Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 42

[cahn]

Last post, we had (among other things) Danish kings and their favorites; Louis XIV and Philippe d'Orléans; reviews of a very shippy book about Katte, a bad Jacobite novel, and a great book about clothing; a fic about Émilie du Châtelet and Voltaire; and a review of a set of entertaining Youtube history videos about Frederick the Great.

Comments

Re: Saxon archivess: Suhm

[mildred_of_midgard]

Okay, I *knew* I had seen Suhm tell Fritz he was looking for a job, and Fritz wish him luck. Now that I'm off work, I've had a chance to browse the letters, and sure enough:

Suhm writes on August 6, 1736, from Dresden:

I have made use of the interval to ramble round the country, and renew some old connexions.--How melancholy it is, My Lord, at a certain age, to be reduced to seek an establishment!

Fritz writes back, August 15:

You will be surprised, astonished, perhaps, my dear Diaphane, that I do not pity such a man as you, reduced to seek an establishment. It is your Court I pity, whose eyes are fascinated in such a manner, that they cannot distinguish subjects useful and worthy of being employed, from those who are only distinguished by fortune, or the blind caprices of favour.--How is it possible, (let it be said without flattery) that a person of so much merit, sense, and knowledge, should be neglected, and even forgotten? and what idea can we form of a Court where the Suhms are not respected and fought after?

I can't speak for the Dresden court specifically, but my impression is that envoys rarely had a say in where they were posted. I remember Chesterfield, when he was made ambassador to The Hague (where his staff helped Peter escape), delayed his departure as long as possible because what he'd really wanted was a post at home.

Re finances, earlier in the year (Mar 10), Wilhelmine had written:

I suspect little Diablotin - for this is how we used to call Suhm back in the day, didn't we? - needs his own philosophy dearly; for he isn't popular at court, and in a bad financial position.

and Fritz wrote back (Mar 25):

"The circumstances of Diaphane or Diablotin have been ordered somewhat for the better, so he can dedicate himself more to philosophy now.

Which I assume is the pension: better than nothing but not as good as an "establishment."

Re: Saxon archivess: Suhm

[selenak]

Good point about Suhm not necessarily wanting an envoy position when he wants a rehiring. In addition to his brother, there's also the precedent of Manteuffel going from Saxon envoy in Berlin to Saxon cabinet minister under his and Suhm's deceased patron Flemming. So Suhm might have been gunning for a job in the cabinet or at any rate in Dresden, not as envoy. (Or, like I said, as envoy but not in St. Petersburg.)

BTW, Suhm's finances are another argument for him taking all his children and his sister with him when he goes to St. Petersburg, because otherwise, he'd have to pay for the upkeep of an entire household in Berlin in addition to his other expenses - and we know envoy salaries of envoys are notoriously slow to arrive.

Speaking of envoys to St. Petersburg, what was the name again of the English one in whose entourage Algarotti attended the Anna Leopoldovna/Anton Ulrich wedding?

BTW, I brushed up my Horowski, and saw that despite Elizaveta having made a show of kicking out many of the Germans which had accumulated in administration positions during Anna Ivanova's and Anna Leopoldovna's reign at the start of hers, there were will enough left so that speaking German was a major plus for envoys being sent to St. Peterburg (not to mention that of course Peter the not yet III. spoke it better than Russian for the obvious reasons) - and H-W even after his years in Dresden, Berlin and Vienna still did not speak a word of it. (Poniatowski did speak German, which was one of the arguments H-W used for P getting hired as his secretary at British government expenses.) And of course he did not speak Russian, either, and as he apologizes in his letters to Catherine, wasn't the best in French. But sure, Wilhelmine was the one only pretending to be learned.

Anyway: Suhm being fluent in French and of course in German certainly would have been a plus in the Anna Ivanova era, and AvB's argument as to why Brühl picked him for St. Petersburg once Lynar needed replacing (that the openly known Fritz friendship means even paranoid Prussia would not immediately believe Saxony is pursuing anti Prussian policies via Suhm) is plausible enough, but depending how up Suhm was on gossip, he might not have known Lynar did need replacing when asking for a job and thus very unaware St. Petersburg was even an option, so I see your point about the possibility of him being unpleasantly surprised at the nature of his post.

Re: Saxon archivess: Suhm

[mildred_of_midgard]

BTW, Suhm's finances are another argument for him taking all his children and his sister with him when he goes to St. Petersburg, because otherwise, he'd have to pay for the upkeep of an entire household in Berlin in addition to his other expenses - and we know envoy salaries of envoys are notoriously slow to arrive.

Yes, and as I recall, the archive catalogue indicated that Hedwig was still trying to get the posthumous backpay owed her brother in the 1740s!

Speaking of envoys to St. Petersburg, what was the name again of the English one in whose entourage Algarotti attended the Anna Leopoldovna/Anton Ulrich wedding?

Lord Baltimore. As I recall, Fritz liked him too.

But sure, Wilhelmine was the one only pretending to be learned.

Hahaha. Look, it's hard to be an Anglophone where the system doesn't teach you languages! (I consider myself learned but unfortunately monolingual.)

depending how up Suhm was on gossip, he might not have known Lynar did need replacing when asking for a job and thus very unaware St. Petersburg was even an option

Matzke, author of the dissertation on Saxon diplomacy, says they didn't even inform Suhm after they gave him the post! Oh, look, checking again, Matzke also says Brühl totally planned to send Lynar back later, which could be what AvB is getting at.