desperate exertions of frederick.—aid from england.—limited resources.—opening of the campaign.—disgraceful conduct of voltaire.—letter to voltaire.—an act of desperation.—letter to count finckenstein.—frankfort taken by the prussians.—terrible battle of kunersdorf.—anguish of frederick.—the disastrous retreat.—melancholy dispatch.—contemplating suicide.—collecting the wrecks of the army.—consternation in berlin.—letters to d’argens.—wonderful strategical skill.—literary efforts of the king.
by the most extraordinary exertions, which must have almost depopulated his realms of all the young men and those of middle age, frederick succeeded in so filling up his depleted ranks as to have in the opening spring of 1759 two hundred thousand men in field and garrison. indeed, regardless of all the laws of nations, he often compelled the soldiers and other men of conquered provinces to enlist in his armies. how he, in his poverty, obtained the pecuniary resources requisite to the carrying on of such a war, is to the present day a matter of amazement.
england furnished him with a subsidy of about four million dollars. he immediately melted this coin, gold and silver, and adulterated it with about half copper, thus converting his four476 millions into nominally eight millions. but a few weeks of such operations as he was engaged in would swallow up all this. the merciless conscription, grasping nearly every able-bodied man, destroyed nearly all the arts of industry. the prussian realms, thus impoverished by war’s ravages and taxation, could furnish the king with very meagre supplies. when the king invaded any portion of the territory of the allies, he wrenched from the beggared people every piece of money which violence or terror could extort. wealthy merchants were thrown into prison, and fed upon bread and water until they yielded. the most terrible severities were practiced to extort contributions from towns which had been stripped and stripped again. still violence could wrench but little from the skinny hand of beggary. these provinces, swept by war’s surges year after year, were in the most deplorable state of destitution and misery.
from the schedule which frederick has given of his resources, it seems impossible that he could have raised more than about fifteen million dollars annually, even counting his adulterated coin at the full value. how, with this sum, he could have successfully confronted all combined europe, is a mystery which has never yet been solved. it was the great object of both parties in this terrible conflict to destroy every thing in the enemy’s country which could by any possibility add to military power. all the claims of humanity were ignored. the starvation of hundreds of thousands of peasants—men, women, and children—was a matter not to be taken into consideration. the french minister, in paris, wrote to marshal de contades on the 5th of october, 1758,
“you must make a desert of westphalia. with regard to the countries of lippe and padeborn, as these are very fertile provinces, you must take great care to destroy every thing in them without exception.”
early in the spring of 1759 the prussian king had gathered the main body of his troops in fortresses and strong positions in the vicinity of landshut, on the southwestern frontier of silesia. the enemy, under general daun, faced him, in longer and denser lines, equally well intrenched. at the same time, powerful bands of the allies were in various parts of europe, menacing the domains of frederick at every vulnerable point. the allies dreaded477 the prowess of their foe. frederick was compelled to caution by the exhaustless numbers of his opponents. thus for many weeks neither party entered upon any decisive action. there was, however, an almost incessant series of fierce and bloody skirmishes.
the ability which frederick displayed in striking his enemies where they would most keenly feel the infliction, and in warding off the blows they attempted in return, excited then the surprise of europe, and has continued to elicit the astonishment of posterity. it would but weary the reader to attempt a description of these conflicts at the outposts, terrible as they often were.
during this time, in may, the king wrote a very bitter and satirical ode against louis xv.—“the plaything of the pompadour,” “polluted with his amours,” “and disgracefully surrendering the government of his realms to chance.” the ode he sent to voltaire. the unprincipled poet, apprehending that the ode might come to light, and that he might be implicated, treacherously sent it to the prime minister, the duke de choiseul, to be shown to the king. at the same time, he wrote to frederick that he had burned the ode. in the account which voltaire himself gives of this disgraceful transaction, he writes:
“the packet had been opened. the king would think i was guilty of high treason, and i should be in disgrace with madame de pompadour. i was obliged, in order to prevent my ruin, to make known to the court the character and conduct of their enemy.
“i knew that the duke de choiseul would content himself with persuading the king of france that the king of prussia was an irreconcilable enemy, whom it was therefore necessary, if possible, to annihilate.
“i wrote to frederick that his ode was beautiful, but that he had better not make it public, lest it should close all the avenues to a reconciliation with the king of france, incense him irremediably, and thus force him to strain every nerve in vengeance.
“i added that my niece had burned his ode from fear that it should be imputed to me. he believed me and thanked me; not, however, without some reproaches for having burned the best verses he had ever made.”128
478 the latter part of june, an army of a hundred thousand russians, having crossed the vistula, was concentrated, under general soltikof, at posen, on the river warta, in poland. they were marching from the northeast to attack the prussian forces near landshut in their rear. general daun, with a still larger force of austrians, was confronting frederick on the southwest. the plan of the allies was to crush their foe between these two armies. frederick had lost the ablest of his generals. the young men who were filling their places were untried.
the russians, triumphantly advancing, entered silesia, and reached crossen, on the oder, within a hundred miles of frederick’s encampment.
some trifling unavailing efforts had been made for peace. in reply to a letter from voltaire, alluding to this subject, frederick wrote, under date of 2d july, 1759:
“asking me for peace is indeed a bitter joke. it is to louis xv. you must address yourself, or to his amboise in petticoats.129 but these people have their heads filled with ambitious projects. they wish to be the sovereign arbiters of sovereigns. that is what persons of my way of thinking will by no means put up with. i like peace as much as you could wish, but i want it good, solid, and honorable. socrates or plato would have thought as i do on this subject had they found themselves in the accursed position which is mine in the world.
“think you there is any pleasure in living this dog’s life, in seeing and causing the butchery of people you know nothing of, in losing daily those you do know and love, in seeing perpetually your reputation exposed to the caprices of chance, passing year after year in disquietudes and apprehensions, in risking without end your life and your fortune?
“i know right well the value of tranquillity, the sweets of society, the charms of life. i love to be happy as much as any one whatever. but, much as i desire these blessings, i will not purchase them by baseness and infamies. philosophy enjoins us to do our duty faithfully, to serve our country at the price of our blood, of our repose, and of every sacrifice which can be required of us.”130
soon after this frederick dispatched a young and impetuous479 officer, general wedell, invested with dictatorial powers, at the head of twenty-six thousand men, to attack the russian army, at every hazard, and arrest its march. the heroic little band of prussians met the russians at züllichau. one of general wedell’s officers remonstrated against the attack.
“the risk is too great,” said he; “soltikof has seventy thousand men, and no end of artillery. we have but twenty-six thousand, and know not that we can bring a single gun to where soltikof is.”
still the order was given for the assault. the prussians plunged into the dense ranks of their foes, regardless of being outnumbered nearly three to one. a terrible battle was fought. general wedell was overpowered and beaten. he retreated across the oder, having lost six thousand men in killed, wounded, and prisoners. the victorious russians did not pursue him. they marched down the river to frankfort, where they effected a junction with other troops, giving them an effective force of ninety-six thousand fighting men.
frederick received the disastrous news on the 24th of july, the day after the calamity. in the exercise of an unusual spirit of forbearance, he sent word to the defeated general, “it is not your fault; i dreaded something of the kind.” the king’s brother henry was in command of a few thousand men near bautzen, in saxony. frederick wrote to him to forward his troops immediately, so as to form a union with the retreating army under wedell. henry himself was to repair to the vicinity of landshut, and take command of the army which was to be left in that vicinity confronting general daun. the king took about thirty thousand picked troops, and hurried to the north to gather up by the way the troops of henry and of wedell, and with that combined force of forty-eight thousand men make a new attack upon the ninety-six thousand russians.131
it was an act of desperation. the king fully appreciated its peril. but the time had long since passed when he could rely upon the ordinary measures of prudence. in despair was his only hope.
on the 29th of july the king joined his brother henry at sagan, on the bober, about sixty miles above or south of frankfort.480 the marches which had been effected by the king and his brother were the most rapid which had then ever been heard of. greatly perplexed by the inexplicable movements of the russians, the king pressed on till he effected a junction with the remnant of wedell’s defeated army, near müllrose, within twelve miles of frankfort. he reached this place on the 3d of august. to count finckenstein he wrote:
“i am just arrived here after cruel and frightful marchings. there is nothing desperate in all that. i believe the noise and disquietude this hurly-burly has caused will be the worst of it. show this letter to every body, that it may be known that the state is not undefended. i have made about one thousand prisoners from haddick.132 all his meal-wagons have been taken. finck,133 i believe, will keep an eye on him. this is all i can say. to-morrow i march to within two leagues of frankfort. katte must instantly send me two hundred tons of meal and one hundred bakers. i am very tired. for six nights i have not closed an eye. farewell.
f.”
the russians, with empty meal-wagons and starving soldiers, had taken possession of frankfort-on-the-oder on the 29th of july. the city contained twelve thousand inhabitants. the ransom which the russian general demanded to save the city from pillage by the cossacks was four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. pillage by the cossacks! no imagination can conceive the horrors of such an event. nearly one hundred thousand men, frenzied with intoxication, brutal in their habits, restrained by no law, would inflict every outrage which fiends could conceive of. well might fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, turn pale and feel the blood curdle in their veins at the thought. four hundred and fifty thousand dollars ransom! that was nearly forty dollars for each individual, man, woman, and child! compliance with the demand was impossible. frankfort, in its impoverishment, could by no possibility raise a tenth part of the sum. dreadful was the consternation. there was no relenting; the money or the pillage!
481 with the utmost exertions, inspired by terror, thirty thousand dollars were at length raised. the russian general, soltikof, naturally a humane man, seeing, at the close of a week of frantic exertions on the part of the magistrates of frankfort, the impossibility of extorting the required sum, took the thirty thousand dollars, and kept his barbarian hordes encamped outside the gates.
frederick crossing the oder.
frankfort is on the west side of the oder. the russian army was encamped on the eastern side of the river. the force collected there consisted of about seventy-eight thousand russians and eighteen thousand austrians. frederick had, by great exertions, gathered fifty thousand troops to attack them. he was approaching frankfort from the southwest. in a secret midnight march he crossed the river by bridges of boats some miles north of the city, near cüstrin. at four o’clock in the morning of the 11th of august his troops had all accomplished the passage482 of the stream, and, to the surprise of the russians, were marching down upon them from the north.
vastly superior as was the russian army in numbers, general soltikof did not venture to advance to attack his terrible foe. he had selected a very strong position on a range of eminences about one hundred feet high, running for several miles in an easterly direction from the river. upon this ridge, which was called “the heights of kunersdorf,” the russian general had intrenched himself with the utmost care. the surrounding country was full of bogs, and sluggish streams, and a scraggy growth of tough and thorny bushes, almost impenetrable.
had the prussian troops been placed on those heights, behind that formidable array of ramparts, and palisades, and abatis, they could with ease have repelled the assaults of three or four times their number. but now they were to undertake the desperate enterprise of advancing to the assault under the greatest disadvantages, with one to attack where there were two to defend. frederick rapidly advanced from crossing the stream, and the same evening, saturday, august 11th, encamped at bischofsee, at the distance of about two miles to the northeast of the intrenched camp of his foes. the king, accompanied by a small escort, rode forward to the knolls of trettin, and anxiously surveyed with his glass the fearful array of his foes in their long, compact, well-defended lines, arranged in an elongated irregular parallelogram.
about three o’clock the next morning, sunday, august 12th, frederick’s army, in two columns, was again in motion. by a slightly circuitous march through the dense forest the king placed his troops in position to approach from the southeast, so as to attack the left flank of the enemy, being the northern extremity of the parallelogram.
i shall not attempt to describe the battle which ensued—so bloody, so disastrous to the prussians. it was, like all other desperate battles, a scene of inconceivable confusion, tumult, and horror. at eight o’clock in the morning, general finck (who was in command of the right wing of the prussians) was in position to move upon the extreme northern point of attack. it was not until half past eleven that frederick, in command of the main body of the army, was ready to make a co-operative assault from the east. at the point of attack the russians had seventy-483two cannons in battery. the prussians opened upon them with sixty guns. templeton describes the cannonade as the loudest which he had yet ever heard.
after half an hour of rapid and terrific fire, the prussian troops were ordered to advance and storm the works of the foe on the mühlberg hill. like wolves in the chase, these men of iron nerves rushed forward through torrents of grape-shot and musket-shot, which covered their path with the dead. in ten minutes they were in possession of the hill-top, with all its batteries. the left wing of the russian army was thrown into a maelstrom whirl of disorder and destruction. one hundred and eighty of the artillery pieces of the enemy fell into the hands of the victors.
frederick was overjoyed. he regarded the day as his own, and the russian army as at his mercy. he sent a dispatch to anxious berlin, but sixty miles distant: “the russians are beaten. rejoice with me.” it was one of the hottest of august days, without a breath of wind. nearly every soldier of the prussian army had been brought into action against the left wing only of the foe. after a long march and an exhausting fight, they were perishing with thirst. for twelve hours many of them had been without water. panting with heat, thirst, and exhaustion, they were scarcely capable of any farther efforts.
just then eighteen thousand fresh russian troops advanced upon them in solid phalanx from their centre and their right wing. it was nearly three o’clock in the afternoon. the fugitive russians were rallied. with new impetuosity the re-enforced band hurled itself upon the prussians. they speedily regained their hundred and eighty guns, and opened upon the ranks of frederick such torrents of grape-shot as no flesh and blood could endure. huge gaps were torn through his lines. his men recoiled, whirled round, and were driven pell-mell from the hill.
thrice frederick in person led the charge against the advancing foe. he had three horses shot under him. a gold snuffbox in his pocket was flattened by a bullet. his friends entreated him not thus to peril a life upon which every thing depended. he was deaf to all remonstrances. it is manifest that, in his despair, he sought a soldier’s grave.
on came the russians in ever-increasing numbers. frederick’s484 heavy artillery, each piece drawn by twelve horses, could not be brought forward through the bogs, and the entangling woods, and over the rugged heights. though the prussians fought with all the energies mortal valor could inspire, and though the king flew from post to post of peril and of death, animating his troops by voice and gesture, and by his own reckless courage, it was all in vain. hope soon died in all hearts. the king was heard despairingly to exclaim, “is there not one bullet which can reach me, then?”
frederick had seen many dark days before, but never one so dark as this. in the frenzy of his exertions to retrieve the lost battle, he cried out to his soldiers, his eyes being flooded with tears, “children, do not forsake me, your king, your father, in this pinch!” the retreat became a flight. in endeavoring to cross the little stream called the hen-floss, there was such crowding and jamming at the bridges that the prussians were compelled to leave one hundred and sixty-five guns of various calibre behind them. had the russians pursued with any vigor, scarcely a man of the prussian army could have escaped. but general soltikof stood in such fear of his opponent, who had often wrested victory out of defeat, that he attempted no pursuit.
in broken bands the prussians retreated down by the way of oetscher to the bridges at g?ritz, where they had crossed the oder, and where their heavy baggage was stationed. frederick was among the last to quit the fatal field. as a swarm of cossacks approached the spot where he stood, a party of his friends charged them fiercely, cutting to the right and left, and held them for a moment at bay. one of frederick’s adjutants seized the bridle of his horse, and galloped off with the unresisting monarch.
at the bridges frederick found but three thousand men of his late army. the huts around were filled with the wounded and the dying, presenting an aspect of misery which, in these hours of terrible defeat, appalled his majesty. in one of these huts, surrounded by mutilated bodies, groans, and death, frederick wrote the following dispatch to his minister (finckenstein) at berlin. it was dated oetscher, august 12, 1759:
“i attacked the enemy this morning about eleven. we beat 485him back to the jews’ church-yard, near frankfort.134 all my troops came into action, and have done wonders. i reassembled them three times. at length i was myself nearly taken prisoner, and we had to quit the field. my coat is riddled with bullets. two horses were killed under me.135 my misfortune is that i am still alive. our loss is very considerable. of an army of forty-eight thousand men, i have at this moment, while i write, not more than three thousand together. i am no longer master of my forces.
in berlin you will do well to think of your safety. it is a great calamity. i will not survive it. the consequences of this battle will be worse than the battle itself. i have no resources more; and, to confess the truth, i hold all for lost. i will not survive the destruction of my country. farewell forever.
f.”
battle of kunersdorf, august 12, 1759.
a a a. russian army. b b. austrians, under loudon. c c. russian abatis. d. russian wagenburg. e e. position of prussian army evening of 11th. f f. vanguard, under finck. g. prussian heavy baggage. h. attack of prussian grenadiers. i i. prussian main army. k k. finck’s line of attack.
486 probably the reader will infer from the above letter that the king felt that the hour had come for him to die, and that he intended to resort to that most consummate act of folly and cowardice—suicide. he had always avowed this to be his intention in the last resort. he had urged his sister wilhelmina to imitate his example in this respect, and not to survive the destruction of their house. ruin now seemed inevitable. in the battle of kunersdorf frederick had lost, in killed and wounded, nineteen thousand men, including nearly all the officers of distinction, and also one hundred and sixty pieces of artillery. the remainder of his army was so dispersed that it could not be rallied to present any opposition to the foe.
though general soltikof had lost an equal number of men, he was still at the head of nearly eighty thousand troops flushed with victory. he could summon to his standard any desirable re-enforcements. an unobstructed march of but sixty miles would lead his army into the streets of berlin. the affairs of frederick were indeed desperate. there was not a gleam of hope to cheer him. in preparation for his retirement from the army, from the throne, and from life, he that evening drew up the following paper, placing the fragments of the army which he was about to abandon in the hands of general finck. by the death of the king, the orphan and infant child of his brother augustus william (who had died but a few months before) would succeed to the throne. frederick appointed his brother henry generalissimo of the prussian army.
this notable paper, which reflects but little credit upon the character of frederick, was as follows:
“general finck gets a difficult commission. the unlucky army which i give up to him is no longer in a condition to make head against the russians. haddick will now start for berlin, perhaps loudon too.136 if general finck go after these, the russians487 will fall on his rear. if he continue on the oder, he gets haddick on his flank. however, i believe, should loudon go for berlin, he might attack loudon and beat him. this, if it succeeded, would be a stand against misfortune, and hold matters up. time gained is much in these desperate circumstances. c?per, my secretary, will send him the news from torgau and dresden. you must inform my brother137 of every thing, whom i have declared generalissimo of the army. to repair this bad luck altogether is not possible. but what my brother shall command must be done. the army swears to my nephew. this is all the advice in these unhappy circumstances i am in a condition to give. if i had still had resources, i would have staid by them.
frederick.”
it will be perceived that this paper is slightly less despairing than the preceding letter which he had written to count finckenstein. frederick, having written the order to general finck, threw himself, in utter exhaustion, upon some straw in a corner of the hut, and fell soundly asleep. the prussian officers, passing by, gazed sadly through the open door upon the sleeping monarch. a single sentinel guarded the entrance.
the next morning frederick crossed the river to reitwein, on the western bank. here, during the day, broken bands of his army came in to the number of twenty-three thousand. it would seem that a night of refreshing sleep had so far recruited the exhausted energies of the king that he was enabled to look a little more calmly upon the ruin which enveloped him. he that day wrote as follows from reitwein to general schmettau, who was in command of the prussian garrison at dresden:
“you will, perhaps, have heard of the check i have met with from the russian army on the 13th138 of this month. though at bottom our affairs in regard to the enemy here are not desperate, i find i shall not be able to make any detachment for your assistance. should the austrians attempt any thing against dresden, therefore, you will see if there are means of maintaining yourself; failing which, it will behoove you to try and obtain a favorable capitulation—to wit, liberty to withdraw, with the488 whole garrison, moneys, magazines, hospital, and all that we have at dresden, either to berlin or elsewhere, so as to join some corps of my troops.
“as a fit of illness has come on me, which i do not think will have dangerous results, i have, for the present, left the command of my troops to lieutenant general von finck, whose orders you are to execute as if coming directly from myself. on this i pray god139 to have you in his holy and worthy keeping.
f.”
frederick asleep in the hut at oetscher.
the consternation at berlin, as contradictory reports of victory and defeat reached the city, was indescribable. m. sulzer, an eye-witness of the scene, writes under date of berlin, august 13th, 1759:
489 “above fifty thousand human beings were on the palace esplanade and the streets around, swaying hither and thither in an agony of expectation, in alternate paroxysms of joy, of terror, and of woe. often enough the opposite paroxysms were simultaneous in the different groups. men crushed down by despair were met by men leaping into the air for very gladness.”
as we have mentioned, the russian general had such a dread of frederick that he did not dare to pursue him. in his report of the victory to the czarina charlotte, speaking of his own heavy loss of over eighteen thousand men, he writes, “your majesty is aware that the king of prussia sells his victories at a dear rate.” to some who urged him to pursue frederick, he replied, “let me gain but another such victory, and i may go to petersburg with the news of it myself alone, with my staff in my hand.”
frederick remained at reitwein four days. he was very unjust to his army, and angrily reproached his soldiers for their defeat. it is true that, had every soldier possessed his own spirit, his army would have conquered, or not a man would have left the field alive. the russians, with almost inconceivable inactivity, retired to lossow, ten miles south of frankfort-on-the-oder. the king, having by great exertions collected thirty-two thousand men, marched up the valley of the spree, and placed himself on the road between the russians and berlin.
while on this march he wrote from madlitz, under date of august 16th, to marquis d’argens, at berlin:
“we have been unfortunate, my dear marquis, but not by my fault. the victory was ours, and would even have been a complete one, when our infantry lost patience, and at the wrong moment abandoned the field of battle. the russian infantry is almost totally destroyed. of my own wrecks, all that i have been able to assemble amounts to thirty-two thousand men. with these i am pushing on to throw myself across the enemy’s road, and either perish or save the capital. this is not what you will call a deficiency of resolution.
“for the event i can not answer. if i had more lives than one, i would sacrifice them all to my country. but, if this stroke fail, i think i am clear scores with her, and that it will be permissible to look a little to myself. there are limits to every490 thing. i support my misfortune. my courage is not abated by it. but i am well resolved, after this stroke, if it fail, to open an outgate to myself, and no longer be the sport of any chance.”140
four days after, in anticipation of an immediate attack from the russians, he again wrote to the same address, “remain at berlin, or retire to potsdam. in a little while there will come some catastrophe. it is not fit that you suffer by it. if things take a good turn, you can be back to berlin. if ill luck still pursue us, go to hanover, or to zelle, where you can provide for your safety.”
the next day, the 21st of august, he wrote to d’argens to come and visit him, and bring his bed with him. “i will have you a little chamber ready.” but the next day he wrote,
“yesterday i wrote to you to come; to-day i forbid it. daun is marching upon berlin. fly these unhappy countries. this news obliges me again to attack the russians between here and frankfort. you may imagine if this is a desperate resolution. it is the sole hope that remains to me of not being cut off from berlin on the one side or the other. i will give these discouraged troops brandy, but i promise myself nothing of success. my one consolation is that i shall die sword in hand.”
just after dispatching this letter he received one from d’argens, to which he immediately, on the same day, returned the following reply:
“certainly i will fight. but do not flatter yourself about the result. a happy chance alone can help us. go, in god’s name to tangermünde. wait there how destiny shall have disposed of us. i will reconnoitre the enemy to-morrow. next day, if there is any thing to do, we will try it. if the enemy still holds to the wine hills of frankfort, i shall not dare to attack him.
“the torments of tantalus, the pains of prometheus, the doom of sisyphus, were nothing to the torments i have suffered for the last ten days. death is sweet in comparison with such a life. pity me, and believe that i still keep to myself a great many evil things, not wishing to afflict or disquiet any body with them. believe me that i would not counsel you to fly these unlucky countries if i had any ray of hope. adieu, mon cher.”
491 the rumor that daun was marching upon berlin proved a false alarm. on the 4th of september the king again wrote d’argens from his encampment at waldau, a few leagues south of his last position, just over the border in saxony:
“i think berlin is now in safety. you may return thither. the barbarians are in the lausitz. i keep by the side of them, between them and berlin, so that there is nothing to fear for the capital. the imminency of danger is passed. but there will be still many bad moments to get through before reaching the end of the campaign. these, however, only regard myself. never mind these. my martyrdom will last two months yet. then the snows and the ices will end it.”
general schmettau had in dresden a garrison of but three thousand seven hundred men. it will be remembered that he would doubtless be compelled to capitulate, and to do so on the best terms he could. but his prussian majesty, being now a little more hopeful, wrote to him again, urging him to hold out to the last extremity, and informing him that he had dispatched to his aid general wunsch, with a re-enforcement of eight thousand men, and general finck with six thousand. the courier was cut off. general schmettau, entirely unconscious that relief was coming, closely besieged, and threatened with the massacre of his whole garrison should the place be taken by storm, on tuesday evening, the 4th of september, surrendered the city.
it was a sore calamity to frederick. had general schmettau held out only until the next day, which he could easily have done, relief would have arrived, and the city would have been saved. frederick was in a great rage, and was not at all in the mood to be merciful, or even just. he dismissed the unfortunate general from his service, degraded him, and left him to die in poverty.
frederick had now under his command twenty-four thousand men. they were mostly on the road between frankfort and berlin, for the protection of the capital. his brother henry, in the vicinity of landshut, with his head-quarters at schm?ttseifen, was in command of thirty-eight thousand. the russians and austrians numbered one hundred and twenty thousand. there was, however, but little cordial co-operation among the allies. each was accused of endeavoring to crowd the other to the front of the battle against the terrible frederick.
492 the russians did not attempt to march upon berlin. about the middle of september general soltikof gathered all his forces in hand, and commenced a march into silesia to effect a junction with general daun. frederick followed, and, by a very rapid march, took possession of sagan, on the bober, where he was in direct communication with henry. on the 24th of september the king wrote to his younger brother ferdinand, in berlin:
“you may well suppose that, in the present posture of affairs, i am not without cares, inquietudes, and anxieties. it is the most frightful crisis i have had in my life. this is the moment for dying, unless one conquer. daun and my brother henry are marching side by side. it is possible enough all these armies may assemble hereabouts, and that a general battle may decide our fortune and the peace. take care of your health, dear brother.
f.”
there was much man?uvring, in which frederick displayed his usual skill, quite circumventing his foes. daily he became less despairing. on the 25th of october he wrote to fouquet:
“with twenty-one thousand your beaten and maltreated servant has hindered an army of fifty thousand from attacking him, and has compelled them to retire to neusatz.”
on the 10th of october frederick was attacked by the gout, and for three weeks was confined to his room. this extraordinary man, struggling, as it were, in the jaws of destruction, beguiled the weary hours of sickness and pain by writing a treatise upon charles xii. and his military character. on the 24th of october, the russian commander, quarreling with general daun, set out, with his whole force, for home. on the 1st of november the king was carried in a litter to glogau. cold weather having now set in, general daun commenced a march for bohemia, to seek winter quarters nearer his supplies. frederick, his health being restored, rejoined his troops under henry, which were near dresden. the withdrawal of both the russians and austrians from silesia greatly elated him. on the 15th of november he wrote to d’argens from maxen, a village a little south of dresden:
“yesterday i joined the army, and daun decamped. i have493 followed him thus far, and will continue it to the frontiers of bohemia. our measures are so taken that he will not get out of saxony without considerable loss.”
general finck was stationed at maxen, with about fifteen thousand men, to cut the communications of daun with bohemia. frederick, in his undue elation, was quite sure of inflicting terrible blows upon daun. he issued imperative commands to general finck to fight the allies regardless of their numbers. the prussian general did not dare to disobey this command and withdraw from his commanding position, even when he saw himself being surrounded with such superior forces as would almost certainly crush him.
in a very triumphant mood, the king, on the 19th of november, wrote a boastful and irreverent “ode to fortune,” in that easy rhyme which he called poetry. the substance of this ode, translated into prose, was as follows:
“i am a poor heretic. i have never been blessed by the holy father. i never attend church. i worship neither god nor the devil. often have those shaven scoundrels, the priests, declared that i had become extinct.
“but behold the caprice of fortune. after a hundred preferences of my rivals, she smiles upon me, and packs off the hero of the hat and sword, whom the pope had blessed, and who had gone on pilgrimages. he skulks out of saxony, panting like a dog whom the cook has flogged out of the kitchen.”
this ode, “an irrepressible extempore effusion,” as he termed it, the royal poet forwarded to d’argens. the day but one after writing this, general daun, having effectually surrounded general finck with nearly fifty thousand men of the allied troops—nearly four to one—after a severe conflict, compelled the surrender of his whole army. the following plan of the battle of maxen will show how completely finck was encircled. general daun claimed that he marched back into dresden, as prisoners of war, eight generals, five hundred and twenty-nine officers, and fifteen thousand privates, with all their equipments and appurtenances.141 the next day, the 22d, frederick wrote to d’argens:
“i am so stupefied with the misfortune which has befallen494 general finck that i can not recover from my astonishment. it deranges all my measures. it cuts me to the quick. ill luck, which persecutes my old age, has followed me from kunersdorf to saxony. i will still strive what i can. the little ode i sent you, addressed to fortune, was written too soon. one should not shout victory until the battle is over. i am so crushed by these reverses and disasters that i wish a thousand times i were dead.
battle of maxen, november 20, 1759.
a a. prussian army. b. prussian detachment, under wunsch. c c. austrian attack, under daun. d d. attack of brentano and sincere. e e e. reich’s army.
“from day to day i grow more weary of dwelling in a body worn out and condemned to suffer. i am writing to you in the first moment of my grief. astonishment, sorrow, indignation, and scorn, all blended together, lacerate my soul. let us get to the end, then, of this execrable campaign. i will then write to you what is to become of me, and we will arrange the rest. pity me, and make no noise about me. bad news goes fast enough of itself. adieu, dear marquis.”
the king, as usual, was merciless to general finck. as soon as he returned from austrian captivity he was tried by court-martial, and condemned to a year’s imprisonment in the fortress of spandau, and was expelled from the army. he afterward retired to denmark, where he was kindly received.
general daun, elated by this victory, relinquished the plan of retiring to bohemia, and decided to remain in saxony for the winter. frederick had but thirty-six thousand men in saxony. daun commanded seventy-two thousand.
the elbe was now frozen. the storms of winter covered the icy fields with snow. daun retired to dresden. frederick established himself in the little town of freiberg, about thirty miles southwest from dresden. his troops were in cantonments in the adjoining villages. here he took up his abode in a humble cottage. thus terminated the fourth campaign of the seven years’ war.
