History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 20Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 20
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
The King is very unquestionably coming on; leaves Lubben thitherward
October 20th. [Rodenbeck, ii. 35: in _Anonymous of Hamburg_ (iv.
241-245) Friedrich's Two Marches, towards and from Berlin (7th-17th
October, to Lubben; thence, 20th October-3d November, to Torgau).] With
full fixity of purpose as usual; but with as gloomy an outlook as ever
before. Daun, we said, is now arrived in those parts: Daun and the
Reich together are near 100,000; Daun some 60,000,--Loudon having stayed
behind, and gone southward, for a stroke on Kosel (if Goltz will permit,
which he won't at all!),--and the Reich 35,000. Saxony is all theirs;
cannot they maintain Saxony? Not a Town or a Magazine now belongs
to Friedrich there, and he is in number as 1 to 2. "Maintain Saxony;
indisputably you can!" that is the express Vienna Order, as Friedrich
happens to know. The Russians themselves have taken Camp again, and
wait visibly, about Landsberg and the Warta Country, till they see Daun
certain of executing said Order; upon which they intend, they also, to
winter in those Elbe-Prussian parts, and conjointly to crush Friedrich
into great confinement indeed. Friedrich is aware of this Vienna Order;
which is a kind of comfort in the circumstances. The intentions of the
hungry Russians, too, are legible to Friedrich; and he is much resolved
that said Order shall be impossible to Daun. "Were it to be possible, we
are landless. Where are our recruits, our magazines, our resources for
a new Campaign? We may as well die, as suffer that to be possible!" Such
is Friedrich's fixed view. He says to D'Argens:--
"You, as a follower of Epicurus, put a value on life; as for me, I
regard death from the Stoic point of view. Never shall I see the moment
that forces me to make a disadvantageous Peace; no persuasion, no
eloquence, shall ever induce me to sign my dishonor. Either I will bury
myself under the ruins of my Country, or if that consolation appears too
sweet to the Destiny that persecutes me, I shall know how to put an end
to my misfortunes when it is impossible to bear them any longer. I
have acted, and continue to act, according to that interior voice of
conscience and of honor which directs all my steps: my conduct shall be,
in every time, conformable to those principles. After having sacrificed
my youth to my Father, my ripe years to my Country, I think I have
acquired the right to dispose of my old age. I have told you, and I
repeat it, Never shall my hand sign a humiliating Peace. Finish this
Campaign I certainly will, resolved to dare all, and to try the most
desperate things either to succeed or to find a glorious end (FIN
GLORIEUSE)." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. 202 ("Kemberg, 28th October,
1760," a week and a day before Torgau).]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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