Book: History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 21

T >> Thomas Carlyle >> History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 21




"I do not now recollect why he quoted these verses, also in
English, by Rochester, on CHARLES SECOND:--

'Here lies the mutton-eating King,

Who never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.'

But speaking of Racine, he quoted this Couplet (of Roscomman's
ESSAY ON TRANSLATED VERSE):--

'The weighty bullion of one sterling line
Drawn to French wire would through whole pages shine.

SHERLOCK. "'The English prefer Corneille to Racine.'

VOLTAIRE. "'That is because the English are not sufficiently
acquainted with the French tongue to feel the beauties of Racine's
style, or the harmony of his versification. Corneille ought to
please them more because he is more striking; but Racine pleases
the French because he has more softness and tenderness.'

SHERLOCK. "'How did you find [LIKE] the English fare (LA CHERE
ANGLAISE?'--which Voltaire mischievously takes for 'the dear
Englishwoman').

VOLTAIRE. "'I found her very fresh and white,'--truly! [It should
be remembered, that when he made this pun upon Women he was in his
eighty-third year.]

SHERLOCK. "'Their language?'

VOLTAIRE. "'Energetic, precise and barbarous; they are the only
Nation that pronounce their A as E. ... [And some time afterwards]
Though I cannot perfectly pronounce English, my ear is sensible of
the harmony of your language and of your versification. Pope and
Dryden have the most harmony in Poetry; Addison in Prose.'
[Takes now the interrogating side.]

VOLTAIRE. "'How have you liked (AVEX-VOUS TROUVE) the French?'

SHERLOCK. "'Amiable and witty. I only find one fault with them:
they imitate the English too much.'

VOLTAIRE. "'How! Do you think us worthy to be originals ourselves?'

SHERLOCK. "'Yes, Sir.'

VOLTAIRE. "'So do I too:--but it is of your Government that we
are envious.'

SHERLOCK. "'I have found the French freer than I expected.'

VOLTAIRE. "'Yes, as to walking, or eating whatever he pleases, or
lolling in his elbow-chair, a Frenchman is free enough; but as to
taxes--Ah, Monsieur, you are a lucky Nation; you can do what you
like; poor we are born in slavery: we cannot even die as we will;
we must have a Priest [can't get buried otherwise; am often
thinking of that!] ... Well, if the English do sell themselves, it
is a proof that they are worth something: we French don't sell
ourselves, probably because we are worth nothing.'

SHERLOCK. "'What is your opinion of the ELOISE' [Rousseau's
immortal Work]?

VOLTAIRE. "'That it will not be read twenty years hence.'

SHERLOCK. "'Mademoiselle de l’Enclos wrote some good LETTERS?'

VOLTAIRE. "'She never wrote one; they were by the wretched
Crebillon' [my beggarly old "Rival" in the Pompadour epoch]! ...

VOLTAIRE. "'The Italians are a Nation of brokers. Italy is an Old-
Clothes shop; in which there are many Old Dresses of exquisite
taste. ... But we are still to know, Whether the subjects of the
Pope or of the Grand Turk are the more abject.' [We have now gone
to the Drawing-room, I think, though it is not jotted.]

"He talked of England and of Shakspeare; and explained to Madame
Denis part of a Scene in Henry Fifth, where the King makes love to
Queen Catherine in bad French; and of another in which that Queen
takes a lesson in English from her Waiting-woman, and where there
are several very gross double-entendres"--but, I hope, did not long
dwell on these. ...

VOLTAIRE. "'When I see an Englishman subtle and fond of lawsuits, I
say, "There is a Norman, who came in with William the Conqueror."
When I see a man good-natured and polite, "That is one who came
with the Plantagenets;" a brutal character, "That is a Dane:"--for
your Nation, Monsieur, as well as your Language, is a medley of
many others.'

"After dinner, passing through a little Parlor where there was a
head of Locke, another of the Countess of Coventry, and several
more, he took me by the arm and stopped me: 'Do you know this Bust
[bust of Sir Isaac Newton]? It is the greatest genius that ever
existed: if all the geniuses of the Universe were assembled, he
should lead the band.'

"It was of Newton, and of his own Works, that M. de Voltaire always
spoke with the greatest warmth." [Sherlock, LETTERS (London, 1802),
i. 98-106.] (EXIT Sherlock, to jot down the above, and thence into
Infinite Space.)


GENERAL OR FIELDMARSHAL CONWAY, DIRECT FROM THE LONDON CIRCLES,
ATTENDS ONE OF FRIEDRICH'S REVIEWS (August-September, 1774).

Now that Friedrich's Military Department is got completely into
trim again, which he reckons to have been about 1770, his annual
Reviews are becoming very famous over Europe; and intelligent
Officers of all Countries are eager to be present, and instruct
themselves there. The Review is beautiful as a Spectacle; but that
is in no sort the intention of it. Rigorous business, as in the
strictest of Universities examining for Degrees, would be nearer
the definition. Sometimes, when a new manoeuvre or tactical
invention of importance is to be tried by experiment, you will find
for many miles the environs of Potsdam, which is usually the scene
of such experiments, carefully shut in; sentries on every road, no
unfriendly eye admitted; the thing done as with closed doors. Nor
at any time can you attend without leave asked; though to Foreign
Officers, and persons that have really business there, there
appears to be liberality enough in granting it. The concourse of
military strangers seems to keep increasing every year, till
Friedrich's death. [Rodenbeck, iii. IN LOCIS.] French, more and
more in quantity, present themselves; multifarious German names;
generally a few English too,--Burgoyne (of Saratoga finally),
Cornwallis, Duke of York, Marshal Conway,--of which last we have
something farther to say at present.

In Summer, 1774, Conway--the Marshal Conway, of whom Walpole is
continually talking as of a considerable Soldier and Politician,
though he was not in either character considerable, but was
Walpole's friend, and an honest modest man--had made up his mind,
perhaps partly on domestic grounds (for I have noticed glimpses of
a "Lady C." much out of humor), to make a Tour in Germany, and see
the Reviews, both Austrian and Prussian, Prussian especially.
Two immense LETTERS of his on that subject have come into my hands,
[Kindly presented me by Charles Knight, Esq., the well-known Author
and Publisher (who possesses a Collection by the same hand):
these Two run to fourteen large pages in my Copy!] and elsewhere
incidentally there is printed record of the Tour; [In Keith (Sir
Robert Murray), Memoirs and Correspondence,
ii. 21 et, seq.] unimportant as possible, both Tour and Letters,
but capable, if squeezed into compass, of still being read without
disadvantage here.

Sir Robert Murray Keith--that is, the younger Excellency Keith, now
Minister at Dresden, whom we have sometimes heard of--accompanies
Conway on this Tour, or flies alongside of him, with frequent
intersections at the principal points; and there is printed record
by Sir Robert, but still less interesting than this of Conway, and
perfectly conformable to it:--so that, except for some words about
the Lord Marischal, which shall be given, Keith must remain silent,
while the diffuse Conway strives to become intelligible.
Indeed, neither Conway nor Keith tell us the least thing that is
not abundantly, and even wearisomely known from German sources;
but to readers here, a pair of English eyes looking on the matter
(put straight in places by the help there is), may give it a
certain freshness of meaning. Here are Conway's Two Letters, with
the nine parts of water charitably squeezed out of them, by a
skilful friend of mine and his.


CONWAY TO HIS BROTHER, MARQUIS OF HERTFORD (in London).

"BERLIN, July 17th, 1774.

"DEAR BROTHER,--In the hurry I live in--... Leaving Brunswick,
where, in absence of most of the Court, who are visiting at
Potsdam, my old Commander," Duke Ferdinand, now estranged from
Potsdam, [Had a kind of quarrel with Friedrich in 1766 (rough
treatment by Adjutant von Anhalt, not tolerable to a Captain now
become so eminent), and quietly withdrew,--still on speaking terms
with the King, but never his Officer more.] and living here among
works of Art, and speculations on Free Masonry, "was very kind to
me, I went to Celle, in Hanover, to pay my respects to the Queen of
Denmark [unfortunate divorced Matilda, saved by my friend Keith,--
innocent, I will hope!] ... She is grown extremely fat. ...
At Magdeburg, the Prussian Frontier on this side, one is not
allowed, without a permit, even to walk on the ramparts,--such the
strictness of Prussian rule. ... Driving through Potsdam, on my way
to Berlin, I was stopped by a servant of the good old Lord
Marischal, who had spied me as I passed under his window. He came
out in his nightgown, and insisted upon our staying to dine with
him--[worthy old man; a word of him, were this Letter done].
We ended, on consultation about times and movements of the King, by
staying three days at Potsdam, mostly with this excellent old Lord.

"On the third day [yesterday evening, in fact], I went, by
appointment, to the New Palace, to wait upon the King of Prussia.
There was some delay: his Majesty had gone, in the interim, to a
private Concert, which he was giving to the Princesses [Duchess of
Brunswick and other high guests [Rodenbeck (IN DIE) iii. 98.]];
but the moment he was told I was there, he came out from his
company, and gave me a most flattering gracious audience of more
than half an hour; talking on a great variety of things, with an
ease and freedom the very reverse of what I had been made to
expect. ... I asked, and received permission, to visit the Silesian
Camps next month, his Majesty most graciously telling me the
particular days they would begin and end [27th August-3d September,
Schmelwitz near Breslau, are time and place [Ib. iii. 101.]].
This considerably deranges my Austrian movements, and will hurry my
return out of those parts: but who could resist such a temptation!
--I saw the Foot-Guards exercise, especially the splendid 'First
Battalion;' I could have conceived nothing so perfect and so exact
as all I saw:--so well dressed, such men, and so punctual in all
they did.

"The New Palace at Potsdam is extremely noble. Not so perfect,
perhaps, in point of taste, but better than I had been led to
expect. The King dislikes living there; never does, except when
there is high Company about him; for seven or eight months in the
year, he prefers Little Sans-Souci, and freedom among his intimates
and some of his Generals. ... His Music still takes up a great
share of the King's time. On a table in his Cabinet there, I saw, I
believe, twenty boxes with a German flute in each; in his Bed-
chamber, twice as many boxes of Spanish snuff; and, alike in
Cabinet and in Bed-chamber, three arm-chairs in a row for three
favorite dogs, each with a little stool by way of step, that the
getting up might be easy. ...

"The Town of Potsdam is a most extraordinary and, in its
appearance, beautiful Town; all the streets perfectly straight, all
at right angles to each other; and all the houses built with
handsome, generally elegant fronts. ... He builds for everybody who
has a bad or a small house, even the lowest mechanic. He has done
the same at Berlin." Altogether, his Majesty's building operations
are astonishing. And "from whence does this money come, after a
long expensive War? It is all fairyland and enchantment,"--MAGNUM
VECTIGAL PARSIMONIA, in fact! ... "At Berlin here, I saw the
Porcelain Manufacture to-day, which is greatly improved. I leave
presently. Adieu, dear Brother; excuse my endless Letter [since you
cannot squeeze the water out of it, as some will!]--
Yours most sincerely,

"HENRY SEYMOUR CONWAY."

Keith is now Minister at Dresden for some years back; and has,
among other topics, much to say of our brilliant friend the
Electress there: but his grand Diplomatic feat was at Copenhagen,
on a sudden sally out thither (in 1771): [In KEITH, i. 152 &c.,
nothing of intelligible Narrative given, hardly the date
discoverable.] the saving of Queen Matilda, youngest Sister of
George Third, from a hard doom. Unfortunate Queen Matilda;
one never knows how guilty, or whether guilty at all, but she was
very unfortunate, poor young Lady! What with a mad Husband
collapsed by debaucheries into stupor of insanity; what with a
Doctor, gradually a Prime Minister, Struensee, wretched scarecrow
to look upon, but wiser than most Danes about; and finally, with a
lynx-eyed Step-sister, whose Son, should Matilda mistake, will
inherit,--unfortunate Matilda had fallen into the awfulest
troubles; got divorced, imprisoned, would have lost her head along
with scarecrow Struensee had not her Brother George III.
emphatically intervened,--Excellency Keith, with Seventy-fours in
the distance, coming out very strong on the occasion,--and got her
loose. Loose from Danish axe and jail, at any rate; delivered into
safety and solitude at Celle in Hanover, where she now is,--and
soon after suddenly dies of fever, so closing a very sad
short history.

Excellency Keith, famed in the Diplomatic circles ever since, is at
present ahead of Conway on their joint road to the Austrian
Reviews. Before giving Conway's Second Letter, let us hear Keith a
little on his kinsman the Old Marischal, whom he saw at Berlin
years ago, and still occasionally corresponds with, and mentions in
his Correspondence. Keith LOQUITUR; date is Dresden,
February, 1770:--

HAS VISITED THE OLD MARISCHAL AT POTSDAM LATELY. ... "My stay of
three days with Lord Marischal. ... He is the most innocent of
God's creatures; and his heart is much warmer than his head. The
place of his abode," I must say, "is the very Temple of Dulness;
and his Female Companion [a poor Turk foundling, a perishing infant
flung into his late Brother's hands at the Fall of Oczakow, [Supra,
vii. 82.]--whom the Marischal has carefully brought up, and who
refuses to marry away from him,--rather stupid, not very pretty by
the Portraits; must now be two-and-thirty gone] is perfectly
calculated to be the Priestess of it! Yet he dawdles away his day
in a manner not unpleasant to him; and I really am persuaded he has
a conscience that would gild the inside of a dungeon. The feats of
our bare-legged warriors in the late War [BERG-SCHOTTEN, among whom
I was a Colonel], accompanied by a PIBRACH [elegiac bagpipe droning
MORE SUO] in his outer room, have an effect on the old Don, which
would delight you." [Keith, i. 129; "Dresden, 25th February, 1770:"
to his Sister in Scotland.]

AND THEN SEEN HIM IN BERLIN, ON THE SAME OCCASION. ...
"Lord Marischal came to meet me at Sir Andrew's [Mitchell's, in
Berlin, the last year of the brave Mitchell's life], where we
passed five days together. My visit to his country residence," as
you already know, "was of three days; and I had reason to be
convinced that it gave the old Don great pleasure. He talked to me
with the greatest openness and confidence of all the material
incidents of his life; and hinted often that the honor of the Clan
was now to be supported by our family, for all of whom he had the
greatest esteem. His taste, his ideas, and his manner of living,
are a mixture of Aberdeenshire and the Kingdom of Valencia; and as
he seeks to make no new friends, he seems to retain a strong,
though silent, attachment for his old ones. As to his political
principles, I believe him the most sincere of converts" to Whiggery
and Orthodoxy. ... "Since I began this, I have had a most
inimitable Letter from Lord Marischal. I had mentioned Dr. Bailies
to him [noted English Doctor at Dresden, bent on inoculating and
the like], and begged he would send me a state of his case and
infirmities, that the Doctor might prescribe for him. This is a
part of his answer:--

"'I thank you for your advice of consulting the English Doctor to
repair my old carcass. I have lately done so by my old coach, and
it is now almost as good as new. Please, therefore, to tell the
Doctor, that from him I expect a good repair, and shall state the
case. First, he must know that the machine is the worse for wear,
being nearly eighty years old. The reparation I propose he shall
begin with is: One pair of new eyes, one pair of new ears, some
improvement on the memory. When this is done, we shall ask new
legs, and some change in the stomach. For the present, this first
reparation will be sufficient; and we must not trouble the Doctor
too much at once.'--You see by this how easy his Lordship's
infirmities sit upon him; and it is really so as he says.
Your friend Sir Andrew is, I am afraid, less gay; but I have not
heard from him these three months." [Keith, i. 132, 133; "Dresden,
13th March, 1770:" to his Father.]

CONWAY TO KEITH, ON THE LATE THREE DAYS AT POTSDAM.
[Date, "Dresden, 21st July, 1774:" in KEITH, ii. 15.] "I stayed
three days at Potsdam, with much entertainment, for good part of
which I am obliged to your Excellency's old friend Lord Marischal,
who showed me all the kindness and civility possible. He stopped me
as I passed, and not only made me dine with him that day, but in a
manner live with him. He is not at all blind, as you imagined;
so much otherwise, that I saw him read, without spectacles, a
difficult hand I could not easily decipher. ... Stayed but a day at
Berlin;" am rushing after you:--Here is my Second Letter:--


CONWAY'S SECOND LETTER (to his Brother, as before).

"SCHMELWITZ [near Breslau] HEAD-QUARTERS,

August 31st, 1774.

"DEAR BROTHER ... I left that Camp [Austrian Camp, and Reviews in
Hungary, where the Kaiser and everybody had been very gracious to
me] with much regret." Parted regretfully with Keith;--had played,
at Presburg, in sight of him and fourteen other Englishmen, a game
with the Chess Automaton [brand-new miracle, just out]; [Account of
it, and of this game, in KEITH too (ii. 18; "View, 3d September,
1774:" Keith to his Father).]--came on through Vienna hitherward,
as fast as post-horses could carry us; travelling night and day,
without stopping, being rather behind time. "Arrived at Breslau
near dark, last night; where I learnt that the Camp was twenty
miles off; that the King was gone there, and that the Manoeuvres
would begin at four or five this morning. I therefore ordered my
chaise at twelve at night, and set out, in darkness and rain, to be
presented to the King of Prussia next morning at five, at the head
of his troops. ... When I arrived, before five, at the place called
'Head-quarters,' I found myself in the middle of a miserable
Village [this Schmelwitz here]; no creature alive or stirring, nor
a sentinel, or any Military object to be seen. ... As soon as
anything alive was to be found, we asked, If the King was lodged in
that Village? 'Yes,' they said, 'in that House' (pointing to a clay
Hovel). But General Lentulus soon appeared; and--

"His Majesty has been very gracious; asked me many questions about
my tour to Hungary. I saw all the Troops pass him as they arrived
in Camp. They made a very fine appearance really, though it rained
hard the whole time we were out; and as his Majesty [age 62] did
not cloak, we were all heartily wet. And, what was worse, went from
the field to Orders [giving out of Parole, and the like] at his
Quarters, there to make our bow;--where we stayed in our wet
clothes an hour and half [towards 10 A.M. by this time]. ...
How different at the Emperor's, when his Imperial Majesty and
everybody was cloaked! [Got no hurt by the wet, strange to say.]
... These are our news to this day. And now, having sat up five
nights out of the last six, and been in rain and dirt almost all
day, I wish you sincerely good-night.--H. S. C.

"P.S. Breslau, 4th September.-- ... My Prussian Campaign is
finished, and as much to my satisfaction as possible. The beauty
and order of the Troops, their great discipline, their" &c. &c.,
"almost pass all belief. ... Yesterday we were on horseback early,
at four o'clock. The movement was conducted with a spirit and
order, on both sides, that was astonishing, and struck the more
delightful (SIC) by the variety, as in the course of the Action the
Enemy, conducted by General Anhalt [head all right as yet], took
three different positions before his final retreat.

"The moment it was over [nine o'clock or so], his Majesty got a
fresh horse, and set out for Potsdam, after receiving the
compliments of those present, or rather holding a kind of short
Levee in the field. I can't say how much, in my particular, I am
obliged to his Majesty for his extraordinary reception, and
distinction shown me throughout. Each day after the Manoeuvre, and
giving the Orders of the day, he held a little Levee at the door,
or in the court; at which, I can assure you, it is not an
exaggeration of vanity to say, that he not only talked to me, but
literally to nobody else at all. It was a good deal each time, and
as soon as finished he made his bow, and retired, though all, or
most, of the other Foreigners were standing by, as well as his own
Generals. He also called me up, and spoke to me several times on
horseback, when we were out, which he seldom did to anybody.

"The Prince Royal also showed me much civility. The second day, he
asked me to come and drink a dish of tea with him after dinner, and
kept me an hour and half. He told me, among other things, that the
King of Prussia had a high opinion of me, and that it came chiefly
from the favorable manner in which Duke Ferdinand and the
Hereditary Prince [of Brunswick] had spoken of me. ... Pray let
Horace Walpole know my address, that I may have all the chance I
can of hearing from him. But if he comes to Paris, I forgive him.--
H. S. C."

Friedrich's Reviews, though fine to look upon, or indeed the finest
in the world, were by no means of spectacular nature; but of
altogether serious and practical, almost of solemn and terrible, to
the parties interested. Like the strictest College Examination for
Degrees, as we said; like a Royal Assize or Doomsday of the Year;
to Military people, and over the upper classes of Berlin Society,
nothing could be more serious, Major Kaltenborn, an Ex-Prussian
Officer, presumably of over-talkative habits, who sounds on us like
a very mess-room of the time all gathered under one hat,--describes
in an almost awful manner the kind of terror with which all people
awaited these Annual Assizes for trial of military merit.

"What a sight," says he, "and awakening what thoughts, that of a
body of from 18,000 to 20,000 soldiers, in solemn silence and in
deepest reverence, awaiting their fate from one man! A Review, in
Friedrich's time, was an important moment for almost the whole
Country. The fortune of whole families often depended on it:
from wives, mothers, children and friends, during those terrible
three days, there arose fervent wishes to Heaven, that misfortune
might not, as was too frequently the case, befall their husbands,
fathers, sons and friends, in the course of them. Here the King, as
it were, weighed the merits of his Officers, and distributed,
according as he found them light or heavy, praise or blame, rebukes
or favors; and often, too often, punishments, to be felt through
life. One single unhappy moment [especially if it were the last of
a long series of such!] often deprived the bravest Officer of his
bread, painfully earned in peace and war, and of his reputation and
honor, at least in the eyes of most men, who judge of everything
only by its issue. The higher you had risen, the easier and deeper
your fall might be at an unlucky Review. The Heads and Commanders
of regiments were always in danger of being sent about their
business (WEGGEJAGT)."

The fact is, I Kaltenborn quitted the Prussian Service, and took
Hessian,--being (presumably) of exaggerative, over-talkative
nature, and strongly gravitating Opposition way!--Kaltenborn admits
that the King delighted in nothing so much as to see people's faces
cheerful about him; provided the price for it were not too high.
Here is another passage from him:--

"At latest by 9 in the morning the day's Manoeuvre had finished,
and everything was already in its place again. Straight from the
ground all Heads of regiments, the Majors-DE-JOUR, all Aides-de-
Camp, and from every battalion one Officer, proceed to Head-
quarters. It was impossible to speak more beautifully, or
instructively, than the King did on such occasions, if he were not
in bad humor. It was then a very delight to hear him deliver a
Military Lecture, as it were. He knew exactly who had failed, what
caused the fault, and how it might and should have been retrieved.
His voice was soft and persuasive (HINREISSEND); he looked kindly,
and appeared rather bent upon giving good advice than commands.

"Thus, for instance, he once said to General van Lossow, Head of
the Black Hussars: 'Your (SEINE) Attack would have gone very well,
had not your own squadron pressed forward too much (VORGEPRELLT).
The brave fellows wanted to show me how they can ride. But don't I
know that well enough;--and also that you [covetous Lossow] always
choose the best horses from the whole remount for your own
squadron! There was, therefore, no need at all for that. Tell your
people not to do so to-morrow, and you will see it will go much
better; all will remain closer in their places, and the left wing
be able to keep better in line, in coming on.'--Another time,
having observed, in a certain Foot-regiment, that the soldiers were
too long in getting out their cartridges, he said to the
Commandant: 'Do you know the cause of this, my dear Colonel?
Look, the cartouche, in the cartridge-box, has 32 holes; into these
the fellow sticks his eight cartridges, without caring how: and so
the poor devil fumbles and gropes about, and cannot get hold of
any. But now, if the Officers would look to it that he place them
all well together in the middle of the cartouche, he would never
make a false grasp, and the loading would go as quick again.
Only tell your Officers that I had made this observation, and I am
sure they will gladly attend to it.'" [Anonymous (Kaltenborn),
Briefe eines alten Preussischen Officiers
(Hohenzollern, 1790), ii. 24-26.]

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