the king an artist.—cruel exactions of the king.—conflicts of etiquette.—quarrel with george ii.—nuptial intrigues.—energetic action of frederick william.—marriage of frederica louisa.—fritz and his flute.—wrath of the king.—beats wilhelmina and fritz.—attempts to strangle fritz.—the hunt at wusterhausen.—intrigues in reference to the double marriage.—anguish of wilhelmina.—cruelty of her mother.—resolve of fritz to escape to england.
while frederick william was confined to his room, tormented by the gout, he endeavored to beguile the hours in painting in oil. some of these paintings still exist, with the epigraph, “painted by frederick william in his torments.” wilhelmina writes:
“for the most part, one of his own grenadiers was the model from which he copied. and when the portrait had more color in it than the original, he was in the habit of coloring the cheeks of the soldier to correspond with the picture. enchanted with the fruits of his genius, he showed them to his courtiers, and asked their opinion concerning them. as he would have been very angry with any one who had criticised them, he was quite sure of being gratified with admiration.
“‘well,’ said he one day to an attendant, who was extolling the beauties of one of his pictures, ‘how much do you think that picture would bring at a sale?’
“‘sire, it would be cheap at a hundred ducats.’
“‘you shall have it for fifty,’ said the king, ‘because you are a good judge, and i am therefore anxious to do you a favor.’
“the poor courtier,” wilhelmina adds, “obliged to become possessor of this miserable performance, and to pay so dear for it, determined for the future to be more circumspect in his admiration.”
59 while the king was thus suffering the pangs of the gout, his irascibility vented itself upon his wife and children. “we were obliged,” says wilhelmina, “to appear at nine o’clock in the morning in his room. we dined there, and did not dare to leave it even for a moment. every day was passed by the king in invectives against my brother and myself. he no longer called me any thing but ‘the english blackguard.’ my brother was named the ‘rascal fritz.’ he obliged us to eat and drink the things for which we had an aversion. every day was marked by some sinister event. it was impossible to raise one’s eyes without seeing some unhappy people tormented in one way or other. the king’s restlessness did not allow him to remain in bed. he had himself placed in a chair on rollers, and was thus dragged all over the palace. his two arms rested upon crutches, which supported them. we always followed this triumphal car, like unhappy captives who are about to undergo their sentence.”
we have now reached the summer of 1729. george ii. was a weak-minded, though a proud, conceited man, who, as king of england, assumed airs of superiority which greatly annoyed his irascible and petulant brother-in-law, frederick william. flushed with his new dignity, he visited his hereditary domain of hanover. the journey led him through a portion of the prussian territory. courtesy required that george ii. should announce that intention to the prussian king. courtesy also required that, as the british monarch passed over prussian soil, frederick william should furnish him with free post-horses. “i will furnish the post-horses,” said frederick william, “if the king apprise me of his intention. if he do not, i shall do nothing about it.” george did not write. in affected unconsciousness that there was any such person in the world as the prussian king, he crossed the prussian territory, paid for his own post-horses, and did not even condescend to give frederick william any notice of his arrival in hanover. the king of prussia, who could not but be conscious of the vast inferiority of prussia to england, stung to the quick by this contemptuous treatment, growled ferociously in the tobacco parliament.
the english minister at berlin, dubourgay, wrote to hanover, urging that some notification of the king’s arrival should be sent60 to the prussian court to appease the angry sovereign. george replied through lord townshend that, “under the circumstances, it is not necessary.” thus the two kings were no longer on speaking terms. it is amusing, while at the same time it is humiliating, to observe these traits of frail childhood thus developed in full-grown men wearing crowns. when private men or kings are in such a state of latent hostility, an open rupture is quite certain soon to follow. george accused frederick william of recruiting soldiers in hanover. in retaliation, he seized some prussian soldiers caught in hanoverian territory. there was an acre or so of land, called the “meadow of clamei,” which both hanover and brandenburg claimed. the grass, about eight cart-loads, had been cut by brandenburg, and was well dried.
on the 28th of june, 1729, the population of bühlitz, a hanoverian border village, sallied forth with carts, escorted by a troop of horse, and, with demonstrations both defiant and exultant, raked up and carried off all the hay. the king of prussia happened to be at that time about one hundred miles distant from bühlitz, at magdeburg, reviewing his troops. he was thrown into a towering passion. sophie dorothee, wilhelmina, fritz, all felt the effects of his rage. dubourgay writes, under date of july 30, 1729:
“her majesty, all in tears, complained of her situation. the king is nigh losing his senses on account of the differences with hanover; goes from bed to bed in the night-time, and from chamber to chamber, like one whose brains are turned. took a fit at two in the morning lately to be off to wusterhausen. since his return he gives himself up entirely to drink. the king will not suffer the prince royal to sit next his majesty at table, but obliges him to go to the lower end, where things are so ordered that the poor prince often rises without getting one bit, insomuch that the queen was obliged two days ago to send, by one of the servants who could be trusted, a box of cold fowls and other eatables for his royal highness’s subsistence.”
frederick william, in his extreme exasperation, seriously contemplated challenging george ii. to a duel. in his own mind he arranged all the details—the place of meeting, the weapons, the seconds. with a stern sense of justice, characteristic of the man, he admitted that it would not be right to cause the blood61 of his subjects to flow in a quarrel which was merely personal. but the “eight cart-loads of hay” had been taken under circumstances so insulting and contemptuous as to expose the prussian king to ridicule; and he was firm in his determination to settle the difficulty by a duel. the question was much discussed in the tobacco parliament. the prussian ministers opposed in vain. “the true method, i tell you,” said the king, “is the duel, let the world cackle as it may.”
but at length one of the counselors, baron borck, urged the following consideration: “swords will be the weapons used. your majesty has been very sick, is now weak, and also crippled with gout. the king of england is in health and vigor. there is great danger that your majesty may be worsted in the combat. that would render matters tenfold worse.”
the king was staggered. war seemed the only alternative. but war would empty his money-casks, disfigure his splendid troops, and peril the lives even of his costly giants. one of these men, james kirkman, picked up in the streets of london, cost the king six thousand dollars “before he could be inveigled, shipped, and brought to hand.” nearly all had cost large sums of money. such men were too valuable to be exposed to danger. frederick william was in a state of extreme nervous excitement. there was no rest for him night or day. his deep potations did not calm his turbulent spirit. war seemed imminent. military preparations were in vigorous progress. ovens were constructed to bake ammunition bread. artillery was dragged out from the arsenals. it was rumored that the prussian troops were to march immediately upon the duchy of mecklenburg, which was then held by george ii. as an appendage to hanover.
all thoughts of the double marriage were for the moment relinquished. the czar of russia had a son and a daughter. it was proposed to marry wilhelmina to the son and fritz to the daughter, and thus to secure a russian instead of an english alliance. harassed by these difficulties, frederick william grew increasingly morose, venting his spite upon his wife and children. fritz seriously contemplated escaping from his father’s abuse by flight, and to take refuge with his uncle george in england, and thus to secure his marriage with amelia. the portraits of the62 princess which he had seen proved her to be very beautiful. all reports pronounced her to be as lovely in character as in person. he was becoming passionately attached to her. wilhelmina was his only confidante. regard for her alone restrained him from attempting to escape. “he would have done so long ago,” writes dubourgay, under date of august 11, 1729, “were it not for his sister, upon whom the whole weight of his father’s resentment would then fall. happen what will, therefore, he is resolved to share with her all the hardships which the king, his father, may be pleased to put upon her.”
wilhelmina.
one night, about the middle of august, as the king was tossing restlessly upon his pillow, he sprang from his bed, exclaiming63 “eureka! i now see what will bring a settlement.” immediately a special messenger was dispatched, with terms of compromise, to kannegiesser, the king’s embassador at hanover. we do not know what the propositions were. but the king was exceedingly anxious to avoid war. he had, in many respects, a very stern sense of justice, and would not do that which he considered to be wrong. when he abused his family or others he did not admit that he was acting unjustly. he assumed, and with a sort of fanatical conscientiousness, detestable as it was, that he was doing right; that they deserved the treatment. and now he earnestly desired peace, and was disposed to present the most honorable terms to avert a war.
kannegiesser, at hanover, received the king’s propositions for reconciliation at ten o’clock in the morning of the 15th of august, 1729. george ii. was then absent on a hunting excursion. the prussian embassador called immediately at the council-chamber of the hanoverian court, and informed m. hartoff, the privy secretary, that he wished an audience with the ministry, then in session, to make a proposition to them from the prussian court. hartoff, who had met kannegiesser in a room adjoining the council-chamber, reported the request to the council, and returned with the disrespectful answer that “m. kannegiesser must defer what he has to say to some other time.”
the prussian minister condescended then so importunately to urge an audience, in view of the menacing state of affairs, that m. hartoff returned to the council-chamber, and in seven minutes came back with an evasive answer, still refusing to grant an audience. the next day m. kannegiesser called again at the council-chamber. “i let them know in the mildest terms,” he writes in his dispatch home, “that i desired to be admitted to speak with them, which was refused me a second time.” he then informed m. hartoff that the prussian court expected a definite answer to some propositions which had previously been sent to the council at hanover; that he would remain two days to receive it; that, in case he did not receive it, he would call again, to remind them that an answer was desired.
the next day m. hartoff called at the residence of m. kannegiesser, and informed him “that the ministers, understanding that he designed to ask an audience to-morrow to remind them64 of the answer which he demanded, wished to say that such applications were not customary among sovereign princes; that they dared not treat farther in that affair with him; that, as soon as they received instructions from his britannic majesty, they would communicate to him the result.”
the prussian minister replied that he could not conceive why he should be refused an audience; that he should not fail to be at the council-chamber at eleven o’clock the next day to receive an answer to the proposals already made, and also to the proposals which he was prepared to make. he endeavored to inform hartoff of the terms of compromise which the prussian king was ready to present. but hartoff refused to hear him, declaring that he had positive orders not to listen to any thing he had to say upon the subject. we will give the conclusion in the words of the prussian minister, as found in his dispatch of the 18th of august, 1729:
“at eleven this day i went to the council-chamber for the third time, and desired secretary hartoff to prevail with the ministry to allow me to speak with them, and communicate what the king of prussia had ordered me to propose. herr von hartoff gave them an account of my request, and brought me, for answer, that i must wait a little, because the ministers were not yet all assembled; which i did. but after having made me stay almost an hour, and after the president of the council was come, herr von hartoff came out to me and repeated what he had said yesterday, in very positive and absolute terms, that the ministers were resolved not to see me, and had expressly forbid him taking any paper at my hands.
“to which i replied, that this was very hard usage, and the world would see how the king of prussia would relish it. but having strict orders from his majesty, my most gracious master, to make a declaration to the ministers of hanover in his name, and finding that herr von hartoff would neither receive it nor take a copy of it, i had only to tell him that i was under the necessity of leaving it in writing, and had brought the paper with me; and that now, as the council were pleased to refuse to take it, i was obliged to leave the said declaration on a table in an adjoining room, in the presence of herr von hartoff and other secretaries of the council, whom i desired to lay it before the ministry.
65 “after this i went home, but had scarcely entered my apartment when a messenger returned me, by order of the ministers, the declaration, still sealed as i left it; and perceiving that i was not inclined to receive it, he laid it on my table, and immediately left the house.”
having met with this repulse, kannegiesser returned to berlin with the report. frederick william was exasperated in the highest degree by such treatment from a brother-in-law whom he both hated and despised. he had at his command an army in as perfect condition, both in equipment and drill, as europe had ever seen. within a week’s time forty-four thousand troops, horse, foot, and artillery, were rendezvoused at magdeburg. fritz was there, looking quite soldierly on his proud charger, at the head of his regiment of the giant guard. vigorously they were put upon the march. george ii., who had already in his boyhood felt the weight of frederick william’s arm, and who well knew his desperate energy when once roused, was terrified. he had no forces in hanover which could stand for an hour in opposition to the army which the prussian king was bringing against him.
war between prussia and england might draw all the neighboring nations into the conflict. there was excitement in every continental court. the pope, it is reported, was delighted. “he prays,” says carlyle, “that heaven would be graciously pleased to foment and blow up to the proper degree this quarrel between the two chief heretical powers, heaven’s chief enemies, whereby holy religion might reap a good benefit.”
in the general alarm, france, holland, and other neighboring courts interposed and called loudly for a settlement. frederick william had never wished for war. george ii. was thoroughly frightened. as it was certain that he would be severely chastised, he was eager to escape from the difficulty through the mediation of others. an arbitration was agreed upon, and the quarrel was settled without bloodshed.
on the 8th of september fritz returned to potsdam from this his first military expedition, with his regiment of giants. he was then seventeen years of age. his soldierly bearing had quite rejoiced the king, and he began to think that, after all, possibly something might be made of fritz.
66 just as these troubles were commencing, there was, in may, 1729, a marriage in the prussian royal family. some two hundred miles south of brandenburg there was, at that time, a small marquisate called anspach, next in dignity to a dukedom. the marquis was a frail, commonplace boy of seventeen, under the care of a young mother, who was widowed, sick, and dying. much to the dissatisfaction of sophie dorothee, the queen-mother, frederick william had arranged a marriage between this young man, who was far from rich, and his second daughter, frederica louisa, who was then fifteen years of age.7
fritz went in the royal carriage, with suitable escort, to meet the young marquis on the prussian frontier, as he came to his bridals. they returned together in the carriage to potsdam with great military display. the wedding took place on the 30th of may, 1729. it was very magnificent. fritz was conspicuous on the occasion in a grand review of the giant grenadiers. wilhelmina, in her journal, speaks quite contemptuously of her new brother-in-law, the marquis of anspach, describing him as a foolish young fellow. it was, indeed, a marriage of children. the bridegroom was a sickly, peevish, undeveloped boy of seventeen; and the bride was a self-willed and ungoverned little beauty of fifteen. the marriage proved a very unhappy one. there was no harmony between them. frederick writes: “they hate one another like the fire” (comme le feu). they, however, lived together in incessant petty quarrelings for thirty years. probably during all that time neither one of them saw a happy day.
fritz had now attained eighteen years of age, and wilhelmina twenty-one. fritz was very fond of music, particularly of his flute, upon which he played exquisitely, being, however, careful never to sound its notes within hearing of his father. a celebrated music-master from dresden, by the name of quantz, was his teacher. he came occasionally from dresden and spent a week or two at potsdam, secretly teaching the young prince.67 the mother of fritz was in warm sympathy with her son, and aided him in all ways in her power in this gratification. still it was a very hazardous measure. the fierce old king was quite uncertain in his movements. he might at any hour appear at potsdam, and no one could tell to what lengths, in case of a discovery, he might go in the intensity of his rage. fritz had an intimate friend in the army, a young man of about his own age, one lieutenant katte, who, when fritz was with his music-teacher, was stationed on the look-out, that he might give instant warning in case there were any indications of the king’s approach. his mother also was prepared, when quantz was at potsdam, promptly to dispatch a messenger to her son in case she suspected his father of being about to turn his steps in that direction.
fritz, having thus established his outposts, was accustomed to retire to his room with his teacher, lay aside his tight-fitting prussian military coat, which he detested, and called his shroud, draw on a very beautiful, flowing french dressing-gown of scarlet, embroidered with gold, and decorated with sash and tags, and, with his hair dressed in the most fashionable style of the french court, surrender himself to the indulgence of his own luxurious tastes for sumptuous attire as well as for melodious sounds. he was thus, one day, in the height of his enjoyment, taking his clandestine music-lesson, when lieutenant katte came rushing into the room in the utmost dismay, with the announcement that the king was at the door. the wily and ever-suspicious monarch had stolen the march upon them. he was about to make his son a very unwelcome surprise visit.
a bomb bursting in the room could scarcely have created a greater panic. katte and quantz seized the flutes and music-books, and rushed into a wood-closet, where they stood quaking with terror. fritz threw off his dressing-gown, hurried on his military coat, and sat down at the table, affecting to be deeply engaged with his books. the king, frowning like a thunder-cloud—for he always frowned when he drew near fritz—burst into the room. the sight of the frizzled hair of his son “kindled the paternal wrath into a tornado pitch.” the king had a wonderful command of the vocabulary of abuse, and was heaping epithets of vituperation upon the head of the prince, when he caught sight of the dressing-gown behind a screen. he seized the glittering garment, and, with increasing outbursts of rage, crammed it into the fire. then searching the room, he collected all the french books, of which fritz had quite a library, and, sending for a bookseller near by, ordered him to take every volume away, and sell them for what they would bring. for more than an hour the king was thus raging, like a maniac, in the apartment of his son. fortunately he did not look into the wood-closet. had he done so, both quantz and katte would have been terribly beaten, even had they escaped being sent immediately to the scaffold.
68
the dressing-gown.
69 “the king,” writes wilhelmina, “almost caused my brother and myself to die of hunger. he always acted as carver, and served every body except us. when, by chance, there remained any thing in the dish, he spit in it, to prevent our eating of it. we lived entirely upon coffee, milk, and dried cherries, which ruined our health. i was nourished with insults and invectives, and was abused all day long, in every possible manner, and before every body. the king’s anger went so far against my brother and myself that he drove us from him, forbidding us to appear in his presence except at meals.
“the queen had contrived in her bedroom a sort of labyrinth of screens, so arranged that i could escape the king without being seen, in case he suddenly entered. one day the king came and surprised us. i wished to escape, but found myself embarrassed among these screens, of which several fell, and prevented my getting out of the room. the king was at my heels, and tried to catch hold of me in order to beat me. not being able any longer to escape, i placed myself behind my governess. the king advanced so much that she was obliged to fall back, but, finding herself at length near the chimney, she was stopped. i found myself in the alternative of bearing the fire or the blows. the king overwhelmed me with abuse, and tried to seize me by the hair. i fell upon the floor. the scene would have had a tragical end had it continued, as my clothes were actually beginning to take fire. the king, fatigued with crying out and with his passion, at length put an end to it and went away.”
these sufferings bound the brother and sister very intimately together. “this dear brother,” wilhelmina writes, “passed all his afternoons with me. we read and wrote together, and occupied ourselves in cultivating our minds. the king now never saw my brother without threatening him with the cane. fritz repeatedly told me that he would bear any thing from the king except blows; but that, if he ever came to such extremities with him, he would regain his freedom by flight.”
on the 10th of december, 1729, dubourgay writes in his journal:70 “his prussian majesty can not bear the sight of either the prince or the princess royal. the other day he asked the prince, ‘kalkstein makes you english, does not he?’ to which the prince answered, ‘i respect the english, because i know the people there love me.’ upon which the king seized him by the collar, struck him fiercely with his cane, and it was only by superior strength that the poor prince escaped worse. there is a general apprehension of something tragical taking place before long.”
wilhelmina gives the following account of this transaction, as communicated to her by her brother: “as i entered the king’s room this morning, he first seized me by the hair and then threw me on the floor, along which, after having exercised the vigor of his arm upon my unhappy person, he dragged me, in spite of all my resistance, to a neighboring window. his intention apparently was to perform the office of the mutes of the seraglio, for, seizing the cord belonging to the curtain, he placed it around my neck. i seized both of his hands, and began to cry out. a servant came to my assistance, and delivered me from his hands.”
in reference to this event, the prince wrote to his mother from potsdam, “i am in the utmost despair. what i had always apprehended has at last come on me. the king has entirely forgotten that i am his son. this morning i came into his room as usual. at the first sight of me he sprang forward, seized me by the collar, and struck me a shower of blows with his rattan. i tried in vain to screen myself, he was in so terrible a rage, almost out of himself. it was only weariness that made him give up. i am driven to extremity. i have too much honor to endure such treatment, and i am resolved to put an end to it in one way or another.”
wilhelmina well understood that her brother contemplated running away, escaping, if possible, to england. we have mentioned that the young prince, after his return from dresden, had become quite dissipated. the companions he chose were wild young army officers of high birth, polished address, and, in godless lives, fashionable men of the world. lieutenant katte was a genteel man of pleasure. another of his bosom companions, lieutenant keith, a young man of illustrious lineage, was also a very undesirable associate for any young man whose principles71 of virtue were not established.8 of keith and katte, the two most intimate friends of fritz, wilhelmina writes, about this time:
a royal executioner.
“lieutenant keith had been gone some time, stationed in wesel with his regiment. keith’s departure had been a great joy to me, in the hope my brother would now lead a more regular life. but it proved quite otherwise. a second favorite, and a much more dangerous, succeeded keith. this was a young man of the name of katte, captain lieutenant in the regiment72 gens d’armes. he was highly connected in the army. his mother was daughter of field-marshal wartensleben. general katte, his father, had sent him to the universities, and afterward to travel, desiring that he should be a lawyer. but, as there was no favor to be hoped for out of the army, the young man found himself at last placed there, contrary to his expectation. he continued to apply himself to studies. he had wit, book-culture, and acquaintance with the world. the good company which he continued to frequent had given him polite manners to a degree then rare in berlin. his physiognomy was rather disagreeable than otherwise. a pair of thick black eyebrows almost covered his eyes. his look had in it something ominous, presage of the fate he met with. a tawny skin, torn by small-pox, increased his ugliness. he affected the freethinker, and carried libertinism to excess. a great deal of ambition and headlong rashness accompanied this vice. such a favorite was not the man to bring back my brother from his follies.”
early in january, 1730, the king, returning from a hunt at wusterhausen, during which he had held a drinking carouse and a diplomatic interview with the king of poland, announced his intention of being no longer annoyed by matrimonial arrangements for wilhelmina. he resolved to abandon the english alliance altogether, unless an immediate and unequivocal assent were given by george ii. for the marriage of wilhelmina with the prince of wales, without any compact for the marriage of fritz with the princess amelia. count finckenstein, baron grumkow, and general borck were sent to communicate this, the king’s unalterable resolve, to the queen. the first two were friends of the queen. grumkow was understood to be the instigator of the king. wilhelmina chanced to be with her mother when the gentlemen announced themselves as the bearers of a very important message from the king to her majesty. wilhelmina trembled, and said in a low tone to her mother, “this regards me. i have a dreading.” “no matter,” the worn and weary mother replied; “one must have firmness, and that is not what i shall want.” the queen retired with the ministers to the audience-chamber.
there they informed her that they had each received a letter the night before from the king, the contents of which they were73 forbidden, under penalty of death, from communicating to any one but to her. the king wished them to say to her majesty that he would no longer endure her disobedience in reference to the marriage of wilhelmina; that, in case this disobedience continued, there should be an entire separation between him and his wife—a divorce—and that she and her daughter should both be banished to the chateau of oranienburg, about twenty miles from berlin, and there held in close imprisonment. the king was willing that sophie dorothee should write once more, and only once more, to her brother, george ii., and demand of him a categorical answer, yes or no, whether he would consent to the immediate marriage of the prince of wales and wilhelmina. the king would wait a fortnight for an answer, or, if the winds were contrary, three weeks; but not a day more. should no answer in that time be returned, or a negative or an evasive answer, then wilhelmina was to make her immediate choice of a husband between either the duke of weissenfels or the marquis of schwedt, and to be married without delay.9
weissenfels was a small duchy in saxony. the duke, so called by courtesy, had visited berlin before in the train of his sovereign, king augustus, when his majesty returned the visit of frederick william. he was then quite captivated by the beauty and vivacity of wilhelmina. he was titular duke merely, his brother being the real duke; and he was then living on his pay as officer in the army, and was addicted to deep potations. carlyle describes him as “a mere betitled, betasseled, elderly military gentleman of no special qualities, evil or good.” sophie dorothee, noticing his attentions to wilhelmina, deemed it the extreme of impudence for so humble a man to aspire to the hand of her illustrious child. she reproved him so severely that he retired from the court in deep chagrin. he never would have presumed to renew the suit but for the encouragement given by frederick william.
the marquis of schwedt was a very indifferent young man, living under the tutelage of his dowager mother. she was a cousin of the king of prussia, and had named her son frederick74 william. having rendered herself conspicuously ridiculous by the flaunting colors of her dress, which tawdry display was in character with her mind, both she and her son were decidedly disagreeable to wilhelmina.
there was no alternative left the young princess. unless there were an immediate consummation of the marriage contract with the english frederick, she was, without delay, to choose between weissenfels and schwedt. the queen, in response to this communication, said, “i will immediately write to england; but, whatever may be the answer, it is impossible that my daughter should marry either of the individuals whom the king has designated.” baron grumkow, who was in entire accord with the king, “began,” says wilhelmina, “quoting scripture on her majesty, as the devil can on occasion. ‘wives, be obedient to your husbands,’ said he. the queen very aptly replied, ‘yes; but did not bethuel, the son of milcah, when abraham’s servant asked his daughter in marriage for young isaac, answer, “we will call the damsel, and inquire of her mouth?” it is true, wives must obey their husbands, but husbands must command things just and reasonable.’
“the king’s procedure,” added the unhappy mother, “is not in accordance with that law. he is doing violence to my daughter’s inclinations, thus rendering her wretched for the remainder of her days. he wishes to give her for a husband a brutal debauchee, a younger brother, who is nothing but an officer in the army of the king of poland; a landless man, without the means of living according to his rank. i will write to england. but, whatever the answer, i had rather a thousand times see my child in the grave than hopelessly miserable.”
the queen, looking reproachfully at grumkow, remarked, “i know full well to whom i owe all this.” she then excused herself, saying that she was not well, and retired to her apartment. there she communicated to the anxious wilhelmina the cruel message of the king. sophie dorothee then wrote a very earnest letter to queen caroline, the wife of george ii., imploring that all obstacles in the way of the marriage of wilhelmina with the prince of wales might be withdrawn. the idea of marriage with either weissenfels or schwedt was dreadful. but, on the other hand, the wrath of the king, the divorce of the queen, and75 the imprisonment of both mother and daughter in the chateau of oranienburg, were also dreadful. fritz was taken into the councils of his mother and sister. it was decided that he should also write to his aunt, urging his suit for the princess amelia. it is true that george ii. was ready to accede to this marriage, but frederick william threw obstacles in the way. it was probably the hope of fritz to secure amelia, notwithstanding his father’s opposition. the ready pen of wilhelmina was employed to draft the letter, which her brother submissively copied. as it was not probable, in the intricacies in which the question was now involved, that both marriages could take place together, fritz wrote pleading for the marriage of wilhelmina at once, pledging his word that he would remain faithful to the princess amelia.
“i have already,” he wrote, “given your majesty my word of honor never to wed any one but the princess amelia, your daughter. i here reiterate that promise, in case your majesty will consent to my sister’s marriage.”
sophie dorothee dispatched a courier with these documents, to go with the utmost speed to england. it was a long journey in those days, and the winds were often contrary. a fortnight passed. three weeks were gone. still there was no answer. on the 25th of january, 1730—“a day,” writes wilhelmina, “which i shall never forget”—finckenstein, borck, and grumkow again called upon the queen, with the following message from the king:
“whatever answer may now be returned from england i will have nothing to do with it. whether negative, affirmative, or evasive, to me it shall be as nothing. you, madam, must now choose between the duke of weissenfels and the marquis of schwedt. if you do not choose, you and wilhelmina may prepare for oranienburg, where you shall suffer the just penalty of mutiny against the authority set over you by god and men.”
the queen summoned firmness to reply: “you can inform the king that he will never make me consent to render my daughter miserable; and that, so long as a breath of life remains in me, i will not permit her to take either the one or the other of these persons.”
then addressing grumkow, she said, in tones deliberate and76 intense, “for you, sir, who are the author of my misfortunes, may my curse fall upon you and your house. you have this day killed me. but i doubt not that heaven will hear my prayer and avenge my wrongs.”
the queen was at this time in a delicate state of health, and anxiety and sorrow threw her upon a sick-bed. the king, who felt as much affection for “phiekin” as such a coarse, brutal man could feel for any body, was alarmed; but he remained obdurate. he stormed into her room, where, in the fever of her troubles, she tossed upon her pillow, and obstreperously declared that wilhelmina should be married immediately, and that she must take either weissenfels or schwedt. as both mother and daughter remained firm in their refusal to choose, he resolved to decide the question himself.
accordingly, he made proposals to the marquise of schwedt that wilhelmina should marry her son. the lady replied, in terms very creditable both to her head and her heart, “such a union, your majesty, would be in accordance with the supreme wish of my life. but how can i accept such happiness against the will of the princess herself? this i can positively never do.” here she remained firm. the raging king returned to the bedside of his wife, as rough and determined as ever. he declared that the question was now settled that wilhelmina was to marry the old duke of weissenfels.
the unhappy princess, distracted by these griefs, had grown thin and pale. it was soon rumored throughout the court that the king had written to weissenfels, and that the duke was on his way to seize his reluctant bride. in this emergence, the queen’s friend, baron borck, suggested to her that, in order to get rid of the obnoxious weissenfels, she should so far yield to the wishes of the king as to give up the english alliance, and propose a third party, who might be more acceptable to wilhelmina. but who shall this substitute be?
about two hundred miles south of berlin there was quite an important marquisate called baireuth. the marquis had a good-looking young son, the heir-apparent, who had just returned from the grand tour of europe. upon the death of his father he would enter upon quite a rich inheritance. this young marquis, frederick by name, baron borck proposed as a substitute for77 the duke of weissenfels. it was understood that wilhelmina was such a prize that kings, even, would be eager to obtain her hand. there could therefore be no doubt but that the marquis of baireuth would feel signally honored by such nuptials. the worn and weary mother eagerly accepted this proposal. she suggested it to the king. sullenly he gave it his assent, saying, “i will passively submit to it, but will take no active part whatever in the affair. neither will i give wilhelmina one single copper for dowry.”
the queen, delighted in having obtained even this measure of acquiescence on the part of the king, now conferred with wilhelmina. but, to her surprise and bitter disappointment, the young princess did not share in her mother’s joy. she was not disposed to be thus bartered away, and presented sundry objections. the poor mother, harassed by these interminable difficulties, now lost all patience. she broke out upon her equally unhappy daughter with cruel reproaches.
“take, then,” she exclaimed, “the grand turk or the great mogul for your husband. follow your own caprice. had i known you better i would not have brought so many sorrows upon myself. you may follow the king’s bidding. it is henceforth your own affair. i will no longer trouble myself about your concerns. and spare me, if you please, the sorrows of your odious presence. i can not stand it.”
wilhelmina endeavored to reply. but the angry mother sternly exclaimed, “silence!” and the tortured girl left the apartment, weeping bitterly. even fritz took his mother’s part, and reproached wilhelmina for not acceding to her plan. new troubles were thickening around him. he was in debt. the king had found it out. to his father’s stern questioning, fritz, in his terror, had uttered deliberate falsehood. he confessed a debt of about eight hundred dollars, which his father had detected, and solemnly declared that this was all. in fact, he owed an additional sum of seven thousand dollars. should the king discover this debt, and thus detect fritz in a lie, his rage would be tremendous. the king paid the eight hundred dollar debt of his son, and then issued a decree declaring that to lend money to any princes of the blood, even to the prince royal, was a high crime, to be punished, not only by forfeiture of the money, but78 by imprisonment. the king had begun to suspect that fritz intended to escape. he could not escape without money. the king therefore took special precautions that his purse should be ever empty, and watched him with renewed vigilance.
while matters were in this extremity, the british minister, dubourgay, and baron knyphausen, a distinguished prussian official, dispatched rev. dr. villa, a scholarly man, who had been wilhelmina’s teacher of english, on a secret mission to the court of england, to communicate the true state of affairs, and to endeavor to secure some disentanglement of the perplexities. dr. villa was a warm friend of wilhelmina, and, in sympathy with her sorrows, wept as he bade her adieu. the king was in such ill humor that his daughter dared not appear in his presence. if fritz came within reach of his father’s arm he was pretty sure to receive a blow from his rattan.
on the 18th of february, 1730, some affairs of state led the king to take a trip to dresden to see the king of poland. he decided to take fritz with him, as he was afraid to leave him behind. fritz resolved to avail himself of the opportunity which the journey might offer to attempt his escape. he was unwilling to do this without bidding adieu to his sister, who had been the partner of so many of his griefs. it was not easy to obtain a private interview. on the evening of the 17th of february, as wilhelmina, aided by her governess, was undressing for bed, the door of the anteroom of her chamber was cautiously opened, and a young gentleman, very splendidly dressed in french costume, entered. wilhelmina, terrified, uttered a shriek, and endeavored to hide herself behind a screen. her governess, madam sonsfeld, ran into the anteroom to ascertain what such an intrusion meant. the remainder of the story we will give in the words of wilhelmina:
“but she returned the next moment accompanying the cavalier, who was laughing heartily, and whom i recognized for my brother. his dress so altered him he seemed a different person. he was in the best humor possible. ‘i am come to bid you farewell once more, my dear sister,’ said he; ‘and as i know the friendship you have for me, i will not keep you ignorant of my designs. i go, and do not come back. i can not endure the usage i suffer. my patience is driven to an end. it is a favorable79 opportunity for flinging off that odious yoke. i will glide out of dresden and get across to england, where, i do not doubt, i shall work out your deliverance too, when i am got thither. so i beg you calm yourself. we shall soon meet again in places where joy shall succeed our tears, and where we shall have the happiness to see ourselves in peace, and free from these persecutions.’”
frederick and his sister.
wilhelmina was appalled in view of the difficulty and danger of the enterprise. it was a long distance from dresden to the coast. head winds might detain the vessel. the suspicious king would not long remain ignorant that he was missing. he would be pursued with energy almost demoniac. being captured,80 no one could tell how fearful would be his doom. the sagacious sister was right. fritz could not but perceive the strength of her arguments, and gave her his word of honor that he would not attempt, on the present occasion, to effect his flight. fritz accordingly went to dresden with his father, and returned.
