incessant marches and battles.—letter from frederick to d’argens.—letter to his brother henry.—berlin summoned to surrender.—sacking of the city.—letter to d’argens.—desperate resolves of frederick.—the resort of suicide.—remarkable address of frederick to his generals.—bloody battle of torgau.—dismal night-scene.—familiarity of the king with the soldiers.—winter quarters at freiberg.—singular letter to the countess of camas.—death of the princess amelia.—anecdotes of the king.—his domestic habits.—his unscrupulous measures to obtain men and money.—letter of charlotte of mecklenburg.
sieges, skirmishes, battles innumerable ensued. the russians and the austrians, in superior numbers and with able leaders, were unwearied in their endeavors to annihilate their formidable foe. the conflict was somewhat analogous to that which takes place between the lion at bay in the jungle and a pack of dogs. the details could scarcely be made intelligible to the reader, and would certainly prove tedious.153
frederick so concentrated his forces as, ere long, to have about fifty thousand troops with him at breslau. weary weeks of marchings and fightings, blood and woe, passed on. painful508 blows were struck upon both sides, but nothing decisive was accomplished. in the midst of these harassments, perils, and toils, the king wrote to d’argens, on the 18th of september, from reisendorf:
“i will not sing jeremiades to you, nor speak of my fears or anxieties; but i can assure you that they are great. the crisis i am in changes in appearance, but nothing decisive happens. i am consumed by a slow fire; i am like a living body losing limb after limb. may heaven assist us, for we have much need of it.
“you speak of my personal safety. you ought to know, as i do, that it is not necessary for me to live. but while i do live i must fight for my country, and save it if it be possible. in many little things i have had luck; i think of taking for my motto, maximus in minimis, et minimus in maximis.154
“it is impossible for you to imagine the horrible fatigues which we undergo. this campaign is worse than any of the others. i sometimes know not which way to turn. but why weary you with these details of my toils and miseries? my spirits have forsaken me. all my gayety is buried with those dear and noble ones to whom my heart was bound. the end of my life is melancholy and sad; but do not, therefore, my dear marquis, forget your old friend.”155
to his brother henry he wrote, “i have had a bad time of it, my dear brother; our means are so eaten away; far too short for opposing the prodigious number of our enemies set against us. if we must fall, let us date our destruction from the infamous day of maxen. my health is a little better, but i have still hémorro?des aveugles. that were nothing, however, were it not for the disquietudes i feel. for these three days i have had so terrible a cramp in continuance that i thought it would choke me. it is now a little gone. no wonder that the chagrins and continual disquietudes i live in should undermine, and at length overturn, the most robust constitution.”
early in october the allies planned an expedition for the capture of berlin. the city had no defenses but weak palisades, which were garrisoned by but twelve hundred men. general czernichef led a column of twenty thousand russians, general509 lacy another of fifteen thousand austrians, and general soltikof a third column of twenty thousand more.
on the 3d of october the vanguard of this army, three thousand strong, was seen in the distance from the steeples of berlin. the queen and royal family fled with the archives to magdeburg. the city was summoned to an immediate surrender, and to pay a ransom of about four million dollars to rescue it from the flames. the summons was rejected. general tottleben, in command of the advance, erected his batteries, and at five o’clock in the afternoon commenced his bombardment with red-hot balls. in the night a re-enforcement of five thousand prussians, under prince eugene of würtemberg, who had marched forty miles that day, entered the city, guided by the blaze of the bombardment, to strengthen the garrison. tottleben retired to await the allied troops, which were rapidly on the march. in the mean time, on the 8th, general hülsen arrived with nine thousand prussian troops, increasing the garrison in berlin to fifteen thousand. frederick was also on the march, to rescue his capital, with all the troops he could muster. but the russians had now arrived to the number of thirty-five thousand. the defenses were so weak that they could easily take or destroy the place.
the garrison retired to avoid capture. berlin surrendered on the morning of october 9th. for three days the enemy held the city. the semi-barbaric soldiers committed fearful outrages. the soldiers sacked the king’s palaces at potsdam and charlottenburg, smashing furniture, doors, windows, mirrors, statuary, cutting the pictures, and maltreating the inmates.
on the 11th it was announced that frederick, with nearly the whole prussian army, was within five days’ march of berlin. the allies held him in such dread, when he had any thing like an equality of numbers with them, that they fled from him at the rate of thirty miles a day. but terrible were the ravages which they inflicted on the prussian people during this retreat.
the russians marched to poland. the austrians returned to saxony. as soon as frederick heard of their retreat, instead of continuing his march to berlin, he also turned his columns southward. on the 27th of october he crossed the elbe, about sixty miles above dresden, and found himself in the vicinity of general daun, whose army outnumbered that of frederick two to510 one. the situation of frederick was extremely critical. under these circumstances, he wrote to d’argens on the 28th:
sacking the palace.
“you, as a follower of epicurus, put a value upon life. as for me, i regard death from the stoic point of view. never shall i see the moment which will oblige me to make a disadvantageous peace. no persuasion, no eloquence, shall ever induce me to sign my own dishonor. either i will bury myself under the ruins of my country, or, if that consolation appears too great to the destiny which persecutes me, i shall know how to put an end to my misfortunes when it is no longer possible to bear them. i have acted, and continue to act, in pursuance of this conviction, and according to the dictates of honor, which have always directed my steps. my conduct shall continue, at all times, to be conformable to these principles.
511 “after having sacrificed my youth to my father, and my maturer age to my country, i think that i have acquired the right to dispose of my old age as i please. i have told you, and i repeat it, my hand shall never sign a disgraceful peace. i shall continue this campaign with the resolution to dare all, and to try the most desperate things, either to succeed or to find a glorious end.
“indeed, how many reasons has one at fifty years of age to despise life! the prospect which remains to me is an old age of infirmity and pain, with disappointments, regrets, ignominies, and outrages to endure. in truth, if you really consider my situation, you ought to blame my intentions less than you do. i have lost all my friends. i am unfortunate in all the ways in which it is possible to be so. i have nothing to hope for. i see my enemies treat me with derision, while their insolence prepares to trample me under foot. alas!
“‘quand on a tout perdu, quand on n’a plus d’espoir, la vie est un opprobre, et la mort un devoir.’156
“i have nothing to add to this. i will only inform your curiosity that we passed the elbe the day before yesterday; that to-morrow we march toward leipsic, where i hope to be on the 31st, where i hope we shall have a battle, and whence you shall receive news of us as it occurs.”
it is not strange that frederick, being destitute of religious principle, should have ever contemplated suicide as his last resort. on the 2d of november the king came in sight of the encampment of general daun at torgau, on the elbe, some score of leagues north of dresden. the king was at the head of forty-four thousand troops. marshal daun had eighty thousand, strongly intrenched upon heights west of the city, in the midst of a labyrinth of ponds, hills, ravines, and forests. we shall not attempt to enter into a detail of the battle. the following plan of the battle will give the military reader an idea of the disposal of the forces.
the position of the austrians on the heights of siptitz, an eminence which rose two hundred feet above the bed of the river, seemed impregnable. sixty-five thousand austrians stood512 upon those heights, protected by earth-works and a formidable abatis. they had four hundred guns in battery, a larger number than had ever before been brought upon a battle-field. to attack then and there was an act of desperation. on the evening of the 2d the king assembled his generals and said to them,
“i have called you together, not to ask your advice, but to inform you that to-morrow i shall attack marshal daun. i am aware that he occupies a strong position, but it is one from which he can not escape. if i beat him, all his army must be taken prisoners or drowned in the elbe. if we are beaten, we must all perish. this war is become tedious. you must all find it so. we will, if we can, finish it to-morrow. general ziethen, i confide to you the right wing of the army. your object must be, in marching straight to torgau, to cut off the retreat of the austrians when i shall have beaten them, and driven them from the heights of siptitz.”
battle of torgau, november 3, 1760.
a a. prussian camp at schilda. b b b. austrian army. c c c. rear-guard, under lacy. d. prussian detachment, under ziethen. e. frederick’s division beginning the attack. f. hülsen’s infantry. g. holstein’s cavalry.
at an early hour on the morning of the 3d frederick broke up his camp south of the foe, and, by a circuitous route of fourteen513 miles, came down upon the austrians from the north. general ziethen marched in almost a straight line for torgau, to cut off the retreat. it was two o’clock in the afternoon when frederick, emerging from the forest, ordered his men to charge. the assault was as impetuous and reckless as mortal men could possibly make. instantly four hundred pieces of artillery opened fire upon them.
“archenholtz describes it as a thing surpassable only by doomsday; clangorous rage of noise risen to the infinite; the boughs of the trees raining down upon you with horrid crash; the forest, with its echoes, bellowing far and near, and reverberating in universal death-peal, comparable to the trump of doom.”157
frederick exclaimed, in astonishment, “what an infernal fire! did you ever hear such a cannonade before? i never did.”
the first assault was made by six thousand grenadiers upon the extreme western wing of the austrian army. the terrible conflict lasted nearly an hour. the prussians were driven back, leaving nine out of ten of the assailing force dead or wounded behind them. the austrians pursued, and encountered slaughter equal to that which they had inflicted.
new columns were formed. soon after three another charge was ordered. it was sanguinary and unsuccessful as the first. frederick himself was wounded by a nearly spent case-shot which struck him on the breast. the blow was severe and painful. had the ball retained a little more impetus it would have passed through his body. it is said that the ball struck him to the earth, and that for some time he was void of consciousness. upon reviving, his first words to his adjutant, a son of old dessauer, who was sorrowfully bending over him, were, “what are you doing here? go and stop the runaways.”
it was now half past four o’clock. the sun of the short november day was rapidly sinking. hasty preparations were made for another charge, aided by a body of prussian cavalry which had just reached the ground. the gathering twilight was darkening hill and valley as the third assault was made. it was somewhat successful. by this time the two armies were quite intermingled. marshal daun was severely wounded, and was taken into torgau to have his wounds dressed. the hour514 of six had now arrived. it was a damp, cloudy, dark night. the combatants were guided mainly by the flash of the muskets and the guns. “the night was so dark,” says archenholtz, “that you could not see your hand before you.” still for two hours the battle raged.
marshal daun, as he retired with a shattered leg to have his wound dressed, resigned the command to general buccow. in a few moments his arm was shot off, and general o’donnell took the command. he ordered a retreat. the austrian army, at nine o’clock in the evening, in much disorder, were crossing the elbe by three bridges which had been thrown across the stream in preparation for a possible disaster. the king, disappointed in a victory which did not promise great results, passed the night conversing with the soldiers at their watch-fires. he had ever indulged them in addressing him with much familiarity, calling him fritz, which was a diminutive of frederick, and expressive of affection. “i suppose, fritz,” said one of the soldiers, “after this, you will give us good winter quarters.”
“by all the devils,” exclaimed the king, “i shall not till we have taken dresden. then i will provide for you to your heart’s content.”
the king was not a man of refined sensibilities. not unfrequently his letters contained coarse and indelicate expressions. he was very profane. voltaire says of him, “he has a pleasing tone of voice even in swearing, which is as familiar to him as to a grenadier.”
the battle of torgau is to be numbered among the most bloody of the seven years’ war. the austrians lost twelve thousand in killed and wounded, eight thousand prisoners, forty-five cannon, and twenty-nine flags. the prussian loss was also very heavy. there were fourteen thousand killed or wounded, and four thousand taken prisoners.
the austrians retired to dresden for winter quarters. frederick was left in the field which he had won. gradually he withdrew to his old camping-ground at freiberg, where his troops had been cantoned the previous winter. on the 10th of november, 1760, he wrote from meissen to the marquis d’argens at berlin:
“i drove the enemy to the gates of dresden. they occupy515 their camp of last year. all my skill is not enough to dislodge them. we have saved our reputation by the day of torgau. but do not imagine that our enemies are so disheartened as to desire peace. i fear that the french will preserve through the winter the advantages they have gained during the campaign.
“in a word, i see all black, as if i were at the bottom of a tomb. have some compassion on the situation i am in. conceive that i disguise nothing from you, and yet that i do not detail to you all my embarrassments, my apprehensions, and troubles. adieu, my dear marquis. write to me sometimes. do not forget a poor devil who curses ten times a day his fatal existence, and could wish he already were in those silent countries from which nobody returns with news.”
the next day, the 11th, frederick wrote from neustadt to the countess of camas, who at berlin was the grand mistress of the queen’s household. the trifling tone of this letter, which was penned in the midst of a struggle so awful, is quite characteristic of the writer:
“i am punctual in answering, and eager to satisfy you. you shall have a breakfast-set, my good mamma; six coffee-cups, very pretty, well diapered, and tricked out with all the little embellishments which increase their value. on account of some pieces which they are adding to the set, you will have to wait a few days. but i flatter myself this delay will contribute to your satisfaction, and produce for you a toy that will give you pleasure, and make you remember your old adorer.
“it is curious how old people’s habits agree. for four years past i have given up suppers as incompatible with the trade i am obliged to follow. on marching days my dinner consists of a cup of chocolate.
“we have been running about like fools, quite inflated with our victory, to see if we could not chase the austrians out of dresden. but they made mockery of us from the tops of their mountains. so i have withdrawn, like a naughty little boy, to hide myself, out of spite, in one of the most cursed villages of saxony. we must now drive these gentlemen of the imperial army out of freiberg in order to get something to eat and a place to sleep in.158
516 “this is, i swear to you, such a dog’s life [chienne de vie] as no one but don quixote ever led before me. all this tumbling, toiling, bother, and confusion have made me such an old fellow that you would scarcely know me again. the hair on the right side of my head has grown quite gray. my teeth break and fall out. my face is as full of wrinkles as the furbelow of a petticoat. my back is bent like a fiddle-bow, and my spirit is sad and downcast, like a monk of la trappe.
“i forewarn you of this, that, if we should meet again in flesh and bone, you might not feel yourself too violently shocked by my appearance. there remains nothing to me unaltered but my heart, which, as long as i breathe, will retain sentiments of esteem and tender friendship for my good mamma. adieu.”159
on saturday, the 25th of october of this year, george ii., king of england, died. the poor old gentleman, who had been endowed with but a very ordinary share of intelligence, was seventy-seven years of age. on monday he had presided at a review of troops in hyde park. on thursday he stood upon the portico of his rural palace in kensington to see his guards march by for foreign service. saturday morning he rose at an early hour, took his cup of chocolate as usual, and, opening his windows, said the morning was so fine he would take a walk in his garden. it was then eight o’clock. his valet withdrew with the cup and saucer. he had hardly shut the door when he heard a groan and a fall. hurrying back, he found the king upon the floor. faintly the death-stricken monarch exclaimed, “call amelia,” and instantly died.
“poor deaf amelia (frederick’s old love, now grown old and deaf) listened wildly for some faint sound from those lips now mute forever. george ii. was no more. his grandson, george iii, was now king.”160
george ii. had always hated his nephew frederick. his only object in sustaining the war was to protect his native electorate of hanover and to abase france.161 the new sovereign, in his first speech to parliament, said:
“i rely upon your zeal and hearty concurrence to support the king of prussia and the rest of my allies, and to make ample517 provision for carrying on the war, as the only means of bringing our enemies to equitable terms of accommodation.”
it seems that in england there were two parties in reference to the war. sir horace walpole, in a letter under date of december 5th, 1760, wrote to sir horace mann, at florence:
“i shall send you a curious pamphlet, the only work i almost ever knew that changed the opinions of many. it is called ‘considerations on the present german war.’ the confirmation of the king of prussia’s victory near torgau does not prevent the disciples of the pamphlet from thinking that the best thing which could happen for us would be to have that monarch’s head shot off.”162
notwithstanding the opposition, parliament voted to continue the subsidy to frederick of about three million four hundred thousand dollars (￡670,000). this sum was equal to twice or three times that amount at the present day.
frederick, having cantoned his troops at freiberg and its vicinity, on the 27th of november wrote again to the countess of camas:
“we have settled our winter quarters. i have yet a little round to take, and afterward i shall seek for tranquillity at leipsic, if it be to be found there. but, indeed, for me tranquillity is only a metaphysical word which has no reality.”
frederick was so busy cantoning his troops that he did not take possession of his head-quarters in leipsic until the 8th of december. he occupied the apel house, no. 16 neumarkt street, the same which he had occupied before the battle of rossbach. the same mistress kept the house as before. upon seeing the king, the good woman exclaimed, in astonishment, “how lean your majesty has grown!”
“lean indeed i am,” the king replied. “and what wonder, with three women163 hanging on the throat of me all this while!”
thus ended the fifth campaign of the seven years’ war. though the king had thus far averted the destruction which seemed every hour to be impending, his strength and resources were so rapidly failing that it seemed impossible that he could518 much longer continue the struggle. under these despairing circumstances, the king, with an indomitable spirit, engaged vigorously in gathering his strength for a renewal of the fight in the spring.
“in the midst of these preparations for a new campaign against a veteran army of two hundred and eighty thousand enemies, frederick yet found sufficient leisure for peaceable occupations. he consecrated some hours every day to reading, to music, and to the conversation of men of letters.”164
d’argens spent the winter with the king at leipsic. he gives the following incident: “one day i entered the king’s apartment, and found him sitting on the floor with a platter of fried meat, from which he was feeding his dogs. he had a little rod, with which he kept order among them, and shoved the best bits to his favorites.”
the marquis looked for a moment upon the singular spectacle with astonishment. then raising his hands, he exclaimed,
“the five great powers of europe, who have sworn alliance, and conspired to ruin the marquis of brandenburg, how might they puzzle their heads to guess what he is now doing! scheming some dangerous plan, think they, for the next campaign, collecting funds, studying about magazines for man and horse; or is he deep in negotiations to divide his enemies, and get new allies for himself? not a bit of it. he is sitting peaceably in his room feeding his dogs.”165
the king was quite unscrupulous in the measures to which he resorted to recruit his army. deserters, prisoners, peasants, were alike forced into the ranks. even boys but thirteen and fourteen years of age were seized by the press-gangs. the countries swept by the armies were so devastated and laid waste that it was almost an impossibility to obtain provisions for the troops. it will be remembered that upon the capture of berlin several of the king’s palaces had been sacked by the russian and austrian troops. the king, being in great want of money, looked around for some opportunity to retaliate. there was within his cantonments a very splendidly furnished palace, called the hubertsburg schloss, belonging to the king of poland. on the 21st of january, 1761, frederick summoned to his audience-room519 general saldern. this officer cherished a very high sense of honor. the bravest of the brave on the field of battle, he recoiled from the idea of performing the exploits of a burglar. the following conversation took place between the king and his scrupulous general. in very slow, deliberate tones, the king said:
“general saldern, to-morrow morning i wish you to go with a detachment of infantry and cavalry to hubertsburg. take possession of the palace, and pack up all the furniture. the money they bring i mean to bestow on our field hospitals. i will not forget you in disposing of it.”
“forgive me, your majesty,” general saldern replied, “but this is contrary to my honor and my oath.”
the king, in still very calm and measured words, rejoined, “you would be right if i did not intend this desperate method for a good object. listen to me. great lords don’t feel it in their scalp when their subjects are torn by the hair. one has to grip their own locks as the only way to give them pain.”
“order me, your majesty,” said general saldern, “to attack the enemy and his batteries, and i will cheerfully, on the instant, obey; but i can not, i dare not, act against honor, oath, and duty. for this commission your majesty will easily find another person in my stead.”
the king turned upon his heel, and, with angry voice and gesture, said, “saldern, you refuse to become rich.”
in a pet frederick left the room. the heroic general, who had flatly refused to obey a positive command, found it necessary to resign his commission. the next day another officer plundered the castle. seventy-five thousand dollars of the proceeds of the sale were appropriated to the field hospitals. the remainder, which proved to be a large sum, was the reward of the plundering general.
“the case was much canvassed in the army. it was the topic in every tent among officers and men. and among us army chaplains, too, the question of conflicting duties arose. your king ordering one thing, and your conscience another, what ought a man to do? and what ought an army chaplain to preach or advise?
“our general conclusion was that neither the king nor general520 saldern could well be called in the wrong. general saldern, in obeying the inner voice, did certainly right. but the king, also, in his place, might judge such a measure expedient. perhaps general saldern himself would have done so had he been king of prussia.”166
the duke of mecklenburg had a sister, charlotte, a bright and beautiful young girl of seventeen. her heart was so moved by the scenes of misery which she witnessed every where around her that she ventured to write a very earnest appeal to frederick for peace.
“it was but a few years ago,” she wrote, “that this territory wore the most pleasing appearance. the country was cultivated. the peasants looked cheerful. the towns abounded with riches and festivity. what an alteration at present from such a charming scene! i am not expert at description, neither can my fancy add any horrors to the picture. but sure even conquerors themselves would weep at the hideous prospect now before me.
“the whole country, my dear country, lies one frightful waste, presenting only objects to excite terror, pity, and despair. the business of the husbandman and the shepherd are quite discontinued. the husbandman and shepherd are become soldiers themselves, and help to ravage the soil they formerly occupied. the towns are inhabited by old men, women, and children. perhaps here and there a warrior, rendered unfit for service by wounds and want of limbs, is left at his door. his little children hang round him, ask a history of every wound, and grow themselves soldiers before they find strength for the field.
“but this were nothing did we not feel the alternate insolence of either army as it happens to advance or retreat. it is impossible to express the confusion which even those create who call themselves our friends. even those from whom we might expect redress oppress us with new calamities. from you, therefore, it is that we expect relief. to you even women and children may complain, for your humanity stoops to the most humble petition, and your power is capable of repressing the greatest injustice. i am, sire, etc.,
“charlotte sophia, of mecklenburg-strelitz.”
521 this letter was extensively circulated in england. it was greatly admired. it so happened that the court was then looking around for a bride for their young king. the result was that in the course of a few months charlotte became queen of england, as the wife of george iii.
it is not known that frederick paid any attention to this appeal. impoverished as his realms were, large sums of money were absolutely necessary for the conduct of a new campaign. the king levied a contribution upon leipsic of nearly a million of dollars. the leading citizens said that in their extreme destitution it was impossible to raise that sum. the king threatened to burn down the city over their heads. the combustibles were gathered. the soldiers stood with the torches in their hands to kindle the conflagration. but then the king, apparently reflecting that from the smouldering ashes of the city he could glean no gold, ordered the city to be saved, but arrested a hundred of the chief merchants and threw them into prison.
these men, of the highest distinction, were treated with every indignity to extort the money from them. they were incarcerated in gloomy dungeons, with straw only for their beds, and with bread and water only for their food. but even this severity was unavailing. seventeen were then selected from their number, and were informed that they were to be forced into the ranks as common soldiers. their muskets and their knapsacks were given to them, and they were ordered to magdeburg to be drilled. by this application of torture the money was obtained. and now, while the storms of winter were sweeping the frozen fields, both parties were gathering their strength anew for the struggle of the sixth campaign.
