Austrian affairs are not now in their nadir-point; a long while now
since they passed that. Austria, to all appearance dead, started up, and
began to strike for herself, with some success, the instant Walpole's
SOUP-ROYAL (that first 200,000 pounds, followed since by abundance more)
got to her lips. Touched her poor pale lips; and went tingling through
her, like life and fiery elasticity, out of death by inanition! Cardinal
moment, which History knows, but can never date, except vaguely, some
time in 1741; among the last acts of judicious Walpole.
Austria, thanks to its own Khevenhullers and its English guineas, was
already rising in various quarters: and now when the Prussian Affair
is settled, Austria springs up everywhere like an elastic body with the
pressure taken from it; mounts steadily, month after month, in practical
success, and in height of humor in a still higher ratio. And in
the course of the next Two Years rises to a great height indeed.
Here--snatched, who knows with what difficulty, from that shoreless
bottomless slough of an Austrian-Succession War, deservedly forgotten,
and avoided by extant mankind--are some of the more essential phenomena,
which Friedrich had to witness in those months. To witness, to scan
with such intense interest,--rightly, at his peril;--and to interpret as
actual "Omens" for him, as monitions of a most indisputable nature! No
Haruspex, I suppose, with or without "white beard, and long staff for
cutting the Heavenly Vault into compartments from the zenith downwards,"
could, in Etruria or elsewhere, "watch the flight of birds, now into
this compartment, now into that," with stricter scrutiny than, on the
new terms, did this young King from his Potsdam Observatory.
WAR-PHENOMENA IN THE WESTERN PARTS: KING GEORGE TRIES, A SECOND TIME, TO
DRAW HIS SWORD; TUGS AT IT VIOLENTLY, FOR SEVEN MONTHS (February-
October, 1742).
"The first phenomenon, cheering to Austria, is that of the Britannic
Majesty again clutching sword, with evident intent to draw it on her
behalf. [Tindal, xx. 552; Old Newspapers; &c. &c.] Besides his potent
soup-royal of Half-Millions annually, the Britannic Majesty has a
considerable sword, say 40,000, of British and of subsidized;--sword
which costs him a great deal of money to keep by his side; and a great
deal of clamor and insolent gibing from the Gazetteer species, because
he is forced to keep it strictly in the scabbard hitherto. This Year,
we observe, he has determined again to draw it, in the Cause of Human
Liberty, whatever follow. From early Spring there were symptoms: Camps
on Lexden and other Heaths, much reviewing in Hyde-Park and elsewhere;
from all corners a universal marching towards the Kent Coast; the
aspects being favorable. 'We can besiege Dunkirk at any rate, cannot
we, your High Mightinesses? Dunkirk, which, by all the Treaties in
existence, ought to need no besieging; but which, in spite of treatyings
innumerable, always does?' The High Mightinesses answer nothing
articulate, languidly grumble something in OPTATIVE tone;--'meaning
assent,' thinks the sanguine mind. 'Dutch hoistable, after all!' thinks
he; 'Dutch will co-operate, if they saw example set!' And, in England,
the work of embarking actually begins.
"Britannic Majesty's purpose, and even fixed resolve to this effect, had
preceded the Prussian-Austrian Settlement. May 20th, ["9th" by the Old
Newspapers; but we always TRANSLATE their o.s.] 'Two regiments of
Foot,' first poor instalment of British Troops, had actually landed
at Ostend;--news of the Battle of Chotusitz, much more, of the
Austrian-Prussian Settlement, or Peace of Breslau, would meet them
THERE. But after that latter auspicious event, things start into quick
and double-quick time; and the Gazetteers get vocal, almost lyrical:
About Howard's regiment, Ponsonby's regiment, all manner of regiments,
off to Flanders, for a stroke of work; how 'Ligonier's Dragoons [a set
of wild swearing fellows, whom Guildford is happy to be quit of] rode
through Bromley with their kettle-drums going, and are this day at
Gravesend to take ship;'"--or to give one other, more specific example:
"Yesterday [3d July, 1742] General Campbell's Regiment of Scotch Greys
arrived in the Borough of Southwark, on their march to Dover, where they
are to embark for Flanders. They are fine hardy fellows, that want
no seasoning; and make an appearance agreeable to all but the
innkeepers,"--who have such billeting to do, of late. [_Daily Post,_
June 23d (o.s.), 1742.] "Grey Dragoons," or Royal Scots-Greys, is the
title of this fine Regiment; and their Colonel is Lieutenant-General
John Campbell, afterwards Duke of Argyle (fourth Duke), Cousin of the
great second Duke of Argyle that now is. [Douglas, _Scotch Peerage_
(Edinburgh, 1764), p. 44.] Visibly billeting there, in Southwark, with
such intentions:--and, by accident, this Editor knows Twenty of these
fine fellows! Twenty or so, who had gone in one batch as Greys; sons of
good Annandale yeomen, otherwise without a career open: some Two of whom
did get back, and lived to be old men; the rumor of whom, and of their
unheard-of adventures, was still lingering in the air, when this Editor
began existence. Pardon, O reader!--
"But, all through those hot days, it is a universal drumming,
kettle-drumming, coast-ward; preparation of transports at Gravesend, at
the top of one's velocity. 'All the coopers in London are in requisition
for water-casks, so that our very brewers have to pause astonished for
want of tubs.' There is pumping in of water day and night, Sunday not
excepted, then throwing of it out again [owing to new circumstances]:
250 saddle-horses, and 100 sumpter ditto, for his Majesty's own
use,--these need a deal of water, never to speak of Ligonier and the
Greys. 'For the honor of our Country, his Majesty will make a grander
appearance this Campaign than any of his Predecessors ever did; and
as to the magnificence of his equipage,'--besides the 350 quadrupeds,
'there are above 100 rich portmanteaus getting ready with all
expedition.' [_Daily Post,_ September 13th (I.E. 26th).] The Fat Boy
too [Royal Highness Duke of Cumberland, one should say] is to go; a most
brave-hearted, flaxen-florid, plump young creature; hopeful Son of Mars,
could he once get experience, which, alas, he never could, though trying
it for five-and-twenty years to come, under huge expense to this Nation!
There are to be 16,000 troops, perhaps more; '1,000 sandbags' (empty as
yet); demolition of Dunkirk the thing aimed at." If only the Dutch prove
hoistable!--
"And so, from May on to September, it noisily proceeds, at multiplex
rates? and often with more haste than speed: and in such five months
(seven, strictly counted) of clangorous movement and dead-lift
exertion, there were veritably got across, of Horse and Foot with their
equipments, the surprising number of '16,334 men.' [Adelung, iii. A,
201.] May 20th it began,--that is, the embarking began; the noise and
babble about it, which have been incessant ever since, had begun in
February before;--and on September 26th, Ostend, now almost weary of
huzzaing over British glory by instalment, had the joy of seeing our
final portions of Artillery arrive: Such a Park of Siege-and-Field
Artillery," exults the Gazetteer, "as"--as these poor creatures never
dreamt of before.
"Magnanimous Lord Stair, already Plenipotentiary to the Dutch, is to be
King's General-in-Chief of this fine Enterprise; Carteret, another Lord
of some real brilliancy, and perhaps of still weightier metal, is head
of the Cabinet; hearty, both of them, for these Anti-French intentions:
and the Public cannot but think, Surely something will come of it this
time? More especially now that Maillebois, about the middle of August,
by a strange turn of fortune, is swept out of the way. Maillebois, lying
over in Westphalia with his 30 or 40,000, on 'Check to your King' this
year past, had, on sight of these Anti-Dunkirk movements, been ordered
to look Dunkirk way, and at length to move thitherward, for protection
of Dunkirk. So that Stair, before his Dunkirk business, will have to
fight Maillebois; which Stair doubts not may be satisfactorily done.
But behold, in August and earlier, come marvellous news from the Prag
quarter, tragical to France; and Maillebois is off, at his best speed,
in the reverse direction; on a far other errand!"--Of which readers
shall soon hear enough.
"Dunkirk, therefore, is now open. With 16,000 British troops,
Hanoverians to the like number, and Hessians 6,000, together near
40,000, not to speak of Dutch at all, surely one might manage Dunkirk,
if not something still better? It is AFTER Maillebois's departure that
these dreadful exertions, coopering of water-casks, pumping all
Sunday, go on at Gravesend: 'Swift, oh, be swift, while time is!' And
Generalissimo-Plenipotentiary Stair, who has run over beforehand,
is ardent enough upon the Dutch; his eloquence fiery and incessant:
'Magnanimous High Mightinesses, was there, will there again be, such a
chance? The Cause of Human Liberty may be secured forever! Dunkirk--or
what is Dunkirk even? Between us and Paris, there is nothing, now that
Maillebois is off on such an errand! Why should not we play Marlborongh
again, and teach them a little what Invasion means? It is ourselves
alone that can hinder it! Now, I say, or never!'
"Stair was a pupil of Marlborough's; is otherwise a shining kind of man;
and has immense things in his eye, at this time. They say, what is not
unlikely, he proposed an Interview with Friedrich now at Aachen; would
come privately, to 'take the waters' for a day or two,--while Maillebois
was on his new errand, and such a crisis had risen. But Friedrich,
anxious to be neutral and give no offence, politely waived such honor.
Lord Stair was thought to be something of a General, in fact as well as
in costume;--and perhaps he was so. And had there been a proper COUNTESS
of Stair, or new Sarah Jennings,--to cover gently, by art-magic, the
Britannic Majesty and Fat Boy under a tub; and to put Britain,
and British Parliament and resources, into Stair's hand for a few
years,--who knows what Stair too might have done! A Marlborough in the
War Arts,--perhaps still less in the Peace ones, if we knew the great
Marlborough,--he could not have been. But there is in him a recognizable
flash of magnanimity, of heroic enterprise and purpose; which is highly
peculiar in that sordid element. And it can be said of him, as of
lightning striking ineffectual on the Bog of Allen or the Stygian Fens,
that his strength was never tried."--For the upshot of him we will wait;
not very long.
These are fine prospects, if only the Dutch prove hoistable. But these
are as nothing to what is passing, and has passed, in the Eastern Parts,
in the Bohemian-Bavarian quarter, since we were there. Poor Kaiser Karl,
what an outlook for him! His own real Bavaria, much more his imaginary
"Upper Austria" and "Conquests on the Donau," after that Segur
Adventure, are plunging headlong. As to his once "Kingdom of Bohemia,"
it has already plunged; nay, the Army of the Oriflamme is itself near
plunging, in spite of that Pharsalia of a Sahay! Bavaria itself, we say,
is mostly gone to Khevenhuller; Segur with his French on march homeward,
and nothing but Bavarians left. The Belleisle-Broglio grand Budweis
Expedition is gone totally heels over head; Belleisle and Broglio
are getting, step by step, shut up in Prag and besieged there: while
Maillebois--Let us try whether, by snatching out here a fragment and
there a fragment, with chronological and other appliances, it be not
possible to give readers some conceivable notion of what Friedrich was
now looking at with such interest!--
HOW DUC D'HARCOURT, ADVANCING TO REINFORCE THE ORIFLAMME, HAD TO SPLIT
HIMSELF IN TWO; AND BECOME AN "ARMY OF BAVARIA," TO LITTLE EFFECT.
The poor Kaiser, who at one time counted "30,000 Bavarians of his own,"
has all along been ill served by them and the bad Generals they had: two
Generals; both of whom, Minuzzi, and old Feldmarschall Thorring (Prime
Minister withal), came to a bad reputation in this War. Beaten nearly
always; Thorring quite always,--"like a DRUM, that Thorring; never
heard of except when beaten," said the wits! Of such let us not speak.
Understand only, FIRST, that the French, reasonably soon after that Linz
explosion, did, in such crisis, get reinforcements on the road; a Duc
d'Harcourt with some 25,000 faring forward, in an intermittent manner,
ever since "March 4th." And SECONDLY, that Khevenhuller has fast hold of
Passau, the Austrian-Bavarian Key-City; is master of nearly all Bavaria
(of Munchen, and all that lies south of the Donau); and is now across
on the north shore, wrenching and tugging upon Kelheim and the
Ingolstadt-Donauworth regions, with nothing but Thorring people and
small French Garrisons to hinder him;--where it will be fatal if he
quite prosper; Ingolstadt being our Place-of-Arms, and House on the
Highway, both for Bavaria and Bohemia!
"For months past, there had been a gleam of hope for Kaiser Karl, and
his new 'Kingdom of Bohemia,' and old Electorate of Bavaria, from the
rumor of 'D'Harcourt's reinforcement,'--a 20 or 30,000 new Frenchmen
marching into those parts, in a very detached intermittent manner;
great in the Gazettes. But it proved a gleam only, and came to nothing
effectual. Poor D'Harcourt, owing to cross orders [Groglio clamorously
demanding that the new force should come to Prag; Karl Albert the
Kaiser, nominally General-in-Chief, demanding that it should go down the
Donau and sweep his Bavaria clear], was in difficulty. To do either of
these cross orders might have brought some result; but to half-do both
of them, as he was enjoined to attempt, was not wise! Some half of
his force he did detach towards Broglio; which got to actual junction,
partly before, partly after, that Pharsalia-Sahay Affair, and raised
Broglio to a strength of 24,000,--still inadequate against Prince Karl.
Which done, D'Harcourt himself went down the Donau, on his original
scheme, with the remainder of his forces,--now likewise become
inadequate. He is to join with Feldmarschall Thorring in the"--And does
it, as we shall see presently!...
MUNCHEN, 5th MAY. "Rumor of D'Harcourt had somewhat cleared Bavaria
of Austrians; but the reality of him, in a divided state, by no means
corresponds. Thus Munchen City, in the last days of April,--D'Harcourt
advancing, terrible as a rumor,--rejoiced exceedingly to see the
Austrians march out, at their best pace. And the exultant populace even
massacred a loitering Tolpatch or two; who well deserve it, think the
populace, judging by their experience for the last three months, since
Barenklau and Mentzel became King here.--'Rumor of D'Harcourt?' answers
Khevenhuller from the Kelheim-Passau side of things: 'Let us wait for
sight of him, at least!' And orders Munchen to be reoccupied. So that,
alas, 'within a week,' on the 5th of May, Barenklau is back upon the
poor City; exacts severe vengeance for the Tolpatch business; and will
give them seven months more of his company, in spite of D'Harcourt, and
'the Army of Bavaria' as he now called himself:"--new "Army of Bavaria,"
when once arrived in those Countries, and joined with poor Thorring and
the Kaiser's people there. Such an "Army of Bavaria," first and last,
as--as Khevenhuller could have wished it! Under D'Harcourt, joined with
old Feldmarschall Thorring (him whom men liken to a DRUM, "never heard
of except when beaten"), this is literally the sum of what fighting it
did:
"HILGARTSBERG (Deggendorf Donau-Country), MAY 28th. D'Harcourt and
Thorring, after junction at Donauworth several weeks ago, and a good
deal of futile marching up and down in those Donau Countries,--on the
left bank, for most part; Khevenhuller holding stiffly, as usual, by the
Inn, the Iser, and the rivers and countries on the right,--did at last,
being now almost within sight of Passau and that important valley of the
Inn across yonder, seriously decide to have a stroke at Passau, and
to dislodge Khevenhuller, who is weak in force, though obstinate. They
perceive that there is, on this left bank, a post in the woods, Castle
of Hilgartsberg, none of the strongest Castles, rather a big Country
Mansion than a Castle, which it will be necessary first to take. They go
accordingly to take it (May 28th, having well laid their heads together
the day before); march through intricate wet forest country, peat above
all abundant; see the Castle of Hilgartsberg towering aloft, picturesque
object in the Donau Valley, left bank;--are met by cannon-shot,
case-shot, shot of every kind; likewise by Croats apparently
innumerable, by cavalry sabrings and levelled bayonets; do not behave
too well, being excessively astonished; and are glad to get off again,
leaving one of their guns lodged in the mud, and about a hundred
unfortunate men. [_Guerre de Boheme,_ ii. 146-148, 136, &c.] This
quite disgusted D'Harcourt with the Passau speculation and these grim
Khevenhuller outposts. He straightway took to collecting Magazines;
lodging himself in the attainable Towns thereabouts, Deggendorf the
chief strength for him; and gave up fighting till perhaps better
times might arrive." We will wish him good success in the victualling
department, hope to hear no more of him in this History;--and shall
say only that Comte de Saxe, before long, relieves him of this Bavarian
Army;--and will be seen at the head of it, on a most important business
that rises.
Kaiser Karl begins to have real thoughts of recalling this Thorring, who
is grown so very AUDIBLE, altogether home; and of appointing Seckendorf
instead. A course which Belleisle has been strongly recommending for
some time. Seckendorf is at present "gathering meal in the Ober-Pfalz"
(Upper Palatinate, road from Ingolstadt to Eger, to Bohmen generally),
that is, forming Magazines, on the Kaiser's behalf there: "Surely a
likelier man than your Thorring!" urges Belleisle always. With whom the
Kaiser does finally comply; nominates Seckendorf commander,--recalls the
invaluable Thorring! "to his services in our Cabinet Council, which more
befit his great age." In which safe post poor Thorring, like a Drum NOT
beaten upon, has thenceforth a silent life of it; Seckendorf fighting in
his stead,--as we shall have to witness, more or less.
Khevenhuller's is a changed posture, since he stood in Vienna, eight or
nine months ago; grimly resolute, drilling his "6,000 of garrison," with
the wheelbarrows all busy!--But her Hungarian Majesty's chief success,
which is now opening into outlooks of a quite triumphant nature,
has been that over the New Oriflamme itself, the Belleisle-Broglio
Army,--most sweet to her Majesty to triumph over! Shortly after
Chotusitz, shortly after that Pharsalia of a Sahay, readers remember
Belleisle's fine Project, "Conjoined attack on Budweis, and sweeping of
Bohemia clear;"--readers saw Belleisle, in the Schloss of Maleschau,
5th June last, rushing out (with violence to his own wig, says
rumor); hurrying off to Dresden for co-operation; equally in vain.
"Co-operation, M. le Marechal; attack on Budweis?"--Here is another
Fragment:--
HOW BELLEISLE, RETURNING FROM DRESDEN WITHOUT CO-OPERATION FOUND THE
ATTACK HAD BEEN DONE,--IN A FATALLY REVERSE WAY. PRAG EXPECTING SIEGE.
COLLOQUY WITH BROGLIO ON THAT INTERESTING POINT. PRAG BESIEGED.
BUDWEIS, JUNE 4th,-PRAG, JUNE 13th. "Broglio, ever since that Sahay
[which had been fought so gloriously on Frauenberg's account], lay in
the Castle of Frauenberg, in and around,--hither side of the Moldau
river, with his Pisek thirty miles to rear, and judicious outposts
all about. There lay Broglio, meditating the attack on Budweis [were
co-operation once here],--when, contrariwise, altogether on the sudden,
Budweis made attack on Broglio; tumbled him quite topsy-turvy, and sent
him home to Prag, uncertain which end uppermost; rolling like a heap of
mown stubble in the wind, rather than marching like an army!"... Take
one glance at him:--
"JUNE 4th, 1742 [day BEFORE that of Belleisle's "Wig" at Maleschau, had
Belleisle known it!]--Prince Karl, being now free of the Prussians, and
ready for new work, issued suddenly from Budweis; suddenly stept across
the Moldau,--by the Bridge of Moldau-Tein, sweeping away the French that
lay there. Prince Karl swept away this first French Post, by the mere
sight and sound of him; swept away, in like fashion, the second and all
following posts; swept Broglio himself, almost without shot fired, and
in huge flurry, home to Prag, double-quick, night and day,--with much
loss of baggage, artillery, prisoners, and total loss of one's presence
of mind. 'Poor man, he was born for surprises' [said Friedrich's
Doggerel long ago]! Manoeuvred consummately [he asserts] at different
points, behind rivers and the like; but nowhere could he call halt, and
resolutely stand still. Which undoubtedly he could and should have done,
say Valori and all judges;--nothing quite immediate being upon him,
except the waste-howling tagraggery of Croats, whom it had been good to
quench a little, before going farther. On the third night, June 7th, he
arrived at Pisek; marched again before daybreak, leaving a garrison of
1,200,--who surrendered to Prince Karl next day, without shot fired.
Broglio tumbling on ahead, double-quick, with the tagraggery of Croats
continually worrying at his heels, baggage-wagons sticking fast, country
people massacring all stragglers, panted home to Prag on the 13th;
with 'the Gross of the Army saved, don't you observe!' And thinks it an
excellent retreat, he if no one-else. [_Guerre de Boheme,_ ii. 122, &c.;
_ Campagnes,_ v. 167 (his own Despatch).]
"At Pisek, Prince Karl has ceased chasing with his regulars, the pace
being so uncommonly swift. From Pisek, Prince Karl struck off towards
Pilsen, there to intercept a residue of Harcourt reinforcements who were
coming that way: from Broglio, who knew of it, but in such flurry
could not mind it, he had no hindrance; and it was by good luck, not
management of Broglio's, that these poor reinforcements did in part
get through to him, and in part seek refuge in Eger again. Broglio has
encamped under the walls of Prag; in a ruinous though still blusterous
condition; his positions all gone; except Prag and Eger, nothing in
Bohemia now his."
PRAG, 17th JUNE-17th AUGUST. "It is in this condition that Belleisle,
returning from the Kuttenberg-Dresden mission (June 15th), finds his
Broglio. Most disastrous, Belleisle thinks it; and nothing but a
Siege in Prag lying ahead; though Broglio is of different opinion, or,
blustering about his late miraculous retreat, and other high merits too
little recognized, forms no opinion at all on such extraneous points....
From Versailles, they had answered Belleisle: 'Nothing to be made of
Dresden either, say you? Then go you and take the command at Prag; send
Broglio to command the Bavarian Army. See, you, what can be done by
fighting.' On this errand Belleisle is come, the heavy-laden man, and
Valori with him,--if, in this black crisis, Valori could do anything.
Valori at least reports the colloquy the Two Marshals had [one bit of
colloquy, for they had more than one, though as few as possible; Broglio
being altogether blusterous, sulphurous, difficult to speak with on
polite terms]. [Valori, i. 162-166; _Campagnes, _ v. 170, 124, &c. &c.]
'Army of Bavaria?' answers Broglio; 'I will have those Ten Battalions of
the D'Harcourt reinforcement, then. I tell you, Yes! Prag? Prag may
go to the--What have I to do with Prag? The oldest Marechal of France,
superseded, after such merits, and on the very heel of such a retreat!
Nay, but where is YOUR commission to command in Prag, M. le Marechal?'
Belleisle, in the haste there was, has no Commission rightly drawn
out by the War-office; only an Order from Court. '_I_ have a regular
commission, Monseigneur: I want a Sign-manual before laying it down!'
The unreasonable Broglio.
"Belleisle, tormented with rheumatic nerves, and of violent temper at
any rate, compresses the immense waste rage that is in him. His answers
to Broglio are calm and low-voiced; admirable to Valori. One thing he
wished to ascertain definitely: What M. de Broglio's intentions were;
and whether he would, or would not, go to Bavaria and take charge there?
If so, he shall have all the Cavalry for escort; Cavalry, unless it be
dragoons, will only eat victual in case of siege.--No, Broglio will not
go with Cavalry; must have those Ten Battalions, must have Sign-manual;
won't, in short!"--Will stay, then, thinks Belleisle; and one must try
to drive him, as men do pigs, covertly and by the rule of contraries,
while Prag falls under Siege.
What an outlook for his Most Christian Majesty's service,--fatal
altogether, had not Belleisle been a high man, and willing to undertake
pig-driving!... "Discouragement in the Army is total, were it not
for Belleisle; anger against Broglio very great. The Officers declare
openly, 'We will quit, if Broglio continue General! Our commissions were
made out in the name of Marechal de Belleisle [in the spring of last
Year, when he had such levees, more crowded than the King's!]--we
are not bound to serve another General!'--'You recognize ME for your
General?' asks Belleisle. 'Yes!'--'Then, I bid you obey M. de Broglio,
so long as he is here.' [Valori, i. 166.]...
"JUNE 27th. The Grand-Duke, Maria Theresa's Husband, come from Vienna
to take command-in-chief, joins the Austrian main Army and his Brother
Karl, this day: at Konigsaal, one march to the south of Prag. Friedrich
being now off their hands, why should not they besiege Prag,
capture Prag! Under Khevenhuller, with Barenklau, and the Mentzels,
Trencks,--poor D'Harcourt merely storing victual,--Bavaria lies safe
enough. And the Oriflamme caged in Prag:--Have at the Oriflamme!
"Prag is begirdled, straitened more and more, from this day. Formal
Siege to begin, so soon [as the artillery can come up' which is not for
seven weeks yet]. And so, in fine, 'AUGUST 17th, all at once,' furious
bombardment bursts out, from 36 mortars and above 100 big guns, disposed
in batteries around. [_Guerre de Boheme,_ ii. 149, 170.] To which
the French, Belleisle's high soul animating everything, as furiously
responded; making continual sallies of a hot desperate nature;
especially, on the fifth day of the siege, one sally [to be mentioned by
and by] which was very famous at Prag and at Paris."...
CONCERNING THE ITALIAN WAR WHICH SIMULTANEOUSLY WENT ON, ALL ALONG.
War in Italy--the Spanish Termagant very high in her Anti-Pragmatic
notions--there had been, for eight months past; and it went on, fiercely
enough, doggedly enough, on both sides for Six Years more, till 1748,
when the general Finis came. War of which we propose to say almost
nothing; but must request the reader to imagine it, all along, as
influential on our specific affairs.
The Spanish Termagant wished ardently to have the Milanese and
pertinents, as an Apanage for her second Infant, Don Philip; a young
gentleman who now needs to be provided for, as Don Carlos had once done.
"Cannot get to be Pope this one, it appears," said the fond Mother
(who at one time looked that way for her Infant,): "Well, here is the
Milanese fallen loose!" Readers know her for a lady of many claims,
of illimitable aspirations; and she went very high on the Pragmatic
Question. "Headship of the Golden Fleece, Madam; YOU head of it? I
say all Austria, German and Italian, is mine!"--though she has now
magnanimously given up the German part to Kaiser Karl VII.; and will be
content with the Italian, as an Apanage for Don Philip. And so there is
War in Italy, and will be. To be imagined by us henceforth.
A War in which these Three Elements are noticeable as the chief. FIRST,
the Sardinian Majesty, [Charles Emanuel, Victor Amadeus's Son (Hubner,
t. 293): born 27th April, 1701; lived and reigned till 19th February,
1773 (OErtel, t. 77).] who is very anxious himself for Milanese parings
and additaments; but, except by skilfully playing off-and-on between the
French side and the Austrian, has no chance of getting any. For Spain
he is able to fight; and also (on good British Subsidies) against Spain.
Element SECOND is the British Navy, cruising always between Spain
and the Seat of War; rendering supplies by sea impossible,--almost
impossible. THIRD, the Passes of Savoy; wild Alpine chasms,
stone-labyrinths; inexpugnable, with a Sardinian Majesty defending;
which are the one remaining road, for Armies and Supplies, out of Spain
or France.
The Savoy Passes are, in fact, the gist of the War; the insoluble
problem for Don Philip and the French. By detours, by circuitous effort
and happy accident, your troops may occasionally squeeze through: but
without one secure road open behind them for supplies and recruitments,
what good is it? Battles there are, behind the Alps, on what we may
call the STAGE itself of this Italian War-theatre; but the grand steady
battle is that of France and Don Philip, struggling spasmodically, year
after year, to get a road through the COULISSES or side-scenes,--namely,
those Savoy Passes. They try it by this Pass and by that; Pass of
Demont, Pass of Villa-Franca or Montalban (glorious for France, but
futile), Pass of Exilles or Col d'Assiette (again glorious, again futile
and fatal); sometimes by the way of Nice itself, and rocky mule-tracks
overhanging the sea-edge (British Naval-cannon playing on them);--and
can by no way do it.
There were fine fightings, in the interior too, under Generals of mark;
General Browne doing feats, excellent old General Feldmarschall Traun,
of whom we shall hear; Maillebois, Belleisle the Younger, of whom we
have heard. There was Battle of Campo-Santo, new battle there
(Traun's); there was Battle of Rottofreddo; of Piacenza (doleful to
Maillebois),--followed by Invasion of Provence, by Revolt of Genoa and
other things: which all readers have now forgotten. [Two elaborate works
on the subject are said to be instructive to military readers: Buonamici
(who was in it, for a while). _De Bello Italico Commentarii_ (in Works
of Buonamici, Lyon, 1750); and Pezay, _Campagnes de Maillebois_ (our
Westphalian friend again) _en Italie,_ 1745-1746 (Paris, 1775).] Readers
are to imagine this Italian War, all along, as a fact very loud and real
at that time, and continually pulsing over into our German Events (like
half-audible thunder below the horizon, into raging thunder above),
little as we can afford to say of it here. One small Scene from this
Italian War;--one, or with difficulty two;--and if possible be silent
about all the rest:
SCENE, ROADS OF CADIZ, October, 1741: BY WHAT ASTONISHING ARTIFICE THIS
ITALIAN WAR DID, AT LENGTH, GET BEGUN.
... "The Spanish Court, that is, Termagant Elizabeth, who rules
everybody there, being in this humor, was passionate to begin; and
stood ready a good while, indignantly champing the bit, before the sad
preliminary obstacles could be got over. At Barcelona she had, in the
course of last summer, doubly busy ever since Mollwitz time, got
into equipment some 15,000 men; but could not by any method get them
across,--owing to the British Fleets, which hung blockading this place
and that; blockading Cadiz especially, where lay her Transport-ships
and War-ships, at this interesting juncture. Fleury's cunctations were
disgusting to the ardent mind; and here now, still more insuperable, are
the British Fleets; here--and a pest to him!--is your Admiral Haddock,
blockading Cadiz, with his Seventy-fours!
"But again, on the other or Pragmatic side, there were cunctations. The
Sardinian Majesty, Charles Emanuel of Savoy, holding the door of
the Alps, was difficult to bargain with, in spite of British
Subsidies;--stood out for higher door-fees, a larger slice of the
Milanese than could be granted him; had always one ear open for France,
too; in short, was tedious and capricious, and there seemed no bringing
him to the point of drawing sword for her Hungarian Majesty. In the end,
he was brought to it, by a stroke of British Art,--such to the admiring
Gazetteer and Diplomatic mind it seemed;--equal to anything we have
since heard of, on the part of perfidious Albion.
"One day, 'middle of October last,' the Seventy-fours of Haddock and
perfidious Albion,--Spanish official persons, looking out from Cadiz
Light-house, ask themselves, 'Where are they? Vanished from these
waters; not a Seventy-four of them to be seen!'--Have got foul in the
underworks, or otherwise some blunder has happened; and the blockading
Fleet of perfidious Albion has had to quit its post, and run to
Gibraltar to refit. That, I guess, was the Machiavellian stroke of Art
they had done; without investigating Haddock and Company [as indignant
Honorable Members did], I will wager, That and nothing more!
"In any case, the Termagant, finding no Seventy-fours there, and the
wind good, despatches swiftly her Transports and War-ships to Barcelona;
swiftly embarks there her 15,000, France cautiously assisting; and lands
them complete, 'by the middle of December,' Haddock feebly opposing, on
the Genoa coast: 'Have at the Milanese, my men!' Which obliges Charles
Emanuel to end his cunctations, and rank at once in defence of that
Country, [Adelung, ii. 535, 538 (who believes in the "stroke of art"):
what kind of "art" it was, learn sufficiently in _Gentleman's Magazine,_
&c. of those months.] lest he get no share of it whatever. And so the
game began. Europe admired, with a shudder, the refined stroke of art;
for in cunning they equal Beelzebub, those perfidious Islanders;--and
are always at it; hence their greatness in the world. Imitate them, ye
Peoples, if you also would grow great. That is our Gazetteer Evangel, in
this late epoch of Man's History."...
OTHER SCENE, BAY OF NAPLES, 19th-20th August, 1742: KING OF TWO SICILIES
(BABY CARLOS THAT WAS), HAVING BEEN ASSISTING MAMMA, IS OBLIGED TO
BECOME NEUTRAL IN THE ITALIAN WAR.
Readers will transport themselves to the Bay of Naples, and beautiful
Vesuvian scenery seen from sea. The English-Spanish War, it would
appear, is not quite dead, nor carried on by Jenkins and the Wapping
people alone. Here in this Bay it blazes out into something of
memorability; and gives lively sign of its existence, among the other
troubles of the world.
"SUNDAY, AUGUST 19th, Commodore Martin, who had arrived overnight,
appears in the Bay, with due modicum of seventy-fours, 'dursley
galleys,' bomb-vessels, on an errand from his Admiral [one Matthews]
and the Britannic Majesty, much to the astonishment of Naples. Commodore
Martin hovers about, all morning, and at 4 P.M. drops anchor,--within
shot of the place, fearfully near;--and therefrom sends ashore a
Message: 'That his Sicilian Majesty [Baby Carlos, our notable old
friend, who is said to be a sovereign of merit otherwise], has not been
neutral, in this Italian War, as his engagements bore; but has joined
his force to that of the Spaniards, declared enemies of his Britannic
Majesty; which rash step his Britannic Majesty hereby requires him to
retract, if painful consequences are not at once to ensue!' That is
Martin's message; to which he stands doggedly, without variation, in the
extreme flutter and multifarious reasoning of the poor Court of Naples:
'Recall your 20,000 men, and keep them recalled,' persists Martin; and
furthermore at last, as the reasoning threatens to get lengthy:
'Your answer is required within one hour,'--and lays his watch on the
Cabin-table.
"The Court, thrown into transcendent tremor, with no resource but either
to be burnt or comply, answers within the hour: 'Yes: in all points.'
Some eight hours or so of reasoning: deep in the night of Sunday, it is
all over; everything preparing to get signed and sealed; ships making
ready to sail again;--and on Tuesday at sunrise, there is no Martin
there. Martin, to the last top-gallant, has vanished clean over the
horizon; never to be seen again, though long remembered. [Tindal's
_Rapin,_ xx. 572 (MISdates, and is altogether indistinct); _Gentleman's
Magazine,_ xii. 494:--CAME, "Sunday morning, 19th August, n.s.;"
"anchored about 4 p.m.;" "2 a.m. of 20th" all agreed; King Carlos's
LETTER is GOT, ships prepared for sailing;--sail that night, and
to-morrow, 21st, are out of sight.] One wonders, Were Pipes and Hatchway
perhaps there, in Martin's squadron? In what station Commodore Trunnion
did then serve in the British Navy? Vanished ghosts of grim mute
sea-kings, there is no record of them but what is itself a kind of
ghost! Ghost, or symbolical phantasm, from the brain of that Tobias
Smollett; an assistant Surgeon, who served in the body along with them,
his singular value altogether unknown."--King Carlos's Neutrality,
obtained in this manner, lasted for a year-and-half; a sensible
alleviation to her Hungarian Majesty for the time. We here quit the
Italian War; leaving it to the reader's fancy, on the above terms.
.......
THE SIEGE OF PRAG CONTIMES. A GRAND SALLY THERE.
"PRAG, 22d AUGUST. In the same hours, while Martin lay coercing
Naples, the Army of the Oriflamme in Prag City was engaged in 'furious
sallies;'"--readers may divine what that means for Prag and the
Oriflamme!
"Prag is begirdled, bombarded from all the Wischerads, Ziscabergs and
Hill environments; every avenue blocked, 'above 60,000 Austrians round
it, near 40,000 of them regulars:' a place difficult to defend; but with
excellent arrangements for defence on Belleisle's part, and the garrison
with its blood up. Garrison makes continual furious sallies,--which are
eminently successful, say the French Newspapers; but which end, as
all sallies do, in returning home again, without conquest, except of
honor;--and on this Wednesday, 22d August, comes out with the greatest
sally of all. [_Campagnes,_ vi. 5; _Guerre de Boheme,_ ii. 173.] While
Commodore Martin, many a Pipes and Hatchway standing grimly on the watch
unknown to us, is steering towards Matthews and the Toulon waters again.
The equal sun looking down on all.
"It was about twelve o'clock, when this Prag sally, now all in order,
broke out, several thousand strong, and all at the white heat, now a
constant temperature. Sally almost equal to that Pharsalia of a Sahay,
it would seem;--concerning which we can spend no word in this brief
summary. Fierce fighting, fiery irresistible onslaught; but it went too
far, lost all its captured cannon again; and returned only with laurels
and a heavy account of killed and wounded,--the leader of it being
himself carried home in a very bleeding state. 'Oh, the incomparable
troops!' cried Paris;--cried Voltaire withal (as I gather), and in very
high company, in that Visit at Aachen. A sally glorious, but useless.
"The Imperial Generals were just sitting down to dinner, when it broke
out; had intended a Council of War, over their wine, in the Grand-Duke's
tent: 'What, won't they let us have our dinner!' cried Prince Karl, in
petulant humor, struggling to be mirthful. He rather likes his dinner,
this Prince Karl, I am told, and does not object to his wine: otherwise
a hearty, talky, free-and-easy Prince,--'black shallow-set eyes, face
red, and much marked with small-pox.' Clapping on his hat, faculties
sharpened by hunger and impatience, let him do his best, for several
hours to come, till the sally abate and go its ways again. Leaving
its cannon, and trophies. No sally could hope to rout 60,000 men; this
furious sally, almost equal to Sahay, had to return home again, on the
above terms. Upon which Prince Karl and the others got some snatch of
dinner; and the inexorable pressure of Siege, tightening itself closer
and closer, went on as before.
"The eyes of all Europe are turned towards Prag; a big crisis clearly
preparing itself there.... France, or aid in France, is some 500 miles
away. In D'Harcourt, merely gathering magazines, with his Khevenhuller
near, is no help; help, not the question there! The garrison of Eger,
100 miles to west of us, across the Mountains, barely mans its own
works. Other strong post, or support of any kind in these countries,
we have now none. We are 24,000; and of available resource have the
Magazines in Prag, and our own right hands.
"The flower of the young Nobility had marched in that Oriflamme;--now
standing at bay, they and it, in Prag yonder: French honor itself seems
shut up there! The thought of it agitates bitterly the days and nights
of old Fleury, who is towards ninety now, and always disliked war. The
French public too,--we can fancy what a public! The young Nobility
in Prag has its spokes-men, and spokes-women, at Versailles, whose
complaint waxes louder, shriller; the whole world, excited by rumor of
those furious sallies, is getting shrill and loud. What can old
Fleury do but order Maillebois: 'Leave Dunkirk to its own luck; march
immediately for relief of Prag!' And Maillebois is already on march; his
various divisions (August 9th-20th) crossing the Rhine, in Dusseldorf
Country;"--of whom we shall hear.
... "Some time before the actual Bombardment, Fleury, seeing it
inevitable, had ordered Belleisle to treat. Belleisle accordingly had
an interview, almost two interviews, with Konigseck. [_Guerre de Boheme_,
ii. 156 ("2d July" the actual interview); ib. 161 (the corollary to it,
confirmatory of it, which passed by letters).] 'Liberty to march home,
and equitable Peace-Negotiations in the rear?' proposed Belleisle.
'Absolute surrender; Prisoners of War!' answered Konigseck; 'such is her
Hungarian Majesty's positive order and ultimatum.' The high Belleisle
responded nothing unpolite; merely some, 'ALORS, MONSIEUR--!' And rode
back to Prag, with a spirit all in white heat;--gradually heating all
the 24,000 white, and keeping them so.
"In fact, Belleisle, a high-flown lion reduced to silence and now
standing at bay, much distinguishes himself in this Siege; which, for
his sake, is still worth a moment's memory from mankind. He gathers
himself into iron stoicism, into concentration of endeavor; suffers all
things, Broglio's domineering in the first place; as if his own thin
skin were that of a rhinoceros; and is prepared to dare all things. Like
an excellent soldier, like an excellent citizen. He contrives, arranges;
leads, covertly drives the domineering Broglio, by rule of contraries or
otherwise, according to the nature of the beast; animates all men by
his laconic words; by his silences, which are still more emphatic....
Sechelles, provident of the future, has laid in immense supplies of
indifferent biscuit; beef was not attainable: Belleisle dismounts his
4,000 cavalry, all but 400 dragoons; slaughters 160 horses per day, and
boils the same by way of butcher's-meat, to keep the soldier in heart.
It is his own fare, and Broglio's, to serve as example. At Broglio's
quarter, there is a kind of ordinary of horse-flesh: Officers come in,
silent speed looking through their eyes; cut a morsel of the boiled
provender, break a bad biscuit, pour one glass of indifferent wine;
and eat, hardly sitting the while, in such haste to be at the ramparts
again. The 80,000 Townsfolk, except some Jews, are against them to
a man. Belleisle cares for everything: there is strict charge on his
soldiers to observe discipline, observe civility to the Townsfolk; there
is occasional 'hanging of a Prag Butcher' or so, convicted of spyship,
but the minimum of that, we will hope."
MAILLEBOIS MARCHES, WITH AN "ARMY OF REDEMPTION" OR "OF MATHURINS"
(WITTILY SO CALLED), TO RELIEVE PRAG; REACHES THE BOHEMIAN FRONTIER,
JOINED BY THE COMTE DE SAXE; ABOVE 50,000 STRONG (August 9th-September
19th).
Maillebois has some 40,000 men: ahead of him 600 miles of difficult
way; rainy season come, days shortening; uncertain staff of bread
("Seckendorf's meal," and what other commissariat there may be): a
difficult march, to Amberg Country and the top of the Ober-Pfalz. After
which are Mountain-passes; Bohemian Forest: and the Event--? "Cannot be
dubious!" thinks France, whatever Maillebois think. Witty Paris,
loving its timely joke, calls him Army of Redemption, "L'ARMEE DES
MATHURINS,"--a kind of Priests, whose business is commonly in Barbary,
about Christian bondage:--how sprightly! And yet the enthusiasm was
great: young Princes of the Blood longing to be off as volunteers,
needing strict prohibition by the King;--upon which, Prince de Conti,
gallant young fellow, leaving his wife, his mistress, and miraculously
borrowing 2,500 pounds for equipments, rushed off furtively by post; and
did join, and do his best. Was reprimanded, clapt in arrest for three
days; but afterwards promoted; and came to some distinction in these
Wars. [Barbier, ii. 326 (that of Conti, ib. 331); Adelung, &c.]
The March goes continually southeast; by Frankfurt, thence towards
Nurnberg Country ("be at Furth, September 6th"), and the skirts of the
Pine-Mountains (FICHTEL-GEBIRGE),--Anspach and Baireuth well to your
left;--end, lastly, in the OBER-PFALZ (Upper Palatinate), Town of Amberg
there. Before trying the Bohemian Passes, you shall have reinforcement.
Best part of the "Bavarian Army," now under Comte de Saxe, not under
D'Harcourt farther, is to cease collecting victual in the Donau-Iser
Countries (Deggendorf, north bank of Donau, its head-quarter); and to
get on march,--circling very wide, not northward, but by the Donan, and
even by the SOUTH, bank of it mainly (to avoid the hungry Mountains and
their Tolpatcheries),--and, at Amberg, is to join Maillebois. This is a
wide-lying game.
The great Marlborough used to play such, and win; making the wide
elements, the times and the spaces, hit with exactitude: but a
Maillebois?"He is called by the Parisians, 'VIEUX PETIT-MAITRE (dandy
of sixty,' so to speak); has a poor upturned nose, with baboon-face
to match, which he even helps by paint."... Here is one Scene; at
Frankfurt-on-Mayn; fact certain, day not given.
FRANKFURT, "LATTER END OF AUGUST," 1742. "At Frankfurt, his Army having
got into the neighborhood,"--not into Frankfurt itself, which, as a
REICHS-STADT, is sacred from Armies and their marchings,--"Marechal
de Maillebois, as in duty bound, waited on the Kaiser to pay his
compliments there: on which occasion, we regret to say, Marechal de
Maillebois was not so reverent to the Imperial Majesty as he should have
been. Angry belike at the Adventure now forced on him, and harassed with
many things; seeing in the Imperial Majesty little but an unfortunate
Play-actor Majesty, who lives in furnished lodgings paid for by France,
and gives France and Maillebois an infinite deal of trouble to little
purpose. Certain it is, he addressed the Imperial Majesty in the most
free-and-easy manner; very much the reverse of being dashed by the
sacred Presence: and his Officers in the ante-chamber, crowding about,
all day, for presentation to the Imperial Majesty, made a noise, and
kept up a babble of talk and laughter, as if it had been a mess-room,
instead of the Forecourt of Imperial Majesty. So that Imperial Majesty,
barely master of its temper and able to finish without explosion,
signified to Maillebois on the morrow, That henceforth it would
dispense with such visits, Poor Imperial Majesty; a human creature
doing Play-actorisms of too high a flight. He had the finest Palace in
Germany; a wonder to the Great Gustavus long ago: and now he has it not;
mere Meutzels and horrent shaggy creatures rule in Munchen and it: and
the Imperial quasi-furnished lodgings are respected in this manner!"
[Van Loon, _Kleine Schriften,_ ii. 271 (cited in Buchholz, ii. 71).
CAMPAGNES is silent; usually suppressing scenes of that kind.]--The wits
say of him, "He would be Kaiser or Nothing: see you, he is Kaiser and
Nothing!" [_"Aut nihil aut Caesar, Bavarus Dux esse volebat; Et nihil et
Caesar factus utrumque simul."_ (Barbier, ii. 322.)]...
AUGUST 19th-SEPTEMBER 14th. "Comte de Saxe is on march, from Deggendorf;
north bank of the Donau, by narrow mountain roads; then crosses the
Donau to south bank, and a plain country;--making large circuit, keeping
the River on his right,--to meet Maillebois at Amberg; his force,
some 10 or 12,000 men. Seckendorf, now Bavarian Commander-in-chief,
accompanies Saxe; with considerable Bavarian force, guess 20,000,
'marching always on the left.' Accompanies; but only to Regensburg,
to Stadt-am-Hof, a Suburb of Regensburg, where they cross the Donau
again."--SUBURB of Regensburg, mark that; Regensburg itself being a
Reichs-Stadt, very particularly sacred from War;--the very Reichs-DIET
commonly sitting here; though it has gone to Frankfurt lately, to be
with its Kaiser, and out of these continual trumpetings and tumults
close by. [Went 10th May, 1742,--after three months' arguing and
protesting on the Austrian part (Adelung, iii. A, 102, 138).]--"At
Regensburg, once across, Seckendorf with his Bavarians calls halt;
plants himself down in Kelheim, Ingolstadt, and the safe Garrisons
thereabouts,--calculates that, if Khevenhuller should be called away
Prag-ward, there may be a stroke do-able in these parts. Saxe marches
on; straight northward now, up the Valley of the Naab; obliged to be
a good deal on his guard. Mischievous Tolpatcheries and Trencks, ever
since he crossed the Donau again, have escorted him, to right, as close
as they durst; dashing out sometimes on the magazines." One of the
exploits they had done, take only one:--in their road TOWARDS Saxe, a
few days ago:--
... "SEPTEMBER 7th, Trenck with his Tolpatcheries had appeared at
Cham,--a fine trading Town on the hither or neutral side of the
mountains [not in Bohmen, but in Ober-Pfalz, old Kur-Pfalz's country,
whom the Austrians hate];--and summoning and assaulting Cham, over the
throat of all law, had by fire and by massacre annihilated the same.
[Adelung, iii A, 258; _Guerre de Boheme;_ &c.] Fact horrible, nearly
incredible; but true. The noise of which is now loud everywhere. Less
lovely individual than this Trenck [Pandour Trenck, Cousin of the
Prussian one,] there was not, since the days of Attila and Genghis,
in any War. Blusters abominably, too; has written [save the mark!]
an 'AUTOBIOGRAPHY,'--having happily afterwards, in Prison and even in
Bedlam, time for such a Work;--which is stuffed with sanguinary lies and
exaggerations: unbeautifulest of human souls. Has a face the color
of indigo, too;--got it, plundering in an Apothecary's [in this same
country, if I recollect]: 'ACH GOTT, your Grace, nothing of money here!'
said the poor Apothecary, accompanying Colonel Trenck with a lighted
candle over house and shop. Trenck, noticing one likely thing, snatched
the candle, held it nearer:--likely thing proved gunpowder; and Trenck,
till Doomsday, continues deep blue. [_Guerre de Boheme._] Soul more
worthy of damnation I have seldom known."
"SEPTEMBER 19th (five days after dropping Seckendorf), Saxe actually
gets joined with Maillebois;--not quite at Amberg, but at Vohenstrauss,
in that same Sulzbach Country, a forty miles to eastward, or Prag-ward,
of Amberg. Maillebois and he conjoined are between 50 and 60,000. They
are got now to the Bohemian Boundary, edge of the Bohemian Forest (big
BOHMISCHE WALD, Mountainous woody Country, 70 miles long); they are
within 60 miles of Pilsen, within 100 of Prag itself,--if they can cross
the Forest. Which may be difficult."
PRINCE KARL AND THE GRAND-DUKE, HEARING OF MAILLEBOIS, GO TO MEET HIM
(September 14th); AND THE SIEGE OF PRAG IS RAISED.
"SEPTEMBER llth, the Besieged at Prag notice that the Austrian fire
slackens; that the Enemy seems to be taking away his guns. Villages
and Farmsteads, far and wide all round, are going up in fire. A joyful
symptom:--since August 13th, Belleisle has known of Maillebois's advent;
guesses that the Austrians now know it.--SEPTEMBER 14th, their Firing
has quite ceased. Grand-Duke and Prince Karl are off to meet this
Maillebois, amid the intricate defiles, 'Better meet him there than
here:'--and on this fourth morning, Belleisle, looking out, perceives
that the Siege is raised. [Espagnac, i. 145; _Campagnes,_ v. 348.]
"A blessed change indeed. No enemy here,--perhaps some Festititz, with
his canaille of Tolpatches, still lingering about,--no enemy worth
mention. Parties go out freely to investigate:--but as to forage? Alas,
a Country burnt, Villages black and silent for ten miles round;--you
pick up here and there a lean steer, welcome amid boiled horse-flesh;
you bundle a load or two of neglected grass together, for what cavalry
remains. The genius of Sechelles, and help from the Saxon side, will be
much useful!
"Perhaps the undeniablest advantage of any is this, That Broglio,
not now so proud of the situation Prag is in, or led by the rule of
contraries, willingly quits Prag: Belleisle will not have to do
his function by the medium of pig-driving, but in the direct manner
henceforth. 'Give me 6 or 8,000 foot, and what of the cavalry have
horses still uneaten,' proposes Broglio; 'I will push obliquely towards
Eger,--which is towards Saxony withal, and opens our food-communications
there:--I will stretch out a hand to Maillebois, across the Mountain
Passes; and thus bring a victorious issue!' [Espagnac, i. 170.]
Belleisle consents: 'Well, since my Broglio will have it so!'--glad to
part with my Broglio at any rate,--'Adieu, then, M. le Marechal (and,'
SOTTO VOCE, 'may it be long before we meet again in partnership)!'
Broglio marches accordingly ('hand' beautifully held out to Maillebois,
but NOT within grasping distance); gets northwestward some 60 miles, as
far as Toplitz [sadly oblique for Eger],--never farther on that errand."
THE MAILLEBOIS ARMY OF REDEMPTION CANNOT REDEEM AT ALL;--HAS TO STAGGER
SOUTHWARD AGAIN; AND BECOMES AN "ARMY OF BAVARIA," UNDER BROGLIO.
"SEPTEMBER 19th-OCTOBER 10th,,'--Scene is, the Eger-VohenStrauss
Country, in and about that Bohemian Forest of seventy miles.--"For three
weeks, Maillebois and the Comte de Saxe, trying their utmost, cannot,
or cannot to purpose, get through that Bohemian Wood. Only Three
practicable Passes in it; difficult each, and each conducting you
towards more new difficulties, on the farther side;--not surmountable
except by the determined mind. A gloomy business: a gloomy difficult
region, solitary, hungry; nothing in it but shaggy chasms (and perhaps
Tolpatchery lurking), wastes, mountain woodlands, dumb trees, damp brown
leaves. Maillebois and Saxe, after survey, shoot leftwards to Eger; draw
food and reinforcement from the Garrison there. They do get through the
Forest, at one Pass, the Pass nearest Eger;--but find Prince Karl and
the Grand-Duke ranked to receive them on the other side. 'Plunge home
upon Prince Karl and the Grand-Duke; beat them, with your Broglio to
help in the rear?' That possibly was Friedrich's thought as he watched
[now home at Berlin again] the contemporaneous Theatre of War.
"But that was not the Maillebois-Broglio method;--nay, it is said
Maillebois was privately forbidden 'to run risks.' Broglio, with his
stretched-out hand (12,000 some count him, and indeed it is no matter),
sits quiet at Toplitz, far too oblique: 'Come then, come, O Maillebois!'
Maillebois,--manoeuvring Prince Karl aside, or Hunger doing it for
him,--did once push forward Prag-ward, by the Pass of Caaden; which is
very oblique to Toplitz. By the Pass of Caaden,--down the Eger River,
through those Mountains of the Circle of Saatz, past a Castle of
Ellenbogen, key of the same;--and 'Could have done it [he said always
after], had it not been for Comte de Saxe!' Undeniable it is, Saxe, as
vanguard, took that Castle of Ellenbogen; and, time being so precious,
gave the Tolpatchery dismissal on parole. Undeniable, too, the
Tolpatchery, careless of parole, beset Caaden Village thereupon, 4,000
strong; cut off our foreposts, at Caaden Village; and--In short, we had
to retire from those parts; and prove an Army of Redemption that could
not redeem at all!
"Maillebois and Saxe wend sulkily down the Naab Valley (having lost, say
15,000, not by fighting, but by mud and hardship); and the rapt European
Public (shilling-gallery especially) says, with a sneer on its face,
'Pooh; ended, then!' Sulkily wending, Maillebois and Saxe (October
30th-November 7th) get across the Donau, safe on the southern bank
again; march for the Iser Country and the D'Harcourt Magazines,--and
become 'Grand Bavarian Army,' usual refuge of the unlucky."...
OF SECKENDORF IN THE INTERIM. "For Belleisle and relief of Prag,
Maillebois in person had proved futile; but to Seckendorf, waiting with
his Bavarians, the shadow and rumor of Maillebois had brought famous
results,--famous for a few weeks. Khevenhuller being called north to
help in those Anti-Maillebois operations, and only Barenklau with about
10,000 Austrians now remaining in Baiern, Seckendorf, clearly superior
(not to speak of that remnant of D'Harcourt people, with their
magazines), promptly bestirred himself, in the Kelheim-Ingolstadt
Country; got on march; and drove the Austrians mostly out of Baiern.
Out mostly, and without stroke of sword, merely by marching; out for
the time. Munchen was evacuated, on rumor of Seckendorf (October 4th):
a glad City to see Barenklau march off. Much was evacuated,--the Iser
Valley, down partly to the Inn Valley,--much was cleared, by Seckendorf
in these happy circumstances. Who sees himself victorious, for once;
and has his fame in the Gazettes, if it would last. Pretty much without
stroke of sword, we say, and merely by marching: in one place, having
marched too close, the retreating Barenklau people turned on him, 'took
100 prisoners' before going; [Espagnac, i. 166.]--other fighting, in
this line 'Reconquest of Bavaria,' I do not recollect. Winter come,
he makes for Maillebois and the Iser Countries; cantons himself on
the Upper Inn itself, well in advance of the French [Braunau his chief
strong-place, if readers care to look on the Map]; and strives to expect
a combined seizure of Passau, and considerable things, were Spring
come."...
AND OF BROGLIO IN THE INTERIM. "As for Broglio, left alone at Toplitz,
gazing after a futile Maillebois, he sends the better half of his
Force back to Prag; other half he establishes at Leitmeritz: good
halfway-house to Dresden. 'Will forward Saxon provender to you, M. de
Belleisle!' (never did, and were all taken prisoners some weeks hence).
Which settled, Broglio proceeded to the Saxon Court; who answered him:
'Provender? Alas, Monseigneur! We are (to confess it to you!) at Peace
with Austria: [Treatying ever since "July 17th;" Treaty actually done,
"11th September") (Adelung, iii. A, 201, 268).] not an ounce of provender
possible; how dare we?'--but were otherwise politeness itself to the
great Broglio. Great Broglio, after sumptuous entertainments there,
takes the road for Baiern; circling grandly ('through Nurnberg with
escort of 500 Horse') to Maillebois's new quarters;--takes command of
the 'Bavarian Army' (may it be lucky for him!); and sends Maillebois
home, in deep dudgeon, to the merciless criticisms of men. 'Could have
done it,' persists the VIEUX PETIT-MAITRE always, 'had not'--one knows
what, but cares not, at this date!--
"Broglio's quarters in the Iser Country, I am told, are fatally too
crowded, men perishing at a frightful rate per day. [Espagnac, i. 182.]
'Things all awry here,--thanks to that Maillebois and others!' And
Broglio's troubles and procedures, as is everywhere usual to Broglio,
run to a great height in this Bavarian Command. And poor Seckendorf,
in neighborhood of such a Broglio, has his adoes; eyes sparkling; face
blushing slate-color; at times nearly driven out of his wits;--but
strives to consume his own smoke, and to have hopes on Passau
notwithstanding."--And of Belleisle in Prag, and his meditations on the
Oriflamme?--Patience, reader.
Meantime, what a relief to Kaiser Karl, in such wreck of Bohemian
Kingdoms and Castles in Spain, to have got his own Munchen and Country
in hand again; with the prospect of quitting furnished-lodgings, and
seeing the color of real money! April next, he actually goes to Munchen,
where we catch a glimpse of him. ["17th April, 1743," Montijos &c.
accompanying (Adelung, iii. B, 119, 120).] This same October, the Reich,
after endless debatings on the question, "Help our Kaiser, or not help?"
[Ib. iii A, 289.] has voted him fifty ROMER-MONATE ("Romish-months,"
still so termed, though there is NOT now any marching of the Kaiser to
Rome on business); meaning fifty of the known QUOTAS, due from all and
sundry in such case,--which would amount to about 300,000 pounds (could
it, or the half of it, be collected from so wide a Parish), and would
prove a sensible relief to the poor man.
VOLTAIRE HAS BEEN ON VISIT AT AACHEN, IN THE INTERIM,--HIS THIRD VISIT
TO KING FRIEDRICH.
King Friedrich had come to the Baths of Aachen, August 25th; the
Maillebois Army of Redemption being then, to the last man of it, five
days across the Rhine on its high errand, which has since proved futile.
Friedrich left Aachen, taking leave of his Voltaire, who had been
lodging with him for a week by special invitation, September 9th; and
witnessed the later struggles and final inability of Maillebois to
redeem, not at Aix, but at Berlin, amid the ordinary course of his
employments there. We promised something of Voltaire's new visit, his
Third to Friedrich. Here is what little we have,--if the lively reader
will exert his fancy on it.
Voltaire and his Du Chatelet had been to Cirey, and thence been at Paris
through this Spring and Summer, 1742;--engaged in what to Voltaire and
Paris was a great thing, though a pacific one: The getting of MAHOMET
brought upon the boards. August 9th, precisely while the first vanguard
of the Army of Redemption got across the Rhine at Dusseldorf, Voltaire's
Tragedy of MAHOMET came on the stage.
August 9th, llth, 13th, Paris City was in transports of various kinds;
never were such crowds of Audience, lifting a man to the immortal
gods,--though a part too, majority by count of heads, were dragging him
to Tartarus again. "Exquisite, unparalleled!" exclaimed good judges (as
Fleury himself had anticipated, on examining the Piece):--"Infamous,
irreligious, accursed!" vociferously exclaimed the bad judges; Reverend
Desfontaines (of Sodom, so Voltaire persists to define him), Reverend
Desfontaines and others giving cue; hugely vociferous, these latter,
hugely in majority by count of heads. And there was such a bellowing
and such a shrieking, judicious Fleury, or Maurepas under him, had
to suggest, "Let an actor fall sick; let M. de Voltaire volunteer to
withdraw his Piece; otherwise--!" And so it had to be: Actor fell sick
on the 14th (Playbills sorry to retract their MAHOMET on the 14th);
and--in fact, it was not for nine years coming, and after Dedication to
the Pope, and other exquisite manoeuvres and unexpected turns of fate,
that MAHOMET could be acted a fourth time in Paris, and thereafter AD
LIBITUM down to this day. [_OEuvres de Voltaire,_ ii. 137 n.; &c. &c.]
Such tempest in a teapot is not unexampled, nay rather is very frequent,
in that Anarchic Republic called of Letters. Confess, reader, that you
too would have needed some patience in M. de Voltaire's place; with
such a Heaven's own Inspiration of a MAHOMET in your hands, and such a
terrestrial Doggery at your heels. Suppose the bitterest of your barking
curs were a Reverend Desfontaines of Sodom, whom you yourself had
saved from the gibbet once, and again and again from starving? It is
positively a great Anarchy, and Fountain of Anarchies, all that, if you
will consider; and it will have results under the sun. You cannot help
it, say you; there is no shutting up of a Reverend Desfontaines, which
would be so salutary to himself and to us all? No:--and when human
reverence (daily going, in such ways) is quite gone from the world;
and your lowest blockhead and scoundrel (usually one entity) shall have
perfect freedom to spit in the face of your highest sage and hero,--what
a remarkably Free World shall we be!
Voltaire, keeping good silence as to all this, and minded for Brussels
again, receives the King of Prussia's invitation; lays it at his
Eminency Fleury's feet; will not accept, unless his Eminency and my own
King of France (possibly to their advantage, if one might hint such a
thing!) will permit it. [Ib. lxxii. 555 (Letter to Fleury, "Paris, Aug.
22d").] "By all means; go, and"--The rest is in dumb-show; meaning, "Try
to pump him for us!" Under such omens, Voltaire and his divine Emilie
return to their Honsbruck Lawsuit: "Silent Brussels, how preferable
to Paris and its mad cries!" Voltaire, leaving the divine Emilie at
Brussels, September 2d, sets out for Aix,--Aix attainable within the
day. He is back at Brussels late in the evening, September 9th:--how
he had fared, and what extent of pumping there was, learn from the
following Excerpts, which are all dated the morrow after his return:--
THREE LETTERS OF VOLTAIRE, DATED BRUSSELS, 10th SEPT. 1742.
1. TO CIDEVILLE (the Rouen Advocate, who has sometimes troubled us)....
"I have been to see the King of Prussia since I began this Letter
[beginning of it dates September 1st]. I have courageously resisted
his fine proposals. He offers me a beautiful House in Berlin, a pretty
Estate; but I prefer my second-floor in Madame du Chatelet's here. He
assures me of his favor, of the perfect freedom I should have;--and I am
running to Paris [did not just yet run] to my slavery and persecution.
I could fancy myself a small Athenian, refusing the bounties of the King
of Persia. With this difference, however, one had liberty [not slavery]
at Athens; and I am sure there were many Cidevilles there, instead of
one,"--HELAS, my Cideville!
2. TO MARQUIS D'ARGENSON (worthy official Gentleman, not War-Minister
now or afterwards; War-Minister's senior brother,--Voltaire's old
school-fellows, both these brothers, in the College of Louis le
Grand).... "I have just been to see the King of Prussia in these late
days [in fact, quitted him only yesterday; both of us, after a week
together, leaving Aix yesterday]: I have seen him as one seldom sees
Kings,--much at my ease, in my own room, in the chimney-nook, whither
the same man who has gained two Battles would come and talk familiarly,
as Scipio did with Terence. You will tell me, I am not Terence; true,
but neither is he altogether Scipio.
"I learned some extraordinary things,"--things not from Friedrich at
all: mere dinner-table rumors; about the 16,000 English landing here
("18,000" he calls them, and farther on, "20,000") with the other 16,000
PLUS 6,000 of Hanoverian-Hessian sort, expecting 20,000 Dutch to join
them,--who perhaps will not? "M. de Neipperg [Governor of Luxemburg now]
is come hither to Brussels; but brings no Dutch troops with him, as
he had hoped,"--Dutch perhaps won't rise, after all this flogging and
hoisting?" Perhaps we may soon get a useful and glorious Peace, in
spite of my Lord Stair, and of M. van Haren, the Tyrtaeus of the
States-General [famed Van Haren, eyes in a fine Dutch frenzy rolling,
whose Cause-of-Liberty verses let no man inquire after]: Stair prints
Memoirs, Van Haren makes Odes; and with so much prose and so much verse,
perhaps their High and Slow Mightinesses [Excellency Fenelon sleeplessly
busy persuading them, and native Gravitation SLEEPILY ditto] will sit
quiet. God grant it!
"The English want to attack us on our own soil [actually Stair's plan];
and we cannot pay them in that kind. The match is too unfair! If we kill
the whole 20,000 of them, we merely send 20,000 Heretics to--What shall
I say?--A L'ENFER, and gain nothing; if they kill us, they even feed
at our expense in doing it. Better have no quarrels except on Locke and
Newton! The quarrel I have on MAHOMET is happily only ridiculous."...
Adieu, M. le Marquis.
3. TO THE CARDINAL DE FLEURY. "Monseigneur,... to give your Eminency, as
I am bound, some account of my journey to Aix-la-Chapelle." Friedrich's
guest there; let us hear, let us look.
"I could not get away from Brussels till the 2d of this month. On the
road, I met a courier from the King of Prussia, coming to reiterate his
Master's orders on me. The King had me lodged near his own Apartment;
and he passed, for two consecutive days, four hours at a time in my
room, with all that goodness and familiarity which forms, as you know,
part of his character, and which does not lower the King's dignity,
because one is duly careful not to abuse it [be careful!]. I had
abundant time to speak, with a great deal of freedom, on what your
Eminency had prescribed to me; and the King spoke to me with an equal
frankness.
"First, he asked me, If it was true that the French Nation was
so angered against him; if the King was, and if you were? I
answered,"--mildly reprobatory, yet conciliative, "Hm, no, nothing
permanent, nothing to speak of." "He then deigned to speak to me, at
large, of the reasons which had induced him to be so hasty with the
Peace." "Extremely remarkable reasons;" "dare not trust them to this
Paper" (Broglio-Belleisle discrepancies, we guess, distracted
Broglio procedures);--they have no concern with that Pallandt-Letter
Story,--"they do not turn on the pretended Secret Negotiations at the
Court of Vienna [which are not pretended at all, as I among others
well know], in regard to which your Eminency has condescended to
clear yourself [by denying the truth, poor Eminency; there was no help
otherwise]. All I dare state is, that it seems to me easy to lead back
the mind of this Sovereign, whom the situation of his Territories, his
interest, and his taste would appear to mark as the natural ally of
France."
"He said farther [what may be relied on as true by his Eminency Fleury,
and my readers here], That he passionately wished to see Bohemia in
the Emperor's hands [small chance for it, as things now go!]; that he
renounced, with the best faith in the world, all claim whatever on Berg
and Julich; and that, in spite of the advantageous proposals which Lord
Stair was making him, he thought only of keeping Silesia. That he knew
well enough the House of Austria would, one day, wish to recover that
fine Province, but that he trusted he could keep his conquest; that he
had at this time 130,000 soldiers always ready; that he would make of
Neisse, Glogau, Brieg, fortresses as strong as Wesel [which he is now
diligently doing, and will soon have done]; that besides he was well
informed the Queen of Hungary already owed 80,000,000 German crowns,
which is about 300 millions of our money [about 12 millions sterling];
that her Provinces, exhausted, and lying wide apart, would not be able
to make long efforts; and that the Austrians, for a good while to come,
could not of themselves be formidable." Of themselves, no: but with
Britannic soup-royal in quantity?--
"My Lord Hyndford had spoken to him" as if France were entirely
discouraged and done for: How false, Monseigneur! "And Lord Stair in his
letters represented France, a month ago, as ready to give in. Lord Stair
has not ceased to press his Majesty during this Aix Excursion even:"
and, in spite of what your Eminency hears from the Hague, "there was,
on the 30th of August, an Englishman at Aix on the part of Milord Stair;
and he had speech with the King of Prussia [CROYEZ MOI!] in a little
Village called Boschet [Burtscheid, where are hot wells], a quarter of
a league from Aix. I have been assured, moreover, that the Englishman
returned in much discontent. On the other hand, General Schmettau, who
was with the King [elder Schmettau, Graf SAMUEL, who does a great deal
of envoying for his Majesty], sent, at that very time, to Brussels,
for Maps of the Moselle and of the Three Bishoprics, and purchased five
copies,"--means to examine Milord Stair's proposed Seat of War, at any
rate. (Here is a pleasant friend to have on visit to you, in the next
apartment, with such an eye and such a nose!)...
"Monseigneur," finely insinuates Voltaire in conclusion, "is not there"
a certain Frenchman, true to his Country, to his King, and to your
Eminency, with perhaps peculiar facilities for being of use, in such
delicate case?--"JE SUIS," much your Eminency's. [_OEuvres,_ lxxii. p.
568 (to Cideville), p. 579 (D'Argenson), p. 574 (Fleury).]
Friedrich, on the day while Voltaire at Brussels sat so busy writing of
him, was at Salzdahl, visiting his Brunswick kindred there, on the
road home to his usual affairs. Old Fleury, age ninety gone, died
29th January, 1743,--five months and nineteen days after this Letter.
War-Minister Breteuil had died January 1st. Here is room for new
Ministers and Ministries; for the two D'Argensons,--if it could avail
their old School-fellow, or France, or us; which it cannot much.