The campaign to him was glorious, and the enemy's want of light troops gave free scope to his enterprises, highly to their prejudice. He never returned without prisoners. He passed the Elbe near Pardubitz, took the magazines, and was the cause of the great dearth and desertion among the Prussians, and of that hasty retreat to which they were forced. The King was at Cohn with his headquarters, where I was with him, when Trenck attacked the town, which he must have carried, had he not been wounded by a cannon-ball, which shattered his foot. He was taken away, the attack did not succeed, and his men, without him, remained but so many ciphers.
In 1745, he went to Vienna, where his entrance resembled a triumph.
The Empress received him with distinction. He appeared on crutches;she, by her condescending speech, inflamed his zeal to extravagance.
Who would have supposed that the favourite of the people would that year be abandoned to the power of his enemies; who had not rendered, during their whole lives, so much essential service to the state as Trenck had done in a single day? He returned to his estate, raised eight hundred recruits that he might aid in the next campaign, and gather new laurels. He rejoined the army. At the battle of Sorau he fell upon the Prussian camp, and seized upon the tent of the King, but he came too late to attack the rear, as had been preconcerted. Frederic gave up his camp to be plundered, for the Croats could not be drawn off to attack the army, and the King was prepared to receive them, even if they should. In the meantime, the imperial army was defeated.
Here was a field for the enemies of Trenck to incite the people against him. They accused him of having made the King of Prussia a prisoner in his tent; that he also pillaged the camp instead of attacking the rear of the army. After having ended the campaign, he returned to Vienna to defend himself. Here he found twenty-three officers, whom he expelled his regiment, most of them for cowardice or mean actions. They were ready to bear false testimony.
Counsellor Weber and Gen. Loewenwalde, had sworn his downfall, which they effected. Trenck despised their attacks. While things remained thus, they instructed one of the Empress's attendants to profit by every opportunity to deprive him of her confidence. It was affirmed, Trenck is an atheist! who never prayed to the holy Virgin! The officers, whom he had broken, whispered it in coffee-houses, that Trenck had taken and set free the King of Prussia!
This raised the cry among the fanatical mob of Vienna. Teased by their complaints, and at the requisition of Trenck himself, the Empress commanded that examination should be undertaken of these accusations. Field-marshal Cordova was chosen to preside over this inquiry. He spoke the truth, and drew up a statement of the case;it was presented to the Court, and which I shall here insert.
"The complaints brought against him did not require a court-martial.
Trenck had broken some officers by his own authority; their demands ought to be satisfied by the payment of 12,000 florins. The remaining accusations were all the attempts of revenge and calumny, and were insufficient to detain at Vienna, entangled in law-suits, a man so necessary to the army. Moreover, it would be prudent not to inquire into trifles, in consideration of his important services."Trenck, dissatisfied by this sentence, and animated by avarice and pride, refused to pay a single florin, and returned to Sclavonia.
His presence was necessary at Vienna, to obtain other advantages against his enemies. They gave the Empress to understand, that being a man excessively dangerous, whenever he supposed himself injured, Trenck had spread pernicious views in Sclavonia, where all men were dependent on him. He raised six hundred more men, with whom he made a campaign in the Netherlands, and in October, 1746, returned to Vienna. After the peace of Dresden, his regiment was incorporated among the regulars, and served against France.
Scarcely had he arrived at Vienna, before an order came from the Empress that he must remain under arrest in his chamber. Here he rendered himself guilty by the most imprudent action of his whole life. He ordered his carriage and horses, despising the imperial mandate, went to the theatre, when the Empress was present. In one of the boxes he saw Count Gossau, in company with a comrade of his own, whom he had cashiered: these persons were among the foremost of his accusers. Inflamed with the desire of revenge, he entered the box, seized Count Gossau, and would have thrown him into the pit in the presence of the Sovereign herself. Gossau drew his sword, and tried to run him through, but the latter seizing it, wounded himself in the hand. Everybody ran to save Gossau, who was unable to defend himself. After this exploit, the colonel of the pandours returned foaming home.
