Chapter VIII. — THE FURSTENBUND: FRIEDRICH’S LAST YEARS.

At Vienna, on November 29th, 1780, the noble Kaiserinn Maria Theresa, after a short illness, died. Her end was beautiful and exemplary, as her course had been. The disease, which seemed at first only a bad cold, proved to have been induration of the lungs; the chief symptom throughout, a more and more suffocating difficulty to breathe. On the edge of death, the Kaiserinn, sitting in a chair (bed impossible in such struggle for breath), leant her head back as if inclined to sleep. One of her women arranged the cushions, asked in a whisper, “Will your Majesty sleep, then?” “No,” answered the dying Kaiserinn; “I could sleep, but I must not; Death is too near. He must not steal upon me. These fifteen years I have been making ready for him; I will meet him awake.” Fifteen years ago her beloved Franz was snatched from her, in such sudden manner: and ever since, she has gone in Widow’s dress; and has looked upon herself as one who had done with the world. The 18th of every month has been for her a day of solitary prayer; 18th of every August (Franz’s death-day) she has gone down punctually to the vaults in the Stephans-Kirche, and sat by his coffin there; — last August, something broke in the apparatus as she descended; and it has ever since been an omen to her. [Hormayr, OEsterreichischer Plutarch, iv. (2tes) 94; Keith, ii. 114.] Omen now fulfilled.

On her death, Joseph and Kaunitz, now become supreme, launched abroad in their ambitious adventures with loose rein. Schemes of all kinds; including Bavaria still, in spite of the late check; for which latter, and for vast prospects in Turkey as well, the young Kaiser is now upon a cunning method, full of promise to him, — that of ingratiating himself with the Czarina, and cutting out Friedrich in that quarter. Summer, 1780, while the Kaiserinn still lived, Joseph made his famous First Visit to the Czarina (May-August, 1780), [Hermann, vi. 132-135.] — not yet for some years his thrice-famous Second Visit (thrice-famous Cleopatra-voyage with her down the Dnieper; dramaturgic cities and populations keeping pace with them on the banks, such the scenic faculty of Russian Officials, with Potemkin as stage-manager): — in the course of which First Visit, still more in the Second, it is well known the Czarina and Joseph came to an understanding. Little articulated of it as yet; but the meaning already clear to both. “A frank partnership, high Madam: to you, full scope in your glorious notion of a Greek Capital and Empire, Turk quite trampled away, Constantinople a Christian metropolis once more [and your next Grandson a CONSTANTINE, — to be in readiness]: why not, if I may share too, in the Donau Countries, that lie handy? To you, I say, an Eastern Empire; to me, a Western: Revival of the poor old Romish Reich, so far as may be; and no hindrance upon Bavaria, next time. Have not we had enough of that old Friedrich, who stands perpetually upon STATUS QUO, and to both of us is a mere stoppage of the way?”

Czarina Catharine took the hint; christened her next Grandson “Constantine” (to be in readiness); [This is the Constantine who renounced, in favor of the late Czar Nicholas; and proved a failure in regard to “New Greek Empire,” and otherwise.] and from that time stiffly refused renewing her Treaty with Friedrich; — to Friedrich’s great grief, seeing her, on the contrary, industrious to forward every German scheme of Joseph’s, Bavarian or other, and foreshadowing to himself dismal issues for Prussia when this present term of Treaty should expire. As to Joseph, he was busy night and day, — really perilous to Friedrich and the independence of the German Reich. His young Brother, Maximilian, he contrives, Czarina helping, to get elected Co-adjutor of Koln; Successor of our Lanky Friend there, to be Kur-Koln in due season, and make the Electorate of Koln a bit of Austria henceforth. [Lengthy and minute account of that Transaction, in all the steps of it, in DOHM, i. 295-39.] Then there came “PANIS-BRIEFE,” [PANIS (Bread) BRIEF is a Letter with which, in ancient centuries, the Kaiser used to furnish an old worn-out Servant, addressed to some Monastery, some Abbot or Prior in easy circumstances: “Be so good as provide this old Gentleman with Panis (Bread, or Board and Lodging) while he lives.” Very pretty in Barbarossa’s time; — but now — !] — who knows what? — usurpations, graspings and pretensions without end: — finally, an open pretension to incorporate Bavaria, after all. Bavaria, not in part now, but in whole: “You, Karl Theodor, injured man, cannot we give you Territory in the Netherlands; a King there you shall be, and have your vote as Kur-Pfalz still; only think! In return for which, Bavaria ours in fee-simple, and so finish that?” Karl Theodor is perfectly willing, — only perhaps some others are not. Then and there, these threatening complexities, now gone like a dream of the night, were really life-perils for the Kingdom of Prussia; never to be lost sight of by a veteran Shepherd of the People. They kept a vigilant King Friedrich continually on the stretch, and were a standing life-problem to him in those final Years. Problem nearly insoluble to human contrivance; the Russian card having palpably gone into the other hand. Problem solved, nevertheless; it is still remembered how.

On the development of that pretty Bavarian Project, the thing became pressing; and it is well known by what a stroke of genius Friedrich checkmated it; and produced instead a “FURSTENBUND,” or general “Confederation of German Princes,” Prussia atop, to forbid peremptorily that the Laws of the Reich be infringed. FURSTENBUND: this is the victorious summit of Friedrich’s Public History, towards which all his efforts tended, during these five years: Friedrich’s last feat in the world. Feat, how obsolete now, — fallen silent everywhere, except in German Parish-History, and to the students of Friedrich’s character in old age! Had no result whatever in European History; so unexpected was the turn things took. A FURSTENBUND which was swallowed bodily within few years, in that World-Explosion of Democracy, and War of the Giants; and — unless Napoleon’s “Confederation of the Rhine” were perhaps some transitory ghost of it? — left not even a ghost behind. A FURSTENBUND of which we must say something, when its Year comes; but obviously not much.

Nor are the Domesticities, as set forth by our Prussian authorities, an opulent topic for us. Friedrich’s Old Age is not unamiable; on the contrary, I think it would have made a pretty Picture, had there been a Limner to take it, with the least felicity or physiognomic coherency; — as there was not. His Letters, and all the symptoms we have, denote a sound-hearted brave old man; continually subduing to himself many ugly troubles; and, like the stars, always steady at his work. To sit grieving or desponding is, at all times, far from him: “Why despond? Won’t it be all done presently; is it of much moment while it lasts?” A fine, unaffectedly vigorous, simple and manful old age; — rather serene than otherwise; in spite of electric outbursts and cloudy weather that could not be wanting.

Of all which there is not, in this place, much more to be said. Friedrich’s element is itself wearing dim, sombre of hue; and the records of it, too, seem to grow dimmer, more and more intermittent. Old friends, of the intellectual kind, are almost all dead; the new are of little moment to us, — not worth naming in comparison, The chief, perhaps, is a certain young Marchese Lucchesini, who comes about this time, [“Chamberlain [titular, with Pension, &c.], 9th May, 1780, age then 28” (Preuss, iv. 211);-arrived when or how is not said.] and continues in more and more favor both with Friedrich and his Successor, — employed even in Diplomatics by the latter. An accomplished young Gentleman, from Lucca; of fine intelligence, and, what was no less essential to him here, a perfect propriety in breeding and carriage. One makes no acquaintance with him in these straggling records, nor desires to make any. It was he that brought the inane, ever scribbling Denina hither, if that can be reckoned a merit. Inane Denina came as Academician, October, 1782; saw Friedrich, [Rodenbeck, iii. 285, 286.] at least once (“Academician, Pension; yes, yes!”) — and I know not whether any second time.

Friedrich, on loss of friends, does not take refuge in solitude; he tries always for something of substitute; sees his man once or twice, — in several instances once only, and leaves him to his pension in sinecure thenceforth. Cornelius de Pauw, the rich Canon of Xanten (Uncle of Anacharsis Klootz, the afterwards renowned), came on those principles; hung on for six months, not liked, not liking; and was then permitted to go home for good, his pension with him. Another, a Frenchman, whose name I forget, sat gloomily in Potsdam, after his rejection; silent (not knowing German), unclipt, unkempt, rough as Nebuchadnezzar, till he died. De Catt is still a resource; steady till almost the end, when somebody’s tongue, it is thought, did him ill with the King.

Alone, or almost alone, of the ancient set is Bastiani; a tall, black-browed man, with uncommonly bright eyes, now himself old, and a comfortable Abbot in Silesia; who comes from time to time, awakening the King into his pristine topics and altitudes. Bastiani’s history is something curious: as a tall Venetian Monk (son of a tailor in Venice), he had been crimped by Friedrich Wilhelm’s people; Friedrich found him serving as a Potsdam Giant, but discerned far other faculties in the bright-looking man, far other knowledges; and gradually made him what we see. Banters him sometimes that he will rise to be Pope one day, so cunning and clever is he: “What will you say to me, a Heretic, when you get to be Pope; tell me now; out with it, I insist!” Bastiani parried, pleaded, but unable to get off, made what some call his one piece of wit: “I will say: O Royal Eagle, screen me with thy wings, but spare me with thy sharp beak!” This is Bastiani’s one recorded piece of wit; for he was tacit rather, and practically watchful, and did not waste his fine intellect in that way.

Foreign Visitors there are in plenty; now and then something brilliant going. But the old Generals seem to be mainly what the King has for company. Dinner always his bright hour; from ten to seven guests daily. Seidlitz, never of intelligence on any point but Soldiering, is long since dead; Ziethen comes rarely, and falls asleep when he does; General Gortz (brother of the Weimar-Munchen Gortz); Buddenbrock (the King’s comrade in youth, in the Reinsberg times), who has good faculty; Prittwitz (who saved him at Kunersdorf, and is lively, though stupid); General and Head-Equerry Schwerin, of headlong tongue, not witty, but the cause of wit; Major Graf von Pinto, a magniloquent Ex-Austrian ditto ditto: these are among his chief dinner-guests. If fine speculation do not suit, old pranks of youth, old tales of war, become the staple conversation; always plenty of banter on the old King’s part; — who sits very snuffy (says the privately ill-humored Busching) and does not sufficiently abhor grease on his fingers, or keep his nails quite clean. Occasionally laughs at the Clergy, too; and has little of the reverence seemly in an old King. The truth is, Doctor, he has had his sufferings from Human Stupidity; and was always fond of hitting objects on the raw. For the rest, as you may see, heartily an old Stoic, and takes matters in the rough; avoiding useless despondency above all; and intent to have a cheerful hour at dinner if he can.

Visits from his Kindred are still pretty frequent; never except on invitation. For the rest, completely an old Bachelor, an old Military Abbot; with business for every hour. Princess Amelia takes care of his linen, not very well, the dear old Lady, who is herself a cripple, suffering, and voiceless, speaking only in hoarse whisper. I think I have heard there were but twelve shirts, not in first-rate order, when the King died. A King supremely indifferent to small concerns; especially to that of shirts and tailorages not essential. Holds to Literature, almost more than ever; occasionally still writes; [For one instance: The famous Pamphlet, DE LA LITTERATURE ALLEMANDE (containing his onslaught on Shakspeare, and his first salutation, with the reverse of welcome, to Goethe’s GOTZ VON BERLICHINGEN); — printed, under stupid Thiebault’s care, Berlin, 1780. Stands now in OEuvres de Frederic, vii. 89-122. The last Pieces of all are chiefly MILITARY INSTRUCTIONS of a practical or official nature.] has his daily Readings, Concerts, Correspondences as usual: — readers can conceive the dim Household Picture, dimly reported withal. The following Anecdotes may be added as completion of it, or at least of all I have to say on it: —

YOU GO ON WEDNESDAY, THEN?— “Loss of time was one of the losses Friedrich could least stand. In visits even from his Brothers and Sisters, which were always by his own express invitation, he would say some morning (call it Tuesday morning): ‘You are going on Wednesday, I am sorry to hear’ (what YOU never heard before)!— ‘Alas, your Majesty, we must!’ ‘Well, I am sorry: but I will lay no constraint on you. Pleasant moments cannot last forever!’ And sometimes, after this had been agreed to; he would say: ‘But cannot you stay till Thursday, then? Come, one other day of it!’— ‘Well, since your Majesty does graciously press!’ And on Thursday, not Wednesday, on those curious terms, the visit would terminate. This trait is in the Anecdote-Books: but its authenticity does not rest on that uncertain basis; singularly enough, it comes to me, individually, by two clear stages, from Friedrich’s Sister the Duchess of Brunswick, who, if anybody, would know it well!” [My informant is Sir George Sinclair, Baronet, of Thurso; his was the distinguished Countess of Finlater, still remembered for her graces of mind and person, who had been Maid-of-Honor to the Duchess.]

DINNER WITH THE QUEEN. — The Queen, a prudent, simple-minded, worthy person, of perfect behavior in a difficult position, seems to have been much respected in Berlin Society and the Court Circles. Nor was the King wanting in the same feeling towards her; of which there are still many proofs: but as to personal intercourse, — what a figure has that gradually taken! Preuss says, citing those who saw: “When the King, after the Seven-Years War, now and then, in Carnival season, dined with the Queen in her Apartments, he usually said not a word to her. He merely, on entering, on sitting down at table and on leaving it, made the customary bow; and sat opposite to her. Once, in the Seventies [years 1770, years now past], the Queen was ill of gout; table was in her Apartments; but she herself was not there, she sat in an easy-chair in the drawing-room. On this occasion the King stepped up to the Queen, and inquired about her health. The circumstance occasioned, among the company present, and all over Town as the news spread, great wonder and sympathy (VERWUNDERUNG UND THEILNAHME). This is probably the last time he ever spoke to her.” [Preuss, iv. 187.]

THE TWO GRAND-NEPHEWS.— “The King was fond of children; liked to have his Grand-Nephews about him. One day, while the King sat at work in his Cabinet, the younger of the two, a boy of eight or nine [who died soon after twenty], was playing ball about the room; and knocked it once and again into the King’s writing operation; who twice or oftener flung it back to him, but next time put it in his pocket, and went on. ‘Please your Majesty, give it me back!’ begged the Boy; and again begged: Majesty took no notice; continued writing. Till at length came, in the tone of indignation, ‘Will your Majesty give me my ball, then?’ The King looked up; found the little Hohenzollern planted firm, hands on haunches, and wearing quite a peremptory air. ‘Thou art a brave little fellow; they won’t get Silesia out of thee!’ cried he laughing, and flinging him his ball.” [Fischer, ii. 445 (“year 1780”).]

Of the elder Prince, afterwards Friedrich Wilhelm III. (Father of the now King), there is a much more interesting Anecdote, and of his own reporting too, though the precise terms are irrecoverable: “How the King, questioning him about his bits of French studies, brought down a LA FONTAINE from the shelves, and said, ‘Translate me this Fable;’ which the Boy did, with such readiness and correctness as obtained the King’s praises: praises to an extent that was embarrassing, and made the honest little creature confess, ‘I did it with my Tutor, a few days since!’ To the King’s much greater delight; who led him out to walk in the Gardens, and, in a mood of deeper and deeper seriousness, discoursed and exhorted him on the supreme law of truth and probity that lies on all men, and on all Kings still more; one of his expressions being, ‘Look at this high thing [the Obelisk they were passing in the Gardens], its UPRIGHTness is its strength (SA DROITURE FAIT SA FORCE);’ and his final words, ‘Remember this evening, my good Fritz; perhaps thou wilt think of it, long after, when I am gone.’ As the good Friedrich Wilhelm III. declares piously he often did, in the storms of fate that overtook him.” [R. F. Eylert, Charakterzuge und historische Fragmente aus dem Leben des Konigs von Preussen Friedrich Wilhelm III. (Magdeburg, 1843), i. 450-456. This is a “King’s Chaplain and Bishop Eylert:” undoubtedly he heard this Anecdote from his Master, and was heard repeating it; but the dialect his Editors have put it into is altogether tawdry, modern, and impossible to take for that of Friedrich, or even, I suppose, of Friedrich Wilhelm III.]

Industrial matters, that of Colonies especially, of drainages, embankments, and reclaiming of waste lands, are a large item in the King’s business, — readers would not guess how large, or how incessant. Under this head there is on record, and even lies at my hand translated into English, what might be called a Colonial DAY WITH FRIEDRICH (Day of July 23d, 1779; which Friedrich, just come home from the Bavarian War, spent wholly, from 5 in the morning onward, in driving about, in earnest survey of his Colonies and Land-Improvements in the Potsdam-Ruppin Country); curious enough Record, by a certain Bailiff or Overseer, who rode at his chariotside, of all the questions, criticisms and remarks of Friedrich on persons and objects, till he landed at Ruppin for the night. Taken down, with forensic, almost with religious exactitude, by the Bailiff in question; a Nephew of the Poet Gleim, — by whom it was published, the year after Friedrich’s death; [Is in Anekdoten und Karakterzuge, No. 8 (Berlin, 1787), p-79.] and by many others since. It is curiously authentic, characteristic in parts, though in its bald forensic style rather heavy reading. Luckier, for most readers, that inexorable want of room has excluded it, on the present occasion! [Printed now (in Edition 1868, for the first time), as APPENDIX to this Volume.]

No reader adequately fancies, or could by any single Document be made to do so, the continual assiduity of Friedrich in regard to these interests of his. The strictest Husbandman is not busier with his Farm, than Friedrich with his Kingdom throughout; — which is indeed a FARM leased him by the Heavens; in which not a gate-bar can be broken, nor a stone or sod roll into the smallest ditch, but it is to his the Husbandman’s damage, and must be instantly looked after. There are Meetings with the Silesian manufacturers (in Review time), Dialogues ensuing, several of which have been preserved; strange to read, however dull. There are many scattered evidences; — and only slowly does, not the thing indeed, but the degree of the thing, become fully credible. Not communicable, on the terms prescribed us at present; and must be left to the languid fancy, like so much else.

Here is an Ocular View, here are several such, which we yet happily have, of the actual Friedrich as he looked and lived. These, at a cheap rate, throw transiently some flare of illumination over his Affairs and him: these let me now give; and these shall be all.

 

 

PRINCE DE LIGNE, AFTER TEN YEARS, SEES FRIEDRICH A SECOND TIME; TIME; AND REPORTS WHAT WAS SAID.

In Summer, 1780, as we mentioned, Kaiser Joseph was on his first Visit to the Czarina. They met at Mohilow on the Dnieper, towards the end of May; have been roving about, as if in mere galas and amusements (though with a great deal of business incidentally thrown in), for above a month since, when Prince de Ligne is summoned to join them at Petersburg. He goes by Berlin, stays at Potsdam with Friedrich for about a week; and reports to Polish Majesty these new Dialogues of 1780, the year after sending him those of Mahrisch-Neustadt of 1770, which we read above. Those were written down from memory, in 1785; these in 1786, — and “towards the end of it,” as is internally evident. Let these also be welcome to us on such terms as there are.

“Since your Majesty [Quasi-Majesty, of Poland] is willing to lose another quarter of an hour of that time, which you employ so well in gaining the love of all to whom you deign to make yourself known, here is my Second Interview. It can be of interest only to you, Sire, who have known the King, and who discover traits of character in what to another are but simple words. One finds in few others that confidence, or at least that kindliness (BONHOMIE), which characterizes your Majesty. With you, one can indulge in rest; but with the King of Prussia, one had always to be under arms, prepared to parry and to thrust, and to keep the due middle between a small attack and a grand defence. I proceed to the matter in hand, and shall speak to you of him for the last time.

“He had made me promise to come to Berlin. I hastened thither directly after that little War [Potato-War], which he called ‘an action where he had come as bailiff to perform an execution.’ The result for him, as is known, was a great expense of men, of horses and money; some appearance of good faith and disinterestedness; little honor in the War; a little honesty in Policy, and much bitterness against us Austrians. The King began, without knowing why, to prohibit Austrian Officers from entering his Territories without an express order, signed by his own hand. Similar prohibition, on the part of our Court, against Prussian Officers and mutual constraint, without profit or reason. I, for my own part, am of confident humor; I thought I should need no permission, and I think still I could have done without one. But the desire of having a Letter from the great Friedrich, rather than the fear of being ill-received, made me write to him. My Letter was all on fire with my enthusiasm, my admiration, and the fervor of my sentiment for that sublime and extraordinary being; and it brought me three charming Answers from him. He gave me, in detail, almost what I had given him in the gross; and what he could not return me in admiration, — for I do not remember to have gained a battle, — he accorded me in friendship. For fear of missing, he had written to me from Potsdam, to Vienna, to Dresden, and to Berlin. [In fine, at Potsdam I was, SATURDAY, 9th JULY, 1780, waiting ready; — stayed there about a week.] [“9th (or 10th) July, 1780” (Rodenbeck, iii. 233): “Stayed till 16th.”]

“While waiting for the hour of 12, with my Son Charles and M. de Lille [Abbe de Lille, prose-writer of something now forgotten; by no means lyrical DE LISLE, of LES JARDINS], to be presented to the King, I went to look at the Parade; — and, on its breaking up, was surrounded, and escorted to the Palace, by Austrian deserters, and particularly from my own regiment, who almost caressed me, and asked my pardon for having left me.

“The hour of presentation struck. The King received me with an unspeakable charm. The military coldness of a General’s Head-quarters changed into a soft and kindly welcome. He said to me, ‘He did not think I had so big a Son.’

EGO. “‘He is even married, Sire; has been so these twelve months.’

KING. “‘May I (OSERAIS-JE) ask you to whom?’ He often used this expression, ‘OSERAIS-JE;’ and also this: ‘If you permit me to have the honor to tell you, SI VOUS ME PERMETTES D’AVOIR L’HONNEUR DE VOUS DIRE.’

EGO. “‘To a Polish-Lady, a Massalska.’

KING (to my Son). “‘What, a Massalska? Do you know what her Grandmother did?’

“‘No, Sire,’ said Charles.

KING. “‘She put the match to the cannon at the Siege of Dantzig with her own hand; [February, 1734, in poor Stanislaus Leczinski’s SECOND fit of Royalty: supra vi. 465.] she fired, and made others fire, and defended herself, when her party, who had lost head, thought only of surrendering.’

EGO. “‘Women are indeed undefinable; strong and weak by turns, indiscreet, dissembling, they are capable of anything.’ ‘Without doubt,’ said M. de Lille, distressed that nothing had yet been said to him, and with a familiarity which was not likely to succeed; ‘Without doubt. Look—’ said he. The King interrupted him. I cited some traits in support of my opinion, — as that of the woman Hachette at the Siege of Beauvais. [A.D. 1472; Burgundians storming the wall had their flag planted; flag and flag-bearer are hurled into the ditch by Hachette and other inspired women, — with the finest results.] The King made a little excursion to Rome and to Sparta: he liked to promenade there. After half a second of silence, to please De Lille, I told the King that M. de Voltaire died in De Lille’s arms. That caused the King to address some questions to him; he answered in rather too long-drawn a manner, and went away. Charles and I stayed dinner.” This is day first in Potsdam.

“Here, for five hours daily, the King’s encyclopedical conversation enchanted me completely. Fine arts, war, medicine, literature and religion, philosophy, ethics, history and legislation, in turns passed in review. The fine centuries of Augustus and of Louis XIV.; good society among the Romans, among the Greeks, among the French; the chivalry of Francois I.; the frankness and valor of Henri IV.; the new-birth (RENAISSANCE) of Letters and their revolution since Leo X.; anecdotes about the clever men of other times, and the trouble they give; M. de Voltaire’s slips; susceptibilities of M. de Maupertuis; Algarotti’s agreeable ways; fine wit of Jordan; D’Argens’s hypochondria, whom the King would send to bed for four-and-twenty hours by simply telling him that he looked ill; — and, in fine, what not? Everything, the most varied and piquant that could be said, came from him, — in a most soft tone of voice; rather low than otherwise, and no less agreeable than were the movements of his lips, which had an inexpressible grace.

“It was this, I believe, which prevented one’s observing that he was, in fact, like Homer’s heroes, somewhat of a talker (UN PEU BABILLARD), though a sublime one. It is to their voices, their noise and gestures, that talkers often owe their reputation as such; for certainly one could not find a greater talker than the King; but one was delighted at his being so. Accustomed to talk to Marquis Lucchesini, in the presence of only four or five Generals who did not understand French, he compensated in this way for his hours of labor, of study, of meditation and solitude. At least, said I to myself, I must get in a word. He had just mentioned Virgil. I said: —

EGO. “‘What a great Poet, Sire; but what a bad gardener!’

KING. “‘Ah, to whom do you tell that! Have not I tried to plant, sow, till, dig, with the GEORGICS in my hand? “But, Monsieur,” said my man, “you are a fool (BETE), and your Book no less; it is not in that way one goes to work.” Ah, MON DIEU, what a climate! Would you believe it, Heaven, or the Sun, refuse me everything? Look at my poor orange-trees, my olive-trees, lemon-trees: they are all starving.’

EGO. “‘It would appear, then, nothing but laurels flourish with you, Sire.’ (The King gave me a charming look; and to cover an inane observation by an absurd one, I added quickly:) ‘Besides, Sire, there are too many GRENADIERS [means, in French, POMEGRANATES as well as GRENADIERS, — peg of one’s little joke!] in this Country; they eat up everything!’ The King burst out laughing; for it is only absurdities that cause laughter.

“One day I had turned a plate to see of what, porcelain it was. ‘Where do you think it comes from?’ asked the King.

EGO. “‘I thought it was Saxon; but, instead of two swords [the Saxon mark], I see only one, which is well worth both of them.’

KING. “‘It is a sceptre.’

EGO. “‘I beg your Majesty’s pardon; but it is so much like a sword, that one could easily mistake it for one.’ And such was really the case. This, it, is known, is the mark of the Berlin china. As the King sometimes PLAYED KING, and thought himself, sometimes, extremely magnificent while taking up a walking-stick or snuffbox with a few wretched little diamonds running after one another on it, I don’t quite know whether he was infinitely pleased with my little allegory.

“One day, as I entered his room, he came towards me, saying, ‘I tremble to announce bad news to you. I have just heard that Prince Karl of Lorraine is dying.’ [Is already dead, “at Brussels, July 4th;” Duke of Sachsen-Teschen and Wife Christine succeeded him as Joint-Governors in those parts.] He looked at me to see the effect this would have; and observing some tears escaping from my eyes, he, by gentlest transitions, changed the conversation; talked of war, and of the Marechal de Lacy. He asked me news about Lacy; and said, ‘That is a man of the greatest merit. In former time, Count Mercy among yourselves [killed, while commanding in chief, at the Battle of Parma in 1733], Puysegur among the French, had some notions of marches and encampments; one sees from Hyginus’s Book [ancient Book] ON CASTRAMETATION, that the Greeks also were much occupied with the subject: but your Marechal surpasses the Ancients, the Moderns and all the most famous men who have meddled with it. Thus, whenever he was your Quartermaster-General, if you will permit me to make the remark to you, I did not gain the least advantage. Recollect the two Campaigns of 1758 and 1759; you succeeded in everything. I often said to myself, ‘Shall I never get rid of that man, then?’ You yourselves got me rid of him; and — [some liberal or even profuse eulogy of Lacy, who is De Ligne’s friend; which we can omit].

“Next day the King, as soon as he saw me, came up; saying with the most penetrated air: ‘If you are to learn the loss of a man who loved you, and who did honor to mankind, it will be better that it be from some one who feels it as deeply as I do. Poor Prince Karl is no more. Others, perhaps, are made to replace him in your heart; but few Princes will replace him with regard to the beauty of his soul and to all his virtues.’ In saying this, his emotion became extreme. I said: ‘Your Majesty’s regrets are a consolation; and you did not wait for his death to speak well of him. There are fine verses with reference to him in the Poem, SUR L’ART DE LA GUERRE.’ My emotion troubled me against my will; however, I repeated them to him.

   [“Soutien de mes rivaux, digne appui de ta reine,

    Charles, d’un ennemi sourd aux cris de la haine

    Recois l’eloge”...

(for crossing the Rhine in 1744): ten rather noble lines, still worth reading; as indeed the whole Poem well is, especially to soldier students (L’ART DE LA GUERRE, Chant vi.: OEuvres de Frederic, x. 273).] The Man of Letters seemed to appreciate my knowing them by heart.

KING. “‘His passage of the Rhine was a very fine thing; — but the poor Prince depended upon so many people! I never depended upon anybody but myself; sometimes too much so for my luck. He was badly served, not too well obeyed: neither the one nor the other ever was the case with me. — Your General Nadasti appeared to me a great General of Cavalry?’ Not sharing the King’s opinion on this point, I contented myself with saying, that Nadasti was very brilliant, very fine at musketry, and that he could have led his hussars to the world’s end and farther (DANS L’ENFER), so well did he know how to animate them.

KING. “‘What has become of a brave Colonel who played the devil at Rossbach? Ah, it was the Marquis de Voghera, I think? — Yes, that’s it; for I asked his name after the Battle.’

EGO. “‘He is General of Cavalry.’

KING. “‘PERDI! It needed a considerable stomach for fight, to charge like your Two Regiments of Cuirassiers there, and, I believe, your Hussars also: for the Battle was lost before it began.’

EGO. “‘Apropos of M. de Voghera, is your Majesty aware of a little thing he did before charging? He is a boiling, restless, ever-eager kind of man; and has something of the good old Chivalry style. Seeing that his Regiment would not arrive quick enough, he galloped ahead of it; and coming up to the Commander of the Prussian Regiment of Cavalry which he meant to attack, he saluted him as on parade; the other returned the salute; and then, Have at each other like madmen.’

KING. “‘A very good style it is! I should like to know that man; I would thank him for it. — Your General von Ried, then, had got the devil in him, that time at Eilenburg [spurt of fight there, in the Meissen regions, I think in Year 1758, when the D’Ahremberg Dragoons got so cut up], to let those brave Dragoons, who so long bore your Name with glory, advance between Three of my Columns?’ — He had asked me the same question at the Camp of Neustadt ten years since; and in vain had I told him that it was not M. de Ried; that Ried did not command them at all; and that the fault was Marechal Daun’s, who ought not to have sent them into that Wood of Eilenburg, still less ordered them to halt there without even sending a patrol forward. The King could not bear our General von Ried, who had much displeased him as Minister at Berlin; and it was his way to put down everything to the account of people he disliked.

KING. “‘When I think of those devils of Saxon Camps [Summer, 1760], — they were unattackable citadels! If, at Torgau, M. de Lacy had still been Quartermaster-General, I should not have attempted to attack him. But there I saw at once the Camp was ill chosen.’

EGO. “‘The superior reputation of Camps sometimes causes a desire to attempt them. For instance, I ask your Majesty’s pardon, but I have always thought you would at last have attempted that of Plauen, had the War continued.’

KING. “‘Oh, no, indeed! There was no way of taking that one.’

EGO. “‘Does n’t your Majesty think: With a good battery on the heights of Dolschen, which commanded us; with some battalions, ranked behind each other in the Ravine, attacking a quarter of an hour before daybreak [and so forth, at some length, — excellent for soldier readers who know the Plauen Chasm], you could have flung us out of that almost impregnable Place of Refuge?’

KING. “‘And your battery on the Windberg, which would have scourged my poor battalions, all the while, in your Ravine?’

EGO. “‘But, Sire, the night?’

KING. “‘Oh, you could not miss us even by grope. That big hollow that goes from Burg, and even from Potschappel, — it would have poured like a water-spout [or fire-spout] over us. You see, I am not so brave as you think.’

“The Kaiser had set out for his Interview [First Interview, and indeed it is now more than half done, a good six weeks of it gone] with the Czarina of Russia. That Interview the King did not like [no wonder]: — and, to undo the good it had done us, he directly, and very unskilfully, sent the Prince Royal to Petersburg [who had not the least success there, loutish fellow, and was openly snubbed by a Czarina gone into new courses]. His Majesty already doubted that the Court of Russia was about to escape him: — and I was dying of fear lest, in the middle of all his kindnesses, he should remember that I was an Austrian. ‘What,’ said I to myself, ‘not a single epigram on us, or on our Master? What a change!’

“One day, at dinner, babbling Pinto said to the person sitting next him, ‘This Kaiser is a great traveller; there never was one who went so far.’ ‘I ask your pardon, Monsieur,’ said the King; ‘Charles Fifth went to Africa; he gained the Battle of Oran.’ And, turning towards me, — who couldn’t guess whether it was banter or only history,— ‘This time,’ said he, ‘the Kaiser is more fortunate than Charles Twelfth; like Charles, he entered Russia by Mohilow; but it appears to me he will arrive at Moscow.’

“The same Pinto, one day, understanding the King was at a loss whom to send as Foreign Minister some-whither, said to him: ‘Why does not your Majesty think of sending Lucchesini, who is a man of much brilliancy (HOMME D’ESPRIT)?’ ‘It is for that very reason,’ answered the King, ‘that I want to keep him. I had rather send you than him, or a dull fellow like Monsieur—’ I forget whom, but believe it is one whom he did appoint Minister somewhere.

“M. de Lucchesini, by the charm of his conversation, brought out that of the King’s. He knew what topics were agreeable to the King; and then, he knew how to listen; which is not so easy as one thinks, and which no stupid man was ever capable of. He was as agreeable to everybody as to his Majesty, by his seductive manners and by the graces of his mind. Pinto, who had nothing to risk, permitted himself everything. Says he: ‘Ask the Austrian General, Sire, all he saw me do when in the service of the Kaiser.’

EGO. “‘A fire-work at my Wedding, was n’t that it, my dear Pinto?’

KING (interrupting). “‘Do me the honor to say whether it was successful?’

EGO. “‘No, Sire; it even alarmed all my relations, who thought it a bad omen. Monsieur the Major here had struck out the idea of joining Two flaming Hearts, a very novel image of a married couple. But the groove they were to slide on, and meet, gave way: my Wife’s heart went, and mine remained.’

KING. “‘You see, Pinto, you were not good for much to those people, any more than to me.’

EGO. “‘Oh, Sire, your Majesty, since then, owes him some compensation for the sabre-cuts he had on his head.’

KING. “‘He gets but too much compensation. Pinto, did n’t I send you yesterday some of my good Preussen honey?’

PINTO. “‘Oh, surely; — it was to make the thing known. If your Majesty could bring that into vogue, and sell it all, you would be the greatest King in the world. For your Kingdom produces only that; but of that there is plenty.’

“‘Do you know,’ said the King, one day, to me,— ‘Do you know that the first soldiering I did was for the House of Austria? MON DIEU, how the time passes!’ — He had a way of slowly bringing his hands together, in ejaculating these MON-DIEUS, which gave him quite a good-natured and extremely mild air. — (Do you know that I saw the glittering of the last rays of Prince Eugen’s genius?’

EGO. “‘Perhaps it was at these rays that your Majesty’s genius lit itself.’

KING. “‘EH, MON DIEU! who could equal the Prince Eugen?’

EGO. “‘He who excels him; — for instance, he who could win Twelve Battles!’ — He put on his modest air. I have always said, it is easy to be modest, if you are in funds. He seemed as though he had not understood me, and said: —

KING. “‘When the cabal which, during forty years, the Prince had always had to struggle with in his Army, were plotting mischief on him, they used to take advantage of the evening time, when his spirits, brisk enough in the morning, were jaded by the fatigues of the day. It was thus they persuaded him to undertake his bad March on Mainz’ [March not known to me].

EGO. “‘Regarding yourself, Sire, and the Rhine Campaign, you teach me nothing. I know everything your Majesty did, and even what you said. I could relate to you your Journeys to Strasburg, to Holland, and what passed in a certain Boat. Apropos of this Rhine Campaign, one of our old Generals, whom I often set talking, as one reads an old Manuscript, has told me how astonished he was to see a young Prussian Officer, whom he did not know, answering a General of the late King, who had given out the order, Not to go a-foraging: “And I, Sir, I order you to go; our Army needs it; in short, I will have it so (JE LE VEUX)!—”’

KING. “‘You look at me too much from the favorable side! Ask these Gentlemen about my humors and my caprices; they will tell you fine things of me.’

“We got talking of some Anecdotes which are consigned to, or concealed in, certain obscure Books. ‘I have been much amused, said I to the King, (with the big cargo of Books, true or false, written by French Refugees, which perhaps are unknown in France itself.’ [Discourses a little on this subject.]

KING. “‘Where did you pick up all these fine old Pieces? These would amuse me on an evening; better than the conversation of my Doctor of the Sorbonne [one Peyrau, a wandering creature, not otherwise of the least interest to us], [Nicolai, Anekdoten, ii. 133 n.] whom I have here, and whom I am trying to convert.’

EGO. “‘I found them all in a Bohemian Library, where I sat diverting myself for two Winters.’

KING. “‘How, then? Two Winters in Bohemia? What the devil were you doing there! Is it long since?’

EGO. “‘No, Sire; only a year or two [Potato-War time]! I had retired thither to read at my ease.’ — He smiled, and seemed to appreciate my not mentioning the little War of 1778, and saving him any speech about it. He saw well enough that my Winter-quarters had been in Bohemia on that occasion; and was satisfied with my reticence. Being an old sorcerer, who guessed everything, and whose tact was the finest ever known, he discovered that I did not wish to tell him I found Berlin changed since I had last been there. I took care not to remind him that I was at the capturing of it in 1760, under M. de Lacy’s orders [M. de Lacy’s indeed!]. — It was for having spoken of the first capture of Berlin, by Marshal Haddick [highly temporary as it was, and followed by Rossbach], that the King had taken a dislike to M. de Ried.

“Apropos of the Doctor of the Sorbonne [uninteresting Peyrau] with whom he daily disputed, the King said to me once, ‘Get me a Bishopric for him.’ ‘I don’t think,’ answered I, (that my recommendation, or that of your Majesty, could be useful to him with us.’ ‘Ah, truly no!’ said the King: ‘Well, I will write to the Czarina of Russia for this poor devil; he does begin to bore me. He holds out as Jansenist, forsooth. MON DIEU, what blockheads the present Jansenists are! But France should not have extinguished that nursery (FOYER) of their genius, that Port Royal, extravagant as it was. Indeed, one ought to destroy nothing! Why have they destroyed, too, the Depositaries of the graces of Rome and of Athens, those excellent Professors of the Humanities, and perhaps of Humanity, the Ex-Jesuit Fathers? Education will be the loser by it. But as my Brothers the Kings, most Catholic, most Christian, most Faithful and Apostolic, have tumbled them out, I, most Heretical, pick up as many as I can; and perhaps, one day, I shall be courted for the sake of them by those who want some. I preserve the breed: I said, counting my stock the other day, “A Rector like you, my Father, I could easily sell for 300 thalers; you, Reverend Father Provincial, for 600; and so the rest, in proportion.” When one is not rich, one makes speculations.’

“From want of memory, and of opportunities to see oftener and longer the Greatest Man that ever existed [Oh, MON PRINCE!], I am obliged to stop. There is not a word in all this but was his own; and those who have seen him will recognize his manner. All I want is, to make him known to those who have not had the happiness to see him. His eyes are too hard in the Portraits: by work in the Cabinet, and the hardships of War, they had become intense, and of piercing quality; but they softened finely in hearing, or telling, some trait of nobleness or sensibility. Till his death, and but quite shortly before it, — notwithstanding many levities which he knew I had allowed myself, both in speaking and writing, and which he surely attributed only to my duty as opposed to my interest, — he deigned to honor me with marks of his remembrance; and has often commissioned his Ministers, at Paris and at Vienna, to assure me of his good-will.

“I no longer believe in earthquakes and eclipses at Caesar’s death, since there has been nothing of such at that of Friedrich the Great. I know not, Sire, whether great phenomena of Nature will announce the day when you shall cease to reign [great phenomena must be very idle if they do, your Highness!] — but it is a phenomenon in the world, that of a King who rules a Republic by making himself obeyed and respected for his own sake, as much as by his rights” (Hear, hear). [Prince de Ligne, Memoires et Melanges, i. 22-40.]

Prince de Ligne thereupon hurries off for Petersburg, and the final Section of his Kaiser’s Visit. An errand of his own, too, the Prince had, — about his new Daughter-in-law Massalska, and claims of extensive Polish Properties belonging to her. He was the charm of Petersburg and the Czarina; but of the Massalska Properties could retrieve nothing whatever. The munificent Czarina gave him “a beautiful Territory in the Crim,” instead; and invited him to come and see it with her, on his Kaiser’s next Visit (1787, the aquatic Visit and the highly scenic). Which it is well known the Prince did; and has put on record, in his pleasant, not untrue, though vague, high-colored and fantastic way, — if it or he at all concerned us farther.

 

 

HOW GENERAL VON DER MARWITZ, IN EARLY BOYHOOD, SAW FRIEDRICH THE GREAT THREE TIMES (1782-1785).

General von der Marwitz, who died not many years ago, is of the old Marwitz kindred, several of whom we have known for their rugged honesties, genialities and peculiar ways. This General, it appears, had left a kind of Autobiography; which friends of his thought might be useful to the Prussian Public, after those Radical distractions which burst out in 1848 and onwards; and a first Volume of the MARWITZ POSTHUMOUS PAPERS was printed accordingly, [NACHLASS DES GENERAL VON DER MARWITZ (Berlin, 1852), 1 vol. 8vo.] — whether any more I have not heard; though I found this first Volume an excellent substantial bit of reading; and the Author a fine old Prussian Gentleman, very analogous in his structure to the fine old English ditto; who showed me the PER-CONTRA side of this and the other much-celebrated modern Prussian person and thing, Prince Hardenberg, Johannes von Muller and the like; — and yielded more especially the following Three Reminiscences of Friedrich, beautiful little Pictures, bathed in morning light, and evidently true to the life: —

1. JUNE, 1782 OR 1783. “The first time I saw him was in 1782 (or it might be 1783, in my sixth year),” middle of June, whichever year, “as he was returning from his Annual Review in Preussen [WEST-Preussen, never revisits the Konigsberg region], and stopped to change horses at Dolgelin.” Dolgelin is in Mullrose Country, westward of Frankfurt-on-Oder; our Marwitz Schloss not far from it. “I had been sent with Mamsell Benezet,” my French Governess; “and, along with the Clergyman of Dolgelin, we waited for the King.

“The King, on his journeys, generally preferred, whether at midday or for the night, to halt in some Country place, and at the Parsonages most of all; probably because he was quieter there than in the Towns. To the Clergyman this was always a piece of luck; not only because, if he pleased the King, he might chance to get promoted; but because he was sure of profitable payment, at any rate; the King always ordering 50 thalers [say 10 guineas] for his noon halt, and for his night’s lodging 100. The little that the King ate was paid for over and above. It is true, his Suite expected to be well treated; but this consisted only of one or two individuals. Now, the King had been wont almost always, on these journeys homewards, to pass the last night of his expedition with the Clergyman of Dolgelin; and had done so last year, with this present one who was then just installed; with him, as with his predecessor, the King had talked kindly, and the 100 thalers were duly remembered. Our good Parson flattered himself, therefore, that this time too the same would happen; and he had made all preparations accordingly.

“So we waited there, and a crowd of people with us. The team of horses stood all ready (peasants’ horses, poor little cats of things, but the best that could be picked, for there were then no post-horses THAT COULD RUN FAST); — the country-fellows that were to ride postilion all decked, and ten head of horses for the King’s coach: wheelers, four, which the coachman drove from his box; then two successive pairs before, on each pair a postilion-peasant; and upon the third pair, foremost of all, the King’s outriders were to go.

“And now, at last, came the FELDJAGER [Chacer, Hunting-groom], with his big whip, on a peasant’s, horse, a peasant with him as attendant. All blazing with heat, he dismounted; said, The King would be here in five minutes; looked at the relays, and the fellows with the water-buckets, who were to splash the wheels; gulped down a quart of beer; and so, his saddle in the interim having been fixed on another horse, sprang up again, and off at a gallop. The King, then, was NOT to stay in Dolgelin! Soon came the Page, mounted in like style; a youth of 17 or 18; utterly exhausted; had to be lifted down from his horse, and again helped upon the fresh one, being scarcely able to stand; — and close on the rear of him arrived the King. He was sitting alone in an old-fashioned glass-coach, what they call a VIS-A-VIS (a narrow carriage, two seats fore and aft, and on each of them room for only one person). The coach was very long, like all the old carriages of that time; between the driver’s box and the body of the coach was a space of at least four feet; the body itself was of pear-shape, peaked below and bellied out above; hung on straps, with rolled knuckles [WINDEN], did not rest on springs; two beams, connecting fore wheels and hind, ran not UNDER the body of the coach, but along the sides of it, the hind-wheels following with a goodly interval.

“The carriage drew up; and the King said to his coachman [the far-famed Pfund]: ‘Is this Dolgelin?’ ‘Yes, your Majesty!’— ‘I stay here.’ ‘No,’ said Pfund; ‘The sun is not down yet. We can get on very well to Muncheberg to-night [ten miles ahead, and a Town too, perfidious Pfund!] — and then to-morrow we are much earlier in Potsdam.’ ‘NA, HM, — well, if it must be so!’ —

“And therewith they set to changing horses. The peasants who were standing far off, quite silent, with reverently bared heads, came softly nearer, and looked eagerly at the King. An old Gingerbread-woman (SOMMELFRAU) of Lebbenichen [always knew her afterwards] took me in her arm, and held me aloft close to the coach-window. I was now at farthest an ell from the King; and I felt as if I were looking in the face of God Almighty (ES WAR MIR ALS OB ICH DEN LIEBEN GOTT ANSAHE). He was gazing steadily out before him,” into the glowing West, “through the front window. He had on an old three-cornered regimental hat, and had put the hindward straight flap of it foremost, undoing the loop, so that this flap hung down in front, and screened him from the sun. The hat-strings (HUT-CORDONS,” trimmings of silver or gold cord) “had got torn loose, and were fluttering about on this down-hanging front flap; the white feather in the hat was tattered and dirty; the plain blue uniform, with red cuffs, red collar and gold shoulder-bands [epaulettes WITHOUT bush at the end], was old and dusty, the yellow waistcoat covered with snuff; — for the rest, he had black-velvet breeches [and, of course, the perpetual BOOTS, of which he would allow no polishing or blacking, still less any change for new ones while they would hang together]. I thought always he would speak to me. The old woman could not long hold me up; and so she set me down again. Then the King looked at the Clergyman, beckoned him near, and asked, Whose child it was? (Herr von Marwitz of Friedersdorf’s.)— ‘Is that the General?’ ‘No, the Chamberlain.’ The King made no answer: he could not bear Chamberlains, whom he considered as idle fellows. The new horses were yoked; away they went. All day the peasants had been talking of the King, how he would bring this and that into order, and pull everybody over the coals who was not agreeable to them.

“Afterwards it turned out that all Clergymen were in the habit of giving 10 thalers to the coachman Pfund, when the King lodged with them: the former Clergyman of Dolgelin had regularly done it; but the new one, knowing nothing of the custom, had omitted it last year; — and that was the reason why the fellow had so pushed along all day that he could pass Dolgelin before sunset, and get his 10 thalers in Muncheberg from the Burgermeister there.”

2. JANUARY, 1785. “The second time I saw the King was at the Carnival of Berlin in 1785. I had gone with my Tutor to a Cousin of mine who was a Hofdame (DAME DE COUR) to the Princess Henri, and lived accordingly in the Prince-Henri Palace, — which is now, in our days, become the University; — her Apartments were in the third story, and looked out into the garden. As we were ascending the great stairs, there came dashing past us a little old man with staring eyes, jumping down three steps at a time. My Tutor said, in astonishment, ‘That is Prince Henri!’ We now stept into a window of the first story, and looked out to see what the little man had meant by those swift boundings of his. And lo, there came the King in his carriage to visit him.

“Friedrich the Second NEVER drove in Potsdam, except when on journeys, but constantly rode. He seemed to think it a disgrace, and unworthy of a Soldier, to go in a carriage: thus, when in the last Autumn of his life (this very 1785) he was so unwell in the windy Sans-Souci (where there were no stoves, but only hearth-fires), that it became necessary to remove to the Schloss in Potsdam, he could not determine to DRIVE thither, but kept hoping from day to day for so much improvement as might allow him to ride. As no improvement came, and the weather grew ever colder, he at length decided to go over under cloud of darkness, in a sedan-chair, that nobody might notice him. — So likewise during the Reviews at Berlin or Charlottenburg he appeared always on horseback: but during the Carnival in Berlin, where he usually stayed four weeks, he DROVE, and this always in Royal pomp, — thus: —

“Ahead went eight runners with their staves, plumed caps and runner-aprons [LAUFER-SCHURZE, whatever these are], in two rows. As these runners were never used for anything except this show, the office was a kind of post for Invalids of the Life-guard. A consequence of which was, that the King always had to go at a slow pace. His courses, however, were no other than from the Schloss to the Opera twice a week; and during his whole residence, one or two times to Prince Henri and the Princess Amelia [once always, too, to dine with his Wife, to whom he did not speak one word, but merely bowed at beginning and ending!]. After this the runners rested again for a year. Behind them came the Royal Carriage, with a team of eight; eight windows round it; the horses with old-fashioned harness, and plumes on their heads. Coachman and outriders all in the then Royal livery, — blue; the collar, cuffs, pockets, and all seams, trimmed with a stripe of red cloth, and this bound on both sides with small gold-cord; the general effect of which was very good. In the four boots (NEBENTRITTEN) of the coach stood four Pages, red with gold, in silk stockings, feather-hats (crown all covered with feathers), but not having plumes; — the valet’s boot behind, empty; and to the rear of it, down below, where one mounts to the valet’s boot [BEDIENTEN-TRITT, what is now become FOOT-BOARD], stood a groom (STALLKNECHT). Thus came the King, moving slowly along; and entered through the portal of the Palace. We looked down from the window in the stairs. Prince Henri stood at the carriage-door; the pages opened it, the King stepped out, saluted his Brother, took him by the hand, walked upstairs with him, and thus the two passed near us (we retiring upstairs to the second story), and went into the Apartment, where now Students run leaping about.”

3. MAY 23d, 1785. “The third time I saw him was that same year, at Berlin still, as he returned home from the Review. [“May 21st-23d” (Rodenbeck, iii. 327).] My Tutor had gone with me for that end to the Halle Gate, for we already knew that on that day he always visited his Sister, Princess Amelia. He came riding on a big white horse, — no doubt old CONDE, who, twenty years after this, still got his FREE-BOARD in the ECOLE VETERINAIRE; for since the Bavarian War (1778), Friedrich hardly ever rode any other horse. His dress was the same as formerly at Dolgelin, on the journey; only that the hat was in a little better condition, properly looped up, and with the peak (but not with the LONG peak, as is now the fashion) set in front, in due military style. Behind him were a guard of Generals, then the Adjutants, and finally the grooms of the party. The whole ‘Rondeel’ (now Belle-Alliance Platz) and the Wilhelms-Strasse were crammed full of people; all windows crowded, all heads bare, everywhere the deepest silence; and on all countenances an expression of reverence and confidence, as towards the just steersman of all our destinies. The King rode quite alone in front, and saluted people, CONTINUALLY taking off his hat. In doing which he observed a very marked gradation, according as the on-lookers bowing to him from the windows seemed to deserve. At one time he lifted the hat a very little; at another he took it from his head, and held it an instant beside the same; at another he sunk it as far as the elbow. But these motions lasted continually; and no sooner had he put on his hat, than he saw other people, and again took it off. From the Halle Gate to the Koch-Strasse he certainly took off his hat 200 times.

“Through this reverent silence there sounded only the trampling of the horses, and the shouting of the Berlin street-boys, who went jumping before him, capering with joy, and flung up their hats into the air, or skipped along close by him, wiping the dust from his boots. I and my Tutor had gained so much room that we could run alongside of him, hat in hand, among the boys. — You see the difference between then and now. Who was it that then made the noise? Who maintained a dignified demeanor? — Who is it that bawls and bellows now? [Nobilities ought to be noble, thinks this old Marwitz, in their reverence to Nobleness. If Nobilities themselves become Washed Populaces in a manner, what are we to say?] And what value can you put on such bellowing?

“Arrived at the Princess Amelia’s Palace (which, lying in the Wilhelms-Strasse, fronts also into the Koch-Strasse), the crowd grew still denser, for they expected him there: the forecourt was jammed full; yet in the middle, without the presence of any police, there was open space left for him and his attendants. He turned into the Court; the gate-leaves went back; and the aged lame Princess, leaning on two Ladies, the OBERHOFMEISTERINN (Chief Lady) behind her, came hitching down the flat steps to meet him. So soon as he perceived her, he put his horse to the gallop, pulled up, sprang rapidly down, took off his hat (which he now, however, held quite low at the full length of his arm), embraced her, gave her his arm, and again led her up the steps. The gate-leaves went to; all had vanished, and the multitude still stood, with bared head, in silence, all eyes turned to the spot where he had disappeared; and so it lasted a while, till each gathered himself and peacefully went his way.

“And yet there had nothing happened! No pomp, no fireworks, no cannon-shot, no drumming and fifing, no music, no event that had occurred! No, nothing but an old man of 73, ill-dressed, all dusty, was returning from his day’s work. But everybody knew that this old man was toiling also for him; that he had set his whole life on that labor, and for five-and-forty years had not given it the slip one day! Every one saw, moreover, the fruits of this old man’s labor, near and far, and everywhere around; and to look on the old man himself awakened reverence, admiration, pride, confidence, — in short all the nobler feelings of man.” [Nachlass des General von der Marwitz, i. 15-20.]

This was May 21st, 1785; I think, the last time Berlin saw its King in that public manner, riding through the streets. The FURSTENBUND Affair is now, secretly, in a very lively state, at Berlin and over Germany at large; and comes to completion in a couple of months hence, — as shall be noticed farther on.

 

 

GENERAL BOUILLE, HOME FROM HIS WEST-INDIAN EXPLOITS, VISITS FRIEDRICH (August 5th-11th, 1784).

In these last years of his life Friedrich had many French of distinction visiting him. In 1782, the Abbe Raynal (whom, except for his power of face, he admired little); [Rodenbeck, iii. 277 n.] in 1786, Mirabeau (whose personal qualities seem to have pleased him); — but chiefly, in the interval between these two, various Military Frenchmen, now home with their laurels from the American War, coming about his Reviews: eager to see the Great Man, and be seen by him. Lafayette, Segur and many others came; of whom the one interesting to us is Marquis de Bouille: already known for his swift sharp operation on the English Leeward Islands; and memorable afterwards to all the world for his presidency in the FLIGHT TO VARENNES of poor Louis XVI. and his Queen, in 1791; which was by no means so successful. “The brave Bouille,” as we called him long since, when writing of that latter operation, elsewhere. Bouille left MEMOIRES of his own: which speak of Friedrich: in the Vie de Bouille, published recently by friendly hands: [Rene de Bouille, ESSAI SUR LA VIE DU MARQUIS DE BOUILLE (Paris, 1853)] there is Summary given of all that his Papers say on Friedrich; this, in still briefer shape, but unchanged otherwise, readers shall now see.

“In July, 1784, Marquis de Bouille (lately returned from a visit to England), desirous to see the Prussian Army, and to approach the great Friedrich while it was yet time, travelled by way of Holland to Berlin, through Potsdam [no date; got to Berlin “August 6th;” [Rodenbeck, iii. 309.] so that we can guess “August 5th” for his Potsdam day]. Saw, at Sans-Souci, in the vestibule, a bronze Bust of Charles XII.; in the dining-room, among other pictures, a portrait of the Chateauroux, Louis XV.’s first Mistress. In the King’s bedroom, simple camp-bed, coverlet of crimson taffetas, — rather dirty, as well as the other furniture, on account of the dogs. Many books lying about: Cicero, Tacitus, Titus Livius [in French Translations]. On a chair, Portrait of Kaiser Joseph II.; same in King’s Apartments in Berlin Schloss, also in the Potsdam New Palace: ‘C’EST UN JEUNE HOMME QUE JE NE DOIS PAS PERDRE DE VUE.’

“King entering, took off his hat, saluting the Marquis, whom a Chamberlain called Gortz presented [no Chamberlain; a Lieutenant-General, and much about the King; his Brother, the Weimar Gortz, is gone as Prussian Minister to Petersburg some time ago]. King talked about the War DES ISLES [my West-India War], and about England. ‘They [the English] are like sick people who have had a fever; and don’t know how ill they have been, till the fit is over.’ Fox he treated as a noisy fellow (DE BROUILLON); but expressed admiration of young Pitt. ‘The coolness with which he can stand being not only contradicted, but ridiculed and insulted, CELA PARAIT AU-DESSUS DE LA PATIENCE HUMAINE.’ King closed the conversation by saying he would be glad to see me in Silesia, whither he was just about to go for Reviews [will go in ten days, August 15th].

“Friedrich was 72,” last January 24th. “His physiognomy, dress, appearance, are much what the numerous well-known Portraits represent him. At Court, and on great Ceremonies, he appears sometimes in black-colored stockings rolled over the knee, and rose-colored or sky-blue coat (BLEU CELESTE). He is fond of these colors, as his furniture too shows. The Marquis dined with the Prince of Prussia, without previous presentation; so simple are the manners of this Soldier Court. The Heir Presumptive lodges at a brewer’s house, and in a very mean way; is not allowed to sleep from home without permission from the King.”

Bouille set out for Silesia 11th August; was at Neisse in good time. “Went, at 5 A.M. [date is August 19th, Review lasts till 24th], [Rodenbeck, iii. 310.] to see the King mount. All the Generals, Prince of Prussia among them, waited in the street; outside of a very simple House, where the King lodged. After waiting half an hour, his Majesty appeared; saluted very graciously, without uttering a word. This was one of his special Reviews [that was it!]. He rode (MARCHAIT) generally alone, in utter silence; it was then that he had his REGARD TERRIBLE, and his features took the impress of severity, to say no more. [Is displeased with the Review, I doubt, though Bouille saw nothing amiss; — and merely tells us farther:] At the Reviews the King inspects strictly one regiment after another: it is he that selects the very Corporals and Sergeants, much more the Upper Officers; nominating for vacancies what Cadets are to fill them, — all of whom are Nobles.” Yes, with rare exceptions, all. Friedrich, democratic as his temper was, is very strict on this point; “because,” says he repeatedly, “Nobles have honor; a Noble that misbehaves, or flinches in the moment of crisis, can find no refuge in his own class; whereas a man of lower birth always can in his.” [OEuvres de Frederic, (more than once).] Bouille continues: —

“After Review, dined with his Majesty. Just before dinner he gave to the assembled Generals the ‘Order’ for to-morrow’s Manoeuvres [as we saw in Conway’s case, ten years ago]. This lasted about a quarter of an hour; King then saluted everybody, taking off TRES-AFFECTUEUSEMENT his hat, which he immediately put on again. Had now his affable mien, and was most polite to the strangers present. At dinner, conversation turned on the Wars of Louis XIV.; then on English-American War, — King always blaming the English, whom he does not like. Dinner lasted three hours. His Majesty said more than once to me [in ill humor, I should almost guess, and wishful to hide it]: ‘Complete freedom here, as if we were in our Tavern, Sir (ICI, TOUTE LIBERTE, MONSIEUR, COMME SI NOUS ETIONS AU CABARET)!’ On the morrow,” August 20th, “dined again. King talked of France; of Cardinal Richelieu, whose principles of administration he praised. Repeated several times, that ‘he did not think the French Nation fit for Free Government.’ At the Reviews, Friedrich did not himself command; but prescribed, and followed the movements; criticised, reprimanded and so forth. On horseback six hours together, without seeming fatigued.

“King left for Breslau 25th August [24th, if it were of moment]. Bouille followed thither; dined again. Besides Officers, there were present several Polish Princes, the Bishop of the Diocese, and the Abbot Bastiani. King made pleasantries about religion [pity, that]; Bastiani not slow with repartees”, of a defensive kind. “King told me, on one occasion, ‘Would you believe it? I have just been putting my poor Jesuits’ finances into order. They understand nothing of such things, CES BONS HOMMES. They are useful to me in forming my Catholic Clergy. I have arranged it with his Holiness the Pope, who is a friend of mine, and behaves very well to me.’ Pointing from the window to the Convent of Capuchins, ‘Those fellows trouble me a little with their bell-ringings. They offered to stop it at night, for my sake: but I declined. One must leave everybody to his trade; theirs is to pray, and I should have been sorry to deprive them of their chimes (CARILLON).’

“The 20,000 troops, assembled at Breslau, did not gain the King’s approval,” — far from it, alas, as we shall all see!” To some Chiefs of Corps he said, ‘VOUS RESSEMBLEZ PLUS A DES TAILLEURS QU’A DES MILITAIRES (You are more like tailors than soldiers)!’ He cashiered several, and even sent one Major-General to prison for six weeks.” That of the tailors, and Major-General Erlach clapt in prison, is too true; — nor is that the saddest part of the Affair to us. “Bouille was bound now on an excursion to Prag, to a Camp of the Kaiser’s there. ‘Mind,’ said the King, alluding to Bouille’s BLUE uniform,— ‘mind, in the Country you are going to, they don’t like the blue coats; and your Queen has even preserved the family repugnance, for she does not like them either.’ [ESSAI SUR LA VIE DU MARQUIS DE BOUILLE, pp. l34-149.]

“September 5th, 1784, Bouille arrived at Prag. Austrian Manoeuvres are very different; troops, though more splendidly dressed, contrast unfavorably with Prussians;” — unfavorably, though the strict King was so dissatisfied. “Kaiser Joseph, speaking of Friedrich, always admiringly calls him ‘LE ROI.’ Joseph a great questioner, and answers his own questions. His tone BRUSQUE ET DECIDE. Dinner lasted one hour.

“Returned to Potsdam to assist at the Autumn Reviews”, 21st-23d September, 1784. [Rodenbeck, iii. 313.] “Dinner very splendid, magnificently served; twelve handsome Pages, in blue or rose-colored velvet, waited on the Guests, — these being forty old rude Warriors booted and spurred. King spoke of the French, approvingly: ‘But,’ added he, ‘the Court spoils everything. Those Court-fellows, with their red heels and delicate nerves, make very bad soldiers. Saxe often told me, In his Flanders Campaigns the Courtiers gave him more trouble than did Cumberland.’ Talked of Marechal Richelieu; of Louis XIV., whose apology he skilfully made. Blamed, however, the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Great attachment of the ‘Protestant Refugees’ to France and its King. ‘Would you believe it?’ said he: ‘Under Louis XIV. they and their families used to assemble on the day of St. Louis, to celebrate the FETE of the King who persecuted them!’ Expressed pity for Louis XV., and praised his good-nature.

“Friedrich, in his conversation, showed a modesty which seemed a little affected. ‘S’IL M’EST PERMIS D’AVOIR UNE OPINION,’ a common expression of his; — said ‘opinion’ on most things, on Medicine among others, being always excellent. Thinks French Literature surpasses that of the Ancients. Small opinion of English Literature: turned Shakspeare into ridicule; and made also bitter fun of German Letters, — their Language barbarous, their Authors without genius....

“I asked, and received permission from the King, to bring my Son to be admitted in his ACADEMIE DES GENTILSHOMMES; an exceptional favor. On parting, the King said to me: ‘I hope you will return to me Marechal de France; it is what I should like; and your Nation could n’t do better, nobody being in a state to render it greater services.’”

Bouille will reappear for an instant next year. Meanwhile he returns to France, “first days of October, 1784,” where he finds Prince Henri; who is on Visit there for three months past. [“2d July, 1784,” Prince Henri had gone (Rodenbeck, iii. 309).] A shining event in Prince Henri’s Life; and a profitable; poor King Louis — what was very welcome in Henri’s state of finance — having, in a delicate kingly way, insinuated into him a “Gift of 400,000 francs” (16,000 pounds): [Anonymous (De la Roche-Aymon), Vie privee, politique et militaire du Prince Henri, Frere de Frederic II. (a poor, vague and uninstructive, though authentic little Book: Paris, 1809), p-239.] — partly by way of retaining-fee for France; “may turn to excellent account,” think some, “when a certain Nephew comes to reign yonder, as he soon must.”

What Bouille heard about the Silesian Reviews is perfectly true; and only a part of the truth. Here, to the person chiefly responsible, is an indignant Letter of the King’s: to a notable degree, full of settled wrath against one who is otherwise a dear old Friend: —

FRIEDRICH TO LIEUTENANT-GENERAL TAUENTZIEN INFANTRY INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF SILESIA.

“POTSDAM, 7th September, 1784.

“MY DEAR GENERAL VON TAUENTZIEN, — While in Silesia I mentioned to you, and will now repeat in writing, That my Army in Silesia was at no time so bad as at present. Were I to make Shoemakers or Tailors into Generals, the Regiments could not be worse. Regiment THADDEN is not fit to be the most insignificant militia battalion of a Prussian Army; ROTHKIRCH and SCHWARTZ” — bad as possible all of them— “of ERLACH, the men are so spoiled by smuggling [sad industry, instead of drilling], they have no resemblance to Soldiers; KELLER is like a heap of undrilled boors; HAGER has a miserable Commander; and your own Regiment is very mediocre. Only with Graf von Anhalt [in spite of his head], with WENDESSEN and MARGRAF HEINRICH, could I be content. See you, that is the state I found the Regiments in, one after one. I will now speak of their Manoeuvring [in our Mimic Battles on the late occasion]: —

“Schwartz; at Neisse, made the unpardonable mistake of not sufficiently besetting the Height on the Left Wing; had it been serious, the Battle had been lost. At Breslau, Erlach [who is a Major-General, forsooth!], instead of covering the Army by seizing the Heights, marched off with his Division straight as a row of cabbages into that Defile; whereby, had it been earnest, the enemy’s Cavalry would have cut down our Infantry, and the Fight was gone.

“It is not my purpose to lose Battles by the base conduct (LACHETE) of my Generals: wherefore I hereby appoint, That you, next year, if I be alive, assemble the Army between Breslau and Ohlau; and for four days before I arrive in your Camp, carefully manoeuvre with the ignorant Generals, and teach them what their duty is. Regiment VON ARNIM and Garrison-Regiment VON KANITZ are to act the Enemy: and whoever does not then fulfil his duty shall go to Court-Martial, — for I should think it shame of any Country (JEDEN PUISSANCE) to keep such people, who trouble themselves so little about their business. Erlach sits four weeks longer in arrest [to have six weeks of it in full]. And you have to make known this my present Declared Will to your whole Inspection. — F.” [Rodenbeck, iii. 311.]

What a peppering is the excellent old Tauentzien getting! Here is a case for Kaltenborn, and the sympathies of Opposition people. But, alas, this King knows that Armies are not to be kept at the working point on cheaper terms, — though some have tried it, by grog, by sweetmeats, sweet-speeches, and found it in the end come horribly dearer! One thing is certain: the Silesian Reviews, next Year, if this King be alive, will be a terrible matter; and Military Gentlemen had better look to themselves in time! Kaltenborn’s sympathy will help little; nothing but knowing one’s duty, and visibly and indisputably doing it, will the least avail.

Just in the days when Bouille left him for France, Friedrich (“October, 1784”) had conceived the notion of some general Confederation, or Combination in the Reich, to resist, the continual Encroachments of Austria; which of late are becoming more rampant than ever. Thus, in the last year, especially within the last six months, a poor Bishop of Passau, quasi-Bavarian, or in theory Sovereign Bishop of the Reich, is getting himself pulled to pieces (Diocese torn asunder, and masses of it forcibly sewed on to their new “Bishopric of Vienna”), in the most tragic manner, in spite of express Treaties, and of all the outcries the poor man and the Holy Father himself can make against it. [Dohm (DENKWURDIGKEITEN, iii. 46, — GESCHICHTE DER LETZTEN PERIODE FRIEDRICHS DES ZWEITEN) gives ample particulars. Dohm’s first 3 volumes call themselves “History of Friedrich’s last Period, 1778-1786;” and are full of Bavarian War, 3d vol. mostly of FURSTENBUND; — all in a candid, authentic, but watery and rather wearisome way.] To this of Passau, and to the much of PANIS-BRIEFE and the like which had preceded, Friedrich, though studiously saying almost nothing, had been paying the utmost of attention: — part of Prince Henri’s errand to France is thought to have been, to take soundings on those matters (on which France proves altogether willing, if able); and now, in the general emotion about Passau, Friedrich jots down in a Note to Hertzberg the above idea; with order to put it into form a little, and consult about it in the Reich with parties interested. Hertzberg took the thing up with zeal; instructed the Prussian Envoys to inquire, cautiously, everywhere; fancied he did find willingness in the Courts of the Reich, in Hanover especially: in a word, got his various irons into the fire; — and had not proceeded far, when there rose another case of Austrian Encroachment, which eclipsed all the preceding; and speedily brought Hertzberg’s irons to the welding-point. Too brief we cannot be in this matter; here are the dates, mostly from Dohm: —

NEW-YEAR’S DAY, 1785, on or about that day, Romanzow, Son of our old Colberg and Anti-Turk friend, who is Russian “Minister in the Ober-Rheinish Circle,” appears at the little Court of Zweibruck, with a most sudden and astounding message to the Duke there: —

“Important bargain agreed upon between your Kaiser and his Highness of the Pfalz and Baiern; am commanded by my Sovereign Lady, on behalf of her friend the Kaiser, to make it known to you. Baiern all and whole made over to Austria; in return for which the now Kur-Baiern gets the Austrian Netherlands (Citadels of Limburg and Luxemburg alone excepted); and is a King henceforth, ‘King of Burgundy’ to be the Title, he and his fortunate Successors for all time coming. To your fortunate self, in acknowledgment of your immediate consent, Austria offers the free-gift of 100,000 pounds, and to your Brother Max of 50,000 pounds; Kur-Baiern, for his loyal conduct, is to have 150,000 pounds; and to all of you, if handsome, Austria will be handsome generally. For the rest, the thing is already settled; and your refusal will not hinder it from going forward. I request to know, within eight days, what your Highness’s determination is!”

His poor Highness, thunderstruck as may be imagined, asks: “But — but — What would your Excellency advise me?” “Have n’t the least advice,” answers his Excellency: “will wait at Frankfurt-on-Mayn, for eight days, what your Highness’s resolution is; hoping it may be a wise one; — and have the honor at present to say Good-morning.” Sudden, like a thunder-bolt in winter, the whole phenomenon. This, or JANUARY 3d, when Friedrich, by Express from Zweibruck, first heard of this, may be considered as birthday of a Furstenbund now no longer hypothetic, but certain to become actual.

Zweibruck naturally shot off expresses: to Petersburg (no answer ever); to Berlin (with answer on the instant); — and in less than eight days, poor Zweibruck, such the intelligence from Berlin, was in a condition to write to Frankfurt: “Excellency; No; I do not consent, nor ever will.” For King Friedrich is broad-awake again; — and Hertzberg’s smithy-fires, we may conceive how the winds rose upon these, and brought matters to a welding heat! —

The Czarina, — on Friedrich’s urgent remonstrance, “What is this, great Madam? To your old Ally, and from the Guaranty and Author of the Peace of Teschen!” — had speedily answered: “Far from my thoughts to violate the Peace of Teschen; very far: I fancied this was an advantageous exchange, advantageous to Zweibruck especially; but since Zweibruck thinks otherwise, of course there is an end.” “Of course;” — though my Romanzow did talk differently; and the forge-fires of a certain person are getting blown at a mighty rate! Hertzberg’s operation was conducted at first with the greatest secrecy; but his Envoys were busy in all likely places, his Proposal finding singular consideration; acceptance, here, there,— “A very mild and safe-looking Project, most mild in tone surely!” — and it soon came to Kaunitz’s ear; most unwelcome to the new Kingdom of Burgundy and him!

Thrice over, in the months ensuing (April 13th, May 11th, June 23d), in the shape of a “Circular to all Austrian Ambassadors”, [Dohm, iii. 64, 68.] Kaunitz lifted up his voice in severe dehortation, the tone of him waxing more and more indignant, and at last snuffling almost tremulous quite into alt, “against the calumnies and malices of some persons, misinterpreters of a most just Kaiser and his actions.” But as the Czarina, meanwhile, declared to the Reich at large, that she held, and would ever hold, the Peace of Teschen a thing sacred, and this or any Kingdom of Burgundy, or change of the Reichs Laws, impossible, — the Kaunitz clangors availed nothing; and Furstenbund privately, but at a mighty pace, went forward. And, JUNE 29th, 1785, after much labor, secret but effective, on the part of Dohm and others, Three Plenipotentiaries, the Prussian, the Saxon, the Hanoverian (“excellent method to have only the principal Three!” ) met, still very privately, at Berlin; and laboring their best, had, in about four weeks, a Furstenbund Covenant complete; signed, JULY 23d, by these Three, — to whom all others that approved append themselves. As an effective respectable number, Brunswick, Hessen, Mainz and others, did, [List of them in Dohm.] — had not, indeed, the first Three themselves, especially as Hanover meant England withal, been themselves moderately sufficient. — Here, before the date quite pass, are two Clippings which may be worth their room: —

1. BOUILLE’S SECOND VISIT (Spring, 1785). May 10th, 1785, — just while FURSTENBUND, so privately, was in the birth-throes,— “Marquis de Bouille had again come to Berlin, to place his eldest Son in the ACADEMIE DES GENTILSHOMMES; where the young man stayed two years. Was at Potsdam” May 13th-16th; [Rodenbeck, iii. 325.] “well received; dined at Sans-Souci. Informed the King of the Duc de Choiseul’s death [Paris, May 8th). King, shaking his head, ‘IL N’Y A PAS GRAND MAL.’ Seems piqued at the Queen of France, who had not shown much attention to Prince Henri. Spoke of Peter the Great, ‘whose many high qualities were darkened by singular cruelty.’ When at Berlin, going on foot, as his custom was, unattended, to call on King Friedrich Wilhelm, the people in the streets crowded much about him. ‘Brother,’ said he to the King, ‘your subjects are deficient in respect; order one or two of them to be hanged; it will restrain the others!’ During the same visit, one day, at Charlottenburg; the Czar, after dinner, stepped out on a balcony which looked into the Gardens. Seeing many people assembled below, he gnashed his teeth (GRINCA DES DENTS), and began giving signs of frenzy. Shifty little Catharine, who was with him, requested that a certain person down among the crowd, who had a yellow wig, should be at once put away, or something bad would happen. This done, the Czar became quiet again. The Czarina added, he was subject to such attacks of frenzy; and that, when she saw it, she would scratch his head, which moderated him. ‘VOILA MONSIEUR,’ concluded the King, addressing me: ‘VOILA LES GRANDS HOMMES!’

“Bouille spent a fortnight at Reinsberg, with Prince Henri; who represents his Brother as impatient, restless, envious, suspicious, even timid; of an ill-regulated imagination”, — nothing like so wise as some of us! “Is too apprehensive of war; which may very likely bring it on. On the least alarm, he assembles troops at the frontier; Joseph does the like; and so” — A notably splenetic little Henri; head of an Opposition Party which has had to hold its tongue. Cherishes in the silent depths of him an almost ghastly indignation against his Brother on some points. “Bouille returned to Paris June, 1785.” [ESSAI SUR LA VIE DE BOUILLE (ubi supra).]

2. COMTE DE SEGUR (on the road to Petersburg as French Minister) HAS SEEN FRIEDRICH: January 29th, 1785. Segur says: “With lively curiosity I gazed at this man; there as he stood, great in genius, small in stature; stooping, and as it were bent down under the weight of his laurels and of his long toils. His blue coat, old and worn like his body; his long boots coming up above the knee; his waistcoat covered with snuff, formed an odd but imposing whole. By the fire of his eyes, you recognized that in essentials he had not grown old. Though bearing himself like an invalid, you felt that he could strike like a young soldier; in his small figure, you discerned a spirit greater than any other man’s....

“If used at all to intercourse with the great world, and possessed of any elevation of mind, you have no embarrassment in speaking to a King; but to a Great Man you present yourself not without fear. Friedrich, in his private sphere, was of sufficiently unequal humor; wayward, wilful; open to prejudices; indulged in mockery, often enough epigrammatic upon the French; — agreeable in a high degree to strangers whom he pleased to favor; but bitterly piquant for those he was prepossessed against, or who, without knowing it, had ill-chosen the hour of approaching him. To me, luck was kind in all these points;” my Interview delightful, but not to be reported farther. [“Memoires par M. le Comte de Segur (Paris, 1826), ii. 133, 120:” cited in PREUSS, iv. 218. For date, see Rodenbeck, iii. 322, 323.]

Except Mirabeau, about a year after this, Segur is the last distinguished French visitor. French Correspondence the King has now little or none. October gone a year, his D’Alembert, the last intellectual Frenchman he had a real esteem for, died. Paris and France seem to be sinking into strange depths; less and less worth hearing of. Now and then a straggling Note from Condorcet, Grimm or the like, are all he gets there.

That of the Furstenbund put a final check on Joseph’s notions of making the Reich a reality; his reforms and ambitions had thenceforth to take other directions, and leave the poor old Reich at peace. A mighty reformer he had been, the greatest of his day. Broke violently in upon quiescent Austrian routine, on every side: monkeries, school-pedantries, trade-monopolies, serfages, — all things, military and civil, spiritual and temporal, he had resolved to make perfect in a minimum of time. Austria gazed on him, its admiration not unmixed with terror. He rushed incessantly about; hardy as a Charles Twelfth; slept on his bearskin on the floor of any inn or hut; — flew at the throat of every Absurdity, however broad-based or dangerously armed, “Disappear, I say!” Will hurl you an Official of Rank, where need is, into the Pillory; sets him, in one actual instance, to permanent sweeping of the streets in Vienna. A most prompt, severe, and yet beneficent and charitable kind of man. Immensely ambitious, that must be said withal. A great admirer of Friedrich; bent to imitate him with profit. “Very clever indeed,” says Friedrich; “but has the fault [a terribly grave one!] of generally taking the second step without having taken the first.”

A troublesome neighbor he proved to everybody, not by his reforms alone; — and ended, pretty much as here in the FURSTENBUND, by having, in all matters, to give in and desist. In none of his foreign Ambitions could he succeed; in none of his domestic Reforms. In regard to these latter, somebody remarks: “No Austrian man or thing articulately contradicted his fine efforts that way; but, inarticulately, the whole weight of Austrian VIS INERTIAE bore day and night against him; — whereby, as we now see, he bearing the other way with the force of a steam-ram, a hundred tons to the square inch, the one result was, To dislocate every joint in the Austrian Edifice, and have it ready for the Napoleonic Earthquakes that ensued.” In regard to ambitions abroad it was no better. The Dutch fired upon his Scheld Frigate: “War, if you will, you most aggressive Kaiser; but this Toll is ours!” His Netherlands revolted against him, “Can holy religion, and old use-and-wont be tumbled about at this rate?” His Grand Russian Copartneries and Turk War went to water and disaster. His reforms, one and all, had to be revoked for the present. Poor Joseph, broken-hearted (for his private griefs were many, too), lay down to die. “You may put for epitaph,” said he with a tone which is tragical and pathetic to us, “Here lies Joseph,” the grandly attempting Joseph, “who could succeed in nothing.” [Died, at Vienna, 20th February, 1790, still under fifty; — born there 13th March, 1741. Hormayr, OEsterreichischer Plutarch, iv. (2tes) 125-223 (and five or six recent LIVES of Joseph, none of which, that I have seen, was worth reading, in comparison).] A man of very high qualities, and much too conscious of them. A man of an ambition without bounds. One of those fatal men, fatal to themselves first of all, who mistake half-genius for whole; and rush on the second step without having made the first. Cannot trouble the old King or us any more.