The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck Volume 1

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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."

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