Chapter XIV: End of the Seven Years’ War

Maria Theresa and the Elector of Saxony realized that under such circumstances as these they were in no condition to continue the war alone against Prussia and that, whether they would or not, they must take steps to conclude a treaty of peace. The Seven Years’ War had convinced both of them that they could never take beautiful Silesia from the hands of their brave enemies, much less humble the Margrave of Brandenburg. So they extended the hand of peace to the King. The hunting castle of Hubertsburg[26] was selected as the place for the negotiations and there the plenipotentiaries made peace, the King of Prussia being represented by Minister Von Herzberg. As he had fought many enemies in the field he had to make treaties with many, and they were concluded in such an honorable and skilful manner that Frederick was once more in possession of Silesia, and the county of Glatz did not lose a foot of its old possessions. The treaty was signed February 15, 1763, and caused unbounded enthusiasm in city and country. Those who have not experienced the horrors of war have little idea of the true significance of the word “peace.” It recalls Schiller’s beautiful words: “Gentle peace, sweet concord, abide with us. May that day never come when war’s hordes shall devastate this quiet valley and when the evening sky, tinged with roseate hues, shall reflect the dreadful glare of burning villages and towns.”

Crowned with victory, the King returned to his capital amid the rejoicings of his subjects. The Berliners had arranged an ovation for the homecoming hero. In view of the devastation and misery caused by the war he declined an immediate reception. On the thirtieth of March, a little later than he had intended, he entered his capital in the dusk of evening, remained there a short time, and then hastened on to Potsdam and Charlottenburg. At the latter place he one day summoned his musicians and fixed a time at which they should sing the chorale, “We praise thee, O God.”

They assembled punctually, supposing that the church would be filled with a large and brilliant audience. Instead of this, the King alone appeared, seated himself, and gave them the signal. The singers began, and each one did his utmost to contribute to the success of the performance. As the music of the hymn of praise, majestic as a song of cherubim, filled the house of God, Frederick was so affected that he reverently fell upon his knees and with tears in his eyes expressed his sincere gratitude to the Almighty for his many deliverances and for the help which had been vouchsafed him through the long and dreadful war now so happily ended. It was thus the victorious King celebrated his peace festival, and his devout attitude was so impressive that there was not a dry eye among the singers. Never before had they taken part in such a solemn and inspiring ceremony.

Frederick always spoke freely of the battles in the long war and liked to hear the accounts of his generals. On one occasion General Seydlitz was dining with him at Potsdam. After a general conversation, mention was made of the battle of Rossbach, and the King said: “My dear Seydlitz, I am greatly indebted to you, to your officers, and to your whole division for that victory.”

Seydlitz replied: “Excuse me, Your Majesty, not alone my division, but my chaplain, Balke, also conducted himself most gallantly. When the battle began he buckled on a sword and fought splendidly.”

“You don’t say so,” said the King. “He must be rewarded in some special way for such unusual service. The Provost[27] has just died. Balke shall have the place.” The chaplain was summoned to Potsdam, and was not a little surprised to receive an appointment to the vacant position.

The King extended his generosity not only in individual cases, but all over the country. There was urgent necessity to awaken fresh life and secure prosperity once more for the exhausted provinces. The war, which had been conducted with great bitterness and sometimes barbarity, had not only greatly distressed Prussia, but had left all Germany in a wretched plight. An entire circuit of towns and villages had been destroyed. The luxuriant fields had been trodden down by hoofs of horses and were lying waste. Entire villages were destitute of men, for their former residents had either been killed or driven away by the enemy. The Prussian army alone lost over two hundred thousand men during the war, and its allies, England, Hanover, Hesse, and others one hundred and sixty thousand more. The losses of the enemy were still greater, for they amounted to more than half a million men. Austria lost one hundred and forty thousand, Russia, one hundred and twenty thousand, France twenty-two thousand, Sweden, twenty-five thousand, and the German Reich, twenty-eight thousand.

Under such circumstances, it is not strange there were not enough men left in the country to till the soil. Women had to do that work, and in some places there were not women enough. Consequently the King issued an order to take a hundred of the strongest boys from the Potsdam Orphan Asylum, and set them at work in these depopulated localities. He devised still other means to make up this lack of men. He released Prussians from the army, filled their places with foreign recruits, and then ordered that as few Prussians as possible should be enlisted until the deficiency was made good. The number thus released was thirty thousand seven hundred and eighty. Every effort was made to assist them in the habits of self-reliance and industrial life, and orders were also issued that soldiers in such districts should be allowed to marry without a license from the authorities. Many buildings abandoned by their owners were going to ruin, and more than thirteen thousand houses in Prussia were destroyed. Fertile fields after the war looked like a barren wilderness, for there was a lack of seed-corn and products, and implements of every kind needed to put them in good condition again.

Gentry and peasants alike had been plundered by so many armies, and had lost so much by contributions and confiscations, that they were utterly destitute. The enemy had left them nothing but their lives. The country was not the only sufferer. Prosperity was ruined and trade was dead in the cities. There was no longer any regard for habits of order, and the police administration was wretched. The courts of justice and financial institutions had been reduced to inaction by these frequent invasions of the enemy. The silence of the laws had made the people reckless and produced in them an uncontrollable greed of gain. Nobles, merchants, farmers, and laborers raised the prices of their commodities, and their demands were exorbitant beyond belief. The situation called for drastic remedies, and the King, who was greatly concerned over the country’s condition, did not hesitate to apply them in a practical way. He realized that the Provinces could not recover unaided, and so he decided to help them. By his orders Silesia had to contribute three million; Pomerania and Neumark, one million four hundred thousand; the Electorate, seven hundred thousand; the Duchy of Cleve, one hundred thousand, and the province of Prussia, eight hundred thousand thalers. Beside this, he distributed among the most needy localities twenty-five thousand bushels of rye and meal, and seventeen thousand bushels of oats taken from the public storehouses. He went even further than this. He reduced the army, and distributed thirty-five thousand horses among the peasants and gentry. In those parts of the country which had suffered most severely during the war, particularly Crossen, Hohenstein, and Halberstadt, the taxes were reduced one-half. In Silesia the payment of taxes was suspended for six months, and in Pomerania and Neumark for two years. The gentry also received considerable sums of money for the arrangement of their affairs and the payment of debts, for their resources had been so greatly impaired, money was so scarce, and credit so uncertain, that there was otherwise no hope for their recovery.[28]

It was not only cities and villages that were ruined during this war. The discipline of the army was so impaired by dissoluteness that more stringent regulations had to be adopted. The work, however, proceeded so slowly that permanent results were not apparent until 1775. From that time the army displayed the genuine military spirit. Everything except the regulations governing enlistments had been changed.

It was natural that by the reduction of the army many a deserving soldier found himself badly off. When the free battalions were organized, a blacksmith’s journeyman in a Silesian village enlisted in the one commanded by Quintus Icilius, became a corporal, and subsequently was promoted to the position of major and was given the decoration for merit. After the battalion was disbanded, he was left to shift for himself, and as he could find nothing better went back to the smithy, but still wore his decoration. Seydlitz found him at work, and inquired where he got that decoration. He told his story, and Seydlitz told it to the King. Quintus was in attendance upon the King, and, one day at table, he said to him:

“Quintus, you had some fine specimens of officers in your battalion. There is, for instance, a blacksmith journeyman who has decorated himself with a service badge. How did that Cyclops come by it?”

Quintus replied: “I remember the brave fellow. I wish Your Majesty had had more such smiths in the campaign. This one certainly did well, and Your Majesty recognized his service and gave him the decoration in Saxony.”

“Why have you not told me about him before?” said the King.

Quintus answered: “It has been done, but Your Majesty at the time was much prejudiced against the free battalions and struck the name of this brave fellow off the list.”

The King smiled and shaking his head, said: “He has had hard luck and I must help him some way. Now, listen, I will give the man a pension for service, but he must not wear his decoration when at work and he must keep quiet until I call him.”

The quondam major shortly after this received a kindly letter, which assured him a generous pension and made him the happiest of men.

Considering the care with which this sagacious sovereign looked after matters in general as well as individual affairs, and devoted himself to the humblest as well as the greatest in his dominions, it is not surprising that the ruined towns and villages, and the waste lands as well, soon presented a changed aspect, but it took years before the sorely oppressed country recovered entirely from the devastating effects of war. With the increasing industry of the people, however, and the unfailing encouragement and assistance of the King in advancing the interests of commerce, trade, and agriculture, Prussia in time rose to a higher degree of prosperity and culture than ever before.

Appendix

The following is a chronological statement of the principal events in the Seven Years’ War:

1756 Frederick invades Saxony.
October 1, 1756 Frederick’s first victory at Lobositz.
1757 Frederick invades Bohemia.
May 6, 1757 Frederick defeats the Austrians at Prague.
June 18, 1757 Frederick defeated by the Austrians at Kollin.
July 26, 1757 French victory at Hastenbeck.
August 30, 1757 Russian victory at Grossjägendorf.
November 5, 1757 Frederick’s great victory at Rossbach.
December 5, 1757 Frederick defeats the Austrians at Leuthen.
August 25, 1758 Frederick defeats the Russians at Zorndorf.
October 14, 1758 Frederick defeated by Austrians at Hochkirch.
August 1, 1759 French defeated at Minden.
August 12, 1760 Frederick defeated at Kunersdorf.
August 15, 1760 Frederick defeats the Austrians at Liegnitz.
November 3, 1760 Frederick’s great victory at Torgau.
January 5, 1762 Death of Czarina Elizabeth and accession of Peter III.
March 3, 1762 Peter makes peace with Frederick.
July 17, 1762 Peter assassinated and succeeded by Catharine.
July 21, 1762 Frederick’s victory at Burkersdorf.
October 29, 1762 Victory of Prince Henry at Freiburg.
Last battle in the Seven Years’ War.
February 10, 1763 Peace between France, England, and Prussia.
February 15, 1763 Peace of Hubertsburg and close of the war.

Footnotes

[1]The Mark or Margravate of Brandenburg was the beginning of the
Kingdom of Prussia. The Nordmark, now in Saxony, was founded by Henry
I in 928 to preserve certain German territory. In 1134 it was granted
to Albert, who took the title of Margrave of Brandenburg. The mark
was gradually extended during the next three centuries, and in 1618
the Duchy of Prussia was united to it. During the reign of Frederick
William, the “Great Elector,” it was largely developed, and in 1700
it became the Kingdom of Prussia.

[2]This was in the Autumn of 1756.

[3]Pirna is on the Elbe, twelve miles from Dresden. It suffered greatly
not only during the Seven Years’ but the Thirty Years’ War.

[4]Francis I, son of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, married Maria Theresa in
1736 and was elected Emperor of Austria in 1745.

[5]“Very certain it is, at sight of his own regiment in retreat,
Feld-Marschall Schwerin seized the colors, as did other generals, who
are not named, that day. Seizes the colors, fiery old man: ‘_Heran,
meine kinder_’ (‘This way, my sons’), and rides ahead, along the
straight dam again; his ‘sons’ all turning and with hot repentance
following. ‘On, my children, _heran!_’ Five bits of grapeshot, deadly
each of them, at once hit the old man; dead he sinks there on his
flag: and will never fight more. ‘_Heran!_’ storm the others with hot
tears. Adjutant von Platen takes the flag; Platen too is instantly
shot; but another takes it. ‘_Heran_, on!’ in wild storm of rage and
grief; in a word, they manage to do the work at Sterbohol, they and
the rest.”—_Carlyle’s “Life of Frederick the Great_,” Book XVIII.

[6]July 5, 1757, Frederick wrote to his sister Wilhelmina at Baireuth:
“We have no longer a mother. This loss puts the crown on my sorrows.
I am obliged to act; and have not time to give free course to my
tears. Judge, I pray you, of the situation of a feeling heart put to
so cruel a trial. All losses in the world are capable of being
remedied; but those which death causes are beyond the reach of hope.”

[7]July 22, 1757.

[8]Eisenach is famous as the birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach, the
father of modern music. Luther also passed his early days there.
Wartburg, the princely residence of the Grand Duke of Weimar, is
there.

[9]A village in Saxony, nine miles southwest of Merseburg.

[10]Carlyle, in his “Frederick the Great,” quotes the following verse
from one of these hymns:

“Grant that with zeal and skill this day I do
What me to do behoves, what thou command’st me to;
Grant that I do it sharp, at point of moment fit,
And when I do it grant me good success in it.”

[11]A famous solitary and massive eminence south of Leuthen, known as
the “Magic Mountain.”

[12]
“Nun danket alle Gott
Mit Herzen, Mund, und Händen,
Der grosse Dinge thut
An uns und allen Erden.”

“Now thank God, one and all,
With heart, with voice, with hands,
Who wonders great hath done
To us and to all lands.”

[13]About $3.50 in our money.

[14]About $3,350,000.

[15]“His wardrobe consisted of one fine gala dress, which lasted all his
life; of two or three old coats fit for Monmouth Street, of yellow
waistcoats soiled with snuff, and of huge boots embrowned by
time.”—_Macaulay’s Essays._

[16]George Keith was an English soldier, who fought for the house of
Stuart in 1715, with his younger brother James. When that cause was
lost, they went to the Continent and served under various flags,
finally taking service with Frederick. Macaulay says: “Some of those
who knew the palace best pronounced that the Lord Marischal (Keith)
was the only human being whom Frederick ever really loved.”

[17]This letter was written by Daun to the Russian General Fermor. The
reply sent to Daun was written by the King, but was signed “Fermor,”
and read: “Your Excellency was in the right to warn me against a
cunning enemy whom you know better than I. Here have I tried fighting
him and got beaten.

“Your unfortunate
“Fermor.”

[18]Princess Friederike Sophie Wilhelmina was the favorite sister of
Frederick the Great. She was born in 1709, married the Margrave of
Baireuth in 1731, and died in 1758. She wrote her memoirs, but they
were not published until 1810. Like her brother, she was the frequent
victim of her father’s cruelty.

[19]Lord George Sackville, third son of the first Duke of Dorset, was an
English soldier. He was made Major General in 1755 and Lieutenant
General in 1757. He served second in command to Marlborough at
Hanover in 1758, and upon the latter’s death succeeded to the chief
command. For his conduct at Minden he was dismissed from the army.

[20]Frankfurt.

[21]The battlefield of Kunersdorf is near Frankfurt, on the other side
of the Oder, fifty miles southeast of Berlin.

[22]A ducat was the equivalent at that time of seven thalers.

[23]“In Charlottenburg, certain Saxon-Bruhl dragoons, who by their
conduct, might have been the dragoons of Attila, smashed the
furniture and the doors, cut the pictures, much maltreated the poor
people, and what was reckoned still more tragical, overset the poor
Polignac Collection of Antiques and Classicalities; not only knocking
off noses and arms, but beating them small, lest reparation by cement
should be possible, their officers, Pirna people, looking quietly on.
A scandalous proceeding, thought everybody, friend or foe,—especially
thought Frederick; whose indignation at the ruin of Charlottenburg
came out in way of reprisal by and by.”—_Carlyle’s_ “_Life of
Frederick the Great._”

[24]Elizabeth Petrovna, born December 29, 1709, Empress of Russia from
1741 to 1762, was the daughter of Peter the Great and Catharine I.
She was the founder of the Moscow University and St. Petersburg
Academy of Fine Arts.

[25]Peter III was born in Holstein in 1728. He was the son of Charles
Frederick, Duke of Holstein, and Anna, daughter of Peter the Great.
He was assassinated, and his wife, who was an accomplice, succeeded
him.

[26]This castle is near Wermadorf, Saxony, twenty-five miles east of
Leipsic.

[27]An ecclesiastical officer.

[28]The translator has taken the liberty to omit a few paragraphs in
this connection, setting forth some of Frederick’s financial and
economical methods for the restoration of prosperity. They have only
a local interest, and would hardly be entertaining for young people.

LIFE STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

_Translated from the German by
GEORGE P. UPTON_

8 Vols. Ready

Beethoven
Mozart
Bach
Maid of Orleans
William Tell
The Little Dauphin
Frederick the Great
Maria Theresa

_Each, with 4 Illustrations, 60 cents net_

LIFE STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

_BIOGRAPHICAL ROMANCES
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY_
GEORGE P. UPTON

_A new, interesting, and very useful series that will be found especially
suitable for school libraries and for supplementary reading_

The books in this series are translated from the German, because in that country a specialty is made of really desirable reading for the young. Eight titles are now ready and more will follow.

Their simplicity and accuracy make them very useful for every school library in the grades.

For parents who feel disposed to give their children books that provide a mild element of historical information, as well as first-class entertainment, the little books will prove a veritable find.

The “life-stories” retain the story form throughout, and embody in each chapter a stirring event in the life of the hero or the action of the time. The dramatis personæ are actual characters, and the facts in the main are historically correct. They are therefore both entertaining and instructive, and present biography in its most attractive form for the young.

A FULL LIST OF THE TITLES IS GIVEN ON THE NEXT PAGE

The work of translation has been done by Mr. George P. Upton, whose “Memories” and Lives of Beethoven, Haydn, and Liszt, from the German of Max Mueller and Dr. Nohl, have been so successful.

_Each is a small square 16mo in uniform binding, with four
illustrations. Each 60 cents net._

_FULL LIST OF TITLES_
Frederick the Great
The Maid of Orleans
The Little Dauphin
Maria Theresa
William Tell
Mozart
Beethoven
Johann Sebastian Bach

“These narratives have been well calculated for youthful minds past infancy, and Mr. Upton’s version is easy and idiomatic.”—_The Nation._

“He is a delightful writer, clearness, strength, and sincerity marking everything to which he puts his hand. He has translated these little histories from the German in a way that the reader knows has conserved all the strength of the original.”—_Chicago Evening Post._

“They are written in simple, graphic style, handsomely illustrated, and will be read with delight by the young people for whose benefit they have been prepared.”—_Chicago Tribune._

“The work of translation seems to have been well done, and these little biographies are very well fitted for the use of young people.... The volumes are compact and neat, and are illustrated sufficiently but not too elaborately.”—_Springfield Republican._

“These books are most entertaining and vastly more wholesome than the story books with which the appetites of young readers are for the most part satisfied.”—_Indianapolis Journal._

_OF ALL BOOKSELLERS OR OF THE PUBLISHERS_

A. C. McCLURG & CO., CHICAGO

Transcriber’s Notes

--Copyright notice provided as in the original—this e-text is public
domain in the country of publication.

--In the text versions, delimited italics text in _underscores_ (the
HTML version reproduces the font form of the printed book.)

--Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and
dialect unchanged.