Book: History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 20

T >> Thomas Carlyle >> History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 20




"Peter is an abstruse creature; has lived, all this while, with his
Catharine an abstruse life, which would have gone altogether mad
except for Catharine's superior sense. An awkward, ardent, but
helpless kind of Peter, with vehement desires, with a dash of wild
magnanimity even: but in such an inextricable element, amid such
darkness, such provocations of unmanageable opulence, such
impediments, imaginary and real,--dreadfully real to poor Peter,--
as made him the unique of mankind in his time. He 'used to drill
cats,' it is said, and to do the maddest-looking things (in his
late buried-alive condition);--and fell partly, never quite, which
was wonderful, into drinking, as the solution of his
inextricabilities. Poor Peter: always, and now more than ever, the
cynosure of vulturous vulpine neighbors, withal; which infinitely
aggravated his otherwise bad case!--

"For seven or eight years, there came no progeny, nor could come;
about the eighth or ninth, there could, and did: the marvellous
Czar Paul that was to be. Concerning whose exact paternity there
are still calumnious assertions widely current; to this individual
Editor much a matter of indifference, though on examining, his
verdict is: 'Calumnies, to all appearance; mysteries which decent
or decorous society refuses to speak of, and which indecent is
pretty sure to make calumnies out of.' Czar Paul may be considered
genealogically genuine, if that is much an object to him.
Poor Paul, does not he father himself, were there nothing more?
Only that Peter and this Cathariue could have begotten such a Paul.
Genealogically genuine enough, my poor Czar,--that needed to be
garroted so very soon!

2. OF CATHARINE AND THE BOOKS UPON PETER AND HER. "Catharine too
had an intricate time of it under the Catin; which was consoled to
her only by a tolerably rapid succession of lovers, the best the
ground yielded. In which department it is well known what a Thrice-
Greatest she became: superior to any Charles II.; equal almost to
an August the Strong! Of her loves now and henceforth, which are
heartily uninteresting to me, I propose to say nothing farther;
merely this, That in extent they probably rivalled the highest male
sovereign figures (and are to be put in the same category with
these, and damned as deep, or a little deeper);--and cost her, in
gifts, in magnificent pensions to the EMERITI (for she did things
always in a grandiose manner, quietly and yet inexorably dismissing
the EMERITUS with stores of gold), the considerable sum of 20
millions sterling, in the course of her long reign. One, or at most
two, were off on pension, when Hanbury Williams brought Poniatowski
for her, as we transiently saw. Poniatowski will be King of Poland
in the course of events. ...

"Russia is not a publishing country; the Books about Catharine are
few, and of little worth. TOOKE, an English Chaplain; CASTERA, an
unknown French Hanger-on, who copies from Tooke, or Tooke from him:
these are to be read, as the bad-best, and will yield little
satisfactory insight; Castera, in particular, a great deal of
dubious backstairs gossip and street rumor, which are not
delightful to a reader of sense. In fine, there has been published,
in these very years, a FRAGMENT of early AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Catharine
herself,--a credible and highly remarkable little Piece: worth all
the others, if it is knowledge of Catharine you are seeking.
[ Memoires de l'Imperatrice Catharine II., ecrits par elle-
meme (A. Herzen editing; London, 1859);--which we
already cited, on occasion of Catharine's marriage.

Anonymous (Castera), Vie de Catharine II., Imperatrice de
Russie (a Paris, 1797; or reprinted, most of it,
enough of it, A VARSOVIE, 1798) 2 tomes, 8vo. Tooke, Life
of Catharine II. (4th edition, London, 1800), 3 vols.
8vo; View of the Russian Empire during &c.
(London, 1799), 3 vols. 8vo.- Hermann, Geschichte des
Russischen Staats (Hamburg, 1853 ET ANTEA), v. 241-308
et seq.; is by much the most solid Book, though a dull and heavy.
Stenzel cites, as does Hermann, a Biographie Peters des
IIIten; which no doubt exists, in perhaps 3 volumes;
but where, when, by whom, or of what quality, they do not tell me.]
A most placid, solid, substantial young Lady comes to light there;
dropped into such an element as might have driven most people mad.
But it did not her; it only made her wiser and wiser in her
generation. Element black, hideous, dirty, as Lapland Sorcery;--in
which the first clear duty is, to hold one's tongue well, and keep
one's eyes open. Stars,--not very heavenly, but of fixed nature,
and heavenly to Catharine,--a star or two, shine through the
abominable murk: Steady, patient; steer silently, in all weathers,
towards these!

"Young Catharine's immovable equanimity in this distracted
environment strikes us very much. Peter is careering, tumbling
about, on all manner of absurd broomsticks, driven too surely by
the Devil; terrific-absurd big Lapland Witch, surrounded by
multitudes smaller, and some of them less ugly. Will be Czar of
Russia, however;--and is one's so-called Husband. These are
prospects for an observant, immovably steady-going young Woman!
The reigning Czarina, old CATIN herself, is silently the Olympian
Jove to Catharine, who reveres her very much. Though articulately
stupid as ever, in this Book of Catharine's, she comes out with a
dumb weight, of silence, of obstinacy, of intricate abrupt rigor,
which--who knows but it may savor of dumb unconscious wisdom in the
fat old blockhead? The Book says little of her, and in the way of
criticism, of praise or of blame, nothing whatever; but one gains
the notion of some dark human female object, bigger than one had
fancied it before.

"Catharine steered towards her stars. Lovers were vouchsafed her,
of a kind (her small stars, as we may call them); and, at length,
through perilous intricacies, the big star, Autocracy of All the
Russias,--through what horrors of intricacy, that last! She had
hoped always it would be by Husband Peter that she, with the deeper
steady head, would be Autocrat: but the intricacies kept
increasing, grew at last to the strangling pitch; and it came to
be, between Peter and her, 'Either you to Siberia (perhaps
FARTHER), or else I!' And it was Peter that had to go;--in what
hideous way is well enough known; no Siberia, no Holstein thought
to be far enough for Peter:--and Catharine, merely weeping a little
for him, mounted to the Autocracy herself. And then, the big star
of stars being once hers, she had, not in the lover kind alone, but
in all uncelestial kinds, whole nebulae and milky-ways of small
stars. A very Semiramis, the Louis-Quatorze of those Northern
Parts. 'Second Creatress of Russia,' second Peter the Great in a
sense. To me none of the loveliest objects; yet there are uglier,
how infinitely uglier: object grandiose, if not great."--
We return to Friedrich and the Death of Catin.

Colonel Hordt, I believe, was the first who credibly apprised
Friedrich of the great Russian Event. Colonel Hordt, late of the
Free-Corps HORDT, but captive since soon after the Kunersdorf time;
and whose doleful quasi-infernal "twenty-five months and three
days" in the Citadel of Petersburg have changed in one hour into
celestial glories in the Court of that City;--as readers shall
themselves see anon. By Hordt or by whomsoever, the instant
Friedrich heard, by an authentic source, of the new Czar's
Accession, Friedrich hastened to turn round upon him with the
friendliest attitude, with arms as if ready to open; dismissing all
his Russian Prisoners; and testifying, in every polite and royal
way, how gladly he would advance if permitted. To which the Czar,
by Hordt and by other channels, imperially responded; rushing
forward, he, as if with arms flung wide.

January 31st is Order from the King, [In SCHONING, iii. 275
("Breslau, 31st January, 1762").] That our Russian Prisoners, one
and all, shod, clad and dieted, be forthwith set under way from
Stettin: in return for which generosity the Prussians, from Siberia
or wherever they were buried, are, soon after, hastening home in
like manner. Gudowitsh, Peter's favorite Adjutant, who had been
sent to congratulate at Zerbst, comes round by Breslau (February
20th), and has joyfully benign audience next day; directly on the
heel of whom, Adjutant Colonel von Goltz, who KAMMERHERR as well as
Colonel, and understands things of business, goes to Petersburg.
February 23d, Czarish Majesty, to the horror of Vienna and glad
astonishment of mankind, emits Declaration (Note to all the Foreign
Excellencies in Petersburg), "That there ought to be Peace with
this King of Prussia; that Czarish Majesty, for his own part, is
resolved on the thing; gives up East Preussen and the so-called
conquests made; Russian participation in such a War has ceased."
And practically orders Czernichef, who is wintering with his 20,000
in Glatz, to quit Glatz and these Austrian Combinations, and march
homeward with his 20,000. Which Czernichef, so soon as arrangements
of proviant and the like are made, hastens to do;--and does, as far
as Thorn; but no farther, for a reason that will be seen. On the
last day of March, Czernichef--off about a week ago from Glatz, and
now got into the Breslau latitude--came across, with a select Suite
of Four, to pay his court there; and had the honor to dine with his
Majesty, and to be, personally too, a Czernichef agreeable to
his Majesty.

The vehemency of Austrian Diplomacies at Petersburg; and the horror
of Kaiserinn and Kriegshofrath in Vienna,--who have just discharged
20,000 of their own people, counting on this Czernichef, and being
dreadfully tight for money,--may be fancied. But all avails
nothing. The ardent Czar advances towards Friedrich with arms flung
wide. Goltz and Gudowitsh are engaged on Treaty of Peace;
Czar frankly gives up East Preussen, "Yours again; what use has
Russia for it, Royal Friend?" Treaty of Peace goes forward like the
drawing of a Marriage-settlement (concluded MAY 5th); and, in a
month more, has changed into Treaty of Alliance;--Czernichef
ordered to stop short at Thorn; to turn back, and join himself to
this heroic King, instead of fighting against him. Which again
Czernichef, himself an admirer of this King, joyfully does;--
though, unhappily, not with all the advantage he expected to
the King.

Swedish Peace, Queen Ulrique and the Anti-French Party now getting
the upper hand, had been hastening forward in the interim
(finished, at Hamburg, MAY 2d): a most small matter in comparison
to the Russian; but welcome enough to Friedrich;--though he said
slightingly of it, when first mentioned: "Peace? I know not hardly
of any War there has been with Sweden;--ask Colonel Belling about
it!" Colonel Belling, a most shining swift Hussar Colonel, who,
with a 2,000 sharp fellows, hanging always on the Swedish flanks,
sharp as lightning, "nowhere and yet everywhere," as was said of
him, has mainly, for the last year or two, had the management of
this extraordinary "War." Peace over all the North, Peace and more,
is now Friedrich's. Strangling imbroglio, wide as the world, has
ebbed to man's height; dawn of day has ripened into sunrise for
Friedrich; the way out is now a thing credible and visible to him.
Peter's friendliness is boundless; almost too boundless! Peter begs
a Prussian Regiment,--dresses himself in its uniform, Colonel of
ITZENPLITZ; Friedrich begs a Russian Regiment, Colonel of
SCHUWALOF: and all is joyful, hopeful; marriage-bells instead of
dirge ditto and gallows ditto,--unhappily not for very long.

In regard to Friedrich's feelings while all this went on, take the
following small utterances of his, before going farther.
JANUARY 27th, 1762 (To Madam Camas,--eight days after the Russian
Event): "I rejoice, my good Mamma, to find you have such courage;
I exhort you to redouble it! All ends in this world; so we may hope
this accursed War will not be the only thing eternal there.
Since death has trussed up a certain CATIN of the Hyperborean
Countries, our situation has advantageously changed, and becomes
more supportable than it was. We must hope that some other events
[favor of the new Czar mainly] will happen; by which we may profit
to arrive at a good Peace."

JANUARY 31st (To Minister Finkenstein) "Behold the first gleam of
light that rises;--Heaven be praised for it! We must hope good
weather will succeed these storms. God grant it!" [Preuss,
ii. 312.]

END OF MARCH (To D'Argens): ... "All that [at Paris; about the
Pompadourisms, the EXILE of Broglio and Brother, and your other
news] is very miserable; as well as that discrepancy between King's
Council and Parlement for and against the Jesuits! But, MON CHER
MARQUIS, my head is so ill, I can tell you nothing more,--
except that the Czar of Russia is a divine man; to whom I ought to
erect altars." [ OEuvres de Frederic,
xix. 301.]

MAY 25th (To the same,--Russian PEACE three weeks ago): "It is very
pleasant to me, dear Marquis, that Sans-Souci could afford you an
agreeable retreat during the beautiful Spring days. If it depended
only on me, how soon should I be there beside you! But to the Six
Campaigns there is a Seventh to be added, and will soon open;
either because the Number 7 had once mystic qualities, or because
in the Book of Fate from all eternity the"-- ... "Jesuits banished
from France? Ah, yes:--hearing of that, I made my bit of plan for
them [mean to have my pick of them as schoolmasters in Silesia
here]; and am waiting only till I get Silesia cleared of Austrians
as the first thing. You see we must not mow the corn till it is
ripe." [ OEuvres de Frederic, xix. p. 321.]

MAY 28th (To the same): ... Tartar Khan actually astir, 10,000 men
of his in Hungary (I am told); Turk potentially ditto, with 200,000
(futile both, as ever): "All things show me the sure prospect of
Peace by the end of this Year; and, in the background of it, Sans-
Souci and my dear Marquis! A sweet calm springs up again in my
soul; and a feeling of hope, to which for six years I had got
unused, consoles me for all I have come through. Think only what a
coil I shall be in, before a month hence [Campaign opened by that
time, horrid Game begun again]; and what a pass we had come to, in
December last: Country at its last gasp (AGONISAIT), as if waiting
for extreme unction: and now--!" [Ib. xix. 323.] ...

JUNE 8th (To Madame Camas,--Russian ALLIANCE now come): "I know
well, my good Mamma, the sincere part you take in the lucky events
that befall us. The mischief is, we are got so low, that we want at
present all manner of fortunate events to raise us again; and Two
grand conclusions of Peace [the Russian, the Swedish], which might
re-establish Peace throughout, are at this moment only a step
towards finishing the War less unfortunately." [Ib. xviii.
146, 147.]*

Same day, JUNE 8th (To D'Argens): "Czernichef is on march to join
us. Our Campaign will not open till towards the end of this month
[did open July 1st]; but think then what a pretty noise in this
poor Silesia again! In fine, my dear Marquis, the job ahead of me
is hard and difficult; and nobody can say positively how it will
all go. Pray for us; and don't forget a poor devil who kicks about
strangely in his harness, who leads the life of one damned; and who
nevertheless loves you sincerely.--Adieu." [ OEuvres de
Frederic, xix. 327.] D'Argens (May 24th) has heard, by
Letters from very well-informed persons in Vienna, that "Imperial
Majesty, for some time past, spends half of her time in praying to
the Virgin, and the other half in weeping." "I wish her," adds the
ungallant D'Argens, "as punishment for the mischiefs her ambition
has cost mankind these seven years past, the fate of Phaethon's
Sisters, and that she melt altogether into water!" [Ib. xix. 320
("24th May, 1762").]--Take one other little utterance; and then to
Colonel Hordt and the Petersburg side of things.

JUNE 19th (still to D'Argens); "What is now going on in Russia no
Count Kaunitz could foresee: what has come to pass in England,--of
which the hatefulest part [Bute's altogether extraordinary
attempts, in the Kaunitz, in the Czar Peter direction, to FORCE a
Peace upon me] is not yet known to you,--I had no notion of, in
forming my plans! The Governor of a State, in troublous times,
never can be sure. This is what disgusts me with the business, in
comparison. A Man of Letters operates on something certain;
a Politician can have almost no data of that kind." [Ib. xix.
p. 329.] (How easy everybody's trade but one's own!)

Readers know what a tragedy poor Peter's was. His Czernichef did
join the King; but with far less advantage than Czernichef or
anybody had anticipated!--It is none of our intention to go into
the chaotic Russian element, or that wildly blazing sanguinary
Catharine-and-Peter business; of which, at any rate, there are
plentiful accounts in common circulation, more or less accurate,--
especially M. Rulhiere's, [Histoire ou Anecdotes sur la Revolution
de Russie en l'annes 1762 (written 1768; first printed Paris, 1797:
English Translation, London, 1797).] the most succinct, lucid and
least unsatisfactory, in the accessible languages. Only so far as
Friedrich was concerned are we. But readers saw this Couple
married, under Friedrich's auspices,--a Marriage which he thought
important twenty years ago; and sure enough the Dissolution of it
did prove important to him, and is a necessary item here!

Readers, even those that know RULHIERE, will doubtless consent to a
little supplementing from Two other Eye-witnesses of credit.
The first and principal is a respectable Ex-Swedish Gentleman, whom
readers used to hear of; the Colonel Hordt above mentioned, once of
the Free-Corps HORDT, but fallen Prisoner latterly;--whose
experiences and reports are all the more interesting to us, as
Friedrich himself had specially to depend on them at present;
and doubtless, in times long afterwards, now and then heard speech
of them from Hordt. Our second Eye-witness is the Reverend Herr
Doctor Busching (of the ERDBESCHREIBUNG, of the BEITRAGE, and many
other Works, an invaluable friend to us all along); who, in his
wandering time, had come to be "Pastor of the GERMAN CHURCH AT
PETERSBURG," some years back.


WHAT COLONEL HORDT AND THE OTHERS SAW AT PETERSBURG
(January-July, 1762).

Autumn, 1759, in the sequel to KUNERSDORF,--when the Russians and
Daun lay so long torpid, uncertain what to do except keep Friedrich
and Prince Henri well separate, and Friedrich had such watchings,
campings and marchings about on the hither skirt of them (skirt
always veiled in Cossacks, and producing skirmishes as you marched
past),--we did mention Hordt's capture; [Supra, vol. x. p. 315.]
not much hoping that readers could remember it in such a press of
things more memorable. It was in, or as prelude to, one of those
skirmishes (one of the earliest, and a rather sharp one, "at
Trebatsch," in Frankfurt-Lieberose Country, "4th September, 1759"),
that Hordt had his misfortune: he had been out reconnoitring, with
an Orderly or two, before the skirmish began, was suddenly
"surrounded by 200 Cossacks," and after desperate plunging into
bogs, desperate firing of pistols and the like, was taken prisoner.
Was carted miserably to Petersburg,--such a journey for dead ennui
as Hordt never knew; and was then tumbled out into solitary
confinement in the Citadel, a place like the Spanish Inquisition;
not the least notice taken of his request for a few Books, for
leave to answer his poor Wife's Letter, merely by the words, "Dear
one, I am alive;"--and was left there, to the company of his own
reflections, and a life as if in vacant Hades, for twenty-five
months and three days. After the lapse of that period, he has
something to say to us again, and we transiently look in upon
him there.

The Book we excerpt from is Memoires du Comte de Hordt
(second edition, 2 volumes 12mo, Berlin, 1789).
This is Bookseller Pitra's redaction of the Hordt Autobiography
(Berlin, 1788, was Pitra's first edition): several years after, how
many is not said, nor whether Hordt (who had become a dignitary in
Berlin society before Pitra's feat) was still living or not, a
"M. Borelly, Professor in the Military School," undertook a second
considerably enlarged and improved redaction;--of which latter
there is an English Translation; easy enough to read; but nearly
without meaning, I should fear, to readers unacquainted with the
scene and subject. [ Memoirs of the Count de Hordt:
London, 1806: 2 vols. 12mo,--only the FIRST volume of
which (unavailable here) is in my possession.] Hordt was reckoned a
perfectly veracious, intelligent kind of man: but he seldom gives
the least date, specification or precise detail; and his Book
reads, not like the Testimony of an Eye-witness, which it is, and
valuable when you understand it; but more like some vague Forgery,
compiled by a destitute inventive individual, regardless of the Ten
Commandments (sparingly consulting even his file of Old
Newspapers), and writing a Book which would deserve the tread-mill,
were there any Police in his trade!--

WEDNESDAY, 6th JANUARY, 1762, Hordt's vacant Hades of an existence
in the Citadel of Petersburg was broken by a loud sound:
three minute-guns went off from different sides, close by; and then
whole salvos, peal after peal: "Czarina gone overnight, Peter III.
Czar in her stead!" said the Officer, rushing in to tell Hordt;
to whom it was as news of resurrection from the dead. "Evening of
same day, an Aide-de-Camp of the new Czar came to announce my
liberty; equipage waiting to take me at once to his Russian
Majesty. Asked him to defer it till the following day--so agitated
was I." And indeed the Czar, busy taking acclamations, oaths of
fealty, riding about among his Troops by torchlight, could have
made little of me that evening. [Hermann, Geschichte des
Russischen Staats, v. 241.] "Ultimately, my
presentation was deferred till Sunday" January 10th, "that it might
be done with proper splendor, all the Nobility being then usually
assembled about his Majesty."

"JANUARY 10th, Waited, amid crowds of Nobility, in the Gallery,
accordingly. Was presented in the Gallery, through which the Czar,
followed by Czarina and all the Court, were passing on their way to
Chapel. Czar made a short kind speech ('Delighted to do you an act
of justice, Monsieur, and return a valuable servant to the King I
esteem'); gave me his hand to kiss: Czarina did the same.
General Korf," an excellent friend, so kind to me at Konigsberg,
while I was getting carted hither, and a General now in high office
here, "who had been my introducer, led me into Chapel, to the
Court's place (TRIBUNE DE LA COUR). Czar came across repeatedly
[while public worship was going on; a Czar perhaps too regardless
that way!] to talk to me; dwelt much on his attachment to the King.
On coming out, the Head Chamberlain whispered me, 'You dine with
the Court.'" Which, of course, I did.

"Table was of sixty covers; splendid as the Arabian Tales. Czar and
Czarina sat side by side; Korf and I had the honor to be placed
opposite them. Hardly were we seated when the Czar addressed me:
'You have had no Prussian news this long while. I am glad to tell
you that the King is well, though he has had such fighting to right
and left;--but I hope there will soon be an end to all that.'
Words which everybody listened to like prophecy! [Peter is nothing
of a Politician.] 'How long have you been in prison?' continued the
Czar. 'Twenty-five months and three days, your Majesty.' 'Were you
well treated?' Hordt hesitated, knew not what to say; but, the Czar
urging him, confessed, 'He had been always rather badly used;
not even allowed to buy a few books to read.' At which the Czarina
was evidently shocked: 'CELA EST BIEN BARBARE!' she exclaimed
aloud.--I wished much to return home at once; and petitioned the
Czar on that subject, during coffee, in the withdrawing rooms;
but he answered, 'No, you must not,--not till an express Prussian
Envoy arrive!' I had to stay, therefore; and was thenceforth almost
daily at Court",--but unluckily a little vague, and altogether
DATELESS as to what I saw there!

BIEREN AND MUNNICH, BOTH OF THEM JUST HOME FROM SIBERIA, ARE TO
DRINK TOGETHER (No date: Palace of Petersburg, Spring, 1762).--
Peter had begun in a great way: all for liberalism, enlightenment,
abolition of abuses, general magnanimity on his own and everybody's
part. Rulhiere did not see the following scene; but it seems to be
well enough vouched for, and Rulhiere heard it talked of in
society. "As many as 20,000 persons, it is counted, have come home
from Siberian Exile:" the L'Estocs, the Munnichs, Bierens, all
manner of internecine figures, as if risen from the dead.
"Since the night when Munnich arrested Bieren [readers possibly
remember it, and Mannstein's account of it [Supra, vol. vii.
p. 363.]], the first time these two met was in the gay and
tumultuous crowd which surrounded the new Czar. 'Come, bygones be
bygones,' said Peter, noticing them; 'let us three all drink
together, like friends!'--and ordered three glasses of wine.
Peter was beginning his glass to show the others an example, when
somebody came with a message to him, which was delivered in a low
tone; Peter listening drank out his wine, set down the glass, and
hastened off; so that Bieren and Munnich, the two old enemies, were
left standing, glass in hand, each with his eyes on the Czar's
glass;--at length, as the Czar did not return, they flashed each
his eyes into the other's face; and after a moment's survey, set
down their glasses untasted, and walked off in opposite
directions." [Rulhiere, p. 33.] Won't coalesce, it seems, in spite
of the Czar's high wishes. An emblem of much that befell the poor
Czar in his present high course of good intentions and headlong
magnanimities!--We return to Hordt:--

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