History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 13
by
Thomas Carlyle
Part 4 out of 4
italic> ii. 204.] and makes a pretty enough piece of fence, on the
small scale. Lobkowitz had to give up the Frauenberg enterprise;
and cross to Budweis again, till new force should come.
"Why not drive him out of Budweis," think the Two French Marshals,
"him and whatever force can come? If those lucky Prussians would
co-operate, and those unlucky Saxons, how easy were it!"--Belleisle
sets off to persuade Friedrich, to persuade Saxony (and we shall
see him on the route); Broglio waiting sublime, on the hither side
of the Moldau, well within wind of Budweis, till Belleisle prevail,
and return with said co-operation, What became of Broglio, waiting
in this sublime manner, we shall also have to see; but perhaps not
for a great while yet (cannot pause on such absurd phenomena yet),
--though Broglio's catastrophe is itself a thing imminent; and,
within some ten days of that astonishing Victory of Sahay,
astonishes poor Broglio the reverse way. A man born for surprises!
Chapter XIV.
PEACE OF BRESLAU.
In actual loss of men or of ground, the results of that Chotusitz
Affair were not of decisive nature. But it had been fought with
obstinacy; with great fury on the Austrian side (who, as it were,
had a bet upon it ever since February 25th), Britannic George, and
all the world, looking on: and, in dispiritment and discredit to
the beaten party, its results were considerable. The voice of all
the world, declaring through its Gazetteer Editors, "You cannot
beat those Prussians!" voice confirmed by one's own sad thoughts:--
in such sounding of the rams horns round one's Jericho, there is
always a strange influence (what is called panic, as if Pan or some
god were in it), and one's Jericho is the apter to fall!
Among the Austrian Prisoners, there was a General Pallandt,
mortally wounded too; whom Friedrich, according to custom, treated
with his best humanity, though all help was hopeless to poor
Pallandt. Calling one day at Pallandt's sick-couch, Friedrich was
so sympathetic, humane and noble, that Pallandt was touched by it;
and said, "What a pity your noble Majesty and my noble Queen should
ruin one another, for a set of French intruders, who play false
even to your Majesty!" "False?" Friedrich inquires farther:
Pallandt, a man familiar at Court, has seen a Letter from Fleury to
the Queen of Hungary, conclusive as to Fleury's good faith; will
undertake, if permitted, to get his Majesty a sight of it.
Friedrich permits; the Fleury letter comes; to the effect: "Make
peace with us, O Queen; with your Prussian neighbor you shall make
--what suits you!" Friedrich read; learned conclusively, what
perhaps he had already as good as known otherwise; and drew the
inference. [ Helden-Geschichte, ii. 633;
Hormayr, Anemonen, ii. 186; Adelung, iii. A,
149 n.] Actual copy of this letter the most ardent Gazetteer
curiosity could not attain to, at that epoch; but the Pallandt
story seems to have been true;--and as to the Fleury letter in such
circumstances, copies of various Fleury letters to the like purport
are still public enough; and Fleury's private intentions, already
guessed at by Friedrich, are in our time a secret to nobody that
inquires about them.
Certain enough, Peace with Friedrich is now on the way; and cannot
well linger:--what prospect has Austria otherwise? Its very
supplies from England will be stopped. Hyndford redoubles his
diligence; Britannic Majesty reiterates at Vienna: "Did not I tell
you, Madam; there is no hope or possibility till these Prussians
are off our hands!" To which her Hungarian Majesty, as the bargain
was, now sorrowfully assents; sorrowfully, unwillingly,--and always
lays the blame on his Britannic Majesty afterwards, and brings it
up again as a great favor she had done HIM. "Did not I give up my
invaluable Silesia, the jewel of my crown, for you, cruel Britannic
Majesty with the big purse, and no heart to speak of?" This she
urges always, on subsequent occasions; the high-souled Lady;
reproachful of the patient, big-pursed little Gentleman, who never
answers as he might, "For ME, Madam? Well--!" In short, Hyndford,
Podewils and the Vienna Excellencies are busy.
Of these negotiations which go on at Breslau, and of the acres of
despatchcs, English, Austrian, and other, let us not say one word.
Enough that the Treaty is getting made, and rapidly,--though
military offences do not quite cease; clouds of Austrian Pandours
hovering about everywhere in Prince Karl's rear; pouncing down upon
Prussian outposts, convoys, mostly to little purpose; hoping (what
proves quite futile) they may even burn a Prussian magazine here or
there. Contemptible to the Prussian soldier, though very
troublesome to him. Friedrich regards the Pandour sort, with their
jingling savagery, as a kind of military vermin; not conceivable a
Prussian formed corps should yield to any odds of Pandour Tolpatch
tagraggery. Nor does the Prussian soldier yield; though sometimes,
like the mastiff galled by inroad of distracted weasels in too
great quantity, he may have his own difficulties. Witness Colonel
Retzow and the Magazine at Pardubitz ("daybreak, May 24th") VERSUS
the infinitude of sudden Tolpatchery, bursting from the woods;
rabid enough for many hours, but ineffectual, upon Pardubitz and
Retzow. A distinguished Colonel this; of whom we shall hear again.
Whose style of Narrative (modest, clear, grave, brief), much more,
whose vigilant inexpugnable procedure on the occasion, is much to
be commended to the military man. [Given in Seyfarth,
Beylage, i. 548 et seqq.] Friedrich, the better to
cover his Magazines, and be out of such annoyances, fell back a
little; gradually to Kuttenberg again (Tolpatchery vanishing, of
its owm accord); and lay encamped there, head-quarters in the
Schloss of Maleschau near by,--till the Breslau Negotiations
completed themselves.
Prince Karl, fringed with Tolpatchery in this manner, but with much
desertion, much dispiritment, in his main body,--the HOOPS upon him
all loose, so to speak,--staggers zigzag back towards Budweis, and
the Lobkowitz Party there; intending nothing more upon the
Prussians;--capable now, think some NON-Prussians, of being well
swept out of Budweis, and over the horizon altogether. If only his
Prussian Majesty will co-operate! thinks Belleisle. "Your King of
Prussia will not, M. le Marechal!" answers Broglio:--No, indeed; he
has tried that trade already, M. le Marechal! think Broglio and we.
The suspicions that Friedrich, so quiescent after his Chotusitz, is
making Peace, are rife everywhere; especially in Broglio's head and
old Fleury's; though Belleisle persists with emphasis, officially
and privately, in the opposite opinion, "Husht, Messieurs!" Better
go and see, however.
Belleisle does go; starts for Kuttenberg, for Dresden; his
beautiful Budweis project now ready, French reinforcements
streaming towards us, heart high again,--if only Friedrich and the
Saxons will co-operate. Belleisle, the Two Belleisles, with Valori
and Company, arrived June 2d at Kuttenberg, at the Schloss of
Maleschau;--"spoke little of Chotusitz," says Stille; "and were
none of them at the pains to ride to the ground." Marechal
Belleisle, for the next three days, had otherwise speech of
Friedrich; especially, on June 5th, a remarkable Dialogue.
"Won't your Majesty co-operate?" "Alas, Monseigneur de Belleisle--"
How gladly would we give this last Dialogue of Friedrich's and
Belleisle's, one of the most ticklish conceivable: but there is not
anywhere the least record of it that can be called authentic;--and
we learn only that Friedrich, with considerable distinctness, gave
him to know, "clearly" (say all the Books, except Friedrich's own),
that co-operation was henceforth a thing of the preter-pluperfect
tense. "All that I ever wanted, more than I ever demanded, Austria
now offers; can any one blame me that I close such a business as
ours has all along been, on such terms as these now offered
me are?"
It is said, and is likely enough, the Pallandt-Fleury Letter came
up; as probably the MORAVIAN FORAY, and various Broglio passages,
would, in the train of said Letter. To all which, and to the
inexorable painful corollary, Belleisle, in his high lean way,
would listen with a stern grandiose composure. But the rumors add,
On coming out into the Anteroom, dialogue and sentence now done,
Monseigneur de Belleisle tore the peruke from his head; and
stamping on it, was heard to say volcanically, "That cursed
parson,--CE MAUDIT CALOTTE [old Fleury],--has ruined everything!"
Perhaps it is not true? If true,--the prompt valets would quickly
replace Monseigneur's wig; chasing his long strides; and silence,
in so dignified a man, would cloak whatever emotions there were.
[Adelung, iii. A, 154; &c. &c. Guerre de Boheme,
italic> (silent about the wig) admits, as all Books do, the perfect
clearness;--compare, however, OEuvres de Frederic;
italic> and also Broglio's strange darkness, twelve days later, and
Belleisle now beside him again ( Campagnes des Trois
Marechaux, v. 190, 191, of date 17th June);--darkness
due perhaps to the strange humor Broglio was then in?] He rolled
off, he and his, straightway to Dresden, there to invite
co-operation in the Budweis Project; there also in vain.--
"CO-operation," M. le Marechal? Alas, it has already come to
operation, if you knew it! Aud your Broglio is-- Better hurry back
to Prag, where you will find phenomena!
June 15th, Friedrich has a grand dinner of Generals at Maleschau;
and says, in proposing the first bumper, "Gentlemen, I announce to
you, that, as I never wished to oppress the Queen of Hungary, I
have formed the resolution of agreeing with that Princess, and
accepting the Proposals she has made me in satisfaction of my
rights,"--telling them withal what the chief terms were, and
praising my Lord Hyndford for his great services. Upon which was
congratulation, cordial, universal; and, with full rummers, "Health
to the Queen of Hungary!" followed by others of the like type,
"Grand-Duke of Lorraine!" and "The brave Prince Karl!" especially.
Brevity being incumbent on us, we shall say only that the Hyndford-
Podewils operations had been speeded, day and night; brought to
finis, in the form of Signed Preliminaries, as "Treaty of Breslau,
11th June, 1742;" and had gone to Friedrich's satisfaction in every
particular. Thanks to the useful Hyndford,--to the willing mind of
his Britannic Majesty, once so indignant, but made willing, nay
passionately eager, by his love of Human Liberty and the pressure
of events! To Hyndford, some weeks hence, [2d August
( Helden-Geschichte, ii. 729).]--I conclude,
on Friedrich's request,--there was Order of the Thistle sent;
and grandest investiture ever seen almost, done by Friedrich upon
Hyndford (Jordan, Keyserling, Schwerin, and the Sword of State busy
in it; Two Queens and all the Berlin firmament looking on);
and, perhaps better still, on Friedrich's part there was gift of a
Silver Dinner-Service; gift of the Royal Prussian Arms (which do
enrich ever since the Shield of those Scottish Carmichaels, as
doubtless the Dinner-Service does their Plate-chest); and abundant
praise and honor to the useful Hyndford, heavy of foot, but sure,
who had reached the goal.
This welcome Treaty, signed at Breslau, June 11th, and confirmed by
"Treaty of Berlin, July 28th," in more explicit solemn manner, to
the self-same effect, can be read by him that runs (if compelled to
read Treaties); [In Helden-Geschichte,
i. 1061-1064 (Treaty of Breslau), ib. 1065-1070 (that of Berlin);
to be found also in Wenck, Rousset, Scholl, Adeluug, &c.] the
terms, in compressed form, are:--
1. "Silesia, Lower and Upper, to beyond the watershed and the Oppa-
stream,--reserving only the Principality of Teschen, with
pertinents, which used to be reckoned Silesian, and the ulterior
Mountain-tops [Mountain-tops good for what? thought Friedrich, a
year or two afterwards!]--Silesia wholly, within those limits, and
furthermore the County Glatz and its dependencies, are and remain
the property of Friedrich and of his Heirs male or female;
given up, and made his, to all intents and purposes, forevermore.
With which Friedrich, to the like long date, engages to rest
satisfied, and claim nothing farther anywhere.
2. "Silesian Dutch-English Debt [Loan of about Two Millions, better
half of it English, contracted by the late Kaiser, on Silesian
security, in that dreadful Polish-Election crisis, when the Sea-
Powers would not help, but left it to their Stockbrokers] is
undertaken by Friedrich, who will pay interest on the same
till liquidated.
3. "Religion to stand where it is. Prussian Majesty not to meddle
in this present or in other Wars of her Hungarian Majesty, except
with his ardent wishes that General Peace would ensue, and that all
his friends, Hungarian Majesty among others, were living in good
agreement around him."
This is the Treaty of Breslau (June 11th, 1742), or, in second more
solemn edition, Treaty of Berlin (July 28th following);
signed, ratified, guaranteed by his Britannic Majesty for one,
[Treaty of Westminster, between Friedrich aud George, 29th (18th)
November, 1842 (Scholl, ii. 313).] and firmly planted on the
Diplomatic adamant (at least on the Diplomatic parchment) of this
world. And now: Homewards, then; march!--
Huge huzzaing, herald-trumpeting, bob-major-ing, bursts forth from
all Prussian Towns, especially from all Silesian ones, in those
June days, as the drums beat homewards; elaborate Illuminations, in
the short nights; with bonfires, with transparencies,--Transparency
inscribed "FREDERICO MAGNO (To Friedrich THE GREAT)," in one small
instance, still of premature nature. [ Helden-Geschichte
(ii. 702-729) is endless on these Illuminations;
the Jauer case, of FREDERICO MAGNO (Jauer in Silesia), is of June
15th (ib. 712).]
Omitting very many things, about Silesian Fortresses, Army-Cantons,
Silesian settlements, military and civil, which would but weary the
reader, we add only this from Bielfeld: dusty Transit of a
victorious Majesty, now on the threshold of home. Precise date
(which Bielfeld prudently avoids guessing at) is July 11th, 1742;
"M. de Pollnitz and I are in the suite of the King:--
"We never stopped on the road, except some hours at Frankfurt-on-
Oder, where the Fair was just going on. On approaching the Town, we
found the highway lined on both sides with crowds of traders, and
other strangers of all nations; who had come out, attracted by
curiosity to see the conqueror of Silesia, and had ranged
themselves in two rows there. His Majesty's entry into Frankfurt,
although a very triumphant one, was far from being ostentatious.
We passed like lightning before the eyes of the spectators, and we
were so covered with dust, that it was difficult to distinguish the
color of our coats and the features of our faces. We made some
purchases at Frankfurt; and arrived safely in the Capital [next
day], where the King was received amidst the acclamations of his
People." [Bielfeld, ii. 51.]
Here is a successful young King; is not he? Has plunged into the
Mahlstrom for his jewelled gold Cup, and comes up with it, alive,
unlamed. Will he, like that DIVER of Schiller's, have to try the
feat a second time? Perhaps a second time, and even a third!--
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