What Friedrich's emotions after the Battle of Prag were, we do not much
know. They are not inconceivable, if we read his situation well; but
in the way of speech, there is, as usual, next to nothing. Here are two
stray utterances, worth gathering from a man so uncommunicative in that
form.
FRIEDRICH A MONTH BEFORE PRAG (From Lockwitz, 25th March, to Princess
Amelia, at Berlin).--"My dearest Sister, I give you a thousand thanks
for the hints you have got me from Dr. Eller on the illness of our dear
Mother. Thrice-welcome this; and reassures me [alas, not on good basis!]
against a misfortune which I should have considered very great for me.
"As to us and our posture of affairs, political and military,--place
yourself, I conjure you, above every event. Think of our Country and
remember that one's first duty is to defend it. If you learn that a
misfortune happens to one of us, ask, 'Did he die fighting?' and if Yes,
give thanks to God. Victory or else death, there is nothing else for
us; one or the other we must have. All the world here is of that temper.
What! you would everybody sacrifice his life for the State, and you
would not have your Brothers give the example? Ah, my dear Sister, at
this crisis, there is no room for bargaining. Either at the summit of
glorious success, or else abolished altogether. This Campaign now
coming is like that of Pharsalia for Rome, or that of Leuctra for the
Greeks,"--a Campaign we verily shall have to win, or go to wreck upon!
[_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxvii. i. 391.]
FRIEDERICH SHORTLY AFTER PRAG (To his Mother, Letter still extant in
Autograph, without date).--"My Brothers and I are still well. The whole
Campaign runs risk of being lost to the Austrians; and I find myself
free, with 150,000 men. Add to this, that we are masters of a Kingdom
[Bohemia here], which is obliged to furnish us with troops and money.
The Austrians are dispersed like straw before the wind. I will send a
part of my troops to compliment Messieurs the French; and am going [if I
once had Prag!] to pursue the Austrians with the rest of my Army." [Ib.
xxvi. 75.]
Friedrich, who keeps his emotions generally to himself, does not, as
will be seen, remain quite silent to us throughout this great Year;
but, by accident, has left us some rather impressive gleanings in that
kind;--and certainly in no year could such accident have been luckier to
us; this of 1757 being, in several respects, the greatest of his Life.
From nearly the topmost heights down to the lowest deeps, his fortunes
oscillated this year; and probably, of all the sons of Adam, nobody's
outlooks and reflections had in them, successive and simultaneous, more
gigantic forms of fear and of hope. He is on a very high peak at this
moment; suddenly emerging from his thick cloud, into thunderous victory
of that kind; and warning all Pythons what they get by meddling with
the Sun-god! Loud enough, far-clanging, is the sound of the silver bow;
gazetteers and men all on pause at such new Phoebus Apollo risen in his
wrath;--the Victory at Prag considered to be much more annihilative
than it really was. At London, Lord Holderness had his Tower-guns in
readiness, waiting for something of the kind; and "the joy of the
people was frantic." [_Mitchell Papers and Memoirs_ (i. e the PRINTED
Selection, 2 vols. London, 1850;--which will be the oftenest cited by
us, "Papers AND MEMOIRS"), i. 249: "Holderness to Mitchell, 20th May,
1757." Mitchell is now attending Friedrich; his Letter from Keith's
Camp, during the thunder of "Friday, May 6th," is given, ib. i. 248.]
Very dominant, our "Protestant Champion" yonder, on his Ziscaberg;
bidding the enormous Pompadour-Theresa combinations, the French,
Austrian, Swedish, Russian populations and dread sovereigns, check their
proud waves, and hold at mid-flood. It is thought, had he in effect,
"annihilated" the Austrian force at Prag, that day (Friday, 6th May, as
he might have done by waiting till Saturday, 7th), he could then, with
the due rapidity, rapidity being indispensable in the affair, have
become master of Prag, which meant of Bohemia altogether; and have
stormed forward, as his program bore, into the heart, of an Austria
still terror-stricken, unrallied;--in which case, it is calculated, the
French, the Russians, Swedes, much more the Reich and such like, would
all have drawn bridle; and Austria itself have condescended to make
Peace with a Neighbor of such quality, and consent to his really modest
desire of being let alone! Possible, all this,--think Retzow and
others. [See RETZOW, i. 100-108; &c. ] But the King had not waited till
to-morrow; no persuasion could make him wait: and it is idle speculating
on the small turns which here, as everywhere, can produce such
deflections of course.
Beyond question, Prag is not captured, and may, as now garrisoned,
require a great deal of capturing:--and perhaps it is but a PEAK, this
high dominancy of Friedrich's, not a solid table-land, till much more
have been done! Friedrich has nothing of the Gascon: but there may well
be conceivable at this time a certain glow of internal pride, like
that of Phoebus amid the piled tempests,--like that of the One Man
prevailing, if but for a short season, against the Devil and All Men:
"I have made good my bit, of resolution so far: here are the Austrians
beaten at the set day, and Prag summoned to surrender, as per
program!"--
Intrinsically, Prag is not a strong City: we have seen it, taken in few
days; in one night;--and again, as in Belleisle's time, we have seen it
making tough defence for a series of weeks. It depends on the garrison,
what extent of garrison (the circuit of it being so immense), and what
height of humor. There are now 46,000 men caged in it, known to have
considerable magazines; and Friedrich, aware that it will cost trouble,
bends all his strength upon it, and from his two camps, Ziscaberg,
Weissenberg, due Bridges uniting, Keith and he batter it, violently,
aiming chiefly at the Magazines (which are not all bomb-proof); and hope
they may succeed before it is too late.
The Vienna people are in the depths of amazement and discouragement;
almost of terror, had it not been for a few, or especially for one high
heart among them. Feldmarschall Daun, on the news of May 6th, hastily
fell back, joined by the wrecks of the right wing, which fled Sazawa
way. Brunswick-Bevern, with a 20,000, is detached to look after Daun;
finds Daun still on the retreat; greedily collecting reinforcements
from the homeward quarter; and hanging back, though now double or so of
Bevern's strength. Amazement and discouragement are the general feeling
among Friedrich's enemies. Notable to see how the whole hostile world
marching in upon him,--French, Russians, much more the Reich, poor
faltering entity,--pauses, as with its breath taken away, at news of
Prag; and, arrested on the sudden, with lifted foot, ceases to stride
forward; and merely tramp-tramps on the same place (nay in part, in the
Reich part, visibly tramps backward), for above a month ensuing!
Who knows whether, practically, any of them will come on; [See
CORRESPONDANCE DU COMTE DE SAINT-GERMAIN, an Eye-witness, i. 108 (cited
in Preuss, ii. 50); &c. &c.] and not leave Austria by itself to do the
duel with Friedrich? If Prag were but got, and the 46,000 well locked
away, it would be very salutary for Friedrich's affairs!--Week after
week, the City holds out; and there seems no hope of it, except by
hunger, and burning their Magazines by red-hot balls.
COLONEL MAYER WITH HIS "FREE-CORPS" PARTY MAKES A VISIT, OF DIDACTIC
NATURE, TO THE REICH.
Friedrich, as we saw, on entering Bohmen, had shot off a Light
Detachment under Colonel Mayer, southward, to seize any Austrian
Magazines there were, especially one big Magazine at Pilsen:--which
Mayer has handsomely done, May 2d (Pilsen "a bigger Magazine than
Jung-Bunzlau, even"); after which Mayer is now off westward, into the
Ober-Pfalz, into the Nurnberg Countries; to teach the Reich a small
lesson, since they will not listen to Plotho. Prag Battle, as happens,
had already much chilled the ardor of the Reich! Mayer has two
Free-Corps, his own and another; about 1,300 of foot; to which are
added a 200 of hussars. They have 5 cannon, carry otherwise a minimum of
baggage; are swift wild fellows, sharp of stroke; and do, for the time,
prove didactic to the Reich; bringing home to its very bosom the late
great lesson of the Ziscaberg, in an applied form. Mayer made a pretty
course of it, into the Ober-Pfalz Countries; scattering the poor
Execution Drill-Sergeants and incipiencies of preparation, the
deliberative County Meetings, KREIS-Convents: ransoming Cities, Nurnberg
for one city, whose cries went to Friedrich on the Ziscaberg, and wide
over the world. [In _Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 360-367, the Nurnberg
Letter and Response (31st May-5th June, 1757): in Pauli, _Leben grosser
Helden_ (iii. 159 et seq.), Account of the Mayer Expedition; also in
_Militair-Lexikon, _ iii. 29 (quoting from Pauli).] Nurnberg would have
been but too happy to "refuse its contingent to the Reich's Army," as
many others would have been (poor Kur-Baiern hurrying off a kind
of Embassy to Friedrich, great terror reigning among the wigs of
Regensburg, and everybody drawing back that could),--had not Imperial
menaces, and an Event that fell out by and by in Prag Country, forced
compliance.
Mayer's Expedition made a loud noise in the Newspapers; and was truly
of a shining nature in its kind; very perfectly managed on Mayer's part,
and has traits in it which are amusing to read, had one time. Take one
small glance from Pauli:--
"At Furth in Anspach, 1st June [after six days' screwing of Nurnberg
from without, which we had no cannon to take], a Gratuity for the
Prussian troops [amount not stated] was demanded and given: at
Schwabach, farther up the Regnitz River, they took quarters; no
exemption made, clergy and laity alike getting soldiers billeted. Meat
and drink had to be given them: as also 100 carolines [guineas and
better], and twenty new uniforms. Upon which, next day, they marched
to Zirndorf, and the Reichsgraf Puckler's Mansion, the Schloss of
Farrenbach there. Mayer took quarter in the Schloss itself. Here the
noble owners got up a ball for Mayer's entertainment; and did all they
could contrive to induce a light treatment from him." Figure it, the
neighboring nobility and gentry in gala; Mayer too in his best uniform,
and smiling politely, with those "bright little black eyes" of his! For
he was a brilliant airy kind of fellow, and had much of the chevalier,
as well as of the partisan, when requisite!
"Out of Farrenbach, the Mayer people circulated upon all the neighboring
Lordships; at Wilhelmsdorf, the Reichs-Furst von Hohenlohe [a too busy
Anti-Prussian] had the worst brunt to bear. The adjacent Baireuth lands
[dear Wilhelmina, fancy her too in such neighborhood!] were to the
utmost spared all billeting, and even all transit,"--though wandering
sergeants of the Reich's Force, "one sergeant with the Wurzburg Herr
Commissarius and eight common men, did get picked up on Baireuth ground:
and this or the other Anspach Official (Anspach being disaffected), too
busy on the wrong side, found himself suddenly Prisoner of War; but was
given up, at Wilhelmina's gracious request. On Bamberg he was sharp
as flint; and had to be; the Bambergers, reinforced at last by
'Circle-Militias (KREIS-TRUPPEN)' in quantity, being called out in mass
against him; and at Vach an actual Passage of Fight had occurred."
Of the "Affair at Vach," pretty little Drawn-Battle (mostly an affair
of art), Mayer VERSUS "Kreis-troops to the amount of 6,000, with twelve
cannon, or some say twenty-four" (which they couldn't handle); and how
Mayer cunningly took a position unassailable, "burnt Bridges of the
Regnitz River," and, plying his five cannon against these ardent awkward
people, stood cheerful on the other side; and then at last, in good
time, whisked himself off to the Hill of Culmbach, with all his baggage,
inexpugnable there for three days:--of all this, though it is set down
at full length, we can say nothing. [Pauli, iii. 159, &c. (who gives
Mayer's own LETTER, and others, upon Vach).] And will add only, that,
having girt himself and made his packages, Mayer left the Hill of
Culmbach; and deliberately wended home, by Coburg and other Countries
where he had business, eating his way; and early in July was safe in
the Metal Mountains again; having fluttered the Volscians in their
Frankenland Corioli to an unexpected extent. It is one of five or six
such sallies Friedrich made upon the Reich, sometimes upon the Austrians
and Reich together, to tumble up their magazines and preparations. Rapid
unexpected inroads, year after year; done chiefly by the Free-Corps; and
famous enough to the then Gazetteers. Of which, or of their doers, as
we can in time coming afford little or no notice, let us add this small
Note on the Free-Corps topic, which is a large one in the Books, but
must not interrupt us again:--
"Before this War was done," say my Authorities, "there came gradually
to be twenty-one Prussian Free-Corps,"--foot almost all; there being
already Hussars in quantity, ever since the first Silesian experiences.
"Notable Aggregates they were of loose wandering fellows, broken Saxons,
Prussians, French; 'Hungarian-Protestant' some of them, 'Deserters from
all the Armies' not a few; attracted by the fame of Friedrich,--as the
Colonels enlisting them had been; Mayer himself, for instance, was by
birth a Vienna man; and had been in many services and wars, from
his fifteenth year and onwards. Most miscellaneous, these Prussian
Free-Corps; a swift faculty the indispensable thing, by no means
a particular character: but well-disciplined, well-captained; who
generally managed their work well.
"They were, by origin, of Anti-Tolpatch nature, got up on the
diamond-cut-diamond principle; they stole a good deal, with order
sometimes, and oftener without; but there was nothing of the old
Mentzel-Trenck atrocity permitted them, or ever imputed to them; and
they did, usually with good military talent, sometimes conspicuously
good, what was required of them. Regular Generals, of a high merit, one
or two of their Captains came to be: Wunsch, for example; Werner, in
some sort; and, but for his sudden death, this Mayer himself. Others of
them, as Von Hordt (Hard is his Swedish name); and 'Quintus Icilius'
(by nature GUICHARD, of whom we shall hear a great deal in the Friedrich
circle by and by), are distinguished as honorably intellectual and
cultivated persons. [Count de Hordt's _Memoirs_ (autobiographical, or
in the first person: English Translation, London, 1806; TWO French
Originals, a worse in 1789, and a better now at last), Preface,
i-xii. In _Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 102-104, 93, a detailed "List of the
Free-Corps in 1758" (twelve of foot, two of horse, at that time): see
Preuss, ii. 372 n.; Pauli (ubi supra), _Life of Mayer._]
"Poor Mayer died within two years hence (5th January, 1759); of fever,
caught by unheard-of exertions and over fatigues; after many exploits,
and with the highest prospect, opening on him. A man of many adventures,
of many qualities; a wild dash of chivalry in him all along, and much
military and other talent crossed in the growing. In the dull old Books
I read one other fact which is vivid to me, That Wilhelmina, as sequel
of those first Franconian exploits and procedures, 'had given him her
Order of Knighthood, ORDER OF SINCERITY AND FIDELITY,'"--poor dear
Princess, what an interest to Wilhelmina, this flash of her Brother's
thunder thrown into those Franconian parts, and across her own pungent
anxieties and sorrowfully affectionate thoughts, in these weeks!--
Shortly after Mayer, about the time when Mayer was wending homeward,
General von Oldenburg, a very valiant punctual old General, was pushed
out westward upon Erfurt, a City of Kur-Mainz's, to give Kur-Mainz a
similar monition. And did it handsomely, impressively upon the Gazetteer
world at least and the Erfurt populations,--though we can afford it no
room in this place. Oldenburg's force was but some 2,000; Pirna Saxons
most of them:--such a winter Oldenburg has had with these Saxons;
bursting out into actual musketry upon him once; Oldenburg,
volcanically steady, summoning the Prussian part, "To me, true Prussian
Bursche!"--and hanging nine of the mutinous Saxons. And has coerced
and compesced them (all that did not contrive to desert) into soldierly
obedience; and, 20th June, appears at the Gate of Erfurt with them,
to do his delicate errand there. Sharply conclusive, though polite and
punctual. "Send to Kur-Mainz say you? Well, as to your Citadel, and
those 1,400 soldiers all moving peaceably off thither,--Yes. As to
your City: within one hour, Gate open to us, or we open it!" [In
_Helden-Geschichte_ (v. 371-384) copious Account, with the Missives
to and from, the Reichs-Pleadings that followed, the &c. &c.
_Militair-Lexikon,_? Oldenburg.] And Oldenburg marches in, as
vice-sovereign for the time:--but, indeed, has soon to leave again;
owing to what Event in the distance will be seen!
If Prag Siege go well, these Mayer-Oldenburg expeditions will have an
effect on the Reich: but if it go ill, what are they, against Austria
with its force of steady pressure? All turns on the issue of Prag
Siege:--a fact extremely evident to Friedrich too! But these are what
in the interim can be done. One neglects no opportunity, tries by every
method.
OF THE SINGULAR QUASI-BEWITCHED CONDITION OF ENGLAND; AND WHAT IS TO BE
HOPED FROM IT FOR THE COMMON CAUSE, IF PRAG GO AMISS.
On the Britannic side, too, the outlooks are not good;--much need
Friedrich were through his Prag affair, and "hastening with forty
thousand to help his Allies,"--that is, Royal Highness of Cumberland and
Britannic Purse, his only allies at this moment. Royal Highness and
Army of Observation (should have been 67,000, are 50 to 60,000, hired
Germans; troops good enough, were they tolerably led) finds the Hanover
Program as bad as Schmettau and Friedrich ever represented it; and,
already,--unless Prag go well,--wears, to the understanding eye, a
very contingent aspect. D'Estrees outnumbers him; D'Estrees, too, is
something of a soldier,--a very considerable advantage in affairs of
war.
D'Estrees, since April, is in Wesel; gathering in the revenues,
changing the Officialities: much out of discipline, they say;--"hanging"
gradually "1,000 marauders;" in round numbers 1,000 this Year. [Stenzel,
v. 65; Retzow, i. 173.] D'Estrees does not yet push forward, owing to
Prag. If he do--It is well known how Royal Highness fared when he did,
and what a Campaign Royal Highness made of it this Year 1757! How the
Weser did prove wadable, as Schmettau had said to no purpose; wadable,
bridgable; and Royal Highness had to wriggle back, ever back; no stand
to be made, or far worse than none: back, ever back, till he got into
the Sea, for that matter, and to the END of more than one thing! Poor
man, friends say he has an incurable Hanover Ministry, a Program that is
inexecutable. As yet he has not lost head, any head he ever had: but he
is wonderful, he;--and his England is! We shall have to look at him once
again; and happily once only. Here, from my Constitutional Historian,
are some Passages which we may as well read in the present interim of
expectation. I label, and try to arrange:--
1. ENGLAND IN CRISIS. "England is indignant with its Hero of Culloden
and his Campaign 1757; but really has no business to complain. Royal
Highness of Cumberland, wriggling helplessly in that manner, is a fair
representative of the England that now is. For years back, there has
been, in regard to all things Foreign or Domestic, in that Country, by
way of National action, the miserablest haggling as to which of
various little-competent persons shall act for the Nation. A melancholy
condition indeed!--
"But the fact is, his Grace of Newcastle, ever since his poor Brother
Pelham died (who was always a solid, loyal kind of man, though a dull;
and had always, with patient affection, furnished his Grace, much
UNsupplied otherwise, with Common sense hitherto), is quite insecure in
Parliament, and knows not what hand to turn to. Fox is contemptuous of
him; Pitt entirely impatient of him; Duke of Cumberland (great in the
glory of Culloden) is aiming to oust him, and bear rule with his Young
Nephew, the new Rising Sun, as the poor Papa and Grandfather gets old.
Even Carteret (Earl Granville as they now call him, a Carteret much
changed since those high-soaring Worms-Hanau times!) was applied to.
But the answer was--what could the answer be? High-soaring Carteret,
scandalously overset and hurled out in that Hanau time, had already
tried once (long ago, and with such result!) to spring in again, and
'deliver his Majesty from factions;' and actually had made a 'Granville
Ministry;' Ministry which fell again in one day. ["11th February, 1746"
(Thackeray, _Life of Chatham,_ i. 146).] To the complete disgust of
Carteret-Granville;--who, ever since, sits ponderously dormant (kind of
Fixture in the Privy Council, this long while back); and is resigned,
in a big contemptuous way, to have had his really considerable career
closed upon him by the smallest of mankind; and, except occasional
blurts of strong rugged speech which come from him, and a good deal of
wine taken into him, disdains making farther debate with the world and
its elect Newcastles. Carteret, at this crisis, was again applied to,
'Cannot you? In behalf of an afflicted old King?' But Carteret answered,
No. [Ib. i. 464.]
"In short, it is admitted and bewailed by everybody, seldom was there
seen such a Government of England (and England has seen some strange
Governments), as in these last Three Years. Chaotic Imbecility reigning
pretty supreme. Ruler's Work,--policy, administration, governance,
guidance, performance in any kind,--where is it to be found? For if
even a Walpole, when his Talking-Apparatus gets out of gear upon him, is
reduced to extremities, though the stoutest of men,--fancy what it will
be, in like case, and how the Acting-Apparatuses and Affairs generally
will go, with a poor hysterical Newcastle, now when his Common Sense is
fatally withdrawn! The poor man has no resource but to shuffle about in
aimless perpetual fidget; endeavoring vainly to say Yes and No to all
questions, Foreign and Domestic, that may rise. Whereby, in the
Affairs of England, there has, as it were, universal St.-Vitus's dance
supervened, at an important crisis: and the Preparations for America,
and for a downright Life-and-Death Wrestle with France on the
JENKINS'S-EAR QUESTION, are quite in a bad way. In an ominously bad. Why
cannot we draw a veil over these things!"--
2. PITT, AND THE HOUR OF TIDE. "The fidgetings and shufflings, the
subtleties, inane trickeries, and futile hitherings and thitherings of
Newcastle may be imagined: a man not incapable of trick; but anxious
to be well with everybody; and to answer Yes and No to almost
everything,--and not a little puzzled, poor soul, to get through, in
that impossible way! Such a paralysis of wriggling imbecility fallen
over England, in this great crisis of its fortunes, as is still painful
to contemplate: and indeed it has been mostly shaken out of mind by
the modern Englishman; who tries to laugh at it, instead of weeping
and considering, which would better beseem. Pitt speaks with a tragical
vivacity, in all ingenious dialects, lively though serious; and with
a depth of sad conviction, which is apt to be slurred over and missed
altogether by a modern reader. Speaks as if this brave English Nation
were about ended; little or no hope left for it; here a gleam of
possibility, and there a gleam, which soon vanishes again in the fatal
murk of impotencies, do-nothingisms. Very sad to the heart of Pitt. A
once brave Nation arrived at its critical point, and doomed to higgle
and puddle there till it drown in the gutters: considerably tragical
to Pitt; who is lively, ingenious, and, though not quitting the
Parliamentary tone for the Hebrew-Prophetic, far more serious than the
modern reader thinks.
"In Walpole's Book [_Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of George II._] there
is the liveliest Picture of this dismal Parliamentary Hellbroth,--such
a Mother of Dead Dogs as one has seldom looked into! For the Hour is
great; and the Honorable Gentlemen, I must say, are small. The hour,
little as you dream of it, my Honorable Friends, is pregnant with
questions that are immense. Wide Continents, long Epochs and AEons hang
on this poor jargoning of yours; the Eternal Destinies are asking
their much-favored Nation, 'Will you, can you?'--much-favored Nation is
answering in that manner. Astonished at its own stupidity, and taking
refuge in laughter. The Eternal Destinies are very patient with some
Nations; and can disregard their follies, for a long while; and have
their Cromwell, have their Pitt, or what else is essential, ready for
the poor Nation, in a grandly silent way!
"Certain it is,--though how could poor Newcastle know it at all!--here
is again the hour of tide for England. Tide is full again; has been
flowing long hundreds of years, and is full: certain, too, that time and
tide wait on no man or nation. In a dialect different from Cromwell's or
Pitt's, but with a sense true to theirs, I call it the Eternal Destinies
knocking at England's door again: 'Are you ready for the crisis,
birth-point of long Ages to you, which is now come?' Greater question
had not been, for centuries past. None to be named with it since that
high Spiritual Question (truly a much higher, and which was in fact
the PARENT of this and of all of high and great that lay ahead), which
England and Oliver Cromwell were there to answer: 'Will you hold by
Consecrated Formulas, then, you English, and expect salvation from
traditions of the elders; or are you for Divine Realities, as the one
sacred and indispensable thing?' Which they did answer, in what way we
know. Truly the Highest Question; which if a Nation can answer WELL, it
will grow in this world, and may come to be considerable, and to have
many high Questions to answer,--this of Pitt's, for example. And the
Answers given do always extend through coming ages; and do always bear
harvests, accursed or else blessed, according as the Answers were. A
thing awfully true, if you have eye for it;--a thing to make Honorable
Gentlemen serious, even in the age of percussion-caps! No, my friend,
Newcastleisms, impious Poltrooneries, in a Nation, do not die:--neither
(thank God) do Cromwellisms and pious Heroisms; but are alive for the
poor Nation, even in its somnambulancies, in its stupidest dreams. For
Nations have their somnambulancies; and, at any rate, the questions
put to Nations, in different ages, vary much. Not in any age, or
turning-point in History, had England answered the Destinies in such a
dialect as now under its Newcastle and National Palaver."
3. OF WALPOLE, AS RECORDING ANGEL. "Walpole's _George the Second_ is a
Book of far more worth than is commonly ascribed to it; almost the
one original English Book yet written on those times,--which, by the
accident of Pitt, are still memorable to us. But for Walpole,--burning
like a small steady light there, shining faithfully, if stingily, on the
evil and the good,--that sordid muddle of the Pelham Parliaments, which
chanced to be the element of things now recognizable enough as great,
would be forever unintelligible. He is unusually accurate, punctual,
lucid; an irrefragable authority on English points. And if, in regard to
Foreign, he cannot be called an understanding witness, he has read
the best Documents accessible, has conversed with select Ambassadors
(Mitchell and the like, as we can guess); and has informed himself to
a degree far beyond most of his contemporaries. In regard to Pitt's
Speeches, in particular, his brief jottings, done rapidly while the
matter was still shining to him, are the only Reports that have the
least human resemblance. We may thank Walpole that Pitt is not dumb to
us, as well as dark. Very curious little scratchings and etchings, those
of Walpole; frugal, swift, but punctual and exact; hasty pen-and-ink
outlines; at first view, all barren; bald as an invoice, seemingly; but
which yield you, after long study there and elsewhere, a conceivable
notion of what and how excellent these Pitt Speeches may have been.
Airy, winged, like arrow-flights of Phoebus Apollo; very superlative
Speeches indeed. Walpole's Book is carefully printed,--few errors in
it like that 'Chapeau' for CHASOT," which readers remember:--"but, in
respect to editing, may be characterized as still wanting an Editor. A
Book UNedited; little but lazy ignorance of a very hopeless type,
thick contented darkness, traceable throughout in the marginal part. No
attempt at an Index, or at any of the natural helps to a reader now at
such distance from it. Nay, till you have at least marked, on the top of
each page, what Month and Year it actually is, the Book cannot be read
at all,--except by an idle creature, doing worse than nothing under the
name of reading!"
4. PITT'S SPEECHES, FORESHADOWING WHAT. "It is a kind of epoch in your
studies of modern English History when you get to understand of Pitt's
Speeches, that they are not Parliamentary Eloquences, but things which
with his whole soul he means, and is intent to DO. This surprising
circumstance, when at last become undeniable, makes, on the sudden, an
immense difference for the Speeches and you! Speeches are not a thing
of high moment to this Editor; it is the Thing spoken, and how far the
speaker means to do it, that this Editor inquires for. Too many Speeches
there are, which he hears admired all round, and has privately to
entertain a very horrid notion of! Speeches, the finest in quality
(were quality really 'fine' conceivable in such case), which WANT a
corresponding fineness of source and intention, corresponding nobleness
of purport, conviction, tendency; these, if we will reflect, are
frightful instead of beautiful. Yes;--and always the frightfuler, the
'finer' they are; and the faster and farther they go, sowing themselves
in the dim vacancy of men's minds. For Speeches, like all human things,
though the fact is now little remembered, do always rank themselves as
forever blessed, or as forever unblessed. Sheep or goats; on the right
hand of the Final Judge, or else on the left. There are Speeches which
can be called true; and, again, Speeches which are not true:--Heavens,
only think what these latter are! Sacked wind, which you are intended
to SOW,--that you may reap the whirlwind! After long reading, I find
Chatham's Speeches to be what he pretends they are: true, and worth
speaking then and there. Noble indeed, I can call them with you: the
highly noble Foreshadow, necessary preface and accompaniment of Actions
which are still nobler. A very singular phenomenon within those walls,
or without!
"Pitt, though nobly eloquent, is a Man of Action, not of Speech; an
authentically Royal kind of Man. And if there were a Plutarch in these
times, with a good deal of leisure on his hands, he might run a Parallel
between Friedrich and Chatham. Two radiant Kings: very shining Men of
Action both; both of them hard bested, as the case often is. For your
born King will generally have, if not "all Europe against him," at
least pretty much all the Universe. Chatham's course to Kingship was
not straight or smooth,--as Friedrich, too, had his well-nigh fatal
difficulties on the road. Again, says the Plutarch, they are very
brave men both; and of a clearness and veracity peculiar among their
contemporaries. In Chatham, too, there is something of the flash of
steel; a very sharp-cutting, penetrative, rapid individual, he too; and
shaped for action, first of all, though he has to talk so much in the
world. Fastidious, proud, no King could be prouder, though his element
is that of Free-Senate and Democracy. And he has a beautiful poetic
delicacy, withal; great tenderness in him, playfulness, grace; in
all ways, an airy as well as a solid loftiness of mind. Not born a
King,--alas, no, not officially so, only naturally so; has his kingdom
to seek. The Conquering of Silesia, the Conquering of the Pelham
Parliaments--But we will shut up the Plutarch with time on his hands.
"Pitt's Speeches, as I spell them from Walpole and the other faint
tracings left, are full of genius in the vocal kind, far beyond any
Speeches delivered in Parliament: serious always, and the very truth,
such as he has it; but going in many dialects and modes; full of airy
flashings, twinkles and coruscations. Sport, as of sheet-lightning
glancing about, the bolt lying under the horizon; bolt HIDDEN, as is
fit, under such a horizon as he had. A singularly radiant man. Could
have been a Poet, too, in some small measure, had he gone on that line.
There are many touches of genius, comic, tragic, lyric, something of
humor even, to be read in those Shadows of Speeches taken down for us by
Walpole....
"In one word, Pitt, shining like a gleam of sharp steel in that murk of
contemptibilities, is carefully steering his way towards Kingship over
it. Tragical it is (especially in Pitt's case, first and last) to see a
Royal Man, or Born King, wading towards his throne in such an element.
But, alas, the Born King (even when he tries, which I take to be the
rarer case) so seldom can arrive there at all;--sinful Epochs there are,
when Heaven's curse has been spoken, and it is that awful Being, the
Born Sham-King, that arrives! Pitt, however, does it. Yes; and the more
we study Pitt, the more we shall find he does it in a peculiarly high,
manful and honorable as well as dexterous manner; and that English
History has a right to call him 'the acme and highest man of
Constitutional Parliaments; the like of whom was not in any Parliament
called Constitutional, nor will again be.'"
Well, probably enough; too probably! But what it more concerns us to
remember here, is the fact, That in these dismal shufflings which have
been, Pitt--in spite of Royal dislikes and Newcastle peddlings and
chicaneries--has been actually in Office, in the due topmost place, the
poor English Nation ardently demanding him, in what ways it could.
Been in Office;--and is actually out again, in spite of the Nation. Was
without real power in the Royal Councils; though of noble promise, and
planting himself down, hero-like, evidently bent on work, and on ending
that unutterable "St.-Vitus's-dance" that had gone so high all round
him. Without real power, we say; and has had no permanency. Came in
11th-19th November, 1756; thrown out 5th April, 1757. After six months'
trial, the St. Vitus finds that it cannot do with him; and will prefer
going on again. The last act his Royal Highness of Cumberland did in
England was to displace Pitt: "Down you, I am the man!" said Royal
Highness; and went to the Weser Countries on those terms.
Would the reader wish to see, in summary, what Pitt's Offices have been,
since he entered on this career about thirty years ago? Here, from
our Historian, is the List of them in order of time; STAGES OF PITT'S
COURSE, he calls it:--
1. "DECEMBER, 1734, Comes into Parliament, age now twenty-six; Cornet in
the Blues as well; being poor, and in absolute need of some career that
will suit. APRIL, 1736, makes his First Speech:--Prince Frederick the
subject,--who was much used as battering-ram by the Opposition; whom
perhaps Pitt admired for his madrigals, for his Literary patronizings,
and favor to the West-Wickham set. Speech, full of airy lightning, was
much admired. Followed by many, with the lightning getting denser
and denser; always on the Opposition side [once on the JENKINS'S-EAR
QUESTION, as we saw, when the Gazetteer Editor spelt him Mr. Pitts]: so
that Majesty was very angry, sulky Public much applausive; and Walpole
was heard to say, 'We must muzzle, in some way, that terrible Cornet
of Horse!'--but could not, on trial; this man's 'price,' as would seem,
being awfully high! AUGUST-OCTOBER, 1744, Sarah Duchess of Marlborough
bequeathed him 10,000 pounds as Commissariat equipment in this his
Campaign against the Mud-gods, [Thackeray, i. 138.]--glory to the
old Heroine for so doing! Which lifted Pitt out of the Cornetcy
or Horse-guards element, I fancy; and was as the nailing of his
Parliamentary colors to the mast.
2. "FEBRUARY 14th, 1746, Vice-Treasurer for Ireland: on occasion of that
Pelham-Granville 'As-you-were!' (Carteret Ministry, which lasted One
Day), and the slight shufflings that were necessary. Now first in
Office,--after such Ten Years of colliding and conflicting, and fine
steering in difficult waters. Vice-Treasurer for Ireland: and 'soon
after, on Lord Wilmington's death,' PAYMASTER OF THE FORCES. Continued
Paymaster about nine years. Rejects, quietly and totally, the big
income derivable from Interest of Government Moneys lying delayed in the
Paymaster's hand ('Dishonest, I tell you!')--and will none of it, though
poor. Not yet high, still low over the horizon, but shining brighter
and brighter. Greatly contemptuous of Newcastle and the Platitudes and
Poltrooneries; and still a good deal in the Opposition strain, and NOT
always tempering the wind to the shorn lamb. For example, Pitt (still
Paymaster) to Newcastle on King of the Romans Question (1752 or so):
'You engage for Subsidies, not knowing their extent; for Treaties,
not knowing the terms!'--'What a bashaw!' moan Newcastle and the top
Officials. 'Best way is, don't mind it,' said Mr. Stone [one of their
terriers,--a hard-headed fellow, whose brother became Primate of Ireland
by and by].
3. "NOVEMBER 20th, 1755, Thrown out:--on Pelham's death, and the general
hurly-burly in Official regions, and change of partners with no little
difficulty, which had then ensued! Sir Thomas Robinson," our old friend,
"made Secretary,--not found to answer. Pitt sulkily looking on America,
on Minorca; on things German, on things in general; warily set
on returning, as is thought; but How? FOX to Pitt: 'Will you join
ME?'--PITT: 'No,'--with such politeness, but in an unmistakable way! Ten
months of consummate steering on the part of Pitt; Chancellor Hardwicke
coming as messenger, he among others; Pitt's answer to him dexterous,
modestly royal. Pitt's bearing, in this grand juncture and crisis, is
royal, his speakings and also his silences notably fine. OCTOBER 20th,
1756: to Newcastle face to face, 'I will accept no situation under your
Grace!'--and, about that day month, comes IN, on his own footing. That
is to say,
"NOVEMBER 19th, 1756, to England's great comfort, Sees himself Secretary
of State (age now just forty-eight). Has pretty much all England at his
back; but has, in face of him, Fox, Newcastle and Company, offering
mere impediment and discouragement; Royal Highness of Cumberland looking
deadly sour. Till finally,
"APRIL 5th, 1757, King bids him resign; Royal Highness setting off for
Germany the second day after. Pitt had been IN rather more than Four
months. England, at that time a silent Country in comparison, knew not
well what to do; took to offering him Freedoms of Corporations in
very great quantity. Town after Town, from all the four winds,
sympathetically firing off, upon a misguided Sacred Majesty, its little
Box, in this oblique way, with extraordinary diligence. Whereby,
after six months bombardment by Boxes, and also by Events, JUNE 29th,
1757"--We will expect June 29th. [Thackeray, i. 231, 264; Almon,
_Anecdotes of Pitt_ (London, 1810), i. 151, 182, 218.]
In these sad circumstances, Preparations so called have been making for
Hanover, for America;--such preparations as were never seen before. Take
only one instance; let one be enough:--
"By the London Gazette, well on in February, 1756, we learn that Lord
Loudon, a military gentleman of small faculty, but of good connections,
has been nominated to command the Forces in America; and then, more
obscurely, some days after, that another has been nominated:--one of
them ought certainly to make haste out, if he could; the French, by
account, have 25,000 men in those countries, with real officers to lead
them! Haste out, however, is not what this Lord Loudon or his rival can
make. In March, we learn that Lord Loudon has been again nominated;
in an improved manner, this time;--and still does not look like going.
'Again nominated, why again?' Alas, reader, there have been hysterical
fidgetings in a high quarter; internal shiftings and shufflings,
contradictions, new proposals, one knows not what. [_Gentleman's
Magazine _ for 1756, pp. 92, 150, 359, 450.] One asks only: How is the
business ever to be done, if you cannot even settle what imbecile is to
go and try it?
"Seldom had Country more need of a Commander than America now. America
itself is of willing mind; and surely has resources, in such a Cause;
but is full of anarchies as well: the different States and sections of
it, with their discrepant Legislatures, their half-drilled Militias,
pulling each a different way, there is, as in the poor Mother Country,
little result except of the St.-Vitus kind. In some Legislatures
are anarchic Quakers, who think it unpermissible to fight with those
hectoring French, and their tail of scalping Indians; and that the
'method of love' ought to be tried with them. What is to become of those
poor people, if not even a Lord Loudon can get out?"
The result was, Lord Loudon had not in his own poor person come to hand
in America till August, 1756, Season now done; and could only write
home, "All is St. Vitus out here! Must have reinforcement of 10,000
men!" "Yes," answers Pitt, who is now in Office: "you shall have them;
and we will take Cape Breton, please Heaven!"--but was thrown out; and
by the wrigglings that ensued, nothing of the 10,000 reached Lord Loudon
till Season 1757 too was done. Nor did they then stead his Lordship
much, then or afterwards; who never took Cape Breton, nor was like doing
it;--but wriggled to and fro a good deal, and revolved on his axis,
according to pattern given. And set (what chiefly induces us to name
him here) his not reverent enough Subordinate, Lord Charles Hay, our old
Fontenoy friend, into angry impatient quizzing of him;--and by and
by into Court-Martial for such quizzing. [Peerage Books,? Tweeddale.]
Court-Martial, which was much puzzled by the case; and could decide
nothing, but only adjourn and adjourn;--as we will now do, not
mentioning Lord Loudon farther, or the numerous other instances at all.
["1st May, 1760, Major-General Lord Charles Hay died" (_Gentleman's
Magazine_ of Year); and his particular Court-Martial could adjourn for
the last time.--"I wrote something for Lord Charles," said the great
Johnson once, many years afterwards; "and I thought he had nothing to
fear from a Court-Martial. I suffered a great loss when he died: he was
a mighty pleasing man in conversation, and a reading man" (Boswell's
_Life of Johnson:_ under date, "3d April, 1776").]
Pitt, we just saw, far from being confirmed and furthered, has been
thrown out by Royal Highness of Cumberland, the last thing before
crossing to that exquisite Weser Problem. "Nothing now left at home to
hinder us and our Hanover and Weser Problem!" thinks Royal Highness.
No, indeed: a comfortable pacific No-government, or Battle of the Four
Elements, left yonder; the Anarch Old waggling his addle head over it;
ready to help everybody, and bring fire and water, and Yes and No, into
holy matrimony, if he could!--Let us return to Prag. Only one remark
more; upon "April 5th." That was the Day of Pitt's Dismissal at
St. James's: and I find, at Schonbrunn it is likewise the day when
REICHS-HOFRATH (Kaiser in Privy Council) decides, in respect to
Friedrich, that Ban of the Reich must be proceeded with, and recommends
Reich's Diet to get through with the same. [_Helden-Geschichte_
(Reichs-Procedures, UBI SUPRA).] Official England ordering its Pitt into
private life, and Official Teutschland its Friedrich into outlawry ("Be
quiet henceforth, both of YOU!")--are, by chance, synchronous phenomena.
PHENOMENA OF PRAG SIEGE:--PRAG SIEGE IS INTERRUPTED.
Friedrich's Siege of Prag proved tedious beyond expectation. In
four days he had done that exploit in 1744; but now, to the world's
disappointment, in as many weeks he cannot. Nothing was omitted on his
part: he seized all egresses from Prag, rapidly enough; had beset them
with batteries, on the very night or morrow of the Battle; every egress
beset, cannon and ruin forbidding any issue there. On the 9th of May,
cannonading began; proper siege-cannon and ammunition, coming up
from Dresden, were completely come May 19th; after which the place is
industriously battered, bombarded with red-hot balls; but except by
hunger, it will not do. Prag as a fortress is weak, but as a breastwork
for 50,000 men it is strong. The Austrians tried sallies; but these
availed nothing,--very ill-conducted, say some. The Prussians, more than
once, had nearly got into the place by surprisal; but, owing to mere
luck of the Austrians, never could,--say the same parties. [Archenholtz,
i. 85, 87.]
A DIARIUM of Prag Siege is still extant, Two DIARIUMS; punctual diurnal
account, both Austrian and Prussian: [In _ Helden-Geschichte,_ iv.
42-56, Prussian DIARIUM; ib. 73-86, Austrian.] which it is far from our
intention to inflict on readers, in this haste. Siege lasted six weeks;
four weeks extremely hot,--from May 19th, when the proper artilleries,
in complete state, got up from Dresden. Line of siege-works, or
intermittent series of batteries, is some twelve miles long; from
Branik southward to beyond the Belvedere northward, on both sides of
the Moldau. King's Camp is on the Ziscaberg; Keith's on the Lorenz
Berg, embracing and commanding the Weissenberg; there are two Bridges
of communication, Branik and Podoli: King lodges in the Parsonage of
Michel,--the busiest of all the sons of Adam; what a set of meditations
in that Parsonage! The Besieged, 46,000 by count, offer to surrender
Prag on condition of "Free withdrawal:" "No; you shall engage, such of
you as won't enlist with us, not to serve against me for six years."
Here are some select Specimens; Prussian chiefly, in an abridged
state:--
"MAY 19th, No sooner was our artillery come (all the grounds and beds
for it had been ready beforehand), than as evening fell, it began to
play in terrific fashion."
"NIGHT OF THE 23d-24th MAY, There broke out a furious sally; their
first, and much their hottest, say the Prussians: a very serious
affair;--which fell upon Keith's quarter, west side of the Moldau.
Sally, say something like 10,000 strong; picked men all, and
strengthened with half a pound of horse-flesh each" (unluckily without
salt): judge what the common diet must have been, when that was
generous! "No salt to it; but a fair supplement of brandy. Browne, from
his bed of pain (died 26th June), had been strongly urgent. Aim is, To
force the Prussian lines, by determination and the help of darkness,
in some weak point: the whole Army, standing ranked on the walls, shall
follow, if things go well; and storm itself through,--away Daun-wards,
across the River by Podoli Bridge.
"Sally broke out between 1 and 2 A.M.; but we had wind of it, and were
on the alert. Sally tried on this place and on that; very furious in
places, but could not anywhere prevail. The tussling lasted for near
six hours (Prince Ferdinand" of Preussen, King's youngest Brother, "and
others of us, getting hurts and doing exploits),--till, about 7 A.M.,
it was wholly swept in, with loss of 1,000 dead. Upon which, their
whole Army retired to its quarters, in a hopeless condition. Escape
impossible. Near 50,000 of them; but in such a posture. Provision of
bread, the spies say, is not scarce, unless the Prussians can burn
it, which they are industriously trying (diligent to learn where the
Magazines are, and to fire incessantly upon the same): plenty of meal
hitherto; but for butcher's-meat, only what we saw. Forage nearly done,
and 12,000 horses standing in the squares and market-places,--not even
stabling for them, not to speak of food or work,--slaughtering and
salting [if one but had salt!] the one method. Horse-flesh two kreutzers
a pound; rises gradually to double that value.
"MAY 29th, About sunset there came a furious burst of weather:
rain-torrents mixed with battering hail;--some flaw of water-spout among
the Hills; for it lasted hour on hour, and Moldau came down roaring
double-deep, above a hundred yards too wide each way; with cargoes of
ruin, torn-up trees, drowned horses; which sorely tried our Bridge at
Branik. Bridge, half of it, did break away (Friedrich's half, forty-four
pontoons; Keith's people got their end of the Bridge doubled in and
saved): the Austrians, in Prag, fished out twenty-four of Friedrich's
pontoons; the other twenty we caught at our Bridge of Podoli, farther
down. A most wild night for the Prussian Army in tents; and indeed for
Prag itself, the low parts of which were all under water; unfortunate
individuals getting drowned in the cellars; and, still more important, a
great deal of Austrian meal, which had been carried thither, to be safe
from the red-hot balls.
"It was thought the Austrians, our Bridge being down, might try a sally
again. To prevent which, hardly was the rain done, when, on our part, a
rocket flew aloft; and there began on the City, from all sides, a deluge
of bombs and red hot balls. So that the still-dripping City was set
fire to, in various parts: and we could hear [what this Editor never can
forget] the WEH-KLAGEN (wail) of the Townsfolk as they tried to quench
it, and it always burst out again. The fire-deluge lasted for six
hours."--Human WEH-KLAGEN, through the hollow of Night, audible to the
Prussians and us: "Woe's me! water-deluges, then fire-deluges; death
on every hand!" According to the Austrian accounts, there perished, by
bursting of bomb-shells, falling of walls, by hunger and other misery
and hurts, "above 9,000 Townsfolk in this Siege." Yes, my Imperial
friends; War is not a thing of streamering and ornamental trumpeting
alone; War is an inexorable, dangerously incalculable thing. Is it not a
terrible question, at whose door lies the beginning of a War!
"JUNE 5th, 12,000 poor people of Prag were pushed out: 'Useless mouths,
will you contrive to disappear some way!' But, after haggling about all
day, they had to be admitted in again, under penalty of being shot.
"JUNE 8th, City looking black and ruinous, whole of the Neustadt in
ashes; few houses left in the Jew Town; in the Altstadt the fire raged
on (WUTHETE FORT). Nothing but ruin and confusion over there; population
hiding in cellars, getting killed by falling buildings. Burgermeister
and Townsfolk besiege Prince Karl, 'For the Virgin's sake, have pity
on us, Your Serenity!' Poor Prince Karl has to be deaf, whatever his
feelings.
"He was diligent in attending mass, they say: he alone of the Princes,
of whom there were several; two Saxon Princes among others, Prince
Xavier the elder of them, who will be heard of again. A profane set,
these, lodging in the CLEMENTINUM [vast Jesuit Edifice, which had
been cleared out for them, and "the windows filled with dung outside,"
against balls]: there, with wines of fine vintage, and cookeries
plentiful and exquisite, that know nothing of famine outside, they led
an idle disorderly life,--ran races in the long corridors [not so bad a
course], dressed themselves in Priests' vestures [which are abundant in
such locality], and made travesties and mummeries of Holy Religion; the
wretched creatures, defying despair, as buccaneers might when their ship
is sinking. To surrender, everything forbids; of escape, there is no
possibility. [Archenholtz i. 86; _Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 73-84.]
"JUNE 9th, The bombardment abates; a LABORATORIUM of our own flew aloft
by some spark or accident; and killed thirteen men.
"JUNE 15th, From the King's Camp a few bombs [King himself now gone]
kindled the City in three places:"--but there is, by this time, new game
afield; Prag Siege awaiting its decision not at Prag, but some way off.
Friedrich has been doing his utmost; diligent, by all methods, to learn
where the Austrian Magazines were, that is, on what special edifices
and localities shot might be expended with advantage; and has fired into
these "about 12,000 bombs." Here is a small thing still remembered:--
"Spies being, above all, essential in this business, Friedrich had
bethought him of one Kasebier, a supreme of House-breakers, whom he
has, safe with a ball at his ankle, doing forced labor at Spandau
[in Stettin, if it mattered]. Kasebier was actually sent for, pardon
promised him if he could do the State a service. Kasebier smuggled
himself twice, perhaps three times, into Prag; but the fourth time he
did not come back." [Retzow, i. 108. n.] Another Note says: "Kasebier
was a Tailor, and Son of a Tailor, in Halle; and the expertest of
Thieves. Had been doing forced labor, in Stettin, since 1748; twice did
get into Prag; third time, vanished. A highly celebrated Prussian thief;
still a myth among the People, like Dick Turpin or Cartouche, except
that his was always theft without violence." [Preuss, ii. 57 n.]
We learn vaguely that the price of horse-flesh in Prag has risen to
double; famine very sore: but still one hears nothing of surrender. And
again there is vague rumor that the City may be as it will; but that
the Garrison has meal, after all we have ruined, which will last till
October. Such a Problem has this King: soluble within the time; or not
soluble? Such a question for the whole world, and for himself more than
any.
MAP GOES IN HERE--fACING PAGE 446, BOOK xviii