History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 19Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 19
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
REICH-HENNERSDORF, 9th JUNE. "My congratulations on the excellent
success you have had [out in Frankenland yonder]! Your prisoners, we
hear, are 3,000; the desertion and confusion in the Reichs Army are
affirmed to be enormous:--I give those Reichs fellows two good months
[scarcely took so long] to be in a condition to show face again. As for
ourselves, I can send you nothing but contemptibilities. We have never
yet had the beatific vision of Him with the Hat and Consecrated
Sword [Papal Daun, that is]; they amuse us with the Sieur Loudon
instead;--who, three days ago [7th July, two days] did us the honor of
a visit, at the Gallows of Liebau. He was conducted out again, with all
the politeness imaginable, on to near Schatzlar," well over the Bohemian
Border; "where we flung a score of cannon volleys into the"--into the
"DERRIERE of him, and everybody returned home." [In SCHONING, ii. 65:
"9th June, 1759."]
Perhaps the only points now noticeable in this tedious Landshut interim,
are Two, hardly noticed then at all by an expectant world. The first is:
That in the King's little inroad down to Trautenau, just mentioned, four
cannon drawn by horses were part of the King's fighting gear,--the first
appearance of Horse Artillery in the world. "A very great invention,"
says the military mind: "guns and carriages are light, and made of the
best material for strength; the gunners all mounted as postilions to
them. Can scour along, over hill and dale, wherever horse can; and burst
out, on the sudden, where nobody was expecting artillery. Devised in
1758; ready this Year, four light six-pounders; tried first in the
King's raid down to Trautenau [June 29th-30th]. Only four pieces as
yet. But these did so well, there were yearly more. Imitated by the
Austrians, and gradually by all the world." [Seyfarth, ii. 543.]
The second fact is: That Herr Guichard (Author of that fine Book on the
War-methods of the Greeks and Romans) is still about Friedrich, as he
has been for above a year past, if readers remember; and, during those
tedious weeks, is admitted to a great deal of conversation with the
King. Readers will consent to this Note on Guichard; and this shall be
our ultimatum on the wearisome Three Months at Landshut.
MAJOR QUINTUS ICILIUS. "Guichard is by birth a Magdeburger, age now
thirty-four; a solid staid man, with a good deal of hard faculty in him,
and of culture unusual for a soldier. A handy, sagacious, learned and
intelligent man; whom Friedrich, in the course of a year's experience,
has grown to see willingly about him. There is something of positive in
Guichard, of stiff and, as it were, GRITTY, which might have offended a
weaker taste; but Friedrich likes the rugged sense of the man; his real
knowledge on certain interesting heads; and the precision with which
the known and the not rightly known are divided from one another, in
Guichard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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