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History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 9
T >> Thomas Carlyle >> History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 9 Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 Prepared by D.R. Thompson
Carlyle's "History of Friedrich II of Prussia"
BOOK IX.
LAST STAGE OF FRIEDRICH'S APPRENTICESHIP:
LIFE IN RUPPIN.
1732-1736.
Chapter I.
PRINCESS ELIZABETH CHRISTINA OF BRUNSWICK-BEVERN.
We described the Crown-Prince as intent to comply, especially in
all visible external particulars, with Papa's will and pleasure;--
to distingnish himself by real excellence in Commandantship of the
Regiment Goltz, first of all. But before ever getting into that,
there has another point risen, on which obedience, equally
essential, may be still more difficult.
Ever since the grand Catastrophe went off WITHOUT taking
Friedrich's head along with it, and there began to be hopes of
a pacific settlement, question has been, Whom shall the
Crown-Prince marry? And the debates about it in the Royal breast
and in Tobacco-Parliament, and rumors about it in the world at
large, have been manifold and continual. In the Schulenburg
Letters we saw the Crown-Prince himself much interested, and
eagerly inquisitive on that head. As was natural: but it is not in
the Crown-Prince's mind, it is in the Tobacco-Parliament, and the
Royal breast as influenced there, that the thing must be decided.
Who in the world will it be, then? Crown-Prince himself hears now
of this party, now of that. England is quite over, and the
Princess Amelia sunk below the horizon. Friedrich himself appears
a little piqued that Hotham carried his nose so high; that the
English would not, in those life-and-death circumstances, abate
the least from their "Both marriages or none,"--thinks they should
have saved Wilhelmina, and taken his word of honor for the rest.
England is now out of his head;--all romance is too sorrowfully
swept out: and instead of the "sacred air-cities of hope" in this
high section of his history, the young man is looking into the
"mean clay hamlets of reality," with an eye well recognizing them
for real. With an eye and heart already tempered to the due
hardness for them. Not a fortunate result, though it was an
inevitable one. We saw him flirting with the beautiful wedded
Wreech; talking to Lieutenant-General Schulenburg about marriage,
in a way which shook the pipe-clay of that virtuous man. He knows
he would not get his choice, if he had one; strives not to care.
Nor does he, in fact, much care; the romance being all out of it.
He looks mainly to outward advantages; to personal appearance,
temper, good manners; to "religious principle," sometimes rather
in the reverse way (fearing an OVERPLUS rather);--but always to
likelihood of moneys by the match, as a very direct item.
Ready command of money, he feels, will be extremely desirable in a
Wife; desirable and almost indispensable, in present straitened
circumstances. These are the notions of this ill-situated Coelebs.
The parties proposed first and last, and rumored of in Newspapers
and the idle brains of men, have been very many,-- no limit to
their numbers; it MAY be anybody: an intending purchaser, though
but possessed of sixpence, is in a sense proprietor of the whole
Fair! Through Schulenburg we heard his own account of them, last
Autumn;--but the far noblest of the lot was hardly glanced at, or
not at all, on that occasion. The Kaiser's eldest Daughter, sole
heiress of Austria and these vast Pragmatic-Sanction operations;
Archduchess Maria Theresa herself,--it is affirmed to have been
Prince Eugene's often-expressed wish, That the Crown-Prince of
Prussia should wed the future Empress [Hormayr,
Allgemeine Geschichte der neueslen Zeit (Wien, 1817),
i. 13; cited in Preuss, i. 71.] Which would indeed have saved
immense confusions to mankind! Nay she alone of Princesses,
beautiful, magnanimous, brave, was the mate for such a Prince,--
had the Good Fairies been consulted, which seldom happens:--and
Romance itself might have become Reality in that case: with high
results to the very soul of this young Prince! Wishes are free:
and wise Eugene will have been heard, perhaps often, to express
this wish; but that must have been all. Alas, the preliminaries,
political, especially religious, are at once indispensable and
impossible: we have to dismiss that daydream. A Papal-Protestant
Controversy still exists among mankind; and this is one penalty
they pay for not having settled it sooner. The Imperial Court
cannot afford its Archduchess on the terms possible in
that quarter.
What the Imperial Court can do is, to recommend a Niece of theirs,
insignificant young Princess, Elizabeth Christina of
Brunswick-Bevern, who is Niece to the Empress; and may be made
useful in this way, to herself and us, think the Imperial
Majesties;--will be a new tie upon the Prussians and the Pragmatic
Sanction, and keep the Alliance still surer for our Archduchess in
times coming, think their Majesties. She, it is insinuated by
Seckendorf in Tobaoco-Parliament; ought not she, Daughter of your
Majesty's esteemed friend,--modest-minded, innocent young
Princess, with a Brother already betrothed in your Majesty's
House,--to be the Lady? It is probable she will.
Did we inform the reader once about Kaiser Karl's young marriage
adventures; and may we, to remind him, mention them a second time?
How Imperial Majesty, some five-and-twenty years ago, then only
King of Spain, asked Princess Caroline of Anspach, who was very
poor, and an orphan in the world. Who at once refused, declining
to think of changing her religion on such a score;--and now
governs England, telegraphing with Walpole, as Queen there
instead. How Karl, now Imperial Majesty, then King of Spain, next
applied to Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel; and met with a much better
reception there. Applied to old Anton Ulrich, reigning Duke, who
writes big Novels, and does other foolish good-natured things;--
who persuaded his Grand-daughter that a change to Catholicism was
nothing in such a case, that he himself should not care in the
least to change. How the Grand-daughter changed accordingly, went
to Barcelona, and was wedded;--and had to dun old Grandpapa,
"Why don't you change, then?" Who did change thereupon; thinking
to himself, "Plague on it I must, then!" the foolish old Herr.
He is dead; and his Novels, in six volumes quarto, are all dead:
and the Grand-daughter is Kaiserinn, on those terms, a serene
monotonous well-favored Lady, diligent in her Catholic exercises;
of whom I never heard any evil, good rather, in her eminent serene
position. Pity perhaps that she had recommended her Niece for this
young Prussian gentleman; whom it by no means did "attach to the
Family" so very careful about him at Vienna! But if there lay a
sin, and a punishment following on it, here or elsewhere, in her
Imperial position, surely it is to be charged on foolish old Anton
Ulrich; not on her, poor Lady, who had never coveted such height,
nor durst for her soul take the leap thitherward, till the serene
old literary gentleman showed her how easy it was.
Well, old Anton Ulrich is long since dead, [1714, age 70. Huber,
t. 190.] and his religious accounts are all settled beyond cavil;
and only the sad duty devolves on me of explaining a little what
and who his rather insipid offspring are, so far as related to
readers of this History. Anton Ulrich left two sons; the elder of
whom was Duke, and the younger had an Apanage, Blankenburg by
name. Only this younger had children,--serene Kaiserinn that now
is, one of them: The elder died childless, [1731, Michaelis,
i. 132.] precisely a few months before the times we are now got
to; reigning Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, ["Welf-BOOTHS"
(Hunted Camp of the Welfs), according to Etymology. "Brunswick,"
again, is BRAUN'S-Wick; "Braun" (Brown) being an old militant Welf
in those parts, who built some lodge for himself, as a convenience
there,--Year 880, say the uncertain old Books. Hubner, t. 149;
Michaelis, &c.] all but certain Apanages, and does not concern us
farther. To that supreme dignity the younger has now come, and his
Apanage of Blankenburg and children with him;--so that there is
now only one outstanding Apanage (Bevern, not known to us yet);
which also will perhaps get reunited, if we cared for it.
Ludwig Rudolf is the name of this new sovereign Duke of
Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, or Duke in chief; age now sixty; has a
shining, bustling, somewhat irregular Duchess, says Wilhelmina;
and a nose--or rather almost no nose, for sad reasons!
[Wilhelmina, ii. 121.] Other qualities or accidents I know not of
him,--except that he is Father of the Vienna Kaiserinn;
Grandfather of the Princess whom Seckendorf suggests for our
Friedrich of Prussia.
In Ludwig Rudolf's insipid offspring our readers are unexpectedly
somewhat interested; let readers patiently attend, therefore.
He had three Daughters, never any son. Two of his Daughters,
eldest and youngest, are alive still; the middle one had a sad
fate long ago. She married, in 1711, Alexius the Czarowitz of
Peter the Great: foolish Czarowitz, miserable and making others
miserable, broke her heart by ill conduct, ill usage, in four
years; so that she died; leaving him only a poor small Peter II.,
who is now dead too, and that matter ended all but the memory of
it. Some accounts bear, that she did not die; that she only
pretended it, and ran and left her intolerable Czarowitz. That she
wedded, at Paris, in deep obscurity, an Officer just setting out
for Louisiana; lived many years there as a thrifty soldier's wife;
returned to Paris with her Officer reduced to half-pay; and told
him--or told some select Official person after him, under
seven-fold oath, being then a widow and necessitous--her sublime
secret. Sublime secret, which came thus to be known to a supremely
select circle at Paris; and was published in Books, where one
still reads it. No vestige of truth in it,--except that perhaps
a necessitous soldier's widow at Paris, considering of ways and
means, found that she had some trace of likeness to the Pictures
of this Princess, and had heard her tragic story.
Ludwig Rudolf's second Daughter is dead long years ago; nor has
this fable as yet risen from her dust. Of Ludwig Rudolf's other
two Daughters, we have said that one, the eldest, was the
Kaiserinn; Empress Elizabeth Christina, age now precisely forty;
with two beautiful Daughters, sublime Maria Theresa the elder of
them, and no son that would live. Which last little circumstance
has caused the Pragmatic Sanction, and tormented universal Nature
for so many years back! Ludwig Rudolf has a youngest Daughter,
also married, and a Mother in Germany,--to this day conspicuously
so;--of whom next, or rather of her Husband and Family-circle, we
must say a word.
Her Husband is no other than the esteemed Friend of Friedrich
Wilhelm; Duke of Brunswick-Bevern, by title; who, as a junior
branch, lives on the Apanage of Bevern, as his Father did; but is
sure now to inherit the sovereignty and be Duke of
Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel at large, he or his Sons, were the present
incumbent, Ludwig Rudolf, once out. Present incumbent, we have
just intimated, is his Father-in-law; but it is not on that ground
that he looks to inherit. He is Nephew of old Anton Ulrich, Son of
a younger Brother (who was also "Bevern" in Anton's time); and is
the evident Heir-male; old Anton being already fallen into the
distaff, with nothing but three Grand-daughters. Anton's heir will
now be this Nephew; Nephew has wedded one of the Grand-daughters,
youngest of the Three, youngest Daughter of Ludwig Rudolf,
Sovereign Duke that now is; which Lady, by the family she brought
him, if no otherwise, is memorable or mentionable here, and may be
called, a Mother in Germany.
[ANTON ULRICH (1833-1714). Duke in Chief; that is, Duke of
Brunswick-WOLFENBUTTEL.
AUGUST WILHELM, elder Son and Heir (1662, 1714, 1731); had no
children.
LUDWIG RUDOLF, the younger Son (1671, 1731, 1735), apanagad in
Blankenburg: Duke of Brunswick-BLANKENBURG; became WOLFENBUTTEL.
1731, died , 1st March, 1735. No Son; so that now the Bevern
succeeded. Three Daughters:
Elizabeth Christina, the Kaiserinn (1691, 1708, 1750).
Charlotte Christina (1694, 1711, 1715), Alexius of Russia's,
had a FABULOUS end.
Antoinette Amelia (1695, 1712, 1762); Bevern's Wife,--a
"Mother in Germany."
FERDINAND ALBERT (1636-1687), his younger Brother apanaged in
Bevern; that is, Duke of Brunswick-BEVERN.
FERDINAND ALBERT, eldest Son (an elder had perished, 1704, on
the Schellenberg under Marlborough), followed in Bevern (1680,
1687-1704, 1735); Kaiser's soldier, Friedrich Wilhelm's friend;
married his Cousin, Antoinette Amelia ("Mother in Germany," as
we call her). Duke in Chief, 1st March, 1785, on Ludwig Rudolf's
decease; died himself, 3d September same year.
BORN 1713, Karl the Heir (to marry our Friedrich's Sister).
1714, Anton Ulrich (Russia; tragedy of Czar Iwan).
1715, 8th November, Elizabeth Christina (Crown Prince's).
1718, Ludwig Ernst (Holland, 1787).
1721, Ferdinand (Chatham's and England's) of the Seven Years
War.
1722, 1724, 1725, 1732, Four others; Boys the youngest Two,
who were both killed in Friedrich's Wars.]
Father Bevern her Husband, Ferdinand Albert the name of him, is
now just fifty, only ten years younger than his serene Father-in-
law, Ludwig Rudolf:--whom, I may as well say here, he does at last
succeed, three years hence (1735) and becomes Duke of Brunswick in
General, according to hope; but only for a few months, having
himself died that same year. Poor Duke; rather a good man, by all
the accounts I could hear; though not of qualities that shone.
He is at present "Duke of Brunswick-Bevern,"--such his actual
nomenclature in those ever-fluctuating Sibyl's-leaves of German
History-Books, Wilhelmina's and the others;--expectant Duke of
Brunswick in General; much a friend of Friedrich Wilhelm. A kind
of Austrian soldier he was formerly, and will again be for brief
times; General-Feldmarschall so styled; but is not notable in War,
nor otherwise at all, except for the offspring he had by this
serene Spouse of his. Insipid offspring, the impatient reader
says; but permits me to enumerate one or two of them:--
1. Karl, eldest Son; who is sure to be Brunswick in General;
who is betrothed to Princess Charlotte of Prussia,--"a satirical
creature, she, fonder of my Prince than of him," Wilhelmina
thinks. The wedding nevertheless took effect. Brunswick in General
duly fell in, first to the Father; then, in a few months more, to
Karl with his Charlotte: and from them proceeded, in due time,
another Karl, of whom we shall hear in this History;--and of whom
all the world heard much in the French Revolution Wars; in 1792,
and still more tragically afterwards. Shot, to death or worse, at
the Battle of Jena, October, 1806; "battle lost before it was
begun,"--such the strategic history they give of it.
He peremptorily ordered the French Revolution to suppress itself;
and that was the answer the French Revolution made him. From this
Karl, what NEW Queens Caroline of England and portentous Dukes of
Brunswick, sent upon their travels through the anarchic world,
profitable only to Newspapers, we need not say!--
2. Anton Ulrich; named after his august Great-Grandfather;
does not write novels like him. At present a young gentleman of
eighteen; goes into Russia before long, hoping to beget Czars;
which issues dreadfully for himself and the potential Czars he
begot. The reader has heard of a potential "Czar Iwan," violently
done to death in his room, one dim moonlight night of 1764, in the
Fortress of Schlusselburg, middle of Lake Ladoga; misty moon
looking down on the stone battlements, on the melancholy waters,
aud saying nothing.--But let us not anticipate.
3. Elizabeth Christina; to us more important than any of them.
Namesake of the Kaiserinn, her august Aunt; age now seventeen;
insipid fine-complexioned young lady, who is talked of for the
Bride of our Crown-Prince. Of whom the reader will hear more.
Crown-Prince fears she is "too religious,"--and will have "CAGOTS"
about her (solemn persons in black, highly unconscious how little
wisdom they have), who may be troublesome.
4. A merry young Boy, now ten, called Ferdinand; with whom
England within the next thirty years will ring, for some time,
loud enough: the great "Prince Ferdinand" himself,--under whom the
Marquis of Granby and others became great; Chatham superintending
it. This really was a respectable gentleman, and did considerable
things,--a Trismegistus in comparison with the Duke of Cnmberland
whom he succeeded. A cheerful, singularly polite, modest,
well-conditioned man withal. To be slightly better known to us,
if we live. He at present is a Boy of ten, chasing the
thistle's beard.
5. Three other sons, all soldiers, two of them younger than
Ferdinand; whose names were in the gazettes down to a late
period;--whom we shall ignore in this place. The last of them was
marched out of Holland, where he had long been Commander-in-chief
on rather Tory principles, in the troubles of 1787. Others of them
we shall see storming forward on occasion, valiantly meeting death
in the field of fight, all conspicuously brave of character;
but this shall be enough of them at present.
It is of these that Ludwig Rudolf's youngest daughter, the serene
Ferdinand Albert's wife, is Mother in Germany; highly conspicuous
in their day. If the question is put, it must be owned they are
all rather of the insipid type. Nothing but a kind of albuminous
simplicity noticeable in them; no wit, originality, brightness in
the way of uttered intellect. If it is asked, How came they to the
least distinction in this world?--the answer is not immediately
apparent. But indeed they are Welf of the Welfs, in this respect
as in others. One asks, with increased wonder, noticing in the
Welfs generally nothiug but the same albuminous simplicity, and
poverty rather than opulence of uttered intellect, or of qualities
that shine, How the Welfs came to play such a part, for the last
thousand years, and still to be at it, in conspicuous places?
Reader, I have observed that uttered intellect is not what
permanently makes way, but unuttered. Wit, logical brilliancy,
spiritual effulgency, true or FALSE,--how precious to idle
mankind, and to the Newspapers and History-Books, even when it is
false: while, again, Nature and Practical Fact care next to
nothing for it in comparison, even when it is true! Two silent
qualities you will notice in these Welfs, modern and ancient;
which Nature much values: FIRST, consummate human Courage;
a noble, perfect, and as it were unconscious superiority to fear.
And then SECONDLY, much weight of mind, a noble not too conscious
Sense of what is Right and Not-Right, I have found in some of
them;--which means mostly WEIGHT, or good gravitation, good
observance of the perpendicular; and is called justice, veracity,
high-honor, and other such names. These are fine qualities indeed,
especially with an "albuminous simplicity" as vehicle to them.
If the Welfs had not much articulate intellect, let us guess they
made a good use, not a bad or indifferent, as is commoner, of what
they had.
WHO HIS MAJESTY'S CHOICE IS; AND WHAT THE CROWN-PRINCE THINKS OF IT.
Princess Elizabeth Christina, the insipid Brunswick specimen,
backed by Seckendorf and Vienna, proves on consideration the
desirable to Friedrich Wilhelm in this matter. But his Son's
notions, who as yet knows her only by rumor, do not go that way.
Insipidity, triviality; the fear of "CAGOTAGE" and frightful
fellows in black supremely unconscious what blockheads they are,
haunts him a good deal. And as for any money coming,--her sublime
Aunt the Kaiserinn never had much ready money; one's resources on
that side are likely to be exiguous. He would prefer the Princess
of Mecklenburg, Semi-Russian Catharine or Anna, of whom we have
heard; would prefer the Princess of Eisenach (whose name he does
not know rightly); thinks there are many Princesses preferable.
Most of all he would prefer, what is well known of him in
Tobacco-Parliament, but known to be impossible, this long while
back, to go upon a round of travel,--as for instance the Prince of
Lorraine is now doing,--and look about him a little.
These candid considerations the Crown-Prince earnestly suggests to
Grumkow, and the secret committee of Tobacco-Parliament;
earnestly again and again, in his Correspondence with that
gentleman, which goes on very brisk at present. "Much of it lost,"
we hear;--but enough, and to spare, is saved! Not a beautiful
correspondence: the tone of it shallow, hard of heart; tragically
flippant, especially on the Crown-Prince's part; now and then even
a touch of the hypocritical from him, slight touch and not with
will: alas, what can the poor young man do? Grumkow--whose ground,
I think, is never quite so secure since that Nosti business--
professes ardent attachment to the real interests of the Prince;
and does solidly advise him of what is feasible, what not, in
head-quarters; very exemplary "attachment;" credible to what
length, the Prince well enough knows. And so the Correspondence is
unbeautiful; not very descriptive even,--for poor Friedrich is
considerably under mask, while he writes to that address; and of
Grumkow himself we want no more "description;" and is, in fact, on
its own score, an avoidable article rather than otherwise;
though perhaps the reader, for a poor involved Crown-Prince's
sake, will wish an exact Excerpt or two before we quite
dismiss it.
Towards turning off the Brunswick speculation, or turning on the
Mecklenburg or Eisenach or any other in its stead, the
Correspondence naturally avails nothing. Seckendorf has his orders
from Vienna: Grumkow has his pension,--his cream-bowl duly set,--
for helping Beckendorf. Though angels pleaded, not in a tone of
tragic flippancy, but with the voice of breaking hearts, it would
be to no purpose. The Imperial Majesties have ordered, Marry him
to Brunswick, "bind him the better to our House in time coming;"
nay the Royal mind at Potsdam gravitates, of itself, that way,
after the first hint is given. The Imperial will has become the
Paternal one; no answer but obedience. What Grumkow can do will
be, if possible, to lead or drive the Crown-Prince into obeying
smoothly, or without breaking of harness again. Which,
accordingly, is pretty much the sum of his part in this unlovely
Correspondence: the geeho-ing of an expert wagoner, who has got a
fiery young Arab thoroughly tied into his dastard sand-cart, and
has to drive him by voice, or at most by slight crack of whip;
and does it. Can we hope, a select specimen or two of these
Documents, not on Grumkow's part, or for Grumkow's unlovely sake,
may now be acceptable to the reader? A Letter or two picked from
that large stock, in a legible state, will show us Father and Son,
and how that tragic matter went on, better than description could.
Papa's Letters to the Crown-Prince during that final Custrin
period,--when Carzig and Himmelstadt were going on, and there was
such progress in Economics, are all of hopeful ruggedly
affectionate tenor; and there are a good few of them:
style curiously rugged, intricate, headlong; and a strong
substance of sense and worth tortuously visible everywhere.
Letters so delightful to the poor retrieved Crown-Prince then and
there; and which are still almost pleasant reading to
third-parties, once you introduce grammar and spelling. This is
one exact specimen; most important to the Prince and us.
Suddenly, one night, by estafette, his Majesty, meaning nothing
but kindness, and grateful to Seckendorf and Tobacco-Parliament
for such an idea, proposes,--in these terms (merely reduced to
English and the common spelling):--
"TO THE CROWN-PRINCE AT CUSTRIN (from Papa).
"POTSDAM, 4th February, 1732
"MY DEAR SON FRITZ,--I am very glad you need no more physic. But
you must have a care of yourself, some days yet, for the severe
weather; which gives me and everybody colds; so pray be on your
guard (NEHMET EUCH KUBSCH IN ACHT).
"You know, my dear Son, that when my children are obedient, I love
them much: so, when you were at Berlin, I from my heart forgave
you everything; and from that Berlin time, since I saw you, have
thought of nothing but of your well-being and how to establish
you,--not in the Army only, but also with a right Step-daughter,
and so see you married in my lifetime. You may be well persuaded I
have had the Princesses of Germany taken survey of, so far as
possible, and examined by trusty people, what their conduct is,
their education and so on: and so a Princess has been found, the
Eldest one of Bevern, who is well brought up, modest and retiring,
as women ought to be.
"You will without delay (CITO) write me your mind on this. I have
purchased the Von Katsch House; the Feldmarschall," old
Wartensleben, poor Katte's grandfather, "as Governor" of Berlin,
"will get that to live in: and his Government House, [Fine enough
old House, or Palace, built by the Great Elector; given by him to
Graf Feldmarschall von Schomberg, the "Duke Schomberg" who was
killed in the Battle of the Boyne: "same House, opposite the
Arsenal, which belongs now (1855) to his Royal Highness Prince
Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia." (Preuss, i. 73; and
OEuvres de Frederic, xxvi. 12 n.)] I will have made
new for you, and furnish it all; and give you enough to keep house
yourself there; and will command you into the Army, April coming
[which is quite a subordinate story, your Majesty!].
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