History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 18Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 18
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
"Britannic Majesty, in this awful state of his Hanover Armaments,
has been applying at the Danish Court; Richelieu too sends off an
application thither: 'Mediate between us, spare useless bloodshed!'
[Valfons, p. 291.]--Whereupon Danish Majesty (Britannic's son-in-law)
cheerfully undertakes it; bids one Lynar bestir himself upon it. Count
Lynar, an esteemed Official of his, who lives in those neighborhoods;
Danish Viceroy in Oldenburg,--much concerned with the Scriptures, the
Sacred Languages and other seraphic studies,--and a changed man since we
saw him last in the Petersburg regions, making love to Mrs. Anton Ulrich
long ago! Lynar, feeling the axis of the world laid on his shoulder in
this manner, loses not a moment; invokes the Heavenly Powers; goes on
it with an alacrity and a despatch beyond praise. Runs to the Duke of
Cumberland at Stade; thence to Richelieu at Zeven; back to the Duke,
back to Zeven: 'Won't you; and won't YOU?' and in four short days
has the once world-famed 'Convention of Kloster-Zeven' standing on
parchment,--signed, ready for ratifying: 'Royal Highness's Army to go
home to their countries again [routes, methods, times: when, how, and
what next, all left unsettled], and noise of War to cease in those
parts.' Signed cheerfully on both sides 9th September, 1757; and Lynar
striking the stars with his sublime head. [Busching (who alone is exact
in the matter), _ Beitrage,_ iv. 167, 168,? Lynar: see Scholl, iii. 49;
Valfons, pp. 202, 203; _OEuvres de Frederic,_ iv. 143 (with correction
of Preuss's Note there).]
"Unaccountable how Lynar had managed such a difficulty. He says
seraphically, in a Letter to a friend, which the Prussian hussars got
hold of, 'The idea of it was inspired by the Holy Ghost:' at which the
whole world haha'd again. For it was a Convention vague, absurd, not
capable of being executed; ratification of it refused by both Courts, by
the French Court first, if that was any matter:--and the only thing now
memorable of it is, that IT was a total Futility; but, that there ensued
from it a Fact still of importance; namely:--
"That on the 5th of October following, Royal Highness quitted Stade,
and his wrecked Army hanging sorrowful there, like a flight of plucked
cranes in mid-air;--arrived at Kensington, October 12th; heard the
paternal Majesty say, that evening, 'Here is my son who has ruined
me, and disgraced himself!'--and thereupon indignantly laid down his
military offices, all and sundry; and ceased altogether to command
Armies, English or other, in this world. [In WALPOLE (iii. 59-64) the
amplest minuteness of detail.] Whereby, in the then and now diagram of
things, Kloster-Zeven, as a mathematical point, continues memorable in
History, though shrunk otherwise to zero!
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