Suhm letters, redux
Mar. 26th, 2021 11:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mildred_of_midgard posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
rheinsbergHaving just reread the Suhm letters, here are my observations.
1. Fritz, early in the correspondence, thanking Suhm for the Wolff translation, writes:
[My] soul, feeling it owes to you only, after God, its existence...
Which immediately struck me as parallel to the Duhan letter where he writes:
I owe you more, finally, than the author of my days:
He gave me life in his young love;
But he who teaches me, whose reason enlightens me,
He is my nurturer, and my only father.
So, FW gets credit for giving Fritz life, Duhan his mind, and Suhm his soul. <33
2. A footnote by the helpful editor tells me:
Suhm had previously written to the prince, telling him he amused himself by sawing wood, in his moments of recreation.
(Many of Suhm's letters weren't printed, apparently, sigh.)
Sawing wood! This I confess I had not expected.
Fritz has brought it up twice so far.
In the first time, Fritz reported that he's been getting more exercise at the advice of his doctor, but not to fear--he's giving up sleep so as to have more time to read! Why horseback riding? Well...
I was near becoming one of your sect, and to have set about sawing wood, but the fine weather made me determine otherwise.
*g*
Then, when Suhm tries to convince Fritz not to give up sleep (he does the thing that Fritz does in condolence and get-well-soon letters, which is "You must take care of your health for the sake of other people! Both because you're a prince and because people love you!", Fritz replies,
When a man knows what you do, and when a happy genius aided by treasures drawn from the study of the belles lettres, has elevated him to the point of perfection wherein I see you shine, he has full permission to saw wood and to give himself leisure. But when he only begins his course, he ought not to stop at the first step, but rather to sink down than not attain the desired end.
"Stop trying to talk me out of being a workaholic!" Fritz concludes.
FW: My son hates everything which includes effort and work.
Us: *facepalm*
Anyway, I now have this lovely mental image of Suhm sawing wood and Fritz considering it!
3. Another editor's footnote tells me that FW started a commission to look into Wolff as early as 1736, and that he was proclaimed innocent. Do we know if this is true? I ask because we had tentatively concluded that FW started reading Wolff in late 1739 after Fritz had encouraged AW to read Wolff, and maybe AW convinced FW that Wolff was worth reading.
[felis: I read something like this in the Manteuffel book preview, yes, and quick googling gives me lots of other mentions for it, too. So there was definitely a commission in 1736 (consisting of Reinbeck, Noltenius, and Cocceji, among others), which proclaimed Wolff innocent, which is also why Manteuffel could start his Societé des Alethophiles in 1736. Apparently FW even issued a "now stop fighting" order for the Lange vs. the Wolff camps in September. He probably still didn't start reading Wolff until 1739, though, and the first offer to return seems to have been from 1739, too.]
4. Fritz refers to "morality" (French 'morale') in a context that makes it clear that it refers to Stoicism in the face of misfortunes. He's comforting Suhm over the latter's financial misfortunes that are forcing him to look for a job (the horror!)--this is right before he gets the St. Petersburg posting--and after giving some Stoic advice, writes,
How easy, my dear Diaphane, it is to give this precept, and how difficult to follow it! I know that a heart preyed upon by chagrin in the bitterness of its grief, is little flexible to the remonstrances of morality.
This is relevant to our interpretation of the line in the mystery affliction letter to Camas that goes, "I beg you to take part in [my troubles], and not to preach to me either a morality beyond my reach, or a heroism which renders me insensitive to the events of life."
I'm increasingly sure that's just a parallel construction, and "morality" refers to Stoic philosophy.
5. I had encountered two explanations for "Diaphane" so far: wordplay on Durchlaucht ("Illustrious", a title given to German princes), according to Hamilton, and Suhm's open-heartedness, according to MacDonogh. I'd been wondering if they had an 18th century origin, and I now see that both of these speculations are included in the same footnote by this one editor.
I still stand by my interpretation, which is backed by Fritz drawing effectively the same comparison, of the sun breaking through his dark moods, about Keyserlingk!
[felis later turned the following up:
re: Suhm - I was checking out this essay (written 1900) about the Antisobres, which prints a letter the Berlin members apparently sent to August in November 1728. Said letter gives a whole list of members and their nicknames beyond the big five, and among them is: "Suhm, surnommé le Diaphane". I had no idea that he was a member - given the political aspect of this Saxon/Prussian society and his position as Saxon envoy, it kind of makes sense, but, aw, poor Suhm - and that the nickname was in use there (which makes me wonder if he chose it himself).]
6. Tongue in cheek, but my gossipy sensationalist 21st century self has a hard time not reading this as gay for Fritz:
[Suhm waxes enthusiastic about how awesome Fritz is and how he's only getting better with each passing year.]
Excuse, My Lord, this digression — It has flowed so naturally from me, that may it be looked upon as the necessary effect of the union and harmony of a soul incessantly taken up in the contemplation of your Royal person, with a body ever ready to obey the impressions it receives from you, and always disposed to express its willingness.
Yeah, Diaphane, we all know about the impressions your body receives from Fritz and how willing it is. :P
7. In March 1736, Fritz is getting his first translations from Suhm and getting excited by the fact that he's now convinced he has an immortal soul; by November, he's already questioning Wolff:
I seem to see you again by my fire side, and hear you converse agreeably on subjects which neither of us comprehend too clearly, but which have nevertheless in your mouth an air of probability. Wolf undoubtedly says fine and good things, but they may, however, be combated, and as soon as we refer to first principles nothing remains to us but to confess our ignorance. We do not live long enough to become very able; moreover we have not capacity sufficient to examine matters to the bottom; and other wise there are objects which it seems the Creator has placed at a distance, that we may have but a slender knowledge of them.
8. While Suhm is still living in Berlin, I see them complaining about letters going astray because of poorly chosen messengers, of the "circuits" by which the letters have to travel, which lead to delays...it seems to me that, even when they're two topics of conversation are Wolff and "I love you more! No, I love you more!", they're still keeping their correspondence a secret. If FW doesn't even want them corresponding, it does make sense of why Suhm never goes to visit him and certainly not to live with him. :(
9. When Suhm is breaking the news to Fritz about having to move to St. Petersburg, he says that when they meet in person during the upcoming winter holidays in Berlin, he'll explain to Fritz why this was an offer he couldn't refuse:
I fear not but I shall then be able to make your Royal Highness approve of the reasons which have induced me not to refuse the employ which is offered to me; and your Royal Highness, will, I hope, be as easily persuaded, when you shall be informed of the whole, that my inviolable attachment to you, has at the bottom, a greater part therein than you have been able to imagine.
And the next thing we know, Suhm is carrying out commissions to get Fritz money, first from Vienna and then from St. Petersburg, commissions that everyone agrees were given orally, in Berlin.
...Did Suhm decide to go to St. Petersburg in part because it was a chance to play sugar daddy? Or was that just how he tried to reconcile Fritz to it? (Note that Fritz continues to try to get Suhm to come home even after the money starts coming in. That's how you know it's love.)
He primarily needed money, of course, but given the climate and the distance, and his health, might he have seen the opportunity to do some fundraising as a reason to accept rather than keep looking? I don't know.
10. Remember how we gave MacDonogh a hard time for male Mimi? 1787 editor also translates "il" as "he"!
11. Hahaha, so Fritz, back when Suhm is looking for a job, says that he wouldn't wish to be king out of ambition, and the only thing that could make him want it is friendship, because then he could offer Suhm an income.
And now, when Suhm is saying it's going to be a while before he can answer Fritz's questions about Russia (remember, Voltaire wants to know!), because he has to learn more about Russia, and especially since he needs to find a safe way of sending his answers so that the Russians who read his mail don't get their hands on this one, he says,
I beseech your Royal Highness, to give me time only to inform myself well of all these things, and especially to let me chuse an occasion to send you my observations. I hope you will have the goodness to do this, as nothing is pressing. Would to God you had reasons to be more anxious in this respect!
I can only read this as, "I wish to God your dad had kicked the bucket already, and you were asking out of foreign policy reasons, because that would mean you were king and we could be together forever!"
12. Did Suhm take his kids to Russia? Maybe! There's a distinct lack of mention of his kids in his letters to Fritz except when he's dying and needs someone to take care of them, and while envoys do often take their kids, we had been unsure and decided that maybe he didn't take them all the way to St. Petersburg.
But then I found this passage. Suhm is describing the sheer horror of trying to get from Dresden to St. Petersburg in the 18th century:
Sometimes the sand, or the sea above the axle-tree; sometimes in a miserable shallop, in hard blowing weather, the sport of the winds and waves, at the mercy of the sea and rocks; afterwards passing on foot half frozen rivers, holding a child in each hand, and seeing myself at every step in danger of being swallowed up with them under the ice; finally overtaken by a frightful snow, which threatened to bury us in places where it was impossible to procure sledges; this is enough to give you some idea of the fatigue and anguish I suffered on my journey.
And his surviving kids at the turn of 1736/1737 would have been 8, 10, 11, 13, and 14 (no, I don't envy his poor wife), more than young enough for two of them to need their hands held when crossing a river.
So maybe our guess was wrong and the kids were there, and thus they were on that slow and painful journey back from St. Petersburg, watching Dad die slowly. :( At least they (and sister Hedwig) would have gotten to say goodbye, I guess.
But it's interesting because Suhm always refers to "I" and "my" in terms of the house where he lives in St. Petersburg, the house almost burning down, etc. So if he's got his family with him, then he is consciously avoiding talking about them with Fritz (who, in contrast, is more than happy to bitch about his brother showing up, for example), unless he needs them taken care of. Which Fritz is more than willing to do, and even the grandkids 50 years later. But apparently they do not form part of his relationship with Suhm when the latter's alive.
Unless there are other kids on the journey, and Suhm is just pitching in and helping out with the river crossing...idk. My first guess would be his kids, but then their absence during the two fires is *really* noticeable. It's not even "'we' could have died," it's "me, I," like he lives alone with some invisible servants.
[selenak: Speculation: maybe he's aware that when Fritz loves you, your priorities should be Fritz, i.e. Fritz does not want to be reminded more than absolutely necessary there are these other kids around. I know you think of Suhm as playing the erastes role at this point, but there might be some leftover father figure at work as well. I don't see as contradicting Suhm later entrusting the kids to Fritz in the event of his death - that's different, Fritz would not consider himself in competition with the kids for Suhm after Suhm is dead.
mildred_of_midgard: Oh, that's exactly what I assumed it had to be. I can't think of any other reason. I'm just impressed by how thoroughgoing Suhm's adherence to this principle is. When Wilhelmine's residence burns down, even though Fritz is not a fan of her bringing up her new family with him, she manages to work in how depressed her husband is and how much he needs a replacement flute and such. Suhm might as well be living alone when his residence almost burns down twice, to the point where I'm still half-questioning whose kids were crossing that river/those rivers.]
13. 1787 editor includes the cipher by which Fritz and Suhm communicated about moneylending when Suhm was in Russia! If Preuss includes this, I haven't found it (admittedly I haven't looked very hard).
Every letter is assigned four numerical values, and the whole is presented as a mathematical problem. The details of the math problem(s) aren't included, but the letter-number mapping is.
Notice how 'a' starts at 15, then 'b' is 16, 'c' 17, and so on until 'z', then 'a' picks back up where 'z' left off, so each letter's four values are always 25 apart. 25 rather than 26 because 'i' and 'j' are the same letter, which was not uncommon in the past (though becoming increasingly uncommon in the 18th century). They were originally the same letter and only started to be distinguished in the Renaissance.
14. Per Suhm, East Russia is poorly understood geographically. Professors have been sent to explore it. It's probable that Russia joins America somewhere in the east. (!!)
I knew that Alaska was settled by Russia under Catherine the Great, but I didn't know that in 1737, they hadn't yet figured out that the Bering land bridge was no more! Per Wikipedia,
The first European vessel to reach Alaska is generally held to be the St. Gabriel under the authority of the surveyor M. S. Gvozdev and assistant navigator I. Fyodorov on August 21, 1732, during an expedition of Siberian cossack A. F. Shestakov and Russian explorer Dmitry Pavlutsky (1729–1735). Another European contact with Alaska occurred in 1741, when Vitus Bering led an expedition for the Russian Navy aboard the St. Peter. After his crew returned to Russia with sea otter pelts judged to be the finest fur in the world, small associations of fur traders began to sail from the shores of Siberia toward the Aleutian Islands. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1784.
I guess the Bering Strait is about to be named!
15. Possibly the most interesting point so far is the one I just encountered last night. In a ciphered letter that Fritz sent to Suhm, without a signature and without a date, but probably late 1737, he writes,
If I can have fourteen thousand crowns in the month of April or May, they will be sufficient, and give me much satisfaction. I shall always have a great obligation to the Duke [of Courland] for them , and which I will endeavour to prove to him hereafter. Suffice it for the present that I am not ungrateful. If sureties be required, I offer one signed by my brother, without his knowing, as you may imagine, any thing of the business, in any manner whatsoever, or his being able to guess even at it. These are my affairs [cosa nostra? :P], and you may naturally suppose that I will use all possible prudence. If you do not think him necessary, so much the better; but it is only in case of my death that I propose his security. Adieu my dear Diaphane, it is midnight. Good night, I am, wholly your's [sic]
Two things here, aside from my snide mobster joke.
One, how do I put this...wow, this family. I know your father's put you in a shitty situation, Fritz, but way to pass it down the chain.
I wonder if AW ever figured out what was going on. Did Fritz forge his signature, or did he get trusting younger bro to sign a piece of paper without letting on what he was really signing up for?
[selenak: Honestly? I'm betting on the latter. Given that FW in 1730 made it law you're not allowed to lend money to minors who are royal princes, and was really vocal about this. Now teenage AW might have been happy to do slightly Dad forbidden things for Cool Older Bro, but this was a major Dad forbidden thing.]
Two, "my brother," unmarked, is AW. This makes me think that in 1736, it's AW who shows up at Ruppin and is more interested in eating than reading. I'm still happy to read a babysitting fic where it's Heinrich followed by Ferdinand, mind you!
15. Fritz rants for a page about how Seckendorff, THE WORST (except a good general, granted), has just been arrested, and "One thing is certain, and upon which you may rely, that his career is ended, and that the name of Seckendorf, will never more be heard spoken of." Then he says, "The Cardinal Nepote, has left Berlin, and is going to enter the service of Anspach." Then two more pages about Seckendorff.
I was like, "Oh, Cardinal Nepote must be Other Seckendorff, author of the secret journal and nephew of arch-schemer Seckendorff."
Then the editor writes, in a footnote, "It is not well known who this Cardinal Nepote is; it is believed to be a supposed name. There has never been at Berlin any cardinal but the Cardinal de Zinzendorf." I want to send a message back in time and tell him, we know who this is! And sure enough, I checked and Other Seckendorff's bio says it was in 1737 that he moved to Ansbach.
It's nice having access to people's secret diaries. :D
But also, 1787 editor, context! It's smack dab in the middle of a 3-page rant about Seckendorff, who do you think it is but a *Seckendorff* *nephew*?!
Also, I'm amused that, just as Seckendorff calls Fritz "Junior", Junior calls him in return "Cardinal Nepote". Not sure about the Cardinal; any guesses? (I doubt he's saying he's actually Seckendorff's son, which is how it usually worked with popes and their "nephews" who were made cardinals, which is how we got the word "nepotism". But that is the first thing that comes to mind for me when you juxtapose "cardinal" and "nephew".)
[selenak: It does, though there were also some actual nephews along with the bastard sons who were also made Cardinals. I think he's just implying Other Seckendorff solely got the job due to his uncle, and "Cardinal" just goes with that. If he does want to make a religious allusion, Seckendorff ISN'T Catholic - see his biographer telling an anecdote on his refusal to convert - and is religious enough so his poor fool will end up locked in prison for a love affair.]
16. I found entirely endearing this part where Fritz sends Suhm an ode (because of course he does; I'm only surprised he didn't send more), and Suhm replies firstly that he loved it and not just because Fritz wrote it (but I suspect only because Fritz wrote it :P), and secondly that he doesn't write poetry but wants to send Fritz some poetry in return for his nice ode. So he, Suhm, is borrowing some poetry for the purpose and enclosing it, but he won't lie and pretend it's his.
But also, he writes, "I will not deceive you by giving them to you as my own, as the Latin Poet formerly deceived the Augustus of his time."
Which Latin poet? Do you know,selenak? It might ring a bell if you tell me, but I'm not recalling any Augustan poetry plagiarism scandals off the top of my head.
[selenak: Me neither.]
Also, I notice Suhm is casting Fritz as Augustus here.
17. I was right about Suhm getting a cut from the fundraising! Not until 1739, so two years into it. And I was wrong about the ring; that was a simple gift with Fritz's portrait in 1740, but in 1739, Fritz tells Suhm he can take a 10% cut, and Suhm seems pleased.
18. There's a 6-month gap in their correspondence in the spring and summer of 1738. Suhm apparently wrote a very long letter explaining in detail why he was so busy, which the 1787 editor says he cut out (in general, he says he cuts out a lot whenever Suhm starts to get boring), and since Trier has nothing that the 1787 translation doesn't, apparently Preuss silently cut too!
(Carlyle complains about the letters being boring, though I don't know what edition he might be referring to.)
19. Suhm joins the ranks of people who can't do vivid pen portraits when he depicts Duke Anton Ulrich, whom he portrays in generically positive terms. The only detail that was interesting to me is that Anton has read all of Wolff's works more than once, which "have, without doubt, a little contributed to form his mind, and strengthen his character." My reaction was: read all the philosophy you can now, Anton, you're going to need it!
Refresher: Anton Ulrich is EC's brother who marries into the Russian royal family (Anna Leopoldovna, who had an affair with Saxon envoy Lynar), fathers Ivan VI, ends up imprisoned with his family in remote Russia, and refuses to leave his daughters even when he's given the chance. It was in 1739 that he married Anna, which is why Suhm is doing the pen portrait now: he's telling Fritz what he thinks of his brother-in-law (whom Fritz will later recommend be locked away in the remotest corners of the world).
So I hope all that Wolffian philosophy was helpful!
20. In February 1740, Fritz tells Suhm he's awaiting the events that will allow him to summon Suhm and "perform promises." This makes sense of Suhm's decision to take for granted in June that Fritz wants him and submit his resignation without waiting for a formal invitation.
Also, Fritz is apparently still unsure that it's reciprocated, because his next sentence is: "I hope you are always in the same sentiments in which I have known you, and that you have not forgotten the agreement made the night of our separation." That's why, when he *doesn't* hear anything from Suhm on the subject in June, he gets worried.
This is also when he sends the ring with his portrait to Suhm.
21. Apparently Suhm was in Warsaw not just on his route back, but because he was required to report there for his formal, in-person removal as envoy. But by the time he got there, was so sick that he was exempted from making an appearance at court. :/
22. Remember how the Hohenzollerns didn't use regnal numbers, and so everyone was confused by Friedrich Wilhelm? And that's how Fritz ended up being called Friedrich III, with FW as F2? 1787 editor has him as William I!
23. The editor omits two of the last letters Suhm ever wrote and Fritz's replies, when he's on his way from St. Petersburg. Thank goodness for Preuss!
24. Suhm's last letter but one congratulates Fritz on the death of Charles VI 8 days before:
The warm interest which I take, Sire, in the splendour and felicity of a reign which you promise to your dear subjects, does not permit me to speak of that event, without previously felicitating your Majesty on these great conjectures which will give you an opportunity of augmenting your glory, by endeavoring to promote the interest and happiness of your states.
The editor footnotes this with an observation that the event is the emperor's death, and the conjectures without doubt refer to the claims to Silesia that Fritz is now going to advance.
I thought that was interesting *before* this morning's salon, when we found hints that Suhm's politics might leaned in the anti-Imperial direction (See here, here, and here). Putting these two together, I'm now even more convinced!
So apparently Suhm, who in his 1740 character portrait of Fritz said that Fritz cared more about fame than anything, and who in the 1720s was apparently trying to reconcile FW with G2 and may or may not have been hanging around with the English envoy Dubourgay, is now saying that Charles' death will be a great opportunity for Fritz to achieve glory by advancing the interests of his state.
Yeah, so apparently Suhm would have been 100% behind the Silesian invasion. Since he's leaving Saxon service and becoming a Prussian (and turning his kids into Prussians), making his loyalties pretty darn clear, I'm not *sure* how he would have felt about how Fritz treated Saxony in the first Silesian wars (badly enough that it contributed to Saxony switching sides between the first and second), but since neither anywhere near as bad as the Third Silesian War, Suhm might not have had the Algarotti and Maupertuis experience had he lived. Those two both had the expectation that it was going to be Enlightened Academy Times only, and were twiddling their thumbs and getting increasingly frustrated by the sudden emphasis on war (and in one case, captured by Austrians).
Whereas Suhm might have been in for *some* surprises at how Fritz with absolute power turned out, it seems that he would have been less surprised and disappointed than people who knew him less well (Algarotti, Voltaire, etc.). "Go Fritz, invade Silesia! Greatest of all kings! Free those Protestants! :P"
By 1756, the year of the great Saxony invasion and start of the war crime-ridden exploitative occupation, Suhm would have been 65 and, well, we have to assume *much* better health for him to have made it that long, as opposed to the one year of extra health he would have needed in order to witness the whiplash that much of Europe (but not Manteuffel or Superville!) got from Fritz. But I do have to assume that the bombing of Dresden, whether for strategic motives or just spite, would have been a WTF moment even for Suhm.
Note, though, that all his sons were in the Prussian army, and might well have been involved in the occupation. I guess one hopes that they did live in St. Petersburg during the 1736-1740 period, because then they were born in Prussia, raised in Prussia (because even after Suhm stopped being envoy, he remained on a pension in Berlin, presumably with his family, unless he decided to be extra cautious about FW's hanging tendencies), with at most occasional visits to Dresden, and then spent a few years abroad in Russia, so the transition back to Berlin and then into the Prussian army was hopefully not surprising or unusually traumatic (as opposed to the normal traumas of war).
I mean, going native is a thing for envoys. Hoym, long-time Saxon envoy to France, was accused of it when he returned (and thus his pro-France foreign policy surprises me not at all). For all that Suhm didn't fit in very well with FW, after 10 years in Berlin, he clearly went native as a Prussian (hence choosing to stay in Berlin for 6 years as a private citizen, until he needed money, which can't have all been a desire to stay near a Fritz he barely saw).
Whereas Rottembourg was ambassador to Prussia on 3 separate occasions, because every single time he was like, "I need to get the fuck out of here. I mean totally for health reasons! Please recall me before I strangle FW and cause an international incident to a better climate!" :P [Disclaimer in the interests of strict scholarship: I only know that he repeatedly asked for his recall one time, and it may have been for health reasons. But he definitely didn't want to stay.]
[selenak:
Agreed. You can add Mitchell who notoriously pissed off his superiors in London with his pro-Prussia reports from the front enough that they replaced him with Joseph Yorke for a hot second before relenting to Fritz wanting to keep Mitchell, and who remained in Prussia till his death despite Prussia/England relationships having gone downhill again and despite his own relationship with Fritz having become looser (and more critical) too. Of course, both Suhm and Mitchell appear to have been good at socializing and making friends with the locals beyond establishling useful connections at court; hence, for example, Lehndorff becoming one of Mitchell's friends (this started in Lehndorff's Hotham jr. inspired enthusiastic Anglophile phase, granted, but it lasted till Mitchell's death), and the Queen's chamberlain as any pro like Mitchell would quickly see is not someone with useful influence at all. For that matter, Manteuffel was excellent at making friends, too, not just via spreading Saxon money; one reason why he remained in contact with Berlin intellectuals after leaving for good, not just with the remains with his spy network, and Manteuffel lived in Berlin so often (briefly as a young man at F1's court, then as an envoy in the last F1 years till 1716, and then from 1733 to 1740) that it's relatively safe to say he liked it there, and probably cared about a Prussia/Saxony alliance beyond the political use.
Unsurprisingly, the envoys who can't stand Berlin (or Fritz) are the ones like Hanbury Williams who also don't have any contact with the locals. (Remmeber, the only enduring relationship Hanbury Williams forged during his time in Berlin was with another lost foreigner, young Poniatowski.) Incidentally, it has occured to me that in a perverse way, Suhm being ready to commit to him and Prussia might have been one of the reasons why Fritz absolutely did not want someone like Peter, who liked it in England and had forged ties there, as an envoy - he was vain, but not so much that he believed becoming emotionally attached to your posting could happen only when he was there.
mildred_of_midgard: Well, he wrote that the British regard Peter as "half a Briton," and it sure didn't sound like he disagreed, so I suspect he already suspected Peter of having gone native.
selenak: Rottembourg: I forgot to mention this, but Morgenstern claims he liked it so much in FW's Prussia that he longed for it from Madrid. After reading Leineweber, I choose to believe this was another instant where Morgenstern was being sarcastic.
mildred_of_midgard: Rottembourg, of all people!
So I consider it plausible and even likely that Rottembourg missed people that he left behind. He had clearly forged close ties with Katte, so most likely with other Berliners as well.
He may, while in Madrid, have written that he missed X about Prussia/Berlin, and may even have said that Madrid sucked in that respect. Humans can always find something to complain about!
He may even have been telling the truth that the reason he wanted to leave was his health (he did die in 1735, shortly after being recalled from Madrid for that reason).
But what I don't buy is that he missed *FW's* Prussia, qua FW's Prussia. Not the guy who put the finishing touches on Katte's French manners and tried to stage a coup! If he missed anything, it was SD's Prussia.
So yeah, Ima guess sarcasm with you. :P
1. Fritz, early in the correspondence, thanking Suhm for the Wolff translation, writes:
[My] soul, feeling it owes to you only, after God, its existence...
Which immediately struck me as parallel to the Duhan letter where he writes:
I owe you more, finally, than the author of my days:
He gave me life in his young love;
But he who teaches me, whose reason enlightens me,
He is my nurturer, and my only father.
So, FW gets credit for giving Fritz life, Duhan his mind, and Suhm his soul. <33
2. A footnote by the helpful editor tells me:
Suhm had previously written to the prince, telling him he amused himself by sawing wood, in his moments of recreation.
(Many of Suhm's letters weren't printed, apparently, sigh.)
Sawing wood! This I confess I had not expected.
Fritz has brought it up twice so far.
In the first time, Fritz reported that he's been getting more exercise at the advice of his doctor, but not to fear--he's giving up sleep so as to have more time to read! Why horseback riding? Well...
I was near becoming one of your sect, and to have set about sawing wood, but the fine weather made me determine otherwise.
*g*
Then, when Suhm tries to convince Fritz not to give up sleep (he does the thing that Fritz does in condolence and get-well-soon letters, which is "You must take care of your health for the sake of other people! Both because you're a prince and because people love you!", Fritz replies,
When a man knows what you do, and when a happy genius aided by treasures drawn from the study of the belles lettres, has elevated him to the point of perfection wherein I see you shine, he has full permission to saw wood and to give himself leisure. But when he only begins his course, he ought not to stop at the first step, but rather to sink down than not attain the desired end.
"Stop trying to talk me out of being a workaholic!" Fritz concludes.
FW: My son hates everything which includes effort and work.
Us: *facepalm*
Anyway, I now have this lovely mental image of Suhm sawing wood and Fritz considering it!
3. Another editor's footnote tells me that FW started a commission to look into Wolff as early as 1736, and that he was proclaimed innocent. Do we know if this is true? I ask because we had tentatively concluded that FW started reading Wolff in late 1739 after Fritz had encouraged AW to read Wolff, and maybe AW convinced FW that Wolff was worth reading.
[
felis: I read something like this in the Manteuffel book preview, yes, and quick googling gives me lots of other mentions for it, too. So there was definitely a commission in 1736 (consisting of Reinbeck, Noltenius, and Cocceji, among others), which proclaimed Wolff innocent, which is also why Manteuffel could start his Societé des Alethophiles in 1736. Apparently FW even issued a "now stop fighting" order for the Lange vs. the Wolff camps in September. He probably still didn't start reading Wolff until 1739, though, and the first offer to return seems to have been from 1739, too.]4. Fritz refers to "morality" (French 'morale') in a context that makes it clear that it refers to Stoicism in the face of misfortunes. He's comforting Suhm over the latter's financial misfortunes that are forcing him to look for a job (the horror!)--this is right before he gets the St. Petersburg posting--and after giving some Stoic advice, writes,
How easy, my dear Diaphane, it is to give this precept, and how difficult to follow it! I know that a heart preyed upon by chagrin in the bitterness of its grief, is little flexible to the remonstrances of morality.
This is relevant to our interpretation of the line in the mystery affliction letter to Camas that goes, "I beg you to take part in [my troubles], and not to preach to me either a morality beyond my reach, or a heroism which renders me insensitive to the events of life."
I'm increasingly sure that's just a parallel construction, and "morality" refers to Stoic philosophy.
5. I had encountered two explanations for "Diaphane" so far: wordplay on Durchlaucht ("Illustrious", a title given to German princes), according to Hamilton, and Suhm's open-heartedness, according to MacDonogh. I'd been wondering if they had an 18th century origin, and I now see that both of these speculations are included in the same footnote by this one editor.
I still stand by my interpretation, which is backed by Fritz drawing effectively the same comparison, of the sun breaking through his dark moods, about Keyserlingk!
[
felis later turned the following up:re: Suhm - I was checking out this essay (written 1900) about the Antisobres, which prints a letter the Berlin members apparently sent to August in November 1728. Said letter gives a whole list of members and their nicknames beyond the big five, and among them is: "Suhm, surnommé le Diaphane". I had no idea that he was a member - given the political aspect of this Saxon/Prussian society and his position as Saxon envoy, it kind of makes sense, but, aw, poor Suhm - and that the nickname was in use there (which makes me wonder if he chose it himself).]
6. Tongue in cheek, but my gossipy sensationalist 21st century self has a hard time not reading this as gay for Fritz:
[Suhm waxes enthusiastic about how awesome Fritz is and how he's only getting better with each passing year.]
Excuse, My Lord, this digression — It has flowed so naturally from me, that may it be looked upon as the necessary effect of the union and harmony of a soul incessantly taken up in the contemplation of your Royal person, with a body ever ready to obey the impressions it receives from you, and always disposed to express its willingness.
Yeah, Diaphane, we all know about the impressions your body receives from Fritz and how willing it is. :P
7. In March 1736, Fritz is getting his first translations from Suhm and getting excited by the fact that he's now convinced he has an immortal soul; by November, he's already questioning Wolff:
I seem to see you again by my fire side, and hear you converse agreeably on subjects which neither of us comprehend too clearly, but which have nevertheless in your mouth an air of probability. Wolf undoubtedly says fine and good things, but they may, however, be combated, and as soon as we refer to first principles nothing remains to us but to confess our ignorance. We do not live long enough to become very able; moreover we have not capacity sufficient to examine matters to the bottom; and other wise there are objects which it seems the Creator has placed at a distance, that we may have but a slender knowledge of them.
8. While Suhm is still living in Berlin, I see them complaining about letters going astray because of poorly chosen messengers, of the "circuits" by which the letters have to travel, which lead to delays...it seems to me that, even when they're two topics of conversation are Wolff and "I love you more! No, I love you more!", they're still keeping their correspondence a secret. If FW doesn't even want them corresponding, it does make sense of why Suhm never goes to visit him and certainly not to live with him. :(
9. When Suhm is breaking the news to Fritz about having to move to St. Petersburg, he says that when they meet in person during the upcoming winter holidays in Berlin, he'll explain to Fritz why this was an offer he couldn't refuse:
I fear not but I shall then be able to make your Royal Highness approve of the reasons which have induced me not to refuse the employ which is offered to me; and your Royal Highness, will, I hope, be as easily persuaded, when you shall be informed of the whole, that my inviolable attachment to you, has at the bottom, a greater part therein than you have been able to imagine.
And the next thing we know, Suhm is carrying out commissions to get Fritz money, first from Vienna and then from St. Petersburg, commissions that everyone agrees were given orally, in Berlin.
...Did Suhm decide to go to St. Petersburg in part because it was a chance to play sugar daddy? Or was that just how he tried to reconcile Fritz to it? (Note that Fritz continues to try to get Suhm to come home even after the money starts coming in. That's how you know it's love.)
He primarily needed money, of course, but given the climate and the distance, and his health, might he have seen the opportunity to do some fundraising as a reason to accept rather than keep looking? I don't know.
10. Remember how we gave MacDonogh a hard time for male Mimi? 1787 editor also translates "il" as "he"!
11. Hahaha, so Fritz, back when Suhm is looking for a job, says that he wouldn't wish to be king out of ambition, and the only thing that could make him want it is friendship, because then he could offer Suhm an income.
And now, when Suhm is saying it's going to be a while before he can answer Fritz's questions about Russia (remember, Voltaire wants to know!), because he has to learn more about Russia, and especially since he needs to find a safe way of sending his answers so that the Russians who read his mail don't get their hands on this one, he says,
I beseech your Royal Highness, to give me time only to inform myself well of all these things, and especially to let me chuse an occasion to send you my observations. I hope you will have the goodness to do this, as nothing is pressing. Would to God you had reasons to be more anxious in this respect!
I can only read this as, "I wish to God your dad had kicked the bucket already, and you were asking out of foreign policy reasons, because that would mean you were king and we could be together forever!"
12. Did Suhm take his kids to Russia? Maybe! There's a distinct lack of mention of his kids in his letters to Fritz except when he's dying and needs someone to take care of them, and while envoys do often take their kids, we had been unsure and decided that maybe he didn't take them all the way to St. Petersburg.
But then I found this passage. Suhm is describing the sheer horror of trying to get from Dresden to St. Petersburg in the 18th century:
Sometimes the sand, or the sea above the axle-tree; sometimes in a miserable shallop, in hard blowing weather, the sport of the winds and waves, at the mercy of the sea and rocks; afterwards passing on foot half frozen rivers, holding a child in each hand, and seeing myself at every step in danger of being swallowed up with them under the ice; finally overtaken by a frightful snow, which threatened to bury us in places where it was impossible to procure sledges; this is enough to give you some idea of the fatigue and anguish I suffered on my journey.
And his surviving kids at the turn of 1736/1737 would have been 8, 10, 11, 13, and 14 (no, I don't envy his poor wife), more than young enough for two of them to need their hands held when crossing a river.
So maybe our guess was wrong and the kids were there, and thus they were on that slow and painful journey back from St. Petersburg, watching Dad die slowly. :( At least they (and sister Hedwig) would have gotten to say goodbye, I guess.
But it's interesting because Suhm always refers to "I" and "my" in terms of the house where he lives in St. Petersburg, the house almost burning down, etc. So if he's got his family with him, then he is consciously avoiding talking about them with Fritz (who, in contrast, is more than happy to bitch about his brother showing up, for example), unless he needs them taken care of. Which Fritz is more than willing to do, and even the grandkids 50 years later. But apparently they do not form part of his relationship with Suhm when the latter's alive.
Unless there are other kids on the journey, and Suhm is just pitching in and helping out with the river crossing...idk. My first guess would be his kids, but then their absence during the two fires is *really* noticeable. It's not even "'we' could have died," it's "me, I," like he lives alone with some invisible servants.
[
selenak: Speculation: maybe he's aware that when Fritz loves you, your priorities should be Fritz, i.e. Fritz does not want to be reminded more than absolutely necessary there are these other kids around. I know you think of Suhm as playing the erastes role at this point, but there might be some leftover father figure at work as well. I don't see as contradicting Suhm later entrusting the kids to Fritz in the event of his death - that's different, Fritz would not consider himself in competition with the kids for Suhm after Suhm is dead.mildred_of_midgard: Oh, that's exactly what I assumed it had to be. I can't think of any other reason. I'm just impressed by how thoroughgoing Suhm's adherence to this principle is. When Wilhelmine's residence burns down, even though Fritz is not a fan of her bringing up her new family with him, she manages to work in how depressed her husband is and how much he needs a replacement flute and such. Suhm might as well be living alone when his residence almost burns down twice, to the point where I'm still half-questioning whose kids were crossing that river/those rivers.]13. 1787 editor includes the cipher by which Fritz and Suhm communicated about moneylending when Suhm was in Russia! If Preuss includes this, I haven't found it (admittedly I haven't looked very hard).
Every letter is assigned four numerical values, and the whole is presented as a mathematical problem. The details of the math problem(s) aren't included, but the letter-number mapping is.
Notice how 'a' starts at 15, then 'b' is 16, 'c' 17, and so on until 'z', then 'a' picks back up where 'z' left off, so each letter's four values are always 25 apart. 25 rather than 26 because 'i' and 'j' are the same letter, which was not uncommon in the past (though becoming increasingly uncommon in the 18th century). They were originally the same letter and only started to be distinguished in the Renaissance.
14. Per Suhm, East Russia is poorly understood geographically. Professors have been sent to explore it. It's probable that Russia joins America somewhere in the east. (!!)
I knew that Alaska was settled by Russia under Catherine the Great, but I didn't know that in 1737, they hadn't yet figured out that the Bering land bridge was no more! Per Wikipedia,
The first European vessel to reach Alaska is generally held to be the St. Gabriel under the authority of the surveyor M. S. Gvozdev and assistant navigator I. Fyodorov on August 21, 1732, during an expedition of Siberian cossack A. F. Shestakov and Russian explorer Dmitry Pavlutsky (1729–1735). Another European contact with Alaska occurred in 1741, when Vitus Bering led an expedition for the Russian Navy aboard the St. Peter. After his crew returned to Russia with sea otter pelts judged to be the finest fur in the world, small associations of fur traders began to sail from the shores of Siberia toward the Aleutian Islands. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1784.
I guess the Bering Strait is about to be named!
15. Possibly the most interesting point so far is the one I just encountered last night. In a ciphered letter that Fritz sent to Suhm, without a signature and without a date, but probably late 1737, he writes,
If I can have fourteen thousand crowns in the month of April or May, they will be sufficient, and give me much satisfaction. I shall always have a great obligation to the Duke [of Courland] for them , and which I will endeavour to prove to him hereafter. Suffice it for the present that I am not ungrateful. If sureties be required, I offer one signed by my brother, without his knowing, as you may imagine, any thing of the business, in any manner whatsoever, or his being able to guess even at it. These are my affairs [cosa nostra? :P], and you may naturally suppose that I will use all possible prudence. If you do not think him necessary, so much the better; but it is only in case of my death that I propose his security. Adieu my dear Diaphane, it is midnight. Good night, I am, wholly your's [sic]
Two things here, aside from my snide mobster joke.
One, how do I put this...wow, this family. I know your father's put you in a shitty situation, Fritz, but way to pass it down the chain.
I wonder if AW ever figured out what was going on. Did Fritz forge his signature, or did he get trusting younger bro to sign a piece of paper without letting on what he was really signing up for?
[
selenak: Honestly? I'm betting on the latter. Given that FW in 1730 made it law you're not allowed to lend money to minors who are royal princes, and was really vocal about this. Now teenage AW might have been happy to do slightly Dad forbidden things for Cool Older Bro, but this was a major Dad forbidden thing.]Two, "my brother," unmarked, is AW. This makes me think that in 1736, it's AW who shows up at Ruppin and is more interested in eating than reading. I'm still happy to read a babysitting fic where it's Heinrich followed by Ferdinand, mind you!
15. Fritz rants for a page about how Seckendorff, THE WORST (except a good general, granted), has just been arrested, and "One thing is certain, and upon which you may rely, that his career is ended, and that the name of Seckendorf, will never more be heard spoken of." Then he says, "The Cardinal Nepote, has left Berlin, and is going to enter the service of Anspach." Then two more pages about Seckendorff.
I was like, "Oh, Cardinal Nepote must be Other Seckendorff, author of the secret journal and nephew of arch-schemer Seckendorff."
Then the editor writes, in a footnote, "It is not well known who this Cardinal Nepote is; it is believed to be a supposed name. There has never been at Berlin any cardinal but the Cardinal de Zinzendorf." I want to send a message back in time and tell him, we know who this is! And sure enough, I checked and Other Seckendorff's bio says it was in 1737 that he moved to Ansbach.
It's nice having access to people's secret diaries. :D
But also, 1787 editor, context! It's smack dab in the middle of a 3-page rant about Seckendorff, who do you think it is but a *Seckendorff* *nephew*?!
Also, I'm amused that, just as Seckendorff calls Fritz "Junior", Junior calls him in return "Cardinal Nepote". Not sure about the Cardinal; any guesses? (I doubt he's saying he's actually Seckendorff's son, which is how it usually worked with popes and their "nephews" who were made cardinals, which is how we got the word "nepotism". But that is the first thing that comes to mind for me when you juxtapose "cardinal" and "nephew".)
[
selenak: It does, though there were also some actual nephews along with the bastard sons who were also made Cardinals. I think he's just implying Other Seckendorff solely got the job due to his uncle, and "Cardinal" just goes with that. If he does want to make a religious allusion, Seckendorff ISN'T Catholic - see his biographer telling an anecdote on his refusal to convert - and is religious enough so his poor fool will end up locked in prison for a love affair.]16. I found entirely endearing this part where Fritz sends Suhm an ode (because of course he does; I'm only surprised he didn't send more), and Suhm replies firstly that he loved it and not just because Fritz wrote it (but I suspect only because Fritz wrote it :P), and secondly that he doesn't write poetry but wants to send Fritz some poetry in return for his nice ode. So he, Suhm, is borrowing some poetry for the purpose and enclosing it, but he won't lie and pretend it's his.
But also, he writes, "I will not deceive you by giving them to you as my own, as the Latin Poet formerly deceived the Augustus of his time."
Which Latin poet? Do you know,
selenak? It might ring a bell if you tell me, but I'm not recalling any Augustan poetry plagiarism scandals off the top of my head.[
selenak: Me neither.]Also, I notice Suhm is casting Fritz as Augustus here.
17. I was right about Suhm getting a cut from the fundraising! Not until 1739, so two years into it. And I was wrong about the ring; that was a simple gift with Fritz's portrait in 1740, but in 1739, Fritz tells Suhm he can take a 10% cut, and Suhm seems pleased.
18. There's a 6-month gap in their correspondence in the spring and summer of 1738. Suhm apparently wrote a very long letter explaining in detail why he was so busy, which the 1787 editor says he cut out (in general, he says he cuts out a lot whenever Suhm starts to get boring), and since Trier has nothing that the 1787 translation doesn't, apparently Preuss silently cut too!
(Carlyle complains about the letters being boring, though I don't know what edition he might be referring to.)
19. Suhm joins the ranks of people who can't do vivid pen portraits when he depicts Duke Anton Ulrich, whom he portrays in generically positive terms. The only detail that was interesting to me is that Anton has read all of Wolff's works more than once, which "have, without doubt, a little contributed to form his mind, and strengthen his character." My reaction was: read all the philosophy you can now, Anton, you're going to need it!
Refresher: Anton Ulrich is EC's brother who marries into the Russian royal family (Anna Leopoldovna, who had an affair with Saxon envoy Lynar), fathers Ivan VI, ends up imprisoned with his family in remote Russia, and refuses to leave his daughters even when he's given the chance. It was in 1739 that he married Anna, which is why Suhm is doing the pen portrait now: he's telling Fritz what he thinks of his brother-in-law (whom Fritz will later recommend be locked away in the remotest corners of the world).
So I hope all that Wolffian philosophy was helpful!
20. In February 1740, Fritz tells Suhm he's awaiting the events that will allow him to summon Suhm and "perform promises." This makes sense of Suhm's decision to take for granted in June that Fritz wants him and submit his resignation without waiting for a formal invitation.
Also, Fritz is apparently still unsure that it's reciprocated, because his next sentence is: "I hope you are always in the same sentiments in which I have known you, and that you have not forgotten the agreement made the night of our separation." That's why, when he *doesn't* hear anything from Suhm on the subject in June, he gets worried.
This is also when he sends the ring with his portrait to Suhm.
21. Apparently Suhm was in Warsaw not just on his route back, but because he was required to report there for his formal, in-person removal as envoy. But by the time he got there, was so sick that he was exempted from making an appearance at court. :/
22. Remember how the Hohenzollerns didn't use regnal numbers, and so everyone was confused by Friedrich Wilhelm? And that's how Fritz ended up being called Friedrich III, with FW as F2? 1787 editor has him as William I!
23. The editor omits two of the last letters Suhm ever wrote and Fritz's replies, when he's on his way from St. Petersburg. Thank goodness for Preuss!
24. Suhm's last letter but one congratulates Fritz on the death of Charles VI 8 days before:
The warm interest which I take, Sire, in the splendour and felicity of a reign which you promise to your dear subjects, does not permit me to speak of that event, without previously felicitating your Majesty on these great conjectures which will give you an opportunity of augmenting your glory, by endeavoring to promote the interest and happiness of your states.
The editor footnotes this with an observation that the event is the emperor's death, and the conjectures without doubt refer to the claims to Silesia that Fritz is now going to advance.
I thought that was interesting *before* this morning's salon, when we found hints that Suhm's politics might leaned in the anti-Imperial direction (See here, here, and here). Putting these two together, I'm now even more convinced!
So apparently Suhm, who in his 1740 character portrait of Fritz said that Fritz cared more about fame than anything, and who in the 1720s was apparently trying to reconcile FW with G2 and may or may not have been hanging around with the English envoy Dubourgay, is now saying that Charles' death will be a great opportunity for Fritz to achieve glory by advancing the interests of his state.
Yeah, so apparently Suhm would have been 100% behind the Silesian invasion. Since he's leaving Saxon service and becoming a Prussian (and turning his kids into Prussians), making his loyalties pretty darn clear, I'm not *sure* how he would have felt about how Fritz treated Saxony in the first Silesian wars (badly enough that it contributed to Saxony switching sides between the first and second), but since neither anywhere near as bad as the Third Silesian War, Suhm might not have had the Algarotti and Maupertuis experience had he lived. Those two both had the expectation that it was going to be Enlightened Academy Times only, and were twiddling their thumbs and getting increasingly frustrated by the sudden emphasis on war (and in one case, captured by Austrians).
Whereas Suhm might have been in for *some* surprises at how Fritz with absolute power turned out, it seems that he would have been less surprised and disappointed than people who knew him less well (Algarotti, Voltaire, etc.). "Go Fritz, invade Silesia! Greatest of all kings! Free those Protestants! :P"
By 1756, the year of the great Saxony invasion and start of the war crime-ridden exploitative occupation, Suhm would have been 65 and, well, we have to assume *much* better health for him to have made it that long, as opposed to the one year of extra health he would have needed in order to witness the whiplash that much of Europe (but not Manteuffel or Superville!) got from Fritz. But I do have to assume that the bombing of Dresden, whether for strategic motives or just spite, would have been a WTF moment even for Suhm.
Note, though, that all his sons were in the Prussian army, and might well have been involved in the occupation. I guess one hopes that they did live in St. Petersburg during the 1736-1740 period, because then they were born in Prussia, raised in Prussia (because even after Suhm stopped being envoy, he remained on a pension in Berlin, presumably with his family, unless he decided to be extra cautious about FW's hanging tendencies), with at most occasional visits to Dresden, and then spent a few years abroad in Russia, so the transition back to Berlin and then into the Prussian army was hopefully not surprising or unusually traumatic (as opposed to the normal traumas of war).
I mean, going native is a thing for envoys. Hoym, long-time Saxon envoy to France, was accused of it when he returned (and thus his pro-France foreign policy surprises me not at all). For all that Suhm didn't fit in very well with FW, after 10 years in Berlin, he clearly went native as a Prussian (hence choosing to stay in Berlin for 6 years as a private citizen, until he needed money, which can't have all been a desire to stay near a Fritz he barely saw).
Whereas Rottembourg was ambassador to Prussia on 3 separate occasions, because every single time he was like, "I need to get the fuck out of here. I mean totally for health reasons! Please recall me before I strangle FW and cause an international incident to a better climate!" :P [Disclaimer in the interests of strict scholarship: I only know that he repeatedly asked for his recall one time, and it may have been for health reasons. But he definitely didn't want to stay.]
[
selenak:Agreed. You can add Mitchell who notoriously pissed off his superiors in London with his pro-Prussia reports from the front enough that they replaced him with Joseph Yorke for a hot second before relenting to Fritz wanting to keep Mitchell, and who remained in Prussia till his death despite Prussia/England relationships having gone downhill again and despite his own relationship with Fritz having become looser (and more critical) too. Of course, both Suhm and Mitchell appear to have been good at socializing and making friends with the locals beyond establishling useful connections at court; hence, for example, Lehndorff becoming one of Mitchell's friends (this started in Lehndorff's Hotham jr. inspired enthusiastic Anglophile phase, granted, but it lasted till Mitchell's death), and the Queen's chamberlain as any pro like Mitchell would quickly see is not someone with useful influence at all. For that matter, Manteuffel was excellent at making friends, too, not just via spreading Saxon money; one reason why he remained in contact with Berlin intellectuals after leaving for good, not just with the remains with his spy network, and Manteuffel lived in Berlin so often (briefly as a young man at F1's court, then as an envoy in the last F1 years till 1716, and then from 1733 to 1740) that it's relatively safe to say he liked it there, and probably cared about a Prussia/Saxony alliance beyond the political use.
Unsurprisingly, the envoys who can't stand Berlin (or Fritz) are the ones like Hanbury Williams who also don't have any contact with the locals. (Remmeber, the only enduring relationship Hanbury Williams forged during his time in Berlin was with another lost foreigner, young Poniatowski.) Incidentally, it has occured to me that in a perverse way, Suhm being ready to commit to him and Prussia might have been one of the reasons why Fritz absolutely did not want someone like Peter, who liked it in England and had forged ties there, as an envoy - he was vain, but not so much that he believed becoming emotionally attached to your posting could happen only when he was there.
mildred_of_midgard: Well, he wrote that the British regard Peter as "half a Briton," and it sure didn't sound like he disagreed, so I suspect he already suspected Peter of having gone native.selenak: Rottembourg: I forgot to mention this, but Morgenstern claims he liked it so much in FW's Prussia that he longed for it from Madrid. After reading Leineweber, I choose to believe this was another instant where Morgenstern was being sarcastic.mildred_of_midgard: Rottembourg, of all people!So I consider it plausible and even likely that Rottembourg missed people that he left behind. He had clearly forged close ties with Katte, so most likely with other Berliners as well.
He may, while in Madrid, have written that he missed X about Prussia/Berlin, and may even have said that Madrid sucked in that respect. Humans can always find something to complain about!
He may even have been telling the truth that the reason he wanted to leave was his health (he did die in 1735, shortly after being recalled from Madrid for that reason).
But what I don't buy is that he missed *FW's* Prussia, qua FW's Prussia. Not the guy who put the finishing touches on Katte's French manners and tried to stage a coup! If he missed anything, it was SD's Prussia.
So yeah, Ima guess sarcasm with you. :P
