History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 09Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 09
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
The parties proposed first and last, and rumored of in Newspapers and
the idle brains of men, have been very many,--no limit to their numbers;
it MAY be anybody: an intending purchaser, though but possessed
of sixpence, is in a sense proprietor of the whole Fair! Through
Schulenburg we heard his own account of them, last Autumn;--but the
far noblest of the lot was hardly glanced at, or not at all, on that
occasion. The Kaiser's eldest Daughter, sole heiress of Austria and
these vast Pragmatic-Sanction operations; Archduchess Maria Theresa
herself,--it is affirmed to have been Prince Eugene's often-expressed
wish, That the Crown-Prince of Prussia should wed the future Empress
[Hormayr, _Allgemeine Geschichte der neueslen Zeit_ (Wien, 1817),
i. 13; cited in Preuss, i. 71.] Which would indeed have saved immense
confusions to mankind! Nay she alone of Princesses, beautiful,
magnanimous, brave, was the mate for such a Prince,--had the Good
Fairies been consulted, which seldom happens:--and Romance itself might
have become Reality in that case: with high results to the very soul
of this young Prince! Wishes are free: and wise Eugene will have been
heard, perhaps often, to express this wish; but that must have been all.
Alas, the preliminaries, political, especially religious, are at once
indispensable and impossible: we have to dismiss that daydream. A
Papal-Protestant Controversy still exists among mankind; and this is one
penalty they pay for not having settled it sooner. The Imperial Court
cannot afford its Archduchess on the terms possible in that quarter.
What the Imperial Court can do is, to recommend a Niece of theirs,
insignificant young Princess, Elizabeth Christina of Brunswick-Bevern,
who is Niece to the Empress; and may be made useful in this way, to
herself and us, think the Imperial Majesties;--will be a new tie upon
the Prussians and the Pragmatic Sanction, and keep the Alliance still
surer for our Archduchess in times coming, think their Majesties. She,
it is insinuated by Seckendorf in Tobacco-Parliament; ought not she,
Daughter of your Majesty's esteemed friend,--modest-minded, innocent
young Princess, with a Brother already betrothed in your Majesty's
House,--to be the Lady? It is probable she will.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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