spirited conduct of fritz.—fortress of cüstrin.—prison fare.—wilhelmina’s captivity.—sad fate of doris ritter.—motives of the king.—doom of lieutenant katte.—pathetic supplications.—the execution.—peril of fritz.—theology of the king.—letter from fritz.—sufferings of wilhelmina.—brutality of the king.—wilhelmina brought to terms.
the captive crown prince was conveyed from wesel to the castle of mittenwalde, where he was imprisoned in a room without furniture or bed. an old chest which chanced to be there was his only seat. one of the king’s favorite ministers, grumkow, with other officials, was sent to interrogate him. the prince, probably aware that nothing which he could now do could make matters worse than they actually were, displayed much spirit in the interview. frankly avowing his intention to escape, he refused to make any disclosures which should implicate his friends. grumkow insolently informed him that the101 use of the rack was not yet abolished in his majesty’s dominions, and that, if he were not more pliant, the energies of that instrument might be called into requisition. frederick admitted afterward that his blood ran cold at that suggestion. still he had the nerve to reply, according to the testimony of wilhelmina,
“a hangman such as you naturally takes pleasure in talking of his tools and of his trade, but on me they will produce no effect. i have owned every thing, and almost regret to have done so. i ought not to degrade myself by answering the questions of a scoundrel such as you are.”
grumkow gathered up his papers, and, with his associate officials, departed, probably meditating upon his own prospects should the crown prince ever become king of prussia. the next day, september 5, the captive was taken from the castle of mittenwalde, and sent to the fortress of cüstrin, a small and quiet town about seventy miles from berlin. the strong, dungeon-like room in which he was incarcerated consisted of bare walls, without any furniture, the light being admitted by a single aperture so high that the prince could not look out at it. he was divested of his uniform, of his sword, of every mark of dignity.
coarse brown clothes of plainest cut were furnished him. his flute was taken from him, and he was deprived of all books but the bible and a few devotional treatises. he was allowed a daily sum, amounting to twelve cents of our money, for his food—eight cents for his dinner and four for his supper. his food was purchased at a cook-shop near by, and cut for him. he was not permitted the use of a knife. the door was opened three times a day for ventilation—morning, noon, and night—but not for more than four minutes each time. a single tallow-candle was allowed him; but that was to be extinguished at seven o’clock in the evening.
thus deprived of all the ordinary comforts of life, the prince, in the nineteenth year of his age, was consigned to an imprisonment of absolute solitude. for weeks and months he was left to his own agitating thoughts, with the apparent blighting of every earthly hope, awaiting whatever doom his merciless father might award to him. his jailers, not unmindful of the embarrassing fact that their captive might yet become king of prussia,102 with their fate in his hands, gradually treated him with all the secret kindness which they dared to exhibit.13
frederick in prison.
though wilhelmina was also a close prisoner in her apartment in the berlin palace, and was fed upon the coarsest fare, she103 still had a comfortable room, her musical instruments, and the companionship of her governess, madam sonsfeld. it was rather a relief to the unhappy princess to be shut out from the presence of her father and from the sound of his voice. she occasionally obtained a smuggled letter from her mother, and even got one, in pencil, from her brother, full of expressions of tenderness.
all the friends of fritz were treated by the infuriate father with the most cruel severity. no mercy was shown to any one who had ever given the slightest indication of sympathy with the crown prince. a bookseller, who had furnished fritz with french books, was cruelly exiled to the remote shores of the baltic, on the extreme northern frontiers of prussia. a french gentleman, count montholieu, who had loaned the crown prince money, would probably have perished upon the scaffold had he not escaped by flight. his effigy was nailed to the gallows.
there was a young lady in potsdam by the name of doris ritter. she was the daughter of highly respectable parents, and was of unblemished character. as fritz was extremely fond of music, and she played sweetly on the harpsichord, he loaned her pieces of music, and occasionally, under the eye of her parents, accompanied her with the flute. the life of a colonel in garrison at potsdam was so dull, that this innocent amusement was often quite a help in beguiling the weary hours.
the young lady was not beautiful, and there was no evidence of the slightest improprieties, or of any approach even to flirtation. but the infuriate king, who, without the shadow of reason, could accuse his own daughter of infamy, caused this young lady, under the pretext that she had been the guilty intimate of his son, to be taken from her parents, to be delivered to the executioners, and to be publicly conveyed in a cart and whipped on the bare back through the principal streets of the town. she was then imprisoned, and doomed to beat hemp as a culprit for three years.
one’s faith in a superintending providence is almost staggered by such outrages. it would seem that there could scarcely be any compensation even in the future world for so foul a wrong inflicted upon this guileless and innocent girl. there can be no possible solution of the mystery but in the decree, “after death cometh the judgment.”
104
doris ritter’s punishment.
“it is impossible,” writes lord dover, “not to perceive that the real reason of his conduct was his enmity to his son, and that the crime of the poor girl was the having assisted in making the son’s existence more supportable. the intention of frederick william apparently being that the infliction of so infamous a punishment in so public a manner should prevent the possibility of frederick’s ever seeing her again.”14
a court-martial was convened to pronounce sentence upon the105 crown prince and his confederates. the court was appointed by the king, and consisted of three major generals, three colonels, three lieutenant colonels, three majors, three captains, and three belonging to the civil courts, called auditors. the court, thus composed of eighteen members, met on the 20th of october, 1730, in the little town of copenick, a few miles from berlin. grumkow, well aware that these proceedings would attract the attention of every court in europe, had persuaded the king to submit to the formality of a court-martial.
it was well understood that a verdict was to be returned in accordance with the wishes of the king, and also that the king desired that no mercy should be shown to his son.15 after a session of six days the verdict of the court was rendered. the crime of the crown prince, in endeavoring to escape from the brutality of his father, was declared to be desertion, and the penalty was death. lieutenant keith was also declared to be a deserter, and doomed to die. but as he had escaped, and could not be recaptured, he was sentenced to be hanged in effigy, which effigy was then to be cut in four quarters and nailed to the gallows at wesel. lieutenant katte, who certainly had not deserted, and whose only crime was that he had been a confidant of the crown prince in his plan to escape, was condemned to imprisonment in a fortress for two years, some say for life.
the king approved of the first two sentences of the court. the mildness of the last roused his indignation. “katte,” he exclaimed, “is guilty of high treason. he shall die by the sword of the headsman. it is better that he should die than that justice depart out of the world.” his doom was thus fixed as irreversible as fate.
fortunately for the young man’s mother, she was in her grave. his father was at that time commandant of k?nigsberg, in high favor with the king. his illustrious grandfather on his mother’s side, field-marshal wartensleben, was still living. for half106 a century he had worthily occupied the most eminent posts of honor. the tears, the agonizing entreaties of these friends were not of the slightest avail. the king’s heart was as impervious to appeals for mercy as are the cliffs of sinai.
there are several letters still remaining which lieutenant katte wrote to his friends during those hours of anguish in which he was awaiting his death. no one can read them without compassionate emotion, and without execrating the memory of that implacable tyrant who so unjustly demanded his execution. the young man wrote to the king a petition containing the following pathetic plea:
“sire,—it is not to excuse myself that i address this letter to your majesty; but, moved by sincere repentance and heartfelt sorrow, i implore your clemency, and beseech you, sire, to have some consideration for my youth, which renders me capable of imprudence without any bad design.
“god does not always follow the impulse of his justice toward sinners, but often, by his mercy, reclaims those who have gone astray. and will not your majesty, sire, who are a resemblance of the divinity, pardon a criminal who is guilty of disobedience to his sovereign? the hope of pardon supports me, and i flatter myself that your majesty will not cut me off in the flower of my age, but will give me time to prove the effect your majesty’s clemency will have on me.
“sire, i own that i am guilty. will not your majesty grant me a pardon, which god never refuses to the greatest sinner who sincerely confesses his sins? i shall be always ready to shed even the last drop of my blood to show your majesty what grateful sentiments your clemency can raise in me.”
it was all in vain. on sunday evening, september 5th, as the condemned young man was sitting alone in his prison cell, sadly awaiting his doom, yet clinging to hopes of mercy, an officer entered with the startling intelligence that the carriage was at the door to convey him to the fortress of cüstrin, at a few leagues distance, where he was to be executed. for a moment he was greatly agitated. he soon, however, regained his equanimity. it must indeed have been a fearful communication to one in the107 vigor of health, in the prime of youth, and surrounded by every thing which could render life desirable. two brother-officers and the chaplain accompanied him upon this dismal midnight ride. silence, pious conversation, prayers, and occasional devotional hymns occupied the hours. the dawn of a cold winter’s morning was just appearing as they reached the fortress.
his companions had no heart to witness the bloody execution of their friend and brother-officer. the chaplain, müller, who had accompanied the condemned to cüstrin, and also besserer, the chaplain of the garrison there, were either obliged by their official position, or were constrained by christian sympathy, to ride by his side in the death-cart to the scaffold. of the rest of his friends he took an affectionate leave, saying, “adieu, my brothers; may god be with you evermore!” he was conveyed to the rampart of the castle dressed in coarse brown garments precisely like those worn by the prince.
by order of the king, fritz, who had also been condemned to die and was awaiting his doom, was brought down into a lower room of the fortress, before whose window the scaffold was erected, that he might be compelled “to see katte die.” at his entrance the curtains were closed, shutting out the view of the court-yard. upon the drawing of the curtains, fritz, to his horror, beheld the scaffold draped in black on a level with the window, and directly before it.
the unhappy crown prince was in an agony of despair. again and again he frantically exclaimed, “in the name of god, i beg you to stop the execution till i write to the king! i am ready to renounce all my rights to the crown if he will pardon katte!” as the condemned was led by the window to ascend the scaffold, fritz cried out to him, in anguish as intense as a generous heart can endure, “pardon me, my dear katte, pardon me! oh that this should be what i have done for you!”
a smile flitted across katte’s pallid features as he replied, “death is sweet for a prince i love so well.” with fortitude he ascended the scaffold. the executioner attempted to bandage his eyes, but he resisted, and, looking to heaven, said, “father, into thy hands i surrender my soul!” four grenadiers held fritz with his face toward the window. fainting, he fell senseless upon the floor. at the same moment, by a single blow, katte’s head rolled upon the scaffold. as the prince recovered consciousness, he found himself still at the window, in full view of the headless and gory corpse of his friend. another swoon consigned him to momentary unconsciousness.16
108
frederick at katte’s execution.
109 the body of katte remained upon the scaffold during the short wintry day, and at night was buried in one of the bastions of the fortress. this cruel tragedy was enacted more than a century ago; but there are few who even now can read the record without having their eyes flooded, through the conflicting emotions of sympathy for the sufferers and indignation against the tyrant who could perpetrate such crimes.
when frederick returned to consciousness his misery plunged him into a high fever. delirium ensued, during which chaplain müller, who remained with him, says that he frequently attempted to destroy himself. as the fever abated and he became more tranquil, floods of tears gushed from his eyes. he for some time refused to take any nourishment. it seemed to him now that every hope in life was forever blighted. he had no doubt that his own death was fully decided upon, and that he would soon be led to his execution. in his moments of delirious anguish he at times longed for death to come as speedily as possible. and again it seemed awful to have his young life—for he was then but eighteen years of age—cut off by the bloody sword.17
chaplain müller seems to have enjoyed the confidence of the king to an unusual decree. he was ordered to remain at cüstrin, and to have daily interviews with the prince, to instruct him in religion. the king professed to be eminently a religious man. while torturing the body and the mind of the prince in every way, he expressed great anxiety for the salvation of his soul. it is not strange that the example of such a father had staggered the faith of the son. illogically he renounced that religion which condemned, in the severest terms, the conduct of the father, and which caused the king often to tremble upon his throne, appalled by the declaration, “know thou that for all these things god will bring thee into judgment.”
the young prince had also become dissolute in life. the sacred110 volume denounced such a career as offensive to god, as sure to bring down upon the guilty prince the divine displeasure in this life, and, if unrepented of, in the life to come. no man who believes the bible to be true can, with any comfort whatever, indulge in sin. the prince wished to indulge his passions without restraint. he therefore, thus living, found it to be a necessity to renounce that religion which arrayed against his sinful life all the terrors of the final judgment. a wicked life and true christian faith can not live in peace together. the one or the other must be abandoned. frederick chose to abandon christian faith.
it seems that the crown prince had an inquiring mind. he was interested in metaphysical speculations. he had adopted, perhaps, as some excuse for his conduct, the doctrine of predestination, that god hath foreordained whatsoever cometh to pass. the idea that there is a power, which hume calls philosophical necessity, which napoleon calls destiny, which calvin calls predestination, by which all events are controlled, and that this necessity is not inconsistent with free agency, is a doctrine which ever has commanded the assent, and probably ever will, of many of the strongest thinkers in the world.
“the heresy about predestination,” writes carlyle, “or the election by free grace, as his majesty terms it, according to which a man is preappointed, from all eternity, either to salvation or the opposite, which is fritz’s notion, and indeed calvin’s, and that of many benighted creatures, this editor among them, appears to his majesty an altogether shocking one. what! may not deserter fritz say to himself, even now, or in whatever other deeps of sin he may fall into, ‘i was foredoomed to it? how could i or how can i help it?’ the mind of his majesty shudders as if looking over the edge of an abyss.”
chaplain müller was especially directed to argue with frederick upon this point, and, if possible, to convert him to christianity. the correspondence which ensued between the king and müller is preserved. the king wrote to the chaplain, under date of november 3d, 1730:
“i have been assured that you are an honest and pious clergyman, and a faithful minister of the word of god. since, therefore, you are going to cüstrin, on account of the execution of111 lieutenant katte, i command you, after the execution, to pay a visit to the prince royal; to reason with him and to represent to him that whosoever abandons god is also abandoned by god; and that, when god has abandoned a man, and has taken away his grace from him, that man is incapable of doing what is good, and can only do what is evil. you will exhort him to repent, and to ask pardon for the many sins he has committed, and into which he has seduced others, one of whom has been just punished with death.
“if you then find the prince contrite and humble, you will engage him to fall on his knees with you, to ask pardon of god with tears of penitence. but you must proceed with prudence and circumspection, for the prince is cunning. you will represent to him also, in a proper manner, the error he labors under in believing that some are predestinated to one thing and some to another; and that thus he who is predestinated to evil can do nothing but evil, and he who is predestinated to good can do nothing but good, and that, consequently, we can change nothing of what is to happen—a dreadful error, especially in what regards our salvation.
“now, as i hope that his present situation, and the execution which has just taken place before his eyes, will touch and soften his heart, and will lead him to better sentiments, i charge you, as you value your conscience, to do all that is humanly possible to represent forcibly to the prince these things; and particularly, in what relates to predestination, to convince him by means of passages from the scriptures which satisfactorily prove what i wish you to advance.”
this letter was addressed to the “reverend, well-beloved, and faithful müller,” and was signed “your affectionate king.” though the king had not yet announced any intention of sparing the life of his son, and probably was fully resolved upon his execution, he was manifestly disturbed by the outcry against his proceedings raised in all the courts of europe. three days before the king wrote the above letter, the emperor of germany, charles vi., had written to him, with his own hand, earnestly interceding for the crown prince. in addition to the letter, the emperor, through his minister seckendorf, had presented a very firm remonstrance. he announced to frederick william that112 prince frederick was a prince of the empire, and that he was entitled to the protection of the laws of the germanic body; that the heir-apparent of the prussian monarchy was under the safeguard of the germanic empire, and that the king was bound to surrender to this tribunal the accused, and the documents relative to this trial.
the emperor was probably induced to this decisive course not merely by motives of humanity, but also by the consideration that by thus saving the life of frederick he would forever attach him to the interests of the house of austria. the kings of poland and sweden also wrote to the king, earnestly interceding for the life of the crown prince.
the king was at first much incensed by these attempts at interference. it was not safe for him to bid defiance to the opinions of the civilized world. emotions of anger and mortification struggled in the bosom of the king. captain guy dickens, secretary of dubourgay, writes:
“the king of prussia can not sleep. the officers sit up with him every night, and in his slumbers he raves and talks of spirits and apparitions.”
he drank deeply, wandering about by night as if possessed by fiends. “he has not,” writes captain dickens, “gone to bed sober for a month past.” once he rose, about midnight, and, with a candle in his hand, entered the apartment of the queen, apparently in a state of extreme terror, saying that there was something haunting him. his agitation was so great that a bed was made up for him there.
two days after the death of katte, the king wrote to chaplain müller, under date of november 7th, 1730, a letter closing with the following words:
“as god often, by wondrous guidance, strange paths, and thorny steps, will bring men into the kingdom of christ, so may our divine redeemer help that this prodigal son be brought into his communion; that his godless heart be beaten until it is softened and changed, and so he be snatched from the claws of satan. this grant us, the almighty god and father, for our lord jesus christ and his passion and death’s sake. amen.
“i am, for the rest, your well-affectioned king,
“frederick william.”
113 the prince supposed that the object of muller’s visits was to prepare him for his death. but upon receiving the full assurance that his father contemplated pardoning him, should there be evidence of repentance, he promised to take an oath of entire submission to his father’s will. seven commissioners were sent to the prison of cüstrin, on the 19th of november, to administer this oath with the utmost solemnity. he was conducted to the church. a large crowd was in attendance. a sermon appropriate to the occasion was preached. the sacrament of the lord’s supper was administered to him. and then he audibly repeated the oath and attached to it his signature.
from the church the prince was conducted, not back to his prison in the fortress, but to a town mansion, which was assigned as his residence. his sword was restored to him. but he was still not fully liberated. officials, appointed by his father, surrounded him, who watched and reported all his movements. the first act of the young prince, upon reaching his apartment after this partial liberation, was to write as follows to his father. we give the letter as translated by carlyle:
“cüstrin, november 19, 1730.
“all-serenest and all-graciousest father,—to your royal majesty, my all-graciousest father, i have, by my disobedience as their subject and soldier, not less than by my undutifulness as their son, given occasion to a just wrath and aversion against me. with the all-obedientest respect i submit myself wholly to the grace of my most all-gracious father, and beg him most all-graciously to pardon me, as it is not so much the withdrawal of my liberty, in a sad arrest, as my own thoughts of the fault i have committed that have brought me to reason, who, with all-obedientest respect and submission, continue till my end my all-graciousest king’s and father’s faithfully-obedientest servant and son,
frederick.”
here, in the little town of cüstrin, in a house very meagerly furnished, the crown prince established his household upon the humblest scale. the prince was allowed to wear his sword, but not his uniform. he was debarred all amusements, and was forbidden to read, write, or speak french. to give him employment,114 he was ordered to attend regularly the sittings of the chamber of counselors of that district, though he was to take his seat as the youngest member. three persons were appointed constantly to watch over him. lord dover writes:
“his diet was regulated at a sum which made it barely sufficient to prevent actual starvation. his apartment was most miserable, and almost entirely devoid of furniture. he was in great want of linen, and of others of the first necessaries of life. at nine o’clock at night his candle was taken from him, while pen, ink, paper, and books were alike denied him.”
“his very flute,” carlyle writes, “most innocent ‘princess,’ as he used to call his flute in old days, is denied him ever since he came to cüstrin. but by degrees he privately gets her back, and consorts much with her; wails forth, in beautiful adagios, emotions for which there is no other utterance at present. he has liberty of cüstrin and the neighborhood. out of cüstrin he is not to lodge any night without leave had of the commandant.”
while these sad scenes were transpiring, the princess wilhelmina was held in close captivity in her apartment at the palace in berlin. the king had convened a council of eight clergymen, and had put to them the question whether a father had not a right to give his daughter in wedlock to whom he pleased. much to the honor of these clergymen, they replied, with but one exception, in the negative.
the queen remained firm in her determination that wilhelmina should marry the prince of wales. the king was equally inflexible in his resolve that she should not marry the prince of wales. the queen occasionally had interviews with wilhelmina, when they wept together over their disappointments and trials. the spirited young princess had no special predilections for the english prince, but she was firm in her resolve not to have a repugnant husband forced upon her. on the night of the 27th of january, 1731, as the queen was about to leave berlin for potsdam, she said to her daughter,
“be firm, my child. trust in my management. only swear to me, on your eternal salvation, that never, on any compulsion, will you marry another than the prince of wales. give me that oath.”
but wilhelmina evaded the oath upon the ground of religious115 scruples. anxiety, confinement, and bad diet had so preyed upon her health that she was reduced almost to a skeleton. the following extract from her journal gives a graphic account of her painful condition:
“i was shut up in my bedchamber, where i saw nobody, and continued always to fast. i was really dying of hunger. i read as long as there was daylight, and made remarks upon what i read. my health began to give way. i became as thin as a skeleton from want of food and exercise. one day madam de sonsfeld and myself were at table, looking sadly at one another, having nothing to eat but soup made with salt and water, and a ragout of old bones, full of hairs and other dirt, when we heard a knocking at the window. surprised, we rose hastily to see what it was. we found a raven with a morsel of bread in its beak, which it laid down on the sill of the window so soon as it saw us, and flew away. tears came into our eyes at this adventure. ‘our lot is very deplorable,’ said i to my governess, ‘since it even touches the creatures devoid of reason. they have more compassion for us than men, who treat us with so much cruelty.’”
the raven was a tame one, which had got lost and was seeking for its home. the story, however, spread, and created great sympathy for the imprisoned princess. there was a large number of french refugees in berlin. with characteristic kindness, at the risk of incurring the royal displeasure, they sent daily a basket of food, which was placed in a situation from which wilhelmina’s maids could easily convey the contents to her, while compassionate sentries kindly looked the other way. the princess wrote to her father, imploring permission to receive the sacrament, from which she had been debarred for nearly a year. the reply from her-father was couched in the following terms:
“my blackguard daughter may receive the sacrament.”
her sisters were now permitted occasionally to visit her, and her situation became somewhat ameliorated. on the 10th of may wilhelmina received a letter from her mother which caused her to wring her hands in anguish. it informed her that the next day a deputation was to call upon her from the king, to insist upon her giving her consent to marry the prince of baireuth.
the letter was as follows:
“all is lost, my dear daughter. the king is determined, at all hazards, upon your marriage. i have sustained several dreadful contests on this subject, but neither my prayers nor my tears have had any effect. eversman has orders to make the purchases necessary for your marriage. you must prepare yourself to lose madam sonsfeld. the king is determined to have her degraded with infamy if you do not obey him. some one will be sent to persuade you. in god’s name consent to nothing, and god will support you in it. a prison is better than a bad marriage. adieu, my dear daughter! i expect every thing from your firmness.”
116
grumkow’s conference with wilhelmina.
117 a deputation of four ministers, headed by baron grumkow, the next day presented themselves to the princess. to overawe wilhelmina, they approached her with all the solemnity of state. grumkow opened the conference:
“obey the wishes of the king,” said he, “and the royal favor will be restored to you. refuse to do it, and no one can tell what will be the doom which will fall upon your mother, your brother, and yourself.”
they all united their entreaties, arguments, prayers, and threats. the princess was in a state of terrible agitation. almost distracted she paced the floor. that she might have a little time to reflect, the four deputies retired into the recess of a window. one of them, m. tulmier, then approached the princess, and, in a low tone of voice, said to her,
“do not resist any longer. submit to whatever is required of you. i will answer with my life that the marriage will never really take place. it is necessary, at whatever cost, to appease the king for the present. i will explain to the queen that this is the only means of obtaining a favorable declaration from the king of england.”
thus influenced, she yielded. tears flooded her eyes, and her voice was broken with sobs as she said, “i am ready to sacrifice myself for the peace of the family.” the deputation withdrew, leaving the princess in despair. baron grumkow conveyed to the king the pleasing intelligence of her submission.
