of California 
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 LIBRARY 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 SANTA BARBARA 
 
 FROM THE LIBRARY 
 OF F. VON BOSCH AN
 
 TTCSB LIBRARY 
 
 X- 
 
 FEEDEEICK THE GEEAT 
 
 AND 
 
 MAEIA THEEESA. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 LOKDOJT : 
 
 PRINTED BT GILBERT AXD EIVIIfGTOX, LIMITED, 
 81. JOHS'S SQUAHE.
 
 FREDERICK THE GREAT 
 
 AND 
 
 MAEIA THERESA, 
 
 FROM HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS. 
 1740-1742. 
 
 THE DUG DE BROGLIE, 
 
 MEMBER OF THE FBENCH ACADEMY. 
 
 FROM THE FRENCH 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. CASHEL HOEY AND MR. JOHN LILLIE. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Honfcon : 
 SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON, 
 
 CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. 
 
 1883. 
 [All rights reserved.]
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE work now presented to my readers is composed 
 of a series of historical studies that have appeared 
 at intervals in the Revue des Deux Mondes. They 
 were received with approval in the serial form, and 
 I hope they may find favour in their present guise, 
 from a more numerous public. 
 
 I am aware that a portion of the interest which 
 these narratives of a long past epoch possess, is due 
 to the comparison that no one can have failed to 
 draw, between the part played by France, Austria, 
 and Prussia, the powers engaged in the war of 1740, 
 and that which they have acted in the more tragic 
 dramas of recent times. I think I have, however, 
 successfully resisted the temptation to warp historic 
 truth by seeking in the past misplaced allusions to 
 the present. If, notwithstanding my scrupulous 
 care, a resemblance between the events of the last,
 
 vi Preface. 
 
 and those of our own century be traced here and 
 there, that similarity arises from the continuous 
 presence of certain traits of national character, 
 which are transmitted from generation to genera- 
 tion in all peoples, surviving the lapse of time and 
 the vicissitudes of revolution. 
 
 Thus it is that, notwithstanding the social revo- 
 lution which our country has undergone, to the 
 pride of some and the grief of others, the French 
 nation of to-day is more like that of the eighteenth 
 century than it believes itself to be. Our ances- 
 tors were disposed, in their time, to do the very 
 thing of which a French sovereign in ours con- 
 gratulated himself upon having had to repent ; they 
 too would " go to war for an idea, " preferring 
 an ideal aim whose generosity and grandeur ap- 
 pealed to their imagination, to practical and positive 
 results. 
 
 I think I have proved to my readers that on the 
 death of the Emperor Charles VI., it would have 
 been easy to have obtained from his daughter, 
 Maria Theresa, such an accession of territory as 
 would have strengthened the defence of our northern 
 frontier, and probably rendered it secure for ever, 
 by the surrender of the whole or a part of the 
 Low Countries. To this practical, tangible, certain
 
 Preface. vii 
 
 advantage, France preferred the " idea" of re-estab- 
 lishing the German Empire according to its primi- 
 tive conception ; that is to say, free from Austrian 
 preponderance and heredity. 
 
 Marshal de Belle-Isle, who was the author of that 
 great project, and, for a brief space, its hero, was a 
 true Frenchman in valour, vivacity, and resource. 
 But, in order to carry out his enterprise, indeed 
 even to render it possible, he had to begin by pro- 
 claiming the absolute disinterestedness of France, 
 and her resolution to exact nothing for herself as the 
 reward of her action; and Belle-Isle was still im- 
 pressing this upon Frederick II., at the very moment 
 when our ally, whose calculations were of quite an- 
 other kind from ours, deserted us, to secure himself 
 in the possession of a rich province, which he had 
 captured by a surprise, and which is still held by 
 Prussia. For this " idea " did France rush into a 
 great war, of which she had ultimately to bear 
 the whole cost, and from which, under the best of 
 circumstances, she could have derived only an 
 imaginary advantage. The re-establishment of 
 the German Empire, striven for under such 
 conditions as these, was simply a conception, under 
 a form consonant with the spirit of the time, of 
 that vague principle of nationality which we have
 
 viii Preface. 
 
 twice defended, and to which we have now fallen 
 victims. Without straining history by an arbitrary 
 assimilation of its facts, we may learn lessons from 
 it which, however late, are not superfluous. 
 
 October, 1882.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE INVASION OF SILESIA. 
 
 Importance and interest of unpublished correspondence taken 
 from state archives New documents relating to the history 
 of Frederick II. and Maria Theresa Political corre- 
 spondence of Maria Theresa Correspondence of the French 
 agents, taken from the archives of Foreign Affairs Condition 
 of the Austrian monarchy and the Prussian monarchy at the 
 beginning of 1740 The Pragmatic Sanction Character 
 of the heirs of those two monarchies The Archduchess 
 Maria Theresa The Prince Royal of Prussia General 
 uncertainty and expectation Death of Frederick William, 
 King of Prussia, and accession of Frederick II. First 
 measures taken by the new King Colonel de Camas is 
 sent to Paris, and Count von Truchsess to London Their 
 instructions Camas is ordered to visit Voltaire at Brussels 
 Frederick goes to Strasburg incognito His interview with 
 Marshal de Broglie, Governor of that city First meeting 
 of Frederick and Voltaire, on the banks of the Rhine 
 Frederick's quarrel with the Bishop of Liege Death of the 
 Emperor Charles VI. Consternation and uneasiness at 
 Vienna Maria Theresa takes the helm of government, and 
 her example encourages and fortifies all Protest of the 
 Elector of Bavaria against the royal rule of Maria Theresa 
 Attitude of various powers France Formation of the 
 Treaty of 1735, and guarantee of the succession appointed 
 by the Pragmatic Sanction Disposition and character of 
 Cardinal Fleury He hesitates to take a line Prussia 
 Frederick takes military measures with an unknown pur- 
 
 VOL. i. a
 
 x Contents. 
 
 pose Fleury, in order to discover his designs, gives the 
 Marquis de Beauvau an official, and Voltaire a secret, 
 mission Frederick's reception of Voltaire, and that of the 
 Marquis de Valori, French Minister Alarm at Vienna 
 Maria Theresa sends the Marquis de Botta to Berlin 
 Frederick demands from him the cession of Silesia, and 
 prepares to invade that province Count Gotter is sent to 
 Vienna His interview with the Grand Duke of Tuscany, 
 husband of Maria Theresa Resistance of the Grand Duke 
 Interview between Frederick and Valori Frederick's 
 proposals to France He enters Silesia . . page 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Intervention of France State of Europe, and of the Empire at 
 the commencement of the war The policy which should 
 have been pursued by France with regard to the German 
 quarrel Why that policy was not adopted Reminiscences 
 of the contest carried on, for two centuries, against the house 
 of Austria The success of that struggle had rendered it use- 
 less to protract it Indecision in the Council of Louis XV. 
 The Court carries the day against the government, who 
 therefore decide upon supporting the aggressions of Frederick 
 and the claims of the Elector of Bavaria Count de Belle- 
 Isle His birth, the opening of his career, his disposition 
 The first interview of Belle-Isle with Fleury Fleury un- 
 willingly follows Belle-Isle's advice Effect of the interven- 
 tion of France Frederick becomes master of the position 
 Both England and France make advances to him A second 
 interview between Frederick and Valori He demands active 
 intervention from France England offers to mediate, but this 
 proposal is rejected by Maria Theresa The people of Silesia 
 revolt Frederick becomes uneasy He makes advances to 
 France Belle-Isle is sent to Germany as ambassador to 
 the Electoral Diet State of Europe at the opening of 
 the Diet England Holland Russia Sweden The 
 pretensions of Spain in Italy Secret designs of the King 
 of Sardinia State of the Empire Dismemberment and 
 powerlessness of the German nation Nominal power of the 
 Emperor, the government, the administration of justice, and
 
 Contents. xi 
 
 the armies of the Empire Religions dissensions They in- 
 tensify political divisions Irritation against France is shared 
 by all parties in Germany Cause of that irritation Effect of 
 this feeling on the part played by Frederick and by Prussia 
 in Germany . . . . . . . page 108 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BELLE-ISLE AT FREDERICK'S CAMP. 
 
 Belle-Isle's entry into Germany- Character of his brother, the 
 Chevalier Belle-Isle visits the three Bishop -Electors of 
 Trevee, Cologne, and Mayence Characters of these petty 
 sovereigns, and the parts they played Belle-Isle goes from 
 Mayence to Dresden Unfavourable disposition of the 
 Elector of Saxony, King of Poland, towards France This is 
 opposed by his natural brother, Maurice de Saxe, Lieutenant- 
 General in the service of France The battle of Mollwitz 
 Flight, and subsequent victory of Frederick He detaches 
 himself from the French Alliance, and wishes to make advances 
 to England Belle-Isle repairs to the Prussian Camp His 
 interviews with the King He departs without obtaining the 
 immediate conclusion of the treaty of alliance Fresh propo- 
 sals are transmitted to Vienna by the English envoy, Lord 
 Hyndford Maria Theresa rejects them Frederick makes 
 up his mind to treat with France The difficulty raised by 
 him to the execution of the treaty . . . page 204 
 
 APPENDIX . . 277
 
 FREDERICK II. AND MARIA THERESA 
 
 (1740-1742). 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE INVASION OP SILESIA. 
 
 Importance and interest of unpublished correspondence taken 
 from state archives New documents relating to the history 
 of Frederick II. and Maria Theresa Political corre- 
 spondence of Maria Theresa Correspondence of the French 
 agents, taken from the archives of Foreign Affairs Condition 
 of the Austrian monarchy and the Prussian monarchy at the 
 beginning of 1740 The Pragmatic Sanction Character 
 of the heirs of those two monarchies The Archduchess 
 Maria Theresa The Prince Royal of Prussia General 
 uncertainty and expectation Death of Frederick William, 
 King of Prussia, and accession of Frederick II. First 
 measures taken by the new King Colonel de Camas is 
 sent to Paris, and Count von Truchsess to London Their 
 instructions Camas is ordered to visit Voltaire at Brussels 
 Frederick goes to Strasburg incognito His interview with 
 Marshal de Broglie, Governor of that city First meeting 
 of Frederick and Voltaire, on the banks of the Rhine 
 Frederick's quarrel with the Bishop of Liege Death of the 
 Emperor Charles VI. Consternation and uneasiness at 
 Vienna Maria Theresa takes the helm of government, and 
 her example encourages and fortifies all Protest of the 
 Elector of Bavaria against the royal rule of Maria Theresa 
 Attitude of various powers France Formation of the 
 Treaty of 1735, and guarantee of the succession appointed 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 by the Pragmatic Sanction Disposition and character of 
 Cardinal Fleury He hesitates to take a line Prussia 
 Frederick takes military measures with an unknown pur- 
 pose Fleury, in order to discover his designs, gives the 
 Marquis de Beauvau an official, and Voltaire a secret 
 mission Frederick's reception of Voltaire, and that of the 
 Marquis de Valori, French Minister Alarm at Vienna 
 Maria Theresa sends the Marquis de Botta to Berlin 
 Frederick demands from him the cession of Silesia, and 
 prepares to invade that province Count Gi-otter is sent to 
 Vienna His interview with the Grand Duke of Tuscany, 
 husband of Maria Theresa Resistance of the Grand Duke 
 Interview between Frederick and Valori Frederick's 
 proposals to France He enters Silesia. 
 
 THE investigation of unpublished documents, 
 recently brought to light from the long-sealed 
 treasure-houses of State Papers, and the revela- 
 tion of them to the public, has become a favourite 
 occupation among men of letters. For several 
 years the archives of Vienna, St. Petersburg, and 
 Berlin have been laid open to the investigation 
 of students of history, and have furnished them 
 with invaluable materials. Our own French collec- 
 tions, our public libraries, which are better classified 
 and better managed than they used to be, are also 
 more available, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
 itself, which was formerly inaccessible, has been 
 easier of approach for the last four or five years. 
 The number of persons who avail themselves of these 
 novel facilities is now so considerable that it is dim- 
 cult to find a place in the reading-rooms, and manu- 
 scripts are in eager demand. That it should be so
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 3 
 
 is not at all surprising. I do not know of any occu- 
 pation more delightful, I may indeed say enthrall- 
 ing, than study of this kind. To communicate 
 directly with the men of the past without the obliga- 
 tory medium of an official historian, to find them at 
 home, as it were, and off their guard, not in the 
 attire and attitudes they have assumed to meet the 
 eye of posterity in ready-made memoirs, but as they 
 reveal themselves in documents never intended to 
 meet the light of day, is equally instructive and 
 amusing. 
 
 To drink at the unadulterated spring of 
 original correspondence is thenceforth to reject 
 most other kinds of historic testimony. All 
 besides seerns artificial and dubious ; but, on the 
 other hand, the smallest scrap of a note is of value, 
 provided it be original and authentic. If the 
 writer is an obscure person, there is real interest 
 in learning from him what was thought of the 
 events upon which we are looking back, by those 
 before whose eyes they took place, by those who 
 actually touched them with their hands, by 
 that great mass of men which makes up " public 
 opinion." The details related may be insignificant in 
 themselves, but we shall find that in most cases they 
 reveal some trait of manners which helps us to 
 trace the daily course of our forefathers' lives. If, 
 however, one is so fortunate as to come upon the 
 autograph letters of a famous man, then the very 
 
 B 2
 
 4 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 paper seems to turn into a living thing under one's 
 eyes. The character of the writing reveals that 
 of the writer, and even allows one to trace his 
 varying moods. If his pen-strokes differ, or are 
 hurried, one can see his hand trembling with 
 emotion, or thrilling with anger ; an erasure, with 
 a half-effaced phrase beneath it, tells the secret of 
 a hidden thought or a restrained feeling. How 
 eagerly one pounces on a half -formed word, or an 
 obscure indication, endeavouring to complete the 
 one or discover the other, and what a triumph it is 
 to succeed ! How swiftly the time flies that 
 is devoted to this pursuit ! I am sure the most 
 ardent lover of hunting feels no pleasure in that 
 sport to be compared with this ; they who know it 
 not have never experienced one of the keenest of 
 intellectual delights. 
 
 And then, when a particular search has been 
 completed, there comes what may be called that 
 counter-proof : an operation which consists of ascer- 
 taining to what extent the information drawn from 
 fresh sources, adds to, subtracts from, or modifies 
 the accepted version of the facts. Generally speak- 
 ing, this process of comparison proves a disap- 
 pointing one, and, to some extent, pulls down the 
 pride of discovery. In many instances we find that 
 the most precious acquisitions effect very slight 
 changes in the general aspect of events, that the 
 generally just impressions of contemporaries have
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 5 
 
 been transmitted to posterity with tolerable ac- 
 curacy, and that, although truth has some- 
 times suffered eclipse, the mere action of time has 
 sufficed clearly to reveal it. We become convinced, 
 in short, that in the case of historical as in that of 
 criminal justice, rectification is rarely necessary, 
 and rehabilitation is seldom legitimate. It is, 
 however, no less true that no sooner are facts put 
 through this new crucible, than the whole history 
 has to be reconstructed, even though it be for con- 
 firmation after revision. 
 
 Of all the histories we learn in our school days, 
 that which will least successfully stand the test of 
 confrontation with original documents, that which 
 most abounds in errors requiring correction, and 
 where truths of great importance are most ignored 
 or misunderstood, is the history of the eighteenth 
 century. I was led to this conclusion while search- 
 ing into the nooks and corners of the diplomacy of 
 Louis XV. In the course of my scrutiny I came 
 across assertions which had been generally received 
 and obediently transmitted from historian to 
 historian, but which could no longer stand before 
 the evidence of authentic documents. The fact, 
 although at first it surprised me, appeared less 
 remarkable on reflection. An explanation is to be 
 found in the passionate controversies that sprang 
 from the philosophic movement of the last century, 
 in the influence exercised bv that movement
 
 6 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 over contemporary events with which it had no 
 overt connexion, and in the striking and terrible 
 results that ensued from it. In such a conflict of 
 opinion impartiality was impossible, all the more 
 because men of letters (among whom we must count 
 the historians), being called for the first time to play 
 a part in politics, were all personally interested in 
 the struggle. There is not an incident of the last 
 century, which witnessed so many and such strange 
 events, that has not been used by the opposite 
 parties in one sense or the other ; none stood aloof 
 from both the adverse camps, all were partisans. 
 When all were combatants no one could be a 
 mere spectator, and consequently a faithful narrator. 
 I will not say with M. de Maistre, that " history 
 in the last century was only a prolonged con- 
 spiracy against truth," but I do venture to affirm 
 that we have not, as yet, any history of the eighteenth 
 century, properly so styled. That which is called 
 history is simply the product of party-spirit, always 
 recognizable by one characteristic feature a blind 
 credulity that admits the most baseless suspicions 
 when it can turn them to advantage, and contests 
 all evidence which it finds inconvenient. 
 
 Are we sufficiently far removed from those first 
 impressions, are we so completely under the guid- 
 ance of good sense that we can at length form a cor- 
 rect judgment of a period from which we are divided 
 by three generations ? We are the grandchildren
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. / 
 
 of the eighteenth century ; do we know better than 
 the eye-witnesses of it, or than its direct heirs, what 
 to think and say concerning it ? It is doubtful 
 whether we do, for passions still run high, and many 
 questions remain unsettled. One thing is, however, 
 plain, if we are to deal with the subject at all, we 
 must endeavour to see as clearly, to think as fairly, 
 to make as few mistakes, and to accept as few 
 falsehoods as possible. The study of original 
 documents is the best means of attaining this end, 
 and it is with such a purpose that I have consulted 
 the last three books very different in character and 
 interest that have been issued from the offices of 
 the Berlin and Vienna Chanceries D'Arneth's 
 "History of Maria Theresa," Droysen's "History 
 of Prussian Policy," and the political correspond- 
 ence of the great Frederick himself. 1 
 
 These three books are destined to shed the light 
 of truth on the great epoch that fills the central 
 space of the eighteenth century, and is occupied by 
 the equally prolonged and similarly illustrious reigns 
 of Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. No epoch is 
 more worthy of profound study. Few more striking 
 spectacles have ever been offered to the mind's eye 
 
 1 D'Arneth, Histoire de Marie- Tlierese, 10 vols., Vienna, 
 1863 1879. H. G. Droysen, Histoire de la Politique Prus- 
 sienne, oth part. Frederic le Grand, Leipzig, 1874 1881. 
 Correspondance Politique de Frederic le Grand, 7 vole., Berlin, 
 1878 1881.
 
 8 Frederick II. and Maria TJieresa. 
 
 than the simultaneous appearance on the stage of 
 history of the free-thinking prince and the pious 
 woman who ascended their respective thrones on the 
 same day, and followed each other almost as closely to 
 the grave, after they had occupied the world for forty 
 years by a political, military, diplomatic, philosophic, 
 and religious rivalry, which they bequeathed to 
 their descendants, and which has survived all the 
 vicissitudes of the French Revolution, and is not yet 
 extinct, even in the present generation. By an 
 incomprehensible decree of Providence, the destinies 
 of those two royal natures, so richly, but so differ- 
 ently gifted, were closely bound together, and 
 entangled from first to last, so that all the acts of 
 the one reacted upon those of the other. In the 
 battle-field as well as in diplomatic conferences; 
 whether they are disputing the possession of Silesia 
 or the partition of Poland, Frederick and Maria 
 Theresa are always to be seen confronting each 
 other. 
 
 Here is material ready made for one of those 
 academic parallels after the fashion of Plutarch, in 
 which our classical literature took delight in by- 
 gone days. 
 
 Neither Droyseu the Prussian, nor D'Arneth the 
 Austrian, indulges in the puerilities of comparison 
 and antithesis, but each has his favourite hero and 
 his patriotic predilections. Droysen, we find, has 
 received confidential communications intended to
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 9 
 
 glorify the memory of Maria Theresa's enemy, 
 while M. d'Arneth allows his tender, loyal, 
 almost filial respect to appear in every page of 
 the work which is a monument to the illustrious 
 ancestress of his sovereign, the Emperor of Austria. 
 The influence of dynastic and national jealousy is 
 to be traced in the narratives of both the Prussian 
 and the Austrian ; there are many points of diver- 
 gence in their respective versions of the same facts, 
 and several different or contradictory assertions. 
 Both are conscientious writers, who have gone direct 
 to the source, and who do their work with proofs 
 in hand, and quotations noted. They are equally 
 and absolutely trustworthy with respect to docu- 
 ments ; the records are full and correct ; that the 
 advocates plead in opposite interests is only a 
 useful element in the formation of a judgment on 
 the facts and their issues. 
 
 The evidence that is, above all, veracious 
 and irrefutable in short, priceless is that of 
 Frederick himself, and we have recently been 
 given access to this. It consists of seven volumes 
 of political correspondence, perfectly intact, and 
 comprises his most private cabinet notes. In this 
 correspondence we have the whole Frederick, no 
 longer the Frederick who has depicted himself in 
 his " Histoire de mon Temps " with apparent frank- 
 ness not devoid of art no longer the transfigured 
 Frederick who was adulated in Paris by hired
 
 io Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 flatterers, selected by himself from the highest ranks 
 of literature and philosophy, but a Frederick with- 
 out mask or make-up, who issues his commands to 
 his servants with cynical freedom that proves his 
 sincerity. This Frederick is to be believed, even, 
 nay especially, when himself is his theme ; for the 
 harshest of his censors would have held himself 
 guilty of calumny had he said of the King of 
 Prussia what Frederick says. Unfortunately 
 these invaluable revelations do not go beyond the 
 first four years of his reign ; but from these begin- 
 nings we can judge the man, and prejudge the 
 sequel. 
 
 I regard those first years, in which the great prince 
 entered upon his career, as especially interesting 
 to us. The dawn of the reign of Frederick II. is 
 also the birth-time of that power which is now 
 attaining to its full and colossal development under 
 our eyes and at our expense. There is no French- 
 man but must feel a painful curiosity to know what 
 it was in its cradle. Again, were not the early 
 misfortunes and trials of Maria Theresa only the 
 opening scenes of that great drama of which Sadowa 
 was the close and Sedan the epilogue ? The stage 
 is the same, the personages directly engaged, or who 
 interpose in the action, are the same ; they are, as 
 they were only yesterday, Prussia and Austria : 
 France also, for, at both epochs in the strife of 
 her neighbours, France was directly and immediately
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. \ I 
 
 concerned beyond the Rhine. Our diplomatists 
 were negotiating at Berlin, in 1740, on the eve of 
 the invasion of Silesia, just as they were negotiating 
 at Berlin in 1866, on the eve of the invasion of 
 Bohemia, and in 1740 our troops followed closely 
 upon our diplomatists, even as they did fifteen years 
 ago. To narrate the first passages of arms in the 
 deadly duel between Frederick and Maria Theresa, is 
 then, whether we mean it or not, to write a chapter 
 of the history of France, and indeed of contemporary 
 history. 
 
 It was this relation between past events and 
 recent occurrences, by which the present generation 
 is still so deeply moved, that led me to make these 
 studies. Later events have thrown a lurid retro- 
 spective light upon the former relations of Austria, 
 France, and Prussia. Believing that many French 
 readers besides myself would be struck with 
 this, I thought a brief summary of the fresh 
 information now placed within reach by the Chan- 
 ceries of Vienna and Berlin would be interesting, 
 especially as I proposed to check and supple- 
 ment those foreign documents by others to be 
 taken from our own archives. To interpose 
 France as a third interlocutor, represented by 
 political or military agents, between Austria and 
 Prussia both loudly accusing each other or making 
 confession, but also differing much and often in 
 their respective narratives or estimates of the
 
 1 2 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 same incidents would be a curious study, and one 
 with a useful bearing upon contemporary events. 
 I have been permitted by the various ministries 
 to examine the reports of the French agents whose 
 position during that critical epoch makes their 
 testimony especially trustworthy and valuable. 
 Observe that I say the French agents, not the 
 French historians. The latter, on the contrary, 
 have merely repeated, with stupid servility, every- 
 thing that was dictated by Frederick, so that neither 
 advantage nor instruction is to be gained from them. 
 But the government of Louis XV., having been by 
 turns the ally and the enemy, now of Prussia, and 
 again of Austria, and having carried into each of 
 its successive alliances a great deal of inde- 
 cision, reserve, and distrust, its representatives, 
 ministers or ambassadors, were in a position to know 
 everything, while their minds were free to form 
 independent judgments of men and things without 
 passion or prejudice. They habitually avail them- 
 selves of this, with the frankness, vivacity, and 
 good sense that were characteristic of the inter- 
 course of good society under the old regime. If their 
 despatches did not add anything to our knowledge 
 of events, they would still be lively and pleasant 
 reading ; so that I hope to find favour for the 
 necessary extracts from those documents. From 
 general history, which may be read everywhere, 
 and with which every one is familiar, I shall borrow
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 1 3 
 
 only what is indispensable to enable my readers to 
 follow the course of events. 
 
 I. 
 
 On New Year's Day, 1740, two great German 
 sovereigns, the Emperor Charles VI. and Frederick 
 William, King of Prussia, were near their death. 
 Their thrones were soon to devolve upon their 
 respective heirs, under very different conditions. 
 
 The long reign of Charles VI., which had been 
 brilliant in its earlier years, was closing in humilia- 
 tion and misfortune. Since his accession to the 
 throne, the Emperor had witnessed the final dissolu- 
 tion of that powerful agglomeration of States whose 
 union under the hand of a great man, had, for a 
 while, threatened Europe with the return of universal 
 monarchy. Spain, with her great dependencies 
 beyond the seas, had detached herself for ever from 
 the vast inheritance of Charles V. ; with Naples 
 and Sicily the whole southern portion of the Italian 
 peninsula was also lost. In the north of Italy the 
 Austrian crown still retained extensive possessions on 
 the two banks of the Po ; Milan and Tuscany and 
 the duchies of Parma and Piacenza were still hers ; 
 but even there her rule was menaced, either by the 
 pretensions of the princes of the new Spanish 
 dynasty, or by the growing ambition of the dukes of 
 Savoy, who were masters of Piedmont, and had just 
 assumed the title of Kin<rs of Sardinia. The honour
 
 1 4 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 of the imperial arms had not been enhanced by 
 an unfortunate campaign against France, recently 
 fought in those very plains of Lombardy ; nor had 
 they been more happily employed at the other end 
 of Europe, on the banks of the Danube, where the 
 Turks had just wrested Wallachia, Servia, and all 
 the conquests of Prince Eugene from the Empire, by 
 the Treaty of Belgrade. These unfortunate cam- 
 paigns had exhausted the finances of the Empire, 
 and disorganized its administration. 
 
 It was not, however, upon these things that the 
 dying prince chiefly brooded. His sleepless nights 
 were haunted, and his malady was aggravated by 
 other cares. It grieved him sorely that with his fading 
 life the integrity of the royal inheritance which he 
 had received from his ancestors must end. His race 
 was dying out with him, for he had no male heir. 
 Would his daughter, a princess of twenty-three 
 years old, have the right or the power to assume the 
 whole ? Nothing was more disputable than her 
 right to do so, nothing less likely than her power. 
 In former days the house of Austria had been com- 
 plimented upon the acquisition of its wide domains, 
 not by force of arms, but by the more pacific 
 method of princely alliances and conjugal unions ; 
 
 "Bella gerant alii : tu, felix Austria, nube :" 
 
 but the consequence of these extensions of territory, 
 in the shape of family acquisitions, not that of
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 1 5 
 
 conquest, and according to the rules of civil 
 law, was that almost all the provinces united under 
 the sceptre of the Hapsburgs, had come into its 
 possession by marriage contracts, laden with charges 
 of every kind, and testamentary dispositions that 
 almost exhausted the varieties and complications of 
 Germanic jurisprudence in matters of inheritance. 
 The extinction of the male line opened the way to 
 litigious claims of all kinds on behalf of " agnate 
 and cognate" kin of every degree. In vain had 
 Charles VI. tried to anticipate those contending 
 claims by regulating the succession by an edict to 
 which he gave the name of " Pragmatic Sanction," 
 reserved for the most solemn legislative acts of the 
 Empire ; in vain had he obtained the guarantee of 
 the principal powers of Europe for this edict at 
 the cost of heavy sacrifices : he had no great faith in 
 his own efforts, and events proved that he was not 
 wrong. In his mind's eye the dying Emperor 
 beheld the princes of his kin and his neighbourhood 
 hurrying, on the day after his death, to claim a 
 fragment of his Empire, each of them armed with a 
 black letter title-deed. Would a woman's hand be 
 strong enough to collect and bind together the 
 loosened fasces of so many different States, and 
 what was to become of the Imperial Crown, which, 
 by virtue of a tenfold election, had become almost 
 hereditary in the House of Austria, when there 
 would no longer be a man's head to wear it ?
 
 1 6 Frederick //. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 The young monarchy at Berlin, though less 
 rich in traditions, and less powerful in appear- 
 ance, had no apprehensions of this kind. Its rapid 
 extension, especially since the Reformation, was due 
 to prudent negotiations and daring feats of arms, 
 and although its various acquisitions, spread over the 
 Germanic continent, were wanting in homogeneity 
 for their scattered position and their extent and 
 their dispersion rendered a line of defence difficult 
 not one of them was contested, nor was there any 
 reason to fear disputes in the future. The ancient 
 patrimony of the House of Brandenburg, enlarged by 
 the addition of Pomerania, Prussia and Lower Lusatia, 
 formed a compact nucleus, in which thriving popula- 
 tions, devoted to their sovereign, were governed by 
 a strong and active administration. And then, by a 
 special favour which Providence no longer extends 
 to any but new dynasties, the throne had been occu- 
 pied successively by three sovereigns, who were 
 endowed with qualities, not indeed equal, but all of a 
 nature to ensure the increase of either the solidity or 
 the brilliancy of their recently acquired greatness. 
 Frederick William, called the Grand Elector, had 
 military and diplomatic talents of the highest order ; 
 he was equally qualified to treat with Richelieu 
 and Louis XIV., and to fight between Turenne and 
 Conde. He had skilfully made use of the long 
 struggle between the Houses of Bourbon and 
 Austria, to secure his own independence, now by
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. \ j 
 
 helping to diminish the imperial power, and again, 
 on the contrary, by coming to its aid after he had 
 weakened it. His successors, who were very in- 
 ferior to him in all these respects, were, nevertheless, 
 as well served by their defects as he had been by 
 his genius. His son, Frederick I., King of Prussia, 
 was merely vain, but he centred all his vanity in the 
 acquisition of the royal dignity, which placed him 
 above all others among the innumerable sovereigns 
 of the Germanic body. 
 
 The succeeding monarch, whose reign was now 
 drawing to a close, was a brutal and sanguinary 
 despot, a domestic tyrant more dreaded by his 
 own children than by his subjects ; who had passed 
 his life in amassing money which he did not expend, 
 and in drilling the ranks and measuring the stature of 
 soldiers whom he never risked on any field of battle. 
 But the result was that he was about to leave the 
 two great motive-powers of all policy, a well-filled 
 treasury and an army in good condition, to his 
 successor. 
 
 Wide as the dissimilarity between the two royal 
 inheritances was, the contrast between the two 
 royal personages on whom they were to devolve 
 was still more striking, and neither one nor the 
 other bore any resemblance to ordinary heirs-pre- 
 sumptive, brought up near a throne with the pro- 
 spect of ascending it. 
 
 The Archduchess Maria Theresa, the daughter of 
 VOL. i. c
 
 1 8 Frederick If. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 Charles VI. and the object of his deep and solici- 
 tous affection, the last fragile scion of a race of 
 redoubtable rulers and mailed knights, was an 
 amiable princess, endowed with all the graces, and 
 animated by all the gentle and affectionate feelings 
 which render a young woman of whatever rank dear 
 to her kindred, and an ornament to society. Her 
 face, as D'Arneth describes it for us, had even 
 more charm in it than beauty ; her dark blue eyes 
 were full of life and sweetness. She wore her fair 
 hair, which was very abundant, in its natural curls ; 
 her complexion was extremely fine, the form of her 
 face a perfect oval, and although the under-lip pro- 
 truded slightly (which is hereditary in the House of 
 Austria), this peculiarity did not injure the effect 
 of a winning smile that revealed teeth of dazzling 
 whiteness. She carried her head with stately grace, 
 the long neck rising from the sloping shoulders 
 with peculiar elegance. The frank, sweet expres- 
 sion of her countenance was an index to her pure 
 and candid mind. 
 
 The Archduchess had been carefully educated, 
 although not in any respect beyond the standard of 
 the cultivated ladies of the court. She particularly 
 excelled in accomplishments, and sang with such 
 artistic perfection and sentiment that her teacher, 
 a distinguished Italian composer, said she would 
 only have to appear once in the leading theatre 
 at Vienna, to make her fortune. This talent was
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. \ 9 
 
 especially appreciated in a city which has always 
 been remarkable for musical taste and proficiency. 
 It does not appear that equal pains were bestowed 
 upon the cultivation of her literary acquirements, if 
 we may judge of them by the very bad spelling to 
 be found in her letters, written by turns in German- 
 ized French and Frenchified German. She spoke 
 several languages fluently, and knew as much Latin 
 as was necessary for a future Queen of Hungary, who 
 must not be ignorant of the official tongue of her 
 subjects. She was a fervent Christian and a devoted 
 daughter, and cared only for simple pleasures and 
 home-life. The Empress Elizabeth, her mother, 
 who liked stir and excitement, complained that 
 though she had been taught to shoot pretty well 
 at a target, the Archduchess could never be made 
 to like "sport" in any shape. In a word, she 
 was formed to please in every way, rather than 
 to shine. Her sweet presence cheered the some- 
 what gloomy court, in which she bloomed like a 
 delicate flower in the crevices of some old building. 2 
 Only those who approached the Archduchess very 
 nearly, and especially persons who had occasion to 
 converse with her concerning her rights and her 
 future interests, had been enabled to discern that the 
 germs of more masculine qualities, perhaps even pas- 
 sions, were concealed under this surface of feminine 
 
 2 D'Arneth, Histoire de Marie- Thtrcse, vol. 5. pp. 10, 13, 86, 
 35o, 356. 
 
 c 2
 
 2O Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 grace. Whenever she was led to speak either of 
 the ills under which the Empire laboured, or of the 
 part which she would one day have to play in it, both 
 her voice and her countenance became animated, 
 and her language displayed clearness of intelligence 
 and firmness of purpose worthy of the future that 
 awaited her. The young girl then spoke in a way 
 which astonished old politicians ; she knew what she 
 wanted, and she defined it. She did not depute to 
 any one the conduct of that delicate negotiation 
 whose object was the selection of a husband for her. 
 Any aspirant to the hand of the heiress of Austria 
 became, in virtue of that pretension, a candidate for 
 election to the imperial crown, and there was no lack 
 of competitors. The preference to be given to one 
 among them involved a highly important decision, 
 in which not only Austria but the whole of Germany 
 was interested, and on this point, reasons of state 
 rather than sentiment, were entitled to be heard. 
 Nevertheless, Maria Theresa from the first un- 
 hesitatingly avowed her attachment to her cousiu, 
 Prince Francis, the heir to the duchy of Lorraine, 
 and this attachment was sanctioned by the Emperor, 
 her father. His Majesty's approbation was not 
 shared either by the diplomatists or by the poli- 
 ticians of the Aulic Council. The prince had the 
 drawback of being, like the people whose sovereign 
 he was to be, more French than German, and, by a 
 singular coincidence, this rendered his possible eleva-
 
 T/te Invasion of Silesia. 2 1 
 
 tion to imperial rank equally unwelcome to France and 
 Germany. Beyond the Rhine the prince was thought 
 to have too little Germanic blood to wear the crown 
 of Charlemagne ; while it was intolerable to Versailles 
 that a province like Lorraine, fitting into the boun- 
 daries of France and holding the key of our frontiers, 
 should be annexed by so close a tie to the Empire. So 
 strong was the resistance he had to encounter that 
 the Duke of Lorraine was ultimately obliged, very 
 reluctantly, to cede patrimonial territory in which 
 his family was greatly beloved, to France, and to 
 receive the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, in which he 
 was to exercise only a nominal and temporary rule, 
 in exchange. 
 
 The Archduchess Maria Theresa presided in person 
 over this transaction, and displayed as much warmth 
 in justifying and defending her choice, as she ex- 
 hibited sagacity in comprehending, and firmness in 
 overcoming the diplomatic difficulties by which it 
 was opposed. The English minister, Sir Thomas 
 Robinson, an experienced diplomatist (who liked 
 the marriage as little as any of the others, but 
 was forced, like them, to yield), freely expressed his 
 astonishment in his confidential despatches. In 
 Coxe's "History of the House of Austria," we find 
 the minister's comments upon the spirited conduct 
 of the young princess, her elevated mind, her strong 
 reasoning powers, and her devotion to her father, 
 " whose misfortunes touch her as if they were her
 
 22 Frederick II* and Maria Theresa. 
 
 own ;" and upon her eminent fitness for sovereignty. 
 But he also remarks upon the alternation of " that 
 lofty humour" with the tenderest affection for the 
 Duke of Lorraine. " When she sleeps, it is to dream 
 of him ; when she wakes, it is to talk of him to her 
 lady in waiting. We may be sure that she will never 
 renounce either the government or the husband that 
 she believes to be made for her, any more than she 
 would forgive him who should deprive her of them." 
 
 The marriage took place, and the Grand Duchess 
 assumed towards the husband who was not her 
 equal either in rank or intelligence, the attitude of 
 a most devoted, submissive, and almost humble 
 wife. " Let me hear from you," she wrote to 
 Francis, during a short absence, "far from you, I 
 am only a pauvre chienne." 3 We might censure 
 D'Arneth for revealing this childish utterance of 
 conjugal fondness, even after the lapse of a century, 
 only that he does so to illustrate the peculiar and 
 striking features of that noble life, in which all the 
 domestic virtues were united in their simplest, even 
 homeliest expression, with a truly royal loftiness of 
 thought and action. 
 
 At Berlin, it was not upon a " feeble girl " that 
 the hopes of the reigning dynasty rested ; but upon 
 four princes in the prime of life, and all trained 
 
 8 We cannot translate this very familiar phrase, but the reader 
 will not fail to remember that its application is not opprobrious 
 in German or in French.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 23 
 
 to the profession of arms. Providence had blessed 
 the union of the powerful Houses of Prussia and 
 England with a numerous progeny ; but never was 
 the gift of heaven less gratefully acknowledged. 
 The old King's furious temper, the haughty and 
 capricious humour of the Queen, turned their home- 
 life into a hell upon earth. The young princes, and 
 even their sisters as well, being alternately terrified 
 by violence and worn out by physical privation, 
 lived in a state of abject dread of their parents, 
 which blunted and repressed their faculties ; and a 
 novel application of the right of primogeniture 
 his heir, Prince Frederick, who seemed to have 
 been richly endowed by nature, was selected by 
 this singular father for the worst treatment. 
 
 The young man, driven to despair by the excess 
 of his suffering and humiliation, had attempted to 
 fly, but he was discovered, seized, shut up in a State 
 Prison like a common criminal, and forced to be 
 present at the execution of the friend whose only 
 offence was having connived at his attempted escape. 
 At length he seemed to be cowed by this tyranny ; 
 he entreated pardon, confessing faults which he 
 had not committed, and professing repentance which 
 he did not feel. Thenceforth he lived in a state of 
 submission to the paternal will that went quite beyond 
 the bounds of filial respect. He had been known, 
 while sedulously avoiding the very slightest meddling 
 with affairs of State, to conciliate the ministers who
 
 24 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 had helped to persecute him, and to treat them as 
 intimate friends. He was satisfied to live in the 
 small castle of Rheinsberg (he changed its name 
 to Remusberg, as being more classical), and never 
 left it, except to take an intelligent but not zealous 
 share in the military manoeuvres. At Rheinsberg, 
 he devoted himself to speculative pursuits that 
 could not offend his father, however much he 
 might despise them. He studied poetry, music, 
 literature, all sorts of things, trying his own hand 
 at each in turn, and kept up regular correspondence 
 with all the savants, artists, and men of letters in 
 Europe. His youthful admiration was more pas- 
 sionate than discriminating; it included the pious 
 Rollin, the Lutheran Beausobre, the metaphysical 
 Wolff, and although he gave the palm to the illus- 
 trious Voltaire, he bestowed praise and affection 
 without making much distinction between the really 
 fine works of that great writer and the inferior 
 ones. We find him placing " La Henriade " on a 
 level with Homer. 
 
 A select little society formed itself around the 
 prince at Remusberg, and there led a pleasant 
 enough life, sportive and studious at the same time ; 
 uniting the worship of the Muses with decorous 
 pleasures. The company was composed of persons 
 whose rank and quality could not give umbrage to 
 the most suspicious of governments ; they were 
 unpretending savants and officers of the lower
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 2 5 
 
 grades. Every subject was discussed, after the 
 fashion of Aristotle and of Plato, even politics of 
 the abstract and ideal kind the best possible form 
 and conditions of government. The only forbidden 
 topic was the policy of the day, and especially that 
 of the morrow. 
 
 " On my honour," writes the prince to Baron 
 Grumkow, " I can assure you that I live as if the 
 king were immortal, and may I die this moment if 
 I have formed any plan to be carried out after his 
 death." 4 In short, study, and study alone, seemed 
 to absorb all the energy of an intellect whose first 
 flights had been repressed by a despotic hand, and 
 denied any other outlet. 
 
 Was this eager search after truth and art the 
 real expression of a sincere feeling, or was it a 
 mere recreation and mask for repressed ambition ? 
 Did the prince seek no other conquest than that of 
 science, and was he preparing himself for no other 
 than dialectic encounters ? That point was dis- 
 cussed around him in many different fashions, and 
 opinions were divided on it. Men of letters, whose 
 self-love makes them readily credulous, were de- 
 lighted to have so noble a fellow-labourer, and could 
 not sufficiently praise the new Marcus Aurelius, in 
 whose person philosophy was to be enthroned. The 
 
 4 (Eumes de Frederic le Grand, published in 1850, vol. xvi. 
 p. 95. Correspondance Generate (Letter to Baron Grumkow, 
 1732).
 
 26 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 most celebrated and least credulous of these men of 
 letters I allude to Voltaire was carried away with 
 this notion like the others. Twenty years later 
 indeed, when he was disenchanted by experience, 
 Voltaire speaks of the early days of this royal 
 friendship in a careless way that would lead us to 
 believe that he had been from the first proof 
 against its allurements. <c The hereditary prince," 
 he says, in his Memoirs, " employed his leisure in 
 writing to French men of letters who were tolerably 
 well known in the world. The principal burden fell 
 upon me. There were letters in verse, treatises on 
 metaphysics, on history, and on politics. He ad- 
 dressed me as a demi-god, I called him Solomon ; 
 epithets cost us nothing. Some of this rubbish has 
 been printed in the collected edition of my works." 
 But Voltaire is boasting : there is nothing in his 
 voluminous correspondence at that period to in- 
 dicate either that he found his relations with a future 
 sovereign so onerous, or that he cared so little for the 
 interchange of compliments and flatteries that they 
 implied. Far from treating the poetic and moral 
 effusions which were sent to him under the seal of 
 the prince as rubbish (fadaises), if he did not admire 
 them unreservedly, he revised them with perfect 
 seriousness. He did not even make an exception of 
 a refutation since become famous of the doctrines 
 of Machiavelli, which he undertook to have printed, 
 and in which a less partial reader would have at
 
 Tlie Invasion of Silesia. 27 
 
 once discerned a mere schoolboy's theme, altogether 
 wanting in personal conviction. There is every 
 reason to believe that Voltaire was profoundly con- 
 vinced that a prince who regarded him as a demi- 
 god must be the hope of the human race. 
 
 But those who, being less lavishly flattered, kept 
 their heads cooler, did not feel so very sure upon this 
 point ; certain indications led them to recognize in 
 the tyro-poet, or metaphysician, a not too fervent 
 disciple of pure morality and truth. They noted, 
 with some misgiving, the usually sarcastic and 
 sceptical tone in which he conversed on every 
 subject, his disparaging and disdainful remarks 
 about everybody, and at times a harshness of look 
 and manner which was unpleasantly like his father's. 
 In short, everybody felt that when the prince 
 who was so unlike other people should come to 
 the throne, a surprise would be in store for the 
 world ; but no one could say which was to be disap- 
 pointed, philosophy which built hopes upon him, 
 or politicians who distrusted him. This question 
 was most frequently asked among foreign courts 
 and cabinets, and the answer was awaited with 
 the greatest curiosity. In the complication of in- 
 terests which were then stirring in Europe, with 
 the well-remembered conflict of influences, whose 
 recurrence was foreseen, it was important to know 
 which side would be taken, in the day of battle, 
 by a youthful sovereign who would then be in
 
 28 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 uncontrolled possession of 70,000 men, and as many 
 millions ; so that all the foreign ministers were 
 competing for access to him, each armed with the 
 kind of argument to which he was supposed to be 
 most accessible. He had been married against his 
 will, and he lived apart from the Princess Royal, 
 not choosing to avail himself of any of his conjugal 
 rights. England offered him the hand of one of 
 the princesses, through the Queen, his mother 
 (a sister of King George II.), in case he should 
 think of divorcing his wife. Austria, who knew 
 him better, attacked him upon a softer side. The 
 ambassador of Charles VI. had formerly saved his 
 life, by shielding him from his father's anger when 
 he wanted to bring him to trial, on the plea that a 
 prince of a royal house could be brought to justice 
 only by the Emperor. Then after he was pardoned, 
 and when the sordid economy of the old king often 
 left him in actual want of necessaries, the same envoy 
 came to his assistance with the offer of a pension 
 from the imperial funds ; and the proposal was ac- 
 cepted with eagerness neither royal nor philosophic. 
 This method of currying favour having apparently 
 succeeded, Russia tried her hand at it, but in a less 
 direct way. The advances were not supposed to be 
 made by the Empress Anne herself, but by her 
 prime minister Biren, and they passed through the 
 hands of the Saxon minister at St. Petersburg, a 
 worthy nobleman, who had gained the prince's
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 29 
 
 confidence while teaching metaphysics during his 
 residence at Berlin. The remittances were made, 
 in a roundabout way, being previously announced 
 in cipher, under the form of parcels of books 
 on history and philosophy. France had either 
 not sought, or failed to find any equivalent means 
 of currying favour. One of her envoys, La 
 Chetardie, a man of taste, and a very agreeable 
 companion, gained occasional admission to the inner 
 circle of Schloss Rheinsberg ; not so his successor, 
 the Marquis de Valori, an old soldier whose real 
 merit was hidden under a rough exterior, and the 
 awkwardness arising from his extreme obesity. 
 Frederick, who, in later times appreciated him 
 more justly, took a dislike to the marquis, and 
 amused himself by turning him into ridicule. 
 When the poor diplomatist asked for an audience 
 of the prince "in order to speak with him on 
 affairs," he received the curt reply, " the commis- 
 sions with which you are charged can relate only to 
 the person of the king, and I do not think it fitting 
 that I should be informed of them." Upon this 
 the crestfallen envoy gave to his minister an 
 account of his failure, in terms which depict pretty 
 clearly both his own ignorance and the general 
 uncertainty. 
 
 " The Prince Royal," he writes, " sets an ex- 
 ample of rigid self-restraint, even in the smallest 
 matters. In all but its dissimulation his character
 
 3O Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 resembles that of his father ; those who know him 
 best are well aware that they will have to make his 
 acquaintance anew ; he will be no longer the same 
 man, but they know not what he will be." 
 
 A state of anxious expectation was general, from 
 one end of Germany and almost from one end 
 of Europe to the other ; the natural result of the 
 strange freak of fortune, which staked the destinies 
 of two great kingdoms on two such uncertain things 
 as a woman's strength of mind, and a philosopher's 
 sincerity. 
 
 The philosopher was the first to be brought to the 
 test by destiny, which summoned him to reign. On 
 the 31st of May, 1740, the aged Frederick William 
 expired after a long illness, and his son left his retreat 
 to succeed him. If the Prince Eoyal had thought of 
 nothing until that day, the new King was ready for 
 everything by the next morning. Either he had 
 deeply studied every detail of finance, administra- 
 tion, the army, and diplomacy, or the whole was 
 revealed to him at a glance. He had not reigned 
 twenty-four hours when every one about him, 
 whether old counsellors or new favourites, knew, 
 without any. possibility of mistake, that the former 
 were not to rely upon their past political services, 
 nor the latter upon their literary intimacy, but that 
 they had to serve a master who meant to employ 
 them, one and all, in fixed designs, of which he 
 would keep the secret. This revelation, which gave
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 3 1 
 
 rise to more than one disappointment, has been com- 
 pared by Macaulay to Shakspere's famous scene in 
 which Henry V. dismisses the former boon compa- 
 nions of the Prince of Wales. This comparison is 
 not, however, exact : Voltaire was not like Falstaff, 
 the guests of the Rheinsberg were not ribald revellers, 
 and Frederick dismissed no one. On the contrary, 
 the striking feature of his conduct in taking posses- 
 sion of power was, that, while he adhered to almost 
 all the traditions, and especially to all the results of 
 his father's policy, correcting only whatever was 
 violent or eccentric in them, he instantly set the 
 seal of his own originality upon them. 
 
 He retained all the ministers in their several posts. 
 Not only did he not disband a single soldier, but he 
 increased the effective force of his troops by caring 
 more for the valour and number of his men than for 
 their stature. Some of his friends, who had expected 
 to receive gifts of money, had to learn by experience 
 that if Frederick knew better than his father how 
 to spend money, he could reckon as closely, and 
 would keep as tight a hold upon the keys of the 
 Treasury. At the same time there was nothing to 
 indicate that he intended either to relinquish or to 
 suspend any of his former occupations. Either 
 because he foresaw, with the instinct of genius, the 
 new part which literature and philosophy were about 
 to play in the world, or because, like every man who 
 is destined to act upon his contemporaries, he
 
 32 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 shared their passions and their inclinations, he took 
 care not to alienate those nascent powers from him 
 even for a day, but was, on the contrary, anxious 
 to bind them more closely to his service, and even 
 to induce them to follow him to the battle-field. 
 He did not do this for the sake of finding relaxation 
 in them ; he regarded them merely as the instru- 
 ments of his designs. " I have begun," he writes 
 to Voltaire, " first by increasing the effective 
 troops by six battalions, six squadrons of hussars, 
 and one squadron of body-guards. I have laid the 
 foundation of our new academy." 5 In an army and 
 an academy placed upon the same footing on the 
 same day to subserve the same policy, we get an 
 exact view of Frederick. 
 
 Such as he appeared upon the stage to the specta- 
 tors of his own time, he now appears to us who are 
 taken behind the scenes by the recent publications. 
 The untried prince at twenty-eight reveals himself 
 from the first day exactly and in all points the same 
 man as the aged monarch, full of years, fame, and 
 experience, employing the same variety of arts to 
 forward the same unity of views. It is because 
 they so clearly present Frederick to us in this light 
 that the new revelations are curious, and give vital 
 interest to details which might hitherto have seemed 
 insignificant. 
 
 6 Frederick to Voltaire, Correspondance Generate, Juue 27, 
 1740.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 33 
 
 The Political Correspondence opens with the in- 
 structions given to the envoys who were sent to 
 the various Courts to announce Frederick's accession. 
 We know that these formal missions usually consist 
 of an interchange of compliments merely, but this 
 case was different. Every one of these documents 
 bears the impress of an individual genius, or as we 
 might say, of the lion's paw. Those addressed to the 
 Cabinets of Versailles and London are especially 
 remarkable. The critical situation of both these 
 Courts at that time gives a special importance to all 
 transactions connected with them- After thirty-five 
 years' peace, France and England, in spite of their 
 governments, and carried away by irresistible popular 
 passions, were about to resume their ancient rivalry. 
 The English minister, Walpole, had declared war 
 upon Spain unwillingly and under parliamentary 
 pressure, and the French minister, Cardinal Fleury, 
 had probably been still more reluctantly dragged 
 into the quarrel on account of the close connexion 
 between the two thrones occupied by the House of 
 Bourbon. 
 
 It is curious to observe the quickness with 
 which Frederick takes in the situation, and assumes 
 an intermediary place between the adverse parties, 
 which enables him to set a price upon his friend- 
 ship ; in plain terms to offer it to the highest bidder. 
 All his life long he will play this part of military 
 and political jobber in the quarrels of European 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 States, trading upon his genius and his army as a 
 merchant trades upon his capital; with this difference, 
 that trade bargains, once concluded, are binding, 
 while Frederick, on the contrary, will never hesitate 
 to break his bargains, even after signature, when 
 anything more advantageous is proposed to him. 
 
 The very selection of his envoys seems to have 
 been matter of calculation. While he caused him- 
 self to be represented in London, or rather at 
 Hanover, where King George then was, by Count 
 Truchsess, a diplomatist of long standing and a noble 
 of ancient family, he merely sent an officer, Colonel 
 de Camas, the son of a refugee from the Edict of 
 Nantes, but who was one of his early friends and a 
 member of his intimate circle, to carry his compli- 
 ments to Louis XV. It caused some surprise that so 
 small a personage should be accredited to so great a 
 king, and that a Protestant emigre should be sent 
 back to his own country which was now governed by 
 a Cardinal. To some who expressed this sentiment, 
 Frederick replied jestingly that Camas had but one 
 arm, while Valori, the French envoy, had lost three 
 fingers. " The King of France," said he, " sends 
 me a one-handed, I pay my debts by sending him a 
 one-armed ambassador." 
 
 The truth was this: Truchsess was directed to make 
 it known in London that Camas' being sent to the 
 King of France precisely because it was a strange 
 thing to do was an indication of a confidential
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 35 
 
 mission which England should hasten to anticipate 
 if she wanted to avert its ill-effects ; while, at Ver- 
 sailles, Camas was to insinuate that, knowing the 
 king well and long, he had discovered his ambitious 
 designs, and that they must be seconded as quickly 
 as possible if France would not have him against 
 her. 
 
 " You will give the King of England " such were 
 the instructions to Truchsess " the strongest 
 assurances of my personal friendship ; and before 
 French ministers or creatures (sic) you will affect 
 great cordiality even should very little exist . . . but 
 you will lay especial stress upon the sending of 
 Camas, and you will say with an air of jealousy that 
 he possesses my confidence, and that it is not for 
 nothing he has gone to France." 6 
 
 Here, on the other hand, are the instructions to 
 Camas : 
 
 " The augmentation of our troops which will take 
 place while you are at Versailles, will furnish you with 
 an opportunity for speaking of my quick, impetuous 
 way of thinking; you can say it is to be feared 
 this augmentation may set all Europo in a blaze; 
 that the young are naturally enterprising, and that 
 notions of heroism had disturbed and might again 
 disturb the well-being of many peoples. You may 
 say that I am naturally well-inclined towards France, 
 
 6 " Politische Corresponded Friedriclis des Grossen, 1. i. p. 8. 
 (" // ne va pas en France pour cnfilcr des perles.") 
 
 D 2
 
 36 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 but that if I am neglected just now it will be once 
 and for ever ; whereas, if I am secured, I should be 
 in a position to render more important services to 
 the monarchy than Gustavus Adolphus ever rendered. 
 With the Cardinal you must be all amiability ; you 
 will repay civil speeches with civil speeches, and 
 realities with other realities. Above all excite, as 
 much as possible, their envy of England." 7 
 
 Besides his official mission with its secret instruc- 
 tions, Camas had another task to accomplish on his 
 way, and this too was no bead-stringing business. 
 Half-way between Berlin and Paris he had to turn 
 aside and pay a visit to Voltaire, who was at that 
 time staying at Brussels with his celebrated friend, 
 Madame du Chatelet, in order to watch the progress 
 of a law-suit in a Flemish court, in which the 
 Marquise was interested. The pretext of this 
 delay was to stop the publication of the " Anti- 
 Machiavel," which Voltaire had entrusted to a 
 publisher at the Hague. I say the pretext, for the 
 publisher having absolutely refused to give up a 
 manuscript rendered doubly valuable by the newly- 
 acquired dignity of its author, Frederick did not 
 insist upon it, and seemed by no means displeased 
 that his lucubrations should see the light. The real 
 purpose of Camas' visit, which was made with con- 
 siderable ostentation, was to show to the whole of 
 Europe that the crowned poet paid his homage to 
 7 "Pol it. Corr." vol. i. p. 8.
 
 T/ie Invasion of Silesia. 37 
 
 literary royalty before any other. Camas allowed 
 this to be so clearly understood, and Voltaire accepted 
 it so readily, that, a few days afterwards, Frederick 
 wrote to him without any fear of appearing to 
 jest : " Camas' letters are full of nothing but 
 Brussels. One would think he had been sent to 
 Voltaire instead of to Louis." 
 
 To these compliments a present of a cask of 
 Hungarian wine was added, and Voltaire says in 
 his Memoirs, that he considered the "liquid gift," 
 as he calls it, fell very far short of the royal largess 
 he expected to receive. No doubt he would have 
 preferred something more solid, but, although he 
 thought the wine only middling, he swallowed the 
 flattery with great avidity. 
 
 Voltaire was informed that after Camas he 
 might expect to see Frederick himself. The same 
 letter apprised him that the young king would be 
 on the banks of the Rhine by the end of summer, 
 and invited him to a meeting at Cleves. The motive 
 of this journey was quite intelligible, for the duchy 
 of Cleves, although detached from the other Prussian 
 States, was part of the patrimony of the House of 
 Brandenberg. The kings of Prussia also laid 
 claim to the reversion of the duchies of Berg and 
 Juliers at the death of the Elector Palatine, an aged 
 and childless man. It was therefore natural that 
 Frederick should come and receive the homage of his 
 Rhenish provinces, and at the same time look after
 
 38 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 his future rights. But in addition to this ostensible 
 object, which was a real one, the idea of approach- 
 ing nearer to France, which was still the greatest 
 political, intellectual, and military centre in Europe, 
 had much to do with a resolution, which, although 
 quite explicable, appeared to every one a little 
 hasty. 
 
 When the king's departure became known at 
 Berlin, a rumour was spread that he intended to 
 push on to Paris. It is certain that finding himself 
 almost within sight of France, he could not resist 
 the temptation of seeing a French town and a 
 French army, and he entered Strasburg incognito. 
 This incident, which made a great stir at the time, 
 had consequences which it was impossible to foresee ; 
 they were, as we shall presently see, much more 
 serious than has hitherto been supposed. 
 
 In those days, Europe was not furrowed by rail- 
 ways, and princes of all ranks did not travel 
 about as they do now, without any state, and 
 without exciting either curiosity or attention. 
 Frederick's freak was a strange one for that time, 
 and it would have been extremely difficult to 
 keep it secret ; but the truth was, he did not take 
 any pains about the matter. The suite he selected 
 to accompany him, composed of his brother Prince 
 "William, two aides-de-camp, two chamberlains, and 
 eight servants, was numerous for a simple Silesian 
 gentleman, whose passport bore the obscure name of
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 39 
 
 Count Dufour. And this passport was only filled 
 up at the last moment, because it was asked for by 
 the officer in command at Kehl, and stamped with a 
 seal bearing the royal arms, which the king wore, a 
 circumstance that did not escape the notice of those 
 who were present. 
 
 The entry of the party into the town and their 
 putting-up at the Eaven hotel (or tavern, as it 
 was then called), caused a sensation, especially as 
 the singular personage who took the lead demanded 
 the very best of everything, and sent to the military 
 cafe close by, to invite several French officers 
 to sup with him. This request on the part of a 
 stranger was sufficiently cool, and the innkeeper 
 who carried the invitation, was laughed at by the 
 officers who were at table in the cafe. Two of 
 them, however, captains in a Piedmontese regiment, 
 who had probably taken more wine than was good 
 for them, ventured to accept the invitation, no doubt 
 with the intention of amusing themselves at the 
 expense of German cookery and German pedantry. 
 
 To their great surprise they found in their 
 mysterious host a distinguished-looking young 
 gentleman, easy and pleasant in manner, who spoke 
 French without any foreign accent, was witty and 
 quick in repartee, drank their health in excellent 
 wine, and took his part in their rollicking songs. 
 Towards the end of supper, however, the supposed 
 count indulged in some jests about the appearance
 
 40 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 of the French troops, which were sharply taken 
 up by one of the guests, and a quarrel was imminent, 
 when the other, who had suspected something, 
 and kept his temper, succeeded in silencing his com- 
 panion, and put an end to the conversation. The 
 two officers retired at a late hour, having requested 
 the noble strangers to do them the honour of supping 
 with them on the following evening, and took care 
 to report the occurrence the next morning to the 
 governor of the province, an old soldier of some 
 distinction, who had been a commander-iu-chief, 
 and also the head of a great embassy. This 
 governor was the second Marshal de Broglie, a 
 circumstance to which I owe the advantage of pos- 
 sessing a narrative of this little affair at first-hand, 
 written on the spot, and more correct than the 
 stories that appeared in the gazettes, and are to be 
 found in the Memoirs of the time. The Marshal, 
 concluding that a stranger who did things on so 
 grand a scale must be either a prince or an adven- 
 turer, recommended the young men to be on their 
 guard, while he set the police on the track of the 
 foreigners. 
 
 He confesses that for a moment he thought 
 of having the individual in question arrested, 
 but just then Frederick, feeling sure that he 
 should not be able to pass undiscovered, sent his 
 brother and two of his companions with his compli- 
 ments, and excuses for not coming in person as he
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 4 1 
 
 was suffering from an indisposition that prevented 
 his leaving the house. The Marshal received his 
 visitors politely, but examined them with great atten- 
 tion, and invited them to dinner, proposing, however, 
 that as it was a festival day they should first hear Mass 
 in his private chapel. This proposal seemed more 
 embarrassing than it ought to have been to nobles of 
 a province like Silesia, of which the greater part 
 is Catholic. After some hesitation, only one con- 
 sented to accompany the marshal to Divine Service. 
 This one had an Italian accent ; he was in fact Al- 
 garotti, a young Venetian scholar whom Frederick 
 had lately created count and made one of his 
 chamberlains. Algarotti only seemed unconcerned, 
 and kept the ball of conversation rolling ; the others 
 were greatly embarrassed, seeming (says the Marshal 
 in his narrative) to have very little of the ease of 
 society about them. 
 
 While Mass was being said and dinner served, 
 Frederick, who was tired of staying at the inn, had 
 ascended to the platform of the cathedral clock- 
 tower to amuse himself, and as he came down was 
 accosted by a citizen, who, calling him Sire and Your 
 Majesty, besought him to set his nephew at liberty. 
 This nephew was a big fellow of five feet eight, who 
 had been seized while travelling in Germany, and 
 forcibly enlisted in the Grenadier Guard of the late 
 King William on account of his stature. Frederick 
 endeavoured to pass on, tolling the man that lie was
 
 42 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 mad, but the latter pulled out of his pocket a medal 
 which had been distributed at Berlin on the coro- 
 nation-day, and showed the King his own effigy. 
 Frederick then put his hand over the man's mouth, 
 and promised him anything he wanted provided he 
 would hold his tongue. The other promised at 
 once, but naturally made the best of his way to the 
 governor's cabinet to tell his story, and there found 
 two soldiers, deserters from the Prussian army, who 
 had been placed on the watch near the Raven, and 
 who corroborated his statement. 
 
 The Marshal, having found out the truth before 
 the departure of his guests, took one of them aside, 
 and begged him to tell Count Dufour that he had 
 been recognized, and that every honour due to his 
 rank should be paid him if he so pleased, but that 
 his secret should be kept if he preferred that course. 
 
 In answer to this the King sent word to the 
 Marshal that he was coming, and requested that he 
 might be received in private. 
 
 Of what nature was their interview ? Was 
 Frederick annoyed at having been discovered, and 
 a little confused at having exposed himself to the 
 mischance out of humour, and was the Marshal 
 embarrassed ? Did the Marshal receive him with 
 such a display of respect and attention as must have 
 betrayed him to the servants ? Had he put on all 
 his orders and his full dress suit for the occasion ? 
 Did he show so little tact as to talk politics, and to
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 43 
 
 remind the king that when he was ambassador to 
 the English Court he had met the late king of Prussia 
 
 O i-J 
 
 at the Hague, and even signed a diplomatic conven- 
 tion with him ? Or did he lead the conversation to 
 military affairs, and tell of the feats he had per- 
 formed in Italy, in a campaign in which Prussia 
 had taken the part of Austria ? All this it is im- 
 possible to know, seeing that the only witnesses of 
 the interview were two of Frederick's aides-de- 
 camp. 
 
 At all events, the King went away in a short 
 time, in a worse humour than when he arrived, 
 after bestowing a very cold salute on the Marechale 
 (who had insisted on being presented to him), and 
 promising ungraciously to return to supper and 
 afterwards go to the theatre. 
 
 At his request, an officer was sent to accompany 
 him to the citadel. Meantime the news had spread 
 abroad, and a crowd gathered round the hotel door, 
 and followed the King to the ramparts. He exa- 
 mined everything, the guns, the arsenal, and the 
 fortifications, asked for precise information on every 
 point, and on returning to his inn ordered post- 
 horses, wrote a scarcely civil note of excuse to 
 the marshal, and started off in the twilight 
 with even less ceremony than he had used in 
 coming. 
 
 The disappointment of the Marshal and that of 
 the public were the greater that a raised seat and dais
 
 44 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 had been prepared for the royal visitor in the state 
 box, and the theatre was filled to overflowing long 
 before the hour fixed for the performance. 8 
 
 When he arrived at Wesel, Frederick wrote 
 Voltaire a burlesque description of his expedition, 
 half in prose and half in verse, after the fashion 
 of the "Voyage," by Chapelle and Bachaumont. 
 In this production he ridiculed every one, laughing 
 a little at himself, a great deal at the stiffness and 
 
 8 In my account of this incident I have adhered to the Mar- 
 shal's narrative, written on the following day. If the old 
 governor was guilty of any indiscretion he was either uncon- 
 scious of it, or very naturally unwilling to acknowledge it, so that 
 we cannot discover what it was that ruffled the king's temper so 
 much that when the Marshal had to act in concert with him in 
 some military operations during the following year, the recollection 
 of this incident formed a serious difficulty. 
 
 It is, however, certain that things were not as they are repre- 
 sented by Frederick's followers, amongst others by Thiebaut in 
 his Vingt ans de Sejour a Berlin (vol. i. p. 15L). According 
 to Thiebaut it was during a dinner to which Frederick was 
 invited by the Marshal that he was recognized, and the Mare- 
 chale, who was not aware of what had happened, said something 
 which offended Frederick about the Queen, his mother, whom 
 she had known in her youth at Hanover. Besides this, towards 
 the conclusion of dinner the marshal inadvertently used the 
 word " Sire," and thus betrayed the incognito. 
 
 Even had this been so, the cause of Frederick's irritation would 
 seem very inadequate ; but the whole story is inaccurate ; 
 Frederick did not dine with Marshal de Broglie, and the Marechale 
 saw him only for a moment. 
 
 The Archives de la Bastille (vol. vii., published that year) 
 contain a letter from the Marshal to the Minister of War, giving 
 an account of the royal visit which tallies exactly with the 
 details of the narrative in my possession.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 45 
 
 stateliness of the Marshal, and still more at France 
 and the French. 
 
 " There," he says, " I saw those Frenchmen 
 whose renown you have so often sung." 
 
 " Ce peuple fou, brutal et galant, 
 Superbe en sa fortune, en ses malheurs rampant, 
 D'un bavardage impitoyable 
 Pour cacher le creux d'un esprit ignorant. 
 * * * * 
 
 Leger, indiscret, imprudent. 
 
 Non, des vils Fran^ais, vous n'etes pas du nombre ; 
 Vous pensez, ils ne pensent pas." 
 
 Voltaire, on receiving this masterpiece, found no 
 fault except with the verse, which was certainly 
 halting. The insults heaped upon his compatriots 
 he took in good part, seeming to be unaware that by 
 doing so he endorsed them. Frederick divined, even 
 before he knew Voltaire, that in his own case, as 
 in that of the sect of his disciples and the crowd of 
 his imitators, it would always be easy to get the 
 better of national pride, by flattering literary vanity. 
 He made use of this characteristic on more than one 
 occasion. 
 
 The long-desired interview between the king and 
 the poet took place towards the end of September 
 at the Chateau de Meuse, 9 near Cleves ; it was affec- 
 tionate, even demonstrative, on both sides. Frede- 
 rick, who was confined to bed with fever and ague, 
 
 9 Called Schloss Moyland by Mr. Carlyle.
 
 46 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 got up to do honour to his renowned guest. They 
 supped together, and discussed until a late hour, 
 says Voltaire, all sorts of subjects, " the immor- 
 tality of the soul, free-will, and even the Andro- 
 gynoi of Plato," if not thoroughly, as Voltaire 
 asserts, at least with plenty of spirit, and sparkling 
 wit. 
 
 The King took this opportunity of asking Voltaire 
 to do him a service by drawing up a manifesto, 
 addressed to the Bishop of Liege, from whom he 
 demanded a million (crowns) in exchange for a 
 manor, or village in his diocese, called Herstal, 
 over which the crown of Brandenburg claimed 
 suzerainty. 
 
 The dispute had been pending for some years, 
 before the Germanic Diet. Frederick had now re- 
 solved to exact his due without more parley, and 
 had already sent forward a body of troops to sup- 
 port his claim. The Emperor Charles VI. vainly 
 protested against this high-handed proceeding which 
 dispensed with the imperial decree. 
 
 But it was precisely because the Emperor 
 claimed the right of doing justice that Frederick 
 resolved to take it on himself. He was deter- 
 mined to show that on this, as on every other point, 
 he would be beholden to no one. Voltaire's mani- 
 festo, Avhich has been lately discovered, and forms 
 part of his complete works, reveals this intention, 
 but it is not expressed in so plain and indeed
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 47 
 
 barefaced a way as in the following autograph 
 note iu the Political Correspondence : " I will 
 go into Cleves and try fair means. If I am 
 refused, I shall know how to do myself justice. 
 The Emperor is the phantom of an old idol which 
 was formerly powerful and strong, but which 
 is now a mere nonentity. He was a strong man, 
 but the Frenchman and the Turk have given him 
 . . . and he is done for." 
 
 The Bishop, convinced either by Voltaire's 
 arguments or by the Prussian grenadiers, gave 
 in, and paid the money. 
 
 But these high-handed proceedings, this unman- 
 nerly mode of action, both diplomatic and military, 
 began to alarm European politicians. " The de- 
 claration " (that which Voltaire had drawn up), 
 writes the Marquis de Valori, " is regarded here as 
 a first effect of that presumption of which I have 
 told you, and of unwillingness to accept the counsels 
 of wise men who know how to make princes speak 
 with moderation and firmness." 1 
 
 Every one was asking to what did Frederick's 
 presumptuous bearing, and ill-restrained ambition 
 tend ? The succession to the Duchies of Juliers and 
 Berg, which was the only claim put forward by 
 Frederick, was too small a thing to justify such 
 great preparations and such arrogant language. 
 
 i Valori to Amelot, 20th September, 1740 (Correspondance de 
 Prusse), Ministry of Foreigu Affairs.
 
 48 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 Fortune was about to enable Frederick to give a 
 singularly prompt and categorical answer to the 
 general question. The Emperor Charles VI. died, 
 almost suddenly, at Vienna, on the 26th of 
 October, and when the courier who brought 
 the intelligence arrived at Rheinsberg, Frederick 
 was suffering from an unusually acute attack of 
 intermittent fever. The officers of his household 
 hesitated about disturbing the king; one of them, 
 did, however, take the despatch to his bedside, and 
 delivered it without adding a word. The King read 
 it through without betraying a particle of emotion ; 
 then he rose, although still shaking with ague, 
 and sent for Podewils, his Prime Minister, and for 
 Marshal Schwerin. 
 
 While waiting for them, he wrote to Voltaire, 
 " My dear Voltaire, this time a most unexpected 
 event prevents me from opening my mind to you. 
 The Emperor is dead. . . . This death upsets my 
 peaceful projects, and I believe that in the month of 
 June it will be a question of gunpowder, soldiers, 
 and trenches, rather than of actresses, ballets, and 
 theatres. ... A total change in the whole political 
 system is taking place ; this is the stone which 
 Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, that fell upon 
 the statue of gold and silver, iron and clay, 
 and destroyed it. ... I must get rid of my fever, 
 for I want my machine, and must get as much out of 
 it at present as possible. . . .Adieu, my dear Voltaire,
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 49 
 
 never forget me. ... I send you an ode in reply to 
 that of G-resset." 2 
 
 Frederick was right ; the stone which had detached 
 itself from that ancient rock, the Empire, was about 
 to burst into fragments over all Europe. 3 
 
 Death, even when it has been long expected, 
 comes as a surprise at last. Notwithstanding 
 the very perceptible change in the Emperor's health 
 one marked symptom was the deep melancholy 
 to which he had been subject for several years 
 no one anticipated his being carried off so rapidly. 
 A cold, caught while hunting, followed by an 
 attack of indigestion from eating mushrooms, 
 reduced him in two days to so hopeless a state, that 
 he had barely time to give his blessing to his 
 children and commend his soul to God. 
 
 Not the slightest preparation had been made for an 
 event which should have been foreseen by every one. 
 Charles VI. had, indeed, left his entire possessions 
 to his eldest daughter by a will which all the Powers 
 had accepted. But, in addition to the fact that some of 
 the consenting parties had attached menacing reser- 
 vations to their act of adhesion, we know how little 
 respect the living usually pay to their engagements 
 towards the dead. One thing alone could have 
 
 - Frederick to Voltaire, 26th October, 1740 (Correspondence 
 Gcncrale). 
 
 3 See Appendix A., for General Opinion of Frederick II. before 
 his accession and during the first months of his reign. 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 rendered these posthumous arrangements effective ; 
 this was the elevation of Maria Theresa's husband, 
 the son-in-law of Charles VI., to the dignity of 
 King of Rome, by an election which would have 
 made him the pre-designated head of the Holy 
 Empire, and the successor of Charlemagne. 
 
 This had really been the desire of the deceased 
 Emperor, and he had privately spoken of it repeat- 
 edly to some of the Prince-Electors, but had put off 
 any public proposal from day to day, hoping that the 
 Grand Duke would, either by a lengthened sojourn 
 in Germany, or by rendering some distinguished 
 service, succeed in making people forget that 
 he was a foreigner. He was anxious, too, before 
 making an attempt of the kind, that the Arch- 
 duchess should have given birth to a male heir, 
 thus averting all fear of another female succession. 
 None of these hopes were realized. The Archduchess 
 had borne two daughters, and the young Grand 
 Duke, frivolous, narrow-minded, and haughty, had 
 by no means succeeded in winning popular favour ; 
 indeed, in the last war against the Turks, in which 
 he had commanded a body of troops, he had evinced 
 no special merit, but shared the unpopularity of 
 all the generals concerned in that disastrous cam- 
 paign. 
 
 The most vexatious part of the matter was that 
 a marked dislike to the Grand Duke existed, 
 especially in the hereditary States of the House
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 51 
 
 of Austria, in the very centre of his own patri- 
 mony. Vienna, which had been for centuries the 
 capital of the Empire, was little inclined to put her 
 own important position in jeopardy by too great 
 loyalty to the doubtful rights of a young woman 
 of whom but little was known, married to a 
 foreigner who had shown himself to small advantage. 
 If there was one among the numerous aspirants to 
 the throne of Charles VI. who would be likely to 
 obtain the imperial crown more easily than the 
 husband of Maria Theresa, why should not that one 
 be frankly accepted, and contests, or suits whose 
 issue could only be doubtful be thus avoided? 
 The Elector Charles of Bavaria, who, like Francis of 
 Lorraine, had married an Archduchess (the daughter 
 of Joseph I.), and was not only much more German, 
 but also the possessor of an extensive State which 
 he would bring with him as a gift to his new sub- 
 jects, was pointed out as a very acceptable sovereign. 
 Popular feeling pronounced in his favour, even in 
 the streets of the capital. " The Princess is not 
 liked," wrote the French ambassador, the Marquis 
 de Mirepoix ; " part of the enmity and aversion felt 
 for the Grand Duke falls upon her. The Elector of 
 Bavaria has the good wishes of every one, and I. 
 believe that if he were to come forward, the whole 
 nation would be at his feet." 4 " The murmur of 
 
 * The Marquis cle Mirepoix to M. Amelot, October 22nd, 1740 
 (Correspondance de Vienne), Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 tumultuous voices," writes the Venetian ambassador, 
 " says that the kingdom should not be ruled by a 
 woman, and that public interest requires that a 
 German prince should be chosen." Trouble and 
 doubt were predominant also in official regions, and 
 all would have been lost had Maria Theresa 
 hesitated for one moment. But she never doubted 
 for an instant either her right or herself. Although 
 some months advanced in pregnancy, and so much 
 overcome by grief that she was obliged to be carried 
 from the chamber of death, where she fainted seve- 
 ral times, the fatal event was no sooner over than 
 she rallied, so to speak, at the call of Providence. 
 That very day the great Officials of the State were 
 informed that she awaited their homage, and she 
 received them seated beneath the royal canopy. In 
 a voice which, although broken by grief, was yet 
 strong, she confirmed them in their several posts, 
 requiring only that they should be as faithful to her 
 as they had been to her father ; she then commanded 
 that thenceforth every official document should be 
 drawn up in the name of the Queen of Hungary and 
 Bohemia, Archduchess of Austria. 
 
 The next morning she summoned the Privy 
 Council, and took her seat at its head, having the 
 Grand Duke on her left. A strange sight it must 
 have been, this woman in all the pride of youth and 
 beauty, surrounded by white-headed, broken-down 
 5 D'Arneth, vol. i. p. 170.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 53 
 
 ministers, the youngest of whom was, according to 
 D'Arneth, not less than sixty. And it must not 
 be supposed that these were old servants, full of 
 respect and devotion to their masters, hastening in 
 tears to the feet of their new sovereign ; they were, 
 on the contrary, men whose feelings were deadened 
 by a selfish use of prosperity, accustomed to court 
 intrigues, and ready to turn with the wheel of 
 fortune. Neither from a corrupt diplomatist like 
 Zinzendorf, nor from a scribbler like Bartenstein, 
 famous only for his trickiness, could the slightest 
 vestige of chivalrous feeling be expected, and more 
 than one as he entered the Council- Chamber was 
 thinking of a safe way out of it. 
 
 The Queen contrived, however, by her combined 
 graciousness and authority, first to subdue, then to 
 enchant, and finally to arouse them. The orders she 
 gave and the measures she prescribed for the recog- 
 nition of her authority, were executed that same day 
 with an activity to which the ancient imperial ma- 
 chine had long been a stranger, and which seemed 
 to make its rusty springs creak. The energy of the 
 Queen was contagious, it communicated itself to 
 every one. Neither she nor the Grand Duke rested 
 for a moment, and they seemed neither to eat nor 
 sleep ; they were inseparable in the accomplishment 
 of their mutual task, for this was the one point 
 upon which Maria Theresa would listen to no 
 advice. Accessible to every one, ready to listen to
 
 54 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 what all had to say, there was one subject concern- 
 ing which she was immovable : this was her deter- 
 mination to share everything, rights, duties, and 
 dignities, with her husband. She would neither 
 permit him to be set aside, nor suffer any to hold 
 aloof from him. Nowhere, but especially in public, 
 was she seen without him. " The ministers," said 
 the Marquis deMirepoix, "have made the strongest 
 representations to the Queen about her determination 
 to have the Grand Duke with her at public banquets, 
 but she has silenced them by saying that such is her 
 will." 
 
 By dint of working with her husband, and 
 making him act and speak, she seemed to com- 
 municate some of her own charm of manner 
 to him. People said he had never been so 
 amiable as since his recent elevation. We know 
 how rapid are the changes in popular opinion ; 
 in a few days it became the fashion to laud the 
 royal couple to the skies, and the new reign was 
 everywhere accepted with acclamation. No remon- 
 strance was made even when, a short time after- 
 wards, the Queen, by a solemn act, associated 
 her husband with herself in the government by 
 elevating him to the dignity of co-regent ; this did 
 not, however, confer upon him either any personal 
 right, or any title to the succession. 
 
 But this change in public feeling did not prevent 
 the Elector of Bavaria from drawing up a protest in
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 55 
 
 due form against the Queen's coronation, and 
 causing it to be handed to all the ambassadors 
 by his minister before he left Vienna. He did not 
 ground this protest upon the claims of his wife; 
 these he had formally renounced, but upon those of 
 his ancestress, the daughter of Ferdinand I., and 
 niece of Charles V. One protest being made, no 
 matter whether the reason for it was good or bad, 
 others would be sure to follow. Accordingly, the 
 Elector of Saxony, King of Poland, in the name of 
 his wife, the niece of Charles VI., and the eldest of 
 the surviving archduchesses ; the King of Spain, 
 and the Duke of Savoy, both descended from the 
 wives of Philip II. who represented the elder branch 
 of the House of Austria, all asserted their preten- 
 sions. Although each of these crowned litigants put 
 in his claim to the whole of the inheritance at issue, 
 it was quite possible they might find it to their 
 interest to agree to divide it. In that case it would 
 be coalition to-day and dismemberment to-morrow. 
 And what forces had Maria Theresa at her disposal 
 wherewith to make head against such a threatening 
 prospect ? An empty treasury and an army so com- 
 pletely disbanded that in some places there were but 
 two or three men in a company, and these com- 
 manded by generals, some of whom were in disgrace, 
 and others in prison, because they had not de- 
 fended the honour of their flag. What a fruitful 
 source of encouragement for the ambition that was
 
 56 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 rife, it was, that there was only a woman who had 
 neither troops nor money to contend with ! 
 
 There was, however, an element more alarming 
 than threats from without and poverty within. A 
 darker cloud hung over two points of the horizon, 
 Versailles and Berlin. From these two centres of 
 action, although so unequal in importance, either 
 safety or ruin might come. It is true, neither 
 France nor Prussia had a direct interest in the in- 
 heritance of Charles VI., but the influence of either 
 might turn the scale. Nothing could be done in 
 Germany without the small but efficient Prussian 
 army ; in Europe, no formidable coalition could be 
 organized without the assistance of France. What 
 part would be taken by Prussia and her young 
 sovereign ? by France and her old minister ? 
 
 If the word of kings was as much to be relied 
 on as that of ordinary mortals, and if the faith of 
 treaties was binding upon governments, there could 
 not be the smallest doubt as to the intentions of 
 France. At the conclusion of the war of 1735, the 
 King of France had given, not merely his consent, 
 but his express guarantee to the Pragmatic Sanction, 
 in terms so strong as apparently to have exhausted 
 every binding phrase in the diplomatic vocabulary, 
 and to have provided for every eventuality that 
 could possibly be imagined. After having quoted 
 the dispositions made by Charles VI., in favour of
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 57 
 
 his descendants, the treaty of 1738 went on to 
 say,- 
 
 " It being demonstrated that public tranquillity 
 cannot long subsist, nor the balance of power in 
 Europe be preserved 6 in any other way than by the 
 maintenance of this order of succession, his Most 
 Christian Majesty, moved by the ardent desire of 
 securing both public peace and the balance of power, 
 and also in consideration of the conditions of peace 
 to which his Imperial Majesty has consented princi- 
 pally/or that reason, binds himself in the strongest 
 manner to defend this order of succession, and in 
 order that no future doubt may arise about the 
 effect of this pledge and guarantee, his Most Chris- 
 tian Majesty consents to put in execution this same 
 pledge, commonly called a guarantee, whenever it may 
 be necessary, promising for himself and his heirs 
 and successors, in the most faithful and absolute 
 manner, to defend with all his power, and to main- 
 tain and preserve against any person whomsoever 
 (contra quoscumque), so often as it shall be necessary, 
 this order of succession which his Imperial Majesty 
 has declared, in the form of a perpetual and indivi- 
 sible trust, in favour of the first-born, for all the 
 heirs of his Imperial Majesty, whether male or 
 
 6 The preliminaries of peace which preceded this treaty were 
 signed in 1735 ; the treaty itself, which only reproduced and 
 annotated them, was not concluded until 1738.
 
 58 Frederick II. and Maria TJuresa. 
 
 female. Therefore, his Most Christian Majesty 
 promises and binds himself to defend him or her 
 who, according to the agreement above quoted, may 
 succeed to the kingdoms, provinces, and states 
 which his Imperial Majesty now possesses, and to 
 maintain him or her in perpetuity against whom- 
 soever may attempt, in any way, to disturb the pos- 
 session of them." 
 
 Thus, all was provided for, and nothing was for- 
 gotten ; no heir is excluded, no portion of territory 
 excepted from a guarantee so unlimited. It would 
 seem impossible to add anything to this ; yet there 
 was something more obligatory even than the text 
 of the convention ; it is what the treaty calls the 
 conditions of peace to which his Imperial Majesty had 
 consented principally for that reason ; in other words 
 it was the cession of Lorraine, agreed to at the same 
 time by the son-in-law of Charles VI., in favour of 
 the father-in-law of Louis XV., with reversion to the 
 crown of France at his death. By this acquisition of 
 a long-coveted province, France obtained full pay- 
 ment for the promised assistance, and put, so to 
 speak, the price of it in her pocket. The bargain 
 was complete, and although not concluded in express 
 terms, it was on that account all the more binding in 
 honour and conscience. After such a pledge offered 
 and accepted, how could the word of a king and a 
 gentleman be doubted ? At any rate, Charles VI., 
 if he had any mistrust, was very careful not to show
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 59 
 
 it. From that moment, his relations with his former 
 adversary became not merely pacific, but friendly 
 and almost affectionate. He gratefully accepted the 
 mediation of the French ambassador at Constanti- 
 nople to put an end to his quarrel with the Turks, 
 and the mutual friendship was carried so far, that at 
 his death it was seriously reported in Vienna that he 
 had named Louis XV. as his testamentary executor. 
 
 In fact, if it was the interest, and should have 
 been the inclination, of any one to secure the 
 fulfilment of obligations so sacred, it was surely 
 those of the more than octogenarian minister, to 
 whom the weak Louis XV. left the guidance of 
 his policy. The treaty of 1738 was the personal 
 act of Cardinal Fleury, a glorious achievement, 
 and one to which he should have held all the more 
 firmly because it had given him a European reputa- 
 tion for singular talent and wisdom. It was the 
 crowning act of his protracted administration, and 
 posterity, which has formed but a low estimate of 
 this senile politician, finds it difficult to realize the 
 amount of authority over his contemporaries that 
 the continued favours of fortune had secured to 
 him. 
 
 The world had beheld, with surprise which 
 eventually turned to admiration, an old priest, with 
 neither birth nor talent to recommend him, quietly 
 come forth from a sacristy, rise to the summit of 
 power at an age when others are quitting it, main-
 
 60 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 tain himself steadily in his position for twenty years, 
 and, when over eighty years of age, enter upon 
 a great war and conclude it with honour, after 
 triumphs which had gratified the national pride, by 
 securing to his country the possession of a long- 
 desired province. The factitious and precarious 
 part of these advantages, the part which chance 
 played in the matter, escaped the notice of spectators 
 (especially at a distance). Except at Versailles, no 
 one was aware that Fleury had made war unwill- 
 ingly and in fear and trembling, being forced to 
 do so by continuous pressure, and that he was most 
 desirous of getting out of it at any moment and at 
 any price. Still less was it known that these bril- 
 liant campaigns had done more to exhaust France 
 than to exalt her fame, and that they had dealt 
 a heavy blow to her internal prosperity, which had 
 scarcely recovered from the misfortunes of Louis 
 XIV. and the disorders of the Regency. Fleury 
 alone, perhaps, was in the secret of these ills, and 
 as he did not share the prevalent illusion, was always 
 afraid of its passing away. It was because he had 
 drawn an unlooked-for prize in the lottery of battles, 
 owing to the caprice of fortune, that he had no wish 
 to try again. His tardily acquired reputation seemed 
 to him, like his strangely prolonged old age, a flicker- 
 ing flame kept alive by a breath, and ready at any 
 moment to expire. To make his power hold out 
 during his life, and end both together peacefully
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 6 1 
 
 at as remote a period as possible, enjoying mean- 
 while the homage rendered to the Nestor of politicians 
 on all sides ; to receive flattering letters from every 
 European sovereign, and listen to them with eyes 
 cast down, in that attitude of meekness which a 
 well-bred prelate assumes at the altar when the 
 incense rises around him ; to answer them in a tone 
 of humility, and thus fill up his days without losing 
 his rest or exhausting his strength, were hence- 
 forward the only aims of his ambition, which age 
 had weakened, but had not destroyed. In this 
 frame of mind it was sufficient for him to be threatened 
 with a naval war with England ; he had no desire 
 to add the risk of setting the continent in a blaze 
 by breaking a treaty which he had himself made; 
 therefore he was particularly careful to keep up 
 an interchange of epistolary amenities with the 
 Emperor to the last. 
 
 " Your Majesty," he writes, on the 26th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1740, " may rest assured that the King will 
 observe the engagements he has entered into with 
 the most exact and inviolable fidelity, and if I may 
 speak of myself after the mention of a name so 
 august, I venture to hope that my peaceful inten- 
 tions are well enough known to preclude any idea of 
 a desire on my part to kindle a flame in Europe. 
 Your Majesty honours me exceedingly by the good 
 opinion in which I am apparently held, and I shall 
 certainly endeavour, during my whole life, never to
 
 62 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 prove unworthy of such flattering sentiments. My 
 deep gratitude, the interests of religion, and those of 
 peace urge me to this course quite as strongly as the 
 profound respect with which I am, &c." 7 
 
 It might be thought that the simple way of testi- 
 fying to his devotedness and sincerity, would have 
 been to address Maria Theresa, in acknowledging 
 the news of her accession, by the double title which 
 attested her right to the royal succession. By such 
 a course her claims would have been acknowledged' 
 without discussion, the Pragmatic Sanction main- 
 tained, and all Europe would probably have 
 acquiesced in silence. But we see in this instance, 
 how rarely a man who has grown old in obscurity, 
 rises to the level of his fortune. 
 
 Fleury had been so long accustomed to obey, that as 
 an all-powerful Prime Minister he could adopt neither 
 the habit nor the tone of authority. The "royal 
 domesticity " (as it was the custom to call it), in 
 which he had passed three-fourths of his life, had 
 set a mark of timidity upon him, which made him 
 prefer roundabout, underhand proceedings at all 
 times. It is a well-known device with inferiors, 
 whether stewards, clerks, or valets, who have 
 succeeded in getting the better of their masters, to 
 pretend to obey, while in reality they command; 
 to appear to submit to the yoke which they in 
 
 7 Fleury to the Emperor, the 26th of January, 1740 (Corre- 
 spondance de Vienne), Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 63 
 
 truth impose. Fleury had reached the highest- 
 rank by the constant practice of this artifice ; he had 
 been promoted to each dignity in succession with- 
 out seeking any, and while always seeming to 
 avoid them ; he had guided the royal will in secret, 
 long before he became its public exponent, and lie 
 still preferred to act surreptitiously and behind a 
 mask, even when appearance had been added to 
 reality, and he had not only the right to exercise 
 his power openly, but it was his duty to bear all its 
 responsibility. 
 
 To play a manly part before the world, to show 
 his face boldly, to challenge criticism, to assume 
 all the burthen of the consequences of the future 
 in the face of the King and the Court, was 
 an effort beyond his strength. When he should 
 have acted, he hesitated, and instead of approach- 
 ing the desired object directly, he took a round- 
 about path, paltered with obstacles, and dallied with 
 opposition, always hoping to guide the course of 
 events unseen, so as to bring about a " superior 
 necessity " which should oblige him to do the very 
 thing he desired, and force malevolence to acquiesce 
 in silence. 
 
 A man who knew him well affirms, in authentic 
 Memoirs, that these paltry tactics, which Fleury had 
 already employed in the preceding war, had suc- 
 ceeded admirably. He had contrived so effectually 
 to persuade all Europe that he was driven, contrary
 
 64 Frederick H.^and Maria Theresa. 
 
 to his inclination, to have recourse to military 
 operations, that England and the other mari- 
 time Powers were led by this consideration to ab- 
 stain from taking part in the quarrel. 8 It was 
 no doubt, the recollection of this that encouraged 
 Fleury once more to resort to the same tactics for an 
 object still dearer to him the preservation of peace. 
 He could not be ignorant that the treaty of 1738 
 was censured in more than one quarter, notwith- 
 standing the advantages it procured for France. 
 Politicians were heard to say that, by guaranteeing 
 the feminine succession of the house of Austria, an 
 opportunity of profiting by its weakness to crush 
 that constant enemy of France was lost. Neither 
 Richelieu nor Mazarin would, they said, have let 
 slip a similar chance. Then the Elector of Bavaria 
 had already been bewailing the neglect he experi- 
 enced, calling to mind the services rendered and the 
 sufferings endured by his father, that faithful ally 
 of Louis XIV., and the promises which had been 
 made to him that all this should be remembered on 
 occasion. The time had now arrived ; Fleury foresaw 
 that all these grievances would be pressed with still 
 greater urgency, and instead of forestalling them 
 
 8 The words used by Marshal de Belle-Isle iu his " Memoires " 
 are, " The war declared against the Emperor by the King . . . 
 is a stroke of Cardinal Fleury's, worthy of the most distinguished 
 politician, for he had the wit to make Europe believe that 
 strong necessity obliged him to take up arms, and by this means 
 he kept back all the maritime powers."
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 65 
 
 by a bold decision, he tried to get the better of 
 them by patience, and cajolery all round. 
 
 To Prince Lichtenstein, Maria Theresa's ambassa- 
 dor, who came in great haste to question him, he 
 replied that the King of France was determined to 
 keep his engagements, and that to cast a doubt 
 upon that matter was to insult him. But he added 
 that the accession of a woman, and of an Austrian 
 sovereign not invested with the imperial dignity, 
 being an event which had not taken place for cen- 
 turies, he was not certain about the protocol to be 
 employed in answering him, and the point of 
 etiquette must be inquired into. 
 
 When the next day the Bavarian minister sub- 
 mitted his protest, he told him, privately, that though 
 the Pragmatic Sanction was binding on France in so 
 far as the general succession to Charles VI. was 
 concerned, it made no stipulation with regard to 
 the imperial crown, and the Elector remained free 
 to aspire to it, as also did the King to second his 
 claims. He added, even more privately, that all 
 the guarantees in the world could avail nothing 
 against the rights of a third party ; that he had often 
 warned Charles VI. to this effect ; and that, if the 
 Elector could establish his claims by arguments 
 which were not to be refuted, he would see what 
 could be done. 9 Then, having by this means, if 
 
 ' See Appendix B. : the nature of the reservations placed by 
 France upon the guarantee secured to the Pragmatic Sanction by 
 the treary of 1738. 
 
 VOL, I. P
 
 66 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 not satisfied, at least silenced all objections, he, in 
 his turn, rested on his oars, and watched the course 
 of events. 
 
 I know not why this mode of acting is called 
 gaining time, since it generally results in the loss of 
 it. In any case, though a waiting game may suit a 
 man of ninety, a man of twenty-eight will rarely 
 have patience to play it. We cannot, therefore, be 
 surprised that Berlin was far from imitating this 
 prudently equivocal attitude, that, on the contrary, 
 everything there denoted warlike activity, whose 
 effect was soon visible, although its object continued 
 to be unknown. "The King," writes Valori on the 
 1st of November, " works from eight to ten hours 
 a day with Podewils and Schwerin ; they dine to- 
 gether, and see no one." This secret occupation 
 continued without intermission for the best part of 
 a month, and the first result was an order for 
 the mobilization of all the troops, with directions to 
 the officers to have their camp equipages in readi- 
 ness ; then came the establishment of batteries 
 of artillery and depots of ammunition in the 
 principal frontier-towns. The organization of the 
 army upon a war-footing was confided, with some 
 solemnity, to the Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, who was 
 acknowledged to be the best of the Prussian generals, 
 but who had been previously out of favour. He had 
 not emerged from retirement since the beginning of 
 the new reign.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 67 
 
 We may imagine the excitement caused by these 
 measures, which it would have been impossible, even 
 had it been desirable, to conceal. In Germany, 
 as in the rest of Europe, they immediately became 
 the subject of conversation among Cabinet Minis- 
 ters and village newsmongers. All minds were at 
 work, and every kind of supposition was in cir- 
 culation from the most modest to the most am- 
 bitious. According to some, Frederick aspired to 
 nothing less than the Imperial Crown, and many a 
 Protestant already smiled at the picture of the Holy 
 Empire in the hands of a heretic. According to 
 others, nothing more than the taking possession 
 of the disputed duchy, to save it from being 
 involved in the probably impending conflict, was 
 in question. Other versions of the story were 
 that Frederick had already contracted a formal 
 engagement with either the Grand Duke or the 
 Bavarian Elector, to support the claims of one or 
 other according as he should be properly appre- 
 ciated and his services repaid in what coin was not 
 stated. At one moment the troops were said to be 
 marching on Mecklenburg, at another their desti- 
 nation was stated to be Silesia, the banks of the 
 Rhine, or Nuremberg. 
 
 The language of the Prussian envoys to the dif- 
 ferent Courts, was confused, contradictory, and 
 changing with the place and the audience ; it gave 
 colour to every rumour. From the diplomatists who
 
 68 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 resided at Berlin, nothing at all was to be gathered ; 
 Valori was denied admittance to Rheinsberg, and 
 General Manteuffel a brave Saxon and a personal 
 friend of Frederick's, but who was known to have 
 relations with the Court of Dresden having pushed 
 his investigations rather too far, was politely 
 requested to quit Berlin. 1 
 
 Fleury, inattentive at first, woke up before long. 
 Desirous as he was to smooth down matters, and to 
 let things slide softly and slowly, this clash of 
 arms disturbed him sorely. In the first place he 
 tried to sound Count Camas as to the meaning of 
 it all. Camas came to take leave of him after 
 he had accomplished his special mission, and Fleury, 
 to get him into conversation, let him perceive, 
 without laying too much stress on the matter, that 
 should the claim of the Elector of Bavaria to the 
 Roman Empire be supported in Germany, France 
 would make no difficulty about its recognition. 
 The reserve of Camas was, it seems, extremely dis- 
 concerting, for when he had taken leave, Fleury 
 could not refrain from saying very sharply, "It is 
 easy to see that man is a refugee : we have no worse 
 enemies." 
 
 He then made up his mind to send two confiden- 
 tial envoys as scouts. The first on whom his choice 
 naturally fell was the Marquis de Beauvau, who had 
 
 1 Valori to Amelot, November 5, " Pol. Corr." vol. i. pp. 87 
 and 9o.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 69 
 
 been sent by Louis XV. to congratulate the young 
 King on his accession, and the second was no other 
 than Voltaire himself, who had been invited to come 
 to Berlin in the preceding summer, and was now 
 preparing to go thither, to the despair of the loving 
 and learned Emilie. In reality, the great writer 
 offered his services, and this proceeding was the more 
 remarkable, because after being for a long time in 
 favour with Fleury there was just then a misunder- 
 standing between them. It was, as we all know, the 
 fate of Voltaire, during his long life, to be by turns 
 petted and feared by Louis XV. and all his minis- 
 ters ; at one and the same time a Gentleman of the 
 King's Chamber at Versailles and an exile at Ferney, 
 now nattering and anon defying the great ones of 
 the day. He was always tempted back to the 
 ministerial antechambers after a time of disgrace or 
 a fit of sulks, by his taste for such confidential mis- 
 sions as might procure him interviews with sove- 
 reigns. At this moment he was out of favour with 
 Fleury, because, having promised to write a pamphlet 
 for him in favour of the Jesuits and against the 
 Jansenists, he had not kept his word, but had left 
 this new version of the " Lettres Provinciales " half 
 written. At this time, however, he was tired of being 
 in disgrace, and as no Frenchman of distinction 
 was supposed to visit a foreign monarch without 
 permission, he requested Fleury's authorization 
 in a very nattering letter, in which he lamented
 
 70 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 almost plaintively that lie had once been loved by the 
 prelate, but was no longer so happy. At the same 
 time he sent him a copy of the " Anti-Machiavel," 
 which had just come out, but without giving the name 
 of the author, which was an open secret. Thus he 
 got a natural opportunity of insinuating that he 
 would be happy if the friendship with which he was 
 honoured by Frederick could be in any way made 
 useful to the King, and in order to remove any 
 professional scruples which might arise on the part 
 of a prelate, he contrived, I know not how, to 
 allude in conclusion to his respect for religion, and 
 the wrong that was done him by doubting it. 2 
 The cunning old man understood the underhand 
 proposal at once, but took care not to seem too 
 eager to accept it. He wrote two letters about 
 the affair, with an interval of two days between 
 each : both these epistles are master-pieces of 
 what is described, in the contemporary memoirs of 
 which I have spoken, as the unction and elegance of 
 his style. 
 
 The first took Voltaire to task in a manner which 
 made reproach even more flattering than compliment : 
 "You would wrong me," he says, "if you should 
 think I have ever wished you the slightest harm : I 
 have only been grieved at that which you were doing 
 to yourself. I think I understand you perfectly, 
 you are a good and worthy man . . . but you have 
 * This letter of Voltaire's has not been found.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 7 1 
 
 been young, and probably for too long. You 
 were brought up amid a society which the world in 
 its ignorance regarded as the best, because it was 
 composed of nobles. They praised you, and with 
 good reason, but they held you to be right in every- 
 thing, and went too far. They spoiled you too 
 early, and at your age this was natural. I hope you 
 now feel this, and what pleases me most in your 
 letter is what you say of your respect for religion. 
 That is a great saying ; let me give it, I beg of you, 
 all the meaning my friendship for you leads me to 
 desire. Among the many duties which an upright 
 man is bound to fulfil, can that which concerns our 
 Sovereign Master and Creator be excepted ? Even 
 the pagans did not think so." 
 
 The following day he resumed his pen : the 
 Bishop having ended his sermon, the Minister took 
 up the thread of diplomacy. Voltaire's proposal to 
 offer his homage to his hero was fully approved of, 
 and even likened, by a biblical comparison that was 
 rather profane, coming from such a source, to the 
 visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon. Then, 
 alluding to the present of the " Anti-Machiavel :" 
 " whoever may be the author of the work," added 
 the Cardinal, " if he is not a prince, he ought to be 
 one ; and the little I have read of it is so wise, so 
 sensible, and contains principles so admirable, that 
 if he has the courage to put them in practice he would 
 be worthy to rule men. If he is born a prince, he
 
 72 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 has contracted a very solemn engagement with the 
 public. . . . Corruption is so general, and sincerity 
 so indecently banished from all men's minds in 
 this unhappy age, that if we did not hold 
 firmly to those high principles which bind us not 
 to depart from them, we should be tempted to fail 
 on certain occasions ; but the King, my Master, 
 at least makes it plain that he does not hold it 
 allowable to use reprisals of such a kind, since no 
 sooner had he heard the news about the Emperor, 
 than he assured Prince Lichtenstein he would 
 faithfully keep all his engagements. ... I find 
 myself unintentionally making political reflections. 
 Let me conclude by assuring you that I shall en- 
 deavour to be worthy of his Prussian Majesty's 
 good opinion of me. It is a pity he is a prince, 
 for, were he only an ordinary mortal, it would 
 be a pleasure to meet him in society. I envy you, 
 and I congratulate you, all the more that you 
 owe your good fortune solely to your talents and 
 your sentiments." 3 
 
 I imagine that Voltaire already understood the 
 character of his royal friend too well to credit 
 him with any inclination to practise the puritanical 
 morals of his youthful production, or to be en- 
 couraged in doing so by the idea of following the 
 example of Louis XV. But he understood at once 
 for whom the compliments and the accompanying 
 
 * Correspondance Generale de Voltaire, November 14, 
 1740.
 
 T/ie Invasion of Silesia. 73 
 
 discreet questions were intended, and no sooner had 
 he arrived at Rheinsberg after a wearisome journey 
 (whose grotesque incidents he relates), than he took 
 care to let Fleury know that he had not been imposed 
 upon. " I have obeyed," he writes, " the orders 
 your Eminence did not give me, and have shown 
 your letter to the King of Prussia." 
 
 The showing of the letter was something, but the 
 really clever thing would have been to get an 
 answer to it. Voltaire was, however, not able to 
 accomplish that, notwithstanding all his adroitness 
 during the fetes, entertainments, and attentions of 
 all kinds that were showered upon him for a whole 
 week. Never had Rheinsberg been so gay, never 
 had it boasted of amusements more varied or conver- 
 sation more brilliant. The coterie of scholars and 
 poets, among whom Maupertuis, Jordan, and Alga- 
 rotti figured, exerted itself to the utmost to do 
 honour to the French man of genius, and, at the 
 same time, it enjoyed to the full the sense of favour 
 in a place where it had been for so long in disgrace. 
 The King's sisters, although in deep mourning, 
 shared in all these pleasures, with freedom that 
 showed how they relished their emancipation from 
 their stern father's rule. From morning to night 
 there was a succession of entertainments. The 
 afternoon was devoted to music, the evening to 
 poetry ; Frederick himself at one time playing the 
 flute, at another trying his hand, more or less suc- 
 cessfully, at verse. But all the while military pre-
 
 74 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 parations as active, as noisy, and as incomprehen- 
 sible as ever, were going on. 4 
 
 Frederick amused himself by slyly exciting 
 curiosity which he did not intend to appease. One 
 day, after he had finished off a set of verses, he 
 said, " That is all over; the demon of war is about 
 to snatch me from the demon of poetry." But he 
 took care not to explain in what direction the con- 
 quering spirit was to lead him. Another day he wrote 
 a letter to his friend Algarotti, who had to return 
 to Berlin on account of a disease whose nature the 
 royal pleasantries had mercilessly revealed, and the 
 Italian (proud of the distinction) showed this letter 
 to the French Minister in strict confidence: "You 
 are made, my dear Algarotti, to be the witness 
 of great events, and to take part in them by your 
 counsels. If you ask me what Europe is doing, I 
 will tell you that Saxony is playing at knucklebones 
 (osselets) ; that Poland is eating salt beef and cab- 
 bage ; the Grand Duke has the gangrene, and cannot 
 make up his mind to an operation that might cure 
 him ; France means to get the better of every one, 
 and is watching for her prey; Holland is trembling; 
 at Eheinsberg we are dancing and playing, and Fre- 
 derick ..." Here Algarotti paused, and, folding up 
 
 4 Memoires de la Margrave de Baireuth, vol. ii. p. 327. 
 Valori to Amelot, December 3, 1740. Voltaire, "Memoires." 
 See Appendix C. : for the relations of Voltaire with the French 
 Legation at Berlin.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 75 
 
 the letter, said that discretion prevented him from 
 reading any more. That letter has now been printed 
 in full, and we can understand Algarotti's scruples. 
 The fact is that there is not one word in it con- 
 cerning the intentions of Frederick, he did not speak 
 of himself at all. Algarotti got out of it by saying 
 he had advised the King to try for the Imperial 
 Crown as a step towards universal monarchy, and 
 that his Majesty had smilingly replied, " That is the 
 advice which Antony gave to Caesar." 5 
 
 Everything has an end in this world, and even 
 the pleasantest companions must part. The week 
 came to a close, and Voltaire had to return to 
 Berlin, and take up his quarters at the palace of the 
 French Legation, where an apartment had been 
 prepared for him by the Cardinal's directions. 
 Valori, who received him there, found him rather 
 crest-fallen. In addition to his mortification at 
 having compromised his rising reputation as a diplo- 
 matist by returning empty-handed, he seemed to 
 have another cause of annoyance which he did 
 not explain. " M. de Voltaire has returned," writes 
 Valori on the 29th November ; " he is about to 
 start for Brussels. The principal object of his 
 journey was business connected with the print- 
 
 6 Valori to Amelot, November 5 and 19, 1740. Frederick's 
 letter to Algarotti has been already inserted in the Correspon- 
 dance Generate de Frederic ; its contents differ slightly from 
 Vulori's rendering.
 
 76 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 ing of the ' Anti-Machiavel ' . . . (Voltaire had 
 assigned this pretext). I have reason to think that 
 the King and he have parted little pleased with 
 one another, and that money matters have some- 
 thing to do with their mutual displeasure. There 
 may perhaps be some literary quarrel between them, 
 and the printer may be mixed up in it ; add to this 
 a little poetic rivalry, and a trifle too much sincerity 
 in M. de Voltaire's criticism when speaking to the 
 King himself, and it is not difficult to imagine that 
 the two do not get on very well together. The 
 King of Prussia pursues every kind of fame, but 
 nothing pulls him up so short as economy." 6 
 
 Valori, who was much more clever than he 
 looked under his heavy and awkward exterior, 
 had guessed aright. A difference had really taken 
 place at the last moment between the King and 
 the poet, and it was about money. The printer, 
 however, was in no wise concerned in this ; it was 
 Voltaire himself who had demanded to be paid 
 his travelling-expenses, and sent in a bill for them 
 amounting to the exorbitant sum of 1300 crowns. 
 Solomon, who did not expect to pay for the visits 
 of the Queen of Sheba, and who had some- 
 thing better to do with his money, had naturally 
 
 6 Valori to Amelot, November 29, 1740. In a former 
 despatch Valori had said, " The King does not like his free-and- 
 easy ways ; he has changed his tone too quickly from that of 
 adoration to one which is scarcely respectful."
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 77 
 
 objected, and was only induced to yield by the 
 entreaties of his favourite librarian, Jordan. Pay- 
 ment was at length granted, but in what words ! 
 Poor Jordan, when reading them, might well medi- 
 tate sorrowfully on the small esteem in which the 
 great ones of the earth hold men of letters who 
 take wages from them. 
 
 " Your miser," said the King, " shall drink 
 the dregs of his desire to enrich himself; he shall 
 have his 1300 crowns. His six days' visit will cost 
 me 500Z. That is good pay for a fool. No court 
 jester ever had such wages ! " 7 
 
 When days cost so much, they were not to 
 be spun out. Voltaire was therefore obliged to 
 depart without any light having been thrown upon 
 the political situation. He was, however, none the 
 less desirous to make his report to Fleury, and even 
 to have a personal interview with him. " He wanted 
 to prove," says Valori, " that if he had not been a 
 good Frenchman up to the present, he was now 
 thoroughly converted." More than one conference 
 took place between the three French diplomatists 
 before they could agree upon the statement which 
 was to be made at Versailles. 
 
 Their impressions were different, those of the 
 Marquis de Beauvau were very gloomy. Accord- 
 ing to him, Frederick detested France, and only 
 
 7 Frederick to Jordan, November 28, 1740. Correspondance 
 Generate.
 
 / 8 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 desired to do her a bad turn ; his armament was 
 merely the first act of a coalition which he was plot- 
 ting with Austria, England, and all our enemies. 
 Beauvau added (and it was true), that to his know- 
 ledge Camas had brought back very bad accounts 
 of the state of the French army and administration, 
 and that at Rheinsberg it was the fashion to speak of 
 France in a disdainful and almost insulting manner. 
 Voltaire, whose conscience could not fail to reproach 
 him with having listened to talk of this kind, did 
 not dare to utter a contradiction. Valori, who 
 was more reserved, simply gave it as his opinion, 
 that we had to do with an ambitious man who was 
 ready to turn to any side that might offer him the 
 greatest advantage. "You are right," said Vol- 
 taire, " he will attempt something, I do not know 
 what, and then, if he fails, he will turn philosopher 
 again." 8 
 
 Where France could discover nothing, England 
 tried her hand, but was not more fortunate. The 
 English Charge-d'affaires, Captain Guy Dickens, 
 using his ambassadorial privilege, got access to the 
 King, and point blank asked him to say plainly 
 whether he intended to maintain the Pragmatic 
 Sanction and the indivisibility of the Austrian 
 Empire. " What am I," he frankly asked, " to 
 write to England on this subject ? " Frederick's 
 face flushed. " I know," he replied haughtily, " that 
 8 Valori to Araelot, December 2, 1 740.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 79 
 
 you have no instructions which authorize you to put 
 such a question, but, if you have received any, I 
 have only one answer to make, England has no right 
 to ask what are my plans. I do not question her 
 about her equipments ; I content myself with hoping 
 that you may not be beaten by the Spaniards." 
 
 " I answered," writes the English agent, " that 
 it was not from indiscreet curiosity that I ques- 
 tioned him, but because I was uneasy at seeing 
 that he was engaging in an enterprise of which he 
 might afterwards have cause to repent. The King 
 then spoke a little more openly ; he said : " But I 
 have only the general good in view. I have care- 
 fully considered my plans ; I have weighed the 
 advantages and disadvantages which might result 
 from them to me and to the public, and I have come 
 to the conclusion that I cannot do better than 
 carry them out rigorously. Austria is a necessary 
 power to keep down the Turks, but she ought 
 not to be so powerful in Germany that three 
 Electoral States should be unable to cope with her. 
 I know very well that you, like France, want to keep 
 all the princes in leading-strings, but I will not be 
 led by either of you ; and so far as you are concerned 
 you are just like the Athenians, who wasted their 
 time in talking, while Philip of Macedon was getting 
 ready to attack them." 9 
 
 * Raumer, Beitriige zur neuen Gesclrichte, 1. ii. p. 82 and 
 follow in sr.
 
 So Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 While all this was stirring at Berlin, one would 
 have thought that Vienna would have been still more 
 excited; but, strange to say, of all the political 
 centres of Europe, Vienna was that one which con- 
 cerned itself least with the warlike preparations 
 of Frederick. It was not the fault of Demerath, 
 the Austrian resident at Berlin, for he had given 
 warning from the very first day. But the young 
 Queen met his gloomy forebodings with an incredu- 
 lous smile. Maria Theresa, with courage and genius 
 beyond her years, still retained the ingenuous con- 
 fidingness and some of the illusions of youth. She 
 believed in goodness, in honour, in all those noble 
 sentiments which she herself possessed, because she 
 had not yet suffered either from human perversity or 
 from the callous egotism of politicians ; so she re- 
 fused to doubt the sincerity of Fleury's protesta- 
 tions or the gratitude of a prince whose life had 
 been saved by her father. The Grand Duke also, 
 who had known Frederick in his youth, relied 
 on his friendship, and Frederick had confirmed the 
 young couple in their good opinion of him by 
 recognizing their royal title, and by inducing 
 the King of Poland to do the same. This was 
 a deceptive act; its object was to be revealed 
 in the future, but at first it gave so much satis- 
 faction at Vienna, that the Grand Duke said to 
 the Prussian minister : " Really the King is be- 
 having like a father to the Queen and myself
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 8 1 
 
 and we shall never be able to repay our obligations 
 to him." 
 
 Maria Theresa, who implicitly believed that she 
 had found in this good neighbour one who would 
 interest himself in her most cherished project, was 
 actually simple enough to ask Frederick's vote and 
 interest with the Electoral Assembly in favour of the 
 Grand Duke, and she promised him in return her 
 unchangeable affection. As for her aged councillors, 
 if they did not exactly share the blindness of the 
 wedded pair, their inaction confirmed it. When the 
 restlessness of the King of Prussia \vas spoken of, they 
 would shrug their shoulders, and say, " Do not be 
 afraid ; he will be just like his father, who all his life 
 kept his gun loaded, and never once fired it." Old 
 Bartenstein only was anxious. " We do not know 
 this young man," he would say, " and I made the 
 same remark to the late Emperor, when he per- 
 sisted in writing to his father to beg him to spare 
 his life." ' 
 
 Towards the end of November, however, the 
 clouds on the political horizon became too dark 
 to be ignored by even the least keen-sighted. 
 An alarming concentration of troops was taking 
 place on the frontier of Silesia, where the Austrian 
 dominions touched those of Prussia, and at the same 
 time the attitude of the Prussian minister at 
 
 1 D'Arneth, t. i. p. 110. Droysen, t. i. p. 172. Raumer, 
 
 Beitrage zur neuen Gcschicfitc, t. ii. p. 102, and following. 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 Vienna, General Borck, which had been extremely 
 amicable, underwent a significant change. He 
 assumed a tone of affected sympathy with reference 
 to the desperate condition- of the House of Austria, 
 which had, according to him, too many enemies to be 
 able to maintain its position without assistance. It 
 needed allies, he remarked, but allies must be paid 
 for, as nothing is to be had for nothing on this nether 
 earth. The sentence I have quoted from Frederick's 
 letter to Algarotti, which said that the Grand Duke 
 had the gangrene, and could only be cured by a 
 painful operation, was in the mouth of every one, and 
 gave rise to many commentaries. The metaphor of 
 " the gangrene " was clear enough, but what was 
 the operation, and who was the surgeon that would 
 offer to perform it ? A clear understanding of 
 those conditional offers which no one had solicited, 
 at the cost of indefinite sacrifices, must be arrived 
 at, and it was arranged that the Marchese Botta 
 d'Adorno, an old Italian of great experience, should 
 be sent to Berlin with that intention. 
 
 Botta was a fellow-countryman of Machiavelli, and 
 had studied, and perhaps occasionally practised his 
 maxims in his previous career, although he had 
 not employed his youth in refuting them. He 
 had no sooner passed the frontier and seen the 
 military preparations, than he perceived the truth : 
 all was ready for an aggressive expedition, of 
 which Silesia only could be the object. He arrived
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 83 
 
 at Berlin in a state of agitation, by no means allayed 
 by the audience that he speedily obtained, and at 
 which he gained no information whatever. Frederick 
 seemed to expect a proposal of some kind, instead 
 of being prepared to make one, and did not lead 
 the way to any overture. When Botta, to bring 
 the conversation round to the subject of warlike pre- 
 parations, complained of the bad state of the roads 
 which had been cut up by the moving of troops 
 during the autumn, the king replied coolly, " I do 
 not think that signifies much, except that travellers 
 are apt to get rather muddy." Towards the end 
 of the interview, however, he condescended to say 
 that his minister at Vienna had been directed to make 
 his intentions known to the Queen, and that in order 
 to complete these explanations, he was about to send 
 Count G otter, his Grand Marshal, to Maria Theresa. 
 " Let the Queen reflect well upon my communica- 
 tions," he added, "and she will see how reasonable 
 are my views, and how pure my intentions. Assure 
 her of my attachment." 
 
 Botta took leave of the king in a state of greater 
 fear and indignation than ever, and he was espe- 
 cially provoked that nobody would believe either in 
 his fear or his anger. No sooner was his arrival 
 announced, than the rumour spread like wild-fire 
 through Berlin, that he was the bearer of a treaty of 
 alliance offering the cession of the whole or a part of 
 Silesia, in return for Frederick's consent to the
 
 84 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 election of the Grand Duke. This soon became 
 the general conviction, and it seemed to be confirmed 
 by appearances. What other explanation was to 
 be given of the coming of an ambassador who had 
 nothing to say, and who went away, according to his 
 own account, without having learned anything ? or 
 of the departure of another envoy bearing protesta- 
 tions of friendship and regard, but who had to travel 
 by a road already lined with troops on a war footing ? 
 How was this complication to be accounted for, 
 except by a private agreement which was to be 
 kept secret to the last moment ! Botta's denials, 
 even his oaths, went for nothing. He was con- 
 gratulated on his skill in concealing his game, 
 although they did not intend to be taken in by it ; 
 and when Botta affirmed that Austria would resist 
 any invasion of its provinces, he would be met with, 
 " That is good ! We shall have another comedy ! 
 You want to have Silesia taken from you, to 
 surrender it to force only, so that it may not be 
 said that it is you yourselves who renounce the 
 Pragmatic Sanction." 
 
 Besides this, those who were about Frederick 
 gave weight to the rumour by the very manner 
 in which they contradicted it. Valori alone was 
 still in doubt, " for," said he, sensibly enough, 
 "if they are agreed, why ah 1 this commotion, and 
 what do we want with so many soldiers?" For all 
 that, he reported to his own Court what was the
 
 Tke Invasion of Silesia. 85 
 
 general opinion. " M. de Botta arrived here," he 
 writes on the 3rd of December, " feeling or pre- 
 tending to feel, great surprise at all the warlike pre- 
 parations which he observed in Silesia; he denies 
 any agreement between the Grand Duke and the 
 King." And on the 6th, " M. de Botta had an inter- 
 view with the King, who assured him of his devotion 
 to the Queen of Hungary. He is quite taken aback ; 
 .what does it all mean ? " And again on the 10th, 
 " M. de Botta is very angry ; if he is playing a part, 
 he does it wonderfully well." 2 But on the evening 
 of this very 10th of December, Frederick himself 
 sent for Botta, and, telling him that he intended to 
 assume the personal command of his troops, ex- 
 plained to him the mysterious plan that had kept 
 every one in suspense for the past six weeks. 
 
 What his plan was, is well-known. It was 
 nothing less than to seize upon Silesia the formal 
 demand being made to Maria Theresa simul- 
 taneously with the capture of the province without 
 either declaration of war or any kind of prelimi- 
 nary warning. All contemporary documents bear 
 witness to the indignation aroused in all who 
 entertained the smallest regard for honour and 
 morality by this perfidious conduct, which burst 
 like a bombshell upon astonished Europe. Time, 
 success, and fame have since then produced the usual 
 
 - Yalori to Amelot, 3rd, 6th, 10th December, 1740 (Corre- 
 spondance de Prnsse), Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 86 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 effect, and this cry of conscience has been but 
 feebly echoed by posterity. There have even been 
 historians out of Germany, and in particular 
 one celebrated English writer, Carlyle, who have 
 ventured to justify Frederick's action. The 
 archivists of Berlin seem bent upon reviving the 
 contemporary impression, which was becoming 
 effaced, for it is they who by their recent revelations 
 have shown us, to what an extent the sufficiently 
 odious character of this enterprise was aggravated, 
 even in its first stages, by the hypocrisy and deceit 
 which marked its clandestine elaboration. . 
 
 In the first place, we find, from a comparison of 
 the dates of the different documents published at 
 Berlin, that the very day on which the death of 
 Charles VI. was announced, Frederick made his 
 intention of robbing the daughter of his benefactor 
 known to his ministers. That he chose Silesia in 
 preference to any other portion of the patrimony 
 of Maria Theresa, is accounted for by the con- 
 tiguity of that province to his own States, a con- 
 tiguity which was not only a convenience, but which 
 also made the seizure a much easier undertaking. 
 As for the rights which he could allege in justi- 
 fication of this forcible annexation, I have several 
 reasons, for not entering upon that subject: 
 the first is that we shall find this side of the 
 question never occupied Frederick's mind; the 
 second is that those rights, if they ever existed,
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 87 
 
 had lapsed many centuries before, by virtue of 
 the tutelary law of prescription which ancient 
 law-givers have termed the benefactor of the 
 human race. Were it even true, as Droysen tries 
 to prove from legal and diplomatic documents, 
 that some of the duchies of Silesia had formerly 
 belonged to the Electors of Brandenburg, and were 
 only ceded by them in exchange for another princi- 
 pality, which was promised but never given to them, 
 what does that signify ? since the most recent of 
 these proceedings, whether true or false, dates from 
 1660, and since that period Austria and Prussia had 
 lived in peace for eighty-four years, had signed more 
 than one treaty of alliance, and had fought on the 
 same side even so recently as in the last war. If it 
 be allowable, after so long a period of oblivion, to 
 revive dormant pretensions, what prince, or even 
 what subject as Macaulay remarks could sleep 
 in peace ? Let us be as frank as Frederick himself, 
 and accept the confession he made to Voltaire and 
 which Voltaire out of decency induced him to refrain 
 from proclaiming to posterity, that he had no rights 
 to invoke, save such as he derived from " his troops 
 which were ready to act" and from his " well-filled 
 exchequer." We also have to add those furnished 
 by the weakness and the evil fortune of Maria 
 Theresa. 3 
 
 3 Voltaire says in his " Memoirs," that Frederick having 
 entrusted to him the MS. of his Histoire de mon Temps, he
 
 88 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 Orders were given to the two ministers, Podewils 
 and Schwerin, to prepare for the execution of a 
 project whose propriety they had neither time nor 
 permission to discuss ; and in obedience to this 
 command, they set to work, as they expressed it, in 
 language as noble and as elevated as their senti- 
 ments, " to chew and digest this business." If the 
 digestion was difficult, it was not protracted, for by 
 the 29th of October they had submitted to the King 
 a detailed statement of two plans, one of which 
 might succeed in case of the failure of the other. 
 
 The following is the gist of this double pro- 
 gramme. There are, say the commissaries, two 
 courses to pursue. The first and safest, the least 
 exposed to " those reverses and mishaps to which 
 great acquisitions are subject," would consist in 
 obtaining the desired cession voluntarily from the 
 Court of Vienna, by promising, in exchange, the 
 active assistance of Prussia in the perils by which it 
 was menaced, by preserving the imperial crown to it, 
 and defending it contra quoscumque. As it was to be 
 expected, that even at this price the Queen would 
 find it difficult to resign herself to the loss of so im- 
 portant a possession as Silesia, the best means of 
 inducing her to do so, would be the offer of " a couple 
 of millions," for her pressing pecuniary needs. If 
 
 made him erase the following sentence: " Troops always ready to 
 act, my well-filled treasury, and the vivacity of my disposition 
 these were my reasons for making war upon Maria Theresa."
 
 TJie Invasion of Silesia. 89 
 
 the Court of Vienna had the good sense to accept 
 these benevolent offers with due gratitude, then it 
 would be well to gain the adherence of the mari- 
 time powers, of Russia, and of all those who might 
 remember the ambition of Louis XIY. with misgiv- 
 ing, and to show them what a great service the King 
 proposed to render to the common cause of the 
 European balance of power, by saving the only 
 throne that could make head against the House of 
 Bourbon from certain danger. 
 
 But supposing the Court of Vienna should have 
 the " obstinacy and bigotry " not to appreciate the 
 proffered service, what was to be done ? In that 
 case it would be necessary to adopt a less safe and 
 more difficult method ; to turn round boldly with 
 offers of friendship to all the enemies of Maria 
 Theresa; Saxony, Bavaria, and even France, to 
 whose advantage it might be to deprive the descen- 
 dants of Charles V. of the imperial crown. The con- 
 quest of Silesia should be represented to them as the 
 first act of a powerful diversion made in the North in 
 their interest. Of course, there would no longer be 
 any question of protecting the balance of power in 
 Europe against France ; the intention, on the con- 
 trary, would then be to defend German liberties from 
 Austrian encroachments. Lastly, there remained 
 a third mode of action ; one which would be 
 simply perfect. In the event of a third power, 
 Saxony or Bavaria for instance, taking the initiative
 
 QO Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 by sending troops into Silesia, the King should 
 march into that province by way of defending it, and 
 retain possession of it. It was, however, hardly 
 reasonable to hope for so favourable a chance as 
 that. 4 
 
 To this document, which resembles in its style, 
 as well as in its ideas, that in which Moliere's famous 
 usurer duns the ' hard up ' minor, the King, fully 
 satisfied with the zeal of his servants, made only 
 one amendment. The advisers suggested negotia- 
 tions with the court of Vienna, but Frederick 
 considered it would save time to seize upon the 
 province first, and carry on the negotiations after- 
 wards. " It suited him better," says Droysen (who 
 highly approves of his proceedings), " to act on 
 the recommendation of the Spanish proverb, Take 
 first, and ask afterwards." 
 
 This method, more familiar to brigands than to 
 diplomatists, might have alarmed timid minds, so 
 Frederick at first suggested it tentatively. " I give 
 you," he says to Podewils, " a problem to solve. 
 When one is in a good position, should one take 
 advantage of it or not ? My troops and I are quite 
 ready for anything ; if I do not make use of this 
 good fortune, I fail to use an instrument which is 
 actually in my hand, but if I do use it, people 
 will say I have taken a shabby advantage of my 
 superiority over my neighbours." 5 
 
 4 " Pol. Corr." t. i. p. 74, and following. 5 Ibid, p. 84.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 91 
 
 As Podewils did not understand, or pretended not 
 to understand, it was necessary for Frederick to 
 explain himself more clearly, which he did by an 
 autograph note ending with these words : "I 
 decide that we ought to take possession of Silesia 
 before the winter, and to negotiate during that 
 season ... by acting otherwise, we put ourselves 
 out of our advantages." 6 
 
 Let us do justice to the prudent minister : 
 he was so frightened at the idea of an instant 
 appeal to arms, and at the greatness of the 
 stake for which it was proposed to play, that his 
 scruples were aroused by alarm ; the rights of the 
 crown of Brandenburg over Silesia no longer 
 appeared so clear to him, and he respectfully repre- 
 sented to the King, that, however well founded the 
 claims of his royal house might be, some solemn 
 treaties, upon whose provisions Austria would be 
 sure to take her stand, existed. The King imme- 
 diately sent back his humble remonstrance with 
 this simple note on the margin : " The article of 
 rights is the affair of the ministers, and your own. 
 It is time to occupy yourself with it ... for the 
 orders to the troops are given." 7 Upon this, 
 Podewils writes in a melancholy tone to his col- 
 league : "The King's ardour increases rather than 
 lessens. After having said all I think . . . there is 
 nothing for us but the merit of obedience. If 
 6 " Pol. Corr." t. i. p. 91. 7 Ibid. p. 90.
 
 92 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 only some external pretext might arise to justify 
 this advance ! But no. What is most distressing 
 is that Vienna does not make us any proposal what- 
 ever. They are as silent as the dead there. More- 
 over, the King of Poland will not stir until Bavaria 
 does. Would to heaven they would make some 
 move ! " 8 
 
 When a traveller is to be robbed on the high 
 road, it is essential that it should not be known, 
 and if the highwayman can pass for a friend 
 travelling with the victim, so much the better. 
 Secrecy was, then, of supreme importance to 
 Frederick's plans, and something more than 
 secrecy, that is, deception. It was necessary, not 
 merely that his purpose, as well as the time of its 
 execution, should be concealed until the decisive 
 moment, but that on the very day when the troops 
 were to cross the frontier, they should appear to 
 come there with the consent, and at the call, of the 
 legitimate sovereigns of the invaded province. In 
 this way no defensive measure would be taken, 
 and the invaded people themselves, believing they 
 had to do with allies, would make no resistance. 
 
 With this honest intention, everything was done 
 to keep up the delusion to the last ; thus we 
 have the explanation of that eager recognition 
 of the rights of Maria Theresa, which brought 
 tears to the eyes of the innocent young queen, and 
 8 Droysen, t, i. p. 143.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 93 
 
 which was only intended to lull her into a false 
 security. At the same moment, in fact, the Prussian 
 Minister at Vienna received communication of 
 all the details of the projected invasion, with 
 orders to feign complete ignorance, and to contradict 
 every rumour of it which might be circulated. The 
 " Correspondance Politique " also makes us ac- 
 quainted with a series of despatches addressed to 
 Prussian agents at the various Courts, all full of 
 declarations of friendship for the Imperial House. 
 These protestations were especially warm in 
 quarters where there was a chance that their purport 
 might be made known to Austria. A different 
 tone is taken with Versailles ; discreet allusions 
 are made in that instance to the advantage it 
 would be to Germany to emancipate herself from 
 the preponderating influence of Austria. This was 
 necessary in order that the way might be cleared 
 for opposite modes of action, as circumstances 
 might indicate. It is noticeable, however, that either 
 because the desire of cajoling Austria was at first 
 stronger than any other feeling, or because, as the 
 Marquis de Beauvau suspected, hatred of France 
 was with Frederick so irresistible a sentiment that he 
 could not suppress it, his language with respect to the 
 ministers of Louis XV. is always disdainful, and 
 almost insulting, even when he prescribes their being 
 conciliated with a view to the eventuality of a 
 possible alliance.
 
 94 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 All this is brought out clearly in a note so 
 extremely confidential that we are surprised at the 
 courageous candour which has revealed it. The 
 note is a paper in two columns, having on one 
 side the questions of the minister (Podewils) and on 
 the other the answers of Frederick. The minister 
 asks in what light the intentions of the King are to 
 be represented at St. Petersburg, the Hague, and 
 London. The King replies : " At each Court in a 
 different manner : in London, it must be said that, 
 having certain knowledge that the Duke of Lorraine 
 is going to make an agreement with France, I am 
 making approaches to Vienna, so as to oblige them to 
 take the side of the sailors and religion (the maritime 
 and Protestant powers). At the Hague we must 
 say that nothing against the peace of Europe is in- 
 tended, that Frederick William made himself useful 
 to the Emperor Leopold, and met with nothing but 
 ingratitude, but I mean to recompense myself first, 
 and do service afterwards. At Hanover, at Mayence, 
 we must talk about the necessity of heart-felt 
 patriotism, and say that I want to support the 
 Empire, and protect a House which is as yet weak." 
 "But," replies the minister, "in explaining to the 
 French ministers your Majesty's intentions in general, 
 should we not give them covertly to understand 
 that this enterprise might turn to the greatest ad- 
 vantages for France ? " Answer : " Good, we must 
 use fair means with these . . . ." 
 
 9 "Pol. Corr." vol. i. pp. 99 and 100.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 95 
 
 This is what Droysen calls a grand political com- 
 bination, in which he sees the germ from which the 
 German Fatherland has sprung. " Before Frede- 
 rick's time," says the Prussian historian, " a man was 
 either an Austrian or a Frenchman, never a German. 
 Frederick is the first who had a policy of his own, 
 a policy that was truly independent, and really 
 national. If Germany had existed then," he exclaims 
 with enthusiasm, " she would have understood that 
 Frederick was serving her cause." 
 
 It might be observed that for a German prince 
 to seek assistance in his projects, from within or 
 from without the common country, indifferently, 
 according as either would serve his personal interest, 
 appears to be the reverse of patriotism. But 
 every one holds his own view about national 
 feeling, and in this matter, also, there is no dis- 
 puting about taste. 
 
 We are still less disposed to agree with Droysen 
 when he adds, with true German gravity, that the 
 conduct of Frederick was the strict application of 
 those moral and puritan doctrines which he had 
 professed in his " Anti-Machiavel." But I must 
 pause here, for a discussion of the morals of the 
 case would bring up still graver points. 
 
 Whether the device was moral or not, and 
 chiefly, perhaps, because it was not, it was effec- 
 tual in creating and keeping up the optical de- 
 lusion by which the European and German public 
 were, for a short time, beguiled. Even in his
 
 96 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 decisive interview with Botta, Frederick tried 
 to maintain this delusion, for, after lie had re- 
 vealed his intentions, he said, in an insinuating 
 tone : " I am going to Silesia, but, you under- 
 stand, as a good friend (come buono amico) ; not 
 so much to establish any rights I may have, as to 
 defend the hereditary rights of the Queen against 
 all her enemies, especially Saxony and Bavaria, 
 who are ready to attack her. I want to place 
 the Imperial crown on the head of the Grand 
 Duke." 
 
 The wary Italian had self-command enough to keep 
 an impassive countenance. He let the King finish 
 his speech, and then said, with an ironical smile : " I 
 did not, then, deceive myself when I believed your 
 Majesty to be most affectionately disposed towards 
 the Queen, my sovereign, although I confess that more 
 than one person at Vienna holds such confidence 
 on my part to be absolutely heroic (puro eroismo); 
 but I must beg your Majesty to observe that neither 
 Saxony nor Bavaria makes any sign of attacking 
 us, and should they think of doing so, my sovereign is 
 able to defend herself, if your Majesty will only be 
 content with looking on, especially as those two 
 Powers would find it difficult to act in concert." 
 The King began again to protest, but Botta 
 at last lost patience, and said haughtily, " Your 
 troops are fine, Sire, but ours have smelt powder." 
 " If mine are fine," returned the King," they are also
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 97 
 
 good, and you will soon find it out." Then he rose, 
 terminating the interview abruptly. 1 
 
 This conversation had been timed so that the 
 courier who carried the news of it to Vienna should 
 arrive only a few hours before Frederick's new 
 envoy. He had the start of him so far, however, 
 that when Count Gotter arrived, he found the news 
 already spread, the town in commotion, and indig- 
 nation at its height, especially in diplomatic circles. 
 The only topic was the design of the King of 
 Prussia. " If such a thing be done," said the English 
 minister, " the King will be excommunicated by the 
 society of governments." The young Queen was by 
 this time sufficiently well known to make it certain 
 that she could neither be bewildered by surprise nor 
 affected by threats. Count Gotter, warned of the 
 reception that awaited him, took a high tone, and 
 at once assumed the position of the Roman Pro- 
 consul who carried peace or war in the folds of his 
 toga. Instead of sending his request as usual through 
 the ministers or chamberlains, he asked directly for 
 an audience of the Grand Duke. 
 
 After the first words, " I bear," said he, "in one 
 hand the salvation of the House of Austria, and in the 
 other the Imperial Crown for your Highness. The 
 treasury of the King my master is at the service of 
 the Queen ; he will also secure to her the assistance 
 of his allies, England, Holland, and Russia. In 
 1 D'Arncth, vol. i. p. 115. Droysen, vol. i. p. 164. 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 return for these offers, and to compensate for 
 the peril he incurs by making them, he demands 
 the whole of Silesia, but nothing less. The King's 
 determination is immovable ; he will, he can take 
 Silesia, and if it be not offered to him with a good 
 grace, he will give his troops and his money to 
 Saxony and Bavaria, who are soliciting him to do 
 so." This was entirely false ; neither Saxony nor 
 Bavaria had made the shadow of a proposition. 
 But perhaps Gotter himself was the dupe of his 
 master's falsehoods. 
 
 The Grand Duke's answer was calm and dignified. 
 " The Queen," he said, "had neither the right nor the 
 power to cede a particle of the territory which she 
 received only on the condition of keeping it indivisi- 
 ble. She is not reduced to such despair that she must 
 throw herself into the arms of a prince who enters 
 her States as an enemy, and whatever harm may 
 be done to her by the King of Prussia, we may hope 
 that he will do more harm to himself." " If thisis the 
 case," said Gotter, " I have nothing to do here, and 
 may take my departure." The Grand Duke resumed, 
 asking him categorically whether the Prussian troops 
 were or were not at that moment on the soil of 
 Silesia. " They must be there by this time," an- 
 swered the envoy. "Keturn then to your master, 
 and tell him that, so long as he leaves one man upon 
 the territory of that province, we will perish rather 
 than treat with him. But if he still can pause, or if
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 99 
 
 he will withdraw, we are willing to negotiate with 
 him at Berlin. Botta has his instructions already, 
 and as for me, neither for the Imperial Crown, nor 
 for the whole world, would I sacrifice any single 
 right of the Queen's, nor one inch of her legitimate 
 and hereditary realm." 
 
 Gotter, taken aback by the Grand Duke's bearing, 
 lowered his tone in some degree. " You cannot 
 seriously ask the King," he said, " to draw back from 
 an enterprise which is already so far advanced." 
 " When an enterprise is manifestly unjust," said the 
 Grand Duke, " it is more honourable in the eyes of 
 the world to renounce it than to persevere in it. But 
 if the King needs an excuse for the withdrawal of 
 his troops, he may say that his object in the ad- 
 vance was to defend the Queen against attack by 
 Bavaria, and that he found his assistance was not 
 needed." Gotter reflected for a moment upon this 
 overture ; it was not one in reality, but it possessed 
 the advantage of preventing an immediate rupture, 
 and then, as if he were granting a favour though 
 none had been asked of him he consented to write 
 to Frederick, and wait for his answer. 2 
 
 The Grand Duke's language had been so clear, so 
 firm, so unlike what might have been expected from 
 his undecided character, that every one understood 
 by whom these terms had been dictated. He had 
 spoken too as if the Queen were present, and, in 
 2 D'Arneth, vol. i. p. 120. 
 
 n 2
 
 ioo Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 fact, during one of the subsequent interviews, she 
 was so near the door that, at a certain moment, 
 thinking things had gone far enough, she called her 
 husband, and took him away with her. Gotter, who, 
 of course, ought to have insisted on seeing her, did 
 not even venture to ask for an audience, for fear, as 
 he wrote to Podewils, of confirming the rupture, but 
 in reality to avoid the odium of a scene of violence 
 with a woman. The murmur of disapprobation which 
 came to him from all sides troubled him, notwith- 
 standing his apparent boldness. " All is in com- 
 motion here," he writes ; " the tocsin is sounded, the 
 cry of * fire ' is raised. I congratulate myself on not 
 having pushed matters too far. The King is an 
 intelligent prince who will, I hope, find a honour- 
 able way out of this business." He was more ex- 
 plicit with the English ambassador ; to him he said, 
 " You do not know my sovereign. You do not know 
 how obstinate and presumptuous he is. He is a 
 strange mixture of ambition and avarice." 3 Then 
 Gotter, to get out of his own difficulty, left Vienna 
 on the pretext that, while waiting for an answer to 
 his despatches, he would take a course of baths at a 
 neighbouring spa, although the middle of winter was 
 not exactly the season for trying the cure. 4 
 
 Gotter knew well that it was too late to recall 
 
 3 Droysen, t. i. p. 178. 
 
 4 Ibid., 1. i. p. 180. D'Arneth, t. i. p. 127. Raumer, t. ii. 
 p. 21.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 101 
 
 Frederick to moderation. He had spoken the 
 truth when he said that the Prussian troops were 
 already on Silesian territory. He had been received 
 by the Grand Duke on the 20th, and on the 16th 
 Frederick had left Berlin to take the command of his 
 forces. It is probable that Botta's demeanour had 
 convinced him he had no weakness to expect from 
 the Court of Vienna, for, just before his departure, 
 he sent for the Marquis de Yalori, to whom he had 
 not spoken for six weeks. Yalori arrived, much 
 puzzled, and wondering whether the clash of arms 
 which prevailed everywhere implied a pretence or 
 a reality. The first interview was too vague to re- 
 lieve his uncertainty ; for the King, far from explain- 
 ing himself, tried to make the marquis speak. " I 
 am still waiting," he said, " to hear what the Cardinal 
 thinks, and what the King your master is going to do 
 for me." He then launched forth in praise of the 
 Cardinal, and as Valori, no doubt, revealed by 
 some significant look that he well knew this tone 
 had not been usual at Rheinsberg : " Ah ! " he 
 said, " you must not mind any little jests which may 
 escape me ; that is my manner ; I am sorry for it ; 
 but in reality I yield to none in my esteem, and 
 even veneration, for a great man who is endowed 
 with so many remarkable qualities. On my word, 
 sir, he is the greatest man France has ever 
 produced." 
 
 " As for the military preparation," adds Valori
 
 1O2 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 (immediately transmitting the compliment to the 
 Cardinal himself), " he tells me I need not be at all 
 uneasy; that it does not interfere in the slightest 
 degree with any views we may have ; that I shall 
 be one of the first to be informed of his reasons and 
 motives, which he considers well founded ; and that 
 the King must not take umbrage at it." All this, 
 however, was so vague that Valori says, " I incline 
 to think he has an understanding with the Grand 
 Duke, and that your Eminence is aware of this." 
 
 The second conversation was more significant. 
 Frederick plainly asked whether it was not the 
 intention, as it was the interest, of France, to take 
 the Imperial Crown from the House of Austria, and 
 to give it to the Elector of Bavaria, and whether, in 
 that case, the King would not be glad to have him as 
 an ally ? Observe that, at this very time, the crown 
 had been offered to the Grand Duke in his name. 
 
 " I answered," says Valori, " that it was impos- 
 sible for me to form any conjecture respecting the 
 views of your Eminence, but that I believed myself 
 authorized to assure him that the King would re- 
 spond, with pleasure, to any steps taken by him to 
 unite them ; and as he added upon this that he 
 had several projects, which were all in accordance 
 with the interests of France, I asked him whether 
 he would favour me by communicating one of 
 
 5 Yalori to the Cardinal, December 10, 1740 (Correspon- 
 dance de Prusse}, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 103 
 
 them to me, which I would instantly send off by a 
 courier. He said, that before he did this, he must 
 know what were the ideas of the Cardinal, that 
 I might tell him he had despatched Count Truchsess 
 to England, but that he would recall him so soon 
 as he should have an assurance that the King was 
 ready to treat with him. I then told him it was 
 publicly reported in Vienna that he had made 
 engagements with the Grand Duke, and had even 
 secured to him three votes for the Imperial dignity. 
 His answer was, that this was a great mistake, that 
 his vote was still to be had (a louer), but that if he 
 did not see his way to forming an alliance with 
 the King, he would seek for friends to second his 
 views ; that for his own part, he cared little who 
 might be Emperor, and that his conduct in this 
 respect would be regulated by his own interests 
 or those of his allies, but he wished again to repeat 
 that his friendship was not to be despised, for it 
 was in his power to forward any plans the King 
 might have ; that his aggrandizement could give no 
 offence, and that he stood naturally in the position 
 of the King's northern ally ... in short, that 
 there were a good many things which we could do 
 together. 
 
 " I replied that it was impossible to doubt the 
 intention of the King to do everything that could 
 contribute to strengthen the bonds of amity between 
 them. * All that, my friend,' he replied, ' has
 
 104 Frederick II . and Maria Theresa. 
 
 been merely talk up to the present time ; we 
 have never, till this moment, had an opportunity 
 of doing anything worth the doing ; the time has 
 now come for me to know whether the Cardinal 
 wants me or not. ... If he does, the affair will 
 not be long delayed; I will give you my ideas, 
 and should like to be informed of his. I warn you 
 that I am in haste, and must know what I am to 
 depend upon. No one can do more good to the 
 house of Bavaria than I, or more ably forward your 
 master's views without compromising him in any 
 way. After we have parleyed for some time, the 
 King may pose as mediator. There will be negotia- 
 tions, and he will pronounce as we have agreed. 
 You must own, that I am giving him a part which 
 equally suits his dignity and his taste.' ' Be 
 assured, my dear friend,' he continued, ' that it is 
 a mistake to think all this can take place without 
 swords being drawn. The young people must lead 
 off the dance. After all, if I extend my territories 
 on this side what does it matter to you ? Ought 
 you not to be very glad that I should do my busi- 
 ness on these terms ? If the King reflects, he will 
 see that my alliance is not to be despised.' He 
 then explained that the best plan would be to unite 
 the two crowns by a defensive alliance, into which 
 the northern powers, Sweden and Denmark, should 
 be induced to enter." 6 
 
 6 Valori to Amelot, December 13, 1740.
 
 The Invasion of Silesia. 105 
 
 Valori left the King's presence more troubled 
 than ever, still distrusting the sincerity of the 
 speaker, and very much alarmed at the idea of giving 
 him an eventual security against the consequences 
 of his adventure by means of a defensive treaty. 
 Meeting Podewils on his way, he tried to draw him 
 out by pretending to know what he only suspected. 
 " You are not aware," said he, as he shook hands 
 warmly with the minister, "but I can tell you 
 that the King, your master, is in correspondence 
 with the Grand Duke, and that they have come 
 to an understanding." Podewils went off imme- 
 diately to communicate this pretended confidence to 
 Frederick. " Bah ! " replied the King, in a confi- 
 dential note, " cajole him as you are well able to do, 
 and make him believe that I shall never dissever 
 my interest from that of France." To the Marquis 
 de Beauvau, who had come to take leave, he said, 
 in a loud and emphatic voice, so as to be heard and 
 repeated, " I am going to play for a high stake, and 
 if I turn up aces, we will go shares." That even- 
 ing there was a masquerade at the palace ; Frederick 
 appeared in a domino, unmasked, took part merrily 
 in every amusement, talked at some length, in a 
 window, with the English Minister, and when the 
 guests were taking leave, said to the officers who 
 surrounded him, " Grease your boots, we are off." 7 
 
 1 "Pol. Corr." vol. i. pp. 147, 148. Voltaire, "Hemoires." 
 Frederick, "Ilistoire de mon Temps."
 
 1 06 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 Two days after this, they had crossed tlie frontier, 
 and he wrote from his headquarters at Schleidnitz, 
 the first post in Silesia : " I have passed the Rubicon, 
 my dear Podewils, drums beating and colours 
 flying ; my troops are willing, the officers are am- 
 bitious, the generals eager for fame ; all will be 
 as we wish ; a certain instinct for which we cannot 
 account assures me of every kind of good fortune. 
 I shall not reappear in Berlin without having made 
 myself worthy of my origin, and of the brave 
 soldiers whom I have the honour to command. 
 Adieu. May God have you in His keeping." 8 
 
 While Frederick was marching upon the capital 
 of Silesia, along the high road to Vienna, a courier, 
 carrying letters from Yalori and Beauvau to the 
 Cardinal, was on his way to France. The commu- 
 nications of the two envoys did not tally. Beauvau, 
 still convinced of the ill-will, and even the enmity 
 of Frederick, believed immediate action on the 
 part of France to be necessary; in his opinion 
 she ought either to unite with Bavaria and Prussia 
 against Austria, so as to have her part in the 
 spoils, or come to the aid of the latter, and make her 
 pay for the aid afforded. But in one way or the 
 other, something must be done, otherwise the daring 
 prince would take advantage of his first success 
 to effect a reconciliation with Maria Theresa, and 
 
 8 "Pol. Corr." vol. i. pp. 147, 148. Voltaire, "Memoircs.'
 
 TJie Invasion of Silesia. 107 
 
 France would have to cope with the two young 
 monarchs at the same moment. " I fear," he said, 
 " that your Eminence is not aware how dangerous a 
 sovereign the King of Prussia is. His conduct is 
 more like a romance than history, but the romance 
 may produce fatal consequences." Yalori was more 
 reserved ; in his opinion it would be wiser to wait 
 and allow Frederick to set Germany in a blaze with- 
 out overt interference. " This course," he said, 
 " would make every one seek our alliance, but would 
 not give rise to jealousy." 9 
 
 The question for France was, then, whether to 
 associate herself with Frederick's unscrupulous 
 ambition, or to oppose it, or merely to await, fully 
 prepared, the favourable moment for appearing on 
 the troubled scene. Such were the three courses, 
 among which French diplomatists had to choose. 
 Strange to say, this decision, perhaps the gravest 
 that ever fell to the lot of a minister of France, 
 and whose ultimate consequences it has taken more 
 than a century to evolve, rested with an aged 
 statesman who had reached the confines of human 
 life. 
 
 8 Beauvau to Amelot, December 17, 1748 (Correspon- 
 dance de Prusse), Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 io8 Frederick II. and Maria 71ieresa. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Intervention of France State of Europe, and of the Empire at 
 the commencement of the war The policy which should 
 have heen pursued by France with regard to the German 
 quarrel Why that policy was not adopted Reminiscences of 
 the contest carried on, for two centuries, against the house of 
 Austria The success of that struggle had rendered it use- 
 less to protract it Indecision in the Council of Louis XV. 
 The Court carries the day against the government, who 
 therefore decide upon supporting the aggressions of Frederick 
 and the claims of the Elector of Bavaria Count de Belle- 
 Isle His birth, the opening of his career, his disposition 
 The first interview of Belle-Isle with Fleury Fleury un- 
 willingly follows Belle-Isle's advice Effect of the interven- 
 tion of France Frederick becomes master of the position 
 Both England and France make advances to him A second 
 interview between Frederick and Valori He demands active 
 intervention from France England offers to mediate, but this 
 proposal is rejected by Maria Theresa The people of Silesia 
 revolt Frederick becomes uneasy He makes advances to 
 France Belle-Isle is sent to Germany as ambassador to 
 the Electoral Diet State of Europe at the opening of 
 the Diet England Holland Russia Sweden The 
 pretensions of Spain in Italy Secret designs of the King 
 of Sardinia State of the Empire Dismemberment and 
 powerlessness of the German nation Nominal power of the 
 Emperor, the government, the administration of justice, and 
 the armies of the Empire Religious dissensions They in- 
 tensify political divisions Irritation against France is shared 
 by all parties in Germany Cause of that irritation Effect 
 of this feeling on the part played by Frederick and by Prussia 
 in Germany. 
 
 AN anecdote that we find in all the memoirs of the 
 time, gives a striking picture of the mood in which
 
 The Intervention of France. 109 
 
 the events that were occurring in Germany found 
 Louis XV.. his ministers, and his Court. When the 
 death of Charles VI. and its probable results were 
 discussed at Versailles, the King, who had at first 
 remained silent, at length remarked carelessly, in 
 his usual languid tone, " There is but one thing for 
 us to do, and that is to keep quiet on the Mont 
 Pagnote," ] on which the Marquis de Souvre exclaimed 
 eagerly, " Your Majesty would find it cold, for none 
 of your ancestors has ever built up there." 
 
 The King's remark is characteristic from its very 
 triviality. We completely recognize Louis XV. 
 in it, with the clear perception and practical good 
 sense that were his by nature; precious gifts by 
 which France never profited, because, to be worthy 
 of a king, they needed to be elevated by generosity, 
 and sustained by strength of will, and Louis XV. 
 possessed neither. The reply of the courtier is still 
 more significant, for it shows us, in a single phrase, 
 into how fatal a path an ill-understood tradition, 
 which had become the object of a false point of 
 honour, was about to betray France. 
 
 If we consider the various courses that might 
 have been adopted by the government of Louis - 
 XV., at this crisis which involved France, as well 
 as all Europe, we find two, different indeed, 
 but not opposed, or altogether irreconcilable, 
 either of which might fairly have been adopted. 
 
 1 " Rcstcr sur le Monte Pagnote.'" See Note in Appendix to Vol. I.
 
 1 10 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 The one was, perhaps, in more exact accordance 
 with the dictates of the point of honour ; the other 
 was more appropriate to the legitimate sugges- 
 tions of national interest. The King of France 
 might hasten, not only to confirm the recognition of 
 engagements he had entered into by the treaty of 
 1738, with regard to the order of succession as de- 
 fined by the Pragmatic Sanction, but to promise and 
 prepare for their execution. This would have been 
 to forestall Maria Theresa's appeal, by a chivalrous 
 impulse, which, I own, is neither customary nor 
 obligatory between sovereigns. Again, he might, 
 without any breach of his promises, avoid any 
 explanation respecting the mode of fulfilling them, 
 until the daughter of Charles VI. should be forced 
 by necessity to call upon her allies for help. When 
 that day came, he could not be blamed, if, before 
 entering on an expensive campaign, he were to 
 stipulate on behalf of his people, for compensation 
 proportionate to the pecuniary sacrifices they would 
 have to make, or to the perils they would have 
 to encounter in defence of the Imperial cause. The 
 opportunity would speedily have presented itself, as 
 we have seen. The sudden invasion of Silesia placed 
 the good faith of one of the sureties of the Pragmatic 
 Sanction in advantageous contrast with the perfidy 
 of the other, and, as nothing is absolutely gratuitous 
 in politics, Austria might fairly have been asked to 
 reward the loyalty of a faithful ally at a price, which
 
 The Intervention of France. 1 1 1 
 
 would have appeared to be moderate, regarded in 
 the light of that comparison. Such a line of action 
 would, moreover, have naturally ensued upon that 
 so wisely taken by the conventions of 1738. By 
 allowing Maria Theresa to select the husband 
 whom she preferred, Fleury had obtained, at that 
 time, not only the cession of Lorraine, but also 
 the advantage of securing the continuity of our 
 territory on the eastern side up to the strong 
 barrier of the Vosges. And now, in 1740, by pro- 
 moting the elevation of her beloved consort to the 
 Imperial dignity, Fleury might fairly propose to 
 obtain some analogous concession, some dismember- 
 ment of the Low Countries, or of Luxemburg, by 
 which our northern frontier would be thrown back, 
 and brought nearer to the Rhine. It will be shown by 
 the sequel that Maria Theresa would have consented 
 with little hesitation to even a considerable sacrifice 
 of this nature. It is, also, only natural to suppose 
 that she would have preferred an honourable ally, 
 who would have asked no more than the eventual 
 cession of a fragment detached from her distant 
 possessions in return for his assistance, to an 
 insolent aggressor, like Frederick, who aimed at the 
 very heart of her empire. That fragment of terri- 
 tory, of little value to Maria Theresa, would have 
 completed the defence and the unity of our own 
 national soil. 
 
 These, no doubt, were the chances foreseen by
 
 1 1 2 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 Louis XV., and for which he thought it well to 
 wait, his natural indolence contributing, no doubt, 
 both to his previsions and his patience. This view 
 was even more strongly taken by his aged minister, 
 who, as I have said, was naturally disposed to 
 play the waiting game, and had, indeed, done 
 so to the extent of encouraging the hopes of 
 Bavaria and the audacity of Prussia by his in- 
 decision. The least he could have proposed to 
 himself was to take adroit advantage of a situa- 
 tion he had helped to create. First to encourage, 
 and then to trade upon the affections and the 
 wounded pride of a young woman, was a game 
 that came easy to an octogenarian, whose age, while 
 it rendered him insensible to the passions of the 
 heart, made him all the more skilful in manipulating 
 its weaknesses. 
 
 France, in short, had to choose between an act of 
 almost ideal disinterestedness, and a course, which, 
 though one of calculation, was yet moderately and 
 sufficiently honourable. Except these two, the only 
 line she could take was that of breaking all her en- 
 gagements, without either provocation or excuse, and 
 throwing herself blindfold into the hazards of a 
 continental aggression, on the eve of a naval war; 
 and all this she might do for the sake of a pretender 
 without troops, like the Elector of Bavaria, and in 
 concert with a faithless ally like the invader of Silesia. 
 This line of action would strangely combine every
 
 T/ie Intervention of France. 113 
 
 kind of wrong with every sort of danger, and 
 unite imprudence to perfidy. Nevertheless, this 
 third course was, after due reflection, adopted by 
 France. 
 
 The main cause of this error, whose consequences 
 remain to this day, was the abiding influence of 
 the memory of the long struggle that had been 
 carried on between the Houses of France and 
 Austria for centuries. In this also lies the sole 
 excuse for those who committed the fault. To 
 abase the House of Austria had been a principal 
 political aim of the sovereigns of France, and it 
 was abetted by every minister who possessed his 
 master's confidence, from the time of Francis I. to 
 that of Louis XIV. Illustrious generals had shed 
 their blood on the field of battle in furtherance 
 of that great design. The memory of Richelieu, 
 Mazarin, Conde, Turenne, and Yillars was venerated 
 by their countrymen because of the blows they had 
 struck at the preponderance of the House of Austria. 
 To break with a tradition in which they had been 
 nurtured, and with which all those who spoke or 
 fought in the name of France, from the ambassador 
 down to the least of the diplomatic agents, from the 
 general at the head of his army to the humblest 
 engineer employed in fortifying a citadel, were, so to 
 speak, inoculated, would have been a difficult, if not 
 an unintelligible attempt at any time. But at a 
 moment when, by an unhoped-for chance, a crushing 
 
 VOL. I. i
 
 H4 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 blow might be dealt to the hereditary enemy, the 
 King of France would appear to be resisting the 
 call of Providence, and insulting the ashes of his 
 ancestors, by stretching out a helping hand to that 
 enemy. 
 
 Even the wise reasoned after this fashion, 
 making but one mistake they failed to reflect that 
 precisely because that policy had filled two centuries 
 with glorious action, it had attained its end, and 
 fulfilled its time. The truest homage, in reality, 
 that could have been rendered by Louis XV. 
 to his predecessors would have been to acknow- 
 ledge (as history ought to acknowledge at the present 
 day) that they had so successfully advanced their 
 claims against Austria, that, their task being accom- 
 plished, it was neither necessary nor even prudent to 
 push those claims any further. One backward glance 
 towards the past was sufficient to show that every- 
 thing had been accomplished, that there remained 
 nothing for which to labour. What an extent of 
 territory had been gained from the time of Francis I. 
 to that of Louis XV. ! What distances had been 
 traversed ! How much greatness had been acquired ! 
 Immortal honour is the meed of the royal house to 
 which the unparalleled progress of those long years 
 is due ; and posterity, still preserving the mutilated 
 remains of that inheritance, after all our mis- 
 fortunes, owes deep gratitude to the Bourbon kings. 
 
 At the beginning of the sixteenth century,
 
 The Intervention of France. 1 1 5 
 
 Charles V. was Emperor of Germany, King of Spain, 
 and master of Italy and the Low Countries ; as if by 
 the stroke of a magician's wand, he had become the 
 possessor of apparently inexhaustible riches and 
 limitless territory beyond the seas. It was the 
 empire of the world that had to be wrested from 
 the new Caesar. One nation only, France, I might 
 almost say one single family, had taken in hand the 
 cause of the independence of nations, and she had 
 proved equal to the task. One hundred years later, 
 thanks to France and her rulers, the phantom of 
 universal monarchy had disappeared, but a me- 
 nacing reality was still in existence. The House of 
 Austria, enfeebled and severed without being des- 
 troyed, divided into two branches springing from one 
 stem, still held France, on north, east, and south, 
 in a formidable grip. "With Flanders, Alsatia, 
 Franche-Comte, and Navarre in the occupation of 
 her troops, and her squadrons cruising in the 
 Mediterranean, she had easy access to our territory 
 in every direction, across an unguarded frontier, or 
 by an open coast. It was then that Richelieu boldly 
 flung the French army into all the hazards of the 
 Thirty Years' War ; and thenceforward a series of 
 victories had loosened, one by one, every link of 
 that iron chain. Eocroi, Senef, and Fleurus, had 
 successively brought about the cession of Cambrai, 
 Besancon, and Strasburg. The pride of Louis XIV., 
 severely punished by the misfortunes of his old 
 
 i 2
 
 1 1 6 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 age, had temporarily endangered, though it had 
 not destroyed these results, and finally, after some 
 reverses the just chastisement of our own errors 
 fortune had returned to our side, and Denain had 
 securely fixed the crowns of Spain and Sicily on 
 the head of a Bourbon. 
 
 The horizon had cleared on all sides, and Louis 
 XV. was enjoying perfect security at Versailles. 
 Had he been indeed worthy to reap the fruits of 
 that far-sighted policy, he would have contented him- 
 self with enjoying them, or at any rate in striving 
 to complete, he would have been careful not to jeo- 
 pardize it. He would have recognized in the treaty 
 of 1738 a striking proof of the changes that had 
 been effected in the relative strength of the two 
 rival kingdoms. Far from despising the paternal 
 counsels of Charles VI., who appealed on his 
 death-bed to the guarantees given by France as 
 the supreme hope of his race, he would have 
 received them with pride and cordiality. And in 
 fact, could Louis XIV. himself, amid all his splen- 
 dour, have seen a prouder vision than that of 
 the great-niece of Charles V. becoming the ward 
 of his grandson, and asking only that the balance 
 of power, established by the Treaties of Westphalia 
 and Utrecht, should be maintained, the first of 
 those diplomatic achievements having inaugurated, 
 and the other crowned his reign ? 
 
 From this point of view, the Pragmatic Sanction,
 
 The Intervention of France. 1 1 7 
 
 which guaranteed the territorial status quo of 
 Europe, far from destroying or endangering the 
 results of our old policy, was a confirmation, nay, 
 almost a definitive sanction of it. But this truth 
 was not rightly estimated, perhaps not even per- 
 ceived by Louis XV. and his Council ; at any rate, 
 it was not set forth with the authority that the 
 course of events enables us to ascribe to it. There 
 was, indeed, a debate between Fleury and his col- 
 leagues, but it did not touch upon this important 
 point. Fleury, who was desirous above all things to 
 preserve peace, and to let events take their course, 
 advanced shabby considerations of economy, the 
 straits of the treasury, aggravated by bad seasons 
 in recent years, the disorganization of the army, 
 which had not yet recovered from the losses of the 
 last war, and the general exhaustion of the country. 
 Amelot, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Mau- 
 repas, Minister of Marine, who were both in favour 
 of a more active policy, met his arguments by 
 others that were equally feeble drawn from tra- 
 ditions they had failed to understand, and from 
 inapplicable precedents reasons that suggest them- 
 selves to shallow minds, unable to travel out of 
 the beaten track. It is impossible to say which of 
 those two equally blind forces, inertia or routine, 
 would have prevailed, if a more energetic and what 
 I may call a more youthful influence, had not inter- 
 vened. At all times, and in public affairs as in private
 
 n8 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 life, youth has delighted in frustrating the calcula- 
 tions of experience. Old politicians are too apt to 
 disregard this somewhat ill-regulated force. Even 
 iu our large democracies, the instincts and desires 
 of each new generation periodically disturb the 
 social body, and operate, like yeast, in the fermenta- 
 tion of the masses. But it was quite another thing 
 in the narrow circle of Versailles. In the small 
 space where, within a few square yards, the destiny 
 of a great people was decided, every action multi- 
 plied itself a hundred-fold. There the young, rest- 
 less, idle nobility of France lived, talked, and passed 
 their days, meddling with everything precisely because 
 they had nothing to do, in a spirit all the more 
 critical in proportion to their lack of reflection, and 
 with all the opportunities of gaining the ear of 
 their master afforded by the king's petits levers and 
 petits couchers, by royal Masses and royal hunting 
 parties, Court journeys, and parties of pleasure and 
 devotion. The stern glance of Louis XIV. would 
 have restrained, but the easy carelessness of Louis 
 XV. encouraged them. There was nothing to mode- 
 rate their impetuosity, or to check their loquacity : 
 both the actions and the words of the ministers 
 were judged at their tribunal, and the ceaseless 
 buzzing they kept up must have been distracting. 
 From the first, the young nobility of the Court 
 were clamorous for an attack upon enfeebled 
 Austria, and, lest so good an opportunity of making
 
 The Intervention of France. \ 1 9 
 
 war should be let slip, they loudly demanded an 
 immediate beginning of hostilities. 
 
 These doughty champions were not actuated solely 
 by the spirit of adventure and love of renown 
 natural to all who don the sword for the first time ; 
 they were also eager because the last war, although 
 honourable to France, had done little for aspirant 
 heroes. 
 
 Owing to a . peculiarity sufficiently explained by 
 the age of the prime minister, all the commands in 
 that campaign had been reserved for elderly generals, 
 who had served in the wars of the previous reign. 
 Villars, the most illustrious of them all, had actually 
 died in harness of old age, envying the fate of 
 his comrade, Berwick, who was carried off by a 
 bullet at the same time, but who was over sixty 
 years old. Noailles, Broglie, and Coigny, who suc- 
 ceeded them, were hardly less advanced in life. But in 
 Fleury's eyes, these were young men, he had known 
 them from their birth, he had seen them grow up, 
 and to him (I have observed this delusion on the 
 part of illustrious old men) any man under fifty 
 was a boy. Therefore, it was not surprising that 
 a new military race should have risen up behind 
 these veterans, a race of soldiers eager to enter 
 on the scene, and to win, by a war of their own 
 making, a meed of fame that should be all their 
 own. They were the more anxious to go down into 
 the arena, because they hoped, this time, to rouse
 
 1 20 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 the King from his torpor, and carry him with them 
 on the path of victory. 
 
 Ib was full time, no doubt, for in that censorious 
 atmosphere it was whispered that the King, now 
 in the very prime of life, had not hitherto seemed 
 anxious to imitate his ancestors by taking a per- 
 sonal share in military operations, either by com- 
 manding like Henri IV., sharing their dangers like 
 Louis XIII., or even inspecting them from a distance 
 like Louis XIV. Not on the banks of a river that 
 his troops had crossed was Louis detained by his 
 royal greatness, but in the heart of Versailles, far 
 from even the echoes of battle, and that without 
 even the affectation of regret. As no suspicion 
 could attach to the courage of a Bourbon, the King's 
 singular conduct was attributed to the habits in 
 which he was educated, to the care, I might almost 
 say the worship, of his royal person to which 
 his estimable, but obsequious preceptors at first, and 
 afterwards the consort with whom an unequal mar- 
 riage had united him in his early youth, had 
 accustomed him. The excellent Maria Leczinska, 
 dazzled by her unhoped-for greatness, scarcely 
 dared to lift her eyes to her bridegroom's face, but 
 regarded him as a god who was never to be troubled 
 about anything : constantly dreading that she 
 might lose him, and with him lose everything, she 
 would hardly let him out of her sight. How could 
 she, brought up at a distance from royal rank
 
 The Intervention of France. 121 
 
 (it was asked), have breathed, absorbed, and made 
 her own, those noble inspirations that are the 
 birthright of royalty ? 
 
 Those numerous courtiers who piqued them- 
 selves on being more susceptible on the point of 
 honour than scrupulous in morals, were delighted 
 to observe that the influence of the Queen, which had 
 been very great during the first years of her married 
 life, had, after a gradual decline, at last ceased to 
 exist. The disproportion of age which became more 
 apparent every day, the premature fading of the few 
 charms with which the poor princess was endowed, 
 had gradually alienated the King from conjugal ties 
 that had always been rather irksome. When the 
 estrangement became manifest, the intelligence was 
 received with joy by a number of people of that 
 class who regard the vices .of the great as a mine 
 of wealth. 
 
 Great ladies of easy virtue, young nobles who 
 were past-masters in the arts of profligacy, were 
 ready to minister to the King's pleasures. A regular 
 conspiracy to withdraw him from domestic life was 
 organized, and all the Memoirs of the day affirm 
 and the charge has never been contradicted that 
 the old Cardinal connived at this ; either because, 
 as a prudent guardian, he feared to weary his charge 
 by over strictness, or because he suspected that 
 Maria Leczinska still regretted his predecessor, the 
 Due de Bourbon to whom she owed her elevation
 
 122 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 to the throne. The Court and the city soon learned 
 that Louis XV. had all the weaknesses of Henri 
 IV., and there were many who took this to mean 
 that he also possessed the courage and genius of 
 his great ancestor. The notion that there is a 
 necessary relation between gallantry and valour has 
 always been current in the world as well as in 
 books. There existed then a complete collection 
 of what Boileau calls " les lieux communs de morale 
 lubrique" and it included drinking-songs in honour 
 of Le Vert Galant, as well as operatic inanities 
 about the loves of Mars and Venus. Had not Moliere 
 said, 
 
 Et je ne cot^ois pas que, sans etre amoureux, 
 Un jeune prince soit et grand et genereux ? 
 
 Many men of our own day might compose couplets 
 to the same air upon this subject if the style were 
 not out of fashion. At Versailles every one sang 
 these songs ; and we ourselves have known ladies of 
 the old Court, who, having led irreproachable lives 
 that ended in saintly death-beds, yet had good store 
 of those gay and warlike ditties in their memory, and 
 have been heard to speak with something more than 
 indulgence of the doings of the valiant youth of their 
 own young days. In short, the King had no sooner 
 emancipated himself from his wife and his confessor, 
 than it was considered that he was on the high 
 road to military fame. 
 
 A slight impetus only was needed, and those who
 
 The Intervention of France. 123 
 
 Lad initiated him into a life of pleasure, were the 
 very persons to inspire him with a desire to fight. 
 Two women presided over the circle of the new royal 
 intimacies ; they were sisters, and belonged to the De 
 Nesle family which was noble, but impoverished. 
 One of these, Madame de Mailly, was the first 
 whom the King had publicly honoured with his 
 favour; the other, Madame de Vintimille, was less 
 beautiful, but more attractive than her elder sister, 
 and was generally accused of trying to supplant her. 
 The two ladies, however, lived together in uninter- 
 rupted harmony, and entered with zest into the war- 
 like plans of the bellicose young courtiers. The 
 traditions of poetry and romance authorized them 
 to assume beforehand a share in the future exploits 
 of the sovereign. Was it not Agnes Sorel who 
 roused Charles VII. from his apathy, and saved 
 France from ruin ? Did not Gabrielle receive the 
 tender farewells of the hero of Coutras ? Could it 
 be forgotten that La Valliere and Montespan were 
 majestically conducted across the Flemish plains 
 within view of the besieged or conquered citadels, 
 and afterwards brought back to queen it at the 
 festivals of victory ? 
 
 Dansant, avec Louis, sous des berceaux de fleurs, 
 Et du Ruin subjugue couronnant les vainqueurs. 
 
 "Why should not those brilliant days return ? 
 Was the young Louis less brave or less hand- 
 some than his grandfather ? Was he less likely
 
 124 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 to conquer and to be loved ? What charm to win 
 all hearts would he lack when his features, now too 
 coldly regular, should be animated by the passions 
 of love and fame ? 
 
 Just as people were talking in this way, it became 
 known that the new King of Prussia, only two years 
 younger than the King of France, had no sooner 
 been crowned than he had flown to arms, without 
 saying, or perhaps even knowing, why he did so. 
 The influence of reminiscences, aided by emulation 
 of such an example, then seemed quite irresistible ; 
 but nobody thought the Cardinal could be brought 
 under such an influence. Between the old peda- 
 gogue who had the ear of the King all day, and the 
 new advisers whose young faces awaited him at the 
 haunts of pleasure in the evening, there was a still 
 greater incompatibility of temper than of age and 
 profession. Besides, how could any one seriously 
 propose to an old man on the brink of the grave to 
 attempt a great enterprise ? It was, therefore, settled 
 among the advocates of war that an end must be 
 put to the senile rule which had lasted only too long, 
 and that if age was deaf to the voice of passing 
 events, means must be adopted to make that voice 
 heard. One of those sayings in which the French 
 excel, which reveal a situation and give the death- 
 blow to an individual, which every one repeats, 
 and each believes himself to have invented, was 
 current at Versailles. " It was a Cardinal," they
 
 The Intervention of France. 125 
 
 said, "who killed the House of Austria; another 
 Cardinal, if he were allowed, would bring it to life 
 again." As for Fleury's successor, it was added, the 
 King would merely have the trouble of choosing 
 him. If he wished for an experienced minister and 
 thorough politician, he had only to recall the 
 Marquis de Chauvelin, a man formerly employed by 
 Fleury himself as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and 
 whom his jealous colleague had dismissed, in order 
 that he might not share the credit of the recent nego- 
 tiations. If the King preferred a man of action as 
 well as experience, one as fit to be a general-in- 
 chief as a prime minister, and capable of both con- 
 ceiving and executing great designs, there was one 
 name on every tongue, that of Charles Louis Fouquet, 
 Count de Belle-Isle. 
 
 The Count, although he was the idol of the 
 youth of France, was not a young man. He was 
 born in 1684, and was now fifty- six years of age. 
 But while his retirement had retarded his good for- 
 tune, it had kept fresh the charm of hope and the 
 prestige of the unknown up to the mature period that 
 precedes decline. In his life, and in his nature, 
 there was something adventurous that contrasted 
 with the monotony of the habits of Versailles. 
 Beheld afar off, in the distance, his image is almost 
 the only one that stands out from the uniform back- 
 ground of the political society of the time. 
 
 We seek in vain for personal individuality in that
 
 126 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 society, oppressed by absolute power. The heavy 
 hand of Louis XIV. had fashioned France in such 
 sort that any man who aspired to rise, knew before- 
 hand how he must mould his character, and in what 
 path he must walk. Each one belonged by birth 
 either to a brave and frivolous nobility, who pur- 
 chased their different grades in the army early, 
 and canvassed for places at Court in the interval 
 between two campaigns, or else to an upper bour- 
 geoisie which controlled all the civil offices, and 
 had its assigned place in all the councils. The man 
 who entered on either career, followed it from stage 
 to stage without interruption, save such as might 
 be due to a freak of favour, or a bullet on the field 
 of battle. Adversity had thrown Belle-Isle out of 
 these beaten tracks. His father was the third son 
 of the celebrated Fouquet, and the only one who 
 left children. His mother was a daughter of the 
 noble family of Levis. Notwithstanding this dis- 
 tinguished alliance, all the family of Fouquet had 
 shared the disgrace of its founder, and the heir of 
 the proscribed race was born in obscurity, almost in 
 poverty. His ambition was fired by the recollec- 
 tion of fallen greatness. While all around reminded 
 him that his grandfather had once had the disposal 
 of the wealth of the State, ruffled the King's 
 pride, and interested France in his ruin after 
 having menaced her with civil war, to himself no 
 career was open, for himself there was no hope.
 
 The Intervention of France. 127 
 
 The army, to which his taste inclined, was closed 
 to him : the King had several times erased his name 
 from the list of applicants. 
 
 At length, by dint of the persevering entreaties of 
 his mother's relations, he obtained an inferior post ; 
 and then he had to gain each step of promotion, 
 sword in hand. It required an almost mortal wound, 
 which he received at Lille, to make him a brigadier : 
 " A tremendous stride," says St. Simon, " from his 
 point of departure." Even after this exploit he was 
 hardly admitted at court, and Madame de Maintenon, 
 who was secretly his friend, always refused to receive 
 him. The death of Louis XIV. reopened Versailles 
 to him, but he required all the address, all the bold- 
 ness, and all the quick wit of a parvenu to resume 
 his rank there. He even courted the patronage of 
 the worthless Dubois, in order that he might share 
 his elevation. 
 
 *' He would pass through any door," says St. Simon, 
 and indeed he was a strange medley of various quali- 
 ties, in which the traces of his mixed origin mightbe re- 
 cognized. A fearless knight, an accomplished courtier, 
 finding favour with women by his graceful and insinua- 
 ting manners, he was, at the same time, an indefatigable 
 worker and writer in office affairs, and he had some 
 of the hereditary talent for finance. He exchanged 
 poverty for wealth in a few years, by means of sound 
 speculations. One of the wisest of these was the 
 exchange of his marquisate of Belle-Isle (the sole
 
 128 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 remnant of the paternal fortune), for the countships 
 of Gisors and Vernon. He cleverly persuaded the 
 Council of Regency that the acquisition of Belle-Isle- 
 en-Mer was important for the safety of the coast of 
 Brittany, and he obtained two fine estates, situated 
 in the richest plains of Normandy, which had never 
 hitherto been out of the tenure of the crown, in ex- 
 change for a poor domain far away on the sea 
 coast, and worth only a few thousand crowns. 
 
 He was less successful in some transactions of 
 a dubious nature in connexion with army con- 
 tracts, in which Le Blanc, Secretary of State, and 
 La Jonchere, Military Treasurer, were also involved. 
 He was stopped short in this operation by the sudden 
 death of the Regent and the ruin of his associates, 
 and through the agency of Madame de Prie he was 
 accused of peculation, and imprisoned. But so 
 many people, and especially so many great ladies, 
 interceded for him, that he was speedily set at 
 liberty. In a word, true Fouquet that he was, he 
 knew the power of money in affairs of gallantry as 
 well as in politics, and combined the art of acquir- 
 ing it with that of expending it well. When he 
 kept great state at the Chateau of Bizy, exercising 
 on the banks of the Seine seignorial rights which up 
 to that time had belonged exclusively to the King, 
 receiving news from the Court every day in notes 
 written by a feminine hand, he was the true heir of 
 that magnificent host who received his royal guest
 
 The Intervention of France, 129 
 
 at Vaux, of Fouquet, the famous financier, who had 
 never met the woman who could resist him. 
 
 We learn from the memoirs of the day, that in the 
 present case he sent 200,000 francs to Madame de Vin- 
 timille, in order that his name might be discreetly 
 whispered into the King's ear. Although this is 
 stated in plain words by President Henault, one of 
 his best friends, I question whether Belle-Isle, who 
 was a shrewd calculator, went to this unnecessary 
 expense. The moment a question of fighting in 
 Germany arose, he was indicated at once ; there was 
 no occasion for any one to call attention to him. 
 Every one knew that, after the death of the Marshal, 
 Belle-Isle, who had fought by Berwick's side in the 
 last campaign, and commanded a division of the 
 army of the Rhine, had drawn up the plan of a 
 boldly aggressive campaign, which was to be pushed 
 forward into Saxony, and even into Bohemia, and 
 that he was soliciting the leadership of it when the 
 peace put an end to military operations. Thence- 
 forward he had held himself in readiness to resume 
 his interrupted project at a moment's notice, and, in 
 order that he might be prepared, he had obtained the 
 government of Metz, then, alas ! the head of one 
 of the defensive lines of France against Germany, 
 and one of the natural attacking points. From 
 Metz he watched everything that was taking place 
 on either side of the Rhine, and kept up relations 
 with the minor potentates to whom this part of the 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 1 30 Frederick II. and Maria Tlieresa. 
 
 country belonged. He was on intimate terms with 
 the Elector of Bavaria, and claimed relationship with 
 him through his wife, Mademoiselle de Bethune, 
 who was descended, like the reigning family at 
 Munich, from one of the Electoral Kings of Poland. 
 On these grounds he corresponded regularly with 
 the Elector, who had confided his griefs to him 
 when France gave her adhesion to the Pragmatic 
 Sanction, and on the death of Charles VI. it was to 
 Bizy that the future claimant turned, to secure 
 favourable consideration at Versailles. 
 
 It was natural that Belle-Isle should be called 
 upon to represent the policy which he had per- 
 sistently urged. The popular belief that he was 
 the only man capable of achieving the great 
 design which he had conceived, was, however, the 
 chief reason why all eyes were turned towards 
 him. The undoubting confidence that he expressed 
 charmed a generation whieh had already become 
 somewhat effete, and was glad to be encouraged to 
 think well of itself. He had also the instinctive 
 taste for grandeur which never fails to please the 
 people. He liked grandeur in outward show, as 
 well as in reality; he desired it for France as 
 much as for himself ; his private ambition was 
 always combined with what was called in the 
 patriotic language of the day, " zeal for the 
 king's glory." Experience only could prove whether 
 his genius would rise to the height of his designs,
 
 T/i Intervention of France. 1 3 1 
 
 whether he had not (as it had been said of him) 
 more fire than force. But iii the meantime, if there 
 was to be fighting, all those who were eager to dis- 
 tinguish themselves in the field and beat the enemy 
 desired to do so under the command of Belle-Isle. 
 
 II. 
 
 Fleury, finding the storm rising, had two courses 
 before him, either of which would have saved the 
 honour of his name : he could either yield or resist. 
 If he believed resistance to be for the public good, his 
 ascendency over his former pupil was still so strong 
 that he might have silenced the clamour by an em- 
 phatic word which would in reality have chimed in 
 with the royal inclinations. If he had regarded the 
 general impulse as irresistible, he might have re- 
 signed office, and left to others the charge of con- 
 ducting a campaign, whose termination (had he 
 approved of it) he could not reasonably have 
 expected to see. At ninety-two it was surely time 
 for a statesman to retire from affairs, and for a 
 priest to think of his salvation. 
 
 But age, which increases weakness, does not up- 
 root egotism. Fleury had not the courage of either 
 resistance or sacrifice, nor had he even the merit 
 of yielding w r ith a good grace. Like most men 
 when their hand is forced, he did things by 
 halves. The enemies of Austria demanded not only 
 
 K 2
 
 132 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 that her hereditary States should be dismembered, but 
 also that the Imperial crown should be taken from 
 her. Fleury thought he could aid the former enter- 
 prise while only indirectly favouring the latter; 
 that he might recognize Maria Theresa as Queen of 
 Hungary and Bohemia on the one hand, while, on 
 the other, he assisted to raise the Elector of Bavaria 
 to the Imperial throne. If, as it was probable, the 
 newly-elected sovereign should afterwards quarrel 
 with his former competitor, and complicate the 
 general confusion caused by the King of Prussia's 
 having taken up arms, a new order of things would 
 arise, and France might then consider what part it 
 would suit her to take. It would be the crowning 
 stroke of skill in this clever expedient to entrust 
 the execution of it to Belle-Isle himself, who should 
 be sent as ambassador to the Diet of Frankfort. 
 A career would thus be opened to that restless 
 personage, without the notion of changing the hands 
 that guided his policy at Versailles being suggested 
 to the King. This calculation looked very sound : 
 by granting one of the concessions demanded of 
 him, Fleury hoped to get rid of the other at half- 
 price, and by doing business with one of the ex- 
 pectant successors, to dispose of the second. But 
 everybody was not so prudent or so old as him- 
 self, and he had reckoned without Belle-Isle and 
 without Frederick. 
 
 Early in December, Belle-Isle was summoned
 
 The Intervention of France. 133 
 
 from Bizy, where lie had been for some weeks 
 anxiously watching the course of events. He 
 arrived, better informed than he wished to appear 
 with respect to a project that only partially 
 realized his hopes, and he entered the Cardinal's 
 cabinet almost at the moment when the latter 
 received the news of the advance of the Prussian 
 army and the offer of a defensive alliance, which 
 was transmitted by Yalori and Beauvau. 
 
 The aged minister was thoughtful and care-worn. 
 The urgent necessity of forming a decision, which had 
 come upon him so much sooner than he had antici- 
 pated, upset his plans. " It was easy to see," says 
 Belle-Isle himself (in his still unpublished Memoirs), 
 " that he was much embarrassed. He was really 
 distressed by an event that obliged him to carry out 
 a project which had been the dream of his prede- 
 cessors for a hundred years, an opportunity they 
 would have seized upon with as much eagerness 
 as he evinced repugnance." In the coaxing and 
 plaintive voice with which he usually charmed 
 his hearers, he began : " My first idea," he frankly 
 said, " was to do nothing, and I wanted the 
 King to be simply a spectator of the drama 
 about to be performed in Germany. His Majesty 
 now possesses Lorraine. He does not want to 
 extend his frontier, and it would not be for the 
 good of the kingdom to embark in a war which may 
 be a long one. I have been reflecting ever since
 
 134 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 upon the matter : I have discussed it fully with the 
 ministers only, and sometimes with them in the 
 King's presence. They do not agree with me, but 
 in deference to their opinions it has been unanimously 
 decided that we ought not to suffer the Imperial 
 Crown to remain in the House of Austria by per- 
 mitting it to be given to the Grand Duke, because 
 he would add his own enmity to us and his fixed 
 determination to enter Lorraine to the resusci- 
 tation of the House of Austria. . . . But though 
 this resolution has been taken, I am none the less 
 embarrassed. ..." He then spoke at length of the 
 danger of the enterprise, and especially of any alli- 
 ance with the King of Prussia. " What a character!" 
 said he. " What he is doing in Silesia cannot be 
 excused : there is nothing to justify it. How can 
 any confidence be placed in such a man ! He makes 
 all sorts of advances, and plies me with flatteries, but 
 those false caresses only put me upon my guard. And 
 what motive can be alleged for casting aside the 
 obligations of the Pragmatic Sanction?" Then, 
 the astute old man, sighing deeply, entreated Belle- 
 Isle (as if asking a personal favour), to assist him 
 by going to Frankfort, and making himself the ad- 
 vocate of this ill-defined policy, adding that the King 
 would give him the strongest mark of confidence by 
 making him sole plenipotentiary. Such a proceeding 
 was, in fact, contrary to precedent, the custom was 
 to send a practised diplomatist to counterbalance
 
 The Intervention of France. 135 
 
 the inexperience of a noble who was charged with 
 a special mission. 2 Belle-Isle, flattered by this offer, 
 
 2 The still unpublished Memoirs of Belle-Isle, in five quarto 
 volumes, are to be found in the Bibliotheque Nationale. They 
 contain, in general, a classified extract from the Marshal's cor- 
 respondence either with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, or the 
 Minister of War, and few facts not already related in those col- 
 lections are to be found in them. It is only during the (generally 
 brief) periods when the Marshal had left the army or his diplomatic 
 post to return to Versailles, that we come upon information not 
 contained in the various correspondences. The first pages, in 
 which he records the commencement of his relations with Cardinal 
 Fleury, are almost the only ones of special interest fo rmy pur- 
 pose. In referring to them here, I have abstained from repeating 
 some assertions which are too plainly contradicted by the facts. 
 
 Thus the Marshal affirms that his first conversation with the 
 Cardinal took place on the 19th of November, 1740, and that it 
 was followed by a second a few days later, in the beginning of 
 December, and in each of these interviews Fleury speaks of the 
 aggression of the King of Prussia in Silesia, the offers of alliance 
 made to him by that sovereign, and the answer which he had 
 already made. The invasion of Silesia by Frederick did not take 
 place until the middle of December, and on the 19th of November 
 such an event was quite unforeseen. The proposal of alliance 
 made to Valori dates from the 10th December, and could not have 
 been known at Versailles before the middle of that month. I It was 
 only replied to on the 5th of January, 1741. Fleury also speaks of 
 flattering letters received from the King of Prussia : now, in the 
 collection of Frederick's letters, the first addressed to the Cardinal 
 on the subject of the invasion of Silesia bears date the 5th January. 
 
 It is clear that Belle-Isle, writing long afterwards, is mistaken 
 in his dates. Perhaps, too, he may have arranged the sequence of 
 facts so as to do away with the impression of his having been 
 the first to suggest an enterprise which had not realized the 
 hopes of the country. His whole narrative, in fact, seems in- 
 tended to prove that the expedition was decided upon and the affair 
 arranged, before he was made a party to it, and that he had only 
 advised upon the method of carrying it out successfully.
 
 136 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 and determined not to let it slip, was nevertheless 
 disturbed, and almost disgusted, at the painful in- 
 decision revealed by all the Cardinal said. He did 
 not, however, allow himself to be disconcerted by 
 this, but adopted the tone of a strong man deal- 
 ing with a weak one. He spoke contemptuously of 
 respect for the obligations of the Pragmatic Sanc- 
 tion, as an absurd scruple. The King, he said, 
 could neither infringe rights which were not his 
 own, nor could he break his often-plighted word 
 to a faithful friend and kinsman like the Elector of 
 Bavaria. Still more easily did he dispose of the 
 Cardinal's cunningly-devised plan of sustaining 
 one of the claims of the Elector without support- 
 ing him in the other, the only one, indeed, which 
 was well-founded and practical. The Imperial dig- 
 nity did not confer any effective power, as it was 
 easy to demonstrate, and could only be sought for 
 itself. It increased the prestige of a powerful sove- 
 reign like the Archduke of Austria ; it would be only 
 a paltry ornament on the brow of a petty prince, not 
 so powerful as several among his own vassals. An 
 Emperor must, under pain of being ridiculous, be a 
 real sovereign, with an army and territories propor- 
 tioned to his rank. What would be the use, in any 
 case, Belle Isle asked, of remaining neutral, and merely 
 looking on ? Vienna and Munich would be equally 
 indignant with the King, and his enemies, seeing 
 that he was served by ministers unworthy of his an-
 
 The Intervention of France. 137 
 
 cestors, would abandon him to side with his adver- 
 saries. The King of Prussia, left to his own de- 
 vices, would accommodate himself at our expense. 
 "You remove my scruples," replied the Cardinal; 
 " but what can we do ? You do not propose to send 
 an army forthwith into Germany ? " "I see no 
 other mode of proceeding," answered Belle-Isle, 
 " and if my opinion goes for anything, our troops 
 should immediately be augmented. In the mood 
 in which the King of Prussia seems to be, I do not 
 believe he will be contented with promises unaccom- 
 panied by the means of executing them." 3 
 
 The Cardinal, still hoping to escape, timidly ad- 
 vanced the idea that it might be enough, at all 
 events in the beginning, to give a subsidy to the 
 Elector, to enable him to place his troops on a war- 
 footing. But the fiery Belle-Isle robbed him of even 
 that consolation. "I could not," he says, "re- 
 strain my feelings, and I reproached him very 
 strongly, though perhaps imprudently, with doing 
 everything by halves. ... I added everything that was 
 
 8 Here we must record another instance of the inaccuracy of 
 these Memoirs. Belle-Isle supposes that at this period the King of 
 Prussia asked that French troops should be sent to Germany as a 
 pledge of the projected alliance. This is a chronological error ; 
 the first proposal sent through Valori contained no demand of 
 the kind. In that one proposal, on the contrary, Frederick 
 encouraged the cardinal's love of peace by leaving him to hope 
 that he would only have to intervene as mediator between the com- 
 batants. It was later, and after he had gained a first step, that 
 Frederick, as we shall see, exacted the second.
 
 1 38 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 to be said on the subject, and that without sparing 
 him in the least. Perhaps the Cardinal repented at 
 the moment that he had entrusted me with the affair ; 
 however, he showed no displeasure. He told me to 
 go and see M. Amelot, and to discuss all the details 
 of my embassy with him." 
 
 Belle-Isle took care to strike before the iron, 
 which he already considered hardly hot enough, had 
 time to cool. He passed the whole night in making 
 notes of everything needful for a regular cam- 
 paign, arms, commissariat, equipment, and stores 
 of all kinds. This meant war with its formidable 
 apparatus. Going back the next day to Fleury, he 
 mercilessly read aloud to him the whole of his noc- 
 turnal lucubrations. At each paragraph of this over- 
 whelming document, the poor frightened minister 
 would utter a cry of dismay ; but to every excla- 
 mation Belle-Isle contemptuously replied, " Would 
 you rather do nothing? Well, then, keep to the 
 Pragmatic Sanction, and have nothing to do with 
 the King of Prussia." Then the Cardinal bent his 
 head resignedly, and sighed. 
 
 " The number of details to which he found he 
 must attend," says Belle-Isle, " astonished him ; 
 and if I have anything to reproach myself with, it 
 is that, seeing how much beyond the scope of 
 his genius, and his character, a project so lofty 
 and so extensive was, I should have undertaken to 
 execute it, and not have foreseen that what I should
 
 The Intervention of France. \ 39 
 
 obtain by force, so to speak, and by my presence, 
 would either not be put into execution at all, or 
 would be only half done, always feebly, and too late, 
 as experience afterwards taught me. But the object 
 was so essential and so pressing, it so greatly 
 concerned the King's fame and the good of the 
 State, that I thought it my duty to pass over all 
 considerations that were personal to myself, in the 
 belief that inaction would be the worst of evils." 
 
 Urged by two equally impatient personages, Fre- 
 derick, who was expecting an answer, and Belle- 
 Isle, who was dictating it, the Cardinal gave way, and 
 the offer of Prussia was accepted; but as if to 
 mark the concession, which had been forced from 
 him, with an impress all his own, the old minister 
 indulged himself with the satisfaction of drawing 
 up, with his own hand, a careful note which was 
 to form the subject of Valori's conversation, and 
 in which he answered, word for word, and almost 
 sally for sally, everything the King of Prussia had 
 conveyed to him. This note is a kind of proces- 
 verbal drawn up in two columns ; the utterances 
 of the King of Prussia on one side, and the Cardi- 
 nal's replies on the other. It shows us two rulers, 
 as different as they are unequal, in a keen 
 encounter of wits ; each trying to deceive the 
 other. 
 
 Frederick had said, " Does the Cardinal really 
 wish to have me ? I must know at once." The
 
 140 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 Cardinal answers, "Yes, yes, immediately. My 
 vote at the Diet is still to be Lad. The King 
 bespeaks it, and offers his Majesty's invitation to 
 proceed with a treaty of alliance, as earnest in 
 advance." "When Austria and myself have squab- 
 bled a little," Frederick had said, "the Cardinal 
 can intervene as moderator. Is not that a charac- 
 ter to his liking ? " Answer : " The Cardinal con- 
 fesses his liking for the part assigned to him 
 by the King of Prussia, but his Majesty must 
 acknowledge that, in order to perform it worthily, 
 his Eminence ought to have had to pronounce 
 a judgment that would not leave the heart and 
 mind of all Europe and Germany envenomed 
 against France." 
 
 The dialogue ends by the following interchange of 
 cutting speeches. Frederick : "It is a mistake to 
 suppose that all it can take place without 
 drawing the sword." The Cardinal : " The King's 
 minister admits that it would be difficult." Fre- 
 derick : " It is for the young people to open the 
 ball." The Cardinal: "That is true; but as the 
 ball is principally for them, they must not, after 
 having enjoyed themselves, leave others to finish 
 the fete, and exposed to the reproaches of those who 
 have to pay the piper." 
 
 4 This document is to be found among the Prussian official cor- 
 respondence, without a date, but between the 13th December, 1740, 
 and the 1st of January following.
 
 Intervention of France. 141 
 
 The very natural, and as we shall see, well- 
 founded fear of being left alone in the dance, and 
 having to pay the piper, is more politely expressed 
 in the official letter, by which Amelot transmits the 
 assent to the proposal for a treaty of alliance to 
 Berlin. "His Majesty," says the minister, "wishes 
 very sincerely, for the prince's interest, that his 
 undertaking may succeed, and for his reputation, 
 that he may speedily find means of justifying it. 
 More suspicious courts than our own would hesi- 
 tate to speak out. . . . The sending of so con- 
 siderable a person as Count Gotter to Vienna, 
 might seem to indicate a double negotiation. It is 
 publicly said at that Court that the minister offered 
 to enter into all the Grand Duke's views without 
 exception, if he would acknowledge the rights of 
 the King his master over Silesia. But his Majesty 
 does not believe any of these rumours. He has 
 full confidence in the King of Prussia, and he gives 
 him a conclusive proof of this in offering him an 
 immediate alliance." 5 
 
 Then followed a project of alliance drawn up in 
 several articles, by which the two sovereigns bound 
 themselves to consult together, and to act in the 
 most perfect unison in order to place that princely 
 candidate, who should be the fittest to maintain the 
 rights and prerogatives of the Princes of the Empire, 
 
 5 Amelot to Yalori, January 5, 1741. (Correspondance de 
 Prussc.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 142 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 on the imperial throne. In pursuance whereof, his 
 Most Christian Majesty would not oppose the 
 King of Prussia in his using whatsoever rights lie 
 might have over the whole or a part of Silesia, on 
 condition, however, that the King on his side should 
 offer no obstacle to a just satisfaction of any rights 
 which the House of Bavaria might also have over the 
 Austrian states. 
 
 Nothing was said, as yet, about troops, or of an 
 armed intervention. Although the consequence was 
 evident, and the promise therefore implied, Fleury 
 hesitated to put it in words. Every word, indeed, 
 seemed to be forced from him. At that very 
 time, when answering the Elector of Bavaria, 
 who complained of poverty, and begged for an im- 
 mediate subsidy, he did not hesitate to excuse the 
 parsimony of his first advance by alleging that, 
 in consequence of two bad harvests, which had 
 necessitated the distribution of very large alms, the 
 French treasury was in straits. " I am making a 
 confession to your Electoral Highness," he says, 
 begging him to keep it secret, for the sake of the 
 King's honour. "The King could not give you a 
 greater mark of confidence than such an avowal." 6 
 
 If Fleury expected to avoid a distinct engage- 
 ment by means of these undignified subterfuges 
 and awkward excuses, and to secure a way of escape 
 
 6 Fleury to the Elector of Bavaria, December 17,1740. (Cor- 
 respondance de Baviere.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 The Intervention of France. 143 
 
 from the dilemma, he was very much mistaken, 
 and did not understand the kind of man with whom 
 he had to deal. The very fact of the French policy 
 having allowed itself I will not say to take a part 
 
 o t/ A 
 
 in but even to express a desire in the affairs of Ger- 
 many, gave Frederick an advantage which his bold 
 and calculating ambition had, perhaps, foreseen, 
 and which, at any rate, he was not a man to use by 
 halves. Only yesterday he was but an adventurer 
 under the ban of the whole diplomatic society. The 
 mere appearance of France on German territory 
 offered him an important, perhaps a decisive, part 
 to play in a great European conflict. 
 
 It was to be expected, of course, that the claim 
 of France to dispose of the Imperial Crown, in 
 favour of one of her clients, would not be regarded 
 with indifference by any European power. This 
 claim, which meant no less than the modifica- 
 tion of all the conditions of the balance of power 
 recognized by the Treaty of Westphalia, and re-estab- 
 lished by the Treaty of Utrecht in her own favour, 
 must of course arouse on every side those rivalries 
 which the coaxing and time-serving policy of Fleury 
 had lulled to sleep for the moment. England, in 
 particular, could not allow the House of Austria, 
 her most faithful ally in still recent contests, to be 
 stripped of her crown. The countrymen of Marl- 
 borough could not remain insensible to the fate 
 of the heirs of Prince Eugene, and English inter-
 
 1 44 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 vention was the more readily foreseen because, as I 
 said before, a hostile feeling was spreading, if not 
 between the two cabinets, at least between the Eng- 
 lish and French people, and their respective navies. 
 The war already declared with Spain might at any 
 moment extend into France, and shots had already 
 been exchanged between cruisers on the high seas 
 either by accident or design. The interest of 
 England manifestly required, that either to sustain 
 this quarrel or to avert it, she should seize upon 
 the opportunity of arousing all the military and 
 moral force of Germany against the ambition of 
 France so imprudently offered to her. That coali- 
 tion of power and enmity, under which the pride 
 of Louis XIV. had bent for a moment, might again 
 be formed, and since the grandson also claimed 
 supremacy, the time was coming when the same 
 resistance with which his grandfather had been 
 met, must be organized against him. 
 
 But to realize such a design, one preliminary 
 was indispensable : Austria and Prussia must be 
 reconciled, that they might be united in the com- 
 mon effort. The re-establishment of peace between 
 Frederick and Maria Theresa was, therefore, ren- 
 dered of the utmost importance to Great Britain 
 by the action of France, and almost a condition 
 of the salvation of Europe. Frederick might 
 count on having, in the English ambassador at 
 Vienna, an agent almost as eager as his own to
 
 The Intervention of France. 145 
 
 gain the concessions which he demanded for him, 
 and to allay the internal disturbances of the Ger- 
 manic body at any cost. 
 
 Thus his double-faced policy received the reward, 
 not indeed of its good faith, but of its perfi- 
 dious adroitness ; and it was precisely for the act 
 of aggression, at which all Europe was indignant, 
 that he was about to be courted by those very per- 
 sons who had at first made the loudest outcry; 
 for those 60,000 men, encamped in the centre of 
 Silesia, became the winning card that each one 
 wanted to have in his own hand, or at all events to 
 withdraw from that of his adversary. From Ver- 
 sailles he was bidden to expect military assistance 
 for the completion of his conquest ; London was 
 about to mediate so as to secure its confirma- 
 tion. To lend an attentive ear to both negoti- 
 ators, the pacific and the warlike ; to let them go 
 on bidding against each other; and, at the latest 
 possible moment, to decide for that one who offered 
 the greatest advantage at the smallest price, was 
 the course adopted by Frederick. This was sus- 
 pected by his contemporaries, but it is revealed to 
 us in the newly published correspondence with a 
 frankness for which we really ought to be grateful. 
 The whole plan is plainly laid out in the letters 
 written by Frederick himself in the early part of 
 1741. These letters are dated from the different 
 parts of Silesia to which he removed his head- 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 1 46 Frederick If. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 quarters, from day to day, for the subjugation of 
 the province was rapidly achieved, the Austrian 
 troops, too feeble to attempt resistance, having re- 
 tired into the fortresses, and Breslau, the capital, 
 having surrendered on the sole condition that the 
 Prussian troops were not to enter, and that the 
 administration of the town was to remain in the 
 hands of the municipality. The decisive struggle 
 was thus put off until the weather should permit the 
 Imperial troops, strengthened by reinforcements and 
 put into good condition, to attempt offensive opera- 
 tions. Frederick had, therefore, some weeks before 
 him, in which to bring all his diplomatic resources 
 to bear, and he proceeded to do so, without losing 
 a moment. 
 
 Being informed of the disposition of Versailles, he 
 wrote with his own hand to Fleury : " I am touched, 
 my dear Cardinal, by your assurances of friendship, 
 and I shall ever respond to them with equal sin- 
 cerity. It only depends upon yourself to render the 
 bonds which unite us indissoluble, by acknowledging 
 the justice of my claim upon Silesia. That I did not, 
 in the first instance, communicate my intentions to 
 you arose from forgetfulness more than from any 
 other reason ; every one has not his mind so disen- 
 gaged as yours is while at work, and it is only Car- 
 dinal Fleury who can think of, and provide for 
 everything." Giving his letter to Valori himself 
 to be forwarded, he added, " I desire nothing more
 
 The Intervention of France. 147 
 
 than to ally myself closely with his Most Christian 
 Majesty, whose interests will always be dear to me, 
 and I venture to hope that he will not care less for 
 
 mine." 7 
 
 But he made no difficulty of writing with the same 
 hand, and perhaps with the same pen, to the King 
 of England : " Sire and Brother, I am delighted to 
 perceive that I was not mistaken in the confidence 
 I placed in your Majesty. Not being in alliance 
 with any one, I could not speak openly to any, but 
 seeing the good intentions of your Majesty, I look 
 upon you as being already my ally, and as one from 
 whom I ought to have no secrets. . . Far from wish- 
 ing to disturb Europe, I ask for nothing but that re- 
 gard should be had to the justice of my indisputable 
 rights. I rely firmly upon the friendship of your 
 Majesty, and the common interests of the Protestant 
 princes, which demand the support of those who 
 are oppressed for the sake of religion. The tyran- 
 nical government, under which the Silesians have 
 groaned, is frightful, and the barbarity of the 
 Catholics towards them is inexpressible. If these 
 Protestants should lose me, there is no help for 
 them. If your Majesty wishes inviolably to attach 
 to himself a faithful and staunch ally, this is the 
 moment to do so ; our interests, our religion, our 
 very blood is the same, and it would be a sad thing 
 
 T " Pol. Corr." vol. i. pp. 170, 171. Frederick to Cardiual 
 Fleury und Valori, January 5, 1741. 
 
 L 2
 
 148 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 were we to run counter to each other, while it would 
 be still more grievous to oblige me to co-operate in 
 the great designs of France, which, however, I have 
 no intention of doing, unless I should be forced." 
 
 Afterwards, speaking openly to his minister Pode- 
 wils, he explains to him without the slightest em- 
 barrassment, the alternative which he means to 
 keep open to himself. On the 14th of January 
 (five days after the letter to Fleury), he says : " I 
 have always looked upon the alliance with France 
 as a pis-atter, so that we must do everything to 
 gain possession of a good slice of Silesia through 
 the mediation of England and Russia. But in case 
 these two Courts, instead of lending themselves to 
 this, openly take the part of Vienna, there will be 
 nothing for it but to throw ourselves into the arms of 
 France, and thus to force the hand of destiny." And 
 according as things looked fair or dark, at one point 
 or the other of the political horizon, the minister re- 
 ceives contradictory instructions^} 7 turns, which he 
 has to reconcile as best he may. " The part we must 
 take will be to patch up matters with France, and 
 tune our flutes with hers, for England will never 
 help us." Or, " Amuse France as long as possible, 
 until we see a little more clearly whether we shall 
 be able to gain our ends by means of a mediation." 9 
 
 * " Pol. Corr." vol. i. pp. 185, 186. Frederick to the King of 
 England, January 30, 1741. 
 
 * " Pol. Corr." vol. i. pp. 172, 179, 181. Frederick to Podewils, 
 the 5th, llth, and 20th of January, 1741.
 
 The Intervention of France. 149 
 
 The English Government, pressed in this way to 
 intervene, decided to come forward, not by directly 
 offering its mediation, but by suggesting, through 
 Sir Thomas Robinson, its minister at Vienna, an 
 arrangement likely to satisfy the desires of one 
 party, and to spare the feelings of the other. 
 The proposed arrangement was that Frederick 
 should offer Maria Theresa a loan of 2,000,000 
 crowns for the immediate necessities of the Em- 
 pire, a part of Silesia being left as a mortgage in the 
 hands of Prussia. Of course, it was understood that 
 the mortgage would never be redeemed, the repay- 
 ment of the debt was neither to be asked nor effected. 
 In this way the principle of the indivisibility of the 
 Austrian dominions would be maintained, the Prag- 
 matic Sanction respected, at least in appearance, and 
 no troublesome precedent, which might afterwards 
 be taken advantage of by other claimants, created. 
 
 While this proposal was being discussed at Vienna, 
 Frederick, having established his troops in their 
 winter quarters, was obliged to return to Berlin for a 
 short time, in the beginning of February. Valori, 
 with his project of an alliance in his pocket, was 
 awaiting him there, very impatiently. It had, indeed, 
 been difficult to prevent him from rushing off to the 
 camp to see the King. Frederick, although he 
 would most likely have been glad to defer the inter- 
 view for some days longer, availed himself of it for 
 the purpose of advancing one step further with
 
 1 50 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 France. This, considering the inevitable delay in 
 receiving fresh instructions, was another method of 
 gaining time. 
 
 Great was the surprise of Valori on being ad- 
 mitted to Frederick's presence, to hear nothing 
 more of the role of "pacific moderator" which was 
 to suit the ecclesiastical character of the Cardinal 
 so well, but, on the contrary, to find the defensive 
 project which he brought, treated, not merely as a 
 worthless document, but as rather injurious than 
 useful to Prussian interests. 
 
 " But, sir," said Frederick, after he had glanced 
 
 at the document, " what advantage shall I derive 
 
 from that ? I do not see what assistance the King 
 
 your master will give me in the event of my being 
 
 attacked by the powers that surround me, and which, 
 
 at the very mention of France, are ready to rise, not 
 
 merely against her, but against her allies. For, do 
 
 not deceive yourself, the only objection which the 
 
 German princes have to the Elector of Bavaria is 
 
 his connexion with France. I do not ask better than 
 
 to ally myself with the King your master, but the 
 
 kind of assistance I am to expect from him must be 
 
 put in writing. Will the King put the Elector of 
 
 Bavaria in a position to sustain his pretensions 
 
 otherwise than in writing? If the Elector of 
 
 Cologne and the Elector Palatine are attacked by 
 
 Hanover, will they be given 30,000 men ? And what 
 
 diversion will the King make ? Will he favour the
 
 The Intervention of France. 151 
 
 designs of Spain (in Italy) by means of his troops ? 
 Unless all these measures are well considered, and 
 firmly adopted, must I not turn to another side in 
 my own interest ? Will the King refuse to me the 
 possession of Lower Silesia, including Breslau ?" 
 
 Valori, who was hardly allowed to put in a word, 
 contrived to say that all this was very different 
 language from what he had heard before. " Oh ! 
 sir," answered Frederick, " everything is much 
 changed ; Denmark fails us, the English party now 
 prevails in that Court. In a word, if, as I believe, 
 it is to the interest of France to abase the House of 
 Austria, she has but one thing to do, namely, to act 
 as I have suggested." And as he spoke, he threw 
 the paper containing the project on the table, as if 
 he did not care about keeping it. Annoyed at this, 
 Valori stretched out his hand, as if to put it into his 
 pocket. " Leave it with me," said the King; " I wish 
 to examine it ; it is an important document ; I must 
 sleep upon it." 1 
 
 The succeeding interviews were very similar, save 
 for certain bursts of confidence, whose effusive 
 friendliness was too evidently the result of calcu- 
 lation to deceive the envoy. 
 
 Thus, when Valori, who tried to make the best of 
 his position, told Frederick, rather persistently, that 
 before asking for ostensible support in Silesia, he 
 
 1 Valori to Amelot, 31st January, and 4th February, 1741. 
 (Correspondance de Prusse.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 152 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 must exhibit some titles, which the King would be 
 quite ready to examine. " But, sir," answered 
 Frederick, " my titles are all extremely good, and if 
 I have not spoken out clearly, it is because, as I am 
 awaiting a reply from Vienna, I have reserved my 
 strongest arguments for the last." " I asked him,'* 
 says Valori, " whether his arguments were not 
 the thirty twenty -four-pounders and fifteen mortars 
 that were outside his arsenal quite ready for the 
 road." He laughed, and said that " Indeed they 
 would be more persuasive than any others." On an- 
 other occasion he cried out, as if struck by a sudden 
 thought : " "Well, sir, let us agree to a treaty ; let 
 us give Bohemia to the Elector of Bavaria, he is so 
 worthy a prince, and so much attached to France ! . . . 
 Now tell me, like an honest man, what you augur 
 of the intentions of your government. Does it not 
 know that I am its natural ally in Germany ? " 2 
 Lastly, Valori having told him that Belle-Isle wished 
 to come to an understanding with him before pro- 
 ceeding to the Diet of Frankfort : " Let him come," 
 said Frederick ; " besides the pleasure 1 shall have 
 in making his acquaintance, there will be something 
 piquant in seeing a French general in a Prussian 
 army in the centre of Silesia." 3 
 
 It is not surprising that the bewildered diplomatist, 
 
 Valori to Amelot, 4th, llth, 18th of February, 1741. (Cbr- 
 respondance de Prusse.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
 Ibid., llth February, 1741.
 
 The Intervention of France. 153 
 
 not knowing what to make of the king's purpose, 
 which seemed by turns to conceal and to reveal itself, 
 should have added some melancholy reflections, when 
 transmitting this bantering invitation to Belle-Isle : 
 " The King of Prussia does not answer as he ought 
 to do ; I am for turning to the other side, and 
 no longer being the dupe of a prince who opens 
 negotiations everywhere, and thinks he can work 
 miracles by coming to conclusions nowhere. . . . 
 As I can speak quite plainly to you, sir, I am not 
 afraid to say that levity, pride, and presumption form 
 the basis of his character, and you may pity me for 
 having to steer clear through all this." 4 
 
 But it was too late ; Belle-Isle, as well as Fleury, 
 was caught in the toils, and they could no longer 
 set themselves free. By return of post, Valori re- 
 ceived orders to give way to Frederick in every- 
 thing ; the promise of supporting the Elector of 
 Bavaria in other ivays as well as on paper, the con- 
 cession of Lower Silesia, everything, was agreed to 
 without difficulty. " When the King," said the minis- 
 terial despatch, not without a ring of melancholy in 
 it, " proposed an alliance, he knew what would be 
 its consequence." The only condition, and it was 
 one which had been already offered and accepted, 
 was that Prussia should renounce her right to the 
 duchies of Jiilich and Berg, a stipulation abso- 
 
 4 Valori to Belle-Isle, 7th February, 1741. (Correspondent 
 tie Pnissc.') Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 154 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 lately necessary in order to obtain the vote of the 
 Elector Palatine at the Diet. But these conditions, 
 compromising as they were already, were made 
 with so little confidence, that Valori was desired to 
 leave no trace of them in writing in the hands of a 
 prince who might, it was fairly suspected, make a 
 bad use of them. 5 
 
 Nothing could be better calculated to make 
 Frederick feel his own strength, and the need France 
 had of his assistance, and it was even doubtful 
 whether all this weakness would attain its end. 
 I do not, indeed, know what would have happened, 
 if at the same moment the English envoy had been 
 enabled to announce that the offer of mediation 
 had been accepted by Austria. The most deter- 
 mined player hesitates about doubling his stake 
 when he has the offer of pocketing twice the value of 
 his first venture without farther risk. But shall we 
 say fortunately or unfortunately ? nothing of the 
 kind occurred. For, while Versailles was so yielding, 
 Vienna was inflexible. Neither openly, nor in an 
 underhand manner, would Austria consent for a mo- 
 ment to discuss the alienation of an inch of Austrian 
 territory, either by sale or loan. " Money had never 
 been offered," was disdainfully replied, " to those 
 who do not ask for it." The English minister, who, 
 without directly putting himself forward, remained 
 
 6 Amelot to Valori, 21st and 22nd February, 1741. (Corre- 
 spondance de Pnisse.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 The Intervention of France. 155 
 
 behind the scenes, and as it were at the door of 
 the Conference-Room, communicated this resolution 
 with some impatience, and said that better things 
 might have been hoped for, since both Zinzendorf 
 and the Grand Duke showed signs of vacillation, 
 and that a coalition against France would have 
 been very agreeable to the latter especially. But 
 he could not fail to know whence the refusal 
 emanated, and that every failure was due to the 
 staunchness of a great heart It was the Queen 
 who arrested the confession of wavering on every 
 
 HP. 
 
 There was in the very form of the refusal some- 
 thing ironical, wounding, and impolitic, certain 
 touches less forcible than bitter, which betrayed the 
 hand of an offended woman. Robinson relates that 
 while they were negotiating at Vienna, the Queen 
 of Hungary made it known at Berlin, through the 
 Archbishop of Mayence, that she was ready to forgive 
 everything, provided her pardon were asked, and 
 Bartenstein, the minister who was known to be in 
 her confidence, went about saying that to try to 
 bring the King of Prussia to reason, without 
 punishing him, was as futile as the attempt to wash 
 a blackamoor white. 
 
 For some time it might have seemed that this 
 firmness came from a delusion rather than from cou- 
 rage, and had its root in a blind and puerile belief in 
 the succour of France, and in fact old Bartenstein,
 
 156 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 with whom the treaty of 1738 originated, and who 
 negotiated all the guarantees of the Pragmatic Sanc- 
 tion, could hardly believe in the destruction of his 
 handiwork. " He is French to the point of folly," 6 
 said Kobinson, out of all patience. By degrees, how- 
 ever, the news of the nomination of Belle-Isle, and of 
 the current of public opinion at Versailles rendered 
 further incredulity impossible. So early as the 10th 
 of January, Wagner, the Austrian Charge-d' affaires 
 at Paris, writes, that having pressed Fleury to induce 
 Louis XV. to send the answer which was still delayed 
 by a point of etiquette to the Queen, he could only 
 obtain from him an evasive reply, broken by sighs : 
 " If you knew how overpowered I am," the Cardinal 
 said, " and what my position is, you would pity 
 me. I am, as the Scripture says, in medio pravce et 
 perversce nationis" The answer arrived, however, 
 and even with the royal title as its superscription, 
 which caused great joy at first. But it was soon dis- 
 covered that this piece of politeness meant nothing, 
 since Fleury 's policy consisted in not appearing 
 to meddle with the dispute about the Austrian suc- 
 cession, while reserving the intervention and hostility 
 of France for the meeting of the Electoral Diet. 
 
 The Queen, who was naturally uneasy, was re- 
 solved to make the Cardinal explain himself, by 
 appealing to his weak point, that is to say, she 
 
 ' Raumer, Beitrdge zur neuen Geschichte, t. ii. p. 105 and 
 following. D'Arneth, vol. i, pp. 128 and 131.
 
 The Intervention of France, 157 
 
 addressed effusive and almost affectionate letters 
 to him such as a daughter might write to a father, 
 or a pious soul to her spiritual director, a few lines 
 of each being always written by her own hand. 
 
 Now begins a courteous, and almost affectionate 
 correspondence between the old priest and the 
 young woman, the one using every feminine device 
 to obtain a word that might raise her hopes or 
 terminate her suspense, and the other employ- 
 ing all the niceties of priestly and diplomatic lan- 
 guage to avoid revealing his mind or pledging 
 himself to anything. The Queen strikes every 
 chord in succession; she speaks by turns of her 
 horror of the perfidy of Frederick, and of the King's 
 honour, pledged by the guarantee of the Pragmatic 
 Sanction and the cession of Lorraine. She implores 
 the Cardinal, in the name of conjugal affection and 
 the good of the Church, whose interest lies in the 
 union of the two great Catholic Powers and the con- 
 tinuance of the Imperial crown in the " apostolic" 
 family. To all this, the Cardinal makes one an- 
 swer, and it means nothing : The projects of the 
 King of Prussia, he says, although no doubt repre- 
 hensible, were known prior to their execution, and 
 as the Queen took no precautions to oppose them, 
 it was naturally supposed that she regarded them 
 without alarm. Since that time friendly powers had 
 offered their mediation, and the result must be 
 awaited.
 
 1 58 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 " I feel," he said, " to its full extent, your 
 Majesty's kindness. I wish your Majesty all the 
 prosperity which those great and amiable qualities 
 that are recognized and admired by all who have 
 the happiness to approach your royal person de- 
 serve. I understand the weighty reasons which 
 make your Majesty desire that your dear husband, 
 his Serene Highness the Grand Duke, should possess 
 the Imperial crown. But your Majesty must permit 
 me to represent, that not only has the King no right 
 of suffrage at the coming election of an Emperor, 
 but also that the affairs of Germany are so em- 
 broiled that it appears very difficult, not to say 
 impossible, to foresee with any certainty the in- 
 terest which each power may have in the matter. 
 Your Majesty has powerful friends in the Diet, 
 but they are not equally our friends, and do not 
 wish us much good. It is more necessary for us to 
 defend ourselves from harm than to seek for what 
 may be most pleasing to us, and your Majesty is 
 too just to blame us for acting in self-defence ! " 
 
 He speaks in the same equivocal tone about the 
 Pragmatic Sanction. The King is faithful to his 
 promises, but how could he sacrifice the rights of 
 others ? As for the exchange of Lorraine for 
 Tuscany, that matter was treated of directly be- 
 tween the Grand Duke and the deceased Emperor. 
 
 " It may readily be believed," says the Cardinal, 
 " that it gave the Prince, your dear husband, much
 
 The Intervention of France. 159 
 
 pain to surrender the inheritance of his fathers, but, 
 even if that were so, he has been well compensated 
 by the happiness of possessing your Majesty." 7 
 
 Short of being spoken to deaf ears, these utter- 
 ances could not fail to be comprehended. The 
 Queen therefore, while she continued to ask the 
 meaning of answers whose very ambiguity was 
 significant, made every effort to rouse the indigna- 
 tion of all Europe against her perfidious adversary. 
 She addressed letter after letter, protestation after 
 protestation, to every Court which had guaranteed 
 the Pragmatic Sanction, to all the representatives 
 of the German princes sitting at the Diet of Ratis- 
 bon, and to all the presidents of the military and 
 judicial circles of the Empire. Although couched 
 in the usual forms of the Aulic Chancery, these 
 documents bear an impress of originality ; a tone of 
 generosity that breaks through their pedantic con- 
 struction breathes in them. One feels sure that the 
 Queen's own hand has been at work on them, and 
 the Latin language (which she spoke with ease) 
 does not impede the expression of strong personal 
 feeling. Under the cloak, she says, of amic- 
 able assurances, the most hostile demands have 
 been concealed. The past has never seen, and 
 the future never will see, anything like this. 
 
 T D'Arneth, t. i. p. 389. Maria Theresa to Fleury. Fleuiy 
 to Maria Theresa, 26th February, 26th March, 10th April, 1741. 
 (Correspondence dc Vienne.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 1 60 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 While an Austrian envoy was still at Berlin, the 
 King of Prussia, under the cover of peaceful ap- 
 pearances, invaded foreign soil, and disturbed the 
 peace of a friendly province. Hence it may be 
 seen what kind of fate is in store for princes if 
 such conduct be not punished by a united effort 
 on their part. It is not a question of Austria 
 alone, but of the whole Empire, of all Europe. 
 All the princes of Christendom are concerned in not 
 allowing the most sacred links that unite human 
 society to be broken. . . . All of them should make 
 common cause with the Queen, and furnish her with 
 the means of averting so great a danger from them. 
 As for her Majesty, she will fearlessly use all the 
 strength God has given her in withstanding the 
 common enemy, and for this service rendered to the 
 common weal, will ask no reward, save the repara- 
 tion of the damage sustained by her States, and 
 whatever may be needful to secure them from similar 
 attempts in the future. 8 
 
 These energetic steps taken in all directions, the 
 sight of courage so high contending with injustice 
 so great, aroused the public conscience. The move- 
 ments of popular opinion were much slower than 
 they are in our day, its intelligence was much less 
 rapid, and it had at first allowed itself to be deceived 
 by the artful manoeuvres of Frederick; but while 
 the Cabinets were showing weakness and hesitation, 
 D'Arnetb, t. i. pp. 123, 124.
 
 The Intervention of France. 161 
 
 it began to be aroused. In London, at the Hague, 
 wherever freedom of speech and of the press existed, 
 pamphlets, in ardent defence of persecuted inno- 
 cence, and of the threatened liberty of Europe, were 
 circulated. The same sentiments were expressed 
 in the English Parliament, where Sir Robert 
 Walpole, whose popularity was now on the decline, 
 was strongly urged by the Opposition to offer 
 Maria Theresa more efficient assistance than that of 
 mediation. The rural population of Silesia (who 
 bore an hereditary attachment to the House of 
 Austria) having recovered from the first shock 
 of amazement, and suffering from the evils 
 inseparable from an invasion, began to bestir 
 themselves in secret, and forming armed bands, 
 harassed the rear of the Prussian army. In the 
 tumultuous Diets of Poland, the Catholic nobility 
 loudly expressed their indignation that a neigh- 
 bouring province, professing the true faith, should 
 fall into the hands of a Protestant prince, and it 
 was evident that strong pressure was about to be 
 put upon the weak sovereign, Augustus III., so that 
 both Dresden and Warsaw might be induced to take 
 up arms in favour of Austria. The danger became 
 really serious when, towards the end of February, a 
 palace revolution whose nature will be sufficiently 
 explained by the sequel, seemed likely to give 
 force to the same influence at St. Petersburg. 
 Frederick had then to fear being taken in the rear, 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 1 62 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 and surrounded by a coalition of enemies before he 
 had had time to conclude either of the alliances 
 which he had artfully postponed in order to get as 
 much as possible out of them. " Pandora's box is 
 open," exclaimed poor Podewils in despair ; " every 
 misfortune is coming out of it at once." 
 
 While he did not deceive himself as to the magni- 
 tude of the danger, Frederick took care not to show 
 the slightest alarm. On the contrary, he breasted 
 the storm, neglecting nothing that might beguile 
 the newly-awakened public. He returned hastily 
 to the army, made an entry into Breslau, gave 
 solemn audiences there, heard the complaints of the 
 inhabitants, answered them with compliments, and 
 gave entertainments, to which he invited the wives 
 of the citizens, without distinction of religion, just 
 as a legitimate sovereign might have done in his 
 own capital. He brought his non-military friends, 
 savants, and men of letters, such as Jordan his libra- 
 rian, and Maupertuis the mathematician, from Berlin, 
 to take part in these ceremonies, and rallied them 
 pitilessly about their dislike to the unaccustomed 
 sound of arms. A well-organized correspondence 
 immediately communicated to Europe, and espe- 
 cially to Paris, that he was most enthusiastically 
 received everywhere. Voltaire (who got all 
 the news direct) did not fail to spread it, in the 
 form of clever verses, which easily caught the 
 memory. He asks Kayserling, the chamberlain,
 
 7^ he Intervention of France. 163 
 
 in a rhyming letter, which was assuredly not 
 intended for one person only, 
 
 Aimable adjutant d'un grand roi, 
 Et du Dieu de la poesie, 
 Sur mon heros instruissez moi. 
 Que fait-il dans la Silesie ? 
 
 II fait tout : il se fait aimer. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Sitot que Frederic parut 
 
 Dans la Silesie etonnee, 
 
 Vers lui, tout un peuple accourut 
 
 En benissant sa destinee. 
 
 II prit les filles par la main, 
 
 II caressa le citadin, 
 
 II flat t a la sottise altiere 
 
 De celui que, dans sa chaumiere, 
 
 Se dit issu de Witikind. 
 
 Aux huguenots il fit accroire 
 
 Qu'il etait bon lutherien ; 
 
 Au papiste, a 1'ignatien, 
 
 II dit, qu'un jour il pourrait bien 
 
 Lui faire en secret quelque bien, 
 
 Et croire meme au purgatoire. 
 
 II dit, et chaque citoyen 
 
 A sa sante s'en alia boire 
 
 Us criaient tous a haute voix, 
 
 " Vivons et buvons sous ses lois." ft 
 
 And as this idyl might perchance be contradicted 
 by certain murderous practices, to which parties 
 of Prussians, who ventured to cross the mountains 
 without an escort daily fell victims Frederick 
 himself having narrowly escaped several times 
 it was an understood thing that all peasants 
 
 9 Correspondance de Voltaire. Voltaire to Frederick, 28th 
 January, 1741. 
 
 M 2
 
 164 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 who took up arms in defence of their country were 
 simply spies and assassins in the pay of Austria. 
 Frederick even stated seriously that one of them, 
 who had been arrested and questioned, had con- 
 fessed that he had sworn to the Grand Duke himself, 
 in presence of the Aulic Council, to assassinate the 
 King of Prussia. No one gave the slightest credence 
 to this ridiculous calumny, but it formed a suffi- 
 cient pretext for striking salutary terror into the 
 people by punishing with the utmost severity all 
 who made the slightest show of resistance. Lastly, 
 to show that he was afraid of nobody, Frederick 
 arrested Cardinal Zinzendorf , Archbishop of Breslau, 
 brother of the Prime Minister of Maria Theresa, 
 in his own palace, and threw him into prison upon 
 the pretext that he was in communication with his 
 former masters. 1 
 
 He dealt, however, less contemptuously with 
 these attacks in his confidential letters. This one, 
 written to Podewils at that very time, betrays 
 excitement which could only have been caused by 
 the sense of imminent danger. " Cara anima mia, 
 non desperar. . . . Let us overcome these difficulties, 
 and we shall triumph. There are no laurels for the 
 slothful ; Fame bestows them on the most intrepid 
 and the most laborious. By the way, I have twice 
 escaped the Austrian hussars. If I should have 
 
 1 Droysen, vol. i. pp. 216, 217. D'Arneth, t. i. pp. 155, 384, 
 385,
 
 The Intervention of France. 165 
 
 the misfortune to be taken alive, I command you 
 solemnly, and you will answer to me for it with your 
 life, that in my absence you will not respect my 
 orders, that you will act as adviser to my brother, 
 and that the State shall purchase my liberty by 
 no unworthy means. On the contrary, under such 
 circumstances, I desire and command that action 
 should be more vigorous than ever. I am King only 
 while at liberty. If I am killed, I wish my body to 
 be burned in the Roman fashion, and my ashes to 
 be placed in an urn at Rheinsberg. In that case, 
 Knobelsdorf must make me a monument like that 
 of Horace at Tusculum." 2 
 
 To these heroic precautions was added another 
 which was more cheerful, and meant to provide for a 
 less fatal eventuality. The minister of France re- 
 ceived an intimation that he might come to the camp 
 to inform the King of the decision taken by his 
 Court. At last, Frederick had to make a choice, 
 and it appeared that the time for resorting to the 
 pis-aller was come. 3 
 
 Yalori did not need to be told twice; he ar- 
 rived without delay at the King's headquarters at 
 Schweinitz, and for once found every door open to 
 him. He had no sooner explained the new offers 
 that he was authorized to make than Frederick, 
 
 2 " Pol. Corr." t. i. pp. 201, 202. Frederick to Podewils, 4th 
 and 5th March, 1741. 
 
 8 Ibid. t. i. p. 203. Frederick to Valori, llth March, 1741.
 
 1 66 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 almost throwing himself into his arms, and hardly 
 allowing him to finish, said : " How graciously the 
 King sets about doing me a pleasure ! He may 
 depend upon finding a grateful ally in me. The 
 English have got allies, but it is always with their 
 eternal talk about the ambition of France and her 
 wish to domineer over Europe, and who, I ask you, 
 wants to domineer more than they do, or does so 
 in a more haughty manner ? ... At least it may be 
 said that if France has any such design, she uses 
 less disagreeable means to compass it." Then pass- 
 ing at once to the plans in question : "So soon," 
 said he, " as I am made aware of the King's inten- 
 tions in favour of the Elector of Bavaria, we shall 
 only need to take a map, and trace with a pencil 
 upon it what he would like to have, and I answer 
 for it, almost with my life, that he shall have it." 
 But though he was ready to set to work at once, 
 he insisted none the less upon the necessity of 
 keeping the alliance secret, that he might have time 
 for his preparations. Valori agreed with him, as 
 this would probably suit the Cardinal's timid method 
 of proceeding, and he offered (it is his own expres- 
 sion) to " play a part," and leave the camp with 
 the scowl of a discontented man who has not been 
 able to get what he came for. "Ah! do that," 
 cried Frederick with delight, " and try to let it 
 reach Brackel " (the Russian Minister). 
 
 Then, the better to hide their game, he kept
 
 The Intervention of France. 167 
 
 Valori to dinner, and treated him during the whole 
 of the repast to sneers and jeers at France and the 
 French. The Marquis, who was not very com- 
 fortable, thought that the joke was carried rather 
 too far. He answered respectfully, however, that 
 he could not understand why the King should so 
 greatly dislike a nation by whom he was so greatly 
 admired. When they rose from table, Frederick 
 offered him his hand, saying, " There is no ill-will 
 between us, Marquis ? " Yalori bowed, and retired 
 to write his despatch, in which he carried precaution 
 to the extent of putting all the confidential part 
 of the interview into cipher, while he related the 
 little comedy in which he believed himself the only 
 player, in the ordinary character, and as if it had 
 been serious. 4 
 
 It was in truth a comedy, but was he entirely in 
 the secret of it ? Who knows ? Did even Frederick 
 know himself ? And again, whom did he want to 
 deceive, when a week later, Valori having hardly left 
 him after receiving his repeated assurance that the 
 business was done, and he had no change to make, he 
 wrote to his minister in London ? " Try your best 
 to separate the King of Great Britain from the cabal, 
 and to get him to take up our cause in earnest ; our 
 interests cannot be opposed to his. . . . You may 
 protest that my hands are free hitherto, that I have 
 
 1 Yalori to Amelot, 18th March, 1741. (Correspondance de 
 Prusse.^ Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 1 68 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 not yet concluded any alliance with France, notwith- 
 standing all the advantages offered to me ... so that 
 it rests with the King to unite with me for our 
 mutual good, for that of Germany, and the Protestant, 
 religion. I expect a clear and decisive answer." 5 
 
 Whether it was sincere or not, the consent 
 of Frederick to the proposals of France sufficed 
 to put Belle-Isle, who was only waiting for a 
 signal, in motion. He had not been losing his 
 time any more than Frederick. Never had any one 
 within the memory of minister or general displayed 
 such zeal and activity. He lived between the Minis- 
 try of Foreign Affairs and the War Office, drawing 
 up diplomatic instructions in the morning, and draft- 
 ing the plans of the campaign in the afternoon, 
 while he kept a crowd of employes at work all night, 
 as well as all day. He had resolved, from the first 
 moment, to conduct both the diplomatic and mili- 
 tary operations ; he meant to fight, and he meant to 
 negotiate, and the dignity of Marshal, which was con- 
 ferred upon him with the embassy, showed that Fleury 
 had been induced to accept him in the double capa- 
 city. The fact was that the Cardinal, out-manoeuvred, 
 in despair, and stunned by all this noisy activity, 
 yielded blindly to his fate, just as a sailor who has 
 lost his reckoning lets 'go the rudder, and abandons 
 himself to Providence. As for the public, whether 
 
 6 "Pol Corr." vol. i. p. 214. Frederick to Truchsess, 21st 
 March, 1741.
 
 Intervention of France. 169 
 
 at Versailles or in Paris, in the cafes or in the 
 salons, they mistook audacity for genius, as they 
 commonly do, and were literally fascinated : " All 
 France, become Belle-Isle," says a manuscript memoir 
 of the time, "has done with doubts," and the Mar- 
 quis d'Argenson, a sarcastic thinker who did not 
 err on the side of kindliness, recorded the general 
 enthusiasm in his private journal without making 
 an exception of himself. " Every one has remarked 
 for some time past," he says, " how much M. de 
 Belle-Isle has advanced in Court favour. This is 
 because he has made a plan for Germany. He has 
 a good head, and materials from all sides. He eats 
 little, sleeps little, and thinks a great deal, rare 
 qualities in France. With a word he can sway our 
 mediocrities of the ministry." 6 
 
 The general enthusiasm was not justified by 
 events; yet we cannot refuse a certain tribute of 
 astonishment (admiration would be too strong an 
 expression) to the enterprising spirit who dashed into 
 so great an adventure, solely on the strength of 
 popular favour and a consent wrung from a weak 
 government. The boldness of the design lends 
 some merit to the mere fact of its conception, and 
 to the success that for a moment attended it, brief 
 and barren as that success proved. 
 
 The Imperial crown having been elective in name 
 only since the rivalry between Francis I. and 
 
 '' Journal de D'Argenson, vol. iii. p. 146.
 
 1 70 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 Charles V., the idea of snatching it from the House 
 of Austria upset all the traditions of the Chanceries, 
 and all the foundations of European public law. 
 It was not to be supposed that such a revolution 
 could be accomplished merely by influencing the 
 choice of the electoral college, a diminutive assembly, 
 without either energy or esprit-de-corps, and with a 
 majority composed of puny sovereigns in no con- 
 dition to face any kind of danger. To do this thing, 
 it would have been necessary to govern all the 
 springs, and change all the pivots of the Holy Em- 
 pire, the most complicated machine that ever existed, 
 and whose supreme dignity was only an unsteady head 
 ill-adjusted to the body. Moreover, the ambassador 
 of France had to prepare to meet the representatives 
 of all the Courts of Europe face to face in that 
 arena; some accredited like him self to the Electoral 
 Diet, others exerting a preponderating influence on 
 the principal political centres of Germany. He 
 would have either to withstand their opposition or to 
 disarm it by serving their interests. Lastly, as 
 diplomatic accounts are generally settled by force 
 in this world, if Austria were really to be struck to 
 the heart, that heart must be sought on the banks 
 of the Elbe or the Danube, at distances never 
 hitherto reached by the French flag. 
 
 Such was the many-sided problem that Belle- 
 Isle proposed to solve single-handed. His volumi- 
 nous correspondence, which fills several shelves of
 
 The Intervention of France. 171 
 
 the archives at the Ministries of War and Foreign 
 Affairs, is almost entirely in autograph, and is easily 
 recognizable by its nervous and hurried penmanship ; 
 shows that he had studied and considered it under 
 every aspect, and from all points of view. A glance 
 at the various parts of the vast task he proposed to 
 himself, as they passed before his mind's eye, is in- 
 dispensable to a clear apprehension of its magnitude 
 and complexity. 
 
 III. 
 
 I have already explained why it was to be expected 
 that the strongest opposition to the policy of 
 France and to her representative in Germany, would 
 come from England, and, hostility on that side 
 being certain, it would seem a useless waste of time 
 for the ablest negotiator to endeavour to avert it. 
 The effects of that hostility appeared to be all the 
 more imminent, because the King of England him- 
 self, as sovereign of Hanover, disposed of one of 
 the nine votes of the electoral college. Singularly 
 enough, however, this very circumstance the double 
 crown placed by accident on one head might delay 
 or even paralyse the action of British enmity for a 
 while, without disarming it. The interests of the 
 King of England were not, in fact, identical at all 
 points with those of the Elector of Hanover. The 
 King, as the head of a great nation which was
 
 172 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 the rival of France, would naturally support the 
 candidature of Francis of Lorraine ; the Elector, on 
 the contrary, belonged by the traditions of his 
 family and his faith to the league of petty Protestant 
 princes of Germany, who were the born enemies of 
 Austrian preponderance. 
 
 It seems to us that it would have been im- 
 possible to hesitate between two considerations so 
 unequal in importance; nevertheless the contrary 
 is affirmed by all contemporaries. The two first 
 sovereigns of the House of Brunswick, although 
 not indifferent to the splendid inheritance that had 
 devolved upon them through the chances of a re- 
 volution, always retained their attachment to the 
 modest patrimony of their ancestors. Their gaze 
 was ever fixed upon the cradle of their greatness, 
 whither they returned, periodically, every year. 
 This narrow point of view turned them away, on 
 several occasions, from their new and more impera- 
 tive duties. In the present instance, the fear of 
 involving the little Electorate, a flat and open 
 country, just made to be the field of the first battle 
 and the prize of the first victory, laid hold of George 
 II., and dissuaded him from incurring the risks 
 of a continental war. At all events, before he 
 incurred them, he would exhaust every diplomatic 
 means of satisfying or appeasing Prussia, and 
 thus secure the safety of his frontiers against the 
 first shock of war. This hesitation became known
 
 The Intervention of France. 173 
 
 in London, and the Opposition made it a subject 
 of bitter reproach, if not to the King himself, at 
 least to the Prime Minister, Sir Eobert Walpole, 
 who was accused of encouraging the royal weak- 
 ness in order to retain Court favour, at the expense 
 of the national interest, and contrary to the popular 
 desire. 
 
 This was an unfounded charge : Walpole needed 
 no interested motive to make him love peace and 
 fear war ; he had only to follow the promptings of 
 his natural disposition. In this respect, as well as 
 in others, he was the Fleury of England. In fact, 
 more than one point of the resemblance that 
 existed between the statesmen at the head of the 
 rival States had kept them on good terms for a 
 long time. Each had governed his respective 
 country for more than twenty years, less by 
 superior ability than by a happy adroitness, and the 
 strength of both lay in their common knowledge 
 of all the weaknesses of the human heart, more 
 alike everywhere than we think, open to the same 
 temptations in a Parliament as in a Court ; for what- 
 ever the theatre may be, " behind the scenes " is all 
 the same. The old gentleman, although as little 
 militant as the old prelate, was a much less keen 
 diplomatist. Foreign politics bothered him, especially 
 when they disturbed his little parliamentary jobbing 
 at an inopportune moment. " I leave Europe to my 
 brother Horace," he would say ; but his distinguished
 
 1 74 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 brother had been ambassador to France for several 
 years, and had formed very pleasant relations there; 
 warlike counsels would certainly not proceed from 
 him. Belle-Isle knew all about these matters better 
 than any one else, and might flatter himself that if 
 he could not win over the English policy to himself, 
 he could be beforehand with it, and attain his goal 
 before any obstacle was put in his way. 
 
 The dilatory action of the English Cabinet led to 
 hesitation on the part of another naval power. 
 "Holland," said Frederick, "follows in the wake 
 of England, as a boat follows the man-of-war to 
 which it is attached." It is difficult for us to realize 
 the great importance at this time to all parties, 
 either of obtaining the alliance, or prolonging 
 the neutrality of the little State that now lives in 
 a dignified and prosperous calm, far from the great 
 stage on which the destinies of nations are played 
 out. We have to pause, and remember that the 
 narrow territory, wrested by the indomitable cou- 
 rage of its inhabitants from the ravages of the sea 
 and the cruelties of despotism, had become the sole 
 asylum of social and political liberty in silent and sub- 
 missive Europe. In Holland, credit and the press, 
 two powers begotten and fed by liberty alone, and 
 which have changed the face of the modern world 
 under our own eyes, were born, and made the first 
 trials of their strength. 
 
 The traders of Amsterdam had accumulated euch
 
 The Intervention of France. 175 
 
 vast wealth by their wide-spreading commerce, that 
 they were in a condition to sell their co-operation, 
 or to dictate their conditions to needy governments 
 (they were all needy) at a loss for money to pay 
 their armies or to gratify their fancies. Moreover, 
 the Dutch gazettes, being exempt from official 
 censorship, were the only ones which could freely 
 discuss the events of the day. In them, what one 
 hardly dared to say in a whisper was printed, 
 what was hidden elsewhere was revealed, and 
 these deliberate indiscretions were surreptitiously 
 circulated in all the capital cities. Before this, the 
 only tribunal of opinion whose sentence was not dic- 
 tated beforehand, all the causes of public law were 
 pleaded, every military and political reputation was 
 discussed. No one could despise that voice of the 
 public conscience with impunity. Louis XIV. had 
 learned this to his cost, for nothing had done more 
 harm to himself and his race than the .alienation of 
 the sympathy which had been won by the grandson of 
 Henri IV., and was forfeited by a perfidious aggres- 
 sion. Frederick, warned by example, took care to avoid 
 a similar fault. He had entered on a course in which 
 Holland could not follow him, but he neglected no 
 opportunity of giving an underhand kind of assur- 
 ance that he continued to be attached to Holland as 
 the most devout of his co-religionists, and that it was 
 in reality oppressed Protestantism that he was about 
 to defend upon Austrian territory, nor did he fail
 
 1 76 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 to add that Dutch moneys placed in Silesia would 
 run no risk in his hands. Thus did he strike in turn 
 each chord that vibrated in the hearts of those proud 
 traders, who were equally solicitous for the rights of 
 their conscience and the interest of their capital. 
 
 When we pass, without a pause, from the south- 
 ern frontier of the Empire to its opposite extremity, 
 we find an almost similar medley of states, small 
 and great, all in the same condition of uncertainty, 
 although united in their animosity to French am- 
 bition. Russia, that semi-barbarous colossus, whose 
 still mysterious strength a great man had recently 
 revealed to the world, naturally inclined towards 
 Austria. The first steps of the infant Empire had 
 been assisted, and its entry into the European 
 society had been facilitated, ,by Austria. Quite 
 recently, the two Empires had contended against 
 France in Poland, and deprived the father-in-law of 
 Louis XV. of the electoral crown. Their union 
 was necessary to make head against the constant 
 menace of a revival of the Ottoman power. The 
 youthful ambition of Russia was, on the other hand, 
 traversed by the projects of Prussia, kept in check, 
 and forbidden to turn its eyes towards the west. 
 These natural tendencies of an evident interest 
 might, however, be diverted from its course at any 
 moment by personal influences or passions. In that 
 new world, only just come forth from chaos, and 
 which had beheld a crowned camp-follower sue-
 
 The Intei'vention of France. 177 
 
 ceed to the throne of Peter the Great, without 
 either resisting or resenting the scandal, nothing 
 was fixed. In a year, from one month to another, 
 a palace revolution might take place, power change 
 hands, and the half-formed plans of alliance be 
 scattered to the wind. The agents of all the Courts, 
 English, French, and German, instructed to be on 
 their guard, were always at work, and ready to lend 
 a hand to these violent proceedings by corruption 
 and intrigue. 
 
 Events had succeeded each other with amazing 
 rapidity since the death of the last sovereign, the 
 Empress Anne. Her successor, Ivan, was a child, 
 hardly seven years old ; in a few months his personal 
 guardian had been changed twice, and his ministers 
 three times. In November, when the invasion of 
 Silesia took place, the valiant Marshal Munich, govern- 
 ing in the name of a regent whom he had enthroned, 
 was all-powerful, and Frederick, an old friend of his, 
 had been greatly emboldened by the assurances and 
 encouragement he had received from him. 
 
 In March, all was changed. Munich, in his turn, 
 had fallen from power, and given place to a suc- 
 cessor who was said to be under English influence. 
 On that side everything once more looked badly, 
 at least until a change of scene or of reign took place, 
 which might always be foreseen, and with which 
 active diplomacy might co-operate. 
 
 France was in a position to offer her new ally a 
 VOL. i. N
 
 1 78 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 guarantee, then held to be sufficient, against this 
 danger which was particularly alarming to Frede- 
 rick, because it disturbed his frontiers, and en- 
 dangered his rear. That guarantee was the sup- 
 port of Sweden, a country allied to French policy 
 by ties of friendship dating from Richelieu and 
 Gustavus Adolphus, and maintained by an annual 
 subsidy with which Sweden could hardly have dis- 
 pensed. In these days we should smile at a policy 
 which reckoned on Sweden for keeping Russia 
 in check; but nations, as we know, live not by 
 realities only, but also, and almost as much, by 
 memory and imagination. The impression left by 
 Gustavus Adolphus, and temporarily revived by 
 the temerity of Charles XII. was not yet effaced. 
 
 Thus Sweden shone by reflected light, and imposed 
 upon herself no less than upon Europe, while Russia 
 was not yet fully aware of her own power. Lastly, 
 although fortune had not favoured Sweden of late, 
 and her possessions were already curtailed, she had 
 not yet lost Finland by conquest, and through that 
 ever-open door a Swedish army might be brought 
 almost into view of St. Petersburg, while hardly 
 passing beyond its own territories. A few hours' 
 bombardment would reduce the unfinished monu- 
 ment in stone and marble on which the son of Alexis 
 had left the impress of his genius to dust. Frede- 
 rick regarded it as an indispensable condition of the 
 maintenance of tranquillity in the north of Germany,
 
 The Intervention of France. 179 
 
 that Sweden should be urged to enter into immediate 
 hostilities with Russia, andhe pressed for the fulfilment 
 of this article more than any of the other instructions 
 of the French plenipotentiary. Again, it was not 
 Germany only which had to be considered, for Maria 
 Theresa, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Duchess 
 of Milan, was not a German princess only, nor was 
 the most coveted, the most precious, and also the 
 most vulnerable portion of her patrimony that which 
 lay beyond the Rhine. At the foot of the Alps, in 
 the rich plains of Lombardy, the French and Ger- 
 man armies had, for two centuries, met in deadly 
 encounter, and mingled their blood in the waters of 
 the Po. The scene of so many past contests could 
 not remain unoccupied in the fresh strife. If France, 
 called elsewhere, was not to appear there in person, 
 she must at least take care to be represented by 
 others. In this respect her security might be com- 
 plete, for Spain was quite ready to fulfil the task, 
 having never renounced that part of the inheritance 
 of Charles V. with a good grace, and the Italian 
 lady who reigned at Madrid was not disposed to let 
 slip so favourable an opportunity of reviving former 
 claims. I will not go so far as Frederick, who no 
 doubt because he delighted in antithesis imputed 
 to the ambitious daughter of the Farnese, Spartan 
 pride, English obstinacy, Italian cunning, and 
 French vanity ; but it may be admitted, without ex- 
 aggeration, that the second wife of Philip V. was 
 
 N 2
 
 1 80 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 endowed with indefatigable activity, which had given 
 Europe a great deal of trouble for thirty years. The 
 aim she pursued unremittingly, and for which she 
 had more than once disturbed the public peace, was 
 the creation of a royal appanage in her own country 
 for each of her children (failing the throne of Spain, 
 whose heir was the son of Philip by his first wife). 
 She had already succeeded on behalf of the eldest 
 son, the Infant Don Carlos, to whom the treaty of 
 1738 had secured dominion over the southern 
 peninsula, as the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. 
 She wanted to obtain an equal portion of the north 
 for her second son, Philip, at any cost. No sooner 
 was Charles VI. dead than she demanded passage 
 through Rousillon and Provence for a body of troops 
 whom she purposed to send into the Milanese 
 territory. No sooner was Belle-Isle accredited, 
 than she also despatched an ambassador from Spain 
 to the Electoral Diet, with the same rank, quality, 
 and instructions as the French ambassador. The 
 Count de Montijo was instructed to co-operate in all 
 the actions of Belle-Isle, and to attach himself to him 
 so as to secure the largest possible share of the quarry 
 to be hunted down. Far from having to fear any 
 troublesome contradiction from his colleague, Belle- 
 Isle had only to moderate his over-importunate 
 zeal. 
 
 Trouble of a different kind was given by another 
 pretender to a share in the Italian possessions of
 
 The Intervention of France. 1 8 1 
 
 Austria. The latter was no other than the new 
 King of Sardinia, whose father had until quite 
 recently been Duke of Savoy, but who now wore a 
 crown of brand-new lustre as the recompense 
 of a long course of wary ambition. "My son," 
 said King Victor Amadeus to his heir, when he 
 was dying ; " the Milanese is an artichoke which 
 we must eat leaf by leaf." The moment had 
 evidently arrived for supplying meat to an undi- 
 minished appetite. The House of Savoy, which 
 had been placed for long years between France and 
 Austria, as if between the anvil and the hammer, 
 had always succeeded in getting profit out of a 
 situation in which others would have found nothing 
 but peril. The House of Savoy had practised the 
 art of selling its assistance to the two belligerents 
 by turns, and after it had been paid by both, 
 getting out of the bargain just in time to avoid 
 being involved in the issue of the conflict. This 
 game had been too profitable to be abandoned, so 
 that from the first day it was equally evident that 
 the Court of Turin was preparing to play a part in the 
 coming events, and impossible to discover what part 
 it intended to play. In vain had Frederick sent 
 Algarotti his confidant to Charles Emmanuel, believ- 
 ing that he, as a compatriot of the king, would be 
 better able than any one else to unravel the threads of 
 Ultramontane finesse. Algarotti did his best, but 
 it was labour lost, and at the end of two months he
 
 1 82 Frederick If. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 wrote, " The mysteries of the Bona Dea were not more 
 hidden from men than is the policy of this Court." 7 
 
 To make the position more critical, it was by no 
 means certain that fortune would dispel the mystery 
 by declaring itself, because the Savoy princes had 
 more than once succeeded in enhancing the value of 
 their services by taking the side of the vanquished, 
 and thus changing the balance of forces. " These 
 princes," said a diplomatist of the period, " are of a 
 blood which never spills itself uselessly : they know 
 that he who would be the most ready to give them 
 the Milanese will always be the one who does not 
 possess it." 8 
 
 The diplomatic field over which Belle-Isle had 
 to cast his eyes was a wide one, the threads which 
 he had to take up were numerous and tangled. 
 So many were the different elements, and so great 
 was the confusion of interests and tendencies, that, 
 all depended upon the skill of the hand which 
 had to group them together. According to the 
 greater or less success of the first efforts, a for- 
 midable coalition might be organized either against 
 Austria or against France, and yet this was child's 
 play in comparison with the difficulty of giving a 
 common impulse to all the ill-joined and ill-assorted 
 members, whose co-operation was necessary to 
 bring about the least movement of what was 
 
 7 " Pol. Corr." vol. i. p. 198. 
 
 * M. de BUSPV, Minister of Franco in England.
 
 The Intervention of France. 183 
 
 called "the Germanic body." Let us picture to 
 ourselves, a territory which did not then contain 
 more than twenty-five millions of men, and whose 
 extent was only one-third greater than that of 
 France at the present day, with 300 independent sove- 
 reigns, all claiming to reign by an equal title ; the 
 two who were on a par with the greatest royalties 
 of Europe, equally with the eighty whose dominions 
 did not cover an area of more than eight or ten 
 square leagues. Let us trace out the strange con- 
 figuration of these innumerable States upon the 
 map, and observe how they are all entangled together 
 by the various accidents of conquest or succession, 
 the small States dove-tailing into the great, and the 
 various possessions of the same owner situated at 
 the most opposite points of the horizon. Let us 
 try to keep in our head all the denominations of 
 these potentates electors, kings, dukes, archdukes, 
 counts palatine, bishops, margraves, burgraves, 
 landgraves a variety of titles which correspond to 
 every political form that a society can assume, from 
 pure monarchy at Vienna and Berlin, to ecclesiasti- 
 cal rule at Mayence and Cologne, and even down to 
 republican liberty in the imperial cities. Then let 
 us study divisibility pushed ad infinitum in the in- 
 terior of these units, which were not even atoms, by 
 the co-existence of 40,000 seignories, and almost 
 as many abbeys, guilds, orders, or chapters, all en- 
 dowed with immunities, or exercising privileged
 
 1 84 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 jurisdictions, and we snail get a glimpse of the 
 spectacle of incoherence and confusion which was 
 presented by Germany in the eighteenth century, at 
 the moment when national unity was already firmly 
 constituted in France, under the hand of a powerful 
 administration, and freely represented in England 
 by a parliament grouped around a popular throne. 
 
 This strange amalgam claimed also to form an 
 organized body endowed with the principal elements 
 that constitute a government. It had a central 
 executive power personified in the Emperor, a legis- 
 lative power sitting at Ratisbon in an elective Diet. 
 But these institutions, even supposing, which is 
 doubtful, that they ever had serious consistency, 
 were no longer anything more than the ghost of a 
 great memory. For a long time past, as I have 
 already said, the imperial dignity possessed no in- 
 herent power, and could only make itself respected 
 by borrowing that of the prince who was invested 
 with it. The jurists still asserted that all authority 
 emanated from the Emperor, as all light comes from 
 the sun, but they did not care to add that, though 
 the orb still shone, its rays had lost their heat 
 and power. In fact the Emperor retained the dis- 
 cretionary use of only two of his inherent faculties ; 
 the nomination to certain benefices, and the bestowal 
 of titles of honour. In every other exercise of 
 authority he had to ask the co-operation, and con- 
 sequently submit to the control, of his powerful 
 subordinates.
 
 The Intervention of France. 1 8 5 
 
 In the first place, after his election, and pre- 
 vious to his coronation, he was tendered by his 
 electors the formula of an oath which he was to 
 take : this was drawn up beforehand, in several 
 clauses, which bore the significant name of capitu- 
 lations. By the first of these engagements he bound 
 himself to do nothing to render the Empire heredi- 
 tary in his family ; he afterwards swore to respect 
 all the rights and privileges of the princes, even 
 those that were most exorbitant. Among the 
 number of these was the right to make treaties, 
 either among themselves, or even with foreign 
 powers, with the sole reservation that nothing was 
 to be stipulated which could imperil the interests of 
 the Empire, a condition as easy to elude, as it was 
 difficult to define. While he was thus constrained 
 to admit an independence on the part of the least 
 of these sovereigns, which was ruinous to his own 
 authority, the Emperor still remained no less 
 bound to support theirs, to assist them to repress 
 the rebellion of their subjects, and to receive neither 
 appeal nor demand against them without giving 
 them notice. I know that it will be said the House 
 of Hapsburg had deliberately broken the first of these 
 promises for two centuries, and habitually violated 
 all the others, but what better proof of the inanity 
 of power could be given than the necessity of abusing 
 it in order to give it weight ? This was a phantom to 
 which usurpation only could give a body. 
 
 Everything that emanated from this ideal rather
 
 1 86 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 than real dignity, bore the same character of im- 
 potence. There was, for instance, an imperial ad- 
 ministration. The surface of Germany was divided 
 into ten circles, and at the head of each was a chief, 
 nominated by the Emperor, but this administra- 
 tive division, which dated back only to the grand- 
 father of Charles V., was open to the objection that 
 it did not usefully correspond to any political 
 division. When the states of the same sovereign 
 were distributed through different circles (and this 
 was ordinarily the case), the prince, subject to 
 several authorities, profited by the fact to obey none. 
 The King of Prussia, for example, belonged to the 
 circle of Upper Saxony as Elector of Brandenburg, 
 to the circle of Lower Saxony as Duke of Magde- 
 burg, and to the circle of Westphalia as Prince of 
 Minden and East Friesland. Each of the Imperial 
 delegates who ought to have had authority over 
 him, found himself a very small personage in the 
 presence of the King of Prussia, and if any of them 
 had taken a high tone with him one day, he would 
 have had to yield on the next, before even the sha- 
 dow of a threat. On the other hand, the Elector of 
 Bavaria was almost alone in his circle, where he 
 took it very ill that imperious orders from Vienna 
 prevented him from living at his ease, and governing 
 after his own fashion. 
 
 There was also an Imperial administration of 
 justice, a high court (Reichskammergericfif), whose
 
 The Intervention of France. 187 
 
 members were nominated by the different states, 
 and its president was selected by the Emperor. 
 This high court had nominal authority to settle the 
 differences that arose between the various princes, 
 and to receive appeals from the local courts in 
 certain cases, but for want of regular means of pro- 
 curing the execution of its decrees, this pretended 
 sovereign jurisdiction afforded only a deceptive pro- 
 tection to the weak, whether States or individuals. 
 The slowness of its procedure, the frequently 
 proved inefficacy of its decisions, had long ago 
 discouraged the claimants of justice from having 
 recourse to its intervention, or from aiding in its 
 formation. More than one State neglected to nomi- 
 nate the judges whom it had a right to choose, and 
 more than one also forgot to pay them after they had 
 been nominated, thus leaving them exposed to all 
 the temptations of venality. An Emperor might 
 still, on occasion, find docile and corrupt instruments 
 of despotism in them, but no reliance was to be 
 placed, in matters of general interest or common 
 weal, upon so degraded an authority. 
 
 Lastly, there was also an Imperial army, and the 
 Emperor had the right to nominate the commander- 
 in-chief and the general staff. But what an army ! In 
 time of peace it consisted of 40,000 men, 28.000 being 
 infantry, and 12, 000 being cavalry. This was the maxi- 
 mum on paper In time of war its strength might be 
 raised to 120,000. Historians tell us that, in fact, more
 
 1 88 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 than 20,000 imperial soldiers were never seen in the 
 same camp, or figuring upon the same field of battle. 
 For the honour of the standard of the Holy Empire 
 it was well that the muster of these troops should 
 take place as seldom as possible, for their almost 
 grotesque aspect was singularly expressive of con- 
 fusion and chaos. Not only each regiment, but 
 each company, was formed of the contingent of 
 several States, and each kept its own uniform and 
 armament. There were States whose entire contin- 
 gent consisted of two men, equipped at their own 
 expense, but also in their own fashion. The right 
 of the States extended, always in proportion to their 
 means, to the nomination of inferior officers, so that 
 in the same company the captain might be nominated 
 by a king, the first lieutenant by a city, the second 
 by the head of a religious order, or even by an abbess. 
 And then, so that no one should be offended, or dis- 
 contented, the officers, Protestant and Catholic, 
 were to be of an equal number, and to occupy 
 equivalent ranks. In case of an unforeseen emer- 
 gency, each prince had to undertake the mobilization 
 of his little troop, and we may imagine how exact 
 must have been the muster at the rendezvous. The 
 payment of the army tax, which was placed to the 
 account of the different States, was equally lax. 
 Contributions to the common treasury came in but 
 slowly, and this latter point had consequences of 
 greater importance than the irregularity of certain
 
 TJie Intervention of France. 189 
 
 payments, for the sinews of peace, as well as those of 
 Avar the means of meeting the cost of the general in- 
 terest were wanting. Imperial finances did not exist; 
 each sovereign was supposed to furnish a subscrip- 
 tion, but no means of compelling him to pay it were 
 provided, and Kiel and Philipsburg, the two fort- 
 resses which guarded the entry to the Empire, were 
 falling into ruins, because, as they belonged to no 
 one, none would furnish annually the few thousand 
 crowns necessary to keep them in a state of 
 repair. 
 
 The assembly which met periodically at Eatisbon 
 might have supplied what was wanting to the unity 
 and action of the executive power, if it had been 
 animated by a patriotic instinct, or any care for the 
 common weal. But the Constitution of the Diet 
 did not permit such sentiments either to exist or to 
 show themselves. On the contrary, it seemed to be 
 expressly contrived to keep up the mutual distrust 
 of all the States, small and great, or, if the great 
 came to an understanding, it was that they might 
 oppress and annul the small. 
 
 The Diet was divided into three colleges ; that 
 of the electors formed by the nine sovereigns 
 to whom the right of appointing to the vacant 
 imperial throne belonged ; that of the princes, 
 numbering not less than 100 ; and, lastly, that of 
 the free towns, composed of fifty-two deputies. The 
 voting was by order, so that the two princely
 
 i go Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 colleges carried all the resolutions by them- 
 selves. 
 
 It must be added that powerful electors, like 
 those of Brandenburg, Saxony, and Bavaria, had 
 entered into the college of princes by virtue of 
 sovereignties which they might possess outside of 
 of their electorate, and that in the college they dis- 
 posed of all the suffrages that they derived from the 
 different principalities. On the other hand, princes 
 whose treasuries were ill supplied, made a common 
 fund for the maintenance of a single representative 
 of them all. Under such conditions as these, debates 
 were mere mummery, except those which might 
 arise between the rival claims of princes really worthy 
 of the name, and the latter generally preferred to 
 settle their difficulties by other than parliamentary 
 methods. The outcome of these discussions being 
 foreseen, none cared to provoke them. 
 
 In fact there was only one point on which the 
 division of votes would have been possible, and con- 
 test serious; this was religious matters, for the 
 interests of caste or order might then give place 
 to others of a superior kind. But, as this was a 
 real danger, and often experienced, everything was 
 arranged to obviate it. Since the peace of West- 
 phalia, a mode of action in which prudence was 
 carried to excess, had been introduced, in the fear of 
 a renewal of the troubles of the preceding centuries, 
 and the sanguinary strife that had followed them.
 
 The Intervention of France. 191 
 
 " In all matters that touched religion (says a 
 writer to whom we owe the best exposition within 
 my knowledge of the state of Germany in the eigh- 
 teenth century) the vote by college was suspended, 
 and the two religious parties, the Corpus Catholicum 
 and the Corpus Evangelicum confronted each other, 
 forming two fully independent corporations, and 
 each armed with an unconditional veto against any 
 resolutions of the Diet which appeared to them in- 
 compatible with their religious interests. Upon what 
 it was that constituted a religious matter, each party 
 had to decide, and the necessary result was that 
 things which had nothing whatever to do with religion 
 or its interests were ranged under that heading." 
 
 Owing to this curious arrangement, it was not 
 two classes, or two parties, that were face to face, but 
 two churches, or rather two armies, and inaction, 
 the necessary result of this negative equilibrium, 
 was the only means that could be devised for 
 securing the duration of truce, if not of peace. 
 
 And so, to the social and political discord by which 
 the Germanic body was rent, there was added religious 
 dissension, so obstinate and so deep, that, at a given 
 day, the Diet, like the army, might be divided into 
 
 * Bidermann, Deutschlands politische, materielle und sociale Zu- 
 stand im Achtzehnten Jahrhundert. Leipsig, 1854, vol. i. p. 12. 
 In the correspondence of the French envoy (M. de la ]N~oye), to 
 the Diet of Ratisbon in 1738, there is a memorial setting forth, in 
 two columns, the grievances of the Protestants and the grievances 
 of the Catholics, which were discussed by that Diet.
 
 1 92 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 Protestants and Catholics, all ready to fall upon each 
 other. This significant fact I recommend to any 
 historian who desires to examine more closely than 
 I can the real explanation of the state of decadence 
 to which the German Fatherland had allowed itself 
 to be reduced. He will, I am sure, be convinced 
 that it was the acrimony and tenacity of the religious 
 dissensions of the time that condemned Germany to 
 vegetate in a wretched, piecemeal, dead-alive con- 
 dition, while all around her the other European 
 nationalities were strengthening themselves by a 
 wise and salutary concentration of power. A 
 comparison drawn from our own history throws a 
 remarkable light on this point of view. We, too, 
 like Germany, had had our " wars of religion." 
 Let us suppose that, after the prolonged strife of the 
 sixteenth century, God had not given Henri IV. to 
 France, or had not sent him the aid of our wise, 
 politic magistrates. Let us picture to ourselves, 
 instead of the League and the Reformation both 
 disarmed by him, and living in peace under his 
 tutelary authority, those two factions, half aristo- 
 cratic and half religious, driven, indeed, to lay down 
 arms at last, through sheer exhaustion, but each 
 remaining in its strong places, and in an attitude of 
 combat. Let us leave Bouillon at Sedan, Rohan 
 at La Rochelle, to face Mayenne, De Nemours or 
 D'Epernon, masters of Bordeaux or Marseilles. 
 Let there be a feeble ruler in Paris, who, instead
 
 The Intervention of Fiance. 193 
 
 of repressing these rebel forces, permits them to 
 organize and constitute themselves, and treats with 
 them himself ; what, I ask, would have become of 
 French unity in the face of this reawakening of the 
 feudal, invigorated by the sectarian spirit ? "What 
 future, what progress would have been reserved to 
 it ? What I have put as a supposition for France, 
 was the actual history of Germany. There had 
 been no Henri IV, on the other side of the Rhine, 
 and the Treaty of Westphalia was the opposite of the 
 Edict of Nantes. It was not a social peaco that 
 the negotiators of Munster and Osnaburg had so 
 happily established between the church and her 
 adversaries ; it was a division of territory whose 
 boundaries they had settled k Is it, then, surprising 
 that the consequences of the two operations should 
 have been as different as their nature ? 
 
 The principle laid down by the peace of "West- 
 phalia, and which still prevailed in the seventeenth 
 century, the maxim cujus regio, cujus religio t formu- 
 lated by the publicists, was calculated to perpetuate 
 dissensions, instead of putting an end to them. 
 This rule of political materialism, which made the 
 possession of the territory the condition of religious 
 liberty, placed the pretensions of the most petty 
 prince under the protection of conscience, and put 
 anarchy under the guard of fanaticism. Any petty 
 sovereign might look upon himself as a champion 
 of the Bible or the Church, hold his puny State as 
 
 VOL. i. o
 
 1 94 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 a Holy Land which he was bound to defend, and 
 thus invest his most foolish prerogatives with the 
 character of sacred inviolability. In defending a 
 musty privilege, or a frivolous form, he might claim 
 to be fighting for his own honour, and for the in- 
 tegrity of his faith. Under cover of the new prin- 
 ciple of liberty of conscience, the old system of 
 feudality preserved all its former features. 
 
 As the Emperor always was a Catholic, it was 
 especially among the Protestants that an obstinate 
 resistance to the most legitimate exercise of the 
 central authority was organized. This was the re- 
 sult of suspicion, which was both natural and easily 
 justified. Every means of contending against the 
 Emperor in the Empire, even the very privileges that 
 seemed inseparable from the faith they had for- 
 saken, appeared good to the Protestants. The King 
 of Prussia would not have suffered himself to be 
 deprived of a single one of the rights of the Grand 
 Master of the Order of Teutonic Knights. On all 
 sides were to be seen Protestant bishops and clerics, 
 living with their wives and children, in the abbeys, 
 commanderies, and episcopal residences, drawing 
 the revenues, and exercising the jurisdiction of old 
 piously assigned to the Catholic clergy by the 
 devotion of their ancestors. Thus we see how the 
 complex play of human passions disturbs the ideal 
 lines that are complacently laid down by the phi- 
 losophy of history. The Reformation, whose tern-
 
 The Intervention of France. 195 
 
 pestuous breath had dispersed the traditions of the 
 Middle Ages everywhere else, had preserved in 
 Germany the most antiquated institutions of the past, 
 and, as it were, frozen them into rigid immobility. 
 
 Such was the complicated, and at the same time 
 dislocated machine which it was Belle-Isle's task 
 to pull out of the rut, and set going in a fresh 
 direction. Was there, then, in that vast region of 
 Europe, no longer any feeling common to the mass 
 of its inhabitants, which might one day make 
 all hearts beat with patriotic emotion ? Alas ! an 
 attentive observer, looking closely, might have dis- 
 covered one such feeling, then latent and in the 
 germ, destined to speedy development. This was 
 not, however, a feeling of the kind to which a 
 French agent could appeal ; it was that same 
 sentiment which Frederick discerned with the 
 perspicacity of genius and dislike when he said 
 to the Marquis de Valori, " Take care ; the only 
 thing that injures your friend the Elector of Bavaria 
 with the princes of Germany, is his relation with 
 you." 
 
 Frederick saw clearly there was one point on which 
 all Germans were agreed, without distinction of the 
 greater or lesser States, of Protestant or Catholic, 
 one common feeling that could impose silence on 
 their special dissensions; this was sullen and jealous 
 irritation with France. Hence, it was not very 
 difficult to foresee that, if it were skilfully handled,
 
 1 96 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 this impatience of the great Power beyond the 
 Rhine might unite them all, sooner or later, in one 
 common action. To tell the plain, unvarnished truth, 
 history will pronounce on the evidence, which has 
 only recently become available, that the unneigh- 
 bourly spirit of Germany was, to a certain extent 
 at least, justified by facts. 
 
 It is most unjust to assert, as almost all Ger- 
 man historians of the present day do assert, that 
 the internal weakness of the Empire was due to 
 the premeditated and treacherous action of French 
 policy, in sowing discord and disorder everywhere 
 in its course ; but it is only fair to admit that 
 France had profited by the internal conflicts of 
 Germany, at first wisely and modestly, but after- 
 wards with imprudent presumption. And we should 
 be careful to distinguish between the two phases, 
 in each of which the conduct of the French Cabi- 
 nets was animated by a very different spirit. En- 
 gaged as they were, for the sake of their own inde- 
 pendence, in a necessary struggle against Austrian 
 ambition, the sovereigns of France were justified by 
 the laws of war in stirring up hostility against 
 their hereditary enemies, and creating difficulties 
 for Austria up to the gates of Vienna. 
 
 The alliance of Francis I. with the princes 
 leagued against Charles V., the assistance afforded 
 by Richelieu to the Protestants against the 
 armies of Wallenstein and Tilly in the ensuing
 
 The Intervention of France. 197 
 
 century, were acts of legitimate defence ; equally 
 legitimate were the precautions taken by the ne- 
 gotiators of Munster and Osnaburg against the 
 forming of a preponderating force, upon a frontier 
 so ill defended by nature as that of France on the 
 north and east. But while he extended the pro- 
 tection of French interests even beyond the Rhine, 
 Richelieu, in his intervention in German affairs, 
 never failed to maintain that characteristic modera- 
 tion which, combined with promptitude in action, 
 was a distinctive mark of his genius. While he 
 supported the Protestants, he offended neither the 
 dignity nor the conscience of the Catholics. He 
 was always careful to avoid a, tone of haughty 
 patronage towards those to whom he lent the aid 
 of men or money ; he never allowed one of those 
 expressions of disdainful kindness that turn a service 
 into an insult to escape his lips. The consequence 
 was, that when France had been placed, by the 
 peace of Westphalia, in the first rank among the 
 Powers by whom the Germanic liberties were gua- 
 ranteed, that testimony of gratitude by those whom 
 she had served, was regarded by those with whom 
 she had fought as an act of justice. 
 
 Far different was the attitude taken by Louis 
 XIV. during his reign of fifty years. On this point, 
 as well as on so many others, it seems to have been 
 the destiny of the son of Louis XIII. to injure and 
 deteriorate the inheritance left to him by his father's
 
 198 Frederick II. and Maria T/teresa. 
 
 ministers. The truth is, Richelieu and Mazarin 
 strove for one single object, while Louis XIV. aimed 
 at effect, and rated the eclat of victory as high 
 as its advantage. Germany had been the greatest 
 sufferer by his pompous vanity. During half 
 a century Louis XIV. had sent his army so many 
 times across the Rhine needlessly and without a 
 pretext, had made his friends pay so dearly for his 
 alliance, and his enemies feel his power so keenly, 
 had carved the records of his exploits on so many 
 triumphal arches, and had wounded the amour-propre 
 that never sleeps, so long and so deeply, that at 
 length patriotism awoke from its slumber. There 
 are, besides, certain faults which Providence pu- 
 nishes by denying them oblivion. The soldiers of 
 Turenne little knew to what an undying hatred on 
 the part of Germany they devoted the very name 
 of their country, when they inscribed it in letters 
 of blood and fire on all the hills of the Pala- 
 tinate. 
 
 And yet the harm would have been but half done, 
 if the sole responsibility of all this violence and 
 maladroitness had rested on the King or his generals 
 only. It has, however, unfortunately been the in- 
 variable habit of the French public to follow the 
 worst examples set them by their leaders, and the 
 fashion of assuming a haughty and contemptuous 
 tone towards and concerning our northern neigh- 
 bours spread rapidly from the Court downwards ; it
 
 Tfie Intervention of France. 199 
 
 was adopted at Paris as well as at Versailles ; the 
 nobility, the bourgeoisie, and men of letters, all took 
 part in this charitable pastime. Did a German 
 prince or his German envoy make his appearance 
 in the (Eil de Boeuf, the dandified courtiers would 
 vie with each other who should be the first to 
 amuse the fair ladies of the choicest circles 
 with accounts of his absurd costume or his starched 
 manner ; the depth of his prescribed bows, and 
 the clumsiness of his accent. The gentlemen who 
 had done their campaigning in Germany had an 
 inexhaustible store of anecdotes about the "gothic " 
 manners of the petty Courts, their ridiculous eti- 
 quette, and their interminable repasts, beginning with 
 gluttony and ending in dead-drunkenness. The 
 learned declared that it was impossible to find one's 
 way through the labyrinth of Germanic law ; the 
 writers, justly proud of the lucidity of the French 
 language, described the German tongue, of whose 
 wealth and complexity they knew nothing, as a 
 " patois." A constant fire of quizzing and sneers 
 was kept up. When St. Simon wants to give an 
 idea of the extreme awkwardness and ugliness of a 
 certain princess, he says openly, " She is German 
 in the highest degree." Boileau is indignant that a 
 Teutonic name should be admitted into a line of 
 poetry, and Voltaire himself, in his youthful pro- 
 duction, Le Temple du Goat, denies access to 
 that shrine to all who have been guilty of going
 
 2OO Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 " to rhyme in Germany." Thus did short-sighted 
 fatuity take pleasure in crushing the country which 
 was already that of Leibnitz, and was destined to 
 give birth to Goethe, under the weight of the 
 superior elegance, politeness, and accomplishments 
 of France. 
 
 This was, if not well, endurable, so long as 
 that superiority, manifesting itself on the battle- 
 field by victory, and in letters by genius, was 
 incontestable. Germany submitted sullenly, but 
 without murmuring, not only to the material 
 yoke, but to the moral ascendency of France, and 
 appeared to justify the jesters who mocked 
 her by attempting to imitate them. Those petty 
 princes at whom the Court of France laughed, went 
 home with eyes dazzled by having gazed adoringly 
 upon the sun, and immediately set about playing 
 Louis XIV. on a small scale. The imitation of 
 Versailles is to be seen in all the palaces which 
 they built ; for example, Wilhelmshb'he at Cassel, 
 or the former electoral palace at Mannheim. All 
 the young nobles had to make the journey to 
 Paris once, in order to finish their fashionable 
 education. And yet, that ideal of French grace 
 and politeness which they strove so hard to repro- 
 duce, was the nightmare as well as the dream of all, 
 and it was equally humiliating to be for ever copying 
 the model, and never attaining to it. Again, the 
 Professors of the French language and manners were
 
 The Intervention of France. 20 1 
 
 almost all Protestant refugees, banished by the 
 revocation of the Edict of Nantes, who had the 
 best reasons in the world for teaching their pupils 
 both to speak the French language, and to think 
 ill of France. Is any further explanation needed 
 of the intensity of a resentment which was smould- 
 ering for the moment, but would inevitably blaze 
 up some day, fed as it was continually by fresh 
 provocations ? One thing only was wanting to 
 bring about the open manifestation of this sullen 
 enmity the accession to a German throne of a prince 
 of sufficient stature to look France full in the face. 
 The prince who was to play such a part would 
 have to satisfy conditions not easy to combine. 
 He must, in the first place, be powerful and capable 
 of victory, for strength only can rectify the habits of 
 long continued weakness. But he must be neither 
 a son of Austria, nor a possible pretender to the 
 Holy Empire : the appearance of such a one would 
 only revive the old quarrels. For the same reason 
 he must not be a Catholic, because every Catholic 
 was suspected of being on the imperial side ; but he 
 must be a Protestant without being a fanatic, lest he 
 should excite the suspicions of the other camp. 
 
 How were these apparently contradictory requi- 
 sites to be reconciled ? Let us, however, suppose that 
 the problem had been solved by a favourite of fortune 
 who combined them all in his own person, and 
 who added to political and military genius, a capa-
 
 2O2 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 city for writing and thinking equal to that of the 
 greatest masters of philosophy and letters. Let us 
 suppose that this gifted prince excelled especially 
 in the terrible art of satire, and exulted in employ- 
 ing it in darting poisoned arrows into the flesh and 
 the hearts of those who had so long used it 
 against his country; let us suppose that, being by 
 turns the faithless ally and the fortunate foe of 
 France, he, during fifty years, made our kings, 
 ministers, generals, and diplomatists, the butt of 
 cynical and biting epigrams, re-echoed throughout 
 Europe ; add to this the most unlikely supposition 
 of all, that in his campaign against the honour 
 of France, he had the luck of finding an ally 
 in France herself : that all the literati, all the 
 philosophers of France flocked to his throne to crawl 
 at his feet and live upon his wages; lastly, that 
 he constrained the monarch of French thought, 
 he who has been called the true successor of 
 Louis XIV., Voltaire himself, to come at his call to 
 make rhymes in Germany ! What a transformation 
 scene ! What a reversal of roles ! What a recom- 
 pense for the wounds inflicted on German pride, 
 and what a balm for the hurts of German vanity ! 
 Can it be doubted that a national thrill of homage 
 would salute him who should thus redress a long 
 course of injury, as the precursor of a new Germanic 
 unity ? 
 
 For the expiation of our faults, and to the great
 
 The Intervention of France. 203 
 
 peril of the future liberty of Europe, this man had 
 been born into the world, and was already preparing 
 for his great fortunes. This was he whom the pleni- 
 potentiary of France was about to seek in his camp, 
 that he might clear the way to victory for him. The 
 hour had come ; the man was Frederick.
 
 2O4 Frederick II. and Maria T/ttresa. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BELLE-ISLE AT FREDERICK'S CAMP. 
 
 Belle- Isle's entry into Germany Character of his brother, the 
 Chevalier Belle-Isle visits the three Bishop-Electors of 
 Treves, Cologne, and Mayence Characters of these petty 
 sovereigns, and the parts they played Belle-Isle goes from 
 Mayence to Dresden Unfavourable disposition of the 
 Elector of Saxony, King of Poland, towards France This is 
 opposed by his natural brother, Maurice de Saxe, Lieutenant- 
 General in the service of France The battle of Mollwitz 
 Flight, and subsequent victory of Frederick He detaches 
 himself from the French Alliance, and wishes to make advances 
 to England Belle-Isle repairs to the Prussian camp His 
 interviews with the King He departs without obtaining the 
 immediate conclusion of the treaty of alliance Fresh proposals 
 are transmitted to Vienna by the English envoy, Lord 
 Hyndford Maria Theresa rejects them Frederick makes 
 up his mind to treat with France The difficulty raised by 
 him to the execution of the treaty. 
 
 ON the 10th of March, 1741, the ambassador 
 of France to the Electoral Diet passed through 
 Metz, the seat of his former government, on his 
 way to Germany, equipped with great magnifi- 
 cence. Although his suite was composed only of his 
 travelling attendants, and far more splendid prepara- 
 tions were already made for his entry in state into 
 the imperial city on the eve of the election, the
 
 Belle-Isle at Frederick's Camp. 205 
 
 number and style of his carriages, the crowd of 
 secretaries, gentlemen of the embassy, officers of the 
 household, pages, runners, and servants in attendance 
 upon him, indicated an intention of striking the 
 public imagination by a display of power which 
 revealed a great design. 
 
 The Marshal presided alone over this diplomatic 
 army, for so it might be called; no colleague had 
 been appointed to act with him. This was a mark of 
 special consideration, such as had not been bestowed 
 even upon the great negotiators of the peace of 
 Westphalia. He had in reality, however, a more use- 
 ful auxiliary at his side than all the colleagues in 
 the world could have been, in his brother, the Che- 
 valier de Belle-Isle, who never left him. Those who 
 knew the two brothers were aware that from child- 
 hood up they had formed but one being, and that 
 each, while he contrasted with, was the complement 
 of the other. The younger was as cold, as re- 
 served, as careful to keep himself in the shade, 
 as the elder was expansive, brilliant, and eager 
 for display ; but the Chevalier who was secretly 
 the instigator of the very designs whose mere 
 instrument he appeared to be, brought method, 
 steadiness, and tenacity all, in fact, that was want- 
 ing to the dashing ardour of the Marshal to their 
 execution. It was familiarly said of the two 
 brothers that they had in them the stuff for one 
 finished statesman ; the elder contributing the
 
 206 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 genius that imagines, the other the good sense that 
 executes. In reality, the ambition of the one aimed 
 higher, and revealed itself more openly, while that 
 of the other burned with a flameless fire almost 
 as intense, and would have burst out in its turn had 
 it not been restrained by the Chevalier's subordi- 
 nation to the head of his house. This was a usual 
 sentiment of the domestic life of old France, and it 
 elevated the rights of primogeniture into a social 
 institution and the highest expression of family 
 feeling, rather than a personal privilege. 
 
 The Marshal and the Chevalier had resolved to 
 visit the members of the august college those at 
 least with whom they might hope to agree before 
 the election, for which no date was as yet fixed. 
 
 The question was what were they to say to 
 these personages ? In the confidential conversations 
 between the two brothers this matter occupied 
 them constantly, and its interest and import 
 increased in proportion as they neared Germany. 
 They were puzzled to decide on what ground 
 they should on the first day place the negotia- 
 tion that they were sent to open. The King of 
 France had not disavowed the engagements of the 
 Pragmatic Sanction, and he had recognized the royal 
 title of Maria Theresa. It was out of the ques- 
 tion that he should openly support the claims of 
 the Elector of Bavaria upon the Austrian patrimony ; 
 nor would it do to pronounce too clearly for his
 
 Belle-Isle at Frederick 's Cavip. 207 
 
 candidature to the imperial throne, for that would 
 reveal the intention of France to throw her weight 
 into the election, and offend the rival claimants. 
 Still less would it do to make common cause with 
 the King of Prussia, whose violent proceedings were 
 alarming to the timid spirits. The only motive by 
 which the intervention of France in an affair which 
 solely concerned Germany could be justified, the only 
 chord that could be made to vibrate in German 
 hearts, was their interest in the emancipation of 
 the Germanic liberties from the preponderance 
 of the House of Austria by an independent 
 choice, and especially in preventing that usurped 
 power from falling into the hands of a hardly- 
 nationalized foreigner like the husband of Maria 
 Theresa. But, to give some appearance of reality to 
 this disinterested purpose, it was essential to avoid 
 comminatory means of urging it, and especially to 
 prevent the appearance of a French army on German 
 soil from being perceived even on the horizon. How 
 then was the Marshal to make the strength of 
 France felt without proclaiming it beforehand, and 
 how was he to account for using it when its em- 
 ployment should become necessary ? The Marshal 
 himself puts this difficulty quaintly enough in a 
 letter to Amelot. 
 
 " There is one chief point," he said, " which 
 occupies me as much as you : it is to determine what 
 motive or pretext the King can allege to justify the
 
 208 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 entry of our troops into Germany. His Majesty must 
 necessarily have inquired about this of the Elector 
 of Bavaria ; there may be several motives, and I will 
 discuss them with the Elector, unless they have been 
 already laid before and agreed to by his Majesty." 1 
 
 Fortunately, the first persons to whom the Mar- 
 shal had to speak were neither the most difficult to 
 intimidate, nor the least quick to understand the 
 carefully -veiled menace. On his way to Frankfort. 
 Belle-Isle had to pass through the three episcopal 
 electorates on the left bank of the Rhine, Treves, 
 Cologne, and Mayence. The situation of these odd 
 little sovereignties was a singular one ; they formed 
 a strip of peaceful territory between the greater 
 States, which was known by the expressive nick- 
 name of " the Priests' Street." Their semi-eccle- 
 siastical character inclined them naturally towards 
 Austria, the representative of the union of the Church 
 and the Empire ; but their position as neighbours 
 of France, almost within her borders, condemned 
 them to be used as military routes, and, so to speak, 
 tetes-de-pont, in every movement of our troops on 
 the other side of the river. Thus, at the slightest 
 rumour of war preparations at Strasburg or at 
 Metz, the petty sovereigns of these three little States 
 trembled on their miniature thrones, and their 
 
 1 Belle-Isle to Amelot, Mayence, April 17, 1741. (Corre- 
 spondance de VAmbassadc pres la Diete de Francfort.} Ministry 
 of Foreign Affairs.
 
 Belle-Isle at Frederick's Camp. 209 
 
 sacerdotal profession enabled them all to yield 
 in advance, without any loss of honour, to the least 
 appearance of force. 
 
 It must be admitted that of all the obligations 
 of their state, the duty of Christian submission was 
 the only one which they piqued themselves on 
 observing strictly; for these Prince-Bishops of 
 the eighteenth century, without being saints by 
 any means, were far from resembling the many 
 prelates of the Middle Ages, who were great 
 alike in war and statesmanship. They retained 
 the peaceful disposition of the priest, but no 
 more ; nothing could be less austere than their 
 morals and their conduct. There was nothing 
 chivalrous or even manly in the excesses of these 
 younger sons of great houses, who had taken orders 
 for form's sake, and to main tain the dignity of their 
 families, but with no other intention than to sub- 
 stitute the pleasures of idleness and unbecoming 
 luxury for domestic joys and cares. No tie of 
 hereditary affection united those rulers of a day to 
 the quiet, mild, but indifferent population over whom 
 they had been set by the votes of a few Canons. 
 They were released from all the duties, and we 
 might almost say, deprived of all the attributes of 
 royal virility, and they vegetated in a prolonged 
 state of childishness, giving themselves up to the 
 mean influences that beset the egotistical old age 
 of unmarried men.
 
 2 1 o Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 In the despatches of Marshal Belle-Isle, dated 
 from the little princely-episcopal palaces, we find 
 sketches of " interiors " which turn those documents 
 into genre pictures. I am tempted to dwell a little 
 on them, because the digression depicts a way of 
 life, and certain manners and customs, that go far to 
 explain many of the events of the time, and to which 
 nothing now existing bears any resemblance. 
 
 The first visit of the ambassador was to the Elector 
 of Treves at his palace at Coblentz. A special 
 envoy had been sent on in advance to regulate 
 the ceremonial of the reception, Belle-Isle having 
 settled the details beforehand, like a man who 
 knew thoroughly with whom he had to deal. St. 
 Simon himself, strict as were his notions of the 
 etiquette to be exacted from foreign princes, would 
 have found nothing to object to. It was arranged 
 that the Elector was to advance to meet the am- 
 bassador at the entrance of his apartment, and, 
 taking the hand which was to be extended to him, lead 
 him to an armchair exactly like his own. At dinner 
 the same equality was to be observed ; two similar 
 seats were to be placed side by side on the same 
 line and under a dais of the same size ; each of the 
 two personages to be served on gold plate by his own 
 pages, in the same number. If the King had come in 
 person, more could not have been demanded ; but 
 the reality of the royal representation was attested 
 far more strongly by the fit of trembling with which
 
 Belle-Isle at Frederick's Camp. 2 1 1 
 
 the poor Prince was seized when he found himself 
 face to face with the living image of his formidable 
 neighbour. His face streamed with sweat ; he could 
 hardly pronounce his words or finish his sentences. 
 The interview became still more painful when 
 after a few minutes it became evident, and the 
 Elector had to acknowledge, that an infirmity, the 
 result of a wound which had nothing glorious about 
 it (an accident in hunting was the cause) made it 
 indispensable for him, on pain of extreme suffering, 
 to suspend the conversation every few minutes. 
 The Marshal naturally endeavoured to put him at 
 his ease, but his politeness inflicted a good deal of 
 trouble upon him, as he found next day, when they 
 had to talk of business. 
 
 The conversation, of course, turned upon the 
 future election, and the Marshal proceeded to 
 demonstrate to the Archbishop how greatly it would 
 be to the interest of an independent prince to escape 
 from the Austrian yoke, and to that of a sovereign 
 \vhose State was on the banks of the Rhine, to 
 prevent the recurrence of collisions by which his 
 own subjects were the first to suffer. Each time, 
 however, that the discussion, tending to its conclu- 
 sion, became pressing, the listener had a reason that 
 was no less so for evading the force of the Marshal's 
 reasoning, and the necessity of replying. Then 
 Belle-Isle had to begin all over again./ He was not 
 slow to perceive that the Elector's complaint had 
 
 p 2
 
 2 1 2 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 another consequence, which was no less laughable, 
 though more grave ; it placed scruples of conscience, 
 which he had not expected to meet with, in his way. 
 He had brought with him from Versailles an open 
 credit, to enable him, on occasion, to support his 
 electoral designs by such tangible reasons as usually 
 produced an effect upon petty princes who were 
 always spendthrifts and always needy, and whose 
 ministers were not invariably incorruptible. But 
 when he attempted to enter upon this subject with 
 a Councillor who had been indicated to him as 
 particularly accessible to considerations of the kind, 
 he was immediately checked : "Pray mention nothing 
 of the kind, at least, just now," said the prudent 
 Councillor, " under present circumstances it would 
 be sure to spoil everything. The Elector knows he 
 is ill and has death always before his eyes ; he is 
 constantly talking about his conscience, and it is not 
 a pretence. I shall therefore confine myself to telling 
 him that you have not thought it right to make 
 him any offer either for himself or for his family, 
 although you were authorized to do so : this cannot 
 fail to produce a very good effect, because, if his 
 scruples last, the Elector will be pleased by your 
 circumspection ; and if, on the contrary, his health 
 is restored, and he acts in accordance with the views 
 of his Majesty, then that will be the time to come for- 
 ward." " I approved of this line of conduct," wrote 
 Belle-Isle, " and I shall learn at Frankfort, from the
 
 Belle-Isle at Frederick's Camp. 2 1 3 
 
 said Coltz (this was the name of the sagacious 
 Councillor) what has passed between him and his 
 master on the subject. Your Eminence will per- 
 ceive that up to the present time I have 
 pledged myself to nothing in this cause beyond a 
 fat abbey for the suffragan, and a general promise 
 to Coltz, if the Elector gives his vote. The whole 
 will not come to more than 100,000 francs, to be 
 paid after the election is secured by their sovereign's 
 vote. The doctor, and a valet de chambre whom he 
 employs to write private things for him, can be easily 
 and cheaply gained over. The result of all this 
 detail is that the King will not have to disburse 
 much money here before the election." 2 
 
 At Cologne, or rather at Bonn, where the Arch- 
 bishop-Elector resided, another comedy was acted, 
 with different, but no less amusing incidents. There 
 it looked as if everything would go smoothly, and 
 indeed spontaneously, in the desired direction; 
 for the Elector was the younger brother of the 
 Elector of Bavaria, and would surelv lend a hand 
 
 */ 
 
 to the exaltation of his own house. What was the 
 surprise and the annoyance of Belle-Isle to learn 
 on his arrival that, so far from having fraternal 
 co-operation to count on, he had, on the contrary, 
 tumbled into the midst of a family quarrel ! The two 
 brothers had quarrelled from their youth up about 
 
 2 Belle-Isle to Amelot, March 19, 22, 1741. (Correspondance 
 <h FAmbazsade a 7a Diete.} Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 214 Frederick I L and Maria Theresa. 
 
 the division of their mother's diamonds ; and besides, 
 when the younger rose to sovereign rank, the elder, 
 although his brother was thenceforth his equal, had 
 affected to regard their former relations as un- 
 changed, and tried to exercise control over him ; he 
 had even remonstrated with him upon his choice of 
 his ministers in plain language. The other resisted 
 this very energetically, and from that moment it 
 was enough that any desire should be expressed at 
 Munich, to have it instantly opposed at Cologne. 
 The emancipated ward was naturally not desirous 
 that the guardian whose yoke he congratulated 
 himself upon having shaken off, should be raised to 
 the supreme rank. Austria took clever advantage 
 of this foible, and her ambassador to the Diet, Count 
 Colloredo, who had been beforehand with Belle-Isle 
 at Bonn, had just left that place, taking with him 
 the recognition of the sovereignty of Maria Theresa. 
 Now this, on the part of a cadet of Bavaria, was 
 tantamount to a denial of the claims of his own 
 family. He left the ministers and all those who 
 surrounded the Elector, gained over to Austria 
 beforehand, and, indeed, in her pay. 
 
 Count de Sade, the French resident, who had to 
 make head against the storm alone and unaided, 
 bore himself with coolness and address in this dim- 
 cult position. He was, if we may judge from 
 his correspondence, a clever man, who concealed 
 much astuteness under apparent frankness, and
 
 Belle- Isle at Frederick" 1 s Camp. 2 1 5 
 
 was endowed with the inexhaustible gaiety which 
 French gentlemen of that period carried into 
 affairs of every kind as they carried it into the 
 battlefield. Finding that the obstacle was not to be 
 taken by assault, he set to work to circumvent it, 
 and leaving to others the care of governing the 
 Prince, he affected to concern himself solely with 
 amusing him. The Elector's ennui was diverted 
 and relieved by the lively conversation, wit, and ori- 
 ginality of the Count, who was his constant asso- 
 ciate in pleasure, and who even compelled himself to 
 share the official devotions of the Prince so that he 
 might lighten the burden of them. 
 
 By degrees, this pleasant companionship grew 
 into confidence and confession, at first relating only 
 to love affairs. The diplomatist, who was very 
 quick to take a hint, and understood a delicate 
 dilemma, made it his business to arrange a series of 
 elegant supper-parties at his own residence, to which 
 a prelate of lax principles might come in an uncere- 
 monious manner, and meet the fair ladies of his 
 acquaintance on a footing of familiarity which the 
 decorum of the episcopal palace would not permit. 
 The day after each of these discreet entertainments, 
 the august guest would be entreated on the plea that 
 such little presents keep up friendship to accept 
 some artistic or valuable article newly received from 
 France, and which he had condescended to notice. 
 
 This comradeship in gallantry led by a smooth
 
 216 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa, 
 
 and unremarked process to political confidences. 
 On occasions when the Prince looked pale and had 
 passed a bad night, the Count would arrive full of 
 solicitude respecting his health, and would often 
 have his questions answered with a sigh, and a 
 complaint that public affairs were very troublesome. 
 The Elector even so far forgot himself as to let it 
 be perceived, that although he had to complain 
 of his brother, he felt some remorse at taking 
 advice which was contrary to the interest of his 
 family. He made some singular admissions ; he 
 acknowledged that he had been rather too hasty in 
 saluting the Queen of Hungary, but that was because 
 he had formerly been under engagements to the 
 Emperor her father, from whom he had received a 
 gift of one hundred thousand florins, and he was 
 told by his confessor, that he could not retract his 
 word without also making restitution of the money. 
 Thus he went on from confession to confession, until 
 one day he told De Sade that the Court of Vienna 
 was pressing him very strongly to sign a treaty by 
 which he should pledge himself to observe absolute 
 neutrality in any conflict in which Austria should 
 be engaged, promising to make over to him, in 
 exchange, the revenues of the Teutonic Order, of 
 which he was titulary, but whose funds had been un- 
 scrupulously appropriated by the House of Prussia 
 for the last two centuries. " What ought I to 
 do ? " said he, " I assure you I cannot sleep." De
 
 Belle-Isle at Frederick's Camp. 2 1 7 
 
 Sade, taking good care not to appear to be 
 in a hurry to turn this overture to advantage, 
 simply advised him to take some soothing medicine, 
 and put away from his mind all the anxieties that 
 were troubling him. " Ah ! " replied the Prince, 
 much affected, " you are a true friend ; you are the 
 only one who cares for me. If you were not the 
 envoy of France, I would be guided by no advice 
 but yours. But they assert that I ought to say 
 nothing to you, because if I tell you anything, you 
 will go and repeat it to the Bavarian minister." 3 
 
 De Sade was right in believing that he was 
 gaining ground every day, and that when the time 
 came everything would be settled by his manage- 
 ment, but what he had done and was doing, quietly, 
 secretly, and without seeming to meddle with the 
 matter, could not be assisted in any way, indeed 
 could only be impeded by the solemn arrival of an 
 ambassador in great state. Not that Belle-Isle 
 could not, in his time, have played the boon com- 
 panion as well as another, but that he was now so 
 cramped and fettered by the dignity of his position, 
 that it was not possible for him to take pity on 
 human weaknesses. Thus it fell out that his formal 
 visit, which could only be a short one, was received 
 with cold and ceremonious deference that might 
 deceive the ambassador himself with regard to its 
 
 3 Count de Sade to Amclot, March 10, 33, and passim. (Cor- 
 refpondance de Cologne.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 2 1 8 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 effect, but left De Sade under no mistake whatever. 
 The Count wrote on the 22nd of March, " M. de 
 Belle-Isle arrived on Monday. Everybody trembles, 
 everything yields before him, the Elector himself 
 dreads his presence, but I am very much afraid 
 that presence has only slaked, not extinguished the 
 cabals." In fact, when Belle-Isle was gone, having 
 gained nothing but merely vague protestations of re- 
 spect and regard for the King of France, De Sade was 
 at no loss to perceive that the Elector was sulking 
 with him, and keeping him at a distance : when he 
 begged to be informed of the cause of this disgrace, 
 he obtained the following dry answer : "You brought 
 M. de Belle-Isle here to scold me like a child." 4 
 
 De Sade's despatches, in which he relates how 
 a tender reconciliation followed this momentary 
 rupture; are well worth quoting here. His account 
 of how he got deeper than ever into the confi- 
 dence of the Elector, and at length, boldly attacking 
 politics, succeeded in inducing him, by dint of coax- 
 ing and threats (a force de fadeurs et d'injures, as 
 he expresses it), to pledge himself to conform to 
 the wishes of France, and at the same time to 
 send back the treaty that Austria had asked him to 
 sign. The last scene, in particular, would lose all 
 its point, if the principal actor in it were not per- 
 mitted to be spokesman. 
 
 " A journey to Arenberg (a hunting-lodge near 
 4 De Sade to Amelot, April 18, 1741.
 
 Belle-Isle at Frederick's Camp. 2 1 9 
 
 Bonn), has been talked of for some days past," he 
 writes to the minister, " and it was decided that 
 the Elector should not go, if the foreign ministers 
 wanted to follow him. ... I had appeared extremely 
 cold when this trip was talked of ; then, when the 
 day was fixed, and he could not possibly get out of 
 it, I went to the Elector, and told him that I did not 
 wish to leave him, that I should be in despair if I 
 had to be four days without seeing him. He began 
 to laugh, and pointed out the inconvenience of the 
 journey ; I replied that it would be much worse for 
 me to remain at Bonn without him. He seemed 
 pleased at my resolution, but he begged me not to 
 say that he had consented to my going, and to set 
 out a day later than he, because he did not want 
 any others. I was enchanted to obtain this sorry 
 favour, and I could not give the King a greater 
 proof of my desire to do my duty . . . the country, 
 the roads, and the air, are all detestable. They go 
 out shooting the ' Limoges cock ' at two o'clock in 
 the morning, 5 and not to miss a moment, they 
 sleep in the wood ; the Elector in a log hut, and we 
 under trees without any leaves." 
 
 The shooting-party took place, and it was in the 
 midst of the forest, and in the middle of the night, 
 that the Resident, feigning to have received a post 
 from Versailles, took, so to speak, the Elector by 
 the throat, to get a positive answer from him. 
 
 ' The coq de Limoges is a sort of grouse.
 
 2 2O Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 " I told him that I had the King's orders to learn 
 his intentions respecting the treaty proposed by 
 the Queen of Hungary. He said this was no place 
 for that matter, and I must wait until he got back 
 to Bonn. I told him the King particularly wished 
 to have a coq de Limoges. He replied that there 
 was nothing easier than to send back the courier 
 with the bird, and give him time to decide upon his 
 answer. I said the cock would be very ill received 
 if it arrived all alone, and that my courier should 
 not go without the answer. Unfortunately we were 
 in the midst of a forest, and had neither pens, ink, 
 nor paper. We came back yesterday, and this 
 morning he sent for me, quite early, and told me 
 he had made up his mind never to separate himself 
 from the King. I was about to embrace his knees, 
 but he threw himself upon my neck ; we both had 
 tears in our eyes. He told me that I had plucked 
 him from the edge of a precipice, that he had 
 been on the brink of ruining himself. He sent for 
 the ' grand master ' (hofmeister), gave him a key, 
 and told him to take out of a certain drawer the 
 treaty which the Queen of Hungary had sent, to 
 restore it to her agent at Cologne, and to inform 
 him that he (the Elector) had pledged himself to 
 France, and could hear nothing more on the subject. 
 He then asked me whether I would wish him to 
 write to the King ; I said that I was sure his Majesty 
 would have great pleasure in receiving the assurance
 
 Belle- Isle at Fredericks Cainp. 221 
 
 of his attachment. He then sat down to write, and 
 I left the room. He came to look for me himself, 
 showed me his letter, and asked me whether I was 
 content. I said ' Yes.' He then inquired whether I 
 would wish him to ask anything from the King for 
 me. " Yes," said I, " that he will leave me with you 
 all my life." "We parted very well satisfied with each 
 other; but pray, Monseigneur, be very careful not 
 to grant me that favour. I was obliged to say the 
 King wanted a coq de Limoges ; you may keep it, 
 provided you tell me in your next letter that the 
 King has been pleased with the present he has had. 
 The bird, indeed, is hardly worth eating ; if at all, 
 it is in a cold pasty." 6 
 
 A few days later, De Sade, still sticking to the 
 kitchen, records a striking proof of the high favour 
 he has attained to. "My cook," he writes, "offi- 
 ciates sometimes for the Elector, who eats of all the 
 dishes he cooks, and announces that he has cooked 
 them. When the Elector has been helped, they go 
 the round of the table. So long as M. de Colloredo 
 was here, none of his party ventured to taste them ; 
 now they all eat, and all praise them." 
 
 At a later date he writes : " The Elector places 
 no bounds to his confidence in me. A week or ten 
 days ago, the Master of the Horse asked him how 
 many wigs his coachman was to have for his entry 
 
 6 De Sade to Ainelot, April 3, 18, 1741. (Correspondance de 
 Cologne.} Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 222 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 into Frankfort. According to his custom, he an- 
 swered , * Ask Count de Sade.' The Master of 
 the Horse went out muttering, * Count de Sade 
 and the wigs may go to the devil ! ' 
 
 Mayence was a more important scene of action 
 than Treves and Cologne. The Archbishop was 
 invested with the dignity of Arch-Chancellor of 
 Germany and dean (doyen) of the electoral body. 
 In this latter capacity it fell to his charge to con- 
 voke and preside over the Diet, and this gave him 
 facilities for fixing the date of meeting at any 
 moment he might think propitious to the views which 
 he wished to favour, and besides, it was for him, 
 in the present case, to give at least a provisional 
 decision on a very delicate question that had just 
 arisen. The House of Austria did not enjoy any 
 electoral right except that which was attached 
 to the crown of Bohemia. To recognize Maria 
 Theresa's exercise of this right was to cut short 
 the dispute that had arisen between her and the 
 Elector of Bavaria, and the Queen herself had 
 complicated the difficulty by transferring her liti- 
 gious right to her husband at the same time that 
 she gave him the regency of her States. Was this 
 assignment valid, and would the vote of Bohemia, 
 as represented by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, 
 be reckoned among the number of the suffrages 
 
 7 De Sade to Aiuclot, June 15, December o, 1741. (Cor- 
 respondancc de Cologne.} Ministry of Foreign A Hairs.
 
 Belle- Isle at Frederick 's Camp. 223 
 
 by the same title as the others ? On the day of 
 the opening of the Diet, the Elector of Mayence 
 must prejudge the question to a very considerable, 
 although not a decisive extent, by calling for, or 
 rejecting that vote. For this reason Colloredo 
 was even more anxious to forestall France than 
 he had been at Cologne, and Belle-Isle found the 
 ground occupied; indeed he was afraid for a 
 while that he should not be received. His appre- 
 hension was groundless ; the audacity of such a 
 measure would, indeed, have been too great. The 
 Elector, on the contrary, on receiving the letter 
 that announced the arrival of the ambassador 
 extraordinary from the hands of the French resi- 
 dent, pressed it to his heart, and kissed it re- 
 spectfully. " Assure the King," said he, " that I 
 regard his being willing to aid us with his good 
 offices as a great boon. I flatter myself, how- 
 ever," he added jestingly, " that the friendship he 
 shows us is not of the same kind as that which 
 the King of Prussia swore to the Archduchess the 
 other day." 8 
 
 Belle-Isle resolved to act with vigour, and at 
 once to attack the obstacle. He was informed 
 that his principal difficulty would be the opposi- 
 tion of Count d'Elz, the Elector's nephew, whose 
 influence over the feeble mind of his uncle 
 
 ' Blondcl, French Resident, to Ainelot, January 25, 1741. 
 (Correspondame de Mayencc.) Ministry of Foreign Afi'airs.
 
 224 Frederick II. and Maria Tforesa. 
 
 was said to be all-powerful. The exact sum that 
 Colloredo had paid the Count for his support, 
 was even named unhesitatingly. Belle-Isle went 
 direct to Elz, and, without circumlocution, laid 
 before him the following alternative : a million 
 (livres) to be placed in the hands of any banker 
 whom he chose to name, to be drawn out by the 
 Count twenty-four hours after the election, if the 
 vote of the Archbishop was in conformity with 
 the views of France ; if that offer was refused, the 
 King should know, and in case of war would be sure 
 to remember, who his enemy was. In the event of 
 the Archbishop's death he was old and infirm 
 it would be an easy matter to render the posi- 
 tion of his family untenable at Mayence, where 
 they were not popular. The Archbishop-Elector's 
 nephew, quite bewildered by this sweeping on- 
 slaught, stammered out a few words about the 
 " engagements of honour " which had been made 
 with Charles VI. shortly before his death, and then 
 surrendered or appeared to surrender at discretion, 
 on condition that the transaction should be kept 
 profoundly secret. " Make your mind easy," said 
 Belle-Isle, " I shall be at least as discreet as Count 
 Colloredo was, about the hundred thousand francs 
 he gave you." Great was the indignation of the 
 Count, who protested that the story was a base 
 calumny. " How can such things be believed ? " he 
 exclaimed. " Does not everybody know that the
 
 Belle-Isle at Frederick's Camp. 225 
 
 Grand Duke of Tuscany is a miser, who will never 
 pay anything ? " Upon this, Belle-Isle, who was, 
 quite as anxious as the Count that the bargain 
 should not become known, brought the conversa- 
 tion to a close by warning his new associate that, if 
 he allowed the least hint of it to escape, and espe- 
 cially if an Austrian agent got hold of it, a formal, 
 public, and categorical denial should be sent to him 
 by post from France. 9 
 
 In writing an account of this conversation to 
 the ministry, Belle-Isle expressed his annoyance 
 at finding " engagements " of conscience constantly 
 opposed to the advantageous offers made by him- 
 self. " These engagements, entered into for the 
 exercise of a sovereign right, are certainly illicit," 
 said he. " Could not a consultation by learned 
 doctors be held to prove their nullity, and bestow 
 on them the epithet they deserve ? Such a 
 consultation might be very useful in overcoming 
 the scruples of the Elector of Mayence, whether 
 they are feigned or real, and those of the Elector of 
 Treves, which I take to be more sincere, by making 
 them reflect seriously." * 
 
 Nothing could be more congenial to the Cardi- 
 nal's turn of mind than this double operation, half 
 pecuniary and half theological ; so he answered in 
 
 9 Belle-Isle to Amelot, April 8, 1741. (Private Letter. 
 Corrcspondance de I'Ambassade a la Diete de Francfort.) 
 1 Ibid. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 226 Frederick //. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 all haste : " The King was pleased to read from 
 beginning to end the despatch in which you give 
 an account of the long conversation that you have 
 had with the nephew, and in which you have ex- 
 hausted the matter. He seems to be not insen- 
 sible to it, and I do not despair of your finding him 
 disposed, on your return, to give you his promise in 
 writing. You have taken a most necessary precau- 
 tion by telling him that you will give him a formal 
 denial if he ventures to reveal what you have con- 
 fided to him. I am going to set the consultation on 
 foot to prove the nullity of the engagements into 
 which some of the electors have entered with the 
 late Emperor, and your idea with respect to this 
 seems to me all the better that principles are easy 
 to establish on this matter, and that the Court 
 of Vienna would not venture to contest them. 
 When the consultation has been held, his Eminence 
 will consider under what form it ought to be pre- 
 sented to the public, as the opinion of the French 
 doctors could not but be suspected." 2 
 
 From Mayence, Belle-Isle, went direct to Dresden, 
 carefully avoiding Munich, lest he might betray his 
 preference too openly. Taking our leave, with 
 him, of the ecclesiastical territory, it seems as if 
 we ought to have done with that mixture of sur- 
 face religion and social corruption, with those 
 
 Amelot to Belle-Isle, April 18, 1741. ( Correspond ance dc 
 I'Ainbassade a Berlin.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 Belle-Isle at Frederick^ s Camp. 227 
 
 intrigues of the sacristy and the ante-chamber, 
 which are so repugnant to Christian readers at 
 the present day. In fact, the change of atmo- 
 sphere would have been sharp and sudden, had 
 Augustus III., Elector of Saxony and King of 
 Poland, borne even a distant resemblance to his 
 father, who had preceded him in that double 
 sovereignty. Frederick Augustus, the sometime 
 successful rival of Charles XII., was (as all 
 Voltaire's readers know) a high-born adventurer, 
 who prided himself no more upon constancy in 
 religion, than upon fidelity in love or in politics. 
 " He was," says the witty historian, Lemontey, " by 
 his birth a Lutheran, by his ambition a Catholic, 
 in his morals a Mussulman." His life had been 
 passed in taking, losing, and retaking a crown, and 
 as diversion by the way, in taking and leaving 
 mistresses of all sorts, and in every rank of life. 
 He had begun like a hero of romance ; he had ended 
 like a pasha in his seraglio. 
 
 The son inherited neither the vices nor the 
 qualities of the father. Weary of the spectacle of 
 trouble and disorder continually presented to his 
 youth, he had early taken refuge in an unintelligent 
 devotion, which did not fortify his timid nature. 
 He occupied himself solely in making sure of sal- 
 vation in the next world, and tranquillity in this, and 
 to render his attainment of these objects doubly 
 certain, he took Padre Guarini, an Italian monk, for 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 his director, and Count Briihl, a Protestant, for his 
 minister. He never formed a resolution except by 
 the advice of the monk, and he never carried one 
 out except with the concurrence of the favourite. 
 His two directors had the good sense to agree per- 
 fectly between themselves, and he was left at liberty 
 to indulge his natural taste for sport, and to collect 
 those magnificent works of art for which the museum 
 at Dresden is indebted to him. 
 
 His peace was, however, disturbed by two causes, 
 of anxiety the sullen humour of his Polish subjects 
 and the restless ambition of his neighbour, Prus- 
 sia. His fears had been kept very active indeed, 
 since the throne at Berlin had been occupied by a 
 young sovereign who was making a commotion 
 everywhere. In vain had Frederick, before he 
 entered Silesia, proposed to Augustus to join him 
 in his enterprise, and promised him a share in its 
 spoils ; the advances of the King were only a proof 
 of perfidy in the eyes of the Elector of Saxony. 
 He was convinced (and in this he was not alto- 
 gether wrong) that the rogue's intention was to 
 embroil him with Austria, and thus to create an 
 additional danger for Maria Theresa, so as to force 
 her to capitulate on better conditions, while Frederick 
 might afterwards turn against those whom he would 
 have compromised. The Queen, his wife, to whom 
 he was attached with inviolable fidelity and all the 
 affection possible to so egotistical a nature, was a
 
 Belle- Isle at Frederick's Camp. 229 
 
 daughter of the House of Austria, and very sensi- 
 tive to any wrong done to her family. Probably, 
 if it had been proposed to her to consider herself 
 as the head of the house in default of a male heir, 
 and to take the place of her cousin in virtue of 
 that title, she might have lent a willing ear to 
 the overture; but Belle-Isle was perfectly well 
 aware that she would not agree to any such scheme 
 of substitution to the advantage of her younger 
 sister, the Electress of Bavaria. The foreign 
 ministers, Austrian, English, and Russian, being 
 informed of the attitude of the royal pair, neglected 
 no means of sustaining it, and endeavoured to 
 procure positive pledges from the Elector. Two 
 treaties were proposed for his signature to Augustus 
 III., one with Austria, which closely resembled 
 that which had' been offered to the Elector of 
 Cologne, the other a treaty into which Russia and 
 England were to have entered, and by which Frede- 
 rick would have been threatened with a formidable 
 coalition before France had arrived at a decision. 3 
 
 The only support on which Belle-Isle could reckon, 
 under these unfavourable circumstances, was that of 
 an absent and distant, but still powerful advocate ; 
 Maurice, legitimatized Count de Saxe, the natural 
 brother of the King, the son of the beautiful 
 Aurora von Konigsmark, and already a lieutenant- 
 
 " D'Avneth, vol. i. p. 206, and following. Droysen, vol. i. p. 
 
 250 and following.
 
 230 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 general in the French army. Maurice de Saxe was 
 the first-born of the innumerable bastards of Fre- 
 derick Augustus, and that he had always been his 
 father's favourite, was due, partly, no doubt, to the 
 reminiscences of youth, but chiefly to his own pre- 
 cocity and talent. It was acknowledged on all 
 hands that the bastard inherited from his father all 
 those brilliant and manly qualities which certainly 
 had not fallen to the share of the legitimate son : 
 unfortunately for morality, history has supplied us 
 with more than one example of a similar division of 
 gifts. Augustus III. so far from feeling any jealousy 
 of the superiority of his natural brother, regarded 
 and treated him with affection that was positively 
 deferential, and would certainly have let him take 
 an influential share in his Councils if the young 
 man could have been induced to remain in 
 Saxony. But, either because the field was too 
 narrow for the employment of his brilliant faculties, 
 or because ambition can never be at ease on the 
 steps of a throne it may not hope to ascend, Maurice 
 was eager from the first to figure upon a much larger 
 stage. The charm that France then exercised over 
 the imagination of all men had fascinated Maurice 
 from his boyhood : he took service in our army, 
 and at this time had been living for nearly twenty 
 years in Paris, where he indulged in all the 
 pleasures to which he was addicted, without, how- 
 ever, neglecting the study of the art of war, or
 
 Belle- Isle at Frederick's Caiup. 231 
 
 abandoning his desire for military fame. He seized 
 every opportunity either of fighting or amusing him- 
 self with equal readiness ; his presence animated, 
 and his inexhaustible spirits enlivened the camp or 
 the green-room equally, and he was a prime favour- 
 ite alike with great ladies, leading actresses, and 
 military men. The freak which took him off to the 
 North in hopes of laying hands on the sovereignty 
 of Courland, had detained him only a few months 
 from his favourite place of abode; and that deed 
 of prowess had made him more than ever the fashion, 
 while it had sharpened his appetite for adventure 
 and renown. He was always on the alert ; his ears 
 were always open to the first summons of fortune. 
 
 The death of Charles VI. appeared to him to be 
 the decisive moment of his destiny. " Here is the 
 general muddle," he immediately wrote to Count 
 Briihl, " and I have a part to take in it." The 
 event did seem, in fact, to be a great chance for him, 
 for, as he had never forgotten what blood it was 
 that ran in his veins, in spite of absence and distance, 
 a great war in which his natal country and that of 
 his adoption were to fight side by side, and in which 
 he might work for the aggrandizement of his family, 
 while remaining in the ranks, and perhaps taking the 
 command, of the greatest army in the world, would 
 be the crown of his wishes, the ideal of what he 
 himself called his "dreams." He therefore flung 
 himself into all the projects of Belle-Isle with
 
 232 Frederick II. and Maria TJieresa. 
 
 passionate enthusiasm. He wrote letter after letter 
 to Dresden, each one more pressing than the pre- 
 ceding, to prepare the way for the overtures of the 
 French ambassador. Opportunities for returning 
 to the charge were not wanting, for he had never 
 ceased to maintain a constant correspondence with 
 his brother, and had even supplied him regularly 
 with a chronicle, sometimes political, sometimes 
 social, and occasionally scandalous, of what was 
 going on at Versailles. If the authorities of the 
 Dresden archives are ever induced to allow the 
 collection of those documents to see the light, it will 
 no doubt appear that anecdotes and gossip gave 
 place at this juncture to bellicose persuasion and 
 exhortation, couched in incorrect, but fiery lan- 
 guage, rendered still more striking by incredibly 
 bad spelling. But it was not nearly enough that 
 he should write ; Maurice would have liked to 
 accompany Belle-Isle in person. He flattered him- 
 self that his mere presence would have won the 
 consent of his brother, and even brought the " neigh- 
 bour's feud" between Dresden and Berlin to an 
 end. 
 
 " If I could," he wrote to Belle-Isle, " I would 
 propose to go to Saxony and also to Silesia. I be- 
 lieve that I could bring these two kings to an agree- 
 ment in a very few days. He of Prussia, likes me 
 well. I think he would have more confidence in me 
 than in any one whom the King of Poland can send
 
 Belle- Isle at Fredericks Camp. 233 
 
 to him. That being done, I would come back, and 
 undertake to manage the King of Poland, whether he 
 liked it or not. 4 " I admire your luck," he adds ; 
 " you are going to be the umpire of Germany ; to 
 settle the fate of the States, of the Kingdom, and of 
 Empires. Never has mortal, since the days of the 
 Romans, been in such a position." 5 
 
 Belle-Isle, backed by this powerful auxiliary, and 
 guided by his advice, occupied the ground with all 
 his batteries in position beforehand. And this time 
 he was met on his arrival, on the 15th of April, by 
 news of an encouraging nature. An important 
 encounter between the troops brought from Austria 
 by Marshal von Neipperg, and the Prussian army 
 commanded by Frederick himself, had taken place 
 four days earlier, in the plains of Mollwitz in 
 Silesia. Although the fortune of the day had 
 been for a long time dubious, and the details of 
 the action were confused and contradictory, it was 
 ultimately certain that the Austrian general had 
 beaten a retreat, and that the Prussians remained 
 masters of the field of battle. This unexpected check 
 produced a great commotion among the Austrian 
 
 4 The original is an idiomatic phrase, " Je me ferais fort de faire 
 sauter le baton, comme on dit, au roi de Pologne." 
 
 5 Maurice de Saxe to Belle-Isle, August 9, 1741. (Correspon- 
 dance de Saxe.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I venture to make 
 a quotation in advance from this letter, but it is only a vivid sum- 
 mary of several preceding letters written in the same sense. For 
 everything relating to the youth of Maurice de Saxe, the interest- 
 ing biography of M. Saint Rene de Taillandier may be consulted.
 
 234 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 party at the court ; the Queen was so much affected 
 by it, that she was obliged, as a diplomatist writes, 
 " to take a precautionary purgative," and the King, 
 not knowing what to think, kept out of sight. 
 
 Belle-Isle, turning this incident to advantage with 
 the confidence natural, and perhaps necessary, to 
 those who are carrying out great designs, believed 
 for a moment that everything was about to yield 
 before him, and after several interviews with the two 
 favourites, he did, in fact, obtain from Guarini, the 
 significant promise that he would write to his supe- 
 riors at Rome, to inquire whether the King of Poland 
 was bound in conscience by his engagements towards 
 the Pragmatic Sanction. After the lapse of a few 
 days, however, Belle-Isle was forced to perceive that 
 his progress was arrested, that the adversaries were 
 taking courage, and once more lifting up their heads. 
 It was known that King Augustus had granted 
 interviews to the Austrian minister, and that the 
 latter appeared satisfied with them. What had 
 happened, and what was the cause of this check ? 
 The answer was not impossible to guess, and at all 
 events it was soon obtained. 6 
 
 When the exact narrative of what had taken place 
 at Mollwitz was made known, the circumstances 
 which had preceded the victory tended rather to 
 
 Droysen, vol. i. p. 250 and following. Belle-Isle to Amelot, 
 April 16, 1741. (Correspondcmce de Saxe.) Ministry of Foreign 
 Affairs.
 
 Belle-Isle at Fredericks Camp. 235 
 
 diminish than to magnify the idea that had been 
 formed of the conqueror. Everybody knows all 
 about that strange day of Mollwitz, on which Frede- 
 rick had a narrow escape of serving his apprenticeship 
 to war at his own expense, and received, without 
 meriting them, the first favours of fortune. We 
 know that the Prussians seemed to have lost the 
 battle during the early part of the day, so completely 
 indeed, that Frederick, thinking all was hopeless, 
 effected a precipitate retreat, and that it was his 
 lieutenant Marshal Schwerin, who, being less easily 
 discouraged, held out, regained the advantage, and 
 decided the success of the Prussians, in the absence 
 of the general-in-chief. Long afterwards, Frederick 
 himself admitted, in his " Memoirs," his errors 
 those of youth and inexperience on that occasion 
 with a good grace which could no longer cost him 
 much. The great mistake was that he took the com- 
 mand of one of the divisions of his army in person, 
 instead of remaining at the centre of action, so as to 
 overlook and control the whole. His own corps 
 having given way before the others, he found him- 
 self involved in this partial rout. He bases some 
 excellent advice to young soldiers on his recollec- 
 tions of Mollwitz, pointing out to them that they 
 ought not to be too ready to believe that the game 
 is lost. Nevertheless his own retreat although 
 it was probably unavoidable, was effected with 
 such precipitation that it had all the appearance
 
 236 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 of flight. The King was much better mounted than 
 the rest of his cavalry ; his horse carried him far 
 in advance of the others in this backward race, 
 and when he drew rein before the town of Oppeln, 
 where he expected to be in safety, he had a very 
 slender escort. 
 
 But, for a crowning misfortune, the little town 
 had, unknown to him, been occupied on that morn- 
 ing by a party of Austrians, so that he had to 
 gallop off with all speed, on pain of being recognized 
 and taken, The night was falling, and the fugitives 
 were obliged to take refuge in a mill, where the 
 King passed long hours of waiting, in a terrible 
 state of mind, which he betrayed a little too plainly. 
 It has even been asserted that he was heard to 
 invoke the mercy of God, no slight proof of emotion 
 on the part of Frederick. At dawn of day, a 
 messenger from Marshal Schwerin arrived at the 
 mill to announce his victory, and restore the King 
 to his army, " all covered," said the jesters of the 
 time, " with fame and flour." 
 
 One of the most comic incidents of the day was 
 the misadventure of Maupertuis, an eminent savant 
 honoured with the friendship of the king. The 
 honest mathematician, remembering that he had 
 served in the dragoons, and wishing at once to pay 
 his court and to display his valour, had insisted 
 upon accompanying his master to the field of battle, 
 but he had been provided with a very indifferent
 
 Belle- Isle at Frederick's Camp. 237 
 
 steed (it was not, however, an ass, as Voltaire has 
 maliciously said), so that when speed became ne- 
 cessary, he was left behind at the first start into a 
 gallop, and entirely forgotten by all his companions, 
 including the King, who never even inquired 
 what had become of him. A party of Austrian 
 hussars arrested him, despoiled him of his best 
 garments, and conducted him to Vienna in a sad 
 condition. There he was recognized and re-clothed 
 at the expense of the Queen of Hungary, and a 
 few days afterwards he was sent back to Berlin, 
 to be exchanged for Cardinal Zinzendorf, whom 
 Frederick set at liberty, saying, that to exchange a 
 cardinal for a geometrician was a profitable bargain. 
 The effect of the victory was rather spoiled by 
 the jokes that abounded on all sides. Frederick 
 himself felt this when he wrote to Voltaire, with 
 modesty and good taste, "They say we have 
 beaten the Austrians, and I am inclined to believe 
 it." Jesting is a consolation which the beaten 
 are too apt to seek, but it has never yet repaired 
 a loss. Frederick, besides, was not a man likely 
 to leave the laugh for long on the side of his ad- 
 versaries. 
 
 The rumour that he himself, either disgusted by 
 a first experience, or eager to profit by a first suc- 
 cess, was lending an ear to proposals of peace 
 was a more serious matter. Lord Hyndford, the 
 new ambassador from England, a young nobleman
 
 2T.8 Frederick II. and Maria Tlieresa. 
 
 who stood high in Walpole's favour, was on his 
 way to Berlin, with the express purpose of making 
 a fresh attempt at conciliation, and it was asserted 
 that a favourable reception awaited him at the 
 Prussian camp. We may imagine the effect of the 
 announcement of Lord Hyndford's appearance on 
 the scene upon Belle-Isle, who had risked his 
 high dignity far away in distant Germany, in the 
 confident belief that there lie should find an 
 ally already in arms, and also its impression upon 
 Valori, who had pledged his honour, after the 
 example of Frederick, upon the certainty that the 
 alliance was an accomplished and concluded fact. 
 
 Valori could not, however, doubt this change of 
 front. On the 14th of April, four days only after 
 the battle, he went to congratulate Podewils, and 
 pressed for the signature of the treaty. He had 
 been doing the same thing for a whole month ; and 
 now Podewils told him, though not without em- 
 barrassment, that the King considered certain new 
 conditions were indispensable to the conclusion of the 
 business. Frederick would have to be guaranteed 
 that in the case of his being attacked by Kussia, 
 Sweden, and even Denmark, would enter the lists 
 for his defence. He wanted, moreover, to have the 
 right to take possession of the duchies of Jiilichs 
 and Berg, on the death of the Elector Palatine, 
 on condition of restoring them to his heirs after 
 the war. Lastly, he required that the nature and
 
 Belle- Isle at Frederick's Cavip. 239 
 
 effective force of the armed assistance which was 
 to be given him by France, should be defined in the 
 treaty by an express stipulation, instead of being 
 left vaguely at the disposal of the Elector of Bavaria. 
 He asserted that the menacing attitude of Russia, 
 which was daily becoming more marked, rendered 
 this increase of precaution necessary. 
 
 We must do Valori the justice to recognize that 
 he did not for a moment mistake the real intention 
 which underlay these fresh requirements ; he under- 
 stood in half a word, that the King's purpose was 
 to reserve a pretext for a rupture, or at least to 
 secure time to wait and see whether a better bargain 
 could not be struck elsewhere. In any case, even 
 had Valori been the dupe of this honest proceed- 
 ing, readers of the latest Prussian publications 
 cannot possibly make any mistake on the subject. 
 There we find the following instructions, given in 
 Frederick's own words, and by his own hand, on the 
 12th of April, that is to say, after coming out of the 
 mill where he had passed the critical night : 
 
 "As for the negotiation with France, we must 
 put it off, without appearing to do so, by cajoling 
 the Valori as much as possible." 
 
 On the following day he wrote, " You know my 
 intentions, and how important it is for me to delay 
 this affair, and to manage France carefully until the 
 arrival of .Lord Hyndford. In the meantime, you 
 will continue to negotiate secretly with England and
 
 240 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 Eussia, so that we may be able to take either side 
 according to circumstances." 
 
 The historian of the house of Prussia, far from 
 disguising this double-dealing, does not hesitate to 
 record it to the honour of his hero. He regards 
 Frederick's alliance with France as an action for 
 which his memory must be justified at any cost, 
 and he is therefore anxious to establish the fact 
 that Frederick had exhausted every means of delay, 
 all those with which dissimulation could furnish him 
 included, before he resorted to so unwelcome an 
 expedient. 7 
 
 Valori, being in great trouble, besought help. 
 Belle-Isle was in the neighbourhood ; he begged 
 him to come and advise him, and Belle-Isle, who 
 was as much troubled as Yalori himself, did not 
 wait to be asked twice. Leaving his unfinished 
 task at Dresden, under one pretext or another, he 
 hastened to Breslau, where Valori joined him, and 
 after he had examined the newly proposed con- 
 ditions, he declared that he took it upon himself 
 to withhold them from Versailles. At the same 
 time he sent a request to the King of Prussia, in a 
 tone of somewhat imperative impatience, for per- 
 mission to visit him at his headquarters. 8 
 
 7 " Political Correspondance," vol. i. pp. 222, 227. Droysen, 
 vol. i. p. 250 and following. 
 
 8 Private letter from Valori, April 28, 1741. (Correspondance 
 de Prusse, and Correspondance de I'Ambassade de Belle-Isle, same 
 date.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 Belle -Isle at Frederick's Camp. 241 
 
 This was pressing things home a little more 
 closely than Frederick liked, so he wrote to 
 Podewils, urging him to do all he could to obtain 
 at least a few days' delay and grace. " Make 
 a fine compliment/' he wrote, "to M. de Belle- 
 Isle in my name, upon his prosperous journey, and 
 dwell also on my great wish to see him ; but, in 
 order to keep him for two or three days more at 
 Breslau, you will assign as a pretext that the roads 
 are not yet sufficiently safe, and that it will be 
 necessary to send a good escort, to which I will not 
 fail to see. You must, however, be very cautious, 
 so that he may not perceive anything. You must 
 come here with M. de Belle-Isle, you will cajole him 
 to perfection." Two days afterwards, Frederick, 
 seeing that he must make up his mind to the in- 
 evitable, added : " From the way that your news 
 tells me Marshal Belle-Isle acquitted himself at 
 Cologne, Mayence, and Treves, I believe him to be 
 imperious and positive in his opinions. He wants 
 to decide at all hazards, and I want to wait 
 for the arrival of the English charlatan, before 
 I make up my mind, but in any case, we must see 
 whether by flattering M. de Belle-Isle to the utmost, 
 and letting him perceive that we have all the 
 wish in the world to conclude, we raaj? not contrive 
 to put off the act until we have tuned our flutes 
 with the English. There is no other means except 
 to insist upon the aid of Sweden, and upon the 
 
 VOL. I. It
 
 242 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 alliance of Denmark, also to do the timid (faire Us 
 peureux) for Russia." 9 
 
 At last, on the 26th of April, Frederick had 
 to make up his mind to receive the ambassador 
 of the King of France at the camp of Brieg, near 
 Mollwitz, and then no pains were spared to propi- 
 tiate the Marshal. An escort of 150 carabineers, 
 magnificently equipped and of great stature, was 
 sent to Breslau to accompany his coach ; pickets of 
 infantry were posted at intervals upon the road ; 
 a corps of 2000 men preceded the equipages, and 
 Frederick himself received the French ambassador 
 at the entrance of the camp. 
 
 Belle-Isle, immediately on alighting from his 
 carriage, expressed to the King his regret and 
 surprise at arriving before the signature of a treaty, 
 whose full execution he supposed he had come to 
 secure ; but Frederick avoided replying by taking 
 the Marshal at once to visit the camp, and making 
 his troops manoeuvre before him. All this, of course, 
 took place in the presence of a number of people ; 
 and thus a confidential interview was rendered 
 impossible. There was no means of resuming the 
 conversation that day ; the weather was exceedingly 
 bad ; wind, rain, and snow were not favourable to 
 out-of-door conferences. Frederick was, how- 
 ever, quite indifferent to this, and displayed great 
 zeal in explaining his military organization in its 
 
 '' "Political Correspoiulance," vol. i. pp. 233, 234.
 
 Be lie- 1 sic at Frederick's Camp. 243 
 
 smallest particulars, relating the incidents of the 
 campaign with an abundance and volubility of words 
 in which Belle-Isle could readily detect an intention 
 of preventing him from putting in even one. 
 
 It was, however, so important to ascertain the 
 state of the Prussian army, for whose support every- 
 body was competing, that Belle-Isle could not 
 regard a day passed in studying it as a day lost. 
 He has carefully recorded his first impression in his 
 Memoirs. Now that the comparison between the 
 French and German armies is so deeply interesting 
 to the public, the judgment passed by a Marshal 
 of France, who had fought at Denain, upon the 
 army that was destined to beat us at Rossbach, 
 possesses a retrospective interest which military 
 historians will estimate better than I can. "No- 
 thing," says Belle-Isle, "can equal the excellence 
 and the discipline of the Prussian troops : let us 
 form what idea we may of those qualities, it does 
 not approach the truth. The men are of singular 
 height, and of such equal stature that it might be 
 supposed they were all cast in the same mould. It 
 never ceased to rain or snow, and there was a con- 
 tinual, tempestuous wind; this, however, did not 
 prevent the King from showing me with what pre- 
 cision and rapidity his troops fired ; I observed them 
 doing this with surprise, but I ought also to say 
 that this infantry places its whole trust in its fire. 
 It does not learn, and it does not know any evolu-
 
 244 Frederick //. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 tion. It is always placed on a height, in order 
 that it may spread its fire, so that there is hardly 
 any infantry which could stand before it if any 
 obstacle between the two prevented their meeting. 
 They would not hold against ours with side-arms at 
 close quarters. The discipline which the late King 
 established in his army is strict and perfect beyond 
 all description ; it is pushed to such a point that 
 when these troops are under arms, the men are so 
 drilled that they are not allowed to raise their 
 heads, and are always obliged to keep their eyes 
 upon a leader, who is called fugleman, so that 
 they may follow all the movements and imitate 
 them immediately. There is not a single officer 
 in the battalion, who is not obliged at drill-time 
 to make the same movements as the soldiers, or 
 at least to make those which are relative to them, so 
 that he knows the drill of the soldiers, and in order 
 that each in his turn may know the word of com- 
 mand for his division, they are made to command 
 the drill for the entire battalion alternately. It 
 would be very desirable that all our officers should 
 be subjected to the same rule." 
 
 1 " Memoires inedits de Belle-Isle." In the account (almost simi- 
 lar to that of the Memoires) sent by Belle-Isle to Amelot on May 
 2, 1741, we find a singular assertion, which I leave to compe- 
 tent readers to explain ; " they fire as many as twelve shots a minute, 
 and at least six when it is by platoon and by division, which is in- 
 credible unless one has seen it.' No one has been able to tell me 
 how such quickness of fire was compatible with the nature of the 
 fire-arms used at that period.
 
 Belle-Isle at Fredericks Camp. 245 
 
 After the review Belle-Isle partook, with the King 
 and his officers, of a very plain dinner, composed, as 
 usual, of only three dishes, one boiled, one roast, 
 one of vegetables : there was dessert, and they 
 drank champagne mixed with water. The repast, 
 however simple, usually lasted a long time, the 
 King frequently remaining an hour in conversation 
 after its conclusion. That evening, however, he 
 was obliged to grant Belle-Isle a private interview, 
 and the ambassador was left tete-a-tete with Frede- 
 rick under the royal tent, which was lighted by 
 a single candle, and so poorly provided that the 
 cold penetrated it from every side, while the wind 
 threatened to carry it bodily away. 
 
 Frederick attempted to resume the tactics of the 
 morning, pressing the Marshal to give his opinion of 
 all that he had seen, and to favour him with such 
 advice upon military art as a scholar and novice might 
 expect from so experienced a master. Belle-Isle was 
 not foolish enough to fall into this coarsely-baited 
 trap for his vanity ; on the contrary, he cleverly 
 availed himself of this opening to introduce the 
 business on which he had come. We will let him 
 speak for himself. 
 
 ' ' To his obliging, and I may even venture to say, 
 rather exaggerated expressions with regard to myself, 
 I replied with all duo respect and gratitude, and took 
 occasion thereupon to press him to keep his word by 
 signing the treaty. I represented to him that he would
 
 246 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 thereby furnish me with more frequent and more 
 useful opportunities of advising him, since he did 
 me the honour to assure me that he set store by my 
 counsels. I added at this point a great deal about 
 his fame ; I represented to him that his conduct 
 since his entrance into Silesia in imposing totally 
 opposed and contradictory utterances upon his dif- 
 ferent ministers in the courts of Europe, had been so 
 irregular that his reputation was suffering severely 
 from it. I told him he was almost generally blamed 
 and disapproved ; that this consideration alone 
 would perhaps have prevented every other sovereign 
 except the King, and every other minister except 
 the Cardinal, from listening to his principal pro- 
 posals, and from being willing to enter into an 
 alliance with him under such circumstances; and 
 that the breach of his word to M. de Valori, of 
 which I was now a witness, would be the climax 
 of injury to his credit, should the public ever be 
 informed of it, and that, besides the loss of his 
 reputation, of which so accomplished a young sove- 
 reign as himself, and adorned with so many rare and 
 great qualities, ought to be jealous, he was letting slip 
 the King's friendship and confidence, and of their 
 value and utility he could not be ignorant. I said 
 that I begged pardon for speaking to him with 
 military frankness, but I knew he would appreciate 
 it, that it was an effect of the admiration with 
 which his virtues inspired me, and that I could not 
 give him a greater mark of my attachment and
 
 Belle-Isle at Fredericks Camp. 247 
 
 profound respect. The King of Prussia answered 
 with much kindness that he thanked me, esteemed 
 me all the more for my frankness, and was delighted 
 that I should speak to him in this manner ; that he 
 had always intended to ally himself with the King, 
 and that he was so touched by the friendship which 
 his Majesty had shown him, at a time when every- 
 body else had turned their backs upon him, that he 
 would never forget it all his life long. As, however, 
 it was now rather late, he would not prolong the 
 conversation with me that day, but would see me 
 after dinner on the following day, that he would 
 then open his heart to me, and that he was sure 
 that I should not find fault with him." 
 
 This " opening of the heart," prepared for by 
 twenty-four hours of reflection, did, in fact, take 
 place on the following day, and the King began the 
 conversation thus : 
 
 " When I decided upon entering Silesia, I was 
 well assured that this was the only means of 
 bringing the Court of Vienna to admit the just 
 claim which I have upon the four duchies that 
 were extorted with violence from my grandfather, 
 and to indemnify myself for all the arrears. I 
 reckoned that I should be supported by France, who, 
 having an interest as essential as my own, in abas- 
 ing the House of Austria, and excluding the Duke 
 of Lorraine from the imperial throne, and to mark at 
 the same time the gratitude she owes to the Elector 
 of Bavaria, could desire nothing better than to find a
 
 248 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 Prince of the Empire sufficiently bold to make the first 
 move. 2 I knew well that the Cardinal (whom I had 
 sounded through Camas, and to whom I have written 
 myself) all for peace as he is, would never enter upon 
 such a course, if I proposed to him to undertake 
 it in the first instance, but I did not doubt that he 
 would give in to it when the blow was struck." 
 
 After this clever exordium, in which he assumed 
 the merit of having forestalled the designs of 
 France, and, so to speak, placed himself in the 
 van of French ambition and interest, he gave ex- 
 pression more freely to what he called his just 
 complaints. Advantage had been taken of the 
 boldness of his resolution to put forward the pre- 
 tensions of the Elector of Bavaria, but why had 
 they not been effectively sustained ? Why was the 
 Elector not yet sure of the extent to which he might 
 count upon the co-operation of France ? The 
 Queen of Hungary had been given time to recover 
 from her surprise, and to seek allies in London, 
 at the Hague, and even at Dresden : their union 
 was almost accomplished, and he was left alone to 
 defend himself against them. 
 
 It gave Belle-Isle no trouble to pursue a similar 
 course of recrimination. " Was it possible," he 
 asked, " to act at Versailles and at Munich, while 
 an equivocal course was taken at Berlin, and parley- 
 ing in an opposite sense was going on ? If the 
 " Four attacher un premier grelot."
 
 Belle- Isle at Fredericks Camp. 249 
 
 Elector were to advance personal pretensions by 
 arms, without being assured of the support of at 
 least one German prince of some importance, should 
 he not be accused of disturbing the Empire, and 
 would not his chances of attaining the Imperial 
 throne be injured ? " 
 
 "Ah! the Empire!" cried Frederick; "it is the 
 strongest who is always right, it is the strongest 
 who will be Emperor." 
 
 Belle-Isle then saw that the time was come to 
 give him to understand that he saw his game plainly. 
 " ' Does your Majesty,' he asked, * permit me to 
 speak as your servant, and still with that frank- 
 ness which your Majesty does not disapprove ? ' 
 He replied that he not only approved, but insisted 
 on this; then I said, ' Sire, all that your Majesty 
 has just done me the honour to say to me 
 would hold good if it were a question of opening 
 a negotiation now, here, to-day ; but you must 
 permit me to tell you that since your Majesty's 
 word has been given to M. de Valori, all these 
 reasons are worthless. The result would be that 
 your Majesty's engagements might depend upon the 
 event, instead of being, they ought to be, when a 
 great prince like your Majesty gives his word, 
 as sacred and as inviolable as if a signed treaty 
 existed. The King my master reckons upon that 
 word, according to the statement made by M. de 
 Valori, and what will be his astonishment to learn
 
 250 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 this departure from it ! I beg your Majesty to put 
 yourself for a moment in the King's place ; may he 
 not think that your Majesty has only been trying to 
 delude him, and has used the negotiation simply as a 
 means of extracting a better bargain from the court 
 of Vienna, to which, as well as to Russia and the 
 maritime powers, your Majesty has perhaps com- 
 municated it ? And then, can your Majesty suppose 
 that more than one arrangement has not been pro- 
 posed to the King, or that the Court of Vienna 
 itself has not made, is not at present making 
 advantageous proposals to the King to protect itself 
 against your enterprises ? I should not be asto- 
 nished if the Queen of Hungary were to cede a pro- 
 vince to the Elector of Bavaria, at that price, rather 
 than a single village to your Majesty. Have you 
 any doubt that Saxony will also join eagerly in the 
 quarrel, and do you not think that such enemies 
 will be more formidable to your Majesty than 
 Russia ? Where, in this case, would be your 
 allies ? ' The King of Prussia, much moved by my 
 discourse, interrupted me, saying that 'he was 
 persuaded that the King and the Cardinal had a 
 better opinion of him, and would not form so offen- 
 sive a judgment as that.' ' 
 
 Belle-Isle found it impossible to prolong the inter- 
 view, and was obliged to content himself with the 
 following assurances : 
 
 The King felt himself unable to proceed imme-
 
 Belle-Isle at Fredericks Camp. 251 
 
 diately to the signature of the treaty, because that 
 conclusion, if it were known, would bring down 
 a storm upon him from both England and Russia, 
 and the succours of France not being yet in readi- 
 ness, could not reach him in time to forestall the 
 danger. He was about to come to blows with the 
 Austrians once more ; if fortune should again favour 
 him, there would no longer be anything to prevent 
 a close alliance with France. If in consequence of 
 a defeat he were obliged to consent to a nego- 
 tiation, he would secure sufficient delay to leave 
 France and Bavaria at liberty to come to his assist- 
 ance. In any case he would never enter into any en- 
 gagements contrary to the views of the King and the 
 Elector. He also apprised Belle-Isle that he would 
 be obliged to receive the English envoy, and to 
 confer with him, but this was " only to amuse 
 him," and no umbrage was to be taken at it by the 
 Court of Versailles. 
 
 It was impossible to extract another word from 
 Frederick, and Belle-Isle was obliged to depart with 
 these unsatisfactory assurances, and hardly restrain- 
 ing the expression of his suspicions. He was made 
 the more uneasy, as he himself points out in a 
 very acute observation, by having been allowed to 
 speak so freely ; this he regarded as a mark of pro- 
 found dissimulation. " The politeness with which I 
 was received," he says, " and the tokens of extreme 
 kindness with which he loaded me, while, without
 
 252 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 overstepping the bounds of due respect, I had not 
 hesitated to speak very strongly to him, and to tell 
 the hardest and most pressing truths, augment my 
 distrust and my suspicion, for, considering the 
 character of the King of Prussia, he would not 
 willingly suffer that one to speak to him as naturally 
 as I have done." 3 
 
 If now we desire to see how a man of genius writes 
 history, we may compare the above statement, 
 made under a recent and completely fresh impres- 
 sion, with the narrative of the same visit as recorded 
 by Frederick, twenty years after, in " L'Histoire de 
 mon Temps." " M. de Belle-Isle," he says, " am- 
 bassador of France to the Electoral Diet which 
 was held at Frankfort, came to the King's camp 
 to propose to him a treaty of alliance on the part of 
 his master. This treaty was sketched, but, all- 
 advantageous as it appeared, it was not signed. 
 The King did not wish to do anything hastily in 
 a matter of so great consequence, and he reserved 
 this course as a last resource. M. de Belle-Isle 
 gave too much rein to his imagination : one would 
 have supposed, listening to him, that all the pro- 
 vinces of the Queen of Hungary were put up for 
 auction. One day, when he was with the King, as 
 
 3 Belle-Isle, Ulemoires inedits. Correspondance de I'Ambassade 
 aiipres de la Diete, April 29, and May 2, 1741. Memoires du 
 Due de Luynes, vol. iii. p. 430. I have had to combine the various 
 narratives of these events ; they differ upon some unimportant 
 points.
 
 Belle-Isle at Frederick's Camp. 253 
 
 he bore a more preoccupied and dreamy aspect 
 than usual, the King asked him whether he had re- 
 ceived any disagreeable news. ' None,' replied the 
 marshal, ' but what is puzzling me, sire, is to know 
 what we shall do with that Moravia.' The King 
 proposed to him to give it as a bait to Saxony, so 
 as to attract the King of Poland to the grand 
 alliance ; the Marshal thought this an admirable 
 idea." 4 
 
 There is not a line of this little story that does 
 not contain an error, indeed a material impossi- 
 bility. Belle-Isle had no need to bring, and still 
 less to sketch, any treaty, since all the conditions 
 had already been arranged in advance, and as for the 
 ridiculous presumption imputed to him, we may judge 
 whether it tallies with the state of anxiety into 
 which he was thrown by the faithless irresolution of 
 the King. The story has none the less been recorded 
 as a fact in all the histories of the time, and it has 
 been especially paraded by every French historian. 
 
 The travesty of the truth on this point is 
 accounted for by the fact that Belle-Isle, although 
 profoundly discontent with his interview, was obliged 
 to pretend to be satisfied with it, on his return to 
 Dresden, on pain of having to undo all he had under- 
 taken to accomplish. Pledged as France was to 
 Germany, and as he was to Cardinal Fleury, to be 
 abandoned by Prussia at this stage, would have 
 
 4 Frederick II., L'Histoirc de mon Temp;;, ch. iii.
 
 254 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 been a ludicrous disappointment, and the appear- 
 ance of such a thing had to be avoided at any 
 price. So soon, therefore, as the true situation was 
 known at Versailles, Belle-Isle procured authority 
 to go as far as possible in the direction of fresh 
 concessions, so as to avert the infidelity of his 
 fickle ally. Yalori received instructions to bear this 
 assurance to Mollwitz in person ; those instructions 
 were couched in terms far from encouraging, for they 
 seemed to lay upon him the ridiculous task of taking 
 the King of prussia on the sentimental side. " The 
 King of Prussia," said the minister in his despatch, 
 " will find few examples of candour equal to that with 
 which the King has treated him ; it is for him to see 
 whether he has responded to this. It would be sad 
 that a prince who has given so many proofs of valour, 
 intelligence, and military talent in his first campaign, 
 should find himself overpowered, and victory snatched 
 from his hands. The Marshal de Belle-Isle speaks 
 of him with admiration only, and his narrative has 
 augmented the esteem with which his Majesty 
 already regarded the King of Prussia, and the 
 regret with which he finds him submitting to a 
 yoke which perhaps he may never be able to shake 
 off." 5 
 
 Where Belle-Isle had failed, it was hardly to 
 bo expected that Valori would succeed, even 
 
 !> Amelot to Valori, May 14, 1741. (Correspondance de 
 Prussc.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 Belle- Isle at Frederick's Camp. 255 
 
 with the aid of compliments and sugared words. 
 Valori had great difficulty in obtaining a moment 
 of audience for the new offers of which he was the 
 bearer ; he was kept waiting for more than a week 
 in a sufficiently mortifying attitude, being constantly 
 put off, and seeing the hopes which he had been led 
 to form one day perish on the next. His embar- 
 rassment was increased by the fact that at the very 
 same time Lord Hyndford appeared to be received 
 quite readily, and that the return of a courier 
 whom he had sent to Vienna with conditions of 
 agreement, the terms of which were not known, 
 was expected. Meanwhile every one in the camp 
 was anxious for a cessation of hostilities. Fre- 
 derick had said to Belle-Isle, " I warn you that 
 all Berlin is English," and of this fact Valori was 
 only too well aware, for no one hesitated to say, 
 loudly (.nough for him to hear it, that the French 
 could be dispensed with, and Germany tranquillized 
 without their assistance. 
 
 The only person who took no share in all this 
 boasting was Podewils, who, although he was a 
 stronger advocate for peace than any of the others, 
 did not seem to expect it. " We are all for peace," 
 he said to Valori, " and I think we are right, but 
 nothing will come of all this, I promise you, and 
 you will have us." 
 
 '' Valori to Amelot, May 14 and 16,1741. (Correspondence 
 de Prusse.} Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 256 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 The truth, which only Podewils knew in its en- 
 tirety, was that Frederick was neither more decided 
 nor more sincere in one negotiation than in the 
 other, and that he did not in reality know which side 
 to take. Victory had placed him in possession of 
 the prize that he had arrogated to himself; he 
 enjoyed seeing the envoys of the great powers of 
 Europe at the door of his tent, almost at his feet, 
 and it was not displeasing to him that a situation 
 which flattered- his pride, and whose issue could 
 not be unfavourable to him, should be prolonged. 
 There were two alternatives; either Austria, cast 
 down and disheartened, would be brought to capi- 
 tulate, or France would become more eager in her 
 offers of co-operation, more supple and accommo- 
 dating in their execution. In either case Frederick 
 would be a gainer by delay, and causing himself to 
 be entreated. 
 
 Frederick, being in this mood, treated Lord 
 Hyndford even worse than he treated Belle-Isle, 
 while showing him a fair face in public. He called 
 him rudely to account for the very unfavourable 
 language towards Prussia used by the English 
 envoys at St. Petersburg and the Hague, and also 
 for a vote of the British Parliament, which had 
 just granted a subsidy of 300,000/. sterling to the 
 King of England, to enable him to come to the 
 aid of Austria, according to former treaties. How, 
 he asked, were these hostile dispositions to be
 
 Belle- Isle at Frederick's Camp. 257 
 
 reconciled with the conciliatory words which were 
 conveyed to him? Frederick, while putting the 
 question, could answer it better than anybody 
 else, for he perfectly well knew how the pacific 
 inclinations of the English cabinet were thwarted 
 by the warlike impatience of the parliament. He 
 could the less affect to ignore that fact, because 
 Lord Hyndford was accompanied by a Hano- 
 verian envoy, who was charged to acquaint him 
 privately with the sentiments of King George, and 
 to plead the private interests of his Majesty. But 
 he availed himself of this pretended grievance to 
 raise his pretensions very high, and especially to 
 express them very peremptorily. He declared that 
 no arrangement would be possible on any other 
 terms than the complete and definitive cession of 
 the whole of Lower Silesia, including Breslau, the 
 capital of the province. Lord Hyndford tried hard 
 to bargain for some abatement of this ultima- 
 tum ; he offered one or two duchies, in the place of 
 four which were demanded, with any citadel that 
 might be named ; but he could obtain nothing, and 
 had to transmit the conditions just as they were to 
 Vienna, feeling very doubtful whether they would 
 not be accepted. 7 
 
 Frederick was indeed elated by victory, but his 
 generous rival was not cast down by defeat. 
 
 7 "Political Correspondence," vol. i. pp. 239, 240. Coxe's 
 " History of the House of Austria," vol. i. p. 416. 
 
 VOL. I. S
 
 258 Frederick I L and Maria Theresa. 
 
 "Never," says Voltaire, "was there any one more 
 intrepid and more powerless." 
 
 Maria Theresa alone, of all her Council, had re- 
 ceived the news of the unforeseen defeat of her 
 troops, not, indeed, without sorrow, but without dis- 
 may, and almost without surprise. On the same 
 day she wrote with her own hand to old Marshal 
 Neipperg, who had tendered his resignation in de- 
 spair, consoling and encouraging him. She directed 
 him to avoid any fresh action until her allies, in 
 whom she still hoped, should have time to come to 
 her aid. Since then, the vote of the English parlia- 
 ment (the same vote which irritated Frederick) 
 had seemed to justify her confidence, and when Sir 
 Thomas Robinson, the English minister, submitted 
 to her the proposals which his colleagues had sent him 
 from Mollwitz, she immediately took a high tone 
 with him. It was indeed her habit to be very plain- 
 spoken with that diplomatist, for the worthy old 
 man, fascinated by her grace, and touched by her 
 misfortunes, had conceived a passionate admiration 
 for her, of which his colleagues made a joke, and the 
 Queen, feeling her ascendency over him, used it 
 without much scruple in conversation. She asked 
 him immediately, in a proudly ironical tone, how he 
 reconciled the part he had just played, as bearer of the 
 Prussian message, with the public expression of the 
 national desire of his country? "And I also," said 
 she, " am strongly desirous of an arrangement which
 
 Belle- Isle at Frederick's Camp. 259 
 
 should give rest to Germany, but I should be very 
 much obliged to England if she would tell me how- 
 to attain this end, without violating the Pragmatic 
 Sanction, without preparing the way for the ruin of 
 Austria, and endangering the balance of Europe. 
 As for me, I see but one means ; it is that England 
 should at once furnish me with the aid in men and 
 money which I have never ceased to demand as the 
 strict execution of the still existing treaties." As 
 for the concessions of detail, and the intermediary 
 proposals which Lord Hyndford had thought pro- 
 per to offer in her name, she declared that she had 
 never authorized them, and she considered herself 
 too fortunate that Frederick had refused them. 8 
 
 This unequivocal answer put an end to all vacil- 
 lation. No sooner was Frederick made acquainted 
 with it, than he had Valori informed that he was 
 ready to sign the treaty. There was no more 
 reference made to the arming of Russia, to her 
 threatened coalition with Saxony and England, in 
 short to the bogey with which he had endea- 
 voured to frighten Belle-Isle, and when Podewils, 
 who had recently been instructed to " do the timid " 
 (faire les peureux), found it rather difficult to contra- 
 dict himself in this fashion, and made some objec- 
 tions, at least for form's sake, he was soundly rated, 
 and threatened with dismissal on the charge of 
 being sold to the English. 
 
 8 D'Arnetli, vol. i. p. 225. Coxc, vol. i. p. 417. 
 
 s 2
 
 260 Frederick II. a ad Maria Theresa. 
 
 On the 7th of June, a convention was agreed to 
 in two parts, one public, containing only an alli- 
 ance of mutual defence, concluded between the two 
 Kings of France and Prussia, for the term of four- 
 teen years ; the other private, consisting of the four 
 following provisions : 
 
 The King of Prussia consented to promise his 
 vote to the Elector of Bavaria, and to renounce his 
 claims to the Rhenish duchies. 
 
 The King of France engaged to guarantee to him 
 the possession of Lower Silesia, and to send into 
 Germany, within two months, an army of 40,000 
 men, also to bring about an immediate rupture 
 between Sweden and Russia. 
 
 These latter points (one of them was difficult of 
 execution) were the nett profit which Frederick 
 derived from his cunning vacillation. The whole 
 plan was to be kept secret until the preparations of 
 France and Bavaria were sufficiently advanced for 
 action to be taken. 9 Now that the point was set- 
 tled, Frederick was full of such ardour, that it 
 might have been supposed he had all along no 
 
 9 " Political Correspondence," vol. i. pp. 246, and following, and 
 261. Droysen, vol. i. p. 272. The text of the treaty, which has 
 never been published, is to be found in Valori's correspondence. 
 The figure of 40,000 men is not expressly mentioned. It is merely 
 said that France shall furnish to the Elector all the means necessary 
 to enable him to act effectually, and to secure his country against 
 attack. It was probably in the conversation between Frederick 
 and the ambassador that the exact figure was named. See text of 
 treaty in Appendix D.
 
 Be lie- Isle at Frederick's Camp. 261 
 
 other wish, and had now reached the summit of 
 his hopes. "Monsieur, my Cousin," he wrote to 
 the Cardinal, " I have just signed the alliance 
 with the King your master. I answer for it to you, 
 that you shall have no complaint to make of, and 
 no room to repent of this alliance. I now deny 
 that you are a better Frenchman than I am." 
 Addressing Belle- Isle, the King added, with affec- 
 tionate effusiveness : " It is on the faith of your 
 promises, and on the things which you had it 
 in commission to say to me, in the name of the 
 King your master, and on the infinite esteem 
 in which I hold your skill in war, that I have 
 just signed the alliance into which you have in- 
 vited me. Behold me, then, become a better French- 
 man than M. de Belle-Isle, and as faithful to France 
 as any of her allies have ever been. I delight 
 by anticipation in admiring those manoeuvres which 
 you will effect, and those operations which, while 
 they must be lessons for every soldier, will afford me 
 assistance and support. Your name, as much as 
 the strength of the King your master, induces me 
 to ally myself with a prince who cannot but be well 
 seconded by your services. Bavaria shall have my 
 vote. Count on Prussia as upon France in every- 
 thing; let them be no longer distinct. Adieu, dear 
 friend, whom I burn with impatience to greet, 
 victorious, before the gates of Vienna, and to em- 
 brace at the head of his own troops, as I have em-
 
 262 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 braced him at the head of mine. Always believe in 
 the perfect esteem and most sincere friendship, with 
 which I am, my dear Marshal, your most faithful 
 and inviolable friend." l 
 
 Experience had already taught Frederick that 
 direct praise always gives less pleasure than that 
 which comes indirectly from the public voice, be- 
 cause it is supposed to be less sincere, and he there- 
 fore wrote to Voltaire without asking him to keep 
 the secret : "I have seen and conversed with the 
 Marshal de Belle-Isle, who would be, in any coun- 
 try, what is called a very great man. He is a 
 Newton in war, as agreeable in society as he is 
 intelligent and profound in affairs, and does infi- 
 nite honour to France, his nation, and his master's 
 choice." 
 
 The enthusiastic tone of this epistle must have 
 struck Voltaire's perspicacious mind as all the more 
 remarkable, seeing that only a few days before he 
 had received a letter from the King in a totally 
 different tone. Frederick had merely said that, " M. 
 de Belle-Isle and his suite struck him as sensible 
 persons, and this was all the more curious, as in 
 general all Frenchmen passed for arrant fools in 
 Germany." 
 
 To quick perception half a word is enough. 
 Voltaire instantly discerned, by the light of this 
 contrast, the double game which his royal corre- 
 1 " Political Correspoudence," vol. i. pp. 251, 252.
 
 Belle-Isle at Fredericks Camp. 263 
 
 spondent was playing, and the following verses 
 which he sent in reply, were no doubt intended to 
 apprize Frederick that he had been understood. The 
 poet addresses himself to the various diplomatists 
 waiting their turn at the door of the King's tent, 
 thus : 
 
 Hyndfort et vous, Ginkel, 2 vous dont le nom barbate 
 Fait jurer de mes vers la cadence bizarre ; 
 Veniez-vous pres de lui, le caducee en main, 
 Pour seduire son ame et changer son destin ? 
 Et vous, cher Valori, toujours pret a conclure, 
 Veniez-vous de Ginkel deranger les mesures ? 
 Ministres cauteleux ou pressans, ou jaloux, 
 Laissez la tout votre art ; il en sait plus que vous. 
 II sait quel interet fait pencher la balance, 
 Quel traite, quel ami convient a sa puissance, 
 Et toujours agissant, toujours pensant en roi, 
 Par la plume et 1'epee il sait donner la loi. 3 
 
 Belle-Isle was at Nymphenburg, the Elector of 
 Bavaria's residence near Munich, whither he had 
 gone on leaving Dresden, when he received Fre- 
 derick's flattering communications, and the more 
 welcome news of the signature of the treaty. If he 
 had been indifferent to compliments (and a lover of 
 fame is never very reluctant or very clear-sighted 
 in that respect), the fact that he was put out of 
 pain, and had escaped from a false position, would 
 
 2 Ginkel was the Dutch minister, and he and the English agent 
 (whose name all French writers misspell) were inseparable. 
 
 3 Frederick to Voltaire, May 5 and 13, 1741. Voltaire to 
 Frederick, June 29, 1741. (Correspondance generals de 
 
 Voltaire.}
 
 264 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 have disposed him to accept them gladly. After 
 hours of mortal anxiety, Frederick's consent, sud- 
 denly obtained, smoothed every path as if by enchant- 
 ment, for Belle-Isle was not likely to meet with 
 any resistance at Munich. The Elector, a prince 
 of mild disposition and amiable manners, and the 
 Electress, who was delighted beyond measure at 
 the prospect of a crown, received him with open 
 arms, treated him as a king and a cousin, and what 
 was still more agreeable, listened to him as an oracle. 
 He had long conferences with the Elector, during 
 which he explained his plans of campaign, entering 
 into the minutest details, and he was astonished to 
 find that they were accepted with the greatest 
 docility. Like all persons who are full of their own 
 ideas, who like to hear themselves talk, and when 
 they are not contradicted imagine that their listeners 
 think as they do, the zealous ambassador ascribed to 
 ready intelligence on the part of Charles Albert, 
 what was in reality only the assent of a weak mind 
 to designs too little understood to be contested. 
 Belle-Isle was destined to learn by experience 
 that this very weakness rendered the Elector inca- 
 pable of carrying out his plans. In the mean- 
 time, Belle-Isle's influence induced him to accept 
 arrangements in accordance with those which the 
 King of Prussia had at length decided on signing, 
 and, to complete the Marshal's satisfaction, the 
 Spanish ambassador, Count de Montijo, had just
 
 Belle- Isle at Frederick's Camp. 265 
 
 arrived from Frankfort in the nick of time, bring- 
 ing the accession of his government to that 
 alliance, and the promise of a useful diversion by 
 Spanish troops to be directed against the Austrian 
 possessions in Italy. It was, therefore, with a 
 legitimate feeling of satisfaction, that Belle-Isle sent 
 on to Fleury, on the 6th of June, the letter which 
 he had received from Frederick; but he had the 
 good sense to deprecate a portion of the King's 
 praises, or rather he had the adroitness to transfer 
 them to the Cardinal himself. 
 
 " The excessive eulogium," he writes, " that the 
 King bestows upon me, and which I only merit by 
 my zeal, would have prevented me from sending 
 this letter, if it had not appeared necessary that I 
 should do so, to confirm all that I have stated. I 
 congratulate your Eminence with all my heart ; 
 this is a happy termination to a negotiation which 
 you have conducted with equal skill and wisdom. 
 The Grand Duke will be excluded from the imperial 
 throne, and your Eminence will place the Elector of 
 Bavaria upon it ; you will have the glory of abasing 
 for ever that house which is the rival and the 
 enemy of France ; you will confound the enmity and 
 the envy of the King of England by the vigour of 
 your operations ; you will oblige the Russians to 
 retreat within their former bounds. Never has 
 any minister been more glorious and equally mo- 
 derate. The point now is to complete these great
 
 266 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 things, and as I persist more and more in my protest 
 against the misfortunes of war, since war is inevit- 
 able let it be made with promptitude, and with such 
 success that it shall be necessarily brief. All 
 Europe will then be aware that your Eminence has 
 made war only at the last extremity and against 
 your will. It will do the King the greatest honour, 
 and procure for the kingdom, peace, which your 
 Eminence will have the satisfaction of establishing 
 in a manner at once advantageous and durable." 4 
 
 A grateful, but, at the same time, pressing letter 
 from the Elector accompanied that of the Marshal. 
 Fleury, understanding with half a word that he 
 would have to pay for his fame, and that Belle- 
 Isle's repugnance to war would translate itself 
 before long into fresh demands for men and money, 
 replied sadly, without any disguise of his feel- 
 ings : 
 
 " I have received the letter with which you have 
 honoured me, as well as that of the Elector ; to the 
 latter also I am about to reply. His attachment 
 to France certainly deserves all that the King 
 does, and will do, for him. He must be regarded as 
 the only prince in Europe who has loftiness and 
 nobility in his sentiments, and order and consistency 
 in his designs. It is unfortunate that he is not 
 more rich and more powerful, and when I think that 
 
 4 Belle-Isle to Fleury, January 6, 1741. (Correspondance dc 
 a la Diete.} Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 Be lie- Isle at Frederick 's Camp. 267 
 
 almost our only allies are princes in a position like 
 that of the Elector, I cannot but be alarmed at the 
 war on which we are entering. I acknowledge that 
 the King of Prussia, to whom this does not apply, 
 gives me more uneasiness than any other. His 
 mind is quite unregulated ; he will listen to no ad- 
 vice, and he forms his resolutions with great levity, 
 without having prepared proper means of success. 
 Good faith and sincerity are not his favourite 
 virtues; he is false in everything, even in his fair 
 words ; I doubt much whether he is trustworthy 
 in his alliance, because his own interest is his 
 only principle. He wants to govern every one and 
 act out of his own head without any concert with 
 us; he is detested by all Europe. This portrait 
 may perhaps appear to you a little too highly 
 coloured, and as you have seen him more closely 
 than I have, I leave you to judge, but I cannot pre- 
 vent myself from fearing, that if an advantageous 
 bargain were proposed to him, in case the Court 
 of Vienna, or rather England, consider it essen- 
 tial for them to detach him from us, he would 
 not be scrupulous as to the pretext on which he 
 might separate from our alliance. I open my heart 
 to you. I pray you to burn my letter. The King of 
 Prussia writes to me almost in the same terms as 
 yourself, but we might say of him what a foreign 
 minister said, after having seen the Escurial, that 
 the magnificence of the building was a proof of the
 
 268 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 extremity of the fear that had made Philip II. take a 
 vow to build it. The praises of the King of Prussia 
 are founded upon a similar motive, and I acknowledge 
 to you that they touch me very little. He does 
 justice to you, and all the princes of Germany do 
 the same. I accept your flattering auguries rather 
 because you yourself are in a position to verify them 
 than for any other reason." 
 
 The confidence of Cardinal Fleury in the flatteries 
 of Frederick, was no doubt considerably modified 
 by the fact that contrary rumours were circulating 
 in Paris at the same moment. Correspondence 
 from the camp stated that the King of Prussia 
 had said openly that nothing useful could be done 
 in concert with France, so long as she was governed 
 by a vacillating and crafty old man. 5 
 
 Fleury was only too right. Fifteen days had not 
 elapsed after the signature of the treaty, and the 
 ratification had not yet arrived, when difficulties 
 arose about its execution, closely resembling those 
 that had preceded the conclusion of it. Frederick, 
 in his imperious way, wanted everything to be done 
 in a twinkling, and all at once, and as the Diet of 
 Sweden, on its side, when called upon to declare 
 itself by the French Cabinet, made (as seemed 
 natural enough) a demand to be guaranteed by treaty 
 
 5 Frederick to Belle-Isle, January 17. 1741. (Correspondence 
 de VAmbassade a la Diete.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs. D'Ar- 
 genson, Journal, vol. i. pp. 317, 327.
 
 Belle-Isle at Frederick's Camp. 269 
 
 that Prussia, after having put her forward, should 
 not abandon her, and as the organization of the 
 Bavarian army was also retarded by the Elector's 
 fear of being abandoned by Prussia, the whole 
 question was once more opened. Valori received 
 a haughty letter, in which Frederick gave him 
 notice that the treaty must be held as null and 
 void until better guarantees of the action promised 
 by Versailles, Munich, and Stockholm should have 
 been obtained. At the same time, Podewils was 
 directed to comment upon this declaration by verbal 
 communications, and we may guess how that minis- 
 ter, already very ill-disposed towards the French 
 alliance, acquitted himself of his task, when we 
 see in what terms it was prescribed to him in con- 
 fidential instructions. Here is a specimen : 
 
 " Tell M. de Valori that I shall not allow myself to 
 be lured 6 by an ecclesiastic, and that if the Cardinal 
 does not want to make war, he may do without my 
 alliance. In a word, he must either go that way or 
 out of the window." 7 At this point dates are im- 
 portant. The treaty was signed on the 5th of 
 June ; the demand was addressed to Valori on the 
 18th. Thus it was within twelve days, with 
 the slow posts and difficult communications of the 
 period, that Frederick insisted, under pain of a total 
 
 * A free translation of this contemptuous expression would be 
 "humbugged," or "gulled." 
 
 7 Frederick to Valori, June 13, 1741. To Podewils, July 12, 
 1741. ("Political Correspondence," vol. i. pp. 263, 277.)
 
 270 Frederick //. and Maria TJwresa. 
 
 rupture, on being certified that a declaration of war 
 had been made on the Baltic, and a French army 
 had reached the Rhine. The false pretence of quarrel 
 was so transparent, that Belle-Isle, on being informed 
 of these fresh demands by a dismal letter from 
 Yalori, could not resist the conviction that Frederick 
 intended to break his word. " Could it be possible," 
 he wrote, " that the King does not yet regard the 
 treaty as signed ? Does he mean to make its execu- 
 tion depend upon the co-operation of Sweden ? Does 
 he mean to regard the treaty as void, if all his fancies 
 are not complied with ? However," he adds, after 
 reflection, " the actual situation does not allow of 
 our taking words literally, and the excessive hasti- 
 ness of the King ought to teach us to be more 
 wise and more moderate. "We must get all the good 
 we can out of an alliance which we have desired, and 
 we must close our eyes and ears to little things." 
 Accordingly, he added to his private letter an 
 ostensible one, evidently intended to come under the 
 notice of the King of Prussia himself. 
 
 " I am convinced," he wrote, " that his Prussian 
 Majesty, under a hasty impulse, wrote that letter to 
 you, and that if you could have speech with that 
 prince, he is so generous of heart and magnani- 
 mous that he will be concerned at having given 
 way to such haste. But, although princes are men, 
 and consequently subject to the defects of humanity, 
 we must respect them even in their failings, espe-
 
 Belle-Isle at Frederick's Camp. 271 
 
 cially when they are so amiable as the King, and 
 when we may believe (of which I make no doubt), 
 that the heart and the reflections of his Majesty 
 have no share in the threats which he employs 
 in the letter he has written to you." 8 
 
 Only a very hard heart could fail to be touched 
 by such forbearance. Frederick, besides, under- 
 stood the persons with whom he was dealing, and 
 he did not try threats with Belle-Isle, believing he 
 had discovered other means of making him sub- 
 servient to his designs. He still took a high hand 
 with Valori, but confined himself to sending pressing 
 exhortations to Belle-Isle, begging him to come 
 without delay, so as to take the enemy by sur- 
 prise, and always winding up with a glowing 
 picture of the fame that was to be the reward of 
 this bold action. " You can understand," said 
 he, " the necessity of fulfilling your engagements 
 without delay ; the point is whether you will assist 
 faithful allies, or never have any. France may at this 
 moment strike the greatest blow she has ever struck 
 in her life. Instead of creeping up to power, she 
 can reach it in an Homeric stride, and you have 
 before you the fairest harvest of laurels that ever a 
 general in France has reaped." 9 
 
 * Belle-Isle to Valori, from Frankfort, June 26, 1741. (Corre- 
 spondance de Prusse.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
 
 9 Frederick to Belle-Isle, July 18, 1741. ("Political Corre- 
 spondence," vol. i. p. 268.)
 
 272 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 I know not whether these brilliant prospects dis- 
 armed the suspicions of Belle-Isle, and blinded him 
 to the truth that the excessive demands of his ally 
 were made for the purpose of serving, on occasion, 
 as a pretext for rupture. If so, his judgment was 
 strangely at fault, for to us who read the Prussian 
 correspondence, the device is perfectly manifest. 
 Frederick, by demanding the impossible, managed 
 to keep a grievance always in reserve, ready to 
 be produced on the day which should bring him 
 satisfactory offers from London or from Vienna. 
 This is abundantly evident from his instructions 
 to Podewils to continue to haggle (chipotireri) 
 with Lord Hyndford and the Hanoverian envoy, in 
 order, as it is somewhere expressly said, " to keep 
 a door always open on that side." We find the 
 exact application of this precept of policy, in an 
 autograph note written only a few days before the 
 signature of the treaty. " We are dealing on 
 one side with the most headstrong people in Europe, 
 and on the other with the most ambitious. (The 
 King is certainly referring here to Austria and 
 France.) To go on playing the part of an honest 
 man with rogues is a perilous thing; to be cun- 
 ning with deceivers is a desperate game, and its 
 success is very equivocal. What is to be done 
 then? Just what your very humble servant and 
 his minister are doing; make war, and negotiate. 
 If there is anything to gain by being honest, we
 
 Belle-Isle at Fredericks Camp. 273 
 
 will be honest ; if it be necessary to make dupes, let 
 us be rogues. I am, with much esteem, my dear 
 Podewils, your faithful friend." * 
 
 To drive War and Negotiation abreast, and be free 
 to choose at any moment between honesty and 
 roguery, this was the plan whose development 
 throughout the ensuing events we are about to 
 follow. 
 
 1 Frederick to Podewils, May 12. 1741. ( " Political Correspon- 
 dence," vol. i. p. 244.) 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 T 2
 
 APPENDIX TO VOL. I. 
 A. 
 
 OPINIONS PRONOUNCED ON THE CHARACTER OP FREDE- 
 RICK II. BEFORE HIS ACCESSION, AND DURING THE 
 FIRST MONTHS OF HIS REIGN. 
 
 I INSERT here several extracts from despatches, 
 which afford some notion of the uncertainty that pre- 
 vailed respecting the character of Frederick II. 
 before he had taken the important step of invading 
 Silesia. The portrait of Frederick as sketched by 
 Marshal de Belle-Isle sufficiently explains why his 
 most familiar associates were ignorant of his real 
 disposition. 
 
 MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 (Correspondance de Prusse.) 
 
 THE MARQUIS DE VALORI TO M. AMELOT, 
 
 March 18, 1740. 
 
 " The Prince Royal sets an example of unremitting 
 circumspection in the simplest matters. I happen to 
 know that he keeps his friend and chamberlain shut 
 up with him in his room, and will not allow him 
 even to approach the window. No one in the house 
 knows that he is there. The prince passes four 
 hours every evening writing with him. . . . This 
 chamberlain is M. de Kayserling. . . . With the ex-
 
 278 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 ception of his dissimulation, he seems to have the 
 same disposition as his father. I speak of his dis- 
 simulation from what I have heard from those who 
 know him best, and pride themselves on their 
 attachment to him. They are convinced that his 
 acquaintance will have to be made afresh, and that 
 the Prince Koyal will no longer be the same man, but 
 they know not what kind of man he will be. M. de 
 Tulmayer is of opinion, that many of those who 
 reckon on his favour will be disappointed, and that 
 the prodigious amount of business in which the 
 prince will find himself involved, his need of able 
 men, in order to repair his father's errors and to 
 use the treasure of which he will find himself master 
 to advantage, will, of necessity, force him to put 
 science aside, and to bestow his confidence on those 
 whose judgment may be of some service to him." 
 
 MINISTRY OF FOEETGN AFFAIRS. 
 (Correspondance de Prusse.) 
 
 THE MARQUIS DE VALORI TO M. AMELOT, 
 
 August 6, 1 740. 
 
 "The public are already astonished to find that 
 they have deceived themselves by building hopes on 
 generosity, goodness of heart, and affability : they 
 recognize none of these qualities in the acts that 
 emanate from the throne. As for myself I am afraid 
 on account of the King's (Louis XV.) service, of 
 considerable obstinacy and selfishness, together with 
 a conviction of his (Frederick's) own superiority in 
 mind and judgment. It is to be feared that this side 
 of his character may lead him into serious errors."
 
 Appendix. 279 
 
 MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 (Correspondance de Prusse.} 
 
 THE MARQUIS DE VALOEI TO M. AMELOT, 
 
 October 8, 1740. 
 
 " The King seems to have adopted a system of 
 great economy. His father, the late King, was in the 
 habit of lending money to the nobles of his States 
 when they were in difficulties, at four per cent, in- 
 terest. A certain Count Schwerin, finding himself 
 in want of money, has petitioned the King his 
 master for the same favour. He was told that the 
 money should be lent to him, but that the King of 
 Prussia requires five per cent." 
 
 MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 (Correspondance de Prusse.) 
 
 THE MARQUIS DE BEAUVAU TO M. AMELOT, 
 
 December 17, 1740. 
 
 " Let there be no doubt as to the vast projects of 
 the King of Prussia. I know, beyond a doubt, that 
 in his heart he detests France ; and that his real 
 ambition and glory would be to humiliate us and 
 diminish our power. I should not venture to state 
 such a thing were I not quite sure of it, but I am so 
 sure that I distrust every mark of friendship he 
 may show us, and every word he may address to us." 
 
 MEMOIRS OF MARSHAL DE BELLE-ISLE. 
 His opinion of the King of Prussia. 
 " The various opinions that have been held con-
 
 280 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 cerning the King of Prussia, and especially the 
 difference between what was said of him when he was 
 only Prince Royal, and what has been thought of him 
 since he succeeded the King his father, oblige me to 
 reveal my own opinion of this prince. The King of 
 Prussia was endowed at birth with genius of the 
 highest order, prompting him to great deeds ; he is 
 full of ardour, and acts with rapidity and decision ; 
 his intellect is lofty and expansive ; he can perceive 
 all the existing means of carrying out a design, and 
 is not scrupulous in their employment : he is fertile 
 in expedients, but as yet too inexperienced to con- 
 trive an immediate substitute for those that un- 
 foreseen accident may disturb ; keen and penetrating 
 in his judgment of men, quick to perceive their 
 weaknesses and foibles, clever at taking advantage 
 of them, too eager at times in pointing them out, 
 vain, loving glory, jealous of the fame of others, he 
 has been accused of presumption because he asked 
 the advice of no one, either in war or politics, but 
 he could not always ask it safely, those by whom 
 he was surrounded, and who were in a position to 
 give him good counsel, being devoted to the House 
 of Austria; occupied exclusively with his own 
 interests, which he thoroughly understands. lie 
 was consequently well aware how important an al- 
 liance with France was to him, and I was certain that 
 he was profoundly influenced by all I had said to 
 him, and that he only deferred the conclusion of the 
 proposed treaty, until I should have informed my 
 court of the various reasons for which he had post- 
 poned affixing his signature ; for he was certain that 
 France, who could not carry out her projects without
 
 Appendix. 281 
 
 him, would at once begin to act. He is so convinced 
 of the necessity of this alliance that we shall find 
 he will support us in our designs against the Court 
 of Vienna whenever he can do so with safety to him- 
 self, but also that he will cool, or will at most only 
 help us secretly, and, in short, will abandon us 
 altogether, should our errors, our misfortunes, or 
 the weakness of our ministers, arouse in him any 
 fear for himself, and lead him to suppose that he is 
 about to be deprived of all support. The King of 
 Prussia who, by nature, was a Machiavel, has been 
 made still more of one, by Cardinal Fleury's weak- 
 ness. He was aware that the minister went to war 
 with reluctance, while his excessive slowness and 
 want of good faith made the King fear that he would 
 not keep it up, but that, on the slightest reverse, he 
 would bring it to a close at his own cost. 
 
 " It was on that account that Frederick, from the 
 time of his entry into Silesia, kept up constant 
 negotiations with all his enemies, and carried them 
 on with more or less spirit, according to our success 
 or our reverses. Those persons who had only 
 known the King when Prince Royal, united in prais- 
 ing him enthusiastically, attributing to him all the 
 qualities of mind and heart that belong to a great 
 and good man ; but when they came to know him 
 on the throne, they denied him the possession of any 
 heart whatever. It is easy to understand this con- 
 tradiction ; during the time of his disgrace, which 
 lasted up to the death of his father, it had behoved 
 him to make a display of virtue in order to attract 
 adherents, and to win the regard of those with 
 whom he came in contact; and, that he might
 
 282 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 interest them still more deeply in his favour, he 
 thought it well especially to affect the virtues most 
 directly opposed to his father's vices, and by so 
 doing to render him the more odious. Such 
 hypocrisy was easy to a prince who united to a 
 cold heart a lively and cultivated imagination which 
 supplied him every attractive expression of senti- 
 ment. 
 
 " On ascending the throne, he dropped the mask. 
 It is even said that his vices surpassed those of his 
 father, and that he added that of ingratitude 
 towards his most intimate friends. It is possible 
 that the latter accusation is to some extent un- 
 founded ; his friends clamoured for places, which 
 should be the reward of merit and ability, and not 
 solely of friendship."
 
 Appendix. 
 
 B. 
 
 NATURE AND PROBABLE CONSEQUENCES OF THE RESERVA- 
 TIONS MADE BY FRANCE IN THE GUARANTEE GRANTED TO 
 THE PRAGMATIC SANCTION BY THE TREATY OF 1738. 
 
 WITHOUT seeking to extenuate the righteous severity 
 with which history, in my opinion, should judge the 
 conduct of France towards Austria at the accession 
 of Maria Theresa, it is nevertheless just to examine 
 the arguments advanced by Cardinal de Fleury at 
 the time to justify his breach of faith. It is well to 
 be acquainted with them, were it only that we may 
 estimate their value. 
 
 Fleury has invariably endeavoured to justify him- 
 self by contending that the guarantee given by 
 France to the Pragmatic Sanction regulating the 
 succession in Austria, made reservation that no 
 injury should be done thereby to rights already 
 acquired by third parties. The Emperor (according 
 to every memorandum drawn up, at that epoch, in 
 the name of France) having affirmed either in the 
 textof the Pragmatic Sanction itself, or in the various 
 accompanying declarations, that the only meaning of 
 that Act was to maintain the legitimate and incon- 
 testable order of succession in full vigour in the 
 States of Austria, if that assertion could be proved 
 defective on any one point, the guarantee, which 
 could not have greater value than the Act itself, 
 would be deprived of all its efficacy.
 
 284 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 How such a reservation was compatible with the 
 imperative generality of the terms of that article of 
 the treaty of 1738 by which the guarantee was 
 stipulated (particularly with the expression contra 
 quoscumque, which was seemingly inserted with the 
 express purpose of excluding all examination of the 
 rights or pretensions of any aspirant whatsoever to 
 the Austrian succession) I have in vain endeavoured 
 to understand. It is, however, certain, that the 
 reservation, if not formally admitted, was known 
 to and not directly contested by Charles VI. 
 himself, as will be seen in the correspondence 
 between that sovereign and the Cardinal. It appears 
 moreover that a similar conditional clause was 
 generally recognized as applicable, in virtue of a rule 
 of public law, to identical or analogous guarantees 
 which the other European cabinets, that of England 
 in particular, had granted at the Emperor's request. 
 I leave the explanation of this contradiction to others 
 more versed than myself in the subtleties of the 
 old European and Germanic law. 
 
 It is curious, at the present time, to study the use 
 made by the Cardinal of that reservation, to encourage 
 the pretensions and hopes of the Elector of Bavaria 
 (even after the contrary assurances of the treaty of 
 1738) sub rosd, and thus to keep a door open, 
 should it be needed, for any event that might occur 
 in the future. The study is not without interest, as 
 it enables us to appreciate the character of the aged 
 minister, whose chief characteristic seemstohave been 
 that he reached, but never went beyond the extreme 
 point at which finesse must run the risk of being 
 openly detected in duplicity.
 
 Appendix. 285 
 
 The intimate relations subsisting between France 
 and the Electoral House of Bavaria were more than 
 a century old. To raise the Catholic German prince 
 who came next in importance to the Archdukes of 
 Austria, to the Imperial throne, was a design that 
 had been formed more than once by Richelieu, 
 Mazarin, and Louis XIV. With this end in view, 
 the entire House of Bavaria had attached itself to 
 the fortunes of France during the long struggles of 
 the seventeenth century; the friendship had been 
 cemented by the marriage of the Dauphin, son of 
 Louis XIV., with a Bavarian princess, while the 
 Elector Maximilian had been placed, after the battle 
 of Hochstadt, under the ban of the empire and 
 deprived of his States, on account of his too 
 great fidelity to his friendship with France. He 
 had been reinstated in 1714, by the Treaty of 
 Utrecht, but deserved something more than that 
 inadequate reparation, and as the present could 
 afford nothing better, the future had been pledged 
 in his favour. 
 
 By a secret treaty signed in that same year, 
 1714, the King of France had expressly promised to 
 support the candidature of the Elector of Bavaria, in 
 the event of a vacancy in the imperial throne. It 
 will be well to quote the words of that engagement 
 which was first mentioned by the historian Lemontey, 
 but has, I believe, never been published. 
 
 " The King being convinced," so runs clause 
 12 of the secret treaty, " that in default of princes 
 of the House of Austria, no German prince is more 
 capable of sustaining the dignity of the imperial 
 crown, promoting the welfare of religion and the
 
 286 Frederick If. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 preservation of peace than the Elector of Bavaria, 
 his Majesty promises that, should the imperial dignity 
 become vacant, he will use care and effort, friends, 
 money, and troops if necessary, to raise his Electoral 
 Highness to the said dignity ; he engages, moreover, 
 to pay special attention to any proposition or 
 attempt that might be made to procure the election 
 of a king of the Romans ; to oppose it strongly, if 
 made, and to prevent that dignity being conferred 
 on any one whomsoever not belonging to the House 
 of Bavaria, provided that his Electoral Highness has 
 at that time, no strong reasons for thinking 
 differently." 1 
 
 At this period, as we see, the only question was 
 that of a candidature to the imperial dignity. 
 There was no question of a claim to the patrimonial 
 inheritance of the Austrian states, although in that 
 same year Charles VI. had drawn up and promul- 
 gated the act, by which the succession, in all its 
 integrity, was settled on his children without distinc- 
 tion of sex. But the Emperor was still young; he 
 and his consort were both at an age when they 
 might expect a numerous progeny, and his precau- 
 tions seemed to proceed from an excess of prudence 
 and a distant outlook which it was unnecessary to 
 take into consideration. 
 
 But thirteen years later, in 1727, circumstances 
 were greatly altered. The Emperor was advanced in 
 years, and had only two daughters, while the health 
 of the Empress was too delicate for any hope of 
 male heirs. The time had come for the Emperor 
 
 1 Correspondance de Baviere, 1714. Department of Foreign 
 Affairs.
 
 Appendix. 287 
 
 to take the necessary steps for the strengthening 
 his testamentary provisions, and for others who 
 intended to oppose them to prepare for contest. 
 And in fact, that was done. 
 
 On the one hand, the ambassadors of Charles VI. 
 put forward their whole strength in order to obtain 
 the adhesion of the powers to the Act of Succession 
 that was already known as the Pragmatic Sanction, 
 and the German Diet was put in possession of a 
 proposition tending to confer the character of a 
 law of the Empire on that act. On the other, 
 the Elector of Bavaria, whose wife was an arch- 
 duchess, and who counted two Austrian princesses 
 among his ancestry, began to speak freely of the 
 rights that such kinship might confer upon him 
 whether by reason of the testamentary documents of 
 the two emperors, Ferdinand I. and Ferdinand II., 
 from whom he descended, or by applying the rules 
 of reversion which, according to him, were admitted 
 by the Germanic law in the case of female succes- 
 sion. 
 
 France had, at that epoch, no apparent reason for 
 sparing Austria, and in any case, Fleury, who had 
 only just attained to power, was not yet in a posi- 
 tion to deviate from the traditionary policy of his 
 predecessors. He made no objection, therefore, to 
 encourage the pretensions of the Elector; the secret 
 treaty of 1714 was renewed, and a new article was 
 added, that treated specially of the Austrian suc- 
 cession in the following terms : 
 
 " Whereas in default of princes of the House of 
 Austria, the Elector of Bavaria would have legiti- 
 mate pretensions to some of the States belonging to
 
 288 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 that house, and in particular to the kingdom of 
 Bohemia, the King promises in that case to use his 
 best offices in order to obtain due justice for his 
 Electoral Highness, and if his offers should be una- 
 vailing, his Majesty will then agree with his said 
 Electoral Highness as to the assistance that will be 
 necessary to prevent his defeat by the efforts and 
 power of his enemies." 
 
 Emboldened by this secret support, the Elector 
 Charles Albert publicly refused his adhesion to the 
 Pragmatic Sanction, at the Diet at which that act 
 was declared to be a law of the Empire, and added 
 to his refusal the formal reservation of his own 
 claims. Thus he alone withstood the Imperial 
 Power. 
 
 It was at this moment that a new struggle be- 
 tween France and Austria, concerning the succession 
 of Poland, which was destined to last for several years, 
 began. Fleury, who had consented to engage in 
 the contest, though hardly liking it, was conscious 
 of the necessity of securing allies to sustain it ; he 
 therefore warmly congratulated the Elector on his 
 noble attitude. In a private letter, dated February 
 22, 1731, he somewhat enthusiastically called him 
 the " stay of Germanic liberties," and severely 
 blamed the servile obedience, and the selfishly inter- 
 ested views ivhich had induced the other powers to give 
 a guarantee so prejudicial to their interests. He went 
 on to say that the Elector must stand firm in order 
 to give time to all those princes to recover from 
 their intoxication and fascination, and, in support of 
 these expressions, he did not shrink from giving a 
 formal guarantee to the Elector against the con-
 
 Appendix. 289 
 
 sequences that he might incur by his attitude of 
 hostility to the court of Vienna. 
 
 A new treaty was signed in 1733, also under the 
 seal of secrecy, containing in Clause 4 the following 
 words : 
 
 " His Electoral Highness having considered it his 
 duty, as a faithful and zealous member of the 
 Germanic body, to refuse his guarantee to the Prag- 
 matic Sanction, for reasons fully explained and pro- 
 tocoled in the Act of Protestation made in his name 
 at the Diet of Ratisbon, when the matter was brought 
 forward, declares that he persists and will continue 
 to persist in the same principles, dictated to him 
 by honour and conscience, and his Most Christian 
 Majesty promises, on the other hand, to guarantee 
 all the States of his Electoral Highness of Bavaria, 
 and binds himself, if, from enmity to this protesta- 
 tion and to the present alliance, the said Electoral 
 Highness or his States should be disturbed, or 
 troubled, or attacked by any person whomsoever, to 
 protect and support him with all his strength, if 
 necessary, so that neither his said Electoral High- 
 ness nor his States shall be exposed to any danger 
 or injury." 
 
 In addition to this, an immediate and consider- 
 able annual subsidy was to be employed in putting 
 the Bavarian troops in readiness to take a part, if 
 necessary, in the forthcoming war. 
 
 It will be observed, however, that France promised 
 her aid to the Elector with reservations and restric- 
 tions. France did not bind herself to support his 
 pretensions to the Austrian States; she did not even 
 formally recognize their legitimacy ; she merely 
 
 VOL. I. U
 
 290 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 undertook to protect him against any danger to his 
 own States which might be incurred in endeavouring 
 to establish his claims, whether well or ill founded. 
 
 The distinction was fine, and perhaps not 
 noticed at the time ; but to the pettifogging mind of 
 Fleury, nothing was trivial, and he availed himself of 
 that distinction on several occasions, to justify his 
 subsequent double-dealing. 
 
 During the years 1733 and 1734, military events 
 were sufficiently favourable to France to render it 
 unnecessary for her to have recourse to her German 
 ally. 
 
 The reciprocal engagements of Bavaria and France, 
 although suspected by all, remained, therefore, an 
 official secret, and were still officially unknown when 
 Fleury, in 1735, decided on being the first to pro- 
 pose a cessation of hostilities to the Emperor, and 
 to sign preliminaries of peace, in the November of 
 that year. 
 
 The preliminaries included, on the one side, the 
 cession, by Duke Francis, son-in-law of Charles VI., 
 of the duchies of Bar and Lorraine to Stanislas 
 Leczinski, father-in-law of Louis XV., with rever- 
 sion at his death to the crown of France ; and on 
 the other, the formal adhesion of France to the Prag- 
 matic Sanction. 
 
 It is only fair to acknowledge that there never was 
 a more sensible or patriotic act, or one more honour- 
 able to a minister, than the initiative then so reso- 
 lutely taken by Fleury. The war, it is true, had 
 been favourable to the French arms, but their 
 success had been principally due to the neutrality in 
 which the clever Cardinal had contrived to keep
 
 Appendix. 291 
 
 England and Holland, thus preserving the 
 coast and northern frontiers of France from all 
 danger of attack. But this abstention could not 
 last ; jealousy, aroused by her success, might move 
 her ancient rival, and the struggle become compli- 
 cated by prolongation. Moreover, nothing could 
 have been better contrived than the dual stipu- 
 lation on which peace was arranged ; in bartering 
 her guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction against 
 the cession of Lorraine, France was gaining much 
 and was, in fact, giving nothing. She was giving 
 nothing, because the Pragmatic Sanction merely 
 ensured the continuance of a territorial, status quo 
 in Europe that was altogether in her favour; it was 
 the confirmation of the state of things established 
 by the Peace of Westphalia as the reward of our 
 victories, and still further improved by an unexpected 
 stroke of good fortune at the peace of Utrecht in 
 spite of our reverses. France was gaining much, 
 for it was an inestimable advantage to acquire the 
 wealthy province of Lorraine, which made us 
 masters of all the passes of the Vosges, and, uniting 
 our territory to that of our recently acquired Alsace, 
 pushed our frontiers on that side as far as the Rhine. 
 Now, when we have lost it, or lost the greater part 
 of it, we recognize only too clearly the value of 
 that acquisition. Such a cession could only have 
 been obtained from the Duke of Lorraine by his 
 father-in-law, Charles VI., and with the view of 
 ensuring the integrity of his inheritance ; it would 
 be difficult to obtain a higher price for the satisfac- 
 tion of conjugal and paternal affection. Therefore, 
 when, at a later period, Belle-Isle and his party 
 
 u 2
 
 292 Frederick II. ind Maria Theresa. 
 
 accused Fleury of hesitating to take advantage of 
 the fortunate circumstance that Austria had no 
 male heirs, if the aged prelate's firmness had 
 equalled his judgment, he might have contented him- 
 self with replying, that he had reaped every possible 
 advantage that could have been anticipated by the 
 highest wisdom from the very act for which they 
 blamed him. 
 
 But it is not the less true that adhesion to the 
 Pragmatic Sanction (though an eminently patriotic 
 and wise measure) placed the French Government in 
 a very delicate position with regard to the Elector 
 of Bavaria, towards whom special obligations had 
 been laid upon France by the clandestine arrange- 
 ments just quoted. How was the public guarantee 
 given on behalf of the succession of the daughter of 
 Charles VI., to be reconciled with the secret sup- 
 port promised to the conflicting interests of the 
 Elector ? The question was an important one ; for 
 however convinced Fleury might be of the service 
 he was rendering his country, in making peace on 
 such conditions with whatever complacence he 
 might naturally regard his own work he could not 
 carelessly break with an ancient ally of France, 
 a near kinsman of the King, and one whose aid 
 might yet, at some future time, be very precious. 
 He must have feared, above all, to afford a pretext 
 for accusation to all his enemies at Court, and to all 
 the ambitious who aspired to take his place. 
 
 In order to escape this difficulty, and to avoid 
 offence to an ancient ally, without endangering the 
 new alliance, Fleury at once introduced the reserva- 
 tion we have already explained, which consisted in
 
 Appendix. 293 
 
 excluding from the promised guarantee everything 
 that might do injury to undoubted rights pre- 
 viously acquired by third parties. By means of that 
 reservation he might say to the Elector, that, provided 
 his rights were of this nature, and that he could 
 prove them, the adhesion of France to the Prag- 
 matic Sanction could not affect them prejudicially. 
 But as, on the other hand, he had abstained from 
 pronouncing an opinion on the legitimacy of the 
 Elector's pretensions, he might, at the same time, 
 without being absolutely untruthful, assure the 
 Emperor of his sincere intention of holding France 
 to her new engagements. He might say to the 
 Elector, " When you have proved your rights, I will 
 respect them," and if the Emperor, becoming anxious 
 and suspicious, should interrogate him, he might 
 reply, " France recognizes no rights but those 
 founded on the Pragmatic Sanction," adding either 
 aloud or aside, " so long as no proofs to the con- 
 trary are advanced." 
 
 We must now examine the art with which he 
 contrived, for many years, to sustain this ambiguous 
 position founded entirely on a mental reservation 
 and a quibble. 
 
 It was he who, at the outset, took the initiative, 
 and on November 4, 1735, informed the Elector of 
 the nature of the suspected, but not yet known, pre- 
 liminaries that he had just signed ; but, in so doing, 
 he expressed himself in terms which conveyed the 
 impression that, although to outward appearance he 
 was abandoning Bavaria, he would still contrive to 
 come to her aid in some secret manner. " The 
 King," he writes, in an autograph letter, " would
 
 294 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 have willingly avoided guaranteeing the Pragmatic 
 Sanction, but how was it possible to decline to 
 do so, when all the powers of Europe, including 
 even the States General, have pronounced in its 
 favour as being the basis of peace ? If," he adds, 
 " your Electoral Highness has not been mentioned 
 in the preliminary articles, it has certainly been 
 neither from neglect nor indifference, but only from 
 fear of intensifying the suspicions of the Court of 
 Vienna concerning you, and of giving that haughty 
 Court an opportunity of expatiating severely on the 
 subject, as it has already done, perhaps over- 
 much. . . . His Majesty has thought it well to com- 
 municate these observations to your Electoral High- 
 ness in strict confidence, that, being thus informed 
 of the state of the case, you may judge for yourself 
 as to the measures we should take in furtherance of 
 your interests, which are not less dear to the King 
 than his own. His Majesty will support them with 
 the greatest eagerness, and feels strongly that his 
 honour, his fame, and still more his tender affec- 
 tion for your Electoral Highness, require that 
 nothing shall be omitted which may sustain even 
 by all possible means the lustre of your house and 
 the distinguished esteem in which it has long been 
 held in Europe." 2 
 
 The Elector was more irritated at the news, than 
 pleased with these comments, and he replied at once 
 very warmly. 
 
 "I did not expect," he writes, "that the same 
 person, who has so often assured me of the friend- 
 
 1 Fleury to the Elector of Bavaria, November 4, 1735. (Cor- 
 respondance de Baviere.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 Appendix. 295 
 
 ship and the inviolable faith of his Most Christian 
 Majesty, should one day inform me that, notwith- 
 standing so many sacred engagements, that great 
 prince is on the point of forsaking me. . . . Who 
 could believe that a great and powerful king, in 
 the midst of victory and prosperity, should be re- 
 duced to the necessity of allowing an enemy at bay 
 to impose an unjust law upon him ? The public, 
 which is a witness of the superiority of his Most 
 Christian Majesty, certainly does not consider him 
 to be pressed by such a hard necessity, and what 
 will it think when it sees him forsaking a prince who 
 has risked everything to prove his inviolable attach- 
 ment to the Crown of France ? It will say, doubt- 
 less, as was said in Vienna and elsewhere on the 
 first news of the preliminaries of peace, that what 
 is happening to me, is only that which was so often 
 predicted to me, and which I would not believe, 
 that France sacrifices her friends and allies when 
 she no longer needs them, and when it seems to suit 
 her own selfish ends. Was I to distrust the sacred 
 word of so just a king, and the good faith of an 
 honourable and upright minister ? " 
 
 He then recalls, and is the first to do so, the re- 
 peated affirmations of the Emperor, that the Prag- 
 matic Sanction would be prejudicial to no one, and 
 asks the Cardinal the direct question, why, before 
 signing the peace, France did not exact an inquiry 
 into the known claims of the House of Bavaria. 
 
 " I know enoug-h of the rulers of the Court of 
 
 o 
 
 Vienna," he adds, " to be certain that the only way 
 to prevent them expressing themselves harshly as 
 regards me, would be to make them understand
 
 296 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 plainly, that the Most Christian King, being un- 
 willing to wrong any one, and knowing that the 
 House of Bavaria had solemnly protested against 
 the guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction, as con- 
 trary to its just rights and legitimate pretensions 
 could not in justice guarantee the said sanction 
 without examination of the claims of the House of 
 Bavaria ; instead of which, by showing the Court 
 of Vienna (to whom it was certainly unexpected), 
 that his Most Christian Majesty takes no interest 
 in my concerns, and does not give me a thought in 
 the most important crisis of my life, he has taken 
 a course which will encourage that Court to treat me 
 harshly." 
 
 He concludes by asking what can be the meaning 
 of the assurances of good will and interest that 
 are offered him ? " Can his Majesty on one side 
 promise to augment the lustre of my house, and 
 on the other contemplate effacing it for ever ? 
 Could he with one hand offer me his royal heart, 
 and with the other a poignard ? " 3 
 
 In Fleury's reply, dated the 7th of December of 
 the same year, he shows himself somewhat touched 
 by the reproaches of the Elector, but eager at the 
 same time, to profit by the opportunity in order to 
 establish at once the new ground on which he 
 intended taking his stand. ... "I beg of your 
 Electoral Highness," he writes, "to recollect our 
 essential reasons for concluding, and from the 
 moment our hand was forced, necessity, as the 
 saying is, has no law. Your Electoral Highness 
 reproaches us, with not even naming you in the 
 
 3 The Elector of Bavaria to Fleury, November 24, 1735. 
 (Correspondance de Baviere.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 Appendix. 297 
 
 preliminary articles, thereby denoting complete 
 abandonment. But I implore you to weigh the 
 reasons that prevented us. The Emperor and the 
 Empire suspected that we had entered into a secret 
 alliance with your Highness, not only as to neutrality, 
 but even to have it declared offensively if the 
 occasion arose. You had denied this formally, and 
 so had we. The matter in hand was to make 
 peace between the belligerent powers, and if we 
 had proposed to include your Highness' s name, it 
 would have been tacitly owning that your High- 
 ness was of the number of those powers, and at least 
 we must either have clearly explained our agree- 
 ment with your Highness, or increased suspicion 
 by refusing an explanation. It is true that 
 when you declined to give your adhesion to 
 the Pragmatic Sanction, you declared that you 
 had incontestable rights to the succession of the 
 Emperor ; but you never explained them, and they 
 were not proved. . . . Under these circumstances, it 
 would have been exposing your Electoral Highness 
 to finding your claims set aside for contradictory 
 reasons, because of the unfavourable disposition to- 
 wards you that exists. ... If we had proposed the 
 discussion as a preliminary, the Emperor would never 
 have consented to it, and we should have found our 
 negotiation, which did not admit of delay, upset 
 at the very outset. Our silence, however, is in no 
 degree prejudicial to your claims, and you will 
 always be enabled to bring them forward as 
 opportunities may arise." * 
 
 The Elector was in some measure reassured by 
 
 1 Fleury to the Elector, December 7, 1735. (Correspondence 
 de Baviere.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 298 Frederick //. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 these marks of interest, or, at any rate, as he had 
 little help to expect except from France, he thought 
 his wisest course was to rely upon her, and to try 
 and bind her to her words. " As I can reckon," he 
 writes on January 22, 1736, " on the protection 
 of the King, the future is no longer dark and 
 clouded for me, and I discern new rays of hope 
 in it." 
 
 Then in order to put France to the test at once, he 
 announced his intention of addressing the Emperor 
 once more in a protest against any prejudicial 
 treatment of his claims, and he sent the draft to 
 Fleury, for his advice upon the terms in which the 
 protest should be couched, thus indirectly associating 
 him, whether he would or no, with that action. 5 
 
 The trap was too obvious. Fleury was not dis- 
 posed to fall into it : nothing could suit his pur- 
 pose less than such, and the excitement it would 
 occasion on becoming known in the midst of the 
 difficult, complicated, and captious negotiations (they 
 lasted three years) that he was carrying on at 
 Vienna, in order to convert the preliminaries already 
 signed into a final treaty. He, therefore, em- 
 ployed every effort to dissuade the Elector from 
 taking so undesirable, and, according to Fleury, so 
 inopportune a step. 
 
 It would have embarrassed him the more, because 
 he was just then closely watched by the agent 
 whom the Emperor anxious concerning the possible 
 relations between France and Bavaria had des- 
 patched to Paris, immediately after the preliminaries 
 
 6 The Elector to Fleury, January 19 and 26, 1736. (Corre- 
 spondance de Baviere.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 Appendix. 299 
 
 were signed, to re-establish regular diplomatic in- 
 tercourse while awaiting the conclusion of the treaty. 
 That Fleury was not ignorant of the suspicions enter- 
 tained concerning him in that quarter, is proved 
 by one of the volumes of the correspondence with 
 Vienna, in which we find the instructions given by 
 the Austrian Cabinet to M. de Schmerling, the 
 agent in question. This was a confidential docu- 
 ment, and must have been intercepted, or it could 
 not have been included in the French collection. Thus 
 it must have come under the notice of the Cardinal 
 himself. 
 
 " As the principal object of our negotiation," 
 writes the Austrian Cabinet to its envoy, " should 
 be to carry the point of the guarantee, and as by 
 reason of its great importance it is necessary to 
 act with all possible circumspection, and in order 
 to that end to take every imaginable precaution ; 
 and that, moreover, it is known to all Europe how 
 close has been the union of the Court of Bavaria 
 with that of France, from which the former has 
 received considerable subsidies, that have enabled 
 it to raise a large body of troops which have 
 caused dangerous results to his Imperial Majesty, 
 and will be counted to its eternal merit by the 
 Crown of France we may therefore presume and 
 justly fear under these circumstances, that either 
 that Court has already secretly given to the House 
 of Bavaria solemn assurances contrary to the urgent 
 negotiation, or that in case of a change of ministry 
 in France, and especially in case of the death of 
 the Cardinal, the said House may renew its ancient 
 harmony and secret understanding with France.
 
 300 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 M. de Sclimerling will propose to the Cardinal, that 
 as his Most Christian Majesty had been pleased, in 
 order to prevent dangers and troubles that might 
 arise after the decease of his Imperial Majesty, 
 with regard to the succession to his States to 
 guarantee contra quoscumque the order of succession 
 established in the Archducal House, it was hoped 
 that the King would make no difficulty about under- 
 taking also the same guarantee (which he had 
 himself first offered to do), by a separate and 
 secret article especially against the House of Ba- 
 varia : this was the more expected, as it was precisely 
 the said House which, by reason of its alleged rights 
 in default of male succession in the Archducal 
 House, would cause the greatest troubles. ... If 
 against all expectation, the Cardinal should make 
 any difficulty about this proposition, and that he 
 should not agree to this secret article, M. de 
 Schmerling will represent, although with all possible 
 moderation, that the Crown of France, having 
 agreed to the guarantee contra quoscumque, had also 
 agreed to it against the House of Bavaria, and con- 
 sequently might act upon it against that House in 
 particular ; that in case of refusal on the part of 
 the Crown of France, his Imperial Majesty must 
 naturally infer that France had never had any 
 serious intention of fulfiling the guarantee, contra 
 quoscumque when the case should arise." 
 
 Singular to relate, the above document, wherein 
 the rights of the House of Austria are so strongly 
 
 6 Instructions from the Court of Vienna to M. de Schmerling, 
 ^November 25, 1735. (Correspondance de Vienne Supplement.) 
 Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 Appendix. 30 1 
 
 and categorically maintained, ends with an unex- 
 pected concession, which confirms what I have said 
 of the uncertainty and strangeness of German 
 jurisprudence in matters of succession and diplo- 
 matic guarantees. 
 
 " M. de Schmerling will take the opportunity," 
 continues the Austrian minister, " of representing 
 to the said Cardinal that his Imperial Majesty would 
 never be for depriving the House of Bavaria of the 
 means of producing and defending its alleged claims, 
 his Imperial Majesty aforesaid, having on the 
 contrary the intention of affording to the said 
 House of Bavaria, every satisfaction that may be 
 justly claimed if its rights and pretensions prove to be 
 well founded, and of renewing the ancient harmony 
 and neighbourliness existing between them .... 
 that in order positively to confirm all this, his 
 Imperial Majesty was willing that the alleged rights 
 of the House of Bavaria should be examined conjointly 
 ivith France, although, on no account before the 
 peace ; his Imperial Majesty offers, moreover, to 
 enter, according to circumstances, into special ne- 
 gotiations with the Court of Bavaria, and be- 
 sides this, to do all that can contribute to remove 
 the distrust that has existed between the two 
 Courts." 
 
 Notwithstanding this promise, which partly justi- 
 fied his reservations, we can understand how much 
 embarrassed the Cardinal must have felt at finding 
 himself hampered between a formal demand on the 
 part of the Emperor, that Bavaria should be specially 
 included among the pretenders named in the gua- 
 rantee, and a no less formal protest by the Elector,
 
 3O2 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 banded to him at the same moment. Had such a 
 complication taken place before the signature of the 
 definitive treaty, it would infallibly have interfered 
 with its conclusion. 
 
 Fleury, however, far from being disturbed, found 
 an additional reason in the threatened representations 
 of Austria, for dissuading the Elector from his pro- 
 posed protest. "M. de Schmerling," he writes, 
 " has informed me that your Electoral Highness, 
 together with the two Electors of his House (the 
 Elector Palatine and the Archbishop of Cologne) 
 will protest against the Pragmatic Sanction, but 
 that his Court was in no wise perplexed by it, and 
 could not but turn against you. He, added, that 
 it was as much our affair as the Emperor's, since 
 it would be an attack on the adhesion to the 
 Pragmatic Sanction, to which we are pledged, and 
 consequently on the preliminaries also. I simply 
 replied that we had no cognizance of the alleged 
 information, and were absolutely ignorant of your 
 Electoral Highness's intentions, that we had never 
 had the smallest notion of your claims, and that I 
 could assure him of this, as it is most true. He 
 told me it was known at Vienna that they were 
 founded on the will of Ferdinand I., brother to 
 Charles V., which signified nothing, and I did not 
 press him to explain it to me, in order to avoid 
 a more entire clearing-up, and giving him an oppor- 
 tunity of explaining the express guarantee that 
 he might wish to demand of us against the rights 
 of your Electoral Highness, who can judge from 
 this how greatly we should be embarrassed by 
 your letter to the Emperor, and I take the
 
 Appendix. 303 
 
 liberty of telling your Highness, that I think it 
 Avould also be very prejudicial to your own interests ; 
 for should it be placed before the Diet, there is 
 hardly a doubt but that the plurality of votes would 
 be in favour of the Emperor, and it is far better that 
 no judgment should be pronounced until a more 
 favourable opportunity shall arise, which may pre- 
 sent itself at a later period." 7 
 
 Was the Elector convinced, or was he simply dis- 
 heartened by an attitude which forbade him to reckon 
 on the ostensible support of France ? At any rate, 
 he renounced his intention to protest, wishing, as 
 he said, to show deference to the King unto the end, 
 and even promising to abstain from all opposition 
 to the preliminaries of peace, should that act be 
 submitted to the deliberations of the Diet. But in 
 return for this proof of deference, he said he had 
 strong hopes, that immediately on peace being 
 concluded, the King would approve of his claiming 
 his rights, with all the publicity and authority 
 requisite for obtaining them. 
 
 Fleury now breathed freely, and as M. de Schmer- 
 ling had not, on his part, insisted on the distinct 
 nomination of Bavaria in the article of the guaran- 
 tee, he was able to resume his negotiations in peace. 
 This respite, it is true, was not of long duration, for 
 the dissensions in Vienna were unexpectedly pro- 
 longed by difficulties of all sorts (foreign to the 
 question of the guarantee, and relating principally 
 to territorial arrangements in Italy) ; the Elector 
 lost patience, and towards the beginning of 1737, 
 he decided on sending his favourite minister, 
 
 7 Floury to the Elector, May 28, 1736.
 
 304 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 Marshal Torring, to Paris, on the pretext of private 
 business. 
 
 Torring's mission was to obtain information 
 respecting the nature of the relations established 
 between the courts of Versailles and Vienna, whose 
 increasing friendship could not fail to create un- 
 easiness at Munich. He passed several months in 
 observations, and only in October of the same year 
 did he resolve on speaking directly to the Cardinal 
 on the subject of his master's claims. At the same 
 moment, by a coincidence that was natural enough, 
 the Emperor took offence at the prolonged residence 
 of a Bavarian minister in France, and expressed his 
 surprise in a private letter to Fleury. " I doubt 
 not," he wrote, "that your Paternity, with habitual 
 prudence, has gathered from Count Torring's lan- 
 guage, or rather from the complaints he has made 
 to you, what are the actual intentions of his 
 master." 8 
 
 The Cardinal, who once more found himself 
 pressed by opposing interests, took refuge on this 
 occasion in frankness. It was, however, more 
 apparent than real, but its simulation was a clever 
 bit of policy. He gave the Emperor an account of 
 his interview with Count Torring, modifying, no 
 doubt, but not absolutely falsifying his own part in 
 the conversation. 
 
 " With regard to the Elector of Bavaria," he 
 
 O * 
 
 writes in a letter, addressed directly to Charles VI., 
 on October 12, "I should have naturally expected 
 that Count Torring, having been here for several 
 
 8 Charles VI. to Fleury, September, 1737. (Correspondance de 
 Vicnne.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 Appendix. 305 
 
 months, would have informed me distinctly as to the 
 real reason of his visit, after the first conference 
 we held on his arrival, when the conversation 
 turned merely in general terms on his master's 
 confidence in the friendship of the King. But he 
 only entered further into the matter a week ago. 
 Neither he nor I had asked for the interview. 
 On Monday last, he came with Prince Grimberghe, 
 while I was with M. Amelot, and began with 
 a preamble about what had hitherto prevented 
 him from speaking to me; the following is, in 
 short, the substance of his communication. He 
 said that his master the Elector had incontro- 
 vertible rights to the succession of your Majesty, 
 founded on express clauses in the marriage contract 
 of the Princess Anne, daughter of the Emperor Fer- 
 dinand, in which it was settled, that in default of 
 male heirs in the imperial branch, that princess 
 should be called to, and should enjoy all the posses- 
 sions belonging to the inheritance of Ferdinand, to 
 the prejudice of any daughters of his in the direct 
 line ; that Charles V. had confirmed this family 
 compact, and that Ferdinand II. had again confirmed 
 it, at the marriage, I think, of one of his daughters 
 with an Elector of Bavaria. He added, that the right 
 of representation in favour of the Princess Anne 
 formed part of the Germanic laws, and was admitted 
 by the best lawyers of Germany. I replied that I 
 had nothing precise to allege against facts or 
 against laws if they were formal, but that it seemed 
 to me contrary to custom and to natural rights, 
 to prefer the daughters who, through a marriage of 
 ancient date, had become strangers to the House 
 VOL. i. x
 
 o 
 
 06 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 of Austria, to the daughters proceeding in direct 
 line from the Emperor Ferdinand, and I offered 
 several remarks on a law which to me seemed so 
 singular. To these he replied according to his own 
 prejudices. . . . The above is the substance of a con- 
 versation that lasted three-quarters of an hour, and 
 I cannot even pledge myself that some circum- 
 stances may not have escaped my memory through 
 the difficulty of recalling them in detail. I con- 
 cluded the conference by telling Count Torring that 
 it would be impossible for me to pronounce any 
 opinion on general allegations, without seeing the 
 documents on which they were founded, and he 
 replied that he was preparing a memorandum in 
 which all the documents would be quoted, and on 
 whose accuracy I might depend. I asked him 
 whether I might have the honour of communicating 
 it to your Majesty. He replied, that he believed so, 
 but that he had not yet received final orders from 
 the Elector his master." 
 
 A few days after this, Fleury narrates a conver- 
 sation of the same nature, that had taken place 
 between Count Torring and Amelot. 
 
 " You have here, sire, the substance and the 
 results of our conference, and you see the point we 
 have reached It would be very difficult for me to 
 express an opinion, having only heard one side, but 
 I cannot conceal from your Majesty that I have 
 been struck by some of the points in Count Ton-ing's 
 argument. These are the authority of renowned 
 lawyers, and the stipulations of the marriage con- 
 tract of the Archduchess, daughter of Ferdinand I., 
 which in the copies he handed me seem very explicit.
 
 Appendix. 307 
 
 I am far from drawing conclusions in his favour, 
 and it would be presumptuous in me to think of so 
 doing, but if your Majesty will allow me to have the 
 honour of expressing an opinion, I think that there 
 is, at least, something serious and apparent in what 
 Count Torring advanced, and that it would be to 
 your Majesty's advantage and interest to permit the 
 question to be thoroughly sifted. It is one of the 
 greatest importance, and I will content myself with 
 the account I have had the honour to lay before your 
 Majesty, until I have received orders as to the steps 
 your Majesty thinks proper to take." 9 
 
 It must be owned that the latter phrases were 
 cleverly turned, so as to warn the Emperor without 
 giving offence, that if the claims of the House of 
 Bavaria were justified, or even not directly refuted, 
 the rights recognized and guaranteed by the Prag- 
 matic Sanction, would be, on that very account, seri- 
 ously endangered. The Emperor's timid and em- 
 barrassed reply is, therefore, all the more curious 
 and significant. Far from exclaiming against what 
 he might even then have called a want of faith, 
 he himself, on the contrary, offers explanations. 
 It is clear that, without explicitly owning it, he feels 
 the force of the objection. 
 
 " As to what concerns the Elector of Bavaria," 
 he writes in a letter of December 12, " I will ex- 
 plain everything in a private letter which will be 
 conveyed by the bearer of this one, or, which will, 
 should time fail me, speedily follow it, for I can 
 easily see by the contents of your Eminence's second 
 
 9 Fleury to Charles VI. October 12, December 12, 1737. 
 (Correspondance de Vienne.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
 
 x 2
 
 308 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 letter, that Count Torring has sedulously endeavoured 
 to disguise the real state of the case from your 
 Eminence, by interpolations that have nothing to 
 do with it. But as the G-erman customs are not 
 equally well-known to foreigners, it will be well to 
 explain the whole business with exactness. This 
 could have been done more easily had a copy of 
 Count Torring's paper been forwarded to me." l 
 
 What can have been Fleury's design, in inviting 
 Count Torring on the one hand, to make the basis 
 of the Bavarian claims known to him in detail, and 
 with documentary evidence, and on the other, asking 
 the Emperor to communicate his reply to him after 
 he should have made himself acquainted with the 
 memorandum containing all those particulars ? Did 
 he seriously entertain the idea of making himself 
 supreme arbiter, and deciding a question on which 
 the sovereignty of nearly one-half of Europe de- 
 pended ? 
 
 This would have been arrogant and ideal to a 
 degree incompatible with a practical mind, which 
 was not in the habit of aiming too high or form- 
 ing chimerical projects. It is more probable that, 
 having given both parties an opportunity of stating 
 their case to him, and finding that neither of the 
 two the Emperor in particular was willing to 
 defer to his arbitration, Fleury intended to avail 
 himself of the proposal and the refusal to declare 
 himself more ignorant than ever of the rights of 
 the matter, and so to be free to espouse which- 
 ever cause he should consider the just one. He 
 
 1 Charles VI. to Fleury, December 2, 1737. (Correspondance 
 de Vienne.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 Appendix. 309 
 
 may have hoped, also, that the Emperor having 
 been made aware that he must not absolutely rely 
 on the guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction, and 
 feeling uneasy at Fleury's attitude would decide 
 on entering into negotiations with the Elector, and 
 would contrive, by some territorial concession, to 
 make him withdraw his claims ; thus ending the 
 disagreement to the satisfaction of all, and relieving 
 France from difficulty. 
 
 For this twofold end, to retain freedom of action 
 for himself towards either party, and to promote the 
 reconciliation, we find Fleiiry manoeuvring during 
 the two years that elapsed between the signature of 
 the peace, in 1738, and the death of Charles VI., and 
 this is particularly evident in the instructions given, 
 both to the Marquis de Mirepoix, French ambassador 
 at Vienna in February, 1738, for the definitive con- 
 clusion of the treaty, and to M. de Lanoue, who was 
 accredited at the same period to the Diet of 
 Ratisbon. 
 
 M. de Mirepoix was to pass through Munich on 
 his way to Vienna, and the Elector could not fail 
 to converse with him concerning his claims, and en- 
 deavour to enlist him in his cause, by an affected 
 display of confidence and friendship. 
 
 " The Elector," writes the ambassador, January 
 9, 1733, "expressed to me his attachment towards 
 the King's person : these are his own words. The 
 conversation, although long, turned only on general 
 subjects. He merely asked me if I knew the object 
 of M. Torring's mission, to which I replied that I 
 had not been informed of it, and that my only in- 
 structions were to express the sentiments entertained
 
 3 1 o Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 by the King towards his Electoral Highness and his 
 House. He added that I should hear them spoken 
 of at Vienna. He had instructed M. de la Perouse, 
 his ambassador-extraordinary at that Court, to in- 
 form me of everything, and to enter into the closest 
 correspondence with me. It would be for me to 
 decide on the frequency of our interviews, and on 
 the exterior marks of our intimacy, for he desired in 
 all things to conform to the wishes of the King, 
 neither doing nor saying aught except what might 
 be pleasing to his Majesty, and referring to him also 
 the disposal of his claims. He told me too that he 
 was very glad to have seen me, so that it might be 
 known at Vienna that the King had not completely 
 forgotten him. The Elector's manner, while de- 
 claring his sentiments towards the King, was yet 
 more expressive than the words, I have the honour, 
 sir, of repeating to you." 2 
 
 The Cardinal was somewhat alarmed at advances 
 that might be compromising, and a letter was im- 
 mediately written to the ambassador, directing him 
 not +o receive them too openly. " The King has 
 observed with pleasure," writes Amelot, " in your 
 account of your conversation with the Elector, 
 evidence of the increasing attachment of that prince 
 to his Majesty. The interests of his Electoral 
 Highness will always be dear to the King, who will 
 not fail to give him proofs of friendship and pro- 
 tection on every occasion. You are not ignorant, 
 however, how greatly his claims are opposed to the 
 views of the Emperor. Under present circumstances 
 
 The Marquis de Mirepoix to Amelot, January 3, 1738. 
 (Correspondance de Vienne.} Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 Appendix. 3 1 r 
 
 it would not be advisable tliat your friendship with 
 M. de la Perouse should be too marked, nor your 
 conferences with him too frequent, so as to give 
 umbrage or cause jealousy to his Imperial Majesty ; 
 besides this, the rights of his Electoral Highness have 
 not yet been made clear, but present conjectures 
 do not require that the King should declare himself 
 with respect to his intention of supporting them. 
 Therefore you will not act in any way on what may 
 be told you by M. de la Perouse, until the King has 
 made known his intentions to you." 3 
 
 A similarly circumspect course of action is en- 
 joined a few months later upon the envoy accredited 
 by France, according to custom, to the Diet then 
 about to open at Ratisbon, and which had to ratify 
 in the name of the Emperor, all the arrangements 
 resulting from the treaty concluded between France 
 and Austria. 
 
 " The guarantee given by his Majesty," so run 
 the envoy's instructions, " is so great an advantage 
 to the House of Austria, that in all probability the 
 Emperor's ministers will endeavour to profit by it, 
 either to complete the union of the Empire, in the 
 same views, or to use it as a means of positively 
 securing the crown to the prince who inherits the 
 rights of the eldest of the archduchesses. The Sieur 
 de Lanoue is not unaware that the Elector of 
 Bavaria and the Elector Palatine have not joined in 
 the guarantee given by the rest of the Empire to 
 the Imperial Pragmatic Sanction, and that the 
 
 3 The Marquis de Mirepoix to Amelot, January 9, 1738. 
 Amelot to the Marquis de Mirepoix, February 2, 1738. (Cor- 
 respondence dc Vienne.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 312 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 former, in particular, claiming to have rights to the 
 States whose destiny is fixed by the Pragmatic 
 Sanction, -will be stronger than others in his pro- 
 test against the guarantee, so that his ministers, 
 whether at Ratisbon or elsewhere, will be looked 
 upon by the Imperialists as ministers of a power 
 hostile to the House of Austria, with which the 
 Court of Vienna may perhaps desire that M. de 
 Lanoue shall have no kind of correspondence. For 
 this reason the King's minister must not display 
 publicly, nor with ostentation, any intimacy which 
 might be displeasing to the court of Vienna ; but 
 neither would it be wise for him to avoid all con- 
 tact with the ministers of the Electors who are 
 opposed to the Pragmatic Sanction, nor that he 
 should show any partiality against the rights of the 
 House of Bavaria, to whom the King is bound by 
 every kind of tie of friendship and affection, all the 
 more because one of the bases laid down in the 
 Pragmatic Sanction being that it injured no one, if 
 the Elector of Bavaria had really ancient rights 
 contrary to the dispositions of the act of succession, 
 his Majesty would not think it just to contribute 
 directly or indirectly to the real prejudice that would 
 be done to a prince who is not only connected with 
 him by ties of blood, but who has always shown 
 a personal and marked affection towards him and 
 the interests of his Crown. 
 
 " The Sieur de Lanoue must, in general, so far as 
 may be without affectation, avoid speaking on this 
 delicate matter, especially so long as the validity 
 or invalidity of the pretensions of the House of 
 Bavaria remains wholly or in part undecided.
 
 Appendix. 3 1 3 
 
 " But should the ministers or the partisans of the 
 Court of Vienna enter on the subject with the Sieur 
 de Lanoue, he will simply reply that his Majesty's 
 entire fidelity to his engagements may be relied 
 upon; that he, M. de Lanoue, is in ignorance of the 
 rights or claims of the House of Bavaria, but that 
 if they are well founded, there is no true friend 
 of the great House of Austria, who would not 
 advise the Court of Vienna to remove such a stum- 
 bling-block by some amicable arrangement ; thus 
 the Sieur de Lanoue will appear to have had nothing 
 but the tranquillity of the Emperor's family in view ; 
 when the case of the Pragmatic Sanction comes 
 on." 4 
 
 The two ambassadors found little difficulty in 
 following out their instructions. As the treaty of 
 peace was not submitted to the Diet (an omission 
 that Fleury at a subsequent period enumerated 
 among his grievances), M. de Lanoue could readily 
 avoid compromising himself. As for the Marquis 
 de Mirepoix, he endeavoured, but not very urgently, 
 to obtain the memorandum concerning the claims 
 of the House of Bavaria, either from the Emperor 
 or from his minister Bartenstein. It was several 
 times promised to him, but as often delayed on 
 various pretexts. It is evident that the Emperor, 
 when about to fulfil his promise, hesitated to take a 
 step which too clearly threw a doubt on the rights 
 of his beloved daughter, and might cause the future 
 fortunes of his House to depend on the verdict given 
 
 4 Instructions to the Sieur de Lanoue, May 1, 1738. (Corre- 
 spondance de I'Ambassade a Ratisbonne.} Ministry of Foreign 
 Affairs.
 
 314 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 on a very abstruse point of law by an ancient enemy, 
 now become a doubtful ally, and an arbitration as 
 unsafe as it was incompetent. Fleury, who, to all 
 appearance, had never seriously expected a token of 
 confidence of which he felt somewhat undeserving, 
 merely protested sufficiently against the successive 
 delays to establish his own liberty of action. He 
 took the opportunity, at the same time, of hinting at 
 his views respecting a settlement. 
 
 "I had the honour," he writes to the Emperor, on 
 October 22, 1738, " to inform you, seven or eight 
 months ago, of what I had learned from the Elector 
 respecting those rights to the succession of your 
 Majesty, which he believes himself to possess. . . . 
 Your Majesty did me the honour to reply that you 
 would immediately forward me authentic documents, 
 subversive of all the claims made by the Elector. I 
 communicated this to the Elector's envoy, who has 
 continually recurred to the subject, and draws con- 
 clusions from the delay, favourable to his master's 
 claims. He has since given me copies of the will of 
 Ferdinand I., and of some clauses taken from the 
 marriage contracts of the Most Serene Arch- 
 duchesses ; but I am not in a position to make any 
 conclusive reply, and I explain that the important 
 affairs occupying your Majesty have prevented the 
 fulfilment of that expressed intention ; but your 
 Majesty will admit that in time this excuse loses 
 its force. I do not think your Majesty can distrust 
 either my prudence or my intentions. I entreat 
 then, with all earnestness, that I may be furnished 
 with weapons for the defence of your Majesty's 
 rights, and I must add that I have been informed
 
 Appendix. 3 1 5 
 
 of consultations wiiicli seem favourable to the Elector. 
 I am very far from deciding on any question on the 
 representations of one side only, and your Majesty 
 will see I was not prejudiced in favour of the pre- 
 tensions of the House of Bavaria. I should be glad 
 to be able to speak on the subject with better know- 
 ledge of the case, but I cannot unless your Majesty 
 has the kindness to help me. It is not for me to 
 penetrate into the secret views of your Majesty, nor 
 to give an opinion as to your Majesty's real in- 
 terests. But I may be permitted, nevertheless, to 
 point out, that if it were thought well to attach the 
 Elector of Bavaria to your Majesty by some equi- 
 valent (dedommagement], supposing the case to de- 
 serve one, it would be a great step towards removing 
 differences that may disturb the harmonious relations 
 between your Majesty and the Electoral College, and 
 even your Majesty's relations with the Diet. In taking 
 the liberty of advancing this, I can be suspected of 
 no interest other than that of the public tranquillity, 
 and even the interests of your Majesty. I have 
 reached an advanced age, and I should die happy 
 could I have the consolation of strengthening the 
 links of an alliance so desirable for Europe, and for 
 the common interests of the two Crowns." 5 
 
 In the same letter he added that (doubtless in 
 order to prepare for so desirable an arrangement), 
 he had joined in advising the Elector of Bavaria to 
 fulfil his duties as a Prince of the Empire, by furnish- 
 ing a contingent to the Austrian army, for the war 
 which Charles VI. was waging against the Turks. 
 
 ' Fleury to Charles VI., October 22, 1738. (Correspondence 
 de Vienne.) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
 3 1 6 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 He did not, indeed, explain that lie had only ob- 
 tained that act of deference from the Elector to his 
 Suzerain on conditions with which the Emperor 
 would have been but moderately pleased. These 
 were the renewal, for a further term of three years, 
 of the annual subsidy granted to the Elector for the 
 support of his troops, and at the same time, the 
 confirmation, by a new engagement (signed May 16, 
 1738), of all the obligations imposed by earlier 
 treaties. 
 
 The proposal of coming to terms through the 
 mediation of France (by consenting, that is to say, 
 to a dismemberment of the Austrian States) was not 
 more palatable to the Emperor than that of pleading 
 his cause before the French minister, and thence- 
 forward neither plan was again mentioned between 
 them. Prince von LichteDstein, ambassador to 
 Paris, was authorized merely to give some explana- 
 tion in general terms on the points of law advanced 
 by the Emperor, and to allow the French ministers 
 to take notes of these, but to leave no written 
 document in their hands. We learn this by a letter 
 from Charles VI., written on Sept. 30, 1740, 
 a few days before his death. Thus, at the time of 
 that unexpected event, the question that was about 
 to be put to Europe had not advanced one step 
 towards a definitive solution. 
 
 From the above statement it is clear that on the 
 accession of Maria Theresa, France would have 
 been strictly within her right in postponing the 
 recognition of the princess until the pretensions of 
 Bavaria had been examined, either by a European 
 congress, or by the German Diet as the Elector had
 
 Appendix. 3 1 7 
 
 frequently requested ; and, supposing them to have 
 been recognized as just, the stipulated guarantee 
 in favour of the Pragmatic Sanction would naturally 
 have shared the fate of the Pragmatic Sanction 
 itself. It remains to be proved, however, whether 
 the entire treaty of 1738 would not thus have been 
 called in question, and whether France, in repu- 
 diating its claims upon her, could have retained its 
 benefits, particularly with respect to the return of 
 Lorraine to the crown. 
 
 But such was not, we know, the line of conduct 
 adopted by Fleury. Not only did he take no step 
 after the death of Charles VI., nor endeavour by 
 any means to submit the claims of the Elector of 
 Bavaria to regular examination, but he hastened to 
 recognize the regal title of Maria Theresa, thereby 
 excluding the pretensions of those princes who con- 
 tested it. After having thus made "an open act of 
 adhesion to the order of succession as settled by the 
 Pragmatic Sanction, and inspired the young Queen 
 with a false sense of security in his intentions, he 
 allowed himself to be persuaded to enter into nego- 
 tiations with the invader of her states. He con- 
 sented to support the King of Prussia in a claim 
 that had no basis whatever, and which he might 
 have made the object of an indirect reservation. 
 No subtlety can justify a breach of faith as contrary 
 to the law of nations as it is to natural equity. 
 
 Finally, and in order to give some idea of the 
 state of mind of a part of the French court at this 
 critical moment, I will transcribe here a confidential 
 letter written by Marshal Belle-Isle, the day after 
 the death of Charles VI., which is included in the
 
 3 1 8 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 Bavarian correspondence in the Ministry of Foreign 
 Affairs. 
 
 Autograph Letter from M. de Belle-Isle of Bizy, to an 
 unknown Correspondent at Munich (probably 
 Count Torring). 
 
 "November 11, 1740. 
 
 " You will not doubt, my dear Count, that I 
 anticipated all you do me the honour to tell me in 
 your letter, which I received two days ago from 
 Paris, where your courier had delivered it. Imme- 
 diately on hearing of the death of the Emperor, my 
 thoughts followed my inclinations and turned to- 
 wards the Elector. You know how I feel towards 
 him personally ; you know my esteem and respect 
 for his great qualities, and my gratitude for the 
 infinite kindness shown me by the late Elector, his 
 father. To these reasons, both general and particu- 
 lar, I add the interests and renown of the King, the 
 welfare of the monarchy, and the universal wishes 
 of the nation. You have given me particulars with 
 which I was unacquainted, of the rights of the 
 Elector over a part of the states forming the 
 Emperor's succession. This knowledge of the jus- 
 tice of his cause convinces me that the Cardinal, 
 who is not less well informed, will give all the 
 attention demanded by circumstances so important, 
 and which must have such essential and decisive 
 influence. But it is quite possible he may not hurry 
 himself, and as the engagements entered into by 
 the King, with regard to the Pragmatic Sanction, 
 require the greatest consideration, I think he will 
 try to gain time, but I cannot believe that he will not
 
 Appendix. 3 1 9 
 
 at last do for the Elector all that the circumstances 
 require. (Here an illegible viord occurs.} As for 
 myself, I can tell you nothing at present, either new 
 or interesting. I am at my country place, from 
 which I cannot stir, nor do I wish to do so, until after 
 the King's return to Versailles. You may be assured 
 that, as I regard the interests of the King and the 
 Elector as uniform, I shall co-operate, so far as 
 depends on me, in carrying out those things which 
 shall be decided upon, if, as I hope, some portion of 
 them be entrusted to me, but until then you know 
 I can do nothing. I shall wait with as much zeal 
 and impatience as yourself, for a decision to be 
 come to that shall be agreeable and useful to the 
 Elector, and all my wishes tend to that. . . . 
 Time is precious ; I beg you to let me hear from 
 you, by the safe way; to assure the Elector of my 
 profound respect, and of what you know of my 
 attachment to his person, and I shall consider my- 
 self the most fortunate man in the world, if, when 
 the King has decided on his line of action, I may be 
 enabled to give his Highness efficacious and useful 
 proofs of my sentiments."
 
 320 Frederick II. and Maria 71ieresa. 
 
 C. 
 
 RELATIONS BETWEEN THE FEENCH EMBASSY AND VOL- 
 TAIRE DURING HIS FIRST VISIT TO BERLIN. 
 
 MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 (Correspondance de Prusse.) 
 
 AMELOT TO THE MARQUIS DE VALORI. 
 
 "June 14, 1740. 
 
 " THERE is no doubt that you will soon have M. de 
 Voltaire at Berlin, and that he will be made much of. 
 It is possible that personal acquaintance may not 
 increase either liking or esteem for him. However, 
 one cannot tell to what extent the man of letters 
 may prevail over the prince (in Frederick) ; so that, 
 without appearing to be acting under orders, it 
 would be well that, as if from yourself, you should 
 show some attention to M. de Voltaire, so that you 
 may have a right to make use of him should the 
 occasion and the need arise. . . ." 
 
 MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 (Correspondance de Prusse.} 
 
 THE MARQUIS DE VALORI TO AMELOT. 
 
 " June 21, 1740. 
 
 " I had received this very morning a letter from 
 M. de Voltaire, whom I have not the honour of 
 knowing .... but some gossip of which I can 
 discover neither the origin nor the meaning, had
 
 Appendix. 321 
 
 influenced him against me .... I can only con- 
 gratulate myself on the manner in which he received 
 my explanation. I sent it through his niece, the 
 wife of a commissary of war at Lille. I could not 
 suffer a friend of the Prince Royal's (for he is 
 known to be such, monseigneur) to have to com- 
 plain of me. He did me the honour to write me 
 the civilest possible letter, and I know that he has 
 done more than this ; he wrote everything he could 
 to the King of Prussia to inspire him with esteem 
 for me. Among other things, after having told me 
 how much he wished to witness the coronation of 
 the King of Prussia and of his triumphs, all fore- 
 gone conclusions with him ; * it would be,' he 
 says, ' a great happiness to me to be with his 
 Majesty, but I cannot forsake friends for kings, and 
 must therefore content myself with the most ardent 
 wishes.' 
 
 " The instructions you do me the honour to 
 send, put me quite at my ease, for I did not 
 imagine M. de Voltaire to be unpersuadable. I 
 thought he might make up his mind to come to 
 Berlin. I thought of offering him rooms in my 
 house, feeling he might be of some use to me, but I 
 did not know whether you would approve. I have 
 written him a most pressing letter, but it is not my 
 letter that will decide him. I know that the King 
 of Prussia has himself written to him an account 
 of the progress of the illness, and even of the death 
 of the King his father. It is not impossible that 
 M. de Voltaire's presence may somewhat lessen the 
 Prince's great notion of him. 
 
 " I hear that savants of all sorts are to be invited 
 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 322 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 to Berlin, and that the celebrated M. Wolff will be 
 strongly urged to come." 
 
 MINISTRY OP FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 (Correspondance de Prusse.) 
 
 THE MARQUIS DE VALORI TO AMELOT. 
 
 " November 1, 1740. 
 
 " M. de Voltaire has announced his arrival at Ber- 
 lin in a letter to M. Algarotti in the following terms. 
 ' Madame du Chatelet is at Fontainebleau, Marcus 
 Aurelius at Charlottenburg, the Swan of Padua is 
 there. Why should I not come and burn incense to 
 the Muses in the loveliest retreat they possess on 
 earth ? I have the greatest wish to go and admire 
 for a week, at least, that which I had only two days 
 to admire at Moyland.' If I may believe M. Al- 
 garotti, he will feel very little admiration, and 
 neither will he be greatly delighted with his jour- 
 ney. The King of Prussia was not pleased with 
 his freedom of manner ; he passed from adoration to 
 a not over respectful familiarity in a very short 
 time. It is my opinion, from what I hear of him, 
 that if he prolongs his stay, he will not leave the 
 Court of Berlin without having given some offence 
 or encountered something disagreeable." 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 (Correspondance de Prusse.) 
 
 THE MARQUIS DE VALORI TO AMELOT. 
 
 " November 8, 1740. 
 " The Anti-Machiavel is in circulation. It is be-
 
 Appendix. 323 
 
 lieved that Voltaire has had a hand in it. Some 
 persons find great fault with it, and, in particular, 
 that nations and ruling powers are spoken of indis- 
 creetly and without discrimination. Others look 
 upon it as the work of a schoolboy in moral science 
 and politics, wanting to display fine sentiments that 
 he was not aware he should have to get rid of on 
 changing his condition. ... In general, the chief 
 merit of the book is held to be that it has a king for 
 its author." 
 
 MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 
 (Correspondance de Prusse.) 
 
 THE MARQUIS DE VALORI TO AMELOT. 
 
 " November 29, 1740. 
 
 " M. de Voltaire has returned here from Rheins- 
 berg, and will leave us again for Brussels on the 
 30th. The principal motive of his journey was 
 business connected with the publication of the Anti- 
 Machiavel. I have reason to believe that they 
 parted little pleased with one another ; I even think 
 that pecuniary matters have something to do with 
 their mutual dissatisfaction. There may have been 
 some author's quarrel between them, in which the 
 printer may count for something. Add to this, 
 rivalry in verse-making, too much candour in the 
 criticisms of M. de Voltaire when speaking to the 
 King of Prussia, and you will readily understand they 
 are not likely to get on well together. The King 
 of Prussia runs after every kind of praise, and 
 nothing vexes him so much as any stint of it." 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 D. 
 
 TEXT OF THE TREATY OP ALLIANCE BETWEEN FRANCE 
 AND PRUSSIA, CONCLUDED JUNE 5, 1741. 
 
 As the text of the Treaty of June 5, 1741, is not 
 included in any collection of documents, I think 
 it well to reproduce it here as it appears in the 
 Correspondance de Prusse. (Ministry of Foreign 
 Affairs.) 
 
 Treaty of June 5, 1741. 
 
 " The Most Christian King, and the King of 
 Prussia, having equally recognized how important 
 it is, under present circumstances, for their common 
 interests, and also for the maintenance and pre- 
 servation of general tranquillity, that they should 
 act with the most perfect intelligence, their 
 Majesties, after having mutually communicated 
 their ideas on the means of cementing union and 
 amity, believing that they can do nothing better 
 than to strengthen those ties by the conclusion of 
 an offensive alliance between them, and his Most 
 Christian Majesty having to that end authorized the 
 Sieur Marquis de Yalori, brigadier of his troops, 
 and his Envoy Extraordinary to his Majesty the 
 King of Prussia, and his Prussian Majesty having 
 in like manner authorized the Sieur de Podewils his 
 Minister of State and War, those persons having 
 duly exchanged their respective credentials, have 
 agreed on the following :
 
 Appendix. 325 
 
 ARTICLE L 
 
 " From this day forth, and for ever in the future, 
 there shall be between his Most Christian Majesty 
 and his Majesty the King of Prussia, their heirs 
 and successors, kingdoms> countries and subjects, 
 a sincere friendship and correspondence, which 
 shall be observed in such manner that the contract- 
 ing powers shall sincerely, and in good faith, do all 
 that shall depend on them to procure and promote 
 the welfare and advantage of the one and the other, 
 and to avert all damage and prejudice that might 
 arise to them and their said subjects. 
 
 ARTICLE 2 
 
 " Their said Majesties promise and reciprocally 
 undertake to enter into no convention or engage- 
 ment which might, at any time, or in any measure, 
 directly or indirectly, be contrary to the statutes of 
 the Treaty of Peace, concluded at Stockholm, 
 February 1, 1720, between the Crown of Sweden 
 and the King of Prussia, but, on the contrary, to 
 use every effort to procure its maintenance and 
 execution. 
 
 ARTICLE 3. 
 
 " His Most Christian Majesty, and his Majesty the 
 King of Prussia, guarantee reciprocally all their 
 kingdoms, states, and domains in Europe, and if one 
 or other of their said Majesties be attacked or 
 troubled by any power or on any pretext whatever, 
 the other promises and engages promptly to succour 
 his ally, so as to procure for him just and sure 
 satisfaction, by mediation and by the use of his
 
 326 Frederick //. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 forces in war or aggression if needful. Their 
 Majesties promise, in such case, not to lay down 
 arms, to enter into any negotiation or agreement, 
 unless by common consent to the reciprocal satis- 
 faction of both parties. 
 
 ARTICLE 4. 
 
 " Their Majesties being equally interested in all 
 that concerns the welfare and tranquillity of the 
 Germanic body, whether within or without the 
 empire, promise and engage to take counsel to- 
 gether, and to act with the utmost unity, in order 
 to place on the Imperial throne, the prince most 
 proper to maintain the prerogatives of the Princes 
 of the Empire, and to promote all that may be most 
 conducive to the stability of the general tranquillity. 
 
 ARTICLE 5. 
 
 " In case his Most Christian Majesty, and his 
 Majesty the King of Prussia, should unanimously 
 agree that in order to arrive with greater certainty 
 at the accomplishment of the objects of the present 
 treaty, it would be important to invite other princes 
 to join in it, they shall invite in concert, and may 
 likewise admit in concert, all those States who may 
 desire to enter into it, for the maintenance of the 
 tranquillity of the Empire and of the general tran- 
 quillity of Europe, and also for the common benefit 
 of the parties interested. 
 
 ARTICLE 6. 
 
 " Finally, their said Majesties promise reciprocally 
 to act with one accord for their common interests,
 
 Appendix. 327 
 
 and henceforth to enter into no engagement re- 
 latively to the affairs of Germany or of the north, 
 without having faithfully communicated to one an- 
 other the propositions that may have been made to 
 them, and after having inquired into all that may 
 tend to the greater advantage of the one and the 
 other. 
 
 ARTICLE 7. 
 
 " This treaty shall also for certain reasons be kept 
 secret, and shall be communicated to no one whom- 
 soever, except by a common accord and consent. 
 
 ARTICLE 8. 
 
 " The present treaty of defensive alliance shall last 
 for the space of fifteen years, and ratifications of it 
 shall be exchanged within the term of one month, 
 reckoning from the date of signature. In faith of 
 which, we the undersigned, ministers of his Most 
 Christian Majesty and of his Prussian Majesty, in 
 virtue of our respective offices, have signed the 
 present treaty, and have affixed the seal of our 
 arms. Done at Berlin, the 5th June, 1741. 
 
 "MARQUIS DE VALORI. PODEWILS." 
 
 Separate and Secret Articles. 
 
 " His Most Christian Majesty being credibly in- 
 formed that the Elector of Bavaria is threatened on 
 all sides with the effects of the resentment of the 
 Court of Vienna, on account of his having mani- 
 fested his rights and claims to some of the States 
 making a part of the succession of Austria, and
 
 328 Frederick II. and Maria Tliercsa. 
 
 knowing that of himself he has not sufficient strength 
 to defend his States against those which this cause 
 might employ against him; his said Most Chris- 
 tian Majesty, desirous of omitting nothing that 
 may be necessary to succour the said Elector in so 
 pressing a danger, and to put him without delay in 
 a position to take vigorous action, promises to 
 furnish him with all necessary means to that end, 
 and to send immediately to his help all the auxiliary 
 troops that he may require to secure his country 
 against all attacks, and in any case, by an effective 
 diversion, to place him in a condition to have nothing 
 to fear from his enemies, and to defend the justice of 
 his claims. 
 
 " His Most Christian Majesty engages, in the most 
 solemn manner, for himself, and for his successors 
 and heirs in perpetuity, to guarantee, with all his 
 power, against all whomsoever, to his Majesty the 
 King of Prussia, his successors and heirs in perpe- 
 tuity the tranquil possession of the whole of Lower 
 Silesia, including the town of Breslau, it being clearly 
 understood, however, on his part, that no change 
 shall be made therein to the prejudice of the Catholic, 
 Apostolic and Eoman religion, and in acknowledg- 
 ment of the said guarantee, as well as for the complete 
 settlement of the affair of the succession of Berg 
 and Jiilichs, and for the consolidation of the general 
 tranquillity which might have been disturbed thereby, 
 his Majesty the King of Prussia, for himself, his 
 successors and heirs, engages himself in the 
 strongest and most formal manner to cede to the 
 Palatine House of Sulzbach and its heirs in per- 
 petuity, the whole of his rights of succession to the
 
 Appendix. 329 
 
 ducliy of Julichs and Berg. It is to be clearly 
 understood that this cession is not to take place 
 until full possession of the whole of Lower Silesia, 
 including the town of Breslau, shall be assured to 
 his Majesty the King of Prussia and to his heirs 
 in perpetuity, by a free cession from the House of 
 Austria, to be stipulated in the future treaty of 
 peace under guarantee of his Most Christian 
 Majesty, of the Palatine House and such other 
 powers as it may be thought advisable to invite to 
 concur in this guarantee, such as Spain, Sweden, 
 and Bavaria, against all claims made or hereinafter 
 to be made, on the part of whomsoever, on Lower 
 Silesia, including the town of Breslau. It is also 
 to be understood that his Prussian Majesty shall on 
 his side guarantee jointly with his Most Christian 
 Majesty and the powers who may intervene in the 
 present treaty, to the said Palatine House of Sulz- 
 bach and to its descendants likewise in perpetuity, 
 the possession of the States of Berg and Julichs, 
 against all pretensions made or hereinafter to be 
 made, on the part of whomsoever, to the succession 
 of the said States of Berg and Julichs. 
 
 "As Russia has joined several other powers in 
 engagements and concerts in favour of the Court of 
 Vienna, in order to act against his Majesty the 
 King of Prussia, either by making a diversion in 
 his States, or by sending bodies of troops to the 
 assistance of the Queen of Hungary, his Majesty the 
 King of Prussia engages to contract from the present 
 time an alliance with Sweden which shall assure 
 tli at country that he will not oppose the views of 
 Sweden respecting the recovery of those provinces
 
 33 Frederick II. and Maria Theresa. 
 
 formerly taken by Russia, and actually in the pos- 
 session of that power, and that he will, in no case, 
 interfere with Sweden, whatsoever requisition may 
 be made upon him by Russia, in virtue of the renewal 
 of alliance of Dec. 27, 1740. The contracting parties 
 engage to maintain most inviolable secrecy upon this 
 separate article. 
 
 " Their Majesties are employing their best offices 
 and care to unite the suffrages of the Electoral Col- 
 lege in favour of the Elector of Bavaria, and it is 
 with this intention that the King of Prussia pro- 
 mises that, when the election of the King of the 
 Romans is brought forward at the approaching Diet 
 of Electors, he will give his vote as Elector of 
 Brandenburg to the said Elector of Bavaria, and 
 engages, in any event, not to give it to any 
 other, except in concert with his Most Christian 
 Majesty." 
 
 TEANSLATOES' NOTE. 
 
 Vol. I., p. 109. Le Mont pagnote. This is an idiomatic expres- 
 sion which Littre defines as follows : " Mont pagnote lieu eleve 
 d'oii Ton pent sans peril regarder un combat." Fleming and 
 Tibbins translate it as " a place out of harm's way." 
 
 END OF VOL. I.
 
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