The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck Volume 1
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Baron Trenck >> The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck Volume 1
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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.
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