SUCCESS.
Before Wedell's catastrophe, the Affair of those Haddick-Loudon
Detachments had become a little plainer to Friedrich. The intention,
he begins to suspect, is not for Berlin at all; but for junction with
Soltikof,--at Crossen, or wherever it may be. This is in fact their real
purpose; and this, beyond almost Berlin itself, it is in the highest
degree important to prevent! Important; and now as if become impossible!
Prince Henri had come to Bautzen with his Army, specially to look after
Loudon and Haddick; and he has, all this while, had Finck with some
10,000 diligently patrolling to westward of them, guarding Berlin; he
himself watching from the southern side,--where, as on the western,
there was no danger from them. Some time before Wedell's affair,
Friedrich had pushed out Eugen of Wurtemberg to watch these people on
the eastern side;--suspicious that thitherward lay their real errand.
Eugen had but 6,000; and, except in conjunction with Finck and Henri,
could do nothing,--nor can, now when Friedrich's suspicion turns out to
be fatally true. Friedrich had always the angry feeling that Finck and
Prince Henri were the blameworthy parties in what now ensued; that they,
who were near, ought to have divined these people's secret, and spoiled
it in time; not have left it to him who was far off, and so busy
otherwise. To the last, that was his fixed private opinion; by no means
useful to utter,--especially at present, while attempting the now very
doubtful enterprise himself, and needing all about him to be swift
and zealous. This is one of Friedrich's famous labors, this of the
Haddick-Loudon junction with Soltikof; strenuous short spasm of effort,
of about a week's continuance; full of fiery insight, velocity, energy;
still admired by judges, though it was unsuccessful, or only had half
success. Difficult to bring home, in any measure, to the mind of modern
readers, so remote from it.
Friedrich got the news of Zullichau next day, July 24th;--and instantly
made ready. The case is critical; especially this Haddick-Loudon part of
it: add 30 or 36,000 Austrians to Soltikof, how is he then to be dealt
with? A case stringently pressing:--and the resources for it few and
scattered. For several days past, Haddick, and Loudon under him, whose
motions were long enigmatic, have been marching steadily eastward
through the Lausitz,--with the evident purpose of joining
Soltikof; unless Wedell could forbid. Wedell ahead was the grand
opposition;--Finck, Henri, Wurtemberg, as good as useless;--and Wedell
being now struck down, these Austrians will go, especially Loudon will,
at a winged rate. They are understood to be approaching Sagan Country;
happily, as yet, well to westward of it, and from Sagan Town well
NORTH-westward;--but all accounts of them are vague, dim: they are an
obscure entity to Friedrich, but a vitally important one. Sagan Town may
be about 70 miles northward of where Friedrich now is: from Sagan, were
they once in the meridian of Sagan, their road is free eastward and
northward;--to Crossen is about 60 miles north-by-east from Sagan, to
Frankfurt near 100 north. Sagan is on the Bober; Bober, in every event,
is between the Austrians and their aim.
Friedrich feels that, however dangerous to quit Daun's neighborhood, he
must, he in person, go at once. And who, in the interim, will watch Daun
and his enterprises? Friedrich's reflections are: "Well, in the crisis
of the moment, Saxony--though there already are marauding Bodies of
Reichsfolk in it--must still be left to itself for a time; or cannot
Finck and his 10,000 look to it? Henri, with his Army, now useless at
Bautzen, shall instantly rendezvous at Sagan; his Army to go with me,
against the Russians and their Haddick-Loudons; Henri to Schmottseifen,
instead of me, and attend to Daun; Henri, I have no other left! Finck
and his 10,000 must take charge of Saxony, such charge as he can:--how
lucky those Spring Forays, which destroyed the Reichs Magazines! Whereby
there is no Reichs Army yet got into Saxony (nothing but preliminary
pulses and splashings of it); none yet, nor like to be quite at once."
That is Friedrich's swift plan.
Henri rose on the instant, as did everybody concerned: July 29th, Henri
and Army were at Sagan; Army waiting for the King; Henri so far on his
road to Schmottseifen. He had come to Sagan "by almost the rapidest
marches ever heard of,"--or ever till some others of Henri's own, which
he made in that neighborhood soon. Punctual, he, to his day; as are
Eugen of Wurtemberg's people, and all Detachments and Divisions:
Friedrich himself arrives at Sagan that same 29th, "about
midnight,"--and finds plenty of work waiting: no sleep these two nights
past; and none coming just yet! A most swift rendezvous. The speed of
everybody has been, and needs still to be, intense.
This rendezvous at Sagan--intersection of Henri and Friedrich, bound
different roads (the Brothers, I think, did not personally meet, Henri
having driven off for Schmottseifen by a shorter road)--was SUNDAY, JULY
29th. Following which, are six days of such a hunt for those Austrian
reynards as seldom or never was! Most vehement, breathless, baffling
hunt; half of it spent in painfully beating cover, in mere finding and
losing. Not rightly successful, after all. So that, on the eighth day
hence, AUGUST 6th, at Mullrose, near Frankfurt, 80 miles from Sagan,
there is a second rendezvous,--rendezvous of Wedell and Friedrich, who
do not now "intersect," but meet after the hunt is done;--and in the
interim, there has been a wonderful performance, though an unsuccessful.
Friedrich never could rightly get hold of his Austrians. Once only, at
Sommerfeld, a long march northwest of Sagan, he came upon some outskirts
of them. And in general, in those latter eight days, especially in
the first six of them, there is, in that Kotbus-Sagan Country, such an
intersecting, checking, pushing and multifarious simmering of marches,
on the part of half a dozen Strategic Entities, Friedrich the centre
of them, as--as, I think, nobody but an express soldier-student, well
furnished with admiration for this particular Soldier, would consent to
have explained to him. One of the maziest, most unintelligible whirls
of marching; inextricable Sword Dance, or Dance of the Furies,--five
of them (that is the correct number: Haddick, Loudon, Friedrich,
Wurtemberg, Wedell);--and it is flung down for us, all in a huddle, in
these inhuman Books (which have several errors of the press, too): let
no man rashly insist with himself on understanding it, unless he have
need! Humanly pulled straight, not inhumanly flung down at random, here
the essentials of it are,--in very brief state:--
"SAGAN, MONDAY, 30th JULY. Friedrich is at Sagan, since midnight last,
busier and busier;" beating cover, as we termed it, and getting his
hounds (his new Henri-Army) in leash; "endeavoring, especially, to get
tidings of those Austrian people; who are very enigmatic,--Loudon a
dexterous man,--and have hung up such a curtain of Pandours between
Friedrich and them as is nearly impenetrable. In the course of this
Monday Friedrich ascertains that they are verily on the road; coming
eastward, for Sommerfeld,--'thence for Crossen!' he needs no ghost to
tell him. Wherefore,
"TUESDAY, SAGAN TO NAUMBURG. Tuesday before daybreak Friedrich too is
on the road: northwestward; in full march towards Naumburg on Bober,
meaning to catch the Bridge from them there. March of the swiftest;
he himself is ahead, as usual, with the Vanguard of Horse. He reaches
Naumburg (northward, a march of 20 miles); finds, not Haddick or Loudon,
but a Detachment of theirs: which he at once oversets with his cavalry,
and chases,--marking withal that 'westward is the way they run.'
Westward; and that we are still ahead, thank Heaven!
"Before his Infantry are all up, or are well rested in Naumburg,
Friedrich ascertains, on more precise tidings, that the Austrians are in
Sommerfeld, to westward (again a 20 miles); and judges That, no doubt,
they will bear off more to leftward, by Guben probably, and try to avoid
him,--unless he can still catch them in Sommerfeld. About nightfall
he marches for Sommerfeld, at his swiftest; arrives Wednesday early;
finds--alas!--
"SOMMERFELD, WEDNESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 1st, Friedrich finds that Loudon
was there last night,--preterite tense, alas; the question now being,
Where is he!" In fact, Loudon had written yesterday to Daun (Letter
still extant, "Sommerfeld, July 31st"), That "being swift and light,"
consisting of horse for most part, "he may probably effect Junction
this very night;"--but has altered his mind very much, on sight of these
fugitives from Naumburg, since! And has borne off more to leftward.
Straight north now, and at a very brisk pace; being now all of
horse;--and has an important conference with Haddick at Guben, when
they arrive there. "Not in Sommerfeld?" thinks Friedrich (earnestly
surveying, through this slit he has made in the Pandour veil): "Gone
to Guben most likely, bearing off from us to leftward?"--Which was
the fact; though not the whole fact. And indeed the chase is now again
fallen uncertain, and there has to be some beating of covers. For one
thing, he learns to-day (August 1st) that the Russians are gone to
Frankfurt: "Follow them, you Wedell,"--orders Friedrich: them we shall
have to go into,--however this hunt end!--
"To Markersdorf, Thursday, August 2d. Friedrich takes the road for
Guben; reaches Markersdorf (twenty miles' march, still seven or eight
from Guben); falls upon--What phenomenon is this? The Austrian heavy
Train; meal-wagons not a few, and a regiment of foot in charge of
it;--but going the wrong way, not TOWARDS the Russians, but from them!
What on earth can this be? This is Haddick,--if Friedrich could yet
clearly know it,--Haddick and Train, who for his own part has given up
the junction enterprise. At Guben, some hours ago, he had conference
with Loudon; and this was the conclusion arrived at: 'Impossible, with
that King so near! You, Herr Loudon, push on, without heavy baggage, and
with the Cavalry altogether: you can get in, almost 20,000 strong; I,
with the Infantry, with the meal and heavy guns, will turn, and make for
the Lausitz again!'
"This mysterious Austrian Train, going the wrong way, Friedrich
attacks, whatever it be (hoping, I suppose, it might be the Austrians
altogether); chases it vigorously; snatches all the meal-wagons, and
about 1,000 prisoners. Uncertain still what it is,--if not the Austrians
altogether? To his sorrow, he finds, on pushing farther into it, that
it is only Haddick and the Infantry; that Loudon, with the 20,000
Horse, will have gone off for Frankfurt;--irretrievably ahead, the swift
Loudon,--ever careering northward all this while, since that
afternoon at Sommerfeld, when the fugitives altered his opinion: a now
unattainable Loudon. In the course of Thursday night, Friedrich has
satisfied himself that the Loudon junction is a thing as good as
done;--in effect, Loudon did get to Frankfurt, morning of August 3d, and
joined the Russians there; and about the same time, or only a few hours
sooner, Friedrich, by symptoms, has divined that his hunt has ended,
in this rather unsuccessful way; and that chasing of Haddick is not the
road to go." [Tempelhof, iii. 135-139.]
Not Haddick now; with or without their Austrians, it shall be the
Russians now! Two days ago (Wednesday, as was mentioned), before sight
of those enigmatic meal-wagons, Friedrich had learned that the
Russians were to be in Frankfurt again; and had ordered Wedell to march
thitherward, at any rate. Which Wedell is doing, all this Thursday
and the four following days. As does likewise, from and after "FRIDAY,
AUGUST 3d, 1 A.M." (hunt then over), Friedrich himself,--renouncing
Haddick and the hunt. Straight towards Frankfurt thenceforth;
head-quarters Beeskow that night; next night, Mullrose, whither Wedell
is appointed, within twelve miles of Frankfurt. This is the end of
Friedrich's sore Chase and March; burnt deeply into his own weary brain,
if ours still refuse it admittance! Here, of utterly fatigued tone, is a
Note of his, chiefly on business, to Minister Finkenstein. Indeed there
are, within the next ten days, Three successive Notes to Finkenstein,
which will be worth reading in their due places. This is the First of
them:--
THE KING TO GRAF VON FINKENSTEIN (at Berlin).
"BEESKOW, 3d August,1759."
"I am just arrived here, after cruel and frightful marchings [CHECKS
HIMSELF, HOWEVER]. There is nothing desperate in all that; and I believe
the noise and disquietude this hurly-burly has caused will be the worst
of it. Show this Letter to everybody, that it may be known the State is
not undefended. I have made above 1,000 prisoners from Haddick. All his
meal-wagons have been taken. Finck, I believe, will keep an eye on him,"
and secure Berlin from attempts of his. "This is all I can say.
"To-morrow I march to within two leagues of Frankfurt [to Mullrose,
namely]. Katte [the Minister who has charge of such things] must send
me instantly Two Hundred Wispels [say tons] of Meal, and Bakers One
Hundred, to Furstenwalde. I shall encamp at Wulkow. I am very tired. For
six nights I have not closed an eye. Farewell.--F."
During the above intricate War-Dance of Five,--the day while Friedrich
was at Sommerfeld, the day before he came in sight of Haddick's
meal-wagons going the wrong road,--there went on, at Minden, on the
Weser, three hundred miles away, a beautiful feat of War, in the highest
degree salutary to Duke Ferdinand and Britannic Majesty's Ministry; feat
which requires a word from us here. A really splendid Victory, this of
Minden, August 1st: French driven headlong through the Passes there;
their "Conquest of Hanover and Weser Country" quite exploded and flung
over the horizon; and Duke Ferdinand relieved from all his distresses,
and lord of the ascendant again in those parts. Highly interesting
to Friedrich;--especially to Prince Henri; whose apprehensions about
Ferdinand and the old Richelieu Hastenbeck-Halberstadt time returning
on us, have been very great; and who now, at Schmottseifen, fires
FEU-DE-JOIE for it with all his heart. This is a Battle still of some
interest to English readers. But can English readers consent to halt
in this hot pinch of the Friedrich crisis; and read the briefest thing
which is foreign to it? Alas, I fear they can;--and will insert the Note
here:--
BATTLE OF MINDEN: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1st, 1759.---"Ever since Bergen,
things have gone awry with Ferdinand, and in spite of skilful
management, of hard struggles and bright sparkles of success, he has
had a bad Campaign of it. The French, it would seem, are really got into
better fighting order; Belleisle's exertions as War-Minister have
been almost wonderful,--in some respects, TOO wonderful, as we shall
hear!--and Broglio and Contades, in comparison with Clermont and
Soubise, have real soldier qualities. Contades, across Rhine again, in
those Weser Countries, who is skilful in his way, and is pricked on
by emulation of Broglio, has been spreading himself out steadily
progressive there; while Broglio, pushing along from Frankfurt-on-Mayn,
has conquered Hessen; is into Hanover; on the edge of conquering
Hanover,--which how is Ferdinand to hinder? Ferdinand has got two, if
not three Armies to deal with, and in number is not much superior
to one. If he run to save Hanover from Broglio, he loses Westphalia:
Osnabruck (his magazine)? Munster, Lippstadt,--Contades, if left to
himself, will take these, after short siege; and will nestle himself
there, and then advance, not like a transitory fever-fit, but like
visible death, on Hanover. Ferdinand, rapid yet wary, manoeuvred his
very best among those interests of his, on the left bank of Weser; but
after the surprisal of Minden from him (brilliantly done by Broglio,
and the aid of a treacherous peasant), especially after the capture of
Osnabruck, his outlooks are gloomy to a degree: and at Versailles,
and at Minden where Contades has established himself, 'the Conquest
of Hanover' (beautiful counterweight to all one's losses in America or
elsewhere) is regarded as a certainty of this Year.
"For the last ten days of July, about Minden, the manoeuvring,
especially on Ferdinand's part, had been intense; a great idea in the
head of Ferdinand, more or less unintelligible to Contades. Contades,
with some 30,000, which is the better half of his force, has taken one
of the unassailablest positions. He lies looking northward, his
right wing on the Weser with posts to Minden (Minden perhaps a mile
northeastward there), on his left impassable peat-bogs and quagmires;
in front a quaggy River or impassable black Brook, called the Bastau,
coming from the westward, which disembogues at Minden: [Sketch of Plan,
p. 238]--there lies Contades, as if in a rabbit-hole, say military men;
for defence, if that were the sole object, no post can be stronger.
Contades has in person say 30,000; and round him, on both sides of the
Weser, are Broglio with 20,000; besides other Divisions, I know not
how many, besieging Munster, capturing Osnabruck (our hay magazine),
attempting Lippstadt by surprise (to no purpose), and diligently working
forward, day by day, to Ferdinand's ruin in those Minden regions. Three
or four Divisions busy in that manner;--and above all, we say, he has
Broglio with a 20,000 on the right or east bank of the Weser,--who, if
Ferdinand quit him even for a day, seems to have Hanover at discretion,
and can march any day upon Hanover City, where his light troops have
already been more than once. Why does n't Ferdinand cross Weser,
re-cross Weser; coerce Broglio back; and save Hanover? cry the
Gazetteers and a Public of weak judgment. Pitt's Public is inclined
to murmur about Ferdinand; Pitt himself never. Ferdinand persists in
sticking by Minden neighborhood,--and, in a scarcely accountable way,
manoeuvring there, shooting out therefrom what mischief he can upon the
various Contades people in their sieges and the like.
"On Contades himself he can pretend to do nothing,--except hoodwink
him, entice him out, and try to get a chance on him. But for his own
subsistence and otherwise, he is very lively;--snatches, by a sudden
stroke, Bremen City: 'Yes truly, Bremen is a Reichstadt; nor shall YOU
snatch it, as you did Frankfurt; but I will, instead; and my English
proviant-ships shall have a sure haven henceforth!' Snatches Bremen
by one sudden stroke; RE-snatches Osnabruck by another ('our magazine
considerably INCREASED since you have had it, many thanks!'); does lose
Munster, to his sorrow; but nevertheless sticks by his ground here;--nay
detaches his swift-cutting Nephew, the Hereditary Prince, who is growing
famous for such things, to cut out Contades's strong post to southward
(Gohfeld, ten miles up the Weser), which guards his meal-wagons, after
their long journey from the south. That is Contades's one weak point,
in this posture of things: his meal is at Cassel, seventy miles off.
Broglio and he see clearly, 'Till we can get a new magazine much nearer
Hanover, or at lowest, can clear out these people from infesting us
here, there is no moving northward!' To both Contades and Broglio
that is an evident thing: the corollary to which is, They must fight
Ferdinand; must watch lynx-like till a chance turn up of beating him in
fight. That is their outlook; and Ferdinand knows it is,--and manoeuvres
accordingly. Military men admire much, not his movements only, but his
clear insight into Contades's and Broglio's temper of mind, and by what
methods they were to be handled, they and his own affairs together, and
brought whither he wanted them. [In MAUVILLON (ii. 41-44) minute account
of all that.]
"This attempt on Gohfeld was a serious mischief to Contades, if it
succeeded. But the detaching of the Prince of Brunswick on it, and
weakening one's too weak Army, 'What a rashness, what an oversight!'
thinks Contades (as Ferdinand wished him to do): 'Is our skilful enemy,
in this extreme embarrassment, losing head, then? Look at his left wing
yonder [General Wangenheim, sitting behind batteries, in his Village of
Todtenhausen, looking into Minden from the north]:--Wangenheim's left
leans on the Weser, yes; but Wangenheim's right, observe, has no support
within three miles of it: tear Wangenheim out, Ferdinand's flank is
bare!' These things seemed to Contades the very chance he had been
waiting for; and brought him triumphantly out of his rabbit-hole, into
the Heath of Minden, as Ferdinand hoped they would do.
"And so, TUESDAY EVENING, JULY 31st, things being now all ripe, upwards
of 50,000 French are industriously in motion. Contades has nineteen
bridges ready on the Bastau Brook, in front of him; TATTOO this night,
in Contades's Camp, is to mean GENERAL MARCH, 'March, all of you, across
these nineteen Bridges, to your stations on the Plain or Heath of Minden
yonder,--and be punctual, like the clock!' Broglio crosses Weser by
the town Bridge, ranks himself opposite Todtenhausen; and through the
livelong night there is, on the part of the 50,000 French, a very great
marching and deploying. Contades and Broglio together are 51,400 foot
and horse. Ferdinand's entire force will be near 46,000; but on the day
of Battle he is only 36,000,--having detached the Hereditary Prince on
Gohfeld, in what view we know.--The BATTLE OF MINDEN, called also of
TONHAUSEN (meaning TODTENhausen), which hereupon fell out, has still its
fame in the world; and, I perceive, is well worth study by the soldier
mind: though nothing but the rough outline of it is possible here.
"Ferdinand's posts extend from the Weser river and Todtenhausen round by
Stemmern, Holzhausen, to Hartum and the Bog of Bastau (the chief part
of him towards Bastau),--in various Villages, and woody patches and
favorable spots; all looking in upon Minden, from a distance of five
or seven miles; forming a kind of arc, with Minden for centre. He
will march up in eight Columns; of course, with wide intervals between
them,--wide, but continually narrowing as he advances; which will
indeed be ruinous gaps, if Ferdinand wait to be attacked; but which will
coalesce close enough, if he be speedy upon Contades. For Contades's
line is also of arc-like or almost semicircular form, behind it Minden
as centre; Minden, which is at the intersection of Weser and the Brook;
his right flank is on Weser, Broglio VERSUS Wangenheim the extreme
right; his left, with infantry and artillery, rests on that black Brook
of Bastau with its nineteen Bridges. As the ground on both wings is
rough, not so fit for Cavalry, Contades puts his Cavalry wholly in the
centre: they are the flower of the French Army, about 10,000 horse in
all; firm open ground ahead of them there, with strong batteries, masses
of infantry to support on each flank; batteries to ply with cross-fire
any assailant that may come on. Broglio, we said, is right wing; strong
in artillery and infantry. Broglio is to root out Waugenheim: after
which,--or even before which, if Wangenheim is kept busy and we are
nimble,--what becomes of Ferdinand's left flank, with a gap of three
miles between Wangenheim and him, and 10,000 chosen horse to take
advantage of it! Had the French been of Prussian dexterity and
nimbleness in marching, it is very possible something might have come of
this latter circumstance: but Ferdinand knows they are not; and intends
to take good care of his flank.
"Contades and his people were of willing mind; but had no skill in
'marchiug up:' and, once got across the Bastau by their nineteen
Bridges, they wasted many hours:--'Too far, am I? not far enough?
Too close? not close enough?'--and broiled about, in much hurry and
confusion, all night. Fight was to have begun at 5 in the morning.
Broglio was in his place, silently looking into Wangenheim, by five
o'clock; but unfortunately did nothing upon Wangenheim ('Not ready you,
I see!'), except cannonade a little;--and indeed all through did nothing
('Still not ready you others!'); which surely was questionable conduct,
though not reckoned so at Versailles, when the case came to be argued
there. As to the Contades people, across those nineteen Bridges, they
had a baffling confused night; and were by no means correctly on their
ground at sunrise, nor at 7 o'clock, nor at 8; and were still mending
themselves when the shock came, and time was done.
"The morning is very misty; but Ferdinand has himself been out examining
since the earliest daybreak: his orders last night were, 'Cavalry be
saddled at 1 in the morning,'--having a guess that there would be work,
as he now finds there will. From 5 A.M. Ferdinand is issuing from
his Camp, flowing down eastward, beautifully concentric, closing on
Contades; horse NOT in centre, but English Infantry in centre (Six
Battalions, or Six REGIMENTS by English reckoning); right opposite those
10,000 Horse of Contades's, the sight of whom seems to be very animating
to them. The English Cavalry stand on the right wing, at the Village of
Hartum: Lord George Sackville had not been very punctual in saddling at
1 o'clock; but he is there, ranked on the ground, at 8,--in what humor
nobody knows; sulky and flabby, I should rather guess. English Tourists,
idle otherwise, may take a look at Hartum on the south side, as the spot
where a very ugly thing occurred that day.
"Soon after 8 the Fight begins: attack, by certain Hessians, on Hahlen
and its batteries; attempt to drive the French out of Hahlen, as the
first thing,--which does not succeed at once (indeed took three
attacks in all); and perhaps looks rather tedious to those Six English
Battalions. Ferdinand's order to them was, 'You shall march up to
attack, you Six, on sound of drum;' but, it seems, they read it, 'BY
sound of drum;' 'Beating our own drums; yes, of course!'--and, being
weary of this Hahlen work, or fancying they had no concern with it,
strode on, double-quick, without waiting for Hahlen at all! To the
horror of their Hanoverian comrades, who nevertheless determined to
follow as second line. 'The Contades cross-fire of artillery, battery
of 30 guns on one flank, of 36 on the other, does its best upon this
forward-minded Infantry, but they seem to heed it little; walk right
forward; and, to the astonishment of those French Horse and of all
the world, entirely break and ruin the charge made on them, and
tramp forward in chase of the same. The 10,000 Horse feel astonished,
insulted; and rush out again, furiously charging; the English halt and
serry themselves: 'No fire till they are within forty paces;' and then
such pouring torrents of it as no horse or man can endure. Rally after
rally there is, on the part of those 10,000; mass after mass of them
indignantly plunges on,--again, ever again, about six charges in
all;--but do not break the English lines: one of them (regiment
Mestrede-Camp, raised to a paroxysm) does once get through, across the
first line, but is blown back in dreadful circumstances by the second.
After which they give it up, as a thing that cannot be done. And rush
rearward, hither, thither, the whole seventy-five squadrons of them;
and 'between their two wings of infantry are seen boiling in complete
disorder.'
"This has lasted about an hour: this is essentially the soul of the
Fight,--though there wanted not other activities, to right of it and to
left, on both sides; artilleries going at a mighty rate on both wings;
and counter-artilleries (superlative practice 'by Captain Phillips' on
OUR right wing); Broglio cannonading Wangenheim very loudly, but
with little harm done or suffered, on their right wing. Wangenheim is
watchful of that gap between Ferdinand and him, till it close itself
sufficiently. Their right-wing Infantry did once make some attempt
there; but the Prussian Horse--(always a small body of Prussians serve
in this Allied Army)--shot out, and in a brilliant manner swept them
home again.
PLAN OF BATTLE HERE--PAGE 239,----
Artillery and that pretty charge of Prussian Horse are all one
remembers, except this of the English and Hanover Foot in the centre:
'an unsurpassable thing,' says Tempelhof (though it so easily might have
been a fatal!)--which has set Contades's centre boiling, and reduced
Contades altogether to water, as it were. Contades said bitterly:
'I have seen what I never thought to be possible,--a single line of
infantry break through three lines of cavalry ranked in order of battle,
and tumble them to ruin!' [Stenzel, v. 204.]
"This was the feat, this hour's work in the centre, the essential soul
of the Fight:--and had Lord George Sackville, General of the Horse,
come on when galloped for and bidden, here had been such a ruin, say all
judges, as seldom came upon an Army. Lord George--everlasting disgrace
and sorrow on the name of him--could not see his way to coming on;
delayed, haggled; would not even let Granby, his lieutenant, come; not
for a second Adjutant, not for a third; never came on at all; but rode
to the Prince, asking, 'How am I to come on?' Who, with a politeness I
can never enough admire, did not instantly kill him, but answered,
in mild tone, 'Milord, the opportunity is now past!' Whereby Contades
escaped ruin, and was only beaten. By about 10 in the morning all was
over. When a man's centre is gone to water, no part of him is far
from the fluid state. Contades retreated into his rabbit-hole by those
nineteen bridges,--well tormented, they say, by Captain Phillips's
artillery, till he got beyond the knolls again. Broglio, who had never
been in musket-fire at all, but had merely barked on Wangenheim all
morning, instead of biting, covered the retreat, and withdrew into
Minden. And we are a beaten Army,--thanks to Lord George, not an
annihilated one. Our loss being only 7,086 (with heavy guns, colors,
cavalry flags and the like); theirs being 2,822,--full half of it
falling on those rash Six Battalions. [Mauvillon, ii. 44-60; Tempelhof,
iii. 154-179, &c. &c.: and _Proceedings of a Court-Martial, held at the
Horse-Guards, 7th-24th March and 25th March-5th April, 1760, in Trial of
Lord George Sackville_ (London, 1760)]. In Knesebeck, _Ferdinand wahrend
des siebenjahrigen Krieges_ (i. 395), Ferdinand's Letter to Friedrich of
"July 31st;" and (i. 398-418 and ii. 33-36) many special details about
Sackville and "August 1st."
"And what is this one hears from Gohfeld in the evening? The Hereditary
Prince, busy there on us during the very hours of Minden, has blown our
rear-guard division to the winds there;--and we must move southward,
one and all of us, without a moment's delay! Out of this rabbit-hole
the retreat by rearward is through a difficult country, the Westphalian
Gates so called; fatal to Varus's Legions long ago. Contades got under
way that very night; lost most of his baggage, all his conquests, that
shadow-conquest of Hanover, and more than all his glories (Versailles
shrieking on him, 'Resign you; let Broglio be chief,);--and, on the
whole, jumbled homeward hither and thither, gravitating towards the
Rhine, nothing but Wesel to depend on in those parts, as heretofore.
Broglio retreated Frankfurt-way, also as usual, though not quite so far;
and at Versailles had clearly the victory. Zealous Belleisle could
not protect his Contades; it is not known whether he privately blamed
Contades or blamed Broglio for loss of Minden. Zealous old man, what a
loss to himself withal had Minden been! That shadow-conquest of Hanover
is quite vanished: and worse, in Ferdinand's spoil were certain LETTERS
from Belleisle to Contades, inculcating strange things;--for example,
'IL FAUT FAIRE UN DESERT DU PAYS [all Hessen, I think, lest Ferdinand
advance on you] DEVANT L'ARMEE,' and the like. Which Ferdinand saw good
to publish, and which resounded rather hideously through the general
mind." [Were taken at Detmold (Tempelhof, iii. 223); Old Newspapers full
of Excerpts from them, in the weeks following.]
Ignominious Sackville was tried by Court-martial; cashiered,
declared incapable of again serving his Majesty "in any military
capacity;"--perhaps a mild way of signifying that he wanted the common
courage of a soldier? Zealous Majesty, always particular in soldier
matters, proclaimed it officially to be "a sentence worse than death;"
and furthermore, with his own royal hand, taking the pen himself, struck
out Sackville from the List of Privy-Councillors. Proper surely, and
indispensable;--and should have been persisted in, like Fate; which,
in a new Reign, it was not! For the rest, there was always, and is,
something of enigma in Sackville's palpably bad case. It is difficult
to think that a Sackville wanted common courage. This Sackville fought
duels with propriety; in private life, he was a surly, domineering kind
of fellow, and had no appearance of wanting spirit. It is known, he did
not love Duke Ferdinand; far from it! May not he have been of peculiarly
sour humor that morning, the luckless fool; sulky against Ferdinand, and
his "saddling at one o'clock;" sulky against himself, against the
world and mankind; and flabbily disinclined to heroic practices for the
moment? And the moment came; and the man was not there, except in that
foggy, flabby and forever ruinous condition! Archenholtz, alone of
Writers, judges that he expressly wanted to spoil the Battle of Minden
and Ferdinand's reputation, and to get appointed Commander in his stead.
Wonderful; but may have some vestige of basis, too! True, this Sackville
was as fit to lead the courses of the stars as to lead armies. But such
a Sackville has ambition, and, what is fatally more peculiar to him, a
chance for unfolding it;--any blockhead has an ambition capable, if you
encourage it sufficiently, of running to the infinite. Enough of this
particular blockhead; and may it be long before we see his like again!--
The English Cavalry was in a rage with Sackville. Of the English
Infantry, Historians say, what is not now much heard of in this Country,
"That these unsurpassable Six [in industrious valor unsurpassable,
though they mistook orders, and might have fared badly!] are ever since
called the Minden Regiments; that they are the 12th, 20th, 23d, 25th,
37th and 51st of the British Line; and carry 'Minden' on their colors,"
[Kausler, _Schlachter, _ &c. p, 587.]--with silent profit, I hope!
Fancy how Pitt's public, lately gloomy and dubious, blazed aloft into
joyful certainty again! Pitt's outlooks have been really gloomy all this
season; nor are the difficulties yet ended, though we hope they will
end. Let us add this other bit of Synchronism, which is still of
adverse aspect, over Seas; and will be pungently interesting to Pitt and
England, when they come to hear of it.
"BEFORE QUEBEC, JULY 31st, 1759. This same Evening, at Quebec, on the
other side of the Atlantic,--evening at Quebec, 9 or 10 at night for
Contades and his nineteen Bridges,--there is a difficult affair going
on. Above and below the Falls of Montmorenci, and their outflow into the
St. Lawrence: attempt on General Wolfe's part to penetrate through upon
the French, under Marquis de Montcalm, French Commander-in-chief, and to
get a stroke at Quebec and him. From the south side of the St. Lawrence,
nothing can be done upon Quebec, such the distance over. From Isle
d'Orleans and the north side, it is also impossible hitherto. Easy
enough to batter the Lower Town, from your ships and redoubts: but the
High Town towers aloft on its sheer pinnacles, inaccessible even to
cannon; looks down on the skilfulest British Admiral and Fleet as if
with an air of indifference,--trying him on dark nights with fire-ships,
fire-rafts, the cunningest kinds of pyrotechny, which he skilfully tows
aside.
"A strenuous thing, this of Wolfe's; though an unsuccessful. Towards
evening, the end of it; all Quebec assembled on the southern ramparts,
witnessing with intense interest; the sublime Falls of Montmorenci
gushing on, totally indifferent. For about a month past, General Wolfe,
with the proper equipments, and about 10,000 men, naval and military,
who was expressly selected by Pitt to besiege Quebec, and is dying to
succeed, has been trying every scheme to get into contact with it:--to
no purpose, so lofty, chasmy, rocky is the ground, cut by mountainous
precipices and torrent streams, branches of the grand St. Lawrence
River; so skilfully taken advantage of by Montcalm and his people, who
are at home here, and in regulars nearly equal Wolfe, not to speak of
Savages and Canadians, Wolfe's plan of the 31st was not ill laid; and
the execution has been zealous, seamen and landsmen alike of willing
mind;--but it met with accidents. Accidents in boating; then a still
worse accident on landing; the regiment of grenadiers, which crossed
below the Falls, having, so soon as landed, rushed off on the redoubt
there on their own score, without waiting for the two brigades that were
to cross and co-operate ABOVE the Falls! Which cut Wolfe to the heart;
and induced him, especially as the tide was making again, to give up
the enterprise altogether, and recall everybody, while it was yet time.
[_Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1759, pp. 470-473; Thackeray, i. 488.] Wolfe
is strict in discipline; loves the willing mind, none more, and can
kindle it among those about him; but he loves discipline withal, and
knows how fatal the too willing may be. For six weeks more there is toil
on the back of toil everywhere for poor Wolfe. He falls into fevers,
into miseries, almost into broken heart;--nothing sure to him but that
of doing his own poor utmost to the very death. After six weeks, we
shall perhaps hear of him again. Gliding swiftly towards death; but also
towards victory and the goal of all his wishes."
And now, after this flight half round the world, it is time we return
to Oder Country, and a Friedrich on the edge of formidable things there.
Next day after Beeskow, where we left him, he duly arrived at Mullrose;
was joined by Wedell there, August 6th; and is now at Wulkow,--"encamped
between Lebus and Wulkow," as we hear elsewhere;--quite in the environs
of Frankfurt and of great events.
FRIEDRICH TO GRAF VON FINKENSTEIN (Second Note).
WULKOW, 8th August, 1759.
"If you hear of firing to-morrow, don't be surprised; it is our
rejoicing for the Battle of Minden. I believe I shall have to keep you
in suspense some days yet. I have many arrangements to make; I find
great difficulties to surmount,--and it is required to save our Country,
not to lose it: I ought both to be more prudent and more enterprising
than ever. In a word, I will do and undertake whatever I find feasible
and possible. With all that, I see myself in the necessity of making
haste, to check the designs Haddick may have on Berlin. Adieu, MON CHER.
In a little, you will have either a DE PROFUNDIS or a TE DEUM.--F."
[_OEuvres de Frederic, _ xxv. 305, 306.]