History of Friedrich II of Prussia - Frederick the Great Chapter V. - King Friedrich I.
by Thomas Carlyle
The Prussian royalty is now in its twelfth year when this little
Friedrich, who is to carry it to such a height, comes into the
world. Old Friedrich the Grandfather achieved this dignity, after
long and intricate negotiations, in the first year of the Century;
16th November, 1700, his ambassador returned triumphant from
Vienna; the Kaiser had at last consented: We are to wear a crown
royal on the top of our periwig; the old Electorate of Brandenburg
is to become the Kingdom of Prussia; and the Family of
Hohenzollern, slowly mounting these many centuries, has reached
the uppermost round of the ladder.
Friedrich, the old Gentleman who now looks upon his little
Grandson (destined to be Third King of Prussia) with such
interest,--is not a very memorable man; but he has had his
adventures too, his losses and his gains: and surely among the
latter, the gain of a crown royal into his House gives him,
if only as a chronological milestone, some place in History.
He was son of him they call the Great Elector, Friedrich Wilhelm
by name; of whom the Prussians speak much, in an eagerly
celebrating manner, and whose strenuous toilsome work in this
world, celebrated or not, is still deeply legible in the actual
life and affairs of Germany. A man of whom we must yet find some
opportunity to say a word. From him and a beautiful and excellent
Princess Luise, Princess of Orange,--Dutch William, OUR Dutch
William's aunt,--this, crooked royal Friedrich came.
He was not born crooked; straight enough once, and a fine little
boy of six months old or so; there being an elder Prince now in
his third year, also full of hope. But in a rough journey to
Konigsberg and back (winter of 1657, as is guessed), one of the
many rough jolting journeys this faithful Electress made with her
Husband, a careless or unlucky nurse, who had charge of pretty
little Fritzchen, was not sufficiently attentive to her duties on
the worst of roads. The ever-jolting carriage gave some bigger
jolt, the child fell backwards in her arms; [Johann Wegfuhrer,
Leben der Kurfurstin Luise, gebornen Prinzessin von
Nassau-Oranien, Gemahlin Friedrich Wilhelm des Grossen
(Leipzig, 1838), p. 107.] did not quite break his back,
but injured it for life:--and with his back, one may perceive,
injured his soul and history to an almost corresponding degree.
For the weak crooked boy, with keen and fine perceptions, and an
inadequate case to put them in, grew up with too thin a skin:--
that may be considered as the summary of his misfortunes; and, on
the whole, there is no other heavy sin to be charged against him.
He had other loads laid upon him, poor youth: his kind pious
Mother died, his elder Brother died, he at the age of seventeen
saw himself Heir-Apparent;--and had got a Stepmother with new
heirs, if he should disappear. Sorrows enough in that one fact,
with the venomous whisperings, commentaries and suspicions,
which a Court population, female and male, in little Berlin Town,
can contrive to tack to it. Does not the new Sovereign Lady,
in her heart, wish YOU were dead, my Prince? Hope it perhaps?
Health, at any rate, weak; and, by the aid of a little pharmacy--
ye Heavens!
Such suspicions are now understood to have had no basis except in
the waste brains of courtier men and women; but their existence
there can become tragical enough. Add to which, the Great Elector,
like all the Hohenzollerns, was a choleric man; capable of blazing
into volcanic explosions, when affronted by idle masses of cobwebs
in the midst of his serious businesses! It is certain, the young
Prince Friedrich had at one time got into quite high, shrill and
mutually minatory terms with his Stepmother; so that once, after
some such shrill dialogue between them, ending with "You shall
repent this, Sir!"--he found it good to fly off in the night, with
only his Tutor or Secretary and a valet, to Hessen-Cassel to an
Aunt; who stoutly protected him in this emergency; and whose
Daughter, after the difficult readjustment of matters, became his
Wife, but did not live long. And it is farther certain the same
Prince, during this his first wedded time, dining one day with his
Stepmother, was taken suddenly ill. Felt ill, after his cup of
coffee; retired into another room in violent spasms, evidently in
an alarming state, and secretly in a most alarmed one: his Tutor
or Secretary, one Dankelmann, attended him thither; and as the
Doctor took some time to arrive, and the symptoms were instant and
urgent, Secretary Dankelmann produced "from a pocket-book some
drug of his own, or of the Hessen-Cassel Aunt," emetic I suppose,
and gave it to the poor Prince;--who said often, and felt ever
after, with or without notion of poison, That Dankelmann had saved
his life. In consequence of which adventure he again quitted Court
without leave; and begged to be permitted to remain safe in the
country, if Papa would be so good. [Pollnitz, Memoiren,
i. 191-198.]
Fancy the Great Elector's humor on such an occurrence; and what a
furtherance to him in his heavy continual labors, and strenuous
swimming for life, these beautiful humors and transactions must
have been! A crook-backed boy, dear to the Great Elector, pukes,
one afternoon; and there arises such an opening of the Nether
Floodgates of this Universe; in and round your poor workshop,
nothing but sudden darkness, smell of sulphur; hissing of forked
serpents here, and the universal alleleu of female hysterics
there;--to help a man forward with his work! O reader, we will
pity the crowned head, as well as the hatted and even hatless one.
Human creatures will not GO quite accurately together, any more
than clocks will; and when their dissonance once rises fairly
high, and they cannot readily kill one another, any Great Elector
who is third party will have a terrible time of it.
Electress Dorothee, the Stepmother, was herself somewhat of a hard
lady; not easy to live with, though so far above poisoning as to
have "despised even the suspicion of it." She was much given to
practical economics, dairy-farming, market-gardening, and
industrial and commercial operations such as offered; and was
thought to be a very strict reckoner of money. She founded the
Dorotheenstadt, now oftener called the
Neustadt, chief quarter of Berlin; and
planted, just about the time of this unlucky dinner, "A.D. 1680
or so," [Nicolai, Beschreibung der koniglichen
Residenzstadte Berlin und Potsdam (Berlin, 1786),
i. 172.] the first of the celebrated Lindens, which (or the
successors of which, in a stunted ambition) are still growing
there. Unter-den-Linden: it is now the
gayest quarter of Berlin, full of really fine edifices: it was
then a sandy outskirt of Electress Dorothee's dairy-farm; good for
nothing but building upon, thought Electress Dorothee. She did
much dairy-and-vegetable trade on the great scale;--was thought
even to have, underhand, a commercial interest in the principal
Beer-house of the city? [Horn, Leben Friedrich Wilhelms
des Grossen Kurfursten von Brandenburg (Berlin,
1814).] People did not love her: to the Great Elector, who guided
with a steady bridle-hand, she complied not amiss; though in him
too there rose sad recollections and comparisons now and then: but
with a Stepson of unsteady nerves it became evident to him there
could never be soft neighborhood. Prince Friedrich and his Father
came gradually to some understanding, tacit or express, on that
sad matter; Prince Friedrich was allowed to live, on his separate
allowance, mainly remote from Court. Which he did, for perhaps six
or eight years, till the Great Elector's death; henceforth in a
peaceful manner, or at least without open explosions.
His young Hessen-Cassel Wife died suddenly in 1683; and again
there was mad rumor of poisoning; which Electress Dorothee
disregarded as below her, and of no consequence to her, and
attended to industrial operations that would pay. That poor young
Wife, when dying, exacted a promise from Prince Friedrich that he
would not wed again, but be content with the Daughter she had left
him: which promise, if ever seriously given, could not be kept,
as we have seen. Prince Friedrich brought his Sophie Charlotte
home about fifteen months after. With the Stepmother and with the
Court there was armed neutrality under tolerable forms, and no
open explosion farther.
In a secret way, however, there continued to be difficulties.
And such difficulties had already been, that the poor young man,
not yet come to his Heritages, and having, with probably some turn
for expense, a covetous unamiable Stepmother, had fallen into the
usual difficulties; and taken the methods too usual. Namely, had
given ear to the Austrian Court, which offered him assistance,--
somewhat as an aged Jew will to a young Christian gentleman in
quarrel with papa,--upon condition of his signing a certain bond:
bond which much surprised Prince Friedrich when he came to
understand it! Of which we shall hear more, and even much more,
in the course of time!--
Neither after his accession (year 1688; his Cousin Dutch William,
of the glorious and immortal memory, just lifting anchor towards
these shores) was the new Elector's life an easy one. We may say,
it was replete with troubles rather; and unhappily not so much
with great troubles, which could call forth antagonistic greatness
of mind or of result, as with never-ending shoals of small
troubles, the antagonism to which is apt to become itself of
smallish character. Do not search into his history; you will
remember almost nothing of it (I hope) after never so many
readings! Garrulous Pollnitz and others have written enough about
him; but it all runs off from you again, as a thing that has no
affinity with the human skin. He had a court "rempli
d'intrigues, full of never-ending cabals," [Forster,
i. 74 (quoting Memoires du Comte de Dohna);
&c. &c.]--about what?
One question only are we a little interested in: How he came by
the Kingship? How did the like of him contrive to achieve
Kingship? We may answer: It was not he that achieved it; it was
those that went before him, who had gradually got it,--as is very
usual in such cases. All that he did was to knock at the gate (the
Kaiser's gate and the world's), and ask, "IS it achieved, then?"
Is Brandenburg grown ripe for having a crown? Will it be needful
for you to grant Brandenburg a crown? Which question, after
knocking as loud as possible, they at last took the trouble to
answer, "Yes, it will be needful."--
Elector Friedrich's turn for ostentation--or as we may interpret
it, the high spirit of a Hohenzollern working through weak nerves
and a crooked back--had early set him a-thinking of the Kingship;
and no doubt, the exaltation of rival Saxony, which had attained
that envied dignity (in a very unenviable manner, in the person of
Elector August made King of Poland) in 1697, operated as a new
spur on his activities. Then also Duke Ernst of Hanover, his
father-in-law, was struggling to become Elector Ernst; Hanover to
be the Ninth Electorate, which it actually attained in 1698;
not to speak of England, and quite endless prospects there for
Ernst and Hanover. These my lucky neighbors are all rising;
all this the Kaiser has granted to my lucky neighbors: why is
there no promotion he should grant me, among them!--
Elector Friedrich had 30,000 excellent troops; Kaiser Leopold,
the "little man in red stockings," had no end of Wars. Wars in
Turkey, wars in Italy; all Dutch William's wars and more, on our
side of Europe;--and here is a Spanish-Succession War, coming
dubiously on, which may prove greater than all the rest together.
Elector Friedrich sometimes in his own high person (a courageous
and high though thin-skinned man), otherwise by skilful deputy,
had done the Kaiser service, often signal service, in all these
wars; and was never wanting in the time of need, in the post of
difficulty with those famed Prussian Troops of his. A loyal
gallant Elector this, it must be owned; capable withal of doing
signal damage if we irritated him too far! Why not give him this
promotion; since it costs us absolutely nothing real, not even the
price of a yard of ribbon with metal cross at the end of it?
Kaiser Leopold himself, it is said, had no particular objection;
but certain of his ministers had; and the little man in red
stockings--much occupied in hunting, for one thing--let them
have their way, at the risk of angering Elector Friedrich.
Even Dutch William, anxious for it, in sight of the future,
had not yet prevailed.
The negotiation had lasted some seven years, without result.
There is no doubt but the Succession War, and Marlborough, would
have brought it to a happy issue: in the mean while, it is said to
have succeeded at last, somewhat on the sudden, by a kind of
accident. This is the curious mythical account; incorrect in some
unessential particulars, but in the main and singular part of it
well-founded. Elector Friedrich, according to Pollnitz and others,
after failing in many methods, had sent 100,000 thalers
(say 15,000 pounds) to give, by way of--bribe we must
call it,--to the chief opposing Hofrath at Vienna. The money was
offered, accordingly; and was refused by the opposing Hofrath:
upon which the Brandenburg Ambassador wrote that it was all labor
lost; and even hurried off homewards in despair, leaving a
Secretary in his place. The Brandenburg Court, nothing despairing,
orders in the mean while, Try another with it,--some other
Hofrath, whose name they wrote in cipher, which the blundering
Secretary took to mean no Hofrath, but the Kaiser's Confessor and
Chief Jesuit, Pater Wolf. To him accordingly he hastened with the
cash, to him with the respectful Electoral request; who received
both, it is said, especially the 15,000 pounds, with a
Gloria in excelsis; and went forthwith and persuaded
the Kaiser. [Pollnitz, Memoiren, i. 310.]--
Now here is the inexactitude, say Modern Doctors of History;
an error no less than threefold. 1. Elector Friedrich was indeed
advised, in cipher, by his agent at Vienna, to write in person
to--"Who is that cipher, then?" asks Elector Friedrich, rather
puzzled. At Vienna that cipher was meant for the Kaiser; but at
Berlin they take it for Pater Wolf; and write accordingly, and are
answered with readiness and animation. 2. Pater Wolf was not
official Confessor, but was a Jesuit in extreme favor with the
Kaiser, and by birth a nobleman, sensible to human decorations.
3. He accepted no bribe, nor was any sent; his bribe was the
pleasure of obliging a high gentleman who condescended to ask,
and possibly the hope of smoothing roads for St. Ignatius and the
Black Militia, in time coming. And THUS at last, and not otherwise
than thus, say exact Doctors, did Pater Wolf do the thing.
[G. A. H. Stenzel, Geschichte des Preussischen Staats
(Hamburg, 1841), iii. 104 (Berliner
Monatschrift, year 1799); &c.] Or might not the
actual death of poor King Carlos II. at Madrid, 1st November,
1700, for whose heritages all the world stood watching with swords
half drawn, considerably assist Pater Wolf? Done sure enough the
thing was; and before November ended, Friedrich's messenger
returned with "Yes" for answer, and a Treaty signed on the 16th of
that month. [Pollnitz (i. 318) gives the Treaty (date corrected by
his Editor, ii.589).]
To the huge joy of Elector Friedrich and his Court, almost the
very nation thinking itself glad. Which joyful Potentate decided
to set out straightway and have the coronation done; though it was
midwinter; and Konigsberg (for Prussia is to be our title, "King
in Prussia," and Konigsberg is Capital City there) lies 450 miles
off, through tangled shaggy forests, boggy wildernesses, and in
many parts only corduroy roads. We order "30,000 post-horses,"
besides all our own large stud, to be got ready at the various
stations: our boy Friedrich Wilhelm, rugged boy of twelve, rough
and brisk, yet much "given to blush" withal (which is a feature of
him), shall go with us; much more, Sophie Charlotte our august
Electress-Queen that is to be: and we set out, on the 17th of
December, 1700, last year of the Century; "in 1800 carriages:"
such a cavalcade as never crossed those wintry wildernesses
before. Friedrich Wilhelm went in the third division of carriages
(for 1800 of them could not go quite together); our noble Sophie
Charlotte in the second; a Margraf of Brandenburg-Schwedt, chief
Margraf, our eldest Half-Brother, Dorothee's eldest Son, sitting
on the coach-box, in correct insignia, as similitude of Driver.
So strict are we in etiquette; etiquette indeed being now upon its
apotheosis, and after such efforts. Six or seven years of efforts
on Elector Friedrich's part; and six or seven hundred years,
unconsciously, on that of his ancestors.
The magnificence of Friedrich's processionings into Konigsberg,
and through it or in it, to be crowned, and of his coronation
ceremonials there: what pen can describe it, what pen need!
Folio volumes with copper-plates have been written on it;
and are not yet all pasted in bandboxes, or slit into spills.
[British Museum, short of very many necessary Books on this
subject, offers the due Coronation Folio, with its prints,
upholstery catalogues, and official harangues upon nothing,
to ingenuous human curiosity.] "The diamond buttons of his
Majesty's coat [snuff-colored or purple, I cannot recollect] cost
1,500 pounds apiece;" by this one feature judge what an expensive
Herr. Streets were hung with cloth, carpeted with cloth, no end of
draperies and cloth; your oppressed imagination feels as if there
was cloth enough, of scarlet and other bright colors, to thatch
the Arctic Zone. With illuminations, cannon-salvos, fountains
running wine. Friedrich had made two Bishops for the nonce.
Two of his natural Church-Superintendents made into Quasi-Bishops,
on the Anglican model,--which was always a favorite with him,
and a pious wish of his;--but they remained mere cut branches,
these two, and did not, after their haranguing and anointing
functions, take root in the country. He himself put the crown on
his head: "King here in my own right, after all!"--and looked his
royalest, we may fancy; the kind eyes of him almost partly fierce
for moments, and "the cheerfulness of pride" well blending with
something of awful.
In all which sublimities, the one thing that remains for human
memory is not in these Folios at all, but is considered to be a
fact not the less: Electress Charlotte's, now Queen Charlotte's,
very strange conduct on the occasion. For she cared not much about
crowns, or upholstery magnificences of any kind; but had meditated
from of old on the infinitely little; and under these
genuflections, risings, sittings, shiftings, grimacings on all
parts, and the endless droning eloquence of Bishops invoking
Heaven, her ennui, not ill-humored or offensively ostensible,
was heartfelt and transcendent. At one turn of the proceedings,
Bishop This and Chancellor That droning their empty
grandiloquences at discretion, Sophie Charlotte was distinctly
seen to smuggle out her snuff-box, being addicted to that rakish
practice, and fairly solace herself with a delicate little pinch
of snuff. Rasped tobacco, tabac rape, called
by mortals rape or rappee: there is no doubt
about it; and the new King himself noticed her, and hurled back a
look of due fulminancy, which could not help the matter, and was
only lost in air. A memorable little action, and almost symbolic
in the first Prussian Coronation. "Yes, we are Kings, and are got
SO near the stars, not nearer; and you invoke the gods, in that
tremendously long-winded manner; and I--Heavens, I have my snuff-
box by me, at least!" Thou wearied patient Heroine; cognizant of
the infinitely little!--This symbolic pinch of snuff is fragrant
all along in Prussian History. A fragrancy of humble verity in the
middle of all royal or other ostentations; inexorable, quiet
protest against cant, done with such simplicity: Sophie
Charlotte's symbolic pinch of snuff. She was always considered
something of a Republican Queen.
Thus Brandenburg Electorate has become Kingdom of Prussia;
and the Hohenzollerns have put a crown upon their head.
Of Brandenburg, what it was, and what Prussia was; and of the
Hohenzollerns and what they were, and how they rose thither, a few
details, to such as are dark about these matters, cannot well be
dispensed with here.
