summoned, with most part of his force, to Schmottseifen; left General
Goltz (a man we have met before) to guard Landshut; and was in fair
hopes of proving helpful to Prince Henri,--when Harsch [Harsch by
himself this time, not Harsch and Deville as usual] thought here was his
opportunity; and came with a great apparatus, as if to swallow Landshut
whole. So that Fouquet had to hurry off reinforcements thither; and at
length to go himself, leaving Stutterheim in his stead at Schmottseifen.
Goltz, however, with his small handful, stood well to his work. And
there fell out sharp fencings at Landshut:--especially one violent
attack on our outposts; the Austrians quite triumphant; till 'a couple
of cannon open on them from the next Hill,'--till some violent Werner
or other charge in upon them with Prussian Hussars;--a desperate tussle,
that special one of Werner's; not only sabres flashing furiously on both
sides, but butts of pistols and blows on the face: [Tempelhof, iii. 233:
31st August.] till, in short, Harsch finds he can make nothing of it,
and has taken himself away, before Fouquet come." This Goltz, here
playing Anti-Harsch, is the Goltz who, with Winterfeld, Schmettau and
others, was in that melancholy Zittau march, of the Prince of Prussia's,
in 1757: it was Goltz by whom the King sent his finishing compliment,
"You deserve, all of you, to be tried by Court-Martial, and to lose
your heads!" Goltz is mainly concerned with Fouquet and Silesia, in late
times; and we shall hear of him once again. Fouquet did not return to
Schmottseifen; nor was molested again in Landshut this year, though he
soon had to detach, for the King's use, part of his Landshut force, and
had other Silesian business which fell to him.
FORTRESS OF PEITZ. The poor Fortress of Peitz was taken again;--do
readers remember it, "on the day of Zorndorf," last year? "This year,
a fortnight after Kunersdorf, the same old Half-pay Gentleman with his
Five-and-forty Invalids have again been set adrift, 'with the honors
of war,' poor old creatures; lest by possibility they afflict the
dear Russians and our meal-carts up yonder. [Tempelhof, iii. 231: 27th
August.] I will forget who took Peitz: perhaps Haddick, of whom we have
lately heard so much? He was captor of Berlin in 1757, did the Inroad on
Berlin that year,--and produced Rossbach shortly after. Peitz, if he did
Peitz, was Haddick's last success in the world. Haddick has been most
industrious, 'guarding
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