C.

(Vide [page 234.])

[As our author derived his information on Northern and German Courts, especially Dresden, from Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, of whose letters from abroad he speaks ([p. 205, vol. i.]) in terms of such high commendation, and has already given extracts in the [Appendix, vol. i.], a short account of that lively writer’s Embassies, taken in substance from the same author’s MS. notes, together with a farther specimen of his correspondence concerning the Court of Saxony, will not be misplaced here; at least they will afford some entertainment to the reader.]

Sir Charles Hanbury Williams was appointed envoy to Dresden in 1747, was commissioned in July, 1749, along with Mr. Anstis, Garter at Arms, to carry the Blue Riband to the Margrave of Anspach; and on Mr. Fox waving, at the request of the King, his pretensions to the Treasurership of the Navy, was, with a view of gratifying that gentleman, who was his intimate friend, named Envoy Extraordinary at Berlin. He set out for that Court in May, 1750, and passed through Hanover when the King was there. From thence he was sent to the King of Poland, who was holding the Diet at Warsaw, to engage his vote for the Archduke Joseph to be King of the Romans. On this progress he wrote a celebrated letter to the Duke of Newcastle at Hanover, which was sent over to England and much admired, as his ministerial letters generally were. About this time he met the Ministers of the two Empresses of Germany and Russia; reconciled these two Princesses, and set out for Berlin, where he was very coldly received, and soon grew so offensive to the King, that he was, as he had predicted, recalled at his request, and sent back to Dresden in February, 1751. Sir Charles had detected the Saxon Minister at Berlin, in betraying his master’s and Russia’s secrets to the Court of Prussia; and had also exposed an artifice of the King of Prussia in making a Tartar, sent to release a countryman who had enlisted in the Prussian Army, pass for a Deputy or Minister for the disaffected in Russian Tartary. These circumstances, and his satirical tongue, and yet more[91] satirical pen, combined to exasperate the King of Prussia. It was, he said in his private letters, “in vain to contend with so mighty a Prince, and he became the sacrifice.” However, in 1753, he was sent to Vienna to demand the assistance of that Court in case Prussia should proceed to extremities after stopping the Silesian loan; and in his triple capacity of Minister, Courtier, and Poet, he composed the following distich on the Empress-Queen:

“Oh Regina orbis prima et pulcherrima! ridens

Es Venus, incedens Juno, Minerva loquens.”

The general style of his poetry was far from being so complimentary; and that of his prose, though not so well known, and often too licentious for publication, was to the full as easy, lively, and humorous as his verse. After returning to England he was again appointed to Dresden, and attended the King of Poland to Warsaw, in 1754, where, upon espousing very warmly the interests of the Poniatowskys in an affair called the disposition of the Ostrog, he came to an open rupture with Count Bruhl. He shortly afterwards concluded a subsidiary treaty with Russia, and was named Ambassador to Petersburg in 1755. He returned to England in 1758, and died in 1759.

The following letter was written on his first arrival at Dresden, and before any quarrel with Count Bruhl. Though addressed to a private friend, it seems nearly a duplicate of his public dispatch. It is no unfavourable specimen of his correspondence, but is perhaps less enlivened by anecdote, as well as less disfigured by indecencies, than many of his epistolary compositions from Germany.

Dear Sir,

The short time that I have been abroad, would, in any other Court, have hardly been sufficient to have formed a judgment, or given a description of it; but this, where I am, is so easy to be understood, that an understanding as mean as mine may see into it as clearly in a month’s time as in ten years.

The King’s absolute and avowed hatred to all business, and his known love for idleness and low pleasures, such as operas, plays, masquerades, tilts and tournaments, balls, hunting, and shooting, prevent both him and his country from making that figure in Europe which this noble Electorate ought to do, and often has done. As to the King himself, he is very polite and well-bred, and his natural abilities far from bad ones. I have very often (much oftener than any Minister here) the honour of conversing with him, and I must say, that he talks better, and makes juster judgments on affairs than any other person I have met with in this Court: but he wont dwell long upon politics. ’Tis visible that he soon grows uneasy, and then you must change the discourse to the last stag that he hunted, the last opera that was acted, or the last picture that he has bought. Immediately, you perceive that his countenance clears up, and he talks on with pleasure. From these subjects ’tis easy to lead him back to any other you please, always taking care to observe his countenance, which is a very speaking one. He is seldom seen, when at Dresden, but at dinner. He always dines with company, and his buffoons make a great noise, and fight with one another during the whole repast, which is quite over by two o’clock; and then his Majesty retires to his own apartments, undresses totally, and then puts on his night-gown, in which he sits the rest of the day. Nobody must come to him at that time but Count Bruhl, Father Guerini, and the buffoon. He has had a great loss in the Electress of Bavaria being married, for she often came to him in the afternoon, and they have been surprised together in very indecent postures. The Queen knew this, and was furious about it. She complained of it to her Confessor; but the good Jesuit told her, that since things were so, it was much better that the King’s affections should remain in his own family, than be fixed upon a stranger, who might be a Lutheran, and do prejudice to their holy religion; and by this these holy casuists appeased her angry Majesty.

The whole Court is now gaping to see who will succeed the Electress, for his Majesty’s constitution requires somebody besides the Queen. The King is excessively fond of hunting, and ’tis reckoned that the game of all sorts (which is strictly preserved for him) do 50,000l. per annum of damage to this country. I have myself seen fifty stags a feeding in one corn-field; and to take care of all his game and forests, there are no less than 4000 persons in constant pay.

The expenses of this Court of every sort are in proportion with that of the chase. After this, Sir, you will not be surprised when I tell you, that the debts of this Electorate (all incurred since this King came into possession of it) are near four millions sterling, and that their credit is quite ruined; but the King will not hear of the expenses of the Court being lessened. He has no idea of the state of his country; but as he finds himself easy, he thinks and wishes his people to be so too. He is not beloved nor respected. His never heading his Army, and his precipitate flight from Dresden at the King of Prussia’s approach, did him more injury in the minds of the Saxons, than he will ever be able to retrieve.

Her Majesty the Queen is very devout, but not a bit the better for her devotions: she does nothing but commit small sins, and beg forgiveness for them. She is ugly beyond painting, and malicious beyond expression. Her violent hatred to the Empress-Queen, and her great love to all her enemies, make me rejoice that she has not the least influence at this Court. She has much impotent aversion to Count Bruhl: he hates her Majesty in return, but then he makes her feel his power. She meddles much in the lowest things, such as disgracing or restoring a buffoon to favour; disposing the parts of an opera, and giving the preference to such and such a dancer; and even this she never does by merit, but he or she that comes oftenest to mass has the best parts and the first rank. The Italians are much favoured here. They are divided into two parties, one of which is headed by Father Guerini, who first placed the colony here; the other, which is the most powerful, has the Faustina for its leader; and the two chiefs have by turns vented their complaints against each other to me, till I could hardly keep my countenance. But to return to her Majesty: I look upon her to be thoroughly in the French interests. She is not at all beloved, nor does she deserve it, for she does no good to anybody but converts, and very little to them.

I am next to speak of the Electoral Prince. You know, Sir, his person is bad, and his backbone so disjointed, that he cannot stand without two people to support him. The weakness of his body has hurt his mind. His parts, if he ever had any, are much decayed; but he is civil, good, and well-tempered. His education has been extremely bad; he knows nothing. He asked ’tother day at table, whether, though England were an island, one could not go there by land? Judge of the rest by this. When he walks, supported or rather dragged along by two people, his knees almost touch his stomach; and the Duchess of Courland (who is our good friend at this Court) told me that she saw him in bed on his wedding-night, and that he lay in the same posture there; so that she did not comprehend how matters could be accomplished. The Court, however, swear that (the marriage was then consummated). He is at present wholly devoted to his new bride, about whom I must say a little, having the happiness, by her permission, to see her very often.

She is far from being handsome or well made; but then she is infinitely agreeable in her manner, and very well-bred. She talks much, and is very entertaining. When she first came, she had flattered herself with hopes of succeeding the Electress, and attacked the King the first night, but without success. He seemed rather disgusted with her advances, and since that time she has not recovered the ground she then lost. All[92] this I have also from the Duchess of Courland. Before she came here she was reckoned to meddle much in politics, and to be in the French interests. She denies all this herself, and declares against women’s meddling in state affairs; but I will venture to prophesy, that if ever the Prince Electoral should outlive his father, she will govern this country most absolutely. Hitherto she is much liked and admired by all who come near her, for her address is very engaging, and not at all like the Queen’s.

The King has four younger sons, and three unmarried daughters. As to the Princesses I can say nothing of them, but that they are very young and very plain.

Prince Xavier is next to the Prince Royal, and has always been the Queen’s favourite, and she tried every way to persuade the Prince Electoral to go into orders that this Prince might succeed his father. His person is good, and I believe his natural parts are so too, but his education has been very unfortunate. He is sixteen years of age, and has hitherto been taught nothing but bodily exercises; and they do not seem to think in this country that a Prince wants any accomplishments who can dance, fence, ride at the ring, and shoot at the mark. This Prince has not yet learned common good manners, and is almost a stranger to common decency. The French Ambassador and I dined with him the other day, and the whole time we were at table he talked to the Pages behind him, and what he said to them was in German. Monsieur des Issarts was quite out of humour at the treatment he met with: I was only sorry for the Prince. But to end his character, those who are best acquainted with him tell me he is very proud and very malicious. ’Tis publicly known that he hates his elder brother; but his pride is much abated, and his spirits much sunk since the Electoral Prince’s marriage, which was a thing that he had been taught to believe never would happen. Still he flatters himself with the hope that if the King his father should die, he should succeed him in the Throne of Poland.

Prince Charles is next; he is a fine youth about thirteen; his person is good, and he has great quickness of parts; but as he labours under the misfortune of having the same wretched education as his brothers have had, ’tis impossible to say how he will turn out; and here I must observe, that the scarcity of men of ability is so great in this country, that out of four governors employed in the education of these Princes, there is not one who is a Saxon.

The two other Princes, Albert and Clement, are both so young, that I can say nothing about them.

Having now, Sir, gone through the Royal Family, I shall speak of their fine country, which I believe produces more to its sovereign than any other district of land of the same size in Europe. The last grant of the Diet of Saxony was between eight and nine millions of dollars (each dollar exactly three shillings and sixpence English money) per annum for nine years; yet ’tis likely that the whole may be anticipated and spent in five, and then the King calls a new Diet, and gets fresh supplies, so that ’tis not possible to say exactly what the King’s revenues are; but everybody must see that they are very large, and how the people will continue such payments begins to be a question. It is certain this country grows daily poorer, which is very visible by the decay of Leipsick fair. Everybody agrees that the last Easter fair was not half so good as it used to be; and this fair is the touchstone of the trade and money in this Electorate. The loss and expenses their own bad politics have drawn them into during this war have been very great; and the visit the King of Prussia made to Dresden was very expensive to this country; but above all, the visible decay of their linens and tinned iron manufactures (which England has been wise enough not to want any longer in such great quantities from foreign countries,) is a blow that is felt more severely than can be expressed. The Stier Bills, which are the funds here, and which always used to bear a premium, are now at 5 and 6 per cent. discount, and ’tis very difficult to negotiate them even at that price, though they carry 5 per cent. interest. I have been offered some, whose principal is due at Michaelmas, 1748, at 7 per cent. discount. This being so, you see that their credit is exhausted, and that they would hardly be able to borrow under 10 per cent.; and yet they must take up money, or their Army will mutiny, for their officers are most of ’em twelve or fifteen months in arrear. In the midst of all these difficulties the Court has squandered away above 200,000l. sterling at the late double marriages; given 100,000l. sterling for the Duke of Modena’s gallery of pictures; and Count Bruhl alone cannot spend so little as 60,000l. sterling a year. The pensions also that the King gives in Poland exceed the revenues he receives from thence by full 50,000l. per annum.

It is now necessary I should say something of the person to whom the King commits the entire care of this country. Count Bruhl is originally of a good family, but as he was a Page to the late King, so he had the education of a Page. His natural parts, without being very good, are certainly better than any other person’s I have hitherto conversed with at this Court. He was employed by the late King in high employments, but never touched the zenith of power till after the fall of Monsieur Sulkowsky, who was his predecessor in the present King’s favour. Sulkowsky lost it by absenting himself from the King’s person to make campaigns in Hungary and upon the Rhine. As Count Bruhl profited by this false step of Sulkowsky, he is resolved no person shall ever have such an advantage over him. He is never absent from the King’s person, and he pays the closest attention to every thing his Majesty says or does, though he himself is naturally very idle. His every day is passed in the following manner: he rises before six in the morning, then Father Guerini comes to him to talk upon business, and to read over whatever letters they receive, and then they send such of them as they please to the Privy Council; but if anybody comes in, business is laid aside, and he is very ready to talk upon indifferent matters. Afterwards he dresses, which takes up above an hour, and he is obliged to be with the King before nine. He stays with him till his Majesty goes to mass, which he does exactly at eleven; and then Count Bruhl goes to the Countess Moyenska, where he stays till twelve; from thence he goes either to dinner with the King, or to his own house, with a few of the lowest and worst people of this Court.

After dinner he undresses and goes to sleep till five, when Father Guerini comes and sits with him while he dresses, and at six he goes again to the King, with whom he stays till after seven; from thence he goes to some assembly, where he plays at cards very deep, the Countess Moyenska being always of the party, who plays very well, and wins considerable sums of the Count; rather before ten he sits down to supper, and from thence he goes to bed about twelve.

Now as everything of the kind, from the highest affairs of state down to operas and hunting, are all in Count Bruhl’s immediate care, I leave you to judge how his post is executed, by the time he takes to do business in. His expenses are immense. He keeps three hundred servants and as many horses. His house is in extreme bad taste and extravagance. He has, at least, a dozen country seats, where he is always building and altering, but which he never sees. It is said, and I believe it, that he takes money for everything the King disposes of in Poland, where they frequently have very great employments to bestow. Everybody here reckons that he is not sincere, but for my own part I have as yet no great reason to think so. He is very communicative to me, and very patient to hear whatever I have to say. He is certainly not an ill-natured man, having never done a hard or cruel thing to any person that I heard of since he has been in power. He is very vain, and a little flattery is absolutely necessary for those who intend being well with him; and my notion of the duty of a Foreign Minister is, that after serving his master to the utmost of his power and ability, he ought to make himself as agreeable as possible at the Court he is sent to. From this way of thinking, I have endeavoured to cultivate the King of Poland and his Minister as much as possible, because a time may come when my being well with this Court may be of some small service to the King my master.

Count Bruhl is polite, civil, and very ready to oblige, and, after the first ceremonies are over, without any forms. If he has any principle in politics, ’tis certainly favourable to the House of Austria. That, indeed, is not much, but it is more than any other person has that belongs to this Court, and whenever he falls we shall fall into worse hands. He has been very negligent of support at Court, having never, during his long Administration, made himself one friend of any great consequence. The clamours now against him are very high, for the two reasons of the fall of the Stier Bills, and the non-payment of the Army. The man that heads these complaints, and whom ’tis possible his Majesty may remember to have seen at Hanover, is one Count Linard, a Saxon, whom I take to be thoroughly in the French interests. He has but moderate parts, and very little literature, but in Saxon learning he is very deep. He rides, shoots, and dances better than anybody here, and by these accomplishments he has got himself into a good degree of the King’s favour, and flatters himself that whenever the Minister falls, he is the man that is to succeed him. I know he has been contriving to get a body of officers to throw themselves at the King’s feet to complain of Count Bruhl, and to demand their pay. By means of a spy that I had at Court I discovered this affair, and told Count Bruhl of it. He owned things were as I said, and added, that he did not expect nor deserve such usage from Count Linard; but two days afterwards he told me that my information was very true, and that he had taken such measures upon it as would perfectly secure him. I have since had the misfortune to lose my spy, who is fled for having got a woman with child, he being a married man, and adultery in this country is punished with death.

The next person I shall speak of is father Guerini, a Jesuit, who is more in the King’s favour than in any credit. He has been long in the service, and is now kept, like an old horse, for what he has formerly done. He is Count Bruhl’s absolute creature, and has his confidence. He is perpetually with the King and Queen, and constantly employed in making up some quarrel among the singers and dancers. If he ever had any parts, they were gone before I came; but he is a good, trifling old man, and, though a priest, has no ambition. He has twice refused a Cardinal’s hat; and the last time, which was not above half a year ago, the King pressed him to it very much, but in vain. I go to him very often; for he often comes out with things that he is trusted with, and which I am sure he ought not to tell.

The next person to Count Bruhl in business is one Heinnech, a low man, who once wore a livery, though he now wears the Blue Riband of Russia. He talks no French, and we converse in Latin; but Monsieur Heinnech has so quarrelled with all moods and tenses, numbers and cases, that it is with difficulty I understand him. If I guess right at what he says to me, he is very ignorant of the affairs I talk about. He is Chef des finances; and it is said that Count Bruhl and he know so many had things of each other with respect to the disposal of public money, that it is impossible they should ever quarrel. He is the Minister’s right hand for domestic affairs, as Mr. Saul is for foreign ones, who in that province does everything. He is also a very low man; but he has parts, quickness, and knowledge without the least appearance of fashion or manners of a gentleman. There is not a man in Saxony that does not detest him, except his patron, Count Bruhl, to whom he is certainly very useful. Heinnech went so far once as to propose in the Privy Council to hang him. He has very strange schemes in his head; he is certainly for the House of Austria, but in a manner peculiar to himself; for he wishes to see that House strictly united with that of Bourbon, and believes that a[93] practicable business. He is secretary to the Cabinet Council, in conjunction with Mr. Walter, who is a very honest knowing man, well-intentioned, and quite in the true system, but at present hardly employed at all, to our great misfortune.

These persons govern under Count Bruhl, as the Countess Moyenska does over him—

... orbi

Jupiter imponit jura, sed illa Jovi.

She is thoroughly hated, having all had qualities that can unite in one person, among which pride, avarice, and revenge shine most conspicuous. She has certainly received money in large sums from France; but as that is received, and there is no immediate prospect of more, I think her violence against us seems to abate. I thought it my business to do all I could to be well with her, and I am now of all her parties. My reception, when I first went, was very cold; but I expected that, and persisted in going till I came to be very well received.

I shall now say a word or two of their Army. They aver that they have 44,000 men, but they really have but 33,000. To all appearance they are very fine ones, especially the Cavalry; but as I have already told you how ill they are paid, you must see that without a large sum to put them in motion, ’tis impossible they should act out of their own country. As to their generals, Count Rotosha and the Chevalier de Saxe, both natural sons of the late King of Poland, are at the head of the Army. They are not wanting in abilities and knowledge; but they are both the idlest and most inactive of all mankind, and both bitter enemies of the House of Austria, because they reckon they were sacrificed by Prince Charles at the battle of Keisersdorf. There is also in this service a Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, who was formerly in the King of Prussia’s, but who was discharged from thence upon suspicion of cowardice. He afterwards served as a volunteer in the armies of the Empress-Queen; but they would not give him any command at Vienna. At last the father, about a year and a half ago, brought him to Leipsick fair, presented and recommended him to the King of Poland, and begged he would make him a Lieutenant-General in his army. The King answered he would consider of it. Upon this the old Prince came out into the ante-chamber, and told everybody that the King had made his son Eugene a Lieutenant-General, and got his Commission immediately made out, which the good King, rather than have the trouble of a dispute, signed; and he is in this service.

There is another general here, a Frenchman, named D’Ollone, who was in the service of their Imperial Majesties; but being sent hither, about eight months ago, to regulate some differences about the Saxon troops, when they were in Bohemia, he talked so fast, and played so deep with Count Bruhl, that he thought him the greatest officer of the age, and at once offered to make him General of Foot (whereas he had been but Lieutenant-General under their Imperial Majesties.) This offer D’Ollone readily accepted, and entered into this service; but in a month’s time all D’Ollone’s talk was out, and he had won too much of Count Bruhl’s money: so he quickly grew out of favour, and was found to be a man of no parts or consequence. In short, both parties are heartily sick of their bargain. He curses the day he was taken, and they the day they took him.

I hope you will excuse my mentioning these two last stories; but I mean them more for entertainment than information, though they are both strictly true, and serve a little to illustrate the characters of the King of Poland and his First Minister.

I must now inform you of what I judge to be the views and wishes of this Court. The King of Poland most ardently desires to see a peace made. He loves peace so much, that I believe he is not much concerned about what sort of a one it may be; but till that happy hour arrives, their system here (if they have any system) is to observe an impracticable neutrality; and by the fear they have of offending anybody (which is the natural consequence of such a system), they take care to oblige nobody. The Court of Vienna is very much dissatisfied with their proceedings at Dresden; but the Ministry of Versailles are often full as discontented with the steps they take. Russia alone is the power to which the King pays real court. ’Tis by the Czarina only that the King keeps possession of the Throne of Poland: for his affairs in that kingdom are in so bad a situation, and his interest there so very low, that the Grand Marshal, the Grand Chancellor, and many other Poles of distinction that came here upon the late double marriages, told me, in my first week’s acquaintance with them, that if it was not for fear of Russia they would dethrone their King in half a year and choose another; for that he had broken through every promise that he had ever made them, and had not kept one tittle of the pacta conventa. The Ministry were so sensible that all this is true, that the Court goes into Poland early the next spring in order to manage that people, and to conciliate their minds to the House of Saxony; for the King has the succession of that Crown in his family much at heart; and this, if ever it does happen, must be brought about by Russia. After all this, judge of the weight the Court of Petersburgh must have with that of Dresden. For my part, I give it as an opinion, by which I will abide, and which I can prove by facts, that whenever there is a Minister at Dresden, sent by the Czarina with absolute instructions to act in concert with those of his Majesty and his Allies, Saxony must do whatever they please.

There is something unfortunate between this Court and that of Vienna. They never were perfectly well together for six weeks at a time. This King thinks that it was entirely owing to him that the Imperial dignity returned to the House of Austria, and that their Imperial Majesties can never do enough to repay that obligation. The Court of Vienna says, that she placed the Elector of Saxony on the Throne of Poland, (for doing which she has certainly since been a great sufferer,) without having any returns of gratitude from the Court of Dresden. ’Tis indeed true, that at a time when the Empress-Queen is fully employed, and unable to pay much attention to small things, this Court shows her very little regard. The Austrian Court sees this, and resents it tacitly very much. They have not yet thought fit to appoint anybody to succeed Esterhazy here, and they talked of sending only a Resident, at which this Court seems much offended. As to Prussia, this Court has not yet recovered the wounds nor the fright which it lately received from that quarter. With respect to France, their heads here were so turned with the marriage of the Dauphiness, that they are not yet quite settled. They are still pensioners to that Crown, but their treaty of subsidy expires next February. I flatter myself that it will not be renewed: nothing but poverty can make them do it.

I have asked Count Bruhl twenty times, how it was possible to rely in the least upon a power who would at any time sacrifice this country (because it is their interest so to do, which the French understand but too well), at a moment’s warning, to their hated and dreaded foe, the King of Prussia. But the real cause that lost the Allies this Court, and threw it into the arms of France, was Mr. Calhoen, who, when Minister from Holland, had orders from his masters to treat about the taking a body of Saxon troops into their pay. He did indeed make the proposition; but at the same time prevented the success of it, by telling Count Bruhl, that though, by his office, he was obliged to ask for a body of Saxon troops, yet, as a friend to the Court of Dresden, he could not help saying that he doubted whether they would be well or regularly paid for them. Thus did this perfidious Dutchman talk, and easily persuaded Count Bruhl (who thought of nothing but the money) to refuse the troops. The Minister from this Court to the States General is a Frenchman, and heartily in the interest of his country; and all his letters that come here are as partial to our enemies and as prejudicial to his Majesty and his Allies as possible; and indeed this whole Court is so thoroughly Frenchified, that upon the late successes of our fleets, and the late battle won by our Allies in Italy, I don’t think that I was congratulated by five people here, and those few that did wish me joy did it in a whisper. I can’t help mentioning one thing upon which this Court value themselves, and make a merit of to me. They say it is their influence over the King of the Two Sicilies (because he married their daughter), that has prevented his marching against our Allies in Lombardy; but such counters as these are never taken in payment.

Thus far I got Mr. Stephens to copy almost word for word a letter I wrote to Lord Chesterfield, by the same messenger that brings you this; and therefore it should not be shown to everybody; but I hope it will divert Lord Ilchester and the Duke of Marlborough. If it had been wrote to you in my own way, I could have made you laugh heartily. You observe that Monsieur Bruhl, like all First Ministers, keeps the lowest company. I wish I dared write all I could; but things are not yet ripe. The first opportunity, you shall have a packet of curiosities.

I am ever entirely yours,

C. HANBURY WILLIAMS.

* * *

Dresden, 27th August, 1745, N. S.