HumanitiesWeb.org - History of Friedrich II of Prussia - Frederick the Great (Chapter X. - Friedrich In Breslau; Has News From Petersburg.) by Thomas Carlyle
History of Friedrich II of Prussia - Frederick the Great Chapter X. - Friedrich In Breslau; Has News From Petersburg.
by Thomas Carlyle
Since December 9th, Friedrich is in Breslau, in some remainder of
his ruined Palace there; and is represented to us, in Books, as
sitting amid ruins; no prospect ahead of him but ruin.
Withdrawn from Society; looking fixedly on the gloomiest future.
Sees hardly anybody; speaks, except it be on business, nothing.
"One day," I have read somewhere, "General Lentulus dined with him;
and there was not a word uttered at all." The Anecdote-Books have
Dialogues with Ziethen; Ziethen still trusting in Divine
Providence; King trusting only in the iron Destinies, and the stern
refuge of Death with honor: Dialogues evidently symbolical only.
In fact, this is not, or is not altogether, the King's common
humor. He has his two Nephews with him (the elder, old enough to
learn soldiering, is to be of next Campaign under him); he is not
without society when he likes,--never without employment whether he
like or not; and, in the blackest murk of despondencies, has his
Turk and other Illusions, which seem to be brighter this Year than
ever. [LETTERS to Henri: in SCHONING, iii. (SOEPIUS).]
For certain, the King is making all preparation, as if victory
might still crown him: though of practical hope he, doubtless often
enough, has little or none. England seems about deserting him;
a most sad and unexpected change has befallen there: great Pitt
thrown out; perverse small Butes come in, whose notions and
procedures differ far from Pitt's! At home here, the Russians are
in Pommern and the Neumark; Austrians have Saxony, all but a poor
strip beyond the Mulda; Silesia, all but a fraction on the Oder:
Friedrich has with himself 30,000; with Prince Henri, 25,000;
under Eugen of Wurtemberg, against the Swedes, 5,000; in all his
Dominions, 60,000 fighting men. To make head against so many
enemies, he calculates that 60,000 more must be raised this Winter.
And where are these to come from; England and its help having also
fallen into such dubiety? Next Year, it is calculated by everybody,
Friedrich himself hardly excepted (in bad moments), must be the
finis of this long agonistic tragedy. On the other hand, Austria
herself is in sore difficulties as to cash; discharges 20,000 men,
--trusting she may have enough besides to finish Friedrich.
France is bankrupt, starving, passionate for Peace; English Bute
nothing like so ill to treat with as Pitt: to Austria no more
subsidies from France. The War is waxing feeble, not on Friedrich's
side only, like a flame short of fuel. This Year it must go out;
Austria will have to kill Friedrich this Year, if at all.
Whether Austria's and the world's prophecy would have been
fulfilled? Nobody can say what miraculous sudden shifts, and
outbursts of fiery enterprise, may still lie in this man.
Friedrich is difficult to kill, grows terribly elastic when you
compress him into a corner. Or Destiny, perhaps, may have tried him
sufficiently; and be satisfied? Destiny does send him a wonderful
star-of-day, bursting out on the sudden, as will be seen!--
Meanwhile here is the English calamity; worse than any Schweidnitz,
Colberg or other that has befallen in this blackest, of the night.
THE PITT CATASTROPHE: HOW THE PEACE-NEGOTIATION WENT OFF BY EXPLOSION;
HOW PITT WITHDREW (3d October, 1761),
AND THERE CAME A SPANISH WAR NEVERTHELESS.
In St. James's Street, "in the Duke of Cumberland's late lodgings,"
on the 2d of October, 1761, there was held one of the most
remarkable Cabinet-Councils known in English History: it is the
last of Pitt's Cabinet-Councils for a long time,--might as well
have been his last of all;--and is of the highest importance to
Friedrich through Pitt. We spoke of the Choiseul Peace-Negotiation;
of an offer indirectly from King Carlos, "Could not I mediate a
little?"--offer which exploded said Negotiation, and produced the
Bourbon Family Compact and an additional War instead. Let us now
look, slightly for a few moments, into that matter and
its sequences.
It was JULY 15th, when Bussy, along with something in his own
French sphere, presented this beautiful Spanish Appendix,--
"apprehensive that War may break out again with Spain, when we Two
have got settled." By the same opportunity came a Note from him,
which was reckoned important too: "That the Empress Queen would and
did, whatever might become of the Congress of Augsburg, approve of
this Separate Peace between France and England,--England merely
undertaking to leave the King of Prussia altogether to himself in
future with her Imperial Majesty and her Allies." "Never, Sir!"
answered Pitt, with emphasis, to this latter Proposition; and to
the former about Spain's interfering, or whispering of
interference, he answered--by at once returning the Paper, as a
thing non-extant, or which it was charitable to consider so.
"Totally inadmissible, Sir; mention it no more!"--and at once
called upon the Spanish Ambassador to disavow such impertineuce
imputed to his Master. Fancy the colloquies, the agitated
consultations thereupon, between Bussy and this Don, in view
suddenly of breakers ahead!
In about a week (July 23d), Bussy had an Interview with Pitt
himself on this high Spanish matter; and got some utterances out of
him which are memorable to Bussy and us. "It is my duty to declare
to you, Sir, in the name of his Majesty," said Pitt, "that his
Majesty will not suffer the disputes with Spain to be blended, in
any manner whatever, in the Negotiation of Peace between the Two
Crowns. To which I must add, that it will be considered as an
affront to his Majesty's dignity, and as a thing incompatible with
the sincerity of the Negotiation, to make farther mention of such a
circumstance." [In THACKERAY, ii. 554;--Pitt next day putting it in
writing, "word for word," at Bussy's request.] Bussy did not go at
once, after this deliverance; but was unable, by his arguments and
pleadings, by all his oil and fire joined together, to produce the
least improvement on it: "Time enough to treat of all that, Sir,
when the Tower of London is taken sword in hand!" [Beatson, ii.
434. Archenholtz (ii. 245) has heard of this expression, in a
slightly incorrect way.] was Pitt's last word. An expression which
went over the world; and went especially to King Carlos, as fast as
it could fly, or as his Choiseul could speed it: and, in about
three weeks: produced--it and what had gone before it, by the
united industry of Choiseul and Carlos, finally produced--the famed
BOURBON FAMILY COMPACT (August 15th, 1761), and a variety of other
weighty results, which lay in embryo therein.
Pitt, in the interim, had been intensely prosecuting, in Spain and
everywhere, his inquiry into the Bussy phenomenon of July 15th;
which he, from the first glimpse of it, took to mean a mystery of
treachery in the pretended Peace-Negotiation, on the part of
Choiseul and Catholic Majesty;--though other long heads, and Pitt's
Ambassador at Madrid investigating on the spot, considered it an
inadvertence mainly, and of no practical meaning. On getting
knowledge of the Bourbon Family Compact, Pitt perceived that his
suspicion was a certainty;--and likewise that the one clear course
was, To declare War on the Spanish Bourbon too, and go into him at
once: "We are ready; fleets, soldiers, in the East, in the West;
he not ready anywhere. Since he wants War, let him have it, without
loss of a moment!" That is Pitt's clear view of the case; but it is
by no means Bute and Company's,--who discern in it, rather, a means
of finishing another operation they have long been secretly busy
upon, by their Mauduits and otherwise; and are clear against
getting into a new War with Spain or anybody: "Have not we enough
of Wars? " say they.
Since September 18th, there had been three Cabinet-Councils held on
this great Spanish question: "Mystery of treachery, meaning War
from Spain? Or awkward Inadvertence only, practically meaning
little or nothing?" Pitt, surer of his course every time, every
time meets the same contradiction. Council of October 2d was the
third of the series, and proved to be the last.
"Twelve Seventy-fours sent instantly to Cadiz", had been Pitt's
proposal, on the first emergence of the Bussy phenomenon. Here are
his words, October 2d, when it is about to get consummated:
"This is now the time for humbling the whole House of Bourbon:
and if this opportunity is let slip, we shall never find another!
Their united power, if suffered to gather strength, will baffle our
most vigorous efforts, and possibly plunge us in the gulf of ruin.
We must not allow them a moment to breathe. Self-preservation bids
us crush them before they can combine or recollect themselves."--
"No evidence that Spain means war; too many wars on our hands;
let us at least wait!" urge all the others,--all but one, or one
and A HALF, of whom presently. Whereupon Pitt: "If these views are
to be followed, this is the last time I can sit at this Board.
I was called to the Administration of Affairs by the voice of the
People: to them I have always considered myself as accountable for
my conduct; and therefore cannot remain in a situation which makes
me responsible for measures I am no longer allowed to guide."
[Beatson, ii. 438.]
Carteret Granville, President of said Council for ten years past,
[Came in "17th June, 1751",--died "2d January, 1763."] now an old
red-nosed man of seventy-two, snappishly took him up,--it is the
last public thing poor Carteret did in this world,--in the
following terms: "I find the Gentleman is determined to leave us;
nor can I say I am sorry for it, since otherwise he would have
certainly compelled us to leave him [Has ruled us, may not I say,
with a rod of iron!] But if he be resolved to assume the office of
exclusively advising his Majesty and directing the operations of
the War, to what purpose are we called to this Council? When he
talks of being responsible to the People, he talks the language of
the House of Commons; forgets that, at this Board, he is only
responsible to the King. However, though he may possibly have
convinced himself of his infallibility, still it remains that we
should be equally convinced, before we can resign our
understandings to his direction, or join with him in the measure he
proposes." [BIOG. BRITANNICA (Kippis's; London, 1784), iii. 278.
See Thackeray, i. 589-592.]
Who, besides Temple (Pitt's Brother-in-law) confirmatory of Pitt,
Bute negatory, and Newcastle SILENT, the other beautiful gentlemen
were, I will not ask; but poor old Carteret,--the wine perhaps sour
on his stomach (old age too, with German memories of his own,
"A biggish Life once mine, all futile for want of this same
Kingship like Pitt's!")--I am sorry old Carteret should have ended
so! He made the above Answer; and Pitt resigned next day.
[Thackeray, i. 592 n. "October 5th" (ACCEPTANCE of the resignation,
I suppose?) is the date commonly given.] "The Nation was
thunderstruck, alarmed and indignant," says Walpole: [
Memoirs of the Reign of George the Third, i. 82 et
seq.] yes, no wonder;--but, except a great deal of noisy jargoning
in Parliament and out of it, the Nation gained nothing for itself
by its indignant, thunderstricken and other feelings. Its Pitt is
irrecoverable; and it may long look for another such.
These beautiful recalcitrants of the Cabinet-Council had,
themselves, within three months (think under what noises and
hootings from a non-admiring Nation), to declare War on Spain,
["2d January, 1762," the English; "18th January," the Spaniard
(ANNUAL REGISTER for 1762, p. 50; or better, Beatson, ii. 443).]
NOT on better terms than when Pitt advised; and, except for the
"readiness" in which Pitt had left all things, might have fared
indifferently in it.
To Spain and France the results of the Family Compact (we may as
well give them at once, though they extend over the whole next year
and farther, and concern Friedrich very little) were: a War on
England (chiefly on poor Portugal for England's sake); with a War
BY England in return, which cost Spain its Havana and its
Philippine Islands.
"From 1760 and before, the Spanish Carlos, his orthodox mind
perhaps shocked at Pombal and the Anti-Jesuit procedures, had
forbidden trade with Portugal; had been drawing out dangerous
'militia forces on the Frontier;' and afflicting and frightening
the poor Country. But on the actual arrival of War with England,
Choiseul and he, as the first feasibility discernible, make Demand
(three times over, 16th March-18th April, 1762, each time more
stringently) on poor Portuguese Majesty: 'Give up your
objectionable Heretic Ally, and join with us against him; will you,
or will you not?' To which the Portuguese Majesty, whose very title
is Most Faithful, answered always: 'You surprise me! I cannot;
how can I? He is my Ally, and has always kept faith with me!
For certain, No!' [ London Gazette, 5th May,
1762, &c. (in Gentleman's Magazine for 1762,
xxxii. 205, 321, 411).] So that there is English reinforcement got
ready, men, money; an English General, Lord Tyrawley, General and
Ambassador; with a 5 or 6,000 horse and foot, and many volunteer
officers besides, for the Portuguese behoof. [List of all this in
Beatson, ii. 491, iii. 323;--"did not get to sea till 12th May,
1762" ( Gentleman's Magazine for 1762,
p. 239).] In short, every encouragement to poor Portugal:
'Pull, and we will help you by tracing.'
"The poor Portuguese pulled very badly: were disgusting to
Tyrawley, he to them; and cried passionately, 'Get us another
General;'--upon which, by some wise person's counsel, that singular
Artillery Gentleman, the Graf von der Lippe Buckeburg, who gave the
dinner in his Tent with cannon firing at the pole of it, was
appointed; and Tyrawley came home in a huff. [Varnhagen van Ense,
GRAF WILHELM ZUR LIPPE (Berlin, 1845), in Vermischte
Schriften, i. 1-118: pp. 33-54, his Portuguese
operations.] Which was probably a favorable circumstance.
Buckeburg understands War, whether Tyrawley do or not.
Duke Ferdinand has agreed to dispense with his Ordnance-Master;
nay I have heard the Ordnance-Master, a man of sharp speeoh on
occasion, was as good as idle; and had gone home to Buckeburg, this
Winter: indignant at the many imperfections he saw, and perhaps too
frankly expressing that feeling now and then. What he thought of
the Portuguese Army in comparison is not on record; but, may be
judged of by this circumstance, That on dining with the chief
Portuguese military man, he found his Portuguese captains and
lieutenants waiting as valets behind the chairs. [VARNHAGEN (gives
no date anywhere).]
"The improvements he made are said to have been many;--and
Portuguese Majesty, in bidding farewell, gave him a park of
Miniature Gold Cannon by way of gracious symbol. But, so far as the
facts show, he seems to have got from his Portuguese Army next to
no service whatever: and, but for the English and the ill weather,
would have fared badly against his French and Spaniards,--42,000 of
them, advancing in Three Divisions, by the Douro and the Tagus,
against Oporto and Lisbon.
"His War has only these three dates of event. 1. May 9th, The
northmost of the Three Divisions [ANNUAL REGISTER for 1762, p. 30.]
crosses the Portuguese Frontier on the Douro; summons Miranda, a
chief Town of theirs; takes it, before their first battery is
built; takes Braganza, takes Monte Corvo; and within a week is
master of the Douro, in that part, 'Will be at Oporto directly!'
shriek all the Wine people (no resistance anywhere, except by
peasants organized by English Officers in some parts); upon which
Seventy-fours were sent.
"2. Division Second of the 42,000 came by Beira Country, between
Tagus and Douro, by Tras-os-Montes; and laid siege to a place
called Almeida [northwest some 20 odd miles from CUIDAD RODRIGO, a
name once known to veterans of us still living], which Buckeburg
had tried to repair into strength, and furnish with a garrison.
Garrison defended itself well; but could not be relieved;--had to
surrender, August 25th: whereby it seems the Tagus is now theirs!
All the more, as Division Three is likewise got across from
Estremadura, invading Alemtejo: what is to keep these Two from
falling on Lisbon together?
"3. Against this, Buckeburg does find a recipe. Despatches
Brigadier Burgoyne with an English party upon a Town called
Valencia d'Alcantara [not Alcantara Proper, but Valencia of ditto,
not very far from Badajoz], where the vanguard of this Third
Division is, and their principal Magazine. Burgoyne and his English
did perfectly: broke into the place, stormed it sword in hand
(August 27th); kept the Magazine and it, though 'the sixteen
Portuguese Battalions' could not possibly get up in time. In manner
following (say the Old Newspapers):--
"'The garrison of Almeida, before which place the whole Spanish
Army had been assembled, surrendered to the Spaniards on the 25th
[August 25th, as we have just heard], having capitulated on
condition of not serving against Spain for six months.
"'As a counterbalance to this advantage, the Count de Lippe caused
Valencia d'Alcantara to be attacked, sword in hand, by the British
troops; who carried it, after an obstinate resistance. The loss of
the British troops, who had the principal share in this affair, is
luckily but inconsiderable: and consists in Lieutenant Burk of
Colonel Frederick's, one sergeant and three privates killed;
two sergeants, one drummer, 18 privates wounded; 10 horses killed
and 2 wounded [loss not at all considerable, in a War of such
dimensions!]. The British troops behaved upon this occasion with as
much generosity as courage; and it deserves admiration, that, in an
affair of this kind, the town and the inhabitants suffered very
little; which is owing to the good order Brigadier Burgoyne kept up
even in the heat of the action. This success would probably have
been attended with more, if circumstances, that could not well be
expected, had not retarded the march of sixteen Portuguese
battalions, and three regiments of cavalry.' [Old Newspapers (in
Gentleman's Magazine for 1762, p, 443).]
"Upon which--upon which, in fact, the War had to end. Rainy weather
came, deluges of rain; Burgoyne, with or without the sixteen
battalions of Portuguese, kept the grip he had. Valencia
d'Alcantara and its Magazine a settled business, roads round gone
all to mire,--this Third Division, and with it the 42,000 in
general, finding they had nothing to live upon, went their ways
again." NOTE, The Burgoyne, who begins in this pretty way at
Valencia d'Alcantara, is the same who ended so dismally at
Saratoga, within twenty years:--perhaps, with other War-Offices,
and training himself in something suitabler than Parliamentary
Eloquence, he might have become a kind of General, and have ended
far otherwise than there?--
"Such was the credit account on Carlos's side: By gratuitous
assault on Portugal, which had done him no offence; result zero,
and pay your expenses. On the English, or PER CONTRA side, again,
there were these three items, two of them specifically on Carlos:
FIRST, Martinique captured from the French this Spring (finished
4th February, 1762): [ Gentleman's Magazine
for 1762, p. 127.]--was to have been done in any case, Guadaloupe
and it being both on Pitt's books for some time, and only
Guadaloupe yet got. SECONDLY, King Carlos, for Family Compact and
fruitless attempt at burglary on an unoffending neighbor, Debtor:
1. To Loss of the Havana (6th June-13th August, 1762), [Ib. pp.
408-459, &c.] which might easily have issued in loss of all his
West Indies together, and total abolition of the Pope's meridian in
that Western Hemisphere; and 2. To Loss of Manilla, with his
Philippine Islands (23d September-6th October, 1762),
[ Gentleman's Magazine for 1762, xxxiii.
171-177.] which was abolition of it in the Eastern. After which,
happily for Carlos, Peace came,--Peace, and no Pitt to be severe
upon his Indies and him. Carlos's War of ten months had stood him
uncommonly high."
All these things the English Public, considerably sullen about the
Cabinet-Council event of October 3d, ascribed to the real owner of
them. The Public said: "These are, all of them, Pitt's bolts, not
yours,--launched, or lying ready for launching, from that Olympian
battery which, in the East and in the West, had already smitten
down all Lallys and Montcalms; and had force already massed there,
rendering your Havanas and Manillas easy for you. For which,
indeed, you do not seem to care much; rather seem to be embarrassed
with them, in your eagerness for Peace and a lazy life!"--Manilla
was a beautiful work; [A JOURNAL OF THE PROCEEDINGS QF HIS
MAJESTY'S FORCES IN THE EXPEDITION TO MANILLA ( London
Gazette, April 19th, 1763; Gentleman's
Magazine, xxxiii. 171 et seq.). Written by Colonel or
BrigadiecGeneral Draper (suggester, contriver and performer of the
Enterprise; an excellent Indian Officer, of great merit with his
pen as well,--Bully JUNIUS'S Correspondent afterwards).] but the
Manilla Ransom; a million sterling, half of it in bills,--which the
Spaniards, on no pretext at all but the disagreeableness, refused
to pay! Havana, though victorious, cost a good many men:
was thought to be but badly managed. "What to do with it?" said
Bute, at the Peace: "Give us Florida in lieu of it",--which proved
of little benefit to Bute. Enough, enough of Bute and his
performances.
Pitt being gone, Friedrich's English Subsidy lags: this time
Friedrich concludes it is cut off;--silent on the subject; no words
will express one's thoughts on it. Not till April 9th has poor
Mitchell the sad errand of announcing formally That such are our
pressures, Portuguese War and other, we cannot afford it farther.
Answered by I know not what kind of glance from Friedrich;
answered, I find, by words few or none from the forsaken King:
"Good; that too was wanting," thought the proud soul: "Keep your
coin, since you so need it; I have still copper, and my sword!"
The alloy this Year became as 3 to 1:--what other remedy?
From the same cause, I doubt not, this Year, for the first time in
human memory, came that complete abeyance of the Gift-moneys
(DOUCEUR-GELDER), which are become a standing expectation, quasi-
right, and necessary item of support to every Prussian Officer,
from a Lieutenant upwards: not a word, in the least official, said
of them this Year; still less a penny of them actually forthcoming
to a wornout expectant Army. One of the greatest sins charged upon
Friedrich by Prussian or Prussian-Military public opinion: not to
be excused at all;--Prussian-Military and even Prussian-Civil
opinion having a strange persuasion that this King has boundless
supply of money, and only out of perversity refuses it for objects
of moment. In the Army as elsewhere much ha8 gone awry;
[See Mollendorf's two or three LETTERS (Preuss, iv. 407-411).] many
rivets loose after such a climbing of the Alps as there has been,
through dense and rare.
It will surprise everybody that Friedrich, with his copper and
other resources, actually raised his additional 60,000; and has for
himself 70,000 to recover Schweidnitz, and bring Silesia to its old
state; 40,000 for Prince Henri and Saxony, with a 10,000 of margin
for Sweden and accidental sundries. This is strange, but it is
true. [Stenzel, v. 297, 286; Tempelhof, vi. 2, 10, 63.] And has not
been done without strivings and contrivings, hard requisitions on
the places liable; and has involved not a little of severity and
difficulty,--especially a great deal of haggling with the
collecting parties, or at least with Prince Henri, who presides in
Saxony, and is apt to complain and mourn over the undoable, rather
than proceed to do it. The King's Correspondence with Henri, this
Winter, is curious enough; like a Dialogue between Hope on its
feet, and Despair taking to its bed. "You know there are Two
Doctors in MOLIERE," says Friedrich to him once; "a Doctor
TANT-MIEUX (So much the Better) and a Doctor TANT-PIS (So much the
Worse): these two cannot be expected to agree!"--Instead of
infinite arithmetical details, here is part of a Letter of
Friedrich's to D'Argens; and a Passage, one of many, with Prince
Henri;--which command a view into the interior that concerns us.
THE KING TO D'ARGENS (at Berlin).
"BRESLAU, 18th January, 1762.
... "You have lifted the political veil which covered horrors and
perfidies meditated and ready to burst out [Bute's dismal
procedures, I believe; who is ravenous for Peace, and would fain
force Friedrich along with him on terms altogether disgraceful and
inadmissible [See D'Argens's Letter (to which this is Answer),
OEuvres de Frederic, xix. 281, 282.]]: you
judge correctly of the whole situation I am in, of the abysses
which surround me; and, as I see by what you say, of the kind of
hope that still remains to me. It will not be till the month of
February [Turks, probably, and Tartar Khan; great things coming
then!] that we can speak of that; and that is the term I
contemplate for deciding whether I shall hold to CATO [Cato,--and
the little Glass Tube I have!] or to CAESAR'S COMMENTARIES," and
the best fight one can make.
"The School of patience I am at is hard, long-continued, cruel, nay
barbarous. I have not been able to escape my lot: all that human
foresight could suggest has been employed, and nothing has
succeeded. If Fortune continues to pursue me, doubtless I shall
sink; it is only she that can extricate me from the situation I am
in. I escape out of it by looking at the Universe on the great
scale, like an observer from some distant Planet; all then seems to
me so infinitely small, and I could almost pity my enemies for
giving themselves such trouble about so very little. What would
become of us without philosophy, without this reasonable contempt
of things frivolous, transient and fugitive, about which the greedy
and ambitious make such a pother, fancying them to be solid!
This is to become wise by stripes, you will tell me; well, if one
do become wise, what matters it how?--I read a great deal; I devour
my Books, and that brings me useful alleviation. But for my Books,
I think hypochondria would have had me in bedlam before now.
In fine, dear Marquis, we live in troublous times and in desperate
situations:--I have all the properties of a Stage-Hero; always in
danger, always on the point of perishing. One must hope the
conclusion will come; and if the end of the piece be lucky, we will
forget the rest. Patience then, MON CHER, till February 20th [By
which time, what far other veritable star-of-day will have risen on
me!]. ADIEU, MON CHER.--F." [ OEuvres de Frederic,
xix. 282, 283.]
TIFF OF QUARREL BETWEEN KING AND HENRI (March-April, 1762).
In the Spring months Prince Henri is at Hof in Voigtland, on the
extreme right of his long line of "Quarters behind the Mulda;"
busy enough, watching the Austrians and Reich; levying the severe
contributions; speeding all he can the manifold preparatives;--
conscious to himself of the greatest vigilance and diligence, but
wrapt in despondency and black acidulent humors; a "Doctor SO MUCH
THE WORSE," who is not a comforting Correspondent. From Hof,
towards the middle of March, he becomes specially gloomy and
acidulous; sends a series of Complaints; also of News, not
important, but all rather in YOUR favor, my dearest Brother, than
in mine, if you will please to observe! As thus:--
HENRI (at Hof, 10th-13th March). ... "Sadly off here, my dearest
Brother.! Of our '1,284 head of commissariat horses,' only 180 are
come in; of our '287 drivers,' not one. Will be impossible to open
Campaign at that rate."--"Grenadier Battalions ROTHENBURG and GRANT
demand to have picked men to complete them [of CANTONIST, or sure
Prussian sort]. ... I find [NOTA BENE, Reader!] there are eight
Austrian regiments going to Silesia [off my hands, and upon YOURS,
in a sense], eight instead of four that I spoke of: intending,
probably, for Glatz, to replace Czernichef [a Czernichef off for
home lately, in a most miraculous way; as readers shall hear!]--to
replace Czernichef, and the blank he has left there? Eight of them:
Your Majesty can have no difficulty; but I will detach Platen or
somebody, if you order it; though I am myself perilously ill off
here, so scattered into parts, not capable of speedy junction like
your Majesty."
FRIEDRICH (14th-16th March). "Commissariat horses, drivers?
I arranged and provided where everything was to be got. But if my
orders are not executed, nor the requisitions brought in, of course
there is failure. I am despatching Adjutant von Anhalt to Saxony a
second time, to enforce matters. If I could be for three weeks in
Saxony, myself, I believe I could put all on its right footing;
but, as I must not stir two steps from here, I will send you
Anhalt, with orders to the Generals, to compel them to their duty."
[Schoning, iii. 301, 302.] "As to Grenadier Battalions GRANT and
ROTHENBURG, it is absurd." (Henri falls silent for about a week,
brooding his gloom;--not aware that still worse is coming.)
King continues:--
KING (22d March). "Eight regiments, you said? Here, by enclosed
List, are seventeen of them, names and particulars all given",
which is rather a different view of the account against Silesia!
Seventeen of them, going, not for Glatz, I should say, but to
strengthen our Enemies hereabouts.
HENRI. "Hm, hah [answers only in German; dry military reports,
official merely;--thinks of writing to Chief-Clerk Eichel, who is
factotum in these spheres]. ... Artillery recruits are scarce in
the extreme; demand bounty: five thalers, shall we say?"
KING. "Seventeen regiments of them, beyond question, instead of
eight, coming on us: strange that you did n't warn me better.
I have therefore ordered your Major-General Schmettau hitherward at
once. As he has not done raising the contributions in the Lausitz,
you must send another to do it, and have them ready when General
Platen passes that way hither."--"'Five thalers bounty for
artillery men" say you? It is not to be thought of. Artillery men
can be had by conscription where you are." Henri (in silence, still
more indignant) sends military reports exclusively. March 26th,
Henri's gloom reaches the igniting point; he writes to Chief-
Clerk Eichel:--
"Monsieur, you are aware that Adjutant von Anhalt is on the way
hither. To judge by his orders, if they correspond to the Letters I
have had from the King, Adjutant von Anhalt's appearance here will
produce an embarrassment, from which I am resolved to extricate
myself by a voluntary retirement from office. My totally ruined
(ABIMEE) health, the vexations I have had, the fatigues and
troubles of war, leave in me little regret to quit the employment.
I solicit only, from your attentions and skill of management, that
my retreat be permitted to take place with the decency observed
towards those who have served the State. I have not a high opinion
of my services; but perhaps I am not mistaken in supposing that it
would be more a shame to the King than to me if he should make me
endure all manner of chagrins during my retirement." [Schoning,
iii. 307.]
Eichel sinks into profound reflection; says nothing. How is this
fire to be got under? Where is the place to trample on it, before
opening door or window, or saying a word to the King or anybody?
HENRI (same day, 26th March). "My dearest Brother,--In the List you
send me of those seventeen Austrian regiments, several, I am
informed, are still in Saxony; and by all the news that I get,
there are only eight gone towards Silesia."--"From Leipzig my
accounts are, the Reichs Army is to make a movement in advance, and
Prince Xavier with the Saxons was expected at Naumburg the 20th
ult. I know not if you have arranged with Duke Ferdinand for a
proportionate succor, in case his French also should try to
penetrate into Saxony upon me? I am, with the profoundest
attachment, your faithful and devoted servant and Brother."
KING (30th March). "Seventeen of them, you may depend; I am too
well informed to be allowed to doubt in any way. What you report of
the Reichsfolk and Saxons moving hither, thither; that seems to me
a bit of game on their part. They will try to cut one post from
you, then another, unless you assemble a corps and go in upon them.
Till you decide for this resolution, you have nothing but chicanes
and provocations to expect there. As to Duke Ferdinand of
Brunswick, I don't imagine that his Orders [from England] would
permit him what you propose [for relief of yourself]: at any rate,
you will have to write at least thrice to him,--that is to say,
waste three weeks, before he will answer No or Yes. You yourself
are in force enough for those fellows: but so long as you keep on
the defensive alone, the enemy gains time, and things will always
go a bad road." Henri's patience is already out; this same day he
is writing to the King.
HENRI (30th March). ... "You have hitherto received proofs enough
of my ways of thinking and acting to know that if in reality I was
mistaken about those eight regiments, it can only have been a piece
of ignorance on the part of my spy: meanwhile you are pleased to
make me responsible for what misfortune may come of it. I think I
have my hands full with the task laid on me of guarding 4,000
square miles of country with fewer troops than you have, and of
being opposite an enemy whose posts touch upon ours, and who is
superior in force. Your preceding Letters [from March 16th
hitherto], on which I have wished to be silent, and this last proof
of want of affection, show me too clearly to what fortune I have
sacrificed these Six Years of Campaigning."
KING (3d April: Official Orders given in Teutsch; at the tail of
which). "Spare your wrath and indignation at your servant,
Monseigneur! You, who preach indulgence, have a little of it for
persons who have no intention of offending you, or of failing in
respect for you; and deign to receive with more benignity the
humble representations which the conjunctures sometimes force from
me. F."--Which relieves Eichel of his difficulties, and quenches
this sputter. [Plucked up from the waste imbroglios of SCHONING
(iii. 296-311), by arranging and omitting.]
Prince Henri, for all his complaining, did beautifully this Season
again (though to us it must be silent, being small-war merely);--
and in particular, MAY 12th) early in the morning, simultaneously
in many different parts, burst across the Mulda, ten or twenty
miles long (or BROAD rather, from his right hand to his left),
sudden as lightning, upon the supine Serbelloni and his Austrians
and Reichsfolk. And hurled them back, one and all, almost to the
Plauen Chasm and their old haunts; widening his quarters notably.
[ Bericht von dem Uebergang uber die Mulde, den der Prinz
Heinrich den 12ten May 1762 glucklich ausgefuhrt (in
Seyfarth, Beylagen, iii, 280-291).] A really
brilliant thing, testifies everybody, though not to be dwelt on
here. Seidlitz was of it (much fine cutting and careering, from the
Seidlitz and others, we have to omit in these two Saxon Campaigns!)
--Seidlitz was of it; he and another still more special
acquaintance of ours, the learned Quintus Icilius; who also did his
best in it, but lost his "AMUSETTE" (small bit of cannon,
"Plaything," so called by Marechal de Saxe, inventor of the
article), and did not shine like Seidlitz.
Henri's quarters being notably widened in this way, and nothing but
torpid Serbellonis and Prince Stollbergs on the opposite part,
Henri "drew himself out thirty-five miles long;" and stood there,
almost looking into Plauen region as formerly. And with his fiery
Seidlitzes, Kleists, made a handsome Summer of it. And beat the
Austrians and Reichsfolk at Freyberg (OCTOBER 29th) a fine Battle,
and his sole one),--on the Horse which afterwards carried Gellert,
as is pleasantly known.
But we are omitting the news from Petersburg,--which came the very
day after that gloomy LETTER TO D'ARGENS; months before the TIFF OF
QUARREL with Henri, and the brilliant better destinies of that
Gentleman in his Campaign.
BRIGHT NEWS FROM PETERSBURG (certain, Jan. 19th); WHICH GROW
EVER BRIGHTER; AND BECOME A STAR-OF-DAY FOR FRIEDRICH.
To Friedrich, long before all this of Henri, indeed almost on the
very day while he was writing so despondently to D'Argens, a new
phasis had arisen. Hardly had he been five weeks at Breslau, in
those gloomy circumstances, when,--about the middle of January,
1762 (day not given, though it is forever notable),--there arrive
rumors, arrive news,--news from Petersburg; such as this King never
had before! "Among the thousand ill strokes of Fortune, does there
at length come one pre-eminently good? The unspeakable Sovereign
Woman, is she verily dead, then, and become peaceable to me
forevermore?" We promised Friedrich a wonderful star-of-day; and
this is it,--though it is long before he dare quite regard it as
such. Peter, the Successor, he knows to be secretly his friend and
admirer; if only, in the new Czarish capacity and its chaotic
environments and conditions, Peter dare and can assert these
feelings? What a hope to Friedrich, from this time onward!
Russia may be counted as the bigger half of all he had to strive
with; the bigger, or at least the far uglier, more ruinous and
incendiary;--and if this were at once taken away, think what a
daybreak when the night was at the blackest!
Pious people say, The darkest hour is often nearest the dawn. And a
dawn this proved to be for Friedrich. And the fact grew always the
longer the brighter;--and before Campaign time, had ripened into
real daylight and sunrise. The dates should have been precise;
but are not to be had so: here is the nearest we could come.
January 14th, writing to Henri, the King has a mysterious word
about "possibilities of an uncommon sort,"--rumors from Petersburg,
I could conjecture; though perhaps they are only Turk or Tartar-
Khan affairs, which are higher this year than ever, and as futile
as ever. But, on JANUARY 19th, he has heard plainly,--with what
hopes (if one durst indulge them)!--that the implacable Imperial
Woman, INFAME CATIN DU NORD, is verily dead. Dead; and does not
hate me any more. Deliverance, Peace and Victory lie in the word!--
Catin had long been failing, but they kept it religiously secret
within the Court walls: even at Petersburg nobody knew till the
Prayers of the Church were required: Prayers as zealous as you
can,--the Doctors having plainly intimated that she is desperate,
and that the thing is over. On CHRISTMAS-DAY, 1761, by Russian
Style, 5th JANUARY, 1762, by European, the poor Imperial Catin lay
dead;--a death still more important than that of George II. to
this King.
Peter III., who succeeded has lang been privately a sworn friend
and admirer of the King; and hastens, not too SLOWLY as the King
had feared, but far the reverse, to make that known to all mankind.
That, and much else,--in a far too headlong manner, poor soul!
Like an ardent, violent, totally inexperienced person (enfranchised
SCHOOL-BOY, come to the age of thirty-four), who has sat hitherto
in darkness, in intolerable compression; as if buried alive! He is
now Czar Peter, Autocrat, not of Himself only, but of All the
Russias;--and has, besides the complete regeneration of Russia, two
great thoughts: FIRST, That of avenging native Holstein, and his
poor martyr of a Father now with God, against the Danes;--and,
SECOND, what is scarcely second in importance to the first, and
indeed is practically a kind of preliminary to it, That of
delivering the Prussian Pattern of Heroes from such a pattern of
foul combinations, and bringing Peace to Europe, while he settles
the Holstein-Danish business. Peter is Russian by the Mother's
side; his Mother was Sister of the late Catin, a Daughter, like
her, of Czar Peter called the Great, and of the little brown
Catharine whom we saw transiently long ago. His Holstein Business
shall concern us little; but that with Friedrich, during the brief
Six Months allowed him for it,--for it, and for all his remaining
businesses in this world,--is of the highest importance to
Friedrich and us.
Peter is one of the wildest men; his fate, which was tragical, is
now to most readers rather of a ghastly grotesque than of a
lamentable and pitiable character. Few know, or have ever
considered, in how wild an element poor Peter was born and nursed;
what a time he has had, since his fifteenth year especially, when
Cousin of Zerbst and he were married. Perhaps the wildest and
maddest any human soul had, during that Century. I find in him,
starting out from the Lethean quagmires where he had to grow, a
certain rash greatness of idea; traces of veritable conviction,
just resolution; veritable and just, though rash. That of
admiration for King Friedrich was not intrinsically foolish, in the
solitary thoughts of the poor young fellow; nay it was the reverse;
though it was highly inopportune in the place where he stood.
Nor was the Holstein notion bad; it was generous rather, noble
and natural, though, again, somewhat impracticable in
the circumstances.
The summary of the Friedrich-Peter business is perhaps already
known to most readers, and can be very briefly given; nor is
Peter's tragical Six Months of Czarship (5th JANUARY-9th JULY,
1762) a thing for us to dwell on beyond need. But it is wildly
tragical; strokes of deep pathos in it, blended with the ghastly
and grotesque: it is part of Friedrich's strange element and
environment: and though the outer incidents are public enough, it
is essentially little known. Had there been an AEschylus, had there
been a Shakspeare!--But poor Peter's shocking Six Months of History
has been treated by a far different set of hands, themselves almost
shocking to see: and, to the seriously inquiring mind, it lies, and
will long lie, in a very waste, chaotic, enigmatic condition.
Here, out of considerable bundles now burnt, are some rough
jottings, Excerpts of Notes and Studies,--which, I still doubt
rather, ought to have gone in AUTO DA FE along with the others.
AUTO DA FE I called it; Act of FAITH, not Spanish-Inquisitional,
but essentially Celestial many times, if you reflect well on the
poisonous consequences, on the sinfulness and deadly criminality,
of Human Babble,--as nobody does nowadays! I label the different
Pieces, and try to make legible;--hasty readers have the privilege
of skipping, if they like. The first Two are of preliminary or
prefatory nature,--perhaps still more skippable than those that
will by and by follow.
1. GENEALOGY OF PETER. "His grandfather was Friedrich IV., Duke of
Holstein-Gottorp and Schleswig, Karl XII.'s brother-in-law;
on whose score it was (Denmark finding the time opportune for a
stroke of robbery there) that Karl XII., a young lad hardly
eighteen, first took arms; and began the career of fighting that
astonished Denmark and certain other Neighbors who had been too
covetous on a young King. This his young Brother-in-law, Friedrich
of Holstein-Gottorp (young he too, though Karl's senior by ten
years), had been reinstated in his Territory, and the Danes sternly
forbidden farther burglary there, by the victorious Karl; but went
with Karl in his farther expeditions. Always Karl's intimate, and
at his right hand for the next two years: fell in the Battle of
Clissow, 19th July, 1702; age not yet thirty-one.
"He left as Heir a poor young Boy, at this time only two years old.
His young Widow Hedwig survived him six years. [Michaelis, ii.
618-629.] Her poor child grew to manhood; and had tragic fortunes
in this world; Danes again burglarious in that part, again robbing
this poor Boy at discretion, so soon as Karl XII. became
unfortunate; and refusing to restore (have not restored Schleswig
at all [A.D. 1864, HAVE at last had to do it, under unexpected
circumstances!]):--a grimly sad story to the now Peter, his only
Child! This poor Duke at last died, 18th June, 1739, age thirty-
nine; the now Peter then about 11,--who well remembers tragic Papa;
tragic Mamma not, who died above ten years before. [Michaelis, ii.
617; Hubner, tt. 227, 229.]
"Czar Peter called the Great had evidently a pity for this
unfortunate Duke, a hope in his just hopes; and pleaded, as did
various others, and endeavored with the unjust Danes, mostly
without effect. Did, however, give him one of his Daughters to
wife;--the result of whom is this new Czar Peter, called the Third:
a Czar who is Sovereign of Holstein, and has claims of Sovereignty
in Sweden, right of heirship in Schleswig, and of damages against
Denmark, which are in litigation to this day. The Czarina CATIN,
tenderly remembering her Sister, would hear of no Heir to Russia
but this Peter. Peter, in virtue of his paternal affinities, was
elected King of Sweden about the same time; but preferred Russia,--
with an eye to his Danes, some think. For certain, did adopt the
Russian Expectancy, the Greek religion so called; and was," in the
way we saw long years ago, "married (or to all appearance married)
to Catharina Alexiewna of Anhalt-Zerbst, born in Stettin;
[Herr Preuss knows the house: "Now Dr. Lehmann's [at that time the
Governor of Stettin's], in which also Czar Paul's second Spouse
[Eugen of Wurtemberg a NEW Governor's Daughter], who is Mother of
the Czars that follow, was born:" Preuss, ii. 310, 311.
Catharine, during her reign, was pious in a small way to the place
of her cradle; sent her successive MEDALS &c. to Stettin, which
still has them to show.] a Lady who became world-famous as Czarina
of the Russias.
"Peter is an abstruse creature; has lived, all this while, with his
Catharine an abstruse life, which would have gone altogether mad
except for Catharine's superior sense. An awkward, ardent, but
helpless kind of Peter, with vehement desires, with a dash of wild
magnanimity even: but in such an inextricable element, amid such
darkness, such provocations of unmanageable opulence, such
impediments, imaginary and real,--dreadfully real to poor Peter,--
as made him the unique of mankind in his time. He 'used to drill
cats,' it is said, and to do the maddest-looking things (in his
late buried-alive condition);--and fell partly, never quite, which
was wonderful, into drinking, as the solution of his
inextricabilities. Poor Peter: always, and now more than ever, the
cynosure of vulturous vulpine neighbors, withal; which infinitely
aggravated his otherwise bad case!--
"For seven or eight years, there came no progeny, nor could come;
about the eighth or ninth, there could, and did: the marvellous
Czar Paul that was to be. Concerning whose exact paternity there
are still calumnious assertions widely current; to this individual
Editor much a matter of indifference, though on examining, his
verdict is: 'Calumnies, to all appearance; mysteries which decent
or decorous society refuses to speak of, and which indecent is
pretty sure to make calumnies out of.' Czar Paul may be considered
genealogically genuine, if that is much an object to him.
Poor Paul, does not he father himself, were there nothing more?
Only that Peter and this Cathariue could have begotten such a Paul.
Genealogically genuine enough, my poor Czar,--that needed to be
garroted so very soon!
2. OF CATHARINE AND THE BOOKS UPON PETER AND HER. "Catharine too
had an intricate time of it under the Catin; which was consoled to
her only by a tolerably rapid succession of lovers, the best the
ground yielded. In which department it is well known what a Thrice-
Greatest she became: superior to any Charles II.; equal almost to
an August the Strong! Of her loves now and henceforth, which are
heartily uninteresting to me, I propose to say nothing farther;
merely this, That in extent they probably rivalled the highest male
sovereign figures (and are to be put in the same category with
these, and damned as deep, or a little deeper);--and cost her, in
gifts, in magnificent pensions to the EMERITI (for she did things
always in a grandiose manner, quietly and yet inexorably dismissing
the EMERITUS with stores of gold), the considerable sum of 20
millions sterling, in the course of her long reign. One, or at most
two, were off on pension, when Hanbury Williams brought Poniatowski
for her, as we transiently saw. Poniatowski will be King of Poland
in the course of events. ...
"Russia is not a publishing country; the Books about Catharine are
few, and of little worth. TOOKE, an English Chaplain; CASTERA, an
unknown French Hanger-on, who copies from Tooke, or Tooke from him:
these are to be read, as the bad-best, and will yield little
satisfactory insight; Castera, in particular, a great deal of
dubious backstairs gossip and street rumor, which are not
delightful to a reader of sense. In fine, there has been published,
in these very years, a FRAGMENT of early AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Catharine
herself,--a credible and highly remarkable little Piece: worth all
the others, if it is knowledge of Catharine you are seeking.
[ Memoires de l'Imperatrice Catharine II., ecrits par elle-
meme (A. Herzen editing; London, 1859);--which we
already cited, on occasion of Catharine's marriage.
Anonymous (Castera), Vie de Catharine II., Imperatrice de
Russie (a Paris, 1797; or reprinted, most of it,
enough of it, A VARSOVIE, 1798) 2 tomes, 8vo. Tooke, Life
of Catharine II. (4th edition, London, 1800), 3 vols.
8vo; View of the Russian Empire during &c.
(London, 1799), 3 vols. 8vo.- Hermann, Geschichte des
Russischen Staats (Hamburg, 1853 ET ANTEA), v. 241-308
et seq.; is by much the most solid Book, though a dull and heavy.
Stenzel cites, as does Hermann, a Biographie Peters des
IIIten; which no doubt exists, in perhaps 3 volumes;
but where, when, by whom, or of what quality, they do not tell me.]
A most placid, solid, substantial young Lady comes to light there;
dropped into such an element as might have driven most people mad.
But it did not her; it only made her wiser and wiser in her
generation. Element black, hideous, dirty, as Lapland Sorcery;--in
which the first clear duty is, to hold one's tongue well, and keep
one's eyes open. Stars,--not very heavenly, but of fixed nature,
and heavenly to Catharine,--a star or two, shine through the
abominable murk: Steady, patient; steer silently, in all weathers,
towards these!
"Young Catharine's immovable equanimity in this distracted
environment strikes us very much. Peter is careering, tumbling
about, on all manner of absurd broomsticks, driven too surely by
the Devil; terrific-absurd big Lapland Witch, surrounded by
multitudes smaller, and some of them less ugly. Will be Czar of
Russia, however;--and is one's so-called Husband. These are
prospects for an observant, immovably steady-going young Woman!
The reigning Czarina, old CATIN herself, is silently the Olympian
Jove to Catharine, who reveres her very much. Though articulately
stupid as ever, in this Book of Catharine's, she comes out with a
dumb weight, of silence, of obstinacy, of intricate abrupt rigor,
which--who knows but it may savor of dumb unconscious wisdom in the
fat old blockhead? The Book says little of her, and in the way of
criticism, of praise or of blame, nothing whatever; but one gains
the notion of some dark human female object, bigger than one had
fancied it before.
"Catharine steered towards her stars. Lovers were vouchsafed her,
of a kind (her small stars, as we may call them); and, at length,
through perilous intricacies, the big star, Autocracy of All the
Russias,--through what horrors of intricacy, that last! She had
hoped always it would be by Husband Peter that she, with the deeper
steady head, would be Autocrat: but the intricacies kept
increasing, grew at last to the strangling pitch; and it came to
be, between Peter and her, 'Either you to Siberia (perhaps
FARTHER), or else I!' And it was Peter that had to go;--in what
hideous way is well enough known; no Siberia, no Holstein thought
to be far enough for Peter:--and Catharine, merely weeping a little
for him, mounted to the Autocracy herself. And then, the big star
of stars being once hers, she had, not in the lover kind alone, but
in all uncelestial kinds, whole nebulae and milky-ways of small
stars. A very Semiramis, the Louis-Quatorze of those Northern
Parts. 'Second Creatress of Russia,' second Peter the Great in a
sense. To me none of the loveliest objects; yet there are uglier,
how infinitely uglier: object grandiose, if not great."--
We return to Friedrich and the Death of Catin.
Colonel Hordt, I believe, was the first who credibly apprised
Friedrich of the great Russian Event. Colonel Hordt, late of the
Free-Corps HORDT, but captive since soon after the Kunersdorf time;
and whose doleful quasi-infernal "twenty-five months and three
days" in the Citadel of Petersburg have changed in one hour into
celestial glories in the Court of that City;--as readers shall
themselves see anon. By Hordt or by whomsoever, the instant
Friedrich heard, by an authentic source, of the new Czar's
Accession, Friedrich hastened to turn round upon him with the
friendliest attitude, with arms as if ready to open; dismissing all
his Russian Prisoners; and testifying, in every polite and royal
way, how gladly he would advance if permitted. To which the Czar,
by Hordt and by other channels, imperially responded; rushing
forward, he, as if with arms flung wide.
January 31st is Order from the King, [In SCHONING, iii. 275
("Breslau, 31st January, 1762").] That our Russian Prisoners, one
and all, shod, clad and dieted, be forthwith set under way from
Stettin: in return for which generosity the Prussians, from Siberia
or wherever they were buried, are, soon after, hastening home in
like manner. Gudowitsh, Peter's favorite Adjutant, who had been
sent to congratulate at Zerbst, comes round by Breslau (February
20th), and has joyfully benign audience next day; directly on the
heel of whom, Adjutant Colonel von Goltz, who KAMMERHERR as well as
Colonel, and understands things of business, goes to Petersburg.
February 23d, Czarish Majesty, to the horror of Vienna and glad
astonishment of mankind, emits Declaration (Note to all the Foreign
Excellencies in Petersburg), "That there ought to be Peace with
this King of Prussia; that Czarish Majesty, for his own part, is
resolved on the thing; gives up East Preussen and the so-called
conquests made; Russian participation in such a War has ceased."
And practically orders Czernichef, who is wintering with his 20,000
in Glatz, to quit Glatz and these Austrian Combinations, and march
homeward with his 20,000. Which Czernichef, so soon as arrangements
of proviant and the like are made, hastens to do;--and does, as far
as Thorn; but no farther, for a reason that will be seen. On the
last day of March, Czernichef--off about a week ago from Glatz, and
now got into the Breslau latitude--came across, with a select Suite
of Four, to pay his court there; and had the honor to dine with his
Majesty, and to be, personally too, a Czernichef agreeable to
his Majesty.
The vehemency of Austrian Diplomacies at Petersburg; and the horror
of Kaiserinn and Kriegshofrath in Vienna,--who have just discharged
20,000 of their own people, counting on this Czernichef, and being
dreadfully tight for money,--may be fancied. But all avails
nothing. The ardent Czar advances towards Friedrich with arms flung
wide. Goltz and Gudowitsh are engaged on Treaty of Peace;
Czar frankly gives up East Preussen, "Yours again; what use has
Russia for it, Royal Friend?" Treaty of Peace goes forward like the
drawing of a Marriage-settlement (concluded MAY 5th); and, in a
month more, has changed into Treaty of Alliance;--Czernichef
ordered to stop short at Thorn; to turn back, and join himself to
this heroic King, instead of fighting against him. Which again
Czernichef, himself an admirer of this King, joyfully does;--
though, unhappily, not with all the advantage he expected to
the King.
Swedish Peace, Queen Ulrique and the Anti-French Party now getting
the upper hand, had been hastening forward in the interim
(finished, at Hamburg, MAY 2d): a most small matter in comparison
to the Russian; but welcome enough to Friedrich;--though he said
slightingly of it, when first mentioned: "Peace? I know not hardly
of any War there has been with Sweden;--ask Colonel Belling about
it!" Colonel Belling, a most shining swift Hussar Colonel, who,
with a 2,000 sharp fellows, hanging always on the Swedish flanks,
sharp as lightning, "nowhere and yet everywhere," as was said of
him, has mainly, for the last year or two, had the management of
this extraordinary "War." Peace over all the North, Peace and more,
is now Friedrich's. Strangling imbroglio, wide as the world, has
ebbed to man's height; dawn of day has ripened into sunrise for
Friedrich; the way out is now a thing credible and visible to him.
Peter's friendliness is boundless; almost too boundless! Peter begs
a Prussian Regiment,--dresses himself in its uniform, Colonel of
ITZENPLITZ; Friedrich begs a Russian Regiment, Colonel of
SCHUWALOF: and all is joyful, hopeful; marriage-bells instead of
dirge ditto and gallows ditto,--unhappily not for very long.
In regard to Friedrich's feelings while all this went on, take the
following small utterances of his, before going farther.
JANUARY 27th, 1762 (To Madam Camas,--eight days after the Russian
Event): "I rejoice, my good Mamma, to find you have such courage;
I exhort you to redouble it! All ends in this world; so we may hope
this accursed War will not be the only thing eternal there.
Since death has trussed up a certain CATIN of the Hyperborean
Countries, our situation has advantageously changed, and becomes
more supportable than it was. We must hope that some other events
[favor of the new Czar mainly] will happen; by which we may profit
to arrive at a good Peace."
JANUARY 31st (To Minister Finkenstein) "Behold the first gleam of
light that rises;--Heaven be praised for it! We must hope good
weather will succeed these storms. God grant it!" [Preuss,
ii. 312.]
END OF MARCH (To D'Argens): ... "All that [at Paris; about the
Pompadourisms, the EXILE of Broglio and Brother, and your other
news] is very miserable; as well as that discrepancy between King's
Council and Parlement for and against the Jesuits! But, MON CHER
MARQUIS, my head is so ill, I can tell you nothing more,--
except that the Czar of Russia is a divine man; to whom I ought to
erect altars." [ OEuvres de Frederic,
xix. 301.]
MAY 25th (To the same,--Russian PEACE three weeks ago): "It is very
pleasant to me, dear Marquis, that Sans-Souci could afford you an
agreeable retreat during the beautiful Spring days. If it depended
only on me, how soon should I be there beside you! But to the Six
Campaigns there is a Seventh to be added, and will soon open;
either because the Number 7 had once mystic qualities, or because
in the Book of Fate from all eternity the"-- ... "Jesuits banished
from France? Ah, yes:--hearing of that, I made my bit of plan for
them [mean to have my pick of them as schoolmasters in Silesia
here]; and am waiting only till I get Silesia cleared of Austrians
as the first thing. You see we must not mow the corn till it is
ripe." [ OEuvres de Frederic, xix. p. 321.]
MAY 28th (To the same): ... Tartar Khan actually astir, 10,000 men
of his in Hungary (I am told); Turk potentially ditto, with 200,000
(futile both, as ever): "All things show me the sure prospect of
Peace by the end of this Year; and, in the background of it, Sans-
Souci and my dear Marquis! A sweet calm springs up again in my
soul; and a feeling of hope, to which for six years I had got
unused, consoles me for all I have come through. Think only what a
coil I shall be in, before a month hence [Campaign opened by that
time, horrid Game begun again]; and what a pass we had come to, in
December last: Country at its last gasp (AGONISAIT), as if waiting
for extreme unction: and now--!" [Ib. xix. 323.] ...
JUNE 8th (To Madame Camas,--Russian ALLIANCE now come): "I know
well, my good Mamma, the sincere part you take in the lucky events
that befall us. The mischief is, we are got so low, that we want at
present all manner of fortunate events to raise us again; and Two
grand conclusions of Peace [the Russian, the Swedish], which might
re-establish Peace throughout, are at this moment only a step
towards finishing the War less unfortunately." [Ib. xviii.
146, 147.]*
Same day, JUNE 8th (To D'Argens): "Czernichef is on march to join
us. Our Campaign will not open till towards the end of this month
[did open July 1st]; but think then what a pretty noise in this
poor Silesia again! In fine, my dear Marquis, the job ahead of me
is hard and difficult; and nobody can say positively how it will
all go. Pray for us; and don't forget a poor devil who kicks about
strangely in his harness, who leads the life of one damned; and who
nevertheless loves you sincerely.--Adieu." [ OEuvres de
Frederic, xix. 327.] D'Argens (May 24th) has heard, by
Letters from very well-informed persons in Vienna, that "Imperial
Majesty, for some time past, spends half of her time in praying to
the Virgin, and the other half in weeping." "I wish her," adds the
ungallant D'Argens, "as punishment for the mischiefs her ambition
has cost mankind these seven years past, the fate of Phaethon's
Sisters, and that she melt altogether into water!" [Ib. xix. 320
("24th May, 1762").]--Take one other little utterance; and then to
Colonel Hordt and the Petersburg side of things.
JUNE 19th (still to D'Argens); "What is now going on in Russia no
Count Kaunitz could foresee: what has come to pass in England,--of
which the hatefulest part [Bute's altogether extraordinary
attempts, in the Kaunitz, in the Czar Peter direction, to FORCE a
Peace upon me] is not yet known to you,--I had no notion of, in
forming my plans! The Governor of a State, in troublous times,
never can be sure. This is what disgusts me with the business, in
comparison. A Man of Letters operates on something certain;
a Politician can have almost no data of that kind." [Ib. xix.
p. 329.] (How easy everybody's trade but one's own!)
Readers know what a tragedy poor Peter's was. His Czernichef did
join the King; but with far less advantage than Czernichef or
anybody had anticipated!--It is none of our intention to go into
the chaotic Russian element, or that wildly blazing sanguinary
Catharine-and-Peter business; of which, at any rate, there are
plentiful accounts in common circulation, more or less accurate,--
especially M. Rulhiere's, [Histoire ou Anecdotes sur la Revolution
de Russie en l'annes 1762 (written 1768; first printed Paris, 1797:
English Translation, London, 1797).] the most succinct, lucid and
least unsatisfactory, in the accessible languages. Only so far as
Friedrich was concerned are we. But readers saw this Couple
married, under Friedrich's auspices,--a Marriage which he thought
important twenty years ago; and sure enough the Dissolution of it
did prove important to him, and is a necessary item here!
Readers, even those that know RULHIERE, will doubtless consent to a
little supplementing from Two other Eye-witnesses of credit.
The first and principal is a respectable Ex-Swedish Gentleman, whom
readers used to hear of; the Colonel Hordt above mentioned, once of
the Free-Corps HORDT, but fallen Prisoner latterly;--whose
experiences and reports are all the more interesting to us, as
Friedrich himself had specially to depend on them at present;
and doubtless, in times long afterwards, now and then heard speech
of them from Hordt. Our second Eye-witness is the Reverend Herr
Doctor Busching (of the ERDBESCHREIBUNG, of the BEITRAGE, and many
other Works, an invaluable friend to us all along); who, in his
wandering time, had come to be "Pastor of the GERMAN CHURCH AT
PETERSBURG," some years back.
WHAT COLONEL HORDT AND THE OTHERS SAW AT PETERSBURG
(January-July, 1762).
Autumn, 1759, in the sequel to KUNERSDORF,--when the Russians and
Daun lay so long torpid, uncertain what to do except keep Friedrich
and Prince Henri well separate, and Friedrich had such watchings,
campings and marchings about on the hither skirt of them (skirt
always veiled in Cossacks, and producing skirmishes as you marched
past),--we did mention Hordt's capture; [Supra, vol. x. p. 315.]
not much hoping that readers could remember it in such a press of
things more memorable. It was in, or as prelude to, one of those
skirmishes (one of the earliest, and a rather sharp one, "at
Trebatsch," in Frankfurt-Lieberose Country, "4th September, 1759"),
that Hordt had his misfortune: he had been out reconnoitring, with
an Orderly or two, before the skirmish began, was suddenly
"surrounded by 200 Cossacks," and after desperate plunging into
bogs, desperate firing of pistols and the like, was taken prisoner.
Was carted miserably to Petersburg,--such a journey for dead ennui
as Hordt never knew; and was then tumbled out into solitary
confinement in the Citadel, a place like the Spanish Inquisition;
not the least notice taken of his request for a few Books, for
leave to answer his poor Wife's Letter, merely by the words, "Dear
one, I am alive;"--and was left there, to the company of his own
reflections, and a life as if in vacant Hades, for twenty-five
months and three days. After the lapse of that period, he has
something to say to us again, and we transiently look in upon
him there.
The Book we excerpt from is Memoires du Comte de Hordt
(second edition, 2 volumes 12mo, Berlin, 1789).
This is Bookseller Pitra's redaction of the Hordt Autobiography
(Berlin, 1788, was Pitra's first edition): several years after, how
many is not said, nor whether Hordt (who had become a dignitary in
Berlin society before Pitra's feat) was still living or not, a
"M. Borelly, Professor in the Military School," undertook a second
considerably enlarged and improved redaction;--of which latter
there is an English Translation; easy enough to read; but nearly
without meaning, I should fear, to readers unacquainted with the
scene and subject. [ Memoirs of the Count de Hordt:
London, 1806: 2 vols. 12mo,--only the FIRST volume of
which (unavailable here) is in my possession.] Hordt was reckoned a
perfectly veracious, intelligent kind of man: but he seldom gives
the least date, specification or precise detail; and his Book
reads, not like the Testimony of an Eye-witness, which it is, and
valuable when you understand it; but more like some vague Forgery,
compiled by a destitute inventive individual, regardless of the Ten
Commandments (sparingly consulting even his file of Old
Newspapers), and writing a Book which would deserve the tread-mill,
were there any Police in his trade!--
WEDNESDAY, 6th JANUARY, 1762, Hordt's vacant Hades of an existence
in the Citadel of Petersburg was broken by a loud sound:
three minute-guns went off from different sides, close by; and then
whole salvos, peal after peal: "Czarina gone overnight, Peter III.
Czar in her stead!" said the Officer, rushing in to tell Hordt;
to whom it was as news of resurrection from the dead. "Evening of
same day, an Aide-de-Camp of the new Czar came to announce my
liberty; equipage waiting to take me at once to his Russian
Majesty. Asked him to defer it till the following day--so agitated
was I." And indeed the Czar, busy taking acclamations, oaths of
fealty, riding about among his Troops by torchlight, could have
made little of me that evening. [Hermann, Geschichte des
Russischen Staats, v. 241.] "Ultimately, my
presentation was deferred till Sunday" January 10th, "that it might
be done with proper splendor, all the Nobility being then usually
assembled about his Majesty."
"JANUARY 10th, Waited, amid crowds of Nobility, in the Gallery,
accordingly. Was presented in the Gallery, through which the Czar,
followed by Czarina and all the Court, were passing on their way to
Chapel. Czar made a short kind speech ('Delighted to do you an act
of justice, Monsieur, and return a valuable servant to the King I
esteem'); gave me his hand to kiss: Czarina did the same.
General Korf," an excellent friend, so kind to me at Konigsberg,
while I was getting carted hither, and a General now in high office
here, "who had been my introducer, led me into Chapel, to the
Court's place (TRIBUNE DE LA COUR). Czar came across repeatedly
[while public worship was going on; a Czar perhaps too regardless
that way!] to talk to me; dwelt much on his attachment to the King.
On coming out, the Head Chamberlain whispered me, 'You dine with
the Court.'" Which, of course, I did.
"Table was of sixty covers; splendid as the Arabian Tales. Czar and
Czarina sat side by side; Korf and I had the honor to be placed
opposite them. Hardly were we seated when the Czar addressed me:
'You have had no Prussian news this long while. I am glad to tell
you that the King is well, though he has had such fighting to right
and left;--but I hope there will soon be an end to all that.'
Words which everybody listened to like prophecy! [Peter is nothing
of a Politician.] 'How long have you been in prison?' continued the
Czar. 'Twenty-five months and three days, your Majesty.' 'Were you
well treated?' Hordt hesitated, knew not what to say; but, the Czar
urging him, confessed, 'He had been always rather badly used;
not even allowed to buy a few books to read.' At which the Czarina
was evidently shocked: 'CELA EST BIEN BARBARE!' she exclaimed
aloud.--I wished much to return home at once; and petitioned the
Czar on that subject, during coffee, in the withdrawing rooms;
but he answered, 'No, you must not,--not till an express Prussian
Envoy arrive!' I had to stay, therefore; and was thenceforth almost
daily at Court",--but unluckily a little vague, and altogether
DATELESS as to what I saw there!
BIEREN AND MUNNICH, BOTH OF THEM JUST HOME FROM SIBERIA, ARE TO
DRINK TOGETHER (No date: Palace of Petersburg, Spring, 1762).--
Peter had begun in a great way: all for liberalism, enlightenment,
abolition of abuses, general magnanimity on his own and everybody's
part. Rulhiere did not see the following scene; but it seems to be
well enough vouched for, and Rulhiere heard it talked of in
society. "As many as 20,000 persons, it is counted, have come home
from Siberian Exile:" the L'Estocs, the Munnichs, Bierens, all
manner of internecine figures, as if risen from the dead.
"Since the night when Munnich arrested Bieren [readers possibly
remember it, and Mannstein's account of it [Supra, vol. vii.
p. 363.]], the first time these two met was in the gay and
tumultuous crowd which surrounded the new Czar. 'Come, bygones be
bygones,' said Peter, noticing them; 'let us three all drink
together, like friends!'--and ordered three glasses of wine.
Peter was beginning his glass to show the others an example, when
somebody came with a message to him, which was delivered in a low
tone; Peter listening drank out his wine, set down the glass, and
hastened off; so that Bieren and Munnich, the two old enemies, were
left standing, glass in hand, each with his eyes on the Czar's
glass;--at length, as the Czar did not return, they flashed each
his eyes into the other's face; and after a moment's survey, set
down their glasses untasted, and walked off in opposite
directions." [Rulhiere, p. 33.] Won't coalesce, it seems, in spite
of the Czar's high wishes. An emblem of much that befell the poor
Czar in his present high course of good intentions and headlong
magnanimities!--We return to Hordt:--
THE CZAR WEARS A PORTRAIT OF FRIEDRICH ON HIS FINGER. "Czar Peter
never disguised his Prussian predilections. One evening he said,
'Propose to your friend Keith [English Excellency here, whom we
know] to give me a supper at his house to-morrow night. The other
Foreign Ministers will perhaps be jealous; but I don't care!'
Supper at the English Embassy took place. Only ten or twelve
persons, of the Czar's choosing, were present. Czar very gay and in
fine spirits. Talked much of the King of Prussia. Showed me a
signet-ring on his finger, with Friedrich's Portrait in it;
ring was handed round the table." [Hordt, ii. 118, 124, 129.]
This is a signet-ring famous at Court in these months. One day
Peter had lost it (mislaid somewhere), and got into furious
explosion till it was found for him again. [Hermann, v. 258.]
Let us now hear Busching, our Geographical Friend, for a moment:--
HERR PASTOR BUSCHING DOES THE HOMAGING FOR SELF AND PEOPLE. ...
"In most Countries, it is Official or Military People that
administer the Oath of Homage, on a change of Sovereigns. But in
Petersburg, among the German population, it is the Pastors of their
respective Churches. At the accession of Peter III., I, for the
first time [being still a young hand rather than an old], took the
Oath from several thousands in my Church,"--and handed it over,
with my own, in the proper quarter.
"As to the Congratulatory Addresses, the new Czar received the
Congratulations of all classes, and also of the Pastors of the
Foreign Churches, in the following manner. He came walking slowly
through a suite of rooms, in each of which a body of Congratulators
were assembled. Court-officials preceded, State-officials followed
him. Then came the Czarina, attended in a similar way. And always
on entering a new room they received a new Congratulation from the
spokesman of the party there. The spokesman of us Protestant
Pastors was my colleague, Senior Trefurt; but the General-in-Chief
and Head-of-Police, Baron von Korf [Hordt's friend, known to us
above, German, we perceive, by creed and name], thinking it was I
that had to make the speech, and intending to present me at the
same time to the Czar, motioned to me from his place behind the
Czar to advance. But I did not push forward; thinking it
inopportune and of no importance to me."--"Neither did I share the
great expectations which Baron von Korf and everybody entertained
of this new reign. All people now promised themselves better times,
without reflecting [as they should have done!] that the better men
necessary to produce these were nowhere forthcoming!" [Busching's
Beitrage, vi. ("Author's own Biography") 462
et seq.]
For the first two or three months, Peter was the idol of all the
world: such generosities and magnanimities; Such zeal and
diligence, one magnanimous improvement following another! He had at
once abolished Torture in his Law-Courts: resolved to have a
regular Code of Laws,--and Judges to be depended on for doing
justice. He "destroyed monopolies;" "lowered the price of salt."
To the joy of everybody, he had hastened (January 18th, second week
of reign) to abolish the SECRET CHANCERY,--a horrid Spanish-
Inquisition engine of domestic politics. His Nobility he had
determined should be noble: January 28th (third week of reign just
beginning), he absolved the Nobility from all servile duties to
him: "You can travel when and where you please; you are not obliged
to serve in my Armies; you may serve in anybody's not at war with
me!" under plaudits loud and universal from that Order of men.
And was petitioned by a grateful Petersburg world: "Permit us,
magnanimous Czar, to raise a statue of your Majesty in solid Gold!"
"Don't at all!" answered Peter: "Ah, if by good governing I could
raise a memorial in my People's hearts; that would be the Statue
for me!" [Hermann, v. 248.] Poor headlong Peter!--It was a less
lucky step that of informing the Clergy (date not given), That in
the Czarship lay Spiritual Sovereignty as well as Temporal, and
that HE would henceforth administer their rich Abbey Lands and the
like:--this gave a sad shock to the upper strata of Priesthood,
extending gradually to the lower, and ultimately raising an ominous
general thought (perhaps worse than a general cry) of "Church in
Danger! Alas, is our Czar regardless of Holy Religion, then?
Perhaps, at heart still Lutheran, and has no Religion?" This, and
his too headlong Prussian tendencies, are counted to have done him
infinite mischief.
HERR BUSCHING SEES THE CZAR ON HORSEBACK. "When the Czar's own
Regiment of Cuirassiers came to Petersburg, the Czar, dressed in
the uniform of the regiment, rode out to meet it; and returning at
its head, rode repeatedly through certain quarters of the Town.
His helmet was buckled tight with leather straps under the chin;
he sat his horse as upright and stiff as a wooden image; held his
sabre in equally stiff manner; turned fixedly his eyes to the
right; and never by a hair's-breadth changed that posture. In such
attitude he twice passed my house with his regiment, without
changing a feature at sight of the many persons who crowded the
windows. To me [in my privately austere judgment] he seemed so
KLEINGEISTISCH, so small-minded a person, that I"--in fact, knew
not what to think of it. [Busching, Beitrage,
vi. 464.]
HORDT SEES THE DECEASED CZARINA LYING IN STATE. "One day, after
dining at Court, General Korf proposed that we should go and see
the LIT DE PARADE" (Parade-bed) of the late Czarina, which is in
another Palace, not far off. "Count Schuwalof [NOT her old lover,
who has DIED since her, poor old creature; but his Son, a
cultivated man, afterwards Voltaire's friend] accompanied us;
and, his rooms being contiguous to those of the dead Lady, he asked
us to take coffee with him afterwards. The Imperial Bier stood in
the Grand Saloon, which was hung all round with black, festooned
and garlanded with cloth-of-silver; the glare of wax-lights quite
blinding. Bier, covered with cloth-of-gold trimmed with silver
lace, was raised upon steps. A rich Crown was on the head of the
dead Czarina. Beside the bier stood Four Ladies, two on each hand,
in grand mourning; immense crape training on the ground behind
them. Two Officers of the Life-Guard occupied the lowest steps:
on the topmost, at the foot of the bier, was an Archimandrite
(superior kind of ABBOT), who had a Bible before him, from which he
read aloud,--continuously till relieved by another. This went on
day and night without interruption. All round the bier, on stools
(TABOURETS), were placed different Crowns, and the insignia of
various Orders,--those of Prussia, among others. It being
established usage, I had, to my great repugnance, to kiss the hand
of the corpse! We then talked a little to the Ladies in attendance
(with their crape trains), joking about the article of hand-
kissing; finally we adjourned for coffee to Count Schuwalof's
apartments, which were of an incredible magnificence." That same
evening, farther on,--
"I supped with the Czar in his PETIT APPARTEMENT, Private Rooms [a
fine free-and-easy nook of space!]. The company there consisted of
the Countess Woronzow, a creature without any graces, bodily or
mental, whom the Czar had chosen for his Mistress [snub-nosed,
pock-marked, fat, and with a pert tongue at times], whom I liked
the less, as there were one or two other very handsome women there.
Some Courtiers too; and no Foreigners but the English Envoy and
myself. The supper was very gay, and was prolonged late into the
night. These late orgies, however, did not prevent his Majesty from
attending to business in good time next morning. He would appear
unexpectedly, at an early hour, at the Senate, at the Synod [Head
CONSISTORY], making them stand to their duties,"--or pretend to do
it. His Majesty is not understood to have got much real work out of
either of these Governing Bodies; the former, the Senate, or
SECULAR one, which had fallen very torpid latterly, was, not long
after this, suffered to die out altogether. Peter himself was a
violently pushing man, and never shrank from labor; always in a
plunge of hurries, and of irregular hours. In his final time,
people whispered, "The Czar is killing himself; sits smoking,
tippling, talking till 2 in the morning; and is overhead in
business again by 7!"
CZARINA ELIZABETH'S FUNERAL, AS SEEN BY HORDT (much abridged).
"At 10 in the morning all the bells in Petersburg broke out;
and tolled incessantly [day or month not hinted at,--nor worth
seeking; grim darkness of universal frost perceptible enough;
clangor of bells; and procession seemingly of miles long,--on this
extremely high errand!]--Minute-guns were fired from the moment the
procession set out from the Castle till it arrived at the Citadel,
a distance of two English miles and a half. Planks were laid all
the way; forming a sort of bridge through the streets, and over the
ice of the Neva. All the soldiers of the Garrison were ranked in
espalier on each side. Three hundred grenadiers opened the march;
after them, three hundred priests, in sacerdotal costume;
walking two-and-two, singing hymns. All the Crowns and Orders,
above mentioned by me, were carried by high Dignitaries of the
Court, walking in single file, each a chamberlain behind him.
Hearse was followed by the Czar, skirt of his black cloak held up
by Twelve Chamberlains, each a lighted taper in the OTHER hand.
Prince George of Holstein [Czar's Uncle] came next, then Holstein-
Beck [Czar's Cousin]. Czarina Catharine followed, also on foot,
with a lighted taper; her cloak borne by all her Ladies.
Three hundred grenadiers closed the procession. Bells tolling,
minute-guns firing, seas of people crowding."--Thus the Russians
buried their Czarina. Day and its dusky frost-curtains sank;
and Bootes, looking down from the starry deeps, found one Telluric
Anomaly forever hidden from him. She had left of unworn Dresses,
the richest procurable in Nature (five a day her usual allowance,
and never or seldom worn twice), "15,000 and some hundreds."
[Hermann, v. 176.]
HORDT IS OF THE NEW CZARINA CATHARINE'S EVENING PARTIES.
"The Czarina received company every morning. She received everybody
with great affability and grace. But notwithstanding her efforts to
appear gay, one could perceive a deep background of sadness in her.
She knew better than anybody the violent (ARDENTE) character of her
husband; and perhaps she then already foresaw what would come.
She also had her circle every evening, and always asked the company
to stay supper. One evening, when I was of her party, a
confidential Equerry of the Czar came in, and whispered me That I
had been searched for all over Town, to come to supper at the
COUNTESS'S (that was the usual designation of the Sultana,"--DAS
FRAULEIN, spelt in Russian ways, is the more usual). "I begged to
be excused for this time, being engaged to sup with the Czarina, to
whom I could not well state the reason for which I was to leave.
The Equerry had not gone long, when suddenly a great noise was
heard, the two wings of the door were flung open, and the Czar
entered. He saluted politely the Czarina and her circle; called me
with that smiling and gracious air which he always had; took me by
the arm, and said to the Czarina: 'Excuse me, Madam, if to-night I
carry off one of your guests; it is this Prussian I had searched
for all over the Town.' The Czarina laughed; I made her a deep bow,
and went away with my conductor. Next morning I went to the
Czarina; who, without mentioning what had passed last night, said
smiling, 'Come and sup with me always when there is nothing to
prevent it.'"
FEBRUARY 21st, HORDT AT ZARSKOE-ZELOE. "On occasion of the Czar's
birthday [which gives us a date, for once], [Michaelis, ii. 627:
"Peter born, 21st February, 1728."] there were great festivities,
lasting a week. It began with a grand TE DEUM, at which the Czar
was present, but not the Czarina. She had, that morning, in
obedience to her husband's will, decorated 'the Countess' with the
cordon of the Order of St. Catharine. She was now detained in her
Apartment 'by indisposition;' and did not leave it during the eight
days the festivities lasted." This happened at the Country Palace,
Zarskoe-Zeloe; and is a turning-point in poor Peter's History.
[Hermann, p. 253.] From that day, his Czarina saw that, by the
medium of her Peter, it was not she that would ever come to be
Autocrat; not she, but a pock-marked, unbeautiful Person, with
Cordon of the Order of St. Catharine,--blessings on it! From that
day the Czarina sat brooding her wrongs and her perils,--wrongs
DOUE, very many, and now wrongs to be SUFFERED, who can say how
many! She perceives clearly that the Czar is gone from her, fixedly
sullen at her (not without cause);--and that Siberia, or worse, is
possible by and by. The Czarina was helplessly wretched for some
time; and by degrees entered on a Plot;--assisted by Princess
Dashkof (Sister of the Snub-nosed), by Panin (our Son's Tutor,
"a genuine Son, I will swear, whatever the Papa may think in his
wild moments!"), by Gregory Orlof (one's present Lover), and
others of less mark;--and it ripened exquisitely within the next
four months!--
HORDT HEARS THE PRAISES OF HIS KING. "Next day [nobody can guess
what DAY] I dined at Court. I sat opposite the Czar, who talked of
nothing but of his 'good friend the King of Prussia.' He knew all
the smallest details of his Campaigns; all his military
arrangements; the dress and strength of all his Regiments; and he
declared aloud that he would shortly put all his troops upon the
same footing [which he did shortly, to the great disgust of his
troops].--Rising from table, the Czar himself did me the honor to
say, 'Come to-morrow; dine with me EN PETIT APPARTEMENT [on the
SNUG, where we often play high-jinks, and go to great lengths in
liquor and tobacco]; I will show you something curious, which you
will like.' I went at the accustomed hour; I found--Lieutenant-
General Werner [hidden since his accident at Colberg last winter,
whom a beneficent Czar has summoned again into the light of noon]!
I made a great friendship with this distinguished General, who was
a charming man; and went constantly about with him, till he left me
here,"--Czarish kindness letting Werner home, and detaining me, to
my regret. [HORDT, i. 133-145, 151.]
The Prussian Treaties, first of Peace (May 5th), with all our
Conquests flung back, and then of Alliance, with yourself and
ourselves, as it were, flung into the bargain,--were by no means so
popular in Petersburg as in Berlin! From May 5th onwards, we can
suppose Peter to be, perhaps rather rapidly, on the declining hand.
Add the fatal element, "Church in Danger" (a Czar privately
Apostate); his very Guardsmen indignant at their tight-fitting
Prussian uniforms, and at their no less tight Prussian DRILL
(which the Czar is uncommonly urgent with); and a Czarina Plot
silently spreading on all sides, like subterranean mines filled
with gunpowder!--
HERR BUSCHING SEES THE CATASTROPHE (Friday, 9th July, 1762).
"This being the day before Peter-and-Paul, which is a great Holiday
in Petersburg, I drove out, between 9 and 10 in the morning, to
visit the sick. On my way from the first house where I had called,
I heard a distant noise like that of a rising thunder-storm, and
asked my people what it was. They did not know; but it appeared to
them like the Shouting of a Mob (VOLKSGESCHREI), and there were all
sorts of rumors afloat. Some said, 'The Czar had suddenly resolved
to get himself crowned at Petersburg, before setting out for the
War on Denmark.' Others said, 'He had named the Czarina to be
Regent during his absence, and that she was to be crowned for this
purpose.' These rumors were too silly: meanwhile the noise
perceptibly drew nearer; and I ordered my coachman to proceed no
farther, but to turn home.
"On getting home, I called my Wife; and told her, That something
extraordinary was then going on, but that I could not learn what;
that it appeared to me like some popular Tumult, which was coming
nearer to us every moment. We hurried to the corner room of our
house; threw open the window, which looks to the Church of St. Mary
of Casan [where an Act of Thanksgiving has just been consummated,
of a very peculiar kind!]--and we then saw, near this Church, an
innumerable crowd of people; dressed and half-dressed soldiers of
the foot-regiments of the Guards mixed with the populace.
We perceived that the crowd pressed round a common two-seated
Hackney Coach drawn by two horses; in which, after a few minutes, a
Lady dressed in black, and wearing the Order of St. Catharine,
coming out of the church, took a seat. Whereupon the church-bells
began ringing, and the priests, with their assistants carrying
crosses, got into procession, and walked before the Coach. We now
recognized that it was the Czarina Catharine saluting the multitude
to right and left, as she fared along." [ Beitrage,
vi. 465: compare RULHIERE, p. 95; HERMANN, v. 287.]
Yes, Doctor, that Lady in black is the Czarina; and has come a
drive of twenty miles this morning; and done a great deal of
business in Town,--one day before the set time. In her remote
Apartment at Peterhof, this morning, between 2 and 3, she awoke to
see Alexei Orlof, called oftener SCARRED Orlof (Lover GREGORY'S
Brother), kneeling at her bedside, with the words, "Madam, you must
come: there is not a moment to lose!"--who, seeing her awake,
vanished to get the vehicles ready. About 7, she, with the Scarred
and her maid and a valet or two, arrived at the Guards' Barracks
here,--Gregory Orlof, and others concerned, waiting to receive her,
in the fit temper for playing at sharps. She has spoken a little,
wept a little, to the Guards (still only half-dressed, many of
them): "Holy religion, Russian Empire thrown at the feet of
Prussia; my poor Son to be disinherited: Alack, ohoo!"
Whereupon the Guards (their Officers already gained by Orlof) have
indignantly blazed up into the fit Hurra-hurra-ing:--and here,
since about 9 A.M., we have just been in the "Church of St. Mary of
Casan" ("Oh, my friends, Orthodox Religion, first of all!") doing
TE-DEUMS and the other Divine Offices, for the thrice-happy
Revolution and Deliverance now vouchsafed us and you! And the Herr
Doctor, under outburst of the chimes of St. Mary, and of the
jubilant Soldieries and Populations, sees the Czarina saluting to
right and left; and Priests, with their assistants and crucifixes
("Behold them, ye Orthodox; is there anything equal to true
Religion?"), walking before her Hackney Coach.
"On the one step of her Coach," continues the Herr Doctor, "stood
Grigorei Grigorjewitsh Orlow," so he spells him, "and in front of
it, with drawn sword, rode the Field-marshal and Hetman Count
Kirila Grigorjewitsh Rasomowski, Colonel of the Ismailow Guard.
Lieutenant-General (soon to be General-Ordnance-Master) Villebois
came galloping up; leapt from his horse under our windows, and
placed himself on the other step of the Coach. The procession
passed before our house; going first to the New stone Palace, then
to the Old wooden Winter Palace. Common Russians shouted mockingly
up to us, 'Your god [meaning the Czar] is dead!' And others, 'He is
gone; we will have no more of him!'"--
About this hour of the day, at Oranienbaum (ORANGE-TREE, some
twenty miles from here, and from Peterhof guess ten or twelve),
Czar Peter is drilling zealously his brave Holsteiners (2,000 or
more, "the flower of all my troops"); and has not, for hours after,
the least inkling of all this. Catharine had been across to visit
him on Wednesday, no farther back; and had kindled Oranienbaum into
opera, into illumination and what not. Thursday (yesterday), Czar
and Czarina met at some Grandee's festivity, who lives between
their two Residences. This day the Czar is appointed for Peterhof;
to-morrow, July 10th (Peter-and-Paul's grand Holiday), Czar,
Czarina and united Court were to have done the Festivities together
there,--with Czarina's powder-mine of Plot laid under them;
which latter has exploded one day sooner, in the present happy
manner! The poor Czar, this day, on getting to Peterhof, and
finding Czarina vanished, understood too well; he saw "big smoke-
clouds rise suddenly over Petersburg region," withal,--"Ha, she has
cannon going for her yonder; salvoing and homaging!"--and rushed
back to Oranienbaum half mad. Old Munnich undertook to save him, by
one, by two or even three different methods, "Only order me, and
stand up to it with sword bare!"--but Peter's wits were all flying
miscellaneously about, and he could resolve on nothing.
Peter and his Czarina never met more. Saturday (to-morrow), he
abdicates; drives over to Peterhof, expecting, as per bargain,
interview with his Wife; freedom to retire to Holstein, and "every
sort of kindness compatible with his situation:" but is met there
instead, on the staircase, by brutal people, who tear the orders
off his coat, at length the very clothes off his back,--and pack
him away to Ropscha, a quiet Villa some miles off, to sit silent
there till Orlof and Company have considered. Consideration is:
"To Holstein? He has an Anti-Danish Russian Army just now in that
neighborhood; he will not be safe in Holstein;--where will he be
safe?" Saturday, 17th, Peter's seventh day in Ropscha, the Orlofs
(Scarred Orlof and Four other miscreants, one of them a Prince, one
a Play-actor) came over, and murdered poor Peter, in a treacherous,
and even bungling and disgusting, and altogether hideous manner.
"A glass of burgundy [poisoned burgundy], your Highness?" said
they, at dinner with his poor Highness. On the back of which, the
burgundy having failed and been found out, came grappling and
hauling, trampling, shrieking, and at last strangulation.
Surely the Devil will reward such a Five of his Elect?-- But we
detain Herr Busching: it is still only Friday morning, 9th of the
month; and the Czarina's Hackney Coach, in the manner of a comet
and tail, has just gone into other streets:--
"After this terrible uproar had left our quarter, I hastened to the
Danish Ambassador, Count Haxthausen, who lived near me, to bring
him the important news that the Czar was said to be dead. The Count
was just about to burn a mass of Papers, fearing the mob would
plunder his house; but he did not proceed with it now, and thanked
Heaven for saving his Country. His Secretary of Legation, my friend
Schumacher, gave me all the money he had in his pockets, to
distribute amongst the poor; and I returned home. Directly after,
there passed our house, at a rate as if the horses were running
away, a common two-horse coach, in which sat Head-Tutor (OBER-
HOFMEISTER) von Panin with the Grand Duke [famous Czar Paul that is
to be], who was still in his nightgown," poor frightened
little boy!--
"Not long after, I saw some of the Foot-guards, in the public
street near the Winter Palace, selling, at rates dog-cheap, their
new uniforms after the Prussian cut, which they had stript off;
whilst others, singing merrily, carried about, stuck on the top of
their muskets, or on their bayonets, their new grenadier caps of
Prussian fashion. [See in HERMANN (v. 291) the Saxon Ambassador's
Report.] I saw several soldiers,, out on errand or otherwise,
seizing the coaches they met in the streets, and driving on in
them. Others appropriated the eatables which hucksters carried
about in baskets. But in all this wild tumult, nobody was killed;
and only at Oranienbaum a few Holstein soldiers got wounded by some
low Russians, in their wantonness.
"July 11th, the disorder amongst the soldiers was at its height;
yet still much less than might have been expected. Many of them
entered the houses of Foreigners, and demanded money. Seeing a
number of them come into my house, I hastily put a quantity of
roubles and half-roubles in my pocket, and went out with a servant,
especially with a cheerful face, to meet them,"--and no harm
was done.
"SATURDAY, JULY 17th, was the day of the Czar's death; on the same
17th, the Empress was informed of it; and next day, his body was
brought from Ropscha to the Convent of St. Alexander Newski, near
Petersburg. Here it lay in state three days; nay, an Imperial
Manifesto even ordered that the last honors and duty be paid to it.
July 20th, I drove thither with my Wife; and to be able to view the
body more minutely, we passed twice through the room where it lay.
[An uncommonly broad neckcloth on it, did you observe?] Owing to
the rapid dissolution, it had to be interred on the following day:
--and it was a touching circumstance, that this happened to be the
very day on which the Czar had fixed to start from Petersburg on
his Campaign against Denmark." [Busching, vi. 464-467.]
Catharine, one must own with a shudder, has not attained the
Autocracy of All the Russias gratis. Let us hope she would once--
till driven upon a dire alternative--have herself shuddered to
purchase at such a price. A kind of horror haunts one's notion of
her red-handed brazen-faced Orlofs and her, which all the cosmetics
of the world will never quite cover. And yet, on the spot, in
Petersburg at the moment--! Read this Clipping from Smelfungus, on
a collateral topic:--
"In BUSCHING'S MAGAZINE are some Love-letters from the old Marshal
Munnich to Catharine just after this event, which are
psychologically curious. Love-letters, for they partake of that
character; though the man is 82, and has had such breakages and
vicissitudes in this Earth. Alive yet, it would seem; and full of
ambitions. Unspeakably beautiful is this young Woman to him;
radiant as ox-eyed Juno, as Diana of the silver bow,--such a power
in her to gratify the avarices, ambitions, cupidities of an
insatiable old fellow: O divine young Empress, Aurora of bright
Summer epochs, rosy-fingered daughter of the Sun,--grant me the
governing of This, the administering of That: and see what a thing
I will make of it (I, an inventive old gentleman), for your
Majesty's honor and glory, and my own advantage! [Busching,
Magazin fur die neue Historie und Geographie
(Halle, Year 1782), xvi. 413-477 (22 LETTERS, and only thrice or so
a word of RESPONSE from "MA DIVINITE:" dates, "Narva, 4th August,
1762" ... "Petersburg, 3d October, 1762").]--Innumerable persons of
less note than Munnich have their Biographies, and are known to the
reading public and in all barbers'-shops, if that were an advantage
to them. Very considerable, this Munnich, as a soldier, for one
thing. And surely had very strange adventures; an original German
character withal:--about the stature of Belleisle, for example;
and not quite unlike Belleisle in some of his ways? Came originally
from the swamps of Oldenburg, or Lower Weser Country,--son of a
DEICHGRAFE (Ditch-Superintendent) there. REQUIESCANT in oblivious
silence, Belleisle and he; it is better than being lied of, and
maundered of, and blotched and blundered of.
"Biographies were once rhythmic, earnest as death or as life,
earnest as transcendent human Insight risen to the Singing pitch;
some Homer, nay some Psalmist or Evangelist, spokesman of reverent
Populations, was the Biographer. Rhythmic, WITH exactitude,
investigation to the very marrow; this, or else oblivion, Biography
should now, and at all times, be; but is not,--by any manner of
means. With what results is visible enough, if you will look!
Human Stupor, fallen into the dishonest, lazy and UNflogged
condition, is truly an awful thing."
Catharine did not persist in her Anti-Prussian determination.
July 9th, the Manifesto had been indignantly emphatic on Prussia;
July 22d, in a Note to Goltz from the Czarina, it was all withdrawn
again. [Rodenbeck, ii. 171.] Looking into the deceased Czar's
Papers, she found that Friedrich's Letters to him had contained
nothing of wrong or offensive; always excellent advices, on the
contrary,--advice, among others, To be conciliatory to his clever-
witted Wife, and to make her his ally, not his opponent, in living
and reigning. In Konigsberg (July 16th, seven days after July 9th),
the Russian Governor, just on the point of quitting, emitted
Proclamation, to everybody's horror: "No; altered, all that;
under pain of death, your Oath to Russia still valid!" Which for
the next ten days, or till his new proclamation, made such a
Konigsberg of it as may be imagined. The sight of those Letters is
understood to have turned the scale; which had hung wavering till
July 22d in the Czarina's mind. "Can it be good," she might
privately think withal, "to begin our reign by kindling a foolish
War again?" How Friedrich received the news of July 9th, and into
what a crisis it threw him, we shall soon see. His Campaign had
begun July 1st;-- and has been summoning us home, into ITS horizon,
for some time.
