“‘We have taken Sabacz. I have the cross. You may be sure, papa, that I thought of you on going up the first to the assault.—Your submissive and respectful son,
“‘Charles.’
“Could there be anything more touching! Would I had been there to give him a hand! I can see that I have his esteem by the words, I thought of you, but I should have deserved it still better. I feel too much affected to write more. I embrace you, my dear Count.”
But it is with his son that the Prince gives himself up to all the intensity of his feelings.
From Potemkin’s Headquarters at Elisabethgorod.
12th May 1788.
“What can I tell you, my dear Charles, that you do not already know of my feelings on receiving from His Majesty a letter so full of kindness and graciousness? This letter is worth more to you than any parchments containing titles, diplomas, or patents—mere food for rats. It contains such touching words for us both that, though I am getting rather old to cry, it is impossible for me to refrain from doing so whenever I read over that paragraph. All the Circassian generals and officers, the Zaporogues, Tartars, Cabardians,[64] Germans, Russians, Cossacks, etc.,—all came to me in crowds, to congratulate me with a warmth I can never forget.
“The father and most tender friend of my Charles are assuredly deeply touched at the honour you have won, and which surpasses anything I have ever done in my life. But the General de Ligne has suffered abominably.
“Imagine, my boy, what a delightful moment for both of us had I been the first to accept your aid in clambering up that parapet, where you arrived before any one else!
“Good heavens, what a fool one is at a distance! I, who at Hühnerwasser would have calmly seen you shot through the arm—I am as nervous as any woman,—a condition which is not far removed from that of minister.[65] However, I have agreed with some regiments of light horse to make a good slashing charge. I have never done anything of the kind, except at the head of ten Uhlans against five or six drunken Prussian hussars. You will admit that it was not the most memorable action of this century. I cannot shut myself up in those squares, as in a box, where one opens a door to come in or go out.