Friedrich's own Peace being made on such terms, his wish and hope was,
that it might soon be followed by a general European one; that, the
live-coal, which had kindled this War, being quenched, the War itself
might go out. Silesia is his; farther interest in the Controversy,
except that it would end itself in some fair manner, he has none.
"Silesia being settled," think many, thinks Friedrich for one, "what
else of real and solid is there to settle?"
The European Public, or benevolent individuals of it everywhere,
indulged also in this hope. "How glorious is my King, the youngest
of the Kings and the grandest!" exclaims Voltaire (in his Letters
to Friedrich, at this time), and re-exclaims, till Friedrich has to
interfere, and politely stop it: "A King who carries in the one hand an
all-conquering sword, but in the other a blessed olive-branch, and
is the Arbiter of Europe for Peace or War!" "Friedrich the THIRD [so
Voltaire calls him, counting ill, or misled by ignorance of German
nomenclature], Friedrich the Third, I mean Friedrich the Great (FREDERIC
LE GRAND)," will do this, and do that;--probably the first emergence of
that epithet in human speech, as yet in a quite private hypothetic way.
[Letters of Voltaire, in _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxii. 100, &c.: this
last Letter is of date "July, 1742"--almost contemporary with the "Jauer
Transparency" noticed above.] Opinions about Friedrich's conduct, about
his talents, his moralities, there were many (all wide of the mark): but
this seemed clear, That the weight of such a sword as his, thrown into
either scale, would be decisive; and that he evidently now wished peace.
An unquestionable fact, that latter! Wished it, yes, right heartily; and
also strove to hope,--though with less confidence than the benevolent
outside Public, as knowing the interior of the elements better.
These hopes, how fond they were, we now all know. True, my friends,
the live-coal which kindled this incendiary whirlpool (ONE of the
live-coals, first of them that spread actual flame in these European
parts, and first of them all except Jenkins's Ear) is out, fairly
withdrawn; but the fire, you perceive, rages not the less. The fire will
not quench itself, I doubt, till the bitumen, sulphur and other angry
fuel have run much lower! Austria has fighting men in abundance, England
behind it has guineas; Austria has got injuries, then successes:--there
is in Austria withal a dumb pride, quite equal in pretensions to the
vocal vanity of France, and far more stubborn of humor. The First Nation
of the Universe, rashly hurling its fine-throated hunting-pack, or
Army of the Oriflamme, into Austria,--see what a sort of badgers, and
gloomily indignant bears, it has awakened there! Friedrich had to take
arms again; and an unwelcome task it was to him, and a sore and costly.
We shall be obliged (what is our grand difficulty in this History) to
note, in their order, the series of European occurrences; and, tedious
as the matter now is, keep readers acquainted with the current of that
big War; in which, except Friedrich broad awake, and the Ear of Jenkins
in somnambulancy, there is now next to nothing to interest a human
creature.
It is an error still prevalent in England, though long since exploded
everywhere else, that Friedrich wanted new wars, "new successful
robberies," as our Gazetteers called them; and did wilfully plunge
into this War again, in the hope of again doing a stroke in that kind.
English readers, on consulting the facts a little, will not hesitate to
sweep that notion altogether away. Shadow of basis, except in their own
angry uninformed imaginations, they will find it never had; and that
precisely the reverse is manifest in Friedrich's History. A perfectly
clear-sighted Friedrich; able to discriminate shine from substance;
and gravitating always towards the solid, the actual. That of "GLOIRE,"
which he owns to at starting, we saw how soon it died out, choked in
the dire realities. That of Conquering Hero, in the Macedonia's-madman
style, was at all times far from him, if the reader knew it,--perhaps
never farther from any King who had such allurements to it, such
opportunities for it. This his First Expedition to Silesia--a rushing
out to seize your own stolen horse, while the occasion answered--was a
voluntary one; produced, we may say, by Friedrich's own thought and the
Invisible Powers. But the rest were all purely compulsory,--to defend
the horse he had seized. Clear necessities, and Powers very Visible,
were the origin of all his other Expeditions and Warlike Struggles,
which lasted to the end of his life.
That recent "Moravian Foray;" the joint-stock principle in War matters;
and the terrible pass a man might reduce himself to, at that
enormous gaming-table of the gods, if he lingered there: think what
considerations these had been for him! So that "his look became
FAROUCHE," in the sight of Valori; and the spectre of Ruin kept him
company, and such hell-dogs were in chase of him;--till Czaslau, when
the dice fell kind again! All this had been didactic on a young docile
man. He was but thirty gone. And if readers mark such docility at those
years, they will find considerable meaning in it. Here are prudence,
moderation, clear discernment; very unusual VERACITY of intellect, as we
define it,--which quality, indeed, is the summary and victorious outcome
of all manner of good qualities, and faithful performances, in a man.
"Given up to strong delusions," in the tragical way many are, Friedrich
was not; and, in practical matters, very seldom indeed "believed a lie."
Certain it is, he now resumes his old Reinsberg Program of Life;
probably with double relish, after such experiences the other way; and
prosecutes it with the old ardor; hoping much that his History will be
of halcyon pacific nature, after all. Would the mad War-whirlpool but
quench itself; dangerous for singeing a near neighbor, who is only just
got out of it! Fain would he be arbiter, and help to quench it; but it
will not quench. For a space of Two Years or more (till August, 1744,
Twenty-six Months in all), Friedrich, busy on his own affairs, with
carefully neutral aspect towards this War, yet with sword ready for
drawing in case of need, looks on with intense vigilance; using his
wisest interference, not too often either, in that sense and in that
only, "Be at Peace; oh, come to Peace!"--and finds that the benevolent
Public and he have been mistaken in their hopes. For the next Two Years,
we say:--for the first Year (or till about August, 1743), with hope
not much abated, and little actual interference needed; for the latter
Twelvemonth, with hope ever more abating; interference, warning, almost
threatening ever more needed, and yet of no avail, as if they had been
idle talking and gesticulation on his part:--till, in August, 1744, he
had to--But the reader shall gradually see it, if by any method we can
show it him, in something of its real sequence; and shall judge of it by
his own light.
Friedrich's Domestic History was not of noisy nature, during this
interval:--and indeed in the bewildered Records given of it, there is
nothing visible, at first, but one wide vortex of simmering inanities;
leading to the desperate conclusion that Friedrich had no domestic
history at all. Which latter is by no means the fact! Your poor Prussian
Dryasdust (without even an Index to help you) being at least authentic,
if you look a long time intensely and on many sides, features do at last
dawn out of those sad vortexes; and you find the old Reinsberg Program
risen to activity again; and all manner of peaceable projects going on.
Friedrich visits the Baths of Aachen (what we call Aix-la-Chapelle);
has the usual Inspections, business activities, recreations, visits
of friends. He opens his Opera-House, this first winter. He enters
on Law-reform, strikes decisively into that grand problem; hoping to
perfect it. What is still more significant, he in private begins writing
his MEMOIRS. And furthermore, gradually determines on having a little
Country House, place of escape from his big Potsdam Palace; and gets
plans drawn for it,--place which became very famous, by the name of
SANS-SOUCI, in times coming. His thoughts are wholly pacific; of Life to
Minerva and the Arts, not to Bellona and the Battles:--and yet he knows
well, this latter too is an inexorable element. About his Army, he is
quietly busy; augmenting, improving it; the staff of life to Prussia and
him.
Silesian Fortress-building, under ugly Walrave, goes on at a
steadily swift rate. Much Silesian settlement goes on; fixing of the
Prussian-Austrian Boundaries without; of the Catholic-Protestant limits
within: rapid, not too rough, remodelling of the Province from Austrian
into Prussian, in the Financial, Administrative and every other
respect:--in all which important operations the success was noiseless,
but is considered to have been perfect, or nearly so. Cannot we, from
these enormous Paper-masses, carefully riddled, afford the reader a
glimpse or two, to quicken his imagination of these things?
SETTLES THE SILESIAN BOUNDARIES, THE SILESIAN ARRANGEMENTS; WITH
MANIFEST PROFIT TO SILESIA AND HIMSELF.
In regard to the Marches, Herr Nussler, as natural, was again the person
employed. Nussler, shifty soul, wide-awake at all times, has already
seen this Country; "noticed the Pass into Glatz with its block-house,
and perceived that his Majesty would want it." From September 22d to
December 12th, 1742, the actual Operation went on; ratified, completely
set at rest, 16th January following. [Busching, _Beitrage,_? Nussler:
and Busching's _Magazin,_ b. x. (Halle, 1776); where, pp. 475-538, is a
"GESCHICHTE DER &c. SHLESISCHEN GRANZSCHEIDUNG IM JAHR 1742," in great
amplitude and authenticity.] Nussler serves on three thalers (nine
shillings) a day. The Austrian Head-Commissioner has 5 pounds (thirty
thalers) a day; but he is an elderly fat gentleman, pursy, scant of
breath; cannot stand the rapid galloping about, and thousand-fold
inspecting and detailing; leaves it all to Nussler; who goes like the
wind. Thus, for example, Nussler dictates, at evening from his saddle,
the mutual Protocol of the day's doings; Old Pursy sitting by, impatient
for supper, and making no criticisms. Then at night, Nussler privately
mounts again; privately, by moonlight, gallops over the ground they are
to deal with next day, and takes notice of everything. No wonder the
boundary-pillars, set up in such manner, which stand to this day, bear
marks that Prussia here and there has had fair play!--Poor Nussler has
no fixed appointment yet, except one of about 100 pounds a year: in all
my travels I have seen no man of equal faculty at lower wages. Nor did
he ever get any signal promotion, or the least exuberance of wages, this
poor Nussler;--unless it be that he got trained to perfect veracity of
workmanship, and to be a man without dry-rot in the soul of him; which
indeed is incalculable wages. Income of 100 pounds a year, and no
dry-rot in the soul of you anywhere; income of 100,000 pounds a year,
and nothing but dry and wet rot in the soul of you (ugly appetites
unveracities, blusterous conceits,--and probably, as symbol of all
things, a pot-belly to your poor body itself): Oh, my friends!
In settling the Spiritual or internal Catholic-Protestant limits of
Silesia, Friedrich did also a workmanlike thing. Perfect fairness
between Protestant and Catholic; to that he is bound, and never needed
binding. But it is withal his intention to be King in Catholic Silesia;
and that no Holy Father, or other extraneous individual, shall intrude
with inconvenient pretensions there. He accordingly nominates the
now Bishop of Neisse and natural Primate of Silesia,--Cardinal von
Sinzendorf, who has made submission for any late Austrian peccadilloes,
and thoroughly reconciled himself,--nominates Sinzendorf "Vicar-General"
of the Country; who is to relieve the Pope of Silesian trouble, and be
himself Quasi-Supreme of the Catholic Church there. "No offence, Holy
Papa of Christian Mankind! Your holy religion is, and shall be, intact
in these parts; but the palliums, bulls and other holy wares and
interferences are not needed here. On that footing, be pleased to rest
content."
The Holy Father shrieked his loudest (which is now a quite calculable
loudness, nothing like so loud as it once was); declared he would
"himself join the Army of Martyrs sooner;" and summoned Sinzendorf to
Rome: "What kind of HINGE are you, CARDINALIS of the Gates of"--Husht!
Shrieked his loudest, we say; but, as nobody minded it, and as
Sinzendorf would not come, had to let the matter take its course.
[Adelung, iii. A. 197-200.] And, gradually noticing what correct
observance of essentials there was, he even came quite round, into a
high state of satisfaction with this Heretic King, in the course of
a few years. Friedrich and the Pope were very polite to each other
thenceforth; always ready to do little mutual favors. And it is to be
remarked, Friedrich's management of his Clergy, Protestant and Catholic,
was always excellent; true, in a considerable degree, to the real law of
things; gentle, but strict, and without shadow of hypocrisy,--in which
last fine particular he is singularly unique among Modern Sovereigns.
He recognizes honestly the uses of Religion, though he himself has
little; takes a good deal of pains with his Preaching Clergy, from
the Army-Chaplain upwards,--will suggest texts to them, with scheme
of sermon, on occasion;--is always anxious to have, as Clerical
Functionary, the right man in the important place; and for the rest,
expects to be obeyed by them, as by his Sergeants and Corporals. Indeed,
the reverend men feel themselves to be a body of Spiritual Sergeants,
Corporals and Captains; to whom obedience is the rule, and discontent a
thing not to be indulged in by any means. And it is worth noticing, how
well they seem to thrive in this completely submissive posture; how much
real Christian worth is traceable in their labors and them; and what a
fund of piety and religious faith, in rugged effectual form, exists in
the Armies and Populations of such a King. ["In 1780, at Berlin, the
population being 140,000, there are of ECCLESIASTIC kind only 140;
that is 1 to the 1,000;--at Munchen there are thirty times as many
in proportion" (Mirabeau, _Monarchie Prussienne,_ viii. 342; quoting
NICOLAI).]...
By degrees the Munchows and Official Persons intrusted with Silesia got
it wrought in all respects, financial, administrative, judicial, secular
and spiritual, into the Prussian model: a long tough job; but one that
proved well worth doing. [In Preuss (i. 197-200), the various steps
(from 1740 to 1806).] In this state, counts one authority, it was worth
to Prussia "about six times what it had been to Austria;"--from some
other forgotten source, I have seen the computation "eight times." In
money revenue, at the end of Friedrich's reign, it is a little more
than twice; the "eight times" and the "six times," which are but loose
multiples, refer, I suppose, to population, trade, increase of
national wealth, of new regiments yielded by new cantons, and the like.
[Westphalen, in _Feldzuge des Herzogs Ferdinand_ (printed, Berlin, 1859,
written 100 years before by that well-informed person), i. 65, says in
the rough "six times:" Preuss, iv. 292, gives, very indistinctly, the
ciphers of Revenue, in 1740 and SOME later Year: according to Friedrich
himself (_Oeuvres_, ii. 102), the Silesian Revenue at first was
"3,600,000 thalers" (540,000 pounds, little more than Half a Million);
Population, a Million-and-Half.]
Six or eight times as useful to Prussia: and to the Inhabitants what
multiple of usefulness shall we give? To be governed on principles fair
and rational, that is to say, conformable to Nature's appointment in
that respect; and to be governed on principles which contradict the very
rules of Cocker, and with impious disbelief of the very Multiplication
Table: the one is a perpetual Gospel of Cosmos and Heaven to every unit
of the Population; the other a Gospel of Chaos and Beelzebub to every
unit of them: there is no multiple to be found in Arithmetic which will
express that!--Certain of these advantages, in the new Government, are
seen at once; others, the still more valuable, do not appear, except
gradually and after many days and years. With the one and the other,
Schlesien appears to have been tolerably content. From that Year 1742
to this, Schlesien has expressed by word and symptom nothing but
thankfulness for the Transfer it underwent; and there is, for the
last Hundred Years, no part of the Prussian Dominion more loyal to the
Hohenzollerns (who are the Authors of Prussia, without whom Prussia had
never been), than this their latest acquisition, when once it too got
moulded into their own image. [Preuss, i. 193, and ib. 200 (Note from
Klein, a Silesian Jurist): "Favor not merit formerly;" "Magistracies
a regular branch of TRADE;"--"highway robbers on a strangely familiar
footing with the old Breslau magistrates;" &c. &c.]
OPENING OF THE OPERA-HOUSE AT BERLIN.
... December 7th, this Winter, Carnival being come or just coming,
Friedrich opens his New Opera-House, for behoof of the cultivated Berlin
classes; a fine Edifice, which had been diligently built by Knobelsdorf,
while those Silesian battlings went on. "One of the largest and finest
Opera-houses in the whole world; like a sumptuous Palace rather.
Stands free on all sides, space for 1,000 Coaches round it; Five great
Entrances, five persons can walk abreast through each; and inside--you
should see, you should hear! Boxes more like rooms or boudoirs, free
view and perfect hearing of the stage from every point: air pure and
free everywhere; water aloft, not only for theatrical cascades, but
to drown out any fire or risk of fire." [Seyfarth, i. 234; Nicolai,
_Beschreibung von Berlin,_ i. 169.] This is Seyfarth's account, still
capable of confirmation by travelling readers of a musical turn. I
have seen Operas with much more brilliancy of gas and gilding; but none
nearly so convenient to the human mind and sense; or where the audience
(not now a gratis one) attended to the music in so meritorious a way.
"Perhaps it will attract moneyed strangers to frequent our
Capital?"--some guess, that was Friedrich's thought. "At all events, it
is a handsome piece of equipage, for a musical King and People; not
to be neglected in the circumstances. Thalia, in general,--let us not
neglect Thalia, in such a dearth of worshipable objects." Nor did he
neglect Thalia. The trouble Friedrich took with his Opera, with his
Dancing-Apparatus, French Comedy, and the rest of that affair, was very
great. Much greater, surely, than this Editor would have thought of
taking; though, on reflection, he does not presume to blame. The world
is dreadfully scant of worshipable objects: and if your Theatre is your
own, to sweep away intrusive nonsense continually from the gates of it?
Friedrich's Opera costs him heavy sums (surely I once knew approximately
what, but the sibylline leaf is gone again upon the winds!)--and he
admits gratis a select public, and that only. [Preuss, i. 277; and
Preuss, _Buch fur Jedermann,_ i. 100.] "This Winter, 1742-43, was
unusually magnificent at Court: balls, WIRTHSCHAFTEN [kind of MIMIC
FAIRS], sledge-parties, masquerades, and theatricals of all sorts;--and
once even, December 2d, the new Golden Table-Service [cost of it 200,000
pounds] was in action, when the two Queens [Queen Regnant and Queen
Mother] dined with his Majesty."
FRIEDRICH TAKES THE WATERS AT AACHEN, WHERE VOLTAIRE COMES TO SEE HIM.
Months before that of the Opera-House or those Silesian settlements,
Friedrich, in the end of August, what is the first thing visible in
his Domestic History, makes a visit, for health's sake, to Aachen
(Aix-la-Chapelle so called), with a view to the waters there. Intends to
try for a little improvement in health, as the basis of ulterior things.
Health has naturally suffered a little in these War-hardships; and the
Doctors recommend Aix. After Wesel, and the Westphalian Inspections,
Friedrich, accordingly, proceeds to Aix; and for about a fortnight (23th
August-9th September) drinks the waters in that old resting-place of
Charlemagne;--particulars not given in the Books; except that "he lodged
with Baege" (if any mortal now knew Baege), and did an Audience or so to
select persons now unknown. He is not entirely incognito, but is without
royal state; the "guard of twenty men, the escort of 160 men," being no
men of his, but presumably mere Town-guard of Aix coming in an honorary
way. Aix is proud to see him; he himself is intent on the waters here at
old Aix:--
Aquisgranum, urbs regalis,
Sedes Regni principalis:--
My friend, this was Charlemagne's high place; and his dust lies here,
these thousand years last past. And there used to soar "a very large
Gilt Eagle," ten feet wide or so, aloft on the Cathedral-steeple there;
Eagle turned southward when the Kaiser was in Frankenland, eastward when
he was in Teutsch or Teuton-land; in fact, pointing out the Kaiser's
whereabouts to loyal mankind. [Kohler, _Reichs-Historie._] Eagle
which shines on me as a human fact; luminously gilt, through the dark
Dryasdustic Ages, gone all spectral under Dryasdust's sad handling.
Friedrich knows farther, that for many centuries after, the "Reich's
INSIGNIA (REICHS-KLEINODIEN)" used to be here,--though Maria Theresa
has them now, and will not give them up. The whole of which points are
indifferent to him. The practical, not the sentimental, is Friedrich's
interest;--not to say that WERTER and the sentimental were not yet born
into our afflicted Earth. A King thoroughly practical;--yet an exquisite
player on the flute withal, as we often notice; whose adagio could draw
tears from you. For in himself, too, there were floods of tears (as
when his Mother died); and he has been heard saying, not bragging but
lamenting, what was truly the fact, that "he had more feeling than other
men." But it was honest human feeling always; and was repressed, where
not irrepressible;--as it behooved to be.
Friedrich's suite was not considerable, says the French spy at Aix on
this occasion; pomp of Entrance,--a thing to be mute upon! "Came
driving in with the common post-horses of the country; and such a set
of carriages as your Lordship, intent on the sublime, has no idea of."
[Spy-Letter, in _Campagnes des Trois Marechaux,_ i. 222.] Rumor was, His
Britannic Majesty was coming (also on pretext of the waters) to confer
with him; other rumor is, If King George came in at one gate, King
Friedrich would go out at the other. A dubious Friedrich, to the French
spy, at this moment; nothing like so admirable as he once was!--
The French emotions (of which we say little), on Friedrich's making
Peace for himself, had naturally been great. To the French Public it was
unexpected, somewhat SUDDEN even to the Court; and, sure enough, it was
of perilous importance in the circumstances. Few days ago, Broglio (by
order given him) "could not spare a man," for the Common Cause;--and now
the Common Cause has become entirely the Broglio one, and Broglio will
have the full use of all his men! "Defection [plainly treasonous to your
Liege Lord and Nation]! horrible to think of!" cried the French Public;
the Court outwardly taking a lofty tragic-elegiac tone, with some air
of hope that his Prussian Majesty would perhaps come round again, to
the side of his afflicted France! Of which, except in the way of helping
France and the other afflicted parties to a just Peace if he could, his
Prussian Majesty had small thought at this time.
More affecting to Friedrich were the natural terrors of the poor Kaiser
on this event. The Kaiser has already had his Messenger at Berlin,
in consequence of it; with urgent inquiries, entreaties;--an expert
Messenger, who knows Berlin well. So other than our old friend, the
Ordnance-Master Seckendorf, now titular Feldmarschall,--whom one is
more surprised than delighted to meet again! Being out with Austria
(clamoring for great sums of "arrears," which they will not pay), he
has been hanging about this new Kaiser, ever since Election-time; and
is again getting into employment, Diplomatic, Strategic, for some
years,--though we hope mostly to ignore him and it. Friedrich's own
feeling at sight of him,--ask not about it, more than if there had been
none! Friedrich gave him "a distinguished reception;" Friedrich's answer
sent by him to the Kaiser was all kindness; emphatic assurance, "That,
not 'hostility' by any means, that loyalty, friendship, and aid wherever
possible within the limits, should always be his rule towards the
now Kaiser, lawful Head of the Reich, in difficult circumstances."
["Audience, 30th July" (Adelung, iii. A, 217).] Which was some
consolation to the poor man,--stript of his old revenues, old Bavarian
Dominions, and unprovided with new; this sublime Headship of the Reich
bring moneyless; and one's new "Kingdom of Bohemia" hanging in so
uncertain a state, with nothing but a Pharsalia-Sahay to show for
itself!--
Among Friedrich's "inconsiderable suite," at Aachen, was Prince Henri
(his youngest Brother, age now sixteen, a small, sensitive, shivering
creature, but of uncommon parts); and another young man, Prince
Ferdinand of Brunswick, his Wife's youngest Brother; a soldier, as all
the Brothers are; soldier in Friedrich's Army, this one; in whose
fine inarticulate eupeptic character are excellent dispositions and
capacities discernible. Ferdinand goes generally with the King; much
about him in these years. All the Brothers follow soldiering; it is
the one trade of German Princes. When at home, Friedrich is still
occasionally with his Queen; who lives at Schonhausen, in the environs
of Berlin, but goes with him to Charlottenburg, to old Reinsberg; and
has her share of galas in his company, with the Queen Mother and cognate
Highnesses.
Another small fact, still more memorable at present, is, That Voltaire
now made him a Third Visit,--privately on Fleury's instance, as is
evident this time. Of which Voltaire Visit readers shall know duly, by
and by, what little is knowable. But, alas, there is first an immense
arrear of War-matters to bring up; to which, still more than to
Voltaire, the afflicted reader must address himself, if he would
understand at all what Friedrich's Environment, or circumambient
Life-element now was, and how Friedrich, well or ill, comported himself
in the same. Brevity, this Editor knows, is extremely desirable,
and that the scissors should be merciless on those sad Paper-Heaps,
intolerable to the modern mind; but, unless the modern mind chance to
prefer ease and darkness, what can an Editor do!