worshipper; and Voltaire replied with exquisite a desert. "No more of these fooleries," was the grace and address. A correspondence followed, short, sharp admonition given by Frederic to one which may be studied with advantage by those of them. It soon became plain that, in the most who wish to become proficients in the ignoble art important points, the new sovereign bore a strong of flattery. No man ever paid compliments better family likeness to his predecessor. There was a than Voltaire. His sweetest confectionary had wide difference between the father and the son as always a delicate, yet stimulating flavor, which respected extent and vigor of intellect, speculative was delightful to palates wearied by the coarse opinions, amusements, studies, outward demeanor. preparations of inferior artists. It was only from But the groundwork of the character was the same his hand that so much sugar could be swallowed in both. To both were common the love of order, without making the swallower sick. Copies of the love of business, the military taste, the parsiverses, writing-desks, trinkets of amber, were ex- mony, the imperious spirit, the temper irritable changed between the friends. Frederic confided even to ferocity, the pleasure in the pain and huhis writings to Voltaire; and Voltaire applauded, miliation of others. But these propensities had in as if Frederic had been Racine and Bossuet in one. Frederic William partaken of the general unOne of his royal highness' performances was a soundness of his mind, and wore a very different refutation of the Principe of Machiavelli. Vol- aspect when found in company with the strong taire undertook to convey it to the press. It was and cultivated understanding of his successor. entitled the Anti-Machiavel, and was an edifying Thus, for example, Frederic was as anxious as homily against rapacity, perfidy, arbitrary government, unjust war-in short, against almost everything for which its author is now remembered among men. any prince could be about the efficacy of his army. But this anxiety never degenerated into a monomania, like that which led his father to pay fancyprices for giants. Frederic was as thrifty about The old king uttered now and then a ferocious money as any prince or any private man ought to growl at the diversions of Rheinsberg. But his be. But he did not conceive, like his father, that health was broken; his end was approaching; it was worth while to eat unwholesome cabbages and his vigor was impaired. He had only one for the sake of saving four or five rix-dollars in pleasure left that of seeing tall soldiers. He the year. Frederic was, we fear, as malevolent could always be propitiated by a present of a gren- as his father; but Frederic's wit enabled him often adier of six feet nine; and such presents were from time to time judiciously offered by his son. to show his malevolence in ways more decent than those to which his father resorted, and to inflict misery and degradation by a taunt instead of a blow. Frederic, it is true, by no means relinquished his hereditary privilege of kicking and cudgelling. His practice, however, as to that matter, differed in some important respects from his father's. To Frederic William, the mere circumstance that any person whatever, men women, or children, Prussians or foreigners, were within reach of his toes and of his cane, appeared to be a sufficient reason for proceeding to belabor them. Frederic required provocation as well as vicinity; nor was he ever known to inflict this paternal spe Early in the year 1740, Frederic William met death with a firmness and dignity worthy of a better and wiser man; and Frederic, who had just completed his twenty-eighth year, became king of Prussia. His character was little understood. That he had good abilities, indeed, no person who had talked with him, or corresponded with him, could doubt. But the easy Epicurean life which he had led, his love of good cookery and good wine, of music, of conversation, of light literature, led many to regard him as a sensual and intellectual voluptuary. His habit of canting about moderation, peace, liberty, and the happiness which acies of correction on any but his born subjects; good mind derives from the happiness of others, though on one occasion M. Thiébault had reason, had imposed on some who should have known during a few seconds, to anticipate the high honor better. Those who thought best of him, expected of being an exception to this general rule. a Telemachus after Fénelon's pattern. Others The character of Frederic was still very imperpredicted the approach of a Medicean age-an fectly understood either by his subjects or by his age propitious to learning and art, and not unpro- neighbors, when events occurred which exhibited pitious to pleasure. Nobody had the least suspi- it in a strong light. A few months after his accion that a tyrant of extraordinary military and cession died Charles VI., Emperor of Germany, political talents, of industry more extraordinary the last descendant, in the male line, of the house still, without fear, without faith, and without mer- of Austria. cy, had ascended the throne. The disappointment of Flagstaff at his old boon-companion's coronation, was not more bitter than that which awaited some of the inmates of Rheinsberg. They had long looked forward to the accession of their patron, as to the day from which their own prosperity and greatness was to date. Charles left no son, and had, long before his death, relinquished all hopes of male issue. During the latter part of his life, his principal object had been to secure to his descendants in the female line the many crowns of the house of Hapsburg. With this view, he had promulgated a new law of succession, widely celebrated throughThey had at last reached the promised out Europe under the name of the " Pragmatic land, the land which they had figured to themselves Sanction." By virtue of this decree, his daughas flowing with milk and honey; and they found it ter, the Archduchess Maria Theresa, wife of Francis of Loraine, succeeded to the dominions of stronger assurances of friendship and support than her ancestors. from the King of Prussia. No sovereign has ever taken possession of a Yet the King of Prussia, the "Anti-Machithrone by a clearer title. All the politics of the avel," had already fully determined to commit the Austrian cabinet had, during twenty years, been great crime of violating his plighted faith, of directed to one single end-the settlement of the robbing the ally whom he was bound to defend, succession. From every person whose rights and of plunging all Europe into a long, bloody, could be considered as injuriously affected, renun- and desolating war; and all this for no end whatciations in the most solemn form had been obtained. ever, except that he might extend his dominions, The new law had been ratified by the estates of and see his name in the gazettes. He determined all the kingdoms and principalities which made up to assemble a great army with speed and secrecy, the great Austrian monarchy. England, France, to invade Silesia before Maria Theresa should be Spain, Russia, Poland, Prussia, Sweden, Den-apprized of his design, and to add that rich provmark, the Germanic body, had bound themselves ince to his kingdom. by treaty to maintain the "Pragmatic Sanction." That Instrument was placed under the protection of the public faith of the whole civilized world. We will not condescend to refute at length the pleas which the compiler of the Memoirs before us has copied from Doctor Preuss. They amount to Even if no positive stipulations on the subject this-that the house of Brandenburg had some had existed, the arrangement was one which no ancient pretensions to Silesia, and had in the pregood man would have been willing to disturb. It vious century been compelled by hard usage on was a peaceable arrangement. It was an arrange- the part of the Court of Vienna, to waive those ment acceptable to the great population whose pretensions. It is certain that, whoever might happiness was chiefly concerned. It was an originally have been in the right, Prussia had arrangement which made no change in the distri- submitted. Prince after prince of the house of bution of power among the states of Christendom. Brandenburg had acquiesced in the existing arrangeIt was an arrangement which could be set aside ment. Nay, the Court of Berlin had recently only by means of a general war; and, if it were been allied with that of Vienna, and had guaranset aside, the effect would be, that the equilibrium teed the integrity of the Austrian states. It is of Europe would be deranged, that the loyal and not perfectly clear, that if antiquated claims are patriotic feelings of millions would be cruelly out- to be set up against recent treaties and long raged, and that great provinces which had been possession, the world can never be at peace for a united for centuries would be torn from each day? The laws of all nations have wisely estabother by main force. lished a time of limitation, after which titles, however illegitimate in their origin, cannot be questioned. It is felt by everybody, that to eject a person from his estate, on the ground of some injustice committed in the time of the Tudors, would produce all the evils which result from arbitrary confiscation, and would make all property insecure. It concerns the commonwealth-so runs the legal maxim-that there be an end of litigation. And surely this maxim is at least equally applicable to the great commonwealth of states; for in that commonwealth litigation means the devastation of provinces, the suspension of trade and industry, sieges like those of Badajoz and St. Sebastian, pitched fields like those of Eylau and Borodino. We hold that the transfer of Norway from Denmark to Sweden was unjustifiable proceeding; but would the king of Denmark be therefore justified in landing, without any new provocation, in Norway, and commencing military operations there? The king of Holland thinks, no doubt, that he was unjustly deprived of the Belgian provinces. Grant that it were so. Would he, therefore, be justified in marching with an army on Brussels? The case against Frederic was still stronger, inasmuch as the injustice of which he complained had been committed more than a century before. Nor must it be forgotten that he owed the highest personal obligations to the house of Austria. It may be doubted whether his life had not been preserved by the intercession The sovereigns of Europe were, therefore, bound by every obligation which those who are intrusted with power over their fellow-creatures ought to hold most sacred, to respect and defend the rights of the arch-duchess. Her situation and her personal qualities were such as might be expected to move the mind of any generous man to pity, admiration, and chivalrous tenderness. She was in her twenty-fourth year. Her form was majestic, her features beautiful, her countenance sweet and animated, her voice musical, her deportment gracious and dignified. In all domestic relations she was without reproach. She was married to a husband whom she loved, and was on the point of giving birth to a child when death deprived her of her father. The loss of a parent, and the new cares of empire, were too much for her in the delicate state of her health. Her spirits were depressed, and her cheek lost its bloom. Yet it seemed that she had little cause for anxiety. It seemed that justice, humanity, and the faith of treaties would have their due weight, and that the settlement so solemnly guaranteed would be quietly carried into effect. England, Russia, Poland, and Holland, declared in form their intention to adhere to their engagements. The French ministers made a verbal declaration to the same effect. But from no quarter did the young Queen of Hungary receive an of the prince whose daughter he was about to been guaranteed, were express and recent. plunder. To do the king justice, he pretended to no more virtue than he had. In manifestoes he might, for form's sake, insert some idle stories about his antiquated claim on Silesia; but in his conversations and Memoirs he took a very different tone. To quote his own words: " Ambition, interest, the desire of making people talk about me, carried the day; and I decided for war.". Having resolved on his course, he acted with ability and vigor. It was impossible wholly to conceal his preparations; for throughout, the Prussian territories regiments, guns, and baggage were in motion. The Austrian envoy at Berlin apprized his court of these facts, and expressed a suspicion of Frederic's designs; but the ministers of Maria Theresa refused to give credit to so black an imputation on a young prince who was known chiefly by his high professions of integrity and philanthropy. "We will not,"-they wrote we cannot, believe it." 66 In the mean time the Prussian forces had been assembled. Without any declaration of war, without any demand for reparation, in the very act of pouring forth compliments and assurances of good-will, Frederic commenced hostilities. Many thousands of his troops were actually in Silesia before the Queen of Hungary knew that he had set up any claim to any part of her territories. At length he sent her a message which could be regarded only as an insult. If she would but let him have Silesia, he would, he said, stand by her, against any power which should try to deprive her of her other dominions; as if he was not already bound to stand by her, or as if his new promise could be of more value than the old one! It was the depth of winter. The cold was severe, and the roads deep in mire. But the Prussians pressed on. Resistance was impossible. The Austrian army was then neither numerous nor efficient. The small portion of that army which lay in Silesia, was unprepared for hostilities. Glogau was blockaded; Breslau opened its gates; Ohlau was evacuated. A few scattered garrisons still held out; but the whole open country was subjugated; no enemy ventured to encounter the king in the field; and, before the end of January, 1741, he returned to receive the congratulations of his subjects at Berlin. To throw all Europe into confusion for a purpose Silesia had been occupied without a battle; but the Austrian troops were advancing to the relief of the fortresses which still held out. In the spring Frederick rejoined his army. He had seen little of war, and had never commanded any great body of men in the field. It is not, therefore, strange that his first military operations showed little of that skill which, at a later period, was the admiration of Europe. What connoisseurs say of some pictures painted by Raphael in his youth, may be said of this campaign. It was in FredHad the Silesian question been merely a ques- eric's early bad manner. Fortunately for him, tion between Frederic and Maria Theresa, it would the generals to whom he was opposed were men be impossible to acquit the Prussian king of gross of small capacity. The discipline of his own perfidy. But when we consider the effects which troops, particularly of the infantry, was unequalled his policy produced, and could not fail to produce, in that age; and some able and experienced offion the whole community of civilized nations, we cers were at hand to assist him with their advice are compelled to pronounce a condemnation still Of these, the most distinguished was Field-Marmore severe. Till he began the war, it seemed shal Schwerin-a brave adventurer of Pomeranian possible, even probable, that the peace of the extraction, who had served half the governments world would be preserved. The plunder of the in Europe, had borne the commissions of the great Austrian heritage was indeed a strong States-General of Holland and of the Duke of temptation; and in more than one cabinet ambi- Mecklenburg, had fought under Marlborough at tious schemes were already meditated. But the Blenheim, and had been with Charles the Twelfth treaties by which the "Pragmatic Sanction" had at Bender. F.ederic's first battle was fought at Molwitz; | the Cæsars unbroken. Hungary was still hers and never did the career of a great commander by an unquestionable title; and although her anopen in a more inauspicious manner. His army cestors had found Hungary the most mutinous of was victorious. Not only, however, did he not all their kingdoms, she resolved to trust herself to establish his title to the character of an able gen- the fidelity of a people, rude indeed, turbulent, and eral, but he was so unfortunate as to make it impatient of oppression, but brave, generous, and doubtful whether he possessed the vulgar courage simple-hearted. In the midst of distress and peril of a soldier. The cavalry, which he commanded she had given birth to a son, afterwards the Emin person was put to flight. Unaccustomed to the peror Joseph the Second. Scarcely had she risen tumult and carnage of a field of battle, he lost his from her couch, when she hastened to Presburg. self-possession, and listened too readily to those There, in the sight of an innumerable multitude, who urged him to save himself. His English she was crowned with the crown and robed with grey carried him many miles from the field, while the robe of St. Stephen. No spectator could reSchwerin, though wounded in two places, man- strain his tears when the beautiful young mother, fully upheld the day. The skill of the old field- still weak from child-bearing, rode, after the fashmarshal and the steadiness of the Prussian battalion of her fathers, up the Mount of Defiance, unions prevailed; and the Austrian army was driven sheathed the ancient sword of state, shook it tofrom the field with the loss of eight thousand wards north and south, east and west, and, with a glow on her pale face, challenged the four corners of the world to dispute her rights and those of her boy. At the first sitting of the diet she appeared clad in deep mourning for her father, and in pathetic and dignified words implored her people to support her just cause. Magnates and deputies sprang up, half drew their sabres, and with eager voices vowed to stand by her with their lives and fortunes. Till then, her firmness had never once forsaken her before the public eye; but at that shout she sank down upon her throne, and wept aloud. Still more touching was the sight when, a few days later, she came again before the Estates of her realm, and held up before them the little archduke in her arms. Then it was that the enthusiasm of Hungary broke forth into that war-cry which soon resounded throughout Europe, "Let us die for our king, Maria Theresa!" men. The news was carried late at night to a mill in which the king had taken shelter. It gave him a bitter pang. He was successful; but he owed his success to dispositions which others had made, and to the valor of men who had fought while he was flying. So unpromising was the first appearance of the greatest warrior of that age! The battle of Molwitz was the signal for a general explosion throughout Europe. Bavaria took up arms. France, not yet declaring herself a principal in the war, took part in it as an ally of Bavaria. The two great statesmen to whom mankind had owed many years of tranquillity, disappeared about this time from the scene; but not till they had both been guilty of the weakness of sacrificing their sense of justice and their love of peace in the vain hope of preserving their power. Fleury, sinking under age and infirmity, was borne down by the impetuosity of Belle-Isle. Walpole retired from the service of his ungrateful country to his woods and paintings at Houghton; and his power devolved on the daring and eccentric Carteret. As were the ministers, so were the nations. Thirty years, during which Europe had, with few interruptions, enjoyed repose, had prepared the public mind for great military efforts. A new generation had grown up, which could not remember the siege of Turin or the slaughter of Malplaquet; which knew war by nothing but its trophies; and which, while it looked with pride on the tapestries at Blenheim, or the statue in the "Place of Victories," little thought by what privations, by what waste of private fortunes, by how many bitter tears, conquests must be purchased. In the mean time, Frederic was meditating a change of policy. He had no wish to raise France to supreme power on the Continent, at the expense of the house of Hapsburg. His first object was, to rob the Queen of Hungary. His second was that, if possible, nobody should rob her but himself. He had entered into engagements with the powers leagued against Austria; but these engagements were in his estimation of no more force than the guarantee formerly given to the "Pragmatic Sanction." His game now was to secure his share of the plunder by betraying his accomplices. Maria Theresa was little inclined to listen to any such compromise; but the English government represented to her so strongly the necessity of buying off so formidable an enemy as Frederic, that she agreed to negotiate. The negotiation would not, however, have ended in a treaty, had not the arms For a time fortune seemed adverse to the of Frederic been crowned with a second victory. Queen of Hungary. Frederic invaded Moravia. Prince Charles of Loraine, brother-in-law to Maria The French and Bavarians penetrated into Bohe- Theresa, a bold and active, though unfortunate mia, and were there joined by the Saxous. general, gave battle to the Prussians at Chotusitz, Prague was taken. The Elector of Bavaria was and was defeated. The king was still only a learner raised by the suffrages of his colleagues to the of the military art. He acknowledged, at a later imperial throne-a throne which the practice of period, that his success on this occasion was to be centuries had almost entitled the House of Aus- attributed, not at all to his own generalship, but tria to regard as a hereditary possession. solely to the valor and steadiness of his troops. He Yet was the spirit of the haughty daughter of completely effaced, however, by his courage and energy, the stain which Molwitz had left on his hands a paper on the state of Europe, and received reputation. A peace, concluded under the English mediation, was the fruit of this battle. Maria Theresa ceded Silesia; Frederic abandoned his allies; Saxony followed his example; and the queen was left at liberty to turn her whole force against France and Bavaria. She was everywhere triumphant. The French were compelled to evacuate Bohemia, and with difficulty effected their escape. The whole line of their retreat might be tracked by the corpses of thousands who had died of cold, fatigue and hunger. Many of those who reached their country carried with them the seeds of death. Bavaria was overrun by bands of ferocious warriors from that bloody "debatable land," which lies on the frontier between Christendom and Islam. The terrible names of the Pandoor, the Croat, and the Hussar, then first became familiar to western Europe. The unfortunate Charles of Bavaria, vanquished by Austria, betrayed by Prussia, driven from his hereditary states, and neglected by his allies, was hurried by shame and remorse to an untimely end. An English army appeared in the heart of Germany, and defeated the French at Dettingen. The Austrian captains already began to talk of completing the work of Marlborough and Eugene, and of compelling France to relinquish Alsace and the three Bishoprics. it back with verses scrawled on the margin. In secret they both laughed at each other. Voltaire did not spare the king's poems; and the king has left on record his opinion of Voltaire's diplomacy. 'He had no credentials," says Frederic, and the whole mission was a joke, a mere farce." 66 But what the influence of Voltaire could not effect, the rapid progress of the Austrian arms effected. If it should be in the power of Maria Theresa and George the Second to dictate terms of peace to France, what chance was there that Prussia would long retain Silesia? Frederic's conscience told him that he had acted perfidiously and inhumanly towards the Queen of Hungary. That her resentment was strong she had given ample proof; and of her respect for treaties he judged by his own. Guarantees, he said, were mere filagree, pretty to look at, but too brittle to bear the slightest pressure. He thought it his safest course to ally himself closely to France, and again to attack the empress queen. Accordingly, in the autumn of 1744, without notice, without any decent pretext, he recommenced hostilities, marched through the electorate of Saxony without troubling himself about the permission of the Elector, invaded Bohemia, took Prague, and even menaced Vienna. It was now that, for the first time, he experienced the inconstancy of fortune. An Austrian army under Charles of Loraine threatened his communications with Silesia. Saxony was all in arms behind him. He found it necessary to save himself by a retreat. He afterwards owned that his failure was the natural effect of his own blunders. No general, he said, had ever committed greater faults. It must be added, that to the reverses of this campaign he always ascribed his subsequent successes. It was in the midst of difficulty and disgrace that he caught the first clear glimpse of the principles of the military art. The Court of Versailles, in this peril, looked to Frederic for help. He had been guilty of two great treasons, perhaps he might be induced to commit a third. The Duchess of Chateauroux then held the chief influence over the feeble Louis. She determined to send an agent to Berlin, and Voltaire was selected for the mission. He eagerly undertook the task; for, while his literary fame filled all Europe, he was troubled with a childish craving for political distinction. He was vain, and not without reason, of his address, and of his insinuating eloquence; and he flattered himself The memorable year 1745 followed. The war that he possessed boundless influence over the raged by sea and land, in Italy, in Germany, and king of Prussia. The truth was, that he knew in Flanders; and even England, after many years as yet only one corner of Frederic's character. of profound internal quiet, saw for the last time He was well acquainted with all the petty vani-hostile armies set in battle-array against each other. ties and affectations of the poetaster; but was not This year is memorable in the life of Frederic, as aware that these foibles were united with all the the date at which his noviciate in the art of war talents and vices which lead to success in active may be said to have terminated. There have been life; and that the unlucky versifier who bored him great captains whose precocious and self-taught with reams of middling Alexandrines, was the military skill resembled intuition. Condé, Clive, most vigilant, suspicious, and severe of politicians. and Napoleon are examples. But Frederic was Voltaire was received with every mark of re- not one of these brilliant portents. His proficienspect and friendship, was lodged in the palace, cy in military science was simply the proficiency and had a seat daily at the royal table. The which a man of vigorous faculties makes in any negotiation was of an extraordinary description. science to which he applies his mind with earnestNothing can be conceived more whimsical than ness and industry. It was at Hohenfriedberg that the conferences which took place between the first he first proved how much he had profited by his literary man and the first practical man of the errors, and by their consequences. His victory age, whom a strange weakness had induced to on that day was chiefly due to his skilful disposi exchange their parts. The great poet would talk tions, and convinced Europe that the prince, who, of nothing but treaties and guarantees, and the a few years before, had stood aghast in the rout great king of nothing but metaphors and rhymes. of Molwitz, had attained in the military art a masOn one occasion Voltaire put into his majesty's tery equalled by none of his contemporaries, or |