Oct. 1761-July 1762. on the Douro; summons Mirando, a chief Town of theirs; takes it, 'before their first battery is built; takes Braganza, takes Monte Corvo; and within a week is master of the Douro, in that part. "Will be at Oporto directly!" shriek all the Wine people (no resistance anywhere, except by peasants organised by English Officers in some parts); upon which Seventy-fours were sent. 2°. Division Second of the 42,000 came by Beira Country, be'tween Tagus and Douro, by Tras-os-Montes; and laid siege to a 'place called Almeida' (north-west some 20 odd miles from Ciudad Rodrigo, a name once known to veterans of us still living), which Bückeburg had tried to repair into strength, and furnish with a gar'rison. Garrison defended itself well; but could not be relieved;' had to surrender, August 25th: whereby it seems the Tagus is now 'theirs! All the more, as Division Three is likewise got across from 'Estremadura, invading Alemtejo: what is to keep these Two from falling on Lisbon together? '3°. Against this, Bückeburg does find a recipe. Dispatches Bri'gadier Burgoyne with an English party upon a Town called Valencia 'd'Alcantara' (not Alcantara Proper, but Valencia of ditto, not very far from Badajoz), 'where the vanguard of this Third Division is, and 'their principal Magazine. Burgoyne and his English did perfectly: 'broke into the place, stormed it sword in hand (August 27th); kept 'the Magazine and it, though "the sixteen Portuguese Battalions" 'could not possibly get up in time. In manner following (say the Old 'Newspapers): "The garrison of Almeida, before which place the whole Spanish Army had been assembled, surrendered to the Spaniards on the 25th" (August 25th, as we have just heard), "having capitulated on "condition of not serving against Spain for six months. "As a counterbalance to this advantage, the Count de Lippe "caused Valencia d'Alcantara to be attacked, sword-in-hand, by the "British troops; who carried it, after an obstinate resistance. The "loss of the British troops, who had the principal share in this affair, "is luckily but inconsiderable: and consists in Lieutenant Burk of "Colonel Frederick's, one sergeant and three privates killed; two "sergeants, one drummer, 18 privates wounded; 10 horses killed and 2 wounded" (loss not at all considerable, in a War of such dimensions!) "The British troops behaved upon this occasion with as much generosity as courage; and it deserves admiration, that, in an affair "of this kind, the town and the inhabitants suffered very little; which "is owing to the good order Brigadier Burgoyne kept up even in the "heat of the action. This success would probably have been attended "with more, if circumstances, that could not well be expected, had "not retarded the march of sixteen Portuguese battalions, and three "regiments of cavalry. "15 Upon which-upon which, in fact, the War had to end. Rainy 15 Old Newspapers (in Gentleman's Magazine for 1762, p. 443). Oct. 1761-July 1762. 'weather came, deluges of rain; Burgoyne, with or without the sixteen 'battalions of Portuguese, kept the grip he had. Valencia d'Alcantara ' and its Magazine a settled business, roads round gone all to mire,this Third Division, and with it the 42,000 in general, finding they ' had nothing to live upon, went their ways again.' Note, The Burgoyne, who begins in this pretty way at Valencia d'Alcantara, is the same who ended so dismally at Saratoga, within twenty years:-perhaps, with other War-Offices, and training himself in something suitabler than Parliamentary Eloquence, he might have become a kind of General, and have ended far otherwise than there ?— ་ 'Such was the credit-account on Carlos's side: By gratuitous as'sault on Portugal, which had done him no offence; result zero, and " pay your expenses. On the English, or per-contra side, again, there were these three items, two of them specifically on Carlos: First, Martinique captured from the French this Spring (finished 4th February 1762):16-was to have been done in any case, Guadaloupe and 'it being both on Pitt's books for some time, and only Guadaloupe yet got. Secondly, King Carlos, for Family Compact and fruitless attempt at burglary on an unoffending neighbour, Debtor: 1o. To 'Loss of the Havana (6th June-13th August 1762)," which might easily have issued in loss of all his West Indies together, and total 'abolition of the Pope's meridian in that Western Hemisphere; and ' 2o. To Loss of Manilla, with his Philippine Islands (23d September -6th October 1762), 18 which was abolition of it in the Eastern. After which, happily for Carlos, Peace came,-Peace, and no Pitt to be severe upon his Indies and him. Carlos's War of ten months had 'stood him uncommonly high.' All these things the English Public, considerably sullen about the Cabinet-Council event of October 3d, ascribed to the real owner of them. The Public said: "These are, all of them, Pitt's bolts, not yours,-launched, or lying ready for launching, from that Olympian battery which, in the East and in the West, had already smitten down all Lallys and Montcalms; and had force already massed there, rendering your Havanas and Manillas easy for you. For which, indeed, you do not seem to care much; rather seem to be embarrassed with them, in your eagerness for Peace and a lazy life!"Manilla was a beautiful work;19 but the Manilla Ransom; a million sterling, half of it in bills,-which the Spaniards, on no 16 Gentleman's Magazine for 1762, p. 127. 17 Ib. pp. 408-459, &c. 18 Ib. xxxiii. 171-177. 19 A Journal of the Proceedings of his Majesty's Forces in the Expedition to Manilla (London Gazette, April 19th, 1763; Gentleman's Magazine, xxxiii. 171 et seq.). Written by Colonel or Brigadier-General Draper (suggester, contriver and performer of the Enterprise; an excellent Indian Officer, of great merit with his pen as well,-Bully Junius's Correspondent afterwards). Oct. 1761-July 1762. pretext at all but the disagreeableness, refused to pay! Havana, though victorious, cost a good many men: was thought to be but badly managed. "What to do with it ?" said Bute, at the Peace: "Give us Florida in lieu of it,"—which proved of little benefit to Bute. Enough, enough of Bute and his performances. Pitt being gone, Friedrich's English Subsidy lags: this time Friedrich concludes it is cut off;-silent on the subject; no words will express one's thoughts on it. Not till April 9th has poor Mitchell the sad errand of announcing formally That such are our pressures, Portuguese War and other, we cannot afford it farther. Answered by I know not what kind of glance from Friedrich; answered, I find, by words few or none from the forsaken King: "Good; that too was wanting," thought the proud soul: "Keep your coin, since you so need it; I have still copper, and my sword!" The alloy this Year became as 3 to 1-what other remedy? From the same cause, I doubt not, this Year, for the first time in human memory, came that complete abeyance of the Gift-moneys (Douceur-Gelder), which are become a standing expectation, quasi-right, and necessary item of support to every Prussian Officer, from a Lieutenant upwards: not a word, in the least official, said of them this Year; still less a penny of them actually forthcoming to a worn-out expectant Army. One of the greatest sins charged upon Friedrich by Prussian or Prussian-Military public opinion: not to be excused at all ;— Prussian-Military and even Prussian-Civil opinion having a strange persuasion that this King has boundless supply of money, and only out of perversity refuses it for objects of moment. In the Army as elsewhere much has gone awry ;20 many rivets loose after such a climbing of the Alps as there has been, through dense and rare. It will surprise everybody that Friedrich, with his copper and other resources, actually raised his additional 60,000; and has for himself 70,000 to recover Schweidnitz, and bring Silesia to its old state; 40,000 for Prince Henri and Saxony, with a 10,000 of margin for Sweden and accidental sundries. This is strange, but it is true.21 And has not been done without strivings and contrivings, hard requisitions on the places 20 See Möllendorf's two or three Letters (Preuss, iv. 407-411). VOL. IX. N Jan.-July 1762. liable; and has involved not a little of severity and difficulty, -especially a great deal of haggling with the collecting parties, or at least with Prince Henri, who presides in Saxony, and is apt to complain and mourn over the undoable, rather than proIceed to do it. The King's Correspondence with Henri, this Winter, is curious enough; like a Dialogue between Hope on its feet, and Despair taking to its bed. 'You know there are Two Doctors in Molière," says Friedrich to him once; a Doctor Tant-mieux (So much the Better) and a Doctor Tantpis (So much the Worse): these two cannot be expected to agree!"—Instead of infinite arithmetical details, here is part of a Letter of Friedrich's to D'Argens; and a Passage, one of many, with Prince Henri;-which command a view into the interior that concerns us. The King to D'Argens (at Berlin). "Breslau, 18th January 1762. ***"You have lifted the political veil which covered horrors "and perfidies meditated and ready to burst out" (Bute's dismal procedures, I believe; who is ravenous for Peace, and would fain force Friedrich along with him on terms altogether disgraceful and inadmissible22): you judge correctly of the whole situation I am in, of the "abysses which surround me; and, as I see by what you say, of the "kind of hope that still remains to me. It will not be till the month "of February" (Turks, probably, and Tartar Khan; great things coming then!) "that we can speak of that; and that is the term I " contemplate for deciding whether I shall hold to Cato" (Cato,—and the little Glass Tube I have!) "or to Cæsar's Commentaries," and the best fight one can make. "The School of patience I am at is hard, long-continued, cruel, "" nay barbarous. I have not been able to escape my lot: all that "human foresight could suggest has been employed, and nothing has "succeeded. If Fortune continues to pursue me, doubtless I shall "sink; it is only she that can extricate me from the situation I am in. "I escape out of it by looking at the Universe on the great scale, like 66 an observer from some distant Planet; all then seems to me so in"finitely small, and I could almost pity my enemies for giving them"selves such trouble about so very little. What would become of us "without philosophy, without this reasonable contempt of things frivo"lous, transient and fugitive, about which the greedy and ambitious "make such a pother, fancying them to be solid! This is to become "wise by stripes, you will tell me; well, if one do become wise, what 22 See D'Argens's Letter (to which this is Answer), Euvres de Frédéric, xix. 281, 282. Jan.-July 1762. matters it how?—I read a great deal; I devour my Books, and that "brings me useful alleviation. But for my Books, I think hypochon"dria would have had me in bedlam before now. In fine, dear Mar"quis, we live in troublous times and in desperate situations:-I have "all the properties of a Stage-Hero; always in danger, always on the point of perishing. One must hope the conclusion will come; and "if the end of the piece be lucky, we will forget the rest. Patience then, mon cher, till February 20th" (By which time, what far other veritable star-of-day will have risen on me!) "Adieu, mon cher.-F. "23 Tiff of Quarrel between King and Henri (March-April 1762). In the Spring months Prince Henri is at Hof in Voigtland, on the extreme right of his long line of 'Quarters behind the Mulda;' busy enough, watching the Austrians and Reich; levying the severe contributions; speeding all he can the manifold preparatives;-conscious to himself of the greatest vigilance and diligence, but wrapt in despondency and black acidulent humours; a 'Doctor So much the Worse,' who is not a comforting Correspondent. From Hof, towards the middle of March, he becomes specially gloomy and acidulous; sends a series of Complaints; also of News, not important, but all rather in your favour, my dearest Brother, than in mine, if you will please to observe! As thus: 66 Henri (at Hof, 10th-13th March). "Sadly off here, my dearest "Brother! Of our 1,284 head of commissariat horses,' only 180 are "come in; of our '287 drivers,' not one. Will be impossible to open Campaign at that rate."-"Grenadier Battalions Rothenburg and "Grant demand to have picked men to complete them" (of Cantonist, or sure Prussian sort). "I find" (nota bene, Reader!) "there are "eight Austrian regiments going to Silesia" (off my hands, and upon yours, in a sense), "eight instead of four that I spoke of: intending, "probably, for Glatz, to replace Czernichef" (a Czernichef off for home lately, in a most miraculous way; as readers shall hear!) "to re"place Czernichef, and the blank he has left there? Eight of them: "Your Majesty can have no difficulty; but I will detach Platen or somebody, if you order it; though I am myself perilously ill off here, so scattered into parts, not capable of speedy junction like your 66 Majesty." 66 Friedrich (14th-16th March). "Commissariat horses, drivers? I arranged and provided where everything was to be got. But if my "orders are not executed, nor the requisitions brought in, of course "there is failure. I am dispatching Adjutant von Anhalt to Saxony a second time, to enforce matters. If I could be for three weeks in Saxony, myself, I believe I could put all on its right footing; but, "as I must not stir two steps from here, I will send you Anhalt, with "orders to the Generals, to compel them to their duty," "As to 23 Euvres de Frédéric, xix. 292, 293. 21 Schöning, iii. 397, 300, |