The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck Volume I Part 14

Hence it was evidently falsely affirmed, by the magistracy of Dantzic, and the conspirator Abramson, who wrote in his own excuse to Vienna, that my seizure must be attributed wholly to my own imprudence, and that I had exposed myself to this arrest by going without the city gates, where I was taken and carried off; nor was it less astonis.h.i.+ng that the court of Vienna should not have demanded satisfaction for the treachery of the Dantzickers toward an Austrian officer. I have incontrovertibly proved this treachery, after I had regained my liberty Abramson indeed they could not punish, for during my imprisonment he had quitted the Austrian for the Prussian service, where he gradually became so contemptible, that in the year 1764, when I was released from my imprisonment, he was himself imprisoned in the house of correction; and his wife, lately so rich, was obliged to beg her bread. Thus have I generally lived to see the fall of my betrayers; and thus have I found that, without indulging personal revenge, virtue and fort.i.tude must at length triumph over the calumniator and the despot.

This truth will be further proved hereafter, nor can I behold, unmoved, the open shame in which my persecutors live, and how they tremble in my presence, their wicked deeds now being known to the world Nay, monarchs may yet punish their perfidy:--Yet not so!--May they rather die in possession of wealth they have torn from me! I only wish the pity and respect of the virtuous and the wise.

But, though Austria has never resented the affront commenced on the person of an officer in its service, still have I a claim on the city of Dantzic, where I was thus treacherously delivered up, for the effects I there was robbed of, the amount of which is between eleven and twelve thousand florins. This is a case too clear to require argument, and the publication of this history will make it known to the world. This claim also, among others, I leave to the children of an unfortunate father.

Enough of digression; let us attend to the remarkable events which happened on the dismal journey to Berlin. I was escorted from garrison to garrison, which were distant from each other two, three, or at most five miles; wherever I came, I found compa.s.sion and respect. The detachment of hussars only attended me two days; it consisted of twelve men and an officer, who rode with me in the carriage.

The fourth day I arrived at ---, where the Duke of Wirtemberg, father of the present Grand d.u.c.h.ess of Russia, was commander, and where his regiment was in quarters. The Duke conversed with me, was much moved, invited me to dine, and detained me all the day, where I was not treated as a prisoner. I so far gained his esteem that I was allowed to remain there the next day; the chief persons of the place were a.s.sembled, and the d.u.c.h.ess, whom he had lately married, testified every mark of pity and consideration. I dined with him also on the third day, after which I departed in an open carriage, without escort, attended only by a lieutenant of his regiment.

I must relate this, event circ.u.mstantially for it not only proves the just and n.o.ble character of the Duke, but likewise that there are moments in which the brave may appear cowards, the clear-sighted blind, and the wise foolish; nay, one might almost be led to conclude, from this, that my imprisonment at Magdeburg, was the consequence of predestination, since I remained riveted in stupor, in despite of suggestions, forebodings, and favourable opportunities. Who but must be astonished, having read the daring efforts I made at Glatz, at this strange insensibility now in the very crisis of my fate? I afterwards was convinced it was the intention of the n.o.ble-minded Duke that I should escape, and that he must have given particular orders to the successive officers. He would probably have willingly subjected himself to the reprimands of Frederic if I would have taken to fight. The journey through the places where his regiment was stationed continued five days, and I everywhere pa.s.sed the evenings in the company of the officers, the kindness of whom was unbounded I slept in their quarters without sentinel, and travelled in their carriages, without other guard than a single officer in the carriage. In various places the high road was not more than two, and sometimes one mile from the frontier road; therefore nothing could have been easier than to have escaped; yet did the same Trenck, who in Glatz had cut his way through thirty men to obtain his freedom, that Trenck, who had never been acquainted with fear, now remain four days bewildered, and unable to come to any determination.

In a small garrison town, I lodged in the house of a captain of cavalry, and continually was treated by him with every mark of friends.h.i.+p. After dinner he rode at the head of his squadron to water the horse, unsaddled.

I remained alone in the house, entered the stable, saw three remaining horses, with saddles and bridles; in my chamber was my sword and a pair of pistols. I had but to mount one of the horses and fly to the opposite gate. I meditated on the project, and almost resolved to put it in execution, but presently became undetermined by some secret impulse. The captain returned some time after, and appeared surprised to find me still there. The next day he accompanied me alone in his carriage; we came to a forest, he saw some champignons, stopped, asked me to alight, and help him to gather them; he strayed more than a hundred paces from me, and gave me entire liberty to fly; yet notwithstanding all this, I voluntarily returned, suffering myself to be led like a sheep to the slaughter.

I was treated so well, during my stay at this place, and escorted with so much negligence, that I fell into a gross error. Perceiving they conveyed me straight to Berlin, I imagined the King wished to question me concerning the plan formed for the war, which was then on the point of breaking out. This plan I perfectly knew, the secret correspondence of Bestuchef having all pa.s.sed through my hands, which circ.u.mstance was much better known at Berlin than at Vienna. Confirmed in this opinion, and far from imagining the fate that awaited me, I remained irresolute, insensible, and blind to danger. Alas, how short was this hope! How quickly was it succeeded by despair! when, after four days' march, I quitted the district under the command of the Duke of Wirtemberg, and was delivered up to the first garrison of infantry at Coslin! The last of the Wirtemberg officers, when taking leave of me, appeared to be greatly affected; and from this moment till I came to Berlin, I was under a strong escort, and the given orders were rigorously observed.

CHAPTER XV.

Arrived here, I was lodged over the grand guardhouse, with two sentinels in my chamber, and one at the door. The King was at Potzdam, and here I remained three days; on the third, some staff-officers made their appearance, seated themselves at a table, and put the following questions to me:--

First. What was my business at Dantzic?

Secondly. Whether I was acquainted with M. Goltz, Prussian amba.s.sador to Russia?

Thirdly. Who was concerned with me in the conspiracy at Dantzic?

When I perceived their intention, by these interrogations, I absolutely refused to reply, only saying I had been imprisoned in the fortress of Glatz, without hearing, or trial by court-martial; that, availing myself of the laws of nature, I had by my own exertions procured my liberty, and that I was now a captain of cavalry in the imperial service; that I demanded a legal trial for my first unknown offence, after which I engaged to answer all interrogatories, and prove my innocence; but that at present, being accused of new crimes, without a hearing concerning my former punishment, the procedure was illegal. I was told they had no orders concerning this, and I remained dumb to all further questions.

They wrote some two hours, G.o.d knows what; a carriage came up; I was strictly searched, to find whether I had any weapons; thirteen or fourteen ducats, which I had concealed, were taken from me, and I was conducted under a strong escort, through Spandau to Magdeburg. The officer here delivered me to the captain of the guard at the citadel; the town major came, and brought me to the dungeon, expressly prepared for me; a small picture of the Countess of Bestuchef, set with diamonds, which I had kept concealed in my bosom, was now taken from me; the door was shut, and here was I left.

My dungeon was in a casemate, the fore part of which, six feet wide and ten feet long, was divided by a party wall. In the inner wall were two doors, and a third at the entrance of the casemate itself. The window in the seven-feet-thick wall was so situated that, though I had light, I could see neither heaven nor earth; I could only see the roof of the magazine; within and without this window were iron bars, and in the s.p.a.ce between an iron grating, so close and so situated, by the rising of the walls, that it was impossible I should see any parson without the prison, or that any person should see me. On the outside was a wooden palisade, six feet from the wall, by which the sentinels were prevented from conveying anything to me. I had a mattress, and a bedstead, but which was immovably ironed to the floor, so that it was impossible I should drag it, and stand up to the window; beside the door was a small iron stove and a night table, in like manner fixed to the floor. I was not yet put in irons, and my allowance was a pound and a half per day of ammunition bread, and a jug of water.

From my youth I had always had a good appet.i.te, and my bread was so mouldy I could scarcely at first eat the half of it. This was the consequence of Major Reiding's avarice, who endeavoured to profit even by this, so great was the number of unfortunate prisoners; therefore, it is impossible I should describe to my readers the excess of tortures that, during eleven months, I felt from ravenous hunger. I could easily every day have devoured six pounds of bread; and every twenty-four hours after having received and swallowed my small portion, I continued as hungry as before I began, yet must wait another twenty-four hours for a new morsel.

How willingly would I have signed a bill of exchange for a thousand ducats, on my property at Vienna, only to have satiated my hunger on dry bread! For, so extreme was it, that scarcely had I dropt into a sweet sleep. Therefore I dreamed I was feasting at some table luxuriously loaded, where, eating like a glutton, the whole company were astonished to see me, while my imagination was heated by the sensation of famine.

Awakened by the pains of hunger, the dishes vanished, and nothing remained but the reality of my distress; the cravings of nature were but inflamed, my tortures prevented sleep, and, looking into futurity, the cruelty of my fate suffered, if possible, increase, from imagining that the prolongation of pangs like these was insupportable. G.o.d preserve every honest man from sufferings like mine! They were not to be endured by the villain most obdurate. Many have fasted three days, many have suffered want for a week, or more; but certainly no one, beside myself, ever endured it in the same excess for eleven months. Some have supposed that to eat little might become habitual, but I have experienced the contrary. My hunger increased every day; and of all the trials of fort.i.tude my whole life has afforded, this, of eleven months, was the most bitter.

Pet.i.tions, remonstrances, were of no avail; the answer was--"We must give no more, such is the King's command." The Governor, General Borck, born the enemy of man, replied, when I entreated, at least, to have my fill of bread, "You have feasted often enough out of the service of plate taken from the King, by Trenck, at the battle of Sorau; you must now eat ammunition bread in your dirty kennel. Your Empress makes no allowance for your maintenance, and you are unworthy of the bread you eat, or the trouble taken about you." Judge, reader, what pangs such insolence, added to such sufferings must inflict. Judge what were my thoughts, foreseeing, as I did, an endless duration to this imprisonment and these torments.

My three doors were kept ever shut, and I was left to such meditations as such feelings and such hopes might inspire. Daily, about noon, once in twenty-four hours, my pittance of bread and water was brought. The keys of all the doors were kept by the governor; the inner door was not opened, but my bread and water were delivered through an aperture. The prison doors were opened only once a week, on a Wednesday, when the governor and town major, my hole having been first cleaned, paid their visit.

Having remained thus two months, and observed this method was invariable, I began to execute a project I had formed, of the possibility of which I was convinced.

Where the night-table and stove stood, the floor was bricked, and this paving extended to the wall that separated my casemate from the adjoining one, in which was no prisoner. My window was only guarded by a single sentinel; I therefore soon found, among those who successively relieved guard, two kind-hearted fellows, who described to me the situation of my prison; hence I perceived I might effect my escape, could I but penetrate into the adjoining casemate, the door of which was not shut. Provided I had a friend and a boat waiting for me at the Elbe, or could I swim across that river, the confines of Saxony were but a mile distant.

To describe my plan at length would lead to prolixity, yet I must enumerate some of its circ.u.mstances, as it was remarkably intricate and of gigantic labour.

I worked through the iron, eighteen inches long, by which the night-table was fastened, and broke off the clinchings of the nails, but preserved their heads, that I might put them again in their places, and all might appear secure to my weekly visitors. This procured me tools to raise up the brick floor, under which I found earth. My first attempt was to work a hole through the wall, seven feet thick behind, and concealed by the night-table. The first layer was of brick. I afterwards came to large hewn stones. I endeavoured accurately to number and remember the bricks, both of the flooring and the wall, so that I might replace them and all might appear safe. This having accomplished, I proceeded.

The day preceding visitation all was carefully replaced, and the intervening mortar as carefully preserved; the whole had, probably, been whitewashed a hundred times; and, that I might fill up all remaining interstices, I pounded the white stuff this afforded, wetted it, made a brush of my hair, then applied this plaster, washed it over, that the colour might be uniform, and afterwards stripped myself, and sat with my naked body against the place, by the heat of which it was dried.

While labouring, I placed the stones and bricks upon my bedstead, and had they taken the precaution to come at any other time in the week, the stated Wednesday excepted, I had inevitably been discovered; but, as no such ill accident befell me, in six months my Herculean labours gave me a prospect of success.

Means were to be found to remove the rubbish from my prison; all of which, in a wall so thick, it was impossible to replace; mortar and stone could not be removed. I therefore took the earth, scattered it about my chamber, and ground it under my feet the whole day, till I had reduced it to dust; this dust I strewed in the aperture of my window, making use of the loosened night-table to stand upon, I tied splinters from my bedstead together, with the ravelled yarn of an old stocking, and to this I affixed a tuft of my hair. I worked a large hole under the middle grating, which could not be seen when standing on the ground, and through this I pushed my dust with the tool I had prepared in the outer window, then, waiting till the wind should happen to rise, during the night I brushed it away, it was blown off, and no appearance remained on the outside. By this simple expedient I rid myself of at least three hundred weight of earth, and thus made room to continue my labours; yet, this being still insufficient, I had recourse to another artifice, which was to knead up the earth in the form of sausages, to resemble the human faeces: these I dried, and when the prisoner came to clean my dungeon, hastily tossed them into the night-table, and thus disenc.u.mbered myself of a pound or two more of earth each week. I further made little b.a.l.l.s, and, when the sentinel was walking, blew them, through a paper tube, out of the window. Into the empty s.p.a.ce I put my mortar and stones, and worked on successfully.

I cannot, however, describe my difficulties after having penetrated about two feet into the hewn stone. My tools were the irons I had dug out, which fastened may bedstead and night-table. A compa.s.sionate soldier also gave me an old iron ramrod and a soldier's sheath knife, which did me excellent service, more especially the latter, as I shall presently more fully show. With these two I cut splinters from my bedstead, which aided me to pick the mortar from the interstices of the stone; yet the labour of penetrating through this seven-feet wall was incredible; the building was ancient, and the mortar occasionally quite petrified, so that the whole stone was obliged to be reduced to dust. After continuing my work unremittingly for six months, I at length approached the accomplishment of my hopes, as I knew by coming to the facing of brick, which now was only between me and the adjoining casemate.

Meantime I found opportunity to speak to some of the sentinels, among whom was an old grenadier called Gelfhardt, whom I here name because he displayed qualities of the greatest and most n.o.ble kind. From him I learned the precise situation of my prison, and every circ.u.mstance that might best conduce to my escape.

Nothing was wanting but money to buy a boat, and crossing the Elbe with Gelfhardt, to take refuge in Saxony. By Gelfhardt's means I became acquainted with a kind-hearted girl, a Jewess, and a native of Dessau, Esther Heymannin by name, and whose father had been ten years in prison.

This good, compa.s.sionate maiden, whom I had never seen, won over two other grenadiers, who gave her an opportunity of speaking to me every time they stood sentinel. By tying my splinters together, I made a stick long enough to reach beyond the palisades that were before my window, and thus obtained paper, another knife, and a file.

I now wrote to my sister, the wife of the before-mentioned only son of General Waldow; described my awful situation, and entreated her to remit three hundred rix-dollars to the Jewess, hoping, by this means, I might escape from my prison. I then wrote another affecting letter to Count Puebla, the Austrian amba.s.sador at Berlin, in which was enclosed a draft for a thousand florins on my effects at Vienna, desiring him to remit these to the Jewess, having promised her that sum as a reward for her fidelity. She was to bring the three hundred rix-dollars my sister should send to me, and take measures with the grenadiers to facilitate my flight, which nothing seemed able to prevent, I having the power either to break into the casemate or, aided by the grenadiers and the Jewess' to cut the locks from the doors and that way escape from my dungeon. The letters were open, I being obliged to roll them round the stick to convey them to Esther.

The faithful girl diligently proceeded to Berlin, where she arrived safe, and immediately spoke to Count Puebla. The Count gave her the kindest reception, received the letter, with the letter of exchange, and bade her go and speak to Weingarten, the secretary of the emba.s.sy, and act entirely as he should direct. She was received by Weingarten in the most friendly manner, who, by his questions, drew from her the whole secret, and our intended plan of flight, aided by the two grenadiers, and also that she had a letter for my sister, which she must carry to Hammer, near Custrin. He asked to see this letter; read it, told her to proceed on her Journey, gave her two ducats to bear her expenses, ordered her to come to him on her return, said that during this interval he would endeavour to obtain her the thousand florins for my draft, and would then give her further instructions.

Esther cheerfully departed for Hammer, where my sister, then a widow, and no longer, as in 1746, in dread of her husband, joyful to hear I was still living, immediately gave her three hundred rix-dollars, exhorting her to exert every possible means to obtain my deliverance. Esther hastened back with the letter from my sister to Berlin, and told all that pa.s.sed to Weingarten, who read the letter, and inquired the names of the two grenadiers. He told her the thousand florins from Vienna were not yet come, but gave her twelve ducats; bade her hasten back to Magdeburg, to carry me all this good news, and then return to Berlin, where he would pay her the thousand florins. Esther came to Magdeburg, went immediately to the citadel, and, most luckily, met the wife of one of the grenadiers, who told her that her husband and his comrade had been taken and put in irons the day before. Esther had quickness of perception, and suspected we had been betrayed; she therefore instantly again began her travels, and happily came safe to Dessau.

Here I must interrupt my narrative, that I may explain this infernal enigma to my readers, an account of which I received after I had obtained my freedom, and still possess, in the handwriting of this Jewess.

Weingarten, as was afterwards discovered, was a traitor, and too much trusted by Count Puebla, he being a spy in the pay of Prussia, and one who had revealed, in the court of Berlin, not only the secrets of the Imperial emba.s.sy, but also the whole plan of the projected war. For this reason he afterwards, when war broke out, remained at Berlin in the Prussian service. His reason for betraying me was that he might secure the thousand florins which I had drawn for on Vienna; for the receipt of the 24th of May, 1755, attests that the sum was paid, by the administrators of my effects, to Count Puebla, and has since been brought to account; nor can I believe that Weingarten did not appropriate this sum to himself, since I cannot be persuaded the amba.s.sador would commit such an action, although the receipt is in his handwriting, as may easily be demonstrated, it being now in my possession. Thus did Weingarten, that he might detain a thousand florins with impunity, bring new evils upon me and upon my sister, which occasioned her premature death; caused one grenadier to run the gauntlet three successive days, and another to be hung.

Esther alone escaped, and since gave me an elucidation of the whole affair. The report at Magdeburg was, that a Jewess had obtained money from my sister and bribed two grenadiers, and that one of these had trusted and been betrayed by his comrade. Indeed, what other story could be told at Magdeburg, or how could it be known I had been betrayed to the Prussian ministry by the Imperial secretary? The truth, however, is as I have stated: my account-book exists, and the Jewess is still alive.

Her poor imprisoned father was punished with more than a hundred blows to make him declare whether his daughter had entrusted him with the plot, or if he knew whither she was fled, and miserably died in fetters. Such was the mischief occasioned by a rascal! And who might be blamed but the imprudent Count Puebla?

In the year 1766, this said Jewess demanded of me a thousand florins; and I wrote to Count Puebla, that, having his receipt for the sum, which never had been repaid, I begged it might be restored. He received my agent with rudeness, returned no answer, and seemed to trouble himself little concerning my loss. Whether the heirs of the Count be, or be not, indebted to me these thousand florins and the interest, I leave the world to determine. Thrice have I been betrayed at Vienna and sold to Berlin, like Joseph to the Egyptians. My history proves the origin of my persuasion that residents, envoys, and amba.s.sadors must be men of known worth and honesty, and not the vilest of rascals and miscreants. But, alas! the effects and money they have robbed me of have never been restored; and for the miseries they have brought upon me, they could not be recompensed by the wealth of any or all the monarchs on earth. Estates they may, but truth they cannot confiscate; and of the villainy of Abramson and Weingarten I have doc.u.ments and proofs that no court of justice could disannul. Stop, reader, if thou hast a heart, and in that heart compa.s.sion for the unfortunate! Stop and imagine what my sensations are while I remember and recount a part only of the injustice that has been done me, a part only of the tyranny I have endured! By this last act of treachery of Weingarten was I held in chains, the most horrible, for nine succeeding years! By him was an innocent man brought to the gallows! By him, too, my sister, my beloved, my unfortunate sister, was obliged to build a dungeon at her own expense! besides being amerced in a fine, the extent of which I never could learn. Her goods were plundered, her estates made a desert, her children fell into extreme poverty, and she herself expired in her thirty-third year, the victim of cruelty, persecution, her brother's misfortunes, and the treachery of the Imperial emba.s.sy!

Footnotes:

{1} A common expression with Frederic when he was angry, and which has since become proverbial among the Prussian and other German officers. See Critical _Review_, _April_, 1755.

{2} The same Doo who was governor of Glatz during the Seven Years' war, and who, having been surprised by General Laudohu, was made prisoner, which occasioned the loss of Glatz. The King broke him with infamy, and banished him with contempt. In 1764 he came to Vienna, where I gave him alms. He was, by birth, an Italian, a selfish, wicked man; and, while major under the government of Fouquet, at Glatz, brought many people to misery. He was the creature of Fouquet, without birth or merit; crafty, malignant, but handsome, and, having debauched his patron's daughter, afterwards married her; whence at first his good, and at length his ill fortune. He wanted knowledge to defend a fortress against the enemy, and his covetousness rendered him easy to corrupt.

{3} The German mile contains from four to seven English miles, and this variation appears to depend on the ignorance of the people and on the roads being in some places but little frequented. It seems probable the Baron and his friend might travel about 809 English miles.--TRANSLATOR.