The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck-1 [65]
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
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