IN WHICH BENEDICT'S PREDICTION CONTINUES TO BE FULFILLED
The visit to the field of battle having been paid, the king followed the
highway and entered the town of Langensalza. He established his
headquarters in the sharpshooters' barracks. The major-general had given
orders that all should remain quiet during the night.
His Majesty's first care was to send by three different routes
despatches to the queen to tell her of the day's victory and to ask for
reinforcements, if not for the next day for the day after. And, as it
turned out, he had nothing to fear from the Prussians: they were too
thoroughly beaten not to wish for a day's rest.
The night was gay; money had been given to the soldiers, and they were
told to pay for everything they had. The bands played "God save the
King," and the soldiers sang in chorus,--a song by a Hanoverian
volunteer, to the Polish tune:
"A thousand soldiers swear on bended knee."
The next day was spent in waiting for news of the Bavarian army, and in
sending out couriers. The first came back with promises which were never
kept.
A truce until morning had been offered to the Prussians so that the dead
might be buried. The Prussians refused, and the Hanoverians alone
proceeded with this pious work. The soldiers dug great trenches 25 feet
long and 8 feet wide. The dead were placed in these in two rows. Four
thousand armed men led by the king and prince stood bare-headed while
Beethoven's funeral march was played. Over each grave a squadron passed
and fired a salute by way of military mourning. The municipal officers
who had come to thank the king for his orders to the soldiers, which had
been strictly carried out, were present at the ceremony.
At eleven in the evening the men who were on guard towards the north
announced that a large Prussian army was arriving by way of Mulhausen.
It proved to be General Manteuffel's.
The third day after the battle, the Hanoverian army had received no news
of the Bavarian army, and was surrounded by 30,000 men.
Towards midday, a lieutenant-colonel came with a flag of truce, from
General Manteuffel, to propose that the king should surrender.
The king replied that he knew perfectly well that he was hemmed in on
all sides, but that he, his son, his major-general, his officers, and
soldiers, from the highest to the lowest, preferred to die, unless an
honourable capitulation were offered them.
At the same time he called a council of war which declared unanimously
for a capitulation, as long as it was honourable. There was, indeed, no
choice. The army had only three hundred shells left, and rations for one
night and day. The whole court, the king included, had dined on a piece
of boiled beef and potatoes; the soup was given to the wounded. Every
man was allowed but one glass of bad beer.
Each article of the capitulation was discussed, so as to spin out the
delay as long as possible. The speedy arrival of the Bavarians was
still hoped for.
At length, during the night, the following conditions were drawn up,
between General Manteuffel for the King of Prussia, and General von
Arentschild for the King of Hanover.
The Hanoverian army was to be disbanded and the soldiers sent back to
their homes. All the officers and non-commissioned officers were to go
free. They were to retain their arms and equipments. The King of Prussia
was to guarantee their pay. The king, the prince, and their suite were
to be free to go wherever they wished. The king's private fortune was to
be intact and inviolable.
The capitulation being signed, General Manteuffel went to the king's
quarters. Entering his cabinet he said to him:
"I am sorry, sire, to present myself before Your Majesty in such sad
circumstances. We understand all that Your Majesty suffers, we Prussians
who have known Jena. I beg Your Majesty to tell me to what place you
wish to retire, and to give me my orders. It shall be my duty to see
that you suffer no inconvenience on your journey."
"Sir," replied the king coldly, "I do not know where I shall await the
finding of the congress which has to decide whether I shall remain king,
or become once more a simple English prince. Probably with my
father-in-law, the Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, or with His Majesty the
Emperor of Austria. In either case I have no need of your protection,
for which I thank you."
The same day the king's aide-de-camp left for Vienna, to ask permission
for his master to retire through the Austrian states. As soon as this
request reached Vienna, one of the emperor's aides-de-camp left to
serve as guide and escort to the king. This officer was the bearer of
the Marie-Thérèse medal for the king, and the order of knighthood for
the prince.
On the same day, the king sent, as messengers to announce his arrival to
His Majesty the Emperor of Austria; Herr Meding, representing the
regency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Herr von Platen, and the
Minister of War, Herr von Brandis.
The prince asked Benedict to accompany him. As Benedict had never seen
Vienna, he assented. But upon conditions. His life, as at Hanover, was
to be entirely independent of the court. He still had to arrange
Lenhart's business, which, as we know, had been left to Benedict's
discretion. Benedict had kept Lenhart for seventeen days. He now gave
him four hundred francs and one hundred more as a gratuity--an
unexampled generosity to which Lenhart replied by declaring his
attachment to the House of Hanover to be such that he would never return
to Brunswick from the moment when Brunswick became Prussian. This
declaration was worth two hundred francs to him from the King of
Hanover, and one hundred francs from the prince.
After this Lenhart's resolution was fixed. He sold, or had sold, all the
carriages and horses which he had at Brunswick and with the proceeds he
meant to set up a livery stable in Frankfort, a free town, where you
seldom see any Prussians. At Frankfort, his brother Hans was in service
with one of the best families in the town, that of Chandroz. Madame
Chandroz' daughter, the Baroness von Bülow, was the burgomaster's
goddaughter. With such connections he could be sure of prospering, and
Benedict promised him his custom in case he returned to Frankfort.
The adieux between Benedict and Lenhart were most affecting, and still
more so between Lenhart and Frisk, but they were forced to part.
Lenhart set out for Frankfort. The king, the prince, Benedict, and
Frisk, on their arrival at Vienna, took up their residence in the little
château of Frœhliche Wiederkehr, which means Happy Return.
In this way Benedict's prediction to the king was realized--of victory,
overthrow, exile.