Project Gutenberg's Etext History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 7
#13 in our series by Thomas Carlyle
V7 of 21


Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check
the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!!

Please take a look at the important information in this header.
We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an
electronic path open for the next readers.  Do not remove this.


**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**

**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**

*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations*

Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and
further information is included below.	We need your donations.


History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 7

by Thomas Carlyle

March, 2000  [Etext #2107]


Project Gutenberg's Etext History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 7
*******This file should be named 07frd10.txt or 07frd10.zip*******

Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, 07frd11.txt
VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 07frd10a.txt


Prepared by D.R. Thompson <drthom@ihug.co.nz>


Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions,
all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a
copyright notice is included.  Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any
of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition.


We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance
of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.

Please note:  neither this list nor its contents are final till
midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at
Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
and editing by those who wish to do so.  To be sure you have an
up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes
in the first week of the next month.  Since our ftp program has
a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a
look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a
new copy has at least one byte more or less.


Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)

We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.  This
projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If our value
per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
million dollars per hour this year as we release thirty-six text
files per month, or 432 more Etexts in 1999 for a total of 2000+
If these reach just 10% of the computerized population, then the
total should reach over 200 billion Etexts given away this year.

The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext
Files by December 31, 2001.  [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion]
This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
which is only ~5% of the present number of computer users.

At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third
of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we
manage to get some real funding; currently our funding is mostly
from Michael Hart's salary at Carnegie-Mellon University, and an
assortment of sporadic gifts; this salary is only good for a few
more years, so we are looking for something to replace it, as we
don't want Project Gutenberg to be so dependent on one person.

We need your donations more than ever!


All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/CMU": and are
tax deductible to the extent allowable by law.	(CMU = Carnegie-
Mellon University).

For these and other matters, please mail to:

Project Gutenberg
P. O. Box  2782
Champaign, IL 61825

When all other email fails. . .try our Executive Director:
Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org
if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if
it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . .

We would prefer to send you this information by email.

******

To access Project Gutenberg etexts, use any Web browser
to view http://promo.net/pg.  This site lists Etexts by
author and by title, and includes information about how
to get involved with Project Gutenberg.  You could also
download our past Newsletters, or subscribe here.  This
is one of our major sites, please email hart@pobox.com,
for a more complete list of our various sites.

To go directly to the etext collections, use FTP or any
Web browser to visit a Project Gutenberg mirror (mirror
sites are available on 7 continents; mirrors are listed
at http://promo.net/pg).

Mac users, do NOT point and click, typing works better.

Example FTP session:

ftp sunsite.unc.edu
login: anonymous
password: your@login
cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg
cd etext90 through etext99
dir [to see files]
get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files]
GET GUTINDEX.??  [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99]
GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books]

***

**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor**

(Three Pages)


***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START***
Why is this "Small Print!" statement here?  You know: lawyers.
They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from
someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
fault.	So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
disclaims most of our liability to you.  It also tells you how
you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to.

*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT
By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
this "Small Print!" statement.	If you do not, you can receive
a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by
sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
you got it from.  If you received this etext on a physical
medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.

ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS
This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-
tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor
Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at
Carnegie-Mellon University (the "Project").  Among other
things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
distribute it in the United States without permission and
without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules, set forth
below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext
under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.

To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable
efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
works.	Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any
medium they may be on may contain "Defects".  Among other
things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer
codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.

LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this
etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of
receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
time to the person you received it from.  If you received it
on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
copy.  If you received it electronically, such person may
choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
receive it electronically.

THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS".  NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
may have other legal rights.

INDEMNITY
You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors,
officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost
and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or
indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause:
[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification,
or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect.

DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by
disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
or:

[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
     etext or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
     if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable
     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
     including any form resulting from conversion by word pro-
     cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as
     *EITHER*:

     [*]  The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
	  does *not* contain characters other than those
	  intended by the author of the work, although tilde
	  (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
	  be used to convey punctuation intended by the
	  author, and additional characters may be used to
	  indicate hypertext links; OR

     [*]  The etext may be readily converted by the reader at
	  no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
	  form by the program that displays the etext (as is
	  the case, for instance, with most word processors);
	  OR

     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
	  no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
	  etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
	  or other equivalent proprietary form).

[2]  Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this
     "Small Print!" statement.

[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the
     net profits you derive calculated using the method you
     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
     payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon
     University" within the 60 days following each
     date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare)
     your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return.

WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time,
scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty
free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution
you can think of.  Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg
Association / Carnegie-Mellon University".

*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*






Prepared by D.R. Thompson <drthom@ihug.co.nz>





Carlyle's "History of Friedrich II of Prussia"




BOOK VII.

FEARFUL SHIPWRECK OF THE
DOUBLE-MARRIAGE PROJECT.

February-November, 1730.

Chapter I.

ENGLAND SENDS THE EXCELLENCY HOTHAM TO BERLIN.

Things, therefore, are got to a dead-lock at Berlin: rebellious
Womankind peremptorily refuse Weissenfels, and take to a bed of
sickness; inexpugnable there, for the moment. Baireuth is but a
weak middle term; and there are disagreements on it. Answer from
England, affirmative or even negative, we have yet none.
Promptly affirmative, that might still avail, and be an honorable
outcome. Perhaps better pause till that arrive, and declare
itself?--Friedrich Wilhelm knows nothing of the Villa mission, of
the urgencies that have been used in England: but, in present
circumstances, he can pause for their answer.


MAJESTY AND CROWN-PRINCE WITH HIM MAKE A RUN TO DRESDEN

To outward appearance, Friedrich Wilhelm, having written that
message to Baireuth, seems easier in mind; quiet with the Queen;
though dangerous for exploding if Wilhelmina and the Prince come
in view. Wilhelmina mostly squats; Prince, who has to be in view,
gets slaps and strokes "daily (JOURNELLEMENT)," says the
Princess,--or almost daily. For the rest, it is evident enough,
Weissenfels, if not got passed through the Female Parliament, is
thrown out on the second reading, and so is at least finished.
Ought we not to make a run to Dresden, therefore, and apprise the
Polish Majesty? Short run to Dresden is appointed for February
18th; [Fassmann, p. 404.] and the Prince-Royal, perhaps suspected
of meditating something, and safer in his Father's company than
elsewhere, is to go. Wilhelmina had taken leave of him, night of
the 17th, in her Majesty's Apartment; and was in the act of
undressing for bed, when,--judge of a young Princess's terror
and surprise,--

"There stept into the anteroom," visible in the half-light there,
a most handsome little Cavalier, dressed, not succinctly as
Colonel of the Potsdam Giants, but "in magnificent French style.--
I gave a shriek, not knowing who it was; and hid myself behind a
screen. Madam de Sonsfeld, my Governess, not less frightened than
myself, ran out" to see what audacious person, at such undue hour,
it could be. "But she returned next moment, accompanying the
Cavalier, who was laughing heartily, and whom I recognized for my
Brother. His dress so altered him, he seemed a different person.
He was in the best humor possible.

"'I am come to bid you farewell once more, my dear Sister,' said
he: 'and as I know the friendship you have for me, I will not keep
you ignorant of my designs. I go, and do not come back. I cannot
endure the usage I suffer; my patience is driven to an end. It is
a favorable opportunity for flinging off that odious yoke; I will
glide out of Dresden, and get across to England; where I do not
doubt I shall work out your deliverance too, when I am got
thither. So I beg you, calm yourself, We shall soon meet again in
places where joy shall succeed our tears, and where we shall have
the happiness to see ourselves in peace, and free from these
persecutions.'" [Wilhelmina, i. 205.]

Wilhelmina stood stupefied, in silence for some moments;--argued
long with her Brother; finally got him to renounce those wild
plans, or at least postpone them; and give her his word that he
would attempt nothing on the present occasion. This small Dresden
Excursion of February, 1730, passed, accordingly, without
accident, It was but the prelude to a much grander Visit now
agreed upon between the neighboring Majesties. For there is a
grand thing in the wind. Something truly sublime, of the
scenic-military kind, which has not yet got a name; but shall soon
have a world-wide one,--"Camp of Muhlberg," "Camp of Radewitz," or
however to be named,--which his Polish Majesty will hold in those
Saxon parts, in a month or two. A thing that will astonish all the
world, we may hope; and where the King and Prince of Prussia are
to attend as chief guests.

It was during this brief absence in February, or directly after
Friedrich Wilhelm had returned, that Queen Sophie had that fit of
real sickness we spoke of. Scarcely was his Majesty got home, when
the Queen, rather ambiguous in her sicknesses of late, fell really
and dangerously ill: so that Friedrich Wilhelm, at last recognizing
it for real, came hurrying in from Potsdam; wept loud and
abundantly, poor man; declared in private, "He would not
survive his Feekin;" and for her sake solemnly pardoned
Wilhelmina, and even Fritz,--till the symptoms mended.
[Wilhelmina, i. 306.]


HOW VILLA WAS RECEIVED IN ENGLAND.

Meanwhile Dr. Villa, in England, has sped not ill. Villa's
eloquence of truth; the Grumkow-Reichenbach Correspondence in
St. Mary Axe: these two things produce their effect. These on the
one hand; and then on the other, certain questionable aspects of
Fleury, after that fine Soissons Catastrophe to the Kaiser;
and certain interior quarrels in the English Ministry, partly
grounded thereon:--"On the whole, why should not we detach
Friedrioh Wilhelm from the Kaiser, if we could, and comply with a
Royal Sister?" think they at St. James's.

Political men take some interest in the question; "Why neglect
your Prince of Wales?" grumbles the Public: "It is a solid
Protestant match, eligible for Prince Fred and us!"--"Why bother
with the Kaiser and his German puddles?" asks Walpole:
"Once detach Prussia from him, the Kaiser will perhaps sit still,
and leave the world and us free of his Pragmatics and his
Sanctions and Apanages."--"Quit of him? German puddles?" answers
Townshend dubitatively,--who has gained favor at headquarters by
going deeply into said puddles; and is not so ardent for the
Prussian Match; and indeed is gradually getting into quarrel with
Walpole and Queen Caro1ine. {Coxe, i. 332-339.] These things are
all favorable to Dr. Villa.

In fact, there is one of those political tempests (dreadful to the
teapot, were it not experienced in them) going on in England, at
this time,--what we call a Change of Ministry;--daily crisis
laboring towards fulfilment, or brewing itself ripe. Townshend and
Walpole have had (how many weeks ago Coxe does not tell us) that
meeting in Colonel Selwyn's, which ended in their clutching at
swords, nay almost at coat-collars: [Ib. p. 335.] honorable
Brothers-in-law: but the good Sister, who used to reconcile them,
is now dead. Their quarrels, growing for some years past, are
coming to a head. "When the firm used to be Townshend and Walpole,
all was well; when it had to become Walpole and Townshend, all was
not well!" said Walpole afterwards.

Things had already gone so far, that Townshend brought
Chesterfield over from the Hague, last Autumn;--a Baron de
Montesquieu, with the ESPRIT DE LOIS in his head, sailed with Lord
Chesterfield on that occasion, and is now in England "for two
years;"--but Chesterfield could not be made Secretary; industrious
Duke of Newcastle stuck so close by that office, and by the skirts
of Walpole. Chesterfield and Townshend VERSUS Walpole, Colonel
Stanhope (Harrington) and the Pelhams: the Prussian Match is a
card in that game; and Dr. Villa's eloquence of truth is not lost
on Queen Caroline, who in a private way manages, as always, to
rule pretty supreme in it.

There lies in the State-Paper Office, [Close by Despatch
(Prussian): "London, 8th February (o.s.) 1729-1730."] without date
or signature, a loose detached bit of writing, in scholastic
style, but brief and to the purpose, which is evidently the
Memorial of Villa; but as it teaches us nothing that we do not
already know, it need not be inserted here. The man, we can
perceive farther, continued useful in those Official quarters,
answering questions about Prussia, helping in the St.-Mary-Axe
decipherings, and in other small ways, for some time longer;
after which he vanishes again from all record,--whether to teach
English farther, or live on some modicum of pension granted, no
man knows. Poor old Dove, let out upon the Deluge in serge gown:
he did bring back a bit of olive, so to speak;--had the presage
but held, as it did in Noah's case!

In a word, the English Sovereignties and Ministries have
determined that an Envoy Extraordinary (one Hotham, they think
of), with the due solemnity, be sent straightway to Berlin;
to treat of those interesting matters, and officially put the
question there. Whom Dubourgay is instructed to announce to his
Prussian Majesty, with salutation from this Court. As Dubourgay
does straightway, with a great deal of pleasure. [Despatches:
London, 8th February; Berlin, 2d March, 1780] How welcome to his
Majesty we need not say.

And indeed, after such an announcement (1st March, 1730, the day
of it), they fell into cheerful dialogue; and the Brigadier had
some frank conversation with his Majesty about the "Arbitration
Commission" then sitting at Brunswick, and European affairs in
general. Conversation which is carefully preserved for us in the
Brigadier's Despatch of the morrow. It never was intrinsically of
much moment; and is now fallen very obsolete, and altogether of
none: but as a glance at first-hand into the dim old thoughts of
Friedrich Wilhelm, the reader may take it with him:--

"The King said next, That though we made little noise, yet he knew
well our design--was to kindle a fire in other parts of Lower
Germany. To which I answered, That if his Majesty would give me
favorable hearing, I could easily persuade him of the peaceable
intentions of our Allies. 'Well,' says he, 'the Emperor will
abandon the Netherlands, and who will be master of them? I see the
day when you will make France so powerful, that it will be
difficult to bring them to reason again.'--DUBOURGAY: 'If the
Emperor abandoned the Netherlands, they would be governed by their
own Magistrate, and defended by their own Militia. As to the
French, we are too well persuaded of the benefit of our Allies,
to--' Upon which the King of Prussia said, 'It appeared plainly we
had a mind to dispose as we pleased of Kingdoms and provinces in
Italy, so that probably our next thought would be to do the same
in Germany.'--DUBOURGAY: 'The allotments made in favor of Don
Carlos have been made with the consent of the Emperor and the
whole Empire. We could not suffer a longer interruption of our
commerce with Spain, for the sake of the small difference between
the Treaty of Seville and the Quadruple Alliance, in regard to the
Garrison,'"--to the introducing of Spanish Garrisons, at once,
into Parma and Piacenza; which was the special thunder-bolt of the
late Soissons Catastrophe,or Treaty of Seville.--"'Well, then,'
says his Prussian Majesty, 'you must allow, then, there IS an
infraction of the Quadruple Alliance, and that the Emperor will
make war!' 'I hope not,' said I: (but if so, a Ten-Years War, in
conjunction with the Allies of Seville, never would be so bad as
the interruption of our Commerce with Old and New Spain for
one year.'

"The King of Prussia's notion about our DISPOSING OF PROVINCES IN
GERMANY," adds Dubourgay, "is, I believe, an insinuation of
Seckendorf, who, I doubt not, has made him believe we intended to
do so with respect to Berg and Julich."

Very probably:--but Hotham is getting under way, hopeful to spoil
that game. Prussian Majesty, we see, is not insensible to so much
honor; and brightens into hopefulness and fine humor in
consequence. What radiancy spread over the Queen's side of the
House we need not say. The Tobacco-Parliament is like to have a
hard task.--Friedrich Wilhelm privately is well inclined to have
his Daughter married, with such outlooks, if it can be done.
The marriage of the Crown-Prince into such a family would also be
very welcome; only--only--There are considerations on that side.
There are reasons; still more there are whims, feelings of the
mind towards an unloved Heir-Apparent: upon these latter chiefly
lie the hopes of Seckendorf and the Tobacco-Parliament.

What the Tobacco-Parliament's specific insinuations and
deliberations were, in this alarming interim, no Hansard gives
us a hint. Faint and timid they needed, at first, to be;
such unfavorable winds having risen, blowing off at a sad rate the
smoke of that abstruse Institution.--"JARNI-BLEU!" snuffles the
Feldzeugmeister to himself. But "SI DEUS EST NOBISCUM," as Grumkow
exclaims once to his beautiful Reichenbach, or NOSTI as he calls
him in their slang or cipher language, "If God is with us, who can
prevail against us?" For the Grumkow can quote Scripture;
nay solaces himself with it, which is a feat beyond what the Devil
is competent to.


EXCELLENCY HOTHAM ARRIVES IN BERLIN.

The Special Envoy to be sent to Berlin on this interesting
occasion is a dignified Yorkshire Baronet; Sir Charles Hotham,
"Colonel of the Horse-Grenadiers;" he has some post at Court, too,
and is still in his best years. His Wife is Chesterfield's Sister;
he is withal a kind of soldier, as we see;--a man of many
sabre-tashes, at least, and acquainted with Cavalry-Drill, as well
as the practices of Goldsticks: his Father was a General Officer
in the Peterborough Spanish Wars. These are his eligibilities,
recommending him at Berlin, and to Official men at home. Family is
old enough: Hothams of Scarborough in the East Riding; old as
WILHELMUS BASTARDUS; and subsists to our own day. This Sir Charles
is lineal Son of the Hothams who lost their heads in the Civil
War; and he is, so to speak, lineal UNCLE of the Lords Hotham that
now are. For the rest, a handsome figure, prompt in French, and
much the gentleman. So far has Villa sped.

Hotham got to Berlin on Sunday, 2d April, 1730. He had lingered a
little, waiting to gather up some skirts of that
Reichenbach-Grumkow Correspondence, and have them ready to show in
the proper Quarter. For that is one of the chief arrows in his
quiver. But here he is at last: and on Monday, he is introduced at
Charlottenburg to the Prussian Majesty; and finds an abundant
welcome to himself and his preliminaries. "Marriage into that fine
high Country (MAGNIFIKE LAND) will be welcome to my Daughter, I
believe, as flowers in May: to me also how can it be other than
welcome!--'Farther instructions,' you say? Yes, surely; and terms
honorable on both sides. Only say nothing of it, I had rather tell
the girl myself." [Ranke, i. 284.] To that frank purport spoke his
Majesty;--and invites the Excellency Hotham to stay dinner.

Great dinner at Charlottenburg, accordingly; Monday, 3d April,
1730: the two English Excellencies Hotham and Dubourgay, then
General Borck, Knyphausen, Grumkow, Seckendorf and others;--
"where," says Hotham, giving Despatch about it, "we all got
immoderately drunk." Of which dinner there is sordid narrative,
from Grumkow to his NOSTI (to his Reichenbach, in cant speech),
still visible through St. Mary Axe, were it worth much attention
from us. Passages of wit, loaded with allusion, flew round the
table: "A German ducat is change for an English half-guinea," and
the like sprightly things. Nay at one time, Hotham's back being
turned, they openly drink,--his Majesty in a state of
exhilaration, having blabbed the secret:--"To the health of
Wilhelmina Princess of Wales!" Upon which the whole Palace of
Charlottenburg now bursts into tripudiation; the very valets
cuttiug capers, making somersets,--and rushing off with the news
to Berlin. Observable, only, that Hotham and Dubourgay sat silent
in the tripudiation; with faces diplomatically grave.
Several points to be settled first; no hallooing till we are out
of the wood.

News came to Berlin Schloss, doubtless at full gallop, which would
only take a quarter of an hour. This is Wilhelmina's experience of
it. Afternoon of Monday, 3d of April, 1730, in the Schloss of
Berlin,--towards sunset, some ornamental seam in one's hand:--

"I was sitting quiet in my Apartment, busy with work, and some one
reading to me, when the Queen's Ladies rushed in, with a torrent
of domestics in the rear; who all bawled out, putting one knee to
the ground, 'They were come to salute the Princess of Wales.'
I fairly believed these poor people had lost their wits;
they would not cease overwhelming me with noise and tumult, their
joy was so great they knew not what they did. When the farce had
lasted some time, they at last told me"--what our readers know.
What the demure Wilhelmina professes she cared next to nothing
about. "I was so little moved by it, that I answered, going on
with my work, 'Is that all?' Which greatly surprised them.
A while afterwards my Sisters and several Ladies came also to
congratulate me. I was much loved; and I felt more delighted at
the proofs each gave me of that than at what occasioned them.
In the evening I went to the Queen's: you may readily conceive her
joy. On my first entrance, she called me 'her dear Princess of
Wales;' and addressed Madam de Sonsfeld as 'Milady.' This latter
took the liberty of hinting to her, that it would be better to
keep quiet; that the King having yet given no notice of this
business, might be provoked at such demonstration, and that the
least trifle could still ruin all her hopes. The Countess
Finkenstein joining her remonstrances to Sonsfeld's, the Queen,
though with regret, promised to moderate herself."
[Wilhelmina, i. 215.]

This is the effulgent flaming-point of the long-agitated English
Match, which we have so often caught in a bitterly smoking
condition. "The King indeed spoke nothing of it to us, on his
return to Berlin in a day or two," says Wilhelmina; "which we
thought strange." But everybody considered it certain, nothing but
the details left to settle. "Hotham had daily conferences with the
King." "Every post brought letters from the Prince of Wales:" of
which Wilhelmina saw several,--this for one specimen, general
purport of the whole: "I conjure you, my dear Hotham, get these
negotiations finished! I am madly in love (AMOUREUX COMME UN FOU),
and my impatience is unequalled." {Ib. i. 218.] Wilhelmina thought
these sentiments "very, romantic" on the part of Prince Fred,
"who had never seen me, knew me only by repute:"--and answered
his romances and him with tiffs of laughter, in a prettily
fleering manner.

Effulgent flame-point;--which was of very brief duration indeed,
and which sank soon into bitterer smoke than ever, down almost to
the choking state. There are now six weeks of Diplomatic History
at the Court of Berlin, which end far otherwise than they began.
Weeks well-nigh indecipherable; so distracted are they, by
black-art and abstruse activities above ground and below, and so
distractedly recorded for us: of which, if it be humanly possible,
we must try to convey some faint notion to mankind.



Chapter II.

LANGUAGE OF BIRDS: EXCELLENCY HOTHAM PROVES UNAVAILING.

Already next morning, after that grand Dinner at Charlottenburg,
Friedrich Wilhelm, awakening with his due headache, thought, and
was heard saying, He had gone too far! Those gloomy looks of
Hotham and Dubourgay, on the occasion; they are a sad memento that
our joyance was premature. The English mean the Double-Marriage;
and Friedrich Wilhelm is not ready, and never fairly was, for more
than the Single. "Wilhelmina Princess of Wales, yes with all my
heart; but Friedrich to an English Princess--Hm, na;"--and in a
day more: ["Instruction to his Ministers, 5th April," cited by
Ranke, i. 285 n.] plainly "No." And there it finally rests; or if
rocked about, always settles there again.

And why, No?--Truly, as regarded Crown-Prince Friedrich's
marriage, the question had its real difficulties: and then, still
more, it had its imaginary; and the subterranean activities were
busy! The witnesses, contemporaneous and other, assign three
reasons, or considerations and quasi-reasons, which the
Tobacco-Parliament and Friedrich Wilhelm's lively fancy could
insist upon it till they became irrefragable:--

FIRST, his rooted discontent with the Crown-Prince, some even say
his jealousy of the Crown-Prince's talents, render it unpleasant
to think of promoting him in any way. SECOND, natural German
loyalty, enlivened by the hope of Julich and Berg, attaching
Friedrich Wilhelm to the Kaiser's side of things, repels him with
a kind of horror from the Anti-Kaiser or French-English side.
"Marry my Daughter, if you like; I shall be glad to salute her as
Princess of Wales; but no union in your Treaty-of-Seville
operations: in politics go you your own road, if that is it, while
I go mine; no tying of us, by Double or other Marriages, to go one
road." THIRD, the magnificence of those English. "Regardless of
expense," insinuates the Tobacco-Parliament; "they will send their
grand Princess hither, with no end of money; brought up in
grandeur to look down on the like of us. She can dazzle, she can
purchase: in the end, may there not be a Crown-Prince Party,
capable of extinguishing your Majesty here in your own Court, and
makiug Prussia a bit of England; all eyes being turned to such
sumptuous Princess and her Crown-Prince,--Heir-Apparent, or
'Rising Sun' as we may call him!"--

These really are three weighty almost dreadful considerations to a
poetic-tempered King and Smoking Parliament. Out of which there is
no refuge except indeed this plain fourth one: "No hurry about
Fritz's marriage; [Friedrich Wilhelm to Reichenbach (13th May),
infra.] he is but eighteen gone; evidently too young for
housekeeping. Thirty is a good time for marrying. 'There is, thank
God, no lack of royal lineage; I have two other Princes,'"--and
another just at hand, if I knew it.

To all which there is to be added that ever-recurring invincible
gravitation towards the Kaiser, and also towards Julich and Berg,
by means of him,--well acted on by the Tobacco-Parliament for the
space of those six weeks. During which, accordingly, almost from
the first day after that Hotham Dinner of April 3d, the answer of
the royal mind, with superficial fluctuations, always is:
"Wilhelmina at once, if you choose; likely enough we might agree
about Crown-Prince Friedrich too, if once all were settled; but of
the Double-Marriage, at this present time, HORE NIT, [Ranke,
i. 285 n.] I will have nothing to say." And as the English answer
steadily, "Both or none!"--meaning indeed to draw Prussia away
from the Kaiser's leading-strings, and out of his present
enchanted condition under the two Black-Artists he has about him,
the Negotiation sinks again into a mere smoking, and extinct or
plainly extinguishing state.

The Grumkow-NOSTI Cipher Correspondence might be reckoned as
another efficient cause; though, in fact, it was only a big
concomitant symptom, much depended on by both parties, and much
disappointing both. In the way of persuading or perverting
Friedrich Wilhelm's judgment about England, this deep-laid piece
of machinery does not seem to have done much, if anything;
and Hotham, who with the English Court had calculated on it (on
their detection of it) as the grand means of blowing Grumkow out
of the field, produced a far opposite result on trying, as we
shall see! That was a bit of heavy ordnance which disappointed
everybody. Seized by the enemy before it could do any mischief;
enemy turned it round on the inventor; fired it off on the
inventor, and--it exploded through the touch-hole; singeing some
people's whiskers: nothing more!--


A PEEP INTO THE NOSTI-GRUMKOW CORRESPONDENCE CAUGHT UP IN ST. MARY AXE.

Would the reader wish to look into this Nosti-Grumkow
Correspondence at all? I advise him, not. Good part of it still
lies in the Paper-Office here; [Prussian Despatches, vols. xl.
xli.: in a fragmentary state; so much of it as they had caught up,
and tried to make use of;--far too much.] likely to be published
by the Prussian Dryasdust in coming time: but a more sordid mass
of eavesdroppings, kitchen-ashes and floor-sweepings, collected
and interchanged by a pair of treacherous Flunkies (big bullying
Flunky and little trembling cringing one, Grumkow and
Reichenbach), was never got together out of a gentleman's
household. To no idlest reader, armed even with barnacles, and
holding mouth and nose, can the stirring-up of such a dust-bin be
long tolerable. But the amazing problem was this Editor's, doomed
to spell the Event into clearness if he could, and put dates,
physiognomy and outline to it, by help of such Flunky-Sanscrit!--
That Nosti-Grumkow Correspondence, as we now have it in the
Paper-Office,--interpretable only by acres of British Despatches,
by incondite dateless helpless Prussian Books ("printed Blotches
of Human Stupor," as Smelfungus calls them): how gladly would one
return them all to St. Mary Axe, there to lie through Eternity!
It is like holding dialogue with a rookery; asking your way
(perhaps in flight for life, as was partly my own case) by
colloquy with successive or even simultaneous Rookeries.
Reader, have you tried such a thing? An adventure, never to be
spoken of again, when once DONE!

Wilhelmina pretends to give quotations [Wilhelmina, i. 233-235.]
from this subterranean Grumkow-Reichenbach Correspondence;
but hers are only extracts from some description or remembrance;
hardly one word is close to the original, though here and there
some outline or shadow of a real passage is traceable.
What fractional elements, capable of gaining some vestige of
meaning when laid together in their cosmic order, I could pick
from the circumambient immensity not cosmic, are here for the
reader's behoof. Let him skip, if, like myself, he is weary;
for the substance of the story is elsewhere given. Or perhaps he
has the curiosity to know the speech of birds? With abridgment, by
occasional change of phrase, above all by immense omission,--here,
in specimen, is something like what the Rookery says to poor
Friedrich Wilhelm and us, through St. Mary Axe and the Copyists in
the Foreign Office! Friedrich Wilhelm reads it (Hotham gives him
reading of it) some weeks hence; we not till generations
afterwards. I abridge to the utmost;--will mark in single commas
what is not Abridgment but exact Translation;--with rigorous
attention to dates, and my best fidelity to any meaning there
may be:--


TO NOSTI (the so-called Excellenz Reichenbach) IN LONDON:

Gumkow from Berlin LOQUITUR, Reichenbach listening with both his
ears (words caught up in St. Mary Axe).

BERLIN, 3d MARCH, 1730. "The time has now come when Reichenbach
must play his game. Let him write that the heads of the
Opposition, who play Austria as a card in Parliament, 'are in
consternation, Walpole having hinted to them that he was about to
make friends with the King of Prussia;' 'that by means of certain
ministers at Berlin, and by other subterranean channels (AUTRES
SOUTERRAINS), his Prussian Majesty had been brought to a
disposition of that kind' [Knyphausen, Borck and others will be
much obliged to Reichenbach for so writing!], That Reichenbach
knows they intend sending a Minister to Berlin; but is certain
enough, as perhaps they are, his Prussian Majesty will not let
himself be lured or caught in the trap: but that the very rumor of
its being possible for him to change" from Austria, "would be an
infinite gain to the English Ministry,"--salvation of them, in
fact, in the Parliamentary cockpit. "That they had already given
out in the way of rumor, How sure they were of the Court of Berlin
whenever it came to the point. That Reichenbach had tried to learn
from 73 [An Indecipherable.] what the real result from Berlin was;
and did not think it much, though the Walpole people," all hanging
so perilously upon Prussia for their existence, 'affected a great
gayety; and indeed felt what a gain it was even to have renewed
the Negotiation with his Prussian Majesty.' Here is a King likely
to get himself illuminated at first-hand upon English affairs;
by Ministers lying abroad for him, and lying at home!--

'And so the King,' concludes Grumkow, 'will think Reichenbach is a
witch (SORVIER) to be so well informed about all that, and will
redouble the good opinion he has of Reichenbach. And so, if
Reichenbach second my ideas, we will pack Borck and Knyphausen
about their business; and will do the King faithful service,'--
having, some of us, our private 500 pounds a year from Austria for
doing it. 'The King perceives only too well that the Queen's
sickness is but sham (MOMERIE): judge of the effect that has! I am
yours entirely (TOUT A VOUS). I wait in great impatience to hear
your news upon all this: for I inform you accurately how the land
lies here; so that it only depends upon yourself to shine, and to
pass for a miracle of just insight,'--"SORCIER," or witch at
guessing mysteries, Grumkow calls it again. He continues in
another Missive:--

BERLIN, 7th MARCH. (Let us give the original for a line or two):
'Queen Sophie will soon rise from her bed of sickness, were this
marriage done; <italic> La Mere du Prince-Royal affecte toujours
detre bien mal; mais des que laffaire entre le Prince de Galles
et la Princesse-Royale sera faite, on la verra bientot sur pied.'
<end italic> "It will behoove that Reichenbach signify to the
Prince-Royal's Father that all this affair has been concocted at
Berlin with Borck and by 71 [An Indecipherable.] with Knyphausen
and 103. [An Indeciherable.] That they never lose sight of an
alliance with the English Princess and the Prince of Prussia;
and flatter themselves the Prince-Royal of Prussia will accompany
the Princess-Royal," Wilhelmina, "on HER marriage there." "In a
word, that all turns on this latter point," marriage of the
PRINCE-Royal as well; and "that Villa has given so favorable a
description of this Prince, that the English Princess will have
him at what price soever. Nosti can also allege the affair of
100,"--whom we at last decipher to be LORD HARRINGTON, once
Colonel Stanhope, of Soissons, of the Madrid Embassy, of the
descent on Vigo; a distinguished new Lord, with whom Newcastle
hopes to shove out Townshend,--"Lord Harrington, and the division
among the Ministers:"--great question, Shall the firm be Townshend
and Walpole, or Walpole and Townshend? just going on; brewing
towards decision; in which the Prussian Double-Marriage is really
a kind of card, and may by Nosti be represented as a trump card.

"The whole Town of Berlin said, This Villa was dismissed by order
of the King, for he taught the eldest Princess English; but I see
well it was Borck, 107, [An Indecipherable.] Knyphausen and
Dubourgay that despatched him, to give a true picture of the
situation here. And if Nosti has written to his Majesty to the
same effect as he does to his Friend [Despatch to Majesty has not
yet come under Friend's eye] on the Queen of England's views about
the Prince-Royal of Prussia, it will answer marvellously (CELA
VIENT A MERVEILLE). I have apprised Seckendorf of all that Nosti
writes to me." 'For the rest, Nosti may perfectly assure himself
that the King never will abandon Reichenbach; and if the
Prince-Royal,' sudden Fate interfering,  'had the reins in his
hand,--in that case, Seckendorf promises to Reichenbach, on the
part of the Kaiser, all or more than all he can lose by the
accession of the Prince. Monsieur Reichenbach may depend upon
that.' [Prussian Despatches, vol. xl. The second of these two
Letters is copied, we perceive, by VILLA; who transmits it to
Hotham's Secretary at Berlin, with great hopes from it.
Letter "unsigned," adds Villa (POINT SIGNEE). First was
transmitted by Townshend.--Following are transmitted by &c. &c.
It is in that way they have got into the State-Paper Office,--as
ENCLOSURES in the varions Despatches that carried them out to
Berlin to serve as Diplomatic Ammunition there.]

Slave Reichenbach at London, when this missive comes to hand, is
busy copying scandal according to former instructions for behoof
of his Prussian Majesty, and my Bashaw Grumkow; for example:--


TO THE HERR GRUMKOW AT BERLIN:

Excellenz Reiohenbach LOQUITUR;--snatched in St. Mary Axe.

LONDON, 10th MARCH, 1730. "... Reichenbach has told his Prussian
Majesty to-day by a Courier who is to pass through Brussels
[Austrian Kinsky's Courier, no doubt], what amours the Prince of
Wales," dissolute Fred, "has on hand at present with actresses and
opera-girls. The King of Prussia will undoubtedly be astonished.
The affair merits some attention at present,"--especialIy from an
Excellenz like me.--

[MISSIVE (body of important Grumkow Instructions just read by us)
COMES TO HAND.]

LONDON, 14th MARCH, 1730. 'Reichenbach will write by the first,
Ordinary [so they name Post, in those days] all that Glumkow
orders. Reichenbach sees well, they mean to play the deuce here
(<italic> jouent le diable a quatre ici <end italic>):
but Reichenbach will tell his Prussian Majesty what Grumkow finds
fit.' Good Excellenz Reichenbach 'flatters himself the King will
remain firm, and not let his enemies deceive him. If Grumkow and
Seckendorf have opportunity they may tell his Prussian Majesty
that the whole design of this Court is to render his Country a
Province dependent on England. When once the Princess-Royal of
England shall be wedded to the Prince-Royal of Prussia, the
English, by that means, will form such a party at Berlin, that
they will altogether tie his Prussian Majesty's hands.'
A comfortable piece of news to his Prussian Majesty in
Tobacco-Parliament. 'Reichenbach will assuredly be vigilant;
depend on his answering Grumkow always by the first post.'

Continues;--turning his rook-bill towards Majesty now. Same date
(14th March), same time, place and bird:--


TO HIS PRUSSIAN MAJESTY (from Excellenz Reichenbach).

'... P.S. I had closed this Letter when a person of confidence
came in [the fact being, my Grumkow's Missive of instructions came
in, or figuratively speaking, my Grumkow himself], and undertook
to give me in a few days a thorough insight into the intrigues
which are concealed under the sending of this new Minister,'
Hotham, 'to Berlin; which, and how they have been concocted, he
says, it will astonish me to hear. Of all this I shall immediately
inform your Majesty in a letter of my own hand; being ever eager
to serve your Majesty alone.'

Hotham is now fairly gone, weeks ago; concluded to be now in
Berlin,--to the horror of both rooks. Here is a croak from NOSTI:--


TO THE HERR GRUMKOW AT BERLIN.

LONDON, APRIL, 1730. "... Hotham is no such conjurer as they fancy
in Berlin;--singular enough, how these English are given to
undervalue the Germans; whilst we in Germany overvalue them"
(<italic> avons une idee trop vaste, <end italic> they <italic>
trap petite <end italic>). 'There is, for instance, Lord
Chesterfield, passes here for a fair-enough kind of man (BON
HOMME), and is a favorite with the King [not with Walpole or the
Queen, if Nosti knew it]; but nobody thinks him such a prodigy as
you all do in Germany,'--which latter bit of Germanism is an
undoubted fact; curious enough to the English, and to the Germans
that now read in extinct Books.

Hotham, as we said, got to Berlin on the 2d of April. From Berlin
comes thereupon, at great length, sordid description by Grumkow,
of that initiatory Hotham Dinner, April Third, with fearful
details of the blazing favor Hotham is in. Which his Majesty (when
Hotham hands it to him, in due time) will read with painful
interest; as Reichenbach now does;--but which to us is all mere
puddle, omissible in this place.

To which sad Strophe, there straightway follows due Anti-strophe,
Reichenbach croaking responsive;--and we are to note, the rooks
always speak in the third person and by ambiguous periphrasis;
never once say "I" or "You," unless forced by this Editor, for
brevity's sake, to do it. Reichenbach from his perch thus hoarsely
chants:--

TO THE HERR GRUMKOW AT BERLIN.

LONDON, 11th APRIL. 'Reichenbach EST COUP-DE-FOUDRE,--is struck by
lightning,--to hear these Berlin news;'--and expresses, in the
style of a whipt dog, his sorrows, uncertainties and terrors, on
the occasion. "Struck with lightning. Feel myself quite ill, and
not in a condition to write much today. It requires another head
than mine to veer round so often (<italic> changer si souvent de
systame <end italic>). In fine, <italic> Nosti est au bout de son
latin <end italic> [is at his wit's end, poor devil)!
Both Majesties have spoken openly of the favorable news from
Berlin; funds rose in consequence. New Minister [Walpole come to
the top of the Firm, Townshend soon to withdraw, impatient of the
bottom] is all-powerful now: O TEMPORA, O MORES!" "I receive
universal congratulations, and have to smile" in a ghastly manner.
"The King and Queen despise me. I put myself in their way last
Levee, bowing to the ground; but they did not even condescend to
look." <italic> 'Notre grand petit-maitre,' <end italic> little
George, the Olympian Jove of these parts, "passed on as if
I had not been there." 'Chesterfield, they say, is to go, in
great pomp, as Ambassador Extraordinary, and fetch the
Princess over. And--Alas, in short, Once I was hap-hap-happy, but
now I'm MEEserable!

LONDON, 14th APRIL. "Slave Reichenbaoh cannot any longer write
secret Letters to his Prussian Majesty according to the old
strain, of your prescribing; but must stand by his vacant Official
Despatches: the scene being entirely changed, he also must change
his manner of writing"--poor knave. "He will have to inform his
Majesty, however, by and by, though it is not safe at present,"--
for example,--'That his Britannic Majesty is becoming from day to
day more hated by all the world; and that the Prince of Wales is
no longer liked by the Public, as at first; because he begins to
give himself airs, and takes altogether the manners of his
Britannic Majesty, that is to say of a puppy (PETIT-MAITRE);
let my Amiable [Grumkow] be aware of that'--

Yes, let him be aware of that, to his comfort,--and still more,
and all readers along with him, of what follows:--

'Reichenbach likewise with great confidence informs the Greatest
Confidant he has in the world [same amiable Glumkow], that he has
discovered within this day or two,' a tremendous fact, known to
our readers some time ago, 'That the Prince-Royal of Prussia has
given his written assurances to the Queen here, Never to many
anybody in the world except the Princess Amelia of England, happen
what will [Prussian Majesty will read this with a terrible
interest! Much nearer to him than it is to us]. In consideration
of which Promise, the Queen of England is understood,' falsely,
'to have answered that they should, at present, ask only the
Princess-Royal of Prussia for their Prince of Wales,' and let the
Double-Marriage BE, seemingly, as his Prussian Majesty wishes it.
'Monsieur de Reichenbaoh, did not speak of this to his Prussian
Majesty; feeling it too dangerous just now.--

'Lord Townshend is still at his place in the country [Rainham in
Norfolk]: but it is said he will soon come to Town; having heard
the great news that they had already got his Prussian Majesty by
the nose. Reichenbach forgets if he already told Grumkow that the
rumor runs, Lord Chesterfield, in quality of Ambassador to Berlin,
is to bring the Princess Wilhelmina over hither:'--you did
already, poor confused wretch; unusually bewildered, and under
frightful eclipse at present.

Continues after four days:--

APRIL 18th. "... Lord Stratford [to me an unknown Lordship} and
heads of Opposition would like to ascertain what Hotham's offer to
the King of Prussia IS."

Truly, yes; they mean to ask in Parliament (as poor gamblers in
that Cockpit are wont), 'And why did not you make the offer
sooner, then? Friendship with his Prussian Majesty, last year,
would have saved the whole of that large Waterspout about the
Meadows of Clamei! Nay need we, a few months ago, have spent such
loads of gold subsidizing those Hessians and Danes against him?
The treasures of this Country go a strange road, Mr. Speaker!
What is the use of our industries and riches?' Heavens, yes, what!
But we continue to excerpt and interpret:--

Reichenbach "has said nothing of this to his Prussian Majesty,
Reichenbach has not; too dangerous in own present down-pressed
state:--though amazingly exact always in news, and attached to his
Prussian Majesty as mortal seldom was. Need he fear their new
Hotham, then? Does not fear Hotham, not he him, being a man so
careful of truth in his news. Dare not, however, now send any
intelligence about the Royal Family here; Prussian Majesty having
ordered him not to write gossip like a spiteful woman: What is he
to do? Instruct him, O my Amiable.

"Know for the rest, and be aware of it, O Amiable, that Queen
Caroline here is of opinion, The Amiable Grumkow should be
conciliated; and that Queen Sophie and Hotham are understood to
have been trying it. Do not abandon me, O Amiable; nay I know you
will not, you and Seckendorf, never, though I am a poor man.

"Have found out a curious story, HISTOIRE FORT CRIEUSE,--about one
of Prince Fred's amourettes." Story which this Editor, in the name
of the whole human species, will totally suppress, and sweep into
the cesspool, to herald Reichenbach thither. Except only that this
corollary by the Duchess of Kendal may be appended to the thing:--

"Duchess of Kendal [Hop-pole EMERITA, now gone to devotion, whom
we know, piously turns up her eyes at such doings], thinks the
Princess Wilhelmina will have a bad life of it with Fred, and that
she 'will need the wisdom of Solomon to get on here.' Not a good
bargain, this Prince Fred and his Sister. A dissolute fellow he,
not liked by the Public" (I should hope). 'Then as to Princess
Amelia, she, who was always haughty, begins to give herself airs
upon the Prince-Royal of Prussia; she is as ill-tempered as her
Father, and still more given to backbiting (PLUS RAILLEUSE), and
will greatly displease the Potsdam Majesty.'

These are cheering thoughts. "But what is to become of Nosti?
Faithful to his Grumkow, to his Seckendorf--to his pair of
sheep-stealers, poor dog. But if trouble rise;--oh, at least do
not hang me, ye incomparable pair!"--


THE HOTHAM DESPATCHES.

Slave Nosti's terrors, could he see behind the scenes, are without
foundation! the tremendous Hotham Negotiation, all ablaze at that
Charlottenburg Dinner, is sunk low enough into the smoking state,
threatening to go out altogether. Smoke there may still be,
perceptible vestiges of smoke; which indeed, for a long time,
fitfully continued: but, at the time while Nosti, quaking in every
joint of him, writes these terrors, Hotham perceives that his
errand is vain; that properly there has as good as extinction
supervened. April 3d was the flame-point; which lasted in its
brightness only for a few days or hours. April is not gone, or
half gone, when flaming has quite ceased, and the use of bellows,
never so judicious, is becoming desperate: and long before the end
of May, no red is to be seen in the affair at all, and the very
bellows are laid down.

Here--are the epochs: riddled out of such a mass of extinct
rubbish as human nature seldom had to deal with;--here are certain
extracts in a greatly condensed state, from the authentic
voluminous Hotham Despatches and Responses;--which may
conveniently interrupt the Nosti Babblement at this point.

