AUGUST THE DEBAUCHE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue LXI, 12 July 1930, Page 6 (Supplement)

AUGUST THE DEBAUCHE.

August the Strong, Elector of Saxony md Kin" of Poland, was important enough to°be the ally of G™ Of Russia and the "enemy of Chailes XII., of Sweden. However, lie is as much remembered for his giant strength, and the giant appetite that went with it, as for anything else. His great cuirass and helmet are still shov/r in the armoury of Dresden. It is said he was so powerful that he could lift a trumpeter in full armour m ti palm of his'.hand. Such, a man was bound to eat enormously. August did. Indeed, he indulged in every sort of dissipation. Thus, when he engaged Peter the Great as his ally in attempting to separate Livonia from Sweden, it is said that he and the . Russian monaich spent 15 consecutive days in drunkenness, feasting and debauchery. It is recorded that Frederick the Great, of Prussia got his first taste of dissipation while visiting August, then merely Elector of Saxony, at Dresden. Fred- . erick, a boy of 10, went with his father . on this journey. They were treated to ] immense feastg and other dissipations, in , which the mighty August showed the , W Aupust had the most bizarre fancies, j At Dresden he collected porcelain to the ; value of £24,000,000. He gave Frederick . William of Prussia his finest regiment or , dragoons in order to obtain from him . twelve vases. , , i Tremendous fetes accompanied his gob- } dings and guzzlings.- One party at Muh - berg cost £100,000. For a firework the f trunks of 18,000 trees were used._ He i had a gigantic allegorical picture painted upon COOO ells of cloth. He spent vast sums on the collection of all sorts of curiosities. ' > •> . *•"*• ' As the death of August would leave the Polish throne vacant, the European countries awaited the event anxiously. August wanted to have his own son, also named August, succeed him. But he had a alienated the Emperor of Austria, and Sweden and France had other hopes. So he tried to form an alliance with Fred- s erick William of Prussia. 0 The latter did not trust the royal 11 debauche. To find out his true purposes, 8 the Prussian attempted a notable scheme. He sent his Minister of War, Grnmbkow, a hard drinker, notoriously able to keep his head n„ matter how much he imbibed, to spend an evening i with August and to draw from him by C the aid of wine hisvsecret thoughts. C It was a heroic contest of endurance, c But August the Strong was not the man c he had been. He finally fell into a t heavy stupor from which he recovered, 1 only to die. t As events'turned out, his son followed * .him .on .the. throne. 1 (To be i