Of Friedrich and his
demeanour
in this strange
scene, centre of a World all drawing sword, and jum-
bling in huge Diplomatic and other delirium about his
ears, the reader will desire to see a direct glimpse or
two.
scene, centre of a World all drawing sword, and jum-
bling in huge Diplomatic and other delirium about his
ears, the reader will desire to see a direct glimpse or
two.
Thomas Carlyle
" say they, with indignation, with no end of suspi-
cion, angry pamphleteering and covert eloquence, "within
those walls" and without.
The suspicion of Hanover's checking his Majesty's Prag-
matic velocity is altogether well founded; and there need no
more be said on that Hanover score. Be it well understood
and admitted . Hanover was the Britannic Majesty's beloved
son; and the British Empire his opulent milk-cow. Richest
of milk-cows; staff of one's life, for grand purposes and small;
beautiful big animal, not to be provoked; but to be stroked
and milked: -- Friends, if you will do a Glorious Revolution
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? CHAP. I. ] GEORGE H. PALADIN OF THE PRAGMATIC. 9
May 1741.
of that kind, and burn such an amount of tar upon it, why eat
sour herbs for an inevitable corollary therefrom! And let my
present readers understand, at any rate, that, -- except in
Wapping, Bristol and among the simple instinctive classes
(with whom, it is true, go Pitt and some illustrious figures), --
political England generally, whatever of England had Parlia-
mentary discourse of reason, and did Pamphlets, Despatches,
Harangues, went greatly along with his Majesty in that Prag-
matic Business. And be the blame of delirium laid on the
right back, where it ought to lie, not on the wrong, which has
enough to bear of its own. And go not into that dust-whirl-
wind of extinct stupidities, O reader: -- what reader would,
except for didactic objects? Know only that it does of a truth
whirl there; and fancy always, if you can, that certain things
and Human Figures, a Friedrich, a Chatham and some others,
have it for their Life-Element. Which, I often think, is their
principal misfortune with Posterity; said Life-Element having
gone to such an unutterable condition for gods and men.
"One other thing surprises us in those Old Pamphlets,"
says my Constitutional friend: "How the phrase, 'Cause of
"Liberty' ever and anon turns up, with great though extinct
"emphasis, evidently sincere. After groping, one is astonished
"to find it means Support of the House of Austria; keeping
"of the Hapsburgs entire in their old Possessions among man-
"kind! That, to our great-grandfathers, was the 'Cause of
"Liberty! ' -- said 'Cause' being, with us again, Electoral
"Suffrage and other things; a notably different definition,
"perhaps still wider of the mark.
"Our great-grandfathers lived in perpetual terror that
"they would be'devoured by France; that French ambition
"would overset the Celestial Balance, and proceed next to eat
"the British Nation. Stand upon your guard then, one wpuld
"have said: Look to your ships, to your defences, to your
"industries; to your virtues first of all, -- your virtutes, man-
"hoods, conformities to the Divine Law appointed you; which
"are the great and indeed sole strength to any Man or Nation!
"Discipline yourselves, wisely, in all kinds; more and more,
"till there be no anarchic fibre left in you. Unanarchic, dis-
ciplined at all points, you might then, I should say, with
"supreme composure, let France, and the whole World at its
"back, try what they could do upon you and the unique little
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? 10 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [bOOK XIII.
May 1741.
"Island you are so lucky as to live in! -- Foolish mortals:
"what Potentiality of Battle, think you (not against France
"only, but against Satanas and the Ministers of Chaos gener-
ally), would a poor Friedrich Wilhelm, not to speak of
"better, have got out of such a Possession, had it been his to
"put in drill! And drill is not of soldiers only; though per-
"haps of soldiers first and most indispensably of all; since
"'without Being,' as my Friend Oliver was wont to say,
"'Well-being is not possible. ' There is military drill; there
"is industrial, economic, spiritual; gradually there are all
"kinds of drill, of wise discipline, of peremptory mandate be-
"come effective everywhere, 'Obey the Laws of Heaven, or
"else disappear from these latitudes! ' Ah me, if one dealt in
"day-dreams, and prophesies of an England grown celestial,
"-- celestial she should be, not in gold nuggets, continents all
"of beef, and seas all of beer, Abolition of Pain, and Paradise
"to All and Sundry, but in that quite different fashion; and
"there, I should say, there were the magnificent Hope to in-
"dulge in! TJhat were to me the ' Cause of Liberty;' and any
"the smallest contribution towards that kind of 'Liberty'
"were a sacred thing! --
"Belleisle again may, if he pleases, call his the Cause of
"Sovereignty. A Sovereign Louis, it would appear, has not
"governing enough to do within his own French borders, but
"feels called to undertake Germany as well; -- a gentleman
"with an immense governing faculty, it would appear? Truly,
"good reader, I am sick of heart, contemplating those empty
"sovereign mountebanks, and empty antagonist ditto, with
"their Causes of Liberty and Causes of Anti-Liberty; and
"cannot but wish that we had got the ashes of that World-
"Explosion, of 1789, well riddled and smelted, and the poor
"World were quit of a great many things! " --
My Constitutional Historian of England, musing on
Belleisle and his Anti-Pragmatic industries and gran-
diosities, -- "how Chief-Bully Belleisle stept down
"into the ring as a gay Volunteer, and foolish Chief-
"Defender George had to follow, dismally heroic, as a
"Conscript of Fate," -- drops these words, in regard
to the Wages they respectively had:
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? CHAP. I. ] GEORGE II. PALADIN OF THE PRAGMATIC. 11
May 1741.
"Nations that go into War without business there, are sure
'of getting business as they proceed; and if the beginning
'were phantasms, -- especially phantasms of the hoping, self-
'conceited kind, -- the results for them are apt to be extreme-
'ly real! As was the case with the French in this War, and
'those following, in which his Britannic Majesty played chief
'counter-tenor. From 1741, in King Friedrich's First War,
'onwards to Friedrich's Third War, 1756-1763, the volunteer
'French found a great deal of work lying ready for them,--
'gratuitous on their part, from the beginning. And there-
'suits to them came out, first completely visible, in the
'World-Miracles of 1789, and the years following!
"Nations, again, may be driven upon War by phantasm
'terrors, and go into it, in sorrow of heart, not gaiety of heart;
'and that is a shade better. And one always pities a poor
'Nation in such case; -- as the very Destinies rather do, and
'judge it more mercifully. Nay, the poor bewildered Nation
'may, among its brain-phantasms, have something of reality
'and sanity inarticulately stirring it withal. It may have a
'real ordinance of Heaven to accomplish on those terms: --
'and if so, it will sometimes, in the most chaotic circuitous
'ways, through endless hazards, at a hundred or a hundred-
'thousand times the natural expense, ultimately get it done!
'This was the case of the poor English in those Wars.
"They were Wars extraneous to England little less than
'to France; neither Nation had real business in them; and
'they seem to us now a very mad object on the part of both.
'But they were not gratuitously gone into, on the part of
'England; far from that. England undertook them, with its
'big heart very sorrowful, strange specialities bewildering
'it; and managed them (as men do sleep-walking) with a
'gloomy solidity of purpose, with a heavy-laden energy, and,
'on the whole, with a depth of stupidity, which were very
'great. Yet look at the respective net-results. France lies
'down to rot into grand Spontaneous-Combustion, Apotheosis
'of Sansculottism, and much else; which still lasts, to her
'own great peril, and the great affliction of neighbours.
'Poor England, after such enormous stumbling among the
'chimney-pots, and somnambulism over all the world for
'twenty years, finds on awakening, that she is arrived, after
all, where she wished to be, and a good deal farther! Finds
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? 12 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [bOOK XIII.
May 1741.
"that her own important little errand is somehow or other,
"done: -- and, in short, that 'Jenkins's Ear' (as she named
"the thing) 'has been avenged,' and the Ocean Highways
"'opened and a good deal more, in a most signal way! For
"the Eternal Providences, -- little as poor Dryasdust now
"knows of it, mumbling and maundering that sad stuff of his,
"-- do rule; and the great soul of the world, I assure'you
"once more, is just. And always for a Nation, as for a man,
"it is very behoveful to be honest, to be modest, however
"stupid! " --
By this time, however, -- Mollwitz having fallen
out, and Belleisle being evidently on the steps, -- his
Britannic Majesty recognises clearly, and insists upon
it, strengthened by his Harringtons and everybody of
discernment, That, nefarious or not, this Friedrich will
require to be bargained with. That, far from breaking
in upon him, and partitioning him (how far from it! ),
there is no conceivable method of saving the Celestial
Balances till he be satisfied, in some way. This is the
one step his Britannic Majesty has yet made, out of
these his choking imbroglios; and truly this is one.
Hyndford, his best negotiator, is on the road for Fried-
rich's Camp; Robinson, at Vienna, has been directed to
say and insist, "Bargain with that man; he must be
bargained with, if our Cause of Liberty is to be saved
at all! " --
And now, having opened the dustbin so far, that
the reader's fancy might be stirred without affliction
to his lungs and eyes, let us shut it down again, --
might we but hope forever! That is too fond a hope.
But the background or sustaining element made ima-
ginable, the few events deserving memory may surely
go on at a much swifter pace.
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? CHAP. n. ] CAMP OF STREHLEN. 13
May--Aug. 1741.
CHAPTEE II.
CAMP OF STREHLEN.
Fbiedrich's Silesian Camps this Summer, Camp of
Strehlen chiefly, were among the strangest places in
the world. Friedrich, as we have often noticed, did
not much pursue the defeated Austrians, at or near
Mollwitz, or press them towards flat ruin in their Sile-
sian business: it is clear he anxiously wished a bargain
without farther exasperation; and hoped he might get
it by judicious patience. Brieg he took, with that fine
outburst of bombardment, which did not last a week:
but Brieg once his, he fell quiet again; kept encamp-
ing, here, there, in that Mollwitz-Neisse region, for
above three months to come; not doing much, beyond
the indispensable; negotiating much, or rather nego-
tiated with, and waiting on events. * %
Both Armies were reinforcing themselves; and
Friedrich's, for obvious reasons, in the first weeks
especially, became much the stronger. Once in May,
and again afterwards, weary of the pace things went
at, he had resolved on having Neisse at once; on at-
tacking Neipperg in his strong camp there, and cutting
short the tedious j anglings and uncertainties. He ad-
vanced to Grotkau accordingly, some twelve or fifteen
miles nearer Neisse (28th May, -- staid till 9th June),
* In Camp of Mollwitz (nearer Brieg than the Battle-field was), till
28th May (after the Battle seven weeks); then to Camp of Grotkau (28th
May -- 9th June, twelve days); thence (9th June) to Friedewalde, Herrns-
dorf; to Strehlen (21st June -- 20th August, nine or ten weeks in all). See
llelden-Geschichle, i. 924, ii. 931; Rodenbeck, Orlich, &c.
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? 14 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
May--Aug. 1741.
quite within wind of Neipperg and his outposts; but
found still, on closer inspection, that he had better
wait; -- and do so withal at a greater distance from
Neipperg and his Pandour Swarms. He drew back
therefore to Strehlen, north-westward, rather farther
from Neisse than before; and lay encamped there for
nine or ten weeks to come. Not till the beginning of
August did there fall out any military event (Pandour
skirmishing in plenty, but nothing to call an event);
and not till the end of August any that pointed to con-
clusive results. As it was at Strehlen where mostly
these Diplomacies went on, and the Camp of Strehlen
was the final and every way the main one, it may
stand as the representative of these Diplomatising
Camps to us, and figure as the sole one, which in fact
it nearly was.
Strehlen is a pleasant little Town, nestled prettily
among its granite Hills, the steeple of it visible from
Mollwitz; some twenty-five miles west of Brieg, some
thirty south of Breslau, and about as far north-west of
Neisse: there Friedrich and his Prussians lie, under
canvas mainly, with outposts and detachments
sprinkled about under roofs: -- a Camp of Strehlen,
more or less imaginable by the reader. And worth his
imagining; such a Camp, if not for soldiering, yet for
negotiating and wagging of diplomatic wigs, as there
never was before. Here, strangely shifted hither, is
the centre of European Politics all Summer. From the
utmost ends of Europe come Ambassadors to Strehlen:
from Spain, France, England, Denmark, Holland, --
there are sometimes nine at once, how many succes-
sively and in total I never knew. * They lodge gene-
* fJelden-Geschkhte, i. 932.
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? CHAP. II. ] CAMP OF STREHLEN. 15
May--Aug. 1741.
rally in Breslau; but are always running over to
Strehlen. There sits, properly speaking, the general
Secret Parliament of Europe; and from most Coun-
tries, except Austria, representatives attend at Strehlen,
or go and come between Breslau and Strehlen, sub-
missive to the evils of field-life, when need is. A sur-
prising thing enough to mankind, and big as the world
in its own day; though gone now to small bulk, -- one
Human Figure pretty much all that is left of memor-
able in it to mankind and us.
French Belleisle we have seen; who is gone again,
long since, on his wide errands; fatValori too we have
seen, who is assiduously here. The other figures, ex-
cept the English, can remain dark to us. Of Montijos,
the eminent Spaniard, a brown little man, magnificent
as the Kingdom of the Incas, with half a page of titles
(half a peck, five-and-twenty or more, of handles to his
little name, if you should ever require it); who, finding
matters so backward at Frankfurt, and nothing to do
there, has been out, in the interim, touring to while
away the tedium; and is here only as sequel and cor-
roboration of Belleisle, -- say as bottleholder, or as
high-wrought peacock's tail, to Belleisle: -- of the
eminent Montijos I have to record next to nothing in
the shape of negotiation ("Treaty" with the Termagant
was once proposed by him here, which Friedrich in his
politest way declined); and shall mention only, That
his domestic arrangements were sumptuous and com-
modious in the extreme. Let him arrive in the meanest
village, destitute of human appliances, and be directed
to the hut where he is to lodge, -- straightway from
the fourgons and baggage-chests of Montijos is pro-
duced, first of all, a round of arras hangings, portable
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? 16 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
May--Aug. 1741.
tables, portable stove, gold plate and silver; thus, with
wax-lights, wines of richest vintage, exquisite cookeries,
Montijos lodges, a king everywhere, creating an Alad-
din's palace everywhere; able to say, like the Sage-
Bias, Omnia mea mecum porto. These things are re-
corded of Montijos. What he did in the way of nego-
tiation has escaped men's memory, as it could well af-
ford to do.
Of Hyndford's appurtenances for lodging we al-
ready had a glimpse, through Busching once; -- point-
ing towards solid dinner-comforts rather than arras
hangings; and justifying the English genius in that
respect. The weight of the negotiations fell on Hynd-
ford; it is between him and French Valori that the
matter lies, Montijos and the others being mere satel-
lites on their respective sides. Much battered upon,
this Hyndford, by refractory Hanoverians pitting
George as Elector against the same George as King,
and egging these two identities to woful battle with
each other, -- "Lay me at his Majesty's feet," full
length, and let his Majesty say which is which, then!
A heavy, eating, haggling, unpleasant kind of mortal,
this Hyndford; bites and grunts privately, in a stupid
ferocious manner, against this young King: "One of
the worst of men; who will not take up the Cause of
Liberty at all, and is not made in the image of Hynd-
ford at all. " They are dreadfully stiff reading, those
Despatches of Hyndford: but they have particles of
current news in them; interesting glimpses of that same
young King; -- likewise of Hyndford, laid at his
Majesty's feet, and begging for self and brothers any
good benefice that may fall vacant. We can discern,
too, a certain rough tenacity and horse-dealer finesse
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? CHAP. n. ] CAMP OF STREHLEN. 17
May--Aug. 1741.
in the man; a broad-based, shrewdly practical Scotch
Gentleman, wide awake; and can conjecture that the
diplomatic function, in that element, might have been
in worse hands. He is often laid metaphorically at the
King's feet, King of England's; and haunts personally
the King of Prussia's elbow at all times, watching
every glance of him, like a British house-dog, that will
not be taken in with suspicious travellers, if he can
help it; and casting perpetual horoscopes in his dull
mind.
Of Friedrich and his demeanour in this strange
scene, centre of a World all drawing sword, and jum-
bling in huge Diplomatic and other delirium about his
ears, the reader will desire to see a direct glimpse or
two. As to the sad general Imbroglio of Diplomacies
which then weltered everywhere, readers can under-
stand that it has, at this day, fallen considerably ob-
scure (as it deserved to do); and that even Friedrich's
share of it is indistinct in parts. The game, wide as
Europe, and one of the most intricate ever played by
Diplomatic human creatures, was kept studiously dark
while it went on; and it has not since been a pleasant
object of study. Many of the Documents are still un-
published, inaccessible; so that the various moves in
the game, especially what the exact dates and sequence
of them were (upon which all would turn), are not
completely ascertainable, --' nor in truth are they much
worth hunting after, through such an element. One
thing we could wish to have out of it, the one thing
of sane that was in it: the demeanour and physiognomy
of Friedrich as there manifested; Friedrich alone, or
pretty much alone of all these Diplomatic Conjurors,
having a solid veritable object in hand. The rest --
Carlyle, Fredei id: the Great. VII. 2
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? 18 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XJH.
May--Aug. 1741.
the spiders are very welcome to it: who of mortals
would read it, were it made never so lucid to him?
Such traits of Friedrich as can be sifted out into the
conceivable and indubitable state, the reader shall have;
the extinct Bedlam, tliat bcgirdled Friedrich far and
wide, need not be resuscitated except for that object.
Of Friedrich's fairness, or of Friedrich's "trickiness,
macchiavelism and attomeyism" readers will form their
own notion, as they proceed. On one point they will
not be doubtful, That here is such a sharpness of
steady eyesight (like the lynx's, like the eagle's), and
privately such a courage and fixity of resolution, as
are highly uncommon.
April 26th, 1741, in the same days while Belleisle
arrived in the Camp at Mollwitz, and witnessed that
fine opening of the cannonade upon Brieg, Excellency
Hyndford got to Berlin; and on notifying the event,
was invited by the King to come along to Breslau, and
begin business. England has been profuse enough in
offering her "good offices with Austria" towards making
a bargain for his Prussian Majesty; but is busy also,
at the Hague, concerting with the Dutch "some strong
joint resolution," --- resolution, Openly to advise Fried-
rich to withdraw his troops from Silesia, by way of
starting fair towards a bargain. A very strong reso*
lution, they and the Gazetteers think it; and ask them-
selves, Is it not likely to have some effect? Their High
Mightinesses have been screwing their courage, and
under English urgency, have decided (April 24th),*
"Yes, we will jointly so advise! " and Friedrich has
got inkling of it from Rasfeld, his Minister there.
* Helden-Geschichle, i. 964; tho Ailvice itself, a very mild-spoken
Piece, but of riskisb nature think the Dutch, is given, ib. 965-6.
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? CHAP. II. ) CAMP OF STREHLBN. 19
7th May 1741.
Hyndford's first business (were the Dutch Excellency
once come up, but those Dutch are always hanging
astern! ) is to present said "Advice," and try what
will come of that. An "Advice" now fallen totally
insignificant to the Universe and us, -- only that
readers will wish to see how Friedrich takes it, and
if any feature of Friedrich discloses itself in the
affair.
Excellency Hyndford has his First Audience (Camp of
Mollwitz, May 7th); and Friedrich makes a most im-
portant Treaty, -- not. with Hyndford.
May 2d, Hyndford arrived in Breslau; and after
some preliminary flourishings, and difficulties about
post-horses and furnitures in a seat of War, got to
Brieg; and thence, May 7th, "to the Camp" (Camp of
Mollwitz still), "which is about an English mile off,"
-- Podewils escorting him from Brieg, and what we
note farther, Pbllnitz too; our poor old Pbllnitz, some
kind of Chief Goldstick, whom we did not otherwise
know to be on active duty in those rude scenes. Belle-
isle had passed through Breslau while Hyndford was
there: -- "am unable to inform your Lordship what
success he has had. " Brieg Siege is done only three
days ago; Castle all lying black; and the new trench-
ing and fortifying hardly begun. In a word, May 7th,
1741, "about 11 a. m. ," Excellency Hyndford is in-
troduced to the King's Tent, and has his First Audience.
Goldstick having done his motions, none but Podewils
is left present; who sits at a tabic, taking notes of
what is said. Podewils's Notes are invisible to me; but
here, in authentic though carefully compressed state, is
Hyndford's minute Narrative.
2*
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? 20 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
7th May 1741.
Excellency Hyndford mentioned the Instructions he had,
as to " good offices," friendship and so forth. "But his Prus-
"sian Majesty had hardly patience to hear me out; and said
"in a passion" (we use, where possible, Hyndford's own word-
ing; readers will allow for the leaden quality in some parts):
King (in a passion). "How is it possible, my Lord, to be-
"lieve things so contradictory? It is mighty fine [all this that
"you now tell me, on the part of the King of England; but
"how does it correspond to his last Speech to his Parliament"
(19th April last, when Mr. Viner was in such minority of one),
"and to the doings of his Ministers at Petersburg" (a pretty
Partition-Treaty that; and the Excellency Finch still busy,
as I know! ) "and at the Hague" (Excellency Trevor there,
and this beautiful Joint-Resolution and Advice which is co-
ming ! ) "to stir up allies against me? I have reason rather to
"doubt the sincerity of the King of England. They perhaps
"mean to amuse me. " (That is Friedrich's real opinion. *)
"But, by God, they are mistaken! I will risk everything
"rather than abate the least of my pretensions. "
Poor Hyndford said and mumbled what he could; knew
nothing what Instructions Finch had, Trevor had, and --
King. "My Lord, there seems to be a contradiction in all
"this. The King of England, in his Letter, tells me you are
"instructed as to everything; and yet you pretend ignorance!
"But I am perfectly informed of all. And I should not be
"surprised if, after all these fine words, you should receive
"some strong letter or resolution for me," -- Joint-Resolution
to Advise, for example?
Hyndford, not in the strength of conscious innocence,
stands silent; the King, "in his heat of passion," said to
Podewils,
King to Podewils (on the sudden). "Write down, that my
"Lord would be surprised" (as he should be) "to receive such
"Instructions! " (A mischievous sparkle, half quizzical, half
practical, considerably in the Friedrich style. )-- Hyndford.
"quite struck, my Lord, with this strange way of acting,"
and of poking into one, protests with angry grunt, and "was
put extremely upon my guard. " Of course Podewils did not
write. * *
* His Letter to Podewils (Ranke, ii. 268).
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? CHAP. II. ] CAMP OF STREHLEN. 21
7th May 1741.
Hyndford. "Europe is under the necessity of taking some
"speedy resolution, things are in such a state of crisis. Like
"a fever in a human body, got to such a height that quinquina
. "becomes necessary. " "That expression made him smile,
"and he began to look a little cooler. " * * "Shall we
"apply to Vienna, your Majesty? "
Friedrich. "Follow your own will in that. "
Hyndford. "Would your Majesty consent now to stand
"by his Excellency Gotter's original Offer at Vienna on your
"part? Agree, namely, in consideration of Lower Silesia
"and Breslau, to assist the Queen with all your troops for
"maintenance of Pragmatic Sanction, and to vote for the
"Grand-Duke as Kaiser? "
King. "Yes" (what the reader may take notice of, and
date for himself).
Hyndford. "What was the sum of money then offered her
"Hungarian Maj esty? "
King hesitated, as if he had forgotten; Podewils an-
"swered, "Three million florins (300,0001. ).
King. "I should not value the money; if money would
"content her Majesty, I would give more. " "Here was a
"long pause, which 1 did not break;" -- nor would the King.
Podewils reminded me of an idea we had been discoursing of
together ("on his suggestion, my Lord, which I really think
"is of importance, and worth your Lordship's consideration");
whereupon, on such hint,
Hyndford. "Would your Majesty consent to an Armi-
"stiee? "
Friedrich. "Yes; but" (counts on his fingers, May, June,
till he comes to December) "not for less than six months, --
"till December 1st. By that time they could do nothing,"
the season out by that time.
Hyndford. "His Excellency Podewils has been taking
"notes; if I am to be bound by them, might I first see that he
"has mistaken nothing? "
King. "Certainly! " -- Podewils's Note-protocol is found
to be correct in every point; Hyndford, with some slight
flourish of compliments on both sides, bows himself away (in-
vited to dinner, which he accepts, "will surely have that
"honour before returning to Breslau"); -- and so the First
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? 22 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [BOOK XIII.
7th May--5th June 1741.
Audience has ended. * Baronay and Pandours are about, --
this is ten days before the Ziethen feat on Baronay; -- but no
Pandour, now or afterwards, will harm a British Excellency.
These utterances of Friedrich's, the more we ex-
amine them by other lights that there are, become the
more correctly expressive of what Friedrich's real feel-
ings were on the occasion. Much contrary, perhaps, to
expectation of some readers. And indeed we will hero
advise our readers to prepare for dismissing altogether
that notion of Friedrich's duplicity, mendacity, finesse
and the like, which was once widely current in the
world; and to attend always strictly to what Friedrich
says, if they wish to guess what he is thinking; --
there being no such thing as "mendacity" discover-
able in Friedrich, when you take the trouble to in-
form yourself. "Mendacity," my friends? How busy-
have the Owls been with Friedrich's memory, in dif-
ferent countries of the world; -- perhaps even more
than their sad wont is, in such cases! For indeed he
was apt to be of swift abrupt procedure, disregardful of
Owleries; and gave scope for misunderstanding in the
course of his life. But a veracious man he was, at all
points; not even conscious of his veracity; but had it
in the blood of him; and never looked upon "menda-
city" but from a very great height indeed. He does
not, except where suitable, at least he never should,
express his whole meaning; but you will never find
him expressing what is not his meaning. Reticence,
not dissimulation. And as to "finesse," -- do not be-
lieve in that either, in the vulgar or bad sense. Truly
? Hyndford's Despatches, Breslau, 5th and 13th May 1741. Are in
State-Paper Office, like the rest of Hyndford's; also in British Museum
Additional Mss. 11, 365 &c), the rough draughts of them.
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? CHAP. H. ] CAMP OF STREHLEN. 23
7th May-5th Juno 1741.
you will find his finesse is a very fine thing; and that
it consists, not in deceiving other people, but in being
right himself; in well discerning for his own behoof,
what the facts before him are; and in steering, which
he does steadily, in a most vigilant, nimble, decisive
and intrepid manner, by monition of the same. No
salvation but in the facts. Facts are a kind of divine
thing to Friedrich; much more so than to common
men: this is essentially what Religion I have found in
Friedrich. And, let me assure you, it is an invaluable
element in any man's Religion, and highly indispensable,
though so often dispensed with! Readers, especially in
our time English readers, who would gain the least
knowledge about Friedrich, in the extinct Bedlam
where his work now lay, have a great many things to
forget, and sad strata of Owldroppings, ancient and
recent, to sweep away! --
To Friedrich a bargain with Austria, which would
be a getting into port, in comparison to going with the
French in that distracted voyage of theirs, is highly
desirable. "Shall I join with the English, 'in hope of
some tolerable bargain from Austria? Shall I have to
join with the French, in despair of any? " Readers
may consider how stringent upon Friedrich that ques-
tion now was, and how ticklish to solve. And it must
be solved soon, -- under penalty of "being left with
no ally at all" (as Friedrich expresses himself), while
the whole world is grouping itself into armed heaps for
and against! If the English would but get me a
bargain --? Friedrich dare not think they will. Nay,
scanning these English incoherences, these contradic-
tions between what they say here and what they do
and say elsewhere, he begins to doubt if they zealously
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? 24 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book nn.
7th May--5th June 1741.
wish it, -- and at last to believe that they sincerely
do not wish it; that "they mean to amuse me" (as he
said to Hyndford) -- till my French chance too is over.
"To amuse me: but, par Dieu --/" His Notes to
Podewils, of which Ranke, who has seen them, gives
us snatches, are vivid in that sense: "I should be
"ashamed if the cunningest Italian could dupe me; but
"that a lout of a Hanoverian should do it! " -- and
Podewils has great difficulty to keep him patient yet
a little; Valori being so busy on the other side, and
the time so pressing. Here are some dates and some
comments, which the reader should take with him; --
here is a very strange issue to the Joint-Resolution of
a strong nature now on hand!
A few days after that First Audience, Ginckel the
Dutch Excellency, with the due Papers in his pocket,
did arrive. Excellency Hyndford, who is not without
rough insight into what lies under his nose, discovers
clearly that the grand Dutch-English Resolution, or
Joint Exhortation to evacuate Silesia, will do nothing
but mischief; and (at his own risk, persuading Ginckel
also to delay) sends a Courier to England before pre-
senting it.
cion, angry pamphleteering and covert eloquence, "within
those walls" and without.
The suspicion of Hanover's checking his Majesty's Prag-
matic velocity is altogether well founded; and there need no
more be said on that Hanover score. Be it well understood
and admitted . Hanover was the Britannic Majesty's beloved
son; and the British Empire his opulent milk-cow. Richest
of milk-cows; staff of one's life, for grand purposes and small;
beautiful big animal, not to be provoked; but to be stroked
and milked: -- Friends, if you will do a Glorious Revolution
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? CHAP. I. ] GEORGE H. PALADIN OF THE PRAGMATIC. 9
May 1741.
of that kind, and burn such an amount of tar upon it, why eat
sour herbs for an inevitable corollary therefrom! And let my
present readers understand, at any rate, that, -- except in
Wapping, Bristol and among the simple instinctive classes
(with whom, it is true, go Pitt and some illustrious figures), --
political England generally, whatever of England had Parlia-
mentary discourse of reason, and did Pamphlets, Despatches,
Harangues, went greatly along with his Majesty in that Prag-
matic Business. And be the blame of delirium laid on the
right back, where it ought to lie, not on the wrong, which has
enough to bear of its own. And go not into that dust-whirl-
wind of extinct stupidities, O reader: -- what reader would,
except for didactic objects? Know only that it does of a truth
whirl there; and fancy always, if you can, that certain things
and Human Figures, a Friedrich, a Chatham and some others,
have it for their Life-Element. Which, I often think, is their
principal misfortune with Posterity; said Life-Element having
gone to such an unutterable condition for gods and men.
"One other thing surprises us in those Old Pamphlets,"
says my Constitutional friend: "How the phrase, 'Cause of
"Liberty' ever and anon turns up, with great though extinct
"emphasis, evidently sincere. After groping, one is astonished
"to find it means Support of the House of Austria; keeping
"of the Hapsburgs entire in their old Possessions among man-
"kind! That, to our great-grandfathers, was the 'Cause of
"Liberty! ' -- said 'Cause' being, with us again, Electoral
"Suffrage and other things; a notably different definition,
"perhaps still wider of the mark.
"Our great-grandfathers lived in perpetual terror that
"they would be'devoured by France; that French ambition
"would overset the Celestial Balance, and proceed next to eat
"the British Nation. Stand upon your guard then, one wpuld
"have said: Look to your ships, to your defences, to your
"industries; to your virtues first of all, -- your virtutes, man-
"hoods, conformities to the Divine Law appointed you; which
"are the great and indeed sole strength to any Man or Nation!
"Discipline yourselves, wisely, in all kinds; more and more,
"till there be no anarchic fibre left in you. Unanarchic, dis-
ciplined at all points, you might then, I should say, with
"supreme composure, let France, and the whole World at its
"back, try what they could do upon you and the unique little
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? 10 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [bOOK XIII.
May 1741.
"Island you are so lucky as to live in! -- Foolish mortals:
"what Potentiality of Battle, think you (not against France
"only, but against Satanas and the Ministers of Chaos gener-
ally), would a poor Friedrich Wilhelm, not to speak of
"better, have got out of such a Possession, had it been his to
"put in drill! And drill is not of soldiers only; though per-
"haps of soldiers first and most indispensably of all; since
"'without Being,' as my Friend Oliver was wont to say,
"'Well-being is not possible. ' There is military drill; there
"is industrial, economic, spiritual; gradually there are all
"kinds of drill, of wise discipline, of peremptory mandate be-
"come effective everywhere, 'Obey the Laws of Heaven, or
"else disappear from these latitudes! ' Ah me, if one dealt in
"day-dreams, and prophesies of an England grown celestial,
"-- celestial she should be, not in gold nuggets, continents all
"of beef, and seas all of beer, Abolition of Pain, and Paradise
"to All and Sundry, but in that quite different fashion; and
"there, I should say, there were the magnificent Hope to in-
"dulge in! TJhat were to me the ' Cause of Liberty;' and any
"the smallest contribution towards that kind of 'Liberty'
"were a sacred thing! --
"Belleisle again may, if he pleases, call his the Cause of
"Sovereignty. A Sovereign Louis, it would appear, has not
"governing enough to do within his own French borders, but
"feels called to undertake Germany as well; -- a gentleman
"with an immense governing faculty, it would appear? Truly,
"good reader, I am sick of heart, contemplating those empty
"sovereign mountebanks, and empty antagonist ditto, with
"their Causes of Liberty and Causes of Anti-Liberty; and
"cannot but wish that we had got the ashes of that World-
"Explosion, of 1789, well riddled and smelted, and the poor
"World were quit of a great many things! " --
My Constitutional Historian of England, musing on
Belleisle and his Anti-Pragmatic industries and gran-
diosities, -- "how Chief-Bully Belleisle stept down
"into the ring as a gay Volunteer, and foolish Chief-
"Defender George had to follow, dismally heroic, as a
"Conscript of Fate," -- drops these words, in regard
to the Wages they respectively had:
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? CHAP. I. ] GEORGE II. PALADIN OF THE PRAGMATIC. 11
May 1741.
"Nations that go into War without business there, are sure
'of getting business as they proceed; and if the beginning
'were phantasms, -- especially phantasms of the hoping, self-
'conceited kind, -- the results for them are apt to be extreme-
'ly real! As was the case with the French in this War, and
'those following, in which his Britannic Majesty played chief
'counter-tenor. From 1741, in King Friedrich's First War,
'onwards to Friedrich's Third War, 1756-1763, the volunteer
'French found a great deal of work lying ready for them,--
'gratuitous on their part, from the beginning. And there-
'suits to them came out, first completely visible, in the
'World-Miracles of 1789, and the years following!
"Nations, again, may be driven upon War by phantasm
'terrors, and go into it, in sorrow of heart, not gaiety of heart;
'and that is a shade better. And one always pities a poor
'Nation in such case; -- as the very Destinies rather do, and
'judge it more mercifully. Nay, the poor bewildered Nation
'may, among its brain-phantasms, have something of reality
'and sanity inarticulately stirring it withal. It may have a
'real ordinance of Heaven to accomplish on those terms: --
'and if so, it will sometimes, in the most chaotic circuitous
'ways, through endless hazards, at a hundred or a hundred-
'thousand times the natural expense, ultimately get it done!
'This was the case of the poor English in those Wars.
"They were Wars extraneous to England little less than
'to France; neither Nation had real business in them; and
'they seem to us now a very mad object on the part of both.
'But they were not gratuitously gone into, on the part of
'England; far from that. England undertook them, with its
'big heart very sorrowful, strange specialities bewildering
'it; and managed them (as men do sleep-walking) with a
'gloomy solidity of purpose, with a heavy-laden energy, and,
'on the whole, with a depth of stupidity, which were very
'great. Yet look at the respective net-results. France lies
'down to rot into grand Spontaneous-Combustion, Apotheosis
'of Sansculottism, and much else; which still lasts, to her
'own great peril, and the great affliction of neighbours.
'Poor England, after such enormous stumbling among the
'chimney-pots, and somnambulism over all the world for
'twenty years, finds on awakening, that she is arrived, after
all, where she wished to be, and a good deal farther! Finds
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? 12 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [bOOK XIII.
May 1741.
"that her own important little errand is somehow or other,
"done: -- and, in short, that 'Jenkins's Ear' (as she named
"the thing) 'has been avenged,' and the Ocean Highways
"'opened and a good deal more, in a most signal way! For
"the Eternal Providences, -- little as poor Dryasdust now
"knows of it, mumbling and maundering that sad stuff of his,
"-- do rule; and the great soul of the world, I assure'you
"once more, is just. And always for a Nation, as for a man,
"it is very behoveful to be honest, to be modest, however
"stupid! " --
By this time, however, -- Mollwitz having fallen
out, and Belleisle being evidently on the steps, -- his
Britannic Majesty recognises clearly, and insists upon
it, strengthened by his Harringtons and everybody of
discernment, That, nefarious or not, this Friedrich will
require to be bargained with. That, far from breaking
in upon him, and partitioning him (how far from it! ),
there is no conceivable method of saving the Celestial
Balances till he be satisfied, in some way. This is the
one step his Britannic Majesty has yet made, out of
these his choking imbroglios; and truly this is one.
Hyndford, his best negotiator, is on the road for Fried-
rich's Camp; Robinson, at Vienna, has been directed to
say and insist, "Bargain with that man; he must be
bargained with, if our Cause of Liberty is to be saved
at all! " --
And now, having opened the dustbin so far, that
the reader's fancy might be stirred without affliction
to his lungs and eyes, let us shut it down again, --
might we but hope forever! That is too fond a hope.
But the background or sustaining element made ima-
ginable, the few events deserving memory may surely
go on at a much swifter pace.
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? CHAP. n. ] CAMP OF STREHLEN. 13
May--Aug. 1741.
CHAPTEE II.
CAMP OF STREHLEN.
Fbiedrich's Silesian Camps this Summer, Camp of
Strehlen chiefly, were among the strangest places in
the world. Friedrich, as we have often noticed, did
not much pursue the defeated Austrians, at or near
Mollwitz, or press them towards flat ruin in their Sile-
sian business: it is clear he anxiously wished a bargain
without farther exasperation; and hoped he might get
it by judicious patience. Brieg he took, with that fine
outburst of bombardment, which did not last a week:
but Brieg once his, he fell quiet again; kept encamp-
ing, here, there, in that Mollwitz-Neisse region, for
above three months to come; not doing much, beyond
the indispensable; negotiating much, or rather nego-
tiated with, and waiting on events. * %
Both Armies were reinforcing themselves; and
Friedrich's, for obvious reasons, in the first weeks
especially, became much the stronger. Once in May,
and again afterwards, weary of the pace things went
at, he had resolved on having Neisse at once; on at-
tacking Neipperg in his strong camp there, and cutting
short the tedious j anglings and uncertainties. He ad-
vanced to Grotkau accordingly, some twelve or fifteen
miles nearer Neisse (28th May, -- staid till 9th June),
* In Camp of Mollwitz (nearer Brieg than the Battle-field was), till
28th May (after the Battle seven weeks); then to Camp of Grotkau (28th
May -- 9th June, twelve days); thence (9th June) to Friedewalde, Herrns-
dorf; to Strehlen (21st June -- 20th August, nine or ten weeks in all). See
llelden-Geschichle, i. 924, ii. 931; Rodenbeck, Orlich, &c.
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? 14 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
May--Aug. 1741.
quite within wind of Neipperg and his outposts; but
found still, on closer inspection, that he had better
wait; -- and do so withal at a greater distance from
Neipperg and his Pandour Swarms. He drew back
therefore to Strehlen, north-westward, rather farther
from Neisse than before; and lay encamped there for
nine or ten weeks to come. Not till the beginning of
August did there fall out any military event (Pandour
skirmishing in plenty, but nothing to call an event);
and not till the end of August any that pointed to con-
clusive results. As it was at Strehlen where mostly
these Diplomacies went on, and the Camp of Strehlen
was the final and every way the main one, it may
stand as the representative of these Diplomatising
Camps to us, and figure as the sole one, which in fact
it nearly was.
Strehlen is a pleasant little Town, nestled prettily
among its granite Hills, the steeple of it visible from
Mollwitz; some twenty-five miles west of Brieg, some
thirty south of Breslau, and about as far north-west of
Neisse: there Friedrich and his Prussians lie, under
canvas mainly, with outposts and detachments
sprinkled about under roofs: -- a Camp of Strehlen,
more or less imaginable by the reader. And worth his
imagining; such a Camp, if not for soldiering, yet for
negotiating and wagging of diplomatic wigs, as there
never was before. Here, strangely shifted hither, is
the centre of European Politics all Summer. From the
utmost ends of Europe come Ambassadors to Strehlen:
from Spain, France, England, Denmark, Holland, --
there are sometimes nine at once, how many succes-
sively and in total I never knew. * They lodge gene-
* fJelden-Geschkhte, i. 932.
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? CHAP. II. ] CAMP OF STREHLEN. 15
May--Aug. 1741.
rally in Breslau; but are always running over to
Strehlen. There sits, properly speaking, the general
Secret Parliament of Europe; and from most Coun-
tries, except Austria, representatives attend at Strehlen,
or go and come between Breslau and Strehlen, sub-
missive to the evils of field-life, when need is. A sur-
prising thing enough to mankind, and big as the world
in its own day; though gone now to small bulk, -- one
Human Figure pretty much all that is left of memor-
able in it to mankind and us.
French Belleisle we have seen; who is gone again,
long since, on his wide errands; fatValori too we have
seen, who is assiduously here. The other figures, ex-
cept the English, can remain dark to us. Of Montijos,
the eminent Spaniard, a brown little man, magnificent
as the Kingdom of the Incas, with half a page of titles
(half a peck, five-and-twenty or more, of handles to his
little name, if you should ever require it); who, finding
matters so backward at Frankfurt, and nothing to do
there, has been out, in the interim, touring to while
away the tedium; and is here only as sequel and cor-
roboration of Belleisle, -- say as bottleholder, or as
high-wrought peacock's tail, to Belleisle: -- of the
eminent Montijos I have to record next to nothing in
the shape of negotiation ("Treaty" with the Termagant
was once proposed by him here, which Friedrich in his
politest way declined); and shall mention only, That
his domestic arrangements were sumptuous and com-
modious in the extreme. Let him arrive in the meanest
village, destitute of human appliances, and be directed
to the hut where he is to lodge, -- straightway from
the fourgons and baggage-chests of Montijos is pro-
duced, first of all, a round of arras hangings, portable
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? 16 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
May--Aug. 1741.
tables, portable stove, gold plate and silver; thus, with
wax-lights, wines of richest vintage, exquisite cookeries,
Montijos lodges, a king everywhere, creating an Alad-
din's palace everywhere; able to say, like the Sage-
Bias, Omnia mea mecum porto. These things are re-
corded of Montijos. What he did in the way of nego-
tiation has escaped men's memory, as it could well af-
ford to do.
Of Hyndford's appurtenances for lodging we al-
ready had a glimpse, through Busching once; -- point-
ing towards solid dinner-comforts rather than arras
hangings; and justifying the English genius in that
respect. The weight of the negotiations fell on Hynd-
ford; it is between him and French Valori that the
matter lies, Montijos and the others being mere satel-
lites on their respective sides. Much battered upon,
this Hyndford, by refractory Hanoverians pitting
George as Elector against the same George as King,
and egging these two identities to woful battle with
each other, -- "Lay me at his Majesty's feet," full
length, and let his Majesty say which is which, then!
A heavy, eating, haggling, unpleasant kind of mortal,
this Hyndford; bites and grunts privately, in a stupid
ferocious manner, against this young King: "One of
the worst of men; who will not take up the Cause of
Liberty at all, and is not made in the image of Hynd-
ford at all. " They are dreadfully stiff reading, those
Despatches of Hyndford: but they have particles of
current news in them; interesting glimpses of that same
young King; -- likewise of Hyndford, laid at his
Majesty's feet, and begging for self and brothers any
good benefice that may fall vacant. We can discern,
too, a certain rough tenacity and horse-dealer finesse
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? CHAP. n. ] CAMP OF STREHLEN. 17
May--Aug. 1741.
in the man; a broad-based, shrewdly practical Scotch
Gentleman, wide awake; and can conjecture that the
diplomatic function, in that element, might have been
in worse hands. He is often laid metaphorically at the
King's feet, King of England's; and haunts personally
the King of Prussia's elbow at all times, watching
every glance of him, like a British house-dog, that will
not be taken in with suspicious travellers, if he can
help it; and casting perpetual horoscopes in his dull
mind.
Of Friedrich and his demeanour in this strange
scene, centre of a World all drawing sword, and jum-
bling in huge Diplomatic and other delirium about his
ears, the reader will desire to see a direct glimpse or
two. As to the sad general Imbroglio of Diplomacies
which then weltered everywhere, readers can under-
stand that it has, at this day, fallen considerably ob-
scure (as it deserved to do); and that even Friedrich's
share of it is indistinct in parts. The game, wide as
Europe, and one of the most intricate ever played by
Diplomatic human creatures, was kept studiously dark
while it went on; and it has not since been a pleasant
object of study. Many of the Documents are still un-
published, inaccessible; so that the various moves in
the game, especially what the exact dates and sequence
of them were (upon which all would turn), are not
completely ascertainable, --' nor in truth are they much
worth hunting after, through such an element. One
thing we could wish to have out of it, the one thing
of sane that was in it: the demeanour and physiognomy
of Friedrich as there manifested; Friedrich alone, or
pretty much alone of all these Diplomatic Conjurors,
having a solid veritable object in hand. The rest --
Carlyle, Fredei id: the Great. VII. 2
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? 18 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XJH.
May--Aug. 1741.
the spiders are very welcome to it: who of mortals
would read it, were it made never so lucid to him?
Such traits of Friedrich as can be sifted out into the
conceivable and indubitable state, the reader shall have;
the extinct Bedlam, tliat bcgirdled Friedrich far and
wide, need not be resuscitated except for that object.
Of Friedrich's fairness, or of Friedrich's "trickiness,
macchiavelism and attomeyism" readers will form their
own notion, as they proceed. On one point they will
not be doubtful, That here is such a sharpness of
steady eyesight (like the lynx's, like the eagle's), and
privately such a courage and fixity of resolution, as
are highly uncommon.
April 26th, 1741, in the same days while Belleisle
arrived in the Camp at Mollwitz, and witnessed that
fine opening of the cannonade upon Brieg, Excellency
Hyndford got to Berlin; and on notifying the event,
was invited by the King to come along to Breslau, and
begin business. England has been profuse enough in
offering her "good offices with Austria" towards making
a bargain for his Prussian Majesty; but is busy also,
at the Hague, concerting with the Dutch "some strong
joint resolution," --- resolution, Openly to advise Fried-
rich to withdraw his troops from Silesia, by way of
starting fair towards a bargain. A very strong reso*
lution, they and the Gazetteers think it; and ask them-
selves, Is it not likely to have some effect? Their High
Mightinesses have been screwing their courage, and
under English urgency, have decided (April 24th),*
"Yes, we will jointly so advise! " and Friedrich has
got inkling of it from Rasfeld, his Minister there.
* Helden-Geschichle, i. 964; tho Ailvice itself, a very mild-spoken
Piece, but of riskisb nature think the Dutch, is given, ib. 965-6.
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? CHAP. II. ) CAMP OF STREHLBN. 19
7th May 1741.
Hyndford's first business (were the Dutch Excellency
once come up, but those Dutch are always hanging
astern! ) is to present said "Advice," and try what
will come of that. An "Advice" now fallen totally
insignificant to the Universe and us, -- only that
readers will wish to see how Friedrich takes it, and
if any feature of Friedrich discloses itself in the
affair.
Excellency Hyndford has his First Audience (Camp of
Mollwitz, May 7th); and Friedrich makes a most im-
portant Treaty, -- not. with Hyndford.
May 2d, Hyndford arrived in Breslau; and after
some preliminary flourishings, and difficulties about
post-horses and furnitures in a seat of War, got to
Brieg; and thence, May 7th, "to the Camp" (Camp of
Mollwitz still), "which is about an English mile off,"
-- Podewils escorting him from Brieg, and what we
note farther, Pbllnitz too; our poor old Pbllnitz, some
kind of Chief Goldstick, whom we did not otherwise
know to be on active duty in those rude scenes. Belle-
isle had passed through Breslau while Hyndford was
there: -- "am unable to inform your Lordship what
success he has had. " Brieg Siege is done only three
days ago; Castle all lying black; and the new trench-
ing and fortifying hardly begun. In a word, May 7th,
1741, "about 11 a. m. ," Excellency Hyndford is in-
troduced to the King's Tent, and has his First Audience.
Goldstick having done his motions, none but Podewils
is left present; who sits at a tabic, taking notes of
what is said. Podewils's Notes are invisible to me; but
here, in authentic though carefully compressed state, is
Hyndford's minute Narrative.
2*
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? 20 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book XIII.
7th May 1741.
Excellency Hyndford mentioned the Instructions he had,
as to " good offices," friendship and so forth. "But his Prus-
"sian Majesty had hardly patience to hear me out; and said
"in a passion" (we use, where possible, Hyndford's own word-
ing; readers will allow for the leaden quality in some parts):
King (in a passion). "How is it possible, my Lord, to be-
"lieve things so contradictory? It is mighty fine [all this that
"you now tell me, on the part of the King of England; but
"how does it correspond to his last Speech to his Parliament"
(19th April last, when Mr. Viner was in such minority of one),
"and to the doings of his Ministers at Petersburg" (a pretty
Partition-Treaty that; and the Excellency Finch still busy,
as I know! ) "and at the Hague" (Excellency Trevor there,
and this beautiful Joint-Resolution and Advice which is co-
ming ! ) "to stir up allies against me? I have reason rather to
"doubt the sincerity of the King of England. They perhaps
"mean to amuse me. " (That is Friedrich's real opinion. *)
"But, by God, they are mistaken! I will risk everything
"rather than abate the least of my pretensions. "
Poor Hyndford said and mumbled what he could; knew
nothing what Instructions Finch had, Trevor had, and --
King. "My Lord, there seems to be a contradiction in all
"this. The King of England, in his Letter, tells me you are
"instructed as to everything; and yet you pretend ignorance!
"But I am perfectly informed of all. And I should not be
"surprised if, after all these fine words, you should receive
"some strong letter or resolution for me," -- Joint-Resolution
to Advise, for example?
Hyndford, not in the strength of conscious innocence,
stands silent; the King, "in his heat of passion," said to
Podewils,
King to Podewils (on the sudden). "Write down, that my
"Lord would be surprised" (as he should be) "to receive such
"Instructions! " (A mischievous sparkle, half quizzical, half
practical, considerably in the Friedrich style. )-- Hyndford.
"quite struck, my Lord, with this strange way of acting,"
and of poking into one, protests with angry grunt, and "was
put extremely upon my guard. " Of course Podewils did not
write. * *
* His Letter to Podewils (Ranke, ii. 268).
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? CHAP. II. ] CAMP OF STREHLEN. 21
7th May 1741.
Hyndford. "Europe is under the necessity of taking some
"speedy resolution, things are in such a state of crisis. Like
"a fever in a human body, got to such a height that quinquina
. "becomes necessary. " "That expression made him smile,
"and he began to look a little cooler. " * * "Shall we
"apply to Vienna, your Majesty? "
Friedrich. "Follow your own will in that. "
Hyndford. "Would your Majesty consent now to stand
"by his Excellency Gotter's original Offer at Vienna on your
"part? Agree, namely, in consideration of Lower Silesia
"and Breslau, to assist the Queen with all your troops for
"maintenance of Pragmatic Sanction, and to vote for the
"Grand-Duke as Kaiser? "
King. "Yes" (what the reader may take notice of, and
date for himself).
Hyndford. "What was the sum of money then offered her
"Hungarian Maj esty? "
King hesitated, as if he had forgotten; Podewils an-
"swered, "Three million florins (300,0001. ).
King. "I should not value the money; if money would
"content her Majesty, I would give more. " "Here was a
"long pause, which 1 did not break;" -- nor would the King.
Podewils reminded me of an idea we had been discoursing of
together ("on his suggestion, my Lord, which I really think
"is of importance, and worth your Lordship's consideration");
whereupon, on such hint,
Hyndford. "Would your Majesty consent to an Armi-
"stiee? "
Friedrich. "Yes; but" (counts on his fingers, May, June,
till he comes to December) "not for less than six months, --
"till December 1st. By that time they could do nothing,"
the season out by that time.
Hyndford. "His Excellency Podewils has been taking
"notes; if I am to be bound by them, might I first see that he
"has mistaken nothing? "
King. "Certainly! " -- Podewils's Note-protocol is found
to be correct in every point; Hyndford, with some slight
flourish of compliments on both sides, bows himself away (in-
vited to dinner, which he accepts, "will surely have that
"honour before returning to Breslau"); -- and so the First
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? 22 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [BOOK XIII.
7th May--5th June 1741.
Audience has ended. * Baronay and Pandours are about, --
this is ten days before the Ziethen feat on Baronay; -- but no
Pandour, now or afterwards, will harm a British Excellency.
These utterances of Friedrich's, the more we ex-
amine them by other lights that there are, become the
more correctly expressive of what Friedrich's real feel-
ings were on the occasion. Much contrary, perhaps, to
expectation of some readers. And indeed we will hero
advise our readers to prepare for dismissing altogether
that notion of Friedrich's duplicity, mendacity, finesse
and the like, which was once widely current in the
world; and to attend always strictly to what Friedrich
says, if they wish to guess what he is thinking; --
there being no such thing as "mendacity" discover-
able in Friedrich, when you take the trouble to in-
form yourself. "Mendacity," my friends? How busy-
have the Owls been with Friedrich's memory, in dif-
ferent countries of the world; -- perhaps even more
than their sad wont is, in such cases! For indeed he
was apt to be of swift abrupt procedure, disregardful of
Owleries; and gave scope for misunderstanding in the
course of his life. But a veracious man he was, at all
points; not even conscious of his veracity; but had it
in the blood of him; and never looked upon "menda-
city" but from a very great height indeed. He does
not, except where suitable, at least he never should,
express his whole meaning; but you will never find
him expressing what is not his meaning. Reticence,
not dissimulation. And as to "finesse," -- do not be-
lieve in that either, in the vulgar or bad sense. Truly
? Hyndford's Despatches, Breslau, 5th and 13th May 1741. Are in
State-Paper Office, like the rest of Hyndford's; also in British Museum
Additional Mss. 11, 365 &c), the rough draughts of them.
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? CHAP. H. ] CAMP OF STREHLEN. 23
7th May-5th Juno 1741.
you will find his finesse is a very fine thing; and that
it consists, not in deceiving other people, but in being
right himself; in well discerning for his own behoof,
what the facts before him are; and in steering, which
he does steadily, in a most vigilant, nimble, decisive
and intrepid manner, by monition of the same. No
salvation but in the facts. Facts are a kind of divine
thing to Friedrich; much more so than to common
men: this is essentially what Religion I have found in
Friedrich. And, let me assure you, it is an invaluable
element in any man's Religion, and highly indispensable,
though so often dispensed with! Readers, especially in
our time English readers, who would gain the least
knowledge about Friedrich, in the extinct Bedlam
where his work now lay, have a great many things to
forget, and sad strata of Owldroppings, ancient and
recent, to sweep away! --
To Friedrich a bargain with Austria, which would
be a getting into port, in comparison to going with the
French in that distracted voyage of theirs, is highly
desirable. "Shall I join with the English, 'in hope of
some tolerable bargain from Austria? Shall I have to
join with the French, in despair of any? " Readers
may consider how stringent upon Friedrich that ques-
tion now was, and how ticklish to solve. And it must
be solved soon, -- under penalty of "being left with
no ally at all" (as Friedrich expresses himself), while
the whole world is grouping itself into armed heaps for
and against! If the English would but get me a
bargain --? Friedrich dare not think they will. Nay,
scanning these English incoherences, these contradic-
tions between what they say here and what they do
and say elsewhere, he begins to doubt if they zealously
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? 24 FIRST SILESIAN WAR ENDS. [book nn.
7th May--5th June 1741.
wish it, -- and at last to believe that they sincerely
do not wish it; that "they mean to amuse me" (as he
said to Hyndford) -- till my French chance too is over.
"To amuse me: but, par Dieu --/" His Notes to
Podewils, of which Ranke, who has seen them, gives
us snatches, are vivid in that sense: "I should be
"ashamed if the cunningest Italian could dupe me; but
"that a lout of a Hanoverian should do it! " -- and
Podewils has great difficulty to keep him patient yet
a little; Valori being so busy on the other side, and
the time so pressing. Here are some dates and some
comments, which the reader should take with him; --
here is a very strange issue to the Joint-Resolution of
a strong nature now on hand!
A few days after that First Audience, Ginckel the
Dutch Excellency, with the due Papers in his pocket,
did arrive. Excellency Hyndford, who is not without
rough insight into what lies under his nose, discovers
clearly that the grand Dutch-English Resolution, or
Joint Exhortation to evacuate Silesia, will do nothing
but mischief; and (at his own risk, persuading Ginckel
also to delay) sends a Courier to England before pre-
senting it.
