA PRINCESSE DE BAREITH (in _OEuvres de Voltaire,_ xviii. 79-86):
see Friedrich's Letter to him (6th November, 1758); with Voltaire's
VERSES in Answer (next month); Friedrich's new Letter (Breslau, 23d
January 1759), demanding something more,--followed by the ODE just
cited (Ib. lxxii. 402; lxxviii. 82, 92; or _OEuvres de Frederic,_
xxiii. 20-24: &c.) alas, this is a very feeble kind of immortality, and
Friedrich too well feels it such. All Winter he dwells internally on the
sad matter, though soon falling silent on it to others.
The War is ever more dark and dismal to him; a wearing, harassing,
nearly disgusting task; on which, however, depends life or death. This
Year, he "expects to have 300,000 enemies upon him;" and "is, with his
utmost effort, getting up 150,000 to set against them." Of business,
in its many kinds, there can be no lack! In the intervals he also wrote
considerably: one of his Pieces is a SERMON ON THE LAST JUDGMENT; handed
to Reader De Catt, one evening:--to De Catt's surprise, and to ours; the
Voiceless in a dark Friedrich trying to give itself some voice in this
way! [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xv. 1-10 (see Preuss's PREFACE there;
Formey, _SOUVENIRS,_ i. 37; &c. &c.)] Another Piece, altogether
practical, and done with excellent insight, brevity, modesty, is ON
TACTICS; [REFLEXIONS SUR LA TACTIQUE: in _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxviii.
153-166.]--properly it might be called, "Serious very Private Thoughts,"
thrown on paper, and communicated only to two or three, "On the new kind
of Tactics necessary with those Austrians and their Allies," who are
in such overwhelming strength. "To whose continual sluggishness, and
strange want of concert, to whose incoherency of movements, languor of
execution, and other enormous faults, we have owed, with some excuse for
our own faults, our escaping of destruction hitherto,"--but had better
NOT trust that way any longer! Fouquet is one of the highly select,
to whom he communicates this Piece; adding along with it, in Fouquet's
case, an affectionate little Note, and, in spite of poverty, some
New-year's Gift, as usual,--the "Widow's Mite [300 pounds, we find];
receive it with the same heart with which it was set apart for you: a
small help, which you may well have need of, in these calamitous times."
["Breslau, 23d December, 1758;" with Fouquet's Answer, 2d January, 1759:
in _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xx. 114-117.] Fouquet much admires the new
Tactical Suggestions;--seems to think, however, that the certainly
practicable one is, in particular, the last, That of "improving our
Artillery to some equality with theirs." For which, as may appear, the
King has already been taking thought, in more ways than one.
Finance is naturally a heavy part of Friedrich's Problem; the part which
looks especially impossible, from our point of vision! In Friedrich's
Country, the War Budget does not differ from the Peace one. Neither is
any borrowing possible; that sublime Art, of rolling over on you know
not whom the expenditure, needful or needless, of your heavy-laden self,
had not yet--though England is busy at it--been invented among Nations.
Once, or perhaps twice, from the STANDE of some willing Province,
Friedrich negotiated some small Loan; which was punctually repaid when
Peace came, and was always gratefully remembered. But these are as
nothing, in face of such expenses; and the thought how he did contrive
on the Finance side, is and was not a little wonderful. An ingenious
Predecessor, whom I sometimes quote, has expressed himself in these
words:--
"Such modicum of Subsidy [he is speaking of the English Subsidy in
1758], how useful will it prove in a Country bred everywhere to Spartan
thrift, accustomed to regard waste as sin, and which will lay out no
penny except to purpose! I guess the Prussian Exchequer is, by this
time, much on the ebb; idle precious metals tending everywhere towards
the melting-pot. At what precise date the Friedrich-Wilhelm balustrades,
and enormous silver furnitures, were first gone into, Dryasdust has
not informed me: but we know they all went; as they well might. To me
nothing is so wonderful as Friedrich's Budget during this War. One day
it will be carefully investigated, elucidated and made conceivable and
certain to mankind: but that as yet is far from being the case. We
walk about in it with astonishment; almost, were it possible, with
incredulity. Expenditure on this side, work done on that: human nature,
especially British human nature, refuses to conceive it. Never in this
world, before or since, was the like. The Friedrich miracles in War are
great; but those in Finance are almost greater. Let Dryasdust bethink
him; and gird his flabby loins to this Enterprise; which is very
behooveful in these Californian times!"--
The general Secret of Prussian Thrift, I do fear, is lost from the
world. And how an Army of about 200,000, in field and garrison, could
be kept on foot, and in some ability to front combined Europe, on about
Three Million Sterling annually ("25 million THALERS"=3,150,000
pounds, that is the steady War-Budget of those years), remains to us
inconceivable enough;--mournfully miraculous, as it were; and growing
ever more so in the Nugget-generations that now run. Meanwhile, here are
what hints I could find, on the Origins of that modest Sum, which also
are a wonder: [Preuss, ii. 388-392; Stenzel, v. 137-141.]--
"The hoarded Prussian Moneys, or 'TREASURES' [two of them, KLEINE
SCHATZ, GROSSE SCHATZ, which are rigidly saved in Peace years, for
incidence of War], being nearly run out, there had come the English
Subsidy: this, with Saxony, and the Home revenues and remnants of SCHATZ
had sufficed for 1758; but will no longer suffice. Next to Saxony,
the English Subsidy (670,000 pounds due the second time this year) was
always Friedrich's principal resource: and in the latter years of the
War, I observe, it was nearly twice the amount of what all his Prussian
Countries together, in their ravaged and worn-out state, could yield
him. In and after 1759, besides Home Income, which is gradually
diminishing, and English Subsidy, which is a steady quantity,
Friedrich's sources of revenue are mainly Two:--
"FIRST, there is that of wringing money from your Enemies, from those
that have deserved ill of you,--such of them as you can come at.
Enemies, open or secret, even Ill-wishers, we are not particular,
provided only they lie within arm's-length. Under this head fall
principally three Countries (and their three poor Populations, in lieu
of their Governments): Saxony, Mecklenburg (or the main part of it,
Mecklenburg-SCHWERIN), and Anhalt; from these three there is a continual
forced supply of money and furnishings. Their demerits to Friedrich
differ much in intensity; nor is his wringing of them--which in the
cases of Mecklenburg and Saxony increases year by year to the nearly
intolerable pitch--quite in the simple ratio of their demerits; but in a
compound ratio of that and of his indignation and of his wants.
"Saxony, as Prime Author of this War, was from the first laid hold of,
collared tightly: 'Pay the shot, then, what you can' (in the end it was
almost what you cannot)! As to Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the grudge against
Prussia was of very old standing, some generations now; and the present
Duke, not a very wise Sovereign more than his Ancestors, had always
been ill with Friedrich; willing to spite and hurt him when possible:
in Reichs Diet he, of all German Princes, was the first that voted for
Friedrich's being put to Ban of the Reich,--he; and his poor People know
since whether that was a wise step! The little Anhalt Princes, too,
all the Anhalts, Dessau, Bernburg, Cothen, Zerbst [perhaps the latter
partially excepted, for a certain Russian Lady's sake], had voted, or
at least had ambiguously half-voted, in favor of the Ban, and done other
unfriendly things; and had now to pay dear for their bits of enmities.
Poor souls, they had but One Vote among them all Four;--and they only
half gave it, tremulously pulling it back again. I should guess it was
their terrors mainly, and over-readiness to reckon Friedrich a sinking
ship; and to leap from the deck of him,--with a spurn which he took for
insolent! The Anhalt-Dessauers particularly, who were once of his very
Army, half Prussians for generations back, he reckoned to have used him
scandalously ill.
"This Year the requisition on the Four Anhalts--which they submit to
patiently, as people who have leapt into the wrong ship--is, in precise
tale: of money, 330,000 thalers (about 50,000 pounds); recruits, 2,200;
horses, 1,800. In Saxony, besides the fixed Taxes, strict confiscation
of Meissen Potteries and every Royalty, there were exacted heavy
'Contributions,' more and more heavy, from the few opulent Towns,
chiefly from Leipzig; which were wrung out, latterly, under great
severities,--'chief merchants of Leipzig all clapt in prison, kept
on bread-and-water till they yielded,'--AS great severities as would
suffice, but NOT greater; which also was noted. Unfortunate chief
merchants of Leipzig,--with Bruhl and Polish Majesty little likely to
indemnify them! Unfortunate Country altogether. An intelligent Saxon,
who is vouched for as impartial, bears witness as follows: 'And this
I know, that the oppressions and plunderings of the Austrians and
Reichsfolk, in Saxony, turned all hearts away from them; and it was
publicly said, We had rather bear the steady burden of the Prussians
than such help as these our pretended Deliverers bring.' [Stenzel
(citing from KRIEGSKANZLEI, which I have not), v. 137 n.] Whereby, on
the whole, the poor Country got its back broken, and could never look up
in the world since. Resource FIRST was abundantly severe.
"Resource SECOND is strangest of all;--and has given rise to criticism
enough! It is no other than that of issuing base money; mixing your gold
and silver coin with copper,--this, one grieves to say, is the Second
and extreme resource. A rude method--would we had a better--of
suspending Cash-payments, and paying by bank-notes instead!' thinks
Friedrich, I suppose. From his Prussian Mints, from his Saxon [which are
his for the present], and from the little Anhalt-Bernburg Mint [of which
he expressly purchased the sad privilege,--for we are not a Coiner,
we are a King reduced to suspend Cash-payments, for the time being],
Friedrich poured out over all Germany, in all manner of kinds, huge
quantities of bad Coin. This, so long as it would last, is more and
more a copious fountain of supply. This, for the first time, has had to
appear as an item in War-Budget 1759: and it fails in no following,
but expands more and more. It was done through Ephraim, the not lovely
Berlin Jew, whom we used to hear of in Voltaire's time;--through Ephraim
and two others, Ephraim as President: in return for a net Sum, these
shall have privilege to coin such and such amounts, so and so alloyed;
shall pay to General Tauentzien, Army Treasurer, at fixed terms, the
Sums specified: 'Go, and do it; our Mint-Officers sharply watching you;
Mint-Officers, and General Tauentzien [with a young Herr Lessing, as
his Chief Clerk, of whom the King knows nothing]; Go, ye unlovely!' And
Ephraim and Company are making a great deal of money by the unlovely
job. Ephraim is the pair of tongs, the hand, and the unlovely job, are a
royal man's. Alas, yes. And none of us knows better than King Friedrich,
perhaps few of us as well, how little lovely a job it was; how
shockingly UNkingly it was,--though a practice not unknown to German
Kings and Kinglets before his time, and since down almost to ours. [In
STENZEL (v. 141) enumeration of eight or nine unhappy Potentates, who
were busy with it in those same years.] In fact, these are all unkingly
practices;--and the English Subsidy itself is distasteful to a proud
Friedrich: but what, in those circumstances, can any Friedrich do?
"The first coinages of Ephraim had, it seems, in them about 3-7ths of
copper; something less than the half, and more than the third,"--your
gold sovereign grown to be worth 28s. 6d. "But yearly it grew worse; and
in 1762 [English Subsidy having failed] matters had got inverted;
and there was three times as much copper as silver. Commerce, as was
natural, went rocking and tossing, as on a sea under earthquakes; but
there was always ready money among Friedrich's soldiers, as among no
other: nor did the common people, or retail purchasers, suffer by it.
'Hah, an Ephraimite!' they would say, grinning not ill-humoredly, at
sight of one of these pieces; some of which they had more specifically
named 'BLUE-GOWNS' [owing to a tint of blue perceivable, in spite of
the industrious plating in real silver, or at least "boiling in
some solution" of it]; these they would salute with this rhyme, then
current:--
"Von aussen schon, van innen schlimm;
Von aussen Friedrich, von innen Ephraim.
Outside noble, inside slim:
Outside Friedrich, inside Ephraim.
"By this time, whatever of money, from any source, can be scraped
together in Friedrich's world, flows wholly into the Army-Chest, as the
real citadel of life. In these latter years of the War, beginning, I
could guess, from 1759, all Civil expenditures, and wages of Officials,
cease to be paid in money; nobody of that kind sees the color even of
bad coin; but is paid only in 'Paper Assignments,' in Promises to Pay
'after the Peace.' These Paper Documents made no pretence to the rank of
Currency: such holders of them as had money, or friends, and could wait,
got punctual payment when the term did arrive; but those that could
not, suffered greatly; having to negotiate their debentures on
ruinous terms,--sometimes at an expense of three-fourths.--I will
add Friedrich's practical Schedule of Amounts from all these various
Sources; and what Friedrich's own view of the Sources was, when he could
survey them from the safe distance.
"SCHEDULE OF AMOUNTS [say for 1761]. To make up the Twenty-five Million
thalers, necessary for the Army, there are:--
"From our Prussian Countries, ruined, harried as THALERS
they have been,.......... 4 millions only.
From Saxony and the other Wringings, ..... 7 millions.
English Subsidy (4 of good gold; becoppered
into double),........... 8 "
From Ephraim and his Farm of the Mint
(MUNZ-PATENT), .......... 7 "
In sum Twenty-six Millions; leaving you one Million of margin,--and
always a plenty of cash in hand for incidental sundries. [Preuss, ii.
388.]
"Friedrich's own view of these sad matters, as he closes his _History
of the Seven-Years War_ [at "Berlin, 17th December, 1763"], is in these
words: 'May Heaven grant,--if Heaven deign to look down on the paltry
concerns of men,--that the unalterable and flourishing destiny of this
Country preserve the Sovereigns who shall govern it from the scourges
and calamities which Prussia has suffered in these times of trouble and
subversion; that they may never again be forced to recur to the violent
and fatal remedies which we (L'ON) have been obliged to employ in
maintenance of the State against the ambitious hatred of the Sovereigns
of Europe, who wished to annihilate the House of Brandenburg, and
exterminate from the world whatever bore the Prussian name!'" [_OEuvres
de Frederic,_ v. 234.]
OF THE SMALL-WAR IN SPRING, 1759. THERE ARE FIVE DISRUPTIONS OF THAT
GRAND CORDON (February-April); AND FERDINAND OF BRUNSWICK FIGHTS HIS
BATTLE OF BERGEN (April 13th).
Friedrich, being denied an aggressive course this Year, by no means
sits idly expectant and defensive in the interim; but, all the more
vigorously, as is observable, from February onwards, strikes out from
him on every side: endeavoring to spoil the Enemy's Magazines, and
cripple his operations in that way. So that there was, all winter
through, a good deal of Small-War (some of it not Small), of more
importance than usual,--chiefly of Friedrich's originating, with the
above view, or of Ferdinand his Ally's, on a still more pressing score.
And, on the whole, that immense Austrian-French Cordon, which goes from
the Carpathians to the Ocean, had by no means a quiet time; but was
broken into, and violently hurled back, in different parts: some four,
or even five, attacks upon it in all; three of them by Prince Henri,--in
two of which Duke Ferdinand's people co-operated; the business being for
mutual behoof. These latter Three were famous in the world, that Winter;
and indeed are still recognizable as brilliant procedures of their kind;
though, except dates and results, we can afford almost nothing of them
here. These Three, intended chiefly against Reichs people and their
Posts and Magazines, fell out on the western and middle part of
the Cordon. Another attack was in the extreme eastward, and was for
Friedrich's own behoof; under Fouquet's management;--intended against
the Austrian-Moravian Magazines and Preparations, but had little
success. Still another assault, or invasive outroad, northward against
the Russian Magazines, there also was; of which by and by. Besides all
which, and more memorable than all, Duke Ferdinand, for vital reasons of
his own, fought a Battle this Spring, considerable Battle, and did NOT
gain it; which made great noise in the world.
It is not necessary the reader should load his memory with details of
all these preliminary things; on the contrary, it is necessary that he
keep his memory clear for the far more important things that lie ahead
of these, and entertain these in a summary way, as a kind of foreground
to what is coming. Perhaps the following Fractions of Note, which put
matters in something of Chronological or Synoptical form, will suffice
him, or more than suffice. He is to understand that the grand tug of
War, this Year, gradually turns out not to be hereabouts, nor with Daun
and his adjacencies at all, but with the Russians, who arrive from the
opposite Northern quarter; and that all else will prove to be merely
prefatory and nugatory in comparison.
JANUARY 2d, 1759: FRANKFURT-ON-MAYN, THOUGH IT IS A REICHSTADT, FINDS
ITSELF SUDDENLY BECOME FRENCH. "Prince de Soubise lies between Mayn and
Lahn, with his 25,000; beautifully safe and convenient,--though ill off
for a place-of-arms in those parts. Opulent Frankfurt, on his right; how
handy would that be, were not Reichs Law so express! Marburg, Giessen
are outposts of his; on which side one of Ferdinand's people, Prince von
Ysenburg, watches him with an 8 or 10,000, capable of mischief in that
quarter.
"On the Eve of New-year's day, or on the auspicious Day itself, Soubise
requests, of the Frankfurt Authorities, permission for a regiment of his
to march through that Imperial City. To which, by law and theory, the
Imperial City can say Yes or No; but practically cannot, without grave
inconvenience, say other than Yes, though most Frankfurters wish it
could. 'Yes,' answer the Frankfurt Magnates; Yes surely, under the known
conditions. Tuesday, January 2d, about 5 in the morning, while all is
still dark in Frankfurt, regiment Nassau appears, accordingly, at the
Sachsenhausen Gate, Town-guard people all ready to receive it and escort
it through; and is admitted as usual. Quite as usual: but instead
of being escorted through, it orders, in calm peremptory voice, the
Town-guard, To ground arms; with calm rapidity proceeds to admit ten
other regiments or battalions, six of them German; seizes the artillery
on the Walls, seizes all the other Gates:--and poor Frankfurt finds
itself tied hand and foot, almost before it is out of bed! Done with
great exactitude, with the minimum of confusion, and without a hurt skin
to anybody. The Inhabitants stood silent, gazing; the Town-guard laid
down their arms, and went home. Totally against Law; but cleverly done;
perhaps Soubise's chief exploit in the world; certainly the one real
success the French have yet had.
"Soubise made haste to summon the Magistrates: 'Law of Necessity alone,
most honored Sirs! Reichs Law is clear against me. But all the more
shall private liberties, religions, properties, in this Imperial
Free-Town, be sacred to us. Defence against any aggression: and the
strictest discipline observed. Depend on me, I bid you!'--And kept his
word to an honorable degree, they say; or in absence, made it be kept,
during the Four Years that follow. Most Frankfurters are, at heart,
Anti-French: but Soubise's affability was perfect; and he gave evening
parties of a sublime character; the Magistrates all appearing there, in
their square perukes and long gowns, with a mournful joy." [Tempelhof,
iii. 7-8; Stenzel, v. 198-200.]
Soubise soon went home, to assist in important businesses,--Invasion of
England, no less; let England look to itself this Summer!--and Broglio
succeeded him, as Army-Captain in the Frankfurt parts; with laurels
accruing, more or less. Soubise, like Broglio, began with Rossbach;
Soubise ends with Frankfurt, for the present; where Broglio also gains
his chief laurels, as will shortly be seen. Frankfurt is a great gain to
France, though an illicit one. It puts a bar on Duke Ferdinand in that
quarter; secures a starting-point for attacks on Hessen, Hanover; for
co-operation with Contades and the Lower Rhine. It is the one success
France has yet had in this War, or pretty much that it ever had in it.
Due to Prince de Soubise, in that illegal fashion.--A highly remarkable
little Boy, now in his tenth year, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, has his
wondering eyes on these things: and, short while hence, meets daily, on
the stairs and lobbies at home, a pleasant French Official Gentlemen who
is quartered there; between whom and Papa occur rubs,--as readers may
remember, and shall hear in April coming.
GRAND CORDON DISRUPTED: ERFURT COUNTRY, 16th FEBRUARY-2d MARCH. "About
six weeks after this Frankfurt achievement, certain Reichsfolk and
Austrian Auxiliaries are observed to be cutting down endless timber,
'18,800 palisades, 6,000 trees of 60 feet,' and other huge furnishings,
from the poor Duke of Gotha's woods; evidently meaning to fortify
themselves in Erfurt. Upon which Prince Henri detaches a General
Knobloch thitherward, Duke Ferdinand contributing 4,000 to meet him
there; which combined expedition, after some sharp knocking and shoving,
entirely disrooted the Austrians and Reichsfolk, and sent them packing.
Had them quite torn out by the end of the month; and had planned to
'attack them on two sides at once' (March 2d), with a view of swallowing
them whole,--when they (these Reichs Volscians, in such a state of
flutter) privately hastened off, one and all of them, the day before."
[Narrative, in _Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 1022 et seq.]
This was BREAKAGE FIRST of the Grand Cordon; an explosive hurling of
it back out of those Erfurt parts. Done by Prince Henri's people, in
concert with Duke Ferdinand's,--who were mutually interested in the
thing.
BREAKAGE SECOND: ERFURT-FULDA COUNTRY, 31st MARCH-8th APRIL. "About the
end of March, these intrusive Austrian Reichsfolk made some attempt to
come back into those Countries; but again got nothing but hard knocks;
and gave up the Erfurt project. For, close following on this FIRST,
there was a SECOND still deeper and rougher Breakage, in those same
regions; the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick dashing through, on a
special Errand of Ferdinand's own [of which presently], with an 8 or
10,000, in his usual fiery manner; home into the very bowels of the
Reich (April 3d, and for a week onward); and returning with 'above
2,000 prisoners' in hand; especially with a Reich well frightened behind
him;--still in time for Duke Ferdinand's Adventure [in fact, for his
Battle of Bergen, of which we are to hear]. Had been well assisted by
Prince Henri, who 'made dangerous demonstrations in the distance,' and
was extremely diligent--though the interest was chiefly Ferdinand's this
time." [Tempelhof, iii. 19-22.]--Contemporary with that FIRST Erfurt
Business, there went on, 300 miles away from it, in the quite opposite
direction, another of the same;--too curious to be omitted.
ACROSS THE POLISH FRONTIER: FEBRUARY, 24th-MARCH 4th. "In the end of
February, General Wobersnow, an active man, was detached from Glogau,
over into Poland, Posen way, To overturn the Russian provision
operations thereabouts; in particular, to look into a certain
high-flying Polack, a Prince Sulkowski of those parts; who with all
diligence is gathering food, in expectation of the Russian advent; and
indeed has formally 'declared War against the King of Prussia;' having
the right, he says, as a Polish Magnate, subject only to his own
high thought in such affairs. The Russians and their wars are dear to
Sulkowski. He fell prisoner in their cause, at Zorndorf, last Autumn;
was stuck, like all the others, Soltikoff himself among them, into the
vaulted parts of Custrin Garrison: 'I am sorry I have no Siberia for
you,' said Friedrich, looking, not in a benign way, on the captive
Dignitaries, that hot afternoon; 'go to Custrin, and see what you have
provided for yourselves!' Which they had to do; nothing, for certain
days, but cellarage to lodge in; King inexorable, deaf to remonstrance.
Which possibly may have contributed to kindle Sulkowski into these
extremely high proceedings.
"At any rate, Wobersnow punctually looks in upon him: seizes his
considerable stock of Russian proviants; his belligerent force, his high
person itself; and in one luckless hour snuffs him out from the list
of potentates. His belligerent force, about 1,000 Polacks, were all
compelled, 'by the cudgel, say my authorities, to take Prussian service
[in garrison regiments, and well scattered about, I suppose]; his
own high person found itself sitting locked in Glogau, left to its
reflections. Sat thus 'till the War ended,' say some; certainly till
the Sulkowski War had been sufficiently exploded by the laughter of
mankind." Here are, succinctly, the dates of this small memorability:--
"End of February, Wobersnow gathers, at Glogau, a force of about 8,000
horse and foot. Marches, 24th FEBRUARY, over Oder Bridge, straight
into Poland; that same night, to the neighborhood of Lissa and Reisen
(Sulkowski's dominion), about thirty miles northeast of Glogau.
Sulkowski done next day;--part of the capture is 'fifteen small guns.'
Wobersnow goes, next, for Posen; arrives, 28th FEBRUARY; destroys
Russian Magazine, ransoms Jews. Shoots out other detachments on the
Magazine Enterprise;--detaches Platen along the Warta, where are picked
up various items, among others 'eighty tuns of brandy,'--but himself
proceeds no farther than Posen. MARCH 4th, sets out again from Posen,
homewards." [NACHRICHT VON DER UNTERNEHMUNG DES GENERAL-MAJORS VON
WOBERSNOW IN POLEN, IM FEB. UND MARZ. 1759: in Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ ii.
526-529. _Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 829.] We shall hear again of Wobersnow,
in a much more important way, before long.
To the Polish Republic so called, Friedrich explained politely, not
apologetically: "Since you allow the Russians to march through you in
attack of me, it is evident to your just minds that the attacked party
must have similar privilege." "Truly!" answered they, in their just
minds, generally; and I made no complaint about Sulkowski (though Polish
Majesty and Primate endeavored to be loud about "Invasion" and the
like):--and indeed Polish Republic was lying, for a long while past, as
if broken-backed, on the public highway, a Nation anarchic every fibre
of it, and under the feet and hoofs of travelling Neighbors, especially
of Russian Neighbors; and is not now capable of saying much for itself
in such cases, or of doing anything at all.
FRANKFURT COUNTRY, APRIL 13th: DUKE FERDINAND'S BATTLE OF BERGEN. "Duke
Ferdinand, fully aware what a stroke that seizure of Frankfurt was to
him, resolved to risk a long march at this bad season, and attempt
to drive the French out. Contades was absent in Paris,--no fear of an
attack from Contades's Army; Broglio's in Frankfurt, grown now to about
35,000, can perhaps be beaten if vigorously attacked. Ferdinand appoints
a rendezvous at Fulda, of various Corps, Prince Ysenburg's and others,
that lie nearest, Hessians many of them, Hanoverians others; proceeds,
himself, to Fulda, with a few attendants [a drive of about 200
miles];--having left Lord George Sackville [mark the sad name
of him!]--Sackville, head of the English, and General Sporken, a
Hanoverian,--to take charge in Munster Country, during his absence. It
was from Fulda that he shot out the Hereditary Prince on that important
Errand we lately spoke of, under the head of 'BREAKAGE SECOND,'--namely,
to clear his right flank, and scare the Reich well off him, while he
should be marching on Frankfurt. All which, Henri assisting from the
distance, the Hereditary Prince performed to perfection,--and was back
(APRIL 8th) in excellent time for the Battle.
"Ferdinand stayed hardly a day in Fulda, ranking himself and getting on
the road. Did his long march of above 100 miles without accident or loss
of time;--of course, scaring home the Broglio Outposts in haste enough,
and awakening Broglio's attention in a high degree;--and arrives,
Thursday, April 12th, at Windecken, a Village about fifteen miles
northeast of Frankfurt; where he passes the night under arms; intending
Battle on the morrow. Broglio is all assembled, 35,000 strong; his
Assailant, with the Hereditary Prince come in, counts rather under
30,000. Broglio is posted in, and on both sides of, Bergen, a high-lying
Village, directly on Ferdinand's road to Frankfurt. Windecken is about
fifteen miles from Frankfurt; Bergen about six:--idle Tourists of our
time, on their return from Homburg to that City, leave Bergen a little
on their left. The ground is mere hills, woody dales, marshy brooks;
Broglio's position, with its Village, and Hill, and ravines and
advantages, is the choicest of the region; and Broglio's methods,
procedures and arrangements in it are applauded by all judges.
"FRIDAY, 13th APRIL, 1759, Ferdinand is astir by daybreak; comes on,
along one of those woody balleys, pickeering, reconnoitring;--in the
end, directly up the Hill of Bergen; straight upon the key-point. It is
about 10 A.M., when the batteries and musketries awaken there; very loud
indeed, for perhaps two hours or more. Prince von Ysenburg is leader of
Ferdinand's attacking party. Their attack is hot and fierce, and they
stick to it steadily; though garden-hedges, orchards and impediments are
many, and Broglio, with, much cannon helping, makes vigorous defence.
These Ysenburgers fought till their cartridges were nearly spent, and
Ysenburg himself lay killed; but could not take Bergen. Nor could the
Hereditary Prince; who, in aid of them, tried it in flank, with his own
usual impetuosity rekindling theirs, and at first with some success; but
was himself taken in flank by Broglio's Reserve, and obliged to desist.
No getting of Bergen by that method.
"Military critics say coolly, 'You should have smashed it well with
cannon, first [which Ferdinand had not in stock here]; and especially
have flung grenadoes into it, till it was well in flame: impossible
otherwise!' [Mauvillon, ii. 19.] The Ysenburgers and Hereditary Prince
withdraw. No pursuit of them; or almost less than none; for the one or
two French regiments that tried it (against order), nearly got cut up.
Broglio, like a very Daun at Kolin, had strictly forbidden all such
attempts: 'On no temptation quit your ground!'
"The Battle, after this, lay quiet all afternoon; Ferdinand still in
sight; motioning much, to tempt French valor into chasing of him. But
all in vain: Broglio, though his subalterns kept urging, remonstrating,
was peremptory not to stir. Whereupon, towards evening, across certain
woody Heights, perhaps still with some hope of drawing him out,
Ferdinand made some languid attempt on Broglio's wing, or wings;--and
this also failing, had to give up the affair. He continued cannonading
till deep in the night; withdrew to Windecken: and about two next
morning, marched for home,--still with little or no pursuit: but without
hope of Frankfurt henceforth. And, in fact, has a painful Summer ahead.
"Ferdinand had lost 5 cannon, and of killed and wounded 2,500; the
French counted their loss at about 1,900. [Mauvillon, ii. 10-19;
Tempelhof, iii. 26-31.] The joy of France over this immense victory was
extraordinary. Broglio was made Prince of the Reich, Marechal de France;
would have been raised to the stars, had one been able,--for the time
being. 'And your immense victory,' so sneered the by-standers, 'consists
in not being beaten, under those excellent conditions;--perhaps victory
is a rarity just now!'"
This is the Battle which our Boy-Friend Johann Wolfgang watched with
such interest, from his garret-window, hour after hour; all Frankfurt
simmering round him, in such a whirlpool of self-contradictory emotions;
till towards evening, when, in long rows of carts, poor wounded Hessians
and Hanoverians came jolting in, and melted every heart into pity, into
wailing sorrow, and eagerness to help. A little later, Papa Goethe,
stepping downstairs, came across the Official French Gentleman; who said
radiantly: "Doubtless you congratulate yourself and us on this victory
to his Majesty's arms." "Not a whit (KEINESWEGS)," answers Papa Goethe,
a stiff kind of man, nowise in the mood of congratulating: "on the
contrary, I wish they had chased you to the Devil, though I had had to
go too!" Which was a great relief to his feelings, though a dangerous
one in the circumstances. [Goethe's WERKE (Stuttgart und Tubingen,
1829), xxiv. (DICHTUNG UND WAHRHEIT, i.), 153-157.]
BREAKAGE THIRD: OVER THE METAL MOUNTAINS INTO BOHMEN (APRIL 14th-20th).
"Ferdinand's Battle was hardly ending, when Prince Henri poured across
the Mountains,--in two columns, Hulsen leading the inferior or rightmost
one,--into Leitmeritz-Eger Country; and made a most successful business
of the Austrian Magazines he found there. Magazines all filled; Enemy
all galloping for Prag:--Daun himself, who is sitting vigilant, far in
the interior, at Jaromirtz this month past, was thrown into huge flurry,
for some days! Speedy Henri (almost on the one condition of BEING
speedy) had his own will of the Magazines: burnt, Hulsen and he, 'about
600,000 pounds worth' of Austrian provender in those parts, 'what would
have kept 50,000 men five months in bread' (not to mention hay at all);
gave the Enemy sore slaps (caught about 3,000 of him, NOT yet got on
gallop for Prag); burnt his 200 boats on the Elbe:--forced him to begin
anew at the beginning; and did, in effect, considerably lame and retard
certain of his operations through the Summer. Speedy Henri marched
for home April 20th; and was all across the Mountains April 23d: a
profitable swift nine days." [Tempelhof iii. 47-53; _Helden-Geschichte,_
v. 963-966.]--And on the sixth day hence he will have something similar,
and still more important, on foot. A swift man, when he must!
BREAKAGE FOURTH: INTO MAHREN (APRIL 16th-21st). "This is Fouquet's
attempt, alluded to above; of which--as every reader must be satisfied
with Small-War--we will give only the dates. Fouquet, ranking at
Leobschutz, in Neisse Country, did break through into Mahren, pushing
the Austrians before him; but found the Magazines either emptied, or too
inaccessible for any worth they had;--could do nothing on the Magazines;
and returned without result; home at Leobschutz again on the fifth
day." [_ Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 958-963; Tempelhof, iii. 44-47.] This,
however, had a sequel for Fouquet; which, as it brought the King himself
into those neighborhoods, we shall have to mention, farther on.
BREAKAGE FIFTH: INTO FRANKEN (MAY 5th-JUNE 1st). "This was Prince
Henri's Invasion of the Bamberg-Nurnberg Countries; a much sharper thing
than in any former Year. Much the most famous, and," luckily for us,
"the last of the Small-War affairs for the present. Started,--from
Tschopau region, Bamberg way,--April 29th-May 5th. In Three Columns:
Finck leftmost, and foremost (Finck had marched April 29th, pretending
to mean for Bohemia); after whom Knobloch; and (May 5th) the Prince
himself. Who has an eye to the Reichs Magazines and Preparations, as
usual;--nay, an eye to their Camp of Rendezvous, and to a fight with
their miscellaneous Selves and Auxiliaries, if they will stand fight.
'You will have to leave Saxony, and help us with the Russians, soon:
beat those Reichs people first!' urged the King; 'well beaten, they
will not trouble Saxony for a while.' If they will stand fight? But they
would not at all. They struck their tents everywhere; burnt their
own Magazines, in some cases; and only went mazing hither and
thither,--gravitating all upon Nurnberg, and an impregnable Camp which
they have in that neighborhood. Supreme Zweibruck was himself with
them; many Croats, Austrians, led by Maguire and others; all marching,
whirling at a mighty rate; with a countenance sometimes of vigor, but
always with Nurnberg Camp in rear. There was swift marching, really
beautiful manoeuvring here and there; sharp bits of fighting, too,
almost in the battle-form:--Maguire tried, or was for trying, a stroke
with Finck; but made off hastily, glad to get away. [Templehof, iii.
64.] May 11th, at Himmelskron in Baireuth, one Riedesel of theirs had
fairly to ground arms, self and 2,500, and become prisoners of war."
Much of this manoeuvring and scuffling was in Baireuth Territory. Twice,
or even thrice, Prince Henri was in Baireuth Town: "marched through
Baireuth," say the careless Old Books. Through Baireuth:--No Wilhelmina
now there, with her tremulous melodies of welcome! Wilhelminn's loves,
and terrors for her loved, are now all still. Perhaps her poor Daughter
of Wurtemberg, wandering unjustly disgraced, is there; Papa, the
Widower Margraf, is for marrying again: [Married 20th September, 1759
(a Brunswick Princess, Sister's-daughter of his late Wife); died within
four years.]--march on, Prince Henri!
"In Bamberg," says a Note from Archenholtz, "the Reichs troops burnt
their Magazine; and made for Nurnberg, as usual; but left some thousand
or two of Croats, who would not yet. Knobloch and his Prussians appeared
shortly after; summoned Bamberg, which agreed to receive them; and were
for taking possession; but found the Croats determined otherwise. Fight
ensued; fight in the streets; which, in hideousness of noises, if in
nothing else, was beyond parallel. The inhabitants sat all quaking in
their cellars; not an inhabitant was to be seen: a City dead,--and given
up to the demons, in this manner. Not for some hours were the Croats
got entirely trampled out. Bamberg, as usual, became a Prussian
place-of-arms; was charged to pay ransom of 40,000 pounds;--'cannot
possibly!'--did pay some 14,000 pounds, and gave bills for the
remainder." [Archenholtz. i. 371-373.] Which bills, let us mark withal,
the Kaiser in Reichs Diet decreed to be invalid: "Don't pay them!"
A thing not forgotten by Friedrich;--though it is understood the
Bambergers, lest worse might happen, privately paid their bills. "The
Expedition lasted, in whole, not quite four weeks: June 1st, Prince
Henri was at the Saxon frontier again; the German world all ringing
loud,--in jubilation, counter-jubilation and a great variety of
tones,--with the noise of what he had done. A sharp swift man; and,
sure enough, has fluttered the Reichs Volscians in their Corioli to an
unexpected degree." [Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ ii. 537-563; BERICHT VON
DER UNTERNEHMUNG DES PRINZEN HEINRICH IN FRANKEN, IM JAHR, 1759;
_Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 1033-1039; Tempelhof,????, et seq.]---[COPY
ILLEGIBLE PAGE 203,]
A Colonel Wunsch (Lieutenant-Colonel of the Free Corps WUNSCH)
distinguished himself in this Expedition; The beginning of notably great
things to him in the few following months. Wunsch is a Wurtemberger by
birth; has been in many services, always in subaltern posts, and, this
year, will testify strangely how worthy he was of the higher. What a
Year, this of 1759, to stout old Wunsch! In the Spring, here has he just
seen his poor son, Lieutenant Wunsch, perish in one of these scuffles;
in Autumn, he will see himself a General, shining suddenly bright, to
his King and to all the world; before Winter, he will be Prisoner to
Austria, and eclipsed for the rest of this war!--Kleist, of the GREEN
HUSSARS, also made a figure here; and onwards rapidly ever higher; to
the top of renown in his business:--fallen heir to Mayer's place, as it
were. A Note says: "Poor Mayer of the Free Corps does not ride with
the Prince on this occasion. Mayer, dangerously worn down with the hard
services of last Year, and himself a man of too sleepless temper, caught
a fever in the New-year time; and died within few days: burnt away
before his time; much regretted by his Brethren of the Army, and some
few others. Gone in this way; with a high career just opening on him at
the long last! Mayer was of Austrian, of half Spanish birth; a musical,
really melodious, affectionate, but indignant, wildly stormful mortal;
and had had adventures without end. Something of pathos, of tragedy,
in the wild Life of him. [Still worth reading: in Pauli (our old watery
BRANDENBURG-HISTORY Friend). _Leben grosser Helden_ (Halle, 1759-1764,
9 vols.), iii. 142-188;--much the best Piece in that still rather
watery (or windy) Collection, which, however, is authentic, and has
some tolerable Portraits.] A man of considerable genius, military
and other:--genius in the sleepless kind, which is not the best kind;
sometimes a very bad kind. The fame of Friedrich invites such people
from all sides of the world; and this was no doubt a sensible help to
him."--But enough of all this.
Here, surely, is abundance of preliminary Small-War, on the part of a
Friedrich reduced to the defensive!--Fouquet's Sequel, hinted at above,
was to this effect. On Fouquet's failing to get hold of the Moravian
Magazines, and returning to his Post at Leobschutz, a certain rash
General Deville, who is Austrian chief in those parts, hastily rushed
through the Jagerndorf Hills, and invaded Fouquet. Only for a few days;
and had very bad success, in that bit of retaliation. The King, who is
in Landshut, in the middle of his main cantonments, hastened over
to Leobschutz with reinforcement to Fouquet; in the thought that a
finishing-stroke might be done on this Deville;--and would have done it,
had not the rash man plunged off again (May 1st, or the night before);
homewards, at full speed. So that Friedrich, likewise at full speed,
could catch nothing of him; but merely cannonade him in the Passes
of Zuckmantel, and cut off his rear-guard of Croats. Poor forlorn of
Croats, whom he had left in some bushy Chasm; to gain him a little time,
and then to perish if THEY must! as Tempelhof remarks. [Tempelhof, iii.
56.] Upon which Friedrich returned to Landshut; and Fouquet had peace
again.
It was from this Landshut region, where his main cantonments are,
that Friedrich had witnessed all these Inroads, or all except the very
earliest of them; the first Erfurt one, and the Wobersnow-Sulkowski. He
had quitted Breslau in the end of March, and gone to his cantonments;
quickened thither, probably, by a stroke that had befallen him at
Griefenberg, on his Silesian side of the Cordon. At Griefenberg
stood the Battalion Duringshofen, with its Colonel of the same
name,--grenadier people of good quality, perhaps near 1,000 in whole.
Which Battalion, General Beck, after long preliminary study of it,
from his Bohemian side,--marching stealthily on it, one night (March
25-26th), by two or more roads, with 8,000 men, and much preliminary
Croat-work,--contrived to envelop wholly, and carry off with him, before
help could come up. This, I suppose, had quickened Friedrich's arrival.
He has been in that region ever since,--in Landshut for the last week or
two; and returns thither after the Deville affair.
And at Landshut,--which is the main Pass into Bohemia or from it, and is
the grand observatory-point at present,--he will have to remain till the
first days of July; almost three months. Watching, and waiting on the
tedious Daun, who has the lifting of the curtain this Year! Daun
had come to Jaromirtz, to his cantonments, "March 24th" (almost
simultaneously with Friedrich to his); expecting Friedrich's Invasion,
as usual. Long days sat Daun, expecting the King in Bohemia:--"There
goes he, at last!" thought Daun, on Prince Henri's late flamy appearance
there (BREAKAGE THIRD we labelled it);--and Daun had hastily pushed a
Division thitherward, double-quick, to secure Prag; but found it was
only the Magazines. "Above four millions worth [600,000 pounds, counting
the THALERS into sterling], above four millions worth of bread
and forage gone to ashes, and the very boats burnt? Well; the
poor Reichsfolk, or our poor Auxiliaries to them, will have empty
haversacks:--but it is not Prag!" thinks Daun.
At what exact point of time Daun came to see that Friedrich was not
intending Invasion, and would, on the contrary, require to be invaded, I
do not know. But it must have been an interesting discovery to Daun, if
he foreshadowed to himself what results it would have on him: "Taking
the defensive, then? And what is to become of one's Cunctatorship in
that case!" Yes, truly. Cunctatorship is not now the trade needed; there
is nothing to be made of playing Fabius-Cunctator:--and Daun's fame
henceforth is a diminishing quantity. The Books say he "wasted above
five weeks in corresponding with the Russian Generals." In fact, he
had now weeks enough on hand; being articulately resolved (and even
commanded by Kriegshofrath) to do nothing till the Russians came
up;--and also (INarticulately and by command of Nature) to do as little
as possible after! This Year, and indeed all years following, the
Russians are to be Daun's best card.
Waiting for three months here till the curtain rose, it was Friedrich
that had to play Cunctator. A wearisome task to him, we need not doubt.
But he did it with anxious vigilance; ever thinking Daun would try
something, either on Prince Henri or on him, and that the Play would
begin. But the Play did not. There was endless scuffling and
bickering of Outposts; much hitching and counter-hitching, along that
Bohemian-Silesian Frontier,--Daun gradually hitching up, leftwards,
northwards, to be nearer his Russians; Friedrich counter-hitching,
and, in the end, detaching against the Russians, as they approached in
actuality. The details of all which would break the toughest patience.
Not till July came, had both parties got into the Lausitz; Daun into
an impregnable Camp near Mark-Lissa (in Gorlitz Country); Friedrich,
opposite and eastward of him, into another at Schmottseifen:--still
after which, as the Russians still were not come, the hitching (if we
could concern ourselves with it), the maze of strategic shuffling and
counter-dancing, as the Russians get nearer, will become more intricate
than ever.
Except that of General Beck on Battalion Duringshofen,--if that was
meant as retaliatory, and was not rather an originality of Beck's, who
is expert at such strokes,--Daun, in return for all these injurious
Assaults and Breakages, tried little or no retaliation; and got
absolutely none. Deville attempted once, as we saw; Loudon once, as
perhaps we shall see: but both proved futile. For the present absolutely
none. Next Year indeed, Loudon, on Fouquet at Landshut--But let us not
anticipate! Just before quitting Landshut for Schmottseifen, Friedrich
himself rode into Bohemia, to look more narrowly; and held Trautenau, at
the bottom of the Pass, for a day or two--But the reader has had enough
of Small-War! Of the present Loudon attempt, Friedrich, writing to
Brother Henri, who is just home from his Franconian Invasion (BREAKAGE
FIFTH), has a casual word, which we will quote. "Reich-Hennersdorf" is
below Landshut, farther down the Pass; "Liebau" still farther down,--and
its "Gallows," doubtless, is on some knoll in the environs!
REICH-HENNERSDORF, 9th JUNE. "My congratulations on the excellent
success you have had [out in Frankenland yonder]! Your prisoners, we
hear, are 3,000; the desertion and confusion in the Reichs Army are
affirmed to be enormous:--I give those Reichs fellows two good months
[scarcely took so long] to be in a condition to show face again. As for
ourselves, I can send you nothing but contemptibilities. We have never
yet had the beatific vision of Him with the Hat and Consecrated
Sword [Papal Daun, that is]; they amuse us with the Sieur Loudon
instead;--who, three days ago [7th July, two days] did us the honor of
a visit, at the Gallows of Liebau. He was conducted out again, with all
the politeness imaginable, on to near Schatzlar," well over the Bohemian
Border; "where we flung a score of cannon volleys into the"--into the
"DERRIERE of him, and everybody returned home." [In SCHONING, ii. 65:
"9th June, 1759."]
Perhaps the only points now noticeable in this tedious Landshut interim,
are Two, hardly noticed then at all by an expectant world. The first is:
That in the King's little inroad down to Trautenau, just mentioned, four
cannon drawn by horses were part of the King's fighting gear,--the first
appearance of Horse Artillery in the world. "A very great invention,"
says the military mind: "guns and carriages are light, and made of the
best material for strength; the gunners all mounted as postilions to
them. Can scour along, over hill and dale, wherever horse can; and burst
out, on the sudden, where nobody was expecting artillery. Devised in
1758; ready this Year, four light six-pounders; tried first in the
King's raid down to Trautenau [June 29th-30th]. Only four pieces as
yet. But these did so well, there were yearly more. Imitated by the
Austrians, and gradually by all the world." [Seyfarth, ii. 543.]
The second fact is: That Herr Guichard (Author of that fine Book on the
War-methods of the Greeks and Romans) is still about Friedrich, as he
has been for above a year past, if readers remember; and, during those
tedious weeks, is admitted to a great deal of conversation with the
King. Readers will consent to this Note on Guichard; and this shall be
our ultimatum on the wearisome Three Months at Landshut.
MAJOR QUINTUS ICILIUS. "Guichard is by birth a Magdeburger, age now
thirty-four; a solid staid man, with a good deal of hard faculty in him,
and of culture unusual for a soldier. A handy, sagacious, learned and
intelligent man; whom Friedrich, in the course of a year's experience,
has grown to see willingly about him. There is something of positive in
Guichard, of stiff and, as it were, GRITTY, which might have offended a
weaker taste; but Friedrich likes the rugged sense of the man; his real
knowledge on certain interesting heads; and the precision with which
the known and the not rightly known are divided from one another, in
Guichard.
"Guichard's business about the King has been miscellaneous, not worth
mention hitherto; but to appearance was well done. Of talk they are
beginning to have more and more; especially at Landshut here, in these
days of waiting; a great deal of talk on the Wars of the Ancients,
Guichard's Book naturally leading to that subject. One night, datable
accidentally about the end of May, the topic happened to be Pharsalia,
and the excellent conduct of a certain Centurion of the Tenth Legion,
who, seeing Pompey's people about to take him in flank, suddenly flung
himself into oblique order [SCHRAGE STELLUNG, as we did at Leutheu],
thereby outflanking Pompey's people, and ruining their manoeuvre and
them. 'A dexterous man, that Quintus Icilius the Centurion!' observed
Friedrich. 'Ah, yes: but excuse me, your Majesty, his name was Quintus
Caecilius,' said Guichard. 'No, it was Icilius,' said the King, positive
to his opinion on that small point; which Guichard had not the art to
let drop; though, except assertion and counter-assertion, what could be
made of it there? Or of what use was it anywhere?
"Next day, Guichard came with the book [what "Book" nobody would ever
yet tell me], and putting his finger on the passage, 'See, your Majesty:
Quintus CAEcilius!' extinguished his royal opponent. 'Hm,' answered
Friedrich: 'so?--Well, you shall be Quintus Icilius, at any rate!'
And straightway had him entered on the Army Books 'as Major Quintus
Icilius;' his Majorship is to be dated '10th April, 1758' (to give him
seniority); and from and after this '26th May, 1759,' he is to
command the late Du Verger's Free-Battalion. All which was done:--the
War-Offices somewhat astonished at such advent of an antique Roman
among them; but writing as bidden, the hand being plain, and the man an
undeniable article. Onward from which time there is always a 'Battalion
Quintus' on their Books, instead of Battalion Du Verger; by degrees
two Batallions Quintus, and at length three, and Quintus become a
Colonel:--at which point the War ended; and the three Free-Battalions
Quintus, like all others of the same type, were discharged." This is
the authentic origin of the new name Quintus, which Guichard got, to
extinction of the old; substantially this, as derived from Quintus
himself,--though in the precise details of it there are obscurities,
never yet solved by the learned. Nicolai, for example, though he had
the story from Quintus in person, who was his familiar acquaintance, and
often came to see him at Berlin, does not, with his usual punctuality,
say, nor even confess that he has forgotten, what Book it was that
Quintus brought with him to confute the King on their Icilius-Caecilius
controversy; Nicolai only says, that he, for his part, in the fields of
Roman Literature and History, knows only three Quintus-Iciliuses,
not one of whom is of the least likelihood; and in fact, in the above
summary, I have had to INVERT my Nicolai on one point, to make the story
stick together. [Nicolai, _Anekdoten,_ vi. 129-145.]
"Quintus had been bred for the clerical profession; carefully, at
various Universities, Leyden last of all; and had even preached, as
candidate for license,--I hope with moderate orthodoxy;--though he soon
renounced that career. Exchanged it for learned and vigorous general
study, with an eye to some College Professorship instead. He was still
hardly twenty-three, when, in 1747, the new Stadtholder," Prince of
Orange, whom we used to know, "who had his eye upon him as a youth of
merit, graciously undertook to get him placed at Utrecht, in a vacancy
which had just occurred there,--whither the Prince was just bound, on
some ceremonial visit of a high nature. The glad Quintus, at that time
Guichard and little thinking of such an alias, hastened to set off in
the Prince's train; but could get no conveyance, such was the press of
people all for Utrecht. And did not arrive till next day,--and found
quarter, with difficulty, in the garret of some overflowing Inn.
"In the lower stories of his Inn, solitary Guichard, when night fell,
heard a specific GAUDEAMUS going on; and inquired what it was.
'A company of Professors, handselling a newly appointed
Professor;'--appointed, as the next question taught, to the very Chair
poor Quintus had come for! Serene Highness could not help himself; the
Utrechters were so bent on the thing. Quintus lay awake, all night, in
his truckle-bed; and gloomily resolved to have done with Professorships,
and become a soldier. 'If your Serene Highness do still favor me,'
said Quintus next day, 'I solicit, as the one help for me, an ensign's
commission!'--And persisted rigorously, in spite of all counsellings,
promises and outlooks on the professorial side of things. So that Serene
Highness had to grant him his commission; and Quintus was a soldier
thenceforth. Fought, more or less, in the sad remainder of that
Cumberland-Saxe War; and after the Peace of 1748 continued in the Dutch
service. Where, loath to be idle, he got his learned Books out again,
and took to studying thoroughly the Ancient Art of War. After years of
this, it had grown so hopeful that he proceeded to a Book upon it; and,
by degrees, determined that he must get to certain Libraries in
England, before finishing. In 1754, on furlough, graciously allowed and
continued, he came to London accordingly; finished his manuscript there
(printed at the Hague 1757 [_Memoires Militaires sur les &c._ (a La
Haye, 1757: 2 vols. 4to);--was in the 5th edition when I last heard of
it.]): and new War having now begun, went over (probably with English
introductions) as volunteer to Duke Ferdinand. By Duke Ferdinand he
was recommended to Friedrich, the goal of all his efforts, as of every
vagrant soldier's in those times:--and here at last, as Quintus
Icilius, he has found permanent billet, a Battalion and gradually three
Battalions, and will not need to roam any farther.
"They say, what is very credible, that Quintus proved an active, stout
and effectual soldier, in his kind; and perhaps we may hear of some of
his small-war adventures by and by: that he was a studious, hard-headed,
well-informed man, and had written an excellent Book on his subject,
is still abundantly clear. Readers may look in the famous Gibbon's
_Autobiography,_ or still better in the Guichard Book itself, if
they want evidence. The famous Gibbon was drilling and wheeling, very
peaceably indeed, in the Hampshire Militia, in those wild years of
European War. Hampshire Militia served as key, or glossary in a sort,
to this new Book of Guichard's, which Gibbon eagerly bought and studied;
and it, was Guichard, ALIAS Quintus Icilius, who taught Gibbon all he
ever knew of Ancient War, at least all the teaching he ever had of it,
for his renowned DECLINE AND FALL." [See Gibbon's _Works_ (4to, London,
1796: _Memoirs of my Life and Writings_], i. 97; and (_Extraits de mes
Lectures_), ii. 52-54, of dates May 14th-26th, 1762,--during which days
Gibbon is engaged in actual reading of the _Memoires Militaires;_ and
already knows the Author by his ALIAS of Quintus Icilius, "a man of
eminent sagacity and insight, who was in the Dutch, and is now, I
believe, in the Prussian service."
It was in the last days of June that Daun, after many litchings, got
into more decisive general movement northward; and slowly but steadily
planted himself at Mark-Lissa in the Lausitz: upon which, after some
survey of the phenomenon, Friedrich got to Schmottseifen, opposite
him, July 10th. Friedrich, on noticing such stir, had ridden down to
Trautenau (June 29th-30th), new Horse-Artillery attending, to look
closer into Daun's affairs; and, seeing what they were, had thereupon
followed. Above a month before this, Friedrich had detached a
considerable force against the Russians,--General Dohna, of whom in next
Chapter:--and both Daun and he again sit waiting, till they see farther.
Rapid Friedrich is obliged to wait; watching Daun and the Dohna-Russian
adventure: slow Daun will continue to wait and watch there, long weeks
and months, after that is settled, that and much else, fully to his
mind! Each is in his impregnable Camp; and each, Daun especially,
has his Divisions and Detachments hovering round him, near or far, on
different strategic errands; each Main-Camp like a planet with various
moons--Mark-Lissa especially, a kind of sun with planets and comets and
planetary moons:--of whose intricate motions and counter-motions, mostly
unimportant to us, we promised to take no notice, in face of such a
crisis just at hand.
By the 6th of July, slow Daun had got hitched into his Camp of
Mark-Lissa; and four days after, Friedrich attending him, was in
Schmottseifen: where again was pause; and there passed nothing
mentionable, even on Friedrich's score; and till July was just ending,
the curtain did not fairly rise. Panse of above two weeks on Friedrich's
part, and of almost three months on Daun's. Mark-Lissa, an impregnable
Camp, is on the Lausitz Border; with Saxony, Silesia, Bohemia all
converging hereabouts, and Brandenburg itself in the vicinity,--there is
not a better place for waiting on events. Here, accordingly, till
well on in September, Daun sat immovable; not even hitching now,--only
shooting out Detachments, planetary, cometary, at a great rate, chiefly
on his various Russian errands.
Daun, as we said, had been uncomfortably surprised to find, by degrees,
that Invasion was not Friedrich's plan this Year; that the dramatic
parts are redistributed, and that the playing of Fabius-Cunctator will
not now serve one's turn. Daun, who may well be loath to believe such
a thing, clings to his old part, and seems very lazy to rise and try
another. In fact, he does not rise, properly speaking, or take up his
new part at all. This Year, and all the following, he waits carefully
till the Russian Lion come; will then endeavor to assist,--or even do
jackal, which will be safer still. The Russians he intends shall act
lion; he himself modestly playing the subaltern but much safer part!
Diligent to flatter the lion; will provide him guidances, and fractional
sustenances, in view of the coming hunt; will eat the lion's leavings,
once the prey is slaughtered. This really was, in some sort, Daun's
yearly game, so long as it would last!--
July ending, and the curtain fairly risen, we shall have to look at
Friedrich with our best eyesight. Preparatory to which, there is, on
Friedrich's part, ever since the middle of June, this Anti-Russian Dohna
adventure going on:--of which, at first, and till about the time of
getting to Schmottseifen, he had great hopes; great, though of late
rapidly sinking again:--into which we must first throw a glance, as
properly the opening scene.
Fouquet has been left at Landshut, should the Daun remnants still in
Bohemia think of invading. Fouquet is about rooting himself rather
firmly into that important Post; fortifying various select Hills round
Landshut, with redoubts, curtains, communications; so as to keep ward
there, inexpugnable to a much stronger force. There for about a year,
with occasional short sallies, on errands that arise, Fouquet sat
successfully vigilant; resisting the Devilles, Becks, Harsches;
protecting Glatz and the Passes of Silesia: in about a year we shall
hear of his fortunes worsening, and of a great catastrophe to him in
that Landshut Post.
Friedrich allowed the Reichsfolk "two good months," after all that
flurrying and havoc done on them, "before they could show face in
Saxony." They did take about that time; and would have taken more,
had not Prince Henri been called away by other pressing occasions in
Friedrich's own neighborhood; and Saxony, for a good while (end of June
to beginning of September), been left almost bare of Prussian troops.
Which encourages the Reichs Army to hurry afield in very unprepared
condition,--still rather within the two months. End of July, Light
people of them push across to Halberstadt or Halle Country; and are
raising Contributions, and plundering diligently, if nothing else. Of
which we can take no notice farther: if the reader can recollect it,
well; if not, also well. The poor Reichs Army nominally makes a figure
this Year, but nominally only; the effective part of it, now and
henceforth, being Austrian Auxiliaries, and the Reichs part as flaccid
and insignificant as ever.
Prince Henri's call to quit Saxony was this. Daun, among the numerous
Detachments he was making, of which we can take no notice, had shot
out Two (rather of COMETARY type, to use our old figure),--which every
reader must try to keep in mind. Two Detachments, very considerable:
Haddick (who grew at last to 20,000), and Loudon (16,000); who are
hovering about mysteriously over the Lausitz;--intending what? Their
intention, Friedrich thinks, especially Haddick's intention, may be
towards Brandenburg, and even Berlin: wherefore he has summoned Henri to
look after it. Henri, resting in cantonments about Tschopau and Dresden,
after the late fatigues, and idle for the moment, hastens to obey;
and is in Bautzen neighborhood, from about the end of June and onward.
Sufficiently attentive to Haddick and Loudon: who make no attempt on
Brandenburg; having indeed, as Friedrich gradually sees, and as all of
us shall soon see, a very different object in view!--