BERESFORD’S TRANSLATION OF THE LIFE OF GENERAL DE ZIETEN. 
nated the seven years’? war—a war 
which established the military preemi- 
nence of. Prussia, and made the king 
immortal. 
_ Concerning this great general, asmall 
portion of whose feats only we have been 
_ ableto sketch with this rapid pen, it will 
be interesting to add something illustra- 
tive of~his private character.. Zieten is 
represented as benevolent and humane, 
_ pious from feeling and from principle ; 
_ inthe day of adversity he found conso- 
lation in religion: “* l have lost every 
thing,” said he over the cold remains 
_ of his wife ; “ beauty, virtue, prudence, 
_ piety, all these she possessed, but it is the 
' Almighty who hath takenher from me.” 
| Neither forgot he his Creator in the day 
of prosperity: it was his constant cus- 
tom, as soon as he was dressed, to order 
his valet to leave him. He then said his 
_ prayers, a duty which he was never 
_ known to neglect, even during his se- 
_ verest indispositions. 
| .»Zieten was a severe disciplinarian, but 
\ hewas the father of every soldier under 
his command; he saw with his own 
eyes that they enjoyed every comfort 
_ which their situation admitted when 
_ duty was over, and by such offices of 
kindness and attention he won the affec- 
- tion of every hussar in his regiment. 
- Unenvious of the merit of another, he 
' Wasthe first to do it honour, and fre- 
quently dissipated those capricious pre- 
_ padices which Frederick conceivedagainst 
_ dividual officers, and even corps. In 
| warhe united wisdom with courage, 
‘a 
«— contempt of danger with perseverance, 
dexterity with presence of mind, and activity 
| with the most perfect command of temper ; 
' he conceived his plans with the progressive- 
hess of the rising storm, and executed them 
vith, the rapidity of the thunderbolt. Unruf- 
ed in the heat of batile ; singularly accurate 
and concise in giving his orders; foresecing 
invariably able to turn the circumstances of 
_ thie moment to advantage. His military glance 
_ was correct and infallible; he was equally 
admirable in attack and defence ; expabdle 
_ ofthe most daring enterprises, and losing 
) every idea of personal safety when his duty 
: Be him to engage in them, h¢ never failed 
acquit himself with success.” 
_ . an his principles he was firm, and his 
“probity, was invincible: perfectly disin- 
' terested, he never enriched himself by 
— Hieit means. . 
He ny 
To general admiration and esteem were 
Apitied sentiments of a more tender kind and 
more congenial to his nature—the affection 
every thi Pata dochtas avery tind He was. 
- every thing, prepared for every thing; he was 
491 
and confidence of ‘his brother-officers and 
hussars. .In the midst of the tumults of war 
he had ever preserved those social virtues 
which had marked the early period of his 
life. Guided and sustained by rational 
piety, his moral character still shone with un- 
diminished lustre, while his talentsyhis fa- 
culties, his religious rinciples, acquired new 
foree as he advanced in his brilliant career. 
The pernicious maxim, the maxim of his 
day, that the duty of a soldier superceded 
that of a man, was never adopted by him. 
The horrors of war, to which he had been 
inured, never steeled his heart to the softer 
calls of humanity ; and such feelings he con- 
sidered not only as far from degrading his 
profession, but even as one of its most no- 
bre appendages. Severe in the field, and - 
inexorable in whatever regarded the duties of 
the military life, (because he himse!f was the 
first to set the example, and had no errors 
nor neglect on his own part to call for indal- 
gence in favour of auch as were guilty of 
either,) he was in all other respects remark- 
able for the gentleness and even the coim- 
plaisantness of his manners. Tle was ever 
ready to accommodate those whom he com- 
manded, to the utmost of his power, or te 
lighten with a kind word, a look, a smile, 
the burdens they had indispensably to sus- 
tain. His officers, his private soldiers, whom 
he loved with paternal affection, never soli- 
cited his counsel, his interposition, his sue- 
courin vain. Just and impartial in the ex~ 
treme, he tolerated no oppression, no perse- 
cution; and though exact ia the infliction 
of punishments, he was still more so in re- 
compensing every noble, every liberal action. 
«© Hie had always acted with feeling and 
equity towards the hostile nations during the 
various incursions he had made among them. 
The laws of war never induced him to over- 
look the sacred rights of man. Far from 
countenancing any kind of exactions, he 
was the friend, the protector, the father of 
the unfortunate inhabitants of the places. 
which became the immniediate seat of war. 
Whenever he received orders to pillage an 
hostile country on leaving it, his custom 
was to observe the form only; he would 
canse a few windows to be broken, throw 
down a few stoves, displace or overturn the 
furniture of a house or two; but was never 
known to deprive the inhabitant of what 
was absolutely necessary to hin, or to com- 
mit asingle act of barbarity. The soldier 
loved him still more than he feared him. In 
every place his preservation was the object 
of universal concern. Not only his own 
country, but the nations who had known 
him as their enemy only, did ample justice 
to his disinterestedness aud’ greatness of 
mind.” 
This does not appear to be a random 
panegyric on imaginary virtues ; it is 
justified by a variety of anecdotes which 
are related in the work. 
