History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 14Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 14
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
SCHLOSS OF WOLNZACH, MAY, 1743.... "The Kaiser pressed, in the most
emphatic manner, That the Two Armies [French and Bavarian] should
collect and unite for immediate action. To which Broglio declared he
could by no means assent, not having any order from Paris of that
tenor. The Kaiser thereupon: 'I give you my order for it; I, by the Most
Christian King's appointment, am Commander-in-Chief of your Army, as of
my own; and I now order you!'--taking out his Patent, and spreading it
before Broglio with the sign-manual visible, Broglio knew the Patent
very well; but answered, 'That he could not, for all that, follow the
wish of his Imperial Majesty; that he, Broglio, had later orders, and
must obey them!' Upon which the Imperial Majesty, nature irrepressibly
asserting itself, towered into Olympian height; flung his Patent on the
table, telling Conti and Broglio, 'You can send that back, then; Patents
like that are of no service to me!' and quitted them in a blaze."
[Adelung, iii. B, 150; cites ETTAT POLITIQUE (Annual Register of
those times), xiii. 16. Nothing of this scene in _Campagnes,_ which is
officially careful to suppress the like of this.]
The indisputable fact is, Prince Karl is at the door; nay he has beaten
in the door in a frightful manner; and has Braunau, key of the Inn,
again under siege. Not we getting Passau; it is he getting Braunau! A
week ago (9th May) his vanguard, on the sudden, cut to pieces our poor
Bavarian 8,000, and their poor Minuzzi, who were covering Braunau, and
has ended him and them;--Minuzzi himself prisoner, not to be heard of or
beaten more;--and is battering Braunau ever since. That is the sad fact,
whatever the theory may have been. Prince Karl is rolling in from
the east; Lobkowitz (Prag now ended) is advancing from the northward,
Khevenhuller from the Salzburg southern quarter: Is it in a sprinkle of
disconnected fractions that you will wait Prince Karl? The question of
uniting, and advancing, ought to be a simple one for Broglio. Take
this other symbolic passage, of nearly the same date;--posterior, as we
guessed, to that Interview at Wolnzach.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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