ing her he intended me, her eldest son, for his universal legatee. This letter, to which I returned no answer, was sent me to Potzdam. I was so satisfied with my situation, and had such numerous reasons so to be, considering the kindness with which the king treated me, that I would not have exchanged my good fortune for all the treasures of the Great Mogul.

Cn the 12th February, 1744, being at Berlin, I was in company with captain Jaschinsky, commander of the body guard, the captain of which ranks as colonel in the army, together with lieutenant Studnizt, and cornet Wagnitz. The latter was my field comrade, and is at this present commander general of the cavalry of Hesse Cassel.The Austrian Trenck became the subject of conversation, and Jaschinsky asked if I was his kinsman: I answered yes, and immediately mentioned his having made me his universal heir. "And what answer have you returned?" said Jaschinsky. "None at all."

The whole company then observed, that, in a case like the present, I was much to blame not to answer; that the least I could do would be to thank him for his good wishes and entreat a continuance of them. Jaschinsky further added, "Desire bim to send you some of his fine hungarian horses for your own use, and give me the letter, I will convey it to him, by means of M. Bossart, legation counsellor of the Saxon embassy, but on condition that you will give me one of the horses- This correspondence is a family, and not a state affair; besides that, I will be answerable for the consequenees."

I immediately took my commander's advice.

and began to write; and had those who suspected me, thought proper to make the least enquiry into the circumstances, the four witnesses, who read what I wrote, could have attested my innocence, and rendered it indubitable. I gave my letter open to Jaschinsky, who sealed and sent it himself. I must omit none of the incidents concerning this letter, it being the sole cause of all my sufferings. I shall, therefore here relate an event which was the first occasion of the unjust suspicions entertained against me.

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One of my grooms, with two led horses, was among others, taken by the pandours of Trenck. When I returned to the camp, I was to accompany the king on a reconnoitering party. My horse was too tired, and I had no other: I informed him of my embarrassment, and his majesty immediately made me a present of a fine English

Courser.

Some days after, I was exceedingly astonished to see my groom return with my two horses, and a pandour trumpeter, who brought me a letter containing nearly the following words:

"The Austrian Trenck is not at war with the Prussian Trenck, but on the contrary, is happy to have recovered the horses from his hussars, and return them to whom they first belonged."

I went the same day to pay my respects to the king, who, received me with great coldness, said, "Since your cousin has returned your own horses, you have no more need of mine."

There were too many who envied me to suppose these words would escape repetition. The return of the horses seemed infinitely to have increased that suspicion Frederick entertained against me,

and therefore became one of the principal causes of my misfortunes; it is for this reason that I dwell upon such like small incidents, they being necessa ry for my own justification, and were it possible for that of the king. My innocence is, indeed, at present universally acknowledged by the court, the army, and the whole nation, who all mention the injustice I suffered with pity, and the fortitude with which it was endured, with surprise.

We marched for Silesia, to enter on our second campaign, which, to the Prussians, was as bloody and murderous as it was glorious.

I approached that epocha when my own misfortunes began, and when the sufferings of martyrdom attended me from youth downwards till my hairs grew grey.

A few days after the battle of Sorau, the usual camp postman brought me a letter from my cousin Trenck, the colonel of pandours, dated at Essex, four months back, of which the following is a copy.

"Your letter, of the 12th of February, from Berlin, informs me you desire to have some Hungarian horses. On these you would come and attack me and my pandours. I saw with pleasure, during the last campaign, that the Prussian Trenck was also a good soldier; and that I might give you some proofs of my attachment, I then returned the horses which my men had taken. If however you wish to have some Hungarian horses, you must take mine, in like manner, from me in the field of battle or should you so think fit, come and join one who will receive you with open arms, like his friend and son, and who will procure you every advantage you can desire," &c.

At first I was terrified at reading this letter, yet

could not help smiling. Cornet Wagnitz, now general in chief of the Hesse Cassel forces, and lieutenant Grotthausen, both now alive, and then present were my camp-comrades; I gave them the letter to read, and they laughed at its contents. It was determined to shew it to our superior officer, Jaschinsky, on a promise of secrecy, and it was accordingly shewn him within an hour after it was received.

The reader will be so kind as to recollect that, as I have before said, it was this colonel Jaschinsky who, on the 12th of February the same year at Berlin, prevailed on me to write to the Austrian Trenck, my cousin; that he received the letter opened, and undertook to send it according to its address; also that in this letter, I, in jest, had asked him to send me some Hungarian horses, and when they came, had promised one to Jaschinsky. He read the letter with an air of some surprise; we laughed, and it being whispered through the army, that in consequence of our late victory, detached corps would be sent into Hungary, Jaschinsky said, "We shall now go and take Hungarian horses for ourselves." Here the conversation ended, and I returned, little suspecting future consequences, to my tent.

Jaschinsky was at this time one of the king's favourites; his spy over the army, a tale bearer, an inventor of lies and wicked calumnies. Some years after the event of which I am speaking, the King was obliged to break and banish him the country.

He was then also the paramour of the beauteous Madame Brossart, wife of the Saxon resident at Berlin, and there can be little doubt but that this false letter was, by her means, conveyed to some

B

Saxon or Austrian post office, and thence, according to its address, sent to me. He had daily opportunities of infusing suspicions into the king's mind concerning me, and unknown to me, pursued his diabolical plan.

Further, we had quarrelled during our first campaign, because he had beaten one of my servants; we even were proceeding to fight with pistols, had not col. Winterfield interfered, and amicably ended our quarrel. The Lithuanian is by nature obstinate and revengeful? and from that day I have reason to believe he sought my destruction,

God only knows what were the means he took to excite the king's suspicions; for it is incredible that Frederick, considering his well known professions of public justice, should treat me in the manner he did, without hearing, without examination, and without a court-martial. This to me has ever remained a mystery, which the king alone was able to explain; he afterwards was convinced I was innocent; but my sufferings had been too cruel, the miseries he had inflicted too horrible, for me ever to hope compensation.

A man of my rank, having once unjustly suffered, and having the power of making his sufferings known, must either be highly rewarded, or still more unjustly punished. My name and injuries will ever stain the annals of Frederick the Great ; even those who read this book, will perhaps suppose I, from political motives of hope or fear, have sometimes concealed truth by endeavouring to palliate his conduct.

It must ever remain incomprehensible that a monarch so clear sighted, himself the daily witness of my demeanor, one well acquainted with man