Peace had been concluded nine months. I was forgotten. At last, when I supposed all hope lost, the 25th of December, and the day of freedom, came. At the hour of parade, Count Schlieben, lieutenant of the guards, brought orders for my release!
The sub-governor supposed me weaker in intellect than I was, and would not too suddenly tell me these tidings. He knew not the presence of mind, the fortitude, which the dangers I had seen had made habitual.
My doors for the LAST TIME resounded! Several people entered; their countenances were cheerful, and the sub-governor at their head at length said, "This time, my dear Trenck, I am the messenger of good news. Prince Ferdinand has prevailed on the King to let your irons be taken off." Accordingly, to work went the smith. "You shall also," continued he, "have a better apartment." "I am free, then,"said I. "Speak! fear not! I can moderate my transports.""Then you are free!" was the reply.
The sub-governor first embraced me, and afterwards his attendants.
He asked me what clothes I would wish. I answered, the uniform of my regiment. The tailor took my measure. Reichmann told him it must be made by the morning. The man excused himself because it was Christmas Eve. "So, then, this gentleman must remain in his dungeon because it is holiday with you." The tailor promised to be ready.
I was taken to the guard-room, congratulations were universal, and the town-major administered the oath customary to all state prisoners.
1st. That I should avenge myself on no man.
2nd. That I should neither enter the Prussian nor Saxon states.
3rd. That I should never relate by speech or in writing what had happened to me.
4th. And that, so long as the King lived, I should neither serve in a civil nor military capacity.
Count Schlieben delivered me a letter from the imperial minister, General Reidt, to the following purport:- That he rejoiced at having found an opportunity of obtaining my liberty from the King, and that I must obey the requisitions of Count Schlieben, whose orders were to accompany me to Prague.
"Yes, dear Trenck," said Schlieben, "I am to conduct you through Dresden to Prague, with orders not to suffer you to speak to any one on the road. I have received three hundred ducats, to defray the expenses of travelling. As all things cannot be prepared today, the, sub-governor has determined we shall depart to-morrow night."I acquiesced, and Count Schlieben remained with me; the others returned to town, and I dined with the major and officers on guard, with General Walrabe in his prison.
Once at liberty, I walked about the fortifications, to collect the money I had concealed in my dungeon. To every man on guard I gave a ducat, to the sentinels, each three, and ten ducats to be divided among the relief-guard. I sent the officer on guard a present from Prague, and the remainder of my money I bestowed on the widow of the worthy Gelfhardt. He was no more, and she had entrusted the thousand florins to a young soldier, who, spending them too freely, was suspected, betrayed her, and she passed two years in prison.
Gelfhardt never received any punishment; he was in the field. Had he left any children, I should have provided for them. To the widow of the man who hung himself before my prison door, in the year 1756, I gave thirty ducats, lent me by Schlieben.
The night was riotous, the guard made merry, and I passed most of it in their company. I was visited by all the generals of the garrison on Christmas morning, for I was not allowed to enter the town. Idressed, viewed myself in the glass, and found pleasure; but the tumult of my passions, the congratulations I received, and the vivacity round me, prevented my remembering incidents minutely.
Yet how wonderful an alteration in the countenances of those by whom I had been guarded! I was treated with friendship, attention, and flattery. And why? Because these fetters had dropped off which Ihad never justly borne.
Evening came, and with it Count Schlieben, a waggon, and four post-horses. After an affecting farewell, we departed. I shed tears at leaving Magdeburg. It seems strange that I lived here ten years, yet never saw the town.
The duration of my imprisonment at Magdeburg was nearly ten years, and with the term of my imprisonment at Glatz, the time is eleven years. Thus was I robbed of time, my body weakened, my health impaired, so that in my decline of life, a second time, I suffer the gloom and chains of the dungeon at Magdeburg.
The reader would now hope that my calamities were at an end; yet, upon my honour, I would prefer the suffering of the Star Fort to those I have since endured in Austria, especially while Krugel and Zetto were my referendaries and curators.
At this moment I am obliged to be guarded in my expressions. I have put my enemies to shame; but the hope of justice or reward is vain.
No rewards are bestowed on him who, with the consciousness of integrity, demands, and does not deplore. The facts I shall relate will seem incredible, yet I have, in my own hands, the vouchers of their veracity.
"If my right hand is guilty of writing untruths in this book, may the executioner sever it from my body, and, in the memory of posterity, may I live a villain!"I will proceed with my history.
On the 2nd of January I arrived, with Count Schlieben, at Prague;the same day he delivered me to the governor, the Duke of Deuxponts.
