The issue of this Breslau transaction is known, or could be stated in
few words; nor is the manner of it such as would, for Breslau's sake,
deserve many. But we are looking into Friedrich, wish to know his
manners and aspects: and here, ready to our hand, a Paper turns up,
compiled by an exact person with better leisure than ours, minutely
detailing every part of the affair. This Paper, after the question, Burn
or insert? is to have the lot of appearing here, with what abridgments
are possible:--
"SUNDAY, 1st JANUARY, 1741. The King having established himself in Herrn
Scultet's Garden-House, not far from the Schweidnitz Gate, there began a
delicate and great operation. The Prussians, in a soft cautious manner,
in the gray of the morning, push out their sentries towards the three
Gates on this side of the Oder; seize any 'Excise House,' or the like,
that may be fit for a post; and softly put 'twenty grenadiers' in it.
All this before sunrise. Breslau is rigidly shut; Breslau thought
always it could stand upon its guard, if attacked;--is now, in Official
quarters, dismally uncertain if it can; general population becoming
certain that it cannot, and waiting anxious on the development of this
grand drama.
"About 7 A.M. a Prussian subaltern advancing within cry of the
Schweidnitz Gate, requests of the Town-guard there, To send him out
a Town-Officer. Town-Officer appears; is informed, 'That Colonels
Posadowsky and Borck, Commissioners or plenipotentiary Messengers from
his Prussian Majesty, desire admittance to the Chief Magistrate of
Breslau, for the purpose of signifying what his Prussian Majesty's
instructions are.' Town-Officer bows, and goes upon his errand.
Town-Officer is some considerable time before he can return; City
Authorities being, as we know, various, partly Imperial, partly Civic;
elderly; and some of them gone to church,--for matins, or to be out of
the way. However, he does at last return; admits the two Colonels, and
escorts them honorably, to the Chief RATHS-SYNDIC (Lord-Mayor) old
Herr von Gutzmar's; where the poor old "President of the OBER AMT" (Von
Schaffgotsch the name of this latter) is likewise in attendance.
"Prussian Majesty's proposals are of the mildest sort: 'Nothing demanded
of Breslau but the plainly indispensable and indisputable, That
Prussia be in it what Austria has been. In all else, STATUS QUO. Strict
neutrality to Breslau, respect for its privileges as a Free City of the
Reich; protection to all its rights and privileges whatsoever. Shall be
guarded by its own Garrison; no Prussian soldier to enter except with
sidearms; only 30 guards for the King's person, who will visit the City
for a few days;--intends to form a Magazine, with guard of 1,000 men,
but only outside the City: no requisitions; ready money for everything.
Chief Syndic Gutzmar and President Schaffgotsch shall consider these
points.' [_Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 537.] Syndic and President answer,
Surely! Cannot, however, decide till they have assembled the Town-Rath;
the two Herren Colonels will please to be guests of Breslau, and lodge
in the City till then.
"And they lodged, accordingly, in the 'GROSSE RING' (called also
SALZ-RING, big Central Square, where the Rathhaus is); and they made and
received visits,--visited especially the Chief President's Office, the
Ober-Amt, and signified there, that his Prussian Majesty's expectation
was, They would give some account of that rather high Proclamation or
'Patent' they had published against him the other day, amid thunder and
lightning here, and what they now thought would be expedient upon
it? All in grave official terms, but of such a purport as was not
exhilarating to everybody in those Ober-Amt localities.
"MONDAY MORNING, 2d JANUARY. The Rath is assembled; and
consults,--consults at great length. RATH-House and Syndic Gutzmar,
in such crisis, would fain have advice from AMT-House or President
Schaffgotsch; but can get none: considerable coming and going between
them: at length, about 3 in the afternoon, the Treaty is got drawn
up; is signed by the due Breslau hands, and by the two Prussian
Colonels,--which latter ride out with it, about 4 of the clock;
victorious after thirty hours. Straight towards the Scultet Garden ride
they; Town-guard presenting Arms, at the Schweidnitz Gate; nay Town-band
breaking out into music, which is never done but to Ambassadors and high
people. By thirty hours of steady soft pressure, they have brought it
thus far.
"Friedrich had waited patiently all Sunday, keeping steady guard at the
Gates; but on Monday, naturally, the thirty hours began to hang
heavy: at all events, he perceived that it would be well to facilitate
conclusions a little from without. Breslau stands on the West, more
strictly speaking, on the South side of the Oder, which makes an elbow
here, and thus bounds it, or mostly bounds it, on two sides. The big
drab-colored River spreads out into Islands, of a confused sort, as
it passes; which are partly built upon, and constitute suburbs of the
Town,--stretching over, here and there, into straggles of farther suburb
beyond the River, where a road with its bridge happens to cross for the
Eastern parts. The principal of these Islands is the DOM INSEL,"--known
to General Browne and us,--"on which is the Cathedral, and the CLOSE
with rich Canons and their edifices; Island filled with strong high
architecture; and a superior military post.
"Friedrich has already as good as possessed himself of the three
landward Gates, which look to the south and to the west; the riverward
gates, or those on the north and the east, he perceives that it were
good now also to have; these, and even perhaps something more? 'Gather
all the river-boats, make a bridge of them across the Oder; push across
400 men:' this is done on Monday morning, under the King's own eye. This
done, 'March up to that riverward Gate, and also to that other, in a
mild but dangerous-looking manner; hew the beams of said Gate in two;
start the big locks; fling wide open said Gate and Gates:' this too
is done; Town-guard looking mournfully on. This done, 'March forward
swiftly, in two halves, without beat of drum,--whitherward you know!'
"Those three hundred Austrian Dragoons, we saw them leave the Dom
Island, three days ago; there are at present only Six Men, of the
BISHOP'S Guard, walking under arms there,--at the end of the chief
bridge, on the Townward side of their Dom Island. See, Prussian caps and
muskets, ye six men under arms! The six men clutch at their drawbridge,
and hastily set about hoisting:--alas, another Prussian corps, which
has come privately by the eastern (or Country-ward) Bridge, King himself
with it, taps them on the shoulder at this instant; mildly constrains
the six into their guard-house: the drawbridge falls; 400 Prussian
grenadiers take quiet possession of the Dom Island: King may return to
the Scultet Garden, having quickened the lazy hours in this manner. To
such of the Canons as he came upon, his Majesty was most polite; they
most submiss. The six soldiers of the drawbridge, having spoken a little
loud,--still more a too zealous beef-eater of old Schaffgotsch's found
here, who had been very loud,--were put under arrest; but more for
form's sake; and were let go, in a day or two."
Nothing could be gentler on Friedrich's part, and on that of his two
Colonels, than this delicate operation throughout:--and at 4 P.M.,
after thirty hours of waiting, it is done, and nobody's skin scratched.
Old Syndic Gutzmar, and the Town-Rath, urged by perils and a Town
Population who are Protestant, have signed the Surrender with good-will,
at least with resignation, and a feeling of relief. The Ober-Amt
Officials have likewise had to sign; full of all the silent spleen and
despondency which is natural to the situation: spleen which, in the case
of old Schaffgotsch, weak with age, becomes passionately audible here
and there. He will have to give account of that injurious Proclamation,
or Queen's "Patent," to this King that has now come.
KING ENTERS BRESLAW; STAYS THERE, GRACIOUS AND VIGILANT, FOUR DAYS (Jan.
2d-6th, 1741).
In the Royal Entrance which took place next day, note these points.
Syndic Gutzmar and the Authorities came out, in grand coaches, at 8 in
the morning; had to wait awhile; the King, having ridden away to look
after his manifold affairs, did not get back till 10. Town Guard and
Garrison are all drawn out; Gates all flung open, Prussian sentries
withdrawn from them, and from the Excise-houses they had seized: King's
Kitchen-and-Proviant Carriages (four mules to each, with bells, with
uncommonly rich housings): King's Body-Coach very grand indeed, and
grandly escorted, the Thirty Body-guards riding ahead; but nothing in
it, only a most superfine cloak "lined wholly with ermine" flung
upon the seat. Other Coaches, more or less grandly escorted; Head
Cup-bearers, Seneschals, Princes, Margraves:--but where is the King?
King had ridden away, a second time, with chief Generals, taking survey
of the Town Walls, round as far as the ZIEGEL-THOR (Tile-Gate, extreme
southeast, by the river-edge): he has thus made the whole circuit of
Breslau;--unwearied in picking up useful knowledge, "though it was very
cold," while that Procession of Coaches went on.
At noon, his Majesty, thrifty of time, did enter: on horseback, Schwerin
riding with him; behind him miscellaneous chief Officers; Borck and
Posadowsky among others; some miscellany of Page-people following. With
this natural escort, he rode in; Town-Major (Commandant of Town-guard),
with drawn sword going ahead;--King wore his usual Cocked Hat, and
practical Blue Cloak, both a little dimmed by service: but his gray
horse was admirable; and four scarlet Footmen, grand as galloon and
silver fringe could make them, did the due magnificence in dress. He
was very gracious; saluting to this side and to that, where he noticed
people of condition in the windows. "Along Schweidnitz Street, across
the Great Ring, down Albrecht Street." He alighted, to lodge, at the
Count-Schlegenberg House; which used to be the Austrian Cardinal von
Sinzendorf Primate of Silesia's hired lodging,--Sinzendorf's furniture
is put gently aside, on this new occasion. King came on the balcony; and
stood there for some minutes, that everybody might see him. The "immense
shoutings," Dryasdust assures me, have been exaggerated; and I am warned
not to believe the KRIEGS-FAMA such and such a Number, except after
comparing it with him.--That day there was dinner of more than thirty
covers, Chief Syndic Gutzmar and other such guests; but as to the
viands, says my friend, these, owing to the haste, were nothing to speak
of. [_Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 545-548.]
Dinner, better and better ordered, King more and more gracious, so it
continued all the four days of his Majesty's stay:--on the second day he
had to rise suddenly from table, and leave his guests with an apology;
something having gone awry, at one of the Gates. Awry there, between the
Town Authorities and a General Jeetz of his,--who is on march across
the River at this moment (on what errand we shall hear), and a little
mistakes the terms. His Majesty puts Jeetz right; and even waits,
till he sees his Brigade and him clear across. A junior Schaffgotsch,
[_Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 159.] not the inconsolable Schaffgotsch
senior, but his Nephew, was one of the guests this second day; an
ecclesiastic, but of witty fashionable type, and I think a very
worthless fellow, though of a family important in the Province. Dinner
falls about noon; does not last above two hours or three, so that there
is space for a ride ("to the Dom," the first afternoon, "four runners"
always), and for much indoor work, before the supper-hour.
As the Austrian Authorities sat silent in their place, and gave no
explanation of that "Patent," affixed amid thunder and lightning,--they
got orders from his Majesty to go their ways next day; and went. In
behalf of old President von Schaffgotsch, a chief of the Silesian
Nobility, and man much loved, the Breslau people, and men from every
guild and rank of society, made petition That, he should be allowed
to continue in his Town House here. Which "first request of yours"
his Majesty, with much grace, is sorry to be obliged to refuse. The
suppressed, and insuppressible, weak indignation of old Schaffgotsch is
visible on the occasion; nor, I think, does Friedrich take it ill; only
sends him out of the way with it, for the time. The Austrian Ober-Amt
vanished bodily from Breslau in this manner; and never returned. Proper
"War-Commission (FELD-KRIEGS-COMMISSARIAT)," with Munchow, one of those
skilful Custrin Munchows, at the top of it, organized itself instead;
which, almost of necessity, became Supreme Government in a City
ungoverned otherwise:--and truly there was little regret of the
Ober-Amt, in Breslau; and ever less, to a marked extent, as the years
went on.
On the 5th of January (fourth and last night here), his Majesty gave a
grand Ball. Had hired, or Colonel Posadowsky instead of him had hired,
the Assembly Rooms (REDOUTEN-SAAL), for the purpose: "Invite all the
Nobility high and low;"--expense by estimate is a ducat (half-guinea)
each; do it well, and his Majesty will pay. About 6 in the evening, his
Majesty in person did us the honor to drive over; opened the Ball with
Madam the Countess von Schlegenberg (I should guess, a Dowager Lady),
in whose house he lodges. I am not aware that his Majesty danced much
farther; but he was very condescending, and spoke and smiled up and
down;--till, about 10 P.M., an Officer came in with a Letter. Which
Letter his Majesty having read, and seemingly asked a question or two in
regard to, put silently in his pocket, as if it were a finished thing.
Nevertheless, after a few minutes, his Majesty was found to have
silently withdrawn; and did not return, not even to supper. Perceiving
which, all the Prussian official people gradually withdrew; though
the dancing and supping continued not the less, to a late hour.
[_Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 557.]
"Open the Austrian Mail-bag (FELLEISEN); see a little what they are
saying over there!" Such order had evidently been given, this night. In
consequence of which, people wrote by Dresden, and not the direct way,
in future; wishing to avoid that openable FELLEISEN. Next morning,
January 6th, his Majesty had left for Ohlau,--early, I suppose; though
there proved to be nothing dangerous ahead there, after all.