Autobiography of Baron Trenck

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Autobiography of Baron Trenck

THE
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
OF
BARON TRENCK


TRANSLATED BY
THOMAS HOLCROFT.

VOL. I.

CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED:
_LONDON_, _PARIS & MELBOURNE_.
1892.




INTRODUCTION.


There were two cousins Von der Trenck, who were barons descended from an
ancient house in East Prussia, and were adventurous soldiers, to whom, as
to the adventurous, there were adventures that lost nothing in the
telling, for they were told by the authors' most admiring
friends--themselves.  Franz, the elder, was born in 1711, the son of an
Austrian general; and Frederick, whose adventures are here told, was the
son of a Prussian major-general.  Franz, at the age of seventeen, fought
duels, and cut off the head of a man who refused to lend him money.  He
stood six feet three inches in his shoes, knocked down his commanding
officer, was put under arrest, offered to pay for his release by bringing
in three Turks' heads within an hour, was released on that condition, and
actually brought in four Turks' heads.  When afterwards cashiered, he
settled on his estates in Croatia, and drilled a thousand of his tenantry
to act as "Pandours" against the banditti.  In 1740, he served with his
Pandours under Maria Theresa, and behaved himself as one of the more
brutal sort of banditti.  He offered to capture Frederick of Prussia, and
did capture his tent.  Many more of his adventures are vaingloriously
recounted by himself in the _Memoires du Baron Franz de Trenck_,
published at Paris in 1787.  This Trenck took poison when imprisoned at
Gratz, and died in October, 1747, at the age of thirty-six.

His cousin Frederick is the Trenck who here tells a story of himself that
abounds in lively illustration of the days of Frederick the Great.  He
professes that Frederick the King owed him a grudge, because Frederick
the Trenck had, when eighteen years old, fascinated the Princess Amalie
at a ball.  But as Frederick the Greater was in correspondence with his
cousin Franz at the time when that redoubtable personage was planning the
seizure of Frederick the Great, there may have been better ground for the
Trenck's arrest than he allows us to imagine.  Mr. Carlyle shows that
Frederick von der Trenck had been three months in prison, and was still
in prison, at the time of the battle of the Sohr, in which he professes
to have been engaged.  Frederick von der Trenck, after his release from
imprisonment in 1763, married a burgomaster's daughter, and went into
business as a wine merchant.  Then he became adventurous again.  His
adventures, published in German in 1786-7, and in his own French version
in 1788, formed one of the most popular books of its time.  Seven plays
were founded on them, and ladies in Paris wore their bonnets a la Trenck.
But the French finally guillotined the author, when within a year of
threescore and ten, on the 26th of July, 1794.  He had gone to Paris in
1792, and joined there in the strife of parties.  At the guillotine he
struggled with the executioner.

H.M.




CHAPTER I.


I was born at Konigsberg in Prussia, February 16, 1726, of one of the
most ancient families of the country.  My father, who was lord of Great
Scharlach, Schakulack, and Meichen, and major-general of cavalry, died in
1740, after receiving eighteen wounds in the Prussian service.  My mother
was daughter of the president of the high court at Konigsberg.  After my
father's death she married Count Lostange, lieutenant-colonel in the Kiow
regiment of cuirassiers, with whom she went and resided at Breslau.  I
had two brothers and a sister; my youngest brother was taken by my mother
into Silesia; the other was a cornet in this last-named regiment of Kiow;
and my sister was married to the only son of the aged General Valdow.

My ancestors are famous in the Chronicles of the North, among the ancient
Teutonic knights, who conquered Courland, Prussia, and Livonia.

By temperament I was choleric, and addicted to pleasure and dissipation;
my tutors found this last defect most difficult to overcome; happily,
they were aided by a love of knowledge inherent in me, an emulative
spirit, and a thirst for fame, which disposition it was my father's care
to cherish.  A too great consciousness of innate worth gave me a too
great degree of pride, but the endeavours of my instructor to inspire
humility were not all lost; and habitual reading, well-timed praise, and
the pleasures flowing from science, made the labours of study at length
my recreation.

My memory became remarkable; I am well read in the Scriptures, the
classics, and ancient history; was acquainted with geography; could draw;
learnt fencing, riding, and other necessary exercises.

My religion was Lutheran; but morality was taught me by my father, and by
the worthy man to whose care he committed the forming of my heart, whose
memory I shall ever hold in veneration.  While a boy, I was enterprising
in all the tricks of boys, and exercised my wit in crafty excuses; the
warmth of my passions gave a satiric, biting cast to my writings, whence
it has been imagined, by those who knew but little of me, I was a
dangerous man; though, I am conscious, this was a false judgment.

A soldier himself, my father would have all his sons the same; thus, when
we quarrelled, we terminated our disputes with wooden sabres, and,
brandishing these, contested by blows for victory, while our father sat
laughing, pleased at our valour and address.  This practice, and the
praises he bestowed, encouraged a disposition which ought to have been
counteracted.

Accustomed to obtain the prize, and be the hero of scholastic
contentions, I acquired the bad habit of disputation, and of imagining
myself a sage when little more than a boy.  I became stubborn in
argument; hasty to correct others, instead of patiently attentive: and,
by presumption, continually liable to incite enmity.  Gentle to my
inferiors, but impatient of contradiction, and proud of resisting power,
I may hence date, the origin of all my evils.

How might a man, imbued with the heroic principles of liberty, hope for
advancement and happiness, under the despotic and iron Government of
Frederic?  I was taught neither to know nor to avoid, but to despise the
whip of slavery.  Had I learnt hypocrisy, craft, and meanness, I had long
since become field-marshal, had been in possession of my Hungarian
estates, and had not passed the best years of my life in the dungeons of
Magdeburg.  I was addicted to no vice: I laboured in the cause of
science, honour, and virtue; kept no vicious company; was never in the
whole of my life intoxicated; was no gamester, no consumer of time in
idleness nor brutal pleasures; but devoted many hundred laborious nights
to studies that might make me useful to my country; yet was I punished
with a severity too cruel even for the most worthless, or most villanous.

I mean, in my narrative, to make candour and veracity my guides, and not
to conceal my failings; I wish my work may remain a moral lesson to the
world.  Yet it is an innate satisfaction that I am conscious of never
having acted with dishonour, even to the last act of this distressful
tragedy.

I shall say little of the first years of my life, except that my father
took especial care of my education, and sent me, at the age of thirteen,
to the University of Konigsberg, where, under the tuition of Kowalewsky,
my progress was rapid.  There were fourteen other noblemen in the same
house, and under the same master.

In the year following, 1740, I quarrelled with one young Wallenrodt, a
fellow-student, much stronger than myself, and who, despising my
weakness, thought proper to give me a blow.  I demanded satisfaction.  He
came not to the appointed place, but treated my demand with contempt; and
I, forgetting all further respect, procured a second, and attacked him in
open day.  We fought, and I had the fortune to wound him twice; the first
time in the arm, the second in the hand.

This affair incited inquiry:--Doctor Kowalewsky, our tutor, laid
complaints before the University, and I was condemned to three hours'
confinement; but my grandfather and guardian, President Derschau, was so
pleased with my courage, that he took me from this house and placed me
under Professor Christiani.

Here I first began to enjoy full liberty, and from this worthy man I
learnt all I know of experimental philosophy and science.  He loved me as
his own son, and continued instructing me till midnight.  Under his
auspices, in 1742, I maintained, with great success, two public theses,
although I was then but sixteen; an effort and an honour till then
unknown.

Three days after my last public exordium, a contemptible fellow sought a
quarrel with me, and obliged me to draw in my own defence, whom, on this
occasion, I wounded in the groin.

This success inflated my valour, and from that time I began to assume the
air and appearance of a Hector.

Scarcely had a fortnight elapsed before I had another with a lieutenant
of the garrison, whom I had insulted, who received two wounds in the
contest.

I ought to remark, that at this time, the University of Konigsberg was
still highly privileged.  To send a challenge was held honourable; and
this was not only permitted, but would have been difficult to prevent,
considering the great number of proud, hot-headed, and turbulent nobility
from Livonia, Courland, Sweden, Denmark, and Poland, who came thither to
study, and of whom there were more than five hundred.  This brought the
University into disrepute, and endeavours have been made to remedy the
abuse.  Men have acquired a greater extent of true knowledge, and have
begun to perceive that a University ought to be a place of instruction,
and not a field of battle; and that blood cannot be honourably shed,
except in defence of life or country.

In November, 1742, the King sent his adjutant-general, Baron Lottum, who
was related to my mother, to Konigsberg, with whom I dined at my
grandfather's.  He conversed much with me, and, after putting various
questions, purposely, to discover what my talents and inclinations were,
he demanded, as if in joke, whether I had any inclination to go with him
to Berlin, and serve my country, as my ancestors had ever done: adding
that, in the army, I should find much better opportunities of sending
challenges than at the University.  Inflamed with the desire of
distinguishing myself, I listened with rapture to the proposition, and in
a few days we departed for Potzdam.

On the morrow after my arrival, I was presented to the King, as indeed I
had before been in the year 1740, with the character of being, then, one
of the most hopeful youths of the University.  My reception was most
flattering; the justness of my replies to the questions he asked, my
height, figure, and confidence, pleased him; and I soon obtained
permission to enter as a cadet in his body guards, with a promise of
quick preferment.

The body guards formed, at this time, a model and school for the Prussian
cavalry; they consisted of one single squadron of men selected from the
whole army, and their uniform was the most splendid in all Europe.  Two
thousand rix-dollars were necessary to equip an officer: the cuirass was
wholly plated with silver; and the horse, furniture, and accoutrements
alone cost four hundred rix-dollars.

This squadron only contained six officers and a hundred and forty-four
men; but there were always fifty or sixty supernumeraries, and as many
horses, for the King incorporated all the most handsome men he found in
the guards.  The officers were the best taught of any the army contained;
the King himself was their tutor, and he afterwards sent them to instruct
the cavalry in the manoeuvres they had learnt.  Their rise was rapid if
they behaved well; but they were broken for the least fault, and punished
by being sent to garrison regiments.  It was likewise necessary they
should be tolerably rich, as well as possess such talents as might be
successfully employed, both at court and in the army.

There are no soldiers in the world who undergo so much as this body
guard; and during the time I was in the service of Frederic, I often had
not eight hours' sleep in eight days.  Exercise began at four in the
morning, and experiments were made of all the alterations the King meant
to introduce in his cavalry.  Ditches of three, four, five, six feet, and
still wider, were leaped, till that someone broke his neck; hedges, in
like manner, were freed, and the horses ran careers, meeting each other
full speed in a kind of lists of more than half a league in length.  We
had often, in these our exercises, several men and horses killed or
wounded.

It happened more frequently than otherwise that the same experiments were
repeated after dinner with fresh horses; and it was not uncommon, at
Potzdam, to hear the alarm sounded twice in a night.  The horses stood in
the King's stables; and whoever had not dressed, armed himself, saddled
his horse, mounted, and appeared before the palace in eight minutes, was
put under arrest for fourteen days.

Scarcely were the eyes closed before the trumpet again sounded, to
accustom youth to vigilance.  I lost, in one year, three horses, which
had either broken their legs, in leaping ditches, or died of fatigue.

I cannot give a stronger picture of this service than by saying that the
body guard lost more men and horses in one year's peace than they did,
during the following year, in two battles.

We had, at this time, three stations; our service, in the winter, was at
Berlin, where we attended the opera, and all public festivals: in the
spring we were exercised at Charlottenberg; and at Potzdam, or wherever
the King went, during the summer.  The six officers of the guard dined
with the King, and, on gala days, with the Queen.  It may be presumed
there was not at that time on earth a better school to form an officer
and a man of the world than was the court of Berlin.

I had scarcely been six weeks a cadet before the King took me aside, one
day, after the parade, and having examined me near half an hour, on
various subjects, commanded me to come and speak to him on the morrow.

His intention was to find whether the accounts that had been given him of
my memory had not been exaggerated; and that he might be convinced, he
first gave me the names of fifty soldiers to learn by rote, which I did
in five minutes.  He next repeated the subjects of two letters, which I
immediately composed in French and Latin; the one I wrote, the other I
dictated.  He afterwards ordered me to trace, with promptitude, a
landscape from nature, which I executed with equal success; and he then
gave me a cornet's commission in his body guards.

Each mark of bounty from the monarch increased an ardour already great,
inspired me with gratitude, and the first of my wishes was to devote my
whole life to the service of my King and country.  He spoke to me as a
Sovereign should speak, like a father, like one who knew well how to
estimate the gifts bestowed on me by nature; and perceiving, or rather
feeling, how much he might expect from me, became at once my instructor
and my friend.

Thus did I remain a cadet only six weeks, and few Prussians can vaunt,
under the reign of Frederic, of equal good fortune.

The King not only presented me with a commission, but equipped me
splendidly for the service.  Thus did I suddenly find myself a courtier,
and an officer in the finest, bravest, and best disciplined corps in
Europe.  My good fortune seemed unlimited, when, in the month of August,
1743, the King selected me to go and instruct the Silesian cavalry in the
new manoeuvres: an honour never before granted to a youth of eighteen.

I have already said we were garrisoned at Berlin during winter, where the
officers' table was at court: and, as my reputation had preceded me, no
person whatever could be better received there, or live more pleasantly.

Frederic commanded me to visit the literati, whom he had invited to his
court: Maupertuis, Jordan, La Mettrie, and Pollnitz, were all my
acquaintance.  My days were employed in the duties of an officer, and my
nights in acquiring knowledge.  Pollnitz was my guide, and the friend of
my heart.  My happiness was well worthy of being envied.  In 1743, I was
five feet eleven inches in height, and Nature had endowed me with every
requisite to please.  I lived, as I vainly imagined, without inciting
enmity or malice, and my mind was wholly occupied by the desire of
earning well-founded fame.

I had hitherto remained ignorant of love, and had been terrified from
illicit commerce by beholding the dreadful objects of the hospital at
Potzdam.  During the winter of 1743, the nuptials of his Majesty's sister
were celebrated, who was married to the King of Sweden, where she is at
present Queen Dowager, mother of the reigning Gustavus.  I, as officer of
my corps, had the honour to mount guard and escort her as far as Stettin.
Here first did my heart feel a passion of which, in the course of my
history, I shall have frequent occasion to speak.  The object of my love
was one whom I can only remember at present with reverence; and, as I
write not romance, but facts, I shall here briefly say, ours were
mutually the first-fruits of affection, and that to this hour I regret no
misfortune, no misery, with which, from a stock so noble, my destiny was
overshadowed.

Amid the tumult inseparable to occasions like these, on which it was my
duty to maintain order, a thief had the address to steal my watch, and
cut away part of the gold fringe which hung from the waistcoat of my
uniform, and afterwards to escape unperceived.  This accident brought on
me the raillery of my comrades; and the lady alluded to thence took
occasion to console me, by saying it should be her care that I should be
no loser.  Her words were accompanied by a look I could not
misunderstand, and a few days after I thought myself the happiest of
mortals.  The name, however, of this high-born lady is a secret, which
must descend with me to the grave; and, though my silence concerning this
incident heaves a void in my life, and indeed throws obscurity over a
part of it, which might else be clear, I would much rather incur this
reproach than become ungrateful towards my best friend and benefactress.
To her conversation, to her prudence, to the power by which she fixed my
affections wholly on herself, am I indebted for the improvement and
polishing of my bodily and mental qualities.  She never despised,
betrayed, or abandoned me, even in the deepest of my distress; and my
children alone, on my death-bed, shall be taught the name of her to whom
they owe the preservation of their father, and consequently their own
existence.

I lived at this time perfectly happy at Berlin, and highly esteemed.  The
King took every opportunity to testify his approbation; my mistress
supplied me with more money than I could expend; and I was presently the
best equipped, and made the greatest figure, of any officer in the whole
corps.  The style in which I lived was remarked, for I had only received
from my father's heritage the estate of Great Scharlach; the rent of
which was eight hundred dollars a year, which was far from sufficient to
supply my then expenses.  My amour, in the meantime, remained a secret
from my best and most intimate friends.  Twice was my absence from
Potzdam and Charlottenberg discovered, and I was put under arrest; but
the King seemed satisfied with the excuse I made, under the pretext of
having been hunting, and smiled as he granted my pardon.

Never did the days of youth glide away with more apparent success and
pleasure than during these my first years at Berlin.  This good fortune
was, alas, of short duration.  Many are the incidents I might relate, but
which I shall omit.  My other adventures are sufficiently numerous,
without mingling such as may any way seem foreign to the subject.  In
this gloomy history of my life, I wish to paint myself such as I am; and,
by the recital of my sufferings, afford a memorable example to the world,
and interest the heart of sensibility.  I would also show how my fatal
destiny has deprived my children of an immense fortune; and, though I
want a hundred thousand men to enforce and ensure my rights, I will leave
demonstration to my heirs that they are incontestable.




CHAPTER II.


In the beginning of September, 1744, war again broke out between the
Houses of Austria and Prussia.  We marched with all speed towards Prague,
traversing Saxony without opposition.  I will not relate in this place
what the great Frederic said to us, with evident emotion, when surrounded
by all his officers, on the morning of our departure from Potzdam.

Should any one be desirous of writing the lives of him and his opponent,
Maria Theresa, without flattery and without fear, let him apply to me,
and I will relate anecdotes most surprising on this subject, unknown to
all but myself, and which never must appear under my own name.

All monarchs going to war have reason on their side; and the churches of
both parties resound with prayers, and appeals to Divine Justice, for the
success of their arms.  Frederic, on this occasion, had recourse to them
with regret, of which I was a witness.

If I am not mistaken, the King's army came before Prague on the 14th of
September, and that of General Schwerin, which had passed through
Silesia, arrived the next day on the other side of the Moldau.  In this
position we were obliged to wait some days for pontoons, without which we
could not establish a communication between the two armies.

The height called Zischka, which overlooks the city, being guarded only
by a few Croats, was instantly seized, without opposition, by some
grenadiers, and the batteries, erected at the foot of that mountain,
being ready on the fifth day, played with such success on the old town
with bombs and red-hot balls that it was set on fire.  The King made
every effort to take the city before Prince Charles could bring his army
from the Rhine to its relief.

General Harsh thought proper to capitulate, after a siege of twelve days,
during which not more than five hundred men of the garrison, at the
utmost, were killed and wounded, though eighteen thousand men were made
prisoners.

Thus far we had met with no impediment.  The Imperial army, however,
under the command of Prince Charles of Lorraine, having quitted the banks
of the Rhine, was advancing to save Bohemia.

During this campaign we saw the enemy only at a distance; but the
Austrian light troops being thrice as numerous as ours, prevented us from
all foraging.  Winter was approaching, dearth and hunger made Frederic
determine to retreat, without the least hope from the countries in our
rear, which we had entirely laid waste as we had advanced.  The severity
of the season, in the month of November, rendered the soldiers
excessively impatient of their hardships; and, accustomed to conquer, the
Prussians were ashamed of and repined at retreat: the enemy's light
troops facilitated desertion, and we lost, in a few weeks, above thirty
thousand men.  The pandours of my kinsman, the Austrian Trenck, were
incessantly at our heels, gave us frequent alarms, did us great injury,
and, by their alertness, we never could make any impression upon them
with our cannon.  Trenck at length passed the Elbe, and went and burnt
and destroyed our magazines at Pardubitz: it was therefore resolved
wholly to evacuate Bohemia.

The King hoped to have brought Prince Charles to the battle between
Benneschan and Kannupitz, but in vain: the Saxons, during the night, had
entered a battery of three-and-twenty cannon on a mound which separated
two ponds: this was the precise road by which the King meant to make the
attack.

Thus were we obliged to abandon Bohemia.  The dearth, both for man and
horse, began to grow extreme.  The weather was bad; the roads and ruts
were deep; marches were continual, and alarms and attacks from the
enemy's light troops became incessant.  The discontent all these inspired
was universal, and this occasioned the great loss of the army.

Under such circumstances, had Prince Charles continued to harass us, by
persuading us into Silesia, had he made a winter campaign, instead of
remaining indolently at ease in Bohemia, we certainly should not have
vanquished him, the year following, at Strigau; but he only followed at a
distance, as far as the Bohemian frontiers.  This gave Frederic time to
recover, and the more effectually because the Austrians had the
imprudence to permit the return of deserters.

This was a repetition of what had happened to Charles XII. when he
suffered his Russian prisoners to return home, who afterwards so
effectually punished his contempt of them at the battle of Pultawa.

Prague was obliged to be abandoned, with considerable loss; and Trenck
seized on Tabor, Budweis, and Frauenberg, where he took prisoners the
regiments of Walrabe Kreutz.

No one would have been better able to give a faithful history of this
campaign than myself, had I room in this place, and had I at that time
been more attentive to things of moment; since I not only performed the
office of adjutant to the King, when he went to reconnoitre, or choose a
place of encampment, but it was, moreover, my duty to provide forage for
the headquarters.  The King having only permitted me to take six
volunteers from the body guard, to execute this latter duty, I was
obliged to add to them horse chasseurs, and hussars, with whom I was
continually in motion.  I was peculiarly fortunate on two occasions, by
happening to come after the enemy when they had left loaded waggons and
forage bundles.

I seldom passed the night in my tent during this campaign, and my
indefatigable activity obtained the favour and entire confidence of
Frederic.  Nothing so much contributed to inspire me with emulation as
the public praises I received, and my enthusiasm wished to perform
wonders.  The campaign, however, but ill supplied me with opportunities
to display my youthful ardour.

At length no one durst leave the camp, notwithstanding the extremity of
the dearth, because of the innumerable clouds of pandours and hussars
that hovered everywhere around.

No sooner were we arrived in Silesia, than the King's body guard were
sent to Berlin, there to remain in winter quarters.

I should not here have mentioned the Bohemian war, but that, while
writing time history of my life, I ought not to omit accidents by which
my future destiny was influenced.

One day, while at Bennaschen, I was commanded out, with a detachment of
thirty hussars and twenty chasseurs, on a foraging party.  I had posted
my hussars in a convent, and gone myself, with the chasseurs, to a
mansion-house, to seize the carts necessary for the conveyance of the hay
and straw from a neighbouring farm.  An Austrian lieutenant of hussars,
concealed with thirty-six horsemen in a wood, having remarked the
weakness of my escort, taking advantage of the moment when my people were
all employed in loading the carts, first seized our sentinel, and then
fell suddenly upon them, and took them all prisoners in the very farm-
yard.  At this moment I was seated at my ease, beside the lady of the
mansion-house, and was a spectator of the whole transaction through the
window.

I was ashamed of and in despair at my negligence.  The kind lady wished
to hide me when the firing was heard in the farm-yard.  By good fortune,
the hussars, whom I had stationed in the convent, had learnt from a
peasant that there was an Austrian detachment in the wood: they had seen
us at a distance enter the farmyard, hastily marched to our aid, and we
had not been taken more than two minutes before they arrived.  I cannot
express the pleasure with which I put myself at their head.  Some of the
enemy's party escaped through a back door, but we made two-and-twenty
prisoners, with a lieutenant of the regiment of Kalnockichen.  They had
two men killed, and one wounded; and two also of my chasseurs were hewn
down by the sabre, in the hay-loft, where they were at work.

We continued our forage with more caution after this accident: the horses
we had taken served, in part, to draw the carts; and, after raising a
contribution of one hundred and fifty ducats on the convent, which I
distributed among the soldiers to engage them to silence, we returned to
the army, from which we were distant about two leagues.

We heard firing as we marched, and the foragers on all sides were
skirmishing with the enemy.  A lieutenant and forty horse joined me; yet,
with this reinforcement, I durst not return to the camp, because I
learned we were in danger from more than eight hundred pandours and
hussars, who were in the plain.  I therefore determined to take a long,
winding, but secret route, and had the good fortune to come safe to
quarters with my prisoners and five-and-twenty loaded carts.  The King
was at dinner when I entered his tent.  Having been absent all night, it
was imagined I had been taken, that accident having happened the same day
to many others.

The instant I entered, the King demanded if I returned singly.  "No,
please your Majesty," answered I; "I have brought five-and-twenty loads
of forage, and two-and-twenty prisoners, with their officer and horses."

The King then commanded me to sit down, and turning himself towards the
English ambassador, who was near him, said, laying his hand on my
shoulder, "_C'est un Matador de ma jeunesse_."

A reconnoitring party was, at the same moment, in waiting before his
tent: he consequently asked me few questions, and to those he did ask, I
replied trembling.  In a few minutes he rose from the table, gave a
glance at the prisoners, hung the Order of Merit round my neck, commanded
me to go and take repose, and set off with his party.

It is easy to conceive the embarrassment of my situation; my unpardonable
negligence deserved that I should have been broken, instead of which I
was rewarded; an instance, this, of the great influence of chance on the
affairs of the world.  How many generals have gained victories by their
very errors, which have been afterwards attributed to their genius! It is
evident the sergeant of hussars, who retook me and my men by bringing up
his party, was much better entitled than myself to the recompense I
received.  On many occasions have I since met with disgrace and
punishment when I deserved reward.  My inquietude lest the truth should
be discovered, was extreme, especially recollecting how many people were
in the secret: and my apprehensions were incessant.

As I did not want money, I gave the sergeants twenty ducats each, and the
soldiers one, in order to insure their silence, which, being a favourite
with them, they readily promised.  I, however, was determined to declare
the truth the very first opportunity, and this happened a few days after.

We were on our march, and I, as cornet, was at the head of my company,
when the King, advancing, beckoned me to come to him, and bade me tell
him exactly how the affair I had so lately been engaged in happened.

The question at first made me mistrust I was betrayed, but remarking the
King had a mildness in his manner, I presently recovered myself, and
related the exact truth.  I saw the astonishment of his countenance, but
I at the same time saw he was pleased with my sincerity.  He spoke to me
for half an hour, not as a King, but as a father, praised my candour, and
ended with the following words, which, while life remains, I shall never
forget: "Confide in the advice I give you; depend wholly upon me, and I
will make you a man."  Whoever can feel, may imagine how infinitely my
gratitude towards the King was increased, by this his great goodness;
from that moment I had no other desire than to live and die for his
service.

I soon perceived the confidence the King had in me after this
explanation, of which I received very frequent marks, the following
winter, at Berlin.  He permitted me to be present at his conversations
with the literati of his court, and my state was truly enviable.

I received this same winter more than five hundred ducats as presents.  So
much happiness could not but excite jealousy, and this began to be
manifest on every side.  I had too little disguise for a courtier, and my
heart was much too open and frank.

Before I proceed, I will here relate an incident which happened during
the last campaign, and which will, no doubt, be read in the history of
Frederic.

On the rout while retreating through Bohemia, the King came to Kollin,
with his horse-guards, the cavalry piquets of the head-quarters, and the
second and third battalions of guards.  We had only four field pieces,
and our squadron was stationed in one of the suburbs.  Our advance posts,
towards evening, were driven back into the town, and the hussars entered
pell-mell: the enemy's light troops swarmed over the country, and my
commanding officer sent me immediately to receive the King's orders.
After much search, I found him at the top of a steeple, with a telescope
in his hand.  Never did I see him so disturbed or undecided as on this
occasion.  Orders were immediately given that we should retreat through
the city, into the opposite suburb, where we were to halt, but not
unsaddle.

We had not been here long before a most heavy rain fell, and the night
became exceedingly dark.  My cousin Trenck made his approach about nine
in the evening, with his pandour and janissary music, and set fire to
several houses.  They found we were in the suburb, and began to fire upon
us from the city windows.  The tumult became extreme: the city was too
full for us to re-enter: the gate was shut, and they fired from above at
us with our field-pieces.  Trenck had let in the waters upon us, and we
were up to the girths by midnight, and almost in despair.  We lost seven
men, and my horse was wounded in the neck.

The King, and all of us, had certainly been made prisoners had my cousin,
as he has since told me, been able to continue the assault he had begun:
but a cannon ball having wounded him in the foot, he was carried off, and
the pandours retired.  The corps of Nassau arrived next day to our aid;
we quitted Kollin, and during the march the King said to me, "Your cousin
had nearly played us a malicious prank last night, but the deserters say
he is killed."  He then asked what our relationship was, and there our
conversation ended.




CHAPTER III.


It was about the middle of December when we came to Berlin, where I was
received with open arms.  I became less cautious than formerly, and,
perhaps, more narrowly observed.  A lieutenant of the foot guards, who
was a public Ganymede, and against whom I had that natural antipathy and
abhorrence I have for all such wretches, having indulged himself in some
very impertinent jokes on the secret of my amour, I bestowed on him the
epithet he deserved: we drew our swords, and he was wounded.  On the
Sunday following I presented myself to pay my respects to his Majesty on
the parade, who said to me as he passed, "The storm and the thunder shall
rend your heart; beware!" {1}  He added nothing more.

Some little time after I was a few minutes too late on the parade; the
King remarked it, and sent me, under arrest, to the foot-guard at
Potzdam.  When I had been here a fortnight, Colonel Wartensleben came,
and advised me to petition for pardon.  I was then too much a novice in
the modes of the court to follow his counsel, nor did I even remark the
person who gave it me was himself a most subtle courtier.  I complained
bitterly that I had so long been deprived of liberty, for a fault which
was usually punished by three, or, at most, six days' arrest.  Here
accordingly I remained.

Eight days after, the King being come to Potzdam, I was sent by General
Bourke to Berlin, to carry some letters, but without having seen the
King.  On my return I presented myself to him on the parade; and as our
squadron was garrisoned at Berlin, I asked, "Does it please your Majesty
that I should go and join my corps?"  "Whence came you?" answered he.
"From Berlin."  "And where were you before you went to Berlin?"  "Under
arrest."  "Then under arrest you must remain!"

I did not recover my liberty till three days before our departure for
Silesia, towards which we marched, with the utmost speed, in the
beginning of May, to commence our second campaign.

Here I must recount an event which happened that winter, which became the
source of all my misfortunes, and to which I must entreat my readers will
pay the utmost attention; since this error, if innocence can be error,
was the cause that the most faithful and the best of subjects became
bewildered in scenes of wretchedness, and was the victim of misery, from
his nineteenth to the sixtieth year of his age.  I dare presume that this
true narrative, supported by testimonies the most authentic, will fully
vindicate my present honour and my future memory.

Francis, Baron of Trenck, was the son of my father's brother,
consequently my cousin german.  I shall speak, hereafter, of the singular
events of his life.  Being a commander of pandours in the Austrian
service, and grievously wounded at Bavaria, in the year 1743, he wrote to
my mother, informing her he intended me, her eldest son, for his
universal legatee.  This letter, to which I returned no answer, was sent
to me at Potzdam.  I was so satisfied with my situation, and had such
numerous reasons so to be, considering the kindness with which the King
treated me, that I would not have exchanged my good fortune for all the
treasures of the Great Mogul.

On the 12th of February, 1744, being at Berlin, I was in company with
Captain Jaschinsky, commander of the body guard, the captain of which
ranks as colonel in the army, together with Lieutenant Studnitz, and
Cornet Wagnitz.  The latter was my field comrade, and is at present
commander-general of the cavalry of Hesse Cassel.  The Austrian Trenck
became the subject of conversation, and Jaschinsky asked if I were his
kinsman.  I answered, yes, and immediately mentioned his having made me
his universal heir.  "And what answer have you returned?" said
Jaschinsky.--"None at all."

The whole company then observed that, in a case like the present, I was
much to blame not to answer; that the least I could do would be to thank
him for his good wishes, and entreat a continuance of them.  Jaschinsky
further added, "Desire him to send you some of his fine Hungarian horses
for your own use, and give me the letter; I will convey it to him, by
means of Mr. Bossart, legation counsellor of the Saxon embassy; but on
condition that you will give me one of the horses.  This correspondence
is a family, and not a state affair; I will make myself responsible for
the consequences."

I immediately took my commander's advice, and began to write; and had
those who suspected me thought proper to make the least inquiry into
these circumstances, the four witnesses who read what I wrote could have
attested my innocence, and rendered it indubitable.  I gave my letter
open to Jaschinsky, who sealed and sent it himself.

I must omit none of the incidents concerning this letter, it being the
sole cause of all my sufferings.  I shall therefore here relate an event
which was the first occasion of the unjust suspicions entertained against
me.

One of my grooms, with two led horses, was, among many others, taken by
the pandours of Trenck.  When I returned to the camp, I was to accompany
the King on a reconnoitring party.  My horse was too tired, and I had no
other: I informed him of my embarrassment, and his Majesty immediately
made me a present of a fine English courser.

Some days after, I was exceedingly astonished to see my groom return,
with my two horses, and a pandour trumpeter, who brought me a letter,
containing nearly the following words:--

"The Austrian Trenck is not at war with the Prussian Trenck, but, on the
contrary, is happy to have recovered his horses from his hussars, and to
return them to whom they first belonged," &c.

I went the same day to pay my respects to the King, who, receiving me
with great coldness, said, "Since your cousin has returned your own
horses, you have no more need of mine."

There were too many who envied me to suppose these words would escape
repetition.  The return of the horses seems infinitely to have increased
that suspicion Frederic entertained against me, and therefore became one
of the principal causes of my misfortunes: it is for this reason that I
dwell upon this and suchlike small incidents, they being necessary for my
own justification, and, were it possible, for that of the King.  My
innocence is, indeed, at present universally acknowledged by the court,
the army, and the whole nation; who all mention the injustice I suffered
with pity, and the fortitude with which it was endured with surprise.

We marched for Silesia, to enter on our second campaign: which, to the
Prussians, was as bloody and murderous as it was glorious.

The King's head-quarters were fixed at the convent of Kamentz, where we
rested fourteen days, and the army remained in cantonments.  Prince
Charles, instead of following us into Bohemia, had the imprudence to
occupy the plain of Strigau, and we already concluded his army was
beaten.  Whoever is well acquainted with tactics, and the Prussian
manoeuvres, will easily judge, without the aid of calculation or
witchcraft, whether a well or ill-disciplined army, in an open plain,
ought to be victorious.

The army hastily left its cantonments, and in twenty-four hours was in
order of battle; and on the 14th of June, eighteen thousand bodies lay
stretched on the plain of Strigau.  The allied armies of Austria and
Saxony were totally defeated.

The body guard was on the right; and previous to the attack, the King
said to our squadron, "Prove today, my children, that you are my body
guard, and give no Saxon quarter."

We made three attacks on the cavalry, and two on the infantry.  Nothing
could withstand a squadron like this, which for men, horses, courage, and
experience, was assuredly the first in the world.  Our corps alone took
seven standards and five pairs of colours, and in less than an hour the
affair was over.

I received a pistol shot in my right hand, my horse was desperately
wounded, and I was obliged to change him on the third charge.  The day
after the battle all the officers were rewarded with the Order of Merit.
For my own part, I remained four weeks among the wounded, at Schweidnitz,
where there were sixteen thousand men under the torture of the army
surgeons, many of whom had not their wounds dressed till the third day.

I was near three months before I recovered the use of my hand: I
nevertheless rejoined my corps, continued to perform my duty, and as
usual accompanied the King when he went to reconnoitre.  For some time
past he had placed confidence in me, and his kindness towards me
continually increased, which raised my gratitude even to enthusiasm.

I also performed the service of adjutant during this campaign, a
circumstantial account of which no person is better enabled to write than
myself, I having been present at all that passed.  I was the scholar of
the greatest master the art of war ever knew, and who believed me worthy
to receive his instructions; but the volume I am writing would be
insufficient to contain all that personally relates to myself.

I must here mention an adventure that happened at this time, and which
will show the art of the great Frederic in forming youth for his service,
and devotedly attaching them to his person.

I was exceedingly fond of hunting, in which, notwithstanding it was
severely forbidden, I indulged myself.  I one day returned, laden with
pheasants; but judge my astonishment and fears when I saw the army had
decamped, and that it was with difficulty that I could overtake the rear-
guard.

In this my distress, I applied to an officer of hussars, who instantly
lent me his horse, by the aid of which I rejoined my corps, which always
marched as the vanguard.  Mounting my own horse, I tremblingly rode to
the head of my division, which it was my duty to precede.  The King,
however, had remarked my absence, or rather had been reminded of it by my
superior officer, who, for some time past, had become my enemy.

Just as the army halted to encamp, the King rode towards me, and made a
signal for me to approach, and, seeing my fears in my countenance, said,
"What, are you just returned from hunting?"  "Yes, your Majesty.  I
hope--"  Here interrupting me, he added, "Well, well, for this time, I
shall take no further notice, remembering Potzdam; but, however, let me
find you more attentive to your duty."

So ended this affair, for which I deserved to have been broken.  I must
remind my readers that the King meant by the words remembering Potzdam,
he remembered I had been punished too severely the winter before, and
that my present pardon was intended as a compensation.

This was indeed to think and act greatly; this was indeed the true art of
forming great men: an art much more effectual than that of ferocious
generals, who threaten subalterns with imprisonment and chains on every
slight occasion; and, while indulging all the rigours of military law,
make no distinction of minds or of men.  Frederic, on the contrary,
sometimes pardoned the failings of genius, while mechanic souls he
mechanically punished, according to the very letter of the laws of war.

I shall further remark, the King took no more notice of my late fault,
except that sometimes, when I had the honour to dine with him, he would
ridicule people who were too often at the chase, or who were so choleric
that they took occasion to quarrel for the least trifle.

The campaign passed in different manoeuvres, marches, and countermarches.
Our corps was the most fatigued, as being encamped round the King's tent,
the station of which was central, and as likewise having the care of the
vanguard; we were therefore obliged to begin our march two hours sooner
than the remainder of the army, that we might be in our place.  We also
accompanied the King whenever he went to reconnoitre, traced the lines of
encampment, led the horse to water, inspected the head-quarters, and
regulated the march and encampment, according to the King's orders; the
performance of all which robbed us of much rest, we being but six
officers to execute so many different functions.

Still further, we often executed the office of couriers, to bear the
royal commands to detachments.  The King was particularly careful that
the officers of his guards, whom he intended should become excellent in
the art of tactics, should not be idle in his school.  It was necessary
to do much in order that much might be learnt.  Labour, vigilance,
activity, the love of glory and the love of his country, animated all his
generals; into whom, it may be said, he infused his spirit.

In this school I gained instruction, and here already was I selected as
one designed to instruct others; yet, in my fortieth year, a great
general at Vienna told me, "My dear Trenck, our discipline would be too
difficult for you to learn; for which, indeed, you are too far advanced
in life."  Agreeable to this wise decision was I made an Austrian
invalid, and an invalid have always remained; a judgment like this would
have been laughed at, most certainly, at Berlin.

If I mistake not, the famous battle of Soor, or Sorau, was fought on the
14th day of September.  The King had sent so many detachments into
Saxony, Bohemia, and Silesia, that the main army did not consist of more
than twenty-five thousand men.  Neglecting advice, and obstinate in
judging his enemy by numbers, and not according to the excellence of
discipline, and other accidents, Prince Charles, blind to the real
strength of the Prussian armies, had enclosed this small number of
Pomeranian and Brandenburg regiments, with more than eighty-six thousand
men, intending to take them all prisoners.

It will soon be seen from my narrative with what kind of secrecy his plan
was laid and executed.

The King came into my tent about midnight; as he also did into that of
all the officers, to awaken them; his orders were, "Secretly to saddle,
leave the baggage in the rear, and that the men should stand ready to
mount at the word of command."

Lieutenant Studnitz and myself attended the King, who went in person, and
gave directions through the whole army; meantime, break of day was
expected with anxiety.

Opposite the defile through which the enemy was to march to the attack
eight field-pieces were concealed behind a hill.  The King must
necessarily have been informed of the whole plan of the Austrian general,
for he had called in the advanced posts from the heights, that he might
lull him into security, and make him imagine we should be surprised in
the midst of sleep.

Scarcely did break of day appear before the Austrian artillery, situated
upon the heights, began to play upon our camp, and their cavalry to march
through the defile to the attack.

As suddenly were we in battle array; for in less than ten minutes we
ourselves began the attack, notwithstanding the smallness of our number,
the whole army only containing five regiments of cavalry.  We fell with
such fury upon the enemy (who at this time were wholly employed in
forming their men at the mouth of the defile, and that slowly, little
expecting so sudden and violent a charge), that we drove them back into
the defile, where they pressed upon each other in crowds; the King
himself stood ready to unmask his eight field-pieces, and a dreadful and
bloody slaughter ensued in this narrow place; from which the enemy had
not the power to retreat.  This single incident gained the battle, and
deceived all time hopes of Prince Charles.

Nadasti, Trenck, and the light troops, sent to attack our rear, were
employed in pillaging the camp.  The ferocious Croats met no opposition,
while this their error made our victory more secure.  It deserves to be
noticed that, when advice was brought to the King that the enemy had
fallen upon and were plundering the camp, his answer was, "So much the
better; they have found themselves employment, and will be no impediment
to our main design."

Our victory was complete, but all our baggage was lost; the headquarters,
utterly undefended, were totally stripped; and Trenck had, for his part
of the booty, the King's tent and his service of plate.

I have mentioned this circumstance here, because that, in the year 1740,
my cousin Trenck, having fallen into the power of his enemies, who had
instituted a legal, process against him, was accused, by some villanous
wretches, of having surprised the King in bed at the battle of Sorau, and
of having afterwards released him for a bribe.

What was still worse, they hired a common woman, a native of Brunn, who
pretended she was the daughter of Marshal Schwerin, to give in evidence
that she herself was with the King when Trenck entered his tent, whom he
immediately made prisoner, and as immediately released.

To this part of the prosecution I myself, an eye-witness, can answer: the
thing was false and impossible.  He was informed of the intended attack.
I accompanied the watchful King from midnight till four in the morning,
which time he employed in riding through the camp, and making the
necessary preparations to receive the enemy; and the action began at
five.  Trenck could not take the King in bed, for the battle was almost
gained when he and his pandours entered the camp and plundered the head-
quarters.

As for the tale of Miss Schwerin, it is only fit to be told by
schoolboys, or examined by the Inquisition, and was very unworthy of
making part of a legal prosecution against an innocent man at Vienna.

This incident, however, is so remarkable that I shall give in this work a
farther account of my kinsman, and what was called his criminal process,
at reading which the world will be astonished.  My own history is so
connected with his that this is necessary, and the more so because there
are many ignorant or wicked people at Vienna, who believe, or affirm,
Trenck had actually taken the King of Prussia prisoner.

Never yet was there a traitor of the name of Trenck; and I hope to prove,
in the clearest manner, the Austrian Trenck as faithfully served the
Empress-Queen as the Prussian Trenck did Frederic, his King.  Maria
Theresa, speaking to me of him some time after his death, and the snares
that had been laid for him, said, "Your kinsman has made a better end
than will be the fate of his accusers and judges."

Of this more hereafter: I approach that epoch when my misfortunes began,
and when the sufferings of martyrdom attended me from youth onward till
my hairs grew grey.




CHAPTER IV.


A few days after the battle of Sorau, the usual camp postman brought me a
letter from my cousin Trenck, the colonel of pandours, antedated at Effek
four months, of which the following is a copy:--

"Your letter, of the 12th of February, from Berlin, informs me you desire
to have some Hungarian horses.  On these you would come and attack me and
my pandours.  I saw with pleasure, during the last campaign, that the
Prussian Trenck was a good soldier; and that I might give you some proofs
of my attachment, I then returned the horses which my men had taken.  If,
however, you wish to have Hungarian horses, you must take mine in like
manner from me in the field of battle: or, should you so think fit, come
and join one who will receive you with open arms, like his friend and
son, and who will procure you every advantage you can desire," &c.

At first I was terrified at reading this letter, yet could not help
smiling.  Cornet Wagenitz, now general in chief of the Hesse Cassel
forces, and Lieutenant Grotthausen, both now alive, and then present,
were my camp comrades.  I gave them the letter to read, and they laughed
at its contents.  It was determined to show it to our superior officer,
Jaschinsky, on a promise of secrecy, and it was accordingly shown him
within an hour after it was received.

The reader will be so kind as to recollect that, as I have before said,
it was this Colonel Jaschinsky who on the 12th of February, the same
year, at Berlin, prevailed on me to write to the Austrian Trenck, my
cousin; that he received the letter open, and undertook to send it
according to its address; also that, in this letter, I in jest had asked
him to send me some Hungarian horses, and, should they come, had promised
one to Jaschinsky.  He read the letter with an air of some surprise; we
laughed, and, it being whispered through the army that, in consequence of
our late victory, detached corps would be sent into Hungary, Jaschinsky
said, "We shall now go and take Hungarian horses for ourselves."  Here
the conversation ended, and I, little suspecting future consequences,
returned to my tent.

I must here remark the following observations:--

1st.  I had not observed the date of the letter brought by the postman,
which, as I have said, was antedated four months: this, however, the
colonel did not fail to remark.

2ndly.  The probability is that this was a net, spread for me by this
false and wicked man.  The return of my horses, during the preceding
campaign, had been the subject of much conversation.  It is possible he
had the King's orders to watch me; but more probably he only prevailed on
me to write that he might entrap me by a fictitious answer.  Certain it
is, my cousin Trenck, at Vienna, affirmed to his death he never received
any letter from me, consequently never could send any answer.  I must
therefore conclude this letter was forged.

Jaschinsky was at this time one of the King's favourites; his spy over
the army; a tale-bearer; an inventor of wicked lies and calumnies.  Some
years after the event of which I am now speaking, the King was obliged to
break and banish him the country.

He was then also the paramour of the beauteous Madame Brossart, wife of
the Saxon resident at Berlin, and there can be little doubt but that this
false letter was, by her means, conveyed to some Saxon or Austrian post-
office, and thence, according to its address, sent to me.  He had daily
opportunities of infusing suspicions into the King's mind concerning me;
and, unknown to me, of pursuing his diabolical plan.

I must likewise add he was four hundred ducats indebted to me.  At that
time I had always a plentiful supply of money.  This booty became his own
when I, unexamined, was arrested, and thrown into prison.  In like manner
he seized on the greatest part of my camp equipage.

Further, we had quarrelled during our first campaign, because he had
beaten one of my servants; we even were proceeding to fight with pistols,
had not Colonel Winterfield interfered, and amicably ended our quarrel.
The Lithuanian is, by nature, obstinate and revengeful; and, from that
day, I have reason to believe he sought my destruction.

God only knows what were the means he took to excite the King's
suspicious; for it is incredible that Frederic, considering his _well-
known professions_ of public justice, should treat me in the manner he
did, without a hearing, without examination, and without a court-martial.
This to me has ever remained a mystery, which the King alone was able to
explain; he afterwards was convinced I was innocent: but my sufferings
had been too cruel, and the miseries he had inflicted too horrible, for
me ever to hope for compensation.

In an affair of this nature, which will soon he known to all Europe, as
it long has been in Prussia, the weakest is always guilty.  I have been
made a terrible example to this our age, how true that maxim is in
despotic States.

A man of my rank, having once unjustly suffered, and not having the power
of making his sufferings known, must ever be highly rewarded or still
more unjustly punished.  My name and injuries will ever stain the annals
of Frederic _the Great_; even those who read this book will perhaps
suppose that I, from political motives of hope or fear, have sometimes
concealed truth by endeavouring to palliate his conduct.

It must ever remain incomprehensible that a monarch so clear-sighted,
himself the daily witness of my demeanour, one well acquainted with
mankind, and conscious I wanted neither money, honour, nor hope of future
preferment; I say it is incomprehensible that he should really suppose me
guilty.  I take God to witness, and all those who knew me in prosperity
and misfortune, I never harboured a thought of betraying my country.  How
was it possible to suspect me?  I was neither madman nor idiot.  In my
eighteenth year I was a cornet of the body guard, adjutant to the King,
and possessed his favour and confidence in the highest degree.  His
presents to me, in one year, amounted to fifteen hundred dollars.  I kept
seven horses, four men in livery; I was valued, distinguished, and
beloved by the mistress of my soul.  My relations held high offices, both
civil and military; I was even fanatically devoted to my King and
country, and had nothing to wish.

That I should become thus wretched, in consequence of this unfortunate
letter, is equally wonderful: it came by the public post.  Had there been
any criminal correspondence, my kinsman certainly would not have chosen
this mode of conveyance; since, it is well known, all such letters are
opened; nor could I act more openly.  My colonel read the letter I wrote;
and also that which I received, immediately after it was brought.

The day after the receipt of this letter I was, as I have before said,
unheard, unaccused, unjudged, conducted like a criminal from the army, by
fifty hussars, and imprisoned in the fortress of Glatz.  I was allowed to
take three horses, and my servants, but my whole equipage was left
behind, which I never saw more, and which became the booty of Jaschinsky.
My commission was given to Cornet Schatzel, and I cashiered without
knowing why.  There were no legal inquiries made: all was done by the
King's command.

Unhappy people! where power is superior to law, and where the innocent
and the virtuous meet punishment instead of reward.  Unhappy land! where
the omnipotent "SUCH IS OUR WILL" supersedes all legal sentence, and robs
the subject of property, life, and honour.

I once more repeat I was brought to the citadel of Glatz; I was not,
however, thrown into a dungeon, but imprisoned in a chamber of the
officer of the guard; was allowed my servants to wait on me, and
permitted to walk on the ramparts.

I did not want money, and there was only a detachment from the garrison
regiment in the citadel of Glatz, the officers of which were all poor.  I
soon had both friends and freedom, and the rich prisoner every day kept
open table.

He only who had known me in this the ardour of my youth, who had
witnessed how high I aspired, and the fortune that attended me at Berlin,
can imagine what my feelings were at finding myself thus suddenly cast
from my high hopes.

I wrote submissively to the King, requesting to be tried by a
court-martial, and not desiring any favour should I be found guilty.  This
haughty tone, in a youth, was displeasing, and I received no answer,
which threw me into despair, and induced me to use every possible means
to obtain my liberty.

My first care was to establish, by the intervention of an officer, a
certain correspondence with the object of my heart.  She answered, she
was far from supposing I had ever entertained the least thought
treacherous to my country; that she knew, too well, I was perfectly
incapable, of dissimulation.  She blamed the precipitate anger and unjust
suspicions of the King; promised me speedy aid, and sent me a thousand
ducats.

Had I, at this critical moment, possessed a prudent and intelligent
friend, who could have calmed my impatience, nothing perhaps might have
been more easy than to have obtained pardon from the King, by proving my
innocence; or, it may be, than to have induced him to punish my enemies.

But the officers who then were at Glatz fed the flame of discontent.  They
supposed the money I so freely distributed came all from Hungary,
furnished by the pandour chest; and advised me not to suffer my freedom
to depend upon the will of the King, but to enjoy it in his despite.

It was not more easy to give this advice than to persuade a man to take
it, who, till then, had never encountered anything but good fortune, and
who consequently supported the reverse with impatience.  I was not yet,
however, determined; because I could not yet resolve to abandon my
country, and especially Berlin.

Five months soon passed away in prison: peace was concluded; the King was
returned to his capital; my commission in the guards was bestowed on
another, when Lieutenant Piaschky, of the regiment of Fouquet, and Ensign
Reitz, who often mounted guard over me, proposed that they and I should
escape together.  I yielded; our plan was fixed, and every preparatory
step taken.

At that time there was another prisoner at Glatz, whose name was Manget,
by birth a Swiss, and captain of cavalry in the Natzmerschen hussars; he
had been broken, and condemned by a court-martial to ten years'
imprisonment, with an allowance of only four rix-dollars per month.

Having done this man kindness, I was resolved to rescue him from bondage,
at the same time that I obtained freedom for myself.  I communicated my
design, and made the proposal, which was accepted by him, and measures
were taken; yet were we betrayed by this vile man, who thus purchased
pardon and liberty.

Piaschky, who had been informed that Reitz was arrested, saved himself by
deserting.  I denied the fact in presence of Manget, with whom I was
confronted, and bribed the Auditor with a hundred ducats.  By this means
Reitz only suffered a year's imprisonment, and the loss of his
commission.  I was afterwards closely confined in a chamber, for having
endeavoured to corrupt the King's officers, and was guarded with greater
caution.

Here I will interrupt my narrative, for a moment, to relate an adventure
which happened between me and this Captain Manget, three years after he
had thus betrayed me--that is to say, in 1749, at Warsaw.

I there met him by chance, and it is not difficult to imagine what was
the salutation he received.  I caned him; he took this ill, and
challenged me to fight with pistols.  Captain Heucking, of the Polish
guards, was my second.  We both fired together; I shot him through the
neck at the first shot, and he fell dead on the field.

He alone, of all my enemies, ever died by my own hand; and he well
merited his end, for his cowardly treachery towards the two brave fellows
of whom I have spoken; and still more so with respect to myself, who had
been his benefactor.  I own, I have never reproached myself for this
duel, by which I sent a rascal out of the world.

I return to my tale.  My destiny at Glatz was now become more untoward
and severe.  The King's suspicions were increased, as likewise was his
anger, by this my late attempt to escape.

Left to myself, I considered my situation in the worst point of view, and
determined either on flight or death.  The length and closeness of my
confinement became insupportable to my impatient temper.

I had always had the garrison on my side, nor was it possible to prevent
my making friends among them.  They knew I had money, and, in a poor
garrison regiment, the officers of which are all dissatisfied, having
most of them been drafted from other corps, and sent thither as a
punishment, there was nothing that might not be undertaken.

My scheme was as follows:--My window looked towards the city, and was
ninety feet from the ground in the tower of the citadel, out of which I
could not get, without having found a place of refuge in the city.

This an officer undertook to procure me, and prevailed on an honest soap-
boiler to grant me a hiding place.  I then notched my pen-knife, and
sawed through three iron bars; but this mode was too tedious, it being
necessary to file away eight bars from my window, before I could pass
through; another officer therefore procured me a file, which I was
obliged to use with caution, lest I should be overheard by the sentinels.

Having ended this labour, I cut my leather portmanteau into thongs, sewed
them end to end, added the sheets of my bed, and descended safely from
this astonishing height.

It rained, the night was dark, and all seemed fortunate, but I had to
wade through moats full of mud, before I could enter the city, a
circumstance I had never once considered.  I sank up to the knees, and
after long struggling, and incredible efforts to extricate myself, I was
obliged to call the sentinel, and desire him to go and tell the governor,
Trenck was stuck fast in the moat.

My misfortune was the greater on this occasion, because that General
Fouquet was then governor of Glatz.  He was one of the cruellest of men.
He had been wounded by my father in a duel; and the Austrian Trenck had
taken his baggage in 1744, and had also laid the country of Glatz under
contribution.  He was, therefore, an enemy to the very name of Trenck;
nor did he lose any opportunity of giving proofs of his enmity, and
especially on the present occasion, when he left me standing in the mire
till noon, the sport of the soldiers.  I was then drawn out, half dead,
only again to be imprisoned, and shut up the whole day, without water to
wash me.  No one can imagine how I looked, exhausted and dirty, my long
hair having fallen into the mud, with which, by my struggling, it was
loaded.

I remained in this condition till the next day, when two fellow-prisoners
were sent to assist and clean me.

My imprisonment now became more intolerable.  I had still eighty louis-
d'ors in my purse, which had not been taken from me at my removal into
another dungeon, and these afterwards did me good service.

The passions soon all assailed me at once, and impetuous, boiling,
youthful blood overpowered reason; hope disappeared; I thought myself the
most unfortunate of men, and my King an irreconcileable judge, more
wrathful and more fortified in suspicion by my own rashness.  My nights
were sleepless, my days miserable; my soul was tortured by the desire of
fame; a consciousness of innocence was a continued stimulus inciting me
to end my misfortunes.  Youth, inexperienced in woe and disastrous fate,
beholds every evil magnified, and desponds on every new disappointment,
more especially after having failed in attempting freedom.  Education had
taught me to despise death, and these opinions had been confirmed by my
friend La Mettrie, author of the famous work, "L'Homme Machine," or "Man
a Machine."

I read much during my confinement at Glatz, where books were allowed me;
time was therefore less tedious; but when the love of liberty awoke, when
fame and affection called me to Berlin, and my baulked hopes painted the
wretchedness of my situation; when I remembered that my loved country,
judging by appearances, could not but pronounce me a traitor; then was I
hourly impelled to rush on the naked bayonets of my guards, by whom, to
me, the road of freedom was barred.

Big with such-like thoughts, eight days had not elapsed since my last
fruitless attempt to escape, when an event happened which would appear
incredible, were I, the principal actor in the scene, not alive to attest
its truth, and might not all Glatz and the Prussian garrison be produced
as eye and ear witnesses.  This incident will prove that adventurous, and
even rash, daring will render the most improbable undertakings possible,
and that desperate attempts may often make a general more fortunate and
famous than the wisest and best concerted plans.

Major Doo {2} came to visit me, accompanied by an officer of the guard,
and an adjutant.  After examining every corner of my chamber, he
addressed me, taxing me with a second crime in endeavouring to obtain my
liberty; adding this must certainly increase the anger of the King.

My blood boiled at the word crime; he talked of patience; I asked him how
long the King had condemned me to imprisonment; he answered, a traitor to
his country, who has correspondence with the enemy, cannot be condemned
for a certain time, but must depend for grace and pardon on the King.

At that instant I snatched his sword from his side, on which my eyes had
some time been fixed, sprang out of the door, tumbled the sentinel from
the top to the bottom of the stairs, passed the men who happened to be
drawn up before the prison door to relieve the guard, attacked them sword
in hand, threw them suddenly into surprise by the manner in which I laid
about me, wounded four of them, made way through the rest, sprang over
the breastwork of the ramparts, and, with my sword drawn in my hand,
immediately leaped this astonishing height without receiving the least
injury.  I leaped the second wall with equal safety and good fortune.
None of their pieces were loaded; no one durst leap after me, and in
order to pursue, they must go round through the town and gate of the
citadel; so that I had the start full half an hour.

A sentinel, however, in a narrow passage, endeavoured to oppose my
flight, but I parried his fixed bayonet, and wounded him in the face.  A
second sentinel, meantime, ran from the outworks, to seize me behind, and
I, to avoid him, made a spring at the palisadoes; there I was unluckily
caught by the foot, and received a bayonet wound in the upper lip; thus
entangled, they beat me with the butt-end of their muskets, and dragged
me back to prison, while I struggled and defended myself like a man grown
desperate.

Certain it is, had I more carefully jumped the palisadoes, and despatched
the sentinel who opposed me, I might have escaped, and gained the
mountains.  Thus might I have fled to Bohemia, after having, at noonday,
broken from the fortress of Glatz, sprung past all its sentinels, over
all its walls, and passed with impunity, in despite of the guard, who
were under arms, ready to oppose me.  I should not, having a sword, have
feared any single opponent, and was able to contend with the swiftest
runners.

That good fortune which had so far attended me forsook me at the
palisadoes, where hope was at an end.  The severities of imprisonment
were increased; two sentinels and an under officer were locked in with
me, and were themselves guarded by sentinels without; I was beaten and
wounded by the butt-ends of their muskets, my right foot was sprained, I
spat blood, and my wounds were not cured in less than a month.




CHAPTER V.


I was now first informed that the King had only condemned me to a year's
imprisonment, in order to learn whether his suspicions were well founded.
My mother had petitioned for me, and was answered, "Your son must remain
a year imprisoned, as a punishment for his rash correspondence."

Of this I was ignorant, and it was reported in Glatz that my imprisonment
was for life.  I had only three weeks longer to repine for the loss of
liberty, when I made this rash attempt.  What must the King think?  Was
he not obliged to act with this severity?  How could prudence excuse my
impatience, thus to risk a confiscation, when I was certain of receiving
freedom, justification, and honour, in three weeks?  But, such was my
adverse fate, circumstances all tended to injure and persecute me, till
at length I gave reason to suppose I was a traitor, notwithstanding the
purity of my intentions.

Once more, then, was I in a dungeon, and no sooner was I there than I
formed new projects of flight.  I first gained the intimacy of my guards.
I had money, and this, with the compassion I had inspired, might effect
anything among discontented Prussian soldiers.  Soon had I gained thirty-
two men, who were ready to execute, on the first signal, whatever I
should command.  Two or three excepted, they were unacquainted with each
other; they consequently could not all be betrayed at a time: had chosen
the sub-officer Nicholai to head them.

The garrison consisted only of one hundred and twenty men from the
garrison regiment, the rest being dispersed in the county of Glatz, and
four officers, their commanders, three of whom were in my interest.
Everything was prepared; swords and pistols were concealed in the oven
which was in my prison.  We intended to give liberty to all the
prisoners, and retire with drums beating into Bohemia.

Unfortunately, an Austrian deserter, to whom Nicholai had imparted our
design, went and discovered our conspiracy.  The governor instantly sent
his adjutant to the citadel, with orders that the officer on guard should
arrest Nicholai, and, with his men, take possession of the casement.

Nicholai was on the guard, and the lieutenant was my friend, and being in
the secret, gave the signal that all was discovered.  Nicholai only knew
all the conspirators, several of whom that day were on guard.  He
instantly formed his resolution, leaped into the casement, crying,
"Comrades, to arms, we are betrayed!"  All followed to the guard-house,
where they seized on the cartridges, the officer having only eight men,
and threatening to fire on whoever should offer resistance, came to
deliver me from prison; but the iron door was too strong, and the time
too short for that to be demolished.  Nicholai, calling to me, bid me aid
them, but in vain: and perceiving nothing more could be done for me, this
brave man, heading nineteen others, marched to the gate of the citadel,
where there was a sub-officer and ten soldiers, obliged these to
accompany him, and thus arrived safely at Braunau, in Bohemia; for,
before the news was spread through the city, and men were collected for
the pursuit, they were nearly half-way on their journey.

Two years after I met with this extraordinary man at Ofenbourg, where hue
was a writer: he entered immediately into my service, and became my
friend, but died some months after of a burning fever, at my quarters in
Hungary, at which I was deeply grieved, for his memory will be ever dear
to me.

Now was I exposed to all the storms of ill-fortune: a prosecution was
entered against me as a conspirator, who wanted to corrupt the officers
and soldiers of the King.  They commanded me to name the remaining
conspirators; but to these questions I made no answer, except by
steadfastly declaring I was an innocent prisoner, an officer unjustly
broken; unjustly, because I had never been brought to trial; that
consequently I was released from all my engagements; nor could it be
thought extraordinary that I should avail myself of that law of nature
which gives every man a right to defend his honour defamed, and seek by
every possible means to regain his liberty: that such had been my sole
purpose in every enterprise I had formed, and such should still continue
to be, for I was determined to persist, till I should either be crowned
with success, or lose my life in the attempt.

Things thus remained: every precaution was taken except that I was not
put in irons; it being a law in Prussia that no gentleman or officer can
be loaded with chains, unless he has first for some crime been delivered
over to the executioner; and certainly this had not been my case.

The soldiers were withdrawn from my chamber; but the greatest ill was I
had expended all my money, and my kind mistress, at Berlin, with whom I
had always corresponded, and which my persecutors could not prevent, at
last wrote--

   "My tears flow with yours; the evil is without remedy--I dare no
   more--escape if you can.  My fidelity will ever be the same, when it
   shall be possible for me to serve you.--Adieu, unhappy friend: you
   merit a better fate."

This letter was a thunderbolt:--my comfort, however, still was that the
officers were not suspected, and that it was their duty to visit my
chamber several times a day, and examine what passed: from which
circumstance I felt my hopes somewhat revive.  Hence an adventure
happened which is almost unexampled in tales of knight-errantry.

A lieutenant, whose name was Bach, a Dane by nation, mounted guard every
fourth day, and was the terror of the whole garrison; for, being a
perfect master of arms, he was incessantly involved in quarrels, and
generally left his marks behind him.  He had served in two regiments,
neither of which would associate with him for this reason, and he had
been sent to the garrison regiment at Glatz as punishment.

Bach one day, sitting beside me, related how, the evening before, he had
wounded a lieutenant, of the name of Schell, in the arm.  I replied,
laughing, "Had I my liberty, I believe you would find some trouble in
wounding me, for I have some skill in the sword."  The blood instantly
flew in his face; we split off a kind of pair of foils from an old door,
which had served me as a table, and at the first lunge I hit him on the
breast.

His rage became ungovernable, and he left the prison.  What was my
astonishment when, a moment after, I saw him return with two soldiers'
swords, which he had concealed under his coat.--"Now, then, boaster,
prove," said he, giving me one of them, "what thou art able to do."  I
endeavoured to pacify him, by representing the danger, but ineffectually.
He attacked me with the utmost fury, and I wounded him in the arm.

Throwing his sword down, he fell upon my neck, kissed me, and wept.  At
length, after some convulsive emotions of pleasure, he said, "Friend,
thou art my master; and thou must, thou shalt, by my aid, obtain thy
liberty, as certainly as my name is Bach."  We bound up his arm as well
as we could.  He left me, and secretly went to a surgeon, to have it
properly dressed, and at night returned.

He now remarked, that it was humanly impossible I should escape, unless
the officer on guard should desert with me;--that he wished nothing more
ardently than to sacrifice his life in my behalf, but that he could not
resolve so far to forget his honour and duty to desert, himself, while on
guard: he notwithstanding gave me his word of honour he would find me
such a person in a few days; and that, in the meantime, he would prepare
everything for my flight.

He returned the same evening, bringing with him Lieutenant Schell, and as
he entered said, "Here is your man."  Schell embraced me, gave his word
of honour, and thus was the affair settled, and as it proved, my liberty
ascertained.

We soon began to deliberate on the means necessary to obtain our purpose.
Schell was just come from garrison at Habelchwert to the citadel of
Glatz, and in two days was to mount guard over me, till when our attempt
was suspended.  I have before said, I received no more supplies from my
beloved mistress, and my purse at that time only contained some six
pistoles.  It was therefore resolved that Bach should go to Schweidnitz,
and obtain money of a sure friend of mine in that city.

Here must I inform the reader that at this period the officers and I all
understood each other, Captain Roder alone excepted, who was exact,
rigid, and gave trouble on all occasions.

Major Quaadt was my kinsman, by my mother's side, a good, friendly man,
and ardently desirous I should escape, seeing my calamities were so much
increased.  The four lieutenants who successively mounted guard over me
were Bach, Schroeder, Lunitz, and Schell.  The first was the grand
projector, and made all preparations; Schell was to desert with me; and
Schroeder and Lunitz three days after were to follow.

No one ought to be surprised that officers of garrison regiments should
be so ready to desert.  They are, in general, either men of violent
passions, quarrelsome, overwhelmed with debts, or unfit for service.  They
are usually sent to the garrison as a punishment, and are called the
refuse of the army.  Dissatisfied with their situation, their pay much
reduced, and despised by the troops, such men, expecting advantage, may
be brought to engage in the most desperate undertaking.  None of them can
hope for their discharge, and they live in the utmost poverty.  They all
hoped by my means to better their fortune, I always having had money
enough; and, with money, nothing is more easy than to find friends, in
places where each individual is desirous of escaping from slavery.

The talents of Schell were of a superior order; he spoke and wrote six
languages, and was well acquainted with all the fine arts.  He had served
in the regiment of Fouquet, had been injured by his colonel, who was a
Pomeranian; and Fouquet, who was no friend to well-informed officers, had
sent him to a garrison regiment.  He had twice demanded his dismissal,
but the King sent him to this species of imprisonment; he then determined
to avenge himself by deserting, and was ready to aid me in recovering my
freedom, that he might, by that means, spite Fouquet.

I shall speak more hereafter of this extraordinary man, that I must not
in this place interrupt my story.  We determined everything should be
prepared against the first time Schell mounted guard, and that our
project should be executed on our next.  Thus, as he mounted guard every
four days, the eighth was to be that of our flight.

The governor meantime had been informed how familiar I was become with
the officers, at which taking offence, he sent orders that my door should
no more be opened, but that I should receive my food through a small
window that had been made for the purpose.  The care of the prison was
committed to the major, and he was forbidden to eat with me, under pain
of being broken.

His precautions were ineffectual; the officers procured a false key, and
remained with me half the day and night.

Captain Damnitz was imprisoned in an apartment by the side of mine.  This
man had deserted from the Prussian service, with the money belonging to
his company, to Austria, where he obtained a commission in his cousin's
regiment, who having prevailed on him to serve as a spy, during the
campaign of 1744, he was taken in the Prussian territories, known, and
condemned to be hanged.

Some Swedish volunteers, who were then in the army, interested themselves
in his behalf, and his sentence was changed to perpetual imprisonment,
with a sentence of infamy.

This wretch, who two years after, by the aid of his protectors, not only
obtained his liberty but a lieutenant-colonel's commission, was the
secret spy of the major over the prisoners; and he remarked that,
notwithstanding the express prohibition laid on the officers, they still
passed the greater part of their time in my company.

The 24th of December came, and Schell mounted guard.  He entered my
prison immediately, where he continued a long time, and we made our
arrangements for flight when he next should mount guard.

Lieutenant Schroeder that day dined with the governor, and heard orders
given to the adjutant that Schell should be taken from the guard, and put
under arrest.

Schroeder, who was in the secret, had no doubt but that we were betrayed,
not knowing that the spy Damnitz had informed the governor that Schell
was then in my chamber.

Schroeder, full of terror, came running to the citadel, and said to
Schell, "Save thyself, friend; all is discovered, and thou wilt instantly
be put under arrest."

Schell might easily have provided for his own safety, by flying singly,
Schroeder having prepared horses, on one of which he himself offered to
accompany him into Bohemia.  How did this worthy man, in a moment so
dangerous, act toward his friend?

Running suddenly into my prison, he drew a corporal's sabre from under
his coat, and said, "Friend, we are betrayed; follow me, only do not
suffer me to fall alive into the hands of my enemies."

I would have spoken: but interrupting me, and taking me by the hand, he
added, "Follow me; we have not a moment to lose."  I therefore slipped on
my coat and boots, without having time to take the little money I had
left; and, as we went out of the prison, Schell said to the sentinel, "I
am taking the prisoner into the officer's apartment; stand where you
are."

Into this room we really went, but passed out at the other door.  The
design of Schell was to go under the arsenal, which was not far off, to
gain the covered way, leap the palisadoes, and afterwards escape after
the best manner we might.

We had scarcely gone a hundred paces before we met the adjutant and Major
Quaadt.

Schell started back, sprang upon the rampart, and leaped from the wall,
which was there not very high.  I followed, and alighted unhurt, except
having grazed my shoulder.  My poor friend was not so fortunate; having
put out his ankle.  He immediately drew his sword, presented it to me,
and begged me to despatch him, and fly.  He was a small, weak man: but,
far from complying with his request, I took him in my arms, threw him
over the palisadoes, afterwards got him on my back, and began to run,
without very well knowing which way I went.




CHAPTER VI.


It may not be unnecessary to remark those fortunate circumstances that
favoured our enterprise.

The sun had just set as we took to flight; the hoar frost fell.  No one
would run the risk that we had done, by making so dangerous a leap.  We
heard a terrible noise behind us.  Everybody knew us; but before they
could go round the citadel, and through the town, in order to pursue us,
we had got a full half league.

The alarm guns were fired before we were a hundred paces distant; at
which my friend was very much terrified, knowing that in such cases it
was generally impossible to escape from Glatz, unless the fugitives had
got the start full two hours before the alarm guns were heard; the passes
being immediately all stopped by the peasants and hussars, who are
exceedingly vigilant.  No sooner is a prisoner missed than the gunner
runs from the guard-house, and fires the cannon on the three sides of the
fortress, which are kept loaded day and night for that purpose.

We were not five hundred paces from the walls, when all before us and
behind us were in motion.  It was daylight when we leaped, yet was our
attempt as fortunate as it was wonderful: this I attributed to my
presence of mind, and the reputation I had already acquired, which made
it thought a service of danger for two or three men to attack me.

It was besides imagined we were well provided with arms for our defence;
and it was little suspected that Schell had only his sword, and I an old
corporal's sabre.

Among the officers commanded to pursue us was Lieutenant Bart, my
intimate friend.  Captain Zerbst, of the regiment of Fouquet, who had
always testified the kindness of a brother towards me, met us on the
Bohemian frontiers, and called to me, "Make to time left, brother, and
you will see some lone houses, which are on the Bohemian confines: the
hussars have ridden straight forward."  He then passed on as if he had
not seen us.

We had nothing to fear from the officers; for the intimacy between the
Prussian officers was at that time so great, and the word of honour so
sacred, that during my rigorous detention at Glatz I had been once six-
and-thirty hours hunting at Neurode, at the seat of Baron Stillfriede;
Lunitz had taken my place in the prison, which the major knew when he
came to make his visit.  Hence may be conjectured how great was the
confidence in which the word of the unfortunate Trenck was held at Glatz,
since they did not fear letting him leave his dungeon, and hunt on the
very confines of Bohemia.  This, too, shows the governor was deceived, in
despite of his watchfulness and order, and that a man of honour, with
money, and a good head and heart, will never want friends.

These my memoirs will be the picture of what the national character then
was; and will prove that, with officers who lived like brothers, and held
their words so sacred, the great Frederick well might vanquish his
enemies.

Arbitrary power has now introduced the whip of slavery, and mechanic
subordination has eradicated those noble and rational incitements to
concord and honour.  Instead of which, mistrust and slavish fear having
arisen, the enthusiastic spirit of the Brandenburg warrior declines, and
into this error have most of the other European States fallen.

Scarcely had I borne my friend three hundred paces before I set him down,
and I looked round me, but darkness came on so fast that I could see
neither town nor citadel; consequently, we ourselves could not be seen.

My presence of mind did not forsake me: death or freedom was my
determination.  "Where are we, Schell?" said I to my friend.  "Where does
Bohemia lie? on which side is the river Neiss?"  The worthy man could
make no answer: his mind was all confusion, and he despaired of our
escape: he still, however, entreated I would not let him be taken alive,
and affirmed my labour was all in vain.

After having promised, by all that was sacred, I would save him from an
infamous death, if no other means were left, and thus raised his spirits,
he looked round, and knew, by some trees, we were not far from the city
gates.  I asked him, "Where is the Neiss?"  He pointed sideways--"All
Glatz has seen us fly towards the Bohemian mountains; it is impossible we
should avoid the hussars, the passes being all guarded, and we beset with
enemies."  So saying, I took him on my shoulders, and carried him to the
Neiss; here we distinctly heard the alarm sounded in the villages, and
the peasants, who likewise were to form the line of desertion, were
everywhere in motion, and spreading the alarm.  As it may not be known to
all my readers in what manner they proceed on these occasions in Prussia,
I will here give a short account of it.

Officers are daily named on the parade whose duty it is to follow
fugitives as soon as the alarm-guns are fired.

The peasants in the villages, likewise, are daily appointed to rim to the
guard of certain posts.  The officers immediately fly to these posts to
see that the peasants do their duty, and prevent the prisoner's escape.
Thus does it seldom happen that a soldier can effect his escape unless he
be, at the very least, an hour on the road before the alarm-guns are
fired.

I now return to my story.

I came to the Neiss, which was a little frozen, entered it with my
friend, and carried him as long as I could wade, and when I could not
feel the bottom, which did not continue for more than a space of eighteen
feet, he clung round me, and thus we got safely to the other shore.

My father taught all his sons to swim, for which I have often had to
thank him; since by means of this art, which is easily learnt in
childhood, I had on various occasions preserved my life, and was more
bold in danger.  Princes who wish to make their subjects soldiers, should
have them educated so as to fear neither fire nor water.  How great would
be the advantage of being able to cross a river with whole battalions,
when it is necessary to attack or retreat before the enemy, and when time
will not permit to prepare bridges!

The reader will easily suppose swimming in the midst of December, and
remaining afterwards eighteen hours in the open air, was a severe
hardship.  About seven o'clock the hoar-fog was succeeded by frost and
moonlight.  The carrying of my friend kept me warm, it is true, but I
began to be tired, while he suffered everything that frost, the pain of a
dislocated foot (which I in vain endeavoured to reset), and the danger of
death from a thousand hands, could inflict.

We were somewhat more tranquil, however, having reached the opposite
shore of the Neiss, since nobody would pursue us on the road to Silesia.
I followed the course of the river for half an hour, and having once
passed the first villages that formed the line of desertion, with which
Schell was perfectly acquainted, we in a lucky moment found a fisherman's
boat moored to the shore; into this we leaped, crossed the river again,
and soon gained the mountains.

Here being come, we sat ourselves down awhile on the snow; hope revived
in our hearts, and we held council concerning how it was best to act.  I
cut a stick to assist Schell in hopping forward as well as he could when
I was tired of carrying him; and thus we continued our route, the
difficulties of which were increased by the mountain snows.

Thus passed the night; during which, up to the middle in snow, we made
but little way.  There were no paths to be traced in the mountains, and
they were in many places impassable.  Day at length appeared: we thought
ourselves near the frontiers, which are twenty English miles from Glatz,
when we suddenly, to our great terror, heard the city clock strike.

Overwhelmed, as we were, by hunger, cold, fatigue, and pain, it was
impossible we should hold out through the day.  After some consideration,
and another half-hour's labour, we came to a village at the foot of the
mountain, on the side of which, about three hundred paces from us, we
perceived two separate houses, which inspired us with a stratagem that
was successful.

We lost our hats in leaping the ramparts; but Schell had preserved his
scarf and gorget, which would give him authority among the peasants.

I then cut my finger, rubbed the blood over my face, my shirt, and my
coat, and bound up my head, to give myself the appearance of a man
dangerously wounded.

In this condition I carried Schell to the end of the wood not far from
these houses; here he tied my hands behind my back, but so that I could
easily disengage them in ease of need: and hobbled after me, by aid of
his staff, calling for help.

Two old peasants appeared, and Schell commanded them to run to the
village, and tell a magistrate to come immediately with a cart.  "I have
seized this knave," added he, "who has killed my horse, and in the
struggle I have put out my ankle; however, I have wounded and bound him;
fly quickly, bring a cart, lest he should die before he is hanged."

As for me, I suffered myself to be led, as if half-dead, into the house.
A peasant was despatched to the village.  An old woman and a pretty girl
seemed to take great pity on me, and gave me some bread and milk: but how
great was our astonishment when the aged peasant called Schell by his
name, and told him he well knew we were deserters, having the night
before been at a neighbouring alehouse where the officer in pursuit of us
came, named and described us, and related the whole history of our
flight.  The peasant knew Schell, because his son served in his company,
and had often spoken of him when he was quartered at Habelschwert.

Presence of mind and resolution were all that were now left.  I instantly
ran to the stable, while Schell detained the peasant in the chamber.  He,
however, was a worthy man, and directed him to the road toward Bohemia.
We were still about some seven miles from Glatz, having lost ourselves
among the mountains, where we had wandered many miles.  The daughter
followed me: I found three horses in the stable, but no bridles.  I
conjured her, in the most passionate manner, to assist me: she was
affected, seemed half willing to follow me, and gave me two bridles.  I
led the horses to the door, called Schell, and helped him, with his lame
leg, on horseback.  The old peasant then began to weep, and beg I would
not take his horses; but he luckily wanted courage, and perhaps the will
to impede us; for with nothing more than a dung-fork, in our then feeble
condition, he might have stopped us long enough to have called in
assistance from the village.

And now behold us on horseback, without hats or saddles; Schell with his
uniform scarf and gorget, and I in my red regimental coat.  Still we were
in danger of seeing all our hopes vanish, for my horse would not stir
from the stable; however, at last, good horseman-like, I made him move:
Schell led the way, and we had scarcely gone a hundred paces, before we
perceived the peasants coming in crowds from the village.

As kind fortune would have it, the people were all at church, it being a
festival: the peasants Schell had sent were obliged to call aid out of
church.  It was but nine in the morning; and had the peasants been at
home, we had been lost past redemption.

We were obliged to take the road to Wunshelburg, and pass through the
town where Schell had been quartered a month before, and in which he was
known by everybody.  Our dress, without hats or saddles, sufficiently
proclaimed we were deserters: our horses, however, continued to go
tolerably well, and we had the good luck to get through the town,
although there was a garrison of one hundred and eighty infantry, and
twelve horse, purposely to arrest deserters.  Schell knew the road to
Brummem, where we arrived at eleven o'clock, after having met, as I
before mentioned, Captain Zerbst.

He who has been in the same situation only can imagine, though he never
can describe, all the joy we felt.  An innocent man, languishing in a
dungeon, who by his own endeavours, has broken his chains, and regained
his liberty, in despite of all the arbitrary power of princes, who vainly
would oppose him, conceives in moments like these such an abhorrence of
despotism, that I could not well comprehend how I ever could resolve to
live under governments where wealth, content, honour, liberty, and life
all depend upon a master's will, and who, were his intentions the most
pure, could not be able, singly, to do justice to a whole nation.

Never did I, during life, feel pleasure more exquisite than at this
moment.  My friend for me had risked a shameful death, and now, after
having carried him at least twelve hours on my shoulders, I had saved
both him and myself.  We certainly should not have suffered any man to
bring us, alive, back to Glatz.  Yet this was but the first act of the
tragedy of which I was doomed the hero, and the mournful incidents of
which all arose out of, and depended on, each other.




CHAPTER VII.


Could I have read the book of fate, and have seen the forty years'
fearful afflictions that were to follow, I certainly should not have
rejoiced at this my escape from Glatz.  One year's patience might have
appeased the irritated monarch, and, taking a retrospect of all that has
passed, I now find it would have been a fortunate circumstance, had the
good and faithful Schell and I never met, since he also fell into a train
of misfortunes, which I shall hereafter relate, and from which he could
never extricate himself, but by death.  The sufferings which I have since
undergone will be read with astonishment.

It is my consolation that both the laws of honour and nature justify the
action.  I may serve as an example of the fortitude with which danger
ought to be encountered, and show monarchs that in Germany, as well as in
Rome, there are men who refuse to crouch beneath the yoke of despotism,
and that philosophy and resolution are stronger than even those lords of
slaves, with all their threats, whips, tortures, and instruments of
death.

In Prussia, where my sufferings might have made me supposed the worst of
traitors, is my innocence universally acknowledged; and instead of
contempt, there have I gained the love of the whole nation, which is the
best compensation for all the ills I have suffered, and for having
persevered in the virtuous principles taught me in my youth, persecuted
as I have been by envy and malicious power.  I have not time further to
moralise; the numerous incidents of my life would otherwise swell this
volume to too great an extent.

Thus in freedom at Braunau, on the Bohemian frontiers, I sent the two
horses, with the corporal's sword, back to General Fouquet, at Glatz.  The
letter accompanying them was so pleasing to him that all the sentinels
before my prison door, as well as the guard under arms, and all those we
passed, were obliged to run the gauntlet, although the very day before he
had himself declared my escape was now rendered impossible.  He, however,
was deceived; and thus do the mean revenge themselves on the miserable,
and the tyrant on the innocent.

And now for the first time did I quit my country, and fly like Joseph
from the pit into which his false brethren had cast him; and in this the
present moment of joy for my escape, the loss even of friends and country
appeared to me the excess of good fortune.

The estates which had been purchased by the blood of my forefathers were
confiscated; and thus was a youth, of one of the noblest families in the
land, whose heart was all zeal for the service of his King and country,
and who was among those most capable to render them service, banished by
his unjust and misled King, and treated like the worst of miscreants,
malefactors, and traitors.

I wrote to the King, and sent him a true state of my case; sent
indubitable proofs of my innocence, and supplicated justice, but received
no answer.

In this the monarch may be justified, at least in my apprehension.  A
wicked man had maliciously and falsely accused me; Colonel Jaschinsky had
made him suspect me for a traitor, and it was impossible he should read
my heart.  The first act of injustice had been hastily committed; I had
been condemned unheard, unjudged; and the injustice that had been done me
was known too late; Frederic the Great found he was not infallible.
Pardon I would not ask, for I had committed no offence; and the King
would not probably own, by a reverse of conduct, he had been guilty of
injustice.  My resolution increased his obstinacy: but, in the discussion
of the cause, our power was very unequal.

The monarch once really loved me; he meant my punishment should only be
temporary, and as a trial of my fidelity.  That I had been condemned to
no more than a year's imprisonment had never been told me, and was a fact
I did not learn till long after.

Major Doo, who, as I have said, was the creature of Fouquet, a mean and
covetous man, knowing I had money, had always acted the part of a
protector as he pretended to me, and continually told me I was condemned
for life.  He perpetually turned the conversation on the great credit of
his general with the King, and his own great credit with the general.  For
the present of a horse, on which I rode to Glatz, he gave me freedom of
walking about the fortress; and for another, worth a hundred ducats, I
rescued Ensign Reitz from death, who had been betrayed when endeavouring
to effect our escape.  I have been assured that on that very day on which
I snatched his sword from his side, desperately passed through the
garrison, and leaped the walls of the rampart, he was expressly come to
tell me, after some prefatory threats, that by his general's
intercession, my punishment was only to be a year's imprisonment, and
that consequently I should be released in a few days.

How vile were means like these to wrest money from the unfortunate!  The
King, after this my mad flight, certainly was never informed of the
major's base cunning; he could only be told that, rather than wait a few
days, I had chosen, in this desperate manner, to make my escape, and go
over to the enemy.

Thus deceived and strengthened in his suspicion, must he not imagine my
desire to forsake my country, and desert to the enemy, was unbounded?  How
could he do otherwise than imprison a subject who thus endeavoured to
injure him and aid his foes?  Thus, by the calumnies of wicked men, did
my cruel destiny daily become more severe; and at length render the
deceived monarch irreconcilable and cruel.

Yet how could it be supposed that I would not willingly have remained
three weeks longer in prison, to have been honourably restored to
liberty, to have prevented the confiscation of my estate, and to have
once more returned to my beloved mistress at Berlin.

And now was I in Bohemia, a fugitive stranger without money, protector,
or friend, and only twenty years of age.

In the campaign of 1744 I had been quartered at Braunau with a weaver,
whom I advised and assisted to bury his effects, and preserve them from
being plundered.  The worthy man received us with joy and gratitude.  I
had lived in this same house but two years before as absolute master of
him and his fate.  I had then nine horses and five servants, with the
highest and most favourable hopes of futurity; but now I came a fugitive,
seeking protection, and having lost all a youth like me had to lose.

I had but a single louis-d'or in my purse, and Schell forty kreutzers, or
some three shillings; with this small sum, in a strange country, we had
to cure his sprain, and provide for all our wants.

I was determined not to go to my cousin Trenck at Vienna, fearful this
should seem a justification of all my imputed treasons; I rather wished
to embark for the East Indies, than to have recourse to this expedient.
The greater my delicacy was the greater became my distress.  I wrote to
my mistress at Berlin, but received no answer; possibly because I could
not indicate any certain mode of conveyance.  My mother believed me
guilty, and abandoned me; my brothers were still minors, and my friend at
Schweidnitz could not aid me, being gone to Konigsberg.

After three weeks' abode at Braunau, my friend recovered of his lameness.
We had been obliged to sell my watch, with his scarf and gorget, to
supply our necessities, and had only four florins remaining.

From the public papers I learned my cousin, the Austrian Trenck, was at
this time closely confined, and under criminal prosecution.  It will
easily be imagined what effect this news had upon me.

Never till now had I felt any inconvenience from poverty; my wants had
all been amply supplied, and I had ever lived among, and been highly
loved and esteemed by, the first people of the land.  I was destitute,
without aid, and undetermined how to seek employment, or obtain fame.

At length I determined to travel on foot to Prussia to my mother, and
obtain money from her, and afterwards enter into the Russian service.
Schell, whose destiny was linked to mine, would not forsake me.  We
assumed false names: I called myself Knert, and Schell, Lesch; then,
obtaining passports, like common deserters, we left Braunau on the 21st
of January, in the evening, unseen of any person, and proceeded towards
Bielitz in Poland.  A friend I had at Neurode gave me a pair of pocket
pistols, a musket, and three ducats; the money was spent at Braunau.  Here
let me take occasion to remark I had lent this friend, in urgent
necessity, a hundred ducats, which he still owed me; and when I sent to
request payment, he returned me three, as if I had asked charity.

Though a circumstantial description of our travels alone would fill a
volume, I shall only relate the most singular accidents which happened to
us; I shall also insert the journal of our route, which Schell had
preserved, and gave me in 1776, when he came to see me at
Aix-la-Chapelle, after an absence of thirty years.

This may be called the first scene in which I appeared as an adventurer,
and perhaps my good fortune may even have overbalanced the bad, since I
have escaped death full thirty times when the chances were a hundred to
one against me; certain it is I undertook many things in which I seemed
to have owed my preservation to the very rashness of the action, and in
which others equally brave would have found death.



JOURNAL OF TRAVELS ON FOOT.


From Braunau, in Bohemia, through Bielitz, in Poland, to Meseritsch, and
from Meseritsch, by Thorn, to Ebling; in the whole 169 miles, {3}
performed without begging or stealing.

January 18th, 1747.--From Braunau, by Politz, to Nachod, three miles, we
having three florins forty-five kreutzers in our purse.

Jan. 19.--To Neustadt.  Here Schell bartered his uniform for an old coat,
and a Jew gave him two florins fifteen kreutzers in exchange; from hence
we went to Reichenau; in all, three miles.

Jan. 20.--We went to Leitomischl, five miles.  Here I bought a loaf hot
out of the oven, which eating greedily, had nearly caused my death.  This
obliged us to rest a day, and the extravagant charge of the landlord
almost emptied our purse.

Jan. 22.--From Trubau, to Zwittau, in Moravia, four miles.

Jan. 23.--To Sternberg, six miles.  This day's journey excessively
fatigued poor Schell, his sprained ankle being still extremely weak.

Jan. 24.--To Leipnik, four miles, in a deep snow, and with empty
stomachs.  Here I sold my stock-buckle for four florins.

Jan. 25.--To Freiberg, by Weiskirch, to Drahotusch, five miles.  Early in
the morning we found a violin and case on the road; the innkeeper in
Weiskirch gave us two florins for it, on condition that he should return
it to the owner on proving his right, it being worth at least twenty.

Jan. 26.--To Friedek, in Upper Silesia, two miles.

Jan. 27.--To a village, four miles and a half.

Jan. 28.--Through Skotschau, to Bielitz, three miles.  This was the last
Austrian town on the frontiers of Poland, and Captain Capi, of the
regiment of Marischall, who commanded the garrison, demanded our
passports.  We had false names, and called ourselves common Prussian
deserters; but a drummer, who had deserted from Glatz, knew us, and
betrayed us to the captain, who immediately arrested us very rudely, and
sent us on foot to Teschin (refusing us a hearing), four miles distant.

Here we found Lieut.-Colonel Baron Schwarzer, a perfectly worthy man, who
was highly interested in our behalf, and who blamed the irregular
arbitrary conduct of Captain Capi.  I frankly related my adventures, and
he used every possible argument to persuade me, instead of continuing my
journey through Poland to go to Vienna, but in vain; my good genius, this
time, preserved me--would to God it ever had!  How many miseries had I
then avoided, and how easily might I have escaped the snares spread for
me by the powerful, who have seized on my property, and in order to
secure it, have hitherto rendered me useless to the state by depriving me
of all post or preferment.

I returned, therefore, a second time to Beilitz, travelling these four
miles once more.  Schwarzer lent us his own horse and four ducats, which
I have since repaid, but which I shall never forget, as they were of
signal service to me, and procured me a pair of new boots.

Irritated against Captain Capi, we passed through Beilitz without
stopping, went immediately to Biala, the first town in Poland, and from
thence sent Capi a challenge to fight me, with sword or pistol, but
received no answer; and his non-appearance has ever confirmed him in my
opinion a rascal.

And here suffer me to take a retrospective view of what was my then
situation.  By the orders of Capi I was sent prisoner as a contemptible
common deserter, and was unable to call him to account.  In Poland,
indeed, I had that power, but was despised as a vagabond because of my
poverty.  What, alas! are the advantages which the love of honour,
science, courage, or desire of fame can bestow, wanting the means that
should introduce us to, and bid us walk erect in the presence of our
equals?  Youth depressed by poverty, is robbed of the society of those
who best can afford example and instruction.  I had lived familiar with
the great, men of genius had formed and enlightened me; I had been
enumerated among the favourites of a court; and now was I a stranger,
unknown, unesteemed, nay, condemned, obliged to endure the extremes of
cold, hunger, and thirst; to wander many a weary mile, suffering both in
body and mind, while every step led me farther from her whom most I
loved, and dearest; yet had I no fixed plan, no certain knowledge in what
these my labours and sufferings should end.

I was too proud to discover myself; and, indeed, to whom could I discover
myself in a strange land?  My name might have availed me in Austria, but
in Austria, where this name was known, would I not remain; rather than
seek my fortune there, I was determined to shun whatever might tend to
render me suspicious in the eyes of my country.  How liable was a temper
so ardent as mine, in the midst of difficulties, fatigues, and
disappointments, hard to endure, to betray me into all those errors of
which rash youth, unaccustomed to hardship, impatient of contrariety, are
so often guilty!  But I had taken my resolution, and my faithful Schell,
to whom hunger or ease, contempt or fame, for my sake, were become
indifferent, did whatever I desired.

Once more to my journal.

Feb. 1.--We proceeded four miles from Biala to Oswintzen, I having
determined to ask aid from my sister, who had married Waldow, and lived
much at her case on a fine estate at Hanmer, in Brandenburg, between
Lansberg, on the Warta and Meseritsch, a frontier town of Poland.  For
this reason we continued our route all along the Silesian confines to
Meseritsch.

Feb. 2.--To Bobrek and Elkusch, five miles.  We suffered much this day
because of the snow, and that the lightness of our dress was ill suited
to such severe weather.  Schell, negligently, lost our purse, in which
were nine florins.  I had still, however, nineteen grosch in my pocket
(about half-a-crown).

Feb. 3.--To Crumelew, three miles; and

Feb. 4.--To Wladowiegud Joreck, three miles more; and from thence, on.

Feb. 5.--To Czenstochowa, where there is a magnificent convent,
concerning which, had I room, I might write many remarkable things, much
to the disgrace of its inhabitants.

We slept at an inn kept by a very worthy man, whose name was Lazar.  He
had been a lieutenant in the Austrian service, where he had suffered
much, and was now become a poor innkeeper in Poland.  We had not a penny
in our purse, and requested a bit of bread.  The generous man had
compassion on us, and desired us to sit down and eat with himself.  I
then told him who we were, and trusted him with the motives of our
journey.  Scarcely had we supped, before a carriage arrived with three
people.  They had their own horses, a servant and a coachman.

This is a remarkable incident, and I must relate it circumstantially,
though as briefly as possible.

We had before met this carriage at Elkusch, and one of these people had
asked Schell where we were going; he had replied, to Czenstochowa; we
therefore had not the least suspicion of them, notwithstanding the danger
we ran.

They lay at the inn, saluted us, but with indifference, not seeming to
notice us, and spoke little.  We had not been long in bed, before our
host came to awaken us, and told us with surprise, these pretended
merchants were sent to arrest us from Prussia; that they had offered,
first, fifty, afterwards, a hundred ducats, if he would permit them to
take us in his house, and carry us into Silesia: that he had firmly
rejected the proposal, though they had increased their promises: and that
at last they had given him six ducats to engage his silence.

We clearly saw these were an officer and under-officers sent by General
Fouquet, to recover us.  We conjectured by what means they had discovered
our route, and imagined the information they had received could only come
from one Lieutenant Molinie, of the garrison of Habelschwert, who had
come to visit Schell, as a friend, during our stay at Braunau.  He had
remained with us two days, and had asked many questions concerning the
road we should take, and he was the only one who knew it.  He was
probably the spy of Fouquet, and the cause of what happened afterwards,
which, however, ended in the defeat of our enemies.

The moment I heard of this infamous treachery, I was for entering with my
pistols primed, into the enemy's chamber, but was prevented by Schell and
Lazar: the latter entreated me, in the strongest manner, to remain at his
house till I should receive a supply from my mother, that I might be
enabled to continue my journey with more ease and less danger: but his
entreaties were ineffectual; I was determined to see her, uncertain as I
was of what effect my letter had produced.  Lazar assured me, we should,
most infallibly, be attacked on the road.  "So much the better," retorted
I; "that will give me an opportunity of despatching them, sending them to
the other world, and shooting them as I would highwayman."  They departed
at break of day, and took the road to Warsaw.

We would have been gone, likewise, but Lazar, in some sort, forcibly
detained us, and gave us the six ducats he had received from the
Prussians, with which we bought us each a shirt, another pair of pocket
pistols, and other urgent necessaries; then took an affectionate leave of
our host, who directed us on our way, and we testified our gratitude for
the great services done us.

Feb. 6.--From Czenstochowa to Dankow, two miles.  Here we expected an
attack.  Lazar had told us our enemies had one musket: I also had a
musket, and an excellent sabre, and each of us was provided with a pair
of pistols.  They knew not we were so well armed, which perhaps was the
cause of their panic, when they came to engage.

Feb. 7.--We took the road to Parsemechi: we had not been an hour on the
road, before we saw a carriage; as we drew near, we knew it to be that of
our enemies, who pretended it was set in the snow.  They were round it,
and when they saw us approach, began to call for help.  This, we guessed,
was an artifice to entrap us.  Schell was not strong; they would all have
fallen upon me, and we should easily have been carried off, for they
wanted to take us alive.

We left the causeway about thirty paces, answering--"we had not time to
give them help;" at which they all ran to their carriage, drew out their
pistols, and returning full speed after us, called, "Stop, rascals!"  We
began to run, but I suddenly turning round, presented my piece, and shot
the nearest dead on the spot.  Schell fired his pistols; our oppressors
did the same, and Schell received a ball in the neck at this discharge.
It was now my turn; I took out my pistols, one of the assailants fled,
and I enraged, pursued him three hundred paces, overtook him, and as he
was defending himself with his sword, perceiving he bled, and made a
feeble resistance, pressed upon him, and gave him a stroke that brought
him down.  I instantly returned to Schell, whom I found in the power of
two others that were dragging him towards the carriage, but when they saw
me at their heels, they fled over the fields.  The coachman, perceiving
which way the battle went, leaped on his box, and drove off full speed.

Schell, though delivered, was wounded with a ball in the neck, and by a
cut in the right hand, which had made him drop his sword, though he
affirmed he had run one of his adversaries through.

I took a silver watch from the man I had killed, and was going to make
free with his purse, when Schell called, and showed me a coach and six
coming down a hill.  To stay would have exposed us to have been
imprisoned as highwaymen; for the two fugitives who had escaped us would
certainly have borne witness against us.  Safety could only be found in
flight.  I, however, seized the musket and hat of him I had first killed,
and we then gained the copse, and after that the forest.  The road was
round about, and it was night before we reached Parsemechi.

Schell was besmeared with blood; I had bound up his wound the best I
could; but in Polish villages no surgeons are to be found: and he
performed his journey with great difficulty.  We met with two Saxon under-
officers here, who were recruiting for the regiment of guards at Dresden.
My six feet height and person pleased them, and they immediately made
themselves acquainted with me.  I found them intelligent, and entrusted
them with our secret, told them who we were, related the battle we had
that day had with our pursuers, and I had not reason to repent of my
confidence in them.  Schell had his wounds dressed, and we remained seven
days with these good Saxons, who faithfully kept us company.

I learned, meantime, that of the four men by whom we had been assaulted,
one only, and the coachman, returned to Glatz.  The name of the officer
who undertook this vile business was Gersdorf; he had a hundred and fifty
ducats in his pocket when found dead.  How great would our good fortune
have been, had not that cursed coach and six, by its appearance, made us
take to flight; since the booty would have been most just!  Fortune, this
time, did not favour the innocent; and though treacherously attacked, I
was obliged to escape like a guilty wretch.  We sold the watch to a Jew
for four ducats, the hat for three florins and a half, and the musket for
a ducat, Schell being unable to carry it farther.  We left most of this
money behind us at Parsemechi.  A Jew surgeon sold us some dear
plaisters, which we took with us and departed.

Feb. 15.--From Parsemechi, through Vielum, to Biala, four miles.

Feb. 16.--Through Jerischow to Misorcen, four miles and a half.

Feb. 17.--To Osterkow and Schwarzwald, three miles.

Feb. 18.--To Sdune, four miles.

Feb. 19.--To Goblin two miles.

Here we arrived wholly destitute of money.  I sold my coat to a Jew, who
gave me four florins and a coarse waggoner's frock, in exchange, which I
did not think I should long need, as we now drew nearer to where my
sister lived, and where I hoped I should be better equipped.  Schell,
however, grew weaker and weaker; his wounds healed slowly, and were
expensive; the cold was also injurious to him, and, as he was not by
nature cleanly in his person, his body soon became the harbour of every
species of vermin to be picked up in Poland.  We often arrived wet and
weary, to our smoky, reeking stove-room.  Often were we obliged to lie on
straw, or bare boards; and the various hardships we suffered are almost
incredible.  Wandering as we did, in the midst of winter, through Poland,
where humanity, hospitality, and gentle pity, are scarcely so much as
known by name; where merciless Jews deny the poor traveller a bed, and
where we disconsolately strayed, without bread, and almost naked: these
were sufferings, the full extent of which he only can conceive by whom
they have been felt.  My musket now and then procured us an occasional
meal of tame geese, and cocks and hens, when these were to be had;
otherwise, we never took or touched anything that was not our own.  We
met with Saxon and Prussian recruiters at various places; all of whom, on
account of my youth and stature, were eager to inveigle me.  I was highly
diverted to hear them enumerate all the possibilities of future
greatness, and how liable I was hereafter to become a corporal: nor was I
less merry with their mead, ale, and brandy, given with an intent to make
me drunk.  Thus we had many artifices to guard against; but thus had we
likewise, very luckily for us, many a good meal gratis.

Feb. 21.--We went from Goblin to Pugnitz, three miles and a half.

Feb. 22.--Through Storchnest to Schmiegel, four miles.

Here happened a singular adventure.  The peasants at this place were
dancing to a vile scraper on the violin: I took the instrument myself,
and played while they continued their hilarity.  They were much pleased
with my playing: but when I was tired, and desired to have done, they
obliged me, first by importunities, and afterwards by threats, to play on
all night.  I was so fatigued, I thought I should have fainted; at length
they quarrelled among themselves.  Schell was sleeping on a bench, and
some of them fell upon his wounded hand: he rose furious: I seized our
arms, began to lay about me, and while all was in confusion, we escaped,
without further ill-treatment.

What ample subject of meditation on the various turns of fate did this
night afford!  But two years before I danced at Berlin with the daughters
and sisters of kings: and here was I, in a Polish hut, a ragged, almost
naked musician, playing for the sport of ignorant rustics, whom I was at
last obliged to fight.

I was myself the cause of the trifling misfortune that befell me on this
occasion.  Had not my vanity led me to show these poor peasants I was a
musician, I might have slept in peace and safety.  The same vain desire
of proving I knew more than other men, made me through life the continued
victim of envy and slander.  Had nature, too, bestowed on me a weaker or
a deformed body, I had been less observed, less courted, less sought, and
my adventures and mishaps had been fewer.  Thus the merits of the man
often become his miseries; and thus the bear, having learned to dance,
must live and die in chains.

This ardour, this vanity, or, if you please, this emulation, has,
however, taught me to vanquish a thousand difficulties, under which
others of cooler passions and more temperate desires would have sunk.  May
my example remain a warning; and thus may my sufferings become somewhat
profitable to the world, cruel as they have been to myself!  Cruel they
were, and cruel they must continue; for the wounds I have received are
not, will not, cannot be healed.

Feb. 23.--From Schmiegel to Rakonitz, and from thence to Karger Holland,
four miles and a half.  Here we sold, to prevent dying of hunger, a shirt
and Schell's waistcoat for eighteen grosch, or nine schostacks.  I had
shot a pullet the day before, which necessity obliged us to eat raw.  I
also killed a crow, which I devoured alone, Schell refusing to taste.
Youth and hard travelling created a voracious appetite, and our eighteen
grosch were soon expended.

Feb. 24.--We came through Benzen to Lettel, four miles.  Here we halted a
day, to learn the road to Hammer, in Brandenburg, where my sister lived.
I happened luckily to meet with the wife of a Prussian soldier who lived
at Lettel, and belonged to Kolschen, where she was born a vassal of my
sister's husband.  I told her who I was, and she became our guide.

Feb. 26.--To Kurschen and Falkenwalde.

Feb. 27.--Through Neuendorf and Oost, and afterwards through a pathless
wood, five miles and a half to Hammer, and here I knocked at my sister's
door at nine o'clock in the evening.




CHAPTER VIII.


A maidservant came to the door, whom I knew; her name was Mary, and she
had been born and brought up in my father's house.  She was terrified at
seeing a sturdy fellow in a beggar's dress; which perceiving, I asked,
"Molly, do not you know me?"  She answered, "No;" and I then discovered
myself to her.  I asked whether my brother-in-law was at home.  Mary
replied, "Yes; but he is sick in bed."  "Tell my sister, then," said I,
"that I am here."  She showed me into a room, and my sister presently
came.

She was alarmed at seeing me, not knowing that I had escaped from Glatz,
and ran to inform her husband, but did not return.

A quarter of an hour after the good Mary came weeping, and told us her
master commanded us to quit the premises instantly, or he should be
obliged to have us arrested, and delivered up as prisoners.  My sister's
husband forcibly detained her, and I saw her no more.

What my feelings must be, at such a moment, let the reader imagine.  I
was too proud, too enraged, to ask money; I furiously left the house,
uttering a thousand menaces against its inhabitants, while the
kind-hearted Mary, still weeping, slipped three ducats into my hand,
which I accepted.

And, now behold us once more in the wood, which was not above a hundred
paces from the house, half dead with hunger and fatigue, not daring to
enter any habitation, while in the states of Brandenburg, and dragging
our weary steps all night through snow and rain, until our guide at
length brought us back, at daybreak, once again to the town of Lettel.

She herself wept in pity at our fate, and I could only give her two
ducats for the danger she had run; but I bade her hope more in future;
and I afterwards sent for her to Vienna, in 1751, where I took great care
of her.  She was about fifty years of age, and died my servant in
Hungary, some weeks before my unfortunate journey to Dantzic, where I
fell into my enemies' hands, and remained ten years a prisoner at
Magdeburg.

We had scarcely reached the wood, before, in the anguish of my heart, I
exclaimed to Schell, "Does not such a sister, my friend, deserve I should
fire her house over her head?"  The wisdom of moderation, and calm
forbearance, was in Schell a virtue of the highest order; he was my
continual mentor; my guide, whenever my choleric temperament was disposed
to violence.  I therefore honour his ashes; he deserved a better fate.

"Friend," said he, on this occasion, "reflect that your sister may be
innocent, may be withheld by her husband; besides, should the King
discover we had entered her doors, and she had not delivered us again
into his power, she might become as miserable as we were.  Be more noble
minded, and think that even should your sister be wrong, the time may
come when her children may stand in need of your assistance, and you may
have the indescribable pleasure of returning good for evil."

I never shall forget this excellent advice, which in reality was a
prophecy.  My rich brother-in-law died, and, during the Russian war, his
lands and houses were laid desolate and in ruins; and, nineteen years
afterwards, when released from my imprisonment at Magdeburg, I had an
opportunity of serving the children of my sister.  Such are the turns of
fate; and thus do improbabilities become facts.

My sister justified her conduct; Schell had conjectured the truth; for
ten years after I was thus expelled her house, she showed, during my
imprisonment, she was really a sister.  She was shamefully betrayed by
Weingarten, secretary to the Austrian ambassador at Berlin; lost a part
of her property, and at length her life fell an innocent sacrifice to her
brother.

This event, which is interwoven with my tragical history, will be related
hereafter: my heart bleeds, my very soul shudders, when I recollect this
dreadful scene.

I have not the means fully to recompense her children; and Weingarten,
the just object of vengeance, is long since in the grave; for did he
exist, the earth should not hide him from my sword.

I shall now continue my journal: deceived in the aid I expected, I was
obliged to change my plan, and go to my mother, who lived in Prussia,
nine miles beyond Konigsberg.

Feb. 28.--We continued, tired, anxious, and distressed, at Lettel.

March 1.--We went three miles to Pleese, and on the 2nd, a mile and a
half farther to Meseritz.

March 3.--Through Wersebaum to Birnbaum, three miles.

March 4.--Through Zircke, Wruneck, Obestchow, to Stubnitz, seven miles,
in one day, three of which we had the good fortune to ride.

March 5.--Three miles to Rogosen, where we arrived without so much as a
heller to pay our lodgings.  The Jew innkeeper drove us out of his house;
we were obliged to wander all night, and at break of day found we had
strayed two miles out of the road.

We entered a peasant's cottage, where an old woman was drawing bread hot
out of the oven.  We had no money to offer, and I felt, at this moment,
the possibility even of committing murder, for a morsel of bread, to
satisfy the intolerable cravings of hunger.  Shuddering, with torment
inexpressible, at the thought, I hastened out of the door, and we walked
on two miles more to Wongrofze.

Here I sold my musket for a ducat, which had procured us many a meal:
such was the extremity of our distress.  We then satiated our appetites,
after having been forty hours without food or sleep, and having travelled
ten miles in sleet and snow.

March 6.--We rested, and came, on the 7th, through Genin, to a village in
the forest, four miles.

Here we fell in with a gang of gipsies (or rather banditti) amounting to
four hundred men, who dragged me to their camp.  They were mostly French
and Prussian deserters, and thinking me their equal, would force me to
become one of their hand.  But, venturing to tell my story to their
leader, he presented me with a crown, gave us a small provision of bread
and meat, and suffered us to depart in peace, after having been four and
twenty hours in their company.

March 9.--We proceeded to Lapuschin, three miles and a half; and the 10th
to Thorn, four miles.

A new incident here happened, which showed I was destined, by fortune, to
a variety of adventures, and continually to struggle with new
difficulties.

There was a fair held at Thorn on the day of our arrival.  Suspicions
might well arise, among the crowd, on seeing a strong tall young man,
wretchedly clothed, with a large sabre by his side, and a pair of pistols
in his girdle, accompanied by another as poorly apparelled as himself,
with his hand and neck bound up, and armed likewise with pistols, so that
altogether he more resembled a spectre than a man.

We went to an inn, but were refused entertainment: I then asked for the
Jesuits' college, where I inquired for the father rector.  They supposed
at first I was a thief, come to seek an asylum.  After long waiting and
much entreaty his jesuitical highness at length made his appearance, and
received me as the Grand Mogul would his slave.  My case certainly was
pitiable: I related all the events of my life, and the purport of my
journey; conjured him to save Schell, who was unable to proceed further,
and whose wounds grew daily worse; and prayed him to entertain him at the
convent till I should have been to my mother, have obtained money, and
returned to Thorn, when I would certainly repay him whatever expense he
might have been at, with thanks and gratitude.

Never shall I forget the haughty insolence of this priest.  Scarcely
would he listen to my humble request; thou'd and interrupted me
continually, to tell me, "Be brief, I have more pressing affairs than
thine."  In fine, I was turned away without obtaining the least aid; and
here I was first taught jesuitical pride; God help the poor and honest
man who shall need the assistance of Jesuits!  They, like all other
monks, are seared to every sentiment of human pity, and commiserate the
distressed by taunts and irony.

Four times in my life I have sought assistance and advice from convents,
and am convinced it is the duty of every honest man to aid in erasing
them from the face of the earth.

They succour rascals and murderers, that their power may be idolised by
the ignorant, and ostentatiously exert itself to impede the course of law
and justice; but in vain do the poor and needy virtuous apply to them for
help.

The reader will pardon my native hatred of hypocrisy and falsehood,
especially when he hears I have to thank the Jesuits for the loss of all
my great Hungarian estates.  Father Kampmuller, the bosom friend of the
Count Grashalkowitz, was confessor to the court of Vienna, and there was
no possible kind of persecution I did not suffer from priestcraft.  Far
from being useful members of society, they take advantage of the
prejudices of superstition, exist for themselves alone, and sacrifice
every duty to the support of their own hierarchy, and found a power, on
error and ignorance, which is destructive of all moral virtue.

Let us proceed.  Mournful and angry, I left the college, and went to my
lodging-house, where I found a Prussian recruiting-officer waiting for
me, who used all his arts to engage me to enlist; offering me five
hundred dollars, and to make me a corporal, if I could write.  I
pretended I was a Livonian, who had deserted from the Austrians, to
return home, and claim an inheritance left me by my father.  After much
persuasion, he at length told me in confidence, it was very well known in
the town that I was a robber; that I should soon be taken before a
magistrate, but that if I would enlist he would ensure my safety.

This language was new to me; my passion rose instantaneously; I
remembered my name was Trenck, I struck him, and drew my sword; but,
instead of defending himself, he sprang out of the chamber, charging the
host not to let me quit the house.  I knew the town of Thorn had agreed
with the King of Prussia, secretly, to deliver up deserters, and began to
fear the consequences.  Looking through the window, I presently saw two
under Prussian officers enter the house.  Schell and I instantly flew to
our arms, and met the Prussians at the chamber door.  "Make way," cried
I, presenting my pistols.  The Prussian soldiers drew their swords, but
retired with fear.  Going out of the house, I saw a Prussian lieutenant,
in the street, with the town-guard.  These I overawed, likewise, by the
same means, and no one durst oppose me, though every one cried, "Stop
thief!"  I came safely, however, to the Jesuits' convent; but poor Schell
was taken, and dragged to prison like a malefactor.

Half mad at not being able to rescue him, I imagined he must soon be
delivered up to the Prussians.  My reception was much better at the
convent than it had been before, for they no longer doubted but I was
really a thief, who sought an asylum.  I addressed myself to one of the
fathers, who appeared to be a good kind of a man, relating briefly what
had happened, and entreated he would endeavour to discover why they
sought to molest us.

He went out, and returning in an hour after, told me, "Nobody knows you:
a considerable theft was yesterday committed at the fair: all suspicious
persons are seized; you entered the town accoutred like banditti.  The
man where you put up is employed as a Prussian enlister, and has
announced you as suspicious people.  The Prussian lieutenant therefore
laid complaint against you, and it was thought necessary to secure your
persons."

My joy, at hearing this, was great.  Our Moravian passport, and the
journal of our route, which I had in my pocket, were full proofs of our
innocence.  I requested they would send and inquire at the town where we
lay the night before.  I soon convinced the Jesuit I spoke truth; he
went, and presently returned with one of the syndics, to whom I gave a
more full account of myself.  The syndic examined Schell, and found his
story and mine agreed; besides which, our papers that they had seized,
declared who we were.  I passed the night in the convent without closing
my eyes, revolving in my mind all the rigours of my fate.  I was still
more disturbed for Schell, who knew not where I was, but remained firmly
persuaded we should be conducted to Berlin; and, if so, determined to put
a period to his life.

My doubts were all ended at ten in the morning when my good Jesuit
arrived, and was followed by my friend Schell.  The judges, he said, had
found us innocent, and declared us free to go where we pleased; adding,
however, that he advised us to be upon our guard, we being watched by the
Prussian enlisters; that the lieutenant had hoped, by having us committed
as thieves, to oblige me to enter, and that he would account for all that
had happened.

I gave Schell a most affectionate welcome, who had been very ill-used
when led to prison, because he endeavoured to defend himself with his
left hand, and follow me.  The people had thrown mud at him, and called
him a rascal that would soon be hanged.  Schell was little able to travel
farther.  The father-rector sent us a ducat, but did not see us; and the
chief magistrate gave each of us a crown, by way of indemnification for
false imprisonment.  Thus sent away, we returned to our lodging, took our
bundles, and immediately prepared to leave Thorn.

As we went, I reflected that, on the road to Elbing, we must pass through
several Prussian villages, and inquired for a shop where we might
purchase a map.  We were directed to an old woman who sat at the door
across the way, and were told she had a good assortment, for that her son
was a scholar.  I addressed myself to her, and my question pleased her, I
having added we were unfortunate travellers, who wished to find, by the
map, the road to Russia.  She showed us into a chamber, laid an atlas on
the table, and placed herself opposite me, while I examined the map, and
endeavoured to hide a bit of a ragged ruffle that had made its
appearance.  After steadfastly looking at me, she at length exclaimed,
with a sad and mournful tone--"Good God! who knows what is now become of
my poor son!  I can see, sir, you too are of a good family.  My son would
go and seek his fortune, and for these eight years have I had no tidings
of him.  He must now be in the Austrian cavalry."  I asked in what
regiment.  "The regiment of Hohenhem; you are his very picture."  "Is he
not of my height?"  "Yes, nearly."  "Has he not light hair?"  "Yes, like
yours, sir."  "What is his name?"  "His name is William."  "No, my dear
mother," cried I, "William is not dead; he was my best friend when I was
with the regiment."  Here the poor woman could not contain her joy.  She
threw herself round my neck, called me her good angel who brought her
happy tidings: asked me a thousand questions which I easily contrived to
make her answer herself, and thus, forced by imperious necessity, bereft
of all other means, did I act the deceiver.

The story I made was nearly as follows:--I told her I was a soldier in
the regiment of Hohenhem, that I had a furlough to go and see my father,
and that I should return in a month, would then take her letters, and
undertake that, if she wished it, her son should purchase his discharge,
and once more come and live with his mother.  I added that I should be
for ever and infinitely obliged to her, if she would suffer my comrade,
meantime, to live at her house, he being wounded by the Prussian
recruiters, and unable to pursue his journey; that I would send him money
to come to me, or would myself come back and fetch him, thankfully paying
every expense.  She joyfully consented, told me her second husband,
father-in-law to her dear William, had driven him from home, that he
might give what substance they had to the younger son; and that the
eldest had gone to Magdeburg.  She determined Schell should live at the
house of a friend, that her husband might know nothing of the matter;
and, not satisfied with this kindness, she made me eat with her, gave me
a new shirt, stockings, sufficient provisions for three days, and six
Lunenburg florins.  I left Thorn, and my faithful Schell, the same night,
with the consolation that he was well taken care of; and having parted
from him with regret, went on the 13th two miles further to Burglow.

I cannot describe what my sensations were, or the despondence of my mind,
when I thus saw myself wandering alone, and leaving, forsaking, as it
were, the dearest of friends.  These may certainly be numbered among the
bitterest moments of my life.  Often was I ready to return, and drag him
along with me, though at last reason conquered sensibility.  I drew near
the end of my journey, and was impelled forward by hope.

March 14.--I went to Schwetz, and

March 15.--To Neuburg and Mowe.  In these two days I travelled thirteen
miles.  I lay at Mowe, on some straw, among a number of carters, and,
when I awoke, perceived they had taken my pistols, and what little money
I had left, even to my last penny.  The gentlemen, however, were all
gone.

What could I do?  The innkeeper perhaps was privy to the theft.  My
reckoning amounted to eighteen Polish grosch.  The surly landlord
pretended to believe I had no money when I entered his house, and I was
obliged to give him the only spare shirt I had, with a silk handkerchief,
which the good woman of Thorn had made me a present of, and to depart
without a single holler.

March 16.--I set off for Marienburg, but it was impossible I should reach
this place, and not fall into the hands of the Prussians, if I did not
cross the Vistula, and, unfortunately, I had no money to pay the ferry,
which would cost two Polish schellings.

Full of anxiety, not knowing how to act, I saw two fishermen in a boat,
went to them, drew my sabre, and obliged them to land me on the other
side; when there, I took the oars from these timid people, jumped out of
the boat, pushed it off the shore, and left it to drive with the stream.

To what dangers does not poverty expose man!  These two Polish schellings
were not worth more than half a kreutzer, or some halfpenny, yet was I
driven by necessity to commit violence on two poor men, who, had they
been as desperate in their defence as I was obliged to be in my attack,
blood must have been spilled and lives lost; hence it is evident that the
degrees of guilt ought to be strictly and minutely inquired into, and the
degree of punishment proportioned.  Had I hewn them down with my sabre, I
should surely have been a murderer; but I should likewise surely have
been one of the most innocent of murderers.  Thus we see the value of
money is not to be estimated by any specific sum, small or great, but
according to its necessity and use.  How little did I imagine when at
Berlin, and money was treated by me with luxurious neglect, I may say,
with contempt, I should be driven to the hard necessity, for a sum so
apparently despicable, of committing a violence which might have had
consequences so dreadful, and have led to the commission of an act so
atrocious!

I found Saxon and Prussian recruiters at Marion-burgh, with whom, having
no money, I ate, drank, listened to their proposals, gave them hopes for
the morrow, and departed by daybreak.

March 17.--To Elbing, four miles.

Here I met with my former worthy tutor, Brodowsky, who was become a
captain and auditor in the Polish regiment of Golz.  He met me just as I
entered the town.  I followed triumphantly to his quarters; and here at
length ended the painful, long, and adventurous journey I had been
obliged to perform.

This good and kind gentleman, after providing me with immediate
necessaries, wrote so affectionately to my mother, that she came to
Elbing in a week, and gave me every aid of which I stood in need.

The pleasure I had in meeting once more this tender mother, whose
qualities of heart and mind were equally excellent, was inexpressible.
She found a certain mode of conveying a letter to my dear mistress at
Berlin, who a short time after sent me a bill of exchange for four
hundred ducats upon Dantzic.  To this my mother added a thousand
rix-dollars, and a diamond cross worth nearly half as much, remained a
fortnight with me, and persisted, in spite of all remonstrance, in
advising me to go to Vienna.  My determination had been fixed for
Petersburg; all my fears and apprehensions being awakened at the thought
of Vienna, and which indeed afterwards became the source of all my cruel
sufferings and sorrows.  She would not yield in opinion, and promised her
future assistance only in case of my obedience; it was my duty not to
continue obstinate.  Here she left me, and I have never seen her since.
She died in 1751, and I have ever held her memory in veneration.  It was
a happiness for this affectionate mother that she did not hive to be a
witness of my afflictions in the year 1754.

An adventure, resembling that of Joseph in Egypt, happened to me in
Elbing.  The wife of the worthy Brodowsky, a woman of infinite personal
attraction, grew partial to me; but I durst not act ungratefully by my
benefactor.  Never to see me more was too painful to her, and she even
proposed to follow me, secretly, to Vienna.  I felt the danger of my
situation, and doubted whether Potiphar's wife offered temptations so
strong as Madame Brodowsky.  I owned I had an affection for this lady,
but my passions were overawed.  She preferred me to her husband, who was
in years, and very ordinary in person.  Had I yielded to the slightest
degree of guilt, that of the present enjoyment, a few days of pleasure
must have been followed by years of bitter repentance.

Having once more assumed my proper name and character, and made presents
of acknowledgment to the worthy tutor of my youth, I became eager to
return to Thorn.

How great was my joy at again meeting my honest Schell!  The kind old
woman had treated him like a mother.  She was surprised, and half
terrified, at seeing me enter in an officer's uniform, and accompanied by
two servants.  I gratefully and rapturously kissed her hand, repaid, with
thankfulness, every expense (for Schell had been nurtured with truly
maternal kindness), told her who I was, acknowledged the deceit I had put
upon her concerning her son, but faithfully promised to give a true, and
not fictitious account of him, immediately on my arrival at Vienna.
Schell was ready in three days, and we left Thorn, came to Warsaw, and
passed thence, through Crakow, to Vienna.

I inquired for Captain Capi, at Bilitz, who had before given me so kind a
reception, and refused me satisfaction; but he was gone, and I did not
meet with him till some years after, when the cunning Italian made me the
most humble apologies for his conduct.  So goes the world.

My journey from Dantzic to Vienna would not furnish me with an
interesting page, though my travels on foot thither would have afforded
thrice as much as I have written, had I not been fearful of trifling with
the reader's patience.

In poverty one misfortune follows another.  The foot-passenger sees the
world, becomes acquainted with it, converses with men of every class.  The
lord luxuriously lolls and slumbers in his carriage, while his servants
pay innkeepers and postillions, and passes rapidly over a kingdom, in
which he sees some dozen houses, called inns; and this he calls
travelling.  I met with more adventures in this my journey of 169 miles,
than afterwards in almost as many thousand, when travelling at ease, in a
carriage.

Here, then, ends my journal, in which, from the hardships therein
related, and numerous others omitted, I seem a kind of second Robinson
Crusoe, and to have been prepared, by a gradual increase and repetition
of sufferings, to endure the load of affliction which I was afterwards
destined to bear.

Arrived at Vienna in the month of April, 1747.

And now another act of the tragedy is going to begin.




CHAPTER IX.


After having defrayed the expenses of travelling for me and my friend
Schell, for whose remarkable history I will endeavour to find a few pages
in due course, I divided the three hundred ducats which remained with
him, and, having stayed a month at Vienna, he went to join the regiment
of Pallavicini, in which he had obtained a lieutenant-colonel's
commission, and which was then in Italy.

Here I found my cousin, Baron Francis Trenck, the famous partisan and
colonel of pandours, imprisoned at the arsenal, and involved in a most
perplexing prosecution.

This Trenck was my father's brother's son.  His father had been a colonel
and governor of Leitschau, and had possessed considerable lordships in
Sclavonia, those of Pleternitz, Prestowacz, and Pakratz.  After the siege
of Vienna, in 1683, he had left the Prussian service for that of Austria,
in which he remained sixty years.

That I may not here interrupt my story, I shall give some account of the
life of my cousin Baron Francis Trenck, so renowned in the war of 1741,
in another part, and who fell, at last, the shameful sacrifice of envy
and avarice, and received the reward of all his great and faithful
services in the prison of the Spielberg.

The vindication of the family of the Trencks requires I should speak of
him; nor will I, in this, suffer restraint from the fear of any man,
however powerful.  Those indeed who sacrificed a man most ardent in his
country's service to their own private and selfish views, are now in
their graves.

I shall insert no more of his history here than what is interwoven with
my own, and relate the rest in its proper place.

A revision of his suit was at this time instituted.  Scarcely was I
arrived in Vienna before his confidential agent, M. Leber, presented me
to Prince Charles and the Emperor; both knew the services of Trenck, and
the malice of his enemies; therefore, permission for me to visit him in
his prison, and procure him such assistance as he might need, was readily
granted.  On my second audience, the Emperor spoke so much in my
persecuted cousin's favour that I became highly interested; he commanded
me to have recourse to him on all occasions; and, moreover, owned the
president of the council of war was a man of a very wicked character, and
a declared enemy of Trenck.  This president was the Count of Lowenwalde,
who, with his associates, had been purposely selected as men proper to
oppress the best of subjects.

The suit soon took another face; the good Empress Queen, who had been
deceived, was soon better informed, and Trenck's innocence appeared, on
the revision of the process most evidently.  The trial, which had cost
them twenty-seven thousand florins, and the sentence which followed, were
proved to have been partial and unjust; and that sixteen of Trenck's
officers, who most of them had been broken for different offences, had
perjured themselves to insure his destruction.

It is a most remarkable circumstance that public notice was given, in the
_Vienna Gazette_, to the following purport.

"All those who have any complaints to make against Trenck, let them
appear, and they shall receive a ducat per day, so long as the
prosecution continues."

It will readily be imagined how fast his accusers would increase, and
what kind of people they were.  The pay of these witnesses alone amounted
to fifteen thousand florins.  I now began the labour in concurrence with
Doctor Gerhauer, and the cause soon took another turn; but such was the
state of things, it would have been necessary to have broken all the
members of the council of war, as well as counsellor Weber, a man of
great power.  Thus, unfortunately, politics began to interfere with the
course of justice.

The Empress Queen gave Trenck to understand she required he should ask
her pardon; and on that condition all proceedings should be stopped, and
he immediately set at liberty.  Prince Charles, who knew the court of
Vienna, advised me also to persuade my cousin to comply; but nothing
could shake his resolution.  Feeling his right and innocence, he demanded
strict justice; and this made ruin more swift.

I soon learned Trenck must fall a sacrifice--he was rich--his enemies
already had divided among them more than eighty thousand florins of his
property, which was all sequestered, and in their hands.  They had
treated him too cruelly, and knew him too well, not to dread his
vengeance the moment he should recover his freedom.

I was moved to the soul at his sufferings, and as he had vented public
threats, at the prospect of approaching victory over his enemies, they
gained over the Court Confessor: and, dreading him as they did, put every
wily art in practice to insure his destruction.  I therefore, in the
fulness of my heart, made him the brotherly proposition of escaping, and,
having obtained his liberty, to prove his innocence to the Empress Queen.
I told him my plan, which might easily have been put in execution, and
which he seemed perfectly decided to follow.

Some days after, I was ordered to wait on field-marshal Count Konigseck,
governor of Vienna.  This respectable old gentleman, whose memory I shall
ever revere, behaved to me like a father and the friend of humanity,
advised me to abandon my cousin, who he gave me clearly to understand had
betrayed me by having revealed my proposed plan of escape, willing to
sacrifice me to his ambition in order to justify the purity of his
intentions to the court, and show that, instead of wishing to escape, he
only desired justice.

Confounded at the cowardly action of one for whom I would willingly have
sacrificed my life, and whom I only sought to deliver, I resolved to
leave him to his fate, and thought myself exceedingly happy that the
worthy field-marshal would, after a fatherly admonition, smother all
farther inquiry into this affair.

I related this black trait of ingratitude to Prince Charles of Lorraine,
who prevailed on me to again see my cousin, without letting him know I
knew what had passed, and still to render him every service in my power.

Before I proceed I will here give the reader a per-'trait of this Trenck.

He was a man of superior talents and unbounded ambition; devoted, even
fanatically, to his sovereign; his boldness approached temerity; he was
artful of mind, wicked of heart, vindictive and unfeeling.  His cupidity
equalled the utmost excess of avarice, even in his thirty-third year, in
which he died.  He was too proud to receive favours or obligations from
any man, and was capable of ridding himself of his best friend if he
thought he had any claims on his gratitude or could get possession of his
fortune.

He knew I had rendered him very important services, supposed his cause
already won, having bribed the judges, who were to revise the sentence,
with thirty thousand florins, which money I received from his friend
Baron Lopresti, and conveyed to these honest counsellors.  I knew all his
secrets, and nothing more was necessary to prompt his suspicious and bad
heart to seek my destruction.

Scarcely had a fortnight elapsed, after his having first betrayed me,
before the following remarkable event happened.

I left him one evening to return home, taking under my coat a bag with
papers and documents relating to the prosecution, which I had been
examining for him, and transcribing.  There were at this time about five-
and-twenty officers in Vienna who had laid complaints against him, and
who considered me as their greatest enemy because I had laboured
earnestly in his defence.  I was therefore obliged, on all occasions, to
be upon my guard.  A report had been propagated through Vienna that I was
secretly sent by the King of Prussia to free my cousin from imprisonment;
he, however, constantly denied, to the hour of his death, his ever having
written to me at Berlin; hence also it will follow the letter I received
had been forged by Jaschinsky.

Leaving the Arsenal, I crossed the court, and perceived I was closely
followed by two men in grey roquelaures, who, pressing upon my heels,
held loud and insolent conversation concerning the runaway Prussian
Trenck.  I found they sought a quarrel, which was a thing of no great
difficulty at that moment, for a man is never more disposed to duelling
than when he has nothing to lose, and is discontented with his condition.
I supposed they were two of the accusing officers broken by Trenck, and
endeavoured to avoid them, and gain the Jew's place.

Scarcely had I turned down the street that leads thither before they
quickened their pace.  I turned round, and in a moment received a thrust
with a sword in the left side, where I had put my bag of papers, which
accident alone saved my life; the sword pierced through the papers and
slightly grazed the skin.  I instantly drew, and the heroes ran.  I
pursued, one of them tripped and fell.  I seized him; the guard came up:
he declared he was an officer of the regiment of Kollowrat, showed his
uniform, was released, and I was taken to prison.  The Town Major came
the next day, and told me I had intentionally sought a quarrel with two
officers, Lieutenants F---g and K---n.  These kind gentlemen did not
reveal their humane intention of sending me to the other world.

I was alone, could produce no witness, they were two.  I must necessarily
be in the wrong, and I remained six days in prison.  No sooner was I
released, than these my good friends sent to demand satisfaction for the
said pretended insult.  The proposal was accepted, and I promised to be
at the Scotch gate, the place appointed by them, within an hour.  Having
heard their names, I presently knew them to be two famous swaggerers, who
were daily exercising themselves in fencing at the Arsenal, and where
they often visited Trenck.  I went to my cousin to ask his assistance,
related what had happened, and, as the consequences of this duel might be
very serious, desired him to give me a hundred ducats, that I might be
able to fly if either of them should fall.

Hitherto I had expended my own money on his account, and had asked no
reimbursement; but what was my astonishment when this wicked man said to
me, with a sneer, "Since, good cousin, you have got into a quarrel
without consulting me, you will also get out of it without my aid!"  As I
left him, he called me back to tell me, "I will take care and pay your
undertaker;" for he certainly believed I should never return alive.

I ran now, half-despairing, to Baron Lopresti, who gave me fifty ducats
and a pair of pistols, provided with which I cheerfully repaired to the
field of battle.

Here I found half a dozen officers of the garrison.  As I had few
acquaintances in Vienna, I had no second, except an old Spanish invalid
captain, named Pereyra, who met me going in all haste, and, having
learned whither, would not leave me.

Lieutenant K---n was the first with whom I fought, and who received
satisfaction by a deep wound in the right arm.  Hereupon I desired the
spectators to prevent farther mischief; for my own part I had nothing
more to demand.  Lieutenant F---g next entered the lists, with threats,
which were soon quieted by a lunge in the belly.  Hereupon Lieutenant M-
f, second to the first wounded man, told me very angrily--"Had I been
your man, you would have found a very different reception."  My old
Spaniard of eighty proudly and immediately advanced, with his long
whiskers and tottering frame, and cried--"Hold!  Trenck has proved
himself a brave fellow, and if any man thinks proper to assault him
further, he must first take a breathing with me."  Everybody laughed at
this bravado from a man who scarcely could stand or hold a sword.  I
replied--"Friend, I am safe, unhurt, and want not aid; should I be
disabled, you then, if you think proper, may take my place; but, as long
as I can hold a sword, I shall take pleasure in satisfying all these
gentlemen one after another."  I would have rested myself a moment, but
the haughty M-f, enraged at the defeat of his friend, would not give me
time, but furiously attacked me, and, having been wounded twice, once in
the hand and again in the groin, he wanted to close and sink me to the
grave with himself, but I disarmed and threw him.

None of the others had any desire to renew the contest.  My three enemies
were sent bleeding to town; and, as M---f appeared to be mortally
wounded, and the Jesuits and Capuchins of Vienna refused me an asylum, I
fled to the convent of Keltenberg.

I wrote from the convent to Colonel Baron Lopresti, who came to me.  I
told him all that had passed, and by his good offices had liberty, in a
week, to appear once more at Vienna.

The blood of Lieutenant F---g was in a corrupt state, and his wound,
though not in itself dangerous, made his life doubtful.  He sent to
entreat I would visit him, and, when I went, having first requested I
would pardon him, gave me to understand I ought to beware of my cousin.  I
afterwards learned the traitorous Trenck had promised Lieutenant F---g a
company and a thousand ducats if he would find means to quarrel with me
and rid the world of me.  He was deeply in debt, and sought the
assistance of Lieutenant K-n; and had not the papers luckily preserved
me, I had undoubtedly been despatched by his first lunge.  To clear
themselves of the infamy of such an act, these two worthy gentlemen had
pretended I had assaulted them in the streets.

I could no more resolve to see my ungrateful and dangerous kinsman, who
wished to have me murdered because I knew all his secrets, and thought he
should be able to gain his cause without obligation to me or my
assistance.  Notwithstanding all his great qualities, his marked
characteristic certainly was that of sacrificing everything to his
private views, and especially to his covetousness, which was so great
that, even at his time of life, though his fortune amounted to a million
and a half, he did not spend per day more than thirty kreutzers.

No sooner was it known that I had forsaken Trenck than General Count
Lowenwalde, his most ardent enemy, and president of the first council of
war, by which he had been condemned, desired to speak to me, promised
every sort of good fortune and protection, if I would discover what means
had secretly been employed in the revision of the process; and went so
far as to offer me four thousand florins if I would aid the prosecution
against my cousin.  Here I learned the influence of villains in power,
and the injustice of judges at Vienna.  The proposal I rejected with
disdain, and rather determined to seek my fortune in the East Indies than
continue in a country where, under the best of Queens, the most loyal of
subjects, and first of soldiers, might be rendered miserable by
interested, angry, and corrupt courtiers.  Certain it is, as I now can
prove, though the bitterest of my enemies, and whose conduct towards me
merited my whole resentment, he was the best soldier in the Austrian
army, had been liberal of his blood and fortune in the Imperial service,
and would still so have continued had not his wealth, and his contempt
for Weber and Lowenwalde put him in the power of those wretches who were
the avowed enemies of courage and patriotism, and who only could maintain
their authority, and sate their thirst of gain, by the base and wicked
arts of courts.  Had my cousin shared the plunder of the war among these
men, he had not fallen the martyr of their intrigues, and died in the
Spielberg.  His accusers were, generally, unprincipled men of ruined
fortunes, and so insufficient were their accusations that a useful member
of society ought not, for any or all of them, to have suffered an hour's
imprisonment.  Being fully informed, both of all the circumstances of the
prosecution and the inmost secrets of his heart, justice requires I
should thus publicly declare this truth and vindicate his memory.  While
living he was my bitterest enemy, and even though dead, was the cause of
all my future sufferings; therefore the account I shall give of him will
certainly be the less liable to suspicion, where I shall show that he, as
well as myself, deserved better of Austria.

I was resolved forever to forsake Vienna.  The friends of Trenck all
became distrustful of him because of his ingratitude to me.  Prince
Charles still endeavoured to persuade me to a reconciliation, and gave me
a letter of recommendation to General Brown, who then commanded the
Imperial army in Italy.  But more anxious of going to India, I left
Vienna in August, 1748, desirous of owing no obligation to that city or
its inhabitants, and went for Holland.  Meantime, the enemies of Trenck
found no one to oppose their iniquitous proceedings, and obtained a
sentence of imprisonment, in the Spielberg, where he too late repented
having betrayed his faithful adviser, and prudent friend.  I pitied him,
and his judges certainly deserved the punishment they inflicted: yet to
his last moments he showed his hatred towards me was rooted, and, even in
the grave, strove by his will to involve me in misfortune, as will
hereafter be seen.

I fled from Vienna, would to God it had been for ever; but fate by
strange ways, and unknown means, brought me back where Providence thought
proper I should become a vessel of wrath and persecution: I was to enact
my part in Europe, and not in Asia.  At Nuremberg I met with a body of
Russians, commanded by General Lieuwen, my mother's relation, who were
marching to the Netherlands, and were the peace-makers of Europe.  Major
Buschkow, whom I had known when Russian resident at Vienna, prevailed on
me to visit him, and presented me to the General.  I pleased him, and may
say, with truth, he behaved to me like a friend and a father.  He advised
me to enter into the Russian service, and gave me a company of dragoons,
in the regiment of Tobolski, on condition I should not leave him, but
employ myself in his cabinet: and his confidence and esteem for me were
unbounded.

Peace followed; the army returned to Moravia, without firing a musket,
and the head-quarters were fixed at Prosnitz.

In this town a public entertainment was given, by General Lieuwen, on the
coronation day of the Empress Elizabeth; and here an adventure happened
to me, which I shall ever remember, as a warning to myself, and insert as
a memento to others.

The army physician, on this day, kept a Faro bank for the entertainment
of the guests.  My stock of money consisted of two and twenty ducats.
Thirst of gain, or perhaps example, induced me to venture two of these,
which I immediately lost, and very soon, by venturing again to regain
them, the whole two and twenty.  Chagrined at my folly, I returned home:
I had nothing but a pair of pistols left, for which, because of their
workmanship, General Woyekow had offered me twenty ducats.  These I took,
intending by their aid to attempt to retrieve my loss.  Firing of guns
and pistols was heard throughout the town, because of the festival, and
I, in imitation of the rest, went to the window and fired mine.  After a
few discharges, one of my pistols burst, and endangered my own hand, and
wounded my servant.  I felt a momentary despondency, stronger than I ever
remember to have experienced before; insomuch that I was half induced,
with the remaining pistol, to shoot myself through the head.  I however,
recovered my spirits, asked my servant what money he had, and received
from him three ducats.  With these I repaired, like a desperate gamester,
once more to the Faro table, at the General's, again began to play, and
so extraordinary was my run of luck, I won at every venture.  Having
recovered my principal, I played on upon my winnings, till at last I had
absolutely broke the Doctor's bank: a new bank was set up, and I won the
greatest part of this likewise, so that I brought home about six hundred
ducats.

Rejoiced at my good fortune, but recollecting my danger, I had the
prudence to make a solemn resolution never more to play at any game of
chance, to which I have ever strictly adhered.

It were to be wished young men would reflect upon the effects of gaming,
remembering that the love of play has made the most promising and
virtuous, miserable; the honest, knaves; and the sincere, deceivers and
liars.  Officers, having first lost all their own money, being entrusted
with the soldiers' pay, have next lost that also; and thus been
cashiered, and eternally disgraced.  I might, at Prosnitz, have been
equally rash and culpable.  The first venture, whether the gamester wins
or loses, ensures a second; and, with that, too often destruction.  My
good fortune was almost miraculous, and my subsequent resolution very
uncommon; and I entreat and conjure my children, when I shall no longer
be living to advise and watch for their welfare, most determinedly to
avoid play.  I seemed preserved by Providence from this evil but to
endure much greater.

General Lieuwen, my kind patron, sent me, from Crakow, to conduct a
hundred and forty sick men down the Vistula to Dantzic, where there were
Russian vessels to receive and transport them to Riga.

I requested permission of the General to proceed forward and visit my
mother and sister, whom I was very desirous to see: at Elbing, therefore,
I resigned the command to Lieutenant Platen, and, attended by a servant,
rode to the bishopric of Ermeland, where I appointed an interview with
them in a frontier village.

Here an incident happened that had nearly cost me my life.  The
Prussians, some days before, had carried off a peasant's son from this
village, as a recruit.  The people were all in commotion.  I wore
leathern breeches, and the blue uniform of the Russian cavalry.  They
took me for a Prussian, at the door, and fell upon me with every kind of
weapon.  A chasseur, who happened to be there, and the landlord, came to
my assistance, while I, battling with the peasants, had thrown two of
them down.  I was delivered, but not till I had received two violent
bruises, one on the left arm, and another which broke the bridge of my
nose.  The landlord advised me to escape as fast as possible, or that the
village would rise and certainly murder me; my servant, therefore, who
had retired for defence, with a pair of pistols, into the oven, got ready
the horses and we rode off.

I had my bruises dressed at the next village; my hand and eyes were
exceedingly swelled, but I was obliged to ride two miles farther, to the
town of Ressel, before I could find an able surgeon, and here I so far
recovered in a week, that I was able to return to Dantzic.  My brother
visited me while at Ressel, but my good mother had the misfortune, as she
was coming to me, to be thrown out of her carriage, by which her arm was
broken, so that she and my sister were obliged to return, and I never saw
her more.

I was now at Dantzic, with my sick convoy, where another most remarkable
event happened, which I, with good reason, shall ever remember.

I became acquainted with a Prussian officer, whose name I shall conceal
out of respect to his very worthy family; he visited me daily, and we
often rode out together in the neighbourhood of Dantzic.

My faithful servant became acquainted with his, and my astonishment was
indeed great when he one day said to me, with anxiety, "Beware, sir, of a
snare laid for you by Lieutenant N-; he means to entice you out of town
and deliver you up to the Prussians."  I asked him where he learned this.
"From the lieutenant's servant," answered he, "who is my friend, and
wishes to save me from misfortune."

I now, with the aid of a couple of ducats, discovered the whole affair,
and learned it was agreed, between the Prussian resident, Reimer, and the
lieutenant, that the latter should entice me into the suburb of Langfuhr,
where there was an inn on the Prussian territories.  Here eight
recruiting under-officers were to wait concealed, and seize me the moment
I entered the house, hurry me into a carriage, and drive away for
Lauenberg in Pomerania.  Two under-officers were to escort me, on
horseback, as far as the frontiers, and the remainder to hold and prevent
me from calling for help, so long as we should remain on the territories
of Dantzic.

I farther learned my enemies were only to be armed with sabres, and that
they were to wait behind the door.  The two officers on horseback were to
secure my servant, and prevent him from riding off and raising an alarm.

These preparations might easily have been rendered fruitless, by my
refusing to accept the proposal of the lieutenant, but vanity gave me
other advice, and resentment made me desirous of avenging myself for such
detestable treachery.

Lieutenant N--- came, about noon, to dine with me as usual, was more
pensive and serious than I had ever observed him before, and left me at
four in the afternoon, after having made a promise to ride early next day
with him as far as Langfuhr.  I observed my consent gave him great
pleasure, and my heart then pronounced sentence on the traitor.  The
moment he had left me I went to the Russian resident, M. Scheerer, an
honest Swiss, related the whole conspiracy, and asked whether I might not
take six of the men under my command for my own personal defence.  I told
him my plan, which he at first opposed; but seeing me obstinate, he
answered at last, "Do as you please; I must know nothing of the matter,
nor will I make myself responsible."

I immediately joined my soldiers, selected six men, and took them, while
it was dark, opposite the Prussian inn, hid them in the corn, with an
order to run to my help with their firelocks loaded the first discharge
they should hear, to seize all who should fall into their power, and only
to fire in case of resistance.  I provided them with fire-arms, by
concealing them in the carriage which brought them to their hiding-place.

Notwithstanding all these precautions, I still thought it necessary to
prevent surprise, by informing myself what were the proceedings of my
enemies, lest my intelligence should have been false; and I learned from
my spies that, at four in the morning, the Prussian resident, Reimer, had
left the city with post horses.

I loaded mine and my servant's horse and pocket pistols, prepared my
Turkish sabre, and, in gratitude to the lieutenant's man, promised to
take him into my service, being convinced of his honesty.

The lieutenant cheerfully entered about six in the morning, expatiated on
the fineness of the weather, and jocosely told me I should be very kindly
received by the handsome landlady of Langfuhr.

I was soon ready; we mounted, and left the town, attended by our
servants.  Some three hundred paces from the inn, my worthy friend
proposed that we should alight and let our servants lead the horses, that
we might enjoy the beauty of the morning.  I consented, and having
dismounted, observed his treacherous eyes sparkle with pleasure.

The resident, Reimer, was at the window of the inn, and called out, as
soon as he saw me, "Good-morrow, captain, good-morrow; come, come in,
your breakfast is waiting."  I, sneering, smiled, and told him I had not
time at present.  So saying, I continued my walk, but my companion would
absolutely force me to enter, took me by the arm, and partly struggled
with me, on which, losing all patience, I gave him a blow which almost
knocked him down, and ran to my horses as if I meant to fly.

The Prussians instantly rushed from behind their door, with clamour, to
attack me.  I fired at the first; my Russians sprang from their hiding-
place, presented their pieces, and called, _Stuy_, _stuy_, _yebionnamat_.

The terror of the poor Prussians may well be supposed.  All began to run.
I had taken care to make sure of my lieutenant, and was next running to
seize the resident, but he had escaped out of the back door, with the
loss only of his white periwig.  The Russians had taken four prisoners,
and I commanded them to bestow fifty strokes upon each of them in the
open street.  An ensign, named Casseburg, having told me his name, and
that he had been my brother's schoolfellow, begged remission, and excused
himself on the necessity which he was under to obey his superiors.  I
admitted his excuses and suffered him to go.  I then drew my sword and
bade the lieutenant defend himself; but he was so confused, that, after
drawing his sword, he asked my pardon, laid the whole blame upon the
resident, and had not the power to put himself on his guard.  I twice
jerked his sword out of his hand, and, at last, taking the Russian
corporal's cane, I exhausted my strength with beating him, without his
offering the least resistance.  Such is the meanness of detected
treachery.  I left him kneeling, saying to him, "Go, rascal, now, and
tell your comrades the manner in which Trenck punishes robbers on the
highway."

The people had assembled round us during the action, to whom I related
the affair, and the attack having happened on the territories of Dantzic,
the Prussians were in danger of being stoned by the populace.  I and my
Russians marched off victorious, proceeded to the harbour, embarked, and
three or four days after, set sail for Riga.

It is remarkable that none of the public papers took any notice of this
affair; no satisfaction was required.  The Prussians, no doubt, were
ashamed of being defeated in an attempt so perfidious.

I since have learnt that Frederic, no doubt by the false representations
of Reimer, was highly irritated, and what afterwards happened proves his
anger pursued me through every corner of the earth, till at last I fell
into his power at Dantzic, and suffered a martyrdom most unmerited and
unexampled.

The Prussian envoy, Goltz, indeed, made complaints to Count Bestuchef,
concerning this Dantzic skirmish, but received no satisfaction.  My
conduct was justified in Russia, I having defended myself against
assassins, as a Russian captain ought.

Some dispassionate readers may blame me for not having avoided this
rencontre, and demanded personal satisfaction of Lieutenant N---.  But I
have through life rather sought than avoided danger.  My vanity and
revenge were both roused.  I was everywhere persecuted by the Prussians,
and I was therefore determined to show that, far from fearing, I was able
to defend myself.

I hired the servant of the lieutenant, whom I found honest and faithful,
and whom I comfortably settled in marriage, at Vienna, in 1753.  After my
ten years' imprisonment, I found him poor, and again took him into my
service, in which he died, at Zwerbach, in 1779.




CHAPTER X.


And now behold me at sea, on my voyage to Riga.  I had eaten heartily
before I went on board; a storm came on; I worked half the night, to aid
the crew, but at length became sea-sick, and went to lie down.  Scarcely
had I closed my eyes before the master came with the joyful tidings, as
he thought, that we were running for the port of Pillau.  Far from
pleasing, this, to me, was dreadful intelligence.  I ran on deck, saw the
harbour right before me, and a pilot coming off.  The sea must now be
either kept in a storm, or I fall into the hands of the Prussians; for I
was known to the whole garrison of Pillau.

I desired the captain to tack about and keep the sea, but he would not
listen to me.  Perceiving this, I flew to my cabin, snatched my pistols,
returned, seized the helm, and threatened the captain with instant death
if he did not obey.  My Russians began to murmur; they were averse to
encountering the dangers of the storm, but luckily they were still more
averse to meet my anger, overawed, as they were, by my pistols, and my
two servants, who stood by me faithfully.

Half an hour after, the storm began to subside, and we fortunately
arrived the next day in the harbour of Riga.  The captain, however, could
not be appeased, but accused me before the old and honourable Marshal
Lacy, then governor of Riga.  I was obliged to appear, and reply to the
charge by relating the truth.  The governor answered, my obstinacy might
have occasioned the death of a hundred and sixty persons; I, smiling,
retorted, "I have brought them all safe to port, please your Excellency;
and, for my part, my fate would have been much more merciful by falling
into the hands of my God than into the hands of my enemies.  My danger
was so great that I forgot the danger of others; besides, sir, I knew my
comrades were soldiers, and feared death as little as I do."  My answer
pleased the fine grey-headed general, and he gave me a recommendation to
the chancellor Bestuchef at Moscow.

General Lieuwen had marched from Moravia, for Russia, with the army, and
was then at Riga.  I went to pay him my respects; he kindly received me,
and took me to one of his seats, named Annaburg, four miles from Riga.
Here I remained some days, and he gave me every recommendation to Moscow,
where the court then was.  It was intended I should endeavour to obtain a
company in the regiment of cuirassiers, the captains of which then ranked
as majors, and he advised me to throw up my commission in the Siberian
regiment of Tobolski dragoons.  Peace be to the names and the memory of
this worthy man!  May God reward this benevolence!  From Riga I departed,
in company with M. Oettinger, lieutenant-colonel of engineers, and
Lieutenant Weismann, for Moscow.  This is the same Weismann who rendered
so many important services to Russia, during the last war with the Turks.

On my arrival, after delivering in my letters of recommendation, I was
particularly well received by Count Bestuchef.  Oettinger, whose
friendship I had gained, was exceedingly intimate with the chancellor,
and my interest was thereby promoted.

I had not been long at Moscow before I met Count Hamilton, my former
friend during my abode at Vienna.  He was a captain of cavalry, in the
regiment of General Bernes, who had been sent as imperial ambassador to
Russia.

Bernes had been ambassador at Berlin in 1743, where he had consequently
known me during the height of my favour at the court of Frederic.
Hamilton presented me to him, and I had the good fortune so far to gain
his friendship, that, after a few visits, he endeavoured to detach me
from the Russian service, offering me the strongest recommendations to
Vienna, and a company in his own regiment.  My cousin's misfortunes,
however, had left too deep an impression on my mind to follow his advice.
The Indies would then have been preferred by me to Austria.

Bernes invited me to dine with him in company with his bosom friend, Lord
Hyndford, the English ambassador.  How great was the pleasure I that day
received!  This eminent statesman had known me at Berlin, and was present
when Frederic had honoured me with saying, _C'est un matador de ma
jeunesse_.  He was well read in men, conceived a good opinion of my
abilities, and became a friend and father to me.  He seated me by his
side at table, and asked me, "Why came you here, Trenck?"  "In search of
bread and honour, my lord," answered I, "having unmeritedly lost them
both in my own country."  He further inquired the state of my finances; I
told him my whole store might be some thirty ducats.

"Take my counsel," said he; "you have the necessary qualifications to
succeed in Russia, but the people here despise poverty, judge from the
exterior only, and do not include services or talents in the estimate;
you must have the appearance of being wealthy.  I and Bernes will
introduce you into the best families, and will supply you with the
necessary means of support.  Splendid liveries, led horses, diamond
rings, deep play, a bold front, undaunted freedom with statesmen, and
gallantry among the ladies, are the means by which foreigners must make
their way in this country.  Avail yourself of them, and leave the rest to
us."  This lesson lasted some time.  Bernes entered in the interim, and
they determined mutually to contribute towards my promotion.

Few of the young men who seek their fortune in foreign countries meet
incidents so favourable.  Fortune for a moment seemed willing to
recompense my past sufferings, and again to raise me to the height from
which I had fallen.  These ambassadors, here again by accident met, had
before been witnesses of my prosperity when at Berlin.  The talents I
possessed, and the favour I then enjoyed, attracted the notice of all
foreign ministers.  They were bosom friends, equally well read in the
human heart, and equally benevolent and noble-minded; their
recommendation at court was decisive; the nations they represented were
in alliance with Russia, and the confidence Bestuchef placed in them was
unbounded.

I was now introduced into all companies, not as a foreigner who came to
entreat employment, but as the heir of the house of Trenck, and its rich
Hungarian possessions, and as the former favourite of the Prussian
monarch.

I was also admitted to the society of the first literati, and wrote a
poem on the anniversary of the coronation of the Empress Elizabeth.
Hyndford took care she should see it, and, in conjunction with the
chancellor, presented me to the sovereign.  My reception was most
gracious.  She herself recommended me to the chancellor, and presented me
with a gold-hilted sword, worth a thousand roubles.  This raised me
highly in the esteem of all the houses of the Bestuchef party.

Manners were at that time so rude in Russia, that every foreigner who
gave a dinner, or a ball, must send notice to the chancellor Bestuchef,
that he might return a list of the guests allowed to be invited.  Faction
governed everything; and wherever Bestuchef was, no friend of Woranzow
durst appear.  I was the intimate of the Austrian and English
ambassadors; consequently, was caressed and esteemed in all companies.  I
soon became the favourite of the chancellor's lady, as I shall hereafter
notice; and nothing more was wanting to obtain all I could wish.

I was well acquainted with architectural design, had free access to the
house and cabinet of the chancellor, where I drew in company with Colonel
Oettinger, who was then the head architect of Russia, and made the
perspective view of the new palace, which the chancellor intended to
build at Moscow, by which I acquired universal honour.  I had gained more
acquaintance in, and knowledge of, Russia in one month, than others,
wanting my means, have done in twelve.

As I was one day relating my progress to Lord Hyndford, he, like a
friend, grown grey in courts, kindly took the trouble to advise me.  From
him I obtained a perfect knowledge of Russia; he was acquainted with all
the intrigues of European courts, their families, party cabals, the
foibles of the monarchs, the principles of their government, the plots of
the great Peter, and had also made the peace of Breslau.  Thus, having
been the confidential friend of Frederic, he was intimately acquainted
with his heart, as well as the sources of his power.  Hyndford was
penetrating, noble-minded, had the greatness of the Briton, without his
haughtiness; and the principles, by which he combined the past, the
present, and the future, were so clear, that I, his scholar, by adhering
to them, have been enabled to foretell all the most remarkable
revolutions that have happened, during the space of six-and-thirty years,
in Europe.  By these I knew, when any minister was disgraced, who should
be his successor.  I daily passed some hours improving by his kind
conversation; and to him I am indebted for most of that knowledge of the
world I happen to possess.

He took various opportunities of cautioning me against the effects of an
ardent, sanguine temper; and my hatred of arbitrary power warned me to
beware of the determined persecution of Frederic, of his irreconcilable
anger, his intrigues and influence in the various courts of Europe, which
he would certainly exert to prevent my promotion, lest I should impede
his own projects, and lamented my future sufferings, which he plainly
foresaw.  "Despots," said he, "always are suspicious, and abhor those who
have a consciousness of their own worth, of the rights of mankind, and
hold the lash in detestation.  The enlightened are by them called the
restless spirits, turbulent and dangerous; and virtue there, where virtue
is unnecessary for the humbling and trampling upon the suffering subject,
is accounted a crime, of all others the most to be dreaded."

Hyndford taught me to know, and highly to value freedom: to despise
tyrants, to endure the worst of miseries, to emulate true greatness of
mind, to despise danger, and to honour only those whose elevation of soul
had taught them equally to oppose bigotry and despotism.

Bernes was a philosopher; but with the penetration of an Italian, more
cautious than Hyndford, yet equally honest and worthy.  His friendship
for me was unbounded, and the time passed in their company was esteemed
by me most precious.  The liberality of my sentiments, thirst after
knowledge and scientific acquirements gained their favour; our topics of
conversation were inexhaustible, and I acquired more real information at
Moscow than at Berlin, under the tuition of La Metri, Maupertuis, and
Voltaire.




CHAPTER XI.


Scarcely had I been six weeks in this city before I had an adventure
which I shall here relate; for, myself excepted, all the persons
concerned in it are now dead.  Intrigues properly belong to novels.  This
book is intended for a more serious purpose, and they are therefore here
usually suppressed.  It cannot be supposed I was a woman-hater.  Most of
the good or bad fortune I experienced originated in love.  I was not by
nature inconstant, and was incapable of deceit even in amours.  In the
very ardour of youth I always shunned mere sensual pleasures.  I loved
for more exalted reasons, and for such sought to be beloved again.  Love
and friendship were with me always united; and these I was capable of
inciting, maintaining, and deserving.  The most difficult of access, the
noblest, and the fairest, were ever my choice: and my veneration for
these always deterred me from grosser gratifications.  By woman I was
formed; by the faith of woman supported under misfortunes; in the company
of woman enjoyed the few hours of delight my life of sorrows has
experienced.  Woman, beautiful and well instructed, even now, lightens
the burden of age, the world's tediousness and its woes; and, when these
are ended, I would rather wish mine eyes might be closed by fair and
virgin hands, than, when expiring, fixed on a hypocritical priest.

My adventures with women would amply furnish a romance: but enough of
this, I should not relate the present, were it not necessary to my story.

Dining one public day with Lord Hyndford, I was seated beside a charming
young lady of one of the best families in Russia, who had been promised
in marriage, though only seventeen, to an old invalid minister.  Her eyes
soon told me she thought me preferable to her intended bridegroom.  I
understood them, lamented her hard fate, and was surprised to hear her
exclaim, "Oh, heavens! that it were possible you could deliver me from my
misfortune: I would engage to do whatever you would direct."

The impression such an appeal must make on a man of four and twenty, of a
temperament like mine, may easily be supposed.  The lady was ravishingly
beautiful; her soul was candour itself, and her rank that of a princess;
but the court commands had already been given in favour of the marriage;
and flight, with all its inseparable dangers, was the only expedient.  A
public table was no place for long explanations.  Our hearts were already
one.  I requested an interview, and the next day was appointed, the place
the Trotzer garden, where I passed three rapturous hours in her company:
thanks to her woman, who was a Georgian.

To escape, however, from Moscow, was impossible.  The distance thence to
any foreign country was too great.  The court was not to remove to
Petersburg till the next spring, and her marriage was fixed for the first
of August.  The misfortune was not to be remedied, and nothing was left
us but patience perforce.  We could only resolve to fly from Petersburg
when there, the soonest possible, and to take refuge in some corner of
the earth, where we might remain unknown of all.  The marriage,
therefore, was celebrated with pomp, though I, in despite of forms, was
the true husband of the princess.  Such was the state of the husband
imposed upon her, that to describe it, and not give disgust, were
impossible.

The princess gave me her jewels, and several thousand roubles, which she
had received as a nuptial present, that I might purchase every thing
necessary for flight; my evil destiny, however, had otherwise determined.
I was playing at ombre with her, one night, at the house of the Countess
of Bestuchef, when she complained of a violent headache, appointed me to
meet her on the morrow, in the Trotzer gardens, clasped my hand with
inexpressible emotion, and departed.  Alas!  I never beheld her more,
till stretched upon the bier!

She grew delirious that very night, and so continued till her death,
which happened on the sixth day, when the small-pox began to appear.
During her delirium she discovered our love, and incessantly called on me
to deliver her from her tyrant.  Thus, in the flower of her age, perished
one of the most lovely women I ever knew, and with her fled all I held
most dear.

All my plans were now to be newly arranged.  Lord Hyndford alone was in
the secret, for I hid no secrets from him: he strengthened me in my first
resolution, and owned that he himself, for such a mistress, might perhaps
have been weak enough to have acted as I had done.  Almost as much moved
as myself, he sympathised with me as a friend, and his advice deterred me
from ending my miseries, and descending with her, whom I have loved and
lost, to the grave.  This was the severest trial I had ever felt.  Our
affection was unbounded, and such only as noble hearts can feel.  She
being gone, the whole world became a desert.  There is not a man on
earth, whose life affords more various turns of fate than mine.  Swiftly
raised to the highest pinnacle of hope, as suddenly was I cast headlong
down, and so remarkable were these revolutions that he who has read my
history will at last find it difficult to say whether he envies or pities
me most.  And yet these were, in reality, but preparatory to the evils
that hovered over my devoted head.  Had not the remembrance of past joys
soothed and supported me under my sufferings, I certainly should not have
endured the ten years' torture of the Magdeburg dungeon, with a fortitude
that might have been worthy even of Socrates.

Enough of this.  My blood again courses swifter through my veins as I
write!  Rest, gentle maiden, noble and lovely as thou wert!  For thee
ought Heaven to have united a form so fair, animated as it was, by a soul
so pure, to ever-blooming youth and immortality.

My love for this lady became well-known in Moscow; yet her corpulent
overgrown husband had not understanding enough to suppose there was any
meaning in her rhapsodies during her delirium.

Her gifts to me amounted in value to about seven thousand ducats.  Lord
Hyndford and Count Bernes both adjudged them legally mine, and well am I
assured her heart had bequeathed me much more.

To this event succeeded another, by which my fortune was greatly
influenced.  The Countess of Bestuchef was then the most amiable and
witty woman at Court.  Her husband, cunning, selfish, and shallow, had
the name of minister, while she, in reality, governed with a genius, at
once daring and comprehensive.  The too pliant Elizabeth carelessly left
the most important things to the direction of others.  Thus the Countess
was the first person of the Empire, and on whom the attention of the
foreign ministers was fixed.

Haughty and majestic in her demeanour, she was supposed to be the only
woman at court who continued faithful to her husband; which supposition
probably originated in her art and education, she being a German born:
for I afterwards found her virtue was only pride, and a knowledge of the
national character.  The Russian lover rules despotic over his mistress:
requires money, submission, and should he meet opposition, threatens her
with blows, and the discovery of her secret.

During Elizabeth's reign foreigners could neither appear at court, nor in
the best company, without the introduction of Bestuchef.  I and Sievers,
gentlemen of the chamber, were at that time the only Germans who had free
egress and regress in all houses of fashion; my being protected by the
English and Austrian ambassadors gave me very peculiar advantages, and
made my company everywhere courted.

Bestuchef had been resident, during the late reign, at Hamburg, in which
inferior station he married the countess, at that time, though young and
handsome, only the widow of the merchant Boettger.  Under Elizabeth,
Bestuchef rose to the summit of rank and power, and the widow Boettger
became the first lady of the empire.  When I knew her she was eight and
thirty, consequently no beauty, though a woman highly endowed in mind and
manners, of keen discernment, disliking the Russians, protecting the
Prussians, and at whose aversions all trembled.

Her carriage towards the Russians was, what it must be in her situation,
lofty, cautious, and ironical, rather than kind.  To me she showed the
utmost esteem on all occasions, welcomed me at her table, and often
admitted me to drink coffee in company with herself alone and Colonel
Oettinger.  The countess never failed giving me to understand she had
perceived my love for the princess N---; and, though I constantly denied
the fact, she related circumstances which she could have known, as I
thought, only from my mistress herself; my silence pleased her; for the
Russians, when a lady had a partiality for them, never fail to vaunt of
their good fortune.  She wished to persuade me she had observed us in
company, had read the language of our eyes, and had long penetrated our
secret.  I was ignorant at that time that she had then, and long before,
entertained the maid of my mistress as a spy in her pay.

About a week after the death of the princess, the countess invited me to
take coffee with her, in her chamber; lamented my loss, and the violence
of that passion which had deprived me of all my customary vivacity, and
altered my very appearance.  She seemed so interested in my behalf, and
expressed so many wishes, and so ardent to better my fate, that I could
no longer doubt.  Another opportunity soon happened, which confirmed
these my suspicions: her mouth confessed her sentiments.  Discretion,
secrecy, and fidelity, were the laws she imposed, and never did I
experience a more ardent passion from woman.  Such was her understanding
and penetration, she knew how to rivet my affections.

Caution was the thing most necessary.  She contrived, however, to make
opportunity.  The chancellor valued, confided in me, and employed me in
his cabinet; so that I remained whole days in his house.  My captainship
of cavalry was now no longer thought of: I was destined to political
employment.  My first was to be gentleman of the chamber, which in Russia
is an office of importance, and the prospect of futurity became to me
most resplendent.  Lord Hyndford, ever the repository of my secrets,
counselled me, formed plans for my conduct, rejoiced at my success, and
refused to be reimbursed the expense he had been at, though now my
circumstances were prosperous.

The degree of credit I enjoyed was soon noticed: foreign ministers began
to pay their court to me: Goltz, the Prussian minister, made every effort
to win me, but found me incorruptible.

The Russian alliance was at this time highly courted by foreign powers;
the humbling of Prussia was the thing generally wished and planned: and
nobody was better informed than myself of ministerial and family factions
at this court.

My mistress, a year after my acquaintance with her, fell into her
enemies' power, and with her husband, was delivered over to the
executioner.  Chancellor Bestuchef, in the year 1756, was forced to
confession by the knout.  Apraxin, minister of war, had a similar fate.
The wife of his brother, then envoy in Poland, was, by the treachery of a
certain Lieutenant Berger, with three others of the first ladies of the
court, knouted, branded, and had their tongues cut out.  This happened in
the year 1741, when Elizabeth ascended the throne.  Her husband, however,
faithfully served: I knew him as Russian envoy, at Vienna, 1751.  This
may indeed be called the love of our country, and thus does it happen to
the first men of the state: what then can a foreigner hope for, if
persecuted, and in the power of those in authority?

No man, in so short a space of time, had greater opportunities than I, to
discover the secrets of state; especially when guided by Hyndford and
Bernes, under the reign of a well-meaning but short-sighted Empress,
whose first minister was a weak man, directed by the will of an able and
ambitious wife, and which wife loved me, a stranger, an acquaintance of
only a few months, so passionately that to this passion she would have
sacrificed every other object.  She might, in fact, be considered as
Empress of Russia, disposing of peace or war, and had I been more prudent
or less sincere, I might in such a situation, have amassed treasures, and
deposited them in full security.  Her generosity was boundless; and,
though obliged to pay above a hundred thousand roubles, in one year, to
discharge her son's debts, yet might I have saved a still larger sum; but
half of the gifts she obliged me to receive, I lent to this son, and
lost.  So far was I from selfish, and so negligent of wealth, that by
supplying the wants of others, I often, on a reverse of fortune, suffered
want myself.

This my splendid success in Russia displeased the great Frederic, whose
persecution everywhere attended me, and who supposed his interest injured
by my success in Russia.  The incident I am going to relate was, at the
time it happened, well known to, and caused much agitation among all the
foreign ambassadors.

Lord Hyndford desired I would make him a fair copy of a plan of
Cronstadt, for which he furnished the materials, with three additional
drawings of the various ships in the harbour, and their names.  There was
neither danger nor suspicion attending this; the plan of Cronstadt being
no secret, but publicly sold in the shops of Petersburg.  England was
likewise then in the closest alliance with Russia.  Hyndford showed the
drawing to Funk, the Saxon envoy, his intimate friend, who asked his
permission to copy it himself.  Hyndford gave him the plan signed with my
name; and after Funk had been some days employed copying it, the Prussian
minister, Goltz, who lived in his neighbourhood, came in, as he
frequently paid him friendly visits.  Funk, unsuspectingly, showed him my
drawing, and both lamented that Frederic had lost so useful a subject.
Goltz asked to borrow it for a couple of days, in order to correct his
own; and Funk, one of the worthiest, most honest, and least suspicious of
men, who loved me like a brother, accordingly lent the plan.

No sooner was Goltz in possession of it than he hurried to the
chancellor, with whose weakness he was well acquainted, told him his
intent in coming was to prove that a man, who had once been unfaithful to
his king and country, where he had been loaded with favours, would
certainly betray, for his own private interest, every state where he was
trusted.  He continued his preface, by speaking of the rapid progress I
had made in Russia, and the free entrance I had found in the chancellor's
house, where I was received as a son, and initiated in the secrets of the
cabinet.

The chancellor defended me: Goltz then endeavoured to incite his
jealousy, and told him my private interviews with his wife, especially in
the palace-garden, were publicly spoken of.  This he had learned from his
spies, he having endeavoured, by the snares he laid, to make my
destruction certain.

He likewise led Bestuchef to suspect his secretary, S-n, was a party in
the intrigue; till at last the chancellor became very angry; Goltz then
took my plan of Cronstadt from his pocket, and added, "Your excellency is
nourishing a serpent in your bosom.  This drawing have I received from
Trenck, copied from your cabinet designs, for two hundred ducats."  He
knew I was employed there sometimes with Oettinger, whose office it was
to inspect the buildings and repairs of the Russian fortifications.
Bestuchef was astonished; his anger became violent, and Goltz added fuel
to the flame, by insinuating, I should not be so powerfully protected by
Bernes, the Austrian ambassador, were it not to favour the views of his
own court.  Bestuchef mentioned prosecution and the knout; Goltz replied
my friends were too powerful, my pardon would be procured, and the evil
this way increased.  They therefore determined to have me secretly
secured, and privately conveyed to Siberia.

Thus, while I unsuspectingly dreamed of nothing but happiness, the
gathering storm threatened destruction, which only was averted by
accident, or God's good providence.

Goltz had scarcely left the place triumphant, when the chancellor
entered, with bitterness and rancour in his heart, into his lady's
apartment, reproached her with my conduct, and while she endeavoured to
soothe him, related all that had passed.  Her penetration was much deeper
than her husband's: she perceived there was a plot against me: she indeed
knew my heart better than any other, and particularly that I was not in
want of a poor two hundred ducats.  She could not, however, appease him,
and my arrest was determined.  She therefore instantly wrote me a line to
the following purport.

"You are threatened, dear friend, by a very imminent danger.  Do not
sleep to-night at home, but secure yourself at Lord Hyndford's till you
hear farther from me."

Secretary S-n, her confidant (the same who, not long since, was Russian
envoy at Ratisbon) was sent with the note.  He found me, after dinner, at
the English ambassador's, and called me aside.  I read the billet, was
astonished at its contents, and showed it Lord Hyndford.  My conscience
was void of reproach, except that we suspected my secret with the
countess had been betrayed to the chancellor, and fearing his jealousy,
Hyndford commanded me to remain in his house till we should make further
discovery.

We placed spies round the house where I lived; I was inquired for after
midnight, and the lieutenant of the police came himself and searched the
house.

Lord Hyndford went, about ten in the morning, to visit the chancellor,
that he might obtain some intelligence, who immediately reproached him
for having granted an asylum to a traitor.  "What has this traitor done?"
said Hyndford.  "Faithlessly copied a plan of Cronstadt, from my cabinet
drawings," said the chancellor; "which he has sold to the Prussian
minister for two hundred ducats."

Hyndford was astonished; he knew me well, and also knew that he had then
in money and jewels, more than eight thousand ducats of mine in his own
hands: nor was he less ignorant of the value I set on money, or of the
sources whence I could obtain it, when I pleased.  "Has your excellency
actually seen this drawing of Trenck's?"--"Yes, I have been shown it by
Goltz."--"I wish I might likewise be permitted to see it; I know Trenck's
drawing, and make myself responsible that he is no traitor.  Here is some
mystery; be so kind as to desire M. Goltz will come and bring his plan of
Cronstadt.  Trenck is at my house, shall be forthcoming instantly, and I
will not protect him if he proves guilty."

The Chancellor wrote to Goltz; but he, artful as he was, had no doubt
taken care to be informed that the lieutenant of the police had missed
his prey.  He therefore sent an excuse, and did not appear.  In the
meantime I entered; Hyndford then addressed me, with the openness of an
Englishman, and asked, "Are you a traitor, Trenck?  If so, you do not
merit my protection, but stand here as a state prisoner.  Have you sold a
plan of Cronstadt to M. Goltz?"  My answer may easily be supposed.
Hyndford rehearsed what the chancellor had told him; I was desired to
leave the room, and Funk was sent for.  The moment he came in, Hyndford
said, "Sir, where is that plan of Cronstadt which Trenck copied?"  Funk,
hesitating, replied, "I will go for it."  "Have you it," continued
Hyndford, "at home?  Speak, upon your honour."--"No, my Lord, I have lent
it, for a few days, to M. Goltz, that he may take a copy."

Hyndford immediately then saw the whole affair, told the chancellor the
history of this plan, which belonged to him, and which he had lent to
Funk, and requested a trusty person might be sent with him to make a
proper search.  Bestuchef named his first secretary, and to him were
added Funk and the Dutch envoy, Schwart, who happened then to enter.  All
went together to the house of Goltz.  Funk demanded his plan of
Cronstadt; Goltz gave it him, and Funk returned it to Lord Hyndford.

The secretary and Hyndford both then desired he would produce the plan of
Cronstadt which he had bought of Trenck for two hundred ducats.  His
confusion now was great, and Hyndford firmly insisted this plan should be
forthcoming, to vindicate the honour of Trenck, whom he held to be an
honest man.  On this, Goltz answered, "I have received my king's commands
to prevent the preferment of Trenck in Russia, and I have only fulfilled
the duty of a minister."

Hyndford spat on the ground, and said more than I choose to repeat; after
which the four gentlemen returned to the chancellor, and I was again
called.  Everybody complimented me, related to me what had passed, and
the chancellor promised I should be recompensed; strictly, however,
forbidding me to take any revenge on the Prussian ambassador, I having
sworn, in the first transports of anger, to punish him wherever I should
find him, even were it at the altar's foot.

The chancellor soothed me, kept me to dine with him, and endeavoured to
assuage my boiling passions.  The countess affected indifference, and
asked me if suchlike actions characterised the Prussian nation.  Funk and
Schwart were at table.  All present congratulated me on my victory, but
none knew to whom I was indebted for my deliverance from the hasty and
unjust condemnation of the chancellor, although my protectress was one of
the company.  I received a present of two thousand roubles the next day
from the chancellor, with orders to thank the Empress for this mark of
her bounty, and accept it as a sign of her special favour.  I paid these
my thanks some days after.  The money I disregarded, but the amiable
Empress, by her enchanting benevolence, made me forget the past.  The
story became public, and Goltz appeared neither in public, nor at court.
The manner in which the countess personally reproached him, I shall out
of respect pass over.  Bernes, the crafty Piedmontese, assured me of
revenge, without my troubling myself in the matter, and--what happened
after I know not; Goltz appeared but little in company, fell ill when I
had left Russia, and died soon after of a consumption.

This vile man was, no doubt, the cause of all the calamities which fell
upon me.  I should have become one of the first men in Russia: the
misfortune that befel Bestuchef and his family some years afterward might
have been averted: I should never have returned to Vienna, a city so
fatal to the name of Trenck: by the mediation of the Russian Court, I
should have recovered my great Sclavonian estates; my days of persecution
at Vienna would have passed in peace and pleasure: nor should I have
entered the dungeon of Magdeburg.




CHAPTER XII.


How little did the Great Frederic know my heart.  Without having
offended, he had rendered me miserable, had condemned me to imprisonment
at Glatz on mere suspicion, and on my flying thence, naked and destitute,
had confiscated my paternal inheritance.  Not contented with inflicting
all these calamities, he would not suffer me peaceably to seek my fortune
in a foreign land.

Few are the youths who, in so short a time, being expelled their native
country with disgrace, by their own efforts, merits, and talents, have
obtained honour and favour so great, acquired such powerful friends, or
been entrusted with confidence equally unlimited in transactions so
important.  Enraged as I was at the treachery of Goltz, had opportunity
offered, I might have been tempted even to turn my native country into a
desert; nor do I deny that I afterwards promoted the views of the
Austrian envoy, who knew well how to cherish the flame that had been
kindled, and turn it to his own use.  Till this moment I never felt the
least enmity either to my country or king, nor did I suffer myself, on
any occasion, to be made the agent of their disadvantage.

No sooner was I entrusted more intimately with cabinet secrets, than I
discovered the state of factions, and that Bestuchef and Apraxin were
even then in Prussian pay; that a counterpoise, by their means, might be
formed to the prevalence of the Austrian party.

Hence we may date the change of Russian politics in the year 1762.  Here
also we may find a clue to the contradictory orders, artifices,
positions, retreats and disappointments of the Russian army, in the seven
years' war, beginning in 1756.  The countess, who was obliged to act with
greater caution, foresaw the consequence of the various intrigues in
which her husband was engaged: her love for me naturally drew her from
her former party; she confided every secret to me, and ever remained till
her fall, which happened in 1758, during my imprisonment, my best friend
and correspondent.  Hence was I so well informed of all the plans against
Prussia, to the years 1754 and 1756; much more so than many ministers of
the interested courts, who imagined they alone were in the secret.  How
many after events could I then have foretold!  Such was the perverseness
of my destiny, that where I should most have been sought for, and best
known, there was I least valued.

No man, in my youth, would have believed I should live to my sixtieth
year, untitled and obscure.  In Berlin, Petersburg, London, and Paris,
have I been esteemed by the greatest statesmen, and now am I reduced to
the invalid list.  How strange are the caprices of fortune!  I ought
never to have left Russia: this was my great error, which I still live to
repent.

I have never been accustomed to sleep more than four or five hours, so
that through life I have allowed time for paying visits and receiving
company.  I have still had sufficient for study and improvement.  Hyndford
was my instructor in politics; Boerhaave, then physician to the court, my
bosom friend, my tutor in physic and literary subjects.  Women formed me
for court intrigues, though these, as a philosopher, I despised.

The chancellor had greatly changed his carriage towards me since the
incident of the plan.  He observed my looks, showed he was distrustful,
and desirous of revenge.  His lady, as well as myself, remarked this, and
new measures became necessary.  I was obliged to act an artful, but, at
the same time, a very dangerous part.

My cousin, Baron Trenck, died in the Spielberg, October 4, 1749, and left
me his heir, on condition I should only serve the house of Austria.  In
March, 1750, Count Bernes received the citation sent me to enter on this
inheritance.  I would hear nothing of Vienna; the abominable treatment of
my cousin terrified me.  I well knew the origin of his prosecution, the
services he had rendered his country, and had been an eye-witness of the
injustice by which he was repaid.  Bernes represented to me that the
property left me was worth much above a million: that the empress would
support me in pursuit of justice, and that I had no personal enemy at
Vienna, that a million of certain property in Hungary was much superior
to the highest expectations in Russia, where I myself had beheld so many
changes of fortune, and the effects of family cabals.  Russia he painted
as dangerous, Vienna as secure, and promised me himself effectual
assistance, as his embassy would end within the year.  Were I once rich,
I might reside in what country I pleased; nor could the persecutions of
Frederic anywhere pursue me so ineffectually as in Austria.  Snares would
be laid for me everywhere else, as I had experienced in Russia.  "What,"
said he, "would have been the consequence, had not the countess warned
you of the impending danger?  You, like many other honest and innocent
men, would have been sent to Siberia.  Your innocence must have remained
untested, and yourself, in the universal opinion, a villain and a
traitor."

Hyndford spoke to me in the same tone, assured me of his eternal
protection, and described London as a certain asylum, should I not find
happiness at Vienna.  He spoke of slavery as a Briton ought to speak,
reminded me of the fate of Munich and Osterman, painted the court such as
I knew it to be, and asked me what were my expectations, even were I
fortunate enough to become general or minister in such a country.

These reasonings at length determined me; but having plenty of money, I
thought proper to take Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Holland in my way, and
Barnes was in the meantime to prepare me a favourable reception at
Vienna.  He desired, also, I would give him authority to get possession
of the estates to which I was heir.  My mistress strongly endeavoured to
detain me, but yielded at length to the force of reason.  I tore myself
away, and promised, on my honour, to return as soon as I had arranged my
affairs at Vienna.  She made the proposition of investing me within some
foreign embassy, by which I might render the most effectual services to
the court at Vienna.  In this hope we parted with heavy hearts: she
presented me with her portrait, and a snuffbox set with diamonds; the
first of these, three years after was torn from my bosom by the officers
in my first dungeon at Magdeburg, as I shall hereafter relate.  The
chancellor embraced me, at parting, with friendship.  Apraxin wept, and
clasped me in his arms, prophesying at the same time, I should never be
so happy as in Russia.  I myself foreboded misfortune, and quitted Russia
with regret, but still followed the advice of Hyndford and Bernes.

From Moscow I travelled to Petersburg, where I found a letter, at the
house of Baron Wolf, the banker, from the countess, which rent my very
heart, and almost determined me to return.  She endeavoured to terrify me
from proceeding to Vienna, yet inclosed a bill for four thousand roubles,
to aid me on my journey, were I absolutely bent to turn my back on
fortune.

My effects, in money and jewels, amounted to about thirty-six thousand
florins; I therefore returned the draft, intreated her eternal
remembrance, and that she would reserve her favour and support to times
in which they might become needful.  After remaining a few days at
Petersburg, I journeyed, by land, to Stockholm; taking with me letters of
recommendation from all the foreign envoys.

I forgot to mention that Funk was inconsolable for my departure; his
imprudence had nearly plunged me into misery, and destroyed all my hopes
in Russia.  Twenty-two years after this I met the worthy man, once more
in Dresden.  He, there, considered himself as the cause of all the evils
inflicted on me, and assured me the recital of my sufferings had been so
many bitter reproaches to his soul.  Our recapitulation of former times
gave us endless pleasure, and it was the sweetest of joys to meet and
renew my friendship with such a man, after having weathered so many
storms of fate.

At Stockholm I wanted for no recommendation; the Queen, sister to the
great Frederic, had known me at Berlin, when I had the honour, as an
officer of the body guard, of accompanying her to Stettin.  I related my
whole history to her without reserve.  She, from political motives,
advised me not to make any stay at Stockholm, and to me continued till
death, an ever-gracious lady.  I proceeded to Copenhagen, where I had
business to transact for M. Chaise, the Danish envoy at Moscow: from whom
also I had letters of recommendation.  Here I had the pleasure of meeting
my old friend, Lieutenant Bach, who had aided me in my escape from my
imprisonment at Glatz.  He was poor and in debt, and I procured him
protection, by relating the noble manner in which he behaved I also
presented him with five hundred ducats, by the aid of which he pushed his
fortune.  He wrote to me in the year 1776, a letter of sincere thanks,
and died a colonel of hussars in the Danish service in 1776.

I remained in Copenhagen but a fortnight, and then sailed in a Dutch
ship, from Elsineur to Amsterdam.  Scarcely had we put to sea, before a
storm arose, by which we lost a mast and bowsprit, had our sails
shattered, and were obliged to cast anchor among the rocks of Gottenburg,
where our deliverance was singularly fortunate.

Here we lay nine days before we could make the open sea, and here I found
a very pleasant amusement, by going daily in the ship's boat from rock to
rock, attended by two of my servants, to shoot wild ducks, and catch
shell-fish; whence I every evening returned with provisions, and sheep's
milk, bought of the poor inhabitants, for the ship's crew.

There was a dearth among these poor people.  Our vessel was laden with
corn; some of this I purchased, to the amount of some hundreds of Dutch
florins, and distributed wherever I went.  I also gave one of their
ministers a hundred florins for his poor congregation, who was himself in
want of bread, and whose annual stipend amounted to one hundred and fifty
florins.

Here in the sweet pleasure of doing good, I left behind me much of that
money I had so easily acquired in Russia; and perhaps had we stayed much
longer should myself have left the place in poverty.  A thousand
blessings followed me, and the storm-driven Trenck was long remembered
and talked of at Gottenburg.

In this worthy employment, however, I had nearly lost my life.  Returning
from carrying corn, the wind rose, and drove the boat to sea.  I not
understanding the management of the helm, and the servants awkwardly
handling the sails, the boat in tacking was overset.  The benefit of
learning to swim, I again experienced, and my faithful servant, who had
gained the rock, aided me when almost spent.  The good people who had
seen the shallop overset, came off in their boats to my assistance.  An
honest Calmuc, whom I had brought from Russia, and another of my servants
perished.  I saw the first sink after I had reached the shore.

The kind Swedes brought me on board, and also righted and returned with
the shallop.  For some days I was sea-sick.  We weighed anchor, and
sailed for the Texel, the mouth of which we saw, and the pilots coming
off, when another storm arose, and drove us to the port of Bahus, in
Norway, into which we ran, without farther damage.  In some few days we
again set sail, with a fair wind, and at length reached Amsterdam.

Here I made no long stay; for the day after my arrival, an extraordinary
adventure happened, in which I was engaged chiefly by my own rashness.

I was a spectator while the harpooners belonging to the whale fishery
were exercising themselves in darting their harpoons, most of whom were
drunk.  One of them, Herman Rogaar by name, a hero among these people,
for his dexterity with his snickasnee, came up, and passed some of his
coarse jests upon my Turkish sabre, and offered to fillip me on the nose.
I pushed him from me, and the fellow threw down his cap, drew his
snickasnee, challenged me, called me monkey-tail, and asked whether I
chose a straight, a circular, or a cross cut.

Thus here was I, in this excellent company, with no choice but that of
either fighting or running away.  The robust, Herculean fellow grew more
insolent, and I, turning round to the bystanders, asked them to lend me a
snickasnee.  "No, no," said the challenger, "draw your great knife from
your side, and, long as it is, I will lay you a dozen ducats you get a
gash in the cheek."  I drew; he confidently advanced with his snickasnee,
and, at the first stroke of my sabre, that, and the hand that held it,
both dropped to the ground, and the blood spouted in my face.

I now expected the people would, indubitably, tear me to pieces; but my
fear was changed into astonishment at hearing a universal shout
applauding the vanquisher of the redoubted Herman Rogaar who, so lately
feared for his strength and dexterity, became the object of their
ridicule.  A Jew spectator conducted me out of the crowd, and the people
clamorously followed me to my inn.  This kind of duel, by which I gained
honour, would anywhere else have brought me to the highest disgrace.  A
man who knew the use of the sabre, in a single day, might certainly have
disabled a hundred Herman Rogaars.  This story may instruct and warn
others.  He that is quarrelsome shall never want an enemy.  My temerity
often engaged me in disputes which, by timely compliance and calmness,
might easily have been avoided; but my evil genius always impelled me
into the paths of perplexity, and I seldom saw danger till it was
inevitable

I left Amsterdam for the Hague, where I had been recommended to Lord
Holderness, the English ambassador, by Lord Hyndford; to Baron Reisbach,
by Bernes; to the Grand Pensionary Fagel, by Schwart; and from the
chancellor I had a letter to the Prince of Orange himself I could not,
therefore, but be everywhere received with all possible distinction.
Within these recommendations, and the knowledge I possessed, had I had
the good fortune to have avoided Vienna, and gone to India, where my
talents would have insured me wealth, how many tears of affliction had I
been spared!  My ill fortune, however, had brought me letters from Count
Bernes, assuring me that heaven was at Vienna, and including a citation
from the high court, requiring me to give in my claim of inheritance.
Bernes further informed me the Austrian court had assured him I should
meet with all justice and protection, and advised me to hasten my
journey, as the executorship of the estates of Trenck was conducted but
little to my advantage.

This advice I took, proceeded to Vienna, and from that moment all my
happiness had an end.  I became bewildered in lawsuits, and the arts of
wicked men, and all possible calamities assaulted me at once, the recital
of which would itself afford subject matter for a history.  They began by
the following incidents:--

One M. Schenck sought my acquaintance at the Hague.  I met with him at my
hotel, where he intreated I would take him to Nuremberg, whence he was to
proceed to Saxony.  I complied, and bore his expenses; but at Hanau,
waking in the morning, I found my watch, set with diamonds, a ring worth
two thousand roubles, a diamond snuff-box, with my mistress's picture,
and my purse, containing about eighty ducats, stolen from my bed-side,
and Schenck become invisible.  Little affected by the loss of money, at
any time, I yet was grieved for my snuff-box.  The rascal, however, had
escaped, and it was fortunate that the remainder of my ready money, with
my bills of exchange, were safely locked up.

I now pursued my journey without company, and arrived in Vienna.  I
cannot exactly recollect in what month, but I had been absent about two
years; and the reader will allow that it was barely possible for any man,
in so short a time, to have experienced more various changes of fate,
though many smaller incidents have been suppressed.  The places, where my
pledged fidelity required discretion will be easily supposed, as likewise
will the concealment of court intrigues, and artifices, the publication
of which might even yet subject me to more persecutions.  All writers are
not permitted to speak truth of monarchs and ministers.  I am the father
of eight children, and parental love and duty vanquish the inclination of
the author; and this duty, this affection, have made me particularly
cautious in relating what happened to me at Vienna, that I might,
thereby, serve them more effectually than by indulging the pride of the
writer, or the vengeance of the man.




CHAPTER XIII.


Since accounts so various, contradictory, and dishonourable to the name
of Trenck, have been circulated in Vienna, concerning facts which
happened thirty-seven years ago, I will here give a short abstract of
them, and such as may he verified by the records of the court.  I pledge
my honour to the truth of the statement, and were I so allowed, would
prove it, to the conviction of any unprejudiced court of justice: but
this I cannot hope, as princes are much more disposed to bestow unmerited
favours than to make retribution to those whom they have unjustly
punished.

Francis Baron Trenck died in the Spielberg, October 4th, 1749.  It has
been erroneously believed in Vienna that his estates were confiscated by
the sentence which condemned him to the Spielberg.  He had committed no
offence against the state, was accused of none, much less convicted.  The
court sentence was that the administration of his estate should be
committed to Counsellor Kempf and Baron Peyaczewitz, who were selected by
himself, and the accounts of his stewards and farmers were to be sent him
yearly.  He continued, till his death, to have the free and entire
disposal of his property.

Although, before his death, he sent for his advocate, Doctor Berger, and
by him petitioned the Empress she would issue the necessary orders to the
Governor of the Spielberg, to permit the entrance of witnesses, and all
things necessary to make a legal will, it by no means follows that he
petitioned her for permission to make this will.  The case is too clear
to admit of doubt.  The royal commands were given, that he should enjoy
all freedom of making his will.  Permission was also given that, during
his sickness, he might be removed to the capuchin convent, which was
equal to liberty, but this he refused to accept.

Neither was his ability to make a will questioned.  The advocate was only
to request the Queen's permission to supply some formalities, which had
been neglected, when he purchased the lordships of Velika and Nustar,
which petition was likewise granted.  The royal mandate still exists,
which commissioned the persons therein named as trustees to the estate
and effects of Trenck, and this mandate runs thus: "Let the last will of
Trenck be duly executed: let dispatch be used, and the heir protected in
all his rights."  Confiscation, therefore, had never been thought of, nor
his power to make a will questioned.

I will now show how I have been deprived of this valuable inheritance,
while I have been obliged to pay above sixty thousand florins, to defray
legacies he had left; and when this narrative is read, it will no longer
be affirmed at Vienna, that by the favours of the court I inherited
seventy-six thousand florins, or the lordship of Zwerbach from Trenck, I
shall proceed to my proofs.

The father of Baron Trenck, who died in the year 1743, governor of
Leitschau, in Hungary, named me in his will the successor of his son,
should he die without heirs male.

This will was sent to be proved, according to form, at Vienna, after
having been authenticated in the most legal manner in Hungary.  The court
called Hofkriegsrath, at Vienna, neglected to provide a curator for the
security of the next heir; yet this could not annul my right of
succession.  When Trenck succeeded his father, he entered no protest to
this, his father's will; therefore, dying without children, in the year
1749, my claim was indisputable.  I was heir had he made no will: and
even in case of confiscation, my title to his father's estates still
remained valid.

Trenck knew this but too well: he, as I have before related, was my worst
enemy, and even attempted my life.  I will therefore proceed to show the
real intent of this his crafty testament.

Determined no longer to live in confinement, or to ask forgiveness, by
which, it is well known, he might have obtained his freedom, having lost
all hopes of reimbursing his losses, his avarice was reduced to despair.
His desire of fame was unbounded, and this could no way be gratified but
by having himself canonized for a saint, after spending his life in
committing all the ravages of a pandour.  Hence originated the following
facts:--

He knew I was the legal claimant to his father's estates.  His father had
bought with the family money, remitted from Prussia, the lordships of
Prestowacz and Pleternitz, in Sclavonia, and he himself, during his
father's life, and with his father's money, had purchased the lordship of
Pakratz, for forty thousand florins: this must therefore descend also to
me, he having no more power to will this from me, than he had the
remainder of his paternal inheritance.  The property he himself had
gained was consigned to administrators, but a hundred thousand florins
had been expended in lawsuits, and sixty-three suits continued actually
pending against him in court; the legacies he bequeathed amounted to
eighty thousand florins.  These, he saw, could not be paid, should I
claim nothing more than the paternal inheritance; he, therefore, to
render me unfortunate after his death, craftily named me his universal
heir, without mentioning his father's will, but endeavoured, by his
mysterious death, and the following conditions, to enforce the execution
of his own will.

First,--I was to become a Catholic.

Secondly,--I was to serve only the house of Austria; and,

Lastly,--He made his whole estate, without excepting the paternal
inheritance, a _Fidei commissum_.

Hence arose all my misfortunes, as indeed was his intention; for, but a
short time before his death, he said to the Governor, Baron Kottulinsky,
"I shall now die contented, since I have been able to trick my cousin,
and render him wretched."

His death, believed in Vienna to be miraculous, happened after the
following manner; and by this he had induced many weak people, who really
believed him a saint, to further his views.

Three days before his death, while in perfect health, he desired the
governor of the Spielberg would send for his confessor, for that St.
Francis had revealed to him he should be removed into life everlasting on
his birth-day at twelve o'clock.  The capuchin was sent for, but the
prediction laughed at.

The day, however, after the departure of his confessor, he said, "Praise
be to God, my end approaches; my confessor is dead, and has appeared to
me."  Strange as it may seem; it was actually found to be true that the
priest was dead.  He now had all the officers of the garrison of Brunn
assembled, tonsured his head like a capuchin, took the habit of the
order, publicly confessed himself in a sermon of an hour's length,
exhorted them all to holiness, acted the part of a most exemplary
penitent, embraced all present, spoke with a smile of the insignificance
of all earthly possessions, took his leave, knelt down to prayers, slept
calmly, rose, prayed again, and about eleven in the forenoon, October
4th, taking his watch in his hand, said, "Thanks be to my God, my last
hour approaches."  All laughed at such a farce from a man of such a
character; yet they remarked that the left side of his face grew pale.  He
then leaned his arm on the table, prayed, and remained motionless, with
his eyes closed.  The clock struck twelve--no signs of life or motion
could be discovered; they spoke to him, and found he was really dead.

The word miracle was echoed through the whole country, and the
transmigration of the Pandour Trenck, from earth to heaven, by St.
Francis, proclaimed.  The clue to this labyrinth of miracles, known only
to me, is truly as follows:--He possessed the secret of what is called
the _aqua tofana_, and had determined on death.  His confessor had been
entrusted with all his secrets, and with promissory notes, which he
wished to invalidate.  I am perfectly certain that he had returned a
promissory note of a great prince, given for two hundred thousand
florins, which has never been brought to account.  The confessor,
therefore, was to be provided for, that Trenck might not be betrayed, and
a dose of poison was given him before he set off for Vienna: his death
was the consequence.  He took similar means with himself, and thus knew
the hour of his exit; finding he could not become the first on earth, he
wished to be adored as a saint in heaven.  He knew he should work
miracles when dead, because he ordered a chapel to be built, willed a
perpetual mass, and bequeathed the capuchins sixty thousand florins.

Thus died this most extraordinary man, in the thirty-fourth year of his
age, to whom nature had denied none of her gifts; who had been the
scourge of Bavaria; the terror of France; and who had, with his supposed
contemptible pandours, taken above six thousand Prussian prisoners.  He
lived a tyrant and enemy of men, and died a sanctified impostor.

Such was the state of affairs, as willed by Trenck, when I came to
Vienna, in 1759, where I arrived with money and jewels to the amount of
twenty thousand florins.

Instead of profiting by the wealth Trenck had acquired, I expended a
hundred and twenty thousand florins of my own money, including what
devolved to me from my uncle, his father, in the prosecution of his
suits.  Trenck had paid two hundred ducats to the tribunal of Vienna, in
the year 1743, to procure its very reprehensible silence concerning a
curator, to which I was sacrificed, as the new judges of this court
refused to correct the error of their predecessors.  Such are the
proceedings of courts of justice in Vienna!

On my first audience, no one could be received more kindly than I was, by
the Empress Queen.  She spoke of my deceased cousin with much emotion and
esteem, promised me all grace and favour, and informed me of the
particular recommendations she had received, on my behalf, from Count
Bernes.  Finding sixty-three cases hang over my head, in consequence of
the inheritance of Trenck, to obtain justice in any one of which in
Vienna, would have employed the whole life of an honest man, I determined
to renounce this inheritance, and claim only under the will and as the
heir of my uncle.

With this view I applied for and obtained a copy of that will, with which
I personally appeared, and declared to the court that I renounced the
inheritance of Francis Trenck, would undertake none of his suits, nor be
responsible for his legacies, and required only his father's estates,
according to the legal will, which I produced; that is to say, the three
lordships of Pakratz, Prestowacz, and Pleneritz, without chattels or
personal effects.  Nothing could be more just or incontrovertible than
this claim.  What was my astonishment, to be told, in open court, that
Her Majesty had declared I must either wholly perform the articles of the
will of Trenck, or be excluded the entire inheritance, and have nothing
further to hope.  What could be done?  I ventured to remonstrate, but the
will of the court was determined and absolute: I must become a Roman
Catholic.

In this extremity I bribed a priest, who gave me a signed attestation,
"That I had abjured the accursed heresy of Lutheranism."  My religion,
however, remained what it had ever been.  General Bernes about this time
returned from his embassy, and I related to him the lamentable state in
which I found my affairs.  He spoke to the Empress in my behalf, and she
promised everything.  He advised me to have patience, to perform all that
was required of me, and to make myself responsible for the depending
suits.  Some family concerns obliged him, as he informed me, to make a
journey to Turin, but his return would be speedy: he would then take the
management of my affairs upon himself, and insure my good fortune in
Austria.  Bernes loved me as his son, and I had reason to hope, from his
assurance, I should be largely remembered in his will, which was the more
probable, as he had neither child nor relations.  He parted from me, like
a father, with tears in his eyes; but he had scarcely been absent six
weeks before the news arrived of his death, which, if report may be
credited, was effected by poison, administered by _a friend_.  Ever the
sport of fortune, thus were my supporters snatched from me at the very
moment they became most necessary.

The same year was I, likewise, deprived by death of my friend and
protector, Field-marshal Konigseck, Governor of Vienna, when he had
determined to interest himself in my behalf.  I have been beloved by the
greatest men Austria ever produced, but unfortunately have been
persecuted by the chicanery of pettifoggers, fools, fanatics, and
priests, who have deprived me of the favour of my Empress, guiltless as I
was of crime or deceit, and left my old age in poverty.

My ills were increased by a new accident.  Soon after the departure of
Bernes, the Prussian minister, taking me aside, in the house of the
Palatine envoy, M. Becker, proposed my return to Berlin, assured me the
King had forgotten all that was past, was convinced of my innocence, that
my good fortune would there be certain, and be pledged his honour to
recover the inheritance of Trenck.  I answered, the favour came too late;
I had suffered injustice too flagrant, in my own country, and that I
would trust no prince on earth whose will might annihilate all the rights
of men.  My good faith to the King had been too ill repaid; my talents
might gain me bread in any part of the world, and I would not again
subject myself to the danger of unmerited imprisonment.

His persuasions were strong, but ineffectual.  "My dear Trenck," said he,
"God is my judge that my intentions are honest; I will pledge myself,
that my sovereign will insure your fortune: you do not know Vienna; you
will lose all by the suits in which you are involved, and will be
persecuted because you do not carry a rosary."

How often have I repented I did not then return to Berlin!  I should have
escaped ten years' imprisonment; should have recovered the estates of
Trenck: should not have wasted the prime of life in the litigation of
suits, and the writing of memorials; and should have certainly been
ranked among the first men in my native country.  Vienna was no place for
a man who could not fawn and flatter: yet here was I destined to remain
six-and-thirty years, unrewarded, unemployed; and through youth and age,
to continue on the list of invalid majors.

Having rejected the proposition of the Prussian envoy, all my hopes in
Vienna were ruined; for Frederic, by his residents and emissaries, knew
how to effect whatever he pleased in foreign courts, and determined that
the Trenck who would no longer serve or confide in him should at least
find no opportunity of serving against him: I soon became painted to the
Empress as an arch heretic who never would be faithful to the house of
Austria, and only endeavoured to obtain the inheritance of Trenck that he
might devote himself to Prussia.  This I shall hereafter prove; and
display a scene that shall be the disgrace of many, by whom the Empress
was induced to harbour unjust suspicions of an able and honest man.  I
here stand erect and confident before the world; publish the truth, and
take everlasting shame to myself, if any man on earth can prove me guilty
of one treacherous thought.  I owe no thanks; but so far from having
received favours, I have six and thirty years remained unable to obtain
justice, though I have all the while been desirous of shedding my blood
in defence of the monarchy where I have thus been treated.  Till the year
1746, I was equally zealous and faithful to Prussia; yet my estates
there, though confiscated, were liable to recovery: in Hungary, on the
contrary, the sentence of confiscation is irrevocable.  This is a
remarkable proof in favour of my honour, and my children's claims.

Surely no reader will be offended at these digressions; my mind is
agitated, my feelings roused, remembering that my age and grey hairs
deprive me of the sweet hope of at length vanquishing opposition, either
by patience, or forcing justice, by eminent services, or noble efforts.

This my history will never reach a monarch's eye, consequently no
monarch, by perceiving, will be induced to protect truth.  It may,
indeed, be criticised by literati; it will certainly be decried by my
persecutors, who, through life, have been my false accusers, and will
probably, therefore, be prohibited by the priests.  All Germany, however,
will read, and posterity perhaps may pity, should my book escape the
misfortune of being classed among improbable romances; to which it is the
more liable, because that the biographers of Frederic and Maria Theresa,
for manifest reasons, have never so much as mentioned the name of Trenck.

Once more to my story: I was now obliged to declare myself heir, but
always _cum reservatione juris mei_, not as simply claiming under the
will of Francis Trenck I was obliged to take upon myself the management
of the sixty-three suits, and the expenses attending any one of these are
well known in Vienna.  My situation may be imagined, when I inform the
reader I only received, from the whole estate of Trenck, 3,600 florins in
three years, which were scarcely sufficient to defray the expenses of new
year's gifts to the solicitors and masters in chancery.  How did I labour
in stating and transcribing proofs for the court!  The money I possessed
soon vanished.  My Prussian relations supported me, and the Countess
Bestuchef sent me the four thousand roubles I had refused at Petersburg.
I had also remittances from my faithful mistress in Prussia; and, in
addition, was obliged to borrow money at the usurious rate of sixty per
cent.  Bewildered as I was among lawyers and knaves, my ambition still
prompted me to proceed, and all things are possible to labour and
perseverance; but my property was expended: and, at length, I could only
obtain that the contested estates should be made a _Fidei commissum_, or
put under trust; whereby, though they were protected from being the
further prey of others, I did not inherit them as mine.  In this pursuit
was my prime of life wasted, which might have been profitably and
honourably spent.

In three years, however, I brought my sixty-three suits to a kind of
conclusion; the probabilities were this could not have been effected in
fifty.  Exclusive of my assiduity, the means I took must not be told; it
is sufficient that I here learnt what judges were, and thus am enabled to
describe them to others.

For a few ducats, the president's servant used to admit me into a closet
where I could see everything as perfectly as if I had myself been one of
the council.  This often was useful, and taught me to prevent evil; and
often was I scarcely able to refrain bursting in upon this court.

Their appointed hour of meeting was nine in the morning, but they seldom
assembled before eleven.  The president then told his beads, and muttered
his prayers.  Someone got up and harangued, while the remainder, in
pairs, amused themselves with talking instead of listening, after which
the news of the day became the common topic of conversation, and the
council broke up, the court being first adjourned some three weeks,
without coming to any determination.  This was called _judicium delegatum
in causis Trenkiansis_; and when at last they came to a conclusion, the
sentence was such as I shall ever shudder at and abhor.

The real estates of Trenck consisted in the great Sclavonian manors,
called the lordships of Pakratz, Prestowatz, and Pleternitz, which he had
inherited from his father, and were the family property, together with
Velika and Nustak, which he himself had purchased: the annual income of
these was 60,000 florins, and they contained more than two hundred
villages and hamlets.  The laws of Hungary require--

1st.  That those who purchase estates shall obtain the _consensus regius_
(royal consent).

2nd.  That the seller shall possess, and make over the right of property,
together with that of transferring or alienating, and

3dly.  That the purchaser shall be a native born, or have bought his
naturalisation.

In default of all, or any of these, the Fiscus, on the death of the
purchaser, takes possession, repaying the _summa emptitia_, or purchase-
money, together within what can be shown to have been laid out in
improvements, or the _summa inscriptitia_, the sum at which it stands
rated in the fiscal register.

Without form or notice, the Hungarian Fiscal President, Count
Grassalkowitz, took possession of all the Trenck estates on his decease,
in the name of the Fiscus.  The prize was great, not so much because of
the estates themselves, as of the personal property upon them.  Trenck
had sent loads of merchandise to his estates, of linen, ingots of gold
and silver from Bavaria, Alsatia, and Silesia.  He had a vast storehouse
of arms, and of saddles; also the great silver service of the Emperor
Charles VII., which he had brought from Munich, with the service of plate
of the King of Prussia; and the personal property on these estates was
affirmed considerably to exceed in value the estates themselves.

I was not long since informed by one of the first generals, whose honour
is undoubted, that several waggons were laden with these rich effects and
sent to Mihalefze.  His testimony was indubitable; he knew the two
pandours, who were the confidants of Trenck, and the keepers of his
treasures; and these, during the general plunder, each seized a bag of
pearls, and fled to Turkey, where they became wealthy merchants.  His
rich stud of horses were taken, and the very cows driven off the farms.
His stand of arms consisted of more than three thousand rare pieces.
Trenck had affirmed he had sent linen to the amount of fifty thousand
florins, in chests from Dunnhausen and Cersdorf, in the county of Glatz,
to his estates.  The pillage was general; and when orders came to send
all the property of Trenck and deliver it to his universal heir, nothing
remained that any person would accept.  I have myself seen, in a certain
Hungarian nobleman's house, some valuable arms, which I knew I had been
robbed of! and I bought at Esseck some silver plates on which were the
arms of Prussia, that had been sold by Counsellor D-n, who had been
empowered to take possession of these estates, and had thus rendered
himself rich.  Of this I procured an attestation, and proved the theft: I
complained aloud at Vienna, but received an order from the court to be
silent, under pain of displeasure, and also to go no more into Sclavonia.
The principal reason of my loss of the landed property in Hungary was my
having dared to make inquiries concerning the personal, not one guinea of
which was ever brought to account.  I then proved my right to the family
estates, left by my uncle, beyond all dispute, and also of those
purchased by my cousin.  The commissions appointed to inquire into these
rights even confirmed them; yet after they had been thus established, I
received the following order from the court, in the hand of the Empress
herself:--"The president, Count Grassalkowitz, takes it upon his
conscience that the Sclavonian estates do not descend to Trenck, _in
natura_; he must therefore receive the _summa emptitia et inscriptitia_,
together with the money he can show to have been expended in
improvements."




CHAPTER XIV.


And herewith ended my pleadings and my hopes.  I had sacrificed my
property, laboured through sixty-three inferior suits, and lost this
great cause without a trial.  I could have remained satisfied with the
loss of the personal property: the booty of a soldier, like the wealth
amassed by a minister, appears to me little better than a public robbery;
but the acquirements of my ancestors, my birth-right by descent, of these
I could not be deprived without excessive cruelty.  Oh patience!
patience!--Yet shall my children never become the footmen, nor grooms, of
those who have robbed them of their inheritance; and to them I bequeathed
my rights in all their power: nor shall any man prevent my crying aloud,
so long as justice shall not be done.

The president, it is true, did not immediately possess himself of the
estates, but he took good care his friends should have them at such rates
that the sale of them did not bring the fiscal treasury 150,000 florins,
while I, in real and personal property, lost a million and a half; nay,
probably a sum equal to this in personal property alone.

The summa _inscriptitia et emptitia_ for all these great estates only
amounted to 149,000 florins, and this was to be paid by the chamber, but
the president thought proper to deduct 10,000 on pretence the cattle had
been driven off the estate of Pakratz; and, further, 36,000 more, under
the shameful pretence that Trenck, to recruit his pandours, had drained
the estates of 3,600 vassals, who had never returned; the estates,
therefore, must make them good at the rate of thirty florins per head,
which would have amounted to 108,000 florins; but, with much difficulty,
this sum was reduced, as above stated, to 36,000 florins, each vassal
reckoned at ten florins per head.  Thus was I obliged, from the property
of my family, to pay for 3,600 men who had gloriously died in war, in
defence of the contested rights of the great Maria Theresa; who had
raised so many millions of contributions for her in the countries of her
enemies; who, sword in hand, had stormed and taken so many towns, and
dispersed, or taken prisoners, so many thousands of her foes.  Would this
be believed by listening nations?

All deductions made for legacies, fees, and formalities, there remained
to me 63,000 florins, with which I purchased the lordship of Zwerbach,
and I was obliged to pay 6,000 florins for my naturalisation.  Thus, when
the sums are enumerated which I expended on the suits of Trenck, received
from my friends at Berlin and Petersburg, it will be found that I cannot,
at least, have been a gainer by having been made the universal heir of
the immensely rich Trenck.  With regret I write these truths in support
of my children's claims, that they may not, in my grave, reproach me for
having neglected the duty of a father.

I will mere add a few particulars which may afford the reader matter for
meditation, cause him to commiserate my fate, and give a picture of the
manner in which the prosecution was carried on against Trenck.

One Schygrai, a silly kind of beggarly baron, who was treated as a
buffoon, was invited in the year 1743 to dine with Baron Pejaczewitz,
when Trenck happened to be present.  The conversation happened to turn on
a kind of brandy made in this country, and Trenck jocularly said he
annually distilled this sort of brandy from cow-dung to the value of
thirty thousand florins.  Schygrai supposed him serious, and wished to
learn the art, which Trenck promised to teach him Pejaczewitz told him he
could give him thirty thousand load of dung.

"But where shall I get the wood?" said Schygrai.  "I will give you thirty
thousand klafters," answered Trenck.  The credulous baron, thinking
himself very fortunate, desired written promises, which they gave him;
and that of Trenck ran thus:

   "I hereby permit and empower Baron Schygrai to sell gratis, in the
   forest of Tscherra Horra, thirty thousand klafters of wood.

"Witness my hand,
"TRENCK."

Trenck was no sooner dead than the Baron brought his note, and made
application to the court.  His attorney was the noted Bussy, and the
court decreed the estates of Trenck should pay at the rate of one form
thirty kreutzers per klafter, or forty-five thousand florins, with all
costs, and an order was given to the administrators to pay the money.

Just at this time I arrived at Vienna, from Petersburg.  Doctor Berger,
the advocate of Trenck, told me the affair would admit of no delay.  I
hastened to the Empress, and obtained an order to delay payment.  An
inquiry was instituted, and this forest of Tscherra Horra was found to be
situated in Turkey.  The absurdity and injustice were flagrant, and it
was revoked.  I cannot say how much of these forty-five thousand florins
the Baron had promised to the noble judge and the attorney.  I only know
that neither of them was punished.  Had not some holidays luckily
intervened, or had the attorney expected my arrival, the money would have
been paid, and an ineffectual attempt to obtain retribution would have
been the consequence, as happened in many similar instances.

I have before mentioned the advertisement inviting all who had any
demands or complaints against Trenck to appear, with the promise of a
ducat a day; and it is mere proper to add that the sum of fifteen
thousand florins was brought to account, and paid out of the estates of
Trenck.  For this shameful purpose some thousand of florins were paid
besides to this species of claimants and though, after examination, their
pretensions all proved to be futile, and themselves were cast in damages,
yet was none of this money ever refunded, or the false claimants
punished.  Among these the pretended daughter of General Schwerin
received two thousand florins, notorious as was her character.  Again,
Trenck was accused of having appropriated the money to his own use, and
treated as if convicted.  After his death a considerable demand was
accordingly made.  I happening, however, to meet with Ruckhardt, his
quarter-master, he with asseverations declared that, instead of being
indebted to the regiment, the regiment was more than a hundred thousand
florins indebted to him, advised me to get attestations from the
captains, and assured me he himself would give in a clear statement of
the regiment's accounts.

I followed his advice, hastened to the regiment, and obtained so many
proofs, that the quarter-master of the regiment, who, with the major, had
in reality pocketed the money, was imprisoned and put in irons.  What
became of the thief or the false witness afterward I know not; I only
know that nothing was refunded, that the quarter-master found protectors,
detained the money, and, some years after this vile action, purchased a
commission.  One instance more.

Trenck, to the corps of infantry he commanded, added a corps of hussars,
which he raised and provided with horses and accoutrements sold by
auction.  My demand on this account was upwards of sixty thousand
florins, to which I received neither money nor reply.  He had also
expended a hundred thousand florins for the raising and equipping his
three thousand pandours; in consequence of which a signed agreement had
been given by the Government that these hundred thousand florins should
be repaid to his heir, or he, the heir, should receive the command of the
regiment.  The regiment, however, at his decease, was given to General
Simschen; and as for the agreement, care was taken it should never come
into my hands.  Thus these hundred thousand florins were lost.

Yet it has been wickedly affirmed he was imprisoned in the Spielberg for
having embezzled the regiment's money; whereas, I would to God I only was
in possession of the sums he expended on this regiment; for he considered
the regiment as his own; and great as was his avarice, still greater was
his desire of fame, and greater still his love for his Empress, for whom
he would gladly have yielded both property and life.

Within respect to the money that was to have been repaid for improvement
of the estates, I must add, these estates were bought at a time when the
country had been left desolate by the Turks, and the reinstalment of such
places as had fallen into their hands, and the erecting of farmhouses,
mills, stocking them with horses, cattle, and seed corn, according to my
poor estimate, could not amount to less than eighty thousand florins; but
I was forbidden to go into Sclavonia, and the president offered, as an
indemnification, four thousand florins.  Everybody was astonished, but
he, within the utmost coolness, told me I must either accept this or
nothing.  The hearers of this sentence cast their eyes up to heaven and
pitied me.  I remonstrated, and thereby only made the matter worse.  Grief
and anxiety occasioned me to take a journey into Italy, passing through
Venice, Rome, and Florence.

On my return to Vienna, I, by a friendly interference in behalf of a
woman whose fears rather than guilt had brought her into danger, became
suspected myself; and the very officious officers of the police had me
imprisoned as a coiner without the least grounds for any such accusation
except their own surmises.  I was detained unheard nine days, and when,
having been heard, I had entirely justified myself, was again restored to
liberty; public declaration was then made in the Gazette that the
officers of the police had acted too precipitately.

This was the satisfaction granted, but this did not content me.  I
threatened the counsellor by whom my character had been so aspersed, and
the Empress, condescending to mediate, bestowed on me a captainship of
cavalry in the Cordova cuirassiers.

Such was the recompense I received for wounds so deep, and such the
neglect into which I was thrown at Vienna.  Discontent led me to join my
regiment in Hungary.

Here I gained the applause of my colonel, Count Bettoni, who himself told
the Empress I, more than any other, had contributed to the forming of the
regiment.  It may well be imagined how a man like me, accustomed, as I
had been, to the first company of the first courts, must pass my time
among the Carpathian mountains, where neither society nor good books were
to be found, nor knowledge, of which I was enamoured, improved.  The
conversation of Count Bettoni, and the chase, together with the love of
the general of the regiment, old Field-marshal Cordova, were my only
resources; the persecutions, neglect, and even contempt, I received at
Vienna, were still the same.

In the year 1754, in the month of March, my mother died in Prussia, and I
requested the permission of the court that held the inheritance of
Trenck, as a _fidei commissum_, to make a journey to Dantzic to settle
some family affairs with my brothers and sister, my estates being
confiscated.  This permission was granted, and thither I went in May,
where I once more fell into the hands of the Prussians; which forms the
second great and still more gloomy epoch in my life.  All who read what
follows will shudder, will commiserate him who, feeling himself innocent,
relates afflictions he has miserably encountered and gloriously overcome.

I left Hungary, where I was in garrison, for Dantzic, where I had desired
my brothers and sister to meet me that we might settle our affairs.  My
principal intent, however, was a journey to Petersburg, there to seek the
advice and aid of my friends, for law and persecution were not yet ended
at Vienna; and my captain's pay and small income scarcely sufficed to
defray charges of attorneys and counsellors.

It is here most worthy of remark that I was told by Prince Ferdinand of
Brunswick, governor of Magdeburg, he had received orders to prepare my
prison at Magdeburg before I set out from Hungary.

Nay, more; it had been written from Vienna to Berlin that the King must
beware of Trenck, for that he would be at Dantzic at the time when the
King was to visit his camp in Prussia.

What thing more vile, what contrivance more abominable, could the
wickedest wretch on earth find to banish a man his country, that he might
securely enjoy the property of which the other had been robbed?  That
this was done I have living witnesses in his highness Prince Ferdinand of
Brunswick and the Berlin ministry, from whose mouths I learned this
artifice of villainy.  It is the more necessary to establish this truth,
because no one can comprehend why the _Great Frederic_ should have
proceeded against me in a manner so cruel that, when it comes to be
related, must raise the indignation of the just, and move hearts of iron
to commiserate.

Men so vile, so wicked, as I have described them, in conjunction with one
Weingarten, secretary to Count Puebla, then Austrian minister at Berlin,
have brought on me these my misfortunes.

This was the Weingarten who, as is now well known, betrayed all the
secrets of the Austrian court to Frederic, who at length was discovered
in the year 1756, and who, when the war broke out, remained in the
service of Prussia.  This same Weingarten, also, not only caused my
wretchedness, but my sister's ruin and death, as he likewise did the
punishment and death of three innocent men, which will hereafter be
shown.

It is an incontrovertible truth that I was betrayed and sold by men in
Vienna whose interest it was that I should be eternally silenced.

I was immediately visited by my brothers and sister on my arrival at
Dantzic, where we lived happy in each other's company during a fortnight,
and an amicable partition was made of my mother's effects; my sister
perfectly justified herself concerning the manner in which I was obliged
to fly from her house an the year 1746: our parting was kind, and as
brother and sister ought to part.

Our only acquaintance in Dantzic was the Austrian resident, M. Abramson,
to whom I brought letters of recommendation from Vicuna, and whose
reception of us was polite even to extravagance.

This Abramson was a Prussian born, and had never seen Vienna, but
obtained his then office by the recommendation of Count Bestuchef,
without security for his good conduct, or proof of his good morals,
heart, or head.  He was in close connection with the Prussian resident,
Reimer; and was made the instrument of my ruin.

Scarcely had my brothers and sister departed before I determined to make
a voyage by sea to Russia.  Abramson contrived a thousand artifices, by
which he detained me a week longer in Dantzic, that, he in conjunction
with Reimer, might make the necessary preparations.

The King of Prussia had demanded that the magistrates of Dantzic should
deliver me up; but this could not be done without offending the Imperial
court, I being a commissioned officer in that service, with proper
passports; it was therefore probable that this negotiation required
letters should pass and repass; and for this reason Abramson was employed
to detain me some days longer, till, by the last letters from Berlin, the
magistrates of Dantzic were induced to violate public safety and the laws
of nations.  Abramson, I considered as my best friend, and my person as
in perfect security; he had therefore no difficulty in persuading me to
stay.

The day of supposed departure on board a Swedish ship for Riga
approached, and the deceitful Abramson promised me to send one of his
servants to the port to know the hour.  At four in the afternoon he told
me he had himself spoken to the captain, who said he would not sail till
the next day; adding that he, Abramson, would expect me to breakfast, and
would then accompany me to the vessel.  I felt a secret inquietude which
made me desirous of leaving Dantzic, and immediately to send all my
luggage, and to sleep on board.  Abramson prevented me, dragging me
almost forcibly along with him, telling me he had much company, and that
I must absolutely dine and sup at his house; accordingly I did not return
to my inn till eleven at night.

I was but just in bed when I heard a tremendous knocking at my chamber
door, which was not shut, and two of the city magistrates with twenty
grenadiers entered my chamber, and surrounded my bed so suddenly that I
had not time to take to my arms and defend myself.  My three servants had
been secured and I was told that the most worthy magistracy of Dantzic
was obliged to deliver me up as a delinquent to his majesty the King of
Prussia.

What were my feelings at seeing myself thus betrayed!  They silently
conducted me to the city prison, where I remained twenty-four hours.
About noon Abramson came to visit me, affected to be infinitely concerned
and enraged, and affirmed he had strongly protested against the
illegality of this proceeding to the magistracy, as I was actually in the
Austrian service; but that they had answered him the court of Vienna had
afforded them a precedent, for that, in 1742, they had done the same by
the two sons of the burgomaster Rutenberg, of Dantzic, and that,
therefore, they were justified in making reprisal; and likewise, they
durst not refuse the most earnest request accompanied with threats, of
the King of Prussia.

Their plea of retaliation originated as follows:--There was a kind of
club at Vienna, the members of which were seized for having committed the
utmost extravagance and debauchery, two of whom were the sons of the
burgomaster Rutenberg, and who were sentenced to the pillory.  Great sums
were offered by the father to avoid this public disgrace, but
ineffectually--they were punished, their punishment was legal, and had no
similarity whatever to my case, nor could it any way justly give pretence
of reprisal.

Abramson, who had in reality entered no protest whatever, but rather
excited the magistracy, and acted in concert with Reimer, advised me to
put my writings and other valuable effects into his hands, otherwise they
would be seized.  He knew I had received letters of exchange from my
brothers and sister, about seven thousand florins, and these I gave him,
but kept my ring, worth about four thousand, and some sixty guineas,
which I had in my purse.  He then embraced me, declared nothing should be
neglected to effect my immediate deliverance; that even he would raise
the populace for that purpose; that I could not be given up to the
Prussians in less than a week, the magistracy being still undetermined in
an affair so serious, and he left me, shedding abundance of crocodile
tears, like the most affectionate of friends.

The next night two magistrates, with their posse, came to my prison,
attended by resident Reimer, a Prussian officer and under officers, and
into their hands I was delivered.  The pillage instantly began; Reimer
tore off my ring, seized my watch, snuff-box, and all I had, not so much
as sending me a coat or shirt from my effects; after which, they put me
into a close coach with three Prussians.  The Dantzic guard accompanied
the carriage to the city gate, that was opened to let me pass; after
which the Dantzic dragoons escorted me as far as Lauenburg in Pomerania.

I have forgotten the date of this miserable day; but to the best of my
memory, it must have been in the beginning of June.  Thirty Prussian
hussars, commanded by a lieutenant, relieved the dragoons at Lauenburg,
and thus was I escorted from garrison to garrison, till I arrived at
Berlin.

Hence it was evidently falsely affirmed, by the magistracy of Dantzic,
and the conspirator Abramson, who wrote in his own excuse to Vienna, that
my seizure must be attributed wholly to my own imprudence, and that I had
exposed myself to this arrest by going without the city gates, where I
was taken and carried off; nor was it less astonishing that the court of
Vienna should not have demanded satisfaction for the treachery of the
Dantzickers toward an Austrian officer.  I have incontrovertibly proved
this treachery, after I had regained my liberty Abramson indeed they
could not punish, for during my imprisonment he had quitted the Austrian
for the Prussian service, where he gradually became so contemptible, that
in the year 1764, when I was released from my imprisonment, he was
himself imprisoned in the house of correction; and his wife, lately so
rich, was obliged to beg her bread.  Thus have I generally lived to see
the fall of my betrayers; and thus have I found that, without indulging
personal revenge, virtue and fortitude must at length triumph over the
calumniator and the despot.

This truth will be further proved hereafter, nor can I behold, unmoved,
the open shame in which my persecutors live, and how they tremble in my
presence, their wicked deeds now being known to the world Nay, monarchs
may yet punish their perfidy:--Yet not so!--May they rather die in
possession of wealth they have torn from me!  I only wish the pity and
respect of the virtuous and the wise.

But, though Austria has never resented the affront commenced on the
person of an officer in its service, still have I a claim on the city of
Dantzic, where I was thus treacherously delivered up, for the effects I
there was robbed of, the amount of which is between eleven and twelve
thousand florins.  This is a case too clear to require argument, and the
publication of this history will make it known to the world.  This claim
also, among others, I leave to the children of an unfortunate father.

Enough of digression; let us attend to the remarkable events which
happened on the dismal journey to Berlin.  I was escorted from garrison
to garrison, which were distant from each other two, three, or at most
five miles; wherever I came, I found compassion and respect.  The
detachment of hussars only attended me two days; it consisted of twelve
men and an officer, who rode with me in the carriage.

The fourth day I arrived at ---, where the Duke of Wirtemberg, father of
the present Grand Duchess of Russia, was commander, and where his
regiment was in quarters.  The Duke conversed with me, was much moved,
invited me to dine, and detained me all the day, where I was not treated
as a prisoner.  I so far gained his esteem that I was allowed to remain
there the next day; the chief persons of the place were assembled, and
the Duchess, whom he had lately married, testified every mark of pity and
consideration.  I dined with him also on the third day, after which I
departed in an open carriage, without escort, attended only by a
lieutenant of his regiment.

I must relate this, event circumstantially for it not only proves the
just and noble character of the Duke, but likewise that there are moments
in which the brave may appear cowards, the clear-sighted blind, and the
wise foolish; nay, one might almost be led to conclude, from this, that
my imprisonment at Magdeburg, was the consequence of predestination,
since I remained riveted in stupor, in despite of suggestions,
forebodings, and favourable opportunities.  Who but must be astonished,
having read the daring efforts I made at Glatz, at this strange
insensibility now in the very crisis of my fate?  I afterwards was
convinced it was the intention of the noble-minded Duke that I should
escape, and that he must have given particular orders to the successive
officers.  He would probably have willingly subjected himself to the
reprimands of Frederic if I would have taken to fight.  The journey
through the places where his regiment was stationed continued five days,
and I everywhere passed the evenings in the company of the officers, the
kindness of whom was unbounded I slept in their quarters without
sentinel, and travelled in their carriages, without other guard than a
single officer in the carriage.  In various places the high road was not
more than two, and sometimes one mile from the frontier road; therefore
nothing could have been easier than to have escaped; yet did the same
Trenck, who in Glatz had cut his way through thirty men to obtain his
freedom, that Trenck, who had never been acquainted with fear, now remain
four days bewildered, and unable to come to any determination.

In a small garrison town, I lodged in the house of a captain of cavalry,
and continually was treated by him with every mark of friendship.  After
dinner he rode at the head of his squadron to water the horse, unsaddled.
I remained alone in the house, entered the stable, saw three remaining
horses, with saddles and bridles; in my chamber was my sword and a pair
of pistols.  I had but to mount one of the horses and fly to the opposite
gate.  I meditated on the project, and almost resolved to put it in
execution, but presently became undetermined by some secret impulse.  The
captain returned some time after, and appeared surprised to find me still
there.  The next day he accompanied me alone in his carriage; we came to
a forest, he saw some champignons, stopped, asked me to alight, and help
him to gather them; he strayed more than a hundred paces from me, and
gave me entire liberty to fly; yet notwithstanding all this, I
voluntarily returned, suffering myself to be led like a sheep to the
slaughter.

I was treated so well, during my stay at this place, and escorted with so
much negligence, that I fell into a gross error.  Perceiving they
conveyed me straight to Berlin, I imagined the King wished to question me
concerning the plan formed for the war, which was then on the point of
breaking out.  This plan I perfectly knew, the secret correspondence of
Bestuchef having all passed through my hands, which circumstance was much
better known at Berlin than at Vienna.  Confirmed in this opinion, and
far from imagining the fate that awaited me, I remained irresolute,
insensible, and blind to danger.  Alas, how short was this hope!  How
quickly was it succeeded by despair! when, after four days' march, I
quitted the district under the command of the Duke of Wirtemberg, and was
delivered up to the first garrison of infantry at Coslin!  The last of
the Wirtemberg officers, when taking leave of me, appeared to be greatly
affected; and from this moment till I came to Berlin, I was under a
strong escort, and the given orders were rigorously observed.




CHAPTER XV.


Arrived here, I was lodged over the grand guardhouse, with two sentinels
in my chamber, and one at the door.  The King was at Potzdam, and here I
remained three days; on the third, some staff-officers made their
appearance, seated themselves at a table, and put the following questions
to me:--

First.  What was my business at Dantzic?

Secondly.  Whether I was acquainted with M. Goltz, Prussian ambassador to
Russia?

Thirdly.  Who was concerned with me in the conspiracy at Dantzic?

When I perceived their intention, by these interrogations, I absolutely
refused to reply, only saying I had been imprisoned in the fortress of
Glatz, without hearing, or trial by court-martial; that, availing myself
of the laws of nature, I had by my own exertions procured my liberty, and
that I was now a captain of cavalry in the imperial service; that I
demanded a legal trial for my first unknown offence, after which I
engaged to answer all interrogatories, and prove my innocence; but that
at present, being accused of new crimes, without a hearing concerning my
former punishment, the procedure was illegal.  I was told they had no
orders concerning this, and I remained dumb to all further questions.

They wrote some two hours, God knows what; a carriage came up; I was
strictly searched, to find whether I had any weapons; thirteen or
fourteen ducats, which I had concealed, were taken from me, and I was
conducted under a strong escort, through Spandau to Magdeburg.  The
officer here delivered me to the captain of the guard at the citadel; the
town major came, and brought me to the dungeon, expressly prepared for
me; a small picture of the Countess of Bestuchef, set with diamonds,
which I had kept concealed in my bosom, was now taken from me; the door
was shut, and here was I left.

My dungeon was in a casemate, the fore part of which, six feet wide and
ten feet long, was divided by a party wall.  In the inner wall were two
doors, and a third at the entrance of the casemate itself.  The window in
the seven-feet-thick wall was so situated that, though I had light, I
could see neither heaven nor earth; I could only see the roof of the
magazine; within and without this window were iron bars, and in the space
between an iron grating, so close and so situated, by the rising of the
walls, that it was impossible I should see any parson without the prison,
or that any person should see me.  On the outside was a wooden palisade,
six feet from the wall, by which the sentinels were prevented from
conveying anything to me.  I had a mattress, and a bedstead, but which
was immovably ironed to the floor, so that it was impossible I should
drag it, and stand up to the window; beside the door was a small iron
stove and a night table, in like manner fixed to the floor.  I was not
yet put in irons, and my allowance was a pound and a half per day of
ammunition bread, and a jug of water.

From my youth I had always had a good appetite, and my bread was so
mouldy I could scarcely at first eat the half of it.  This was the
consequence of Major Reiding's avarice, who endeavoured to profit even by
this, so great was the number of unfortunate prisoners; therefore, it is
impossible I should describe to my readers the excess of tortures that,
during eleven months, I felt from ravenous hunger.  I could easily every
day have devoured six pounds of bread; and every twenty-four hours after
having received and swallowed my small portion, I continued as hungry as
before I began, yet must wait another twenty-four hours for a new morsel.
How willingly would I have signed a bill of exchange for a thousand
ducats, on my property at Vienna, only to have satiated my hunger on dry
bread!  For, so extreme was it, that scarcely had I dropt into a sweet
sleep.  Therefore I dreamed I was feasting at some table luxuriously
loaded, where, eating like a glutton, the whole company were astonished
to see me, while my imagination was heated by the sensation of famine.
Awakened by the pains of hunger, the dishes vanished, and nothing
remained but the reality of my distress; the cravings of nature were but
inflamed, my tortures prevented sleep, and, looking into futurity, the
cruelty of my fate suffered, if possible, increase, from imagining that
the prolongation of pangs like these was insupportable.  God preserve
every honest man from sufferings like mine!  They were not to be endured
by the villain most obdurate.  Many have fasted three days, many have
suffered want for a week, or more; but certainly no one, beside myself,
ever endured it in the same excess for eleven months.  Some have supposed
that to eat little might become habitual, but I have experienced the
contrary.  My hunger increased every day; and of all the trials of
fortitude my whole life has afforded, this, of eleven months, was the
most bitter.

Petitions, remonstrances, were of no avail; the answer was--"We must give
no more, such is the King's command."  The Governor, General Borck, born
the enemy of man, replied, when I entreated, at least, to have my fill of
bread, "You have feasted often enough out of the service of plate taken
from the King, by Trenck, at the battle of Sorau; you must now eat
ammunition bread in your dirty kennel.  Your Empress makes no allowance
for your maintenance, and you are unworthy of the bread you eat, or the
trouble taken about you."  Judge, reader, what pangs such insolence,
added to such sufferings must inflict.  Judge what were my thoughts,
foreseeing, as I did, an endless duration to this imprisonment and these
torments.

My three doors were kept ever shut, and I was left to such meditations as
such feelings and such hopes might inspire.  Daily, about noon, once in
twenty-four hours, my pittance of bread and water was brought.  The keys
of all the doors were kept by the governor; the inner door was not
opened, but my bread and water were delivered through an aperture.  The
prison doors were opened only once a week, on a Wednesday, when the
governor and town major, my hole having been first cleaned, paid their
visit.

Having remained thus two months, and observed this method was invariable,
I began to execute a project I had formed, of the possibility of which I
was convinced.

Where the night-table and stove stood, the floor was bricked, and this
paving extended to the wall that separated my casemate from the adjoining
one, in which was no prisoner.  My window was only guarded by a single
sentinel; I therefore soon found, among those who successively relieved
guard, two kind-hearted fellows, who described to me the situation of my
prison; hence I perceived I might effect my escape, could I but penetrate
into the adjoining casemate, the door of which was not shut.  Provided I
had a friend and a boat waiting for me at the Elbe, or could I swim
across that river, the confines of Saxony were but a mile distant.

To describe my plan at length would lead to prolixity, yet I must
enumerate some of its circumstances, as it was remarkably intricate and
of gigantic labour.

I worked through the iron, eighteen inches long, by which the night-table
was fastened, and broke off the clinchings of the nails, but preserved
their heads, that I might put them again in their places, and all might
appear secure to my weekly visitors.  This procured me tools to raise up
the brick floor, under which I found earth.  My first attempt was to work
a hole through the wall, seven feet thick behind, and concealed by the
night-table.  The first layer was of brick.  I afterwards came to large
hewn stones.  I endeavoured accurately to number and remember the bricks,
both of the flooring and the wall, so that I might replace them and all
might appear safe.  This having accomplished, I proceeded.

The day preceding visitation all was carefully replaced, and the
intervening mortar as carefully preserved; the whole had, probably, been
whitewashed a hundred times; and, that I might fill up all remaining
interstices, I pounded the white stuff this afforded, wetted it, made a
brush of my hair, then applied this plaster, washed it over, that the
colour might be uniform, and afterwards stripped myself, and sat with my
naked body against the place, by the heat of which it was dried.

While labouring, I placed the stones and bricks upon my bedstead, and had
they taken the precaution to come at any other time in the week, the
stated Wednesday excepted, I had inevitably been discovered; but, as no
such ill accident befell me, in six months my Herculean labours gave me a
prospect of success.

Means were to be found to remove the rubbish from my prison; all of
which, in a wall so thick, it was impossible to replace; mortar and stone
could not be removed.  I therefore took the earth, scattered it about my
chamber, and ground it under my feet the whole day, till I had reduced it
to dust; this dust I strewed in the aperture of my window, making use of
the loosened night-table to stand upon, I tied splinters from my bedstead
together, with the ravelled yarn of an old stocking, and to this I
affixed a tuft of my hair.  I worked a large hole under the middle
grating, which could not be seen when standing on the ground, and through
this I pushed my dust with the tool I had prepared in the outer window,
then, waiting till the wind should happen to rise, during the night I
brushed it away, it was blown off, and no appearance remained on the
outside.  By this simple expedient I rid myself of at least three hundred
weight of earth, and thus made room to continue my labours; yet, this
being still insufficient, I had recourse to another artifice, which was
to knead up the earth in the form of sausages, to resemble the human
faeces: these I dried, and when the prisoner came to clean my dungeon,
hastily tossed them into the night-table, and thus disencumbered myself
of a pound or two more of earth each week.  I further made little balls,
and, when the sentinel was walking, blew them, through a paper tube, out
of the window.  Into the empty space I put my mortar and stones, and
worked on successfully.

I cannot, however, describe my difficulties after having penetrated about
two feet into the hewn stone.  My tools were the irons I had dug out,
which fastened may bedstead and night-table.  A compassionate soldier
also gave me an old iron ramrod and a soldier's sheath knife, which did
me excellent service, more especially the latter, as I shall presently
more fully show.  With these two I cut splinters from my bedstead, which
aided me to pick the mortar from the interstices of the stone; yet the
labour of penetrating through this seven-feet wall was incredible; the
building was ancient, and the mortar occasionally quite petrified, so
that the whole stone was obliged to be reduced to dust.  After continuing
my work unremittingly for six months, I at length approached the
accomplishment of my hopes, as I knew by coming to the facing of brick,
which now was only between me and the adjoining casemate.

Meantime I found opportunity to speak to some of the sentinels, among
whom was an old grenadier called Gelfhardt, whom I here name because he
displayed qualities of the greatest and most noble kind.  From him I
learned the precise situation of my prison, and every circumstance that
might best conduce to my escape.

Nothing was wanting but money to buy a boat, and crossing the Elbe with
Gelfhardt, to take refuge in Saxony.  By Gelfhardt's means I became
acquainted with a kind-hearted girl, a Jewess, and a native of Dessau,
Esther Heymannin by name, and whose father had been ten years in prison.
This good, compassionate maiden, whom I had never seen, won over two
other grenadiers, who gave her an opportunity of speaking to me every
time they stood sentinel.  By tying my splinters together, I made a stick
long enough to reach beyond the palisades that were before my window, and
thus obtained paper, another knife, and a file.

I now wrote to my sister, the wife of the before-mentioned only son of
General Waldow; described my awful situation, and entreated her to remit
three hundred rix-dollars to the Jewess, hoping, by this means, I might
escape from my prison.  I then wrote another affecting letter to Count
Puebla, the Austrian ambassador at Berlin, in which was enclosed a draft
for a thousand florins on my effects at Vienna, desiring him to remit
these to the Jewess, having promised her that sum as a reward for her
fidelity.  She was to bring the three hundred rix-dollars my sister
should send to me, and take measures with the grenadiers to facilitate my
flight, which nothing seemed able to prevent, I having the power either
to break into the casemate or, aided by the grenadiers and the Jewess' to
cut the locks from the doors and that way escape from my dungeon.  The
letters were open, I being obliged to roll them round the stick to convey
them to Esther.

The faithful girl diligently proceeded to Berlin, where she arrived safe,
and immediately spoke to Count Puebla.  The Count gave her the kindest
reception, received the letter, with the letter of exchange, and bade her
go and speak to Weingarten, the secretary of the embassy, and act
entirely as he should direct.  She was received by Weingarten in the most
friendly manner, who, by his questions, drew from her the whole secret,
and our intended plan of flight, aided by the two grenadiers, and also
that she had a letter for my sister, which she must carry to Hammer, near
Custrin.  He asked to see this letter; read it, told her to proceed on
her Journey, gave her two ducats to bear her expenses, ordered her to
come to him on her return, said that during this interval he would
endeavour to obtain her the thousand florins for my draft, and would then
give her further instructions.

Esther cheerfully departed for Hammer, where my sister, then a widow, and
no longer, as in 1746, in dread of her husband, joyful to hear I was
still living, immediately gave her three hundred rix-dollars, exhorting
her to exert every possible means to obtain my deliverance.  Esther
hastened back with the letter from my sister to Berlin, and told all that
passed to Weingarten, who read the letter, and inquired the names of the
two grenadiers.  He told her the thousand florins from Vienna were not
yet come, but gave her twelve ducats; bade her hasten back to Magdeburg,
to carry me all this good news, and then return to Berlin, where he would
pay her the thousand florins.  Esther came to Magdeburg, went immediately
to the citadel, and, most luckily, met the wife of one of the grenadiers,
who told her that her husband and his comrade had been taken and put in
irons the day before.  Esther had quickness of perception, and suspected
we had been betrayed; she therefore instantly again began her travels,
and happily came safe to Dessau.

Here I must interrupt my narrative, that I may explain this infernal
enigma to my readers, an account of which I received after I had obtained
my freedom, and still possess, in the handwriting of this Jewess.
Weingarten, as was afterwards discovered, was a traitor, and too much
trusted by Count Puebla, he being a spy in the pay of Prussia, and one
who had revealed, in the court of Berlin, not only the secrets of the
Imperial embassy, but also the whole plan of the projected war.  For this
reason he afterwards, when war broke out, remained at Berlin in the
Prussian service.  His reason for betraying me was that he might secure
the thousand florins which I had drawn for on Vienna; for the receipt of
the 24th of May, 1755, attests that the sum was paid, by the
administrators of my effects, to Count Puebla, and has since been brought
to account; nor can I believe that Weingarten did not appropriate this
sum to himself, since I cannot be persuaded the ambassador would commit
such an action, although the receipt is in his handwriting, as may easily
be demonstrated, it being now in my possession.  Thus did Weingarten,
that he might detain a thousand florins with impunity, bring new evils
upon me and upon my sister, which occasioned her premature death; caused
one grenadier to run the gauntlet three successive days, and another to
be hung.

Esther alone escaped, and since gave me an elucidation of the whole
affair.  The report at Magdeburg was, that a Jewess had obtained money
from my sister and bribed two grenadiers, and that one of these had
trusted and been betrayed by his comrade.  Indeed, what other story could
be told at Magdeburg, or how could it be known I had been betrayed to the
Prussian ministry by the Imperial secretary?  The truth, however, is as I
have stated: my account-book exists, and the Jewess is still alive.

Her poor imprisoned father was punished with more than a hundred blows to
make him declare whether his daughter had entrusted him with the plot, or
if he knew whither she was fled, and miserably died in fetters.  Such was
the mischief occasioned by a rascal!  And who might be blamed but the
imprudent Count Puebla?

In the year 1766, this said Jewess demanded of me a thousand florins; and
I wrote to Count Puebla, that, having his receipt for the sum, which
never had been repaid, I begged it might be restored.  He received my
agent with rudeness, returned no answer, and seemed to trouble himself
little concerning my loss.  Whether the heirs of the Count be, or be not,
indebted to me these thousand florins and the interest, I leave the world
to determine.  Thrice have I been betrayed at Vienna and sold to Berlin,
like Joseph to the Egyptians.  My history proves the origin of my
persuasion that residents, envoys, and ambassadors must be men of known
worth and honesty, and not the vilest of rascals and miscreants.  But,
alas! the effects and money they have robbed me of have never been
restored; and for the miseries they have brought upon me, they could not
be recompensed by the wealth of any or all the monarchs on earth.  Estates
they may, but truth they cannot confiscate; and of the villainy of
Abramson and Weingarten I have documents and proofs that no court of
justice could disannul.  Stop, reader, if thou hast a heart, and in that
heart compassion for the unfortunate!  Stop and imagine what my
sensations are while I remember and recount a part only of the injustice
that has been done me, a part only of the tyranny I have endured!  By
this last act of treachery of Weingarten was I held in chains, the most
horrible, for nine succeeding years!  By him was an innocent man brought
to the gallows!  By him, too, my sister, my beloved, my unfortunate
sister, was obliged to build a dungeon at her own expense! besides being
amerced in a fine, the extent of which I never could learn.  Her goods
were plundered, her estates made a desert, her children fell into extreme
poverty, and she herself expired in her thirty-third year, the victim of
cruelty, persecution, her brother's misfortunes, and the treachery of the
Imperial embassy!




Footnotes:


{1}  A common expression with Frederic when he was angry, and which has
since become proverbial among the Prussian and other German officers.  See
Critical _Review_, _April_, 1755.

{2}  The same Doo who was governor of Glatz during the Seven Years' war,
and who, having been surprised by General Laudohu, was made prisoner,
which occasioned the loss of Glatz.  The King broke him with infamy, and
banished him with contempt.  In 1764 he came to Vienna, where I gave him
alms.  He was, by birth, an Italian, a selfish, wicked man; and, while
major under the government of Fouquet, at Glatz, brought many people to
misery.  He was the creature of Fouquet, without birth or merit; crafty,
malignant, but handsome, and, having debauched his patron's daughter,
afterwards married her; whence at first his good, and at length his ill
fortune.  He wanted knowledge to defend a fortress against the enemy, and
his covetousness rendered him easy to corrupt.

{3}  The German mile contains from four to seven English miles, and this
variation appears to depend on the ignorance of the people and on the
roads being in some places but little frequented.  It seems probable the
Baron and his friend might travel about 809 English miles.--TRANSLATOR.




THE
LIFE AND ADVENTURES
OF
BARON TRENCK


TRANSLATED BY
THOMAS HOLCROFT.

VOL. II.

CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED:
_LONDON_, _PARIS, NEW YORK & MELBOURNE_.
1886.




INTRODUCTION.


Thomas Holcroft, the translator of these Memoirs of Baron Trenck, was the
author of about thirty plays, among which one, _The Road to Ruin_,
produced in 1792, has kept its place upon the stage.  He was born in
December, 1745, the son of a shoemaker who did also a little business in
horse-dealing.  After early struggles, during which he contrived to learn
French, German, and Italian, Holcroft contributed to a newspaper, turned
actor, and wrote plays, which appeared between the years 1791 and 1806.
He produced also four novels, the first in 1780, the last in 1807.  He
was three times married, and lost his first wife in 1790.  In 1794, his
sympathy with ideals of the French revolutionists caused him to be
involved with Hardy, Horne Tooke, and Thelwall, in a charge of high
treason; but when these were acquitted, Holcroft and eight others were
discharged without trial.

Holcroft earned also by translation.  He translated, besides these
Memoirs of Baron Trenck, Mirabeau's _Secret History of the Court of
Berlin_, _Les Veillees du Chateau_ of Madame de Genlis, and the
posthumous works of Frederick II., King of Prussia, in thirteen volumes.

The Memoirs of Baron Trenck were first published at Berlin as his
_Merkwurdige Lebensbeschreibung_, in three volumes octavo, in 1786 and
1787.  They were first translated into French by Baron Bock (Metz, 1787);
more fully by Letourneur (Paris, 1788); and again by himself (Strasbourg,
1788), with considerable additions.  Holcroft translated from the French
versions.

H.M.




CHAPTER I.


Blessed shade of a beloved sister!  The sacrifice of my adverse and
dreadful fate!  Thee could I never avenge!  Thee could the blood of
Weingarten never appease!  No asylum, however sacred, should have secured
him, had he not sought that last of asylums for human wickedness and
human woes--the grave!  To thee do I dedicate these few pages, a tribute
of thankfulness; and, if future rewards there are, may the brightest of
these rewards be thine.  For us, and not for ours, may rewards be
expected from monarchs who, in apathy, have beheld our mortal sufferings.
Rest, noble soul, murdered though thou wert by the enemies of thy
brother.  Again my blood boils, again my tears roll down my cheeks, when
I remember thee, thy sufferings in my cause, and thy untimely end!  I
knew it not; I sought to thank thee; I found thee in the grave; I would
have made retribution to thy children, but unjust, iron-hearted princes
had deprived me of the power.  Can the virtuous heart conceive affliction
more cruel?  My own ills I would have endured with magnanimity; but thine
are wrongs I have neither the power to forget nor heal.

Enough of this.--

The worthy Emperor, Francis I., shed tears when I afterwards had the
honour of relating to him in person my past miseries; I beheld them flow,
and gratitude threw me at his feet.  His emotion was so great that he
tore himself away.  I left the palace with all the enthusiasm of soul
which such a scene must inspire.

He probably would have done more than pitied me, but his death soon
followed.  I relate this incident to convince posterity that Francis I.
possessed a heart worthy an emperor, worthy a man.  In the knowledge I
have had of monarchs he stands alone.  Frederic and Theresa both died
without doing me justice; I am now too old, too proud, have too much
apathy, to expect it from their successors.  Petition I will not, knowing
my rights; and justice from courts of law, however evident my claims,
were in these courts vain indeed to expect.  Lawyers and advocates I know
but too well, and an army to support my rights I have not.

What heart that can feel but will pardon me these digressions!  At the
exact and simple recital of facts like these, the whole man must be
roused, and the philosopher himself shudder.

Once more:--I heard nothing of what had happened for some days; at
length, however, it was the honest Gelfhardt's turn to mount guard; but
the ports being doubled, and two additional grenadiers placed before my
door, explanation was exceedingly difficult.  He, however, in spite of
precaution, found means to inform me of what had happened to his two
unfortunate comrades.

The King came to a review at Magdeburg, when he visited Star-Fort, and
commanded a new cell to be immediately made, prescribing himself the kind
of irons by which I was to be secured.  The honest Gelfhardt heard the
officer say this cell was meant for me, and gave me notice of it, but
assured me it could not be ready in less than a month.  I therefore
determined, as soon as possible, to complete my breach in the wall, and
escape without the aid of any one.  The thing was possible; for I had
twisted the hair of my mattress into a rope, which I meant to tie to a
cannon, and descend the rampart, after which I might endeavour to swim
across the Elbe, gain the Saxon frontiers, and thus safely escape.

On the 26th of May I had determined to break into the next casemate; but
when I came to work at the bricks, I found them so hard and strongly
cemented that I was obliged to defer the labour till the following day.  I
left off, weary and spent, at daybreak, and should any one enter my
dungeon, they must infallibly discover the breach.  How dreadful is the
destiny by which, through life, I have been persecuted, and which has
continually plunged me headlong into calamity, when I imagined happiness
was at hand!

The 27th of May was a cruel day in the history of my life.  My cell in
the Star-Fort had been finished sooner than Gelfhardt had supposed; and
at night, when I was preparing to fly, I heard a carriage stop before my
prison.  O God! what was my terror, what were the horrors of this moment
of despair!  The locks and bolts resounded, the doors flew open, and the
last of my poor remaining resources was to conceal my knife.  The town-
major, the major of the day, and a captain entered; I saw them by the
light of their two lanterns.  The only words they spoke were, "Dress
yourself," which was immediately done.  I still wore the uniform of the
regiment of Cordova.  Irons were given me, which I was obliged myself to
fasten on my wrists and ankles; the town-major tied a bandage over my
eyes, and, taking me under the arm, they thus conducted me to the
carriage.  It was necessary to pass through the city to arrive at the
Star-Fort; all was silent, except the noise of the escort; but when we
entered Magdeburg I heard the people running, who were crowding together
to obtain a sight of me.  Their curiosity was raised by the report that I
was going to be beheaded.  That I was executed on this occasion in the
Star-Fort, after having been conducted blindfold through the city, has
since been both affirmed and written; and the officers had then orders to
propagate this error that the world might remain in utter ignorance
concerning me.  I, indeed, knew otherwise, though I affected not to have
this knowledge; and, as I was not gagged, I behaved as if I expected
death, reproached my conductors in language that even made them shudder,
and painted their King in his true colours, as one who, unheard, had
condemned an innocent subject by a despotic exertion of power.

My fortitude was admired, at the moment when it was supposed I thought
myself leading to execution.  No one replied, but their sighs intimated
their compassion; certain it is, few Prussians willingly execute such
commands.  The carriage at length stopped, and I was brought into my new
cell.  The bandage was taken from my eyes.  The dungeon was lighted by a
few torches.  God of heaven! what were my feelings when I beheld the
whole floor covered with chains, a fire-pan, and two grim men standing
with their smiths' hammers!

* * * * *

To work went these engines of despotism!  Enormous chains were fixed to
my ankle at one end, and at the other to a ring which was incorporated in
the wall.  This ring was three feet from the ground, and only allowed me
to move about two or three feet to the right and left.  They next riveted
another huge iron ring, of a hand's breadth, round my naked body, to
which hung a chain, fixed into an iron bar as thick as a man's arm.  This
bar was two feet in length, and at each end of it was a handcuff.  The
iron collar round my neck was not added till the year 1756.

* * * * *

No soul bade me good night.  All retired in dreadful silence; and I heard
the horrible grating of four doors, that were successively locked and
bolted upon me!

Thus does man act by his fellow, knowing him to be innocent, having
received the commands of another man so to act.

O God!  Thou alone knowest how my heart, void as it was of guilt, beat at
this moment.  There sat I, destitute, alone, in thick darkness, upon the
bare earth, with a weight of fetters insupportable to nature, thanking
Thee that these cruel men had not discovered my knife, by which my
miseries might yet find an end.  Death is a last certain refuge that can
indeed bid defiance to the rage of tyranny.  What shall I say?  How shall
I make the reader feel as I then felt?  How describe my despondency, and
yet account for that latent impulse that withheld my hand on this fatal,
this miserable night?

This misery I foresaw was not of short duration; I had heard of the wars
that were lately broken out between Austria and Prussia.  Patiently to
wait their termination, amid sufferings and wretchedness such as mine,
appeared impossible, and freedom even then was doubtful.  Sad experience
had I had of Vienna, and well I knew that those who had despoiled me of
my property most anxiously would endeavour to prevent my return.  Such
were my meditations! such my night thoughts!  Day at length returned; but
where was its splendour?  Fled!  I beheld it not; yet was its glimmering
obscurity sufficient to show me what was my dungeon.

In breadth it was about eight feet; in length, ten.  Near me once more
stood a night-table; in a corner was a seat, four bricks broad, on which
I might sit, and recline against the wall.  Opposite the ring to which I
was fastened, the light was admitted through a semi-circular aperture,
one foot high, and two in diameter.  This aperture ascended to the centre
of the wall, which was six feet thick, and at this central part was a
close iron grating, from which, outward, the aperture descended, and its
two extremities were again secured by strong iron bars.  My dungeon was
built in the ditch of the fortification, and the aperture by which the
light entered was so covered by the wall of the rampart that, instead of
finding immediate passage, the light only gained admission by reflection.
This, considering the smallness of the aperture, and the impediments of
grating and iron bars, must needs make the obscurity great; yet my eyes,
in time, became so accustomed to this glimmering that I could see a mouse
run.  In winter, however, when the sun did not shine into the ditch, it
was eternal night with me.  Between the bars and the grating was a glass
window, most curiously formed, with a small central casement, which might
be opened to admit the air.  My night-table was daily removed, and beside
me stood a jug of water.  The name of TRENCK was built in the wall, in
red brick, and under my feet was a tombstone with the name of TRENCK also
cut on it, and carved with a death's head.  The doors to my dungeon were
double, of oak, two inches thick; without these was an open space or
front cell, in which was a window, and this space was likewise shut in by
double doors.  The ditch, in which this dreadful den was built, was
enclosed on both sides by palisades, twelve feet high, the key of the
door of which was entrusted to the officer of the guard, it being the
King's intention to prevent all possibility of speech or communication
with the sentinels.  The only motion I had the power to make was that of
jumping upward, or swinging my arms to procure myself warmth.  When more
accustomed to these fetters, I became capable of moving from side to
side, about four feet; but this pained my shin-bones.

The cell had been finished with lime and plaster but eleven days, and
everybody supposed it would be impossible I should exist in these damps
above a fortnight.  I remained six months, continually immersed in very
cold water, that trickled upon me from the thick arches under which I
was; and I can safely affirm that, for the first three months, I was
never dry; yet did I continue in health.  I was visited daily, at noon,
after relieving guard, and the doors were then obliged to be left open
for some minutes, otherwise the dampness of the air put out their
candles.

This was my situation, and here I sat, destitute of friends, helplessly
wretched, preyed on by all the torture of thought that continually
suggested the most gloomy, the most horrid, the most dreadful of images.
My heart was not yet wholly turned to stone; my fortitude was sunken to
despondency; my dungeon was the very cave of despair; yet was my arm
restrained, and this excess of misery endured.

How then may hope be wholly eradicated from the heart of man?  My
fortitude, after some time, began to revive; I glowed with the desire of
convincing the world I was capable of suffering what man had never
suffered before; perhaps of at last emerging from this load of
wretchedness triumphant over my enemies.  So long and ardently did my
fancy dwell on this picture, that my mind at length acquired a heroism
which Socrates himself certainly never possessed.  Age had benumbed his
sense of pleasure, and he drank the poisonous draught with cool
indifference; but I was young, inured to high hopes, yet now beholding
deliverance impossible, or at an immense, a dreadful distance.  Such,
too, were the other sufferings of soul and body, I could not hope they
might be supported and live.

About noon my den was opened.  Sorrow and compassion were painted on the
countenances of my keepers.  No one spoke; no one bade me good morrow.
Dreadful indeed was their arrival; for, unaccustomed to the monstrous
bolts and bars, they were kept resounding for a full half-hour before
such soul-chilling, such hope-murdering impediments were removed.  It was
the voice of tyranny that thundered.

My night-table was taken out, a camp-bed, mattress, and blankets were
brought me; a jug of water set down, and beside it an ammunition loaf of
six pounds' weight.  "That you may no more complain of hunger," said the
town-major, "you shall have as much bread as you can eat."  The door was
shut, and I again left to my thoughts.

What a strange thing is that called happiness!  How shall I express my
extreme joy when, after eleven months of intolerable hunger, I was again
indulged with a full feast of coarse ammunition bread?  The fond lover
never rushed more eagerly to the arias of his expecting bride, the
famished tiger more ravenously on his prey, than I upon this loaf.  I
ate, rested; surveyed the precious morsel; ate again; and absolutely shed
tears of pleasure.  Breaking bit after bit, I had by evening devoured all
my loaf.

Oh, Nature! what delight hast thou combined with the gratification of thy
wants!  Remember this, ye who gorge, ye who rack invention to excite
appetite, and yet which you cannot procure!  Remember how simple are the
means that will give a crust of mouldy bread a flavour more exquisite
than all the spices of the East, or all the profusion of land or sea!
Remember this, grow hungry, and indulge your sensuality.

Alas! my enjoyment was of short duration.  I soon found that excess is
followed by pain and repentance.  My fasting had weakened digestion, and
rendered it inactive.  My body swelled, my water-jug was emptied; cramps,
colics, and at length inordinate thirst racked me all the night.  I began
to pour curses on those who seemed to refine on torture, and, after
starving me so long, to invite me to gluttony.  Could I not have reclined
on my bed, I should indeed have been driven, this night, to desperation;
yet even this was but a partial relief; for, not yet accustomed to my
enormous fetters, I could not extend myself in the same manner I was
afterwards taught to do by habit.  I dragged them, however, so together
as to enable me to sit down on the bare mattress.  This, of all my nights
of suffering, stands foremost.  When they opened my dungeon next day they
found me in a truly pitiable situation, wondered at my appetite, brought
me another loaf; I refused to accept it, believing I nevermore should
have occasion for bread; they, however, left me one, gave me water,
shrugged up their shoulders, wished me farewell, as, according to all
appearance, they never expected to find me alive, and shut all the doors,
without asking whether I wished or needed further assistance.

Three days had passed before I could again eat a morsel of bread; and my
mind, brave in health, now in a sick body became pusillanimous, so that I
determined on death.  The irons, everywhere round my body, and their
weight, were insupportable; nor could I imagine it was possible I should
habituate myself to them, or endure them long enough to expect
deliverance.  Peace was a very distant prospect.  The King had commanded
that such a prison should be built as should exclude all necessity of a
sentinel, in order that I might not converse with and seduce them from
what is called their duty: and, in the first days of despair, deliverance
appeared impossible; and the fetters, the war, the pain I felt, the
place, the length of time, each circumstance seemed equally impossible to
support.  A thousand reasons convinced me it was necessary to end my
sufferings.  I shall not enter into theological disputes: let those who
blame me imagine themselves in my situation; or rather let them first
actually endure my miseries, and then let them reason.  I had often
braved death in prosperity, and at this moment it seemed a blessing.

Full of these meditations, every minute's patience appeared absurdity,
and resolution meanness of soul; yet I wished my mind should be satisfied
that reason, and not rashness, had induced the act.  I therefore
determined, that I might examine the question coolly, to wait a week
longer, and die on the fourth of July.  In the meantime I revolved in my
mind what possible means there were of escape, not fearing, naked and
chained, to rush and expire on the bayonets of my enemies.

The next day I observed, as the four doors were opened, that they were
only of wood, therefore questioned whether I might not even cut off the
locks with the knife that I had so fortunately concealed: and should this
and every other means fail, then would be the time to die.  I likewise
determined to make an attempt to free myself of my chains.  I happily
forced my right hand through the handcuff, though the blood trickled from
my nails.  My attempts on the left were long ineffectual; but by rubbing
with a brick, which I got from my seat, on the rivet that had been
negligently closed, I effected this also.

The chain was fastened to the run round my body by a hook, one end of
which was not inserted in the rim; therefore, by setting my foot against
the wall, I had strength enough so far to bend this hook back, and open
it, as to force out the link of the chain.  The remaining difficulty was
the chain that attached my foot to the wall: the links of this I took,
doubled, twisted, and wrenched, till at length, nature having bestowed on
me great strength, I made a desperate effort, sprang forcibly up, and two
links at once flew off.

Fortunate, indeed, did I think myself: I hastened to the door, groped in
the dark to find the clinkings of the nails by which the lock was
fastened, and discovered no very large piece of wood need be cut.
Immediately I went to work with my knife, and cut through the oak door to
find its thickness, which proved to be only one inch, therefore it was
possible to open all the four doors in four-and-twenty hours.

Again hope revived in my heart.  To prevent detection I hastened to put
on my chains; but, O God! what difficulties had I to surmount!  After
much groping about, I at length found the link that had flown off; this I
hid: it being my good fortune hitherto to escape examination, as the
possibility of ridding myself of such chains was in nowise suspected.  The
separated iron links I tied together with my hair ribbon; but when I
again endeavoured to force my hand into the ring, it was so swelled that
every effort was fruitless.  The whole might was employed upon the rivet,
but all labour was in vain.

Noon was the hour of visitation, and necessity and danger again obliged
me to attempt forcing my hand in, which at length, after excruciating
torture, I effected.  My visitors came, and everything had the appearance
of order.  I found it, however, impossible to force out my right hand
while it continued swelled.

I therefore remained quiet till the day fixed, and on the determined
fourth of July, immediately as my visitors had closed the doors upon me,
I disencumbered myself of my irons, took my knife, and began my Herculean
labour on the door.  The first of the double doors that opened inwards
was conquered in less than an hour; the other was a very different task.
The lock was soon cut round, but it opened outwards; there was therefore
no other means left but to cut the whole door away above the bar.

Incessant and incredible labour made this possible, though it was the
more difficult as everything was to be done by feeling, I being totally
in the dark; the sweat dropped, or rather flowed, from my body; my
fingers were clotted in my own blood, and my lacerated hands were one
continued wound.

Daylight appeared: I clambered over the door that was half cut away, and
got up to the window in the space or cell that was between the double
doors, as before described.  Here I saw my dungeon was in the ditch of
the first rampart: before me I beheld the road from the rampart, the
guard but fifty paces distant, and the high palisades that were in the
ditch, and must be scaled before I could reach the rampart.  Hope grew
stronger; my efforts were redoubled.  The first of the next double doors
was attacked, which likewise opened inward, and was soon conquered.  The
sun set before I had ended this, and the fourth was to be cut away as the
second had been.  My strength failed; both my hands were raw; I rested
awhile, began again, and had made a cut of a foot long, when my knife
snapped, and the broken blade dropped to the ground!

God of Omnipotence! what was I at this moment?  Was there, God of
Mercies! was there ever creature of Thine more justified than I in
despair?  The moon shone very clear; I cast a wild and distracted look up
to heaven, fell on my knees, and in the agony of my soul sought comfort:
but no comfort could be found; nor religion nor philosophy had any to
give.  I cursed not Providence, I feared not annihilation, I dared not
Almighty vengeance; God the Creator was the disposer of my fate; and if
He heaped afflictions upon me He had not given me strength to support,
His justice would not therefore punish me.  To Him, the Judge of the
quick and dead, I committed my soul, seized the broken knife, gashed
through the veins of my left arm and foot, sat myself tranquilly down,
and saw the blood flow.  Nature, overpowered fainted, and I know not how
long I remained, slumbering, in this state.  Suddenly I heard my own
name, awoke, and again heard the words, "Baron Trenck!"  My answer was,
"Who calls?"  And who indeed was it--who but my honest grenadier
Gelfhardt--my former faithful friend in the citadel!  The good, the kind
fellow had got upon the rampart, that he might comfort me.

"How do you do?" said Gelfhardt.  "Weltering in my blood," answered I;
"to-morrow you will find me dead."--"Why should you die?" replied he.  "It
is much easier for you to escape here than from the citadel!  Here is no
sentinel, and I shall soon find means to provide you with tools; if you
can only break out, leave the rest to me.  As often as I am on guard, I
will seek opportunity to speak to you.  In the whole Star-Fort, there are
but two sentinels: the one at the entrance, and the other at the guard-
house.  Do not despair; God will succour you; trust to me."  The good
man's kindness and discourse revived my hopes: I saw the possibility of
an escape.  A secret joy diffused itself through my soul.  I immediately
tore my shirt, bound up my wounds, and waited the approach of day; and
the sun soon after shone through the window, to me, with unaccustomed
brightness.

Let the reader judge how far it was chance, or the effect of Divine
providence, that in this dreadful hour my heart again received hope.  Who
was it sent the honest Gelfhardt, at such a moment, to my prison?  For,
had it not been for him, I had certainly, when I awoke from my slumbers,
cut more effectually through my arteries.

Till noon I had time to consider what might further be done: yet what
could be done, what expected, but that I should now be much more cruelly
treated, and even more insupportably ironed than before--finding, as they
must, the doors cut through and my fetters shaken off?

After mature consideration, I therefore made the following resolution,
which succeeded happily, and even beyond my hopes.  Before I proceed,
however, I will speak a few words concerning my situation at this moment.
It is impossible to describe how much I was exhausted.  The prison swam
with blood; and certainly but little was left in my body.  With painful
wounds, swelled and torn hands, I there stood shirtless, felt an
inclination to sleep almost irresistible, and scarcely had strength to
keep my legs, yet was I obliged to rouse myself, that I might execute my
plan.

With the bar that separated my hands, I loosened the bricks of my seat,
which, being newly laid, was easily done, and heaped them up in the
middle of my prison.  The inner door was quite open, and with my chains I
so barricaded the upper half of the second as to prevent any one climbing
over it.  When noon came and the first of the doors was unlocked, all
were astonished to find the second open.  There I stood, besmeared with
blood, the picture of horror, with a brick in one hand, and in the other
my broken knife, crying, as they approached, "Keep off, Mr. Major, keep
off!  Tell the governor I will live no longer in chains, and that here I
stand, if so he pleases, to be shot; for so only will I be conquered.
Here no man shall enter--I will destroy all that approach; here are my
weapons; lucre will I die in despite of tyranny."  The major was
terrified, wanted resolution, and made his report to the governor.  I
meantime sat down on my bricks, to wait what might happen: my secret
intent, however, was not so desperate as it appeared.  I sought only to
obtain a favourable capitulation.

The governor, General Borck, presently came, attended by the town-major
and some officers, and entered the outward cell, but sprang back the
moment he beheld a figure like me, standing with a brick and uplifted
arm.  I repeated what I had told the major, and he immediately ordered
six grenadiers to force the door.  The front cell was scarcely six feet
broad, so that no more than two at a time could attack my intrenchment,
and when they saw my threatening bricks ready to descend, they leaped
terrified back.  A short pause ensued, and the old town-major, with the
chaplain, advanced towards the door to soothe me: the conversation
continued some time: whose reasons were most satisfactory, and whose
cause was the most just, I leave to the reader.  The governor grew angry,
and ordered a fresh attack.  The first grenadier was knocked down, and
the rest ran back to avoid my missiles.

The town-major again began a parley.  "For God's sake, my dear Trenck,"
said he, "in what have I injured you, that you endeavour to effect my
ruin?  I must answer for your having, through my negligence, concealed a
knife.  Be persuaded, I entreat you.  Be appeased.  You are not without
hope, nor without friends."  My answer was--"But will you not load me
with heavier irons than before?"

He went out, spoke with the governor, and gave me his word of honour that
the affair should be no further noticed, and that everything should be
exactly reinstated as formerly.

Here ended the capitulation, and my wretched citadel was taken.  The
condition I was in was viewed with pity; my wounds were examined, a
surgeon sent to dress them, another shirt was given me, and the bricks,
clotted with blood, removed.  I, meantime, lay half dead on my mattress;
my thirst was excessive.  The surgeon ordered me some wine.  Two
sentinels were stationed in the front cell, and I was thus left four days
in peace, unironed.  Broth also was given me daily, and how delicious
this was to taste, how much it revived and strengthened me, is wholly
impossible to describe.  Two days I lay in a slumbering kind of trance,
forced by unquenchable thirst to drink whenever I awoke.  My feet and
hands were swelled; the pains in my back and limbs were excessive.

On the fifth day the doors were ready; the inner was entirely plated with
iron, and I was fettered as before: perhaps they found further cruelty
unnecessary.  The principal chain, however, which fastened me to the
wall, like that I had before broken, was thicker than the first.  Except
this, the capitulation was strictly kept.  They deeply regretted that,
without the King's express commands, they could not lighten my
afflictions, wished me fortitude and patience, and barred up my doors.

It is necessary I should here describe my dress.  My hands being fixed
and kept asunder by an iron bar, and my feet chained to the wall, I could
neither put on shirt nor stockings in the usual mode; the shirt was
therefore tied, and changed once a fortnight; the coarse ammunition
stockings were buttoned on the sides; a blue garment, of soldier's cloth,
was likewise tied round me, and I had a pair of slippers for my feet.  The
shirt was of the army linen; and when I contemplated myself in this dress
of a malefactor, chained thus to the wall in such a dungeon, vainly
imploring mercy or justice, my conscience void of reproach, my heart of
guilt--when I reflected on my former splendour in Berlin and Moscow, and
compared it with this sad, this dreadful reverse of destiny, I was sunk
in grief, or roused to indignation, that might have hurried the greatest
hero or philosopher to madness or despair.  I felt what can only be
imagined by him who has suffered like me, after having like me
flourished, if such can be found.

Pride, the justness of my cause, the unbounded confidence I had in my own
resolution, and the labours of an inventive head and iron body--these
only could have preserved my life.  These bodily labours, these continued
inventions, and projected plans to obtain my freedom, preserved my
health.  Who would suppose that a man fettered as I was could find means
of exercising himself?  By swinging my arms, acting with the upper part
of my body, and leaping upwards, I frequently put myself in a strong
perspiration.  After thus wearying myself I slept soundly, and often
thought how many generals, obliged to support the inclemencies of
weather, and all the dangers of the field--how many of those who had
plunged me into this den of misery, would have been most glad could they,
like me, have slept with a quiet conscience.  Often did I reflect how
much happier I was than those tortured on the bed of sickness by gout,
stone, and other terrible diseases.  How much happier was I in innocence
than the malefactor doomed to suffer the pangs of death, the ignominy of
men, and the horrors of internal guilt!




CHAPTER II.


In the following part of my history it will appear I often had much money
concealed under the ground and in the walls of my den, yet would I have
given a hundred ducats for a morsel of bread, it could not have been
procured.  Money was to me useless.  In this I resembled the miser, who
hoards, yet hives in wretchedness, having no joy in gentle acts of
benevolence.  As proudly might I delight myself with my hidden treasure
as such misers; nay, more, for I was secure from robbers.

Had fastidious pomp been my pleasure, I might have imagined myself some
old field-marshal bedridden, who hears two grenadier sentinels at his
door call, "Who goes there?" My honour, indeed, was still greater; for,
during my last year's imprisonment, my door was guarded by no less than
four.  My vanity also might have been flattered: I might hence conclude
how high was the value set upon my head, since all this trouble was taken
to hold me in security.  Certain it is that in my chains I thought more
rationally, more nobly, reasoned more philosophically on man, his nature,
his zeal, his imaginary wants, the effects of his ambition, his passions,
and saw more distinctly his dream of earthly good, than those who had
imprisoned, or those who guarded me.  I was void of the fears that haunt
the parasite who servilely wears the fetters of a court, and daily
trembles for the loss of what vice and cunning have acquired.  Those who
had usurped the Sclavonian estates, and feasted sumptuously from the
service of plate I had been robbed of, never ate their dainties with so
sweet an appetite as I my ammunition bread, nor did their high-flavoured
wines flow so limpid as my cold water.

Thus, the man who thinks, being pure of heart, will find consolation when
under the most dreadful calamities, convinced, as he must be, that those
apparently most are frequently least happy, insensible as they are of the
pleasures they might enjoy.  Evil is never so great as it appears.

   "Sweet are the uses of adversity,
   Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
   Wears yet a precious jewel in his head."

   _As you Like it_.

Happy he who, like me, having suffered, can become an example to his
suffering brethren!

YOUTH, prosperous, and imagining eternal prosperity, read my history
attentively, though I should be in my grave!  Read feelingly, and bless
my sleeping dust, if it has taught thee wisdom or fortitude!

FATHER, reading this, say to thy children, I felt thus like them, in
blooming youth, little prophesied of misfortune, which after fell so
heavy on me, and by which I am even still persecuted!  Say that I had
virtue, ambition, was educated in noble principles; that I laboured with
all the zeal of enthusiastic youth to become wiser, better, greater than
other men; that I was guilty of no crimes, was the friend of men, was no
deceiver of man or woman; that I first served my own country faithfully,
and after, every other in which I found bread; that I was never, during
life, once intoxicated; was no gamester, no night rambler, no
contemptible idler; that yet, through envy and arbitrary power, I have
fallen to misery such as none but the worst of criminals ought to feel.

BROTHER, fly those countries where the lawgiver himself knows no law,
where truth and virtue are punished as crimes; and, if fly you cannot, be
it your endeavour to remain unknown, unnoticed; in such countries, seek
not favour or honourable employ, else will you become, when your merits
are known, as I have been, the victim of slander and treachery: the
behests of power will persecute you, and innocence will not shield you
from the shafts of wicked men who are envious, or who wish to obtain the
favour of princes, though by the worst of means.

SIRE, imagine not that thou readest a romance.  My head is grey, like
thine.  Read, yet despise not the world, though it has treated me thus
unthankfully.  Good men have I also found, who have befriended me in
misfortunes, and there, where I had least claim, have I found them most.
May my book assist thee in noble thoughts; mayest thou die as tranquilly
as I shall render up my soul to appear before the Judge of me and my
persecutors.  Be death but thought a transition from motion to rest.  Few
are the delights of this world for him who, like me, has learned to know
it.  Murmur not, despair not of Providence.  Me, through storms, it has
brought to haven; through many griefs to self-knowledge; and through
prisons to philosophy.  He only can tranquilly descend to annihilation
who finds reason not to repent he has once existed.  My rudder broke not
amid the rocks and quicksands, but my bark was cast upon the strand of
knowledge.  Yet, even on these clear shores are impenetrable clouds.  I
have seen more distinctly than it is supposed men ought to see.  Age will
decay the faculties, and mental, like bodily sight, must then decrease.  I
even grew weary of science, and envied the blind-born, or those who, till
death, have been wilfully hoodwinked.  How often have I been asked, "What
didst thou see?"  And when I answered with sincerity and truth, how often
have I been derided as a liar, and been persecuted by those who
determined not to see themselves, as an innovator singular and rash!

Sire, I further say to thee, teach thy descendants to seek the golden
mean, and say with Gellert--"The boy Fritz needs nothing;--his stupidity
will insure his success, Examine our wealthy and titled lords, what are
their abilities and honours, then inquire how they were attained, and, if
thou canst, discover in what true happiness consists."

Once more to my prison.  The failure of my escape, and the recovery of
life from this state of despair, led me to moralise deeper than I had
ever done before; and in this depth of thought I found unexpected
consolation and fortitude, and a firm persuasion I yet should accomplish
my deliverance.

Gelfhardt, my honest grenadier, had infused fresh hope, and my mind now
busily began to meditate new plans.  A sentinel was placed before my
door, that I might be more narrowly watched, and the married men of the
Prussian states were appointed to this duty, who, as I will hereafter
show, were more easy to persuade in aiding my flight than foreign
fugitives.  The Pomeranian will listen, and is by nature kind, therefore
may easily be moved, and induced to succour distress.

I began to be more accustomed to my irons, which I had before found so
insupportable; I could comb out my long hair, and could tie it at last
with one hand.  My beard, which had so long remained unshaven, gave me a
grim appearance, and I began to pluck it up by the roots.  The pain at
first was considerable, especially about the lips; but this also custom
conquered, and I performed this operation in the following years, once in
six weeks, or two months, as the hair thus plucked up required that
length of time before the nails could again get hold.  Vermin did not
molest me; the dampness of my den was inimical to them.  My limbs never
swelled, because of the exercise I gave myself, as before described.  The
greatest pain I found was in the continued unvivifying dimness in which I
lived.

I had read much, had lived in, and seen much of the world.  Vacuity of
thought, therefore, I was little troubled with; the former transactions
of my life, and the remembrance of the persons I had known, I revolved so
often in my mind, that they became as familiar and connected as if the
events had each been written in the order it occurred.  Habit made this
mental exercise so perfect to me, that I could compose speeches, fables,
odes, satires, all of which I repeated aloud, and had so stored my memory
with them that I was enabled, after I had obtained my freedom, to commit
to writing two volumes of my prison labours.  Accustomed to this
exercise, days that would otherwise have been days of misery appeared but
as a moment.  The following narrative will show how munch esteem, how
many friends, these compositions procured me, even in my dungeon;
insomuch that I obtained light, paper, and finally freedom itself.  For
these I have to thank the industrious acquirements of my youth; therefore
do I counsel all my readers so to employ their time.  Riches, honours,
the favours of fortune, may be showered by monarchs upon the most
worthless; but monarchs can give and take, say and unsay, raise and pull
down.  Monarchs, however, can neither give wisdom nor virtue.  Arbitrary
power itself, in the presence of these, is foiled.

How wisely has Providence ordained that the endowments of industry,
learning, and science, given by ourselves, cannot be taken from us;
while, on the contrary, what others bestow is a fantastical dream, from
which any accident may awaken us!  The wrath of Frederic could destroy
legions, and defeat armies; but it could not take from me the sense of
honour, of innocence, and their sweet concomitant, peace of mind--could
not deprive me of fortitude and magnanimity.  I defied his power, rested
on the justice of my cause, found in myself expedients wherewith to
oppose him, was at length crowned with conquest, and came forth to the
world the martyr of suffering virtue.

Some of my oppressors now rot in dishonourable graves.  Others, alas! in
Vienna, remain immured in houses of correction, as Krugel and Zeto, or
beg their bread, like Gravenitz and Doo.  Nor are the wealthy possessors
of my estates more fortunate, but look down with shame wherever I and my
children appear.  We stand erect, esteemed, and honoured, while their
injustice is manifest to the whole world.

Young man, be industrious: for without industry can none of the treasures
I have described be purchased.  Thy labour will reward itself; then, when
assaulted by misfortune, or even misery, learn of me and smile; or,
shouldst thou escape such trials, still labour to acquire wisdom, that in
old age thou mayest find content and happiness.

The years in my dungeon passed away as days, those moments excepted when,
thinking on the great world, and the deeds of great men, my ambition was
roused: except when, contemplating the vileness of my chains, and the
wretchedness of my situation, I laboured for liberty, and found my
labours endless and ineffectual; except while I remembered the triumph of
my enemies, and the splendour in which those lived by whom I had been
plundered.  Then, indeed, did I experience intervals that approached
madness, despair, and horror: beholding myself destitute of friend or
protector, the Empress herself, for whose sake I suffered, deserting me;
reflecting on past times and past prosperity; remembering how the good
and virtuous, from the cruel nature of my punishment, must be obliged to
conclude me a wretch and a villain, and that all means of justification
were cut off: O God!  How did my heart beat! with what violence!  What
would I not have undertaken, in these suffering moments, to have put my
enemies to shame!  Vengeance and rage then rose rebellious against
patience; long-suffering philosophy vanished, and the poisoned cup of
Socrates would have been the nectar of the gods.

Man deprived of hope is man destroyed.  I found but little probability in
all my plans and projects; yet did I trust that some of them should
succeed, yet did I confide in them and my honest Gelfhardt, and that I
should still free myself from my chains.

The greatest of all my incitements to patient endurance was love.  I had
left behind me, in Vienna, a lady for whom the world still was dear to
me; her would I neither desert nor afflict.  To her and my sister was my
existence still necessary.  For their sakes, who had lost and suffered so
much for mine, would I preserve my life; for them no difficulty, no
suffering was too great; yet, alas! when long-desired liberty was
restored, I found them both in their graves.  The joy, for which I had
borne so much, was no more to be tasted.

About three weeks after my attempt to escape, the good Gelfhardt first
came to stand sentinel over me; and the sentinel they had so carefully
set was indeed the only hope I could have of escape; for help must be had
from without, or this was impossible.

The effort I had made had excited too munch surprise and alarm for me to
pass without strict examination; since, on the ninth day after I was
confined, I had, in eighteen hours, so far broken through a prison built
purposely for myself, by a combination of so many projectors, and with
such extreme precaution, that it had been universally declared
impenetrable.

Gelfhardt scarcely had taken his post before we had free opportunity of
conversing together; for, when I stood with one foot on my bedstead, I
could reach the aperture through which light was admitted.

Gelfhardt described the situation of my dungeon, and our first plan was
to break under the foundation which he had seen laid, and which he
affirmed to be only two feet deep.

Money was the first thing necessary.  Gelfhardt was relieved during his
guard, and returned bringing within him a sheet of paper rolled on a
wire, which he passed through my grating; as he also did a piece of small
wax candle, some burning amadone (a kind of tinder), a match, and a pen.
I now had light, and I pricked my finger, and wrote with my blood to my
faithful friend, Captain Ruckhardt, at Vienna, described my situation in
a few words, sent him an acquittance for three thousand florins on my
revenues, and requested he would dispose of a thousand florins to defray
the expenses of his journey to Gummern, only two miles from Magdeburg.
Here he was positively to be on the 15th of August.  About noon, on this
same day, he was to walk with a letter in his hand; and a man was there
to meet him, carrying a roll of smoking tobacco, to whom he must remit
the two thousand florins, and return to Vienna.

I returned the written paper to Gelfhardt by the same means it had been
received, gave him my instructions, and he sent his wife with it to
Gummern, by whom it was safely put in the post.

My hopes daily rose, and as often as Gelfhardt mounted guard, so often
did we continue our projects.  The 15th of August came, but it was some
days before Gelfhardt was again on guard; and oh! how did my heart
palpitate when he came and exclaimed, "All is right! we have succeeded."
He returned in the evening, and we began to consider by what means he
could convey the money to me.  I could not, with my hands chained to an
iron bar, reach the aperture of the window that admitted air--besides
that it was too small.  It was therefore agreed that Gelfhardt should, on
the next guard, perform the office of cleaning my dungeon, and that he
then should convey the money to me in the water-jug.

This luckily was done.  How great was my astonishment when, instead of
one, I found two thousand florins!  For I had permitted him to reserve
half to himself, as a reward for his fidelity; he, however, had kept but
five pistoles, which he persisted was enough.

Worthy Gelfhardt!  This was the act of a Pomeranian grenadier!  How rare
are such examples!  Be thy name and mine ever united!  Live thou while
the memory of me shall live!  Never did my acquaintance with the great
bring to my knowledge a soul so noble, so disinterested!

It is true, I afterwards prevailed on him to accept the whole thousand;
but we shall soon see he never had them, and that his foolish wife, three
years after, suffered by their means; however, she suffered alone, for he
soon marched to the field, and therefore was unpunished.

Having money to carry on my designs, I began to put my plan of burrowing
under the foundation into execution.  The first thing necessary was to
free myself from my fetters.  To accomplish this, Gelfhardt supplied me
with two small files, and by the aid of these, this labour, though great,
was effected.

The cap, or staple, of the foot ring was made so wide that I could draw
it forward a quarter of an inch.  I filed the iron which passed through
it on the inside; the more I filed this away, the farther I could draw
the cap down, till at last the whole inside iron, through which the
chains passed, was cut quite through! by this means I could slip off the
ring, while the cap on the outside continued whole, and it was impossible
to discover any cut, as only the outside could be examined.  My hands, by
continued efforts, I so compressed as to be able to draw them out of the
handcuffs.  I then filed the hinge, and made a screw-driver of one of the
foot-long flooring nails, by which I could take out the screw at
pleasure, so that at the time of examination no proofs could appear.  The
rim round my body was but a small impediment, except the chain, which
passed from my hand-bar: and this I removed, by filing an aperture in one
of the links, which, at the necessary hour, I closed with bread, rubbed
over with rusty-iron, first drying it by the heat of my body; and would
wager any sum that, without striking the chain link by link, with a
hammer, no one not in the secret would have discovered the fracture.

The window was never strictly examined; I therefore drew the two staples
by which the iron bars were fixed to the wall, and which I daily
replaced, carefully plastering them over.  I procured wire from
Gelfhardt, and tried how well I could imitate the inner grating: finding
I succeeded tolerably, I cut the real grating totally away, and
substituted an artificial one of my own fabricating, by which I obtained
a free communication with the outside, additional fresh air, together
with all necessary implements, tinder, and candles.

That the light might not be seen, I hung the coverlid of my bed before
the window, so that I could work fearless and undetected.

Every thing prepared, I went to work.  The floor of my dungeon was not of
stone, but oak plank, three inches thick; three beds of which were laid
crossways, and were fastened to each other by nails half an inch in
diameter, and a foot long.  Raving worked round the head of a nail, I
made use of the hole at the end of the bar, which separated my hands, to
draw it out, and this nail, sharpened upon my tombstone, made an
excellent chisel.

I now cut through the board more than an inch in width, that I might work
downwards, and having drawn away a piece of board which was inserted two
inches under the wall, I cut this so as exactly to fit; the small crevice
it occasioned I stopped up with bread and strewed over with dust, so as
to prevent all suspicious appearance.  My labour under this was continued
with less precaution, and I had soon worked through my nine-inch planks.
Under them I came to a fine white sand, on which the Star Fort was built.
My chips I carefully distributed beneath the boards.  If I had not help
from without, I could proceed no farther; for to dig were useless, unless
I could rid myself of my rubbish.  Gelfhardt supplied me with some ells
of cloth, of which I made long narrow bags, stuffed them with earth, and
passed them between the iron bars, to Gelfhardt, who, as he was on guard,
scattered or conveyed away their contents.

Furnished with room to secrete them under the floor, I obtained more
instruments, together with a pair of pistols, powder, ball, and a
bayonet.

I now discovered that the foundation of my prison, instead of two, was
sunken four feet deep.  Time, labour, and patience were all necessary to
break out unheard and undiscovered; but few things are impossible, where
resolution is not wanting.

The hole I made was obliged to be four feet deep, corresponding with the
foundation, and wide enough to kneel and stoop in: the lying down on the
floor to work, the continual stooping to throw out the earth, the narrow
space in which all must be performed, these made the labour incredible:
and, after this daily labour, all things were to be replaced, and my
chains again resumed, which alone required some hours to effect.  My
greatest aid was in the wax candles, and light I had procured; but as
Gelfhardt stood sentinel only once a fortnight, my work was much delayed;
the sentinels were forbidden to speak to me under pain of death: and I
was too fearful of being betrayed to dare to seek new assistance.

Being without a stove, I suffered much this winter from cold; yet my
heart was cheerful as I saw the probability of freedom; and all were
astonished to find me in such good spirits.

Gelfhardt also brought me supplies of provisions, chiefly consisting of
sausages and salt meats, ready dressed, which increased my strength, and
when I was not digging, I wrote satires and verses: thus time was
employed, and I contented even in prison.

Lulled into security, an accident happened that will appear almost
incredible, and by which every hope was nearly frustrated.

Gelfhardt had been working with me, and was relieved in the morning.  As
I was replacing the window, which I was obliged to remove on these
occasions, it fell out of my hand, and three of the glass panes were
broken.  Gelfhardt was not to return till guard was again relieved: I had
therefore no opportunity of speaking with him, or concerting any mode of
repair.  I remained nearly an hour conjecturing and hesitating; for
certainly had the broken window been seen, as it was impossible I should
reach it when fettered, I should immediately have been more rigidly
examined, and the false grating must have been discovered.

I therefore came to a resolution, and spoke to the sentinel (who was
amusing himself with whistling), thus: "My good fellow, have pity, not
upon me, but upon your comrades, who, should you refuse, will certainly
be executed: I will throw you thirty pistoles through the window, if you
will do me a small favour."  He remained some moments silent, and at last
answered in a low voice, "What, have you money, then?"--I immediately
counted thirty pistoles, and threw them through the window.  He asked
what he was to do: I told him my difficulty, and gave him the size of the
panes in paper.  The man fortunately was bold and prudent.  The door of
the pallisadoes, through the negligence of the officer, had not been shut
that day: he prevailed on one of his comrades to stand sentinel for him,
during half an hour, while he meantime ran into the town, and procured
the glass, on the receipt of which I instantly threw him out ten more
pistoles.  Before the hour of noon and visitation came, everything was
once more reinstated, my glaziery performed to a miracle, and the life of
my worthy Gelfhardt preserved!--Such is the power of money in this world!
This is a very remarkable incident, for I never spoke after to the man
who did me this signal service.

Gelfhardt's alarm may easily be imagined; he some days after returned to
his post, and was the more astonished as he knew the sentinel who had
done me this good office; that he had five children, and a man most to be
depended on by his officers, of any one in the whole grenadier company.

I now continued my labour, and found it very possible to break out under
the foundation; but Gelfhardt had been so terrified by the late accident,
that he started a thousand difficulties, in proportion as my end was more
nearly accomplished; and at the moment when I wished to concert with him
the means of flight, he persisted it was necessary to find additional
help, to escape in safety, and not bring both him and myself to
destruction.  At length we came to the following determination, which,
however, after eight months' incessant labour, rendered my whole project
abortive.

I wrote once more to Ruckhardt, at Vienna; sent him a new assignment for
money, and desired he would again repair to Gummern, where he should wait
six several nights, with two spare horses, on the glacis of
Klosterbergen, at the time appointed, everything being prepared for
flight.  Within these six days Gelfhardt would have found means, either
in rotation, or by exchanging the guard, to have been with me.  Alas! the
sweet hope of again beholding the face of the sun, of once more obtaining
my freedom, endured but three days: Providence thought proper otherwise
to ordain.  Gelfhardt sent his wife to Gummern with the letter, and this
silly woman told the post-master her husband had a lawsuit at Vienna,
that therefore she begged he would take particular care of the letter,
for which purpose she slipped ten rix-dollars into his hand.

This unexpected liberality raised the suspicions of the Saxon
post-master, who therefore opened the letter, read the contents, and
instead of sending it to Vienna, or at least to the general post-master
at Dresden, he preferred the traitorous act of taking it himself to the
governor of Magdeburg, who then, as at present, was Prince Ferdinand of
Brunswick.

What were my terrors, what my despair, when I beheld the Prince himself,
about three o'clock in the afternoon, enter my prison with his
attendants, present my letter, and ask, in an authoritative voice, who
had carried it to Gummern.  My answer was, "I know not."  Strict search
was immediately made by smiths, carpenters, and masons, and after half an
hour's examination, they discovered neither my hole nor the manner in
which I disencumbered myself of my chains; they only saw that the middle
grating, in the aperture where the light was admitted, had been removed.
This was boarded up the next day, only a small air-hole left, of about
six inches diameter.

The Prince began to threaten; I persisted I had never seen the sentinel
who had rendered me this service, nor asked his name.  Seeing his
attempts all ineffectual, the governor, in a milder tone, said, "You have
ever complained, Baron Trenck, of not having been legally sentenced, or
heard in your own defence; I give you my word of honour, this you shall
be, and also that you shall be released from your fetters, if you will
only tell me who took your letter."  To this I replied, with all the
fortitude of innocence, "Everybody knows, my lord, I have never deserved
the treatment I have met with in my country.  My heart is irreproachable.
I seek to recover my liberty by every means in my power: but were I
capable of betraying the man whose compassion has induced him to succour
my distress; were I the coward that could purchase happiness at his
expense, I then should, indeed, deserve to wear those chains with which I
am loaded.  For myself, do with me what you please: yet remember I am not
wholly destitute: I am still a captain in the Imperial service, and a
descendant of the house of Trenck."

Prince Ferdinand stood for a moment unable to answer; then renewed his
threats, and left my dungeon.  I have since been told that, when he was
out of hearing, he said to those around him, "I pity his hard fate, and
cannot but admire his strength of mind!"

I must here remark that, when we remember the usual circumspection of
this great man, we are obliged to wonder at his imprudence in holding a
conversation of such a kind with me, which lasted a considerable time, in
the presence of the guard.  The soldiers of the whole garrison had
afterwards the utmost confidence, as they were convinced I would not
meanly devote others to destruction, that I might benefit myself.  This
was the way to gain me esteem and intercourse among the men, especially
as the Duke had said he knew I must have money concealed, for that I had
distributed some to the sentinels.

He had scarcely been gone an hour, before I heard a noise near my prison.
I listened--what could it be?  I heard talking, and learned a grenadier
had hanged himself to the pallisadoes of my prison.

The officer of the town-guard, and the town-major again entered my
dungeon to fetch a lanthorn they had forgotten, and the officer at going
out, told me in a whisper, "One of your associates has just hanged
himself."

It was impossible to imagine my terror or sensations; I believed it could
be only my kind, my honest Gelfhardt.  After many gloomy thoughts, and
lamenting the unhappy end of so worthy a fellow, I began to recollect
what the Prince had promised me, if I would discover the accomplice.  I
knocked at the door, and desired to speak to the officer; he came to the
window and asked me what I wanted; I requested he would inform the
governor that if he would send me light, pen, ink, and paper, I would
discover my whole secret.

These were accordingly sent, an hour's time was granted; the door was
shut, and I was left alone.  I sat myself down, began to write on my
night-table, and was about to insert the name of Gelfhardt, but my blood
thrilled, and shrank back to my heart.  I shuddered, rose, went to the
aperture of the window and called, "Is there no man who in compassion
will tell me the name of him who has hanged himself, that I may deliver
many others from destruction?"  The window was not nailed up till the
next day; I therefore wrapped five pistoles in a paper, threw them out,
called to the sentinel, and said, "Friend, take these, and save thy
comrades; or go and betray me, and bring down innocent blood upon thy
head!"

The paper was taken up; a pause of silence ensued: I heard sighs, and
presently after a low voice said, "his name is Schutz; he belonged to the
company of Ripps."  I had never heard the name before, or known the man,
but I however immediately wrote SCHUTZ, instead of Gelfhardt.  Having
finished the letter I called the lieutenant, who took that and the light
away, and again barred up the door of my dungeon.  The Duke, however,
suspected there must be some evasion, and everything remained in the same
state: I obtained neither hearing nor court-martial.  I learned, in the
sequel, the following circumstances, which will display the truth of this
apparently incredible story.

While I was imprisoned in the citadel, a sentinel came to the post under
my window, cursed and blasphemed, exclaiming aloud against the Prussian
service, and saying, if Trenck only knew my mind, he would not long
continue in his hole!  I entered into discourse with him, and he told me,
if I could give him money to purchase a boat, in which he might cross the
Elbe, he would soon make my doors fly open, and set me free.

Money at that time I had none; but I gave him a diamond shirt-buckle,
worth five hundred ferns, which I had concealed.  I never heard more from
this man; he spoke to me no more.  He often stood sentinel over me, which
I knew by his Westphalian dialect, and I as often addressed myself to
him, but ineffectually; he would make no answer.

This Schutz must have sold my buckle, and let his riches be seen; for,
when the Duke left me, the lieutenant on guard said to him--"You must
certainly be the rascal who carried Trenck's letter; you have, for some
time past, spent much money, and we have seen you with louis-d'ors.  How
came you by them?"  Schutz was terrified, his conscience accused him, he
imagined I should betray him, knowing he had deceived me.  He, therefore,
in the first agonies of despair, came to the pallisadoes, and hung
himself before the door of my dungeon.




CHAPTER III.


How wonderful is the hand of Providence!  The wicked man fell a sacrifice
to his crime, after having escaped a whole year, and the faithful, the
benevolent-hearted Gelfhardt was thereby saved.

The sentinels were now doubled, that any intercourse with them might be
rendered more difficult.  Gelfhardt again stood guard, but he had
scarcely opportunity, without danger, to speak a few words: he thanked me
for having preserved him, wished me better fortune, and told me the
garrison, in a few days, would take the field.

This was dreadful news: my whole plan was destroyed at a breath.  I,
however, soon recovered fresh hopes.  The hole I had sunken was not
discovered: I had five hundred florins, candles, and implements.

The seven years' war broke out about a week after, and the regiment took
the field.  Major Weyner came, for the last time, and committed me to the
care of the new major of the militia, Bruckhausen, who was one of the
most surly and stupid of men.  I shall often have occasion to mention
this man.

All the majors and lieutenants of the guard, who had treated me with
compassion and esteem, now departed, and I became an old prisoner in a
new world.  I acquired greater confidence, however, by remembering that
both officers and men in the militia were much easier to gain over than
in the regulars; the truth of which opinion was soon confirmed.

Four lieutenants were appointed, with their men, to mount guard at the
Star Fort in turn, and before a year had passed, three of them were in my
interest.

The regiments had scarcely taken the field ere the new governor, General
Borck, entered my prison, like what he was, an imperious, cruel tyrant.
The King, in giving him the command, had informed him he must answer for
my person with his head: he therefore had full power to treat me with
whatever severity he pleased.

Borck was a stupid man, of an unfeeling heart, the slave of despotic
orders; and as often as he thought it possible I might rid myself of my
fetters and escape, his heart palpitated with fear.  In addition to this,
he considered me as the vilest of men and traitors, seeing his King had
condemned me to imprisonment so cruel, and his barbarity towards me was
thus the effect of character and meanness of soul.  He entered my dungeon
not as an officer, to visit a brother officer in misery, but as an
executioner to a felon.  Smiths then made their appearance, and a
monstrous iron collar, of a hand's breadth, was put round my neck, and
connected with the chains of the feet by additional heavy links.  My
window was walled up, except a small air-hole.  He even at length took
away my bed, gave me no straw, and quitted me with a thousand revilings
on the Empress-Queen, her whole army, and myself.  In words, however, I
was little in his debt, and he was enraged even to madness.

What my situation was under this additional load of tyranny, and the
command of a man so void of human pity, the reader may imagine.  My
greatest good fortune consisted in the ability I still had to disencumber
myself of all the irons that were connected with the ankle-rims, and the
provision I had of light, paper, and implements; and though it was
apparently impossible I should break out undiscovered by both sentinels,
yet had I the remaining hope of gaining some officer, by money, who, as
in Glatz, should assist my escape.

Had the commands of the King been literally obeyed escape would have been
wholly impossible; for, by this, all communication would have been
totally cut off with the sentinels.  To this effect the four keys of the
four doors were each to be kept by different persons; one with the
governor, another with the town-major, the third with the major of the
day, and the fourth with the lieutenant of the guard.  I never could have
found opportunity to have spoken with any one of them singly.  These
commands at first were rigidly observed, with this exception, that the
governor made his appearance only every week.  Magdeburg became so full
of prisoners that the town-major was obliged to deliver up his key to the
major of the day, and the governor's visitations wholly subsided, the
citadel being an English mile and a half distant from the Star Fort.

General Walrabe, who had been a prisoner ever since the year 1746, was
also at the Star Fort, but he had apartments, and three thousand
rix-dollars a year.  The major of the day and officer of the guard dined
with him daily, and generally stayed till evening.  Either from
compassion, or a concurrence of fortunate circumstances, these gentlemen
entrusted the keys to the lieutenant on guard, by which means I could
speak with each of them alone when they made their visits, and they
themselves at length sought these opportunities.  My consequent
undertakings I shall relate, with all the arts and inventions of a
wretched prisoner endeavouring to escape.

Borck had selected three majors and four lieutenants for this service as
those he could best trust.  My situation was truly deplorable.  The
enormous iron round my neck pained me, and prevented motion; and I durst
not attempt to disengage myself from the pendant chains till I had, for
some months, carefully observed the mode of their examination, and which
parts they supposed were perfectly secure.  The cruelty of depriving me
of my bed was still greater: I was obliged to sit upon the bare ground,
and lean with my head against the damp wall.  The chains that descended
from the neck collar were obliged to be supported first with one band,
and then with the other; for, if thrown behind, they would have strangled
me, and if hanging forward occasioned most excessive headaches.  The bar
between my hands held one down, while leaning on my elbow; I supported
with the other my chains; and this so benumbed the muscles and prevented
circulation, that I could perceive my arms sensibly waste away.  The
little sleep I could have in such a situation may easily be supposed,
and, at length, body and mind sank under this accumulation of miserable
suffering, and I fell ill of a burning fever.

The tyrant Borck was inexorable; he wished to expedite my death, and rid
himself of his troubles and his terrors.  Here did I experience what was
the lamentable condition of a sick prisoner, without bed, refreshment, or
aid from human being.  Reason, fortitude, heroism, all the noble
qualities of the mind, decay when the corporal faculties are diseased;
and the remembrance of my sufferings, at this dreadful moment, still
agitates, still inflames my blood, so as almost to prevent an attempt to
describe what they were.

Yet hope had not totally forsaken me.  Deliverance seemed possible,
especially should peace ensue; and I sustained, perhaps, what mortal man
never bore, except myself, being, as I was, provided with pistols, or any
such immediate mode of despatch.

I continued ill about two months, and was so reduced at last that I had
scarcely strength to lift the water-jug to my mouth.  What must the
sufferings of that man be who sits two months on the bare ground in a
dungeon so damp, so dark, so horrible, without bed or straw, his limbs
loaded as mine were, with no refreshment but dry ammunition bread,
without so much as a drop of broth, without physic, without consoling
friend, and who, under all these afflictions, must trust, for his
recovery, to the efforts of nature alone!

Sickness itself is sufficient to humble the mightiest mind; what, then,
is sickness, with such an addition of torment?  The burning fever, the
violent headaches, my neck swelled and inflamed with the irons, enraged
me almost to madness.  The fever and the fetters together flayed my body
so that it appeared like one continued wound--Enough!  Enough!  The
malefactor extended living on the wheel, to whom the cruel executioner
refuses the last stroke--the blow of death--must yet, in some short
period, expire: he suffers nothing I did not then suffer; and these, my
excruciating pangs, continued two dreadful months--Yet, can it be
supposed?  There came a day!  A day of horror, when these mortal pangs
were beyond imagination increased.  I sat scorched with this intolerable
fever, in which nature and death were contending; and when attempting to
quench my burning entrails with cold water, the jug dropped from my
feeble hands, and broke!  I had four-and-twenty hours to remain without
water.  So intolerable, so devouring was my thirst, I could have drank
human blood!  Ay, in my madness, had it been the blood of my father!

* * * * * *

Willingly would I have seized my pistols, but strength had forsaken me, I
could not open the place I was obliged to render so secure.

My visitors next day supposed me gone at last.  I lay motionless, with my
tongue out of my mouth.  They poured water down my throat, and I revived.

Oh, God!  Oh, God!  How pure, how delicious, how exquisite was this
water!  My insatiable thirst soon emptied the jug; they filled it anew,
bade me farewell, hoped death would soon relieve my mortal sufferings,
and departed.

The lamentable state in which I lay at length became the subject of
general conversation, that all the ladies of the town united with the
officers, and prevailed on the tyrant, Borck, to restore me my bed.

Oh, Nature, what are thy operations?  From the day I drank water in such
excess I gathered strength, and to the astonishment of every one, soon
recovered.  I had moved the heart of the officer who inspected my prison;
and after six months, six cruel months of intense misery, the day of hope
again began to dawn.

One of the majors of the day entrusted his key to Lieutenant Sonntag, who
came alone, spoke in confidence, and related his own situation,
complained of his debts, his poverty, his necessities; and I made him a
present of twenty-five louis-d'ors, for which he was so grateful that our
friendship became unshaken.

The three lieutenants all commiserated me, and would sit hours with me,
when a certain major had the inspection; and he himself, after a time,
would even pass half the day with me.  He, too, was poor: and I gave him
a draft for three thousand florins; hence new projects took birth.

Money became necessary; I had disbursed all I possessed, a hundred
florins excepted, among the officers.  The eldest son of Captain K---,
who officiated as major, had been cashiered: his father complained to me
of his distress, and I sent him to my sister, not far from Berlin, from
whom he received a hundred ducats.  He returned and related her joy at
hearing from me.  He found her exceedingly ill; and she informed me, in a
few lines, that my misfortunes, and the treachery of Weingarten, had
entailed poverty upon her, and an illness which had endured more than two
years.  She wished me a happy deliverance from my chains, and, in
expectation of death, committed her children to my protection.  She,
however, grew better, and married a second time, Colonel Pape; but died
in the year 1758.  I shall forbear to relate her history: it indeed does
no honour to the ashes of Frederic, and would but less dispose my own
heart to forgiveness, by reviving the memory of her oppressions and
griefs.

K---n returned happy with the money: all things were concerted with the
father.  I wrote to the Countess Bestuchef, also to the Grand Duke,
afterwards Peter III., recommended the young soldier, and entreated every
possible succour for myself.

K---n departed through Hamburg, for Petersburg, where, in consequence of
my recommendation, he became a captain, and in a short time major.  He
took his measures so well that I, by the intervention of his father, and
a Hamburg merchant, received two thousand rubles from the Countess, while
the service he rendered me made his own fortune in Russia.

To old K---, who was as poor as he was honest, I gave three hundred
ducats; and he, till death, continued my grateful friend.  I distributed
nearly as much to the other officers; and matters proceeded so far that
Lieutenant Glotin gave back the keys to the major without locking my
prison, himself passing half the night with me.  Money was given to the
guard to drink; and thus everything succeeded to my wish, and the tyrant
Borck was deceived.  I had a supply of light; had books, newspapers, and
my days passed swiftly away.  I read, I wrote, I busied myself so
thoroughly that I almost forgot I was a prisoner.  When, indeed, the
surly, dull blockhead, Major Bruckhausen, had the inspection, everything
had to be carefully reinstated.  Major Z---, the second of the three, was
also wholly mine.  He was particularly attached to me; for I had promised
to marry his daughter, and, should I die in prison, to bequeath him a
legacy of ten thousand florins.

Lieutenant Sonntag got false handcuffs made for me, that were so wide I
could easily draw my hands out; the lieutenants only examined my irons,
the new handcuffs were made perfectly similar to the old, and Bruckhausen
had too much stupidity to remark any difference.

The remainder of my chains I could disencumber myself of at pleasure.
When I exercised myself, I held them in my hands, that the sentinel might
be deceived by their clanking.  The neck-iron was the only one I durst
not remove; it was likewise too strongly riveted.  I filed through the
upper link of the pendant chain, however, by which means I could take it
off, and this I concealed with bread in the manner before mentioned.

So I could disencumber myself of most of my fetters, and sleep in ease.  I
again obtained sausages and cold meat, and thus my situation, bad as it
still was, became less miserable.  Liberty, however, was most desirable:
but, alas! not one of the three lieutenants had the courage of a Schell:
Saxony, too, was in the hands of the Prussians, and flight, therefore,
more dangerous.  Persuasion was in vain with men determined to risk
nothing, but, if they went, to go in safety.  Will, indeed, was not
wanting in Glotin and Sonntag; but the first was a poltroon, and the
latter a man of scruples, who thought this step might likewise be the
ruin of his brother at Berlin.

The sentinels were doubled, therefore my escape through my hole, which
had been two years dug, could not, unperceived by them, be effected:
still less could I, in the face of the guard, clamber the twelve feet
high pallisadoes.  The following labour, therefore, though Herculean, was
undertaken.

Lieutenant Sonntag, measuring the interval between the hole I had dug and
the entrance in the gallery in the principal rampart, found it to be
thirty-seven feet.  Into this it was possible I might, by mining,
penetrate.  The difficulty of the enterprise was lessened by the nature
of the ground, a fine white sand.  Could I reach the gallery my freedom
was certain.  I had been informed how many steps to the right or left
must be taken, to find the door that led to the second rampart: and, on
the day when I should be ready for flight, the officer was secretly to
leave this door open.  I had light, and mining tools, and was further to
rely on money and my own discretion.

I began and continued this labour about six months.  I have already
noticed the difficulty of scraping out the earth with my hands, as the
noise of instruments would have been heard by the sentinels.  I had
scarcely mined beyond my dungeon wall before I discovered the foundation
of the rampart was not more than a foot deep; a capital error certainly
in so important a fortress.  My labour became the lighter, as I could
remove the foundation stones of my dungeon, and was not obliged to mine
so deep.

My work at first proceeded so rapidly, that, while I had room to throw
back my sand, I was able in one night to gain three feet; but ere I had
proceeded ten feet I discovered all my difficulties.  Before I could
continue my work I was obliged to make room for myself, by emptying the
sand out of my hole upon the floor of the prison, and this itself was an
employment of some hours.  The sand was obliged to be thrown out by the
hand, and after it thus lay heaped in my prison, must again be returned
into the hole; and I have calculated that after I had proceeded twenty
feet, I was obliged to creep under ground, in my hole, from fifteen
hundred to two thousand fathoms, within twenty-four hours, in the removal
and replacing of the sand.  This labour ended, care was to be taken that
in none of the crevices of the floor there might be any appearance of
this fine white sand.  The flooring was the next to be exactly replaced,
and my chains to be resumed.  So severe was the fatigue of one day, in
this mode, that I was always obliged to rest the three following.

To reduce my labour as much as possible, I was constrained to make the
passage so small that my body only had space to pass, and I had not room
to draw my arm back to my head.  The work, too, must all be done naked,
otherwise the dirtiness of my shirt must have been remarked; the sand was
wet, water being found at the depth of four feet, where the stratum of
the gravel began.  At length the expedient of sand-bags occurred to me,
by which it might be removed out and in more expeditiously.  I obtained
linen from the officers, but not in sufficient quantities; suspicions
would have been excited at observing so much linen brought into the
prison.  At last I took my sheets and the ticking that enclosed my straw,
and cut them up for sand-bags, taking care to lie down on my bed, as if
ill, when Bruckhausen paid his visit.

The labour, towards the conclusion, became so intolerable as to incite
despondency.  I frequently sat contemplating the heaps of sand, during a
momentary respite from work; and thinking it impossible I could have
strength or time again to replace all things as they were, resolved
patiently to wait the consequence, and leave everything in its present
disorder.  Yes! I can assure the reader that, to effect concealment, I
have scarcely had time in twenty-four hours to sit down and eat a morsel
of bread.  Recollecting, however, the efforts, and all the progress I had
made, hope would again revive, and exhausted strength return: again would
I begin my labours, that I might preserve my secret and my expectations:
yet has it frequently happened that my visitors have entered a few
minutes after I had reinstated everything in its place.

When my work was within six or seven feet of being accomplished, a new
misfortune happened that at once frustrated all further attempts.  I
worked, as I have said, under the foundation of the rampart near where
the sentinels stood.  I could disencumber myself of my fetters, except my
neck collar and its pendent chain.  This, as I worked, though it was
fastened, got loose, and the clanking was heard by one of the sentinels
about fifteen feet from my dungeon.  The officer was called, they laid
their ears to the ground, and heard me as I went backward and forward to
bring my earth bags.  This was reported the next day; and the major, who
was my best friend, with the town-major, and a smith and mason, entered
my prison.  I was terrified.  The lieutenant by a sign gave me to
understand I was discovered.  An examination was begun, but the officers
would not see, and the smith and mason found all, as they thought, safe.
Had they examined my bed, they would have seen the ticking and sheets
were gone.

The town-major, who was a dull man, was persuaded the thing was
impossible, and said to the sentinel, "Blockhead! you have heard some
mole underground, and not Trenck.  How, indeed, could it be, that lee
should work underground, at such a distance from his dungeon?"  Here the
scrutiny ended.

There was now no time for delay.  Had they altered their hour of coming,
they must have found me at work: but this, during ten years, never
happened: for the governor and town-major were stupid men, and the
others, poor fellows, wishing me all success, were willingly blind.  In a
few days I could have broken out, but, when ready, I was desirous to wait
for the visitation of the man who had treated me so tyranically,
Bruckhausen, that his own negligence might be evident.  But this man,
though he wanted understanding, did not want good fortune.  He was ill
for some time, and his duty devolved on K---.

He recovered; and the visitation being over, the doors were no sooner
barred than I began my supposed last labour.  I had only three feet
farther to proceed, and it was no longer necessary I should bring out the
sand, I having room to throw it behind me.  What my anxiety was, what my
exertions were, may well be imagined.  My evil genius, however, had
decreed that the same sentinel, who had heard me before, should be that
day on guard.  He was piqued by vanity, to prove he was not the blockhead
he had been called; he therefore again laid his ear to the ground, and
again heard me burrowing.  Ho called his comrades first, next thee major;
lee came, and heard me likewise; they then went without the pallisadoes,
and heard me working near the door, at which place I was to break into
the gallery.  This door they immediately opened, entered the gallery with
lanthorns, and waited to catch the hunted fox when unearthed.

Through the first small breach I made I perceived a light, and saw the
heads of those who were expecting me.  This was indeed a thunder-stroke!
I crept back, made my way through the sand I had cast behind me, and
awaited my fate with shuddering!  I had the presence of mind to conceal
my pistols, candles, paper, and some money, under the floor which I could
remove.  The money was disposed of in various holes, well concealed also
between the panels of the doors; and under different cracks in the floor
I hid my small files and knives.  Scarcely were these disposed of before
the doors resounded: the floor was covered with sand and sand-bags: my
handcuffs, however, and the separating bar, I had hastily resumed that
they might suppose I had worked with them on, which they were silly
enough to credit, highly to my future advantage.

No man was more busy on this occasion than the brutal and stupid
Bruckhausen, who put many interrogatories, to which I made no reply,
except assuring him that I should have completed my work some days
sooner, had it not been his good fortune to fall sick, and that this only
had been the cause of my failure.

The man was absolutely terrified with apprehension; he began to fear me,
grew more polite, and even supposed nothing was impossible to me.

It was too late to remove the sand; therefore the lieutenant and guard
continued with me, so that this night at least I did not want company.
When the morning came, the hole was first filled up; the planking was
renewed.  The tyrant Borck was ill, and could not come, otherwise my
treatment would have been still more lamentable.  The smiths had ended
before the evening, and the irons were heavier than ever.  The foot
chains, instead of being fastened as before, were screwed and riveted;
all else remained as formerly.  They were employed in the flooring till
the next day, so that I could not sleep, and at last I sank down with
weariness.

The greatest of my misfortunes was they again deprived me of my bed,
because I had cut it up for sand-bags.  Before the doors were barred
Bruckhausen and another major examined my body very narrowly.  They often
had asked me where I concealed all my implements?  My answer was,
"Gentlemen, Beelzebub is my best and most intimate friend; he brings me
everything I want, supplies me with light: we play whole nights at
piquet, and, guard me as you please, he will finally deliver me out of
your power."

Some were astonished, others laughed.  At length, as they were barring
the last door, I called, "Come back, gentlemen! you have forgotten
something of great importance."  In the interim I had taken up one of my
hidden files.  When they returned, "Look ye, gentlemen," said I, "here is
a proof of the friendship Beelzebub has for me, he has brought me this in
a twinkling."  Again they examined, and again they shut their doors.
While they were so doing, I took out a knife, and ten louis-d'ors,
called, and they re turned, grumbling curses; I then shewed the knife and
the louis-d'ors.  Their consternation was excessive; and I diverted my
misfortunes by jesting at such blundering, short-sighted keepers.  It was
soon rumoured through Magdeburg, especially among the simple and vulgar,
that I was a magician to whom the devil brought all I asked.

One Major Holtzkammer, a very selfish man, profited by this report.  A
foolish citizen had offered him fifty dollars if he might only be
permitted to see me through the door, being very desirous to see a
wizard.  Holtzkammer told me, and we jointly determined to sport with his
credulity.  The major gave me a mask with a monstrous nose, which I put
on when the doors were opening, and threw myself in an heroic attitude.
The affrighted burger drew back; but Holtzkammer stopped him, and said,
"Have patience for some quarter of an hour, and you shall see he will
assume quite a different countenance."  The burger waited, my mask was
thrown by, and my face appeared whitened with chalk, and made ghastly.
The burger again shrank back; Holtzkammer kept him in conversation, and I
assumed a third farcical form.  I tied my hair under my nose, and a
pewter dish to my breast, and when the door a third time opened, I
thundered, "Begone, rascals, or I'll set your necks--awry!"  They both
ran: and the silly burger, eased of his fifty dollars, scampered first.

The major, in vain, laid his injunctions on the burger never to reveal
what he had beheld, it being a breach of duty in him to admit any persons
whatever to the sight of me.  In a few days, the necromancer Trenck was
the theme of every alehouse in Magdeburg, and the person was named who
had seen me change my form thrice in the space of one hour.  Many false
and ridiculous circumstances were added, and at last the story reached
the governor's ears.  The citizen was cited, and offered to take his oath
of what himself and the major had seen.  Holtzkammer accordingly suffered
a severe reprimand, and was some days under arrest.  We frequently
laughed, however, at this adventure, which had rendered me so much the
subject of conversation.  Miraculous reports were the more easily
credited, because no one could comprehend how, in despite of the load of
irons I carried, and all the vigilance of my guards, I should be
continually able to make new attempts, while those appointed to examine
my dungeon seemed, as it were, blinded and bewildered.  A proof this, how
easy it is to deceive the credulous, and whence have originated
witchcraft, prophecies, and miracles.




CHAPTER IV.


My last undertaking had employed me more than twelve months, and so
weakened me that I appeared little better than a skeleton.
Notwithstanding the greatness of my spirit, I should have sunk into
despondency, at seeing an end like this to all my labours, had I not
still cherished a secret hope of escaping, founded on the friends I had
gained among the officers.

I soon felt the effects of the loss of my bed, and was a second time
attacked by a violent fever, which would this time certainly have
consumed me had not the officers, unknown to the governor, treated me
with all possible compassion.  Bruckhausen alone continued my enemy, and
the slave of his orders; on his day of examination rules and commands in
all their rigour were observed, nor durst I free myself from my irons,
till I had for some weeks remarked those parts on which he invariably
fixed his attention.  I then cut through the link, and closed up the
vacancy with bread.  My hands I could always draw out, especially after
illness had consumed the flesh off my bones.  Half a year had elapsed
before I had recovered sufficient strength to undertake, anew, labours
like the past.

Necessity at length taught me the means of driving Bruckhausen from my
dungeon, and of inducing him to commit his office to another.  I learnt
his olfactory nerves were somewhat delicate, and whenever I heard the
doors unbar, I took care to make a stir in my night-table.  This made him
give back, and at length he would come no farther than the door.  Such
are the hard expedients of a poor unhappy prisoner!

One day he came, bloated with pride, just after a courier had brought the
news of victory, and spoke of the Austrians, and the august person of the
Empress-Queen with so much virulence, that, at last, enraged almost to
madness, I snatched the sword of an officer from its sheath, and should
certainly have ended him, had he not made a hasty retreat.  From that day
forward he durst no more come without guards to examine the dungeon.  Two
men always preceded him, with their bayonets fixed, and their pieces
presented, behind whom he stood at the door.  This was another fortunate
incident, as I dreaded only his examination.

The following anecdote will afford a specimen of this man's
understanding.  While digging in the earth I found a cannon-ball, and
laid it in the middle of my prison.  When he came to examine--"What in
the name of God is that?" said he.  "It is a part of the ammunition,"
answered I, "that my Familiar brings me.  The cannon will be here anon,
and you will then see fine sport!"  He was astonished, told this to
others, nor could conceive such a ball might by any natural means enter
my prison.

I wrote a satire on him, when the late Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel was
governor of Magdeburg; and I had permission to write as will hereafter
appear: the Landgrave gave it to him to read himself; and so gross was
his conception, that though his own phraseology was introduced, part of
his history and his character painted, yet he did not perceive the jest,
but laughed heartily with the hearers.  The Landgrave was highly
diverted, and after I obtained my freedom, restored me the manuscript
written in my own blood.

About the time that my last attempt at escaping failed, General
Krusemarck came to my prison, whom I had formerly lived with in habits of
intimacy, when cornet of the body guard.  Without testifying friendship,
esteem, or compassion, he asked, among other things, in an authoritative
tone, how I could employ my time to prevent tediousness?  I answered in
as haughty a mood as he interrogated: for never could misfortune bend my
mind.  I told him, "I always could find sources of entertainment in my
own thoughts; and that, as for my dreams, I imagined they would at least
be as peaceful and pleasant as those of my oppressors."  "Had you in
time," replied he, "curbed this fervour of yours, had you asked pardon of
the King, perhaps you would have been in very different circumstances;
but he who has committed an offence in which he obstinately persists,
endeavouring only to obtain freedom by seducing men from their duty,
deserves no better fate."

Justly was my anger roused!  "Sir," answered I, "you are a general of the
King of Prussia, I am an Austrian captain.  My royal mistress will
protect, perhaps deliver me, or, at least, revenge my death; I have a
conscience void of reproach.  You, yourself, well know I have not
deserved these chains.  I place my hope in time, and the justness of my
cause, calumniated and condemned, as I have been, without legal sentence
or hearing.  In such a situation, the philosopher will always be able to
brave and despise the tyrant."

He departed with threats, and his last words were, "The bird shall soon
be taught to sing another tune."  The effects of this courteous visit
were soon felt.  An order came that I should be prevented sleeping, and
that the sentinels should call, and wake me every quarter of an hour;
which dreadful order was immediately executed.

This was indeed a punishment intolerable to nature!  Yet did custom at
length teach me to answer in my sleep.  Four years did this unheard of
cruelty continue!  The noble Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel at length put an
end to it a year before I was released from my dungeon, and once again,
in mercy, suffered me to sleep in peace.

Under this new affliction, I wrote an Elegy which may be found in the
second volume of my works, a few lines of which I shall cite.

   Wake me, ye guards, for hark, the quarter strikes!
   Sport with my woes, laugh loud at my miseries
   Hearken if you hear my chains clank!  Knock!  Beat!
   Of an inexorable tyrant be ye
   Th' inexorable instruments!  Wake me, ye slaves;
   Ye do but as you're bade.  Soon shall he lie
   Sleepless, or dreaming, the spectres of conscience
   Behold and shriek, who me deprives of rest.

      Wake me: Again the quarter strikes!  Call loud
   Rip up all my bleeding wounds, and shrink not!
   Yet think 'tis I that answer, God that hears!
   To every wretch in chains sleep is permitted:
   I, I alone, am robb'd of this last refuge
   Of sinking nature!  Hark!  Again they thunder!
   Again they iterate yells of Trenck and death.

   Peace to thy anger, peace, thou suffering heart!
   Nor indignant beat, adding tenfold pangs to pain.

      Ye burthened limbs, arise from momentary
   Slumbers!  Shake your chains!  Murmur not, but rise!
   And ye!  Watch-dogs of Power! let loose your rage:
   Fear not, for I am helpless, unprotected.
   And yet, not so--The noble mind, within
   Itself, resources finds innumerable.

   Thou, Oh God, thought'st good me t' imprison thus:
   Thou, Oh God, in Thy good time, wilt me deliver.

      Wake me then, nor fear!  My soul slumbers not.
   And who can say but those who fetter me,
   May, ere to-morrow, groan themselves in fetters!
   Wake me!  For lo! their sleep's less sweet than mine.

   Call!  Call!  From night to morn, from twilight to dawn,
   Incessant!  Yea, in God's name, Call!  Call!  Call!
   Amen!  Amen!  Thy will, Oh God, be done!
   Yet surely Thou at length shalt hear my sighs!
   Shalt burst my prison doors!  Shalt shew me fair
   Creation!  Yea, the very heav'n of heav'ns!

With whom these orders originated, unexampled in the history even of
tyranny, I shall not venture to say.  The major, who was my friend,
advised me to persist in not answering.  I followed his advice; and it
produced this good effect that we mutually forced each other to a
capitulation: they restored me my bed, and I was obliged to reply.

Immediately after this regulation, the sub-governor, General Borck, my
bitter enemy, became insane, was dispossessed of his post, and Lieutenant-
General Reichmann, the benevolent friend of humanity, was made
sub-governor.

About the same time the Court fled from Berlin, and the Queen, the Prince
of Prussia, the Princess Amelia, and the Margrave Henry, chose Magdeburg
for their residence.  Bruckhausen grew more polite, probably perceiving I
was not wholly deserted, and that it was yet possible I might obtain my
freedom.  The cruel are usually cowards, and there is reason to suppose
Bruckhausen was actuated by his fears to treat me with greater respect.

The worthy new governor had not indeed the power to lighten my chains, or
alter the general regulations; what he could, he did.  If he did not
command, he connived at the doors being occasionally at first, and at
length, daily, kept open some hours, to admit daylight and fresh air.
After a time, they were open the whole day, and only closed by the
officers when they returned from their visit to Walrabe.

Having light, I began to carve, with a nail, on the pewter cup in which I
drank, satirical verses and various figures, and attained so much
perfection that my cups, at last, were considered as master-pieces, both
of engraving and invention, and were sold dear, as rare curiosities.  My
first attempts were rude, as may well be imagined.  My cup was carried to
town, and shown to visitors by the governor, who sent me another.  I
improved, and each of the inspecting officers wished to possess one.  I
grew more expert, and spent a whole year in this employment, which thus
passed swiftly away.  The perfection I had now acquired obtained me the
permission of candle-light, and this continued till I was restored to
freedom.

The King gave orders these cups should all be inspected by government,
because I wished, by my verses and devices, to inform the world of my
fate.  But this command was not obeyed; the officers made merchandise of
my cups, and sold them at last for twelve ducats each.  Their value
increased so much, when I was released from prison, that they are now to
be found in various museums throughout Europe.  Twelve years ago the late
Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel presented one of them to my wife; and another
came, in a very unaccountable manner, from the Queen-Dowager of Prussia
to Paris.  I have given prints of both these, with the verses they
contained, in my works; whence it may be seen how artificially they were
engraved.

A third fell into the hands of Prince Augustus Lobkowitz, then a prisoner
of war at Magdeburg, who, on his return to Vienna, presented it to the
Emperor, who placed it in his museum.  Among other devices on this cup,
was a landscape, representing a vineyard and husbandmen, and under it the
following words:--_By my labours my vineyard flourished_, _and I hoped to
have gathered the fruit_; _but Ahab came_.  _Alas_! _for Naboth_.

The allusion was so pointed, both to the wrongs done me in Vienna, and my
sufferings in Prussia, that it made a very strong impression on the
Empress-Queen, who immediately commanded her minister to make every
exertion for my deliverance.  She would probably at last have even
restored me to my estates, had not the possessors of them been so
powerful, or had she herself lived one year longer.  To these my engraved
cups was I indebted for being once more remembered at Vienna.  On the
same cup, also, was another engraving of a bird in a cage, held by a
Turk, with the following inscription:--_The bird sings even in the
storm_; _open his cage_, _break his fetters_, _ye friends of virtue_,
_and his songs shall be the delight of your abodes_!

There is another remarkable circumstance attending these cups.  All were
forbidden under pain of death to hold conversation with me, or to supply
me with pen and ink; yet by this open permission of writing what I
pleased on pewter, was I enabled to inform the world of all I wished, and
to prove a man of merit was oppressed.  The difficulties of this
engraving will be conceived, when it is remembered that I worked by
candle-light on shining pewter, attained the art of giving light and
shade, and by practice could divide a cup into two-and-thirty
compartments as regularly with a stroke of the hand as with a pair of
compasses.  The writing was so minute that it could only be read with
glasses.  I could use but one hand, both, being separated by the bar, and
therefore held the cup between my knees.  My sole instrument was a
sharpened nail, yet did I write two lines on the rim only.

My labour became so excessive, that I was in danger of distraction or
blindness.  Everybody wished for cups, and I wished to oblige everybody,
so that I worked eighteen hours a day.  The reflection of the light from
the pewter was injurious to my eyes, and the labour of invention for
apposite subjects and verses was most fatiguing.  I had learnt only
architectural drawing.

Enough of these cups, which procured me so much honour, so many
advantages, and helped to shorten so many mournful hours.  My greatest
encumbrance was the huge iron collar, with its enormous appendages,
which, when suffered to press the arteries in the back of my neck,
occasioned intolerable headaches.  I sat too much, and a third time fell
sick.  A Brunswick sausage, secretly given me by a friend, occasioned an
indigestion, which endangered my life; a putrid fever followed, and my
body was reduced to a skeleton.  Medicines, however, were conveyed to me
by the officers, and, now and then, warm food.

After my recovery, I again thought it necessary to endeavour to regain my
liberty.  I had but forty louis-d'ors remaining, and these I could not
get till I had first broken up the flooring.

Lieutenant Sonntag was consumptive, and obtained his discharge.  I
supplied bins with money to defray the expenses of his journey, and with
an order that four hundred florins should be annually paid him from my
effects till his death or my release.  I commissioned him to seek an
audience from the Empress, endeavour to excite her compassion in my
behalf, and to remit me four thousand florins, for which I gave a proper
acquittance, by the way of Hamburgh.  The money-draft was addressed to my
administrators, Counsellors Kempf and Huttner.

But no one, alas! in Vienna, wished my return; they had already begun to
share my property, of which they never rendered me an account.  Poor
Sonntag was arrested as a spy, imprisoned, ill treated for some weeks,
and, at last, when naked and destitute, received a hundred florins, and
was escorted beyond the Austrian confines.  The worthy man fell a
shameful sacrifice to his honesty, could never obtain an audience of the
Empress, and returned poor and miserable on foot to Berlin, where he was
twelve months secretly maintained by his brother, and with whom he died.
He wrote an account of all this to the good Knoblauch, my Hamburgh agent,
and I, from my small store, sent him a hundred ducats.

How much must I despair of finding any place of refuge on earth, hearing
accounts like these from Vienna.

A friend, whom I will never name, by the aid of one of the lieutenants,
secretly visited me, and supplied me with six hundred ducats.  The same
friend, in the year 1763, paid four thousand florins to the imperial
envoy, Baron Reidt, at Berlin, for the furthering of my freedom, as I
shall presently more fully show.  Thus I had once more money.

About this time the French army advanced to within five miles of
Magdeburg.  This important fortress was, at that time, the key of the
whole Prussian power.  It required a garrison of sixteen thousand men,
and contained not more than fifteen hundred.  The French might have
marched in unopposed, and at once have put an end to the war.  The
officers brought me all the news, and my hopes rose as they approached.
What was my astonishment when the major informed me that three waggons
had entered the town in the night, had been sent back loaded with money,
and that the French were retreating.  This, I can assure my readers, on
my honour, is literally truth, to the eternal disgrace of the French
general.  The major, who informed me, was himself an eye-witness of the
fact.  It was pretended the money was for the army of the King, but
everybody could guess whither it was going; it left the town without a
convoy, and the French were then in the neighbourhood.  Such were the
allies of Maria Theresa; the receivers of this money are known in Paris.
Not only were my hopes this way frustrated, but in Russia likewise, where
the Countess of Bestuchef and the Chancellor had fallen into disgrace.

I now imagined another, and, indeed, a fearful and dangerous project.  The
garrison of Magdeburg at this moment consisted but of nine hundred
militia, who were discontented men.  Two majors and two lieutenants were
in my interest.  The guard of the Star Fort amounted but to a hundred and
fifteen men.  Fronting the gate of this fort was the town gate, guarded
only by twelve men and an inferior officer; beside these lay the
casemates, in which were seven thousand Croat prisoners.  Baron K---y, a
captain, and prisoner of war, also was in our interest, and would hold
his comrades ready at a certain place and time to support my undertaking.
Another friend was, under some pretence, to hold his company ready, with
their muskets loaded, and the plan was such that I should have had four
hundred men in arms ready to carry it into execution.

The officer was to have placed the two men we most suspected and feared,
as sentinels over me; he was to command them to take away my bed, and
when encumbered, I was to spring out, and shut them in the prison.
Clothing and arms were to have been procured, and brought me into my
prison; the town-gate was to have been surprised; I was to have run to
the casemate, and called to the Croats, "Trenck to arms!"  My friends, at
the same instant, were to break forth, and the plan was so well concerted
that it could not have failed.  Magdeburg, the magazine of the army, the
royal treasury, arsenal, all would have been mine; and sixteen thousand
men, who were then prisoners of war, would have enabled me to keep
possession.

The most essential secret, by which all this was to have been effected, I
dare not reveal; suffice it to say, everything was provided for,
everything made secure; I shall only add that the garrison, in the
harvest months, was exceedingly weakened, because the farmers paid the
captains a florin per man each day, and the men for their labour
likewise, to obtain hands.  The sub-governor connived at the practice.

One Lieutenant G--- procured a furlough to visit his friends; but,
supplied by me with money, he went to Vienna.  I furnished him with a
letter, addressed to Counsellors Kempf and Huttner, including a draft for
two thousand ducats; wherein I said that, by these means, I should not
only soon be at liberty, but in possession of the fortress of Magdeburg;
and that the bearer was entrusted with the rest.

The lieutenant came safe to Vienna, underwent a thousand interrogatories,
and his name was repeatedly asked.  This, fortunately, he concealed.  They
advised him not to be concerned in so dangerous an undertaking; told him
I had not so much money due to me, and gave him, instead of two thousand
ducats, one thousand florins.  With these he left Vienna, but with very
prudent suspicions which prevented him ever returning to Magdeburg.  A
month had scarcely passed before the late Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, then
chief governor, entered my prison, showed me my letter, and demanded to
know who had carried the letter, and who were to free me and betray
Magdeburg.  Whether the letter was sent immediately to the King or the
governor I know not; it is sufficient that I was once more betrayed at
Vienna.  The truth was, the administrators of my effects had acted as if
I were deceased, and did not choose to refund two thousand ducats.  They
wished not I should obtain my freedom, in a manner that would have
obliged the government to have rewarded me, and restore the effects they
had embezzled and the estates they had seized.  What happened afterwards
at Vienna, which will be related in its place, will incontestably prove
this surmise to be well founded.

These bad men did not, it is true, die in the manner they ought, but they
are all dead, and I am still living, an honest, though poor man: they did
not die so.  Be this read and remembered by their luxurious heirs, who
refuse to restore my children to their rights.




CHAPTER V.


My consternation on the appearance of the Landgrave, with my letter in
his hand, may well be supposed; I had the presence of mind, however, to
deny my handwriting, and affect astonishment at so crafty a trick.  The
Landgrave endeavoured to convict me, told me what Lieutenant Kemnitz had
repeated at Vienna concerning my possessing myself of Magdeburg, and
thereby showed me how fully I had been betrayed.  But as no such person
existed as Lieutenant Kemnitz, and as my friend had fortunately concealed
his name, the mystery remained impenetrable, especially as no one could
conceive how a prisoner, in my situation, could seduce or subdue the
whole garrison.  The worthy prince left my prison, apparently satisfied
with my defence; his heart felt no satisfaction in the misfortunes of
others.

The next day a formal examination was taken, at which the sub-governor
Reichmann presided.  I was accused as a traitor to my country; but I
obstinately denied my handwriting.  Proofs or witnesses there were none,
and in answer to the principal charge, I said, "I was no criminal, but a
man calumniated, illegally imprisoned, and loaded with irons; that the
King, in the year 1746, had cashiered me, and confiscated my parental
inheritance; that therefore the laws of nature enforced me to seek honour
and bread in a foreign service; and that, finding these in Austria, I
became an officer and a faithful subject of the Empress-Queen; that I had
been a second time unoffendingly imprisoned; that here I was treated as
the worst of malefactors, and my only resource was to seek my liberty by
such means as I could; were I therefore in this attempt to destroy
Magdeburg, and occasion the loss of a thousand lives, I should still be
guiltless.  Had I been heard and legally sentenced, previous to my
imprisonment at Glatz, I should have been, and still continued, a
criminal; but not having been guilty of any small, much less of any great
crime, equal to my punishment, if such crime could be, I was therefore
not accountable for consequences; I owed neither fidelity nor duty to the
King of Prussia; for by the word of his power he had deprived me of
bread, honour, country, and freedom."

Here the examination ended, without further discovery; the officers,
however, falling under suspicion, were all removed, and thus I lost my
best friends; yet it was not long before I had gained two others, which
was no difficult matter, as I knew the national character, and that none
but poor men were made militia officers.  Thus was the governor's
precaution fruitless, and almost everybody secretly wished I might obtain
my freedom.

I shall never forget the noble manner in which I was treated on this
occasion by the Landgrave.  This I personally acknowledged, some years
afterwards, in the city of Cassel, when I heard many things which
confirmed all my surmises concerning Vienna.  The Landgrave received me
with all grace, favour, and distinction.  I revere his memory, and seek
to honour his name.  He was the friend of misfortune.  When I not long
afterwards fell ill, he sent me his own physician, and meat from his
table, nor would he suffer me, during two months, to be wakened by the
sentinels.  He likewise removed the dreadful collar from my neck; for
which he was severely reprimanded by the King, as he himself has since
assured me.

I might fill a volume with incidents attending two other efforts to
escape, but I will not weary the reader's patience with too much
repetition.  I shall merely give an abstract of both.

When I had once more gained the officers, I made a new attempt at mining
my way out.  Not wanting for implements, my chains and the flooring were
soon cut through, and all was so carefully replaced that I was under no
fear of examination.  I here found my concealed money, pistols, and other
necessaries, but till I had rid myself of some hundredweight of sand, it
was impossible to proceed.  For this purpose I made two different
openings in the floor: out of the real hole I threw a great quantity of
sand into my prison; after which I closed it with all possible care.  I
then worked at the second with so much noise, that I was certain they
must hear me without.  About midnight the doors began to thunder, and in
they came, detecting me, as I intended they should.  None of them could
conceive why I should wish to break out under the door, where there was a
triple guard to pass.  The sentinels remained, and in the morning
prisoners were sent to wheel away the sand.  The hole was walled up and
boarded, and my fetters were renewed.  They laughed at the ridiculousness
of my undertaking, but punished me by depriving me of my light and bed,
which, however, in a fortnight were both restored.  Of the other hole,
out of which most of the earth had been thrown, no one was aware.  The
major and lieutenant were too much my friends to remark that they had
removed thrice the quantity of sand the false opening could contain.  They
supposed this strange attempt having failed, it would be my last, and
Bruckhausen grew negligent.

The governor and sub-governor both visited me after some weeks, but far
from imitating the brutality of Borck, the Landgrave spoke to me with
mildness, promised me his interest to regain my freedom, when peace
should be concluded; told me I had more friends than I supposed, and
assured me I had not been forgotten by the Court at Vienna.

He promised me every alleviation, and I gave him my word I would no more
attempt to escape while he remained governor.  My manner enforced
conviction and he ordered my neck-collar to be taken off, my window to be
unclosed, my doors to be left open two hours every day, a stove to be put
in my dungeon, finer linen for my shirts, and paper to amuse myself by
writing my thoughts.  The sheets were to be numbered when given, and then
returned, by the town-major, that I might not abuse this liberty.

Ink was not allowed me, I therefore pricked my fingers, suffered the
blood to trickle into a pot; by these means I procured a substitute for
ink, both to write and draw.

I now engraved my cups, and versified.  I had opportunity to display my
abilities to awaken compassion.  My emulation was increased by knowing
that my works were seen at Courts, that the Princess Amelia and the Queen
herself testified their satisfaction.  I had subjects to engrave from
sent me; and the wretch whom the King intended to bury alive, whose name
no man was to mention, never was more famous than while he vented his
groans in his dungeon.  My writings produced their effect, and really
regained my freedom.  To my cultivation of the sciences and presence of
mind I am indebted for all; these all the power of Frederic could not
deprive me of.  Yes!  This liberty I procured, though he answered all
petitions in my behalf--"He is a dangerous man: and so long as I live he
shall never see the light!"  Yet have I seen it during his life: after
his death I have seen it without revenging myself, otherwise than by
proving my virtue to a monarch who oppressed because he knew me not,
because he would not recall the hasty sentence of anger, or own he might
be mistaken.  He died convinced of my integrity, yet without affording me
retribution!  Man is formed by misfortune; virtue is active in adversity.
It is indifferent to me that the companions of my youth have their ears
gratified, delighted with the titles of General!  Field-Marshal I have
learned to live without such additions; I am known in my works.

I returned to my dungeon.  Here, after my last conference with the
Landgrave, I waited my fate with a mind more at ease than that of a
prince in a palace.  The newspapers they brought me bespoke approaching
peace, on which my dependence was placed, and I passed eighteen months
calmly, and without further attempt to escape.

The father of the Landgrave died; and Magdeburg now lost its governor.
The worthy Reichmann, however, testified for me all compassion and
esteem; I had books, and my time was employed.  Imprisonment and chains
to me were become habitual, and freedom in hope approached.

About this time I wrote the poems, "The Macedonian Hero," "The Dream
Realised," and some fables.  The best of my poems are now lost to me.  The
mind's sensibility when the body is imprisoned is strongly roused, nor
can all the aids of the library equal this advantage.  Perhaps I may
recover some in Berlin; if so, the world may learn what my thoughts then
were.  When I was at liberty, I had none but such as I remembered, and
these I committed to writing.  On my first visit to the Landgrave of
Hesse-Cassel I received a volume of them written in my own blood; but
there were eight of these which I shall never regain.

The death of Elizabeth, the deposing of Peter III., and the accession of
Catherine II. produced peace.  On the receipt of this intelligence I
tried to provide for all contingencies.  The worthy Captain K--- had
opened me a correspondence with Vienna: I was assured of support; but was
assured the administrators and those who possessed my estates would throw
every impediment in the way of freedom.  I tried to persuade another
officer to aid my escape, but in vain.

I therefore opened my old hole, and my friends assisted me to
disembarrass myself of sand.  My money melted away, but they provided me
with tools, gunpowder, and a good sword.  I had remained so long quiet
that my flooring was not examined.

My intent was to wait the peace; and should I continue in chains, then
would I have my subterranean passage to the rampart ready for escape.  For
my further security, an old lieutenant had purchased a house in the
suburbs, where I might lie concealed.  Gummern, in Saxony, is two miles
from Magdeburg; here a friend, with two good horses, was to wait a year,
to ride on the glacis of Klosterbergen on the first and fifteenth of each
month, and at a given signal to hasten to my assistance.

My passage had to be ready in case of emergency; I removed the upper
planking, broke up the two beds, cut the boards into chips, and burnt
them in my stove.  By this I obtained so much additional room as to
proceed half way with my mine.  Linen again was brought me, sand-bags
made, and thus I successfully proceeded to all but the last operation.
Everything was so well concealed that I had nothing to fear from
inspection, especially as the new come garrison could not know what was
the original length of the planks.

I must here relate a dreadful accident, which I cannot remember without
shuddering, and the terror of which has often haunted my very dreams.

While mining under the rampart, as I was carrying out the sand-bag, I
struck my foot against a stone which fell down and closed up the passage.

What was my horror to find myself buried alive!  After a short
reflection, I began to work the sand away from the side, that I might
turn round.  There were some feet of empty space, into which I threw the
sand as I worked it away; but the small quantity of air soon made it so
foul that I a thousand times wished myself dead, and made several
attempts to strangle myself.  Thirst almost deprived me of my senses, but
as often as I put my mouth to the sand I inhaled fresh air.  My
sufferings were incredible, and I imagine I passed eight hours in this
situation.  My spirits fainted; again I recovered and began to labour,
but the earth was as high as my chin, and I had no more space where I
might throw the sand.  I made a more desperate effort, drew my body into
a ball, and turned round; I now faced the stone; there being an opening
at the top, I respired fresher air.  I rooted away the sand under the
stone, and let it sink so that I might creep over; at length I once more
arrived in my dungeon!

The morning was advanced; I sat down so exhausted that I supposed it was
impossible I had strength to conceal my hole.  After half an hour's rest,
my fortitude returned: again I went to work, and scarcely had I ended
before my visitors approached.

They found me pale: I complained of headache, and continued some days
affected by the fatigue I had sustained.  After a time strength returned;
but perhaps of all my nights of horror this was the most horrible.  I
repeatedly dreamt I was buried in the centre of the earth; and now,
though three and twenty years are elapsed, my sleep is still haunted by
this vision.

After this accident, when I worked in my cavity, I hung a knife round my
neck, that if I should be enclosed I might shorten my miseries.  Over the
stone that had fallen several others hung tottering, under which I was
obliged to creep.  Nothing, however, could deter me from trying to obtain
my liberty.

When my passage was ready, I wrote letters to my friends at Vienna, and
also a memorial to my Sovereign.  When the militia left Magdeburg and the
regulars returned, I took leave of my friends who had behaved so
benevolently.  Several weeks elapsed before they departed and I learnt
that General Reidt was appointed ambassador from Vienna to Berlin.

I had seen the world; I knew this General was not averse to a bribe: I
wrote him a letter, conjuring him to act with ardour in my behalf.  I
enclosed a draft for six thousand florins on my effects at Vienna, and he
received four thousand from one of my relations.  I have to thank these
ten thousand florins for my freedom, which I obtained nine months after.
My vouchers show the six thousand florins were paid in April, 1763, to
the order of General Reidt.  The other four thousand I repaid, when at
liberty, to my friend.

I received intelligence before the garrison departed that no stipulation
had been made on my behalf at the peace of Hubertsberg.  The Vienna
plenipotentiaries, after the articles were signed, mentioned my name to
Hertzberg, with but few assurances of every effort being made to move
Frederic, a promise on which I could much better rely than on my
protectors at Vienna, who had left me in misfortune.  I determined to
wait three months longer, and should I still find myself neglected, to
owe my escape to myself.

On the change of the garrison, the officers were more difficult to gain
than the former.  The majors obeyed their orders; their help was
unnecessary; but still I sighed for my old friends.  I had only
ammunition-bread again for food.

My time hung very heavy; everything was examined on the change of the
garrison.  A stricter scrutiny might occur, and my projects be
discovered.  This had nearly been effected, as I shall here relate.  I
had so tamed a mouse that it would eat from my mouth; in this small
animal I discovered proofs of intelligence.

This mouse had nearly been my ruin.  I had diverted myself with it one
night; it had been nibbling at my door and capering on a trencher.  The
sentinels hearing our amusement, called the officers: they heard also,
and thought all was not right.  At daybreak the town-major, a smith, and
mason entered; strict search was begun; flooring, walls, chains, and my
own person were all scrutinised, but in vain.  They asked what was the
noise they had heard; I mentioned the mouse, whistled, and it came and
jumped upon my shoulder.  Orders were given I should be deprived of its
society; I entreated they would spare its life.  The officer on guard
gave me his word he would present it to a lady, who would treat it with
tenderness.

He took it away and turned it loose in the guardroom, but it was tame to
me alone, and sought a hiding place.  It had fled to my prison door, and,
at the hour of visitation, ran into my dungeon, testifying its joy by
leaping between my legs.  It is worthy of remark that it had been taken
away blindfold, that is to say, wrapped in a handkerchief.  The guard-
room was a hundred paces from the dungeon.

All were desirous of obtaining this mouse, but the major carried it off
for his lady; she put it into a cage, where it pined, and in a few days
died.

The loss of this companion made me quite melancholy, yet, on the last
examination, I perceived it had so eaten the bread by which I had
concealed the crevices I had made in cutting the floor, that the
examiners must be blind not to discover them.  I was convinced my
faithful little friend had fallen a necessary victim to its master's
safety.  This accident determined me not to wait the three months.

I have related that horses were to be kept ready, on the first and
fifteenth, and I only suffered the first of August to pass, because I
would not injure Major Pfuhl, who had treated me with more compassion
than his comrades, and whose day of visitation it was.  On the fifteenth
I determined to fly.  This resolution formed, I waited in expectation of
the day, when a new and remarkable succession of accidents happened.

An alarm of fire had obliged the major to repair to the town; he
committed the keys to the lieutenant.  The latter, coming to visit me,
asked--"Dear Trenck, have you never, during seven years that you have
been under the guard of the militia, found a man like Schell?"  "Alas!
sir," answered I, "such friends are rare; the will of many has been good;
each knew I could make his fortune, but none had courage enough for so
desperate an attempt!  Money I have distributed freely, but have received
little help."

"How do you obtain money in this dungeon?"  "From a correspondent at
Vienna, by whom I am still supplied."  "If I can serve you, command me: I
will do it without asking any return."  So saying, I took fifty ducats
from between the panels, and gave them to the lieutenant.  At first he
refused, but at length accepted them with fear.  He left me, promised to
return, pretended to shut the door, and kept his word.  He now said debt
obliged him to desert; that this had long been his determination, and
that, desirous to assist me at the same time if he could find the means,
I had only to show how this might be effected.

We continued two hours in conference: a plan was formed, approved, and a
certainty of success demonstrated; especially when I told him I had two
horses waiting.  We vowed eternal friendship; I gave him fifty ducats,
and his debts, not amounting to more than two hundred rix-dollars, which
he never could have discharged out of his pay.

He was to prepare four keys to resemble those of my dungeon; the latter
were to be exchanged on the day of flight, being kept in the guard-room
while the major was with General Walrabe.  He was to give the grenadiers
on guard leave of absence, or send them into the town on various
pretences.  The sentinels he was to call from their duty, and those
placed over me were to be sent into my dungeon to take away my bed; while
encumbered with this, I was to spring out and lock them in, after which
we were to mount our horses, which were kept ready, and ride to Gummern.
Every thing was to be prepared within a week, when he was to mount guard.
We had scarcely formed our project before the sentinels called the major
was coming; he accordingly barred the door, and the major passed to
General Walrabe.

No man was happier than myself; my hopes of escape were triple; the
mediation at Berlin, the mine I had made, and my friend the lieutenant.

When most my mind ought to have been clear, I seemed to have lost my
understanding.  I came to a resolution which will appear extravagant and
pitiable.  I was stupid enough, mad enough, to form the design of casting
myself on the magnanimity of the Great Frederic!  Should this fail, I
still thought my lieutenant a saviour.

Having heated my imagination with this scheme, I waited the visitation
with anxiety.  The major entered, I bespoke him thus:

"I know, sir, the great Prince Ferdinand is again in Magdeburg.  Inform
him that he may examine my prison, double the sentinels, and give me his
commands, stating what hour will please him I should make my appearance
on the glacis of Klosterbergen.  If I prove myself capable of this, I
then hope for the protection of Prince Ferdinand: and that he will relate
my proceeding to the King, who may he convinced of my innocence."

The major was astonished; the proposal he held to be ridiculous, and the
performance impossible.  I persisted; he returned with the sub-governor,
Reichmann, the town-major, Riding, and the major of inspection.  The
answer they delivered was, that the Prince promised me his protection,
the King's favour, and a release from my chains, should I prove my
assertion.  I required they would appoint a time; they ridiculed the
thing as impossible, and said that it would be sufficient could I prove
the practicability of such a scheme; but should I refuse, they would
break up the flooring, and place sentinels in my dungeon, adding, the
governor would not admit of any breaking out.

After promises of good faith, I disencumbered myself of my chains, raised
my flooring, gave them my implements, and two keys, my friends had
procured me, to the doors of the subterranean gallery.  This gallery I
desired them to sound with their sword hilts, at the place through which
I was to break, which might be done in a few minutes.  I described the
road I was to take through the gallery, informed them that two of the
doors had not been shut for six months, and to the others they had the
keys; adding, I had horses waiting at the glacis, that would be now
ready; the stables for which were unknown to them.  They went, examined,
returned, put questions, which I answered with precision.  They left me
with seeming friendship, came back, told me the Prince was astonished at
what he had heard, that he wished me all happiness, and then took me
unfettered, to the guard-house.  The major came in the evening, treated
us with a supper, assured me everything would happen to my wishes, and
that Prince Ferdinand had written to Berlin.

The guard was reinforced next day.  The whole guard loaded with ball
before my eyes, the drawbridges were raised in open day, and precautions
were taken as if I intended to make attempts as desperate as those I had
made at Glatz.

I now saw workmen employed on my dungeon, and carts bringing
quarry-stones.  The officers on guard behaved with kindness, kept a good
table, at which I ate; but two sentinels, and an under-officer, never
quitted the guard-room.  Conversation was cautious, and this continued
five or six days; at length, it was the lieutenant's turn to mount guard;
he appeared to be as friendly as formerly, but conference was difficult;
he found an opportunity to express his astonishment at my ill-timed
discovery, told me the Prince knew nothing of the affair, and that the
report through the garrison was, I had been surprised in making a new
attempt.

My dungeon was completed in a week.  The town-major re-conducted me to
it.  My foot was chained to the wall with links twice as strong as
formerly; the remainder of my irons were never after added.

The dungeon was paved with flag-stones.  That part of my money only was
saved which I had concealed in the panels of the door, and the chimney of
my stove; some thirty louis-d'ors, hidden about my clothes, were taken
from me.

While the smith was riveting my chains, I addressed the sub-governor.  "Is
this the fulfilment of the pledge of the Prince?  Think not you deceive
me, I am acquainted with the false reports that have been spread; the
truth will soon come to light, and the unworthy be put to shame.  Nay, I
forewarn you that Trenck shall not be much longer in your power; for were
you to build your dungeon of steel, it would be insufficient to contain
me."

They smiled at me.  Reichmann told me I might soon obtain my freedom in a
proper manner.  My firm reliance on my friend, the lieutenant, gave me a
degree of confidence that amazed them all.

It is necessary to explain this affair.  When I obtained my liberty, I
visited Prince Ferdinand.  He informed me the majors had not made a true
report.  Their story was, they had caught me at work, and, had it not
been for their diligence, I should have made my escape.  Prince Ferdinand
heard the truth, and informed the King, who only waited an opportunity to
restore me to liberty.

Once more I was immured.  I waited in hope for the day when my deliverer
was to mount guard.  What again was my despair when I saw another
lieutenant!  I buoyed myself up with the hope that accident was the
occasion of this; but I remained three weeks, and saw him no more.  I
heard at length that he had left the corps of grenadiers, and was no
longer to mount guard at the Star Fort.  He has my forgiveness, and I
applaud myself for never having said anything by which he might be
injured.  He might have repented his promise, he might have trusted
another friend with the enterprise, and have been himself betrayed; but,
be it as it may, his absence cut off all hope.

I now repented my folly and vanity; I had brought my misfortunes on
myself.  I had myself rendered my dungeon impenetrable.  Death would have
followed but for the dependence I placed in the court of Vienna.

The officers remarked the loss of my fortitude and thoughtfulness; the
verses I wrote were desponding.  The only comfort they could give
was--"Patience, dear Trenck; your condition cannot be worse; the King may
not live for ever."  Were I sick, they told me I might hope my sufferings
would soon have an end.  If I recovered they pitied me, and lamented
their continuance.  What man of my rank and expectations ever endured
what I did, ever was treated as I have been treated!




CHAPTER VI.


Peace had been concluded nine months.  I was forgotten.  At last, when I
supposed all hope lost, the 25th of December, and the day of freedom,
came.  At the hour of parade, Count Schlieben, lieutenant of the guards,
brought orders for my release!

The sub-governor supposed me weaker in intellect than I was, and would
not too suddenly tell me these tidings.  He knew not the presence of
mind, the fortitude, which the dangers I had seen had made habitual.

My doors for the LAST TIME resounded!  Several people entered; their
countenances were cheerful, and the sub-governor at their head at length
said, "This time, my dear Trenck, I am the messenger of good news.  Prince
Ferdinand has prevailed on the King to let your irons be taken off."
Accordingly, to work went the smith.  "You shall also," continued he,
"have a better apartment."  "I am free, then," said I.  "Speak! fear not!
I can moderate my transports."

"Then you are free!" was the reply.

The sub-governor first embraced me, and afterwards his attendants.

He asked me what clothes I would wish.  I answered, the uniform of my
regiment.  The tailor took my measure.  Reichmann told him it must be
made by the morning.  The man excused himself because it was Christmas
Eve.  "So, then, this gentleman must remain in his dungeon because it is
holiday with you."  The tailor promised to be ready.

I was taken to the guard-room, congratulations were universal, and the
town-major administered the oath customary to all state prisoners.

1st.  That I should avenge myself on no man.

2nd.  That I should neither enter the Prussian nor Saxon states.

3rd.  That I should never relate by speech or in writing what had
happened to me.

4th.  And that, so long as the King lived, I should neither serve in a
civil nor military capacity.

Count Schlieben delivered me a letter from the imperial minister, General
Reidt, to the following purport:--That he rejoiced at having found an
opportunity of obtaining my liberty from the King, and that I must obey
the requisitions of Count Schlieben, whose orders were to accompany me to
Prague.

"Yes, dear Trenck," said Schlieben, "I am to conduct you through Dresden
to Prague, with orders not to suffer you to speak to any one on the road.
I have received three hundred ducats, to defray the expenses of
travelling.  As all things cannot be prepared today, the, sub-governor
has determined we shall depart to-morrow night."

I acquiesced, and Count Schlieben remained with me; the others returned
to town, and I dined with the major and officers on guard, with General
Walrabe in his prison.

Once at liberty, I walked about the fortifications, to collect the money
I had concealed in my dungeon.  To every man on guard I gave a ducat, to
the sentinels, each three, and ten ducats to be divided among the relief-
guard.  I sent the officer on guard a present from Prague, and the
remainder of my money I bestowed on the widow of the worthy Gelfhardt.  He
was no more, and she had entrusted the thousand florins to a young
soldier, who, spending them too freely, was suspected, betrayed her, and
she passed two years in prison.  Gelfhardt never received any punishment;
he was in the field.  Had he left any children, I should have provided
for them.  To the widow of the man who hung himself before my prison
door, in the year 1756, I gave thirty ducats, lent me by Schlieben.

The night was riotous, the guard made merry, and I passed most of it in
their company.  I was visited by all the generals of the garrison on
Christmas morning, for I was not allowed to enter the town.  I dressed,
viewed myself in the glass, and found pleasure; but the tumult of my
passions, the congratulations I received, and the vivacity round me,
prevented my remembering incidents minutely.

Yet how wonderful an alteration in the countenances of those by whom I
had been guarded!  I was treated with friendship, attention, and
flattery.  And why?  Because these fetters had dropped off which I had
never justly borne.

Evening came, and with it Count Schlieben, a waggon, and four
post-horses.  After an affecting farewell, we departed.  I shed tears at
leaving Magdeburg.  It seems strange that I lived here ten years, yet
never saw the town.

The duration of my imprisonment at Magdeburg was nearly ten years, and
with the term of my imprisonment at Glatz, the time is eleven years.  Thus
was I robbed of time, my body weakened, my health impaired, so that in my
decline of life, a second time, I suffer the gloom and chains of the
dungeon at Magdeburg.

The reader would now hope that my calamities were at an end; yet, upon my
honour, I would prefer the suffering of the Star Fort to those I have
since endured in Austria, especially while Krugel and Zetto were my
referendaries and curators.

At this moment I am obliged to be guarded in my expressions.  I have put
my enemies to shame; but the hope of justice or reward is vain.  No
rewards are bestowed on him who, with the consciousness of integrity,
demands, and does not deplore.  The facts I shall relate will seem
incredible, yet I have, in my own hands, the vouchers of their veracity.

"If my right hand is guilty of writing untruths in this book, may the
executioner sever it from my body, and, in the memory of posterity, may I
live a villain!"

I will proceed with my history.

On the 2nd of January I arrived, with Count Schlieben, at Prague; the
same day he delivered me to the governor, the Duke of Deuxponts.  He
received me with kindness; we dined with him two days, and all Prague
were anxious to see a man who had surmounted ten years of suffering so
unheard of as mine.  Here I received three thousand florins, and paid
General Reidt his three hundred ducats, which he had advanced Count
Schlieben, for my journey, the repayment of which he demanded in his
letter, although he had received ten thousand florins.  The expense of
returning I also paid to Schlieben, made him a present, and provided
myself with some necessaries.  After remaining a few days at Prague, a
courier arrived from Vienna, to whom I was obliged to pay forty florins,
with an order from government to bring me from Prague to Vienna.  My
sword was demanded; Captain Count Wela, and two inferior officers,
entered the carriage, which I was obliged to purchase, in company with
me, and brought me to Vienna.  I took up a thousand florins more, in
Prague, to defray these expenses, and was obliged, in Vienna, to pay the
captain fifty ducats for travelling charges back.

I was brought back like a criminal, was sent as a prisoner to the
barracks, there kept in the chamber of Lieutenant Blonket, with orders
that I should be suffered to write to no one, speak to no one, without a
ticket from the counsellors Kempt or Huttner.

Thus I remained six weeks; at length, the colonel of the regiment of
Poniatowsky, the present field-marshal, Count Alton, spoke to me.  I
related what I supposed were the reasons of my being kept a prisoner in
Vienna; and to the exertions of this man am I indebted that the
intentions of my enemies were frustrated, which were to have me
imprisoned as insane in the fortress of Glatz.  Had they once removed me
from Vienna, I should certainly have pined away my life in a madhouse.
Yet I could never obtain justice against these men.  The Empress was
persuaded that my brain was affected, and that I uttered threats against
the King of Prussia.  The election of a king of the Romans was then in
agitation, and the court was apprehensive lest I should offend the
Prussian envoy.  General Reidt had been obliged to promise Frederic that
I should not appear in Vienna, and that they should hold a wary eye over
me.  The Empress-Queen felt compassion for my supposed disease, and asked
if no assistance could be afforded me; to which they answered, I had
several times let blood, but that I still was a dangerous man.  They
added, that I had squandered four thousand florins in six days at Prague;
that it would be proper to appoint guardians to impede such
extravagancies.

Count Alton spoke of me and my hard destiny to the Countess Parr,
mistress of the ceremonies to the Empress-Queen.  The late Emperor
entered the chamber, and asked whether I ever had any lucid intervals.
"May it please your Majesty," answered Alton, "he has been seven weeks in
my barracks, and I never met a more reasonable man.  There is mystery in
this affair, or he could not be treated as a madman.  That he is not so
in anywise I pledge my honour."

The next day the Emperor sent Count Thurn, grand-master of the Archduke
Leopold, to speak to me.  In him I found an enlightened philosopher, and
a lover of his country.  To him I related how I had twice been betrayed,
twice sold at Vienna, during my imprisonment; to him showed that my
administrators had acted in this vile manner that I might be imprisoned
for life, and they remain in possession of my effects.  We conversed for
two hours, during which many things were said that prudence will not
permit me to repeat.  I gained his confidence, and he continued my friend
till death.  He promised me protection, and procured me an audience of
the Emperor.

I spoke with freedom; the audience lasted an hour.  At length the Emperor
retired into the next apartment.  I saw the tears drop from his eyes.  I
fell at his feet, and wished for the presence of a Rubens or Apelles, to
preserve a scene so honourable to the memory of the monarch, and paint
the sensations of an innocent man, imploring the protection of a
compassionate prince.  The Emperor tore himself from me, and I departed
with sensations such as only those can know who, themselves being
virtuous, have met with wicked men.  I returned to the barracks with joy,
and an order the next day came for my release.  I went with Count Alton
to the Countess Parr, and by her mediation I obtained an audience with
the Empress.

I cannot describe how much she pitied my sufferings and admired my
fortitude.  She told me she was informed of the artifices practised
against me in Vienna; she required me to forgive my enemies, and pass all
the accounts of my administrators.  "Do not complain of anything," said
she, "but act as I desire--I know all--you shall be recompensed by me;
you deserve reward and repose, and these you shall enjoy."

I must either sign whatever was given to sign, or be sent to a madhouse.
I received orders to accompany M. Pistrich to Counsellor Ziegler; thither
I went, and the next day was obliged to sign, in their presence, the
following conditions:--

First--That I acknowledged the will of Trenck to be valid.

Secondly--That I renounced all claim to the Sclavonian estates, relying
alone on her Majesty's favour.

Thirdly--That I solemnly acquitted my accountants and curators.  And,

Lastly--That I would not continue in Vienna.

This I must sign, or languish in prison.

How did my blood boil while I signed!  This confidence I had in myself
assured me I could obtain employment in any country of Europe, by the
labours of my mind, and the recital of all my woes.  At that time I had
no children; I little regretted what I had lost, or the poor portion that
remained.

I determined to avoid Austria eternally.  My pride would never suffer me,
by insidious arts, to approach the throne.  I knew no such mode of
soliciting for justice, hence I was not a match for my enemies; hence my
misfortunes.  Appeals to justice were represented as the splenetic
effusions of a man never to be satisfied.  My too sensitive heart was
corroded by the treatment I met at Vienna.  I, who with so much fortitude
had suffered so much in the cause of Vienna, I, on whom the eyes of
Germany were fixed, to behold what should be the reward of these
sufferings, I was again, in this country, kept a prisoner, and delivered
to those by whom I had been plundered as a man insane!

Before my intended departure to seek my fortune, I fell ill, and sickness
almost brought me to the grave.  The Empress, in her great clemency, sent
one of her physicians and a friar to my assistance, both of whom I was
obliged to pay.

At this time I refused a major's commission, for which I was obliged to
pay the fees.  Being excluded from actual service, to me the title was of
little value; my rank in the army had been equal ten years before in
other service.  The following words, inserted in my commission, are not
unworthy of remark:--"Her Majesty, in consequence of my fidelity for her
service, demonstrated during a long imprisonment, my endowments and
virtues, had been graciously pleased to grant me, in the Imperial
service, the rank of major."--The rank of major!--From this preamble who
would not have expected either the rank of general, or the restoration of
my great Sclavonian estates?  I had been fifteen years a captain of
cavalry, and then was I made an invalid major three-and-twenty years ago,
and an invalid major I still remain!  Let all that has been related be
called to mind, the manner in which I had been pillaged and betrayed; let
Vienna, Dantzic, and Magdeburg he remembered; and be this my promotion
remembered also!  Let it be known that the commission of major might be
bought for a few thousand florins!  Thirty thousand florins only of the
money I had been robbed of would have purchased a colonel's commission.  I
should then have been a companion for generals.

During the thirty-six years that I have been in the service of Austria, I
never had any man of rank, any great general, my enemy, except Count
Grassalkowitz, and he was only my enemy because he had conceived a
friendship for my estates.

My character was never calumniated, nor did any worthy man ever speak of
me but with respect.  Who were, who are, my enemies?--Jesuits, monks,
unprincipled advocates, wishing to become my curators, referendaries, who
died despicable, or now live in houses of correction.  Such as live, live
in dread of a similar end, for the Emperor Joseph is able to discover the
truth.  Alas! the truth is discovered so late; age has now nearly
rendered me an invalid.  Men with hearts so base ought, indeed, to become
the scavengers of society, that, terrified by their example, succeeding
judges may not rack the heart of an honest man, seize on the possessions
of the orphan and the widow, and expel virtue out of Austria.

I attended the levee of Prince Kaunitz.  Not personally known to him, he
viewed in me a crawling insect.  I thought somewhat more proudly; my
actions were upright, and so should my body be.  I quitted the apartment,
and was congratulated by the mercenary Swiss porter on my good fortune of
having obtained an audience!

I applied to the field-marshal, from whom I received this answer--"If you
cannot purchase, my dear Trenck, it will be impossible to admit you into
service; besides, you are too old to learn our manoeuvres."  I was then
thirty-seven.  I briefly replied, "Your excellency mistakes my character.
I did not come to Vienna to serve as an invalid major.  My curators have
taken good care I should have no money to purchase; but had I millions, I
would never obtain rank in the army by that mode."  I quitted the room
with a shrug.  The next day I addressed a memorial to the Empress.  I did
not re-demand my Sclavonian estates, I only petitioned.

First--That those who had carried off quintals of silver and gold from
the premises, and had rendered no account to me or the treasury, should
refund at least a part.

Secondly--That they should be obliged to return the thirty-six thousand
florins taken from my inheritance, and applied to a hospital.

Thirdly--That the thirty-six thousand florins might be repaid, which
Count Grassalkowitz had deducted from the allodial estates, for three
thousand six hundred pandours who had fallen in the service of the
Empress; I not being bound to pay for the lives of men who had died in
defence of the Empress.

Fourthly--I required that fifteen thousand florins, which had been
deducted from my capital, and applied to the Bohemian fortifications,
should likewise be restored, together with the fifteen thousand which had
been unduly paid to the regiment of Trenck.

Fifthly--I reclaimed the twelve thousand florins which I had been robbed
of at Dantzic by the treachery of the Imperial Resident, Abramson; and
public satisfaction from the magistracy of Dantzic, who had delivered me
up, so contrary to the laws of nations, to the Prussian power.

I likewise claimed the interest of six per cent, for seventy-six thousand
florins, detained by the Hungarian Chamber, which amounted to twenty
thousand florins; I having been allowed five per cent., and at last four.

I insisted on the restoration of my Sclavonian estates, and a proper
allowance for improvements, which the very sentence of the court had
granted, and which amounted to eighty thousand florins.

I petitioned for an arbitrator; I solicited justice concerning rights,
but received no answer to this and a hundred other petitions!

I must here speak of transactions during my imprisonment.  I had bought a
house in Vienna in the year 1750; the price was sixteen thousand florins,
thirteen thousand of which I had paid by instalments.  The receipts were
among my writings; these writings, with my other effects, were taken from
me at Dantzic, in the year 1754; nor have I, to this hour, been able to
learn more than that my writings were sent to the administrators of my
affairs at Vienna.  With respect to my houses and property in Dantzic, in
what manner these were disposed of no one could or would say.

After being released at Magdeburg, I inquired concerning my house, but no
longer found it mine.  Those who had got possession of my writings must
have restored the acquittances to the seller, consequently he could re-
demand the whole sum.  My house was in other hands, and I was brought in
debtor six thousand florins for interest and costs of suit.  Thus were
house and money gone.  Whom can I accuse?

Again, I had maintained, at my own expense Lieutenant Schroeder, who had
deserted from Glatz, and for whom I obtained a captain's commission in
the guard of Prince Esterhazy, at Eisenstadt.  His misconduct caused him
to be cashiered.  In my administrator's accounts I found the following

"To Captain Schroeder, for capital, interest, and costs of suit, sixteen
hundred florins."

It was certain I was not a penny indebted to this person; I had no
redress, having been obliged to pass and sign all their accounts.

I, four years afterwards, obtained information concerning this affair: I
met Schroeder, knew him, and inquired whether he had received these
sixteen hundred florins.  He answered in the affirmative.  "No one
believed you would ever more see the light.  I knew you would serve me,
and that you would relieve my necessities.  I went and spoke to Dr.
Berger; he agreed we should halve the sum, and his contrivance was, I
should make oath I had lent you a thousand florins, without having
received your note.  The money was paid me by M. Frauenberger, to whom I
agreed to send a present of Tokay, for Madam Huttner."

This was the manner in which my curators took care of my property!  Many
instances I could produce, but I am too much agitated by the
recollection.  I must speak a word concerning who and what my curators
were.

The Court Counsellor, Kempf, was my administrator, and Counsellor Huttner
my referendary.  The substitute of Kempf was Frauenberger, who, being
obliged to act as a clerk at Prague during the war, appointed one Krebs
as a sub-substitute; whether M. Krebs had also a sub-substitute is more
than I am able to say.

Dr. Bertracker was _fidei commiss-curator_, though there was no _fidei
commissum_ existing.  Dr. Berger, as Fidei Commiss-Advocate, was
superintendent, and to them all salaries were to be paid.

Let us see what was the business this company had to transact.  I had
seventy-six thousand florins in the Hungarian Chamber, the interest of
which was to be yearly received, and added to the capital: this was their
employment, and was certainly so trifling that any man would have
performed it gratis.  The war made money scarce, and the discounting of
bills with my ducats was a profitable trade to my curators.  Had it been
honestly employed, I should have found my capital increased, after my
imprisonment, full sixty thousand florins.  Instead of these I received
three thousand florins at Prague, and found my capital diminished seven
thousand florins.

Frauenberger and Berger died rich; and I must be confined as a madman,
lest this deputy should have been proved a rogue.  This is the clue to
the acquittal I was obliged to sign:--Madam K--- was a lady of the
bedchamber at court; she could approach the throne: her chamber
employments, indeed, procured her the keys of doors that to me were
eternally locked.

Not satisfied with this, Kempf applied to the Empress, informed her they
were acquitted, not recompensed, and that Frauenberger required four
thousand florins for remuneration.  The Empress laid an interdict on the
half of my income and pension.  Thus was I obliged to live in poverty;
banished the Austrian dominions, where my seventy-six thousand florins
were reduced to sixty-three, the interest of which I could only receive;
and that burthened by the above interdict, the _fidei commissum_, and
administratorship.

The Empress during my sickness ordered that my captain's pay, during my
ten years' imprisonment, should be given me, amounting to eight thousand
florins; which pay she also settled on me as a pension.  By this pension
I never profited; for, during twenty-three years, that and more was
swallowed by journeys to Vienna, chicanery of courtiers and agents, and
costs of suits.  Of the eight thousand florins three were stolen; the
court physician must be paid thrice as much as another, and what remained
after my recovery was sunk in the preparations I had made to seek my
fortune elsewhere.

How far my captain's pay was matter of right or favour, let the world
judge, being told I went in the service of Vienna to the city of Dantzic.
Neither did this restitution of pay equal the sum I had sent the Imperial
Minister to obtain my freedom.  I remained nine months in my dungeon
after the articles were signed, unthought of; and, when mentioned by the
Austrians, the King had twice rejected the proposal of my being set free.
The affair happened as follows, as I received it from Prince Henry,
Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, and the Minister, Count Hertzberg:--General
Reidt had received my ten thousand florins full six months, and seemed to
remember me no more.  One gala day, on the 21st of December, the King
happened to be in good humour; and Her Majesty the Queen, the Princess
Amelia, and the present monarch, said to the Imperial Minister, "This is
a fit opportunity for you to speak in behalf of Trenck."  He accordingly
waited his time, did speak, and the King replied, "Yes."

The joy of the whole company appeared so great that Frederic _the Great_
was offended!

Other circumstances which contributed to promote this affair, the reader
will collect from my history.  That there were persons in Vienna who
desired to detain me in prison is indubitable, from their proceedings
after my return.  My friends in Berlin and my money were my deliverers.

Walking round Vienna, having recovered from my sickness, the broad
expanse of heaven inspired a consciousness of freedom and pleasure
indescribable.  I heard the song of the lark.  My heart palpitated, my
pulse quickened, for I recollected I was not in chains.  "Happen," said
I, "what may, my will and heart are free."

An incident happened which furthered my project of getting away from
Austria.  Marshal Laudohn was going to Aix-la-Chapelle to take the
waters.  He went to take his leave of the Countess Parr; I was present
the Empress entered the chamber, and the conversation turning upon
Laudohn's journey, she said to me, "The baths are necessary to the re-
establishment of your health, Trenck."  I was ready, and followed him in
two days, where we remained about three months.

The mode of life at Aix-la-Chapelle and Spa pleased me, where men of all
nations meet, and where princes mingle with persons of all ranks.  One
day here procured me more pleasure than a whole life in Vienna.

I had scarcely remained a month before the Countess Parr wrote to me that
the Empress had provided for me, and would make my fortune as soon as I
returned to Vienna.  I tried to discover in what it consisted, but in
vain.  The death of the Emperor Francis at Innsbruck occasioned the
return of General Laudohn, and I followed him, on foot, to Vienna.

By means of the Countess Parr I obtained an audience.  The Empress said
to me, "I will prove to you, Trenck, that I keep my word.  I have insured
your fortune; I will give you a rich and prudent wife."  I replied, "Most
gracious Sovereign, I cannot determine to marry, and, if I could, my
choice is already made at Aix-la-Chapelle."--"How! are you married,
then?"--"Not yet, please your Majesty."--"Are you promised?"

"Yes."--"Well, well, no matter for that; I will take care of that affair;
I am determined on marrying you to the rich widow of M---, and she
approves my choice.  She is a good, kind woman, and has fifty thousand
florins a year.  You are in want of such a wife."

I was thunderstruck.  This bride was a canting hypocrite of sixty-three,
covetous, and a termagant.  I answered, "I must speak the truth to your
Majesty; I could not consent did she possess the treasures of the whole
earth.  I have made my choice, which, as an honest man, I must not
break."  The Empress said, "Your unhappiness is your own work.  Act as
you think proper; I have done."  Here my audience ended.  I was not
actually affianced at that time to my present wife, but love had
determined my choice.

Marshal Laudohn promoted the match.  He was acquainted with my heart and
the warmth of my passion, and perceived that I could not conquer the
desire of vengeance on men by whom I had been so cruelly treated.  He and
Professor Gellert advised me to take this mode of calming passions that
often inspired projects too vast, and that I should fly the company of
the great.  This counsel was seconded by my own wishes.  I returned to
Aix-la-Chapelle in December, 1766, and married the youngest daughter of
the former Burgomaster De Broe.  He was dead; he had lived on his own
estate in Brussels, where my wife was born and educated.  My wife's
mother was sister to the Vice-Chancellor of Dusseldorf, Baron Robert,
Lord of Roland.  My wife was with me in most parts of Europe.  She was
then young, handsome, worthy, and virtuous, has borne me eleven children,
all of whom she has nursed herself; eight of them are still living and
have been properly educated.  Twenty-two years she has borne a part of
all my sufferings, and well deserves reward.

During my abode in Vienna I made one effort more.  I sought an audience
with the present Emperor Joseph, related all that had happened to me, and
remarked such defects as I had observed in the regulations of the
country.  He heard me, and commanded me to commit my thoughts to writing.
My memorial was graciously received.  I also gave a full account of what
had happened to me in various countries, which prudence has occasioned me
to express more cautiously in these pages.  My memorial produced no
effect, and I hastened back to Aix-la-Chapelle.




CHAPTER VII.


For some years I lived in peace; my house was the rendezvous of the first
people, who came to take the waters.  I began to be more known among the
very first and best people.  I visited Professor Gellert at Leipzig, and
asked his advice concerning what branch of literature he thought it was
probable I might succeed in.  He most approved my fables and tales, and
blamed the excessive freedom with which I spoke in political writings.  I
neglected his advice, and many of the ensuing calamities were the
consequence.

I received orders to correspond with His Majesty's private secretary,
Baron Roder; suffice it to say, my attempts to serve my country were
frustrated; I saw defects too clearly, spoke my thoughts too frankly, and
wanted sufficient humility ever to obtain favour.

In the year 1767 I wrote "The Macedonian Hero," which became famous
throughout all Germany.  The poem did me honour, but entailed new
persecutions; yet I never could repent: I have had the honour of
presenting it to five reigning princes, by none of whom it has been
burnt.  The Empress alone was highly enraged.  I had spoken as Nathan did
to David, and the Jesuits now openly became my enemies.

The following trick was played me in 1768.  A friend in Brussels was
commissioned to receive my pay, from whom I learnt an interdict had been
laid upon it by the court called Hofkriegsrath, in Vienna, in which I was
condemned to pay seven hundred florins to one Bussy, with fourteen years'
interest.

Bussy was a known swindler.  I therefore journeyed, post-haste, to
Vienna.  No hearing; no satisfactory account was to be obtained.  The
answer was, "Sentence is passed, therefore all attempts are too late."

I applied to the Emperor Joseph, pledged my head to prove the
falsification of this note; and entreated a revision of the cause.  My
request was granted and my attorney, Weyhrauch, was an upright man.  When
he requested a day of revision to be appointed, he was threatened to be
committed by the referendary.  Zetto, should he interfere and defend the
affairs of Trenck.  He answered firmly, "His defence is my business: I
know my cause to be good."

Four months did I continue in Vienna before the day was appointed to
revise this cause.  It now appeared there were erasures and holes through
the paper in three places; all in court were convinced the claim ought to
be annulled, and the claimant punished.  Zetto ordered the parties to
withdraw, and then so managed that the judges resolved that the case must
be laid before the court with formal and written proofs.

This gave time for new knavery; I was obliged to return to
Aix-la-Chapelle, and four years elapsed before this affair was decided.
Two priests, in the interim, took false oaths that they had seen me
receive money.  At length, however, I proved that the note was dated a
year after I had been imprisoned at Magdeburg.  Further, my attorney
proved the writs of the court had been falsified.  Zetto, referendary,
and Bussy, were the forgers; but I happened to be too active, and my
attorney too honest, to lose this case.  I was obliged to make three very
expensive journeys from Aix-la-Chapelle to Vienna, lest judgement should
go by default.  Sentence at last was pronounced.  I gained my cause, and
the note was declared a forgery, but the costs, amounting to three
thousand five hundred florins, I was obliged to pay, for Bussy could not:
nor was he punished, though driven from Vienna for his villainous acts.
Zetto, however, still continued for eleven years my persecutor, till he
was deprived of his office, and condemned to the House of Correction.

My knowledge of the world increased at Aix-la-Chapelle, where men of all
characters met.  In the morning I conversed with a lord in opposition, in
the afternoon with an orator of the King's party, and in the evening with
an honest man of no party.  I sent Hungarian wine into England, France,
Holland, and the Empire.  This occasioned me to undertake long journeys,
and as my increased acquaintance gave me opportunities of receiving
foreigners with politeness an my own house, I was also well received
wherever I went.

The income I should have had from Vienna was engulfed by law-suits,
attorneys, and the journeys I undertook; having been thrice cited to
appear, in person, before the Hofkriegsrath.  No hope remained.  I was
described as a dangerous malcontent, who had deserted his native land.  I
nevertheless remained an honest man; one who could provide for his
necessities without the favour of courts; one whose acquaintance was
esteemed.  In Vienna alone was I unsought, unemployed, and obscure.

One day an accident happened which made me renowned as a magician, as one
who had power over fogs and clouds.

I had a quarrel with the Palatine President, Baron Blankart, concerning a
hunting district.  I wrote to him that he should repair to the spot in
dispute, whither I would attend with sword and pistol, hoping he would
there give me satisfaction for the affront I had received.  Thither I
went, with two huntsmen and two friends, but instead of the baron I found
two hundred armed peasants assembled.

I sent one of my huntsmen to the army of the enemy, informing them that,
if they did not retreat, I should fire.  The day was fine, but a thick
and impenetrable fog arose.  My huntsman returned, with intelligence
that, having delivered his message just as the fog came on, these heroes
had all run away with fright.

I advanced, fired my piece, as did my followers, and marched to the
mansion of my adversary, where my hunting-horn was blown in triumph in
his courtyard.  The runaway peasants fired, but the fog prevented their
taking aim.

I returned home, where many false reports had preceded me.  My wife
expected I should be brought home dead; however, not the least mischief
had happened.

It soon was propagated through the country that I had raised a fog to
render myself invisible, and that the truth of this could be justified by
two hundred witnesses.  All the monks of Aix-la-Chapelle, Juliers, and
Cologne, preached concerning me, reviled me, and warned the people to
beware of the arch-magician and Lutheran, Trenck.

On a future occasion, this belief I turned to merriment.  I went to hunt
the wolf in the forests of Montjoie, and invited the townsmen to the
chase.  Towards evening I, and some forty of my followers, retired to
rest in the charcoal huts, provided with wine and brandy.  "My lads,"
said I, "it is necessary you should discharge your pieces, and load them
anew; that to-morrow no wolf may escape, and that none of you excuse
yourselves on your pieces missing fire."  The guns were reloaded, and
placed in a separate chamber.  While they were merry-making, my huntsman
drew the balls, and charged the pieces with powder, several of which he
loaded with double charges.  Some of their notched balls I put into my
pocket.

In the morning away went I and my fellows to the chase.  Their
conversation turned on my necromancy, and the manner in which I could
envelope myself in a cloud, or make myself bullet-proof.  "What is that
you are talking about?" said I.--"Some of these unbelieving folks,"
answered my huntsman, "affirm your honour is unable to ward off
balls."--"Well, then," said I, "fire away, and try."  My huntsman fired.
I pretended to parry with my hand, and called, "Let any man that is so
inclined fire, but only one at a time."  Accordingly they began, and,
pretending to twist and turn about, I suffered them all to discharge
their pieces.  My people had carefully noticed that no man had reloaded
his gun.  Some of them received such blows from the guns that were doubly
charged that they fell, terrified at the powers of magic.  I advanced,
holding in my hand some of the marked balls.  "Let every one choose his
own," called I.  All stood motionless, and many of them slunk home with
their guns on their shoulders; some remained, and our sport was
excellent.

On Sunday the monks of Aix-la-Chapelle again began to preach.  My black
art became the theme of the whole country, and to this day many of the
people make oath that they fired upon me, and that, after catching them,
I returned the balls.

My invulnerable qualities were published throughout Juliers,
Aix-la-Chapelle, Maestricht, and Cologne, and perhaps this belief saved
my life; the priests having propagated it from their pulpits, in a
country which swarms with highway robbers, and where, for a single ducat,
any man may hire an assassin.

It is no small surprise that I should have preserved my life, in a town
where there are twenty-three monasteries and churches, and where the
monks are adored as deities.  The Catholic clergy had been enraged
against me by my poem of "The Macedonian Hero;" and in 1772 I published a
newspaper at Aix-la-Chapelle, and another work entitled, "The Friend of
Men," in which I unmasked hypocrisy.  A major of the apostolic Maria
Theresa, writing thus in a town swarming with friars, and in a tone so
undaunted, was unexampled.

At present, now that freedom of opinion is encouraged by the Emperor,
many essayists encounter bigotry and deceit with ridicule; or, wanting
invention themselves, publish extracts from writings of the age of
Luther.  But I have the honour of having attacked the pillars of the
Romish hierarchy in days more dangerous.  I may boast of being the first
German who raised a fermentation on the Upper Rhine and in Austria, so
advantageous to truth, the progress of the understanding, and the
happiness of futurity.

My writings contain nothing inimical to the morality taught by Christ.  I
attacked the sale of indulgences, the avarice of Rome, the laziness,
deceit, gluttony, robbery, and blood-sucking of the monks of
Aix-la-Chapelle.  The arch-priest, and nine of his coadjutors, declared
every Sunday that I was a freethinker, a wizard, one whom every man,
wishing well to God and the Church, ought to assassinate.  Father Zunder
declared me an outlaw, and a day was appointed on which my writings were
to be burnt before my house, and its inhabitants massacred.  My wife
received letters warning her to fly for safety, which warning she obeyed.
I and two of my huntsmen remained, provided with eighty-four loaded
muskets.  These I displayed before the window, that all might be
convinced that I would make a defence.  The appointed day came, and
Father Zunder, with my writings in his hand, appeared ready for the
attack; the other monks had incited the townspeople to a storm.  Thus
passed the day and night in suspense.

In the morning a fire broke out in the town.  I hastened, with my two
huntsmen, well armed, to give assistance; we dashed the water from our
buckets, and all obeyed my directions.  Father Zunder and his students
were there likewise.  I struck his anointed ear with my leathern bucket,
which no man thought proper to notice.  I passed undaunted through the
crowd; the people smiled, pulled off their hats, and wished me a good-
morning.  The people of Aix-la-Chapelle were bigots, but too cowardly to
murder a man who was prepared for his own defence.

As I was riding to Maestricht, a ball whistled by my ears, which, no
doubt, was a messenger sent after me by these persecuting priests.

When hunting near the convent of Schwartzenbruck, three Dominicans lay in
ambush behind a hedge.  One of their colleagues pointed out the place.  I
was on my guard with my gun, drew near, and called out, "Shoot,
scoundrels! but do not kill me, for the devil stands ready for you at
your elbow."  One fired, and all ran: The ball hit my hat.  I fired and
wounded one desperately, whom the others carried off.

In 1774, journeying from Spa to Limbourg, I was attacked by eight
banditti.  The weather was rainy, and my musket was in its case; my sabre
was entangled in my belt, so that I was obliged to defend myself as with
a club.  I sprang from the carriage, and fought in defence of my life,
striking down all before me, while my faithful huntsman protected me
behind.  I dispersed my assailants, hastened to my carriage, and drove
away.  One of these fellows was soon after hanged, and owned that the
confessor of the banditti had promised absolution could they but despatch
me, but that no man could shoot me, because Lucifer had rendered me
invulnerable.  My agility, fighting, too, for life, was superior to
theirs, and they buried two of their gang, whom with my heavy sabre I had
killed.

To such excess of cruelty may the violence of priests be carried!  I
attacked only gross abuses--the deceit of the monks of Aix-la-Chapelle,
Cologne, and Liege, where they are worse than cannibals.  I wished to
inculcate true Christian duties among my fellow-citizens, and the attempt
was sufficient to irritate the selfish Church of Rome.

From my Empress I had nothing to hope.  Her confessor had painted me as a
persecutor of the blessed Mother Church.  Nor was this all.  Opinions
were propagated throughout Vienna that I was a dangerous man to the
community.

Hence I was always wronged in courts of judicature, where there are ever
to be found wicked men.  They thought they were serving the cause of God
by injuring me.  Yet they were unable to prevent my writings from
producing me much money, or from being circulated through all Germany.
The _Aix-la-Chapelle Journal_ became so famous, that in the second year I
had four thousand subscribers, by each of whom I gained a ducat.

The postmasters, who gained considerably by circulating newspapers, were
envious, because the _Aix-la-Chapelle Journal_ destroyed several of the
others, and they therefore formed a combination.

Prince Charles of Sweden placed confidence in me during his residence at
Aix-la-Chapelle and Spa, and I accompanied him into Holland.  When I took
my leave of him at Maestricht, he said to me, "When my father dies,
either my brother shall be King, or we will lose our heads."  The King
died, and Prince Charles soon after said, in the postscript of one of his
letters, "What we spoke of at Maestricht will soon be fully accomplished,
and you may then come to Stockholm."

On this, I inserted an article in my journal declaring a revolution had
taken place in Sweden, that the king had made himself absolute.  The
other papers expressed their doubts, and I offered to wager a thousand
ducats on the truth of the article published in my journal under the
title of "Aix-la-Chapelle."  The news of the revolution in Sweden was
confirmed.

My journal foretold the Polish partition six weeks sooner than any other;
but how I obtained this news must not be mentioned.  I was active in the
defence of Queen Matilda of Denmark.

The French Ministry were offended at the following pasquinade:--"The
three eagles have rent the Polish bear, without losing a feather with
which any man in the Cabinet of Versailles can write.  Since the death of
Mazarin, they write only with goose-quills."

By desire of the King of Poland, I wrote a narrative of the attempt made
to assassinate him, and named the nuncio who had given absolution to the
conspirators in the chapel of the Holy Virgin.

The house was now in flames.  Rome insisted I should recall my words.  Her
nuncio, at Cologne, vented poison, daggers, and excommunication; the
Empress-Queen herself thought proper to interfere.  I obtained, for my
justification, from Warsaw a copy of the examination of the conspirators.
This I threatened to publish, and stood unmoved in the defence of truth.

The Empress wrote to the Postmaster-General of the Empire, and commanded
him to lay an interdict on the _Aix-la-Chapelle Journal_.  Informed of
this, I ended its publication with the year, but wrote an essay on the
partition of Poland, which also did but increase my enemies.

The magistracy of Aix-la-Chapelle is elected from the people, and the
Burghers' court consists of an ignorant rabble.  I know no exceptions but
Baron Lamberte and De Witte; and this people assume titles of dignity,
for which they are amenable to the court at Vienna.  Knowing I should
find little protection at Vienna, they imagined they might drive me from
their town.  I was a spy on their evil deeds, of whom they would have rid
themselves.  I knew that the two sheriffs, Kloss and Furth, and the
recorder, Geyer, had robbed the town-chamber of forty thousand dollars,
and divided the spoil.  To these I was a dangerous man.  For such reasons
they sought a quarrel with me, pretending I had committed a trespass by
breaking down a hedge, and cited me to appear at the town-house.

The postmaster, Heinsberg, of Aix-la-Chapelle, although he had two
thousand three hundred rix-dollars of mine in his possession, instituted
false suits against me, obtained verdicts against me, seized on a cargo
of wine at Cologne, and I incurred losses to the amount of eighteen
thousand florins, which devoured the fortune of my wife, and by which
she, with myself and my children, were reduced to poverty.

The Gravenitz himself, in 1778, acknowledged how much he had injured me,
affirmed he had been deceived, and promised he would try to obtain
restitution.  I forgave him, and he attempted to keep his promise; but
his power declined; the bribes he had received became too public.  He was
dispossessed of his post, but, alas! too late for me.  Two other of my
judges are at this time obliged to sweep the streets of Vienna, where
they are condemned to the House of Correction.  Had this been their
employment instead of being seated on the seat of judgment twenty years
ago, I might have been more fortunate.  It is a remarkable circumstance
that I should so continually have been despoiled by unjust judges.  Who
would have had the temerity to affirm that their evil deeds should bring
them to attend on the city scavenger?  I indeed knew them but too well,
and fearlessly spoke what I knew.  It was my misfortune that I was
acquainted with their malpractices sooner than gracious Sovereign.

Let the scene close on my litigations at Aix-la-Chapelle and Vienna.  May
God preserve every honest man from the like!  They have swallowed up my
property, and that of my wife.  Enough!




CHAPTER VIII.


From the year 1774 to 1777, I journeyed through England and France.  I
was intimate with Dr. Franklin, the American Minister, and with the
Counts St. Germain and de Vergennes, who made me proposals to go to
America; but I was prevented by my affection for my wife and children.

My friend the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, who had been Governor of
Magdeburg during my imprisonment, offered me a commission among the
troops going to America, but I answered--"Gracious prince, my heart beats
in the cause of freedom only; I will never assist in enslaving men.  Were
I at the head of your brave grenadiers.  I should revolt to the
Americans."

During 1775 I continued at Aix-la-Chapelle my essays, entitled, "The
Friend of Men."  My writings had made some impression; the people began
to read; the monks were ridiculed, but my partisans increased, and their
leader got himself cudgelled.

They did not now mention my name publicly, but catechised their penitents
at confession.  During this year people came to me from Cologne, Bonn,
and Dusseldorf, to speak with me privately.  When I inquired their
business, they told me their clergy had informed them I was propagating a
new religion, in which every man must sign himself to the devil, who then
would supply them with money.  They were willing to become converts to my
faith, would Beelzebub but give them money, and revenge them on their
priests.  "My good friends," answered I, "your teachers have deceived
you; I know of no devils but themselves.  Were it true that I was
founding a new religion, the converts to whom the devil would supply
money, your priests, would be the first of my apostles, and the most
catholic.  I am an honest, moral man, as a Christian ought to be.  Go
home, in God's name, and do your duty."

I forgot to mention that the recorder of the sheriff's court at Aix-la-
Chapelle, who is called Baron Geyer, had associated himself in 1778 with
a Jew convert, and that this noble company swindled a Dutch merchant out
of eighty thousand florins, by assuming the arms of Elector Palatine, and
producing forged receipts and contracts.  Geyer was taken in Amsterdam,
and would have been hanged, but, by the aid of a servant, he escaped.  He
returned to Aix-la-Chapelle, where he enjoys his office.  Three years ago
he robbed the town-chamber.  His wife was, at that time, _generis
communis_, and procured him friends at court.  The assertions of this
gentleman found greater credit at Vienna than those of the injured
Trenck!  Oh, shame!  Oh, world! world!

My wine trade was so successful that I had correspondents and stores in
London, Paris, Brussels, Hamburg, and the Hague, and had gained forty
thousand florins.  One unfortunate day destroyed all my hopes in the
success of this traffic.

In London I was defrauded of eighteen hundred guineas by a swindler.  The
fault was my brother-in-law's, who parted with the wine before he had
received the money.  When I had been wronged, and asked my friends'
assistance, I was only laughed at, as if they were happy that an
Englishman had the wit to cheat a German.

Finding myself defrauded, I hastened to Sir John Fielding.  He told me he
knew I had been swindled, and that his friendship would make him active
in my behalf; that he also knew the houses where my wine was deposited,
and that a party of his runners should go with me, sufficiently strong
for its recovery.  I was little aware that he had, at that time, two
hundred bottles of my best Tokay in his cellar.  His pretended kindness
was a snare; he was in partnership with robbers, only the stupid among
whom he hanged, and preserved the most adroit for the promotion of trade.

He sent a constable and six of his runners with me, commanding them to
act under my orders.  By good fortune I had a violent headache, and sent
my brother-in-law, who spoke better English than I.  Him they brought to
the house of a Jew, and told him, "Your wine, sir, is here concealed."
Though it was broad day, the door was locked, that he might be induced to
act illegally.  The constable desired him to break the door open, which
he did; the Jews came running, and asked--"What do you want,
gentlemen?"--"I want my wine," answered my brother.--"Take what is your
own," replied a Jew; "but beware of touching my property.  I have bought
the wine."

My brother attended the constable and runners into a cellar, and found a
great part of my wine.  He wrote to Sir John Fielding that he had found
the wine, and desired to know how to act.  Fielding answered: "It must be
taken by the owner."  My brother accordingly sent me the wine.

Next day came a constable with a warrant, saying, "He wanted to speak
with my brother, and that he was to go to Sir John Fielding."  When he
was in the street, he told him--"Sir, you are my prisoner."

I went to Sir John Fielding, and asked him what it meant.  This justice
answered that my brother had been accused of felony.  The Jews and
swindlers had sworn the wine was a legal purchase.  If I had not been
paid, or was ignorant of the English laws, that was my fault.  Six
swindlers had sworn the wine was paid for, which circumstance he had not
known, or he should not have granted me a warrant.  My brother had also
broken open the doors, and forcibly taken away wine which was not his
own.  They made oath of this, and he was charged with burglary and
robbery.

He desired me to give bail in a thousand guineas for my brother for his
appearance in the Court of King's Bench; otherwise his trial would
immediately come on, and in a few days he would be hanged.

I hastened to a lawyer, who confirmed what had been told me, advised me
to give bail, and he would then defend my cause.  I applied to Lord
Mansfield, and received the same answer.  I told my story to all my
friends, who laughed at me for attempting to trade in London without
understanding the laws.  My friend Lord Grosvenor said, "Send more wine
to London, and we will pay you so well that you will soon recover your
loss."

I went to my wine-merchants, who had a stock of mine worth upwards of a
thousand guineas.  They gave bail for my brother, and he was released.

Fielding, in the interim, sent his runners to my house, took back the
wine, and restored it to the Jews.  They threatened to prosecute me as a
receiver of stolen goods.  I fled from London to Paris, where I sold off
my stock at half-price, honoured my bills, and so ended my merchandise.

My brother returned to London in November, to defend his cause in the
Court of King's Bench; but the swindlers had disappeared, and the lawyer
required a hundred pounds to proceed.  The conclusion was that my brother
returned with seventy pounds less in his pocket, spent as travelling
expenses, and the stock in the hands of my wine-merchants was detained on
pretence of paying the bail.  They brought me an apothecary's bill, and
all was lost.

The Swedish General Sprengporten came to Aix-la-Chapelle in 1776.  He had
planned and carried into execution the revolution so favourable to the
King, but had left Sweden in discontent, and came to take the waters with
a rooted hypochondria.

He was the most dangerous man in Sweden, and had told the King himself,
after the revolution, in the presence of his guards, "While Sprengporten
can hold a sword, the King has nothing to command."

It was feared he would go to Russia, and Prince Charles wrote to me in
the name of the monarch, desiring I would exert myself to persuade him to
return to Sweden.  He was a man of pride, which rendered him either a
fool or a madman.  He despised everything that was not Swedish.

The Prussian Minister, Count Hertzberg, the same year came to
Aix-la-Chapelle.  I enjoyed his society for three months, and accompanied
this great man.  To his liberality am I indebted that I can return to my
country with honour.

The time I had to spare was not spent in idleness; I attacked, in my
weekly writings, those sharpers who attend at Aix-la-Chapelle and Spa to
plunder both inhabitants and visitants, under the connivance of the
magistracy; nor are there wanting foreign noblemen who become the
associates of these pests of society.  The publication of such truths
endangered my life from the desperadoes, who, when detected, had nothing
more to lose.  How powerful is an innocent life, nothing can more fully
prove than that I still exist, in despite of all the attempts of wicked
monks and despicable sharpers.

Though my life was much disturbed, yet I do not repent of my manner of
acting; many a youth, many a brave man, have I detained from the gaming-
table, and pointed out to them the most notorious sharpers.

This was so injurious to Spa, that the Bishop of Liege himself, who
enjoys a tax on all their winnings, and therefore protects such villains,
offered me an annual pension of five hundred guineas if I would not come
to Spa; or three per cent. on the winnings, would I but associate myself
with Colonel N---t, and raise recruits for the gaming-table.  My answer
may easily be imagined; yet for this was I threatened to be
excommunicated by the Holy Catholic Church!

I and my family passed sixteen summers in Spa.  My house became the
rendezvous of the most respectable part of the company, and I was known
to some of the most respectable characters in Europe.

A contest arose between the town of Aix-la-Chapelle and Baron Blankart,
the master of the hounds to the Elector Palatine: it originated in a
dispute concerning precedence between the before-mentioned wife of the
Recorder Geyer and the sister of the Burgomaster of Aix-la-Chapelle,
Kahr, who governed that town with despotism.

This quarrel was detrimental to the town and to the Elector Palatine, but
profitable to Kahr, whose office it was to protect the rights of the
town, and those persons who defended the claims of the Elector; the
latter kept a faro bank, the plunder of which had enriched the town; and
the former Kahr, under pretence of defending their cause, embezzled the
money of the people; so that both parties endeavoured with all their
power to prolong the litigation.

It vexed me to see their proceedings.  Those who suffered on each side
were deceived; and I conceived the project of exposing the truth.  For
this purpose I journeyed to the court at Mannheim, related the facts to
the Elector, produced a plan of accommodation, which he approved, and
obtained power to act as arbitrator.  The Minister of the Elector,
Bekkers, pretended to approve my zeal, conducted me to an _auberge_, made
me dine at his house, and said a commission was made out for my son, and
forwarded to Aix-la-Chapelle--which was false; the moment he quitted me
he sent to Aix-la-Chapelle to frustrate the attempt he pretended to
applaud.  He was himself in league with the parties.  In fine, this silly
interference brought me only trouble, expense, and chagrin.  I made five
journeys to Mannheim, till I became so dissatisfied that I determined to
quit Aix-la-Chapelle, and purchase an estate in Austria.

The Bavarian contest was at this time in agitation; my own affairs
brought me to Paris, and here I learned intelligence of great
consequence; this I communicated to the Grand Duke of Florence, on my
return to Vienna.  The Duke departed to join the army in Bohemia, and I
again wrote to him, and thought it my duty to send a courier.  The Duke
showed my letter to the Emperor; but I remained unnoticed.

I did not think myself safe in foreign countries during this time of war,
and purchased the lordship of Zwerbach, with appurtenances, which, with
the expenses, cost me sixty thousand florins.

To conclude this purchase, I was obliged to solicit the referendary,
Zetto, and his friend whom he had appointed as my curator, for my new
estate was likewise made a _fidei commissum_, as my referendaries and
curators would not let me escape contribution.  The six thousand florins
of which they emptied my purse would have done my family much service.

In May, 1780, I went to Aix-la-Chapelle, where my wife's mother died in
July; and in September my wife, myself, and family, all came to Vienna.

My wife solicited the mistress of the ceremonies to obtain an audience.
Her request was granted, and she gained the favour of the Empress.  Her
kindness was beyond expression: she introduced my wife to the
Archduchess, and commanded her mistress of the ceremonies to present her
everywhere.  "You were unwilling," said she, "to accompany your husband
into my country, but I hope to convince you that you may live happier in
Austria than at Aix-la-Chapelle."

She next day sent me her decree, assuring me of a pension of four hundred
florins.

My wife petitioned the Empress to grant me an audience: her request was
complied with: and the Empress said to me: "This is the third time in
which I would have made your fortune, had you been so disposed."  She
desired to see my children, and spoke of my writings.  "How much good
might you do," said she, "would you but write in the cause of religion!"

We departed for Zwerbach, where we lived contentedly, but when we were
preparing to return to Vienna, and solicited the restitution of part of
my lost fortune, during this favour of the court, Theresa died, and all
my hopes were overcast.

I forgot to relate that the Archduchess, Maria Anna, desired me to
translate a religious work, written in French by the Abbe Baudrand, into
German.  I replied I would obey Her Majesty's commands.  I began my work,
took passages from Baudrand, but inserted more of my own.  The first
volume was finished in six weeks; the Empress thought it admirable.  The
second soon followed, and I presented this myself.

She asked me if it equalled the first; I answered, I hoped it would be
found more excellent.  "No," said she; "I never in my life read a better
book:" and added, "she wondered how I could write so well and so
quickly."  I promised another volume within a month.  Before the third
was ready, Theresa died.  She gave orders on her death-bed to have the
writings of Baron Trenck read to her; and though her confessor well knew
the injustice that had been done me, yet in her last moments he kept
silence, though he had given me his sacred promise to speak in my behalf.

After her death the censor commanded that I should print what I have
stated in the preface to that third volume, and this was my only
satisfaction.

For one-and-thirty years had I been soliciting my rights, which I never
could obtain, because the Empress was deceived by wicked men, and
believed me a heretic.  In the thirty-second, my wife had the good
fortune to convince her this was false; she had determined to make me
restitution; just at this moment she died.

The pension granted my wife by the Empress in consequence of my
misfortunes and our numerous family, we only enjoyed nine months.

Of this she was deprived by the new monarch.  He perhaps knew nothing of
the affair, as I never solicited.  Yet much has it grieved me.  Perhaps I
may find relief when the sighs wrung from me shall reach the heart of the
father of his people in this my last writing.  At present, nothing for me
remains but to live unknown in Zwerbach.

The Emperor thought proper to collect the moneys bestowed on hospitals
into one fund.  The system was a wise one.  My cousin Trenck had
bequeathed thirty-six thousand florins to a hospital for the poor of
Bavaria.  This act he had no right to do, having deducted the sum from
the family estate.  I petitioned the Emperor that these thirty-six
thousand florins might be restored to me and my children, who were the
people whom Trenck had indeed made poor, nothing of the property of his
acquiring having been left to pay this legacy, but, on the contrary, the
money having been exacted from mine.

In a few days it was determined I should be answered in the same tone in
which, for six-and-thirty years past, all my petitions had been
answered:--

"THE REQUEST OF THE PETITIONER CANNOT BE GRANTED."

Fortune persecuted me in my retreat.  Within six years two hailstorms
swept away my crops; one year was a misgrowth; there were seven floods; a
rot among my sheep: all possible calamities befell me and my manor.

The estate had been ruined, the ponds were to drain, three farms were to
be put into proper condition, and the whole newly stocked.  This rendered
me poor, especially as my wife's fortune had been sunk in lawsuits at Aix-
la-Chapelle and Cologne.

The miserable peasants had nothing, therefore could not pay: I was
obliged to advance them money.  My sons assisted me, and we laboured with
our own hands: my wife took care of eight children, without so much as
the help of a maid.  We lived in poverty, obliged to earn our daily
bread.

The greatest of my misfortunes was my treatment in the military court,
when Zetto and Krugel were my referendaries.  Zetto had clogged me with a
curator and when the cow had no more milk to give, they began to torture
me with deputations, sequestrations, administrations, and executions.
Nineteen times was I obliged to attend in Vienna within two years, at my
own expense.  Every six years must I pay an attorney to dispute and
quarrel with the curator.  I, in conclusion, was obliged to pay.  If any
affair was to be expedited, I, by a third hand, was obliged to send the
referendary some ducats.  Did he give judgment, still that judgment lay
fourteen months inefficient, and, when it then appeared, the copy was
false, and so was sent to the upper courts, the high referendary of which
said I "must be dislodged from Zwerbach."

They obliged me at last to purchase my naturalisation.  I sent to Prussia
for my pedigree; the attestation of this was sent me by Count Hertzberg.
Although the family of Trenck had a hundred years been landholders in
Hungary, yet was my attorney obliged to solicit the instrument called
ritter-diploma, for which, under pain of execution, I must pay two
thousand florins.

By decree a Prussian nobleman is not noble in Austria, where every lackey
can purchase a diploma, making him a knight of the Empire, for twelve
hundred wretched florins!--where such men as P--- and Grassalkowitz have
purchased the dignity of a prince!

Tortured by the courts, terrified by hailstorms, I determined to publish
my works, in eight volumes, and this history of my life.

Fourteen months accomplished this purpose.  My labours found a favourable
reception through all Germany, procured me money, esteem, and honour.  By
my writings only will I seek the means of existence, and by trying to
obtain the approbation and the love of men.




CHAPTER IX.


On the 22nd of August, 1786, the news arrived that Frederic the Great had
left this world!

* * * * *

The present monarch, the witness of my sufferings in my native country,
sent me a royal passport to Berlin.  The confiscation of my estates was
annulled, and my deceased brother, in Prussia, had left my children his
heirs.

* * * * *

I journey, within the Imperial permission, back to my country, from which
I have been two-and-forty years expelled!  I journey--not as a pardoned
malefactor, but as a man whose innocence has been established by his
actions, has been proved in his writings, and who is journeying to
receive his reward.

Here I shall once more encounter my old friends my relations, and those
who have known me in the days of my affliction.  Here shall I appear, not
as my country's Traitor, but as my country's Martyr!

Possible, though little probable, are still future storms.  For these
also I am prepared.  Long had I reason daily to curse the rising sun,
and, setting, to behold it with horror.  Death to me appears a great
benefit: a certain passage from agitation to peace, from motion to rest.
As for my children, they, jocund in youth, delight in present existence.
When I have fulfilled the duties of a father, to live or die will then be
as I shall please.

Thou, O God! my righteous Judge, didst ordain that I should be an example
of suffering to the world; Thou madest me what I am, gavest me these
strong passions, these quick nerves, this thrilling of the blood, when I
behold injustice.  Strong was my mind, that deeply it might meditate on
deep subjects; strong my memory, that these meditations I might retain;
strong my body, that proudly it might support all it has pleased Thee to
inflict.

Should I continue to exist, should identity go with me, and should I know
what I was then, when I was called Trenck; when that combination of
particles which Nature commanded should compose this body shall be
decomposed, scattered, or in other bodies united; when I have no muscles
to act, no brain to think, no retina on which pictures can mechanically
be painted, my eyes wasted, and no tongue remaining to pronounce the
Creator's name, should I still behold a Creator--then, oh then, will my
spirit mount, and indubitably associate with spirits of the just who
expectant wait for their golden harps and glorious crowns from the Most
High God.  For human weaknesses, human failings, arising from our nature,
springing from our temperament, which the Creator has ordained, shall be
even thus, and not otherwise; for these have I suffered enough on earth.

Such is my confession of faith; in this have I lived, in this will I die.
The duties of a man and of a Christian I have fulfilled; nay, often have
exceeded, often have been too benevolent, too generous; perhaps also too
proud, too vain.  I could not bend, although liable to be broken.

That I have not served the world, in acts and employments where best I
might, is perhaps my own fault: the fault of my manner, which is now too
radical to be corrected in this, my sixtieth year.  Yes, I acknowledge my
failing, acknowledge it unblushingly; nay, glory in the pride of a noble
nature.

For myself, I ask nothing of those who have read my history; to them do I
commit my wife and children.  My eldest son is a lieutenant in the Tuscan
regiment of cavalry, under General Lasey, and does honour to his father's
principles.  The second serves his present Prussian Majesty, as ensign in
the Posadowsky dragoons, with equal promise.  The third is still a child.
My daughters will make worthy men happy, for they have imbibed virtue and
gentleness with their mother's milk.  Monarchs may hereafter remember
what I have suffered, what I have lost, and what is due to my ashes.

Here do I declare--I will seek no other revenge against my enemies than
that of despising their evil deeds.  It is my wish, and shall be my
endeavour, to forget the past; and having committed no offence, neither
will I solicit monarchs for posts of honour; as I have ever lived a free
man, a free man will I die.

I conclude this part of my history on the evening preceding my journey to
Berlin.  God grant I may encounter no new afflictions, to be inserted in
the remainder of this history.

This journey I prepared to undertake, but my ever-envious fate threw me
on the bed of sickness, insomuch that small hope remained that I ever
should again behold the country of my forefathers.  I seemed following
the Great Frederic to the mansions of the dead; then should I never have
concluded the history of my life, or obtained the victory by which I am
now crowned.

A variety of obstacles being overcome, I found it necessary to make a
journey into Hungary, which was one of the most pleasant of my whole
life.

I have no words to express my ardent wishes for the welfare of a nation
where I met with so many proofs of friendship.  Wherever I appeared I was
welcomed with that love and enthusiasm which only await the fathers of
their country.  The valour of my cousin Trenck, who died ingloriously in
the Spielberg, the loss of my great Hungarian estates, the fame of my
writings, and the cruelty of my sufferings, had gone before me.  The
officers of the army, the nobles of the land, alike testified the warmth
of their esteem.

Such is the reward of the upright; such too are the proofs that this
nation knows the just value of fortitude and virtue.  Have I not reason
to publish my gratitude, and to recommend my children to those who, when
I am no more, shall dare uprightly to determine concerning the rights
which have unjustly been snatched from me in Hungary?

Not a man in Hungary but will proclaim I have been unjustly dealt by; yet
I have good reason to suspect I never shall find redress.  Sentence had
been already given; judges, more honest, cannot, without difficulty,
reverse old decrees; and the present possessors of my estates are too
powerful, too intimate with the governors of the earth, for me to hope I
shall hereafter be more happy.  God knows my heart; I wish the present
possessors may render services to the state equal to those rendered by
the family of the Trencks.

There is little probability I shall ever behold my noble friends in
Hungary more.  Here I bid them adieu, promising them to pass the
remainder of any life so as still to merit the approbation of a people
with whose ashes I would most willingly have mingled my own.  May the God
of heaven preserve every Hungarian from a fate similar to mine!

The Croats have ever been reckoned uncultivated; yet, among this
uncultivated people I found more subscribers to my writings than among
all the learned men of Vienna; and in Hungary, more than in all the
Austrian dominions.

The Hungarians, the unlettered Croats, seek information.  The people of
Vienna ask their confessors' permission to read instructive books.
Various subscribers, having read the first volume of my work, brought it
back, and re-demanded their money, because some monk had told them it was
a book dangerous to be read.  The judges of their courts have re-sold
them to the booksellers for a few pence or given them to those who had
the care of their consciences to burn.

In Vienna alone was my life described as a romance; in Hungary I found
the compassion of men, their friendship, and effectual aid.  Had my book
been the production of an Englishman, good wishes would not have been his
only reward.

We German writers have interested critics to encounter if we would unmask
injustice; and if a book finds a rapid sale, dishonest printers issue
spurious editions, defrauding the author of his labours.

The encouragement of the learned produces able teachers, and from their
seminaries men of genius occasionally come forth.  The world is inundated
with books and pamphlets; the undiscerning reader knows not which to
select; the more intelligent are disgusted, or do not read at all, and
thus a work of merit becomes as little profitable to the author as to the
state.

I left Vienna on the 5th of January, and came to Prague.  Here I found
nearly the same reception as in Hungary; my writings were read.  Citizens,
noblemen, and ladies treated me with like favour.  May the monarch know
how to value men of generous feelings and enlarged understandings!

I bade adieu to Prague, and continued my journey to Berlin.  In Bohemia,
I took leave of my son, who saw his father and his two brothers, destined
for the Prussian service, depart.  He felt the weight of this separation;
I reminded him of his duty to the state he served; I spoke of the fearful
fate of his uncle and father in Austria, and of the possessors of our
vast estates in Hungary.  He shrank back--a look from his father pierced
him to the soul--tears stood in his eyes--his youthful blood flowed
quick, and the following expression burst suddenly from his lips:--"I
call God to witness that I will prove myself worthy of my father's name;
and that, while I live, his enemies shall be mine!"

At Peterswald, on the road to Dresden, my carriage broke down: my life
was endangered; and my son received a contusion in the arm.  The
erysipelas broke out on him at Berlin, and I could not present him to the
King for a month after.

I had been but a short time at Berlin before the well-known minister,
Count Hertzberg, received me with kindness.  Every man to whom his
private worth is known will congratulate the state that has the wisdom to
bestow on him so high an office.  His scholastic and practical learning,
his knowledge of languages, his acquaintance with sciences, are indeed
wonderful.  His zeal for his country is ardent, his love of his king
unprejudiced, his industry admirable, his firmness that of a man.  He is
the most experienced man in the Prussian states.  The enemies of his
country may rely on his word.  The artful he can encounter with art;
those who menace, with fortitude; and with wise foresight can avert the
rising storm.  He seeks not splendour in sumptuous and ostentatious
retinue; but if he can only enrich the state, and behold the poor happy,
he is himself willing to remain poor.  His estate, Briess, near Berlin,
is no Chanteloup, but a model to those patriots who would study economy.
Here he, every Wednesday, enjoys recreation.  The services he renders the
kingdom cost it only five thousand rix-dollars yearly; he, therefore,
lives without ostentation, yet becoming his state, and with splendour
when splendour is necessary.  He does not plunder the public treasury
that he may preserve his own private property.

This man will live in the annals of Prussia: who was employed under the
Great Frederic; had so much influence in the cabinets of Europe; and was
a witness of the last actions, the last sensations, of his dying king;
yet who never asked, nor ever received, the least gratuity.  This is the
minister whose conversation I had the happiness to partake at
Aix-la-Chapelle and Spa, whose welfare is the wish of my heart, and whose
memory I shall ever revere.

I was received with distinction at his table, and became acquainted with
those whose science had benefited the Prussian states; nor was anything
more flattering to my self-love than that men like these should think me
worthy their friendship.

Not many days after I was presented to the court by the Prussian
chamberlain, Prince Sacken, as it is not customary at Berlin for a
foreign subject to be presented by the minister of his own court.  Though
a Prussian subject, I wore the Imperial uniform.

The King received me with condescension; all eyes were directed towards
me, each welcomed me to my country.  This moved me the more as it was
remarked by the foreign ministers, who asked who that Austrian officer
could be who was received with so much affection and such evident joy in
Berlin.  The gracious monarch himself gave tokens of pleasure at
beholding me thus surrounded.  Among the rest came the worthy General
Prittwitz, who said aloud--

"This is the gentleman who might have ruined me to effect his own
deliverance."

Confused at so public a declaration, I desired him to expound this
riddle; and he added--

"I was obliged to be one of your guards on your unfortunate journey from
Dantzic to Magdeburg, in 1754, when I was a lieutenant.  On the road I
continued alone with you in an open carriage.  This gave you an
opportunity to escape, but you forbore.  I afterwards saw the danger to
which I had exposed myself.  Had you been less noble-minded, had such a
prisoner escaped through my negligence, I had certainly been ruined.  The
King believed you alike dangerous and deserving of punishment.  I here
acknowledge you as my saviour, and am in gratitude your friend."  I knew
not that the generous man, who wished me so well, was the present General
Prittwitz.  That he should himself remind me of this incident does him
the greater honour.

Having been introduced at court, I thought it necessary to observe
ceremonies, and was presented by the Imperial ambassador, Prince Reuss,
to all foreign ministers, and such families as are in the habit of
admitting such visits.  I was received by the Prince Royal, the reigning
Queen, the Queen-Dowager, and the royal family in their various places,
with favour never to be forgotten.  His Royal Highness Prince Henry
invited me to a private audience, continued long in conversation with me,
promised me his future protection, admitted me to his private concerts,
and sometimes made me sup at court.

A like reception I experienced in the palace of Prince Ferdinand of
Brunswick, where I frequently dined and supped.  His princess took
delight in hearing my narratives, and loaded me with favour.

Prince Ferdinand's mode of educating children is exemplary.  The sons are
instructed in the soldier's duties, their bodies are inured to the
inclemencies of weather; they are taught to ride, to swim, and are
steeled to all the fatigue of war.  Their hearts are formed for
friendship, which they cannot fail to attain.  Happy the nation in
defence of which they are to act!

How ridiculous these their _Royal Highnesses_ appear who, though born to
rule, are not deserving to be the lackeys to the least of those whom they
treat with contempt; and yet who swell, strut, stride, and contemplate
themselves as creatures essentially different by nature, and of a
superior rank in the scale of beings, though, in reality, their minds are
of the lowest, the meanest class.

Happy the state whose prince is impressed with a sense that the people
are not his property, but he the property of the people!  A prince
beloved by his people will ever render a nation more happy those he whose
only wish is to inspire fear.

The pleasure I received at Berlin was great indeed.  When I went to
court, the citizens crowded to see me, and when anyone among them said,
"That is Trenck," the rest would cry, "Welcome once more to your
country," while many would reach me their hands, with the tears standing
in their eyes.  Frequent were the scenes I experienced of this kind.  No
malefactor would have been so received.  It was the reward of innocence;
this reward was bestowed throughout the Prussian territories.

Oh world, ill-judging world, deceived by show!  Dost thou not blindly
follow the opinion of the prince, be he severe, arbitrary, or just?  Thy
censure and thy praise equally originate in common report.  In Magdeburg
I lay, chained to the wall, ten years, sighing in wretchedness, every
calamity of hunger, cold, nakedness, and contempt.  And wherefore?
Because the King, deceived by slanderers, pronounced me worthy of
punishment.  Because a wise King mistook me, and treated me with
barbarity.  Because a prudent King knew he had done wrong, yet would not
have it so supposed.  So was his heart turned to stone; nay, opposed by
manly fortitude, was enraged to cruelty.  Most men were convinced I was
an innocent sufferer; "Yet did they all cry out the more, saying, let him
be crucified!"  My relations were ashamed to hear my name.  My sister was
barbarously treated because she assisted me in my misfortunes.  No man
durst avow himself my friend, durst own I merited compassion; or, much
less, that the infallible King had erred.  I was the most despised,
forlorn man on earth; and when thus put on the rack, had I there expired,
my epitaph would have been, "Here lies the traitor, Trenck."

Frederic is dead, and the scene is changed; another monarch has ascended
the throne, and the grub has changed to a beautiful butterfly!  The
witnesses to all I have asserted are still living, loudly now proclaim
the truth, and embrace me with heart-felt affection.

Does the worth of a man depend upon his actions? his reward or punishment
upon his virtue?  In arbitrary states, certainly not.  They depend on the
breath of a king!  Frederic was the most penetrating prince of his age,
but the most obstinate also.  A vice dreadful to those whom he selected
as victims, who must be sacrificed to the promoting of his arbitrary
views.

How many perished, the sin offerings of Frederic's obstinate self-will,
whose orphan children now cry to God for vengeance!  The dead, alas!
cannot plead.  Trial began and ended with execution.  The few words--IT
IS THE KING'S COMMAND--were words of horror to the poor condemned wretch
denied to plead his innocence!  Yet what is the Ukase (Imperial order) in
Russia, _Tel est notre bon plaisir_ (Such is our pleasure) in France, or
the Allergnadigste Hofresolution (The all-gracious sentence of the
court), pronounced with the sweet tone of a Vienna matron?  In what do
these differ from the arbitrary order of a military despot?

Every prayer of man should be consecrated to man's general good; for him
to obtain freedom and universal justice!  Together should we cry with one
voice, and, if unable to shackle arbitrary power, still should we
endeavour to show how dangerous it is!  The priests of liberty should
offer up their thanks to the monarch who declares "the word of power" a
nullity, and "the sentence" of justice omnipotent.

Who can name the court in Europe where Louis, Peter, or Frederic, each
and all surnamed The Great, have not been, and are not, imitated as
models of perfection?  Lettres-de-cachet, the knout, and cabinet-orders,
superseding all right, are become law!

No reasoning, says the corporal to the poor grenadier, whom he canes!--No
reasoning! exclaim judges; the court has decided.--No reasoning, rash and
pertinacious Trenck, will the prudent reader echo.  Throw thy pen in the
fire, and expose not thyself to become the martyr of a state inquisition.

My fate is, and must remain, critical and undecided.  I have
six-and-thirty years been in the service of Austria, unrewarded, and
beholding the repeated and generous efforts I made effectually to serve
that state, unnoticed.  The Emperor Joseph supposes me old, that the
fruit is wasted, and that the husk only remains.  It is also supposed I
should not be satisfied with a little.  To continue to oppress him who
has once been oppressed, and who possess qualities that may make
injustice manifest, is the policy of states.  My journey to Berlin has
given the slanderer further opportunity of painting me as a suspicious
character: I smile at the ineffectual attempt.

I appeared in the Imperial uniform and belied such insinuations.  To this
purpose it was written to court, in November, when I went into Hungary,
"The motions of Trenck ought to be observed in Hungary."  Ye poor
malicious blood-suckers of the virtuous!  Ye shall not be able to hurt a
hair of my head.  Ye cannot injure the man who has sixty years lived in
honour.  I will not, in my old age, bring upon myself the reproach of
inconstancy, treachery, or desire of revenge.  I will betray no political
secrets: I wish not to injure those by whom I have been injured.--Such
acts I will never commit.  I never yet descended to the office of spy,
nor will I die a rewarded villain.

Yes, I appeared in Berlin among the upright and the just.  Instead of
being its supposed enemy, I was declared an honour to my country.  I
appeared in the Imperial uniform and fulfilled the duties of my station:
and now must the Prussian Trenck return to Austria, there to perform a
father's duty.

Yet more of what happened in Berlin.

Some days after I had been presented to the King, I entreated a private
audience, and on the 12th of February received the following letter:--

   "In answer to your letter of the 8th of this month, I inform you that,
   if you will come to me to-morrow, at five o'clock in the afternoon, I
   shall have the pleasure to speak with you; meantime, I pray God to
   take you into his holy keeping.

   "FREDERIC WILLIAM.

   "Berlin, Feb. 12, 1787."

   "P.S.--After signing the above, I find it more convenient to appoint
   to-morrow, at nine in the morning, about which time you will come into
   the apartment named the Marmor Kammer (marble chamber)."

The anxiety with which I expected this wished-for interview may well be
conceived.  I found the Prussian Titus alone, and he continued in
conversation with me more than an hour.

How kind was the monarch!  How great!  How nobly did he console me for
the past!  How entirely did his assurance of favour overpower my whole
soul!  He had read the history of my life.  When prince of Prussia, he
had been an eyewitness, in Magdeburg, of my martyrdom, and my attempts to
escape.  His Majesty parted from me with tokens of esteem and
condescension.--My eyes bade adieu, but my heart remained in the marble
chamber, in company with a prince capable of sensations so dignified; and
my wishes for his welfare are eternal.

I have since travelled through the greater part of the Prussian states.
Where is the country in which the people are all satisfied?  Many
complained of hard times, or industry unrewarded.  My answer was:--

"Friends, kneel with the rising sun, and thank the God of heaven that you
are Prussians.  I have seen and known much of this world, and I assure
you, you are among the happiest people of Europe.  Causes of complaint
everywhere exist; but you have a king, neither obstinate, ambitious,
covetous, nor cruel: his will is that his people should have cause of
content, and should he err by chance, his heart is not to blame if the
subject suffers."

Prussia is neither wanting in able nor learned men.  The warmth of
patriots glows in their veins.  Everything remains with equal stability,
as under the reign of Frederic; and should the thunder burst, the ready
conductors will render the shock ineffectual.

Hertzberg still labours in the cabinet, still thinks, writes, and acts as
he has done for years.  The king is desirous that justice shall be done
to his subjects, and will punish, perhaps, with more severity, whenever
he finds himself deceived, than from the goodness of his disposition,
might be supposed.  The treasury is full, the army continues the same,
and there is little reason to doubt but that industry, population, and
wealth will increase.  None but the vile and the wicked would leave the
kingdom; while the oppressed and best subjects of other states would fly
from their native country, certain of finding encouragement and security
in Prussia.

The personal qualities of Fredric William merit description.  He is tall
and handsome, his mien is majestic, and his accomplishments of mind and
body would procure him the love of men, were he not a king.  He is
affable without deceit, friendly and kind in conversation, and stately
when stateliness is necessary.  He is bountiful, but not profuse; he
knows that without economy the Prussian must sink.  He is not tormented
by the spirit of conquest, he wishes harm to no nation, yet he will
certainly not suffer other nations to make encroachments, nor will he be
terrified by menaces.

The wise Frederic, when living, though himself learned, and a lover of
the sciences, never encouraged them in his kingdom.  Germany, under his
reign, might have forgotten her language: he preferred the literature of
France.  Konigsberg, once the seminary of the North, contains, at
present, few professors, or students; the former are fallen into
disrepute, and are ill paid; the latter repair to Leipsic and Gottingen.
We have every reason to suppose the present monarch, though no studious
man himself, will encourage the academies of the literati, that men
learned in jurisprudence and the sciences may not be wanting: which want
is the more to be apprehended as the nobility must, without exception,
serve in the army, so that learning has but few adherents, and these are
deprived of the means of improvement.

Frederic William is also too much the friend of men to suffer them to
pine in prisons.  He abhors the barbarity with which the soldiers are
beaten: his officers will not be fettered hand and foot; slavish
subordination will be banished, and the noble in heart will be the noble
of the land.  May he, in his people, find perfect content!  May his
people be ever worthy of such a prince!  Long may he reign, and may his
ministers be ever enlightened and honourable men!

He sent for me a second time, conversed much with me, and confirmed those
ideas which my first interview had inspired.

On the 11th of March I presented my son at another audience, whom I
intended for the Prussian service.  The King bestowed a commission on him
in the Posadowsky dragoons, at my request.

I saw him at the review at Velau, and his superior officers formed great
expectations from his zeal.  Time will discover whether he who is in the
Austrian, or this in the Prussian service, will first obtain the rewards
due to their father.  Should they both remain unnoticed, I will bestow
him on the Grand Turk, rather than on European courts, whence equity to
me and mine is banished.

To Austria I owe no thanks; all that could be taken from me was taken.  I
was a captain before I entered those territories, and, after
six-and-thirty years' service, I find myself in the rank of invalid
major.  The proof of all I have asserted, and of how little I am indebted
to this state is most incontestable, since the history of my life is
allowed by the royal censor to be publicly sold in Vienna.

It is remarkable that one only of all the eight officers, with whom I
served, in the body guard, in 1745, is dead.  Lieutenant-colonel Count
Blumenthal lives in Berlin; Pannewitz is commander of the Knights of
Malta: both gave me a friendly reception.  Wagnitz is lieutenant-general
in the service of Hesse-Cassel; he was my tent comrade, and was
acquainted with all that happened.  Kalkreuter and Grethusen live on
their estates, and Jaschinsky is now alive at Konigsberg, but
superannuated, and tortured by sickness, and remorse.  He, instead of
punishment, has forty years enjoyed a pension of a thousand rix-dollars.
I have seen my lands confiscated, of the income of which I have been
forty-two years deprived, and never yet received retribution.

Time must decide; the king is generous, and I have too much pride to
become a beggar.  The name of Trenck shall be found in the history of the
acts of Frederic.  A tyrant himself, he was the slave of his passions;
and even did not think an inquiry into my innocence worth the trouble.  To
be ashamed of doing right, because he has done wrong, or to persist in
error, that fools, and fools only, can think him infallible, is a
dreadful principle in a ruler.

Since I have been at Berlin, and was received there with so many
testimonies of friendship, the newspapers of Germany have published
various articles concerning me, intending to contribute to my honour or
ease.  They said my eldest daughter is appointed the governess of the
young Princess.  This has been the joke of some witty correspondent; for
my eldest daughter is but fifteen, and stands in need of a governess
herself.  Perhaps they may suppose me mean enough to circulate falsehood.

I daily receive letters from all parts of Germany, wherein the sensations
of the feeling heart are evident.  Among these letters was one which I
received from Bahrdt, Professor at Halle, dated April 10, 1787 wherein he
says, "Receive, noble German, the thanks of one who, like you, has
encountered difficulties; yet, far inferior to those you have
encountered.  You, with gigantic strength, have met a host of foes, and
conquered.  The pests of men attacked me also.  From town to town, from
land to land, I was pursued by priestcraft and persecution; yet I
acquired fame.  I fled for refuge and repose to the states of Frederic,
but found them not.  I have eight years laboured under affliction with
perseverance, but have found no reward.  By industry have I made myself
what I am; by ministerial favour, never.  Worn out and weak, the history
of your life, worthy sir, fell into my hands, and poured balsam into my
wounds.  There I saw sufferings immeasurably greater; there, indeed,
beheld fortitude most worthy of admiration.  Compared to you, of what
could I complain?  Receive, noble German, my warmest thanks; while I live
they shall flow.  And should you find a fortunate moment, in the presence
of your King, speak of me as one consigned to poverty; as one whose
talents are buried in oblivion.  Say to him--'Mighty King! stretch forth
thy hand, and dry up his tears.'  I know the nobleness of your mind, and
doubt not your good wishes."

To the Professor's letter I returned the following answer:--

   "I was affected, sir, by your letter.  I never yet was unmoved, when
   the pen was obedient to the dictates of the heart.  I feel for your
   situation; and if my example can teach wisdom even to the wise, I have
   cause to triumph.  This is the sweetest of rewards.  At Berlin I have
   received much honour, but little more.  Men are deaf to him who
   confides only in his right.  What have I gained?  Shadowy fame for
   myself, and the vapour of hope for my heirs!

   "Truth and Trenck, my good friend, flourish not in courts.  You
   complain of priestcraft.  He who would disturb their covetousness, he
   who speaks against the false opinions they scatter, considers not
   priests, and their aim, which is to dazzle the stupid and stupefy the
   wise.  Deprecate their wrath! avoid their poisoned shafts, or they
   will infect tiny peace: will blast thy honour.  And wherefore should
   we incur this danger.  To cure ignorance of error is impossible.  Let
   us then silently steal to our graves, and thus small we escape the
   breath of envy.  He who should enjoy all even thought could grasp,
   should yet have but little.  Having acquired this knowledge, the
   passions of the soul are lulled to apathy.  I behold error, and I
   laugh; do thou, my friend, laugh also.  If that can comfort us, men
   will do our memory justice--when we are dead!  Fame plants her laurels
   over the grave, and there they flourish best.

   "BARON TRENCK

   "_Schangulach_, _near Konigsberg_,
   _April_ 30_th_, 1787."

   "P.S--I have spoken, worthy Professor, the feelings of my heart, in
   answer to your kind panegyric.  You will but do me justice, when you
   believe I think and act as I write with respect to my influence at
   court, it is as insignificant at Berlin as at Vienna or at
   Constantinople"

Among the various letters I have received, as it may answer a good
purpose, I hope the reader will not think the insertion of the following
improper.

In a letter from an unknown correspondent, who desired me to speak for
this person at Berlin, eight others were enclosed.  They came from the
above person in distress, to this correspondent: and I was requested to
let them appear in the Berlin Journal.  I selected two of them, and here
present them to the world, as it can do me injury, while they describe an
unhappy victim of an extraordinary kind: and may perhaps obtain him some
relief.

Should this hope be verified, I am acquainted with him who wishes to
remain concealed, can introduce him to the knowledge of such as might
wish to interfere in his behalf.  Should they not, the reader will still
find them well-written and affecting letters; such as may inspire
compassion.  The following is the first of those I selected.



LETTER I


   "_Neuland_, _Feb_ 12_th_, 1787.

   "I thought I had so satisfactorily answered you by my last, that you
   would have left me in peaceful possession of my sorrows! but your
   remarks, entreaties, and remonstrances, succeed each other with such
   rapidity, that I am induced to renew the contest.  Cowardice, I
   believe, you are convinced, is not a native in my heart, and should I
   now yield, you might suppose that age and the miseries I have
   suffered, had weakened my powers of mind as well as body; and that I
   ought to have been classed among the unhappy multitudes whose
   sufferings have sunk them to despondency.

   "Baron Trenck, that man of many woes, once so despised, but who now is
   held in admiration, where he was before so much the object of hatred;
   who now speaks so loudly in his own defence, where, formerly, the man
   who had but whispered his name would have lived suspected; Baron
   Trenck you propose as an example of salvation for me.  You are wrong.
   Have you considered how dissimilar our past lives have been; how
   different, too, are our circumstances?  Or, omitting these, have you
   considered to whom you would have me appeal?

   "In 1767, I became acquainted, in Vienna, with this sufferer of
   fortitude, this agreeable companion.  We are taught that a noble
   aspect bespeaks a corresponding mind; this I believe him to possess.
   But what expectations can I form from Baron Trenck?

   "I will briefly answer the questions you have put.  Baron Trenck was a
   man born to inherit great estates; this and the fire of his youth,
   fanned by flattering hopes from his famous kinsman, rendered him too
   haughty to his King; and this alone was the origin of all his future
   sufferings.  I, on the contrary, though the son of a Silesian nobleman
   of property, did not inherit so much as the pay of a common soldier;
   the family having been robbed by the hand of power, after being
   accused by wickedness under the mask of virtue.  You know my father's
   fate, the esteem in which he was held by the Empress Theresa; and that
   a pretended miracle was the occasion of his fall.  Suddenly was he
   plunged from the height to which industry, talents, and virtue had
   raised him, to the depth of poverty.  At length, at the beginning of
   the seven years' war, one of the King of Prussia's subjects
   represented him to the Austrian court as a dangerous correspondent of
   Marshal Schwerin's.  Then at sixty years of age, my father was seized
   at Jagerndorf, and imprisoned in the fortress of Gratz, in Styria.  He
   had an allowance just sufficient to keep him alive in his dungeon;
   but, for the space of seven years, never beheld the sun rise or set.  I
   was a boy when this happened, however, I was not heard.  I only
   received some pecuniary relief from the Empress, with permission to
   shed my blood in her defence.  In this situation we first vowed
   eternal friendship; but from this I soon was snatched by my father's
   enemies.  What the Empress had bestowed, her ministers tore from me.  I
   was seized at midnight, and was brought, in company with two other
   officers, to the fortress of Gratz.  Here I remained immured six
   years.  My true name was concealed, and another given me.

   "Peace being restored, Trenck, I, and my father were released; but the
   mode of our release was very different.  The first obtained his
   freedom at the intercession of Theresa, she, too, afforded him a
   provision.  We, on the contrary, according to the amnesty, stipulated
   in the treaty of peace, were led from our dungeons as state prisoners,
   without inquiry concerning the verity or falsehood of our crimes.
   Extreme poverty, wretchedness, and misery, were our reward for the
   sufferings we had endured.

   "Not only was my health destroyed, but my jawbone was lost, eaten away
   by the scurvy.  I laid before Frederic the Great the proofs of the
   calamities I had undergone, and the dismal state to which I was
   reduced, by his foe, and for his sake; entreated bread to preserve me
   and my father from starving, but his ear was deaf to my prayer, his
   heart insensible to my sighs.

   "Providence, however, raised me up a saviour,--Count Gellhorn was the
   man.  After the taking of Breslau, he had been also sent a state
   prisoner to Gratz.  During his imprisonment, he had heard the report
   of my sufferings and my innocence.  No sooner did he learn I was
   released, than he became my benefactor, my friend, and restored me to
   the converse of men, to which I had so long been dead.

   "I defer the continuance of my narrative to the next post.  The
   remembrance of past woes inflict new ones.  I am eternally."



LETTER II.


   "_February_ 24, 1787.

   "Dear Friend,--After an interval of silence, remembering my promise, I
   again continue my story.

   "My personal sufferings have not been less than those of Trenck.  His,
   I am acquainted with only from the inaccurate relations I have heard:
   my own I have felt.  A colonel in the Prussian service, whose name was
   Hallasch, was four years my companion; he was insane, and believed
   himself the Christ that was to appear at the millennium: he persecuted
   me with his reveries, which I was obliged to listen to, and approve,
   or suffer violence from one stronger than myself.

   "The society of men or books, everything that could console or amuse,
   were forbidden me; and I considered it as wonderful that I did not
   myself grow mad, in the company of this madman.  Four hard winters I
   existed without feeling the feeble emanation of a winter sun, much
   less the warmth of fire.  The madman felt more pity than my keeper,
   and lent me his cloak to cover my body, though the other denied me a
   truss of straw, notwithstanding I had lost the use of my hands and
   feet.  The place where we were confined was called a chamber; it
   rather resembled the temple of Cloacina.  The noxious damps and
   vapours so poisoned my blood that an unskilful surgeon, who tortured
   me during nine months, with insult as a Prussian traitor, and state
   criminal, I lost the greatest part of my jaw.

   "Schottendorf was our governor and tyrant; a man who repaid the
   friendship he found in the mansion of my fathers--with cruelty.  He
   was ripe for the sickle, and Time cut him off.  Tormentini and Galer
   were his successors in office, by them we were carefully watched, but
   we were treated with commiseration.  Their precautions rendered
   imprisonment less wretched.  Ever shall I hold their memory sacred.
   Yet, benevolent as they were, their goodness was exceeded by that of
   Rottensteiner, the head gaoler.  He considered his prisoners as his
   children; and he was their benefactor.  Of this I had experience,
   during two years after the release of Hallasch.

   "Here I but cursorily describe misery, at which the monarch shall
   shudder, if the blood of a tyrant flow not in his veins.  Theresa
   could not wish these things.  But she was fallible, and not
   omniscient.

   "From the above narrative, you will perceive how opposite the effects
   must be which the histories of Baron Trenck and of myself must
   produce.

   "Trenck left his dungeon shielded from contempt; the day of freedom
   was the day of triumph.  I, on the contrary, was exposed to every
   calamity.  The spirit of Trenck again raised itself.  I have laboured
   many a night that I might neither beg nor perish the following day:
   working for judges who neither knew law nor had powers of mind to
   behold the beauty of justice: settling accounts that, item after item,
   did not prove that the lord they were intended for, was an imbecile
   dupe.

   "Trenck remembers his calamities, but the remembrance is advantageous
   to himself and his family; while with me, the past did but increase,
   did but agonise, the present and the future.  He was not like me,
   obliged to crouch in presence of those vulgar, those incapable minds,
   that do but consider the bent back as the footstool of pride.  Every
   man is too busy to act in behalf of others; pity me therefore, but
   advise me not to hope assistance, by petitioning princes at second
   hand.  I know your good wishes, and, for these, I have nothing to
   return but barren thanks.--I am, &c."

The reasons why I published the foregoing letters are already stated, and
will appear satisfactory to the reader.  Once more to affairs that
concern myself.

I met at Berlin many old friends of both sexes; among others, an aged
invalid came to see me, who was at Glatz, in 1746, when I cut my way
through the guard.  He was one of the sentinels before my door, whom I
had thrown down the stairs.

The hour of quitting Berlin, and continuing my journey into Prussia,
towards Konigsberg, approached.  On the eve of my departure, I had the
happiness of conversing with her Royal Highness the Princess Amelia,
sister of Frederic the Great.  She protected me in my hour of adversity;
heaped benefits upon me, and contributed to gain my deliverance.  She
received me as a friend, as an aged patriot; and laid her commands upon
me to write to my wife, and request that she would come to Berlin, in the
month of June, with her two eldest daughters.  I received her promise
that the happiness of the latter should be her care; nay, that she would
remember my wife in her will.

At this moment, when about to depart, she asked me if I had money
sufficient for my journey: "Yes, madam," was my reply; "I want nothing,
ask nothing; but may you remember my children!"

The deep feeling with which I pronounced these words moved the princess;
she showed me how she comprehended my meaning, and said, "Return, my
friend, quickly: I shall be most happy to see you."

I left the room: a kind of indecision came over me.  I was inclined to
remain longer at Berlin.  Had I done so, my presence would have been of
great advantage to my children.  Alas! under the guidance of my evil
genius, I began my journey.  The purpose for which I came to Berlin was
frustrated: for after my departure, the Princess Amelia died!

Peace be to thy ashes, noble princess!  Thy will was good, and be that
sufficient.  I shall not want materials to write a commentary on the
history of Frederic, when, in company with thee, I shall wander on the
banks of Styx; there the events that happened on this earth may be
written without danger.

So proceed we with our story.




CHAPTER X.


On the 22nd of March I pursued my journey to Konigsberg, but remained two
days at the court of the Margrave of Brandenburg, where I was received
with kindness.  The Margrave had bestowed favours on me, during my
imprisonment at Magdeburg.

I departed thence through Soldin to Schildberg, here to visit my relation
Sidau, who had married the daughter of my sister, which daughter my
sister had by her first husband, Waldow, of whom I have before spoken.  I
found my kinsman a worthy man, and one who made the daughter of an
unfortunate sister happy.  I was received at his house within open arms;
and, for the first time after an interval of two-and-forty years, beheld
one of my own relations.

On my journey thither, I had the pleasure to meet with Lieutenant-General
Kowalsky: This gentleman was a lieutenant in the garrison of Glatz, in
1745, and was a witness of my leap from the wall of the rampart.  He had
read my history, some of the principal facts of which he was acquainted
with.  Should anyone therefore doubt concerning those incidents, I may
refer to him, whose testimony cannot be suspected.

From Schildberg I proceeded to Landsberg, on the Warta.  Here I found my
brother-in-law, Colonel Pape, commander of the Gotz dragoons, and the
second husband of my deceased sister: and here I passed a joyous day.
Everybody congratulated me on my return into my country.

I found relations in almost every garrison.  Never did man receive more
marks of esteem throughout a kingdom.  The knowledge of my calamities
procured me sweet consolation; and I were insensible indeed, and
ungrateful, did my heart remain unmoved on occasions like these.

In Austria I never can expect a like reception; I am there mistaken, and
I feel little inclination to labour at removing mistakes so rooted.  Yet,
even there am I by the general voice, approved.  Yes, I am admired, but
not known; pitied but not supported; honoured, but not rewarded.

When at Berlin, I discovered an error I had committed in the commencement
of my life.  At the time I wrote I believed that the postmaster-general
of Berlin, Mr Derschau, was my mother's brother, and the same person who,
in 1742, was grand counsellor at Glogau, and afterwards, president in
East Friesland.  I was deceived; the Derschau who is my mother's brother
is still living, and president at Aurich in East Friesland.  The
postmaster was the son of the old Derschau who died a general, and who
was only distantly related to my mother.  Neither is the younger
Derschau, who is the colonel of a regiment at Burg, the brother of my
mother, but only her first cousin; one of their sisters married Lieut.-
Colonel Ostau, whose son, the President Ostau, now lives on his own
estate, at Lablack in Prussia.

I was likewise deceived in having suspected a lieutenant, named Mollinie,
in the narrative I gave of my flight from Glatz, of having acted as a spy
upon me at Braunau, and of having sent information to General Fouquet.  I
am sorry.  This honest man is still alive, a captain in Brandenburg.  He
was affected at my suspicion, fully justified himself, and here I
publicly apologise.  He then was, and again is become my friend.

I have received a letter from one Lieutenant Brodowsky.  This gentleman
is offended at finding his mother's name in my narrative, and demands I
should retract my words.

My readers will certainly allow the virtue of Madame Brodowsky, at
Elbing, is not impeached.  Although I have said I had the fortune to be
beloved by her, I have nowhere intimated that I asked, or that she
granted, improper favours.

By the desire of a person of distinction, I shall insert an incident
which I omitted in a former part.  This person was an eye-witness of the
incident I am about to relate, at Magdeburg, and reminded me of the
affair.  It was my last attempt but one at flight.

The circumstances were these:--

As I found myself unable to get rid of more sand, after having again cut
through the planking, and mined the foundation, I made a hole towards the
ditch, in which three sentinels were stationed.  This I executed one
night, it being easy, from the lightness of the sand, to perform the work
in two hours.

No sooner had I broken through, than I threw one of my slippers beside
the palisades, that it might be supposed I had lost it when climbing over
them.  These palisades, twelve feet in length, were situated in the front
of the principal fosse, and my sentinels stood within.  There was no
sentry-box at the place where I had broken through.

This done, I returned into my prison, made another hole under the
planking, where I could hide myself, and stopped up the passage behind
me, so that it was not probable I could be seen or found.

When daylight came, the sentinel saw the hole and gave the alarm, the
slipper was found, and it was concluded that Trenck had escaped over the
palisades, and was no longer in prison.

Immediately the sub-governor came from Magdeburg, the guns were fired,
the horse scoured the country, and the subterranean passages were all
visited: no tidings came; no discovery was made, and the conclusion was I
had escaped.  That I should fly without the knowledge of the sentinels,
was deemed impossible; the officer, and all the guard, were put under
arrest, and everybody was surprised.

I, in the meantime, sat quiet in my hole, where I heard their searches,
and suppositions that I was gone.

My heart bounded with joy, and I held escape to be indubitable.  They
would not place sentinels over the prison the following night, and I
should then really have left my place of concealment, and, most probably
have safely arrived in Saxony.  My destiny, however, robbed me of all
hope at the very moment when I supposed the greatest of my difficulties
were conquered.

Everything seemed to happen as I could wish.  The whole garrison came,
and visited the casemates, and all stood astonished at the miracle they
beheld.  In this state things remained till four o'clock in the
afternoon.  At length, an ensign of the militia came, a boy of about
fifteen or sixteen years of age, who had more wit than any or all of
them.  He approached the hole, examined the aperture next the fosse,
thought it appeared small, tried to enter it himself, found he could not,
therefore concluded it was impossible a man of my size could have passed
through, and accordingly called for a light.

This was an accident I had not foreseen.  Half stifled in my hole, I had
opened the canal under the planking.  No sooner had the youth procured a
light, than he perceived my shirt, examined nearer, felt about, and laid
hold of me by the arm.  The fox was caught, and the laugh was universal.
My confusion may easily be imagined.  They all came round me, paid me
their compliments, and finding nothing better was to be done, I laughed
in company with them, and, thus laughing was led back with an aching
heart to be sorrowfully enchained in my dungeon.

I continued my journey, and arrived, on the fourth of April, at
Konigsberg, where my brother expected my arrival.  We embraced as
brothers must, after the absence of two-and-forty years.  Of all the
brothers and sisters I had left in this city, he only remained.  He lived
a retired and peaceable life on his own estates.  He had no children
living.  I continued a fortnight within him and his wife.

Here, for the first time, I learned what had happened to my relations,
during their absence.  The wrath of the Great Frederic extended itself to
all my family.  My second brother was an ensign in the regiment of
cuirassiers at Kiow, in 1746, when I first incurred disgrace from the
King.  Six years he served, fought at three battles, but, because his
name was Trenck, never was promoted.  Weary of expectation he quitted the
army, married, and lived on his estates at Meicken, where he died about
three years ago, and left two sons, who are an honour to the family of
the Trencks.

Fame spoke him a person capable of rendering the state essential service,
as a military man; but he was my brother, and the King would never suffer
his name to be mentioned.

My youngest brother applied himself to the sciences; it was proposed that
he should receive some civil employment, as he was an intelligent and
well-informed man; but the King answered in the margin of the petition,

   "No Trenck is good for anything."

Thus have all my family suffered, because of my unjust condemnation.  My
last-mentioned brother chose the life of a private man, and lived at his
ease, in independence, among the first people of the kingdom.  The hatred
of the monarch extended itself to my sister, who had married the son of
General Waldow, and lived in widowhood, from the year 1749, to her second
marriage.  The misfortunes of this woman, in consequence of the treachery
of Weingarten, and the aid she sent to me in my prison at Magdeburg, I
have before related.  She was possessed of the fine estate of Hammer,
near Landsberg on the Warta.  The Russian army changed the whole face of
the country, and laid it desert.  She fled to Custrin, where everything
was destroyed during the siege.  The Prussian army also demolished the
fine forests.

After the war, the King assisted all the ruined families of Brandenburg;
she alone obtained nothing, because she was my sister.  She petitioned
the King, who repined she must seek for redress from her dear brother.
She died, in the flower of her age, a short time after she had married
her second husband, the present Colonel Pape: her son, also, died last
year.  He was captain in the regiment of the Gotz dragoons.  Thus were
all my brothers and sisters punished because they were mine.  Could it be
believed that the great Frederic would revenge himself on the children
and the children's children?  Was it not sufficient that he should wreak
his wrath on my head alone?  Why has the name of Trenck been hateful to
him, to the very hour of his death?

One Derschau, captain of horse, and brother of my mother, addressed
himself to the King, in 1753, alleging he was my nearest relation and
feudal heir, and petitioned that he would bestow on him my confiscated
estates of Great Sharlack.  The King demanded that the necessary proofs
should be sent from the chamber at Konigsberg.  He was uninformed that I
had two brothers living, that Great Sharlack was an ancient family
inheritance, and that it appertained to my brothers, and not to Derschau.
My brothers then announced themselves as the successors to this fief, and
the King bestowed on them the estate of Great Sharlack conformable to the
feudal laws.  That it might be properly divided, it was put up to
auction, and bought by the youngest of my brothers, who paid surplus to
the other, and to my sister.  He likewise paid debts charged upon it,
according to the express orders of the court.  The persons who called
themselves my creditors were impostors, for I had no creditors; I was but
nineteen when my estates were confiscated, consequently was not of age.
By what right therefore, could such debts be demanded or paid?  Let them
explain this who can.

The same thing happened when an account was given in to the Fiscus of the
guardianship, although I acknowledge my guardians were men of probity.
One of them was eight years in possession, and when he gave it up to my
brothers he did not account with them for a single shilling.  At present,
therefore, the affair stands thus:--Frederic William has taken off the
sentence of confiscation, and ordered me to be put in possession of my
estates, by a gracious rescript: empowered by this I come and demand
restitution; my brother answers, "I have bought and paid for the estate,
am the legal possessor, have improved it so much that Great Sharlack, at
present, is worth three or four times the sum it was at the time of
confiscation.  Let the Fiscus pay me its actual value, and then let them
bestow it on whom they please.  If the reigning king gives what his
predecessor sold to me, I ought not thereby to be a loser."

This is a problem which the people of Berlin must resolve.  My brother
has no children, and, without going to law, will bequeath Great Sharlack
to mine, when he shall happen to die.  If he is forced in effect to
restore it without being reimbursed, the King instead of granting a
favour, has not done justice.  I do not request any restitution like
this, since such restitution would be made without asking it as a favour
of the King.  If his Majesty takes off the confiscation because he is
convinced it was originally violent and unjust, then have I a right to
demand the rents of two-and-forty years.  This I am to require from the
Fiscus, not from my brother.  And should the Fiscus only restore me the
price for which it then sold, it would commit a manifest injustice, since
all estates in the province of Prussia have, since 1746, tripled and
quadrupled their value.  If the estates descend only to my children after
my death, I receive neither right nor favour; for, in this case, I obtain
nothing for myself, and shall remain deprived of the rents, which, as the
estate is at present farmed by my brother amount to four thousand rix-
dollars per annum.  This estate cannot be taken from him legally, since
he enjoys it by right of purchase.

Such is the present state of the business.  How the monarch shall think
proper to decide, will be seen hereafter.  I have demanded of the Fiscus
that it shall make a fair valuation of Great Sharlack, reimburse my
brother, and restore it to me.  My brother has other estates.  These he
will dispose of by testament, according to his good pleasure.  Be these
things as they may, the purpose of my journey is accomplished.

Thou, great God, has preserved me amidst my trouble.  The purest
gratitude penetrates my heart.  Oh, that thou wouldst shield man from
arbitrary power, and banish despotism from the earth!

May this my narration be a lesson to the afflicted, afford hope to the
despairing, fortitude to the wavering, and humanise the hearts of kings.
Joyfully do I journey to the shores of death.  My conscience is void of
reproach, posterity shall bless my memory, and only the unfeeling, the
wicked, the confessor of princes and the pious impostor, shall vent their
rage against my writings.  My mind is desirous of repose, and should this
be denied me, still I will not murmur.  I now wish to steal gently
towards that last asylum, whither if I had gone in my youth, it must have
been with colours flying.  Grant, Almighty God, that the prayer I this
day make may be heard, and that such may be the conclusion of my eventful
life!




HISTORY OF
FRANCIS BARON TRENCK.
WRITTEN BY
FREDERICK BARON TRENCK,
AS A NECESSARY SUPPLEMENT TO HIS OWN HISTORY.


Francis Baron Trenck was born in 1714, in Calabria, a province of Sicily.
His father was then a governor and lieutenant-colonel there, and died in
1743, at Leitschau, in Hungary, lord of the rich manors of Prestowacz,
Pleternitz, and Pakratz, in Sclavonia, and other estates in Hungary.  His
christian name was John; he was my father's brother, and born in
Konigsberg in Prussia.

The name of his mother was Kettler; she was born in Courland.  Trenck was
a gentleman of ancient family; and his grandfather, who was mine also,
was of Prussia.  His father, who had served Austria to the age of sixty-
eight, a colonel, and bore those wounds to his grave which attested his
valour.

Francis Baron Trenck was his only son; he had attained the rank of
colonel during his father's life, and served with distinction in the army
of Maria Theresa.  The history of his life, which he published in 1747,
when he was under confinement at Vienna, is so full of minute
circumstances, and so poorly written, that I shall make but little use of
it.  Here I shall relate only what I have heard from his enemies
themselves, and what I have myself seen.  His father, a bold and daring
soldier, idolised his only son, and wholly neglected his education, so
that the passions of this son were most unbridled.  Endowed with
extraordinary talents, this ardent youth was early allowed to indulge the
impetuous fire of his constitution.  Moderation was utterly unknown to
him, and good fortune most remarkably favoured all his enterprises.  These
were numerous, undertaken from no principle of virtue, nor actuated by
any motives of morality.  The love of money, and the desire of fame, were
the passions of his soul.  To his warlike inclination was added the
insensibility of a heart natively wicked: and he found himself an actor,
on the great scene of life, at a time when the earth was drenched with
human gore, and when the sword decided the fate of nations: hence this
chief of pandours, this scourge of the unprotected, became an
iron-hearted enemy, a ferocious foe of the human race, a formidable enemy
in private life, and a perfidious friend.

Constitutionally sanguinary, addicted to pleasures, sensual, and brave;
he was unappeased when affronted, prompt to act, in the moment of danger
circumspect, and, when under the dominion of anger, cruel even to fury;
irreconcilable, artful, fertile in invention, and ever intent on great
projects.  When youth and beauty inspired love, he then became supple,
insinuating, amiable, gentle, respectful; yet, ever excited by pride,
each conquest gave but new desires of adding another slave over whom he
might domineer; and, whenever he encountered resistance, he then even
ceased to be avaricious.  A prudent and intelligent woman, turning this
part of his character to advantage, might have formed this man to virtue,
probity, and the love of the human race: but, from his infancy, his will
had never suffered restraint, and he thought nothing impossible.  As a
soldier, he was bold even to temerity; capable of the most hazardous
enterprise, and laughing at the danger he provoked.  His projects were
the more elevated because the acquirement of renown was the intent of all
his actions.  In council he was dangerous; everything must be conceded to
his views.  To him the means by which his end was to be obtained were
indifferent.

The Croats at this time were undisciplined, prone to rapine, thirsting
for human blood, and only taught obedience by violence; these had been
the companions of his infancy: these he undertook to subject, by
servitude and fear, to military subordination, and from banditti to make
them soldiers.

With respect to his exterior, Nature had been prodigal of her favours.
His height was six feet three inches, and the symmetry of his limbs was
exact; his form was upright, his countenance agreeable, yet masculine,
and his strength almost incredible.  He could sever the head from the
body of the largest ox with one stroke of his sabre, and was so adroit at
this Turkish practice, that he at length could behead men in the manner
boys do nettles.  In the latter years of his life, his aspect had become
terrible; for, during the Bavarian war, he had been scorched by the
explosion of a powder-barrel, and ever after his face remained scarred
and impregnated with black spots.  In company he rendered himself
exceedingly agreeable, spoke seven languages fluently, was jocular,
possessed wit, and in serious conversation, understanding; had learned
music, sung with taste, and had a good voice, so that he might have been
well paid as an actor, had that been his fate.  He could even, when so
disposed, become gentle and complaisant.

His look told the man of observation that he was cunning and choleric;
and his wrath was terrible.  He was ever suspicious, because he judged
others by himself.  Self-interest and avarice constituted his ruling
passion, and, whenever he had an opportunity of increasing his wealth, he
disregarded the duties of religion, the ties of honour, and human pity.
In the thirty-first year of his age, when he was possessed of nearly two
millions, he did not expend a florin per day.

As he and his pandours always led the van, and as he thence had an
opportunity to ravage the enemy's country, at the head of troops addicted
to rapine, we must not wonder that Bavaria, Silesia, and Alsatia were so
plundered.  He alone purchased the booty from his troops at a low price,
and this he sent by water to his own estates.  If any one of his officers
had made a rich capture, Trenck instantly became his enemy.  He was sent
on every dangerous expedition till he fell, and the colonel became his
universal heir, for Trenck appropriated all he could to himself.  He was
reputed to be a man most expert in military science, an excellent
engineer, and to possess an exact eye in estimating heights and
distances.  In all enterprises he was first; inured to fatigue, his iron
body could support it without inconvenience.  Nothing escaped his
vigilance, all was turned to account, and what valour could not
accomplish, cunning supplied.  His pride suffered him not to incur an
obligation, and thus he was unthankful; his actions all centred in self,
and as he was remarkably fortunate in whatever he undertook, he ascribed
even that, which accident gave, to foresight and genius.

Yet was he ever, as an officer, a most useful and inestimable man to the
state.  His respect for his sovereign, and his zeal in her service, were
unbounded; whenever her glory was at stake, he devoted himself her
victim.  This I assert to be truth: I knew him well.  Of little
consequence is it to me, whether the historians of Maria Theresa have, or
have not, misrepresented his talents and the fame he deserved.

The life of Trenck I write for the following reasons.  He had the honour
first to form, and command, regular troops, raised in Sclavonia.  The
soldiers acquired glory under their leader, and sustained the tottering
power of Austria: they made libations of their blood in its defence, as
did Trenck, in various battles.  He served like a brave warrior, with
zeal, loyalty, and effect.  The vile persecutions of his enemies at
Vienna, with whom he refused to share the plunder he had made, lost him
honour, liberty, and not only the personal property he had acquired, but
likewise the family patrimony in Hungary.  He died like a malefactor,
illegally sentenced to imprisonment; and knaves have affirmed, and fools
have believed, and believe still, he took the King of Prussia prisoner,
and that he granted him freedom in consequence of a bribe.  So have the
loyal Hungarians been led to suppose that an Hungarian had really been a
traitor.

By my writings, I wish to prove to this noble nation on the contrary,
that Trenck, for his loyalty deserved compassion, esteem, and honour in
his country.  This I have already done in the former part of my history.
The dead Trenck can speak no more; but it is the duty of the living ever
to speak in defence of right.

Trenck wrote his own history while he was confined in the arsenal at
Vienna; and, in the last two sheets he openly related the manner in which
he had been treated by the council of war, of which Count Loewenwalde,
his greatest enemy, was president.  The count, however, found supporters
too powerful, and these sheets were torn from the book and publicly burnt
at Vienna.  Defence after this became impossible: he groaned under the
grip of his adversaries.

I have given a literal copy of these sheets in the first part of this
history; and I again repeat I am able to prove the truth of what is there
asserted, by the acts, proceedings, and judicial registers which are in
my possession.  He was confined in the Spielberg, because much was to be
dreaded from an injured man, whom they knew capable of the most desperate
enterprises.  He died defenceless, the sacrifice of iniquity and unjust
judges.  He died, and his honour remained unprotected.  I am by duty his
defender: although he expired my personal enemy, the author of nearly all
the ills I have suffered.  I came to the knowledge of his persecutors too
late for the unfortunate Trenck.  And who are those who have divided his
spoils--who slew him that they might fatten themselves?  Your titles have
been paid for from the coffers of Trenck!  Yet neither can your cabals,
your wealthy protectors, your own riches, nor your credit at court,
deprive me of the right of vindicating his fame.

I have boldly written, have openly shown, that Trenck was pillaged by
you; that he served the house of Austria as a worthy man, with zeal; not
in court-martials and committees of inquiry, but fighting for his
country, sharing the soldier's glory, falling the victim of envy and
power; falling by the hands of those who are unworthy of judging merit.
He take the King of Prussia!  They might as well say he took the Emperor
of Morocco.

Yes, he is dead.  But should any man dare affirm that the Hungarian or
the Prussian Trenck were capable of treason, that either of them merited
punishment for having betrayed their country, he will not have long to
seek before he will be informed that he has done us both injustice.  After
this preface, I shall continue my narrative on the plan I proposed.
Trenck, the father, was a miser, yet a well-meaning man.  Trenck the son,
was a youthful soldier, who stood in need of money to indulge his
pleasures.  Many curious pranks he played, when an ensign in I know not
what regiment of foot.  He went to one of the collectors of his father's
rents, and demanded money; the collector refused to give him any, and
Trenck clove his skull with his sabre.  A prosecution was entered against
him, but, war breaking out in 1756, between the Russians and the Turks,
he raised a squadron of hussars, and went with it into the Russian
service, contrary to the will of his father.

In this war he distinguished himself highly, and acquired the protection
of Field-marshal Munich.  He was so successful as a leader against the
Tartars, that he became very famous in the army, and at the end of the
campaign, was appointed major.

It happened that flying parties of Turks approached his regiment when on
march, and Trenck seeing a favourable moment for attacking them, went to
Colonel Rumin, desiring the regiment might be led to the charge, and that
they might profit by so fair an opportunity.  The colonel answered, "I
have no such orders."  Trenck then demanded permission to charge the
Turks only with his own squadron; but this was refused.  He became
furious, for he had never been acquainted with contradiction or
subordination, and cried aloud to the soldiers, "If there be one brave
man among you, let him follow me."  About two hundred stepped from the
ranks; he put himself at their head, routed the enemy, made a horrible
carnage, and returned intoxicated with joy, accompanied by prisoners, and
loaded with dissevered heads.  Once more arrived in presence of the
regiment, he attacked the colonel, treated him like the rankest coward,
called him opprobrious names, without the other daring to make the least
resistance.  The adventure, however, became known; Trenck was arrested,
and ordered to be tried.  His judges condemned him to be shot, and the
day was appointed, but the evening before execution, Field-marshal Munich
passed near the tent in which he was confined, Trenck saw him, came
forward, and said, "Certainly your excellency will not suffer a foreign
cavalier to die an ignominious death because he has chastised a cowardly
Russian!  If I must die, at least give me permission to saddle my horse,
and with my sabre in my hand, let me fall surrounded by the enemy."

The Tartars happened to be at this time harassing the advanced posts; the
Field-marshal shrugged his shoulders, and was silent.  Trenck, not
discouraged, added, "I will undertake to bring your excellency three
heads or lose my own.  Will you, if I do, be pleased to grant me my
pardon?"  The Field-marshal replied, "Yes."  The horse of Trenck was
brought: he galloped to the enemy, and returned within four heads knotted
to the horse's mane, himself only slightly wounded in the shoulder.
Munich immediately appointed him major in another regiment.  Various and
almost incredible were his feats: among others, a Tartar ran him through
the belly with his lance: Trenck grasped the projecting end with his
hands, exerted his prodigious strength, broke the lance, set spurs to his
horse, and happily escaped.  Of this wound, dreadful as it was, he was
soon cured.  I myself have seen the two scars, and can affirm the fact; I
also learned this, and many others in 1746, from officers who had served
in the same army.

During this campaign he behaved with great honour, was wounded by an
arrow in the leg, and gained the affection of Field-marshal Munich, but
excited the envy of all the Russians.  Towards the conclusion of the war
he had a new misfortune; his regiment was incommoded on all sides by the
enemy: he entreated his colonel, for leave to attack them.  The colonel
was once more a Russian, and he was refused.  Trenck gave him a blow, and
called aloud to the soldiers to follow him.  They however being Russians,
remained motionless, and he was put under arrest.  The court-martial
sentenced him to death, and all hope of reprieve seemed over.  The
general would have granted his pardon, but as he was himself a foreigner,
he was fearful of offending the Russians.  The day of execution came, and
he was led to the place of death, Munich so contrived it that
Field-marshal Lowenthal should pass by, at this moment, in company within
his lady.  Trenck profited by the opportunity, spoke boldly, and
prevailed.  A reprieve was requested, and the sentence was changed into
banishment and labour in Siberia.

Trenck protested against this sentence.  The Field-marshal wrote to
Petersburg, and an order came that he should be broken, and conducted out
of the Russian territories.  This order was executed, and he returned
into Hungary to his father.  At this period he espoused the daughter of
Field-marshal Baron Tillier, one of the first families in Switzerland.
The two brothers of his wife each became lieutenant-general, one of whom
died honourably during the seven years' war.  The other was made
commander-general in Croatia, where he is still living, and is at the
head of a regiment of infantry that bears his name.  Trenck did not live
long with his lady.  She was pregnant, and he took her to hunt with him
in a marsh: she returned ill, and died without leaving him an heir.

Having no opportunity to indulge his warlike inclination, because of the
general peace, he conceived the project of extirpating the Sclavonian
banditti.

Trenck, to execute this enterprise, employed his own pandours.  The
contest now commenced and activity and courage were necessary to ensure
success in such a war.  Trenck seemed born for this murderous trade.  Day
and night he chased them like wild beasts, killing now one, then another,
and without distinction, treating them with the utmost barbarity.

Two incidents will sufficiently paint the character of this unaccountable
man.  He had impaled alive the father of a Harum-Bashaw.  One evening he
was going on patrol, along the banks of a brook, which separated two
provinces.  On the opposite shore was the son of this impaled father,
with his Croats.  It was moonlight, and the latter called aloud--"I heard
thy voice, Trenck!  Thou hast impaled my father!  If thou hast a heart in
thy body, come hither over the bridge, I will send away my followers;
leave thy firearms, come only with thy sabre, and we will then see who
shall remain the victor."  The agreement was made--and the Harum-Bashaw
sent away his Croats, and laid down his musket.  Trenck passed the wooden
bridge, both drew their sabres; but Trenck treacherously killed his
adversary with a pistol, that he had concealed, after which he severed
his head from his body, took it with him, and stuck it upon a pole.

One day, when hunting, he heard music in a lone house which belonged to
one of his vassals.  He was thirsty, entered, and found the guests seated
at table.  He sat down and ate within them, not knowing this was a
rendezvous for the banditti.  As he was seated opposite the door, he saw
two Harum-Bashaws enter.  His musket stood in a corner; he was struck
with terror, but one of them addressed him thus:--"Neither thee, nor thy
vassals, Trenck, have we ever injured, yet thou dost pursue us with
cruelty.  Eat thy fill.  When thou hast satisfied thy hunger, we will
then, sabre in thy hand, see who has most justice on his side, and
whether thou art as courageous as men speak thee."

Hereupon they sat down and began to eat and drink and make merry.  The
situation of Trenck could not be very pleasant.  He recollected that
besides these, there might be more of their companions, without, ready to
fall upon him; he, therefore, privately drew his pistols, held them under
the table while he cocked them, presented each hand to the body of a
Harum-Bashaw, fired them both at the same instant, overset the table on
the guests, and escaped from the house.  As he went he had time to seize
on one of their muskets, which was standing at the door.  One of the
Croats was left weltering in his blood; the other disengaged himself from
the table, and ran after Trenck, who suffered him to approach, killed him
within his own gun, struck off his head and brought it home in triumph.
By this action the banditti were deprived of their two most valorous
chiefs.

War broke out about this time, in 1740, when all the Hungarians took up
arms in defence of their beloved queen.  Trenck offered to raise a free
corps of pandours, and requested an amnesty for the banditti who should
join his troops.  His request was granted, he published the amnesty, and
began to raise recruits; he therefore enrolled his own vassals, formed a
corps of 500 men, went in search of the robbers, drove them into a strait
between the Save and Sarsaws, where they capitulated, and 300 of them
enrolled themselves with his pandours.  Most of these men were six feet
in height, determined, and experienced soldiers.  To indulge them on
certain occasions in their thirst of pillage were means which he
successfully employed to lead them where he pleased, and to render them
victorious.  By means like these Trenck became at once the terror of the
enemies of Austria, and rendered signal services to his Empress.

In 1741, while he was exercising his regiment, a company fired upon
Trenck, and killed his horse, and his servant that stood by his side.  He
ran to the company, counted one, two, three, and beheaded the fourth.  He
was continuing this, when a Harum-Bashaw left the ranks, drew his sword,
and called aloud, "It is I who fired upon thee, defend thyself."  The
soldiers stood motionless spectators.  Trenck attacked him and hewed him
down.  He was proceeding to continue the execution of the fourth man, but
the whole regiment presented their arms.  The revolt became general, and
Trenck, still holding his drawn sabre, ran amidst them, hacking about him
on all sides.  The excess of his rage was terrific; the soldiers all
called "Hold!" each fell on their knees, and promised obedience.  After
this he addressed them in language suitable to their character, and from
that time they became invincible soldiers whenever they were headed by
himself.  Let the situation of Trenck be considered; he was the chief of
a band of robbers who supposed they were authorised to take whatever they
pleased in an enemy's country, a banditti that had so often defied the
gallows, and had never known military subordination.  Let such men be led
to the field and opposed to regular troops.  That they are never actuated
by honour is evident: their leader is obliged to excite their avidity by
the hope of plunder to engage them in action; for if they perceive no
personal advantage, the interest of the sovereign is insufficient to make
them act.

Trenck had need of a particular species of officers.  They must be
daring, yet cautious.  They are partisans, and must be capable of
supporting fatigue, desirous of daily seeking the enemy, and hazarding
their lives.  As he was himself never absent at the time of action, he
soon became acquainted with those whom he called old women, and sent them
from his regiment.  These officers then repaired to Vienna, vented their
complaints, and were heard.  His avarice prevented him from making any
division of his booty with those gentlemen who constituted the military
courts, thus neglecting what was customary at Vienna: and in this
originated the prosecution to which he fell a victim.  Scarcely had he
entered Austria with his troops before he found an opportunity of reaping
laurels.  The French army was defeated at Lintz.  Trenck pursued them,
treated his prisoners with barbarity; and, never granting quarter in
battle, the very appearance of his pandours inspired terror.

Trenck was a great warrior, and knew how to profit by the slightest
advantage.  From this time he became renowned, gained the confidence of
Prince Charles, and the esteem of the Field-marshal Count Kevenhuller,
who discovered the worth of the man.  No partisan had ever before
obtained so much power as Trenck; he everywhere pursued the enemy as far
as Bavaria, carrying fire and sword wherever he went.  As it was known
Trenck gave no quarter, the Bavarians and the French flew at the sight of
a red mantle.  Pillage and murder attended the pandours wherever they
went, and their colonel bought up all the booty they acquired.  Chamb, in
particular, was a scene of a dreadful massacre.  The city was set on fire
and the people perished in the flames; women and children who endeavoured
to fly, were obliged to pass over a bridge, where they were first
stripped, and afterwards thrown into the water.  This action was one of
the accusations brought against Trenck when he was prosecuted, but he
alleged his justification.

The banks of the Iser to this day reverberate groans for the barbarities
of Trenck.  Deckendorf and Filtzhofen felt all his fury.  In the first of
these towns 600 French prisoners capitulated, although his forces were
four miles distant; but he formed a kind of straw men, on which he put
pandour caps and cloaks, and set them up as sentinels; and the garrison,
deceived by this stratagem, signed the capitulation.  The services he
rendered the army during the Bavarian war are well known in the history
of Maria Theresa.  The good he has done has been passed over in silence,
because he died under misfortunes, and did not leave his historian a
legacy.  He was informed that either at Deckendorf or Filtzhofen there
was a barrel containing 20,000 florins, concealed at the house of an
apothecary.  Impelled by the desire of booty, Trenck hastened to the
place, with a candle in his hand, searching everywhere, and, in his
hurry, dropped a spark into a quantity of gunpowder, by the explosion of
which he was dreadfully scorched.  They carried him off, but the scars
and the gunpowder with which his skin was blackened rendered his
countenance terrific.

The present Field-marshal Laudohn was at that time a lieutenant in his
regiment, and happened to be at the door when his colonel was burnt.
Scarcely was Trenck cured before his spies informed him that Laudohn had
plenty of money.  Immediately he suspected that Laudohn had found the
barrel of florins, and from that moment he persecuted him by all
imaginable arts.  Wherever there was danger he sent him, at the head of
30 men, against 300, hoping to have him cut off, and to make himself his
heir.  This was so often repeated that Laudohn returned to Vienna, where,
joining the crowd of the enemies of Trenck, he became instrumental in his
destruction.  Yet it is certain that, in the beginning, Trenck had shown
a friendship for Laudohn, had given him a commission, and that this great
man learned, under the command of Trenck, his military principles.
General Tillier was likewise formed in this nursery of soldiers, where
officers were taught activity, stratagem, and enterprise.  And who are
more capable of commanding a Hungarian army than Tillier and Laudohn?  I,
one day said to Trenck, when he was in Vienna, embarrassed by his
prosecution, and when he had published a defamatory writing against all
his accusers, excepting no man,--"You have always told me that Laudohn
was one of the most capable of your officers, and that he is a worthy
man.  Wherefore then do you class him among such wretches?"  He replied,
"What! would you have me praise a man who labours, at the head of my
enemies, to rob me of honour, property, and life!"  I have related this
incident to prove by the testimony of so honourable a man, that Trenck
was a great soldier, and a zealous patriot, and that he never took the
King of Prussia prisoner, as has been falsely affirmed, and as is still
believed by the multitude.  Had such a thing happened, Laudohn must have
been present, and would have supported this charge.

Bavaria was plundered by Trenck; barges were loaded with gold, silver,
and effects, which he sent to his estates in Sclavonia; Prince Charles
and Count Kevenhuller countenanced his proceedings; but when
Field-marshal Neuperg was at the head of the army, he had other
principles.  He was connected with Baron Tiebes, a counsellor of the
Hofkriegsrath who was the enemy of Trenck.  Persecution was at that time
instituted against him, and Trenck was imprisoned; but he defended
himself so powerfully that in a month he was set at liberty.  Mentzel,
meanwhile, had the command of the pandours; and this man appropriated to
himself the fame that Trenck had acquired by the warriors he himself had
formed.  Mentzel never was the equal of Trenck.  Trenck now increased the
number of his Croats to 4,000, from whom, in 1743, a regiment of
Hungarian regulars was formed, but who still retained the name of
pandours.  It was a regiment of infantry.  Trenck also had 600 hussars
and 150 chasseurs, whom he equipped at his own expense.  Yet, when this
corps was reduced, all was sold for the profit of the imperial treasury,
without bringing a shilling to account.

With a corps so numerous, he undertook great enterprises.  The enemy fled
wherever he appeared.  He led the van, raised contributions which
amounted to several millions, delivered unto the Empress, in five years,
7,000 prisoners, French and Bavarian, and more than 3,000 Prussians.  He
never was defeated.  He gained confidence among his troops, and will
remain in history the first man who rendered the savage Croats efficient
soldiers.  This it was impossible to perform among a bloodthirsty people
without being guilty himself of cruel acts.  The necessity of the
excesses he committed, when the army was in want of forage, was so
evident that he received permission of Prince Charles, though for this he
was afterwards prosecuted; while the plunders of Brenklau, Mentzel, and
the whole army, were never once questioned.  That Trenck advanced more
than 100,000 florins to his regiment, I clearly proved, in 1750.  This
proof came too late.  He was dead.  The evidence I brought occasioned a
quartermaster, Frederici, to be imprisoned.  He confessed the
embezzlement of this money, yet found so many friends among the enemies
of Trenck that he refunded nothing, but was released in the year 1754,
when I was thrown into the dungeon of Magdeburg.

My cousin, who had lived like a miser, did not, at his death, leave half
of the property he had inherited from his father, and which legally
descended to me; it was torn from me by violence.

In 1744 he obliged the French to retire beyond the Rhine, seized on a
fort near Phillipsburg, swam across the river with 70 pandours, attacked
the fortifications, slew the Marquis de Crevecoeur, with his own hand
manned the post, traversed the other arm of the Rhine, surprised two
Bavarian regiments of cavalry, and by this daring manoeuvre, secured the
passage of the Rhine to the whole army, which, but for him, would not
have been effected.  Wherever he came, he laid the country under
contribution, and, at this moment of triumph for the Austrian arms,
opened himself a passage to enter the territories of France.  In
September, 1744, war having broken out between Austria and Prussia, the
imperial army was obliged to return, abandon Alsatia, and hasten to the
succour of the Austrian states.  Trenck succeeded in covering its
retreat.  The history of Maria Theresa declares the damages he did the
enemy, during this campaign.  He gave proof of his capacity at Tabor and
Budweis.  With 300 men he attacked one of these towns, which was defended
by the two Prussian regiments of Walrabe and Kreutz.  He found the water
in the moats was deeper than his spies had declared, and the scaling
ladders too short: most of those led to the attack were killed, or
drowned in the water, and the small number that crossed the moats were
made prisoners.  The garrison of Tabor, of Budweis, and of the castle of
Frauenburg, were, nevertheless, induced to capitulate, and yield
themselves prisoners, although the main body under Trenck was more than
five miles distant.  His corps did not come up till the morrow, and it
was ridiculous enough to see the pandours dressed in the caps of the
Prussian fusiliers and pioneers, which they wore instead of their own,
and which they afterwards continued to wear.

The campaign to him was glorious, and the enemy's want of light troops
gave free scope to his enterprises, highly to their prejudice.  He never
returned without prisoners.  He passed the Elbe near Pardubitz, took the
magazines, and was the cause of the great dearth and desertion among the
Prussians, and of that hasty retreat to which they were forced.  The King
was at Cohn with his headquarters, where I was with him, when Trenck
attacked the town, which he must have carried, had he not been wounded by
a cannon-ball, which shattered his foot.  He was taken away, the attack
did not succeed, and his men, without him, remained but so many ciphers.

In 1745, he went to Vienna, where his entrance resembled a triumph.  The
Empress received him with distinction.  He appeared on crutches; she, by
her condescending speech, inflamed his zeal to extravagance.  Who would
have supposed that the favourite of the people would that year be
abandoned to the power of his enemies; who had not rendered, during their
whole lives, so much essential service to the state as Trenck had done in
a single day?  He returned to his estate, raised eight hundred recruits
that he might aid in the next campaign, and gather new laurels.  He
rejoined the army.  At the battle of Sorau he fell upon the Prussian
camp, and seized upon the tent of the King, but he came too late to
attack the rear, as had been preconcerted.  Frederic gave up his camp to
be plundered, for the Croats could not be drawn off to attack the army,
and the King was prepared to receive them, even if they should.  In the
meantime, the imperial army was defeated.

Here was a field for the enemies of Trenck to incite the people against
him.  They accused him of having made the King of Prussia a prisoner in
his tent; that he also pillaged the camp instead of attacking the rear of
the army.  After having ended the campaign, he returned to Vienna to
defend himself.  Here he found twenty-three officers, whom he expelled
his regiment, most of them for cowardice or mean actions.  They were
ready to bear false testimony.  Counsellor Weber and Gen. Loewenwalde,
had sworn his downfall, which they effected.  Trenck despised their
attacks.  While things remained thus, they instructed one of the
Empress's attendants to profit by every opportunity to deprive him of her
confidence.  It was affirmed, Trenck is an atheist! who never prayed to
the holy Virgin!  The officers, whom he had broken, whispered it in
coffee-houses, that Trenck had taken and set free the King of Prussia!
This raised the cry among the fanatical mob of Vienna.  Teased by their
complaints, and at the requisition of Trenck himself, the Empress
commanded that examination should be undertaken of these accusations.
Field-marshal Cordova was chosen to preside over this inquiry.  He spoke
the truth, and drew up a statement of the case; it was presented to the
Court, and which I shall here insert.

"The complaints brought against him did not require a court-martial.
Trenck had broken some officers by his own authority; their demands ought
to be satisfied by the payment of 12,000 florins.  The remaining
accusations were all the attempts of revenge and calumny, and were
insufficient to detain at Vienna, entangled in law-suits, a man so
necessary to the army.  Moreover, it would be prudent not to inquire into
trifles, in consideration of his important services."

Trenck, dissatisfied by this sentence, and animated by avarice and pride,
refused to pay a single florin, and returned to Sclavonia.  His presence
was necessary at Vienna, to obtain other advantages against his enemies.
They gave the Empress to understand, that being a man excessively
dangerous, whenever he supposed himself injured, Trenck had spread
pernicious views in Sclavonia, where all men were dependent on him.  He
raised six hundred more men, with whom he made a campaign in the
Netherlands, and in October, 1746, returned to Vienna.  After the peace
of Dresden, his regiment was incorporated among the regulars, and served
against France.

Scarcely had he arrived at Vienna, before an order came from the Empress
that he must remain under arrest in his chamber.  Here he rendered
himself guilty by the most imprudent action of his whole life.  He
ordered his carriage and horses, despising the imperial mandate, went to
the theatre, when the Empress was present.  In one of the boxes he saw
Count Gossau, in company with a comrade of his own, whom he had
cashiered: these persons were among the foremost of his accusers.
Inflamed with the desire of revenge, he entered the box, seized Count
Gossau, and would have thrown him into the pit in the presence of the
Sovereign herself.  Gossau drew his sword, and tried to run him through,
but the latter seizing it, wounded himself in the hand.  Everybody ran to
save Gossau, who was unable to defend himself.  After this exploit, the
colonel of the pandours returned foaming home.

Such an action rendered it impossible for Maria Theresa to declare
herself the protectress of a man so rash.  Sentinels were placed over
him, and his enemies profiting by his imprudence and passion, he was
ordered to be tried by a court-martial.  General Loewenwalde intrigued so
successfully, that he procured himself to be named, by the Hofkriegsrath,
president of the court-martial, and to be charged with the sequestration
of the property of Trenck.  In vain did the latter protest against his
judge.  The very man, whom the year before he had kicked out of the ante-
chamber of Prince Charles, received full power to denounce him guilty.
Then was it that public notice was given that all those who would prefer
complaints against Colonel Baron Trenck should receive a ducat per day
while the council continued to sit.  They soon amounted to fifty-four,
who, in a space of four months, received 15,000 florins from the property
of Trenck.  The judge himself purchased the depositions of false
witnesses; and Count Loewenwalde offered me one thousand ducats, if I
would betray the secrets of my cousin, and promised me I should be put in
possession of my confiscated estates in Prussia, and have a company in a
regiment.

That the indictment and the examinations of the witnesses were falsified,
has already been proved in the revision of the cause; but as the
indictment did not contain one article that could affect his life, they
invented the following stratagem.  A courtesan, a mistress of Baron
Rippenda, who was a member of the court-martial, was bribed, and made
oath she was the daughter of Count Schwerin, Field-marshal in the
Prussian service, and that she was in bed with the King of Prussia, when
Trenck surprised the camp at Sorau, made her and the King prisoners, and
restored them their freedom.  She even ventured to name Baron Hilaire,
aide-de-camp to Frederic, whom she affirmed was then present.  Hilaire,
who afterwards married the Baroness Tillier, and who consequently was
brother-in-law to Trenck, fortunately happened to be in Vienna.  He was
confronted with this woman, and through her falsehoods, the gentleman was
obliged to remain in prison, where they offered him bribes, which be
refused to accept; and, to prevent his speaking, he continued in prison
some weeks, and was not released till this shameful proceeding was made
public.

Count Loewenwalde invented another artifice; he drew up a false
indictment; and, that he might be prevented all means of justification,
he chose a day to put it in practice, when the Emperor and Prince Charles
were hunting at Holitzsch.  Loewenwalde's court-martial had already
signed a sentence of death, and every preparation for the erection of a
scaffold was made.  His intention was then to go to the Empress and
induce her to sign the sentence, under a pretence that there was some
imminent peril at hand, if a man so dangerous to the state was not
immediately put out of the way, and that it would be necessary to execute
the sentence of death before the Emperor could return.  He well knew the
Emperor was better acquainted with Trenck, and had ever been his
protector.

Had this succeeded, Trenck would have died like a traitor; Miss Schwerin
would have espoused the aide-de-camp of Loewenwalde, with fifty thousand
florins, taken from the funds of Trenck, and his property would have been
divided between his judges and his accusers.  As it happened, however,
the valet-de-chambre of Count Loewenwalde, who was an honest man, and who
had an intimacy with a former mistress of Trenck, confided the whole
secret to her.  She immediately flew to Colonel Baron Lopresti, who was
the sincere friend of my kinsman, and, being then powerful at Court, was
his deliverer.  The Emperor and Prince Charles were informed of what was
in agitation, but they thought proper to keep it secret.  The hunting at
Holitzsch took place on the appointed day.  Count Loewenwalde made his
appearance before the Empress, and solicited her to sign the sentence.
She, however, had been pre-informed, the Emperor having returned on the
same day, and their abominable project proved abortive.  Miss Schwerin
was imprisoned; Loewenwalde was deprived of his power, as well as of the
sequestration of the effects of Trenck; a total revision of the
proceedings of the court-martial, and of the prosecution of my cousin,
was ordered, which was an event, that, till then, was unexampled at
Vienna.

Trenck was freed from his fetters, removed to the arsenal, an officer
guarded him, and he had every convenience he could wish.  He was also
permitted the use of a counsellor to defend his cause.  I obtained by the
influence of the Emperor leave to visit him and to aid him in all things.
It was at this epoch that I arrived at Vienna, and, at this very instant,
when the revision of the prosecution was commanded and determined on.
Count Loewenwalde, supposing me a needy, thoughtless youth, endeavoured
to bribe me, and prevail on me to betray my kinsman.  Prince Charles of
Lorraine then desired me seriously to represent to Trenck that his
avarice had been the cause of all these troubles, for he hind refused to
pay the paltry sum of 12,000 florins, by which he might have silenced all
his accusers; but that, as at present, affairs had become so serious, he
ought himself to secure his judges for the revision of the suit; to spare
no money, and then he might be certain of every protection the prince
could afford.

The respectable Field-marshal Konigseck, governor of Vienna, was
appointed president; but, being an old man, he was unable to preside at
any one sitting of the court.  Count S--- was the vice-president, a
subtle, insatiable judge, who never thought he had money enough.  I took
3,000 ducats, which Baron Lopresti gave me, to this most worthy
counsellor.  The two counsellors, Komerkansquy and Zetto, each received
4,000 rix-dollars, with a promise of double the sum if Trenck were
acquitted; there was a formal contract drawn up, which a certain noble
lord secretly signed.  Trenck was defended by the advocate Gerhauer and
by Berger.  They began with the self-created daughter of Marshal
Schwerin; and, to conceal the iniquitous proceedings of the late court-
martial, it was thought proper that she should appear insane, and return
incoherent answers to the questions put by the examiners.  Trenck
insisted that a more severe inquiry should be instituted; but they
affirmed that she had been conducted out of the Austrian territories.

Trenck was accused of having ordered a certain pandour, named Paul Diack,
to suffer the bastinado of 1,000 blows, and that he had died under the
punishment.  This was sworn to by two officers, now great men in the
army, who said they were eye-witnesses of the fact.  When the revision of
the suit began, Trenck sent me into Sclavonia, where I found the dead
Paul Diack alive, and brought him to Vienna.  He was examined by the
court, where it appeared that the two officers, who had sworn they were
present when he expired, and had seen him buried, were at that time 160
miles from the regiment, and recruiting in Sclavonia.  Paul Diack had
engaged in plots, and had mutinied three times.  Trenck had pardoned him,
but afterwards mutinying once more, with forty others, he was condemned
to death.  At the place of execution he called to his colonel: "Father,
if I receive a thousand blows, will you pardon me?"  Trenck replied in
the affirmative.  He received the punishment, was taken to the hospital,
and cured.

I brought fourteen more witnesses from Sclavonia, who attested the
falsity of other articles of accusation which were not worthy of
attention.  The cause wore a new aspect; and the wickedness of those who
were so desirous to have seen Trenck executed became apparent.

One of the chief articles in the prosecution, which for ever deprived him
of favour from his virtuous and apostolic mistress, and for which alone
he was condemned to the Spielberg, was, that he had ravished the daughter
of a miller in Silesia.  This was made oath of, and he was not entirely
cleared of the charge in the revision, because his accusers had excluded
all means of justification.  Two years after his death, I discovered the
truth of this affair.  Mainstein accused him of this crime that he might
prevent his return to the regiment; his motive was, because he, in
conjunction with Frederici, had appropriated to their own purposes 8,000
florins of regimental money.

This miller's daughter was the mistress of Mainstein, before she had been
seen by Trenck.  Maria Theresa, however, would never forgive him; and, to
satisfy the honour of this damsel, he was condemned to pay 8,000 florins
to her, and 15,000 to the chest of the invalids, and to suffer perpetual
imprisonment.  Sixty-three civil suits had I to defend, and all the
appeals of his accusers to terminate after his death.  I gained them all
and his accusers were condemned in costs, also to refund the so much per
day which had been paid them by General Loewenwalde; but they were all
poor, and I might seek the money where I could.  In justice, Loewenwalde
ought to have reimbursed me.  The total of the sum they received was
15,000 florins.

Most of the other articles of accusation consisted in Trenck's having
beheaded some mutinous pandours, and broken his officers without a court-
martial; that he had bought of his soldiers, and melted down the holy
vessels of the church, chalices, and rosaries; had bastinadoed some
priests, had not heard mass every Sunday, and had dragged malefactors
from convents, in which they had taken refuge.  When the officers were no
longer protected by Loewenwalde, or Weber, they decamped, but did not
cease to labour to gain their purpose, which they attained by the aid of
the Court-confessor.  This monk found means to render Maria Theresa
insensible of pity towards a man who had been so prodigal of his blood in
her defence.  Loewenwalde knew how to profit by the opportunity.  Gerhauer
discovered the secret proceedings; and Loewenwalde, now deeply interested
in the ruin of Trenck, went to the Empress, related the manner in which
the judges had been bribed, and threatened that should he, through the
protection of the Emperor and Prince Charles, be declared innocent, he
would publicly vindicate the honour of the court-martial.

Had my cousin followed my advice and plan of flight he would not have
died in prison nor should I have lain in the dungeon of Magdeburg.  With
respect to individuals whom he robbed, innocent men whom he massacred,
and many other worthy people whom he made miserable; with respect to his
father, aged eighty-four, and his virtuous wife, whom he treated with
barbarity; with respect to myself, to the duties of consanguinity and of
man, he merited punishment, the pursuit of the avenging arm of justice,
and to be extirpated from all human society.




EPILOGUE.


Thomas Carlyle's opinion of the author of this History is expressed in
the following passages from his _History of Friedrich II. of Prussia_:
"'Frederick Baron Trenck,' loud sounding phantasm, once famous in the
world, now gone to the nurseries as mythical, was of this carnival (1742-
3.) . . . A tall actuality in that time, swaggering about in sumptuous
Life Guard uniform in his mess-rooms and assembly-rooms; much in love
with himself, the fool!  And I rather think, in spite of his dog
insinuations, neither Princess had heard of him till twenty years hence,
in a very different phasis of his life!  The empty, noisy, quasi-tragic
fellow; sounds throughout quasi-tragical, like an empty barrel;
well-built, longing to be filled."--Book xiv., ch. 3.



***