I was now introduced into all companies, not as a foreigner who came to entreat employment, but as the heir of the house of Trenck, and its rich Hungarian possessions, and as the former favourite of the Prussian monarch.

I was also admitted to the society of the first literati, and wrote a poem on the anniversary of the coronation of the Empress Elizabeth. Hyndford took care she should see it, and, in conjunction with the chancellor, presented me to the sovereign. My reception was most gracious. She herself recommended me to the chancellor, and presented me with a gold-hilted sword, worth a thousand roubles. This raised me highly in the esteem of all the houses of the Bestuchef party.

Manners were at that time so rude in Russia, that every foreigner who gave a dinner, or a ball, must send notice to the chancellor Bestuchef, that he might return a list of the guests allowed to be invited. Faction governed everything; and wherever Bestuchef was, no friend of Woranzow durst appear. I was the intimate of the Austrian and English ambassadors; consequently, was caressed and esteemed in all companies. I soon became the favourite of the chancellor's lady, as I shall hereafter notice; and nothing more was wanting to obtain all I could wish.

I was well acquainted with architectural design, had free access to the house and cabinet of the chancellor, where I drew in company with Colonel Oettinger, who was then the head architect of Russia, and made the perspective view of the new palace, which the chancellor intended to build at Moscow, by which I acquired universal honour. I had gained more acquaintance in, and knowledge of, Russia in one month, than others, wanting my means, have done in twelve.

As I was one day relating my progress to Lord Hyndford, he, like a friend, grown grey in courts, kindly took the trouble to advise me. From him I obtained a perfect knowledge of Russia; he was acquainted with all the intrigues of European courts, their families, party cabals, the foibles of the monarchs, the principles of their government, the plots of the great Peter, and had also made the peace of Breslau. Thus, having been the confidential friend of Frederic, he was intimately acquainted with his heart, as well as the sources of his power. Hyndford was penetrating, noble-minded, had the greatness of the Briton, without his haughtiness; and the principles, by which he combined the past, the present, and the future, were so clear, that I, his scholar, by adhering to them, have been enabled to foretell all the most remarkable revolutions that have happened, during the space of six-and-thirty years, in Europe. By these I knew, when any minister was disgraced, who should be his successor. I daily passed some hours improving by his kind conversation; and to him I am indebted for most of that knowledge of the world I happen to possess.

He took various opportunities of cautioning me against the effects of an ardent, sanguine temper; and my hatred of arbitrary power warned me to beware of the determined persecution of Frederic, of his irreconcilable anger, his intrigues and influence in the various courts of Europe, which he would certainly exert to prevent my promotion, lest I should impede his own projects, and lamented my future sufferings, which he plainly foresaw. "Despots," said he, "always are suspicious, and abhor those who have a consciousness of their own worth, of the rights of mankind, and hold the lash in detestation. The enlightened are by them called the restless spirits, turbulent and dangerous; and virtue there, where virtue is unnecessary for the humbling and trampling upon the suffering subject, is accounted a crime, of all others the most to be dreaded."

Hyndford taught me to know, and highly to value freedom: to despise tyrants, to endure the worst of miseries, to emulate true greatness of mind, to despise danger, and to honour only those whose elevation of soul had taught them equally to oppose bigotry and despotism.

Bernes was a philosopher; but with the penetration of an Italian, more cautious than Hyndford, yet equally honest and worthy. His friendship for me was unbounded, and the time passed in their company was esteemed by me most precious. The liberality of my sentiments, thirst after knowledge and scientific acquirements gained their favour; our topics of conversation were inexhaustible, and I acquired more real information at Moscow than at Berlin, under the tuition of La Metri, Maupertuis, and Voltaire.



CHAPTER XI.

Scarcely had I been six weeks in this city before I had an adventure which I shall here relate; for, myself excepted, all the persons concerned in it are now dead. Intrigues properly belong to novels. This book is intended for a more serious purpose, and they are therefore here usually suppressed. It cannot be supposed I was a woman-hater. Most of the good or bad fortune I experienced originated in love. I was not by nature inconstant, and was incapable of deceit even in amours. In the very ardour of youth I always shunned mere sensual pleasures. I loved for more exalted reasons, and for such sought to be beloved again. Love and friendship were with me always united; and these I was capable of inciting, maintaining, and deserving. The most difficult of access, the noblest, and the fairest, were ever my choice: and my veneration for these always deterred me from grosser gratifications. By woman I was formed; by the faith of woman supported under misfortunes; in the company of woman enjoyed the few hours of delight my life of sorrows has experienced. Woman, beautiful and well instructed, even now, lightens the burden of age, the world's tediousness and its woes; and, when these are ended, I would rather wish mine eyes might be closed by fair and virgin hands, than, when expiring, fixed on a hypocritical priest.

My adventures with women would amply furnish a romance: but enough of this, I should not relate the present, were it not necessary to my story.

Dining one public day with Lord Hyndford, I was seated beside a charming young lady of one of the best families in Russia, who had been promised in marriage, though only seventeen, to an old invalid minister. Her eyes soon told me she thought me preferable to her intended bridegroom. I understood them, lamented her hard fate, and was surprised to hear her exclaim, "Oh, heavens! that it were possible you could deliver me from my misfortune: I would engage to do whatever you would direct."

The impression such an appeal must make on a man of four and twenty, of a temperament like mine, may easily be supposed. The lady was ravishingly beautiful; her soul was candour itself, and her rank that of a princess; but the court commands had already been given in favour of the marriage; and flight, with all its inseparable dangers, was the only expedient. A public table was no place for long explanations. Our hearts were already one. I requested an interview, and the next day was appointed, the place the Trotzer garden, where I passed three rapturous hours in her company: thanks to her woman, who was a Georgian.

To escape, however, from Moscow, was impossible. The distance thence to any foreign country was too great. The court was not to remove to Petersburg till the next spring, and her marriage was fixed for the first of August. The misfortune was not to be remedied, and nothing was left us but patience perforce. We could only resolve to fly from Petersburg when there, the soonest possible, and to take refuge in some corner of the earth, where we might remain unknown of all. The marriage, therefore, was celebrated with pomp, though I, in despite of forms, was the true husband of the princess. Such was the state of the husband imposed upon her, that to describe it, and not give disgust, were impossible.

The princess gave me her jewels, and several thousand roubles, which she had received as a nuptial present, that I might purchase every thing necessary for flight; my evil destiny, however, had otherwise determined. I was playing at ombre with her, one night, at the house of the Countess of Bestuchef, when she complained of a violent headache, appointed me to meet her on the morrow, in the Trotzer gardens, clasped my hand with inexpressible emotion, and departed. Alas! I never beheld her more, till stretched upon the bier!

She grew delirious that very night, and so continued till her death, which happened on the sixth day, when the small-pox began to appear. During her delirium she discovered our love, and incessantly called on me to deliver her from her tyrant. Thus, in the flower of her age, perished one of the most lovely women I ever knew, and with her fled all I held most dear.

All my plans were now to be newly arranged. Lord Hyndford alone was in the secret, for I hid no secrets from him: he strengthened me in my first resolution, and owned that he himself, for such a mistress, might perhaps have been weak enough to have acted as I had done. Almost as much moved as myself, he sympathised with me as a friend, and his advice deterred me from ending my miseries, and descending with her, whom I have loved and lost, to the grave. This was the severest trial I had ever felt. Our affection was unbounded, and such only as noble hearts can feel. She being gone, the whole world became a desert. There is not a man on earth, whose life affords more various turns of fate than mine. Swiftly raised to the highest pinnacle of hope, as suddenly was I cast headlong down, and so remarkable were these revolutions that he who has read my history will at last find it difficult to say whether he envies or pities me most. And yet these were, in reality, but preparatory to the evils that hovered over my devoted head. Had not the remembrance of past joys soothed and supported me under my sufferings, I certainly should not have endured the ten years' torture of the Magdeburg dungeon, with a fortitude that might have been worthy even of Socrates.

Enough of this. My blood again courses swifter through my veins as I write! Rest, gentle maiden, noble and lovely as thou wert! For thee ought Heaven to have united a form so fair, animated as it was, by a soul so pure, to ever-blooming youth and immortality.

My love for this lady became well-known in Moscow; yet her corpulent overgrown husband had not understanding enough to suppose there was any meaning in her rhapsodies during her delirium.

Her gifts to me amounted in value to about seven thousand ducats. Lord Hyndford and Count Bernes both adjudged them legally mine, and well am I assured her heart had bequeathed me much more.

To this event succeeded another, by which my fortune was greatly influenced. The Countess of Bestuchef was then the most amiable and witty woman at Court. Her husband, cunning, selfish, and shallow, had the name of minister, while she, in reality, governed with a genius, at once daring and comprehensive. The too pliant Elizabeth carelessly left the most important things to the direction of others. Thus the Countess was the first person of the Empire, and on whom the attention of the foreign ministers was fixed.

Haughty and majestic in her demeanour, she was supposed to be the only woman at court who continued faithful to her husband; which supposition probably originated in her art and education, she being a German born: for I afterwards found her virtue was only pride, and a knowledge of the national character. The Russian lover rules despotic over his mistress: requires money, submission, and should he meet opposition, threatens her with blows, and the discovery of her secret.

During Elizabeth's reign foreigners could neither appear at court, nor in the best company, without the introduction of Bestuchef. I and Sievers, gentlemen of the chamber, were at that time the only Germans who had free egress and regress in all houses of fashion; my being protected by the English and Austrian ambassadors gave me very peculiar advantages, and made my company everywhere courted.

Bestuchef had been resident, during the late reign, at Hamburg, in which inferior station he married the countess, at that time, though young and handsome, only the widow of the merchant Boettger. Under Elizabeth, Bestuchef rose to the summit of rank and power, and the widow Boettger became the first lady of the empire. When I knew her she was eight and thirty, consequently no beauty, though a woman highly endowed in mind and manners, of keen discernment, disliking the Russians, protecting the Prussians, and at whose aversions all trembled.

Her carriage towards the Russians was, what it must be in her situation, lofty, cautious, and ironical, rather than kind. To me she showed the utmost esteem on all occasions, welcomed me at her table, and often admitted me to drink coffee in company with herself alone and Colonel Oettinger. The countess never failed giving me to understand she had perceived my love for the princess N—-; and, though I constantly denied the fact, she related circumstances which she could have known, as I thought, only from my mistress herself; my silence pleased her; for the Russians, when a lady had a partiality for them, never fail to vaunt of their good fortune. She wished to persuade me she had observed us in company, had read the language of our eyes, and had long penetrated our secret. I was ignorant at that time that she had then, and long before, entertained the maid of my mistress as a spy in her pay.

About a week after the death of the princess, the countess invited me to take coffee with her, in her chamber; lamented my loss, and the violence of that passion which had deprived me of all my customary vivacity, and altered my very appearance. She seemed so interested in my behalf, and expressed so many wishes, and so ardent to better my fate, that I could no longer doubt. Another opportunity soon happened, which confirmed these my suspicions: her mouth confessed her sentiments. Discretion, secrecy, and fidelity, were the laws she imposed, and never did I experience a more ardent passion from woman. Such was her understanding and penetration, she knew how to rivet my affections.

Caution was the thing most necessary. She contrived, however, to make opportunity. The chancellor valued, confided in me, and employed me in his cabinet; so that I remained whole days in his house. My captainship of cavalry was now no longer thought of: I was destined to political employment. My first was to be gentleman of the chamber, which in Russia is an office of importance, and the prospect of futurity became to me most resplendent. Lord Hyndford, ever the repository of my secrets, counselled me, formed plans for my conduct, rejoiced at my success, and refused to be reimbursed the expense he had been at, though now my circumstances were prosperous.

The degree of credit I enjoyed was soon noticed: foreign ministers began to pay their court to me: Goltz, the Prussian minister, made every effort to win me, but found me incorruptible.

The Russian alliance was at this time highly courted by foreign powers; the humbling of Prussia was the thing generally wished and planned: and nobody was better informed than myself of ministerial and family factions at this court.

My mistress, a year after my acquaintance with her, fell into her enemies' power, and with her husband, was delivered over to the executioner. Chancellor Bestuchef, in the year 1756, was forced to confession by the knout. Apraxin, minister of war, had a similar fate. The wife of his brother, then envoy in Poland, was, by the treachery of a certain Lieutenant Berger, with three others of the first ladies of the court, knouted, branded, and had their tongues cut out. This happened in the year 1741, when Elizabeth ascended the throne. Her husband, however, faithfully served: I knew him as Russian envoy, at Vienna, 1751. This may indeed be called the love of our country, and thus does it happen to the first men of the state: what then can a foreigner hope for, if persecuted, and in the power of those in authority?

No man, in so short a space of time, had greater opportunities than I, to discover the secrets of state; especially when guided by Hyndford and Bernes, under the reign of a well-meaning but short-sighted Empress, whose first minister was a weak man, directed by the will of an able and ambitious wife, and which wife loved me, a stranger, an acquaintance of only a few months, so passionately that to this passion she would have sacrificed every other object. She might, in fact, be considered as Empress of Russia, disposing of peace or war, and had I been more prudent or less sincere, I might in such a situation, have amassed treasures, and deposited them in full security. Her generosity was boundless; and, though obliged to pay above a hundred thousand roubles, in one year, to discharge her son's debts, yet might I have saved a still larger sum; but half of the gifts she obliged me to receive, I lent to this son, and lost. So far was I from selfish, and so negligent of wealth, that by supplying the wants of others, I often, on a reverse of fortune, suffered want myself.

This my splendid success in Russia displeased the great Frederic, whose persecution everywhere attended me, and who supposed his interest injured by my success in Russia. The incident I am going to relate was, at the time it happened, well known to, and caused much agitation among all the foreign ambassadors.

Lord Hyndford desired I would make him a fair copy of a plan of Cronstadt, for which he furnished the materials, with three additional drawings of the various ships in the harbour, and their names. There was neither danger nor suspicion attending this; the plan of Cronstadt being no secret, but publicly sold in the shops of Petersburg. England was likewise then in the closest alliance with Russia. Hyndford showed the drawing to Funk, the Saxon envoy, his intimate friend, who asked his permission to copy it himself. Hyndford gave him the plan signed with my name; and after Funk had been some days employed copying it, the Prussian minister, Goltz, who lived in his neighbourhood, came in, as he frequently paid him friendly visits. Funk, unsuspectingly, showed him my drawing, and both lamented that Frederic had lost so useful a subject. Goltz asked to borrow it for a couple of days, in order to correct his own; and Funk, one of the worthiest, most honest, and least suspicious of men, who loved me like a brother, accordingly lent the plan.

No sooner was Goltz in possession of it than he hurried to the chancellor, with whose weakness he was well acquainted, told him his intent in coming was to prove that a man, who had once been unfaithful to his king and country, where he had been loaded with favours, would certainly betray, for his own private interest, every state where he was trusted. He continued his preface, by speaking of the rapid progress I had made in Russia, and the free entrance I had found in the chancellor's house, where I was received as a son, and initiated in the secrets of the cabinet.

The chancellor defended me: Goltz then endeavoured to incite his jealousy, and told him my private interviews with his wife, especially in the palace-garden, were publicly spoken of. This he had learned from his spies, he having endeavoured, by the snares he laid, to make my destruction certain.

He likewise led Bestuchef to suspect his secretary, S-n, was a party in the intrigue; till at last the chancellor became very angry; Goltz then took my plan of Cronstadt from his pocket, and added, "Your excellency is nourishing a serpent in your bosom. This drawing have I received from Trenck, copied from your cabinet designs, for two hundred ducats." He knew I was employed there sometimes with Oettinger, whose office it was to inspect the buildings and repairs of the Russian fortifications. Bestuchef was astonished; his anger became violent, and Goltz added fuel to the flame, by insinuating, I should not be so powerfully protected by Bernes, the Austrian ambassador, were it not to favour the views of his own court. Bestuchef mentioned prosecution and the knout; Goltz replied my friends were too powerful, my pardon would be procured, and the evil this way increased. They therefore determined to have me secretly secured, and privately conveyed to Siberia.

Thus, while I unsuspectingly dreamed of nothing but happiness, the gathering storm threatened destruction, which only was averted by accident, or God's good providence.

Goltz had scarcely left the place triumphant, when the chancellor entered, with bitterness and rancour in his heart, into his lady's apartment, reproached her with my conduct, and while she endeavoured to soothe him, related all that had passed. Her penetration was much deeper than her husband's: she perceived there was a plot against me: she indeed knew my heart better than any other, and particularly that I was not in want of a poor two hundred ducats. She could not, however, appease him, and my arrest was determined. She therefore instantly wrote me a line to the following purport.

"You are threatened, dear friend, by a very imminent danger. Do not sleep to-night at home, but secure yourself at Lord Hyndford's till you hear farther from me."

Secretary S-n, her confidant (the same who, not long since, was Russian envoy at Ratisbon) was sent with the note. He found me, after dinner, at the English ambassador's, and called me aside. I read the billet, was astonished at its contents, and showed it Lord Hyndford. My conscience was void of reproach, except that we suspected my secret with the countess had been betrayed to the chancellor, and fearing his jealousy, Hyndford commanded me to remain in his house till we should make further discovery.

We placed spies round the house where I lived; I was inquired for after midnight, and the lieutenant of the police came himself and searched the house.

Lord Hyndford went, about ten in the morning, to visit the chancellor, that he might obtain some intelligence, who immediately reproached him for having granted an asylum to a traitor. "What has this traitor done?" said Hyndford. "Faithlessly copied a plan of Cronstadt, from my cabinet drawings," said the chancellor; "which he has sold to the Prussian minister for two hundred ducats."

Hyndford was astonished; he knew me well, and also knew that he had then in money and jewels, more than eight thousand ducats of mine in his own hands: nor was he less ignorant of the value I set on money, or of the sources whence I could obtain it, when I pleased. "Has your excellency actually seen this drawing of Trenck's?"—"Yes, I have been shown it by Goltz."—"I wish I might likewise be permitted to see it; I know Trenck's drawing, and make myself responsible that he is no traitor. Here is some mystery; be so kind as to desire M. Goltz will come and bring his plan of Cronstadt. Trenck is at my house, shall be forthcoming instantly, and I will not protect him if he proves guilty."

The Chancellor wrote to Goltz; but he, artful as he was, had no doubt taken care to be informed that the lieutenant of the police had missed his prey. He therefore sent an excuse, and did not appear. In the meantime I entered; Hyndford then addressed me, with the openness of an Englishman, and asked, "Are you a traitor, Trenck? If so, you do not merit my protection, but stand here as a state prisoner. Have you sold a plan of Cronstadt to M. Goltz?" My answer may easily be supposed. Hyndford rehearsed what the chancellor had told him; I was desired to leave the room, and Funk was sent for. The moment he came in, Hyndford said, "Sir, where is that plan of Cronstadt which Trenck copied?" Funk, hesitating, replied, "I will go for it." "Have you it," continued Hyndford, "at home? Speak, upon your honour."—"No, my Lord, I have lent it, for a few days, to M. Goltz, that he may take a copy."

Hyndford immediately then saw the whole affair, told the chancellor the history of this plan, which belonged to him, and which he had lent to Funk, and requested a trusty person might be sent with him to make a proper search. Bestuchef named his first secretary, and to him were added Funk and the Dutch envoy, Schwart, who happened then to enter. All went together to the house of Goltz. Funk demanded his plan of Cronstadt; Goltz gave it him, and Funk returned it to Lord Hyndford.

The secretary and Hyndford both then desired he would produce the plan of Cronstadt which he had bought of Trenck for two hundred ducats. His confusion now was great, and Hyndford firmly insisted this plan should be forthcoming, to vindicate the honour of Trenck, whom he held to be an honest man. On this, Goltz answered, "I have received my king's commands to prevent the preferment of Trenck in Russia, and I have only fulfilled the duty of a minister."

Hyndford spat on the ground, and said more than I choose to repeat; after which the four gentlemen returned to the chancellor, and I was again called. Everybody complimented me, related to me what had passed, and the chancellor promised I should be recompensed; strictly, however, forbidding me to take any revenge on the Prussian ambassador, I having sworn, in the first transports of anger, to punish him wherever I should find him, even were it at the altar's foot.

The chancellor soothed me, kept me to dine with him, and endeavoured to assuage my boiling passions. The countess affected indifference, and asked me if suchlike actions characterised the Prussian nation. Funk and Schwart were at table. All present congratulated me on my victory, but none knew to whom I was indebted for my deliverance from the hasty and unjust condemnation of the chancellor, although my protectress was one of the company. I received a present of two thousand roubles the next day from the chancellor, with orders to thank the Empress for this mark of her bounty, and accept it as a sign of her special favour. I paid these my thanks some days after. The money I disregarded, but the amiable Empress, by her enchanting benevolence, made me forget the past. The story became public, and Goltz appeared neither in public, nor at court. The manner in which the countess personally reproached him, I shall out of respect pass over. Bernes, the crafty Piedmontese, assured me of revenge, without my troubling myself in the matter, and—what happened after I know not; Goltz appeared but little in company, fell ill when I had left Russia, and died soon after of a consumption.

This vile man was, no doubt, the cause of all the calamities which fell upon me. I should have become one of the first men in Russia: the misfortune that befel Bestuchef and his family some years afterward might have been averted: I should never have returned to Vienna, a city so fatal to the name of Trenck: by the mediation of the Russian Court, I should have recovered my great Sclavonian estates; my days of persecution at Vienna would have passed in peace and pleasure: nor should I have entered the dungeon of Magdeburg.



CHAPTER XII.

How little did the Great Frederic know my heart. Without having offended, he had rendered me miserable, had condemned me to imprisonment at Glatz on mere suspicion, and on my flying thence, naked and destitute, had confiscated my paternal inheritance. Not contented with inflicting all these calamities, he would not suffer me peaceably to seek my fortune in a foreign land.

Few are the youths who, in so short a time, being expelled their native country with disgrace, by their own efforts, merits, and talents, have obtained honour and favour so great, acquired such powerful friends, or been entrusted with confidence equally unlimited in transactions so important. Enraged as I was at the treachery of Goltz, had opportunity offered, I might have been tempted even to turn my native country into a desert; nor do I deny that I afterwards promoted the views of the Austrian envoy, who knew well how to cherish the flame that had been kindled, and turn it to his own use. Till this moment I never felt the least enmity either to my country or king, nor did I suffer myself, on any occasion, to be made the agent of their disadvantage.

No sooner was I entrusted more intimately with cabinet secrets, than I discovered the state of factions, and that Bestuchef and Apraxin were even then in Prussian pay; that a counterpoise, by their means, might be formed to the prevalence of the Austrian party.

Hence we may date the change of Russian politics in the year 1762. Here also we may find a clue to the contradictory orders, artifices, positions, retreats and disappointments of the Russian army, in the seven years' war, beginning in 1756. The countess, who was obliged to act with greater caution, foresaw the consequence of the various intrigues in which her husband was engaged: her love for me naturally drew her from her former party; she confided every secret to me, and ever remained till her fall, which happened in 1758, during my imprisonment, my best friend and correspondent. Hence was I so well informed of all the plans against Prussia, to the years 1754 and 1756; much more so than many ministers of the interested courts, who imagined they alone were in the secret. How many after events could I then have foretold! Such was the perverseness of my destiny, that where I should most have been sought for, and best known, there was I least valued.

No man, in my youth, would have believed I should live to my sixtieth year, untitled and obscure. In Berlin, Petersburg, London, and Paris, have I been esteemed by the greatest statesmen, and now am I reduced to the invalid list. How strange are the caprices of fortune! I ought never to have left Russia: this was my great error, which I still live to repent.

I have never been accustomed to sleep more than four or five hours, so that through life I have allowed time for paying visits and receiving company. I have still had sufficient for study and improvement. Hyndford was my instructor in politics; Boerhaave, then physician to the court, my bosom friend, my tutor in physic and literary subjects. Women formed me for court intrigues, though these, as a philosopher, I despised.

The chancellor had greatly changed his carriage towards me since the incident of the plan. He observed my looks, showed he was distrustful, and desirous of revenge. His lady, as well as myself, remarked this, and new measures became necessary. I was obliged to act an artful, but, at the same time, a very dangerous part.

My cousin, Baron Trenck, died in the Spielberg, October 4, 1749, and left me his heir, on condition I should only serve the house of Austria. In March, 1750, Count Bernes received the citation sent me to enter on this inheritance. I would hear nothing of Vienna; the abominable treatment of my cousin terrified me. I well knew the origin of his prosecution, the services he had rendered his country, and had been an eye-witness of the injustice by which he was repaid. Bernes represented to me that the property left me was worth much above a million: that the empress would support me in pursuit of justice, and that I had no personal enemy at Vienna, that a million of certain property in Hungary was much superior to the highest expectations in Russia, where I myself had beheld so many changes of fortune, and the effects of family cabals. Russia he painted as dangerous, Vienna as secure, and promised me himself effectual assistance, as his embassy would end within the year. Were I once rich, I might reside in what country I pleased; nor could the persecutions of Frederic anywhere pursue me so ineffectually as in Austria. Snares would be laid for me everywhere else, as I had experienced in Russia. "What," said he, "would have been the consequence, had not the countess warned you of the impending danger? You, like many other honest and innocent men, would have been sent to Siberia. Your innocence must have remained untested, and yourself, in the universal opinion, a villain and a traitor."

Hyndford spoke to me in the same tone, assured me of his eternal protection, and described London as a certain asylum, should I not find happiness at Vienna. He spoke of slavery as a Briton ought to speak, reminded me of the fate of Munich and Osterman, painted the court such as I knew it to be, and asked me what were my expectations, even were I fortunate enough to become general or minister in such a country.

These reasonings at length determined me; but having plenty of money, I thought proper to take Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Holland in my way, and Barnes was in the meantime to prepare me a favourable reception at Vienna. He desired, also, I would give him authority to get possession of the estates to which I was heir. My mistress strongly endeavoured to detain me, but yielded at length to the force of reason. I tore myself away, and promised, on my honour, to return as soon as I had arranged my affairs at Vienna. She made the proposition of investing me within some foreign embassy, by which I might render the most effectual services to the court at Vienna. In this hope we parted with heavy hearts: she presented me with her portrait, and a snuffbox set with diamonds; the first of these, three years after was torn from my bosom by the officers in my first dungeon at Magdeburg, as I shall hereafter relate. The chancellor embraced me, at parting, with friendship. Apraxin wept, and clasped me in his arms, prophesying at the same time, I should never be so happy as in Russia. I myself foreboded misfortune, and quitted Russia with regret, but still followed the advice of Hyndford and Bernes.

From Moscow I travelled to Petersburg, where I found a letter, at the house of Baron Wolf, the banker, from the countess, which rent my very heart, and almost determined me to return. She endeavoured to terrify me from proceeding to Vienna, yet inclosed a bill for four thousand roubles, to aid me on my journey, were I absolutely bent to turn my back on fortune.

My effects, in money and jewels, amounted to about thirty-six thousand florins; I therefore returned the draft, intreated her eternal remembrance, and that she would reserve her favour and support to times in which they might become needful. After remaining a few days at Petersburg, I journeyed, by land, to Stockholm; taking with me letters of recommendation from all the foreign envoys.

I forgot to mention that Funk was inconsolable for my departure; his imprudence had nearly plunged me into misery, and destroyed all my hopes in Russia. Twenty-two years after this I met the worthy man, once more in Dresden. He, there, considered himself as the cause of all the evils inflicted on me, and assured me the recital of my sufferings had been so many bitter reproaches to his soul. Our recapitulation of former times gave us endless pleasure, and it was the sweetest of joys to meet and renew my friendship with such a man, after having weathered so many storms of fate.

At Stockholm I wanted for no recommendation; the Queen, sister to the great Frederic, had known me at Berlin, when I had the honour, as an officer of the body guard, of accompanying her to Stettin. I related my whole history to her without reserve. She, from political motives, advised me not to make any stay at Stockholm, and to me continued till death, an ever-gracious lady. I proceeded to Copenhagen, where I had business to transact for M. Chaise, the Danish envoy at Moscow: from whom also I had letters of recommendation. Here I had the pleasure of meeting my old friend, Lieutenant Bach, who had aided me in my escape from my imprisonment at Glatz. He was poor and in debt, and I procured him protection, by relating the noble manner in which he behaved I also presented him with five hundred ducats, by the aid of which he pushed his fortune. He wrote to me in the year 1776, a letter of sincere thanks, and died a colonel of hussars in the Danish service in 1776.

I remained in Copenhagen but a fortnight, and then sailed in a Dutch ship, from Elsineur to Amsterdam. Scarcely had we put to sea, before a storm arose, by which we lost a mast and bowsprit, had our sails shattered, and were obliged to cast anchor among the rocks of Gottenburg, where our deliverance was singularly fortunate.

Here we lay nine days before we could make the open sea, and here I found a very pleasant amusement, by going daily in the ship's boat from rock to rock, attended by two of my servants, to shoot wild ducks, and catch shell-fish; whence I every evening returned with provisions, and sheep's milk, bought of the poor inhabitants, for the ship's crew.

There was a dearth among these poor people. Our vessel was laden with corn; some of this I purchased, to the amount of some hundreds of Dutch florins, and distributed wherever I went. I also gave one of their ministers a hundred florins for his poor congregation, who was himself in want of bread, and whose annual stipend amounted to one hundred and fifty florins.

Here in the sweet pleasure of doing good, I left behind me much of that money I had so easily acquired in Russia; and perhaps had we stayed much longer should myself have left the place in poverty. A thousand blessings followed me, and the storm-driven Trenck was long remembered and talked of at Gottenburg.

In this worthy employment, however, I had nearly lost my life. Returning from carrying corn, the wind rose, and drove the boat to sea. I not understanding the management of the helm, and the servants awkwardly handling the sails, the boat in tacking was overset. The benefit of learning to swim, I again experienced, and my faithful servant, who had gained the rock, aided me when almost spent. The good people who had seen the shallop overset, came off in their boats to my assistance. An honest Calmuc, whom I had brought from Russia, and another of my servants perished. I saw the first sink after I had reached the shore.

The kind Swedes brought me on board, and also righted and returned with the shallop. For some days I was sea-sick. We weighed anchor, and sailed for the Texel, the mouth of which we saw, and the pilots coming off, when another storm arose, and drove us to the port of Bahus, in Norway, into which we ran, without farther damage. In some few days we again set sail, with a fair wind, and at length reached Amsterdam.

Here I made no long stay; for the day after my arrival, an extraordinary adventure happened, in which I was engaged chiefly by my own rashness.

I was a spectator while the harpooners belonging to the whale fishery were exercising themselves in darting their harpoons, most of whom were drunk. One of them, Herman Rogaar by name, a hero among these people, for his dexterity with his snickasnee, came up, and passed some of his coarse jests upon my Turkish sabre, and offered to fillip me on the nose. I pushed him from me, and the fellow threw down his cap, drew his snickasnee, challenged me, called me monkey-tail, and asked whether I chose a straight, a circular, or a cross cut.

Thus here was I, in this excellent company, with no choice but that of either fighting or running away. The robust, Herculean fellow grew more insolent, and I, turning round to the bystanders, asked them to lend me a snickasnee. "No, no," said the challenger, "draw your great knife from your side, and, long as it is, I will lay you a dozen ducats you get a gash in the cheek." I drew; he confidently advanced with his snickasnee, and, at the first stroke of my sabre, that, and the hand that held it, both dropped to the ground, and the blood spouted in my face.

I now expected the people would, indubitably, tear me to pieces; but my fear was changed into astonishment at hearing a universal shout applauding the vanquisher of the redoubted Herman Rogaar who, so lately feared for his strength and dexterity, became the object of their ridicule. A Jew spectator conducted me out of the crowd, and the people clamorously followed me to my inn. This kind of duel, by which I gained honour, would anywhere else have brought me to the highest disgrace. A man who knew the use of the sabre, in a single day, might certainly have disabled a hundred Herman Rogaars. This story may instruct and warn others. He that is quarrelsome shall never want an enemy. My temerity often engaged me in disputes which, by timely compliance and calmness, might easily have been avoided; but my evil genius always impelled me into the paths of perplexity, and I seldom saw danger till it was inevitable

I left Amsterdam for the Hague, where I had been recommended to Lord Holderness, the English ambassador, by Lord Hyndford; to Baron Reisbach, by Bernes; to the Grand Pensionary Fagel, by Schwart; and from the chancellor I had a letter to the Prince of Orange himself I could not, therefore, but be everywhere received with all possible distinction. Within these recommendations, and the knowledge I possessed, had I had the good fortune to have avoided Vienna, and gone to India, where my talents would have insured me wealth, how many tears of affliction had I been spared! My ill fortune, however, had brought me letters from Count Bernes, assuring me that heaven was at Vienna, and including a citation from the high court, requiring me to give in my claim of inheritance. Bernes further informed me the Austrian court had assured him I should meet with all justice and protection, and advised me to hasten my journey, as the executorship of the estates of Trenck was conducted but little to my advantage.

This advice I took, proceeded to Vienna, and from that moment all my happiness had an end. I became bewildered in lawsuits, and the arts of wicked men, and all possible calamities assaulted me at once, the recital of which would itself afford subject matter for a history. They began by the following incidents:—

One M. Schenck sought my acquaintance at the Hague. I met with him at my hotel, where he intreated I would take him to Nuremberg, whence he was to proceed to Saxony. I complied, and bore his expenses; but at Hanau, waking in the morning, I found my watch, set with diamonds, a ring worth two thousand roubles, a diamond snuff-box, with my mistress's picture, and my purse, containing about eighty ducats, stolen from my bed-side, and Schenck become invisible. Little affected by the loss of money, at any time, I yet was grieved for my snuff-box. The rascal, however, had escaped, and it was fortunate that the remainder of my ready money, with my bills of exchange, were safely locked up.

I now pursued my journey without company, and arrived in Vienna. I cannot exactly recollect in what month, but I had been absent about two years; and the reader will allow that it was barely possible for any man, in so short a time, to have experienced more various changes of fate, though many smaller incidents have been suppressed. The places, where my pledged fidelity required discretion will be easily supposed, as likewise will the concealment of court intrigues, and artifices, the publication of which might even yet subject me to more persecutions. All writers are not permitted to speak truth of monarchs and ministers. I am the father of eight children, and parental love and duty vanquish the inclination of the author; and this duty, this affection, have made me particularly cautious in relating what happened to me at Vienna, that I might, thereby, serve them more effectually than by indulging the pride of the writer, or the vengeance of the man.



CHAPTER XIII.

Since accounts so various, contradictory, and dishonourable to the name of Trenck, have been circulated in Vienna, concerning facts which happened thirty-seven years ago, I will here give a short abstract of them, and such as may he verified by the records of the court. I pledge my honour to the truth of the statement, and were I so allowed, would prove it, to the conviction of any unprejudiced court of justice: but this I cannot hope, as princes are much more disposed to bestow unmerited favours than to make retribution to those whom they have unjustly punished.

Francis Baron Trenck died in the Spielberg, October 4th, 1749. It has been erroneously believed in Vienna that his estates were confiscated by the sentence which condemned him to the Spielberg. He had committed no offence against the state, was accused of none, much less convicted. The court sentence was that the administration of his estate should be committed to Counsellor Kempf and Baron Peyaczewitz, who were selected by himself, and the accounts of his stewards and farmers were to be sent him yearly. He continued, till his death, to have the free and entire disposal of his property.

Although, before his death, he sent for his advocate, Doctor Berger, and by him petitioned the Empress she would issue the necessary orders to the Governor of the Spielberg, to permit the entrance of witnesses, and all things necessary to make a legal will, it by no means follows that he petitioned her for permission to make this will. The case is too clear to admit of doubt. The royal commands were given, that he should enjoy all freedom of making his will. Permission was also given that, during his sickness, he might be removed to the capuchin convent, which was equal to liberty, but this he refused to accept.

Neither was his ability to make a will questioned. The advocate was only to request the Queen's permission to supply some formalities, which had been neglected, when he purchased the lordships of Velika and Nustar, which petition was likewise granted. The royal mandate still exists, which commissioned the persons therein named as trustees to the estate and effects of Trenck, and this mandate runs thus: "Let the last will of Trenck be duly executed: let dispatch be used, and the heir protected in all his rights." Confiscation, therefore, had never been thought of, nor his power to make a will questioned.

I will now show how I have been deprived of this valuable inheritance, while I have been obliged to pay above sixty thousand florins, to defray legacies he had left; and when this narrative is read, it will no longer be affirmed at Vienna, that by the favours of the court I inherited seventy-six thousand florins, or the lordship of Zwerbach from Trenck, I shall proceed to my proofs.

The father of Baron Trenck, who died in the year 1743, governor of Leitschau, in Hungary, named me in his will the successor of his son, should he die without heirs male.

This will was sent to be proved, according to form, at Vienna, after having been authenticated in the most legal manner in Hungary. The court called Hofkriegsrath, at Vienna, neglected to provide a curator for the security of the next heir; yet this could not annul my right of succession. When Trenck succeeded his father, he entered no protest to this, his father's will; therefore, dying without children, in the year 1749, my claim was indisputable. I was heir had he made no will: and even in case of confiscation, my title to his father's estates still remained valid.

Trenck knew this but too well: he, as I have before related, was my worst enemy, and even attempted my life. I will therefore proceed to show the real intent of this his crafty testament.

Determined no longer to live in confinement, or to ask forgiveness, by which, it is well known, he might have obtained his freedom, having lost all hopes of reimbursing his losses, his avarice was reduced to despair. His desire of fame was unbounded, and this could no way be gratified but by having himself canonized for a saint, after spending his life in committing all the ravages of a pandour. Hence originated the following facts:—

He knew I was the legal claimant to his father's estates. His father had bought with the family money, remitted from Prussia, the lordships of Prestowacz and Pleternitz, in Sclavonia, and he himself, during his father's life, and with his father's money, had purchased the lordship of Pakratz, for forty thousand florins: this must therefore descend also to me, he having no more power to will this from me, than he had the remainder of his paternal inheritance. The property he himself had gained was consigned to administrators, but a hundred thousand florins had been expended in lawsuits, and sixty-three suits continued actually pending against him in court; the legacies he bequeathed amounted to eighty thousand florins. These, he saw, could not be paid, should I claim nothing more than the paternal inheritance; he, therefore, to render me unfortunate after his death, craftily named me his universal heir, without mentioning his father's will, but endeavoured, by his mysterious death, and the following conditions, to enforce the execution of his own will.

First,—I was to become a Catholic.

Secondly,—I was to serve only the house of Austria; and,

Lastly,—He made his whole estate, without excepting the paternal inheritance, a Fidei commissum.

Hence arose all my misfortunes, as indeed was his intention; for, but a short time before his death, he said to the Governor, Baron Kottulinsky, "I shall now die contented, since I have been able to trick my cousin, and render him wretched."

His death, believed in Vienna to be miraculous, happened after the following manner; and by this he had induced many weak people, who really believed him a saint, to further his views.

Three days before his death, while in perfect health, he desired the governor of the Spielberg would send for his confessor, for that St. Francis had revealed to him he should be removed into life everlasting on his birth-day at twelve o'clock. The capuchin was sent for, but the prediction laughed at.

The day, however, after the departure of his confessor, he said, "Praise be to God, my end approaches; my confessor is dead, and has appeared to me." Strange as it may seem; it was actually found to be true that the priest was dead. He now had all the officers of the garrison of Brunn assembled, tonsured his head like a capuchin, took the habit of the order, publicly confessed himself in a sermon of an hour's length, exhorted them all to holiness, acted the part of a most exemplary penitent, embraced all present, spoke with a smile of the insignificance of all earthly possessions, took his leave, knelt down to prayers, slept calmly, rose, prayed again, and about eleven in the forenoon, October 4th, taking his watch in his hand, said, "Thanks be to my God, my last hour approaches." All laughed at such a farce from a man of such a character; yet they remarked that the left side of his face grew pale. He then leaned his arm on the table, prayed, and remained motionless, with his eyes closed. The clock struck twelve—no signs of life or motion could be discovered; they spoke to him, and found he was really dead.

The word miracle was echoed through the whole country, and the transmigration of the Pandour Trenck, from earth to heaven, by St. Francis, proclaimed. The clue to this labyrinth of miracles, known only to me, is truly as follows:—He possessed the secret of what is called the aqua tofana, and had determined on death. His confessor had been entrusted with all his secrets, and with promissory notes, which he wished to invalidate. I am perfectly certain that he had returned a promissory note of a great prince, given for two hundred thousand florins, which has never been brought to account. The confessor, therefore, was to be provided for, that Trenck might not be betrayed, and a dose of poison was given him before he set off for Vienna: his death was the consequence. He took similar means with himself, and thus knew the hour of his exit; finding he could not become the first on earth, he wished to be adored as a saint in heaven. He knew he should work miracles when dead, because he ordered a chapel to be built, willed a perpetual mass, and bequeathed the capuchins sixty thousand florins.

Thus died this most extraordinary man, in the thirty-fourth year of his age, to whom nature had denied none of her gifts; who had been the scourge of Bavaria; the terror of France; and who had, with his supposed contemptible pandours, taken above six thousand Prussian prisoners. He lived a tyrant and enemy of men, and died a sanctified impostor.

Such was the state of affairs, as willed by Trenck, when I came to Vienna, in 1759, where I arrived with money and jewels to the amount of twenty thousand florins.

Instead of profiting by the wealth Trenck had acquired, I expended a hundred and twenty thousand florins of my own money, including what devolved to me from my uncle, his father, in the prosecution of his suits. Trenck had paid two hundred ducats to the tribunal of Vienna, in the year 1743, to procure its very reprehensible silence concerning a curator, to which I was sacrificed, as the new judges of this court refused to correct the error of their predecessors. Such are the proceedings of courts of justice in Vienna!

On my first audience, no one could be received more kindly than I was, by the Empress Queen. She spoke of my deceased cousin with much emotion and esteem, promised me all grace and favour, and informed me of the particular recommendations she had received, on my behalf, from Count Bernes. Finding sixty-three cases hang over my head, in consequence of the inheritance of Trenck, to obtain justice in any one of which in Vienna, would have employed the whole life of an honest man, I determined to renounce this inheritance, and claim only under the will and as the heir of my uncle.

With this view I applied for and obtained a copy of that will, with which I personally appeared, and declared to the court that I renounced the inheritance of Francis Trenck, would undertake none of his suits, nor be responsible for his legacies, and required only his father's estates, according to the legal will, which I produced; that is to say, the three lordships of Pakratz, Prestowacz, and Pleneritz, without chattels or personal effects. Nothing could be more just or incontrovertible than this claim. What was my astonishment, to be told, in open court, that Her Majesty had declared I must either wholly perform the articles of the will of Trenck, or be excluded the entire inheritance, and have nothing further to hope. What could be done? I ventured to remonstrate, but the will of the court was determined and absolute: I must become a Roman Catholic.

In this extremity I bribed a priest, who gave me a signed attestation, "That I had abjured the accursed heresy of Lutheranism." My religion, however, remained what it had ever been. General Bernes about this time returned from his embassy, and I related to him the lamentable state in which I found my affairs. He spoke to the Empress in my behalf, and she promised everything. He advised me to have patience, to perform all that was required of me, and to make myself responsible for the depending suits. Some family concerns obliged him, as he informed me, to make a journey to Turin, but his return would be speedy: he would then take the management of my affairs upon himself, and insure my good fortune in Austria. Bernes loved me as his son, and I had reason to hope, from his assurance, I should be largely remembered in his will, which was the more probable, as he had neither child nor relations. He parted from me, like a father, with tears in his eyes; but he had scarcely been absent six weeks before the news arrived of his death, which, if report may be credited, was effected by poison, administered by a friend. Ever the sport of fortune, thus were my supporters snatched from me at the very moment they became most necessary.

The same year was I, likewise, deprived by death of my friend and protector, Field-marshal Konigseck, Governor of Vienna, when he had determined to interest himself in my behalf. I have been beloved by the greatest men Austria ever produced, but unfortunately have been persecuted by the chicanery of pettifoggers, fools, fanatics, and priests, who have deprived me of the favour of my Empress, guiltless as I was of crime or deceit, and left my old age in poverty.

My ills were increased by a new accident. Soon after the departure of Bernes, the Prussian minister, taking me aside, in the house of the Palatine envoy, M. Becker, proposed my return to Berlin, assured me the King had forgotten all that was past, was convinced of my innocence, that my good fortune would there be certain, and be pledged his honour to recover the inheritance of Trenck. I answered, the favour came too late; I had suffered injustice too flagrant, in my own country, and that I would trust no prince on earth whose will might annihilate all the rights of men. My good faith to the King had been too ill repaid; my talents might gain me bread in any part of the world, and I would not again subject myself to the danger of unmerited imprisonment.

His persuasions were strong, but ineffectual. "My dear Trenck," said he, "God is my judge that my intentions are honest; I will pledge myself, that my sovereign will insure your fortune: you do not know Vienna; you will lose all by the suits in which you are involved, and will be persecuted because you do not carry a rosary."

How often have I repented I did not then return to Berlin! I should have escaped ten years' imprisonment; should have recovered the estates of Trenck: should not have wasted the prime of life in the litigation of suits, and the writing of memorials; and should have certainly been ranked among the first men in my native country. Vienna was no place for a man who could not fawn and flatter: yet here was I destined to remain six-and-thirty years, unrewarded, unemployed; and through youth and age, to continue on the list of invalid majors.

Having rejected the proposition of the Prussian envoy, all my hopes in Vienna were ruined; for Frederic, by his residents and emissaries, knew how to effect whatever he pleased in foreign courts, and determined that the Trenck who would no longer serve or confide in him should at least find no opportunity of serving against him: I soon became painted to the Empress as an arch heretic who never would be faithful to the house of Austria, and only endeavoured to obtain the inheritance of Trenck that he might devote himself to Prussia. This I shall hereafter prove; and display a scene that shall be the disgrace of many, by whom the Empress was induced to harbour unjust suspicions of an able and honest man. I here stand erect and confident before the world; publish the truth, and take everlasting shame to myself, if any man on earth can prove me guilty of one treacherous thought. I owe no thanks; but so far from having received favours, I have six and thirty years remained unable to obtain justice, though I have all the while been desirous of shedding my blood in defence of the monarchy where I have thus been treated. Till the year 1746, I was equally zealous and faithful to Prussia; yet my estates there, though confiscated, were liable to recovery: in Hungary, on the contrary, the sentence of confiscation is irrevocable. This is a remarkable proof in favour of my honour, and my children's claims.

Surely no reader will be offended at these digressions; my mind is agitated, my feelings roused, remembering that my age and grey hairs deprive me of the sweet hope of at length vanquishing opposition, either by patience, or forcing justice, by eminent services, or noble efforts.

This my history will never reach a monarch's eye, consequently no monarch, by perceiving, will be induced to protect truth. It may, indeed, be criticised by literati; it will certainly be decried by my persecutors, who, through life, have been my false accusers, and will probably, therefore, be prohibited by the priests. All Germany, however, will read, and posterity perhaps may pity, should my book escape the misfortune of being classed among improbable romances; to which it is the more liable, because that the biographers of Frederic and Maria Theresa, for manifest reasons, have never so much as mentioned the name of Trenck.

Once more to my story: I was now obliged to declare myself heir, but always cum reservatione juris mei, not as simply claiming under the will of Francis Trenck I was obliged to take upon myself the management of the sixty-three suits, and the expenses attending any one of these are well known in Vienna. My situation may be imagined, when I inform the reader I only received, from the whole estate of Trenck, 3,600 florins in three years, which were scarcely sufficient to defray the expenses of new year's gifts to the solicitors and masters in chancery. How did I labour in stating and transcribing proofs for the court! The money I possessed soon vanished. My Prussian relations supported me, and the Countess Bestuchef sent me the four thousand roubles I had refused at Petersburg. I had also remittances from my faithful mistress in Prussia; and, in addition, was obliged to borrow money at the usurious rate of sixty per cent. Bewildered as I was among lawyers and knaves, my ambition still prompted me to proceed, and all things are possible to labour and perseverance; but my property was expended: and, at length, I could only obtain that the contested estates should be made a Fidei commissum, or put under trust; whereby, though they were protected from being the further prey of others, I did not inherit them as mine. In this pursuit was my prime of life wasted, which might have been profitably and honourably spent.

In three years, however, I brought my sixty-three suits to a kind of conclusion; the probabilities were this could not have been effected in fifty. Exclusive of my assiduity, the means I took must not be told; it is sufficient that I here learnt what judges were, and thus am enabled to describe them to others.

For a few ducats, the president's servant used to admit me into a closet where I could see everything as perfectly as if I had myself been one of the council. This often was useful, and taught me to prevent evil; and often was I scarcely able to refrain bursting in upon this court.

Their appointed hour of meeting was nine in the morning, but they seldom assembled before eleven. The president then told his beads, and muttered his prayers. Someone got up and harangued, while the remainder, in pairs, amused themselves with talking instead of listening, after which the news of the day became the common topic of conversation, and the council broke up, the court being first adjourned some three weeks, without coming to any determination. This was called judicium delegatum in causis Trenkiansis; and when at last they came to a conclusion, the sentence was such as I shall ever shudder at and abhor.

The real estates of Trenck consisted in the great Sclavonian manors, called the lordships of Pakratz, Prestowatz, and Pleternitz, which he had inherited from his father, and were the family property, together with Velika and Nustak, which he himself had purchased: the annual income of these was 60,000 florins, and they contained more than two hundred villages and hamlets. The laws of Hungary require—

1st. That those who purchase estates shall obtain the consensus regius (royal consent).

2nd. That the seller shall possess, and make over the right of property, together with that of transferring or alienating, and

3dly. That the purchaser shall be a native born, or have bought his naturalisation.

In default of all, or any of these, the Fiscus, on the death of the purchaser, takes possession, repaying the summa emptitia, or purchase- money, together within what can be shown to have been laid out in improvements, or the summa inscriptitia, the sum at which it stands rated in the fiscal register.

Without form or notice, the Hungarian Fiscal President, Count Grassalkowitz, took possession of all the Trenck estates on his decease, in the name of the Fiscus. The prize was great, not so much because of the estates themselves, as of the personal property upon them. Trenck had sent loads of merchandise to his estates, of linen, ingots of gold and silver from Bavaria, Alsatia, and Silesia. He had a vast storehouse of arms, and of saddles; also the great silver service of the Emperor Charles VII., which he had brought from Munich, with the service of plate of the King of Prussia; and the personal property on these estates was affirmed considerably to exceed in value the estates themselves.

I was not long since informed by one of the first generals, whose honour is undoubted, that several waggons were laden with these rich effects and sent to Mihalefze. His testimony was indubitable; he knew the two pandours, who were the confidants of Trenck, and the keepers of his treasures; and these, during the general plunder, each seized a bag of pearls, and fled to Turkey, where they became wealthy merchants. His rich stud of horses were taken, and the very cows driven off the farms. His stand of arms consisted of more than three thousand rare pieces. Trenck had affirmed he had sent linen to the amount of fifty thousand florins, in chests from Dunnhausen and Cersdorf, in the county of Glatz, to his estates. The pillage was general; and when orders came to send all the property of Trenck and deliver it to his universal heir, nothing remained that any person would accept. I have myself seen, in a certain Hungarian nobleman's house, some valuable arms, which I knew I had been robbed of! and I bought at Esseck some silver plates on which were the arms of Prussia, that had been sold by Counsellor D-n, who had been empowered to take possession of these estates, and had thus rendered himself rich. Of this I procured an attestation, and proved the theft: I complained aloud at Vienna, but received an order from the court to be silent, under pain of displeasure, and also to go no more into Sclavonia. The principal reason of my loss of the landed property in Hungary was my having dared to make inquiries concerning the personal, not one guinea of which was ever brought to account. I then proved my right to the family estates, left by my uncle, beyond all dispute, and also of those purchased by my cousin. The commissions appointed to inquire into these rights even confirmed them; yet after they had been thus established, I received the following order from the court, in the hand of the Empress herself:—"The president, Count Grassalkowitz, takes it upon his conscience that the Sclavonian estates do not descend to Trenck, in natura; he must therefore receive the summa emptitia et inscriptitia, together with the money he can show to have been expended in improvements."



CHAPTER XIV.

And herewith ended my pleadings and my hopes. I had sacrificed my property, laboured through sixty-three inferior suits, and lost this great cause without a trial. I could have remained satisfied with the loss of the personal property: the booty of a soldier, like the wealth amassed by a minister, appears to me little better than a public robbery; but the acquirements of my ancestors, my birth-right by descent, of these I could not be deprived without excessive cruelty. Oh patience! patience!—Yet shall my children never become the footmen, nor grooms, of those who have robbed them of their inheritance; and to them I bequeathed my rights in all their power: nor shall any man prevent my crying aloud, so long as justice shall not be done.

The president, it is true, did not immediately possess himself of the estates, but he took good care his friends should have them at such rates that the sale of them did not bring the fiscal treasury 150,000 florins, while I, in real and personal property, lost a million and a half; nay, probably a sum equal to this in personal property alone.

The summa inscriptitia et emptitia for all these great estates only amounted to 149,000 florins, and this was to be paid by the chamber, but the president thought proper to deduct 10,000 on pretence the cattle had been driven off the estate of Pakratz; and, further, 36,000 more, under the shameful pretence that Trenck, to recruit his pandours, had drained the estates of 3,600 vassals, who had never returned; the estates, therefore, must make them good at the rate of thirty florins per head, which would have amounted to 108,000 florins; but, with much difficulty, this sum was reduced, as above stated, to 36,000 florins, each vassal reckoned at ten florins per head. Thus was I obliged, from the property of my family, to pay for 3,600 men who had gloriously died in war, in defence of the contested rights of the great Maria Theresa; who had raised so many millions of contributions for her in the countries of her enemies; who, sword in hand, had stormed and taken so many towns, and dispersed, or taken prisoners, so many thousands of her foes. Would this be believed by listening nations?

All deductions made for legacies, fees, and formalities, there remained to me 63,000 florins, with which I purchased the lordship of Zwerbach, and I was obliged to pay 6,000 florins for my naturalisation. Thus, when the sums are enumerated which I expended on the suits of Trenck, received from my friends at Berlin and Petersburg, it will be found that I cannot, at least, have been a gainer by having been made the universal heir of the immensely rich Trenck. With regret I write these truths in support of my children's claims, that they may not, in my grave, reproach me for having neglected the duty of a father.

I will mere add a few particulars which may afford the reader matter for meditation, cause him to commiserate my fate, and give a picture of the manner in which the prosecution was carried on against Trenck.

One Schygrai, a silly kind of beggarly baron, who was treated as a buffoon, was invited in the year 1743 to dine with Baron Pejaczewitz, when Trenck happened to be present. The conversation happened to turn on a kind of brandy made in this country, and Trenck jocularly said he annually distilled this sort of brandy from cow-dung to the value of thirty thousand florins. Schygrai supposed him serious, and wished to learn the art, which Trenck promised to teach him Pejaczewitz told him he could give him thirty thousand load of dung.

"But where shall I get the wood?" said Schygrai. "I will give you thirty thousand klafters," answered Trenck. The credulous baron, thinking himself very fortunate, desired written promises, which they gave him; and that of Trenck ran thus:

"I hereby permit and empower Baron Schygrai to sell gratis, in the forest of Tscherra Horra, thirty thousand klafters of wood.

"Witness my hand, "TRENCK."

Trenck was no sooner dead than the Baron brought his note, and made application to the court. His attorney was the noted Bussy, and the court decreed the estates of Trenck should pay at the rate of one form thirty kreutzers per klafter, or forty-five thousand florins, with all costs, and an order was given to the administrators to pay the money.

Just at this time I arrived at Vienna, from Petersburg. Doctor Berger, the advocate of Trenck, told me the affair would admit of no delay. I hastened to the Empress, and obtained an order to delay payment. An inquiry was instituted, and this forest of Tscherra Horra was found to be situated in Turkey. The absurdity and injustice were flagrant, and it was revoked. I cannot say how much of these forty-five thousand florins the Baron had promised to the noble judge and the attorney. I only know that neither of them was punished. Had not some holidays luckily intervened, or had the attorney expected my arrival, the money would have been paid, and an ineffectual attempt to obtain retribution would have been the consequence, as happened in many similar instances.

I have before mentioned the advertisement inviting all who had any demands or complaints against Trenck to appear, with the promise of a ducat a day; and it is mere proper to add that the sum of fifteen thousand florins was brought to account, and paid out of the estates of Trenck. For this shameful purpose some thousand of florins were paid besides to this species of claimants and though, after examination, their pretensions all proved to be futile, and themselves were cast in damages, yet was none of this money ever refunded, or the false claimants punished. Among these the pretended daughter of General Schwerin received two thousand florins, notorious as was her character. Again, Trenck was accused of having appropriated the money to his own use, and treated as if convicted. After his death a considerable demand was accordingly made. I happening, however, to meet with Ruckhardt, his quarter-master, he with asseverations declared that, instead of being indebted to the regiment, the regiment was more than a hundred thousand florins indebted to him, advised me to get attestations from the captains, and assured me he himself would give in a clear statement of the regiment's accounts.

I followed his advice, hastened to the regiment, and obtained so many proofs, that the quarter-master of the regiment, who, with the major, had in reality pocketed the money, was imprisoned and put in irons. What became of the thief or the false witness afterward I know not; I only know that nothing was refunded, that the quarter-master found protectors, detained the money, and, some years after this vile action, purchased a commission. One instance more.

Trenck, to the corps of infantry he commanded, added a corps of hussars, which he raised and provided with horses and accoutrements sold by auction. My demand on this account was upwards of sixty thousand florins, to which I received neither money nor reply. He had also expended a hundred thousand florins for the raising and equipping his three thousand pandours; in consequence of which a signed agreement had been given by the Government that these hundred thousand florins should be repaid to his heir, or he, the heir, should receive the command of the regiment. The regiment, however, at his decease, was given to General Simschen; and as for the agreement, care was taken it should never come into my hands. Thus these hundred thousand florins were lost.

Yet it has been wickedly affirmed he was imprisoned in the Spielberg for having embezzled the regiment's money; whereas, I would to God I only was in possession of the sums he expended on this regiment; for he considered the regiment as his own; and great as was his avarice, still greater was his desire of fame, and greater still his love for his Empress, for whom he would gladly have yielded both property and life.

Within respect to the money that was to have been repaid for improvement of the estates, I must add, these estates were bought at a time when the country had been left desolate by the Turks, and the reinstalment of such places as had fallen into their hands, and the erecting of farmhouses, mills, stocking them with horses, cattle, and seed corn, according to my poor estimate, could not amount to less than eighty thousand florins; but I was forbidden to go into Sclavonia, and the president offered, as an indemnification, four thousand florins. Everybody was astonished, but he, within the utmost coolness, told me I must either accept this or nothing. The hearers of this sentence cast their eyes up to heaven and pitied me. I remonstrated, and thereby only made the matter worse. Grief and anxiety occasioned me to take a journey into Italy, passing through Venice, Rome, and Florence.

On my return to Vienna, I, by a friendly interference in behalf of a woman whose fears rather than guilt had brought her into danger, became suspected myself; and the very officious officers of the police had me imprisoned as a coiner without the least grounds for any such accusation except their own surmises. I was detained unheard nine days, and when, having been heard, I had entirely justified myself, was again restored to liberty; public declaration was then made in the Gazette that the officers of the police had acted too precipitately.

This was the satisfaction granted, but this did not content me. I threatened the counsellor by whom my character had been so aspersed, and the Empress, condescending to mediate, bestowed on me a captainship of cavalry in the Cordova cuirassiers.

Such was the recompense I received for wounds so deep, and such the neglect into which I was thrown at Vienna. Discontent led me to join my regiment in Hungary.

Here I gained the applause of my colonel, Count Bettoni, who himself told the Empress I, more than any other, had contributed to the forming of the regiment. It may well be imagined how a man like me, accustomed, as I had been, to the first company of the first courts, must pass my time among the Carpathian mountains, where neither society nor good books were to be found, nor knowledge, of which I was enamoured, improved. The conversation of Count Bettoni, and the chase, together with the love of the general of the regiment, old Field-marshal Cordova, were my only resources; the persecutions, neglect, and even contempt, I received at Vienna, were still the same.

In the year 1754, in the month of March, my mother died in Prussia, and I requested the permission of the court that held the inheritance of Trenck, as a fidei commissum, to make a journey to Dantzic to settle some family affairs with my brothers and sister, my estates being confiscated. This permission was granted, and thither I went in May, where I once more fell into the hands of the Prussians; which forms the second great and still more gloomy epoch in my life. All who read what follows will shudder, will commiserate him who, feeling himself innocent, relates afflictions he has miserably encountered and gloriously overcome.

I left Hungary, where I was in garrison, for Dantzic, where I had desired my brothers and sister to meet me that we might settle our affairs. My principal intent, however, was a journey to Petersburg, there to seek the advice and aid of my friends, for law and persecution were not yet ended at Vienna; and my captain's pay and small income scarcely sufficed to defray charges of attorneys and counsellors.

It is here most worthy of remark that I was told by Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, governor of Magdeburg, he had received orders to prepare my prison at Magdeburg before I set out from Hungary.

Nay, more; it had been written from Vienna to Berlin that the King must beware of Trenck, for that he would be at Dantzic at the time when the King was to visit his camp in Prussia.

What thing more vile, what contrivance more abominable, could the wickedest wretch on earth find to banish a man his country, that he might securely enjoy the property of which the other had been robbed? That this was done I have living witnesses in his highness Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick and the Berlin ministry, from whose mouths I learned this artifice of villainy. It is the more necessary to establish this truth, because no one can comprehend why the Great Frederic should have proceeded against me in a manner so cruel that, when it comes to be related, must raise the indignation of the just, and move hearts of iron to commiserate.

Men so vile, so wicked, as I have described them, in conjunction with one Weingarten, secretary to Count Puebla, then Austrian minister at Berlin, have brought on me these my misfortunes.

This was the Weingarten who, as is now well known, betrayed all the secrets of the Austrian court to Frederic, who at length was discovered in the year 1756, and who, when the war broke out, remained in the service of Prussia. This same Weingarten, also, not only caused my wretchedness, but my sister's ruin and death, as he likewise did the punishment and death of three innocent men, which will hereafter be shown.

It is an incontrovertible truth that I was betrayed and sold by men in Vienna whose interest it was that I should be eternally silenced.

I was immediately visited by my brothers and sister on my arrival at Dantzic, where we lived happy in each other's company during a fortnight, and an amicable partition was made of my mother's effects; my sister perfectly justified herself concerning the manner in which I was obliged to fly from her house an the year 1746: our parting was kind, and as brother and sister ought to part.

Our only acquaintance in Dantzic was the Austrian resident, M. Abramson, to whom I brought letters of recommendation from Vicuna, and whose reception of us was polite even to extravagance.

This Abramson was a Prussian born, and had never seen Vienna, but obtained his then office by the recommendation of Count Bestuchef, without security for his good conduct, or proof of his good morals, heart, or head. He was in close connection with the Prussian resident, Reimer; and was made the instrument of my ruin.

Scarcely had my brothers and sister departed before I determined to make a voyage by sea to Russia. Abramson contrived a thousand artifices, by which he detained me a week longer in Dantzic, that, he in conjunction with Reimer, might make the necessary preparations.

The King of Prussia had demanded that the magistrates of Dantzic should deliver me up; but this could not be done without offending the Imperial court, I being a commissioned officer in that service, with proper passports; it was therefore probable that this negotiation required letters should pass and repass; and for this reason Abramson was employed to detain me some days longer, till, by the last letters from Berlin, the magistrates of Dantzic were induced to violate public safety and the laws of nations. Abramson, I considered as my best friend, and my person as in perfect security; he had therefore no difficulty in persuading me to stay.

The day of supposed departure on board a Swedish ship for Riga approached, and the deceitful Abramson promised me to send one of his servants to the port to know the hour. At four in the afternoon he told me he had himself spoken to the captain, who said he would not sail till the next day; adding that he, Abramson, would expect me to breakfast, and would then accompany me to the vessel. I felt a secret inquietude which made me desirous of leaving Dantzic, and immediately to send all my luggage, and to sleep on board. Abramson prevented me, dragging me almost forcibly along with him, telling me he had much company, and that I must absolutely dine and sup at his house; accordingly I did not return to my inn till eleven at night.

I was but just in bed when I heard a tremendous knocking at my chamber door, which was not shut, and two of the city magistrates with twenty grenadiers entered my chamber, and surrounded my bed so suddenly that I had not time to take to my arms and defend myself. My three servants had been secured and I was told that the most worthy magistracy of Dantzic was obliged to deliver me up as a delinquent to his majesty the King of Prussia.

What were my feelings at seeing myself thus betrayed! They silently conducted me to the city prison, where I remained twenty-four hours. About noon Abramson came to visit me, affected to be infinitely concerned and enraged, and affirmed he had strongly protested against the illegality of this proceeding to the magistracy, as I was actually in the Austrian service; but that they had answered him the court of Vienna had afforded them a precedent, for that, in 1742, they had done the same by the two sons of the burgomaster Rutenberg, of Dantzic, and that, therefore, they were justified in making reprisal; and likewise, they durst not refuse the most earnest request accompanied with threats, of the King of Prussia.

Their plea of retaliation originated as follows:—There was a kind of club at Vienna, the members of which were seized for having committed the utmost extravagance and debauchery, two of whom were the sons of the burgomaster Rutenberg, and who were sentenced to the pillory. Great sums were offered by the father to avoid this public disgrace, but ineffectually—they were punished, their punishment was legal, and had no similarity whatever to my case, nor could it any way justly give pretence of reprisal.

Abramson, who had in reality entered no protest whatever, but rather excited the magistracy, and acted in concert with Reimer, advised me to put my writings and other valuable effects into his hands, otherwise they would be seized. He knew I had received letters of exchange from my brothers and sister, about seven thousand florins, and these I gave him, but kept my ring, worth about four thousand, and some sixty guineas, which I had in my purse. He then embraced me, declared nothing should be neglected to effect my immediate deliverance; that even he would raise the populace for that purpose; that I could not be given up to the Prussians in less than a week, the magistracy being still undetermined in an affair so serious, and he left me, shedding abundance of crocodile tears, like the most affectionate of friends.

The next night two magistrates, with their posse, came to my prison, attended by resident Reimer, a Prussian officer and under officers, and into their hands I was delivered. The pillage instantly began; Reimer tore off my ring, seized my watch, snuff-box, and all I had, not so much as sending me a coat or shirt from my effects; after which, they put me into a close coach with three Prussians. The Dantzic guard accompanied the carriage to the city gate, that was opened to let me pass; after which the Dantzic dragoons escorted me as far as Lauenburg in Pomerania.

I have forgotten the date of this miserable day; but to the best of my memory, it must have been in the beginning of June. Thirty Prussian hussars, commanded by a lieutenant, relieved the dragoons at Lauenburg, and thus was I escorted from garrison to garrison, till I arrived at Berlin.

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 astonishing 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 fortitude 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 compassion 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 Duchess 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 assembled, and the Duchess, 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 circumstantially for it not only proves the just and noble 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 noble-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 passed 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 friendship. 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 passed through my hands, which circumstance 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.