Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive
Transcriber's Notes:
1. Page scan source:
http://www.archive.org/details/forsceptreandcr01samagoog
2. Gregor Samarow is pseudonym of Oskar Meding.
3. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].
FOR SCEPTRE AND CROWN.
NEW NOVELS AT THE LIBRARIES.
VANESSA. By the Author of "Thomasina," "Dorothy," &c. 2 vols. crown
8vo.
IDOLATRY: A Romance. By Julian Hawthorne, Author of "Bressant." 2 vols.
crown 8vo.
"A more powerful book than 'Bressant.' ... If the figures are mostly
phantoms, they are phantoms which take a more powerful hold on the mind
than many very real figures.... There are three scenes in this romance,
any one of which would prove true genius."--_Spectator_.
"The character of the Egyptian, half mad and all wicked, is remarkably
drawn.... Manetho is a really fine conception.... That there are
passages of almost exquisite beauty here and there is only what we
might expect."--_Athenaeum_.
WOMAN'S A RIDDLE: or, Baby Warmstrey. By Philip Sheldon. 3 vols. crown
8vo.
"In the delineation of idiosyncrasy, special and particular, and its
effects on the lives of the personages of the story, the author may,
without exaggeration, be said to be masterly. Whether in the long
drawn-out development of character in the every-day life of the persons
of the drama, or in the description of peculiar qualities in a single
pointed sentence, he is equally skilful; while where pathos is
necessary, he has it at command, and subdued sly humour is not
wanting."--_Morning Post_.
AILEEN FERRERS. By Susan Morley. 2 vols. cr. 8vo.
"Her novel rises to a level far above that which cultivated women with
a facile pen ordinarily attain when they set themselves to write a
story.... Its grammar is faultless, its style is pure, flowing, terse,
and correct, there is not a line of fine writing from beginning to end,
and there is a total absence of anything like moralising, or the
introduction of pretty ineffectual sermons.... It is as a study of
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* * * * *
HENRY S. KING AND CO. LONDON.
_FOR SCEPTRE AND CROWN_
A ROMANCE OF THE PRESENT TIME.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF
GREGOR SAMAROW.
IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II.
HENRY S. KING AND CO.
65, Cornhill, and 12, Paternoster Row, London.
1875.
(_All rights reserved_.)
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
Chapter
XIII. Delay.
XIV. Langensalza.
XV. Suspense.
XVI. Intrigue.
XVII. Defeat.
XVIII. Diplomacy.
XIX. Bismarck's Diplomacy.
XX. The Crisis.
XXI. Reconciliation.
XXII. Russia.
XXIII. The Marshals of France.
XXIV. The Empress Charlotte.
XXV. The Sick and Wounded.
XXVI. Instruments of the Church.
XXVII. Hietzing.
XXVIII. Blechow.
XXIX. "God and the Fatherland!"
FOR SCEPTRE AND CROWN.
CHAPTER XIII.
DELAY.
Events did indeed hurry on during those memorable days, and history
took as many forward steps in the annals of the world in hours as she
had formerly done in years. General von Manteuffel marched from the
north; General Vogel von Falckenstein occupied Hanover, and took
possession of the government of the country, the king having commanded
all magistrates to keep in their various positions; General Beyer
concentrated his divided forces in Hesse; General von Seckendorf
occupied the country from Magdeburg to Nordhausen, and from Erfurt a
part of the garrison and a battery of artillery marched to Eisenach,
and there joined the troops of the Duke of Coburg-Gotha, to block the
road to the south against the Hanoverian army.
Orders flew from Berlin to the different generals in command, and quick
and unanimous movements were made throughout the Prussian army, their
aim being to strengthen every point of a circle they were forming
around the Hanoverian army, which continually grew stronger and drew
closer together.
Now, only the quickest and most direct road to Fulda remained open.
And the brave-spirited army still lay in Goettingen and its immediate
neighbourhood.
The general staff worked day and night to prepare it for the march.
Certainly the younger officers and men boiled with impatience, and
could not understand why the regiments, after making such a sudden
march from their various quarters to Goettingen, were not able to march
on by a perfectly open road to the south. Certainly old General Brandis
shook his head, and said it would be better to break through the enemy
with an army unprepared to march, than to be hemmed in with an army
prepared to march. Certainly he hinted that the soldiers of the great
Wellington had, according to every rule, frequently been unprepared to
march, yet they had marched, fought, and conquered. Truly the king
gnashed his teeth with impatience; he could do nothing, the ruler whose
eyes were deprived of light by the hand of Heaven, but question and
urge, and again urge and question.
But the general staff in the aula of Georgia Augusta proved to good
General von Arentschildt that, according to all existing rules, the
army was not yet ready to march. The rules lay before them, and the
general staff was right; and General von Arentschildt told the king the
army could not march yet.
The general staff waited, too, for the advance of the Hessians and
Bavarians, to combine with the Hanoverian army.
The king was obliged to wait in silent impatience in his rooms at the
Crown Hotel.
The troops, in their quarters and cantonments, waited, and their
impatience was not silent; on the contrary, the air resounded with good
hearty oaths, and impatience was loudest and liveliest amongst the
cavalry regiments, where the snorting horses pawed the ground, and the
men thought they had but to spring into the saddle to be as ready to
march as any cavalry in the world.
They all waited.
Count Platen waited for some relenting on the part of Prince Ysenburg.
He had sent an explanation about the Prussian ultimatum from Goettingen
to the prince, and he hoped it might be the means of recommencing
negotiations; but on the second day the explanation itself came back,
opened, it is true, but with the short and cold remark from Prince
Ysenburg that after the declaration of hostilities all his diplomatic
functions had ceased, and that he was no longer in a position to
receive writings from the Hanoverian minister.
So they all waited, and impatience waxed hotter in the army still
unprepared to march; but so much had been neglected and left
disorderly--so the new leaders of the army found and maintained--that,
in spite of all this and all that, they still could not march.
The courier Duve went on his way without meeting a Prussian soldier; he
found the Hessian head-quarters not in Fulda, but in Hanau, and there
General von Lossberg declared he could not alter the disposition
of the army, as Prince Alexander of Hesse had already assumed the
command,--besides the army of Hesse-Cassel was immovable.
The courier hastened on; and in Frankfort he delivered to Baron Kuebeck,
the Austrian presidential ambassador to the confederacy, the despatches
confided to him by Count Ingelheim, and he received from Herr von
Kuebeck an urgent memorial to Prince Alexander of Hesse, who was then in
Darmstadt. Duve told the prince all about the position of the
Hanoverian army, which was entirely unknown to him. Prince Alexander
sent a message, that he would request the Bavarians, who were at
Schweinfurth, to march towards the north, and that the eighth corps
d'armee at Fulda should march upon Eschwege immediately, to stretch out
a hand to the Hanoverian army; and finally, that the Hessian brigade
should be pushed forwards from Hanau to Giessen as a demonstration.
It was expected in Prince Alexander's head-quarters that the Hanoverian
army would march immediately on the road to Fulda, there join the
Hessian brigade, and unite with the eighth army corps. The road to
Fulda was free, and only a portion of General Beyer's divided corps
could have been met with, and it was improbable that it would have
hazarded an encounter.
This was the way they reckoned in Prince Alexander's head-quarters.
But the new Hanoverian generals decided otherwise in the aula of
Georgia Augusta. News had arrived partly from travellers, partly from
messengers sent to ascertain, that 60,000, 80,000, yes 100,000 Prussian
troops blocked the way to Fulda; so it was decided not to take that
road, but to march into the midst of the Prussian territory between the
Prussian armies, and to get to Eisenach by Heiligenstadt and Treffurt,
there to cross the road and to fall in with the Bavarians, from whom
they had received no information; but they remained persuaded that they
must be there.
In vain old General von Brandis shook his head, and remarked in his
curt fashion, that an army who wished to fight must learn to stand up
to the enemy; that if Prussian troops were on the road to Fulda, it was
one of Wellington's practical maxims for conducting war, "to go on;"
that, at any rate, they had a better chance of overthrowing the enemy
and reaching the south that way, than by jumping out of the frying-pan
into the fire, as they seemed determined to do.
The general staff unanimously determined to march to Heiligenstadt, and
the king consented.
At last the army was to move on the morning of the 21st of June, at
four o'clock, and a general cry of joy throughout all the quarters and
cantonments greeted the order to march.
In exemplary order, as on parade, the valiant brigades formed. The king
left Goettingen about five o'clock, the senate of the university and the
civic magistrates assembling to take leave of him.
It was a brilliant and dazzling procession which in the early morning
light crossed into the Prussian territory.
A half squadron of the Cambridge dragoons formed the body-guard of
their royal master.
Mounted on a large and beautiful white horse, which was guided by Major
Schweppe of the Guard Cuirassiers, with an almost imperceptible leading
rein, rode George V., with the proud knightly bearing which always gave
him so imposing and regal an aspect when on horseback; by his side came
the crown prince in his hussar uniform, on a small thorough-bred horse.
They were surrounded by a numerous suite, both civil and military; old
General von Brandis, notwithstanding his seventy-one years, had sent
back his carriage, and Count Ingelheim rode beside the king in a grey
dress and long stable boots. The brilliant cavalcade was followed by
the king's travelling carriage, drawn by six horses, with outriders and
piquers; and then a number of other carriages for the suite, led
horses, the master of the stables, and servants.
Whenever the royal train passed the troops on the march, a loud, joyful
hurrah burst forth, and every brave soldier's heart beat higher when he
saw his king amongst them.
The courageous but strategically puzzling march of the Hanoverian army
belongs to history, and is fully related in writings upon the war of
1866. It may perhaps be granted to future times to unriddle the
extraordinary movements made by the army, and perhaps to explain why
the march upon Treffurt was given up when they had reached
Heiligenstadt, and their course turned by Muehlhausen to Langensalza;
from thence right under the cannon of Erfurt they marched to Eisenach,
and then suddenly, when this place was as good as taken, they halted,
because an envoy from the Duke of Coburg-Gotha, without credentials,
appeared at the Hanoverian headquarters. Major von Jacobi was sent by
the Hanoverian general staff to Gotha to clear up this mission; and
there, deceived as to the number of Prussian troops occupying Eisenach,
he telegraphed such an account of the enemy to Colonel von Buelow, the
Hanoverian officer in command, that, misled by the report, he withdrew
his troops from Eisenach, and concluded a provisional armistice with
the enemy.
When, therefore,--so runs the official report of these events,--General
von Arentschildt arrived on the spot at about eight o'clock in the
evening, expecting to find Eisenach taken, he was opposed to
circumstances that completely defeated his plans, and contradicted all
his majesty's views, but which both the armistice just concluded and
the approaching night prevented him from grappling with.
Major von Jacobi was brought before a court-martial, the course of
which was rendered impossible by succeeding events.
The reception of the envoy, the negotiations commenced with him and
with the Duke of Coburg in the midst of military action, combined with
the withdrawal of the troops from Eisenach, caused the idea to gain
ground in Berlin that the king wished to negotiate; and King William of
Prussia, animated by the desire of avoiding a bloody encounter
with the Hanoverians, sent General von Alvensleben to the Hanoverian
head-quarters, situated on the 25th June at Gross-Behringen, on the
road to Eisenach.
During the previous negotiations with the Duke of Coburg, and the
withdrawal of the Hanoverian troops, the Prussians had seized the
opportunity of reinforcing Eisenach so strongly that it was now very
difficult to take it.
General von Alvensleben announced himself in Bavaria as empowered by
his majesty the King of Prussia "to receive any commands from the King
of Hanover." The negotiations turned upon the proposition made by the
Hanoverian council of war, that the Hanoverian troops should be granted
a free passage to the south without battle or bloodshed, upon condition
of abstaining for a certain time from fighting against Prussia. Prussia
required that the time named should be a year, and demanded various
guarantees and pledges. The King of Hanover did not accept these
stipulations, yet negotiations were not broken off; on the contrary, a
suspension of hostilities was concluded, and the king promised a
definite answer on the morning of the 26th of June. But when he
despatched Colonel Rudorff, of the general staff, early in the morning
of the 26th, he was turned back by General Vogel von Falckenstein, who
had already arrived in Eisenach and concentrated there nearly two whole
divisions. He declared he know nothing of an armistice, and that he
should certainly attack the enemy.
The Hanoverian army was thus placed in a most unfavourable position.
The king, who had passed the night in Behringen, removed his
head-quarters early on the morning of the 26th to the Schuetzhaus[1] in
Langensalza.
The Schuetzhaus, a large and handsome building, stands back from the
road leading to Eisenach, at some little distance from the town; before
it is a large open square, and opposite to it rises the spacious
post-house. Behind the house there is a large garden surrounded by high
walls and covered walks, and a broad verandah connects the house with
the garden.
Double sentries were posted before the Schuetzhaus; in the square stood
the royal carriages, and officers of every branch of the service
came and went; the aides-de-camp of the general in command, whose
head-quarters were in the town, hurried to and fro, to bring the king
the latest information,--all was movement and military life.
The army was concentrated around Langensalza, and placed in a defensive
position, for as General Vogel von Falckenstein refused to recognize
the armistice, a Prussian attack was expected at any moment. After
Falckenstein had learnt from General von Alvensleben all particulars,
he declared himself willing to respect the suspension of arms; but the
defensive position of the Hanoverian army was nevertheless maintained.
The king sat in his room. The expression on his face was very grave.
Old General von Brandis stood near him.
"My dear Brandis," said the king gloomily, "I fear we are in very evil
case!"
"Alas! I am quite sure we are, your majesty!" replied the general.
"I fear," continued the king, "that these unfortunate and involved
negotiations have only served to give the Prussians time to strengthen
the forces opposed to us, and to make our position worse. Without these
negotiations we should have taken Eisenach and perhaps we should by
this time have joined the Bavarians in safety."
"We should certainly have done so," said the general drily. "Your
majesty will do me the justice to remember I always spoke strongly
against these negotiations," he continued. "According to my opinion
your majesty might negotiate or march; but to attempt both together
would never succeed. I cannot understand what these negotiations were
to lead to. I do not see their aim. To march to the south under the
obligation not to fight against Prussia for a certain time----"
"For two months," interrupted the king.
"But what good could it do?" pursued the general; "what reception could
we expect in South Germany if we arrived saying, 'Here we are, we want
maintenance and quarters, but we can't fight'? I really don't know,"
said he with some bitterness, "what I should say to such a surprise
were I the general commanding the South German troops. I believe that
it would have been better to have stayed in Hanover."
A slight look of impatience passed over the king's face, but it
vanished immediately, and he said, kindly but gravely,--
"But, my dear Brandis, the commanding general and the general staff
assured me the army was unprepared to undertake any serious military
operation, and that after we reached South Germany eight weeks at least
would be required before it was in a condition to fight! It was for
this reason that I entered upon negotiations,--how could I do
otherwise?"
"I do not venture," said the general, "to question your majesty's
decision or mode of action, but I must again repeat I do not understand
the theories which govern the general staff. The results of all their
labour are only negative, and their movements continual retreats. Yet,
your majesty," he cried, "we want to go forwards! and to go forwards we
must march. To march straight on invigorates an army, to halt long in
one place wearies it, but aimless marching hither and thither will in
the end demoralize it."
The king was silent and sighed deeply.
"Your majesty," said the general with warmth and energy, "there is but
one way now which can save us, and that is a hasty march upon Gotha.
The Prussians expect from our previous operations that we shall work
across the railway near Eisenach, and they have drawn together their
greatest strength in that direction. Let your majesty at once direct
your course by forced marches upon Gotha, we shall find but little
resistance, and we shall break through it. We have nineteen thousand
men; even if we lose four thousand, we shall still reach--and of this I
am certain--South Germany with fifteen thousand men; we shall bring
immediate assistance, and above all things we shall maintain the honour
of your majesty's banner in the field. If we stay here," he added
sorrowfully, "we must end badly."
"But the negotiations with Alvensleben," said the king
hesitating,--"Count Platen still hopes for a favourable result."
"What result?" exclaimed General von Brandis; "the results of the
negotiations on either side have not been brilliant."
"Count Platen!" announced the groom of the chambers.
The king made a sign, and Count Platen entered.
"Your majesty," he cried, "the Prussian Colonel von Doering has arrived
as an envoy from Berlin, and brings a despatch from Count Bismarck; it
appears that in Berlin they still wish to negotiate."
"Let the colonel come immediately," said the king.
General Brandis shrugged his shoulders and walked to the window.
Count Platen returned with the Prussian staff-officer.
"Colonel von Doering!" said the count, introducing him, whilst he
approached the king with a stiff military salute; "he begs permission
to read your majesty a despatch from the minister-president, Count
Bismarck."
"I am prepared to listen, colonel," replied the king.
The colonel opened a paper which he held in his hand.
"I must first remark to your majesty," he said, "that I consider myself
freed from my charge, as I find negotiations are broken off, and
General Vogel von Falckenstein already meditating an attack."
"Your communication then will be useless?" asked the king coldly.
"Nevertheless, if your majesty permits, I will carry out my orders."
"Even yet----" began Count Platen.
"Read, colonel," said the king.
The colonel slowly read the despatch. It was an exact repetition of the
ultimatum received through Prince Ysenburg on the 15th, and proposed a
treaty on the foundation of the Prussian project of reform.
"Does this man believe," cried the king, as the colonel ended, "that I
shall now----"
"Your majesty," said Colonel von Doering in a firm voice, "I humbly beg
you graciously to consider that I, as a Prussian officer, cannot hear
any derogatory expression applied to the minister-president."
"Is he not a man like ourselves?" asked the king, with dignity. "Does
Count Bismarck believe," he continued, "that I shall in the field, at
the head of my army, accept conditions which I rejected in my cabinet
at Herrenhausen, and that I shall now allow my army to march against
Austria?"
"Could not a short time be granted for consideration?" suggested Count
Platen.
"I have no orders for granting time," said Colonel von Doering.
"And I do not need it," said the king, "in giving you my answer. It is
the same as before; it is to these propositions simply 'No.' I have
listened to negotiations in the hope of preventing useless bloodshed
and diminishing the burdens of our countrymen, but upon this basis I
cannot negotiate; events must take their course, I can do nothing more
to restrain them. I thank you, colonel, and I wish I had made your
acquaintance on a happier occasion. Take care, gentlemen," he added,
turning to Count Platen and General Brandis, "that the colonel is led
in safety to our outposts."
Colonel von Doering made a military salute and left the king's room,
accompanied by the two ministers.
Count Ingelheim walked thoughtfully to and fro before the house, and
looked up from time to time with an anxious expression at the king's
windows. Groups of officers stood around in animated conversation. They
knew that a Prussian envoy was with the king, and all these brave young
officers, thirsting for the battle, feared nothing more than that they
should capitulate without fighting.
"We could never again be seen in a Hanoverian uniform," cried a young
officer of one of the Guard regiments with a rosy childish face, as he
stamped with his foot, "if we were ensnared without drawing the sword,
as in a mousetrap. We have been marching a fortnight, now here, now
there; now waiting for the Bavarians, then for the Hessians, and never
going forwards. So much was expected from this new commander; and
now ..."
An eager young officer on a swift horse galloped up in the Guard Jaeger
uniform, the star of a commander of the order of Ernest Augustus on his
breast. He threw himself from the saddle, gave his horse to his
servant, who had hastened after him, and walked up to the group of
officers.
"Well, prince," cried the lieutenant in the Guards, "where do you come
from so hastily?"
"I have ridden out a little amongst the troops," replied Prince Hermann
von Solms-Braunfels, the king's youngest nephew, as he endeavoured to
seize the down just shading his upper lip with his fingers. "I am in
despair, for in spite of my earnest request the king has commanded me
to be here at head-quarters, but from time to time I must escape into
the free life of the camp, and enjoy a little fresh air. Where are you
stationed, Herr von Landesberg?" he inquired of the young lieutenant.
"Here in Langensalza," he replied, "fretting over the inactivity
imposed upon us by the general staff. The king should just listen to
us, the young officers of the army; he would soon be convinced that the
army was ready both to march and to fight."
"God knows it is so," exclaimed an hussar officer, drawing his long
moustache through his fingers; "I cannot comprehend why we have a
general staff only to arrange such marches as we have made. I have
heard an old story of the Crusaders, or some such people," continued
the hussar drily, "who let a goose go before them, and followed the
line of march pursued by the fowl. That was both a simpler and a kinder
course, for now they strip the poor bird of its feathers and write with
them night and day--and nothing more clever comes of it."
"See, there comes the Prussian envoy back!" cried Herr von Landesberg,
and the officers approached the Schuetzhaus, at the door of which
Colonel Doering, accompanied by General von Brandis and Count Platen,
appeared.
Whilst General von Brandis called the carriage and ordered a guard of
four dragoons to accompany it, Count Platen politely took leave of the
Prussian colonel and hastened to Count Ingelheim, who met him full of
anxiety.
"It was the ultimatum of the 15th over again," cried the minister to
the Austrian ambassador.
"And...?" asked Count Ingelheim.
"Of course it was at once declined," exclaimed Count Platen.
"Then these luckless negotiations are over at last?" asked Count
Ingelheim, watching with secret relief Colonel von Doering's carriage as
it rolled away.
"Quite at an end," said Count Platen, as he sighed slightly.
"Do you know, dear count," proceeded the ambassador, "that in my
opinion your position here is a very serious one? You are in a corner
between the Prussian armies, and I see only _one_ way out; that is by a
hasty march upon Gotha."
"Yes, the king is quite ready to go forward, but the general staff----"
"Would to heaven!" cried Count Ingelheim energetically, "that his
majesty had retained his old officers; I do not believe that
Tschirschnitz would have allowed these constantly retrograde marches."
"Yes," said Count Platen, with a slight shrug, "it is so difficult for
me to do anything in military affairs. In Goettingen the wish seemed
universal."
"The wish is universal to act and to march; do you see that knot of
officers? I am sure they are of my opinion;" and he pointed out a group
in which Lieutenant von Landesberg was just expressing his joy at the
envoy's departure, and his hopes of speedy action.
Prince Hermann left the officers and joined Platen and Ingelheim.
"The envoy is not coming back again?" he asked.
"No, prince," cried Count Ingelheim, "I hope he is the last."
Four post-horses dashed quickly along the road, drawing a close
carriage with a servant in travelling livery upon the box.
"Who is this?" cried Count Platen, with surprise, and all eyes turned
upon the carriage as it drew up before the house. The servant sprang
down and opened the door.
An old gentleman in travelling dress, wrapped in a large Havelock
cloak, his white head covered with a black cap, got out slowly and
looked around as if seeking for something.
"Persiany!" exclaimed Prince Hermann.
"Good heavens, Persiany!" cried Count Platen, with amazement; then,
with a pleased look and hasty footstep he met and welcomed the Emperor
of Russia's ambassador at the Hanoverian court.
"What does he want here?" asked Count Ingelheim; and a dark cloud
passed over his face.
"It looks well for us, as far as the inclinations of Russia go," said
the prince; "and," he continued, with a smile, "he is at least no
Prussian envoy."
"Who knows?" murmured Count Ingelheim. And an investigating look
followed Count Platen's meeting with Persiany.
"At last I have found you, my dear count," cried the Russian
ambassador, an old gentleman with strongly marked features and dark
piercing eyes, which now wore an expression of the greatest anxiety.
"Thank God that this horrible journey is at an end." And he held out a
hand trembling with weakness to the minister.
"You will never believe what I have gone through," he continued, as he
took off his cloak, "in that dreadful carriage, always delayed by the
movements of the troops, without sleep, without proper nourishment, at
my age."
"Well," said Count Platen, "you can now rest at least; we cannot offer
you much, our head-quarters are not rich in comforts----"
"But first," interrupted Monsieur de Persiany, "where is his majesty? I
beg an immediate audience; I come by the command of my gracious master
and emperor."
Count Platen looked surprised, and listened attentively; then he
exclaimed,--
"Come with me, I will at once announce your arrival to his majesty."
He gave his arm to the old gentleman, who trembled from exhaustion, and
assisted him in mounting the stairs leading to the upper rooms of the
Schuetzhaus.
In the ante-room Monsieur de Persiany sank into a chair. Count Platen
entered the king's apartment and found him resting on a sofa. Lex sat
near him, reading aloud.
"Forgive me for disturbing you, your majesty," said the minister, "but
Monsieur de Persiany is here at the command of the Emperor Alexander,
and he requests an immediate audience."
George V. rose, an expression of joy shining in his face.
"How?" he cried, with animation,--"and what does he bring? let him come
in!"
Count Platen led the Russian ambassador into the room.
"Welcome to the camp, my dear Monsieur de Persiany!" cried the king,
holding out his hand to him as he entered.
The old gentleman seized it, and said, in trembling voice,--
"Good God, your majesty! what times are these? how painful it is to me
to see you under such circumstances!"
His hand shook and tears glittered in his eyes.
"Monsieur de Persiany is much exhausted by his journey, your majesty,"
said Count Platen.
The king seated himself on the sofa, and exclaimed,--
"Pray sit down, Monsieur de Persiany, you are in want of refreshment.
Lex, go and find a glass of wine."
"I thank you, I thank your majesty most humbly," said the old
gentleman, as he sank into a chair as if quite exhausted. "I shall find
something by and by. Now let me impart to your majesty all that the
emperor, my gracious master, has commanded me to say. I was to seek
your head-quarters, and to assure you of his friendly sympathy."
"The emperor is very good," said the king; "I recognize in this the
friendship he has always shown me, and to which my whole heart
responds."
"The emperor commanded me," continued Persiany, with labouring breath,
"to place myself at your majesty's disposal, as he understood
negotiations were being carried on with Prussia, and thought the
intervention of a neutral power, friendly alike to both sovereigns----"
The king's brow clouded.
"Negotiations have been broken off," he said.
"Good heavens!" cried Persiany, "I have come too late!" And he sank
back in his chair as if broken down by the thought that his fatiguing
journey had been in vain.
"Is it then quite impossible to prevent bloodshed?" he asked, folding
his trembling hands; "the emperor firmly believes that the king
of Prussia is desirous of coming to an understanding, and if your
majesty----"
"My dear Monsieur de Persiany," said the king, "I do not know how I
could again commence negotiations. The Prussians, just before your
arrival, offered me the ultimatum which I could not accept on the 15th,
and I have again refused it."
"My God! my God!" cried Persiany, "what a misfortune it is at such a
moment to be so old and feeble, no longer master of my nerves. Possibly
through my mediation you might again----" He could add no more, his
voice failed him, he was almost fainting.
"My dear ambassador," said the king, in a gentle voice, "I thank you
heartily for the rapid and fatiguing journey you have undertaken in
order to prove to me the friendship and amiable wishes of the emperor;
but at present nothing can be done. You stand greatly in need of rest
and refreshment, I beg you to withdraw. Count Platen will take care of
you."
"I thank you, I thank your majesty," said Persiany, rising with
difficulty; "I stand in need of a little nourishment. I shall soon be
_a mon aise_; under all circumstances I am at your majesty's disposal."
His strength threatened to fail him, he took Count Platen's arm, and
was led by him into a room in which a bed was prepared, upon which the
exhausted old man immediately fell into a slumber, whilst his servant
repaired to the meagrely supplied kitchen in search of some refreshment
with which to restore his master's strength when he awoke.
Count Platen sought the Austrian ambassador as he paced up and down the
garden.
"Well, some new negotiation, is it not so?" asked Count Ingelheim,
casting a penetrating glance at the minister.
"It appears," he replied, "that in St. Petersburg, either from their
own inclination or the wish of Prussia, they desire to mediate--perhaps
Colonel von Doering's mission was connected--but at all events----"
"My dear count," interrupted the Austrian ambassador gravely; "I
refrained from any remark whilst negotiations continued; they were, in
form at least, of a military nature; you see the military position into
which these negotiations have led you; you are shut in between the
Prussian armies, crushed--if you do not quickly seize the only way in
which lies safety. Will you give the enemy time to close the only road
now open, that leading to Gotha, by again commencing negotiations?
Besides, this time," he added, "the affair is political, and I must
seriously call your attention to its political results. The former
negotiations have placed your military position in great danger; shall
your political position be also imperilled? What will be said in
Vienna, if even at this moment no reliance can be placed on Hanover;
and if through the mediation of Russia, negotiations are again begun
with Prussia?"
"But not the smallest negotiation is begun," said Count Platen.
"Because good old Persiany is asleep," said Count Ingelheim; "because
he has no nerve. But when he wakes, I beg you, Count Platen, send this
Russian mediator away; do you still hope to find any support except in
Austria? or do you wish to be excluded from her sympathy, and from the
benefits to be gained by the great struggle about to take place?"
"But I ask you, on what excuse?" said Count Platen hesitatingly.
"On what excuse?" cried Count Ingelheim; "the sickly old man will
accept any excuse with thankfulness that sends him out of this noise,
these hardships, and the near neighbourhood of cannon. Consider," he
continued urgently, "what will be said in Vienna, by the emperor, who
builds so strongly upon Hanover, by all your friends in society, who
count so much upon you, the Schwarzenbergs, the Dietrichsteins,
Countess Mensdorff, Countess Clam-Gallas----"
"Persiany shall go!" exclaimed Count Platen; "they know in Vienna my
devotion to Austria; in the exposed position of Hanover----"
"It is best to hold firmly to one side or the other," said Count
Ingelheim, "and to gain a sure friend, even at the twelfth hour."
"I will go to the king," said Count Platen, and he walked slowly
towards the house.
Count Ingelheim looked after him, and shook his head slightly.
"If he only meets no one on the way," he said to himself. "I fear," he
added, continuing his soliloquy, "I fear matters here will not end
well; there is no connecting link between the heroic king and his brave
army; this general staff is ignorant of war, it knows but one maxim, to
get out of the enemy's way whenever he shows himself; and the crown
prince----"
He sighed deeply.
"However," he added, "we have always gained something. The Hanoverian
campaign has cost Prussia much time; has absorbed many troops; all this
is clear gain on our side; the occupation of the country absorbs much
of its strength; above all things an understanding, a political
arrangement, must be prevented which would leave the enemy's hands free
here in the north. But here comes my northern colleague!" And he
hastened to meet the Russian ambassador as he came out of the house.
Monsieur de Persiany had slept a little, had refreshed his toilette a
little, and had eaten a little, and he looked much fresher than before.
But his footsteps were still uncertain as he walked to meet Count
Ingelheim.
"Welcome to head-quarters, my dear colleague," cried the latter, as he
held out his hand; "the corps diplomatique is well represented--I was
its only member up to this time! You are fatigued by the journey, are
you not?"
"Tired to death!" cried Persiany, as he sank upon a garden seat, where
Count Ingelheim placed himself at his side; "tired to death, and it
does not appear that they have much to revive one here."
"No, that there certainly is not," said Count Ingelheim; "the whole day
noise, trumpet calls, bugle sounds----"
"Horrible!" exclaimed Persiany.
"And at night no bed, or at best a hard straw mattress."
Persiany folded his hands and raised his eyes to heaven.
"These are only slight disagreeables which we scarcely think of," said
Count Ingelheim.
Persiany looked at him with an expression of great surprise.
"It will be much more unpleasant when action really begins, when real
fighting commences," said the Austrian diplomatist; "the king is
certain to be in the midst, and we must of course be with him."
"Do you think we should really be in danger?" asked Persiany, "our
diplomatic character----"
"Will scarcely preserve me from imprisonment," said Count Ingelheim;
"for we are at war with Prussia. With you it is somewhat different: you
are certain to be treated with consideration, so soon as you have
identified yourself before a commander of troops. But in the melee!..."
And he shrugged his shoulders.
"Should we really have cause to fear?" asked Persiany.
"My dear colleague," replied Count Ingelheim, sighing slightly, and
casting a penetrating look at the Russian diplomatist, "a cannon ball,
the pistol of an hussar, the sword of a cuirassier, little heed the
diplomatic character."
"My God!" cried Persiany. "But if fighting begins I scarcely think I
ought to remain here; we are at peace with Prussia."
"It will come suddenly, I think, and without much warning; there will
be no choice," said Count Ingelheim drily. "I do not believe our lives
will be actually in danger; but really it will be sufficiently
unpleasant to hear the noise of battle--to see the blood--the
corpses----"
Persiany fell back on the bench, and his white lips trembled as he
thought of such a trial to his nerves.
"I wonder if they have some soda-water here?" he asked.
"I do not think so," said Count Ingelheim; "we do not find such things,
and the small store they have is carefully put aside for the wounded in
the approaching engagement. At the king's table we have thin beer, cold
beef, and baked potatoes."
"Impossible!" cried Persiany.
Count Ingelheim shrugged his shoulders.
"What would you have?" said he; "you cannot expect good dinners in the
midst of war; besides, we sportsmen are accustomed----"
"But I am not a sportsman!" cried Persiany.
"Here comes Count Platen," exclaimed the Austrian ambassador; "perhaps
he will bring us some news."
Count Platen came and begged the Russian ambassador, who was greatly
shaken by Count Ingelheim's descriptions, to accompany him to the king.
"You do not believe further negotiations are possible?" asked Persiany,
as he ascended the steps.
"I do not think the king will permit anything to be attempted," replied
Count Platen, after a short hesitation.
"Then----" said M. de Persiany--but he could not express his thoughts,
for they had reached the door of the king's room.
"My dear Monsieur de Persiany," said George V., "I sent for you in
order----I hope, though, you are somewhat rested."
"I thank your majesty," said Persiany, sighing; "I am a little
stronger."
"I sent for you," said the king, "to thank you for the zeal which
caused you to undertake a journey, doubly fatiguing to one of your
years, and in your weak health, for the purpose of expressing to me the
emperor's friendly regard, and his hearty desire to mediate. I would
also beg you to remain longer at my head-quarters----"
A slight flush passed over Persiany's face; he gasped.
"If," continued the king, "there were the least possibility of
negotiating, after Colonel von Doering had been the bearer of a proposal
again based on the Prussian project of reform, which I had already
declined. Also the envoy considered his commission actually annulled
before he delivered it. I should therefore only torment you, and injure
your health uselessly, by exposing you to the tumult and fatigues of
war, if I kept you with me. I beg you therefore to return to Hanover.
Your advice will be useful to the queen. Pray thank the emperor most
heartily and sincerely for his sympathy and friendship."
"If your majesty is really of opinion that all hope of negotiation is
over, that I should be useless to you, and that I might perhaps be of
service to her majesty the queen in Hanover----"
"That is quite my opinion," said the king.
"If it were possible," said Persiany, "that perhaps the course of
events,--opposed to a superior power,--still the moment for negotiation
might come,--it would be my duty to remain,--and only your majesty's
distinct command----"
"If it must be so," said the king, "I give this command; set out
immediately, and tell the queen how you found me and the army."
"Then I must obey," cried Persiany. "I pray God to bless your majesty,
and to guide things to a happy termination."
With great emotion the old gentleman seized the hand the king offered
him, and a tear fell upon it.
The king smiled good-humouredly.
"I know what a true affection you bear towards me and my family. God
protect you--and your emperor!" he added heartily.
Persiany returned with Count Platen to the garden, where Count
Ingelheim awaited them.
"Well, my dear colleague," he cried, "you look much more cheerful. Are
you growing reconciled to camp life?"
"The king has dismissed me," said Persiany; "he sends me back to
Hanover; my old carcass will no longer undergo such trials. But," he
added, turning to Count Platen, "by the way that I came, by the same
will I not return; send me to Gotha. I will get to Frankfort, from
there perhaps to Umwegen, but yet it will be the quickest and safest
road. I must set out at once. I may be of use in Hanover."
The old gentlemen pressed Count Ingelheim's hand, and tripped hastily
to the house, leaning on Count Platen's arm. His carriage and a guard
were soon ready.
"The storm has blown over," said Count Ingelheim, rubbing his hands,
and laughing as he looked after the Russian ambassador; "yes, if they
wish to succeed in diplomacy in these times, they must send people with
strong muscles and firm nerves."
And he walked with youthful elasticity towards the house.
An hour later the king hold a council of war. He assembled the general
in command, the general staff, the adjutant-general, and General von
Brandis. He also requested Count Platen, Count Ingelheim, and Herr
Meding to be present.
The king urged an immediate advance upon Gotha. General von Brandis,
Colonel Dammers, and all the non-military gentlemen strongly supported
the king's opinion.
Colonel Cordemann, the chief of the general staff, insisted strongly
that the army, in consequence of its exhausting marches and scanty
food, could not possibly undertake offensive movements, and that their
course was to take up a defensive position, and make a courageous
defence if attacked. The whole of the general staff agreed with the
chief, and the general in command stated that under existing
circumstances he could not be responsible for the consequences of an
onward march.
The king gave his consent to the dispositions agreed upon with a sigh,
but he declared that he would pass the night amongst his troops, and
about midnight, accompanied by the whole of his suite, their royal
master established himself amongst his soldiers for the night.
The royal bivouac was in a corn-field near to Merxleben, and everyone
listened with anxious expectation until the morning dawned.
All was quiet. The outposts sent in no news of any movement on the part
of the enemy.
About four o'clock in the morning one of the emissaries sent out
several days before towards the south, returned with the intelligence
that the Bavarians had been seen advancing in several detachments, and
that even on the 25th they had reached Bacha. The complete inactivity
of the enemy seemed to support this information, and it was believed
the Prussian forces were drawn away in that direction.
This idea gave great satisfaction in head-quarters, and it was
determined to wait in a strong position for the confirmation of the
intelligence and the approach of the Bavarians. General von Brandis
alone shook his head, and opined that if the Bavarians were advancing
and the Prussians occupied in the south, it was a stronger reason for
hastening as quickly as possible to meet them, and stretching towards
them a helping hand, before the overwhelming Prussian forces could come
down upon them from the north.
The order was given to erect batteries, and the king and his suite,
exhausted by a sleepless night, repaired to Thamsbrueck, a small village
on the banks of the Unstrut, and there the king took up his quarters in
the Pfarrhaus.
Clear and brilliant rose the sun on the 27th of June, and his first
rays lighted up the varied changing picture of the Hanoverian army
encamped around Langensalza.