Here, sure enough, are sad new intricacies in the Diplomatic, hypothetic
sphere of things; and clouds piling themselves ahead, in a very minatory
manner to King Friedrich. Let King Friedrich, all the more, get his
Fighting Arrangements made perfect. Diplomacy is clouds; beating of
your enemies is sea and land. Austria and the Gazetteer world consider
Friedrich to be as good as finished: but that is privately far from
being Friedrich's own opinion;--though these occurrences are heavy and
dismal to him, as none of us can now fancy.
Herr Ranke has got access, in the Archives, to a series of private
utterances by Friedrich,--Letters from him, of a franker nature than
usual, and letting us far deeper into his mind;--which must have been
well worth reading in the original, in their fully dated and developed
condition. From Herr Ranke's Fragmentary Excerpts, let us, thankful
for what we have got, select one or two. The Letters are to Minister
Podewils at Berlin; written from Silesia (Neisse and neighborhood),
where, since the middle of March, Friedrich has been, personally pushing
on his Army Preparations, while the above sinister things befell.
KING FRIEDRICH TO PODEWILS, IN BERLIN (under various dates, March-April,
1745).
NEISSE, 29th MARCH.... "We find ourselves in a great crisis. If we
don't, by mediation of England, get Peace, our enemies from different
sides [Saxony, Austria, who knows if not Russia withal!] will come
plunging in against me. Peace I cannot force them to. But if they
must have War, we will either beat them, or none of us will see Berlin
again." [Ranke, iii. 236 et seqq.]
APRIL (no day given).... "In any case, I have my troops well together.
The sicknesses are ceasing; the recruitments are coming in: shortly all
will be complete. That does not hinder us from making Peace, if it will
only come; but, in the contrary case, nobody can accuse me of neglecting
what was necessary."
APRIL 17th (still from Neisse).... "I toil day and night to improve our
situation. The soldiers will do their duty. There is none among us who
will not rather have his backbone broken than give up one foot-breadth
of ground. They must either grant us a good Peace, or we will surpass
ourselves by miracles of daring; and force the enemy to accept it from
us."
APRIL 20th. "Our situation is disagreeable; constrained, a kind of
spasm: but my determination is taken. If we needs must fight, we will do
it like men driven desperate. Never was there a greater peril than
that I am now in. Time, at its own pleasure, will untie this knot; or
Destiny, if there is one, determine the event. The game I play is so
high, one cannot contemplate the issue with cold blood. Pray for the
return of my good luck."--Two days hence, the poor young Kur-Baiern,
deaf to the French seductions and exertions, which were intense, had
signed his "Peace of Fussen" (22d April 1745),--a finale to France on
the German Field, as may be feared! The other Fragments we will give a
little farther on.
Friedrich had left Berlin for Silesia March 15th; rather sooner than he
counted on,--Old Leopold pleading to be let home. At Glogau, at Breslau,
there had been the due inspecting: Friedrich got to Neisse on the 23d
(Bathyani just stirring in that Bavarian Business, Vilshofen and the
Hessians close ahead); and on the 27th, had dismissed Old Leopold,
with thanks and sympathies,--sent him home, "to recover his health."
Leopold's health is probably suffering; but his heart and spirits still
more. Poor old man, he has just lost--the other week, "5th February"
last--his poor old Wife, at Dessau; and is broken down with grief. The
soft silk lining of his hard Existence, in all parts of it, is torn
away. Apothecary Fos's Daughter, Reich's Princess, Princess of Dessau,
called by whatever name, she had been the truest of Wives; "used to
attend him in all his Campaigns, for above fifty years back." "Gone,
now, forever gone!"--Old Leopold had wells of strange sorrow in the
rugged heart of him,--sorrow, and still better things,--which he does
not wear on his sleeve. Here is an incident I never can forget;--dating
twelve or thirteen years ago (as is computable), middle of July, 1732.
"Louisa, Leopold's eldest Daughter, Wife of Victor Leopold, reigning
Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg, lay dying of a decline." Still only
twenty-three, poor Lady, though married seven years ago;--the end now
evidently drawing nigh. "A few days before her death,--perhaps some
attendant sorrowfully asking, 'Can we do nothing, then?'--she was heard
to say, 'If I could see my Father at the head of his Regiment, yet
once!'"--Halle, where the Regiment lies, is some thirty or more miles
off; and King Friedrioh Wilhelm, I suppose, would have to be written
to:--Leopold was ready the soonest possible; and, "at a set hour,
marched, in all pomp, with banner flying, music playing, into the
SCHLOSS-HOF (Palace Court) of Bernburg; and did the due salutations
and manoeuvrings,--his poor Daughter sitting at her window, till they
ended;"--figure them, the last glitter of those muskets, the last wail
of that band-music!--"The Regiment was then marched to the Waisenhaus
(ORPHAN-HOUSE), where the common men were treated with bread and beer;
all the Officers dining at the Prince's Table. All the Officers, except
Leopold alone, who stole away out of the crowd; sat himself upon the
balustrade of the Saale Bridge, and wept into the river." [LEBEN (12mo;
not Rannft's, but Anonymous like his), p. 234 n.]--Leopold is now on the
edge of seventy; ready to think all is finished with him. Perhaps not
quite, my tough old friend; recover yourself a little, and we shall see!
Old Leopold is hardly home at Dessau, when new Pandour Tempests, tides
of ravaging War, again come beating against the Giant Mountains, pouring
through all passes; from utmost Jablunka, westward by Jagerndorf to
Glatz, huge influx of wild riding hordes, each with some support of
Austrian grenadiers, cannoniers; threatening to submerge Silesia.
Precursors, Friedrich need not doubt, of a strenuous regular attempt
that way, Hungarian Majesty's fixed intention, hope and determination
is, To expel him straightway from Silesia. Her Patent circulates,
these three months; calling on all men to take note of that fixed
fact, especially on all Silesian men to note it well, and shift their
allegiance accordingly. Silesian men, in great majority,--our friend
the Mayor of Landshut, for example?--are believed to have no inclination
towards change: and whoever has, had clearly better not show any till he
see! [In Ranke (iii. 234), there is vestige of some intended
"voluntary subscription by the common people of Glatz," for Friedrich's
behoof;--contrariwise, in Orlich (ii. 380, "6th February, 1745," from
the Dessau Archives), notice of one individual, suspected of stirring
for Austria, whom "you are to put under lock and key;"--but he runs off,
and has no successor, that I hear of.]--
Friedrich's thousand-fold preliminary orderings, movements, rearrangings
in his Army matters, must not detain us here;--still less his dealings
with the Pandour element, which is troublesome, rather than dangerous.
Vigilance, wise swift determination, valor drilled to its work, can deal
with phenomena of that nature, though never so furious and innumerable.
Not a cheering service for drilled valor, but a very needful one.
Continual bickerings and skirmishings fell out, sometimes rising to
sharp fight on the small scale:--Austrian grenadiers with cannon are on
that Height to left, and also on this to right, meaning to cut off our
march; the difficult landscape furnished out, far and wide, with Pandour
companies in position: you must clash in, my Burschen; seize me that
cannon-battery yonder; master such and such a post,--there is the heart
of all that network of armed doggery; slit asunder that, the network
wholly will tumble over the Hills again. Which is always done, on
the part of the Prussian Burschen; though sometimes not, without
difficulty.--His Majesty is forming Magazines at Neisse, Brieg, and
the principal Fortresses in those parts; driving on all manner of
preparations at the rapidest rate of speed, and looking with his own
eyes into everything. The regiments are about what we may call complete,
arithmetically and otherwise; the cavalry show good perfection in their
new mode of manoeuvring;--it is to be hoped the Fighting Apparatus
generally will give fair account of itself when the time comes. Our one
anchor of hope, as now more and more appears.
On the Pandour element he first tried (under General Hautcharmoi, with
Winterfeld as chief active hand) a direct outburst or two, with a view
to slash them home at once. But finding that it was of no use, as they
always reappeared in new multitudes, he renounced that; took to calling
in his remoter outposts; and, except where Magazines or the like
remained to be cared for, let the Pandours baffle about, checked only by
the fortified Towns, and more and more submerge the Hill Country. Prince
Karl, to be expected in the form of lion, mysteriously uncertain on
which side coming to invade us,--he, and not the innumerable weasel
kind, is our important matter! By the end of April (news of the PEACE
OF FUSSEN coming withal), Friedrich had quitted Neisse; lay cantoned, in
Neisse Valley (between Frankenstein and Patschkau, "able to assemble in
forty-eight hours"); studying, with his whole strength, to be ready
for the mysterious Prince Karl, on whatever side he might arrive;--and
disregarding the Pandours in comparison.
The points of inrush, the tideways of these Pandour Deluges seem to be
mainly three. Direct through the Jablunka, upon Ratibor Country, is
the first and chief; less direct (partly supplied by REFLUENCES from
Ratibor, when Ratibor is found not to answer), a second disembogues by
Jagerndorf; a third, the westernmost, by Landshut. Three main ingresses:
at each of which there fall out little Fights; which are still
celebrated in the Prussian Books, and indeed well deserve reading by
soldiers that would know their trade. In the Ratibor parts, the invasive
leader is a General Karoly, with 12,000 under him, who are the wildest
horde of all: "Karoly lodges in a wood: for himself there is a tent;
his companions sleep under trees, or under the open sky, by the edge of
morasses." [Ranke, iii. 244.] It was against this Karoly and his horde
that Hautcharmoi's little expedition, or express attacking party to
drive them home again, was shot out (8th-2lst April). Which did its work
very prettily; Winterfeld, chief hand in it, crowning the matter by a
"Fight of Wurbitz," [Orlich, ii. 136 (21st April).]--where Winterfeld,
cutting the taproot, in his usual electric way, tumbles Karoly quite
INTO the morasses, and clears the country of him for a time. For a time;
though for a time only;--Karoly or others returning in a week or two,
to a still higher extent of thousands; mischievous as ever in those
Ratibor-Namslau countries. Upon which, Friedrich, finding this an
endless business, and nothing like the most important, gives it up for
the present; calls in his remoter detachments; has his Magazines carted
home to the Fortress Towns,--Karoly trying, once or so, to hinder in
that operation, but only again getting his crown broken. ["Fight of
Mocker," May 4th (Orlich, ii. 141).] Or if carting be too difficult,
still do not waste your Magazine:--Margraf Karl, for instance, is
ordered to Jagerndorf with his Detachment, "to eat the Magazine;" hungry
Pandours looking on, till he finish. On which occasion a renowned little
Fight took place (Fight of Neustadt, or of Jagerndorf-Neustadt), as
shall be mentioned farther on.
So that, for certain weeks to come, the Tolpatcheries had free course,
in those Frontier parts; and were left to rove about, under check only
of the Garrison Towns; Friedrich being obliged to look elsewhere
after higher perils, which were now coming in view. In which favorable
circumstances, Karoly and Consorts did, at last, make one stroke in
those Ratibor countries; that of Kosel, which was greatly consolatory.
[26th May, 1743 (Orlich, ii. 156-158).] "By treachery of an Ensign
who had deserted to them [provoked by rigor of discipline, or some
intolerable thing], they glided stealthily, one night, across the
ditches, into Kosel" (a half-fortified place, Prussian works only
half finished): which, being the Key of the Oder in those parts, they
reckoned a glorious conquest; of good omen and worthy of TE-DEUMS at
Vienna. And they did eagerly, without the least molestation, labor
to complete the Prussian works at Kosel: "One garrison already
ours!"--which was not had from them without battering (and I believe,
burning), when General von Nassau came to inquire after it; in Autumn
next.
Friedrich had always hoped that the Saxons, who are not yet in declared
War with him, though bound by Treaty to assist the Queen of Hungary
under certain conditions, would not venture on actual Invasion of his
Territories; but in this, as readers anticipate, Friedrich finds himself
mistaken. Weissenfels is hastening from the Leitmeritz northwestern
quarter, where he has wintered, to join Prince Karl, who is gathering
himself from Olmutz and his southeastern home region; their full
intention is to invade Silesia together, and they hope now at length to
make an end of Friedrich and it. These Pandour hordes, supported by the
necessary grenadiers and cannoniers, are sent as vanguard; these cannot
themselves beat him; but they may induce him (which they do not) to
divide his Force; they may, in part, burn him away as by slow fire,
after which he will be the easier to beat. Instead of which, Friedrich,
leaving the Pandours to their luck, lies concentrated in Neisse Valley;
watching, with all his faculties, Prince Karl's own advent (coming on
like Fate, indubitable, yet involved in mysteries hitherto); and is
perilously sensible that only in giving that a good reception is there
any hope left him.
Prince Karl "who arrived in Olmutz April 30th," commands in chief
again,--saddened, poor man, by the loss of his young Wife, in December
last; willing to still his grief in action for the cause SHE loved;--but
old Traun is not with him this year: which is a still more material
circumstance. Traun is to go this year, under cloak not of Prince Karl,
but of Grand-Duke Franz, to clear those Frankfurt Countries for
the KAISERWAHL and him. Prince Conti lies there, with his famous
"Middle-Rhine Army" (D'Ahremberg, from the western parts, not nearly so
diligent upon him as one could wish); and must, at all rates, be cleared
away. Traun, taking command of Bathyani's Army (now that it has finished
the Bavarian job), is preparing to push down upon Conti, while Bathyani
(who is to supersede the laggard D'Ahremberg) shall push vigorously
up;--and before summer is over, we shall hear of Traun again, and Conti
will have heard!--
Friedrich's indignation, on learning that the Saxons were actually on
march, and gradually that they intended to invade him, was great; and
the whole matter is portentously enigmatic to him, as he lies vigilant
in Neisse Valley, waiting on the When and the How. Indignation;--and
yet there is need of caution withal. To be ready for events, the Old
Dessauer has, as one sure measure, been requested to take charge, once
more, of a "Camp of Observation" on the Saxon Frontier (as of old, in
1741); and has given his consent: ["April 25th" consents (Orlich, ii.
130).] "Camp of Magdeburg," "Camp of Dieskau;" for it had various names
and figures; checkings of your hand, then layings of it on, heavier,
lighter and again heavier, according to one's various READINGS of the
Saxon Mystery; and we shall hear enough about it, intermittently, till
December coming: when it ended in a way we shall not forget!--On which
take this Note:--
"The Camp of Observation was to have begun May 1st; did begin somewhat
later, 'near Magdeburg,' not too close on the Frontier, nor in too
alarming strength; was reinforced to about 30,000; in which state
[middle of August] it stept forward to Wieskau, then to Dieskau,
close on the Saxon Border; and became,--with a Saxon Camp lying close
opposite, and War formally threatened, or almost declared, on Saxony
by Friedrich,--an alarmingly serious matter. Friedrich, however, again
checked his hand; and did not consummate till November-December. But
did then consummate; greatly against his will; and in a way
flamingly visible to all men!" [Orlich, ii. 130, 209, 210:
_Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 1224-1226; i. 1117.]
Friedrich's own incidental utterances (what more we have of Fractions
from the Podewils Letters), in such portentous aspect of affairs, may
now be worth giving. It is not now to Jordan that he writes, gayly
unbosoming himself, as in the First War,--poor Jordan lies languishing,
these many months; consumptive, too evidently dying:--Not to Jordan,
this time; nor is the theme "GLOIRE" now, but a far different!
FRIEDRICH TO PODEWILS (as before, April-May, 1745).
April 20th or so, Orders are come to Berlin (orders, to Podewils's
horror at such a thought), Whitherward, should Berlin be assaulted,
the Official Boards, the Preciosities and household gods are to betake
themselves:--to Magdeburg, all these, which is an impregnable place;
to Stettin, the Two Queens and Royal Family, if they like it better.
Podewils in horror, "hair standing on end," writes thereupon to Eichel,
That he hopes the management, "in a certain contingency," will be given
to Minister Boden; he Podewils, with his hair in that posture, being
quite unequal to it. Friedrich answers:--
"APRIL 26th.... 'I can understand how you are getting uneasy, you
Berliners. I have the most to lose of you all; but I am quiet, and
prepared for events. If the Saxons take part,' as they surely will, 'in
the Invasion of Silesia, and we beat them, I am determined to plunge
into Saxony. For great maladies, there need great remedies. Either
I will maintain my all, or else lose my all. [Hear it, friend; and
understand it,--with hair lying flat!] It is true, the disaffection of
the Russian Court, on such trifling grounds, was not to be expected; and
great misfortune can befall us. Well; a year or two sooner, a year or
two later,--it is not worth one's while to bother about the very worst.
If things take the better turn, our condition will be surer and firmer
than it was before. If we have nothing to reproach ourselves with,
neither need we fret and plague ourselves about bad events, which can
happen to any man.'--'I am causing despatch a secret Order for Boden [on
YOU know what], which you will not deliver him till I give sign.'"--On
hearing of the Peace of Fussen, perhaps a day or so later, Friedrich
again writes:--
"APRIL [no distinct date; Neisse still? QUITS Neisse, April 28th].
... Peace of Fussen, Bavaria turned against me? 'I can say nothing to
it,--except, There has come what had to come. To me remains only
to possess myself in patience. If all alliances, resources, and
negotiations fail, and all conjunctures go against me, I prefer to
perish with honor, rather than lead an inglorious life deprived of all
dignity. My ambition whispers me that I have done more than another to
the building up of my House, and have played a distinguished part among
the crowned heads of Europe. To maintain myself there, has become as it
were a personal duty; which I will fulfil at the expense of my happiness
and my life. I have no choice left: I will maintain my power, or it
may go to ruin, and the Prussian name be buried under it. If the enemy
attempt anything upon us, we will either beat him, or we will all
be hewed to pieces, for the sake of our Country, and the renown of
Brandenburg. No other counsel can I listen to.'"
SAME LETTER, OR ANOTHER? (Herr Ranke having his caprices!)... "You are a
good man, my Podewils, and do what can be expected of you" (Podewils
has been apologizing for his terrors; and referring hopefully "to
Providence"): "Perform faithfully the given work on your side, as I on
mine; for the rest, let what you call 'Providence' decide as it
likes [UNE PROVIDENCE AVEUGLE? Ranke, who alone knows, gives "BLINDE
VORSEHUNG." What an utterance, on the part of this little Titan!
Consider it as exceptional with him, unusual, accidental to the hard
moment, and perhaps not so impious as it looks!]--Neither our prudence
nor our courage shall be liable to blame; but only circumstances that
would not favor us....
"I prepare myself for every event. Fortune may be kind or be unkind, it
shall neither dishearten me nor uplift me. If I am to perish, let it
be with honor, and sword in hand. What the issue is to be--Well, what
pleases Heaven, or the Other Party (J'AI JETE LE BONNET PAR DESSUS LES
MOULINS)! Adieu, my dear Podewils; become as good a philosopher as
you are a politician; and learn from a man who does not go to Elsner's
Preaching [fashionable at the time], that one must oppose to ill fortune
a brow of iron; and, during this life, renounce all happiness, all
acquisitions, possessions and lying shows, none of which will follow us
beyond the grave." [Ranke, iii. pp. 238-241.]
"By what points the Austrian-Saxon Armament will come through upon us?
Together will it be, or separately? Saxons from the Lausitz, Austrians
from Bohmen, enclosing us between two fires?"--were enigmatic questions
with Friedrich; and the Saxons especially are an enigma. But that come
they will, that these Pandours are their preliminary veiling-apparatus
as usual, is evident to him; and that he must not spend himself upon
Pandours; but coalesce, and lie ready for the main wrestle. So that from
April 28th, as above noticed, Friedrich has gone into cantonments, some
way up the Neisse Valley, westward of Neisse Town; and is calling in his
outposts, his detachments; emptying his Frontier Magazines;--abandoning
his Upper-Silesian Frontier more and more, and in the end altogether, to
the Pandour hordes; a small matter they, compared to the grand Invasion
which is coming on. Here, with shiftings up the Neisse Valley, he
lies till the end of May; watching Argus-like, and scanning with every
faculty the Austrian-Saxon motions and intentions, until at length they
become clear to him, and we shall see how he deals with them.
His own lodging, or head-quarter, most of this time (4th May-27th
May), is in the pleasant Abbey of Camenz (mythic scene of that
BAUMGARTEN-SKIRMISH business, in the First Silesian War). He has
excellent Tobias Stusche for company in leisure hours; and the outlook
of bright Spring all round him, flowering into gorgeous Summer, as he
hurries about on his many occasions, not of an idyllic nature. [Orlich,
ii. 139; Ranke, iii. 242-249.] But his Army is getting into excellent
completeness of number, health, equipment, and altogether such a spirit
as he could wish. May 22d, here is another snatch from some Note to
Podewils, from this balmy Locality, potential with such explosions of
another kind. CAMENZ, MAY 22d.... "The Enemies are making movements; but
nothing like enough as yet for our guessing their designs. Till we see,
therefore, the thunder lies quiet in us (LA FOUDRE REPOSE EN MES MAINS).
Ah, could we but have a Day like that May Eleventh!" [Ranke, iii. 248
n.]
What "that May Eleventh" is or was? Readers are curious to know;
especially English readers, who guess FONTENOY. And Historic Art, if she
were strict, would decline to inform them at any length; for really
the thing is no better than a "Victory on the Scamander, and a Siege of
Pekin" (as a certain observer did afterwards define it), in reference
to the matter now on hand! Well, Pharsalia, Arbela, the Scamander,
Armageddon, and so many Battles and Victories being luminous, by study,
to cultivated Englishmen, and one's own Fontenoy such a mystery and
riddle,--Art, after consideration, reluctantly consents to be indulgent;
will produce from her Paper Imbroglios a slight Piece on the subject,
and print instead of burning.