Dec. 1760-April 1761. * It was during this Winter, if ever it was, that Friedrich received the following Letter from an aspiring Young Lady, just coming out, age seventeen,-in a remote sphere of things. In "Sleepy Hollow" namely, or the Court of Mirow in Mecklenburg-Strelitz, where we once visited with Friedrich almost thirty years ago. The poor collapsed Duke has ceased making dressing-gowns there; and this is his Niece, Princess Charlotte, Sister to the now reigning Duke. This Letter, in the translated form, and the glorious results it had for some of us, are familiar to all English readers for the last hundred years. Of Friedrich's Answer to it, if he sent one, we have no trace whatever. Which is a pity, more or less;-though, in truth, the Answer could only have been some polite formality; the Letter itself being a mere breath of sentimental wind, absolutely without significance to Friedrich or anybody else,—except always to the Young Lady herself, to whom it brought a Royal Husband and Queenship of England, within a year. Signature, presumably, this Letter once had; date of place, of day, year, or even century (except by implication), there never was any but judicious persons, scanning on the spot, have found that the "Victory" spoken of can only have meant Torgau; and that the aspiring Young Lady, hitherto a School Girl, not so much as confirmed" till a month or two ago, age seventeen in May last, can only have written it, at Mirow, in the Winter subsequent.31 Certain it is, in September next, September 1761, directly after George III.'s Wedding, there appeared in the English Newspapers, what doubtless had been much handed about in society before, the following Translation of a Letter, said to have been written by Princess Charlotte of Mecklen berg to the King of Prussia, on one of his Victories,'-without farther commentary or remark of any kind; everybody then understanding, as everybody still. So notable a Document ought to be given in the Original as well (or in what passes for such), and with some approach to the necessary preliminaries of time and place :32 [To his Majesty the King of Prussia (in Leipzig, or Somewhere). Mirow in Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Winter of 1760-61.] "May it please your Majesty, "Sire !-Ich weiss nicht, ob ich über Ewr. Majestät letzteren Sieg fröhlich oder traurig sein soll, weil eben der glückliche Sieg, der neue Lorbeern um Dero Scheitel geflochten hat, über mein Vaterland Fam "I am at a loss whether I shall congratulate or condole with you on your late victory; since the same success that has covered you with laurels has overspread the 31 Ludwig Giesebrecht, -Der Fürstenhof in Mirow während der Fahre 17081761, in Programm des vereinigten Königlichen und Stadt-Gymnasiums for 1863 (Stettin, 1863), pp. 26-29,-enters into a minute criticism. 32 From Gentleman's Magazine (for October 1761, xxxi. 447) we take, verbatim, the Translation; from Preuss (ii. 186) the 'Original,' who does not say where he got it,-whether from an old German Newspaper or not. Ich mer und Elend verbreitet. weiss, Sire, in diesem unserm lasterhaft verfeinerten Zeitalter werde ich verlacht werden, dass mein Herz über das Unglück des Landes trauert, dass ich die Drangsale des Krieges beweine, und von ganzer Secle die Rückkehr des Friedens wünsche. Selbst Sie, Sire, werden vielleicht denken, es schicke sich besser für mich, mich in der Kunst zu gefallen zu üben, oder mich nur um häusliche Angelegenheiten zu bekümmern. Allein dem seye wie ihm wolle, so fühlt mein Herz zu sehr für diese Unglücklichen, um eine dringende Fürbitte für dieselben zurück zu halten. "Seit wenigen Jahren hatte dieses Land die angenehmste Gestalt gewonnen. Man traf keine verödete Stellen an. Alles war angebaut. Das Landvolk sah vergnügt aus, und in den Städten herrschte Wohlstand und Freude. Aber welch' eine Veränderung gegen eine so angenehme Scene! Ich bin in partheischen Beschreibungen nicht erfahren, noch weniger kann ich die Gräuel der Verwüstung mit erdichteten Schilderungen schrecklicher darstellen. Allein gewiss selbst Krieger, welche ein edles Herz und Gefühl besitzen, würden durch den Anblick dieser Scenen zu Thränen bewegt werden. Das ganze Land, mein werthes Vaterland, liegt da gleich einer Wüste. Der Ackerbau und die Viehzucht haben aufgehört. Der Bauer und der Hirt sind Soldaten worden, und in den Städten sieht man nur Greise, Weiber und Kinder, vielleicht noch hie und da einen jungen Mann, der aber durch empfangene Wunden ein Krüppel ist und den ihn umgebenden kleinen Knaben die Geschichte einer jeden Dec. 1760-April 1761. Country of Meckenburgh with desolation. I know, Sire, that it seems unbecoming my sex, in this age of vicious refinement, to feel for one's Country, to lament the horrors of war, or wish for the return of peace. I know you may think it more properly my province to study the art of pleasing, or to turn my thoughts to subjects of a more domestic nature: but, however unbecoming it may be in me, I can't resist the desire of interceding for this unhappy people. "It was but a very few years ago that this territory wore the most pleasing appearance. The Country was cultivated, the peasant looked cheerful, and the towns abounded with riches and festivity. What an alteration at present from such a charming scene! I am not expert at description, nor 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 the shepherd are become soldiers themselves, and help to ravage the soil they formerly occupied. The towns are inhabited only by old men, women and children; perhaps here and there a warrior, by wounds and loss of limbs rendered unfit for service, left at his door; his little children hang round him, ask a history of every wound, Dec. 1760-April 1761. Wunde mit einem so pathetischen Heldenton erzählt, dass ihr Herz schon der Trommel folgt, ehe sie recht gehen können. Was aber das Elend auf den höchsten Gipfel bringt, sind die immer abwechselnden Vorrückungen und Zurückziehungen beider Armeen, da selbst die, so sich unsre Freunde nennen, beim Abzuge alles mitnehmen und verheeren, und wenn sie wieder kom men, gleich viel wieder herbei geschafft haben wollen. Von Dero Gerechtigkeit, Sire, hoffen wir Hülfe in dieser äussersten Noth. An Sie, Sire, mogen auch Frauen, ja selbst Kinder ihre Klagen bringen. Sie, die sich auch zur niedrigsten Klasse gütigst herablassen, und dadurch, wenn es möglich ist, noch grösser werden, als selbst durch ihre Siege, werden die meinigen nicht unerhört lassen und, zur Ehre Dero eigenen Ruhmes, Bedrückungen und Drangsalen abhelfen, welche wider alle Menschenliebe und wider alle gute Kriegszucht streiten. Ich bin &c." 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, even those who call themselves our friends create. Even those from whom we might expect redress, oppress us with new calamities. From your justice, therefore, it is that we hope relief; to you even children and women may complain, whose humanity stoops to the meanest petition, and whose power is capable of repressing the greatest injustice. "I am, Sire, &c." It is remarked that this Young Lady, so amiably melodious in tone, though she might address to King Friedrich, seems to be writing to the wind; and that she gives nothing of fact or picture in regard to Mecklenburg, especially to Mecklenburg-Strelitz, but what is taken from her own beautiful young brain. All operatic, vague, imaginary, -some of it expressly untrue. 33 So that latterly there have been doubts as to its authenticity altogether !34 And in fact the Piece has a good deal the air of some School-Exercise, Model of Letter-writing, Patriotic Aspiration or the like;-thrown off, shall we say, by the young Parson of Mirow (Charlotte's late Tutor), with Charlotte there to sign; or by 33 In Mecklenburg-Schwerin, which had always to smart sore for its Duke and the line he took, the Swedes, this year, as usual (but, till Torgau, with more hope than usual), had been trying for winter-quarters: and had by the Prussians, as usual, been hunted-out,-Eugen of Würtemberg speeding thither, directly after Torgau; Rostock his winter-quarters;-who, doubtless with all rigour, is levying contributions for Prussian behoof. But as to Mecklenburg-Strelitz,-see, for example, in Schöning, iii. 30 &c., an indirect but altogether conclusive proof of the perfectly amicable footing now and always subsisting there; Friedrich reluctant to intrude even with a small request or solicitation, on Eugen's behalf, at this time. 34 Boll, Geschichte Mecklenburgs mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Culturgeschichte (Neubrandenburg, 1856), ii. 303-305;'-cited by Giesebrecht, who himself takes the opposite view. 25th April-19th Aug. 1761. some Patriotic Schoolmaster elsewhere, anywhere, in a moment of enthusiasm, and without any Charlotte but a hypothetic one? Certainly it is difficult to fancy how a modest, rational, practical young person like Charlotte can have thought of so airy a seat of archery into the blue! Charlotte herself never disavowed it, that I heard of; and to Colonel Grahame the Ex-Jacobite, hunting about among potential Queens of England, for behoof of Bute and of a certain Young King and King's Mother, the Letter did seem abundantly unquestionable and adorable. Perhaps authentic, after all;-and certainly small matter whether or not. CHAPTER VII. SIXTH CAMPAIGN OPENS: CAMP OF BUNZELWITZ. To the outward observer Friedrich stands well at present, and seems again in formidable posture. After two such Victories, and such almost miraculous recovery of himself, who shall say what resistance he will not yet make? In comparison with 1759 and its failures and disasters, what a Year has 1760 been! Liegnitz and Torgau, instead of Kunersdorf and Maxen, here are unexpected phenomena; here is a King risen from the deeps again, -more incalculable than ever to contemporary mankind. "How these things will end?" Fancy of what a palpitating interest then, while everybody watched the huge game as it went on; though it is so little interesting now to anybody, looking at it all finished! Finished; no mystery of chance, of world-hope or of world-terror now remaining in it; all is fallen stagnant, dull, distant;—and it will behove us to be brief upon it. Contemporaries, and Posterity that will make study, must alike admit that, among the sons of men, few in any Age have made a stiffer fight than Friedrich has done and continues to do. But to Friedrich himself it is dismally evident, that year by year his resources are melting away; that a year must come when he will have no resource more. Ebbing very fast, his resources ;-fast too, no doubt, those of his Enemies, but not so fast. They are mighty Nations, he is one small Nation. His thoughts, we perceive, have always, in the background of them, a hue of settled black. Easy to say, "Resist till we die;" but to go about, year after year, practically doing it, under cloudy omens, no end of it visible ahead, is not easy. Many men, Kings and other, have had to take that stern posture ;-few 25th April-19th Aug. 1761. on sterner terms than those of Friedrich at present; and none that I know of with a more truly stoical and manful figure of demeanour. He is long used to it! Wet to the bone, you do not regard new showers; the one thing is, reach the bridge before it be swum away. The usual hopes, about Turks, about Peace, and the like, have not been wanting to Friedrich this Winter; mentionable as a trait of Friedrich's character, not otherwise worth mention. Hope of aid from the Turks, it is very strange to see how he nurses this fond shadow, which never came to anything! Happily, it does not prevent, it rather encourages, the utmost urgency of preparation : "The readier we are, the likelier are Turks and everything!" Peace, at least, between France and England, after such a Proposal on Choiseul's part, and such a pass as France has really got to, was a reasonable probability. But indeed, from the first year of this War, as we remarked, Peace has seemed possible to Friedrich every year; especially from 1759 onward, there is always every winter a lively hope of Peace:-"No slackening of preparation; the reverse, rather; but surely the Campaign of next Summer will be cut short, and we shall all get home only half expended !"1 Practically, Friedrich has been raising new Free-Corps people, been recruiting, refitting and equipping, with more diligence than ever; and, in spite of the almost impossibilities, has two Armies on foot, some 96,000 men in all, for defence of Saxony and of Silesia,-Henri to undertake Saxony, versus Daun; Silesia, with Loudon and the Russians, to be Friedrich's heavier share. The Campaign, of which, by the one party and the other, very great things had been hoped and feared, seemed once as if it would begin two months earlier than usual; but was staved-off, a long time, by Friedrich's dexterities, and otherwise; and in effect did not begin, what we can call beginning, till two months later than usual. Essentially it fell, almost all, to Friedrich's share; and turned out as little decisive on him as any of its foregoers. The one memorable part of it now is, Friedrich's Encampment at Bunzelwitz; which did not occur till four months after Friedrich's appearance on the Field. And from the end of April, when Loudon made his first attempt, till the end of August, when Schöning (in locis). VOL. IX. K |