Today is our antihero's birthday, and today is when I find, I kid you not, an actual, canonical, post Küstrin Katte mention by Fritz. In a letter. To whom, you ask? To good old Grumbkow. The letter is dated October 29th, 1737, and is here. Context: FW seems to have shown dislike towards Mantteuffel (Mildred, explain Mantteuffel). Who, like Grumbkow himself, got money from the Austrians. (For that matter, how Fritz himself at that point.) According to the editior of the Trier letters, Mantteuffel gets the money specifically to spy on Fritz. Fritz then withdraws from Mantteuffel and writes to Dad's good friend Grumbkow:
It seems to me you have some doubts in regards to my political morals in regards to one's behaviour towards one's unfortunate friend. If an honorable man like yourself disapproved, I'd be sad, and this causes me to justify my point of view to you. (...) The respect I have towards the King my father seem to oblige me to not honor persons towards whom he shows disapproval. Such distinctions would damage Count Mantteuffel more than they would be of use to him. It is a fact I have not stopped regarding him as a friend after our correspondance came to an end; indeed I have avoided him out of friendship. You see for yourself how far the anger of the King of England goes when the Prince of Wales supports people who have caused the disapproval of the King. (Remember, the Hannover Georges were just as dysfunctional in their father/son relationships.) You can see how far he goes in his revenge, despite not being a despot and not nearly being as powerful as the King of Prussia. (...)
Incidentallyl, I cannot be accused of cowardice. If Count Mantteuffel was in any real danger, I'd have done anything for him one could for for a friend. You know, Field Marshal, and you are my witness to what I have done for Katte. You know: I did offer my life not once but a thousand times to save his. Despite my and his misfortune, I have never denied him, and while I could complain in some regards about him, I do not believe to have wronged him. I am the same now as I was then, and the sense of honor with which I was born will never leave me for as long as I shall live.
Well! Bearing in mind that this is Machiavellian!Fritz talking to Machiavellian!Grumbkow (whom he still needs but wont waste a tear on once the guy kicks it), how serious are we to take the Katte statement? Because on the one hand, it's liar writing to a liar, but on the other, that sound of "I did much more for X than X did for me, and I'm the one to feel sorry for!" sounds suspiciously familiar... Hans Herrmann, join the club. You can sit down next to Wilhelmine and AW.
Happy Birthday, Fritz! You bastard. (Even towards Katte?)
It seems to me you have some doubts in regards to my political morals in regards to one's behaviour towards one's unfortunate friend. If an honorable man like yourself disapproved, I'd be sad, and this causes me to justify my point of view to you. (...) The respect I have towards the King my father seem to oblige me to not honor persons towards whom he shows disapproval. Such distinctions would damage Count Mantteuffel more than they would be of use to him. It is a fact I have not stopped regarding him as a friend after our correspondance came to an end; indeed I have avoided him out of friendship. You see for yourself how far the anger of the King of England goes when the Prince of Wales supports people who have caused the disapproval of the King. (Remember, the Hannover Georges were just as dysfunctional in their father/son relationships.) You can see how far he goes in his revenge, despite not being a despot and not nearly being as powerful as the King of Prussia. (...)
Incidentallyl, I cannot be accused of cowardice. If Count Mantteuffel was in any real danger, I'd have done anything for him one could for for a friend. You know, Field Marshal, and you are my witness to what I have done for Katte. You know: I did offer my life not once but a thousand times to save his. Despite my and his misfortune, I have never denied him, and while I could complain in some regards about him, I do not believe to have wronged him. I am the same now as I was then, and the sense of honor with which I was born will never leave me for as long as I shall live.
Well! Bearing in mind that this is Machiavellian!Fritz talking to Machiavellian!Grumbkow (whom he still needs but wont waste a tear on once the guy kicks it), how serious are we to take the Katte statement? Because on the one hand, it's liar writing to a liar, but on the other, that sound of "I did much more for X than X did for me, and I'm the one to feel sorry for!" sounds suspiciously familiar... Hans Herrmann, join the club. You can sit down next to Wilhelmine and AW.