登陆注册
4699200000672

第672章

"Accordingly he grumbles, threatens: he has been listening to France, 'Bourbon, how much will you give me, then?' and the answer is such that he informs the Queen of Hungary and the Britannic Majesty, of his intention to close with Bourbon, since they on their side will do nothing considerable. George and his Carteret, not to mention the Hungarian Majesty at all, are thunder-struck at such a prospect; bend all their energies towards this essential point of retaining Charles Emanuel, which is more urgent even than getting Elsass. 'Madam,' they say to her Majesty, (we cannot save Italy for you on other terms: Vigevanesco, Finale [which is Genoa's], part of Piacenza [when once got]: there must be some slice of the Lombard parts to this Charles Emanuel justly angry!'

Whereat the high Queen storms, and in her high manner scolds little George, as if he were the blamable party,--pretending friendship, and yet abetting mere highway robbery or little better. And his cash paid Madam, and his Dettingen mouse-trap fought? 'Well, he has plenty of cash:--is it my Cause, then, or his Majesty's and Liberty's?' Posterity, in modern England, vainly endeavors to conceive this phenomenon; yet sees it to be undeniable.

"And so there is a Treaty of Worms got concocted, after infinite effort on the part of Carteret, Robinson too laboring and steaming in Vienna with boilers like to burst; and George gets it signed 13th September [already signed while Friedrich was looking into Seckendorf and Wembdingen, if Friedrich had known it]: to this effect, That Charles Emanuel should have annually, down on the nail, a handsome increase of Subsidy (200,000 pounds instead of 150,000 pounds) from England, and ultimately beyond doubt some thinnish specified slices from the Lombard parts; and shall proceed fighting for, not against; English Fleet co-operating, English Purse ditto, regardless of expense; with other fit particulars, as formerly. [Scholl, ii. 330-335; Adelung, iii. B, 222-226; Coxe, iii. 296.] Maria Theresa, very angry, looks upon herself as a martyr, nobly complying to suffer for the whim of England;and Robinson has had such labors and endurances, a steam-engine on the point of bursting is but an emblem of him. It was a necessary Treaty for the Cause of Liberty, as George and Carteret, and all English Ministries and Ministers (Diana of Newcastle very specially, in spite of Pitt and a junior Opposition Party) viewed Liberty. It was Love's last shift,--Diana having intervened upon those magnificent 'Conferences of Hanau' lately! Nevertheless Carteret was thrown out, next year, on account of it. And Posterity is unable to conceive it; and asks always of little George, What, in the name of wonder, had he to do there, fighting for or against, and hiring everybody he met to fight against everybody? A King with eyes somewhat A FLEUR-DE-TETE: yes; and let us say, his Nation, too,--which has sat down quietly, for almost a century back, under mountains of nonsense, inwardly nothing but dim Scepticism [except in the stomachic regions], and outwardly such a Trinacria of Hypocrisy [unconscious, for most part] as never lay on an honest giant Nation before, was itself grown much of a fool, and could expect no other kind of Kings.

"But the point intensely interesting to Friedrich in this Treaty of Worms was, That, in enumerating punctually the other Treaties, old and recent, which it is to guarantee, and stand upon the basis of, there is nowhere the least mention of Friedrich's BRESLAU-AND-BERLIN TREATY; thrice-important Treaty with her Hungarian Majesty on the Silesian matter! In settling all manner of adjoining and preceding matters, there is nothing said of Silesia at all. Singular indeed. Treaties enough, from that of Utrecht downward, are wearisomely mentioned here; but of the Berlin Treaty, Breslau Treaty, or any Treaty settling Silesia,--much less, of any Westminster Treaty, guaranteeing it to the King of Prussia,--there is not the faintest mention! Silesia, then, is not considered settled, by the high contracting parties? Little George himself, who guaranteed it, in the hour of need, little more than a year ago, considers it fallen loose again in the new whirl of contingencies? 'Patience, Madam: what was good to give is good to take!' On what precise day or month Friedrich got notice of this expressive silence in the Treaty of Worms, we do not know; but from that day--!"Friedrich recollects another thing, one of many others: that of those "ulterior mountains," which Austria had bargained for as Boundary to Schlesien. Wild bare mountains; good for what? For invading Schlesien from the Austrian side; if for nothing else conceivable! The small riddle reads itself to him so, with a painful flash of light. [ OEuvres de Frederic,

iii. 34.] Looking intensely into this matter, and putting things together, Friedrich gets more and more the alarming assurance of the fate intended him; and that he will verily have to draw sword again, and fight for Silesia, and as if for life. From about the end of 1743 (as I strive to compute), there was in Friedrich himself no doubt left of it; though his Ministers, when he consulted them a good while afterwards, were quite incredulous, and spent all their strength in dissuading a new War; now when the only question was, How to do said War? "How to do it, to make ready for doing it? We must silently select the ways, the methods: silent, wary,--then at last swift; and the more like a lion-spring, like a bolt from the blue, it will be the better!" That is Friedrich's fixed thought.

同类推荐
  • 针邪密要

    针邪密要

    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。
  • 中国诗歌古典名句大全

    中国诗歌古典名句大全

    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。
  • 总制浙闽文檄

    总制浙闽文檄

    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。
  • 集大乘相论

    集大乘相论

    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。
  • 浮石禅师语录

    浮石禅师语录

    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
  • 惊世丑妃:毒医三小姐

    惊世丑妃:毒医三小姐

    时芷桐,二十一世纪医学专家,擅长制毒,一朝穿越到时家又丑有废物的三小姐身上,魂师世家却不能修炼,废物?手镯滴血,封印破解,容颜大改,一路高歌猛进,半途还拐个帅哥做夫君……情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 中国为什么没有优衣库:解密中国式连锁经营困局

    中国为什么没有优衣库:解密中国式连锁经营困局

    中小型连锁企业怎样实现低成本的品牌传播?社会化媒体时代,连锁品牌怎样发挥自身门店众多的优势?品牌和消费者之间的关系又在发生着哪些微妙改变?《解密中国连锁经营困局:中国为什么没有优衣库》从专业的角度详述了中小型连锁零售企业经营现状,首次全面揭示中小型连锁企业所面临的困局及陷入困局的原因。书中结合众多成功的实际案例,从客观诊断到模式设计,从快速招商到门店的管控复制,再从盈利提升到品牌立体传播,让中小型连锁企业看到门店盈利的曙光。
  • 长灵守卓禅师语录

    长灵守卓禅师语录

    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。
  • 谁说8090不靠谱

    谁说8090不靠谱

    他们是人类历史上绝无仅有的独生代群体,这注定了他们与以往的任何一代都不同。不管你是否愿意承认,他们都已经长大,并将在未来的几十年中成为中国社会的中流砥柱。作为80后、90后独生一代,你如何处世?作为父母,如何调教80后、90后的孩子?
  • 寻找卡拉

    寻找卡拉

    这是一个耐人寻味的故事,它象征性地概括了二十几年前或十几年前确实发生过的文化现象。大约在20世纪70年代末至80年代初、中期,那也是短篇小说的“黄金时期”。那时的文学期刊包括诗刊,都办得蒸蒸日上,红红火火。“文学热”是那个时期的时代特征。改革大潮一浪接一浪,生活的道路越来越宽广,各路人马纷纷“下海”,一些诗人、作家也耐不住“万元户”的诱惑。潮流变了,“文学”不再是热点,多数期刊的发行量每况愈下,一些报纸的文学副刊也被砍去,代之以流行的时尚娱乐和衣食住行的专刊、专栏。为了生存,许多刊物改为时尚杂志、实用杂志,或者改版内面何小学生或中学生的杂志。
  • The Sportsman

    The Sportsman

    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。
  • 冲突与调适:农村中小学教学改革的文化路向

    冲突与调适:农村中小学教学改革的文化路向

    冲突与调适——农村中小学教学改革的文化路向冲突与调适——农村中小学教学改革的文化路向
  • 公主在上:相爷请接招

    公主在上:相爷请接招

    让天启百姓恨的牙痒的长公主死于生辰宴,出葬之日又复活在棺材之中,谁曾想,棺材中醒来的人其实是异世孤魂,真正的长公主魂穿成了弱鸡的七公主。宋肆意扬天长吼:“还老娘的貌美如花,还老娘的滔天权势,还老娘的璀璨光环,还老娘辛苦打下的朝堂啊!”没了倾国之貌,没了尊贵身份,没了光环万丈,却阴差阳错的得了一个便宜夫君。宋肆意表示:“老娘是要干大事儿的人,夫君什么的哪儿凉快哪儿待着去,别阻碍我的伟大宏图报负!”某便宜夫君问道:“在我滚之前,能不能问一下你的伟大宏图报负是什么?”宋肆意:“我同人打了一个赌,他来流芳百世,我来遗臭万年!”一句誓言,经转流年。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 与你相遇在素锦华年(宋词四公子的词与情)

    与你相遇在素锦华年(宋词四公子的词与情)

    宋朝是个文治辉煌的朝代,诗人词客风流蕴藉,笔下生花;翩翩少年花前侧帽,柳边系马。而那些美丽的宋词,就如同活色生香的女子,在歌扇轻摇间回眸一笑,就使大宋王朝满堂花醉。
  • 穿越之宝儿不乖

    穿越之宝儿不乖

    前世的上官夕一生挣扎。好不容易报了血海深仇,不料祭拜父母时天降炸弹,为了保护父母陵墓,她只好拿着炸弹滚蛋。怎料一睁眼她竟变成了一枚肩不能扛手不能提的小妞。罢了罢了,这娘她养了,罢了罢了,这长得帅的傻子也一起养了吧!