er could resolve about it
in time. Back and ever back goes Dohna; facing Soltikof; but always
hitching back; latterly in Brandenburg ground, the Russians and
he;--having no provision, he either. In fine, July 17th (one week after
Friedrich had got to Schmottseifen), Dohna finds himself at the little
Town of Zullichau (barely in time to snatch it before Soltikof could),
within thirty miles of Crossen; and nothing but futility behind and
before. [Tempelhof, iii, 78-88; _ Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 835-847.]

We can imagine Friedrich's daily survey of all this; his gloomy
calculations what it will soon amount to if it last. He has now no
Winterfeld, Schwerin, no Keith, Retzow, Moritz:--whom has he? His
noblest Captains are all gone; he must put up with the less noble. One
Wedell, Lieutenant-General, had lately recommended himself to the royal
mind by actions of a prompt daring. The royal mind, disgusted with these
Dohna hagglings, and in absolute necessity of finding somebody that had
resolution, and at least ordinary Prussian skill, hoped Wedell was the
man. And determined, the crisis being so urgent, to send Wedell in the
character of ALTER-EGO, or "with the powers of a Roman Dictator," as the
Order expressed it. [Given in Preuss, ii. 207, 208; in Stenzel, v. 212,
other particulars.] Dictator Wedell is to supersede Dohna; shall go,
at his own swift pace, fettered by nobody;--and, at all hazards, shall
attack Soltikof straightway, and try to beat him. "You are grown too
old for that intricate hard work; go home a little, and recover your
health," the King writes to Dohna. And to the Dohna Army, "Obey this
man, all and sundry of you, as you would myself;" the man's private
Order being, "Go in upon Soltikof; attack him straightway; let us have
done with this wriggling and haggling." Date of this Order is "Camp at
Schmottseifen, 20th July, 1759." The purpose of such high-flown Title,
and solemnity of nomination, was mainly, it appears, to hush down any
hesitation or surprise among the Dohna Generals, which, as Wedell was
"the youngest Lieutenant-General of the Army," might otherwise have been
possible.

Wedell, furnished with some small escort and these Documents, arrives
in Camp Sunday Evening, 22d July:--poor Dohna has not the least word
or look of criticism; and every General, suppressing whatever thoughts
there may be, prepares to yield loyal obedience to Dictator Wedell.
"Wobersnow was the far better soldier of the two!" m