The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck Volume 1
B >>
Baron Trenck >> The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck Volume 1
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 | 9 |
10 |
11 |
12
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.
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 | 9 |
10 |
11 |
12