History of Friedrich II of Prussia, vol 13 | Page 8

by judicious patience. Brieg he took, with that
fine outburst of bombardment, which did not last a week: but Brieg
once his, he fell quiet again; kept encamping, here there, in that
Mollwitz-Neisse region, for above three months to come; not doing

much, beyond the indispensable; negotiating much, or rather negotiated
with, and waiting on events. [In Camp of Mollwitz (nearer Brieg than
the Battle-field was) till 28th May (after the Battle seven weeks); then
to Camp at Grotkau (28th May-9th June, twelve days); thence (9th June)
to Friedewalde, Herrnsdorf; to Strehlen (21st June-20th August, nine or
ten weeks in all). See Helden-Geschichte, i. 924, ii. 931;
Rodenbeck, Orlich, &c.]
Both Armies were reinforcing themselves; and Friedrich's, for obvious
reasons, in the first weeks especially, became much the stronger. Once
in May, and again afterwards, weary of the pace things went at, he had
resolved on having Neisse at once; on attacking Neipperg in his strong
camp there, and cutting short the tedious janglings and uncertainties.
He advanced to Grotkau accordingly, some twelve or fifteen miles
nearer Neisse (28th May, --stayed till 9th June), quite within wind of
Neipperg and his outposts; but found still, on closer inspection, that he
had better wait;--and do so withal at a greater distance from Neipperg
and his Pandour Swarms. He drew back therefore to Strehlen,
northwestward, rather farther from Neisse than before; and lay
encamped there for nine or ten weeks to come. Not till the beginning of
August did there fall out any military event (Pandour skirmishing in
plenty, hut nothing to call an event); and not till the end of August any
that pointed to conclusive results. As it was at Strehlen where mostly
these Diplomacies went on, and the Camp of Strehlen was the final and
every way the main one, it may stand as the representative of these
Diplomatizing Camps to us, and figure as the sole one which in fact it
nearly was.
Strehlen is a pleasant little Town, nestled prettily among its granite
Hills, the steeple of it visible from Mollwitz; some twenty-five miles
west of Brieg, some thirty south of Breslau, and about as far northwest
of Neisse: there Friedrich and his Prussians lie, under canvas mainly,
with outposts and detachments sprinkled about under roofs:--a Camp of
Strehlen, more or less imaginable by the reader. And worth his
imagining; such a Camp, if not for soldiering, yet for negotiating and
wagging of diplomatic wigs, as there never was before. Here, strangely
shifted hither, is the centre of European Politics all Summer. From the

utmost ends of Europe come Ambassadors to Strehlen: from Spain,
France, England, Denmark, Holland,--there are sometimes nine at once,
how many successively and in total I never knew. [ Helden-
Geschichte, i. 932.] They lodge generally in Breslau; but
are always running over to Strehlen. There sits, properly speaking, the
general Secret Parliament of Europe; and from most Countries, except
Austria, representatives attend at Strehlen, or go and come between
Breslau and Strehlen, submissive to the evils of field-life, when need is.
A surprising thing enough to mankind, and big as the world in its own
day; though gone now to small bulk,--one Human Figure pretty much
all that is left of memorable in it to mankind and us.
French Belleisle we have seen; who is gone again, long since, on his
wide errands; fat Valori too we have seen, who is assiduously here. The
other figures, except the English, can remain dark to us. Of Montijos,
the eminent Spaniard, a brown little man, magnificent as the Kingdom
of the Incas, with half a page of titles (half a peck, five-and-twenty or
more, of handles to his little name, if you should ever require it); who,
finding matters so backward at Frankfurt, and nothing to do there, has
been out, in the interim, touring to while away the tedium; and is here
only as sequel and corroboration of Belleisle,--say as bottle-holder, or
as high- wrought peacock's-tail, to Belleisle:--of the eminent Montijos I
have to record next to nothing in the shape of negotiation ("Treaty"
with the Termagant was once proposed by him here, which Friedrich in
his politest way declined); and shall mention only, That his domestic
arrangements were sumptuous and commodious in the extreme. Let
him arrive in the meanest village, destitute of human appliances, and be
directed to the hut where he is to lodge,-- straightway from the
fourgons and baggage-chests of Montijos is produced, first of all, a
round of arras hangings, portable tables, portable stove, gold plate and
silver; thus, with wax-lights, wines of richest vintage, exquisite
cookeries, Montijos lodges, a king everywhere, creating an Aladdin's
palace everywhere; able to say, like the Sage Bias, OMNIA MEA
NAECUM PORTO. These things are recorded of Montijos. What he
did