History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 21Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 21
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
The Confederation of Radom, and its victorious Diet, had hardly begun
their Song of Triumph, when there ensued on the per-contra side a
flaming CONFEDERATION OF BAR;--which, by successive stages, does at
last burn out the Anarchies of Poland, and reduce them to ashes.
Confederation of Bar; and then, as progeny of that, for and against,
such a brood of Confederations, orthodox, heterodox, big, little,
short-lived, long-lived, of all complexions and degrees of noisy fury,
potent, at any rate, each of them for murder and arson, within a
certain radius, as the Earth never saw before. Now was the time of those
inextricable marchings (as inroads and outroads) through the Lithuanian
Bogs, of those death-defiant, unparalleled exploits, skirmishings,
scaladings, riding by the edge of precipices, of Pulawski, Potocki and
others,--in which Rulhiere loses himself and turns on his axis, amid
impatient readers.
For the Russian troops (summoned by a trembling Stanislaus and his
Senate, in terms of Treaty 1764), and in more languid manner, the
Stanislaus soldiery, as per law of the case, proceeded to strike
in,--generally, my impression was, with an eye to maintain the King's
Peace and keep down murder and arson:--and sure enough, the small bodies
of drilled Russians blew an infuriated orthodox Polack chivalry to right
and left at a short notice; but as to the Constable's Peace or King's,
made no improvement upon that, far the reverse. It is certain the
Confederate chivalry were driven about, at a terrible rate,--over
the Turk frontier for shelter; began to appeal to the Grand Turk, in
desperate terms: "Brother of the Sun and Moon, saw you ever such a
chance for finishing Russia? Polack chivalry is Orthodox Catholic, but
also it is Anti-Russian!" The Turk beginning to give ear to it, made the
matter pressing and serious. Here, more specifically, are some features
and successive phases,--unless the reader prefer to skip.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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