HumanitiesWeb.org - History of Friedrich II of Prussia - Frederick the Great (Chapter IV. - Daun in Wrestle With Friedrich in the Silesian Hills.) by Thomas Carlyle
History of Friedrich II of Prussia - Frederick the Great Chapter IV. - Daun in Wrestle With Friedrich in the Silesian Hills.
by Thomas Carlyle
In spite of Friedrich's forebodings, an extraordinary recoil, in
all Anti-Friedrich affairs, ensued upon Liegnitz; everything taking
the backward course, from which it hardly recovered, or indeed did
not recover at all, during the rest of this Campaign. Details on
the subsequent Daun-Friedrich movements--which went all aback for
Daun, Daun driven into the Hills again, Friedrich hopeful to cut
off his bread, and drive him quite through the Hills, and home
again--are not permitted us. No human intellect in our day could
busy itself with understanding these thousand-fold marchings,
manoeuvrings, assaults, surprisals, sudden facings-about (retreat
changed to advance); nor could the powerfulest human memory, not
exclusively devoted to study the Art Military under Friedrich,
remember them when understood. For soldiers, desirous not to be
sham-soldiers, they are a recommendable exercise; for them I do
advise Tempelhof and the excellent German Narratives and Records.
But in regard to others-- A sample has been given: multiply that by
the ten, by the threescore and ten; let the ingenuous imagination
get from it what will suffice. Our first duty here to poor readers,
is to elicit from that sea of small things the fractions which are
cardinal, or which give human physiognomy and memorability to it;
and carefully suppress all the rest.
Understand, then, that there is a general going-back on the
Austrian and Russian part. Czernichef we already saw at once retire
over the Oder. Soltikof bodily, the second day after, deaf to
Montalembert, lifts himself to rearward; takes post behind bogs and
bushy grounds more and more inaccessible; ["August 18th, to
Trebnitz, on the road to Militsch" (Tempelhof, iv. 167).] followed
by Prince Henri with his best impressiveness for a week longer,
till he seem sufficiently remote and peaceably minded: "Making home
for Poland, he," thinks the sanguine King; "leave Goltz with 12,000
to watch him. The rest of the Army over hither!" Which is done,
August 27th; General Forcade taking charge, instead of Henri,--who
is gone, that day or next, to Breslau, for his health's sake.
"Prince Henri really ill," say some; "Not so ill, but in the
sulks," say others:--partly true, both theories, it is now thought;
impossible to settle in what degree true. Evident it is, Henri sat
quiescent in Breslau, following regimen, in more or less pathetic
humor, for two or three months to come; went afterwards to Glogau,
and had private theatricals; and was no more heard of in this
Campaign. Greatly to his Brother's loss and regret; who is often
longing for "your recovery" (and return hither), to no purpose.
Soltikof does, in his heart, intend for Poland; but has to see the
Siege of Colberg finish first; and, in decency even to the
Austrians, would linger a little: "Willing I always, if only YOU
prove feasible!" Which occasions such negotiating, and messaging
across the Oder, for the next six weeks, as--as shall be omitted in
this place. By intense suasion of Montalembert, Soltikof even
consents to undertake some sham movement on Glogau, thereby to
alleviate his Austrians across the River; and staggers gradually
forward a little in that direction:--sham merely; for he has not a
siege-gun, nor the least possibility on Glogau; and Goltz with the
12,000 will sufficiently take care of him in that quarter.
Friedrich, on junction with Forcade, has risen to perhaps 50,000;
and is now in some condition against the Daun-Loudon-Lacy Armies,
which cannot be double his number. These still hang about, in the
Breslau-Parchwitz region; gloomy of humor; and seem to be aiming at
Schweidnitz,--if that could still prove possible with a Friedrich
present. Which it by no means does; though they try it by their
best combinations;--by "a powerful Chain of Army-posts, isolating
Schweidnitz, and uniting Daun and Loudon;" by "a Camp on the
Zobtenberg, as crown of the same;"--and put Friedrich on his
mettle. Who, after survey of said Chain, executes (night of August
30th) a series of beautiful manoeuvres on it, which unexpectedly
conclude its existence:--"with unaccountable hardihood," as
Archenholtz has it, physiognomically TRUE to Friedrich's general
style just now, if a little incorrect as to the case in hand,
"sees good to march direct, once for all, athwart said Chain;
right across its explosive cannonadings and it,--counter-
cannonading, and marching rapidly on; such a march for insolence,
say the Austrians!" [Archenholtz (ii. 115-116); who is in a hurry,
dateless, and rather confuses a subsequent DAY (September 18th)
with this "night of August 30th." See RETZOW, ii. 26; and still
better, TEMPELHOF, iv. 203.] Till, in this way, the insolent King
has Schweidnitz under his protective hand again; and forces the
Chain to coil itself wholly together, and roll into the Hills for a
safe lodging. Whither he again follows it: with continual changes
of position, vying in inaccessibility with your own;
threatening your meal-wagons; trampling on your skirts in this or
the other dangerous manner; marching insolently up to your very
nose, more than once ("Dittmannsdorf, September 18th," for a chief
instance), and confusing your best schemes. [Tempelhof, iv.
193-231; &c. &c.: in Anonymous of Hamburg,
iv. 222-235, "Diary of the AUSTRIAN Army" (3-8th September).]
This "insolent" style of management, says Archenholtz, was
practised by Julius Caesar on the Gauls; and since his time by
nobody,--till Friedrich, his studious scholar and admirer, revived
it "against another enemy." "It is of excellent efficacy," adds
Tempelhof; "it disheartens your adversary, and especially his
common people, and has the reverse effect on your own; confuses him
in endless apprehensions, and details of self-defence; so that he
can form no plan of his own, and his overpowering resources become
useless to him." Excellent efficacy,--only you must be equal to
doing it; not unequal, which might be very fatal to you!
For about five weeks, Friedrich, eminently practising this style,
has a most complex multifarious Briarean wrestle with big Daun and
his Lacy-Loudon Satellites; who have a troublesome time, running
hither, thither, under danger of slaps, and finding nowhere an
available mistake made. The scene is that intricate Hill-Country
between Schweidnitz and Glatz (kind of GLACIS from Schweidnitz to
the Glatz Mountains): Daun, generally speaking, has his back on
Glatz, Friedrich on Schweidnitz; and we hear of encampings at
Kunzendorf, at BUNZELWITZ, at BURKERSDORF--places which will be
more famous in a coming Year. Daun makes no complaint of his Lacy-
Loudon or other satellite people; who are diligently circumambient
all of them, as bidden; but are unable, like Daun himself, to do
the least good; and have perpetually, Daun and they, a bad life of
it beside this Neighbor. The outer world, especially the Vienna
outer world, is naturally a little surprised: "How is this,
Feldmarschall Daun? Can you do absolutely nothing with him, then;
but sit pinned in the Hills, eating sour herbs!"
In the Russians appears no help. Soltikof on Glogau, we know what
that amounts to! Soltikof is evidently intending home, and nothing
else. To all Austrian proposals,--and they have been manifold, as
poor Montalembert knows too well,--the answer of Soltikof was and
is: "Above 90,000 of you circling about, helping one another to do
Nothing. Happy were you, not a doubt of it, could WE be wiled
across to you, to get worried in your stead!" Daun begins to be
extremely ill-off; provisions scarce, are far away in Bohemia;
and the roads daily more insecure, Friedrich aiming evidently to
get command of them altogether. Think of such an issue to our once
flourishing Campaign 1760! Daun is vigilance itself against such
fatality; and will do anything, except risk a Fight. Here, however,
is the fatal posture: Since September 18th, Daun sees himself
considerably cut off from Glatz, his provision-road more and more
insecure;--and for fourteen days onward, the King and he have got
into a dead-lock, and sit looking into one another's faces; Daun in
a more and more distressed mood, his provender becoming so
uncertain, and the Winter season drawing nigh. The sentries are in
mutual view: each Camp could cannonade the other; but what good
were it? By a tacit understanding they don't. The sentries,
outposts and vedettes forbear musketry; on the contrary, exchange
tobaccoes sometimes, and have a snatch of conversation. Daun is
growing more and more unhappy. To which of the gods, if not to
Soltikof again, can he apply?
Friedrich himself, successful so far, is abundantly dissatisfied
with such a kind of success;--and indeed seems to be less thankful
to his stars than in present circumstances he ought.
Profoundly wearied we find him, worn down into utter disgust in the
Small War of Posts: "Here we still are, nose to nose," exclaims he
(see Letters TO HENRI), "both of us in unattackable camps.
This Campaign appears to me more unsupportable than any of the
foregoing. Take what trouble and care I like, I can't advance a
step in regard to great interests; I succeed only in trifles. ...
Oh for good news of your health: I am without all assistance here;
the Army must divide again before long, and I have none to intrust
it to." [Schoning, ii. 416.]
And TO D'ARGENS, in the same bad days: "Yes, yes, I escaped a great
danger there [at Liegnitz]. In a common War it would have signified
something; but in this it is a mere skirmish; my position little
improved by it. I will not sing Jeremiads to you; nor speak of my
fears and anxieties, but can assure you they are great. The crisis
I am in has taken another shape; but as yet nothing decides it, nor
can the development of it be foreseen. I am getting consumed by
slow fever; I am like a living body losing limb after limb.
Heaven stand by us: we need it much. [ OEuvres de Frederic,
xix. 193 ("Dittmannsdorf, 18th September," day after,
or day of finishing, that cannonade).] ... You talk always of my
person, of my dangers. Need I tell you, it is not necessary that I
live; but it is that I do my duty, and fight for my Country to save
it if possible. In many LITTLE things I have had luck: I think of
taking for my motto, MAXIMUS IN MINIMIS, ET MINIMUS IN MAXIMIS.
A worse Campaign than any of the others: I know not sometimes what
will become of it. But why weary you with such details of my labors
and my sorrows? My spirits have forsaken me. All gayety is buried
with the Loved Noble Ones whom my heart was bound to. Adieu."
Or, again, TO HENRI: Berlin? Yes; I am trying something in bar of
that. Have a bad time of it, in the interim." Our means, my dear
Brother, are so eaten away; far too short for opposing the
prodigious number of our enemies set against us:--if we must fall,
let us date our destruction from the infamous Day of Maxen!"
Is in such health, too, all the while: "Am a little better, thank
you; yet have still the"--what shall we say (dreadful biliary
affair)?--"HEMORRHOIDES AVEUGLES: nothing that, were it not for the
disquietudes I feel: but all ends in this world, and so will these.
... I flatter myself your health is recovering. For these three
days in continuance I have had so terrible a cramp, I thought it
would choke me;--it is now a little gone. No wonder the chagrins
and continual disquietudes I live in should undermine and at length
overturn the robustest constitution." [Schoning, ii. 419:
"2d October." Ib. ii. 410: "16th September." Ib. ii. 408.]
Friedrich, we observe, has heard of certain Russian-Austrian
intentions on Berlin; but, after intense consideration, resolves
that it will behoove him to continue here, and try to dislodge
Daun, or help Hunger to dislodge him; which will be the remedy for
Berlin and all things else. There are news from Colberg of welcome
tenor: could Daun be sent packing, Soltikof, it is probable, will
not be in much alacrity for Berlin!--September 18th, at
Dittmannsdorf, was the first day of Daun's dead-lock: ever since,
he has had to sit, more and more hampered, pinned to the Hills,
eating sour herbs; nothing but Hunger ahead, and a retreat (battle
we will not dream of), likely to be very ruinous, with a Friedrich
sticking to the wings of it. Here is the Note on Colberg:--
SEPTEMBER 18th, COLHERG SIEGE RAISED. "The same September 18th,
what a day at Colberg too! it is the twenty-fourth day of the
continual bombardment there. Colberg is black ashes, most of its
houses ruins, not a house in it uninjured. But Heyde and his poor
Garrison, busy day and night, walk about in it as if fire-proof;
with a great deal of battle still left in them. The King, I know
not whether Heyde is aware, has contrived something of relief;
General Werner coming:--the fittest of men, if there be
possibility. When, see, September 18th, uneasy motion in the
Russian intrenchments (for the Russians too are intrenched against
attack): Something that has surprised the Russians yonder.
Climb, some of you, to the highest surviving steeple, highest
chimney-top if no steeple survive:--Yonder IS Werner come to our
relief, O God the Merciful!"
"Werner, with 5,000, was detached from Glogau (September 5th), from
Goltz's small Corps there; has come as on wings, 200 miles in
thirteen days. And attacks now, as with wings, the astonished
Russian 15,000, who were looking for nothing like him,--with wings,
with claws, and with beak; and in a highly aquiline manner, fierce,
swift, skilful, storms these intrenched Russians straightway,
scatters them to pieces,--and next day is in Colberg, the Siege
raising itself with great precipitation; leaving all its
artilleries and furnitures, rushing on shipboard all of it that can
get,--the very ships-of-war, says Archenholtz, hurrying dangerously
out to sea, as if the Prussian Hussars might possibly take THEM.
A glorious Werner! A beautiful defence, and ditto rescue; which has
drawn the world's attention." [Seyfarth, ii. 634; Archenholtz, ii.
116: in Helden-Geschichte, (vi. 73-83),
TAGEBUCH of Siege.]
Heyde's defence of Colberg, Werner's swift rescue of it, are very
celebrated this Autumn. Medals were struck in honor of them at
Berlin, not at Friedrich's expense, but under Friedrich's
patronage; who purchased silver or gold copies, and gave them
about. Veteran Heyde had a Letter from his Majesty, and one of
these gold Medals;--what an honor! I do not hear that Heyde got any
other reward, or that he needed any. A beautiful old Hero,
voiceless in History; though very visible in that remote sphere, if
you care to look.
That is the news from Colberg; comfortable to Friedrich; not likely
to inspire Soltikof with new alacrity in behalf of Daun. It remains
to us only to add, that Friedrich, with a view to quicken Daun,
shot out (September 24th, after nightfall, and with due mystery) a
Detachment towards Neisse,--4,000 or so, who call themselves
15,000, and affect to be for Mahren ultimately. "For Mahren, and my
bit of daily bread!" Daun may well think; and did for some time
think, or partly did. Pushed off one small detachment really
thither, to look after Mahren; and (September 29th) pushed off
another bigger; Lacy namely, with 15,000, pretending to be
thither,--but who, the instant they were out of Friedrich's sight,
have whirled, at a rapid pace, quite into the opposite direction:
as will shortly be seen! Daun has now other irons in the fire.
Daun, ever since this fatal Dead-lock in the Hills, has been
shrieking hoarsely to the Russians, day and night; who at last take
pity on him,--or find something feasible in his proposals.
THE RUSSIANS MAKE A RAID ON BERLIN, FOR RELIEF OF DAUN
AND THEIR OWN BEHOOF (October 3d-12th, 1760).
Powerful entreaties, influences are exercised at Petersburg, and
here in the Russian Camp: "Noble Russian Excellencies, for the love
of Heaven, take this man off my windpipe! A sally into Brandenburg:
oh, could not you? Lacy shall accompany; seizure of Berlin, were it
only for one day!" Soltikof has falleu sick,--and, indeed,
practically vanishes from our affairs at this point;--Fermor, who
has command in the interim, finally consents: "Our poor siege of
Colberg, what an end is come to it! What an end is the whole
Campaign like to have! Let us at least try this of Berlin, since
our hands are empty." The joy of Daun, of Montalembert, and of
everybody in Austrian Court and Camp may be conceived.
Russians to the amount of 20,000, Czernichef Commander; Tottleben
Second in command, a clever soldier, who knows Berlin: these are to
start from Sagan Country, on this fine Expedition, and to push on
at the very top of their speed. September 20th, Tottleben, with
3,000 of them as Vanguard, does accordingly cross Oder, at Beuthen
in Sagan Country; and strides forward direct upon Berlin:
Lacy, with 15,000, has started from Silesia, we saw how, above a
week later (September 29th), but at a still more furious rate of
speed. Soltikof,--theoretically Soltikof, but practically Fermor,
should the dim German Books be ambiguous to any studious creature,
--with the Main Army (which by itself is still a 20,000 odd), moves
to Frankfurt, to support the swift Expedition, and be within two
marches of it. Here surely is a feasibility! Berlin, for defence,
has nothing but weak palisades; and of effective garrison
1,200 men.
And feasible, in a sort, this thing did prove; indisputably
delivering Daun from strangulation in the Silesian Mountains;
filling the Gazetteer mind with loud emotion of an empty nature;
and very much affecting many poor people in Berlin and
neighborhood. Making a big Chapter in Berlin Local History;
though compressible to small bulk for strangers, who have no
specific sympathies in that locality.
"FRIDAY, 3d OCTOBER, 1760, Tottleben, with his hasty Vanguard of
3,000, preceded by hastier rumor, comes circling round Berlin
environs; takes post at the Halle Gate [West side of the City];
summons Rochow [the same old Commandant of Haddick's time];--
requires instant admittance; ransom of Four million Thalers, and
other impossible things. Berlin has been putting itself in some
posture; repairing its palisades, throwing up bits of redoubts in
front of the gates, and, though sounding with alarms and
uncertainties, shows a fine spirit of readiness for the emergency.
Rochow is still Commandant, the same old Rochow who shrunk so
questionably in Haddick's time: but Rochow has no Court to tremble
for at present; Queen and Royal Family, Archives, Principal
Ministries, Directorium in a body, went all to Magdeburg again, on
the Kunersdorf Disaster last year, and are safe from such insults.
The spirit of the population, it appears, even of the rich classes,
some of whom are very rich, is extraordinary. Besides Rochow,
moreover, there are, by accident, certain Generals in Berlin:
Seidlitz and two others, recovering from their Kunersdorf hurts,
who step into the breach with heart admirably willing, if with
limbs still lame. Then there is old Field-marshal Lehwald [Anti-
Russian at Gross Jagersdorf, but dismissed as too old], who is
official Governor of Berlin, who succeeded poor Keith in that
honorable office: all these were strong for defence;--and do not
now grudge, great men as they are, to take each his Gate of Berlin,
his small redoubt thrown up there, and pass the night and the day
in doing his utmost with it.
"Rochow refuses the surrender, and the Four Millions pure specie;
and Tottleben, about 3 P.M. in an intermittent way, and about 5 in
a constant, begins bombarding--grenadoes, red-hot balls, what he
can;--and continues the s&me till 3 next morning. Without result to
speak of; Seidlitz and Consorts making good counter-play; the poor
old 1,200 of Garrison growing almost young again with energy, under
their Seidlitzes; and the population zealously co-operating,
especially quenching all fires that rose. What greatly contributed
withal was the arrival of Prince Eugen overnight. Eugen of
Wurtemberg [cadet of that bad Duke] had been engaged driving home
the Swedes, but instantly quitted that with a 5,000 he had; and has
marched this day,--his Vanguard has, mostly Horse, whom the Foot
will follow to-morrow,--a distance of forty miles, on this fine
errand. Delicate manoeuvring, by these wearied horsemen, to enter
Berlin amid uncertain jostlings, under the shine of Russian
bombardment; ecstatic welcome to them, when they did get in,--
instant subscription for fat oxen to them; a just abundance of beef
to them, of generous beer I hope not more than an abundance:
phenomena which, with others of the like, could be dwelt on, had
we room. [Tempelhof, iv. 266-290; Archenholtz, ii. 122-148;
Helden-Geschichte, vi. 103-149, 350-352;
&c. &c.]'
"Tottleben, under these omens, found it would not do; wended off
towards his Czernichef next morning; eastward again as far as
Copenik, Prince Eugen attending him in a minatory manner: and, in
Berlin for the moment, the bad ten hours were over. For four days
more, the fate of things hung dubious; hope soon fading again, but
not quite going out till the fifth day. And this, in fact, was
mainly all of bombardment that the City had to suffer; though its
fate of capture was not to be averted. Is not Tottleben gone?
Yes; but Lacy, marching at a rate he never did before (except from
Bischofswerda), is arrived in the environs this same evening,
cautious but furious. The King is far away; what are Eugen's 5,000
against these?
"On the other hand, Hulsen, leaving his Saxon affairs to their
chance,--which, alas, are about extinct, at any rate;
except Wittenberg, all Saxony gone from us!--Hulsen is on winged
march hitherward with about 9,000. 'How would the King come on
wings, like an eagle from the Blue, if he were but aware!' thought
everybody, and said. Hulsen did arrive on the 8th; so that there
are now 14,000 of us. Hulsen did;--but no King could; the King is
just starting (October 4th, the King, on these bad rumors about
Saxony, about Berlin, quitted the attempt on Daun; October 7th, got
on march hitherward; has finished his first march hitherward,--Daun
gradually preparing to attend him in the distance),--when Hulsen
arrives. And here are all their Lacys, Czernichefs fairly
assembled; five to two of us,--35,000 of them against our 14,000.
"Hulsen and Eugen, drawn out in their skilfulest way, manoeuvred
about, all this Wednesday, 8th; attempted, did not attempt;
found on candid examination, That 14,000 VERSUS 35,000 ran a great
risk of being worsted; that, in such case, the fate of the City
might be still more frightful; and that, on the whole, their one
course was that of withdrawing to Spandau, and leaving poor Berlin
to capitulate as it could. Capitulation starts again with Tottleben
that same night; Gotzkowsky, a magnanimous Citizen and Merchant-
Prince, stepping forth with beautiful courageous furtherances of
every kind; and it ends better than one could have hoped: Ransom--
not of Four Millions pure specie (which would have been 600,000
pounds): 'Gracious Sir, it is beyond our utmost possibility!'--but
of One and a Half Million in modern Ephraim coin; with a 30,000
pounds of douceur-money to the common man, Russian and Austrian,
for his forbearance;--'for the rest, we are at your Excellency's
mercy, in a manner!' And so,
"THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9th, about 7 in the morning, Tottleben marches
in; exactly six days since he first came circling to the Halle Gate
and began bombarding. Tottleben, knowing Friedrich, knew the value
of despatch; and, they say, was privately no enemy to Berlin,
remembering old grateful days here. For Tottleben has himself been
in difficulties; indeed, was never long out of them, during the
long stormy life he had. Not a Russian at all; though I suppose
Father of the now Russian Tottlebens whom one hears of: this one
was a poor Saxon Gentleman, Page once to poor old drunken
Weissenfels, whom, for a certain fair soul's sake, we sigh to
remember! Weissenfels dying, Tottleben became a soldier of Polish
Majesty's;--acceptable soldier, but disagreed with Bruhl, for which
nobody will like him worse. Disagreed with Bruhl; went into the
Dutch service (may have been in Fontenoy for what I know);
was there till Aix-la-Chapelle, till after Aix-la-Chapelle;
kindly treated, and promoted in the Dutch Army; but with outlooks,
I can fancy, rather dull. Outlooks probably dull in such an
element,--when, being a handsome fellow in epaulettes (Major-
General, in fact, though poor), he, diligently endeavoring, caught
the eye of a Dutch West-Indian Heiress; soft creature with no end
of money; whom he privately wedded, and ran away with. To the
horror of her appointed Dutch Lover and Friends; who prosecuted the
poor Major-General with the utmost rigor, not of Law only. And were
like to be the ruin of his fair West-Indian and him;
when Friedrich, about 1754 as I guess, gave him shelter in Berlin;
finding no insupportable objection in what the man had done.
The rather, as his Heiress and he were rich. Tottleben gained
general favor in Berlin society; wished, in 1756, to take service
with Friedrich on the breaking out of this War. 'A Colonel with me,
yes,' said Friedrich. But Tottleben had been Major-General among
the Dutch, and could not consent to sink; had to go among the
Russians for a Major-Generalcy; and there and elsewhere, for many
years coming, had many adventures, mostly troublesome, which shall
not be memorable to us here. [Sketch of Tottleben's Life; in
RODENBECK, ii. 69-72.]
"Lacy, who, after hovering about in these vicinities for four days,
had now actually come up, so soon as Eugen and Hulsen withdrew,--
was deeply disgusted at the Terms of Capitulation; angry to find
that Tottleben had concluded without him; and, in fact, flew into
open rage at the arrangements Tottleben had made for himself and
for others. 'No admittance, except on order from his Excellency!'
said the Russian Sentry to Lacy's Austrians: upon which, Lacy
forced the Gate, and violently marched in. Took lodging, to his own
mind, in the Friedrichstadt quarter; and was fearfully truculent
upon person and property, during his short stay. A scandal to be
seen, how his Croats and loose hordes went openly ravening about,
bent on mere housebreaking, street-robbery and insolent violence.
So that Tottleben had fairly to fire upon the vagabonds once or
twice; and force on the unwilling Lacy some coercion of them within
limits. For the three days of his continuance,--it was but three
days in all,--Lacy was as the evil genius of Berlin; Tottleben and
his Russians the good. Their discipline was so excellent;
all Cossacks and loose rabble strictly kept out beyond the Walls.
To Bachmann, Russian Commandant, the Berliners, on his departure,
had gratefully got ready a money-gift of handsome amount: 'By no
means,' answered Bachmann: 'your treatment was according to the
mildness of our Sovereign Czarina. For myself, if I have served you
in anything, the fact that for three days I have been Commandant of
the Great Friedrich's Capital is more than a reward to me.'
"Tottleben and Lacy, during those three days of Russian and
Austrian joint dominion, had a stormy time of it together.
'Destroy the LAGER-HAUS,' said Lacy: Lager-Haus, where they
manufacture their soldiers' uniforms; it is the parent of all
cloth-manufacturing in Prussia; set up by Friedrich Wilhelm,--not
on free-trade principles. 'The Lager-Haus, say you? I doubt, it is
now private property; screened by our Capitulation;'--which it
proves to be. 'You shall blow up the Arsenal!' said Lacy, with
vehemence and truculence. A noble edifice, as travellers yet know:
fancy its fragments flying about among the populous streets,
plunging through the roofs of Palaces, and great houses all round.
Lacy was inexorable; Tottleben had to send a Russian Party (one
wishes they had been Croats) on this sad errand. They proceeded to
the Powder-Magazine for explosive material, as preliminary;
they were rash in handling the gunpowder there, which blew up in
their hands; sent itself and all of them into the air; and saved
the poor Arsenal: 'Not powder enough now left for our own artillery
uses,' urged Tottleben.
"Saxon and Austrian Parties were in the Palaces about,--at Potsdam,
at Charlottenburg, Schonhausen (the Queen's), at Friedrichsfeld
(the Margraf Karl's), some of whom behaved well, some horribly ill.
In Charlottenburg, certain Saxon Bruhl-Dragoons, who by their
conduct might have been Dragoons of Attila, smashed the furnitures,
the doors, cutting the Pictures, much maltreating the poor people;
and, what was reckoned still more tragical, overset the poor
Polignac Collection of Antiques and Classicalities; not only
knocking off noses and arms, but beating them small, lest
reparation by cement should be possible. Their Officers, Pirna
people, looking quietly on. A scandalous proceeding, thought
everybody, friend or foe,--especially thought Friedrich;
whose indignation at this ruin of Charlottenburg came out in way of
reprisal by and by. At Potsdam, on the other hand, Prince
Esterhazy, with perhaps Hungarians among his people, behaved like a
very Prince; received from the Castellan an Attestation that he had
scrupulously respected everything; and took, as souvenir, only one
Picture of little value; Prince de Ligne, who was under him,
carrying off, still more daintily, one goose-quill, immortal by
having been a pen of the Great Friedrich's.
"Tottleben, with no feeling other than Official tempered by Human,
was in great contrast with Lacy, and very beneficent to Berlin
during the three days it lay under the TRIBULA, or harrow of War.
But the Tutelary Angel of Berlin, then and afterwards for weeks
and months, till all scores got settled, was the Gotzkowsky
mentioned above." Whom we shall see again helpful at Leipzig;
a man worth marking in these tumults. "If Tottleben was the
temporal Armed King, this Gotzkowsky was the Spiritual King, PAPA
or Universal Father, armed only with charities, pieties, prayers,
ever shiningly attended by self-sacrifices on Gotzkowsky's part;
which averted woes innumerable (Lager-Haus only one of a long
list); and which 'surpassed all belief,' write the Berlin
Magistracy, as if in tears over such heroism. Truly a Prince of
Merchants, this Gotzkowsky, not for his vast enterprises, and the
mere 1,500 workmen he employs, but for the still greater heart that
dwells in him. Had begun as a travelling Pedler; used to call at
Reinsberg, with female haberdasheries exquisitely chosen
('GALLANTERIE wares' the Germans call them), for the then Princess
Royal; not unnoticed by Friedrich, who recognized the broad sense,
solidity and great thoughts of the man. Of all which Friedrich has
known far more since then, in various branches of Prussian commerce
improved by Gotzkowsky's managements. A truly notable Gotzkowsky;
became bankrupt at last, one is sorry to hear; and died in
affliction and neglect,--short of the humblest wages for so much
good work done in the world! [Preuss, ii. 257, &c. &c.;
GESCHICHTE EINES PATRIOTISCHEN KAUFMANNS (Berlin, 1769, by
Gotzkowsky himself).]
"Gotzkowsky's House was like a general storeroom for everybody's
preciosities; his time, means, self were the refuge of all the
needy. In Zorndorf time, when this Czernichef [if readers can
remember], who is now so supreme,--Czernichef, Soltikof and
others,--had nothing for it but to lodge in the cellars of burnt
Custrin, Gotzkowsky, with ready money, with advice, with
assuagement, had been their DEUS EX MACHINA: and now Czernichef
remembers it; and Gotzkowsky, as Papa, has to go with continual
prayers, negotiations, counsellings, expedients, and be the refuge
of all unjustly suffering men Berlin has immensities of trade in
war-furnitures: the capitals circulating are astonishing to
Archenholtz; million on the back of million; no such city in
Germany for trade. The desire of the Three-days Lacy Government is
towards any Lager-Haus; any mass of wealth, which can be construed
as Royal or connected with Royalty. Ephraim and Itzig, mint-
masters of that copper-coinage; rolling in foul wealth by the ruin
of their neighbors; ought not these to bleed? Well, yes,--if
anybody; and copiously if you like! I should have said so: but the
generous Gotzkowsky said in his heart, 'No;' and again pleaded and
prevailed. Ephraim and Itzig, foul swollen creatures, were not
broached at all; and their gratitude was, That, at a future day,
Gotzkowsky's day of bankruptcy, they were hardest of any
on Gotzkowsky.
"Archenholtz and the Books are enthusiastically copious upon
Gotzkowsky and his procedures; but we must be silent. This Anecdote
only, in regard to Freedom of the Press,--to the so-called 'air we
breathe, not having which we die!' Would modern Friends of Progress
believe it? Because, in former stages of this War, the Berlin
Newspapers have had offensive expressions (scarcely noticeable to
the microscope in our day, and below calculation for smallness)
upon the Russian and Austrian Sovereigns or Peoples,--the Able
Editors (there are only Two) shall now in person, here in the
market-place of Berlin, actually run the gantlet for it,--'run the
rods (GASSEN-LAUFEN'), as the fashion now is; which is worse than
GANTLET, not to speak of the ignominy. That is the barbaric Russian
notion: 'who are you, ill-formed insolent persons, that give a
loose to your tongue in that manner? Strip to the waistband, swift!
Here is the true career opened for you: on each hand, one hundred
sharp rods ranked waiting you; run your courses there,--no hurry
more than you like!' The alternative of death, I suppose, was open
to these Editors; Roman death at least, and martyrdom for a new
Faith (Faith in the Loose Tongue), very sacred to the Democratic
Ages now at hand. But nobody seems to have thought of it;
Editors and Public took the thing as a 'sorrow incident to this
dangerous Profession of the Tongue Loose (or looser than usual);
which nobody yet knew to be divine. The Editors made passionate
enough lamentation, in the stript state; one of then, with loud
weeping, pulled off his wig, showed ice-gray hair; 'I am in my 68th
year!' But it seems nothing would have steaded them, had not
Gotzkowsky been busy interceding. By virtue of whom there was
pardon privately in readiness: to the ice-gray Editor complete
pardon; to the junior quasi-complete; only a few switches to assert
the principle, and dismissal with admonition." [ Helden-
Geschichte, vi. 103-148; Rodenbeck, ii. 41-54; Archenholtz, ii.
130-147; Preuss, UBI SUPRA: &c. &c.]
The pleasant part of the fact is, that Gotzkowsky's powerful
intercessions were thenceforth no farther needed. The same day,
Saturday, October 11th, a few hours after this of the GASSEN-
LAUFEN, news arrived full gallop: "The King is coming!" After which
it was beautiful to see how all things got to the gallop; and in a
no-time Berlin was itself again. That same evening, Saturday, Lacy
took the road, with extraordinary velocity, towards Torgau Country,
where the Reichsfolk, in Hulsen's absence, are supreme; and, the
second evening after, was got 60 miles thitherward. His joint
dominion had been of Two days. On the morning of Sunday, 12th, went
Tottleben, who had businesses, settlements of ransom and the like,
before marching. Tottleben, too, made uncommon despatch;
marched, as did all these invasive Russians, at the rate of thirty
miles a day; their Main Army likewise moving off from Frankfurt to
a safer distance. Friedrich was still five marches off; but there
seemed not a moment to lose.
The Russian spoilings during the retreat were more horrible than
ever: "The gallows gaping for us; and only this one opportunity, if
even this!" thought the agitated Cossack to himself. Our poor
friend Nissler had a sad tale to tell of them; [In Busching,
Beitrage, i. 400, 401, account of their
sacking of Nussler's pleasant home and estate, "Weissensee, near
Berlin."] as who had not? Terror and murder, incendiary fire and
other worse unnamable abominations of the Pit. One old Half-pay
gentleman, whom I somewhat respect, desperately barricaded himself,
amid his domestics and tenantries, Wife and Daughters assisting:
"Human Russian Officers can enter here; Cossacks no, but shall kill
us first. Not a Cossack till all of us are lying dead!"
[Archenholtz, ii. 150.] And kept his word; the human Russians
owning it to be proper.
In Guben Country, "at Gross-Muckro, October 15th," the day after
passing Guben, Friedrich first heard for certain, That the Russians
had been in Berlin, and also that they were gone, and that all was
over. He made two marches farther,--not now direct for Berlin, but
direct for Saxony AND it;--to Lubben, 50 or 60 miles straight south
of Berlin; and halted there some days, to adjust himself for a new
sequel. "These are the things," exclaims he, sorrowfully, to
D'Argens, "which I have been in dread of since Winter last; this is
what gave the dismal tone to my Letters to you. It has required not
less than all my philosophy to endure the reverses, the
provocations, the outrages, and the whole scene of atrocious things
that have come to pass." [ OEuvres de Frederic,
xix. 199; "22d October."] Friedrich's grief about Berlin we
need not paint; though there were murmurs afterwards, "Why did not
he start sooner?" which he could not, in strict reason, though
aware that these savageries were on march. He had hoped the Eugen-
Hulsen appliances, even should all else fail, might keep them at
bay. And indeed, in regard to these latter, it turned only on a
hair. Montalembert calculating, vows, on his oath, "Can assure you,
M. l'Ambassadeur, PUIS BIEN VOUS ASSURER COMME SI J,ETAIS DEVANT
DIEU, as if I stood before God," [Montalembert, ii. 108.] that,
from first to last, it was my doing; that but for me, at the very
last, the Russians, on sight of Hulsen and Eugen, and no Lacy come,
would have marched away!
Friedrich's orderings and adjustings, dated Lubben, where his Army
rested after this news from Berlin, were manifold; and a good deal
still of wrecks from the Berlin Business fell to his share.
For instance, one thing he had at once ordered: "Your Bill of a
Million-and-half to the Russians, don't pay it, or any part of it!
When Bamberg was ransomed, Spring gone a year,--Reich and Kaiser,
did they respect our Bill we had on Bamberg? Did not they cancel
it, and flatly refuse?" Friedrich is positive on the point,
"Reprisal our clear remedy!" But Berlin itself was in alarm, for
perhaps another Russian visit; Berlin and Gotzkowsky were humbly
positive the other way. Upon which a visit of Gotskowsky to the
Royal Camp: "Merchants' Bills are a sacred thing, your Majesty!"
urged Gotzkowsky. Who, in his zeal for the matter, undertook
dangerous visits to the Russian Quarters, and a great deal of
trouble, peril and expense, during the weeks following.
Magnanimous Gotzkowsky, "in mere bribes to the Russian Officials,
spent about 6,000 pounds of his own," for one item. But he had at
length convinced his Majesty that Merchants' Bills were a sacred
thing, in spite of Bamberg and desecrative individualities;
and that this Million-and-half must be paid. Friedrich was struck
with Gotzkowsky and his view of the facts. Friedrich, from his own
distressed funds, handed to Gotzkowsky the necessary Million-and-
half, commanding only profound silence about it; and to Gotzkowsky
himself a present of 150,000 thalers (20,000 pounds odd);
[Archenholtz, ii. 146.] and so the matter did at last end.
It had been a costly business to Berlin, and to the King, and to
the poor harried Country. To Berlin, bombardment of ten hours;
alarm of discursive siege-work in the environs for five days;
foreign yoke for three days; lost money to the amounts above
stated; what loss in wounds to body or to peace of mind, or whether
any loss that way, nobody has counted. The Berlin people rose to a
more than Roman height of temper, testifies D'Argens; [
OEuvres de Frederic, xix. 195-199: "D'Argens to the
King: Berlin, 19th October, 1760,"--an interesting Letter of
details.] so that perhaps it was a gain. The King's Magazines and
War-furnitures about Berlin are wasted utterly,--Arsenal itself not
blown up, we well know why;--and much Hunnish ruin in
Charlottenburg, with damage to Antiques,--for which latter clause
there shall, in a few months, be reprisal: if it please the Powers!
Of all this Montalembert declares, "Before God, that he,
Montalembert, is and was the mainspring." And indeed, Tempelhof,
without censure of Montalembert and his vocation, but accurately
computing time and circumstance, comes to the same conclusion;--as
thus: "OCTOBER 8th, seeing no Lacy come, Czernichef, had it not
been for Montalembert's eloquence, had fixed for returning to
Copenik: whom cautious Lacy would have been obliged to imitate.
Suppose Czernichef had, OCTOBER 9th, got to Copenik,--Eugen and
Hulsen remain at Berlin; Czernichef could not have got back thither
before the 11th; on the 11th was news of Friedrich's coming; which
set all on gallop to the right about." [Tempelhof, iv. 277.]
So that really, before God, it seems Montalembert must have the
merit of this fine achievement:--the one fruit, so far as I can
discover, of his really excellent reasonings, eloquences,
patiences, sown broadcast, four or five long years, on such a field
as fine human talent never had before. I declare to you,
M. l'Ambassadeur, this excellent vulture-swoop on Berlin, and
burning or reburning of the Peasantry of the Mark, is due solely to
one poor zealous gentleman!--
What was next to follow out of THIS,--in Torgau neighborhood, where
Daun now stands expectant,--poor M. de Montalembert was far from
anticipating; and will be in no haste to claim the merit of before
God or man.
