Chapter X.--FRIEDRICH IN BRESLAU; HAS NEWS FROM PETERSBURG.

Since December 9th, Friedrich is in Breslau, in some remainder of his

ruined Palace there; and is represented to us, in Books, as sitting

amid ruins; no prospect ahead of him but ruin. Withdrawn from Society;

looking fixedly on the gloomiest future. Sees hardly anybody; speaks,

except it be on business, nothing. "One day," I have read somewhere,

"General Lentulus dined with him; and there was not a word uttered at

all." The Anecdote-Books have Dialogues with Ziethen; Ziethen still

trusting in Divine Providence; King trusting only in the iron Destinies,

and the stern refuge of Death with honor: Dialogues evidently symbolical

only. In fact, this is not, or is not altogether, the King's common

humor. He has his two Nephews with him (the elder, old enough to learn

soldiering, is to be of next Campaign under him); he is not without

society when he likes,--never without employment whether he like or

not; and, in the blackest murk of despondencies, has his Turk and other

Illusions, which seem to be brighter this Year than ever. [LETTERS to

Henri: in SCHONING, iii. (SOEPIUS).]

For certain, the King is making all preparation, as if victory might

still crown him: though of practical hope he, doubtless often enough,

has little or none. England seems about deserting him; a most sad and

unexpected change has befallen there: great Pitt thrown out; perverse

small Butes come in, whose notions and procedures differ far from

Pitt's! At home here, the Russians are in Pommern and the Neumark;

Austrians have Saxony, all but a poor strip beyond the Mulda; Silesia,

all but a fraction on the Oder: Friedrich has with himself 30,000; with

Prince Henri, 25,000; under Eugen of Wurtemberg, against the Swedes,

5,000; in all his Dominions, 60,000 fighting men. To make head against

so many enemies, he calculates that 60,000 more must be raised this

Winter. And where are these to come from; England and its help having

also fallen into such dubiety? Next Year, it is calculated by everybody,

Friedrich himself hardly excepted (in bad moments), must be the finis

of this long agonistic tragedy. On the other hand, Austria herself is in

sore difficulties as to cash; discharges 20,000 men,--trusting she may

have enough besides to finish Friedrich. France is bankrupt, starving,

passionate for Peace; English Bute nothing like so ill to treat with

as Pitt: to Austria no more subsidies from France. The War is waxing

feeble, not on Friedrich's side only, like a flame short of fuel. This

Year it must go out; Austria will have to kill Friedrich this Year, if

at all.

Whether Austria's and the world's prophecy would have been fulfilled?

Nobody can say what miraculous sudden shifts, and outbursts of fiery

enterprise, may still lie in this man. Friedrich is difficult to kill,

grows terribly elastic when you compress him into a corner. Or Destiny,

perhaps, may have tried him sufficiently; and be satisfied? Destiny does

send him a wonderful star-of-day, bursting out on the sudden, as will

be seen!--Meanwhile here is the English calamity; worse than any

Schweidnitz, Colberg or other that has befallen in this blackest, of the

night.

THE PITT CATASTROPHE: HOW THE PEACE-NEGOTIATION WENT OFF BY EXPLOSION;

HOW PITT WITHDREW (3d October, 1761), AND THERE CAME A SPANISH WAR

NEVERTHELESS.

In St. James's Street, "in the Duke of Cumberland's late lodgings,"

on the 2d of October, 1761, there was held one of the most remarkable

Cabinet-Councils known in English History: it is the last of Pitt's

Cabinet-Councils for a long time,--might as well have been his last of

all;--and is of the highest importance to Friedrich through Pitt. We

spoke of the Choiseul Peace-Negotiation; of an offer indirectly from

King Carlos, "Could not I mediate a little?"--offer which exploded said

Negotiation, and produced the Bourbon Family Compact and an additional

War instead. Let us now look, slightly for a few moments, into that

matter and its sequences.

It was JULY 15th, when Bussy, along with something in his own French

sphere, presented this beautiful Spanish Appendix,--"apprehensive that

War may break out again with Spain, when we Two have got settled." By

the same opportunity came a Note from him, which was reckoned important

too: "That the Empress Queen would and did, whatever might become of the

Congress of Augsburg, approve of this Separate Peace between France

and England,--England merely undertaking to leave the King of Prussia

altogether to himself in future with her Imperial Majesty and her

Allies." "Never, Sir!" answered Pitt, with emphasis, to this latter

Proposition; and to the former about Spain's interfering, or whispering

of interference, he answered--by at once returning the Paper, as a

thing non-extant, or which it was charitable to consider so. "Totally

inadmissible, Sir; mention it no more!"--and at once called upon the

Spanish Ambassador to disavow such impertinence imputed to his Master.

Fancy the colloquies, the agitated consultations thereupon, between

Bussy and this Don, in view suddenly of breakers ahead!

In about a week (July 23d), Bussy had an Interview with Pitt himself on

this high Spanish matter; and got some utterances out of him which are

memorable to Bussy and us. "It is my duty to declare to you, Sir, in the

name of his Majesty," said Pitt, "that his Majesty will not suffer

the disputes with Spain to be blended, in any manner whatever, in the

Negotiation of Peace between the Two Crowns. To which I must add, that

it will be considered as an affront to his Majesty's dignity, and as

a thing incompatible with the sincerity of the Negotiation, to make

farther mention of such a circumstance." [In THACKERAY, ii. 554;--Pitt

next day putting it in writing, "word for word," at Bussy's request.]

Bussy did not go at once, after this deliverance; but was unable, by

his arguments and pleadings, by all his oil and fire joined together, to

produce the least improvement on it: "Time enough to treat of all that,

Sir, when the Tower of London is taken sword in hand!" [Beatson, ii.

434. Archenholtz (ii. 245) has heard of this expression, in a slightly

incorrect way.] was Pitt's last word. An expression which went over the

world; and went especially to King Carlos, as fast as it could fly, or

as his Choiseul could speed it: and, in about three weeks: produced--it

and what had gone before it, by the united industry of Choiseul and

Carlos, finally produced--the famed BOURBON FAMILY COMPACT (August

15th, 1761), and a variety of other weighty results, which lay in embryo

therein.

Pitt, in the interim, had been intensely prosecuting, in Spain and

everywhere, his inquiry into the Bussy phenomenon of July 15th; which

he, from the first glimpse of it, took to mean a mystery of treachery

in the pretended Peace-Negotiation, on the part of Choiseul and Catholic

Majesty;--though other long heads, and Pitt's Ambassador at Madrid

investigating on the spot, considered it an inadvertence mainly, and

of no practical meaning. On getting knowledge of the Bourbon Family

Compact, Pitt perceived that his suspicion was a certainty;--and

likewise that the one clear course was, To declare War on the Spanish

Bourbon too, and go into him at once: "We are ready; fleets, soldiers,

in the East, in the West; he not ready anywhere. Since he wants War, let

him have it, without loss of a moment!" That is Pitt's clear view of

the case; but it is by no means Bute and Company's,--who discern in

it, rather, a means of finishing another operation they have long been

secretly busy upon, by their Mauduits and otherwise; and are clear

against getting into a new War with Spain or anybody: "Have not we

enough of Wars?" say they.

Since September 18th, there had been three Cabinet-Councils held on this

great Spanish question: "Mystery of treachery, meaning War from Spain?

Or awkward Inadvertence only, practically meaning little or nothing?"

Pitt, surer of his course every time, every time meets the same

contradiction. Council of October 2d was the third of the series, and

proved to be the last.

"Twelve Seventy-fours sent instantly to Cadiz", had been Pitt's

proposal, on the first emergence of the Bussy phenomenon. Here are his

words, October 2d, when it is about to get consummated: "This is now the

time for humbling the whole House of Bourbon: and if this opportunity is

let slip, we shall never find another! Their united power, if suffered

to gather strength, will baffle our most vigorous efforts, and possibly

plunge us in the gulf of ruin. We must not allow them a moment to

breathe. Self-preservation bids us crush them before they can combine or

recollect themselves."--"No evidence that Spain means war; too many wars

on our hands; let us at least wait!" urge all the others,--all but one,

or one and A HALF, of whom presently. Whereupon Pitt: "If these views

are to be followed, this is the last time I can sit at this Board. I was

called to the Administration of Affairs by the voice of the People: to

them I have always considered myself as accountable for my conduct; and

therefore cannot remain in a situation which makes me responsible for

measures I am no longer allowed to guide." [Beatson, ii. 438.]

Carteret Granville, President of said Council for ten years past, [Came

in "17th June, 1751",--died "2d January, 1763."] now an old red-nosed

man of seventy-two, snappishly took him up,--it is the last public thing

poor Carteret did in this world,--in the following terms: "I find the

Gentleman is determined to leave us; nor can I say I am sorry for it,

since otherwise he would have certainly compelled us to leave him [Has

ruled us, may not I say, with a rod of iron!] But if he be resolved to

assume the office of exclusively advising his Majesty and directing the

operations of the War, to what purpose are we called to this Council?

When he talks of being responsible to the People, he talks the language

of the House of Commons; forgets that, at this Board, he is only

responsible to the King. However, though he may possibly have convinced

himself of his infallibility, still it remains that we should be equally

convinced, before we can resign our understandings to his direction, or

join with him in the measure he proposes." [BIOG. BRITANNICA (Kippis's;

London, 1784), iii. 278. See Thackeray, i. 589-592.]

Who, besides Temple (Pitt's Brother-in-law) confirmatory of Pitt, Bute

negatory, and Newcastle SILENT, the other beautiful gentlemen were,

I will not ask; but poor old Carteret,--the wine perhaps sour on his

stomach (old age too, with German memories of his own, "A biggish Life

once mine, all futile for want of this same Kingship like Pitt's!")--I

am sorry old Carteret should have ended so! He made the above Answer;

and Pitt resigned next day. [Thackeray, i. 592 n. "October 5th"

(ACCEPTANCE of the resignation, I suppose?) is the date commonly given.]

"The Nation was thunderstruck, alarmed and indignant," says Walpole:

[_ Memoirs of the Reign of George the Third,_ i. 82 et seq.] yes, no

wonder;--but, except a great deal of noisy jargoning in Parliament

and out of it, the Nation gained nothing for itself by its indignant,

thunderstricken and other feelings. Its Pitt is irrecoverable; and it

may long look for another such. These beautiful recalcitrants of the

Cabinet-Council had, themselves, within three months (think under what

noises and hootings from a non-admiring Nation), to declare War on

Spain, ["2d January, 1762," the English; "18th January," the Spaniard

(ANNUAL REGISTER for 1762, p. 50; or better, Beatson, ii. 443).] NOT on

better terms than when Pitt advised; and, except for the "readiness" in

which Pitt had left all things, might have fared indifferently in it.

To Spain and France the results of the Family Compact (we may as well

give them at once, though they extend over the whole next year and

farther, and concern Friedrich very little) were: a War on England

(chiefly on poor Portugal for England's sake); with a War BY England in

return, which cost Spain its Havana and its Philippine Islands.

"From 1760 and before, the Spanish Carlos, his orthodox mind perhaps

shocked at Pombal and the Anti-Jesuit procedures, had forbidden trade

with Portugal; had been drawing out dangerous 'militia forces on the

Frontier;' and afflicting and frightening the poor Country. But on

the actual arrival of War with England, Choiseul and he, as the first

feasibility discernible, make Demand (three times over, 16th March-18th

April, 1762, each time more stringently) on poor Portuguese Majesty:

'Give up your objectionable Heretic Ally, and join with us against him;

will you, or will you not?' To which the Portuguese Majesty, whose very

title is Most Faithful, answered always: 'You surprise me! I cannot; how

can I? He is my Ally, and has always kept faith with me! For certain,

No!' [_London Gazette,_ 5th May, 1762, &c. (in _Gentleman's Magazine_

for 1762, xxxii. 205, 321, 411).] So that there is English reinforcement

got ready, men, money; an English General, Lord Tyrawley, General

and Ambassador; with a 5 or 6,000 horse and foot, and many volunteer

officers besides, for the Portuguese behoof. [List of all this in

Beatson, ii. 491, iii. 323;--"did not get to sea till 12th May,

1762" (_Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1762, p. 239).] In short, every

encouragement to poor Portugal: 'Pull, and we will help you by tracing.'

"The poor Portuguese pulled very badly: were disgusting to Tyrawley, he

to them; and cried passionately, 'Get us another General;'--upon which,

by some wise person's counsel, that singular Artillery Gentleman, the

Graf von der Lippe Buckeburg, who gave the dinner in his Tent with

cannon firing at the pole of it, was appointed; and Tyrawley came home

in a huff. [Varnhagen van Ense, GRAF WILHELM ZUR LIPPE (Berlin,

1845), in _Vermischte Schriften,_ i. 1-118: pp. 33-54, his Portuguese

operations.] Which was probably a favorable circumstance. Buckeburg

understands War, whether Tyrawley do or not. Duke Ferdinand has

agreed to dispense with his Ordnance-Master; nay I have heard the

Ordnance-Master, a man of sharp speech on occasion, was as good as

idle; and had gone home to Buckeburg, this Winter: indignant at the many

imperfections he saw, and perhaps too frankly expressing that feeling

now and then. What he thought of the Portuguese Army in comparison

is not on record; but, may be judged of by this circumstance, That on

dining with the chief Portuguese military man, he found his Portuguese

captains and lieutenants waiting as valets behind the chairs. [VARNHAGEN

(gives no date anywhere).]

"The improvements he made are said to have been many;--and Portuguese

Majesty, in bidding farewell, gave him a park of Miniature Gold Cannon

by way of gracious symbol. But, so far as the facts show, he seems to

have got from his Portuguese Army next to no service whatever: and, but

for the English and the ill weather, would have fared badly against his

French and Spaniards,--42,000 of them, advancing in Three Divisions, by

the Douro and the Tagus, against Oporto and Lisbon.

"His War has only these three dates of event. 1. May 9th, The northmost

of the Three Divisions [ANNUAL REGISTER for 1762, p. 30.] crosses the

Portuguese Frontier on the Douro; summons Miranda, a chief Town of

theirs; takes it, before their first battery is built; takes Braganza,

takes Monte Corvo; and within a week is master of the Douro, in that

part, 'Will be at Oporto directly!' shriek all the Wine people (no

resistance anywhere, except by peasants organized by English Officers in

some parts); upon which Seventy-fours were sent.

"2. Division Second of the 42,000 came by Beira Country, between Tagus

and Douro, by Tras-os-Montes; and laid siege to a place called Almeida

[northwest some 20 odd miles from CUIDAD RODRIGO, a name once known to

veterans of us still living], which Buckeburg had tried to repair into

strength, and furnish with a garrison. Garrison defended itself well;

but could not be relieved;--had to surrender, August 25th: whereby

it seems the Tagus is now theirs! All the more, as Division Three is

likewise got across from Estremadura, invading Alemtejo: what is to keep

these Two from falling on Lisbon together?

"3. Against this, Buckeburg does find a recipe. Despatches Brigadier

Burgoyne with an English party upon a Town called Valencia d'Alcantara

[not Alcantara Proper, but Valencia of ditto, not very far from

Badajoz], where the vanguard of this Third Division is, and their

principal Magazine. Burgoyne and his English did perfectly: broke into

the place, stormed it sword in hand (August 27th); kept the Magazine and

it, though 'the sixteen Portuguese Battalions' could not possibly get up

in time. In manner following (say the Old Newspapers):--

"'The garrison of Almeida, before which place the whole Spanish Army had

been assembled, surrendered to the Spaniards on the 25th [August 25th,

as we have just heard], having capitulated on condition of not serving

against Spain for six months.

"'As a counterbalance to this advantage, the Count de Lippe caused

Valencia d'Alcantara to be attacked, sword in hand, by the British

troops; who carried it, after an obstinate resistance. The loss of the

British troops, who had the principal share in this affair, is

luckily but inconsiderable: and consists in Lieutenant Burk of Colonel

Frederick's, one sergeant and three privates killed; two sergeants, one

drummer, 18 privates wounded; 10 horses killed and 2 wounded [loss not

at all considerable, in a War of such dimensions!]. The British troops

behaved upon this occasion with as much generosity as courage; and it

deserves admiration, that, in an affair of this kind, the town and

the inhabitants suffered very little; which is owing to the good order

Brigadier Burgoyne kept up even in the heat of the action. This success

would probably have been attended with more, if circumstances, that

could not well be expected, had not retarded the march of sixteen

Portuguese battalions, and three regiments of cavalry.' [Old Newspapers

(in _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1762, p, 443).]

"Upon which--upon which, in fact, the War had to end. Rainy weather

came, deluges of rain; Burgoyne, with or without the sixteen battalions

of Portuguese, kept the grip he had. Valencia d'Alcantara and its

Magazine a settled business, roads round gone all to mire,--this Third

Division, and with it the 42,000 in general, finding they had nothing

to live upon, went their ways again." NOTE, The Burgoyne, who begins

in this pretty way at Valencia d'Alcantara, is the same who ended

so dismally at Saratoga, within twenty years:--perhaps, with other

War-Offices, and training himself in something suitabler than

Parliamentary Eloquence, he might have become a kind of General, and

have ended far otherwise than there?--

"Such was the credit account on Carlos's side: By gratuitous assault

on Portugal, which had done him no offence; result zero, and pay your

expenses. On the English, or PER CONTRA side, again, there were these

three items, two of them specifically on Carlos: FIRST, Martinique

captured from the French this Spring (finished 4th February, 1762):

[_Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1762, p. 127.]--was to have been done in any

case, Guadaloupe and it being both on Pitt's books for some time, and

only Guadaloupe yet got. SECONDLY, King Carlos, for Family Compact and

fruitless attempt at burglary on an unoffending neighbor, Debtor: 1. To

Loss of the Havana (6th June-13th August, 1762), [Ib. pp. 408-459, &c.]

which might easily have issued in loss of all his West Indies together,

and total abolition of the Pope's meridian in that Western Hemisphere;

and 2. To Loss of Manilla, with his Philippine Islands (23d

September-6th October, 1762), [_Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1762, xxxiii.

171-177.] which was abolition of it in the Eastern. After which, happily

for Carlos, Peace came,--Peace, and no Pitt to be severe upon his Indies

and him. Carlos's War of ten months had stood him uncommonly high."

All these things the English Public, considerably sullen about the

Cabinet-Council event of October 3d, ascribed to the real owner of

them. The Public said: "These are, all of them, Pitt's bolts, not

yours,--launched, or lying ready for launching, from that Olympian

battery which, in the East and in the West, had already smitten down all

Lallys and Montcalms; and had force already massed there, rendering your

Havanas and Manillas easy for you. For which, indeed, you do not seem

to care much; rather seem to be embarrassed with them, in your eagerness

for Peace and a lazy life!"--Manilla was a beautiful work; [A JOURNAL

OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF HIS MAJESTY'S FORCES IN THE EXPEDITION TO MANILLA

(_London Gazette,_ April 19th, 1763; _Gentleman's Magazine,_ xxxiii.

171 et seq.). Written by Colonel or Brigadier General Draper (suggester,

contriver and performer of the Enterprise; an excellent Indian Officer,

of great merit with his pen as well,--Bully JUNIUS'S Correspondent

afterwards).] but the Manilla Ransom; a million sterling, half of it

in bills,--which the Spaniards, on no pretext at all but the

disagreeableness, refused to pay! Havana, though victorious, cost a good

many men: was thought to be but badly managed. "What to do with it?"

said Bute, at the Peace: "Give us Florida in lieu of it",--which proved

of little benefit to Bute. Enough, enough of Bute and his performances.

Pitt being gone, Friedrich's English Subsidy lags: this time Friedrich

concludes it is cut off;--silent on the subject; no words will express

one's thoughts on it. Not till April 9th has poor Mitchell the sad

errand of announcing formally That such are our pressures, Portuguese

War and other, we cannot afford it farther. Answered by I know not what

kind of glance from Friedrich; answered, I find, by words few or none

from the forsaken King: "Good; that too was wanting," thought the proud

soul: "Keep your coin, since you so need it; I have still copper, and my

sword!" The alloy this Year became as 3 to 1:--what other remedy?

From the same cause, I doubt not, this Year, for the first time in human

memory, came that complete abeyance of the Gift-moneys (DOUCEUR-GELDER),

which are become a standing expectation, quasi-right, and necessary item

of support to every Prussian Officer, from a Lieutenant upwards: not a

word, in the least official, said of them this Year; still less a penny

of them actually forthcoming to a wornout expectant Army. One of the

greatest sins charged upon Friedrich by Prussian or Prussian-Military

public opinion: not to be excused at all;--Prussian-Military and even

Prussian-Civil opinion having a strange persuasion that this King has

boundless supply of money, and only out of perversity refuses it for

objects of moment. In the Army as elsewhere much has gone awry; [See

Mollendorf's two or three LETTERS (Preuss, iv. 407-411).] many rivets

loose after such a climbing of the Alps as there has been, through dense

and rare.

It will surprise everybody that Friedrich, with his copper and other

resources, actually raised his additional 60,000; and has for himself

70,000 to recover Schweidnitz, and bring Silesia to its old state;

40,000 for Prince Henri and Saxony, with a 10,000 of margin for Sweden

and accidental sundries. This is strange, but it is true. [Stenzel,

v. 297, 286; Tempelhof, vi. 2, 10, 63.] And has not been done without

strivings and contrivings, hard requisitions on the places liable; and

has involved not a little of severity and difficulty,--especially a

great deal of haggling with the collecting parties, or at least with

Prince Henri, who presides in Saxony, and is apt to complain and

mourn over the undoable, rather than proceed to do it. The King's

Correspondence with Henri, this Winter, is curious enough; like a

Dialogue between Hope on its feet, and Despair taking to its bed. "You

know there are Two Doctors in MOLIERE," says Friedrich to him once; "a

Doctor TANT-MIEUX (So much the Better) and a Doctor TANT-PIS (So much

the Worse): these two cannot be expected to agree!"--Instead of infinite

arithmetical details, here is part of a Letter of Friedrich's to

D'Argens; and a Passage, one of many, with Prince Henri;--which command

a view into the interior that concerns us.

THE KING TO D'ARGENS (at Berlin).

"BRESLAU, 18th January, 1762.

... "You have lifted the political veil which covered horrors and

perfidies meditated and ready to burst out [Bute's dismal procedures, I

believe; who is ravenous for Peace, and would fain force Friedrich

along with him on terms altogether disgraceful and inadmissible [See

D'Argens's Letter (to which this is Answer), _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix.

281, 282.]]: you judge correctly of the whole situation I am in, of the

abysses which surround me; and, as I see by what you say, of the kind of

hope that still remains to me. It will not be till the month of February

[Turks, probably, and Tartar Khan; great things coming then!] that

we can speak of that; and that is the term I contemplate for deciding

whether I shall hold to CATO [Cato,--and the little Glass Tube I have!]

or to CAESAR'S COMMENTARIES," and the best fight one can make.

"The School of patience I am at is hard, long-continued, cruel, nay

barbarous. I have not been able to escape my lot: all that human

foresight could suggest has been employed, and nothing has succeeded. If

Fortune continues to pursue me, doubtless I shall sink; it is only she

that can extricate me from the situation I am in. I escape out of it by

looking at the Universe on the great scale, like an observer from some

distant Planet; all then seems to me so infinitely small, and I could

almost pity my enemies for giving themselves such trouble about so

very little. What would become of us without philosophy, without this

reasonable contempt of things frivolous, transient and fugitive, about

which the greedy and ambitious make such a pother, fancying them to be

solid! This is to become wise by stripes, you will tell me; well, if one

do become wise, what matters it how?--I read a great deal; I devour my

Books, and that brings me useful alleviation. But for my Books, I think

hypochondria would have had me in bedlam before now. In fine, dear

Marquis, we live in troublous times and in desperate situations:--I

have all the properties of a Stage-Hero; always in danger, always on the

point of perishing. One must hope the conclusion will come; and if the

end of the piece be lucky, we will forget the rest. Patience then,

MON CHER, till February 20th [By which time, what far other veritable

star-of-day will have risen on me!]. ADIEU, MON CHER.--F." [_OEuvres de

Frederic,_ xix. 282, 283.]

TIFF OF QUARREL BETWEEN KING AND HENRI (March-April, 1762).

In the Spring months Prince Henri is at Hof in Voigtland, on the extreme

right of his long line of "Quarters behind the Mulda;" busy enough,

watching the Austrians and Reich; levying the severe contributions;

speeding all he can the manifold preparatives;--conscious to himself of

the greatest vigilance and diligence, but wrapt in despondency and black

acidulent humors; a "Doctor SO MUCH THE WORSE," who is not a comforting

Correspondent. From Hof, towards the middle of March, he becomes

specially gloomy and acidulous; sends a series of Complaints; also of

News, not important, but all rather in YOUR favor, my dearest Brother,

than in mine, if you will please to observe! As thus:--

HENRI (at Hof, 10th-13th March).... "Sadly off here, my dearest

Brother.! Of our '1,284 head of commissariat horses,' only 180 are come

in; of our '287 drivers,' not one. Will be impossible to open Campaign

at that rate."--"Grenadier Battalions ROTHENBURG and GRANT demand

to have picked men to complete them [of CANTONIST, or sure Prussian

sort].... I find [NOTA BENE, Reader!] there are eight Austrian regiments

going to Silesia [off my hands, and upon YOURS, in a sense], eight

instead of four that I spoke of: intending, probably, for Glatz,

to replace Czernichef [a Czernichef off for home lately, in a most

miraculous way; as readers shall hear!]--to replace Czernichef, and

the blank he has left there? Eight of them: Your Majesty can have no

difficulty; but I will detach Platen or somebody, if you order it;

though I am myself perilously ill off here, so scattered into parts, not

capable of speedy junction like your Majesty."

FRIEDRICH (14th-16th March). "Commissariat horses, drivers? I arranged

and provided where everything was to be got. But if my orders are not

executed, nor the requisitions brought in, of course there is failure.

I am despatching Adjutant von Anhalt to Saxony a second time, to enforce

matters. If I could be for three weeks in Saxony, myself, I believe I

could put all on its right footing; but, as I must not stir two steps

from here, I will send you Anhalt, with orders to the Generals, to

compel them to their duty." [Schoning, iii. 301, 302.] "As to Grenadier

Battalions GRANT and ROTHENBURG, it is absurd." (Henri falls silent

for about a week, brooding his gloom;--not aware that still worse is

coming.) King continues:--

KING (22d March). "Eight regiments, you said? Here, by enclosed List,

are seventeen of them, names and particulars all given", which is rather

a different view of the account against Silesia! Seventeen of them,

going, not for Glatz, I should say, but to strengthen our Enemies

hereabouts.

HENRI. "Hm, hah [answers only in German; dry military reports, official

merely;--thinks of writing to Chief-Clerk Eichel, who is factotum in

these spheres].... Artillery recruits are scarce in the extreme; demand

bounty: five thalers, shall we say?"

KING. "Seventeen regiments of them, beyond question, instead of eight,

coming on us: strange that you did n't warn me better. I have therefore

ordered your Major-General Schmettau hitherward at once. As he has not

done raising the contributions in the Lausitz, you must send another

to do it, and have them ready when General Platen passes that way

hither."--"'Five thalers bounty for artillery men" say you? It is not to

be thought of. Artillery men can be had by conscription where you

are." Henri (in silence, still more indignant) sends military reports

exclusively. March 26th, Henri's gloom reaches the igniting point; he

writes to Chief-Clerk Eichel:--

"Monsieur, you are aware that Adjutant von Anhalt is on the way hither.

To judge by his orders, if they correspond to the Letters I have had

from the King, Adjutant von Anhalt's appearance here will produce

an embarrassment, from which I am resolved to extricate myself by a

voluntary retirement from office. My totally ruined (ABIMEE) health,

the vexations I have had, the fatigues and troubles of war, leave in

me little regret to quit the employment. I solicit only, from your

attentions and skill of management, that my retreat be permitted to take

place with the decency observed towards those who have served the State.

I have not a high opinion of my services; but perhaps I am not mistaken

in supposing that it would be more a shame to the King than to me if

he should make me endure all manner of chagrins during my retirement."

[Schoning, iii. 307.]

Eichel sinks into profound reflection; says nothing. How is this fire to

be got under? Where is the place to trample on it, before opening door

or window, or saying a word to the King or anybody?

HENRI (same day, 26th March). "My dearest Brother,--In the List you send

me of those seventeen Austrian regiments, several, I am informed, are

still in Saxony; and by all the news that I get, there are only eight

gone towards Silesia."--"From Leipzig my accounts are, the Reichs Army

is to make a movement in advance, and Prince Xavier with the Saxons was

expected at Naumburg the 20th ult. I know not if you have arranged

with Duke Ferdinand for a proportionate succor, in case his French also

should try to penetrate into Saxony upon me? I am, with the profoundest

attachment, your faithful and devoted servant and Brother."

KING (30th March). "Seventeen of them, you may depend; I am too well

informed to be allowed to doubt in any way. What you report of the

Reichsfolk and Saxons moving hither, thither; that seems to me a bit

of game on their part. They will try to cut one post from you, then

another, unless you assemble a corps and go in upon them. Till

you decide for this resolution, you have nothing but chicanes and

provocations to expect there. As to Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, I don't

imagine that his Orders [from England] would permit him what you propose

[for relief of yourself]: at any rate, you will have to write at least

thrice to him,--that is to say, waste three weeks, before he will answer

No or Yes. You yourself are in force enough for those fellows: but

so long as you keep on the defensive alone, the enemy gains time, and

things will always go a bad road." Henri's patience is already out; this

same day he is writing to the King.

HENRI (30th March).... "You have hitherto received proofs enough of my

ways of thinking and acting to know that if in reality I was mistaken

about those eight regiments, it can only have been a piece of ignorance

on the part of my spy: meanwhile you are pleased to make me responsible

for what misfortune may come of it. I think I have my hands full with

the task laid on me of guarding 4,000 square miles of country with fewer

troops than you have, and of being opposite an enemy whose posts touch

upon ours, and who is superior in force. Your preceding Letters [from

March 16th hitherto], on which I have wished to be silent, and this last

proof of want of affection, show me too clearly to what fortune I have

sacrificed these Six Years of Campaigning."

KING (3d April: Official Orders given in Teutsch; at the tail of which).

"Spare your wrath and indignation at your servant, Monseigneur! You, who

preach indulgence, have a little of it for persons who have no intention

of offending you, or of failing in respect for you; and deign to receive

with more benignity the humble representations which the conjunctures

sometimes force from me. F."--Which relieves Eichel of his difficulties,

and quenches this sputter. [Plucked up from the waste imbroglios of

SCHONING (iii. 296-311), by arranging and omitting.]

Prince Henri, for all his complaining, did beautifully this Season

again (though to us it must be silent, being small-war merely;--and

in particular, MAY 12th) early in the morning, simultaneously in many

different parts, burst across the Mulda, ten or twenty miles long (or

BROAD rather, from his right hand to his left), sudden as lightning,

upon the supine Serbelloni and his Austrians and Reichsfolk. And hurled

them back, one and all, almost to the Plauen Chasm and their old haunts;

widening his quarters notably. [_Bericht von dem Uebergang uber die

Mulde, den der Prinz Heinrich den 12ten May 1762 glucklich ausgefuhrt_

(in Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ iii, 280-291).] A really brilliant thing,

testifies everybody, though not to be dwelt on here. Seidlitz was of it

(much fine cutting and careering, from the Seidlitz and others, we

have to omit in these two Saxon Campaigns!)--Seidlitz was of it; he and

another still more special acquaintance of ours, the learned Quintus

Icilius; who also did his best in it, but lost his "AMUSETTE" (small bit

of cannon, "Plaything," so called by Marechal de Saxe, inventor of the

article), and did not shine like Seidlitz.

Henri's quarters being notably widened in this way, and nothing but

torpid Serbellonis and Prince Stollbergs on the opposite part, Henri

"drew himself out thirty-five miles long;" and stood there, almost

looking into Plauen region as formerly. And with his fiery Seidlitzes,

Kleists, made a handsome Summer of it. And beat the Austrians and

Reichsfolk at Freyberg (OCTOBER 29th) a fine Battle, and his sole

one),--on the Horse which afterwards carried Gellert, as is pleasantly

known.

But we are omitting the news from Petersburg,--which came the very day

after that gloomy LETTER TO D'ARGENS; months before the TIFF OF QUARREL

with Henri, and the brilliant better destinies of that Gentleman in his

Campaign.

BRIGHT NEWS FROM PETERSBURG (certain, Jan. 19th); WHICH GROW EVER

BRIGHTER; AND BECOME A STAR-OF-DAY FOR FRIEDRICH.

To Friedrich, long before all this of Henri, indeed almost on the very

day while he was writing so despondently to D'Argens, a new phasis

had arisen. Hardly had he been five weeks at Breslau, in those gloomy

circumstances, when,--about the middle of January, 1762 (day not given,

though it is forever notable),--there arrive rumors, arrive news,--news

from Petersburg; such as this King never had before! "Among the thousand

ill strokes of Fortune, does there at length come one pre-eminently

good? The unspeakable Sovereign Woman, is she verily dead, then, and

become peaceable to me forevermore?" We promised Friedrich a wonderful

star-of-day; and this is it,--though it is long before he dare quite

regard it as such. Peter, the Successor, he knows to be secretly his

friend and admirer; if only, in the new Czarish capacity and its chaotic

environments and conditions, Peter dare and can assert these feelings?

What a hope to Friedrich, from this time onward! Russia may be counted

as the bigger half of all he had to strive with; the bigger, or at least

the far uglier, more ruinous and incendiary;--and if this were at once

taken away, think what a daybreak when the night was at the blackest!

Pious people say, The darkest hour is often nearest the dawn. And a dawn

this proved to be for Friedrich. And the fact grew always the longer the

brighter;--and before Campaign time, had ripened into real daylight and

sunrise. The dates should have been precise; but are not to be had so:

here is the nearest we could come. January 14th, writing to Henri,

the King has a mysterious word about "possibilities of an uncommon

sort,"--rumors from Petersburg, I could conjecture; though perhaps they

are only Turk or Tartar-Khan affairs, which are higher this year

than ever, and as futile as ever. But, on JANUARY 19th, he has heard

plainly,--with what hopes (if one durst indulge them)!--that the

implacable Imperial Woman, INFAME CATIN DU NORD, is verily dead. Dead;

and does not hate me any more. Deliverance, Peace and Victory lie in the

word!--Catin had long been failing, but they kept it religiously secret

within the Court walls: even at Petersburg nobody knew till the Prayers

of the Church were required: Prayers as zealous as you can,--the Doctors

having plainly intimated that she is desperate, and that the thing is

over. On CHRISTMAS-DAY, 1761, by Russian Style, 5th JANUARY, 1762,

by European, the poor Imperial Catin lay dead;--a death still more

important than that of George II. to this King.

Peter III., who succeeded has lang been privately a sworn friend and

admirer of the King; and hastens, not too SLOWLY as the King had feared,

but far the reverse, to make that known to all mankind. That, and much

else,--in a far too headlong manner, poor soul! Like an ardent, violent,

totally inexperienced person (enfranchised SCHOOL-BOY, come to the

age of thirty-four), who has sat hitherto in darkness, in intolerable

compression; as if buried alive! He is now Czar Peter, Autocrat, not

of Himself only, but of All the Russias;--and has, besides the complete

regeneration of Russia, two great thoughts: FIRST, That of avenging

native Holstein, and his poor martyr of a Father now with God, against

the Danes;--and,

SECOND, what is scarcely second in importance to the first, and indeed

is practically a kind of preliminary to it, That of delivering the

Prussian Pattern of Heroes from such a pattern of foul combinations, and

bringing Peace to Europe, while he settles the Holstein-Danish business.

Peter is Russian by the Mother's side; his Mother was Sister of the late

Catin, a Daughter, like her, of Czar Peter called the Great, and of the

little brown Catharine whom we saw transiently long ago. His Holstein

Business shall concern us little; but that with Friedrich, during the

brief Six Months allowed him for it,--for it, and for all his remaining

businesses in this world,--is of the highest importance to Friedrich and

us.

Peter is one of the wildest men; his fate, which was tragical, is now

to most readers rather of a ghastly grotesque than of a lamentable and

pitiable character. Few know, or have ever considered, in how wild an

element poor Peter was born and nursed; what a time he has had, since

his fifteenth year especially, when Cousin of Zerbst and he were

married. Perhaps the wildest and maddest any human soul had, during that

Century. I find in him, starting out from the Lethean quagmires where

he had to grow, a certain rash greatness of idea; traces of veritable

conviction, just resolution; veritable and just, though rash. That of

admiration for King Friedrich was not intrinsically foolish, in the

solitary thoughts of the poor young fellow; nay it was the reverse;

though it was highly inopportune in the place where he stood. Nor was

the Holstein notion bad; it was generous rather, noble and natural,

though, again, somewhat impracticable in the circumstances.

The summary of the Friedrich-Peter business is perhaps already known to

most readers, and can be very briefly given; nor is Peter's tragical Six

Months of Czarship (5th JANUARY-9th JULY, 1762) a thing for us to dwell

on beyond need. But it is wildly tragical; strokes of deep pathos in

it, blended with the ghastly and grotesque: it is part of Friedrich's

strange element and environment: and though the outer incidents are

public enough, it is essentially little known. Had there been an

AEschylus, had there been a Shakspeare!--But poor Peter's shocking Six

Months of History has been treated by a far different set of hands,

themselves almost shocking to see: and, to the seriously inquiring

mind, it lies, and will long lie, in a very waste, chaotic, enigmatic

condition. Here, out of considerable bundles now burnt, are some rough

jottings, Excerpts of Notes and Studies,--which, I still doubt rather,

ought to have gone in AUTO DA FE along with the others. AUTO DA FE I

called it; Act of FAITH, not Spanish-Inquisitional, but essentially

Celestial many times, if you reflect well on the poisonous consequences,

on the sinfulness and deadly criminality, of Human Babble,--as

nobody does nowadays! I label the different Pieces, and try to make

legible;--hasty readers have the privilege of skipping, if they like.

The first Two are of preliminary or prefatory nature,--perhaps still

more skippable than those that will by and by follow.

1. GENEALOGY OF PETER. "His grandfather was Friedrich IV., Duke of

Holstein-Gottorp and Schleswig, Karl XII.'s brother-in-law; on whose

score it was (Denmark finding the time opportune for a stroke of robbery

there) that Karl XII., a young lad hardly eighteen, first took arms; and

began the career of fighting that astonished Denmark and certain other

Neighbors who had been too covetous on a young King. This his young

Brother-in-law, Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp (young he too, though

Karl's senior by ten years), had been reinstated in his Territory, and

the Danes sternly forbidden farther burglary there, by the victorious

Karl; but went with Karl in his farther expeditions. Always Karl's

intimate, and at his right hand for the next two years: fell in the

Battle of Clissow, 19th July, 1702; age not yet thirty-one.

"He left as Heir a poor young Boy, at this time only two years old. His

young Widow Hedwig survived him six years. [Michaelis, ii. 618-629.] Her

poor child grew to manhood; and had tragic fortunes in this world;

Danes again burglarious in that part, again robbing this poor Boy at

discretion, so soon as Karl XII. became unfortunate; and refusing to

restore (have not restored Schleswig at all [A.D. 1864, HAVE at last had

to do it, under unexpected circumstances!]):--a grimly sad story to the

now Peter, his only Child! This poor Duke at last died, 18th June, 1739,

age thirty-nine; the now Peter then about 11,--who well remembers tragic

Papa; tragic Mamma not, who died above ten years before. [Michaelis, ii.

617; Hubner, tt. 227, 229.]

"Czar Peter called the Great had evidently a pity for this unfortunate

Duke, a hope in his just hopes; and pleaded, as did various others, and

endeavored with the unjust Danes, mostly without effect. Did, however,

give him one of his Daughters to wife;--the result of whom is this new

Czar Peter, called the Third: a Czar who is Sovereign of Holstein, and

has claims of Sovereignty in Sweden, right of heirship in Schleswig,

and of damages against Denmark, which are in litigation to this day. The

Czarina CATIN, tenderly remembering her Sister, would hear of no Heir to

Russia but this Peter. Peter, in virtue of his paternal affinities, was

elected King of Sweden about the same time; but preferred Russia,--with

an eye to his Danes, some think. For certain, did adopt the Russian

Expectancy, the Greek religion so called; and was," in the way we saw

long years ago, "married (or to all appearance married) to Catharina

Alexiewna of Anhalt-Zerbst, born in Stettin; [Herr Preuss knows the

house: "Now Dr. Lehmann's [at that time the Governor of Stettin's],

in which also Czar Paul's second Spouse [Eugen of Wurtemberg a NEW

Governor's Daughter], who is Mother of the Czars that follow, was born:"

Preuss, ii. 310, 311. Catharine, during her reign, was pious in a

small way to the place of her cradle; sent her successive MEDALS &c. to

Stettin, which still has them to show.] a Lady who became world-famous

as Czarina of the Russias.

"Peter is an abstruse creature; has lived, all this while, with his

Catharine an abstruse life, which would have gone altogether mad except

for Catharine's superior sense. An awkward, ardent, but helpless kind of

Peter, with vehement desires, with a dash of wild magnanimity even: but

in such an inextricable element, amid such darkness, such

provocations of unmanageable opulence, such impediments, imaginary and

real,--dreadfully real to poor Peter,--as made him the unique of

mankind in his time. He 'used to drill cats,' it is said, and to do the

maddest-looking things (in his late buried-alive condition);--and fell

partly, never quite, which was wonderful, into drinking, as the solution

of his inextricabilities. Poor Peter: always, and now more than ever,

the cynosure of vulturous vulpine neighbors, withal; which infinitely

aggravated his otherwise bad case!--

"For seven or eight years, there came no progeny, nor could come; about

the eighth or ninth, there could, and did: the marvellous Czar Paul that

was to be. Concerning whose exact paternity there are still calumnious

assertions widely current; to this individual Editor much a matter of

indifference, though on examining, his verdict is: 'Calumnies, to all

appearance; mysteries which decent or decorous society refuses to speak

of, and which indecent is pretty sure to make calumnies out of.' Czar

Paul may be considered genealogically genuine, if that is much an object

to him. Poor Paul, does not he father himself, were there nothing more?

Only that Peter and this Catharine could have begotten such a Paul.

Genealogically genuine enough, my poor Czar,--that needed to be garroted

so very soon!

2. OF CATHARINE AND THE BOOKS UPON PETER AND HER. "Catharine too had an

intricate time of it under the Catin; which was consoled to her only by

a tolerably rapid succession of lovers, the best the ground yielded.

In which department it is well known what a Thrice-Greatest she became:

superior to any Charles II.; equal almost to an August the Strong! Of

her loves now and henceforth, which are heartily uninteresting to me,

I propose to say nothing farther; merely this, That in extent they

probably rivalled the highest male sovereign figures (and are to be

put in the same category with these, and damned as deep, or a little

deeper);--and cost her, in gifts, in magnificent pensions to the EMERITI

(for she did things always in a grandiose manner, quietly and

yet inexorably dismissing the EMERITUS with stores of gold), the

considerable sum of 20 millions sterling, in the course of her long

reign. One, or at most two, were off on pension, when Hanbury Williams

brought Poniatowski for her, as we transiently saw. Poniatowski will be

King of Poland in the course of events....

"Russia is not a publishing country; the Books about Catharine are few,

and of little worth. TOOKE, an English Chaplain; CASTERA, an unknown

French Hanger-on, who copies from Tooke, or Tooke from him: these are

to be read, as the bad-best, and will yield little satisfactory insight;

Castera, in particular, a great deal of dubious backstairs gossip and

street rumor, which are not delightful to a reader of sense. In fine,

there has been published, in these very years, a FRAGMENT of early

AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Catharine herself,--a credible and highly remarkable

little Piece: worth all the others, if it is knowledge of Catharine

you are seeking. [_Memoires de l'Imperatrice Catharine II., ecrits par

elle-meme_ (A. Herzen editing; London, 1859)];--which we already cited,

on occasion of Catharine's marriage.

Anonymous (Castera), _Vie de Catharine II., Imperatrice de Russie_ a

Paris, 1797; or reprinted, most of it, enough of it, A VARSOVIE, 1798) 2

tomes, 8vo. Tooke, _Life of Catharine II._ (4th edition, London, 1800),

3 vols. 8vo; _View of the Russian Empire during &c._ (London, 1799), 3

vols. 8vo.-Hermann, _Geschichte des Russischen Staats_ (Hamburg, 1853

ET ANTEA), v. 241-308 et seq.; is by much the most solid Book, though a

dull and heavy. Stenzel cites, as does Hermann, a _Biographie Peters des

IIIten;_ which no doubt exists, in perhaps 3 volumes; but where, when,

by whom, or of what quality, they do not tell me. A most placid,

solid, substantial young Lady comes to light there; dropped into such

an element as might have driven most people mad. But it did not her; it

only made her wiser and wiser in her generation. Element black, hideous,

dirty, as Lapland Sorcery;--in which the first clear duty is, to hold

one's tongue well, and keep one's eyes open. Stars,--not very heavenly,

but of fixed nature, and heavenly to Catharine,--a star or two, shine

through the abominable murk: Steady, patient; steer silently, in all

weathers, towards these!

"Young Catharine's immovable equanimity in this distracted environment

strikes us very much. Peter is careering, tumbling about, on all manner

of absurd broomsticks, driven too surely by the Devil; terrific-absurd

big Lapland Witch, surrounded by multitudes smaller, and some of them

less ugly. Will be Czar of Russia, however;--and is one's so-called

Husband. These are prospects for an observant, immovably steady-going

young Woman! The reigning Czarina, old CATIN herself, is silently

the Olympian Jove to Catharine, who reveres her very much. Though

articulately stupid as ever, in this Book of Catharine's, she comes out

with a dumb weight, of silence, of obstinacy, of intricate abrupt rigor,

which--who knows but it may savor of dumb unconscious wisdom in the fat

old blockhead? The Book says little of her, and in the way of criticism,

of praise or of blame, nothing whatever; but one gains the notion of

some dark human female object, bigger than one had fancied it before.

"Catharine steered towards her stars. Lovers were vouchsafed her, of

a kind (her small stars, as we may call them); and, at length,

through perilous intricacies, the big star, Autocracy of All the

Russias,--through what horrors of intricacy, that last! She had hoped

always it would be by Husband Peter that she, with the deeper steady

head, would be Autocrat: but the intricacies kept increasing, grew at

last to the strangling pitch; and it came to be, between Peter and her,

'Either you to Siberia (perhaps FARTHER), or else I!' And it was Peter

that had to go;--in what hideous way is well enough known; no Siberia,

no Holstein thought to be far enough for Peter:--and Catharine, merely

weeping a little for him, mounted to the Autocracy herself. And then,

the big star of stars being once hers, she had, not in the lover kind

alone, but in all uncelestial kinds, whole nebulae and milky-ways of

small stars. A very Semiramis, the Louis-Quatorze of those Northern

Parts. 'Second Creatress of Russia,' second Peter the Great in a

sense. To me none of the loveliest objects; yet there are uglier,

how infinitely uglier: object grandiose, if not great."--We return to

Friedrich and the Death of Catin.

Colonel Hordt, I believe, was the first who credibly apprised Friedrich

of the great Russian Event. Colonel Hordt, late of the Free-Corps HORDT,

but captive since soon after the Kunersdorf time; and whose doleful

quasi-infernal "twenty-five months and three days" in the Citadel of

Petersburg have changed in one hour into celestial glories in the Court

of that City;--as readers shall themselves see anon. By Hordt or by

whomsoever, the instant Friedrich heard, by an authentic source, of the

new Czar's Accession, Friedrich hastened to turn round upon him with the

friendliest attitude, with arms as if ready to open; dismissing all his

Russian Prisoners; and testifying, in every polite and royal way, how

gladly he would advance if permitted. To which the Czar, by Hordt and

by other channels, imperially responded; rushing forward, he, as if with

arms flung wide.

January 31st is Order from the King, [In SCHONING, iii. 275 ("Breslau,

31st January, 1762").] That our Russian Prisoners, one and all, shod,

clad and dieted, be forthwith set under way from Stettin: in return

for which generosity the Prussians, from Siberia or wherever they were

buried, are, soon after, hastening home in like manner. Gudowitsh,

Peter's favorite Adjutant, who had been sent to congratulate at Zerbst,

comes round by Breslau (February 20th), and has joyfully benign audience

next day; directly on the heel of whom, Adjutant Colonel von Goltz, who

KAMMERHERR as well as Colonel, and understands things of business, goes

to Petersburg. February 23d, Czarish Majesty, to the horror of Vienna

and glad astonishment of mankind, emits Declaration (Note to all the

Foreign Excellencies in Petersburg), "That there ought to be Peace

with this King of Prussia; that Czarish Majesty, for his own part,

is resolved on the thing; gives up East Preussen and the so-called

conquests made; Russian participation in such a War has ceased." And

practically orders Czernichef, who is wintering with his 20,000 in

Glatz, to quit Glatz and these Austrian Combinations, and march homeward

with his 20,000. Which Czernichef, so soon as arrangements of proviant

and the like are made, hastens to do;--and does, as far as Thorn; but

no farther, for a reason that will be seen. On the last day of March,

Czernichef--off about a week ago from Glatz, and now got into the

Breslau latitude--came across, with a select Suite of Four, to pay his

court there; and had the honor to dine with his Majesty, and to be,

personally too, a Czernichef agreeable to his Majesty.

The vehemency of Austrian Diplomacies at Petersburg; and the horror of

Kaiserinn and Kriegshofrath in Vienna,--who have just discharged 20,000

of their own people, counting on this Czernichef, and being dreadfully

tight for money,--may be fancied. But all avails nothing. The ardent

Czar advances towards Friedrich with arms flung wide. Goltz and

Gudowitsh are engaged on Treaty of Peace; Czar frankly gives up East

Preussen, "Yours again; what use has Russia for it, Royal Friend?"

Treaty of Peace goes forward like the drawing of a Marriage-settlement

(concluded MAY 5th); and, in a month more, has changed into Treaty of

Alliance;--Czernichef ordered to stop short at Thorn; to turn back, and

join himself to this heroic King, instead of fighting against him.

Which again Czernichef, himself an admirer of this King, joyfully

does;--though, unhappily, not with all the advantage he expected to the

King.

Swedish Peace, Queen Ulrique and the Anti-French Party now getting the

upper hand, had been hastening forward in the interim (finished, at

Hamburg, MAY 2d): a most small matter in comparison to the Russian; but

welcome enough to Friedrich;--though he said slightingly of it, when

first mentioned: "Peace? I know not hardly of any War there has been

with Sweden;--ask Colonel Belling about it!" Colonel Belling, a most

shining swift Hussar Colonel, who, with a 2,000 sharp fellows, hanging

always on the Swedish flanks, sharp as lightning, "nowhere and yet

everywhere," as was said of him, has mainly, for the last year or two,

had the management of this extraordinary "War." Peace over all the

North, Peace and more, is now Friedrich's. Strangling imbroglio, wide

as the world, has ebbed to man's height; dawn of day has ripened into

sunrise for Friedrich; the way out is now a thing credible and visible

to him. Peter's friendliness is boundless; almost too boundless! Peter

begs a Prussian Regiment,--dresses himself in its uniform, Colonel of

ITZENPLITZ; Friedrich begs a Russian Regiment, Colonel of SCHUWALOF:

and all is joyful, hopeful; marriage-bells instead of dirge ditto and

gallows ditto,--unhappily not for very long.

In regard to Friedrich's feelings while all this went on, take the

following small utterances of his, before going farther. JANUARY 27th,

1762 (To Madam Camas,--eight days after the Russian Event): "I rejoice,

my good Mamma, to find you have such courage; I exhort you to redouble

it! All ends in this world; so we may hope this accursed War will not be

the only thing eternal there. Since death has trussed up a certain CATIN

of the Hyperborean Countries, our situation has advantageously changed,

and becomes more supportable than it was. We must hope that some other

events [favor of the new Czar mainly] will happen; by which we may

profit to arrive at a good Peace."

JANUARY 31st (To Minister Finkenstein) "Behold the first gleam of light

that rises;--Heaven be praised for it! We must hope good weather will

succeed these storms. God grant it!" [Preuss, ii. 312.]

END OF MARCH (To D'Argens):... "All that [at Paris; about the

Pompadourisms, the EXILE of Broglio and Brother, and your other news] is

very miserable; as well as that discrepancy between King's Council and

Parlement for and against the Jesuits! But, MON CHER MARQUIS, my head is

so ill, I can tell you nothing more,--except that the Czar of Russia is

a divine man; to whom I ought to erect altars." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_

xix. 301.]

MAY 25th (To the same,--Russian PEACE three weeks ago): "It is very

pleasant to me, dear Marquis, that Sans-Souci could afford you an

agreeable retreat during the beautiful Spring days. If it depended only

on me, how soon should I be there beside you! But to the Six Campaigns

there is a Seventh to be added, and will soon open; either because the

Number 7 had once mystic qualities, or because in the Book of Fate from

all eternity the"--... "Jesuits banished from France? Ah, yes:--hearing

of that, I made my bit of plan for them [mean to have my pick of them as

schoolmasters in Silesia here]; and am waiting only till I get Silesia

cleared of Austrians as the first thing. You see we must not mow the

corn till it is ripe." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. p. 321.]

MAY 28th (To the same):... Tartar Khan actually astir, 10,000 men of

his in Hungary (I am told); Turk potentially ditto, with 200,000 (futile

both, as ever): "All things show me the sure prospect of Peace by the

end of this Year; and, in the background of it, Sans-Souci and my dear

Marquis! A sweet calm springs up again in my soul; and a feeling of

hope, to which for six years I had got unused, consoles me for all I

have come through. Think only what a coil I shall be in, before a month

hence [Campaign opened by that time, horrid Game begun again]; and

what a pass we had come to, in December last: Country at its last gasp

(AGONISAIT), as if waiting for extreme unction: and now--!" [Ib. xix.

323.]...

JUNE 8th (To Madame Camas,--Russian ALLIANCE now come): "I know well,

my good Mamma, the sincere part you take in the lucky events that befall

us. The mischief is, we are got so low, that we want at present all

manner of fortunate events to raise us again; and Two grand conclusions

of Peace [the Russian, the Swedish], which might re-establish Peace

throughout, are at this moment only a step towards finishing the War

less unfortunately." [Ib. xviii. 146, 147.]*

Same day, JUNE 8th (To D'Argens): "Czernichef is on march to join us.

Our Campaign will not open till towards the end of this month [did

open July 1st]; but think then what a pretty noise in this poor Silesia

again! In fine, my dear Marquis, the job ahead of me is hard and

difficult; and nobody can say positively how it will all go. Pray for

us; and don't forget a poor devil who kicks about strangely in his

harness, who leads the life of one damned; and who nevertheless loves

you sincerely.--Adieu." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. 327.] D'Argens (May

24th) has heard, by Letters from very well-informed persons in Vienna,

that "Imperial Majesty, for some time past, spends half of her time in

praying to the Virgin, and the other half in weeping." "I wish her,"

adds the ungallant D'Argens, "as punishment for the mischiefs her

ambition has cost mankind these seven years past, the fate of Phaethon's

Sisters, and that she melt altogether into water!" [Ib. xix. 320 ("24th

May, 1762").]--Take one other little utterance; and then to Colonel

Hordt and the Petersburg side of things.

JUNE 19th (still to D'Argens); "What is now going on in Russia no Count

Kaunitz could foresee: what has come to pass in England,--of which

the hatefulest part [Bute's altogether extraordinary attempts, in the

Kaunitz, in the Czar Peter direction, to FORCE a Peace upon me] is not

yet known to you,--I had no notion of, in forming my plans! The Governor

of a State, in troublous times, never can be sure. This is what disgusts

me with the business, in comparison. A Man of Letters operates on

something certain; a Politician can have almost no data of that kind."

[Ib. xix. p. 329.] (How easy everybody's trade but one's own!)

Readers know what a tragedy poor Peter's was. His Czernichef did join

the King; but with far less advantage than Czernichef or anybody had

anticipated!--It is none of our intention to go into the chaotic Russian

element, or that wildly blazing sanguinary Catharine-and-Peter

business; of which, at any rate, there are plentiful accounts in common

circulation, more or less accurate,--especially M. Rulhiere's, [Histoire

ou Anecdotes sur la Revolution de Russie en l'annes 1762 (written 1768;

first printed Paris, 1797: English Translation, London, 1797).] the most

succinct, lucid and least unsatisfactory, in the accessible languages.

Only so far as Friedrich was concerned are we. But readers saw this

Couple married, under Friedrich's auspices,--a Marriage which he thought

important twenty years ago; and sure enough the Dissolution of it did

prove important to him, and is a necessary item here!

Readers, even those that know RULHIERE, will doubtless consent to a

little supplementing from Two other Eye-witnesses of credit. The first

and principal is a respectable Ex-Swedish Gentleman, whom readers used

to hear of; the Colonel Hordt above mentioned, once of the Free-Corps

HORDT, but fallen Prisoner latterly;--whose experiences and reports are

all the more interesting to us, as Friedrich himself had specially to

depend on them at present; and doubtless, in times long afterwards, now

and then heard speech of them from Hordt. Our second Eye-witness is the

Reverend Herr Doctor Busching (of the ERDBESCHREIBUNG, of the BEITRAGE,

and many other Works, an invaluable friend to us all along); who, in

his wandering time, had come to be "Pastor of the GERMAN CHURCH AT

PETERSBURG," some years back.

WHAT COLONEL HORDT AND THE OTHERS SAW AT PETERSBURG (January-July,

1762).

Autumn, 1759, in the sequel to KUNERSDORF,--when the Russians and Daun

lay so long torpid, uncertain what to do except keep Friedrich and

Prince Henri well separate, and Friedrich had such watchings, campings

and marchings about on the hither skirt of them (skirt always veiled in

Cossacks, and producing skirmishes as you marched past),--we did mention

Hordt's capture; [Supra, vol. x. p. 315.] not much hoping that readers

could remember it in such a press of things more memorable. It was in,

or as prelude to, one of those skirmishes (one of the earliest, and a

rather sharp one, "at Trebatsch," in Frankfurt-Lieberose Country,

"4th September, 1759"), that Hordt had his misfortune: he had been out

reconnoitring, with an Orderly or two, before the skirmish began, was

suddenly "surrounded by 200 Cossacks," and after desperate plunging into

bogs, desperate firing of pistols and the like, was taken prisoner. Was

carted miserably to Petersburg,--such a journey for dead ennui as Hordt

never knew; and was then tumbled out into solitary confinement in the

Citadel, a place like the Spanish Inquisition; not the least notice

taken of his request for a few Books, for leave to answer his poor

Wife's Letter, merely by the words, "Dear one, I am alive;"--and was

left there, to the company of his own reflections, and a life as if in

vacant Hades, for twenty-five months and three days. After the lapse

of that period, he has something to say to us again, and we transiently

look in upon him there.

The Book we excerpt from is _Memoires du Comte de Hordt_ (second

edition, 2 volumes 12mo, Berlin, 1789). This is Bookseller Pitra's

redaction of the Hordt Autobiography (Berlin, 1788, was Pitra's first

edition): several years after, how many is not said, nor whether Hordt

(who had become a dignitary in Berlin society before Pitra's feat) was

still living or not, a "M. Borelly, Professor in the Military School,"

undertook a second considerably enlarged and improved redaction;--of

which latter there is an English Translation; easy enough to read; but

nearly without meaning, I should fear, to readers unacquainted with the

scene and subject. [_Memoirs of the Count de Hordt:_ London, 1806: 2

vols. 12mo,--only the FIRST volume of which (unavailable here) is in my

possession.] Hordt was reckoned a perfectly veracious, intelligent kind

of man: but he seldom gives the least date, specification or precise

detail; and his Book reads, not like the Testimony of an Eye-witness,

which it is, and valuable when you understand it; but more like some

vague Forgery, compiled by a destitute inventive individual, regardless

of the Ten Commandments (sparingly consulting even his file of Old

Newspapers), and writing a Book which would deserve the tread-mill, were

there any Police in his trade!--

WEDNESDAY, 6th JANUARY, 1762, Hordt's vacant Hades of an existence in

the Citadel of Petersburg was broken by a loud sound: three minute-guns

went off from different sides, close by; and then whole salvos, peal

after peal: "Czarina gone overnight, Peter III. Czar in her stead!"

said the Officer, rushing in to tell Hordt; to whom it was as news of

resurrection from the dead. "Evening of same day, an Aide-de-Camp of

the new Czar came to announce my liberty; equipage waiting to take me

at once to his Russian Majesty. Asked him to defer it till the following

day--so agitated was I." And indeed the Czar, busy taking acclamations,

oaths of fealty, riding about among his Troops by torchlight, could have

made little of me that evening. [Hermann, _Geschichte des Russischen

Staats,_ v. 241.] "Ultimately, my presentation was deferred till Sunday"

January 10th, "that it might be done with proper splendor, all the

Nobility being then usually assembled about his Majesty."

"JANUARY 10th, Waited, amid crowds of Nobility, in the Gallery,

accordingly. Was presented in the Gallery, through which the Czar,

followed by Czarina and all the Court, were passing on their way to

Chapel. Czar made a short kind speech ('Delighted to do you an act of

justice, Monsieur, and return a valuable servant to the King I esteem');

gave me his hand to kiss: Czarina did the same. General Korf," an

excellent friend, so kind to me at Konigsberg, while I was getting

carted hither, and a General now in high office here, "who had been

my introducer, led me into Chapel, to the Court's place (TRIBUNE DE LA

COUR). Czar came across repeatedly [while public worship was going on; a

Czar perhaps too regardless that way!] to talk to me; dwelt much on his

attachment to the King. On coming out, the Head Chamberlain whispered

me, 'You dine with the Court.'" Which, of course, I did.

"Table was of sixty covers; splendid as the Arabian Tales. Czar and

Czarina sat side by side; Korf and I had the honor to be placed opposite

them. Hardly were we seated when the Czar addressed me: 'You have had

no Prussian news this long while. I am glad to tell you that the King

is well, though he has had such fighting to right and left;--but I hope

there will soon be an end to all that.' Words which everybody listened

to like prophecy! [Peter is nothing of a Politician.] 'How long have you

been in prison?' continued the Czar. 'Twenty-five months and three days,

your Majesty.' 'Were you well treated?' Hordt hesitated, knew not what

to say; but, the Czar urging him, confessed, 'He had been always rather

badly used; not even allowed to buy a few books to read.' At which the

Czarina was evidently shocked: 'CELA EST BIEN BARBARE!' she exclaimed

aloud.--I wished much to return home at once; and petitioned the Czar on

that subject, during coffee, in the withdrawing rooms; but he answered,

'No, you must not,--not till an express Prussian Envoy arrive!' I had

to stay, therefore; and was thenceforth almost daily at Court",--but

unluckily a little vague, and altogether DATELESS as to what I saw

there!

BIEREN AND MUNNICH, BOTH OF THEM JUST HOME FROM SIBERIA, ARE TO DRINK

TOGETHER (No date: Palace of Petersburg, Spring, 1762).--Peter had begun

in a great way: all for liberalism, enlightenment, abolition of abuses,

general magnanimity on his own and everybody's part. Rulhiere did not

see the following scene; but it seems to be well enough vouched for, and

Rulhiere heard it talked of in society. "As many as 20,000 persons,

it is counted, have come home from Siberian Exile:" the L'Estocs, the

Munnichs, Bierens, all manner of internecine figures, as if risen

from the dead. "Since the night when Munnich arrested Bieren [readers

possibly remember it, and Mannstein's account of it [Supra, vol. vii. p.

363.]], the first time these two met was in the gay and tumultuous crowd

which surrounded the new Czar. 'Come, bygones be bygones,' said Peter,

noticing them; 'let us three all drink together, like friends!'--and

ordered three glasses of wine. Peter was beginning his glass to show the

others an example, when somebody came with a message to him, which was

delivered in a low tone; Peter listening drank out his wine, set down

the glass, and hastened off; so that Bieren and Munnich, the two old

enemies, were left standing, glass in hand, each with his eyes on the

Czar's glass;--at length, as the Czar did not return, they flashed each

his eyes into the other's face; and after a moment's survey, set

down their glasses untasted, and walked off in opposite directions."

[Rulhiere, p. 33.] Won't coalesce, it seems, in spite of the Czar's high

wishes. An emblem of much that befell the poor Czar in his present high

course of good intentions and headlong magnanimities!--We return to

Hordt:--

THE CZAR WEARS A PORTRAIT OF FRIEDRICH ON HIS FINGER. "Czar Peter never

disguised his Prussian predilections. One evening he said, 'Propose to

your friend Keith [English Excellency here, whom we know] to give me a

supper at his house to-morrow night. The other Foreign Ministers will

perhaps be jealous; but I don't care!' Supper at the English Embassy

took place. Only ten or twelve persons, of the Czar's choosing, were

present. Czar very gay and in fine spirits. Talked much of the King

of Prussia. Showed me a signet-ring on his finger, with Friedrich's

Portrait in it; ring was handed round the table." [Hordt, ii. 118, 124,

129.] This is a signet-ring famous at Court in these months. One day

Peter had lost it (mislaid somewhere), and got into furious explosion

till it was found for him again. [Hermann, v. 258.] Let us now hear

Busching, our Geographical Friend, for a moment:--

HERR PASTOR BUSCHING DOES THE HOMAGING FOR SELF AND PEOPLE.... "In most

Countries, it is Official or Military People that administer the Oath of

Homage, on a change of Sovereigns. But in Petersburg, among the German

population, it is the Pastors of their respective Churches. At the

accession of Peter III., I, for the first time [being still a young

hand rather than an old], took the Oath from several thousands in my

Church,"--and handed it over, with my own, in the proper quarter.

"As to the Congratulatory Addresses, the new Czar received the

Congratulations of all classes, and also of the Pastors of the Foreign

Churches, in the following manner. He came walking slowly through

a suite of rooms, in each of which a body of Congratulators were

assembled. Court-officials preceded, State-officials followed him. Then

came the Czarina, attended in a similar way. And always on entering a

new room they received a new Congratulation from the spokesman of the

party there. The spokesman of us Protestant Pastors was my colleague,

Senior Trefurt; but the General-in-Chief and Head-of-Police, Baron von

Korf [Hordt's friend, known to us above, German, we perceive, by creed

and name], thinking it was I that had to make the speech, and intending

to present me at the same time to the Czar, motioned to me from his

place behind the Czar to advance. But I did not push forward; thinking

it inopportune and of no importance to me."--"Neither did I share the

great expectations which Baron von Korf and everybody entertained of

this new reign. All people now promised themselves better times, without

reflecting [as they should have done!] that the better men necessary

to produce these were nowhere forthcoming!" [Busching's _Beitrage,_ vi.

("Author's own Biography") 462 et seq.]

For the first two or three months, Peter was the idol of all the world:

such generosities and magnanimities; Such zeal and diligence, one

magnanimous improvement following another! He had at once abolished

Torture in his Law-Courts: resolved to have a regular Code of Laws,--and

Judges to be depended on for doing justice. He "destroyed monopolies;"

"lowered the price of salt." To the joy of everybody, he had hastened

(January 18th, second week of reign) to abolish the SECRET CHANCERY,--a

horrid Spanish-Inquisition engine of domestic politics. His Nobility he

had determined should be noble: January 28th (third week of reign just

beginning), he absolved the Nobility from all servile duties to him:

"You can travel when and where you please; you are not obliged to serve

in my Armies; you may serve in anybody's not at war with me!" under

plaudits loud and universal from that Order of men. And was petitioned

by a grateful Petersburg world: "Permit us, magnanimous Czar, to raise

a statue of your Majesty in solid Gold!" "Don't at all!" answered

Peter: "Ah, if by good governing I could raise a memorial in my People's

hearts; that would be the Statue for me!" [Hermann, v. 248.] Poor

headlong Peter!--It was a less lucky step that of informing the Clergy

(date not given), That in the Czarship lay Spiritual Sovereignty as well

as Temporal, and that HE would henceforth administer their rich Abbey

Lands and the like:--this gave a sad shock to the upper strata of

Priesthood, extending gradually to the lower, and ultimately raising an

ominous general thought (perhaps worse than a general cry) of "Church in

Danger! Alas, is our Czar regardless of Holy Religion, then? Perhaps, at

heart still Lutheran, and has no Religion?" This, and his too headlong

Prussian tendencies, are counted to have done him infinite mischief.

HERR BUSCHING SEES THE CZAR ON HORSEBACK. "When the Czar's own Regiment

of Cuirassiers came to Petersburg, the Czar, dressed in the uniform

of the regiment, rode out to meet it; and returning at its head, rode

repeatedly through certain quarters of the Town. His helmet was buckled

tight with leather straps under the chin; he sat his horse as upright

and stiff as a wooden image; held his sabre in equally stiff manner;

turned fixedly his eyes to the right; and never by a hair's-breadth

changed that posture. In such attitude he twice passed my house with his

regiment, without changing a feature at sight of the many persons who

crowded the windows. To me [in my privately austere judgment] he seemed

so KLEINGEISTISCH, so small-minded a person, that I"--in fact, knew not

what to think of it. [Busching, _Beitrage,_ vi. 464.]

HORDT SEES THE DECEASED CZARINA LYING IN STATE. "One day, after dining

at Court, General Korf proposed that we should go and see the LIT DE

PARADE" (Parade-bed) of the late Czarina, which is in another Palace,

not far off. "Count Schuwalof [NOT her old lover, who has DIED since

her, poor old creature; but his Son, a cultivated man, afterwards

Voltaire's friend] accompanied us; and, his rooms being contiguous to

those of the dead Lady, he asked us to take coffee with him afterwards.

The Imperial Bier stood in the Grand Saloon, which was hung all round

with black, festooned and garlanded with cloth-of-silver; the glare of

wax-lights quite blinding. Bier, covered with cloth-of-gold trimmed with

silver lace, was raised upon steps. A rich Crown was on the head of the

dead Czarina. Beside the bier stood Four Ladies, two on each hand, in

grand mourning; immense crape training on the ground behind them. Two

Officers of the Life-Guard occupied the lowest steps: on the topmost, at

the foot of the bier, was an Archimandrite (superior kind of ABBOT),

who had a Bible before him, from which he read aloud,--continuously till

relieved by another. This went on day and night without interruption.

All round the bier, on stools (TABOURETS), were placed different Crowns,

and the insignia of various Orders,--those of Prussia, among others. It

being established usage, I had, to my great repugnance, to kiss the hand

of the corpse! We then talked a little to the Ladies in attendance (with

their crape trains), joking about the article of hand-kissing; finally

we adjourned for coffee to Count Schuwalof's apartments, which were of

an incredible magnificence." That same evening, farther on,--

"I supped with the Czar in his PETIT APPARTEMENT, Private Rooms [a

fine free-and-easy nook of space!]. The company there consisted of the

Countess Woronzow, a creature without any graces, bodily or mental, whom

the Czar had chosen for his Mistress [snub-nosed, pock-marked, fat, and

with a pert tongue at times], whom I liked the less, as there were

one or two other very handsome women there. Some Courtiers too; and no

Foreigners but the English Envoy and myself. The supper was very gay,

and was prolonged late into the night. These late orgies, however, did

not prevent his Majesty from attending to business in good time next

morning. He would appear unexpectedly, at an early hour, at the Senate,

at the Synod [Head CONSISTORY], making them stand to their duties,"--or

pretend to do it. His Majesty is not understood to have got much real

work out of either of these Governing Bodies; the former, the Senate, or

SECULAR one, which had fallen very torpid latterly, was, not long after

this, suffered to die out altogether. Peter himself was a violently

pushing man, and never shrank from labor; always in a plunge of hurries,

and of irregular hours. In his final time, people whispered, "The

Czar is killing himself; sits smoking, tippling, talking till 2 in the

morning; and is overhead in business again by 7!"

CZARINA ELIZABETH'S FUNERAL, AS SEEN BY HORDT (much abridged). "At 10

in the morning all the bells in Petersburg broke out; and tolled

incessantly [day or month not hinted at,--nor worth seeking; grim

darkness of universal frost perceptible enough; clangor of bells;

and procession seemingly of miles long,--on this extremely high

errand!]--Minute-guns were fired from the moment the procession set

out from the Castle till it arrived at the Citadel, a distance of two

English miles and a half. Planks were laid all the way; forming a sort

of bridge through the streets, and over the ice of the Neva. All the

soldiers of the Garrison were ranked in espalier on each side. Three

hundred grenadiers opened the march; after them, three hundred priests,

in sacerdotal costume; walking two-and-two, singing hymns. All

the Crowns and Orders, above mentioned by me, were carried by high

Dignitaries of the Court, walking in single file, each a chamberlain

behind him. Hearse was followed by the Czar, skirt of his black cloak

held up by Twelve Chamberlains, each a lighted taper in the OTHER hand.

Prince George of Holstein [Czar's Uncle] came next, then Holstein-Beck

[Czar's Cousin]. Czarina Catharine followed, also on foot, with

a lighted taper; her cloak borne by all her Ladies. Three hundred

grenadiers closed the procession. Bells tolling, minute-guns firing,

seas of people crowding."--Thus the Russians buried their Czarina. Day

and its dusky frost-curtains sank; and Bootes, looking down from the

starry deeps, found one Telluric Anomaly forever hidden from him. She

had left of unworn Dresses, the richest procurable in Nature (five a day

her usual allowance, and never or seldom worn twice), "15,000 and some

hundreds." [Hermann, v. 176.]

HORDT IS OF THE NEW CZARINA CATHARINE'S EVENING PARTIES. "The Czarina

received company every morning. She received everybody with great

affability and grace. But notwithstanding her efforts to appear gay, one

could perceive a deep background of sadness in her. She knew better than

anybody the violent (ARDENTE) character of her husband; and perhaps

she then already foresaw what would come. She also had her circle every

evening, and always asked the company to stay supper. One evening, when

I was of her party, a confidential Equerry of the Czar came in, and

whispered me That I had been searched for all over Town, to come

to supper at the COUNTESS'S (that was the usual designation of the

Sultana,"--DAS FRAULEIN, spelt in Russian ways, is the more usual).

"I begged to be excused for this time, being engaged to sup with the

Czarina, to whom I could not well state the reason for which I was to

leave. The Equerry had not gone long, when suddenly a great noise was

heard, the two wings of the door were flung open, and the Czar entered.

He saluted politely the Czarina and her circle; called me with that

smiling and gracious air which he always had; took me by the arm, and

said to the Czarina: 'Excuse me, Madam, if to-night I carry off one of

your guests; it is this Prussian I had searched for all over the Town.'

The Czarina laughed; I made her a deep bow, and went away with my

conductor. Next morning I went to the Czarina; who, without mentioning

what had passed last night, said smiling, 'Come and sup with me always

when there is nothing to prevent it.'"

FEBRUARY 21st, HORDT AT ZARSKOE-ZELOE. "On occasion of the Czar's

birthday [which gives us a date, for once], [Michaelis, ii. 627: "Peter

born, 21st February, 1728."] there were great festivities, lasting a

week. It began with a grand TE DEUM, at which the Czar was present, but

not the Czarina. She had, that morning, in obedience to her husband's

will, decorated 'the Countess' with the cordon of the Order of St.

Catharine. She was now detained in her Apartment 'by indisposition;'

and did not leave it during the eight days the festivities lasted." This

happened at the Country Palace, Zarskoe-Zeloe; and is a turning-point in

poor Peter's History. [Hermann, p. 253.] From that day, his Czarina saw

that, by the medium of her Peter, it was not she that would ever come to

be Autocrat; not she, but a pock-marked, unbeautiful Person, with Cordon

of the Order of St. Catharine,--blessings on it! From that day the

Czarina sat brooding her wrongs and her perils,--wrongs DONE, very

many, and now wrongs to be SUFFERED, who can say how many! She perceives

clearly that the Czar is gone from her, fixedly sullen at her (not

without cause);--and that Siberia, or worse, is possible by and by. The

Czarina was helplessly wretched for some time; and by degrees entered

on a Plot;--assisted by Princess Dashkof (Sister of the Snub-nosed), by

Panin (our Son's Tutor, "a genuine Son, I will swear, whatever the

Papa may think in his wild moments!"), by Gregory Orlof (one's present

Lover), and others of less mark;--and it ripened exquisitely within the

next four months!--

HORDT HEARS THE PRAISES OF HIS KING. "Next day [nobody can guess what

DAY] I dined at Court. I sat opposite the Czar, who talked of nothing

but of his 'good friend the King of Prussia.' He knew all the smallest

details of his Campaigns; all his military arrangements; the dress

and strength of all his Regiments; and he declared aloud that he would

shortly put all his troops upon the same footing [which he did shortly,

to the great disgust of his troops].--Rising from table, the Czar

himself did me the honor to say, 'Come to-morrow; dine with me EN PETIT

APPARTEMENT [on the SNUG, where we often play high-jinks, and go to

great lengths in liquor and tobacco]; I will show you something

curious, which you will like.' I went at the accustomed hour; I

found--Lieutenant-General Werner [hidden since his accident at Colberg

last winter, whom a beneficent Czar has summoned again into the light

of noon]! I made a great friendship with this distinguished General, who

was a charming man; and went constantly about with him, till he left me

here,"--Czarish kindness letting Werner home, and detaining me, to my

regret. [HORDT, i. 133-145, 151.]

The Prussian Treaties, first of Peace (May 5th), with all our Conquests

flung back, and then of Alliance, with yourself and ourselves, as it

were, flung into the bargain,--were by no means so popular in Petersburg

as in Berlin! From May 5th onwards, we can suppose Peter to be, perhaps

rather rapidly, on the declining hand. Add the fatal element, "Church

in Danger" (a Czar privately Apostate); his very Guardsmen indignant

at their tight-fitting Prussian uniforms, and at their no less tight

Prussian DRILL (which the Czar is uncommonly urgent with); and a Czarina

Plot silently spreading on all sides, like subterranean mines filled

with gunpowder!--

HERR BUSCHING SEES THE CATASTROPHE (Friday, 9th July, 1762). "This being

the day before Peter-and-Paul, which is a great Holiday in Petersburg, I

drove out, between 9 and 10 in the morning, to visit the sick. On my way

from the first house where I had called, I heard a distant noise like

that of a rising thunder-storm, and asked my people what it was.

They did not know; but it appeared to them like the Shouting of a Mob

(VOLKSGESCHREI), and there were all sorts of rumors afloat. Some said,

'The Czar had suddenly resolved to get himself crowned at Petersburg,

before setting out for the War on Denmark.' Others said, 'He had named

the Czarina to be Regent during his absence, and that she was to be

crowned for this purpose.' These rumors were too silly: meanwhile the

noise perceptibly drew nearer; and I ordered my coachman to proceed no

farther, but to turn home.

"On getting home, I called my Wife; and told her, That something

extraordinary was then going on, but that I could not learn what; that

it appeared to me like some popular Tumult, which was coming nearer to

us every moment. We hurried to the corner room of our house; threw open

the window, which looks to the Church of St. Mary of Casan [where an

Act of Thanksgiving has just been consummated, of a very peculiar

kind!]--and we then saw, near this Church, an innumerable crowd of

people; dressed and half-dressed soldiers of the foot-regiments of the

Guards mixed with the populace. We perceived that the crowd pressed

round a common two-seated Hackney Coach drawn by two horses; in which,

after a few minutes, a Lady dressed in black, and wearing the Order

of St. Catharine, coming out of the church, took a seat. Whereupon

the church-bells began ringing, and the priests, with their assistants

carrying crosses, got into procession, and walked before the Coach. We

now recognized that it was the Czarina Catharine saluting the multitude

to right and left, as she fared along." [_Beitrage,_ vi. 465: compare

RULHIERE, p. 95; HERMANN, v. 287.]

Yes, Doctor, that Lady in black is the Czarina; and has come a drive

of twenty miles this morning; and done a great deal of business in

Town,--one day before the set time. In her remote Apartment at Peterhof,

this morning, between 2 and 3, she awoke to see Alexei Orlof, called

oftener SCARRED Orlof (Lover GREGORY'S Brother), kneeling at her

bedside, with the words, "Madam, you must come: there is not a moment to

lose!"--who, seeing her awake, vanished to get the vehicles ready. About

7, she, with the Scarred and her maid and a valet or two, arrived at the

Guards' Barracks here,--Gregory Orlof, and others concerned, waiting to

receive her, in the fit temper for playing at sharps. She has spoken a

little, wept a little, to the Guards (still only half-dressed, many of

them): "Holy religion, Russian Empire thrown at the feet of Prussia; my

poor Son to be disinherited: Alack, ohoo!" Whereupon the Guards (their

Officers already gained by Orlof) have indignantly blazed up into the

fit Hurra-hurra-ing:--and here, since about 9 A.M., we have just been in

the "Church of St. Mary of Casan" ("Oh, my friends, Orthodox Religion,

first of all!") doing TE-DEUMS and the other Divine Offices, for the

thrice-happy Revolution and Deliverance now vouchsafed us and you! And

the Herr Doctor, under outburst of the chimes of St. Mary, and of the

jubilant Soldieries and Populations, sees the Czarina saluting to right

and left; and Priests, with their assistants and crucifixes ("Behold

them, ye Orthodox; is there anything equal to true Religion?"), walking

before her Hackney Coach.

"On the one step of her Coach," continues the Herr Doctor, "stood

Grigorei Grigorjewitsh Orlow," so he spells him, "and in front of

it, with drawn sword, rode the Field-marshal and Hetman Count

Kirila Grigorjewitsh Rasomowski, Colonel of the Ismailow Guard.

Lieutenant-General (soon to be General-Ordnance-Master) Villebois came

galloping up; leapt from his horse under our windows, and placed himself

on the other step of the Coach. The procession passed before our house;

going first to the New stone Palace, then to the Old wooden Winter

Palace. Common Russians shouted mockingly up to us, 'Your god [meaning

the Czar] is dead!' And others, 'He is gone; we will have no more of

him!'"--

About this hour of the day, at Oranienbaum (ORANGE-TREE, some twenty

miles from here, and from Peterhof guess ten or twelve), Czar Peter is

drilling zealously his brave Holsteiners (2,000 or more, "the flower of

all my troops"); and has not, for hours after, the least inkling of all

this. Catharine had been across to visit him on Wednesday, no farther

back; and had kindled Oranienbaum into opera, into illumination and

what not. Thursday (yesterday), Czar and Czarina met at some Grandee's

festivity, who lives between their two Residences. This day the Czar

is appointed for Peterhof; to-morrow, July 10th (Peter-and-Paul's

grand Holiday), Czar, Czarina and united Court were to have done the

Festivities together there,--with Czarina's powder-mine of Plot laid

under them; which latter has exploded one day sooner, in the present

happy manner! The poor Czar, this day, on getting to Peterhof, and

finding Czarina vanished, understood too well; he saw "big smoke-clouds

rise suddenly over Petersburg region," withal,--"Ha, she has cannon

going for her yonder; salvoing and homaging!"--and rushed back to

Oranienbaum half mad. Old Munnich undertook to save him, by one, by two

or even three different methods, "Only order me, and stand up to it with

sword bare!"--but Peter's wits were all flying miscellaneously about,

and he could resolve on nothing.

Peter and his Czarina never met more. Saturday (to-morrow), he

abdicates; drives over to Peterhof, expecting, as per bargain, interview

with his Wife; freedom to retire to Holstein, and "every sort of

kindness compatible with his situation:" but is met there instead, on

the staircase, by brutal people, who tear the orders off his coat, at

length the very clothes off his back,--and pack him away to Ropscha, a

quiet Villa some miles off, to sit silent there till Orlof and Company

have considered. Consideration is: "To Holstein? He has an Anti-Danish

Russian Army just now in that neighborhood; he will not be safe in

Holstein;--where will he be safe?" Saturday, 17th, Peter's seventh day

in Ropscha, the Orlofs (Scarred Orlof and Four other miscreants, one of

them a Prince, one a Play-actor) came over, and murdered poor Peter, in

a treacherous, and even bungling and disgusting, and altogether hideous

manner. "A glass of burgundy [poisoned burgundy], your Highness?"

said they, at dinner with his poor Highness. On the back of which, the

burgundy having failed and been found out, came grappling and hauling,

trampling, shrieking, and at last strangulation. Surely the Devil will

reward such a Five of his Elect?--But we detain Herr Busching: it is

still only Friday morning, 9th of the month; and the Czarina's Hackney

Coach, in the manner of a comet and tail, has just gone into other

streets:--

"After this terrible uproar had left our quarter, I hastened to the

Danish Ambassador, Count Haxthausen, who lived near me, to bring him

the important news that the Czar was said to be dead. The Count was just

about to burn a mass of Papers, fearing the mob would plunder his house;

but he did not proceed with it now, and thanked Heaven for saving his

Country. His Secretary of Legation, my friend Schumacher, gave me all

the money he had in his pockets, to distribute amongst the poor; and I

returned home. Directly after, there passed our house, at a rate as if

the horses were running away, a common two-horse coach, in which sat

Head-Tutor (OBER-HOFMEISTER) von Panin with the Grand Duke [famous Czar

Paul that is to be], who was still in his nightgown," poor frightened

little boy!--

"Not long after, I saw some of the Foot-guards, in the public street

near the Winter Palace, selling, at rates dog-cheap, their new uniforms

after the Prussian cut, which they had stript off; whilst others,

singing merrily, carried about, stuck on the top of their muskets, or

on their bayonets, their new grenadier caps of Prussian fashion. [See

in HERMANN (v. 291) the Saxon Ambassador's Report.] I saw several

soldiers, out on errand or otherwise, seizing the coaches they met in

the streets, and driving on in them. Others appropriated the eatables

which hucksters carried about in baskets. But in all this wild tumult,

nobody was killed; and only at Oranienbaum a few Holstein soldiers got

wounded by some low Russians, in their wantonness.

"July 11th, the disorder amongst the soldiers was at its height; yet

still much less than might have been expected. Many of them entered the

houses of Foreigners, and demanded money. Seeing a number of them come

into my house, I hastily put a quantity of roubles and half-roubles in

my pocket, and went out with a servant, especially with a cheerful face,

to meet them,"--and no harm was done.

"SATURDAY, JULY 17th, was the day of the Czar's death; on the same 17th,

the Empress was informed of it; and next day, his body was brought from

Ropscha to the Convent of St. Alexander Newski, near Petersburg. Here

it lay in state three days; nay, an Imperial Manifesto even ordered that

the last honors and duty be paid to it. July 20th, I drove thither with

my Wife; and to be able to view the body more minutely, we passed twice

through the room where it lay. [An uncommonly broad neckcloth on it, did

you observe?] Owing to the rapid dissolution, it had to be interred

on the following day:--and it was a touching circumstance, that this

happened to be the very day on which the Czar had fixed to start from

Petersburg on his Campaign against Denmark." [Busching, vi. 464-467.]

Catharine, one must own with a shudder, has not attained the Autocracy

of All the Russias gratis. Let us hope she would once--till driven upon

a dire alternative--have herself shuddered to purchase at such a price.

A kind of horror haunts one's notion of her red-handed brazen-faced

Orlofs and her, which all the cosmetics of the world will never quite

cover. And yet, on the spot, in Petersburg at the moment--! Read this

Clipping from Smelfungus, on a collateral topic:--

"In BUSCHING'S MAGAZINE are some Love-letters from the old Marshal

Munnich to Catharine just after this event, which are psychologically

curious. Love-letters, for they partake of that character; though the

man is 82, and has had such breakages and vicissitudes in this Earth.

Alive yet, it would seem; and full of ambitions. Unspeakably beautiful

is this young Woman to him; radiant as ox-eyed Juno, as Diana of the

silver bow,--such a power in her to gratify the avarices, ambitions,

cupidities of an insatiable old fellow: O divine young Empress, Aurora

of bright Summer epochs, rosy-fingered daughter of the Sun,--grant me

the governing of This, the administering of That: and see what a thing

I will make of it (I, an inventive old gentleman), for your Majesty's

honor and glory, and my own advantage! [Busching, _Magazin fur die neue

Historie und Geographie_ (Halle, Year 1782), xvi. 413-477 (22 LETTERS,

and only thrice or so a word of RESPONSE from "MA DIVINITE:"

dates, "Narva, 4th August, 1762"... "Petersburg, 3d October,

1762").]--Innumerable persons of less note than Munnich have

their Biographies, and are known to the reading public and in all

barbers'-shops, if that were an advantage to them. Very considerable,

this Munnich, as a soldier, for one thing. And surely had very strange

adventures; an original German character withal:--about the stature of

Belleisle, for example; and not quite unlike Belleisle in some of his

ways? Came originally from the swamps of Oldenburg, or Lower Weser

Country,--son of a DEICHGRAFE (Ditch-Superintendent) there. REQUIESCANT

in oblivious silence, Belleisle and he; it is better than being lied of,

and maundered of, and blotched and blundered of.

"Biographies were once rhythmic, earnest as death or as life, earnest as

transcendent human Insight risen to the Singing pitch; some Homer, nay

some Psalmist or Evangelist, spokesman of reverent Populations, was the

Biographer. Rhythmic, WITH exactitude, investigation to the very marrow;

this, or else oblivion, Biography should now, and at all times, be; but

is not,--by any manner of means. With what results is visible enough,

if you will look! Human Stupor, fallen into the dishonest, lazy and

UNflogged condition, is truly an awful thing."

Catharine did not persist in her Anti-Prussian determination. July 9th,

the Manifesto had been indignantly emphatic on Prussia; July 22d, in a

Note to Goltz from the Czarina, it was all withdrawn again. [Rodenbeck,

ii. 171.] Looking into the deceased Czar's Papers, she found that

Friedrich's Letters to him had contained nothing of wrong or offensive;

always excellent advices, on the contrary,--advice, among others, To be

conciliatory to his clever-witted Wife, and to make her his ally, not

his opponent, in living and reigning. In Konigsberg (July 16th, seven

days after July 9th), the Russian Governor, just on the point of

quitting, emitted Proclamation, to everybody's horror: "No; altered, all

that; under pain of death, your Oath to Russia still valid!" Which for

the next ten days, or till his new proclamation, made such a Konigsberg

of it as may be imagined. The sight of those Letters is understood to

have turned the scale; which had hung wavering till July 22d in the

Czarina's mind. "Can it be good," she might privately think withal, "to

begin our reign by kindling a foolish War again?" How Friedrich received

the news of July 9th, and into what a crisis it threw him, we shall soon

see. His Campaign had begun July 1st;--and has been summoning us home,

into ITS horizon, for some time.