Prince Friedrich of Homburg Read online

  ELECTOR: Kottwitz? With the Princess’s dragoons? Here in the city?

  TRUCHSS [opening the window]: Yes, Your Majesty. He’s marched them here, and they’re gathered in front of the castle now.

  ELECTOR: Well, gentlemen, does anyone want to solve this riddle for me? Who summoned Kottwitz here?

  HOHENZOLLERN: That I do not know, my Sovereign.

  ELECTOR: I assigned him to a place called Arnstein. Quickly, one of you, go and bring him here.

  GOLTZ: My Lord, he will appear before you immediately.

  ELECTOR: Where is he now?

  GOLTZ: I hear he’s at the City Hall, where your entire general staff is meeting.

  ELECTOR: What for? To what end?

  HOHENZOLLERN: That I don’t know.

  TRUCHSS: My Prince and Lord, will you grant us leave to go there too?

  ELECTOR: Where? To the City Hall?

  HOHENZOLLERN: To a meeting of the army’s chiefs. We gave our word that we’d appear.

  ELECTOR [after a short pause]: You are dismissed.

  GOLTZ: Come, my friends.

  [The officers leave.]

  SCENE 2

  [The Elector. Later two servants.]

  ELECTOR: How strange! If I were the Dey of Tunis I would sound the alarm at such an ambiguous situation. I would place the silken noose upon my desk. I’d barricade the gates and bring out cannon. But since it’s only Hans Kottwitz from Priegnitz who’s taken it upon himself to approach me in this unauthorized fashion, I will conduct myself in Brandenburg style. I’ll just take hold of one of the three shining silver locks on his trusty old head and quietly lead him with his twelve squadrons back to Arnstein. Why wake the whole city from its sleep?

  [After once again looking out of the window for a moment, he goes back to his table and rings. Two servants enter.]

  ELECTOR: Run down and find out what’s going on in the City Hall. But pretend you’re asking for yourself.

  SERVANT: Immediately, Your Majesty.

  [One of the servants leaves.]

  ELECTOR [to the other servant]: You go and bring me my clothes.

  [The servant goes and brings them. The Elector dresses and puts on his official regalia.]

  SCENE 3

  [Enter Field Marshal Dörfling. The above.]

  FIELD MARSHAL: It’s rebellion, Your Majesty!

  ELECTOR [busy dressing]: Be still, be quiet! You know how much I hate being intruded upon in my chambers unannounced. What do you want?

  FIELD MARSHAL: Sire, please forgive me, but an urgent matter has driven me here. Colonel Kottwitz has marched into the city without orders. A hundred officers have gathered round him in the Hall of Knights, and a petition has been circulated which is designed to interfere with your prerogatives.

  ELECTOR: I know all about it already. What else can it be but an undertaking on behalf of the Prince, who has been condemned by the law to be shot.

  FIELD MARSHAL: That’s just it! You’ve guessed it exactly!

  ELECTOR: Well, good. Then my heart is with them.

  FIELD MARSHAL: I’ve heard that these madmen intend to hand you their petition this very day in the castle. And should you with unbending anger insist upon the sentence, then . . . and I scarcely dare to tell you . . . they plan to liberate him from his prison by force.

  ELECTOR [gravely]: Who told you that?

  FIELD MARSHAL: Who told me that? Lady Retzow, my wife’s cousin, whom you can trust. Last night she was at her uncle Bailiff Retzow’s house where officers who had come from camp were talking about this audacious plan.

  ELECTOR: I’ll have to hear this from a man before I’ll believe it. And . . . I myself will stand before the Prince’s prison and protect him from these young heroes.

  FIELD MARSHAL: Majesty, I beg you! If you have the slightest intention of pardoning the Prince, do it now before a most abominable act has been committed. Every army loves its hero, as you know. Do not let the spark which merely glimmers now among the men burst out into an all-devouring blaze which will destroy everything it touches. Neither Kottwitz nor the men who’ve gathered round him know that I have warned you. Before he arrives here return the Prince’s sword to him, send it back as he in truth deserves. In this way, you’ll give the newspapers one more deed of generosity to report and one act of cruelty less.

  ELECTOR: I would have to ask the Prince first if I may do this, since, as you are aware, he was not arbitrarily imprisoned and so cannot arbitrarily be freed. I should like to speak with these gentlemen when they come.

  FIELD MARSHAL [to himself]: Damn! He’s armed against every weapon.

  SCENE 4

  [Two castle guards dressed as Hungarian foot soldiers enter. One has a letter in his hand. The above.]

  FIRST GUARD: Colonel Kottwitz, Hennings, Truchss, and others request an audience.

  ELECTOR [to the other guard while taking the letter from him.]: From the Prince of Homburg?

  SECOND GUARD: Yes, Your Majesty.

  ELECTOR: Who gave it to you?

  SECOND GUARD: The Swiss soldier who’s keeping guard at the gate and who himself received it from the Prince’s orderly.

  ELECTOR [He goes over to the table to read it. After finishing, he turns and calls a page.]: Prittwitz! Bring me the death warrant! I also want the safe conduct pass for Count Gustave Horn, the Swedish envoy. [As the page leaves, he turns to the first guard.] Let Kottwitz and his entourage come in.

  SCENE 5

  [Colonel Kottwitz and Colonel Hennings, Count Truchss, Count Hohenzollern, Count Sparren, Count Reuss, Cavalry Captains Goltz and Strantz, and other colonels and officers enter. The above.]

  KOTTWITZ [with the petition]: Allow me, Your Highness, to hand you this document in all humility and in the name of the entire army.

  ELECTOR: Kottwitz, before I take it, tell me who ordered you to march into the city.

  KOTTWITZ [staring at him]: With the dragoons?

  ELECTOR: With the regiment. I designated Arnstein as your headquarters.

  KOTTWITZ: Majesty, it was your orders that brought me here.

  ELECTOR: What? Show them to me.

  KOTTWITZ: Here, my Lord.

  ELECTOR [reading]: “Natalia, signed at Fehrbellin, in the name of my most sovereign uncle Friedrich.”

  KOTTWITZ: By God, my Prince and Lord, I dare not imagine that these orders are unknown to you.

  ELECTOR: Of course not, don’t misunderstand me. But who is it who brought the orders to you?

  KOTTWITZ: Count Reuss.

  ELECTOR [after a short pause]: All the better; I welcome you here. You have been chosen with your twelve squadrons to perform the last honors tomorrow morning for the Prince of Homburg, whom the law has sentenced to death.

  KOTTWITZ [shocked]: What, Your Majesty?

  ELECTOR [returning Kottwitz’s orders]: Is your regiment still standing out there in front of the castle in the darkness and the mist?

  KOTTWITZ: In the darkness? I beg your pardon . . .

  ELECTOR: Why didn’t you quarter the men?

  KOTTWITZ: My Lord, they have been quartered . . . right here in the city as you ordered.

  ELECTOR [turning to the window]: What already? But just two minutes ago . . . Well, you’ve certainly found stables quickly enough. All the better. I welcome you once again! Tell me, what brings you here? What news do you have?

  KOTTWITZ: Majesty, the petition of your loyal army.

  ELECTOR: Give it to me.

  KOTTWITZ: But the words you’ve just spoken have crushed all my hope.

  ELECTOR: Then words can raise it up again. [He reads.] “Petition begging for mercy for our leader, the General Prince Friedrich Hessen-Homburg, who has been sentenced to death.” [To the officers] A noble name, gentlemen, a name not unworthy of your support in such great number. [He looks once again at the document.] Who wrote the petition?

  KOTTWITZ: I did.

  ELECTOR: Is the Prince acquainted with its content?

  KOTTWITZ: Not in the least. It was conceived a
nd executed by us alone.

  ELECTOR: A moment’s patience, if you please. [He steps up to the table and reads the petition. Long pause.] Hm, very strange! You, an old warrior, defend the Prince’s act and justify the fact that he attacked Wrangel without my orders?

  KOTTWITZ: Yes, Your Majesty! Kottwitz does.

  ELECTOR: On the battlefield you did not hold this view.

  KOTTWITZ: My opinion then was ill considered, my Lord. I should have peacefully submitted to the Prince, who understands the art of war quite well. The Swedes were wavering on their left flank, but support was coming from the right. If at this point the Prince had stopped to wait for orders, they would have re-established outposts in the trenches and you would never have had your victory.

  ELECTOR: So! That’s the way you like to fantasize the outcome. However, as you know, I had dispatched Colonel Hennings to take the Swedish bridgehead which protected Wrangel’s rear lines, and if you had not disobeyed my orders, Hennings’ mission would have been successful. Within two hours he would have been able to burn the enemy’s bridges and position our own troops along the Rhyn. Wrangel would have been completely annihilated in the swamps and trenches.

  KOTTWITZ: A man of mediocrity and not a man like you needs to feel he has to wrest from fate the greatest laurel wreaths of victory. Indeed, until today you always accepted whatever it was that fate had to give. The dragon who defiantly destroyed the state of Brandenburg has been driven off with a bleeding skull. What more could you have wanted in one day? What does it matter to you if he lies another two weeks exhausted in the sand and heals his wounds? What does matter is that we’ve learned how to defeat him and cannot wait to exercise our skill again. Just let us boldly meet with Wrangel face to face once more and our victory will be complete. Then the Swedes will have to flee into the Baltic. Rome, after all, was not built in a day.

  ELECTOR: You fool, how can you expect a permanent victory when each and every one is permitted to grab the reigns of my war chariot and drive it as he wishes. Do you think that fortune will always reward disobedience with a crown of victory as it did at Fehrbellin? I do not want a victory that’s a child of chance, a victory that falls into my lap like a bastard child. I must uphold the law, the mother of my crown, who will yet bear me a whole race of victories.

  KOTTWITZ: Majesty, the highest law . . . the law that inspires the leaders of your army is not the letter of your will; it is the fatherland, it is the crown, it is you yourself upon whose head it rests. Why should you care according to what rules the enemy is beaten . . . if only it falls before you with its banners. The rule which defeats the foe is the best rule of all. Do you wish to transform the army which follows you with glowing passion into a mere instrument, like the sword which rests lifeless in your golden belt? It was an impoverished spirit who first proclaimed a precept such as this. Yes, statecraft is a poor, shortsighted thing indeed when it chooses to forget emotions merely because in one case out of ten feelings proved destructive; for in the general course of things, it is often feeling alone which has the power to rescue. Would I shed my blood on the day of battle for pay . . . for money or for honor? God forbid; it is too precious for that! Of course I wouldn’t. But, as a free and independent man, I can nevertheless take quiet pleasure in your magnificence and majesty and in the fame and growth of your great name. That is the reward for which I sell my heart. Therefore, let’s admit you break the staff above the Prince’s head because of his unauthorized victory. And let’s say, further, that I should one day be wandering through the woods and cliffs like a shepherd with my squadrons and there be offered a chance to bring you yet another unauthorized victory: by God, I’d be a scoundrel if I did not cheerfully repeat the Prince’s act. And if you, carrying your law books in your hand, then came to me and said: “Kottwitz, you have forfeited your head,” I would say: “I knew that, Your Majesty. Take it, here it is.” After all, when I took an oath and bound myself, both body and soul, to your crown, I did not exempt my head. And thus I would be giving you only what was yours already.

  ELECTOR: You wonderful old man, I really can’t outargue you. The words you’ve chosen with the artful skill of an orator do sway me, I who am in any case inclined to favor you. So, I shall call an advocate to end this debate once and for all, someone who will come to my defense.

  [He rings. A servant enters.]

  ELECTOR: The Prince of Homburg . . . have him brought here from the prison!

  [The servant leaves.]

  He will teach you, I am certain, what military discipline and obedience are. At least, he’s sent me a letter which puts forth quite different views than the subtle disquisitions on freedom which you’ve displayed here like a schoolboy. [He crosses over to the table and reads the letter again.]

  KOTTWITZ [astonished]: Whom is he getting? Whom did he send for?

  HENNINGS: The Prince himself?

  TRUCHSS: No, it’s impossible!

  [The officers gather nervously together and confer.]

  ELECTOR: And from whom is this second letter here?

  HOHENZOLLERN: From me, my Lord.

  ELECTOR [reading]: “Proof that the Elector Friedrich himself is to blame for the Prince’s act” . . . now, that, by God, I call impertinent! Do you mean to say that you are trying to shove onto my shoulders responsibility for the outrage the Prince allowed himself in battle?

  HOHENZOLLERN: Yes, Your Majesty, onto your shoulders! Yes, I am doing this, I, Hohenzollern.

  ELECTOR: Well, this outdoes a fairy tale. One of them tries to prove the Prince is guiltless, the other that the guilty one is I myself! And how are you going to prove such an assertion?

  HOHENZOLLERN: You will recall that night, Sire, when we found the Prince lying fast asleep underneath the plane trees in the garden. He was evidently dreaming of the next day’s victories and held some laurel in his hands. You, in order to plumb the depths of his heart, took the wreath away from him and, with a smile, wound the chain which hangs about your neck around the wreath and handed it to Princess Natalia, your noble niece. Blushing at so wondrous a vision the Prince got up, for he wanted to seize hold of these precious things which were being offered to him by so dear a hand. You, however, leading the Princess backward, quickly moved away from him. The castle door slammed shut behind you, and . . . gone were the young lady, chain, and wreath. The Prince was left alone, standing in the well of night and carrying in his hand a glove he’d snatched from whom . . . he himself did not know.

  ELECTOR: What glove is that?

  HOHENZOLLERN: Let me finish the story. The whole thing was a joke to us. However, what it meant to him I was soon to learn. First I tiptoed back through the rear back gate of the garden pretending to find him there by chance. When I awoke him, he pulled himself together but a memory seemed to fill him with great joy; you cannot imagine anything more touching. Down to the smallest detail he recounted to me the whole event as if it were a dream. He said, in fact, that he’d never dreamed so vividly, and a firm conviction began to take hold of him that heaven itself had given him a sign. He believed, you see, that God would grant him on the day of the next battle everything which his vision had conjured up for him: the noble lady, the laurel wreath, and your chain of honor too!

  ELECTOR: Hm! Very strange indeed! And that glove?

  HOHENZOLLERN: Yes . . . this fragment of the dream that had become reality in his hand both destroyed and confirmed his belief at once. At first he looked at it in wide-eyed wonder, since it was white and from its style and form appeared to be a lady’s glove. But he did not speak to any lady in the garden that night from whom he could have taken it. And because I arrived just then to call him to a meeting, his thoughts became confused and, simply forgetting what he could not comprehend, he absent-mindedly tucked the glove into his collar.

  ELECTOR: Well, and then what?

  HOHENZOLLERN: Then with pen and notebook in hand he entered the castle to devote his full attention to the Field Marshal’s orders. But the Electress and Princess Natalia
, who were about to take their leave, were also present in the room. Who could measure the great surprise that overwhelmed the Prince when the Princess noticed that she was missing the very glove that he had tucked into his collar. The Field Marshal called the Prince of Homburg’s name repeatedly, to which the Prince replied: “What are my Field Marshal’s orders?” He tried to collect his thoughts. But completely surrounded as he was by miracles . . . heaven’s thunder could have sounded . . . [He stops.]

  ELECTOR: Was it the Princess’s glove?

  HOHENZOLLERN: Of course.

  [The Elector sinks into deep thought.]

  HOHENZOLLERN [continuing]: Pen in hand, he stood there like a statue and merely seemed to be a living man. All his senses, however, were extinguished as if they’d been dealt a magical blow. And it was only the next morning when shots were already thundering in the ranks that he returned to life again and asked me: “What, dear friend, did Dörfling say to me when he handed out my battle orders yesterday?”

  FIELD MARSHAL: My Lord, I am able to confirm this story. I recall that the Prince didn’t seem to hear a word I spoke. I have often seen him in an abstracted state, but never so much as on that day.

  ELECTOR: And so, if I understand you correctly, the following conclusion must tower up before me: If I had not toyed in such a dubious manner with this young dreamer’s mind, he would be quite guiltless now. He would not have been distracted when he received his battle orders and would not have been obstinate in the battle. Isn’t that what you’re driving at? Is that not so?

  HOHENZOLLERN: My Lord, you may draw your own conclusion.

  ELECTOR: Fool that you are, you idiot! Had you not called me down into the garden, I would not have given in to curiosity and would therefore not have played my harmless little joke upon the dreamer. Therefore, I assert with equal right that the person with whom blame should lie for the Prince’s error . . . is not me, but you yourself! Oh, what Delphic wisdom my officers possess!