good offices towards the having him elected marshal and commandant of the troops of the circle of Franconia. The margrave had been very dissipated at Frankfort. His pleasures and revels, added to the great confidence he reposed in Berghover, had prevented him from maturely weighing the consequences of this treaty. He considered it, however, in a different point of view at the 'second reading, when the conditions appeared to him as chimerical as they had before appeared advantageous. The sum allowed for the raising of the regiment was so small that he would be subjected to an evident loss. The jus appellandi was only an advantage for an unjust prince: an equitable prince possesses always that right, never affording an occasion to his subjects to appeal to the emperor's tribunal. His generalship of the circle was merely a vain title, with no other prerogative but that of commanding the troops in time of war, The town of Retwitz was of consequence: the gift was uncertain, and the advantage not more solid than any of the others abovementioned. These motives, with several others, induced the margrave to break off the treaty. I received several very severe letters from the king my brother on the subject. He complained with great bitterness to me of my negociation having commenced without his knowledge. I suppressed the first letters and took notice of this subject in my answers. He told me at last that I ought to speak to the margrave from him on the subject, and demonstrate to him how unbecoming it was to enter into treaties without consulting him as the head of the house. grave was enraged. He dictated the answer to me, which was in the strongest terms. From that moment war was declared. I received only harsh letters from the king, and I learned even that he spoke of me in a very offensive manner, and held me up to The mar public ridicule. I was keenly touched with this behaviour. However, I dissembled my chagrin and continued to act towards him as I had done formerly. The duchess of Wirtemburg arrived at this time. The agreement respecting the marriage of our children had been regulated at Berlin. It was agreed that it should only take place with the consent of the two parties, on their attaining the years of discretion. This alliance connected me with the duchess against my inclination: I say against my inclination, for she was generally spoken of as another Lais. The duchess possesses a certain jargon, and a turn for trifling, which is amusing enough for some time, but becomes wearisome in the end: she gives herself always up to an immoderate gaiety. As her whole object is to please, all her study centres in that pur suit all sorts of enticements, infantine manners, tender glances, in short, every ingredient of coquetry is resorted to. The elder and younger Marwitz took it into their heads that the manners of the princess were French, and that she was the model of fashionable behaviour. The elder, who then began to have a great ascendancy over the margrave's mind, prevailed upon him to effect a complete alteration in his court: he never quitted the duchess, and entered blindly into all her views. In the course of fifteen days everything wore a new appearance: they began to fight, to throw table-linen at one another's heads, to run about like young colts, and, finally, to embrace one another in the course of certain very equi vocal songs. So far from these being the manners of French ladies, if a Frenchman had seen them I have not a doubt but he would have taken them at once for opera singers or actresses. I did what I could to oppose this torrent of disorderly behaviour; but all my efforts were fruitless. The governess railed, swore, and inveighed against the behaviour of her nieces, who only turned their backs upon her. How happy I was at that time! I was still the dupe of the Marwitzes, and had not even a suspicion of their intrigues. As the margrave continued to pay the same attentions as usual, I slept tranquilly while they were plotting my ruin. On the departure of the duchess, I entertained a hope that I should be able to bring things back to their old situation, but I soon perceived that the evil had taken too deep a root. La Marwitz, from what I have since observed, had then apparently formed her plan. This girl had an unbounded ambition: to satisfy this passion she was obliged to plunge the margrave into dissipation (a fault to which he was naturally but too much inclined), that she might detach him from all application to business. It was necessary to deceive me also by communicating the principal affairs to me, and lulling me asleep by the confidence the margrave was to repose in me. She reserved, however, the distribution of offices and favours, and particularly of the finances, to herself. The reports in circulation at Berlin respecting her had induced her to reflect seriously on her situation, and the empire which she possessed over the margrave. The desire of displaying her great genius triumphed over every other consideration: she remarked his inclination for her, and she took advantage of it to govern him according to her inclination. she concluded, that by preserving my confidence and avoiding all occasions calculated to fill me with suspicion, she would succeed in hoodwinking me, and rendering her power so great that when I came to discover the object of her endeavours, I should no longer be in a situation to thwart her; in short, her conduct and the margrave's were so guarded that I did not in the least dream of the secret understanding between them. |