Thy Hands that fight, and ’tis thy purse that pays.
How partial is the common state of things,
And how unjust the Fame of Emperors and Kings!”
Defoe’s “History of the Wars” is written as “by a Scots gentleman in the Swedish service.” It is a more documentary book than Voltaire’s, to all outward appearance; and in it he has written with characteristic fidelity to the make-believe of his literary double the pseudo “Scots gentleman.” It has much the air of the off-hand, matter-of-fact military narrator, who does not look for rhetorical openings, or greatly trouble himself to make the most of his subject.
In his preface he says of Charles XII: “He has done Actions that Posterity will have room to Fable upon, till they make his History Incredible, and turn it into Romance.” The romance is already in process in Defoe’s pages. The following passage in the text may be quoted to give an idea of his Scots gentleman’s estimate of the King—
“And such as these were his Discourses to us, who were his Servants, which so effectually convinc’d us, that his Cause was just, and his Foundations right, that however black the Prospect was, which we had before us; for we could see nothing attending us in the Process of the War, but Death, or being made Prisoners of War, which among Northern Princes especially, is but one Degree less in its Nature to a Soldier; and yet it must be said, in Honour of his Swedish Majesty’s Service, and of his Servants too; that not an Officer of Note deserted him to the Day of his Death, or quitted his Service, tho’ always unfortunate; nay, even the foreign Officers did not desert him; for we all thought, so much Virtue, such personal Bravery, such gallant Principles, such immoveable Steadiness, could not fail, but one Time or other must necessarily have a Turn of Fortune in the World, must some Time or other find Friends to support it: For who could imagine, that so gallant a Prince should at once be abandon’d of all the Princes of the Earth, from whom any Assistance could be expected; and that he, whose Ancestors had been the Refuge and Sanctuary of all the Protestant Powers and Princes in Germany, in their Distress, should at last receive Help from none of the Successors of those very Princes, who were establish’d by the Blood and Power of Sweden; nay, to apply it nearer, should at last be driven out of his Possessions by those very Powers, whose Ancestors ow’d the Being of their Government, to the Gallantry and Friendship of the King of Sweden’s Predecessors.”
Other extracts might be made which would show that Defoe was writing at his utmost stretch of speed when he wrote the “History.” This, too, is proved by the occasional gaps, dates left blank, and uncorrected errors of fact, or of the press.
Voltaire’s book, on the other hand, though it repeats some of Defoe’s errors, is an admirably adroit, and a well-poised and considered biography: one of the best biographies of great soldiers ever given to the world. We may conclude, if we will, that Voltaire’s English experiences in the decisive years of the writing of the book, which undoubtedly gave a new force and impulse to his genius, helped him also to his particular mastery in this vein. His tribute to England in his “Lettres Philosophiques sur les Anglais” is an indirect testimony to his intellectual expatriation; and with these two books and his tragedy, “Zaïre,” which followed in 1732, Voltaire may be said to have attained his brilliant majority.
The students of history who wish to collate Voltaire’s book with later authorities may be recommended to turn to Mr. Nisbet Bain’s volume on Charles XII, in the “Heroes of the Nations” series, Mr. Oscar Browning’s monograph, and Schuyler’s “History of Peter the Great.”
E. R.