Passages from my life, together with memoirs of the campaign of 1813 and 1814 ... Edited, with introduction and notes, by Colonel P. Yorke

Introduction

AND NOTES, BY COLONEL PHILIP YORKE. LONDON: EICHAED BENTLEY, NEW BUELINGTON STREET; |)itMisjKr in ©rbirarg to ser pajtstg. 1853. PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SONS, LONDON GAZETTE OKFICK, ST. MARTIN'S LANE; AND ORCHARD STREET, WESTMINSTER.

Preface

BY THE EDITOR. The following Memoirs were found amongst the papers of my late father, with directions to publish them immediately after his death. The period in which the busy life of the Author occurred, and the relations in which he stood to so many prominent individuals, would alone suffice to awaken a general interest in these Notes, which is still further heightened by the personal talents of the deceased. His clear and unprejudiced compre hension of facts and events, and his rare and con scientious love of truth, which was I may say universally acknowledged, qualified him in an emi nent degree to supply contributions to history. Edward Baron von Muffling, Privy Councillor, &c. Erfurt, Jan. 1851. a

PREFACE.

. I leave these Memoirs, my dear children, as an inheritance, intended to descend to you and my posterity. They will be a memorial of an ancestor of yours, who, through his official situation, was destined to bear a part in the extraordinary occurrences of a time remarkable for the general import ance of its events. My Memoirs, as a whole, may be in the nature of family property, not fitted for publication ; but I consider myself bound to leave behind me explana tions or corrections relating to particular events of which I was an eye-witness, and to which an Euro pean interest attaches. In this view I have extracted from my Memoirs, under the title of " Passages from my Life," certain sections, which I now hand over to you, as intended for publication. In doing this it was impossible to avoid judging of men and of their relations to each other.

However, I carry with me to the grave the consolation that my readers will acknowledge the pains I have taken, in both respects, to keep within the proper limits of general history ; and how I have consequently avoided assuming the privileges and duties of a biographer. These Memoirs, which contain the history of my education and life, and set forth the simple position and circumstances of Prussia in which I was involved, are destined to instruct my children, not indeed how to steer clear of rocks hidden beneath the surface,

PREFACE.

. VI but how to bear with calm moderation the shocks which they cause. My children, as also the readers of these pages, will draw from my Memoirs the conclusion, that during my long life, I have been guided by the simple endeavour to do right, and to effect some good ; they will perhaps find traces of the satis faction it has been to me, to see an acknowledgment of this in the testimony of many honourable con temporaries ; but it is far from my wish to conceal how often I have myself discovered, in riper years, how much more I might have done, had not my own faults hindered me. A writer of ability has proposed the question for discussion : — In which of two ways the interest of the public is best consulted, — whether more light is thrown on the dark spots and passages of history, by the steady light of general principles, or by what may be called the glimmer of the lantern which each man carries in his own hand ?

All those who lay great stress on their con clusions being always preceded by a special contem plation of their own, will declare themselves in favour of the so-called hand-lantern ; and all who intend to base their mode of action solely on existing circumstances, with exclusion of the past and future, will join with them. On the other hand all, who wish to attain their aim without loss of time will prefer that a light should be shed at once upon their whole path ; and they will be joined by all who are accustomed to follow up steadily a resolution which they have formed, and who meet accidental hin-

PREFACE.

. VII drances only by varying the means which they adopt for the attainment of their object. The result of the whole suggests the serious question : — Whether the latter class, who guide themselves deliberately, i. e., according to principles, — or the former, who draw their conclusions from the perceptions of the moment, i. e., who proceed according to circumstances, — rightly comprehend the problem of the practical philosophy of life ? I was, in my youthful years, strongly attracted by these considerations and their consequences ; and the end has been, that, however unwillingly, I have always rejected what I have called the " hand lantern." It seemed to me that all who dislike binding themselves by fixed principles, and who prefer, in each particular case, to guide themselves by circumstances, are exposed to a double danger.

They either run the risk of becoming useless members of society, by the wavering and indecision which result from the constant recurrence of painful subtleties ; or of rendering themselves intolerable in their inter course with others, by the egotism and arrogance which grow from their being forced by want of time into all sorts of inconsistencies. Experience moreover taught me, that the habit of acting according to the circumstances of the moment makes characters, otherwise the most open, mis trustful ; and that one soldier will not trust another, if he never knows beforehand how the latter will resolve to act in this or that position. There was assuredly nothing censurable in my

PREFACE.

. VIII feeling and thinking thus, and guarding myself care fully against the opposite error ; involuntarily, how ever, and unconsciously, I made the mistake of measuring my fellow-men only by this standard. Consistency gained from year to year additional value in my eyes; so that, without knowing it, I estranged myself from those who, under similar circumstances, had acted differently at different times; and I did this without regarding any brilliant qualities or high rank which they might possess, or any influence which they might exercise. Where I found views which my official position obliged me to oppose, I endeavoured clearly to develop the reasons which told against them ; and as soon as I had convinced myself that I was quite understood, I left the decision to my opponents. I did nothing to make it more easy to them to accede to my views, because it seemed to me wrong to persuade others, and hurry them on to measures which they did not take up from conviction.

This was an error by which I lost my influence with many a superior, who was used to yield to the art of dialectics or to friendly persuasions, and had consequently expected one or the other from me. I could not bring myself to impute to others what I should have rejected doing myself as weak and culpable. If now, in my ad vanced years, I have to lament this disposition as a consequence of over-exalted notions, I have felt it right to warn my posterity, that they may not, through such prejudices, fall into similar errors. Written on my 70th birth-day, 1844. LIFE AND WRITINGS.

Part I Introduction

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— THE YEAES 1805-1S06.— THE CAMPAIGN OE 1813.

INTRODUCTION.

. From the time when I first began to choose my course of reading, and had to fomi my own opinion on the matter, I turned with especial predilection to French Memoirs ; to speak more correctly, I found no mode of writing so well calculated as memoirs, to bring a section of history clearly before the eyes ofthe reader. There are great difficulties in undertaking the duties of an historian, even when they are limited to the uniform progress and uniform treatment of the narrative. History itself has no claim to such treatment. It is often, during long periods, intolerably dull and tiresome ; while the short space of a few years out weighs in importance whole centuries, in instructing posterity, as well as strengthening the mind, which B finds in history the most valuable preparation for the development of its powers.

It has always appeared to me too great a demand on the human mind, for an individual who has lived through a remarkable period, to write its history. The higher his position, the more he has himself experienced, and the fuller account he is enabled to give of events ; but, on the other hand, in under taking the task of unfolding occurrences step by step chronologically, he is obliged to receive many state ments from others ; and inaccuracies, if not untruths and misrepresentations, unavoidably creep in. Under all circumstances, therefore, truth will generally be found where the author lays before his readers only what he has himself seen, heard, or thought, at the time of the transaction, without troubling himself whether his history be complete and the picture perfected. These are the principles, the general features, of Memoirs.

But as a memoir is not expected to com prise the entire history of any period, as little is it the just province of such a work to aim at giving any complete picture of private life ; and a writer who is able to narrate some interesting passages of history, must not imagine that he is therefore called upon to unfold his whole life to his readers. It has always, indeed, struck me (who, in some periods of great international importance, have stood near the central point of political interest), that all which is tedious, and all that ought not to be nar rated, must be passed over ; but whether I have hit the right medium, remains a question which my readers alone can answer. Frederick II. exercised a very unfavourable influence on my education. My father, an officer during the Seven Years' War, knew that the king's first demand on all young officers who aimed at a rapid career, was fluency in speaking French ; and upon this my whole education, which was totally wanting in solid information, Avas founded.

At that time no other means for training the understanding existed, than the cultivation of the dead languages. My father thought this could be effected just as well by a living language — the French, — and the argument, it must be acknow ledged, was in one point of view correct. He over looked the fact, however, that the means of teaching the ancient languages were solid and fundamental, whereas the teachers of the living languages, particularly French, almost wholly excluded the study of grammar, assuming that this had already been acquired while learning the ancient languages. To prove that this assumption was erroneous, could lead to nothing ; for no teacher of modern languages was sufficiently prepared to teach grammatically. Thus, in the University of Halle, where I was educated, there was not a French master capable of teaching the language par principes, or grammatically.

In the years when the first studies should begin, I was obliged, after the prevailing custom, to enter the army as an ensign ; it is therefore no wonder that, on my becoming an officer, I had learned very little. From the year 1792 to 1802, in the Revolutionary wars on the Rhine, my quarters were shifted from place to place on the lines of demarcation, without my ever going into garrison. Ex perience was my sole master in military science ; I had a turn for mathematics, and was therefore B employed from 1798 to 1802 on the Trigonometrical Survey for Lecoq's Map of Westphalia; and in 1803, after passing an examination I was placed on the newly-organized General Staff. From this time, numerous circumstances conspired to favour my improvement in this branch of the service. For three years, till 1805, I was employed as assistant to Herr von Zach, Director of the Seeberg Observatory.

I directed the Thuringian mensura tion, and travelled over the central countries of Germany. I was appointed to the General Staff Brigade under Colonel von Scharnhorst, who kindly encou raged my zeal and activity. Scharnhorst had made Napoleon's mode of warfare, and the means of resist ing him, the chief object of his study, and endea voured accordingly to prepare young men for the war, then easily to be foreseen, with this dangerous opponent. The trouble which he took with me was not thrown away, and when, in the year 1805, the army was put in motion, I was esteemed by my comrades, as well as by the superior officers of the staff, an active, indefatigable officer, well qualified for his business. I was thirty years old, Lieutenant Quartermaster General, healthy, strong, of a happy and contented disposition.

I had married a noble-minded wife, and three hopeful children enlivened our days, which were devoted to the duties of domestic life. 1805. The General Staff in its new organization had now existed three years. The Quartermaster General, Lieutenant General von Geusau, was properly so only in name ; for, as Inspector of the War Department and Chief of the Engineer Corps, he was an overworked man, who had no time to concern himself about the General Staff. We also knew beforehand that he would not go through the war with us. Under him were three Lieutenant Quarter masters General, each of whom had a brigade, con sisting of staff-officers, captains, and lieutenants, under his orders. The oldest of these, Colonel von Phull, had received his education in the Military Institution of Wurtemberg, then so celebrated, and had acquired the reputation of a great scholar.

He was cold, reserved, morose by nature, always bitter, sarcastic and a great egotist. He knew nothing whatever of the life of a soldier or the feeling of a comrade. He did not understand how to deal with men, but repelled every one, and lived isolated. He made an impression on many, but he inspired little con fidence, and no affection. The next in seniority to him was Colonel von Mas senbach : he had been brought up in the same Insti tute as Colonel von Phull, but was of an opposite nature. He was hot-headed, rich in ideas, and full of activity, but of no practical tendency. At the same time he was vehement, dogmatic, restless, and tormented by the peculiar passion for ruling all around him. Where he met with submission he showed good-nature, but opposition he could not tolerate. He valued the art of public speaking very highly, and was himself well qualified for it, possessing a sonorous voice, a fine animated eye, and a high open forehead; but he failed in making an impression, because the art was immediately percep tible to his auditor, and the emotion which he strove to enforce upon others, invariably first seized upon himself.

The third Lieutenant Quartermaster General was Colonel von Scharnhorst, a thoroughly well-informed man, who, from the Hanoverian service, in which he made the campaigns of 1793-4, as officer of the General Staff, had entered our army as Major. He had served in all arms, and as teacher and writer he strove indefatigably to acquire clearness. By means of the few questions which he used to put very simply and good-humouredly, he found out whether a young man, beside his acquirements, served with zeal and was possessed of presence of mind. In his judgment of people, he always looked more to their capacity than to their knowledge, be cause the former included the practical application of the latter. A man himself so learned as Scharn horst might be allowed to express such an opinion. He has often been reproached with being too de liberate, and hence giving more the impression of a professor than an officer.

There is some truth in this accusation, since his aim was precisely to appear such. He did not want fire, but it was subdued and purified. There were at that time, in the Prussian army, from the generals to the ensigns, hot heads without number; and those who were not so by nature, assumed a passionate, coarse manner, fancying that it belonged to the military profession, and that Frederick II. desired it. It was then a rule inculcated on every young officer, not only to answer in a determined manner (as it was called), but to answer at once, without reflecting whether the answer were correct or false. It was said that Frederick II. never found fault with a lie quickly spoken in reply, but that he had dismissed officers who, on a question put by him, had considered their answer, even when quite right in doing so.

This was a bad principle, and it was worthy of Schamhorst's courage to resist it practically. If we compare the body of officers ofthe Prussian army before the year 1802, and in 1813, we shall be obliged to confess that his example was not with out effect. The peace education of the staff officers was entrusted to these three brigadiers, uncontrolled, and each could introduce into it just what he thought proper. The two senior brigadiers laughed at Scharnhorst as a pedantic schoolmaster, and fed their officers with high-flown ideas which they were unable to digest ; Scharnhorst alone adopted a well considered method, to form diligent labourers, able but not conceited journeymen, and sensible masters, who did not fancy themselves capable of doing everything alone. Until the year 1805, when the army began to be put in motion, I had remained with the third brigade under Scharnhorst.

In the new distribution the officers of all three brigades were mixed, and it was then seen how little this had succeeded in introducing into the three brigades of the staff uniform views of the art of war, and still less a uniform mode of conducting the business of this important branch of the service. To us of the third brigade, it seemed as if in the other brigades, much egotism but little practical skill had been developed. I was sent to the army of the Prince of Hohen lohe, assembling in Thuringia, whose head-quarters were at Erfurt. Colonel von Massenbach was ap pointed Quartermaster General to this army, and I was the senior staff officer under him. The Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen was edu cated in the maxims of the Seven Years' War : he was promoted by Frederick IL, and had as early as 1792-4 commanded independent divisions, and finally an independent corps.

Massenbach had been his Quartermaster General. The Prince had much personal ambition; he loved military fame, and had proved himself a brave officer. He was more of a tactician than a strategist, but had been early prevented, by shortness of sight, from superintending the manœuvres of large bodies at drill. In 1805 his fitness for field service was more than doubtful. He suffered from gout ; and just when the command was offered him he had a violent attack, which he tried to check by daily embrocation with opodeldoc. In the morning his quarters smelt of this remedy for his malady, which he nevertheless endeavoured carefully, though in vain, to conceal. Had he clearly examined his bodily condition, and the duties which such an important command enjoined, he ought to have declined it as early as 1805.

By this step he would have averted from himself and the army the heavy misfortune which occurred a year later. The relation between the Prince and Massenbach was of a very peculiar kind. Massenbach influenced and governed the Prince in all his military ideas, yet not without some resistance on his part, which how ever was confined to keeping up the appearance of independence. But this did not satisfy Massenbach ; he wished for open and manifest subjection, and sought every opportunity of wearying his opponent by vexatious conduct, well knowing that after such provocations the good-natured Prince always, in the end, offered him the hand of reconciliation. In Erfurt I witnessed one of these attempts on the part of Massenbach, which occasioned a comical scene, that would have been entertaining had it not produced discord for a long time.

Massenbach had composed for the Military So ciety of Berlin, a panegyric on Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, the victor of Crefeld, Minden, &c. The Prince heard of it, and wished to read it. Massen bach offered to read it aloud, and proposed the critical hour immediately after dinner ; Majors von Pirch, von Roder (the Prince's aides-de camp), and I, were invited to hear it. Massen bach told me in confidence that he intended to avail himself of this opportunity to effect some thing quite extraordinary for the welfare of the army and Prince. After the death of Duke Ferdinand, the reports of the Seven Years' War were deposited in the archives at Berlin, and from these a discovery had been made (which was little if at all known), that a Brunswicker named Westphal, who attended the Duke as secretary in these campaigns, had been at the same time employed as his confidential strategist.

During the war, Westphal lived in the next room to the Duke, and conducted his military correspondence, so that he was as accurately informed of all events and circumstances in the army as the Duke himself. When the Allied Army, in pursuance of the aim of its operations, or in consequence of some march of the enemy, was obliged to make a movement, the Duke wrote the motive of it on a piece of paper, and gave it to Westphal in the next room, who had to write down in the margin what in his opinion the Allied Army should do in such a con tingency. From this correspondence, it appears not only that Westphal must have been an unusually gifted man for this department, but also that the Duke generally adopted what he proposed, and that he therefore exercised a great influence on the fortunate issue of Duke Ferdinand's campaigns.

Massenbach's aim was to be the Westphal of the Prince of Hohenlohe in the impending cam paign; and he considered the reading of his pane gyric a favourable opportunity for showing to the Prince, that by this grand organization the warlike fame of Duke Ferdinand was more so lidly established, than by all the battles he had won. My doubts of his succeeding in bringing the Prince into this opinion, which was quite foreign to him, remained unheeded, and the panegyric, re touched for this purpose, was read with proper pathos. Massenbach sat opposite the Prince, the candles stood between the two, and I could ob serve the expression of their respective counte nances. The panegyric, which was long in itself, had been considerably lengthened by the additions about the relations of the Duke to his secretary, and we could not conceal from ourselves that it became rather wearisome.

The Prince's eyes gradually closed : this Massenbach did not observe. The pos ture, inconvenient for sleep, occasioned some snoring, but Massenbach read with such fire that he heard nothing. When he came to the passage on the effect of which he had most reckoned, thick drops of perspiration stood on his high forehead, his voice was full of emotion, his eyes filled with tears ; and with the praise of the imperishable fame of his hero, the great moment arrived, when his moistened eye, seeking the approving glances of the Prince, after a side movement of his head, perceived that his chief auditor was sunk in profound slumber. When the Prince woke up at the sudden silence, Massenbach, with a furious look and deep sigh, had already packed up his ponderous discourse, and left the room with some disagreeable remarks.

The Prince, who was at first confused, and after wards irritable, asked us if we had kept awake ; and when the aides-de-camp replied that respect gives great power of endurance, he complained of the inso lence of reading such a tedious treatise immediately after dinner. Massenbach could not forget this scene, so deeply mortifying to his vanity; and contrived, by his behaviour, that the ill-humour between himself and the Prince should be publicly known. When, how ever, he was summoned to Berlin, to assist at a council of war in the King's presence, the two found that they were necessaiy to each other : Massenbach, to strengthen his opinion by being able to say that his general saw things in the same light as himself; the Prince, to make the world believe that he had dispatched his Quartermaster General with instructions to this council.

Moreover, Massenbach did not wish to give up his position as Quartermaster General to the Prince. He knew that he could not get on so well with any other General-in-chief, and therefore he attempted in Berlin to bring about the Prince's nomination as Generalissimo. In this however he did not suc ceed, as the Prince's weakness and vanity were too well known there. By order of this council of war, a small corps under General von Blucher was collected at Bay reuth (to which I was sent as Lieutenant Quarter master), in order to watch thence more closely the consequences of the battle of Austerlitz, namely, the occupation of the Principality of Ansbach by Marshal Bernadotte's corps. It was here that I was first placed under the orders of the man who, eight years later, had the good luck to render such important services to Europe.

I here became acquainted with all his good qualities, and learnt to esteem him as the true model of a soldier. In Ansbach I saw the French army, and the light ness of their infantry movements ; and I perceived that, without considerable alteration in ours, we must be worsted in a war. All their infantry officers carried knapsacks on their backs, even the chefs de bataillon and adjutants, while our battalions required fifty extra horses. I sent a memorial on the subject to General Ruchel, my patron, who replied, — "My friend, a Prussian nobleman never goes on foot ! " Blucher's corps was withdrawn after the occupa tion of Hanover ; but I was directed to remain with Major-General Count Tauentzien, who com manded the Franconian brigade in Bayreuth until just before the breaking out of hostilities in 1806.

I employed my time in drawing up a tableau of the French army, showing the ordre de bataille of all the corps according to their regimental num bers. This was necessary, indeed indispensable to us, but was not intended for the commanding officers. The Duke of Brunswick heard of it, and this may perhaps have been the reason of his sum moning me near his person, at his head-quarters at Halle. Here I found the Duke, as Generalissimo, uncertain about the political relations of Prussia with France and England, uncertain about the strength and posi tion of the French corps d'armee in Germany, and without any fixed plan as to what should be done. But he was far from taking upon himself the responsibility of acting according to circumstances ; on the contrary, he had determined to lay before the King a plan for his approval.

The Duke of Brunswick enjoyed in his 73rd year a remarkable degree of activity of body and freshness of mind, but he had grown mistrustful and cautious to excess ; he wanted simplicity in the management of business, and events had gotten so much in advance of him, that instead of leading he was himself led by them. He had accepted the command in order to prevent war. I can assert this with confidence, because I heard it more than once from his own lips, when his subordinates had been aggravating the difficulties of his position, or did things behind his back to which he was by no means a party. At times when, in strict confidence, I had suggested to him methods for enforcing and maintaining obedience, he used to vent his ill-humour by describing the peculiarities of all around him in the plainest and bitterest terms.

He would call Prince Hohenlohe a vain and weak man, who suffered himself to be governed by Massenbach; General von Ruchel, a fans ar on; Field- Marshal Mollendorf, a dotard ; General von Kal kreuth, a cunning trickster ; and the subordinate generals, in a mass, mere men of routine without talents : winding up with these words : "And it is with such men we are to encounter a Napoleon ! No, the greatest service I can render the King will be to preserve peace for him if I can." Scharnhorst was appointed the Duke's Quarter master General, instead of Lieutenant Quartermaster General von Phull, who had been placed in the King's suite because the Duke hated him. The Duke certainly felt an esteem for Scharnhorst, although he had an especial aversion to consult him on military subjects. The Duke's hope was centred in Lucchesini and Haugwitz, because these men made him believe that war might still be avoided.

The answer of Lucchesini still sounds in my ears, when after his arrival from Paris at the royal head-quarters at Naumburg, in reply to the Duke's question as to Napoleon's intentions, he answered : " Sir, he will never become the aggressor : never ! never ! " A gleam of inward satisfaction overspread the Duke's face at these words. He paid formal court to both ministers, Lucchesini and Haugwitz, because he considered them the peace party. Scharnhorst arrived at head-quarters a month after me ; until then he had been travelling on the King's business. I wished now to join the Duke of Weimar's division, to which I belonged by appointment, but Scharnhorst retained me. He had to overcome the Duke's natural mistrust, which did not stand in my way. But I was the subaltern, who only ventured to speak when asked.

Scharnhorst had something methodical in his manner of stating what he proposed, which was disagreeable to the Duke, who knew that if he was of a different opinion he could only end the matter by a distinct and grave reply. When Scharnhorst made proposals in the spirit of modern warfare, the Duke started, looked at me with his large eyes, as if I ought to speak. If I remained silent, he managed to draw me into the conversation, and whenever I attempted to place the practical ideas of Scharnhorst in a still more striking light, he got out of humour. One morning, when I accompanied Scharnhorst to the council, he said to me : " I cannot get on with this singular man, who is made up of prejudices. I will not peril the confidence he has in you : do not vote with me in the important questions upon the decision of war, that our general may not believe we are continually plotting to govern him."