History of Friedrich II of Prussia, vol 19 | Page 4

hopes,--of which he keeps up
several, as bright cloud-hangings in the haggard inner world he now
has,--that Peace is just at hand; one right struggle more, and Peace must
come! And on the part of Britannic George and him, repeated attempts
were made,--one in the end of this Year 1759;--but one and all of them
proved futile, and, unless for accidental reasons, need not be mentioned
here. Many men, in all nations, long for Peace; but there are Three
Women at the top of the world who do not; their wrath, various in
quality, is great in quantity, and disasters do the reverse of appeasing it.
The French people, as is natural, are weary of a War which yields them
mere losses and disgraces; "War carried on for Austrian whims, which
likewise seem to be impracticable!" think they. And their Bernis
himself, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who began this sad
French-Austrian Adventure, has already been remonstrating with
Kaunitz, and grumbling anxiously, "Could not the Swedes, or

somebody, be got to mediate? Such a War is too ruinous!" Hearing
which, the Pompadour is shocked at the favorite creature of her hands;
hastens to dismiss him ("Be Cardinal then, you ingrate of a Bernis;
disappear under that Red Hat!")--and appoints, in his stead, one
Choiseul (known hitherto as STAINVILLE, Comte de Stainville,
French Excellency at Vienna, but now made Duke on this promotion),
Duc de Choiseul; [Minister of Foreign Affairs, "11th November, 1758"
(Barbier, iv. 294).] who is a Lorrainer, or Semi- Austrian, by very birth;
and probably much fitter for the place. A swift, impetuous kind of man,
this Choiseul, who is still rather young than otherwise; plenty of proud
spirit in him, of shifts, talent of the reckless sort; who proved very
notable in France for the next twenty years.
French trade being ruined withal, money is running dreadfully low: but
they appoint a new Controller-General; a M. de Silhouette, who is
thought to have an extraordinary creative genius in Finance. Had he but
a Fortunatus-Purse, how lucky were it! With Fortunatus Silhouette as
purse-holder, with a fiery young Choiseul on this hand, and a fiery old
Belleisle on that, Pompadour meditates great things this
Year,--Invasions of England; stronger German Armies; better German
Plans, and slashings home upon Hanover itself, or the vital point;--and
flatters herself, and her poor Louis, that there is on the anvil, for 1759,
such a French Campaign as will perhaps astonish Pitt and another
insolent King. Very fixed, fell and feminine is the Pompadour's humor
in this matter. Nor is the Czarina's less so; but more, if possible;
unappeasable except by death. Imperial Maria Theresa has masculine
reasons withal; great hopes, too, of late. Of the War's ending till flat
impossibility stop it, there is no likelihood.
To Pitt this Campaign 1759, in spite of bad omens at the outset, proved
altogether splendid: but greatly the reverse on Friedrich's side; to whom
it was the most disastrous and unfortunate he had yet made, or did ever
make. Pitt at his zenith in public reputation; Friedrich never so low
before, nothing seemingly but extinction near ahead, when this Year
ended. The truth is, apart from his specific pieces of ill-luck, there had
now begun for Friedrich a new rule of procedure, which much altered
his appearance in the world. Thrice over had he tried by the aggressive

or invasive method; thrice over made a plunge at the enemy's heart,
hoping so to disarm or lame him: but that, with resources spent to such
a degree, is what he cannot do a fourth time: he is too weak henceforth
to think of that.
Prussia has always its King, and his unrivalled talent; but that is pretty
much the only fixed item: Prussia VERSUS France, Austria, Russia,
Sweden and the German Reich, what is it as a field of supplies for war!
Except its King, these are failing, year by year; and at a rate fatally
SWIFT in comparison. Friedrich cannot now do Leuthens, Rossbachs;
far-shining feats of victory, which astonish all the world. His fine
Prussian veterans have mostly perished; and have been replaced by new
levies and recruits; who are inferior both in discipline and native
quality;--though they have still, people say, a noteworthy taste of the
old Prussian sort in them; and do, in fact, fight well to the last. But "it is
observable," says Retzow somewhere, and indeed it follows from the
nature of the case, "that while the Prussian Army presents always its
best kind of soldiers at the beginning of a war, Austria, such are its
resources in population, always improves in that particular, and its best
troops appear in the last campaigns." In a word, Friedrich stands on the
defensive henceforth; disputing his ground inch by inch: and is reduced,
more and more,