THE RUIN OF THE PRINCESS.
What if my life be all undone,
And all things false below the sun,
Yet still I have been true to one—
Most passionately true!
LADY ARABELLA ROMILLY.
After Königsmarck had left, the Princess passed most of the night in
packing up her jewels, sorting and burning papers, and completing
arrangements for her flight. It was arranged that, on receipt of a note
from Königsmarck in the morning, the Princess and her lady-in-waiting
should steal disguised to some quiet spot in the city, and thence escape
in his coach, which, it afterwards transpired, was under orders to start
for Dresden at a moment’s notice. Outside Hanover the order would have
been reversed; the coachman would have been told to drive with all speed
to Wolfenbüttel, and once across the Hanoverian frontier the fugitives
would have been safe from pursuit.
During the night Knesebeck fancied that she heard sounds, but thought
nothing of them. Königsmarck had promised to send the Princess word
early in the morning, but when the day wore on and nothing came she grew
anxious, and her anxiety increased when she learnt that he had not
returned home and his servants knew nothing of his whereabouts. His
absence did not trouble his servants, as the Count was given to
nocturnal adventures and often remained away for days together. But it
troubled the Princess greatly, and she began to fear that some evil had
befallen him. Presently some one came into the antechamber with the
rumour that Königsmarck had fought a duel with Count Lippe, and had been
run through the body. Greatly alarmed, the Princess sent to Marshal
Podevils to find out if the report were true, but the Marshal said that
it was groundless and Königsmarck was doubtless safe and well. Later,
when the Princess attempted to go out, she was informed that it was the
Elector’s pleasure she should not leave her apartments, and no reply was
vouchsafed to her remonstrance. Her children were in the habit of coming
to see her daily at a certain hour, but this day they came not, and when
she requested their presence she was told that the Elector had given
orders they were not to be admitted, and the young Prince George
Augustus was dining with the Elector alone.
By this time the Princess had no doubt that she was betrayed, and gave
herself up to a passionate agony of grief; while Knesebeck, though
greatly frightened also, vainly endeavoured to comfort her. Great though
the Princess’s fear was, and great though her peril, she gave little
thought to her own danger; all her anxiety was for Königsmarck’s safety.
She was in the same plight as she had written to him long ago: “I fear
that we are betrayed. I am trembling on the edge of a precipice, but my
own danger is the least of my anxieties. I scarcely think of the
misfortunes inevitable and unavoidable if we are discovered: you, only,
occupy my thoughts.” Then her terrors were imaginary; now they were
real. At the very moment of fruition all her hopes were dashed to the
ground, and she saw before her nothing but ruin and lifelong misery. To
all her frenzied inquiries (and it was no use sending Knesebeck for
further information, as that lady had now been ordered not to quit the
Princess’s chamber) she could elicit no reply; and the fact that she was
a prisoner in her apartments made her fear the worst. She passed the
night in a torment of anxiety.
Meantime the inquiries which Knesebeck had started set Königsmarck’s
servants on the same track, and all sorts of rumours flew around
Hanover. It was reported that the previous night Königsmarck, surrounded
by a bright light, had been seen in the palace through the windows, and
a crowd assembled outside the gates, to the manifest discomfort of the
Elector, who gave orders for them to be dispersed. So passed Monday. The
next day, Tuesday, July 3, Hildebrand, Königsmarck’s secretary, went to
Marshal Podevils to get information, if possible, of his master’s fate,
as there was now a report that he was imprisoned in the palace.
Podevils, who had always been a good friend of the Königsmarck family,
and who must have suspected that there was foul play, nevertheless stood
loyally by his master, the Elector, and said: “The Count will be found
somewhere. There is no use making a fuss. Tell the servants to keep
quiet.”
Up till now no rumour had reached Celle of the catastrophe, for we find
the English envoy, Cresset, writing on this date: “The Electoral Prince
is amusing himself in Berlin, and the Electoral Princess is always ill
at Hanover”.[225]
-----
Footnote 225:
Cresset’s _Despatch_, Celle, July 3, 1694.
-----
The following day Hildebrand received a strong hint to keep quiet, but
nevertheless he despatched a trusty servant to Dresden to tell the
Elector of Saxony of his master’s disappearance. Hardly had he done so,
than the Elector of Hanover sent three officials to search Königsmarck’s
rooms thoroughly, and particularly his writing-table. Several papers
were seized, and the rooms and their contents were sealed up with the
official seal. The next day Hildebrand wrote a guarded letter to
Königsmarck’s sisters at Hamburg to tell them that their brother was
missing, and asking for directions as to what he was to do with his
effects. He added that he believed the Count was still alive, and asked
them to wait eight days before demanding his restoration; but so
frightened was he, lest the Hanoverian authorities might intercept this
letter, that he did not mention that the Count’s rooms had been searched
and his papers seized.
These same papers sealed the doom of the Princess. They were taken to
the Elector, who went through them carefully with the Platens. They were
found to include many letters from Sophie Dorothea to her lover from the
beginning of the year, and especially during his absence at Dresden,
detailing minutely the story of her wrongs. They showed evidence of an
extended secret correspondence, but the letters before January were
missing and some even since that date. They had passed into the hands of
Königsmarck’s sisters; they are the letters published in this book.[226]
But though these could not be found, there remained more than enough to
reveal everything. The cypher was easily made out, and though some of
the Princess’s letters were written in a disguised hand, and some
transcribed by Knesebeck, this did not conceal anything, but only served
to implicate the lady-in-waiting in the intrigue. The letters contained
convincing proofs of the Princess’s passion for Königsmarck and of her
hatred of her husband and the House of Hanover. They contained, too,
many severe reflections on her father’s harshness, especially when he
refused to grant her a separate maintenance,—words written in the heat
of anger, and perhaps forgotten as soon as written, but the writing
remained. They afforded, also, full evidence of her projected flight to
Wolfenbüttel, in which Frau von Metsch and Knesebeck were implicated—an
act of treason in itself. The old Elector was incensed at these
revelations; and though he might have overlooked the intimacy with
Königsmarck, for he was not hard on such weaknesses, he could not
forgive the intrigue with his arch-enemy of Wolfenbüttel. This
prejudiced him hopelessly against the Princess, and made him harden his
heart against any thought of mercy. It was clear that not only the
honour, but the safety of his House demanded that the Princess should be
kept in durance vile.
-----
Footnote 226:
We have the following evidence of how a portion of them were rescued,
even at the eleventh hour. In the _Memoirs of Countess [Aurora]
Königsmarck_, Auditeur Rüdiger, a confidant of Königsmarck’s, states
that Metsch, one of the intermediaries employed by the lovers in their
secret correspondence, was with Secretary Hildebrand after
Königsmarck’s disappearance on July 1. Hildebrand asked him if he knew
of any letters that might incriminate the Count. “As I answered in the
affirmative,” proceeds Rüdiger’s statement, “and added I had seen a
packet of letters in the small box on the Dresden journey, tied
together with a yellow ribbon, of which the Count took especial care,
the secretary requested me to take the box with me to my room and when
the packing up was done to send it unopened by the lackey Mickel to
Celle.” Aurora and her sister we know were at Celle soon after, and we
are justified in surmising that these letters reached them by the hand
of some trustworthy person, and thus ultimately came to hand with the
other letters.
-----
The Electress Sophia, who had now been informed of the course of events,
had no word strong enough to express her condemnation of the offender.
She at last saw a chance of ridding herself for ever of the daughter of
the d’Olbreuse, and she hailed it gladly. There was no mercy in the
heart of the Electress for her erring daughter-in-law, nor would she
hearken to any plea of extenuating circumstances. Yet if she had
reflected she might have seen that it was she who had helped to drive
the unhappy woman to these desperate steps. A little kindness, a little
forbearance, a word of advice at the right season might have saved
Sophie Dorothea: but no help ever came from the Electress Sophia.
Meantime the Princess, half-crazed with fear and suspense, implored to
see the Elector and to know whereof she was accused; but no answer was
returned to her prayers. She wrote long letters to her parents at Celle,
complaining bitterly of the indignities to which she was subjected, and
begging them to come to her succour. But at Celle she had been
forestalled by Count Platen, who, on the discovery of the secret
correspondence, posted off to Duke George William under orders of the
Elector. Count Platen laid bare to the Duke the whole miserable story,
and last, but not least, told him of the Princess’s aspersions upon her
father. He showed him the Princess’s own letters to Königsmarck,
especially those which animadverted on her father’s meanness and cruelty
in refusing her shelter from her enemies at Hanover.
The Duke of Celle was wounded to the quick when he read these letters,
and enraged beyond measure; his pride was hurt, too, by the dishonour
done to his House. His standard of morality was not a high one, but he
held that princesses of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg should be above
reproach, as in the case of his own wife and the Electress Sophia. The
Electoral Prince’s many infidelities formed to him no excuse for his
wife going astray. He argued that however immoral a man might be, he
could not, like a woman, introduce spurious offspring into the family,
or affect the legitimacy of the succession. The old Duke prided himself
on being a blunt, straightforward man, and he had a horror of intrigue
and double-dealing. From every point of view it seemed to him that his
daughter’s conduct was as bad as it could be—a view in which Platen did
not hesitate to back him up.
With the Duchess of Celle it was different. However culpable she might
deem her daughter to be, she would not forsake her in her desperate
straits, for she believed that the Prince was far more culpable than
she. The Duchess, too, refused to believe, however imprudent her
daughter might have been, that she was actually guilty with Königsmarck.
She reminded the Duke of how alone and unprotected his daughter was, how
surrounded by enemies, whose cruelty had goaded her to these desperate
steps. She urged that her harsh expressions about her father were
written when she was beside herself, and therefore allowance was to be
made for them. Then, seeing he was still obdurate, she threw herself at
his feet, and with tears and prayers besought him not to desert his only
child in her hour of trouble. But the Duke would hear no reason. His
wife had long since lost her influence over him, and he cursed her, and
her daughter, and the day when he first brought her to his house, and
drove her from him with bitter words. The Duchess next went to
Bernstorff, who had ever shown himself her enemy, and besought his aid
in this terrible crisis, offering him a large sum of money if he would
work for the interests of the Princess and do what he could to mitigate
the Duke’s anger against her.
Bernstorff, already in the pay of Hanover, double traitor that he was,
did not reject the proffered bribe, and hypocritically promised the
Duchess that he would use his best exertions. It must have been a
triumph to his mean soul to see this proud and imperious woman humbling
herself before him as a suppliant. He knew well her day was over, that
the sun of her power had set for ever: the ruin of the daughter meant
also, comparatively speaking, the ruin of the mother. The Duchess
Eléonore had indeed to drink the cup of humiliation to the dregs. For
years she had planned and laboured until she had reached the summit of
her ambition, and now she was hurled from it by the cruellest blow that
Fate could have dealt her. Yet her mother’s heart beat true. She had no
reproaches for her erring daughter, only love; and, bitter though her
fall was, it was not half so bitter as her impotence to help.
Though the Duchess could do little, she did not cease to importune every
one concerned—the Duke, Bernstorff, and Platen—that the Princess should
be treated with leniency; and especially she pleaded against harsh and
hasty judgment. Had it not been for those unlucky letters she might have
succeeded, for the Duke’s anger was not wont to be long-lived; but
unfortunately they remained, and bore damning evidence against the
unhappy Princess. Count Platen’s mission to the court of Celle was first
to prejudice the Duke against his daughter and then to take counsel with
him as to what should be done. There were grave issues at stake, and it
was important that whatever steps were taken should be taken in concert
between the two courts. Things had come to a desperate pass; but it was
resolved not to abandon all efforts to bring about, not a
reconciliation, for that was impossible, but an arrangement which might
obviate the necessity of public scandal.
This task was very difficult, and was rendered more so by the
irreconcilable attitude of the Princess. She was still ignorant of
Königsmarck’s fate, but she refused positively to remain at Hanover of
her own free will. To keep her there as a prisoner would give occasion
for the enemy to blaspheme, and the courts of Hanover and Celle were
anxious above all things to keep the real facts of the case from leaking
out. Both courts resolved that Königsmarck’s name should not be even
mentioned in connection with the Princess, and that any course agreed
upon should be carried out as though the Count had never existed.
Pending further negotiations, it was resolved to remove the Princess to
her father’s territory—not to the castle of Celle, for that would look
as though he condoned her conduct and bring her and her mother
together—but to Ahlden, a lonely magistrate’s house in a distant
village, some twenty miles from Hanover and Celle respectively, where
she would be effectually cut off from intercourse with the world. It was
determined, if possible, to give this removal the appearance of
voluntary flight; and the imprisonment of Knesebeck was also decided
upon.
While Count Platen was at Celle the Princess had addressed another
letter to the Elector, who had always hitherto been inclined to treat
her with indulgence, asking for an interview with him, and for
permission to be allowed to retire to the territory of Celle. The
Elector merely acknowledged the letter, saying the matter was under
consideration.
The return of Count Platen to Hanover, bringing the news of how utterly
Duke George William condemned his daughter’s conduct, deprived the
unhappy woman of her last chance of protection; her own father had
turned against her, and there was now no longer any need to treat her
with consideration, or even with respect. Knesebeck was arrested
forthwith, and without any explanation was hurried off to prison. Then
the Princess knew that she must expect the worst.
As Count Platen had seen the Duke of Celle, he was deemed the fit and
proper person, despite the infamous conduct of his wife, to interview
the Princess, and conduct the difficult and delicate negotiations
necessary to bring her to reason. Armed therefore with the Elector’s
authority, he went to the Princess’s apartments, entrusted with full
power to deal with her as need required. The Princess had now been shut
up in her rooms for nearly a fortnight under strict surveillance,
without any explanation having been vouchsafed, though she had guessed
the reason but too well.
Platen went expecting to find her humble and contrite; instead he found
her angry and defiant, and most indignant that he of all people should
have been sent to her: she did not forget that she was still the
Electoral Princess and the heiress of Celle, and her first question was
why the Elector had not come to see her himself. Platen replied that His
Highness bade him say that he declined to have any further communication
with her, and had sent him to communicate to the Princess the fact that
she would no longer be permitted to remain at the court of Hanover. To
this the Princess replied that she desired nothing better than to go
away from it for ever; it had been her wish for a long time past. But
she demanded the reason of her unjustifiable detention. Platen retorted
that her detention was not unjustifiable; it was in accordance with the
orders of her father as well as of the Elector, and she had brought it
upon herself by her misconduct. The Princess haughtily asked him to what
he referred, and he replied _tout court_, to her criminal intimacy with
Königsmarck; and by way of thrusting the insult home, added that her
imprisonment was likely to be prolonged as it was suspected that she was
pregnant by Königsmarck. The Princess’s anger blazed forth at this
coarse insult, and she asked Platen if he mistook her for his shameless
wife. Platen rejoined that it was useless for the Princess to equivocate
or to deny: everything was discovered and known; they had possession of
her letters, and her lover had met with his deserts. The Princess’s face
blanched, and she exclaimed, “Where is Königsmarck?” Platen answered
that the Count was discovered leaving her chamber on the night of July
1, and had been killed in resisting his arrest.
This cruel blow completely shattered the Princess’s self-control; her
agony and despair were piteous to behold. The thought of Königsmarck’s
murder swallowed up all else, and, lost to the sense of her own peril,
she burst into weeping and lamentations, praying God to take her, since
he was dead, and vowing she would live no longer. Platen looked on
unmoved, and noted down all these cries as so many proofs of her guilt.
The Princess, beside herself with grief, denounced him in the most
passionate terms, and not him only, but the Elector and all the House of
Hanover as murderers and assassins; she refused to parley with Platen
longer, and bade him begone from her presence. He left, not without
giving orders for the Princess to be watched closely, as she threatened
to kill herself. He reported all that had passed to the Elector, saying
that the Princess was very violent, and impenitent, and more
insubordinate than ever.
It is quite possible that the Princess would have committed suicide if
she had possessed the means of doing so, for now, deprived of every
friend and help on earth, she abandoned herself to despair. Beside the
fact that Königsmarck was dead all else was nothing. She no longer cared
for her safety or heeded her interests; life had nothing left for her.
As she wrote to him long ago: “My life is bound up with yours. I would
not live a moment if you were to be killed.” And again: “Without you
life would be intolerable, and imprisonment within four walls preferable
than to go on living in the world”. The thought that her lover had been
foully murdered coming from her chamber that night, with her kisses
still warm on his lips, drove her nearly mad, and to her excited
imagination his blood seemed to be on her head. Her horror and loathing
of his assassins, among whom she included the Electoral family of
Hanover as well as the Platens, knew no bounds; compromise with them was
impossible, and her one desire was to quit this hated palace and find
some quiet spot where she might die. To this frame of mind—absolute
recklessness of the future and indifference to her own interests—must be
attributed much of the subsequent attitude of the Princess, an attitude
her enemies were not slow to take advantage of to work for her hurt.
The Princess’s defiance was reported to Celle, and reconciliation was
seen to be absolutely impossible or even an amicable settlement.
Something would have to be done forthwith, and it was resolved that
steps should be taken to procure a separation, on the ground of the
Princess’s wilful desertion of her husband and refusal to submit herself
to her consort’s connubial rights; the more drastic measure of divorce
was not yet hinted at. The first thing was to remove the Princess from
Hanover, and communications passed daily between the two courts as to
when the Princess should be sent to Ahlden and the best means of
twisting events so that the Königsmarck affair might be kept in the
background, and colour given to the theory of wilful desertion.
In accordance with this policy extraordinary care was then, and
afterwards, taken to destroy or suppress any documents containing
mention of Königsmarck’s name. But though no reference to Königsmarck
can be found in the manuscripts preserved in the Hanoverian Archives,
they contain several interesting papers which have reference to the
Princess’s case, and among them may be found a despatch bearing on this
particular crisis, a despatch of Platen to Bernstorff, dated July 13,
1694.
In it Platen replies to a letter from Bernstorff, and says that he
gathers from it the Princess may set out for Ahlden on July 15. The
Princess will hear this “with great satisfaction, as she is much annoyed
that the journey cannot be undertaken on the 14th, so anxious is she to
leave Hanover”. After discussing the journey, retinue, and luggage, he
goes on: “As to the proposition of suggesting through Monsieur Bussche
to Madame la Princesse that she may declare, in order to save
appearances, that she will not, and cannot, live with the Prince, and
therefore has begged leave to retire before his return here, we consider
it desirable to spread such a rumour abroad, but not to suggest to the
Princess that she should say it. We will speak to Her Highness to-morrow
on the matter and see what her resolve is.”
On July 15 Platen again writes to Bernstorff saying that he will put his
letter of the 14th before the Elector, and does not doubt that he will
fall in with all Bernstorff’s proposals with regard to the journey to
Ahlden. Further on it is again stated: “She [the Princess] is extremely
anxious to leave this place, so much so that she receives the news that
her journey must still be delayed a couple of days with great impatience
And finally: “The departure of Madame la Princesse Electorale cannot
possibly pass for desertion, as she wishes to take all her belongings
and attendants with her”.
It is evident from these letters that the courts of Hanover and Celle
were anxious to save appearances, even to the extent of circulating a
false report as to the Princess’s flight.
On July 17 the journey was, so to speak, put upon the stage, and the
Princess quitted Hanover for ever. On arrival at Ahlden she found
herself a state prisoner.
Despite all these elaborate precautions, the truth was beginning to leak
out. Every court in Europe was talking, and, notwithstanding persistent
denials, the imprisonment of the Princess and the disappearance of
Königsmarck were coupled together. Louis XIV. asked the Duchess of
Orleans at supper whether it was true that Königsmarck was imprisoned in
a cellar of the castle at Hanover. Stepney writes from Dresden:—
“We have whisperings as if one of Count Königsmarck’s servants was come
hither Post from Hanover to tell y^e Elector, His Master has been
missing ever since the 30th of last month, the day he designed to leave
Hanover and come hither, where he has been made lately Major Generall,
to cleare a debt of m/30 Dollars which He won of y^e Elector when he
made y^e campaign two years ago with you in Flanders. If it be true that
y^e Count is not to be found, ’tis an even lay that they have used him
little better than his Brother did Esquire Thinn, and perhaps a great
Lady likewise (with whom he is suspected to have been familiar) may have
been some cause of his misfortune. All I can say of y^e matter, the
Electorall Prince of Hanover is at Berlin, acting Comedyies, and making
merry with his sister y^e Electrice.”[227]
-----
Footnote 227:
Stepney to Blathwayt, Dresden _Despatch_, July 10/20, 1694.
-----
[Illustration:
THE CASTLE OF AHLDEN AS IT WAS WHEN SOPHIE DOROTHEA WAS IMPRISONED
THERE.
_From an old engraving in the Castle._
]
In Hanover, too, the wildest rumours flew about, and in Celle, where the
Princess was very popular, there was a great feeling of indignation at
the way she was being treated. All this was very unpleasant to the ducal
brothers, and feeling that some explanation was advisable, they drafted
a circular letter to their representatives abroad “as a declaration for
foreign courts wherever delicate points occur”.
“The Princess at first,” so runs the document, “displayed only some
coldness towards her husband, but Fräulein von Knesebeck by degrees
inspired her with such dislike to him that she begged from her father
permission to return to her parents’ home. Her father was displeased,
and warned the Princess to place confidence in her husband. After that
she paid her father a visit at Brockhausen; but when he learnt that the
Prince was intending to make a journey to Berlin to see his sister, he
sent his daughter back to Hanover with further admonitions that she
should speak with her husband before his departure. But her dislike of
her husband was so intensified by the machinations of Fräulein von
Knesebeck that she determined not to await his return from Berlin. As
soon as his arrival was imminent, she withdrew again from Hanover to her
father. He, however, sent messengers to meet her on the way to forbid
her coming to Celle, and insisted on her either returning, or
withdrawing for the present to the magistrate’s house at Ahlden, which
lay on the way. The Princess chose the latter course; but her corrupter,
Fräulein von Knesebeck, was arrested at the wish of the Duke George
William.”
This circular was duly despatched to the Brunswick-Lüneburg envoys at
the different courts. The very fact of speaking of Ahlden as if it lay
on the road between Hanover and Celle, when it was twenty miles away
from either of them in an opposite direction, shows that this report
relied on the ignorance of foreign courts to conceal the actual
circumstances. If we compare Count Platen’s two letters already quoted
with this circular, it is clear the whole policy of those in authority
at this time was to mislead. There is no mention of Königsmarck’s name,
no more than if he had never existed. Knesebeck is made the scapegoat,
and her conduct is distorted to veil the Princess’s errors.
We must now leave the Princess for a space and return to the fate of her
lover.
Though this circular to the foreign courts might explain the Princess’s
captivity, it shed no light whatever on Königsmarck’s disappearance,
with which they were much more concerned. The Hanoverian government at
this time were verily at their wits’ end to meet the inquiries which
beset them on every side, and the truth that murder will out was being
proved once more. The Count’s sisters were most untiring in their
efforts to discover their missing brother. Acting on the secretary’s
advice, the Countess Aurora and the Countess Lewenhaupt, then at
Hamburg, waited twelve days after receiving his letter, before taking
any steps, in the hope that their brother might turn up. Then they wrote
to the Elector of Hanover for information, saying that they were
credibly informed he was imprisoned in the Elector’s palace. To this
letter as to all others, from whatever quarter, the Elector replied,
saying that he had no knowledge of Königsmarck’s whereabouts, nor was he
in any way responsible for him. On receiving this unsatisfactory reply
Aurora set out for Hanover and proceeded to prosecute a vigorous search.
At Hanover she was simply ordered to leave, and given a time to quit the
town.[228] She then went to Celle, where Bernstorff told her that her
importunate demands would only have the effect, in case her brother was
in the hands of the Hanoverian government, of making them refuse to give
him up;[229] so after remaining some time at Celle without any result,
she set out for Dresden to implore the aid of the Elector of Saxony.
-----
Footnote 228:
_The Magazine of the Historical Association for Lower Saxony_, 1879,
p. 65.
Footnote 229:
Communication of Bernstorff at the Conference of Engesen, August 5,
1694.
-----
Before the arrival of Aurora the Elector of Saxony had already
instituted a search for the vanished man. On receipt of a letter from
Hildebrand he sent Bannier to Hanover on July 13 to demand the instant
restitution of Königsmarck, on the ground that he was major-general in a
cavalry regiment of the Saxon army, under orders to join the active
forces on the Rhine. Aghast at this peremptory message from his brother
of Saxony, the Elector Ernest Augustus shuffled and said that he had no
wish to detain the Count, and did not hold him in his power. Bannier
rejoined that Königsmarck had disappeared, and it was the duty of the
Elector to institute a search for him. The answer was that His Serene
Highness, “in personal remembrance of the high services as colonel
rendered by the vanished man, would not have failed to institute such an
inquiry, but the fact had been elicited from the Count’s own servants
that he had often gone away at night without leaving any message, and
remained away for days at a time, and so there was no ground for
instituting inquiries”. Bannier then pertinently asked why the Count’s
belongings had been sealed and his papers seized. This was met by the
statement that when an officer in the Hanoverian service died it was
customary to subtract his official papers; and stress was laid on the
fact that the Count was still in the Hanoverian army when he vanished,
and therefore the Elector, though willing to do all in his power, could
not rightly be expected to hand the man over if he were found.[230] But,
however much the Hanoverian ministers might evade or deny, it was firmly
believed at Dresden that Königsmarck’s disappearance was connected with
the Princess. Something of this may be gathered from the following
letter, which Stepney wrote at this time to Cresset, the English envoy
at Hanover:—
“I have great curiositie to know what piece of mischief has been brewing
at Hannover. If you dare not trust it at length, I must beg you to
satisfy me in Cypher, as likewise with y^e particulars of your
Princess’s ruine. Amours are fatall in these parts; wee have had a scene
of them here, and may hereafter have more y^e like nature. But at
present y^e Tragedy is removed to y^r Courts, and I fear Daggers and
poyson will be as familiar among you as they are in Italy. Y^r Princes
have been often there, and may have learned y^e humour of y^e country of
despatching people without Noise. A servant or two of Count Königsmarck
run frequently betwixt this place and Hannover, (as I have heard Count
Berlo’s dog did betwixt y^e Camp and Brusses after y^e Battle of
Fleuros,) seeking out their master, but have no tidings: our Elector
sent one of his Adjutants, Mr. Bannier (a Swede likewise) to Hannover, I
believe with a design to stopp y^e blow if it was not yet given. But I
suppose the Corps by this time is in y^e common shore, and our Elector
by y^e accident has cleared y^e debt m/30 R he had lost to him two years
ago at play. I have been told his sister raves like Cassandra, and will
know what is become of her brother; but at Hannover they answer, like
Cain, that they are not her brother’s keeper, and that y^e Body should
be found (which I believe as little as y^t of Moses), yet y^e
circumstances of y^e Murder will be left as much in y^e dark as y^e
manner of despatching Sir Edmonbury Godfrey has been. He was not
recommended to me by Mr. Stratford; I knew him in England, at Hamburg,
in Flanders and at Hannover for a dissolute debauchee whom I would
always have avoided. By chance I ate with him here at Count Frizews and
our new privy counsellor Haxthausen, and by chance likewise they did
suppe with me, whereas they were invited to Mr. Bomenburgh’s, who too
late remembered it was a fish-night, and so shifted off his own company
on me. This is all I have had to do with y^e spark, and if he has been
so black as we think he is, his Fate (be what it will) is not to be
pityed.”[231]
-----
Footnote 230:
_Vide_ Article in _Magazine for Lower Saxony_, 1879.
Footnote 231:
Stepney to Cresset, Dresden _Despatch_, July 24/August 3, 1694.
-----
To modify the somewhat cavalier treatment of Bannier at Hanover a
statement was drawn up by the Hanoverian government, and Count
Witgenstein was despatched to Dresden as an envoy extraordinary to
explain matters personally. Witgenstein was well received by the Elector
of Saxony, and the matter would probably have blown over without further
noise had it not been for the arrival at Dresden of the Countess Aurora.
This beautiful and brilliant woman, the fame of whose charms had
travelled to every court of Europe, threw herself at the Elector’s feet,
and, repeating all that she had gleaned of her brother’s disappearance
at Hanover and Celle, besought his powerful aid and protection. Augustus
the Strong could never refuse the prayer of beauty in distress. He
assured Aurora that he would do everything in his power to discover the
missing man, and force the Elector of Hanover, if need be at the point
of the sword, to give him up. Stepney writes again:—
“Connigsmark’s sister is come hither under pretence of getting y^e
Elector to interest himself more warmly than he has done hitherto with
the Dukes of Brunswick-Luneburg about her brother’s liberty, if he be
still alive: she believes he is, and wherefore y^e Elector has sent
orders to his Adjutant Bannier to demand him vigorously. Count
Witgenstein (who is here from Hannover) endeavours to mitigate y^e
Elector by alledging he ought not to concern himself for a person who
was actually in the Hannoverian service having received y^e pay three
days before he was missing, besides that it is usual before laying down
to make up accounts with the Regiment, to take leave at y^e head of it,
and so have a Congé in form signed by y^e Master. All which ceremonies
being omitted, he was lyable to be punished as a Deserter if he were yet
to be found which y^e Elector of Hannover will know nothing of, he being
a debauched rambling sparke, who kept irregular hours, and consequently
it is next to an impossibility to give an account what may become of
him. I cannot tell if y^e Elector of Saxony will be contented with these
excuses. Count Witgenstein told me yesterday his greatest misfortune is
that the Elector has not given y^e cognizance of this affaire to his
Privy Council, but has referred it as he does almost all others to his
favourite Haxthausen, and he communicates all to his cousin y^e Dane,
who, being a _boutefeu_, seeks all occasions to embroile this house with
that of Hannover, and thinks he has now got a good handle besides y^e
old dispute about Saxe-Lawenburg, which is only covered with Ashes, and
will certainly break out when time serves. If y^e Count be dead, I
suppose y^e other syde of his sister’s errand will be to try if she can
recover any part of y^e m/30 Dollars (which as I told you) y^e Elector
had lost to her brother in Flanders, and I am persuaded she will not
take his death to heart when she has once got her hand on his
inheritance. They have lodged her in y^e court.”[232]
-----
Footnote 232:
Stepney’s _Despatch_, Dresden, August 14/24, 1694.
-----
Augustus the Strong again told Bannier to prosecute his inquiries at
Hanover with the utmost vigour; and thus it came about that, while the
Hanoverian envoy in Dresden was being cordially received, the Saxon
envoy in Hanover was pressing and threatening more than ever. Bannier
declared he was instructed by his master to demand once more the
restitution of Königsmarck sharply and energetically, and a refusal
might entail mischief, for his master had promised their brother’s
production to the Count’s sisters, and made a point of honour of
fulfilling his promise. The situation was very unpleasant for the
Hanoverian government, for it was feared that Saxony might give its
powerful support to the enemies of Hanover—Wolfenbüttel, Münster, and
Denmark.
The brothers of Hanover and Celle, driven to extremities, appealed to
the Emperor, and declared that unless Augustus the Strong took up a more
reasonable attitude they would withdraw their troops from the Allies.
This threat made a strong impression in Vienna, where the action of the
Saxon court was called preposterous. How could the Elector Augustus, the
Emperor asked, demand from the Elector of Hanover a man who had not been
given into his charge? The Emperor and the Elector of Brandenburg
brought pressure to bear on Saxony, and both these potentates used their
influence in opposition to the promptings of the Countess Aurora.
Stepney writes at this time:—
“The Danish Haxthausen pretends to be going from hence in a day or two
and y^e Countess of Königsmarck likewise. The Elector had used her with
great distinction, and has supp’d with her twice with y^e Privy
Counsellor Haxthausen at his House, some think these Curttisyes are only
to put her of with good words since there is nothing more to be done for
her Brother. However, Mr. Bannier is still soliciting at Hannover, and
Count Witgenstein making the best excuses he can here.”[233]
-----
Footnote 233:
Stepney to Blathwayt, Dresden, August 17/27, 1694.
-----
It would seem from this that Aurora was losing ground; but still Bannier
was instructed to insist at the court of Hanover for Königsmarck’s
restitution. He therefore offered Count Platen two alternatives—either
Königsmarck was in confinement, or they had put an end to him. If the
former, and his release was not to be obtained by mild measures, His
Highness would be obliged to show his just resentment and take others;
and he let slip the remark casually that other Powers would be likely to
interest themselves in the fate of Königsmarck, and make common cause
with the Elector of Saxony if His Highness should be driven to resort to
extreme measures. He went on to say that if Königsmarck did not
reappear, “the witnesses whom they could produce would support Saxony to
the astonishment of the whole world, and matters would come to
extremities”.
But Bannier’s threats at Hanover were checkmated by Witgenstein’s
representations at Dresden, and eventually the long and violent
altercation came to an end without anything having been done. How could
it be otherwise? Königsmarck was dead, and all the princes and
potentates of the world could not bring him back to life.
Stepney thus describes the final scene of the dispute:—
“Yesterday Count Witgenstein received an express from Hannover about
Count Coningsmark, and had this morning audience of the Elector, in
which (he tells me) he made long contestations in y^e Elector of
Hannover’s name, how willing he is to cultivate his friendship by doing
all that could be desired of him, but that he protested he knows not
what has become of y^e Person for whom application was made, and to y^e
Question whether he was alive or dead no positive answer could be given,
since after y^e best enquiry that could be made they were able to make
no true discovery, which left a very strong suspicion that he is rather
dead than Living. The Elector of Saxony seemed very moderate after this
answer, as if he doubted not the truth of what had been offered and
replyed, only that he hoped as an instance of friendship that y^e
Elector of Hannover would give him notice as soon as he should learn any
tidings of Count Coningsmark, and I believe here that y^e affair will
end without causing any breach betwixt y^e two Electors. The Count’s
sister is gone hence, but I know not which course she steers.”[234]
-----
Footnote 234:
Stepney to Blathwayt, Dresden, August 21/31, 1694.
-----
Thus ended the ineffectual search for Königsmarck. His disappearance
nearly set Europe by the ears, and shows that he was a far more
important personage than his enemies are wont to admit him to be.
If the Countess Aurora left Dresden, it was only for a time, and she
returned later to be one of the many mistresses of Augustus the Strong.
The result of their _liaison_ was the birth of the most celebrated of
all Augustus’s three hundred and fifty-four illegitimate
children—Maurice, the famous Marshal de Saxe.
Aurora soon found herself superseded in the fickle favour of the
Elector, and a quarrel ensued between her and her lover. She bitterly
reproached him, and it would seem that the Elector had also something
against Aurora, since he reminded her that Cæsar’s wife should be above
suspicion. In reply she gave utterance to the celebrated _mot_: “The
cases are not parallel: you are not Cæsar, and I am not your wife”. The
rest of Aurora’s strange career and all that she did—how she withdrew to
the Abbey of Quedlinburg, how she went on her ineffectual mission to the
King of Sweden, how she paid her son’s debts and plotted for him, and
all the other events of her most eventful life, belong not to this
history.