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
Prince Karl was slow with his preparations; Noailles and Coigny
(Broglio's successor) were not slow; "raising batteries everywhere,"
raising lines, "10,000 Elsass Peasants," and what not;--so that, by the
time Prince Karl was ready (middle of August), they lay intrenched
and minatory at all passable points; and Karl could nowhere, in that
Upper-Rhine Country, by any method, get across. Nothing got across;
except once or twice for perhaps a day, Butcher Trenck and his loose
kennel of Pandours; who went about, plundering and rioting, with loud
rodomontade, to the admiration of the Gazetteers, if of no one else.
Nor was George's seconding of important nature; most dubitative, wholly
passive, you would rather say, though the River, in his quarter, lay
undefended. He did, at last, cross the Rhine about Mainz; went languidly
to Worms,--did an ever-memorable TREATY OF WORMS there, if no fighting
there or elsewhere. Went to Speyer, where the Dutch joined him (sadly
short of numbers stipulated, had it been the least matter);--was at
Germersheim, at what other places I forget; manoeuvring about in a
languid and as if in an aimless manner, at least it was in a perfectly
ineffectual one. Mentzel rode gloriously to Trarbach, into Lorraine;
stuck up Proclamation, "Hungarian Majesty come, by God's help, for her
own again," and the like;--of which Document, now fallen rare, we give
textually the last line: "And if any of you DON'T [don't sit quiet at
least], I will," to be brief, "first cut off your ears and noses, and
then hang you out of hand." The singular Champion of Christendom, famous
to the then Gazetteers! [In Adelung (iii. B, 193) the Proclamation
at large. I have, or once had, a _Life of Mentzel_ (Dublin, I think,
1744), "price twopence,"--dear at the money.] Nothing farther could
George, with his Dutch now adjoined, do in those parts, but wriggle
slightly to and fro without aim; or stand absolutely still, and eat
provision (great uncertainty and discrepancy among the Generals, and
Stair gone in a huff [Went, "August 27th, by Worms" (Henderson,
_Life of Cumberlund,_ p. 48), just while his Majesty was beginning to
cross.]),--till at length the "Combined Pragmatic Troops" returned to
Mainz (October 11th); and thence, dreadfully in ill-humor with each
other, separated into their winter-quarters in the Netherlands and
adjacent regions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account