登陆注册
4699200001230

第1230章

"Czarish Majesty to have East Preussen guaranteed to him, if he will insist that the King of Prussia DISPENSE with Silesia;"which the indignant Czar rejected with scorn, and at once made his Royal Friend aware of; with what emotion on the Royal Friend's part we have transiently seen. "Horrors and perfidies!" ejaculated he, in our hearing lately; and regarded Bute, from that time, as a knave and an imbecile both in one; nor ever quite forgave Bute's Nation either, which was far from being Bute's accomplice in this unheard-of procedure. "No more Alliances with England!" counted he:

"What Alliance can there be with that ever-fluctuating People?

To-day they have a thrice-noble Pitt; to-morrow a thrice-paltry Bute, and all goes heels-over-head on the sudden!" [Preuss, ii.

308; Mitchell, ii. 286.]

Bute, at this rate of going, will manage to get hold of Peace before long. To Friedrich himself, a Siege of Schweidnitz is now free; Schweidnitz his, the Austrians will have to quit Silesia.

"Their cash is out: except prayer to the Virgin, what but Peace can they attempt farther? In Saxony things will have gone ill, if there be not enough left us to offer them in return for Glatz. And Peace and AS-YOU-WERE must ensue!"Let us go upon Schweidnitz, therefore; pausing on none of these subsidiary things; and be brief upon Schweidnitz too.

Chapter XII.

SIEGE OF SCHWEIDNITZ: SEVENTH CAMPAIGN ENDS.

Daun being now cleared away, Friedrich instantly proceeds upon Schweidnitz. Orders the necessary Siege Materials to get under way from Neisse; posts his Army in the proper places, between Daun and the Fortress,--King's head-quarter Dittmannsdorf, Army spread in fine large crescent-shape, to southwest of Schweidnitz some ten miles, and as far between Daun and it;--orders home to him his Upper-Silesia Detachments, "Home, all of you, by Neisse Country, to make up for Czernichef's departure; from Neisse onwards you can guard the Siege-Ammunition wagons!" Naturally he has blockaded Schweidnitz, from the first; he names Tauentzien Siege-Captain, with a 10 or 12,000 to do the Siege: "Ahead, all of you!"--and in short, AUGUST 7th, with the due adroitness and precautions, opens his first parallel; suffering little or nothing hitherto by a resistance which is rather vehement. [Tempelhof, vi. 126.]

He expects to have the place in a couple of weeks--"one week (HUITJOUR)" he sometimes counts it, but was far out in his reckoning as to time.

The Siege of Schweidnitz occupied two most laborious, tedious months;--and would be wearisome to every reader now, as it was to Friedricb then, did we venture on more than the briefest outline.

The resistance is vehement, very skilful:--Commandant is Guasco (the same who was so truculent to Schmettau in the Dresden time);his Garrison is near 12,000, picked from all regiments of the Austrian Army; his provisions, ammunitions, are of the amplest;and he has under him as chief Engineer a M. Gribeauval, who understands "counter-mining" like no other. After about a fortnight of trial, and one Event in the neighborhood which shall be mentioned, this of Mining and Counter-mining--though the External Sap went restlessly forward too, and the cannonading was incessant on both sides--came to be regarded more and more as the real method, and for six or seven weeks longer was persisted in, with wonderful tenacity of attempt and resistance. Friedrich's chief Mining Engineer is also a Frenchman, one Lefebvre; who is personally the rival of Gribeauval (his old class-fellow at College, I almost think); but is not his equal in subterranean work,--or perhaps rather has the harder task of it, that of Mining, instead of COUNTER-mining, or SPOILING Mines. Tempelhof's account of these two people, and their underground wrestle here, is really curious reading;--clear as daylight to those that will study, but of endless expansion (as usual in Tempelhof), and fit only to be indicated here. [Tempelhof, vi. 122-219; Bericht und Tagebuch von der Belagerung von Schweidnitz vom 7ten August bis 9October, 1762 (Seyfarth, Beylagen, iii. 376-479); Archenholtz, Retzow, &c.]

The external Event I promised to mention is an attempt on Daun's part (August 16th) to break in upon Friedrich's position, and interrupt the Siege, or render it still impossible. Event called the BATTLE OF REICHENBACH, though there was not much of battle in it;--in which our old friend the Duke of Brunswick-Bevern (whom we have seen in abeyance, and merely a Garrison Commandant, for years back, till the Russians left Stettin to itself) again played a shining part.

Daun--at Tannhausen, 10 miles to southwest of Friedrich, and spread out among the Hills, with Loudons, Lacys, Becks, as lieutenants, and in plenty of force, could he resolve on using it--has at last, after a month's meditation, hit upon a plan. Plan of flowing round by the southern skirt of Friedrich, and seizing certain Heights to the southeastern or open side of Schweidnitz,--Koltschen Height the key one; from which he may spread up at will, Height after Height, to the very Zobtenberg on that eastern side, and render Schweidnitz an impossibility. The plan, people say, was good; but required rapidity of execution,--a thing Daun is not strong in.

Bevern's behavior, too, upon whom the edge of the matter fell, was very good. Bevern, coming on from Neisse and Upper Silesia, had been much manoeuvred upon for various days by Beck; Beck, a dangerous, alert man, doing his utmost to seize post after post, and bar Bevern's way,--meaning especially, as ultimate thing, to get hold of a Height called Fischerberg, which lies near Reichenbach (in the southern Schweidnitz vicinities), and is preface to Koltschen Height and to the whole Enterprise of Daun.

同类推荐
  • 摩邓女经

    摩邓女经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 金刚寿命陀罗尼经

    金刚寿命陀罗尼经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Golden Sayings

    The Golden Sayings

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 飛跎全傳

    飛跎全傳

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Boss and the Machine

    The Boss and the Machine

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 哭苗垂

    哭苗垂

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 长歌行

    长歌行

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 宅府烟云

    宅府烟云

    她,不过一介身世浮萍的孤女。他,不过战场上杀伐立身的匹夫。如果没有他,她还是那个抛弃了性命,只挣个对错的傻子。如果没有她,他还是那个浴血在疆场,不求个结果的疯子。她这一生,沉浮于高墙内外。幸而有他,扶持与共,生死相依。
  • 斗魄巅峰

    斗魄巅峰

    他被鉴定为弃族之人,被村子无情抛弃!在古陨山中却被一只“小狗”给救了下来······经历数次挫折,终得修炼法诀!且看我热血刀锋对抗这无情世界。闯天涯,得真情!炼神丹,夺造化!雄赳赳,气昂昂,凌绝顶,掌风云!
  • 崔永元的说话之道

    崔永元的说话之道

    最是那一撇嘴的“坏笑”,引起观众抑制不住的大笑。这位“邻居大妈的儿子”,总是“用老百姓的话说出并不简单的道理”,他甚至把自己的“结巴”和“尴尬”保留在播出带中。这就是著名电视节目主持人崔永元。本书从崔永元在节目中、记者采访中的精彩对话,以及在其他公众场合的警句妙语着眼,全面解析他的说话之道、幽默法宝,让读者从他的高超口才中得到启发,提高自己的说话水平。
  • 贝克汉姆:未来

    贝克汉姆:未来

    本书出版于贝克汉姆退役之后,书中详尽地描述了贝克汉姆从出生到退役的38年间大起大落的璀璨人生。本书首次披露了贝克汉姆选择退役的思想斗争、具体经过和艰难的选择。对于完整地认识万人迷贝克汉姆与足球难以割舍的感情具有重要作用。书中还完整披露了贝克汉姆与辣妹维多利亚的爱情经历。在全书中贯穿始终的,是贝克汉姆和“辣妹”维多利亚至深至真的爱情,作为全世界最有名的夫妻,他们也面临着常人无法想象的压力和诱惑,而他们互相支持,不离不弃,渡过了一个又一个人生的节点。我们可以从书中的每一个细节,读出这对金童玉女之间的甜蜜爱意。
  • 草泽狂歌

    草泽狂歌

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 重生女王很强势

    重生女王很强势

    以一人之力单挑百万雄师,百万雄师的消亡伴随着她一起流逝……本以为自己已经到了阴曹地府,可她一睁眼,竟然是换了具身体?巧妙的同名同姓,拥有着可怜的身世,而且还被一个毫无血缘关系的叔叔送人还债?!秦家不仅想吞了属于她的财产?渣妹老想着她身败名裂?渣男总是三番五次想要靠近?不好意思,她的大砍刀好像在蠢蠢欲动。她肆意果断,行事以快很准来形容;她富可敌国,手握世俗与修真界的经济命脉,坐拥上亿资产,用她对唐文正说的一句话来说,那就是“我们不差钱!”可再怎么要强的女孩纸,终究会遇上一个愿意守护自己的人,比如说个傅家少爷……
  • 倾世琼王妃

    倾世琼王妃

    “小姐,你慢点跑,当心摔倒。”一个丫鬟扮饰的姑娘在追着一个十二三岁的小姑娘。一前一后,一矮一高穿梭在栀子花林中。“碧荷姐姐,快点!我们就躲在这后面,红梅姐姐肯定找不到我们的。”小姑娘银铃般的声音回应在栀子花林中。在这片林中偏僻的角落处,散落着几口破缸,碧荷和年纪小小的慕容云琼就躲在后面,这时,静谧的花林中隐隐传来脚步声,脚步声越来越近,只是那脚步声中那夹杂着的错乱与惊慌,让……
  • 天枢院都司须知令

    天枢院都司须知令

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。