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History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 19
T >> Thomas Carlyle >> History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 19 Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20
This Year, Daun, though his reputation is on the decline lately, is
to have the chief command, as usual; the Grand Army, with Saxony
for field of conquest, and the Reichsfolk to assist, is to be
Daun's. But, what is reckoned an important improvement, Loudon is
to have a separate command, and Army of his own. Loudon, hot of
temper, melancholic, shy, is not a man to recommend himself to
Kriegshofrath people; but no doubt Imperial Majesty has had her own
wise eye on him. His merits are so undeniable; the need of some
Commander NOT of the Cunctator type is become so very pressing.
"Army of Silesia, 50,000;" that is to be Loudon's, with 40,000
Russians to co-operate and unite themselves with Loudon; and try
actually for conquest of Silesia, this Year; while Daun, conquering
Saxony, keeps the King busy.
At Petersburg, Versailles, Vienna, much planning there has been,
and arduous consulting: first at Petersburg, in time and in
importance, where Montalembert has again been very urgent in regard
to those poor Swedish people, and the getting of them turned to
some kind of use: "Stettin in conjunction with the Swedes;
oh, listen to reason, and take Stettin!" "Would not Dantzig by
ourselves be the advisable thing?" answers Soltikof: "Dantzig is an
important Town, and the grand Baltic Haven; and would be so
convenient for our Preussen, since we have determined to maintain
that fine Conquest." So thinks Czarish Majesty, as well as
Soltikof, privately, though there are difficulties as to Dantzig;
and, in fine, except Colberg over again, there can be nothing
attempted of sieging thereabouts. A Siege of Colberg, however,
there is actually to be: Second Siege,--if perhaps it will prove
luckier than the First was, two years since? Naval Armament
Swedish-Russian, specific Land Armament wholly Russian, are to do
this Second Siege, at a favorable time; except by wishes, Soltikof
will not be concerned in it; nor, it is to be hoped, shall we,--in
such pressure of haste as is probably ahead for us.
"Silesia would be the place for sieges!" say the Vienna people
always; and Imperial Majesty is very urgent; and tries all methods,
--eloquence, flatteries, bribes,--to bring Petersburg to that view.
Which is at last adopted; heartily by Czarish Majesty, ever ready
for revenge on Friedrich, the more fatal and the more direct, the
better. Heartily by her; not so heartily by Soltikof and her Army
people, who know the Austriau habits; and privately decide on NOT
picking chestnuts from the fire, while the other party's paws keep
idle, and only his jaws are ready.
Of Small-War there is nothing or little to be said; indeed there
occurs almost none. Roving Cossack-Parties, under one Tottleben,
whom we shall hear of otherwise, infest Pommern, bickering with the
Prussian posts there; not ravaging as formerly, Tottleben being a
civilized kind of man. One of these called at the Castle of
Schwedt, one day; found Prince Eugen of Wurtemberg there (nearly
recovered of his Kunersdorf wounds), who is a Son-in-law of the
House, married to a Daughter of Schwedt;--ancestor of the now
Russian Czars too, had anybody then known it. Him these Cossacks
carried off with them, a march or two; then, taking his bond for a
certain ransom, let him go. Bond and bondholder being soon after
captured by the Prussians, Eugen paid no ransom; so that to us his
adventure is without moment, though it then made some noise among
the Gazetteers.
Two other little passages, and only two, we will mention;
which have in themselves a kind of memorability. First, that of
General Czetteritz and the MANUSCRIPT he lost. Of posts across the
Elbe I find none mentionable here, and believe there is none,
except only Czetteritz's; who stands at Cosdorf, well up towards
Torgau Country, as sentry over Torgau and the Towns there.
On Czetteritz there was, in February, an attempt made by the active
General Beck, whom Daun had detached for that object.
Extremely successful, according to the Austrian Gazetteers; but in
reality amounting to as good as nothing:--Surprisal of Czetteritz's
first vedette, in the dawn of a misty February morning (February
21st, 1760); non-surprisal of his second, which did give fire and
alarm, whereupon debate; and Czetteritz springing into his saddle;
retreat of his people to rearward, with loss of 7 Officers and 200
prisoners;--but ending in re-advance, with fresh force, a few hours
after; [Seyfarth, ii. 655.]--in repulse of Beck, in recovery of
Cosdorf, and a general state of AS-YOU-WERE in that part. A sputter
of Post-War, not now worth mentioning at all,--except only for one
small circumstance: That in the careering and swift ordering, such
as there was, on the rear-guard especially, Major-General
Czetteritz's horse happened to fall; whereby not only was the
General taken prisoner, but his quarters got plundered, and in his
luggage,--what is the notable circumstance,--there was found a
small Manuscript, MILITAIRISCHE INSTRUKZION FUR DIE GENERALE, such
as every Prussian General has, and is bound to keep religiously
secret.[Stands now in OEuvres de Frederic,
xxviii. 3 et. seq.; was finished (the revisal of it was), hy the
King, "2d April, 1748:" see PREUSS, i. 478-480; and (
OEuvres de Frederic, xxviii. PREFACE, for endless
indistinct details about the translations and editions of it.
London Edition, 1818, calls itself the FIFTH.] This, carried to
Daun's head-quarters, was duly prized, copied; and in the course of
a year came to print, in many shapes and places; was translated
into English, under the Title, MILITARY INSTRUCTIONS BY THE KING OF
PRUSSIA, in 1762 (and again, hardly so WELL, in 1797); and still
languidly circulates among the studious of our soldiers. Not a
little admired by some of them; and unfortunately nearly all they
seem to know of this greatest of modern Soldiers. [See, for
example, in Life of General Sir Charles Napier, by his
Brother (London, 1857), iii. 365 and elsewhere,--one
of the best judges in the world expressing his joy and admiration
on discovery of Friedrich; discovery, if you read well, which
amounts to these INSTRUCTIONS, and no more.]
Next, about a month after, we have something to report of Loudon
from Silesia, or rather of the Enemies he meets there; for it is
not a victorious thing. But it means a starting of the Campaign by
an Austrian invasion of Silesia; long before sieging time, while
all these Montalembert-Soltikof pleadings and counter-pleadings
hang dubious at Petersburg, and Loudon's "Silesian Army" is still
only in a nascent or theoretic state, and only Loudon himself is in
a practical one.
Friedrich has always Fouquet at Landshut, in charge of the Silesian
Frontier; whose outposts, under Goltz as head of these, stretch, by
Neisse, far eastward, through the Hills to utmost Mahren;
Fouquet's own head-quarter being generally Landshut, the main gate
of the Country. Fouquet, long since, rooted himself rather firmly
into that important post; has a beautiful ring of fortified Hills
around Landshut; battery crossing battery, girdling it with sure
destruction, under an expert Fouquet,--but would require 30,000 men
to keep it, instead of 13,000, which is Fouquet's allotment.
Upon whom Loudon is fully intending a stroke this Year. Fouquet, as
we know, has strenuously managed to keep ward there for a
twelvemonth past; in spite, often enough, of new violent invadings
and attemptings (violent, miscellaneous, but intermittent) by the
Devilles and others;--and always under many difficulties of his
own, and vicissitudes in his employment: a Fouquet coming and
going, waxing and waning, according to the King's necessities, and
to the intermittency or constancy of pressures on Landshut.
Under Loudon, this Year, Fouquet will have harder times than ever;
--in the end, too hard! But will resist, judge how by the following
small sample:--
"Besides Fouquet and his 13,000," says my Note, "the Silesian
Garrisons are all vigilant, are or ought to be; and there are far
eastward of him, for guarding of the Jagerndorf-Troppau Border,
some 4 or 6,000, scattered about, under Lieutenant-General Goltz,
in various Hill Posts,--the chief Post of which, Goltz's own, is
the little Town of Neustadt, northward of Jagerndorf [where we have
billeted in the old SileSian Wars]: Goltz's Neustadt is the chief;
and Leobschutz, southwestward of it, under 'General Le Grand' [once
the Major GRANT of Kolin Battle, if readers remember him, "Your
Majesty and I cannot take the Battery ourselves!"] is probably the
second in importance. Loudon, cantoned along the Moravian side of
the Border, perceives that he can assemble 32,000 foot and horse;
that the Prussians are 13,000 PLUS 6,000; that Silesia can be
invaded with advantage, were the weather come. And that, in any
kind of weather, Goltz and his straggle of posts might be swept
into the interior, perhaps picked up and pocketed altogether, if
Loudon were sharp enough. Swept into the interior Goltz was; by no
means pocketed altogether, as he ought to have been!
"MARCH 13th, 1760, Loudon orders general muster hereabouts for the
15th, everybody to have two days, bread and forage; and warns
Goltz, as bound in honor: 'Excellenz, to-morrow is March 14th;
to-morrow our pleasant time of Truce is out,--the more the pity for
both of us!' 'Yea, my esteemed neighbor Excellenz!' answers Goltz,
with the proper compliments; but judges that his esteemed neighbor
is intending mischief almost immediately. Goltz instantly sends
orders to all his posts: 'You, Herr General Grant, you at
Leobschutz, and all the rest of you, make your packages;
march without delay; rendezvous at Steinau and Upper Glogau [far
different from GREAT-Glogau], Neisse-ward; swift!' And would have
himself gone on the 14th, but could not,--his poor little Bakery
not being here, nor wagons for his baggages quite to be collected
in a moment,--and it was Saturday, 15th, 5 A.M., that Goltz
appointed himself to march.
"The last time we saw General Goltz was on the Green of Bautzen,
above two years ago,--when he delivered that hard message to the
King's Brother and his party, 'You deserve to be tried by Court-
martial, and have your heads cut off!' He was of that sad Zittau
business of the late Prince of Prussia's,--Goltz, Winterfeld,
Ziethen, Schmettau and others? Winterfeld and the Prince are both
dead; Schmettau is fallen into disaster; Goltz is still in good
esteem with the King. A stalwart, swift, flinty kind of man, to
judge by the Portraits of him; considerable obstinacy, of a tacitly
intelligent kind, in that steady eye, in that droop of the eyebrows
towards the strong cheek-bones; plenty of sleeping fire in
Lieutenant-General Goltz.
"His principal force, on this occasion, is one Infantry Regiment;
REGIMENT MANTEUFFEL:--readers perhaps recollect that stout Pommern
Regiment, Manteuffel of Foot, and the little Dialogue it had with
the King himself, on the eve of Leuthen: 'Good-night, then, Fritz!
To-morrow all dead, or else the Enemy beaten.' Their conduct, I
have heard, was very shining at Leuthen, where everybody shone;
and since then they have been plunging about through the death-
element in their old rugged way,--and re-emerge here into definite
view again, under Lieutenant-General Goltz, issuing from the north
end of Neustadt, in the dim dawn of a cold spring morning, March
15th, 5 A.M.; weather latterly very wet, as I learn. They intend
Neisse-way, with their considerable stock of baggage-wagons; a
company of Dragoons is to help in escorting: party perhaps about
2,000 in all. Goltz will have his difficulties this day; and has
calculated on them. And, indeed, at the first issuing, here they
already are.
"Loudon, with about 5,000 horse,--four Regiments drawn up here, and
by and by with a fifth (happily not with the grenadiers, as he had
calculated, who are detained by broken bridges, waters all in flood
from the rain),--is waiting for him, at the very environs of
Neustadt. Loudon, by a trumpet, politely invites him to surrender,
being so outnumbered; Goltz, politely thanking, disregards it, and
marches on: Loudon escorting, in an ominous way; till, at
Buchelsdorf, the fifth Regiment (best in the Austrian service) is
seen drawn out across the highway, plainly intimating, No
thoroughfare to Goltz and Pommern. Loudon sends a second trumpet:
'Surrender prisoners; honorablest terms; keep all your baggage:
refuse, and you are cut down every man.' 'You shall yourself hear
the answer,' said Goltz. Goltz leads this second trumpet to the
front; and, in Pommern dialect, makes known what General Loudon's
proposal is. The Pommerners answer, as one man, a No of such
emphasis as I have never heard; in terms which are intensely
vernacular, it seems, and which do at this day astonish the foreign
mind: 'We will for him something, WIR WOLLEN IHM WAS--' But the
powers of translation and even of typography fail; and feeble
paraphrase must give it: 'We will for him SOMETHING INEFFABLE
CONCOCT,' of a surprisingly contrary kind! 'WIR WOLLEN IHM WAS'
(with ineffable dissyllabic verb governing it)! growled one
indignant Pommerner; 'and it ran like file-fire along the ranks,'
says Archenholtz; everybody growling it, and bellowing it, in
fierce bass chorus, as the indubitable vote of Pommern in
those circumstances.
"Loudon's trumpet withdrew. Pommern formed square round its
baggage; Loudon's 5,000 came thundering in, fit to break adamant;
but met such a storm of bullets from Pommern, they stopped about
ten paces short, in considerable amazement, and wheeled back.
Tried it again, still more amazement; the like a third time;
every time in vain. After which, Pommern took the road again, with
vanguard, rearguard; and had peace for certain miles,--Loudon
gloomily following, for a new chance. How many times Loudon tried
again, and ever again, at good places, I forget,--say six times in
all. Between Siebenhufen and Steinau, in a dirty defile, the jewel
of the road for Loudon, who tried his very best there, one of our
wagons broke down; the few to rear of it, eighteen wagons and some
country carts, had to be left standing. Nothing more of Pommern was
left there or anywhere. Near Steinau there, Loudon gave it up as
desperate, and went his way. His loss, they say, was 300 killed,
500 wounded; Pommern's was 35 killed, and above 100 left wounded or
prisoners. One of the stiffest day's works I have known:
some twelve miles of march, in every two an attack. Pommern has
really concocted something surprising, and kept its promise to
Loudon! 'Thou knowest what the Pommerners can do,' said they once
to their own King. An obstinate, strong-boned, heavy-browed people;
not so stupid as you think. More or less of Jutish or Anglish type;
highly deficient in the graces of speech, and, I should judge, with
little call to Parliamentary Eloquence." [Preuss, ii. 241
(incorrect in some small points); Archenholtz, ii. 61; Seyfarth,
ii. 640, and Beylagen, ii. 657-660;
Tempelhof, iv. 8-10; in ANONYMOUS OF HAMBURG (iv. 68) the
Austrian account.]
Friedrich is, this Year, considered by the generality of mankind,
to be ruined: "Lost 60,000 men last Campaign; was beaten twice; his
luck is done; what is to become of him?" say his enemies, and even
the impartial Gazetteer, with joy or sorrow. Among his own people
there is gloom or censure; hard commentaries on Maxen: "So self-
willed, high, and deaf to counsel from Prince Henri!" Henri
himself, they say, is sullen; threatening, as he often does, to
resign "for want of health;" and as he quite did, for a while, in
the end of this Campaign, or interval between this and next.
Friedrich has, with incredible diligence, got together his finance
(copper in larger dose than ever, Jew Ephraim presiding as usual);
and, as if by art-magic, has on their feet 100,000 men against his
enemy's 280,000. Some higher Officers are secretly in bad spirits;
but the men know nothing of discouragement. Friedrich proclaims to
them at marching, "For every cannon you capture, 100 ducats; for
every flag, 50; for every standard (cavalry flag), 40;"--which
sums, as they fell due, were accordingly paid thenceforth.
[Stenzel, v. 236, 237; ib. 243.] But Friedrich, too, is abundantly
gloomy, if that could help him; which he knows well it cannot, and
strictly hides it from all but a few;--or all but D'Argens almost
alone, to whom it can do no harm. Read carefully by the light of
contemporary occurrences, not vaguely in the vacant haze, as the
Editors give it, his correspondence with D'Argens becomes
interesting almost to a painful degree: an unaffected picture of
one of the bravest human souls weighed down with dispiriting labors
and chagrins, such as were seldom laid on any man; almost beyond
bearing, but incurable, and demanding to be borne. Wilhelmina is
away, away; to D'Argens alone of mortals does he whisper of these
things; and to him not wearisomely, or with the least prolixity,
but in short sharp gusts, seldom now with any indignation, oftenest
with a touch of humor in them, not soliciting any sympathy, nor
expecting nearly as much as he will get from the faithful D'Argens.
"I am unfortunate and old, dear Marquis; that is why they persecute
me: God knows what my future is to be this Year! I grieve to
resemble Cassandra with my prophecies; but how augur well of the
desperate situation we are in, and which goes on growing worse?
I am so gloomy to-day, I will cut short. ... Write to me when you
have nothing better to do; and don't forget a poor Philosopher who,
perhaps to expiate his incredulity, is doomed to find his Purgatory
in THIS world." [ OEuvres de Frederic, xix.
138, 139 ("Freyberg, 20th March, 1760").] ... To another Friend, in
the way of speech, he more deliberately says: "The difficulties I
had, last Campaign, were almost infinite: such a multitude of
enemies acting against me; Pommern, Brandenburg, Saxony, Frontiers
of Silesia, alike in danger, often enough all at one time. If I
escaped absolute destructiou, I must impute it chiefly to the
misconduct of my enemies; who gained such advantages, but had not
the sense to follow them up. Experience often corrects people of
their blunders: I cannot expect to profit by anything of that kind;
on their part, in the course of this Campaign:" judge if it will be
a light one, MON CHER. [To Mitchell, one evening, "Camp of
Schlettau, May 23d" (Mitchell, ii. 159).]
The symptoms we decipher in these Letters, and otherwise, are those
of a man drenched in misery; but used to his black element,
unaffectedly defiant of it, or not at the pains to defy it;
occupied only to do his very utmost in it, with or without success,
till the end come. Prometheus, chained on the Ocean-cliffs, with
the New Ruling-Powers in the upper hand, and their vultures
gradually eating him; dumb Time and dumb Space looking on,
apparently with small sympathy: Prometheus and other Titans, now
and then, have touched the soul of some AEschylus, and drawn tones
of melodious sympathy, far heard among mankind. But with this new
Titan it is not so: nor, upon the whole, with the proper Titan, in
this world, is it usually so; the world being a--what shall we
say?--a poorish kind of world, and its melodies and dissonances,
its loves and its hatreds worth comparatively little in the long-
run. Friedrich does wonderfully without sympathy from almost
anybody; and the indifference with which he walks along, under such
a cloud of sulky stupidities, of mendacities and misconceptions
from the herd of mankind, is decidedly admirable to me.
But let us look into the Campaign itself. Perhaps--contrary to the
world's opinion, and to Friedrich's own when, in ultra-lucid
moments, he gazes into it in the light of cold arithmetic, and
finds the aspect of it "frightful"--this Campaign will be a little
luckier to him than the last? Unluckier it cannot well be:--or if
so, it will at least be final to him!
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