Success had hitherto attended all the operations of the British

commanders, because they were concerted with foresight and unanimity;

and executed with that vigour and spirit which deservedly raised

them high in the esteem of their country. They reduced the nabob to

reasonable terms of accommodation before they alarmed the French; and

now the power of the latter was destroyed, they entered upon measures to

oblige the treacherous viceroy to a strict performance of the treaty he

had so lately signed. However specious his promises were, they found him

extremely dilatory in the execution of several articles of the treaty,

which, in effect, was the same to the English commerce as if none had

been concluded. The company’s goods were loaded with high duties, and

several other infractions of the peace committed, upon such frivolous

pretences, as evidently demonstrated that he sought to come to an open

rupture as soon as his projects were ripe for execution. In a word,

he discovered all along a manifest partiality to the French, whose

emissaries cajoled him with promises that he should be joined by such a

body of their European troops, under M. de Bussy, as would enable him to

crush the power of the English, whom they had taught him to fear and to

hate. As recommencing hostilities against so powerful a prince was in

itself dangerous, and if possible to be avoided, the affair was

laid before the council of Culcutta, and canvassed with all the

circumspection and caution that a measure required, on which depended

the fate of the whole trade of Bengal. Mr. Watts, from time to time,

sent them intelligence of every transaction in the suba’s cabinet; and

although that prince publicly declared he would cause him to be impaled

as soon as the English troops should be put in motion within the kingdom

of Bengal, he bravely sacrificed his own safety to the interest of the

company, and exhorted them to proceed with vigour in their military

operations. During these deliberations a most fortunate incident

occurred, that soon determined the council to come to an open rupture.

The leading persons in the viceroy’s court found themselves oppressed

by his haughtiness and insolence. The same spirit of discontent appeared

among the principal officers of his army; they were well acquainted with

his prefidy, saw his preparations for war, and were sensible that the

peace of the country could never be restored, unless either the

English were expelled, or the nabob deposed. In consequence, a plan was

concerted for divesting him of all his power; and the conspiracy was

conducted by Jaffier Ali Khan, his prime minister and chief commander,

a nobleman of great influence and authority in the province. The project

was communicated by Ali Khan to Mr. Watts, and so improved by the

address of that gentleman, as in a manner to ensure success. A treaty

was actually concluded between this Meer Jaffier Ali Khan and the

English company; and a plan concerted with this nobleman and the

other malcontents for their defection from the viceroy. These previous

measures being-taken, colonel Clive was ordered to take the field with

his little army. Admiral Watson undertook the defence of Chandernagore,

and the garrison was detached to reinforce the colonel, together with

fifty seamen to be employed as gunners, and in directing the artillery.

Then Mr. Watts, deceiving the suba’s spies by whom he was surrounded,

withdrew himself from Muxadavad, and reached the English camp in safety.

On the nineteenth of June a detachment was sent to attack Cutwa fort

and town, situated on that branch of the river forming the island of

Cassimbuzzar. This place surrendered at the first summons; and here the

colonel halted with the army for three days, expecting advices from Ali

Khan. Disappointed of the hoped for intelligence, he crossed the river,

and marched to Plaissey, where he encamped. On the twenty-third, at day

break, the suba advanced to attack him, at the head of fifteen thousand

horse, and near thirty thousand infantry, with about forty pieces of

heavy cannon, conducted and managed by French gunners, on whose courage

and dexterity he placed great dependence. They began to cannonade the

English camp about six in the morning; but a severe shower falling

at noon they withdrew their artillery. Colonel Clive seized this

opportunity to take possession of a tank and two other posts of

consequence, which they in vain endeavored to retake. Then he stormed an

angle of their camp, covered with a double breastwork, together with an

eminence which they occupied. At the beginning of this attack, some of

their chiefs being slain, the men were so dispirited, that they soon

gave way; but still Meer Jaffier Ali Khan, who commanded their left

wing, forbore declaring himself openly. After a short contest the enemy

were put to flight, the nabob’s camp, baggage, and fifty pieces of

cannon taken, and a most complete victory obtained. The colonel,

pursuing his advantage, marched to Muxadavad, the capital of the

province, and was there joined by Ali Khan and the malcontents. It was

before concerted that this nobleman should be invested with the dignity

of nabob; accordingly, the colonel proceeded solemnly to depose Surajah

Dowlat, and, with the same ceremony, to substitute Ali Khan in his room,

who was publicly acknowledged by the people as suba, or viceroy, of the

provinces of Bengal, Banar, and Orixa. Soon after, the late viceroy was

taken, and put to death by his successor, who readily complied with all

the conditions of his elevation. He conferred on his allies very liberal

rewards, and granted the company such extraordinary privileges, as fully

demonstrated how justly he merited their assistance. By this alliance,

and the reduction of Chandernagore, the French were entirely excluded

the commerce of Bengal and its dependencies; the trade of the English

company was restored, and increased beyond their most sanguine hopes; a

new ally was acquired, whose interest obliged him to remain firm to his

engagements: a vast sum was paid to the company and the sufferers at

Calcutta, to indemnify them for their losses: the soldiers and seamen

were gratified with six hundred thousand pounds, as a reward for the

courage and intrepidity they exerted; and a variety of other advantages

gained, which it would be unnecessary to enumerate. In a word, in

the space of fourteen days a great revolution was effected, and the

government of a vast country superior in wealth, fertility, extent,

and number of inhabitants to most European kingdoms, transferred by a

handful of troops, conducted by an officer untutored in the art of war,

and a general rather by intuition, than instruction and experience. But

the public joy at these signal successes was considerably diminished

by the death of admiral Watson, and the loss of Vizagapatam, an English

settlement on the Coromandel coast. The admiral fell a victim to the

unwholesomeness of the climate, on the sixteenth of August, universally

esteemed and regretted; and the factory and fort at Vizagapatam were

surrendered to the French, a few days after colonel Clive had defeated

the nabob.

ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE KING OF FRANCE.

We now turn our eyes to the continent of Europe, where we see the

beginning of the year marked with a striking instance of the dreadful

effects of frantic enthusiasm. France had long enjoyed a monarch, easy,

complying, good-natured, and averse to all that wore the appearance of

business or of war. Contented with the pleasures of indolence, he sought

no greatness beyond what he enjoyed, nor pursued any ambitious aim

through the dictates of his own disposition. Of all men on earth such a

prince had the greatest reason to expect an exemption from plots against

his person, and cabals among his subjects; yet was an attempt made upon

his life by a man, who though placed in the lowest sphere of fortune,

had resolution to face the greatest dangers, and enthusiasm sufficient

to sustain, without shrinking, all the tortures which the cruelty of man

could invent, or his crimes render necessary. The name of this fanatic

was Robert Francis Damien, born in the suburb of St. Catharine, in the

city of Arras. He had lived in the service of several families, whence

he was generally dismissed on account of the impatience, the melancholy,

and sullenness of his disposition. So humble was the station of a

person, who was resolved to step forth from obscurity, and, by one

desperate effort, draw upon himself the attention of all Europe. On the

fifth day of January, as the king was stepping into his coach to return

to Trianon, whence he had that day come to Versailles, Damien, mingling

among his attendants, stabbed him with a knife on the right side,

between the fourth and fifth ribs. His majesty applying his hand

immediately to his side, cried out, “I am wounded! Seize him; but do not

hurt him.” Happily the wound was not dangerous; as the knife taking an

oblique direction, missed the vital parts. As for the assassin, he made

no attempts to escape; but suffering himself quietly to be seized, was

conveyed to the guard-room, where, being interrogated if he committed

the horrid action, he boldly answered in the affirmative. A process

against him was instantly commenced at Versailles: many persons,

supposed accessaries to the design upon the king’s life, were sent to

the Bastile; the assassin himself was put to the torture, and the

most excruciating torments were applied, with intention to extort a

confession of the reasons that could induce him to so execrable an

attempt upon his sovereign. Incisions were made into the muscular parts

of his legs, arms, and thighs, into which boiling oil was poured. Every

refinement on cruelty, that human invention could suggest, was practised

without effect; nothing could overcome his obstinacy; and his silence

was construed into a presumption, that he must have accomplices in

the plot. To render his punishment more public and conspicuous, he

was removed to Paris, there to undergo a repetition of all his former

tortures, with such additional circumstances as the most fertile and

cruel dispositions could devise for increasing his misery and torment.

Being conducted to the Concergerie, an iron bed, which likewise served

for a chair, was prepared for him, and to this he was fastened with

chains. The torture was again applied, and a physician ordered to

attend, to see what degree of pain he could support. Nothing, however,

material was extorted; for what he one moment confessed, he recanted the

next. It is not within our province, and we consider it as a felicity,

to relate all the circumstances of this cruel and tragical event.

Sufficient it is, that, after suffering the most exquisite torments that

human nature could invent, or man support, his judges thought proper to

terminate his misery by a death shocking to imagination, and shameful to

humanity. On the twenty-eighth day of March he was conducted, amidst

a vast concourse of the populace, to the Grève, the common place of

execution, stripped naked, and fastened to the scaffold by iron gyves.

One of his hands was then burnt in liquid flaming sulphur; his thighs,

legs, and arms, were torn with red hot pincers; boiling oil, melted

lead, resin, and sulphur, were poured into the wounds; tight ligatures

tied round his limbs to prepare him for dismemberment; young and

vigorous horses applied to the draft, and the unhappy criminal pulled,

with all their force, to the utmost extension of his sinews, for the

space of an hour; during all which time he preserved his senses and

constancy. At length the physician and surgeon attending declared, it

would be impossible to accomplish the dismemberment, unless the tendons

were separated; upon which orders were given to the executioner to cut

the sinews at the joints of the arms and legs. The horses drew afresh;

a thigh and an arm were separated, and, after several pulls, the

unfortunate wretch expired under the extremity of pain. His body and

limbs were reduced to ashes under the scaffold; his father, wife,

daughter, and family banished the kingdom for ever; the name of Damien

effaced and obliterated, and the innocent involved in the punishment of

the guilty. Thus ended the procedure against Damien and his family, in

a manner not very favourable to the avowed clemency of Louis, or the

acknowledged humanity of the French nation. It appeared from undoubted

evidence, that the attempt on the king’s life was the result of

insanity, and a disturbed imagination. Several instances of a disordered

mind had before been observed in his conduct, and the detestation justly

due to the enormity of his crime ought now to have been absorbed in

the consideration of his misfortune, the greatest that can befal human

nature.

CHANGES IN THE FRENCH MINISTRY.

Another remarkable event in France, in the beginning of this year,

was the change in the ministry of that nation, by the removal of M. de

Machault, keeper of the seals, from the post of secretary of state for

the marine; and of M. d’Argenson from that of secretary at war. Their

dismission was sudden and unexpected; nor was any particular reason

assigned for this very unexpected alteration. The French king, to

show the queen of Hungary how judiciously she had acted in forming an

alliance with the house of Bourbon, raised two great armies; the first

of which, composed of near eighty thousand men, the flower of the French

troops, with a large train of artillery, was commanded by M. d’Etrées,

a general of great reputation; under whom served M. de Contades, M.

Chevert, and the count de Saint Germain, all officers of high character.

This formidable army passed the Rhine early in the spring, and marched

by Westphalia, in order to invade the king of Prussia’s dominions, in

quality of allies to the empress-queen, and guardians of the liberties

of the empire. But their real view was to invade Hanover, a scheme which

they knew would make a powerful diversion of the British force from the

prosecution of the war in other parts of the world, where the strength

of France could not be fully exerted, and where their most valuable

interests were at stake. They flattered themselves, moreover, that

the same blow, by which they hoped to crush the king of Prussia, might

likewise force his Britannic majesty into some concessions with regard

to America. The other army of the French, commanded by the prince de

Soubise, was destined to strengthen the imperial army of execution,

consisting of twenty-five thousand men, beside six thousand Bavarians,

and four thousand Wirtembergers. But before these troops, under Soubise,

passed the Rhine, they made themselves masters of several places

belonging to the king of Prussia, upon the borders of the low

Countries;* whilst a detachment from d’Etrées’s army seized upon the

town of Embden, and whatever else belonged to the same monarch in East

Friesland.

* The king of Prussia had withdrawn his garrison from

Cleves, not without suspicion of having purposely left this

door open to the enemy, that their irruption into Germany

might hasten the resolutions of the British ministry.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

STATE OF THE CONFEDERACY.

At the close of the last campaign, the king of Prussia, having gained

a petty advantage over the Imperialists under the command of mareschal

Brown, and incorporated into his own troops a great part of the Saxon

army taken prisoners at Pima, as was observed before, retired into

winter-quarters, until the season should permit him to improve these

advantages. His majesty and mareschal Keith wintered in Saxony, having

their cantonments between Pirna and the frontier along the Elbe; and

mareschal Schwerin, returning into Silesia, took up his quarters in the

country of Glatz. In the meantime, the empress-queen, finding the force

which she had sent out against the king of Prussia, was not sufficient

to prevent his designs, made the necessary requisitions to her allies,

for the auxiliaries they had engaged to furnish. In consequence of these

requisitions, the czarina, true to her engagements, despatched above an

hundred thousand of her troops, who began their march in the month

of November, and proceeded to the borders of Lithuania, with design

particularly to invade Ducal Prussia, whilst a strong fleet was equipped

in the Baltic, to aid the operations of this numerous army. The Austrian

army, assembled in Bohemia, amounted to upwards of fourscore thousand

men, commanded by prince Charles of Lorraine and mareschal Brown. The

Swedes had not yet openly declared themselves; but it was well known,

that though their king was allied in blood and inclination to

his Prussian majesty, yet the jealousy which the senate of Sweden

entertained of their sovereign, and the hope of recovering their ancient

possessions in Pomerania, by means of the present troubles, together

with their old attachment to France, newly cemented by intrigues and

subsidies, would certainly induce them to join the general confederacy.

The duke of Mecklenburgh took the same party, and agreed to join the

Swedish army, when it should be assembled, with six thousand men.

Besides all these preparations against the king of Prussia, he was, in

his quality of elector of Brandenburgh, put under the ban of the empire

by the Aulic council; declared deprived of all his rights, privileges,

and prerogatives; his fiefs were escheated into the exchequer of

the empire; and all the circles accordingly ordered to furnish their

respective contingencies for putting this sentence in execution.

In this dangerous situation, thus menaced on all sides, and seemingly on

the very brink of inevitable destruction, the Prussian monarch owed his

preservation to his own courage and activity. The Russians, knowing that

the country they were to pass through in their way to Lithuania would

not be able to subsist their prodigious numbers, had taken care to

furnish themselves with provisions for their march, depending upon the

resources they expected to find in Lithuania after their arrival in that

country. These provisions were exhausted by the time they reached the

borders of that province, where they found themselves suddenly and

unexpectedly destitute of subsistence, either to return back or to

proceed forward. The king of Prussia had, with great prudence and

foresight, secured plenty to himself, and distress and famine to his

enemies, by buying up all the corn and forage of the country which these

last were entering. Notwithstanding these precautions, his Prussian

majesty, to guard as much as could be against every possible event, sent

a great number of gunners and matrasses from Pomerania to Memel, with

three regiments of his troops, to reinforce the garrison of that place.

He visited all the posts which his troops possessed in Silesia, and gave

the necessary orders for their security. He repaired to Neiss, where he

settled with mareschal Schwerin the general plan of the operations of

the approaching campaign. There it was agreed, that the mareschal’s

army in Silesia, which consisted of fifty thousand men, should have in

constant view the motions of the royal army, by which its own were to be

regulated, that they might both act in concert, as circumstances should

require. At the same time, other armies were assembled by the king of

Prussia in Lusatia and Voigt-land; twenty thousand men were collected at

Zwickaw, on the frontiers of Bohemia, towards Egra, under the command of

prince Maurice of Anhault-Dessau; and sixty thousand chosen troops

began their march towards Great Seidlitz, where their head quarters

were settled. In the meanwhile, the Austrian troops began to form on the

frontiers of Saxony, where some of their detachments appeared, to

watch the motions of the Prussians, who still continued to pursue their

operations with great activity and resolution. All possible care was

taken by the Prussians at Dresden to secure a retreat in case of a

defeat. As only one regiment of Prussians could be spared to remain

there in garrison, the burghers were disarmed, their arms deposited in

the arsenal, and a detachment was posted at Konigstein, to oblige that

fortress to observe a strict neutrality. All correspondence with the

enemy was strictly prohibited; and it having been discovered that the

countess of Ogilvie, one of the queen’s maids of honour, had

disobeyed his majesty’s commands, she was arrested; but on the queen’s

intercession afterwards released. The countess of Bruhl, lady of the

Saxon prime minister, was also arrested by his Prussian majesty’s

order; and on her making light of her confinement, and resolving to see

company, she was ordered to quit the court, and retire from Saxony. M.

Henwin, the French minister, was told that his presence was unnecessary

at Dresden; and on his replying, that his master had commanded him to

stay, he was again desired to depart; on which he thought proper to

obey. The count de Wackerbath, minister of the cabinet, and grand

master of the household to the prince royal of Poland, was arrested, and

conducted to Custrin, by the express command of his majesty. The king of

Prussia, having thrown two bridges over the Elbe, early in the spring,

ordered the several districts of the electorate of Saxony to supply him

with a great number of waggons, each drawn by four horses. The circles

of Misnia and Leipsic were enjoined to furnish four hundred each, and

the other circles in proportion.

SKIRMISHES BETWEEN THE PRUSSIANS AND AUSTRIANS.

While the king of Prussia was taking these measures in Saxony, two

skirmishes happened on the frontiers of Bohemia, between his troops

and the Austrians. On the twentieth of February, a body of six thousand

Austrians surrounded the little town of Hirschfeld, in Upper Lusatia,

garrisoned by a battalion of Prussian foot. The first attack was made

at four in the morning, on two redoubts without the gates, each of which

was defended by two field pieces: and though the Austrians were several

times repulsed, they at last made themselves masters of one of the

redoubts, and carried off the two pieces of cannon. In their retreat

they were pursued by the Prussians, who fell upon their rear, killed

some, and took many prisoners: this affair cost the Austrians at least

five hundred men. About a fortnight after, the prince of Bevern marched

out of Zittau, with a body of near nine thousand men, in order to

destroy the remaining strongholds possessed by the Austrians on the

frontiers. In this expedition he took the Austrian magazine at Friedland

in Bohemia, consisting of nine thousand sacks of meal, and great store

of ammunition; and after making himself master of Reichenberg, he

returned to Zittau. The van of his troops, consisting of an hundred

and fifty hussars of the regiment of Putkammer, met with a body of six

hundred Croats, sustained by two hundred Austrian dragoons of Bathiania,

at their entering Bohemia; and immediately fell upon them sword in hand,

killed about fifty, took thirty horses, and made ten dragoons prisoners.

The Prussians, it is said, did not lose a single man on this occasion;

and two soldiers only were slightly wounded, the Austrians having made

but a slight resistance.

NEUTRALITY OF THE EMPEROR, AND BEHAVIOUR OF THE DUTCH.

Whatever the conduct of the court of Vienna might have been to the

allies of Great Britain, still, however, proper regard was shown to the

subjects of this crown: for an edict was published at Florence on the

thirteenth of February, wherein his imperial majesty, as grand duke

of Tuscany, declared his intention of observing the most scrupulous

neutrality in the then situation of affairs. All the ports in that duchy

were accordingly enjoined to pay a strict regard to this declaration, in

all cases relating to the French or English ships in the Mediterranean.

The good effects of this injunction soon appeared; for two prizes taken

by the English having put into Porto Ferraro, the captains of two French

privateers addressed themselves to the governor, alleging, that they

were captures of a pirate, and requesting that they might be obliged

to put to sea; but the governor prudently replied, that as they came in

under English colours he would protect them, and forbade the privateers,

at their peril, to commit any violence. They, however, little regarding

the governor’s orders, prepared for sailing, and sent their boats to cut

out one of the prizes, The captain, firing at their boats, killed one

of their men, which, alarming the sentinels, notice was sent to the

governor; and he, in consequence, ordered the two privateers immediately

to depart.--The conduct of the Dutch was rather cautious than spirited.

Whilst his Prussian majesty was employed on the side of Bohemia

and Saxony, the French auxiliaries began their march to harass his

defenceless territories in the neighbourhood of the Low Countries.

A free passage was demanded of the states-general through Namur and

Maastricht, for the provisions, ammunition, and artillery belonging to

this new army; and though the English ambassador remonstrated against

their compliance, and represented it as a breach of the neutrality

their high mightinesses declared they would observe, yet, after some

hesitation, the demand was granted; and their inability to prevent the

passage of the French troops, should it be attempted by force, pleaded

in excuse of their conduct.

Scarce had the French army, commanded by the prince de Soubise, set foot

in the territories of Juliers and Cologn, when they found themselves in

possession of the duchy of Cloves and the country of Marck, where all

things were left open to them, the Prussians, who evacuated their

posts, taking their route along the river Lippe, in order to join some

regiments from Magdeburgh, who were sent to facilitate their retreat.

The distressed inhabitants, thus exposed to the calamities of war from

an unprovoked enemy, were instantly ordered to furnish contributions,

forage, and provisions for the use of their invaders; and what was still

more terrifying to them, the partisan Fischer, whose cruelties the last

war they still remembered with horror, was again let loose upon them by

the inhumanity of the empress-queen. Wesel was immediately occupied by

the French; Emmerick and Maseyk soon shared the same fate; and the city

of Gueldres was besieged, the Prussians seeming resolved to defend this

last place; to which end they opened the sluices, and laid the country

under water. Those who retreated, filing off to the north-west of

Paderborn, entered the county of Ritberg, the property of count Caunitz

Ritberg, great chancellor to the empress-queen. After taking his castle,

in which they found thirty pieces of cannon, they raised contributions

in the district to the amount of forty thousand crowns. As the Prussians

retired, the French took possession of the country they quitted in

the name of the empress-queen, whose commissary attended them for that

purpose. The general rendezvous of these troops, under prince Soubise,

was appointed at Neuss, in the electorate of Cologn, where a large body

of French was assembled by the first of April. The Austrians, in their

turn, were not idle. Mareschal Brown visited the fortifications of Brinn

and Koninsgratz; reviewed the army of the late prince Picolomini, now

under the command of general Serbelloni; and put his own army in

march for Kostlitz on the Elbe, where he proposed to establish his

headquarters.

DECLARATION OF THE CZARINA AGAINST THE KING OF PRUSSIA.

During the recess of the armies, while the rigours of winter forced them

to suspend their hostile operations, and the greatest preparations were

making to open the campaign with all possible vigour, count Bestucheff,

great chancellor of Russia, wrote a circular letter to the primate,

senators, and ministers of the republic of Poland, setting forth, “That

the empress of Russia was extremely affected with the king of Poland’s

distress, which she thought could not but excite the compassion of

all other powers, but more especially of his allies: that the fatal

consequences which might result from the rash step by the king of

Prussia, not only with respect to the tranquillity of Europe in

general, but of each power in particular, and more especially of the

neighbouring countries, were so evident, that the interest and safety of

the several princes rendered it absolutely necessary they should make it

a common cause; not only to obtain proper satisfaction for those courts

whose dominions had been so unjustly attacked, but likewise to prescribe

such bounds to the king of Prussia as might secure them from any future

apprehensions from so enterprising and restless a neighbour: that with

this view the empress was determined to assist the king of Poland with

a considerable body of troops, which were actually upon their march,*

under the command of general Apraxin; and that, as there would be an

absolute necessity for their marching through part of the territories

of Poland, her imperial majesty hoped the republic would not fail to

facilitate their march as much as possible.”

* This letter was written in December, and the Russians, as

we observed before, began their march in November.

She further recommended to the republic, to take some salutary measures

for frustrating the designs of the king of Prussia, and restoring

harmony among themselves, as the most conducive measure to these good

purposes. In this, however, the Poles were so far from following her

advice, that, though sure of being sacrificed in this contest, which

side soever prevailed, they divided into parties with no less zeal than

if they had as much to hope from the prevalence of one side, as to fear

from that of the other. Some of the Palatines were for denying a

passage to the Russians, and others were for affording them the utmost

assistance in their power. With this cause of contention, others of a

more private nature fatally concurred, by means of a misunderstanding

between the prince Czartorinski and count Muisnec. Almost every

inhabitant of Warsaw was involved in the quarrel; and the violence

of these factions was so great that scarce a night passed without

bloodshed, many dead bodies, chiefly Saxons, being found in the streets

every morning.

In the meantime, Great Britain, unsettled in her ministry and councils

at home, unsuccessful in her attempts abroad, judging peace, if it

could be obtained on just and honourable terms, more eligible than a

continental war, proposed several expedients to the empress-queen

for restoring the tranquillity of Germany; but her answer was, “That

whenever she perceived that the expedients proposed would indemnify

her for the extraordinary expenses she had incurred in her own defence,

repair the heavy losses sustained by her ally the king of Poland, and

afford a proper security for their future safety, she would be ready

to give the same proofs she had always given of her desire to restore

peace; but it could not be expected she should listen to expedients of

which the king of Prussia was to reap the whole ad vantage, after having

begun the war, and wasted the dominions of a prince, who relied for

his security upon the faith of treaties, and the appearance of harmony

between them.” Upon the receipt of this answer, the court of London made

several proposals to the czarina, to interpose as mediatrix between

the courts of Vienna and Berlin, but they were rejected with marks

of displeasure and resentment. When sir Charles Hanbury Williams, the

British ambassador, continued to urge his solicitations very strongly,

and even with some hints of menaces, an answer was delivered to him,

by order of the empress, purporting, “That her imperial majesty was

astonished at his demand, after he had already been made acquainted with

the measures she had taken to effect a reconciliation between the courts

of Vienna and Berlin. He might easily conceive, as matters were

then situated, that the earnestness with which he now urged the same

propositions, must necessarily surprise her imperial majesty, as

it showed but little regard to her former declaration. The empress,

therefore, commanded his excellency to be told, that as her intentions

contained in her first answer remained absolutely invariable, no

ulterior propositions for a mediation would be listened to; and that as

for the menaces made use of by his excellency, and particularly that the

king of Prussia himself would soon attack the Russian army, such threats

served only to weaken the ambassador’s proposals; to confirm still more,

were it possible, the empress in her resolutions; to justify them to the

whole world, and to render the king of Prussia more blameable.”

KING OF PRUSSIA ENTERS BOHEMIA.

The season now drawing on in which the troops of the contending powers

would be able to take the field, and the alarming progress of the

Russians being happily stopped, his Prussian majesty, whose maxim it

has always been to keep the seat of war as far as possible from his own

dominions, resolved to carry it into Bohemia, and there to attack the

Austrians on all sides. To this end he ordered his armies in Saxony,

Misnia, Lusatia, and Silesia, to enter Bohemia in four different and

op-opposite places, nearly at the same time. The first of these he

commanded in person, assisted by mareschal Keith; the second was led

by prince Maurice of Anhault-Dessau, the third by prince Ferdinand of

Brunswick-Bevern, and the fourth by mareschal Schwerin. In consequence

of this plan, mareschal Schwerin’s army entered Bohemia on the

eighteenth of April, in five columns, at as many different places.

The design was so well concerted, that the Austrians had not the least

suspicion of their approach until they were past the frontiers, and

then they filled the dangerous defile of Guelder-Oesle with pandours,

to dispute that passage; but they were no sooner discovered than two

battalions of Prussian grenadiers attacked them with their bayonets

fixed, and routed them. The prince of Anhault passed the frontiers

from Misnia, and penetrated into Bohemia on the twenty-first of April,

without any resistance. The prince of Bevern, on the twentieth of the

same month, having marched at the head of a body of the army, which

was in Lusatia, from the quarters of cantonment near Zittau, possessed

himself immediately of the first post on the frontier of Bohemia, at

Krouttau and Grasenstein, without the loss of a single man; drove away

the enemy the same day from Kratzen, and proceeded to Machendorf, near

Reichenberg. The same morning Putkammer’s hussars, who formed part of

a corps, commanded by a colonel and major, routed some hundreds of the

enemy’s cuirassiers, posted before Kolin, under the conduct of prince

Lichenstein, took three officers and upwards of sixty horse prisoners,

and so dispersed the rest, that they were scarcely able to rally near

Kratzen. Night coming on obliged the troops to remain in the open air

till the next morning, when, at break of day, the Prussians marched

in two columns by Habendorf, towards the enemy’s army, amounting to

twenty-eight thousand men, commanded by count Konigsegg, and posted near

Roichenberg. As soon as the troops were formed, they advanced towards

the enemy’s cavalry, drawn up in three lines of about thirty squadrons.

The two wings were sustained by the infantry, which was posted among

felled trees and intrenchments. The Prussians immediately cannonaded the

enemy’s cavalry, who received it with resolution, having on their right

hand a village, and on their left a wood whore they had intrenched

themselves. But the prince of Bevern having caused fifteen squadrons of

dragoons of the second line to advance, and the wood on his right to be

attacked at the same time by the battalions of grenadiers of Kahlden

and of Moellendorf, and by the regiment of the prince of Prussia, his

dragoons, who, by clearing the ground and possessing the intrenchment,

had their flanks covered, entirely routed the enemy’s cavalry. In the

meantime colonel Putkammer and major Schenfield, with their hussars,

though flanked by the enemy’s artillery, gave the Austrian horse

grenadiers a very warm reception, whilst general Lestewitz, with

the left wing of the Prussians, attacked the redoubts that covered

Reichenberg. Though there were many defiles and rising grounds to pass,

all occupied by the Austrians, yet the regiment of Darmstadt forced the

redoubt, and put to flight and pursued the enemy, after some discharge

of their artillery and small arms, from one eminence to another, for the

distance of a mile, when they left off the pursuit. The action began at

half an hour after six, and continued till eleven. About one thousand

of the Austrians were killed and wounded; among the former were general

Porporati and count Hohenfelds, and among the latter prince Lichtenstein

and count Mansfeld. Twenty of their officers, and four hundred soldiers,

were taken prisoners, and they also lost three standards. On the side of

the Prussians seven subalterns and about an hundred men were killed, and

sixteen officers and an hundred and fifty men wounded. After this battle

mareschal Schwerin joined the prince of Bevern, made himself master of

the greatest part of the circle of Buntzlau, and took a considerable

magazine from the Austrians, whom he dislodged. The prince

Anhault-Dessau, with his corps, drew near the king of Prussia’s army;

then the latter advanced as far as Budin, from whence the Austrians who

had an advantageous camp there, retired to Westwarn, half way between

Budin and Prague; and his Prussian majesty having passed the Egra, his

army, and that of mareschal Schwerin, were so situated, as to be able to

act jointly.

These advantages were but a prelude to a much more decisive victory,

which the king himself gained a few days after. Preparing to enter

Bohemia, at a distance from any of the corps commanded by his generals,

he made a movement as if he had intended to march towards Egra. The

enemy, deceived by this feint, and imagining he was going to execute

some design, distinct from the object of the other armies, detached

a body of twenty thousand men to observe his motions; then he made

a sudden and masterly movement to the left, by which he cut off

all communication between that detachment and the main army of the

Austrians, which, having been reinforced by the army of Moravia, by the

remains of the corps lately defeated by the prince of Bevern, and by

several regiments of the garrison of Prague, amounted to near a hundred

thousand men. They were strongly intrenched on the banks of the Moldaw,

to the north of Prague, in a camp so fortified by every advantage

of nature, and every contrivance of art, as to be deemed almost

impregnable. The left wing of the Austrians, thus situated, was guarded

by the mountains of Ziscka, and the right extended as far as Herboholi;

prince Charles of Lorraine, and mareschal Brown, who commanded them,

seemed determined to maintain this advantageous post; but the king of

Prussia overlooked all difficulties. Having thrown several bridges over

the Moldaw on the fifth of May, he passed that river in the morning of

the sixth, with thirty thousand men, leaving the rest of the army under

the command of the prince of Anhault-Dessau; and being immediately

joined by the troops under mareschal Schwerin and the prince of Bevern,

resolved to attack the enemy on the same day. In consequence of this

resolution, his army filed off on the left by Potschernitz; and at the

same time count Brown wheeled to the right, to avoid being flanked. The

Prussians continued their march to Richwitz, traversing several defiles

and morasses, which for a little time separated the infantry from the

rest of the army. The foot began the attack too precipitately, and were

at first repulsed, but they soon recovered themselves. While the king of

Prussia took the enemy in flank, mareschal Schwerin advanced to a marshy

ground, which suddenly stopping his army, threatened to disconcert the

whole plan of operation. In this emergency, he immediately dismounted,

and taking the standard of the regiment in his hand, boldly entered the

morass, crying out, “Let all brave Prussians follow me.” Inspired by the

example of this great commander, now eighty-two years of age, all the

troops pressed forward, and though he was unfortunately killed by the

first fire, their ardour abated not till they had totally defeated the

enemy. Thus fell mareschal Schwerin, loaded with years and glory, an

officer whose superior talents in the military art had been displayed

in a long course of faithful service. In the meantime, the Prussian

infantry, which had been separated in the march, forming themselves

afresh, renewed the attack on the enemy’s right, and entirely broke it,

while their cavalry, after three charges, obliged that of the Austrians

to retire in great confusion, the centre being at the same time totally

routed. The left wing of the Prussians then marched immediately towards

Michely, and being there joined by the horse, renewed their attack,

while the enemy were retreating hastily towards Saszawar. Meanwhile the

troops on the right of the Prussian army attacked the remains of the

left wing of the Aus-trians, and made themselves masters of three

batteries. But the behaviour of the infantry in the last attack was so

successful, as to leave little room for this part of the cavalry to act.

Prince Henry of Prussia, and the prince of Bevern, signalized themselves

on this occasion in storming two batteries; prince Ferdinand of

Brunswick took the left wing of the Austrians in flank, while the king

with his left, and a body of cavalry, secured the passage of the Moldaw.

In short, after a very long and obstinate engagement, and many signal

examples of valour on both sides, the Austrians were forced to abandon

the field of battle, leaving behind sixty pieces of cannon, all their

tents, baggage, military chest, and, in a word, their whole camp. The

weight of the battle fell upon the right wing of the Austrians, the

remains of which, to the amount of ten or twelve thousand men, fled

towards Beneschau, where they afterwards assembled under M. Pretlach,

general of horse. The infantry retired towards Prague, and threw

themselves into that city with their commanders, prince Charles of

Lorraine, and mareschal Brown; but they were much harassed in their

retreat by a detachment of the Prussians under mareschal Keith. The

Prussians took, on this occasion, ten standards, and upwards of four

thousand prisoners, thirty of whom were officers of rank. Their loss

amounted to about two thousand five hundred killed, and about three

thousand wounded. Among the former were general d’Amstel, the prince of

Holstein-Beck, the colonels Goltze and Manstein, and lieutenant-colonel

Boke. Among the latter, the generals Wenterfield, De la Mothe, Feuque,

Hautcharmoy, Blankensee and Plettenberg. The number of the killed and

wounded on the side of the Austrians was much greater. Among these last

was mareschal Brown, who received a wound, which, from the chagrin he

suffered, rather than from its own nature, proved mortal. The day after

the battle, colonel Meyer was detached with a battalion of Prussian

pandours, and four hundred hussars, to destroy a very considerable

and valuable magazine of the Austrians at Pilsen, and this service lie

performed. He also completed the destruction of several others of

less importance; by the loss of which, however, all possibility of

subsistence was cut off from any succours the Austrians might have

expected from the empire.

PRAGUE INVESTED.

The Prussians, following their blow, immediately invested Prague on both

sides of the river, the king commanding on one side, and mareschal Keith

on the other. In four days the whole city was surrounded with lines and

intrenchments, by which all communication from without was entirely cut

off: prince Charles of Lorraine and mareschal Brown, the two princes

of Saxony, the prince of Modena, the duke d’Aremberg, count Lascy, and

several other persons of great distinction, were shut up within the

walls, together with above twenty thousand of the Austrian army, who had

taken refuge in Prague after their defeat. Every thing continued quiet

on both sides, scarce a cannon-shot being fired by either for some time

after this blockade was formed; and in the meanwhile the Prussians made

themselves masters of Cziscaberg, an eminence which commands the

town, where the Austrians had a strong redoubt, continuing likewise to

strengthen their works. Already they had made a sally, and taken some

other ineffectual steps to recover this post; but a more decisive

stroke was necessary. Accordingly, a design was formed of attacking the

Prussian army in the night with a body of twelve thousand men, to be

sustained by all the grenadiers, volunteers, pandours, and Hungarian

infantry. In case an impression could be made on the king’s lines,

it was intended to open a way, sword in hand, through the camp of the

besiegers, and to ease Prague of the multitude of forces locked up

useless within the walls, serving only to consume the provisions of the

garrison, and hasten the surrender of the place. Happily a deserter gave

the prince of Prussia intelligence of the enemy’s design about eleven

o’clock at night. Proper measures were immediately taken for their

reception, and, in less than a quarter of an hour, the whole army was

under arms. This design was conducted with so much silence, that though

the Prussians were warned of it, they could, discover nothing before the

enemy had charged their advanced posts. Their attack was begun on the

side of the little town, against mareschal Keith’s camp, and the left

wing of the Prussian army encamped on the Moldaw. From hence it is

probable the Austrians proposed not only to destroy the batteries that

were raising, but to attack the bridges of communication which the

Prussians threw over the Moldaw, at about a quarter of a German mile

above and below Prague, at Branig and Podbaba. The greatest alarm

began about two o’clock, when the enemy hoped to have come silently and

unexpectedly upon the miners, but they had left work about a quarter of

an hour before. At the report of the first piece which they fired, the

piquet of the third battalion of Prussian guards, to the number of

an hundred men, who marched out of the camp to sustain the body which

covered the works, was thrown into some confusion, from the darkness of

the night, which prevented their distinguishing the Austrian troops from

their own. Lieutenant Jork, detached with two platoons to reconnoitre

the enemy, attempting to discover their disposition by kindling a

fire, captain Rodig, by the light of this fire, perceived the enemy’s

situation, immediately formed the design of falling upon them in flank,

and gave orders to his men to fire in platoons, which they performed,

mutually repeating the signal given by their commander. The enemy fled

with the greater precipitation, as they were ignorant of the weakness

of the piquet, and as the shouting of the Prussian soldiers made them

mistake it for a numerous body. Many of them deserted, many took shelter

in Prague, and many more were driven into the river and drowned. At the

same time this attack began, a regiment of horse-grenadiers fell upon

a redoubt which the Prussians had thrown up, supported by the Hungarian

infantry: they returned three times to the assault, and were as often

beat back by the Prussians, whom they found it impossible to dislodge;

though prince Ferdinand of Brunswick’s battalion, which guarded this

post, suffered extremely. During this attack the enemy kept an incessant

fire with their musquetry upon the whole front of the Prussians, from

the convent of St. Margaret to the river. At three in the morning the

Prussians quitted their camp to engage the enemy. The battalion of

Pannewitz attacked a building called the Red-house, situated at the

bottom of a declivity, before Wellastowitz. The pandours who had taken

possession of this house, fired upon them incessantly from all the doors

and windows until they were dislodged; and the Prussian battalions were

obliged to sustain the fire both of cannon and musquetry for above two

hours, when the enemy retired to the city, except the pandours, who

again took possession of the Red-house, which the Prussians were forced

to abandon, because the artillery of Prague kept a continual fire upon

it from the moment it was known to be in their hands. The Austrians left

behind them many dead and wounded, besides deserters; and the Prussians,

notwithstanding the loss of several officers and private men, made some

prisoners. Prince Ferdinand, the king of Prussia’s youngest brother, had

a horse killed under Mm, and was slightly wounded in the face.

The Prussian works being completed, and heavy artillery arrived, four

batteries, erected on the banks of the Moldaw, began to play with great

fury. Near three hundred bombs, besides an infinity of ignited balls,

were thrown into the city in the space of twenty-four hours. The scene

was lamentable, houses, men, and horses wrapped in flames and reduced to

ashes. The confusion within, together with the want of proper artillery

and ammunition, obliged the Austrians to cease firing, and furnished

his Prussian majesty with all the opportunity he could wish of pouring

destruction upon this unfortunate city. The horrors of war seemed to

have extinguished the principles of humanity. No regard was paid to

the distress of the inhabitants; the Austrians obstinately maintained

possession, and the Prussians practised every stratagem, every barbarous

refinement, that constitutes the military art, to oblige them to

capitulate. After the conflagration had lasted three days, and consumed

a prodigious number of buildings, the principal inhabitants, burghers,

and clergy, perceiving their city on the point of being reduced to a

heap of rubbish, besought the commander, in a body, to hearken to terms;

but he was deaf to the voice of pity, and, instead of being moved with

their supplications, drove out twelve thousand persons, the least useful

in defending the city. These, by order of his Prussian majesty, were

again forced back, which soon produced so great a scarcity of provisions

within the walls, that the Austrians were reduced to the necessity of

eating horseflesh, forty horses being daily distributed to the troops,

and the same food sold at four-pence a pound to the inhabitants.

However, as there still remained great abundance of corn, they were

far from being brought to the last extremity. Two vigorous and

well-conducted sallies were made, but they proved unsuccessful. The only

advantage resulting from them, was the perpetual alarm in which they

kept the Prussian camp, and the vigilance required to guard against the

attacks of a numerous, resolute, and desperate garrison.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

COUNT DAUN COMMANDS THE AUSTRIANS.

Whatever difficulties might have attended the conquest of Prague,

certain it is, that the affairs of the empress-queen were in the most

critical and desperate situation. Her grand army dispersed in parties,

and dying for subsistence in small corps; their princes and commanders

cooped up in Prague; that capital in imminent danger of being taken,

the flourishing kingdom of Bohemia ready to fall into the hands of the

conqueror; a considerable army on the point of surrendering prisoners

of war; all the queen’s hereditary dominions open and exposed, the whole

fertile tract of country from Egra to the Moldaw in actual possession

of the Prussians, the distance to the archduchy of Austria not very

considerable, and secured only by the Danube; Vienna under the utmost

apprehensions of a siege, and the imperial family ready to take refuge

in Hungary; the Prussian forces deemed invincible, and the sanguine

friends of that monarch already sharing with him, in imagination, the

spoils of the ancient and illustrious house of Austria. Such was the

aspect of affairs, and such the difficulties to be combated, when

Leopold, count Daun, was appointed to the command of the Austrian

forces, to stem the torrent of disgrace, and turn the fortune of the

war. This general, tutored by long experience under the best officers of

Europe, and the particular favourite of the great Kevenhuller, was now,

for the first time, raised to act in chief, at the head of an army,

on which depended the fate of Austria and the empire. Born of a noble

family, he relied solely upon his own merit, without soliciting court

favour; he aspired after the highest preferment, and succeeded by mere

dint of superior worth. His progress from the station of a subaltern was

slow and silent; his promotion to the chief command was received with

universal esteem and applause. Cautious, steady, penetrating, and

sagacious, he was opposed as another Fabius to the modern Hannibal, to

check the fire and vigour of that monarch by prudent foresight and wary

circumspection. Arriving at Romischbrod, within a few miles of Prague,

the day after the late defeat, he halted to collect the fugitive corps

and broken remains of the Austrian army, and soon drew together a force

so considerable as to attract the notice of his Prussian majesty,

who detached the prince of Bevern, with twenty battalions, and thirty

squadrons, to attack him before numbers should render him formidable.

Daun was too prudent to give battle, with dispirited troops, to an army

flushed with victory. He retired on the first advice that the Prussians

were advancing, and took post at Kolin, where he intrenched himself

strongly, opened the way for the daily supply of recruits sent to

his army, and inspired the garrison of Prague with fresh courage, in

expectation of being soon relieved. Here he kept close within his camp,

divided the Prussian force, by obliging the king to employ near half

his army in watching his designs, weakened his efforts against Prague,

harassed the enemy by cutting off their convoys, and restored by degrees

the languishing and almost desponding spirits of his troops. Perfectly

acquainted with the ardour and discipline of the Prussian forces, with

the enterprising and impetuous disposition of that monarch, and sensible

that his situation would prove irksome and embarrassing to the enemy,

he improved it to the best advantage, seemed to foresee all the

consequences, and directed every measure to produce them. Thus he

retarded the enemy’s operations, and assiduously avoided precipitating

an action until the Prussian vigour should be exhausted, their strength

impaired by losses and desertion, the first fire and ardour of their

genius extinguished by continual fatigue and incessant alarms, and until

the impression made on his own men, by the late defeat, should in some

degree be effaced. The event justified Daun’s conduct. His army grew

every day more numerous, while his Prussian majesty began to express the

utmost impatience at the length of the siege. When that monarch first

invested Prague, it was on the presumption that the numerous forces

within the walls would, by consuming all the provisions, oblige it to

surrender in a few days; but perceiving that the Austrians had still

a considerable quantity of corn, that count Daun’s army was daily

increasing, and would soon be powerful enough not only to cope with the

detachment under the prince of Bevern, but in a condition to raise the

siege, he determined to give the count battle with one part of his army,

while he kept Prague blocked up with the other. The Austrians, amounting

now to sixty thousand men, were deeply intrenched, and defended by a

numerous train of artillery, placed on redoubts and batteries erected

on the most advantageous posts. Every accessible part of the camp was

fortified with lines and heavy pieces of battering cannon, and the foot

of the hills secured by difficult defiles. Yet, strong as this situation

might appear, formidable as the Austrian forces certainly were, his

Prussian majesty undertook to dislodge them with a body of horse and

foot not exceeding thirty-two thousand men.

KING OF PRUSSIA DEFEATED AT KOLIN.

On the thirteenth day of June, the king of Prussia quitted the camp

before Prague, escorted by a few battalions and squadrons, with which he

joined the prince of Bevern at Milkowitz, Mareschal Keith, it is said,

strenuously opposed this measure, and advised either raising the siege

entirely, and attacking the Austrians with the united forces of Prussia,

or postponing the attack on the camp at Kolin, until his majesty should

either gain possession of the city, or some attempts should be made to

oblige him to quit his posts. From either measure an advantage would

have resulted. With his whole army he might probably have defeated count

Daun, or at least have obliged him to retreat. Had he continued within

his lines at Prague, the Austrian general could not have constrained him

to raise the siege without losing his own advantageous situation,

and giving battle upon terms nearly equal. But the king, elated with

success, impetuous in his valour, and confident of the superiority of

his own troops in point of discipline, thought all resistance must sink

under the weight of his victorious arm, and yield to that courage which

had already surmounted such difficulties, disregarded the mareschal’s

sage counsel, and inarched up to the attack undaunted, and even assured

of success. By the eighteenth the two armies were in sight, and his

majesty found that count Daun had not only fortified his camp with all

the heavy cannon of Olmutz, but was strongly reinforced with troops from

Moravia and Austria, which had joined him after the king’s departure

from Prague. He found the Austrians drawn up in three lines upon the

high grounds between Gen-litz, and St. John the Baptist. Difficult as it

was to approach their situation, the Prussian infantry marched up with

firmness, while shot was poured like hail from the enemy’s batteries,

and began the attack about three in the afternoon. They drove the

Austrians with irresistible intrepidity from two eminences secured with

heavy cannon, and two villages defended by several battalions; but, in

attacking the third eminence, were flanked by the Austrian cavalry, by

grape-shot poured from the batteries; and, after a violent conflict, and

prodigious loss of men, thrown into disorder. Animated with the king’s

presence, they rallied, and returned with double ardour to the charge,

but were a second time repulsed. Seven times successively did prince

Ferdinand renew the attack, performing every duty of a great general and

valiant soldier, though always with the same fortune. The inferiority

of the Prussian infantry, the disadvantages of ground, where the cavalry

could not act, the advantageous situation of the enemy, their numerous

artillery, their intrenchments, numbers, and obstinacy, joined to the

skill and conduct of their general, all conspired to defeat the hopes of

the Prussians, to surmount their valour, and oblige them to retreat. The

king then made a last and furious effort, at the head of the cavalry,

on the enemy’s left wing, but with as little success as all the former

attacks. Every effort was made, and every attempt was productive only

of greater losses and misfortunes. At last, after exposing his person in

the most perilous situations, his Prussian majesty drew off his forces

from the field of battle, retiring in such good order, in sight of the

enemy, as prevented a pursuit, or the loss of his artillery and baggage.

Almost all the officers on either side distinguished themselves;

and count Daun, whose conduct emulated that of his Prussian majesty,

received two slight wounds, and had a horse killed under him. The losses

of both armies were very considerable; on that of the Prussians, the

killed and wounded amounted to eight thousand; less pernicious,

however, to his majesty’s cause than the frequent desertion, and other

innumerable ill consequences that ensued.

When the Prussian army arrived at Nimburgh, his majesty, leaving the

command with the prince of Be-vern, took horse, and, escorted by twelve

or fourteen hussars, set out for Prague, where he arrived next morning

without halting, after having been the whole preceding day on

horseback. Immediately he gave orders for sending off all his artillery,

ammunition, and baggage; these were executed with so much expedition,

that the tents were struck, and the army on their march, before the

garrison were informed of the king’s defeat. Thus terminated the battle

of Kolin and siege of Prague, in which the acknowledged errors of his

Prussian majesty were, in some measure, atoned by the candour with which

he owned his mistake, both in a letter to the earl mareschal, [419]

_[See note 3 I, at the end of this Vol.]_ and in conversation with

several of his general officers. Most people, indeed, imagined the king

highly blameable for checking the ardour of his troops to stop and lay

siege to Prague. They thought he should have pursued his conquests,

over-run Austria, Moravia, and all the hereditary dominions, from which

alone the empress-queen could draw speedy succours. A body of twenty or

thirty thousand men would have blocked up Prague, while the remainder

of the Prussian forces might have obliged the imperial family to retire

from Vienna, and effectually prevented count Daun from assembling

another army. It was universally expected he would have bent his march

straight to this capital; but he dreaded leaving the numerous army in

Prague behind, and it was of great importance to complete the conquest

of Bohemia. The prince of Prussia marched all night with his corps to

Nimburgh, where he joined the prince of Bevern, and mareschal Keith

retreated next day. Count Brown having died before, of the wounds he

received on the sixth of May, prince Charles of Lorraine sallied out

with a large body of Austrians, and attacked the rear of the Prussians;

but did no further mischief than killing about two hundred of their men.

The siege of Prague being thus raised, the imprisoned Austrians received

their deliverer, count Daun, with inexpressible joy, and their united

forces became greatly superior to those of the king of Prussia, who was

in a short time obliged to evacuate Bohemia, and take refuge in Saxony.

The Austrians harassed him as much as possible in his retreat; but their

armies, though superior in numbers, were not in a condition, from their

late sufferings, to make any decisive attempt upon him, as the frontiers

of Saxony abound with situations easily defended.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE DEFENCE OF HANOVER.

Having thus described the progress of the Prussians in Bohemia, we must

cast our eyes on the transactions which distinguished the campaign

in Westphalia. To guard against the storm which menaced Hanover in

particular, orders were transmitted thither to recruit the troops that

had been sent back from England, to augment each company, to remount

the cavalry with the utmost expedition; not to suffer any horses to be

conveyed out of the electorate; to furnish the magazines in that country

with all things necessary for fifty thousand men. Of these, twenty-six

thousand were to be Hanoverians, and, in consequence of engagements

entered into for that purpose, twelve thousand Hessians, six thousand

Brunswickers, two thousand Saxe-Gothans, and a thousand Lunenburghers,

to be joined by a considerable body of Prussians, the whole commanded

by his royal highness the duke of Cumberland. The king of England having

published a manifesto, dated at Hanover, specifying his motives for

taking the field in Westphalia, the troops of the confederated states

that were to compose the allied army, under the name of an army

of observation, began to assemble with all possible diligence near

Bielefeldt. Thither the generals, appointed to command the several

divisions, repaired to settle the plan of operations with their

commander, the duke of Cumberland, who having left London on the ninth

of April, arrived on the sixteenth at Hanover, and from thence repaired

to the army, which, having been joined by three Prussian regiments that

retired from Wesel, consisted of thirty-seven battalions and thirty-four

squadrons. Of these, six battalions and six squadrons were posted at

Bielefeldt, under the command of lieutenant-general baron de Sporcken;

six battalions, under lieutenant-general de Block, at Hervorden; six

battalions and four squadrons, under major-general Ledebour, between

Hervorden and Minden; seven battalions and ten squadrons, under

lieutenant-general d’Oberg, in the neighbourhood of Hamelen; and five

battalions and four squadrons, under major-general de Hauss, near

Nienburgh. The head-quarters of his royal highness were at Bielefeldt.

SKIRMISHES WITH THE FRENCH.

In the meantime, the French on the Lower Rhine continued filing off

incessantly. The siege of Gueldres was converted into a blockade,

occasioned by the difficulties the enemy found in raising batteries; and

a party of Hanoverians having passed the Weser, as well to ravage the

country of Paderborn as to reconnoitre the French, carried off several

waggons loaded with wheat and oats, destined for the territories of

the elector of Cologn. On the other hand, colonel Fischer having had

an engagement with a small body of Hanoverians, in the county of

Tecklenburgh, routed them, and made some prisoners. After several other

petty skirmishes between the French and the Hanoverians, the duke of

Cumberland altered the position of his camp, by placing it between

Bielefeldt and Hervorden, in hopes of frustrating the design of the

enemy; who, declining to attack him on the side of Bracwede, after

having reconnoitred his situation several days, made a motion on their

left, as if they meant to get between him and the Weser. This step

was no sooner taken, than, on the thirteenth of June in the afternoon,

having received advice that the enemy had caused a large body of troops,

followed by a second, to march on his right to Burghotte, he ordered

his army to march that evening towards Hervorden; and, at the same time,

major-general Hardenberg marched with four battalions of grenadiers,

and a regiment of horse, to reinforce that post. Count Schulenberg

covered the left of the march with a battalion of grenadiers, a regiment

of horse, and the light troops of Buckenburgh. The whole army marched

in two columns. The right, composed of horse, and followed by two

battalions, to cover their passage through the enclosures and defiles,

passed by the right of Bielefeldt; and the left, consisting of infantry,

marched by the left of the same town. The vanguard of the French army

attacked the rear guard of the allies, commanded by major-general

Einsiedel, very briskly, and at first put them into some confusion, but

they immediately recovered themselves. This was in the beginning of

the night. At break of day the enemy’s reinforcements returned to the

charge, but were again repulsed, nor could they once break through

lieutenant-colonel Al-feldt’s Hanoverian guards, which closed the army’s

march with a detachment of regular troops and a new raised corps of

hunters.

DUKE OF CUMBERLAND PASSES THE WESER.

The allies encamped at Cofeldt on the fourteenth, and remained there

all the next day, when the enemy’s detachments advanced to the gates

of Hervorden, and made a feint as if they would attack the town, after

having summoned it to surrender; but they retired without attempting

any thing further; and, in the meantime, the troops that were posted at

Hervorden, and formed the rear guard, passed the Weser on the side of

Remen, without any molestation, and encamped at Holtzuysen. A body of

troops which had been left at Bielefeldt, to cover the duke’s retreat,

after some skirmishes with the French, rejoined the army in the

neighbourhood of Herfort; and a few days after, his royal highness drew

near his bridges on the Weser, and sent over his artillery, baggage, and

ammunition. At the same time some detachments passed the river on

the right, between Minden and Oldendorp, and marked out a new camp

advantageously situated, having the Weser in front, and the right and

left covered with eminences and marshes. There the army under his royal

highness re-assembled, and the French fixed their head-quarters at

Bielefeldt, which the Hanoverians had quitted, leaving in it only a part

of a magazine, which had been set on fire. By this time the French were

in such want of forage, that M. d’Etrées himself, the princes of the

blood, and all the officers without exception, were obliged to send back

part of their horses. However, on the tenth of June, their whole army,

consisting of seventy battalions and forty squadrons, with fifty-two

pieces of cannon, besides a body of cavalry left at Ruremonde for the

conveniency of forage, was put in motion. In spite of almost impassable

forests, famine, and every other obstacle that could be thrown in their

way by a vigilant and experienced general, they at length surmounted

all difficulties, and advanced into a country abounding with plenty, and

unused to the ravages of war. It was imagined that the passage of the

Weser, which defends Hanover from foreign attacks, would have been

vigorously opposed by the army of the allies; but whether, in the

present situation of affairs, it was thought advisable to act only upon

the defensive, and not to begin the attack in a country that was not

concerned as a principal in the war, or the duke of Cumberland found

himself too weak to make head against the enemy, is a question we shall

not pretend to determine. However that may have been, the whole French

army passed the Weser on the tenth and eleventh of July, without the

loss of a man. The manner of effecting this passage is thus related:

mareschal d’Etrées, being informed that his magazines of provisions were

well furnished, his ovens established, and the artillery and pontoons

arrived at the destined places, ordered lieutenant-general Broglio, with

ten battalions, twelve squadrons, and ten pieces of cannon, to march

to Engheren; lieutenant-general M. de Chevert, with sixteen battalions,

three brigades of carabineers, the royal hunters, and six hundred

hussars, to march to Hervorden, and lieutenant-general marquis

d’Armentieres, with twelve battalions, and ten squadrons, to march to

Ulrickhausen. All these troops being arrived in their camp on the fourth

of July, halted the fifth. On the sixth, twenty-two battalions, and

thirty-two squadrons, under the command of the duke of Orleans, who

was now arrived at the army, inarched to Ulrickhausen, from whence M.

d’Armentieres had set out early in the morning, with the troops under

his command, and by hasty marches got on the seventh, by eleven at

night, to Blankenhoven, where he found the boats which had gone

from Ahrensberg. The bridges were built, the cannon planted, and the

intrenchments at the head of the bridges completed in the night between

the seventh and eighth. The mareschal having sent away part of his

baggage from Bielefeldt on the sixth, went in person on the seventh at

eleven o’clock to Horn, and on the eighth to Braket. On advice that M.

d’Armentieres had thrown his bridges across without opposition, and was

at work on his intrenchments, he went on the ninth to Blankenhoven, to

see the bridges and intrenchments; and afterwards advanced to examine

the first position he intended for this army, and came down to the right

side of the Weser to the abbey of Corvey, where he forded the river,

with the princes of the blood, and their attendants. On the tenth in the

morning he got on horseback by four o’clock, to see the duke of Orlean’s

division file off, which arrived at Corvey at ten o’clock; as also that

of M. d’Armentieres, which arrived at eleven, and that of M. Souvre,

which arrived at noon. The mareschal having examined the course of the

river, caused the bridges of pontoons to be laid within gunshot of the

abbey, where the viscount de Turenne passed that river in the year one

thousand six hundred and seventy-three, and where the divisions under

Broglio and Chevert now passed, it on the twelfth and thirteenth. These

two generals being informed of what was to be done upon the Upper Weser,

attacked Minden, and carried it, whilst a detachment of the French

entered the country of East Friesland, under the command of the marquis

d’Auvel; and, after taking possession of Lier, inarched on the right

side of the Ems to Embden, the only sea-port the king of Prussia had,

which at first seemed determined to make a defence; but the inhabitants

were not agreed upon the methods to be taken for that purpose. They

therefore met to deliberate, but in the meantime, their gates being

shut, M. d’Auvel caused some cannon to be brought to beat them down;

and the garrison, composed of four hundred Prussians, not being strong

enough to defend the town, the soldiers mutinied against their officers,

whereupon a capitulation was agreed on, and the gates were opened to the

French commander, who made his troops enter with a great deal of order,

assured the magistrates that care should be taken to make them observe

a good discipline, and published two ordinances, one for the security of

the religion and commerce of the city, and the other for prohibiting the

exportation of corn and forage out of that principality. The inhabitants

were; however, obliged to take an oath of allegiance to the French king.

BATTLE OF HASTENBECK.

On Sunday, the twenty-fourth of July, the French, after having laid

part of the electorate of Hanover under contribution, marched in three

columns, with their artillery, towards the village of Latford, when

major-general Furstenburgh, who commanded the out-ports in the village,

sent an officer to inform the duke of Cumberland of their approach. His

royal highness immediately reinforced those posts with a body of

troops, under the command of lieutenant-general Sporcken; but finding

it impossible to support the village, as it was commanded by the heights

opposite to it, which were possessed by the enemy, and being sensible

that it would be always in his power to retake it, from its situation

in a bottom between two hills, he withdrew his post from Latford. The

French then made two attacks, one at the point of the wood, and the

other higher up in the same wood, opposite to the grenadiers commanded

by major-general Hardenberg, but they failed in both; and though the

fire of their artillery was very hot, they were obliged to retire.

The French army encamping on the heights opposite to the duke of

Cumberland’s posts, the intelligence received, that M. d’Etrées had

assembled all his troops, and was furnished with a very considerable

train of artillery, left his royal highness no room to doubt of his

intending to attack him. He, therefore, resolved to change his camp for

a more advantageous situation, by drawing up his army on the eminence

between the Weser and the woods, leaving the Hamelen river on his right,

the village of Hasten-beck in his front, and his left close to the

wood, at the point of which his royal highness had a battery of twelve

pounders and haubitzers. There was a hollow way from the left of the

village to the battery, and a morass on the other side of Hastenbeck

to his right. Major-general Schulenberg, with the hunters, and two

battalions of grenadiers, was posted in the corner of the wood upon

the left of the battery; his royal highness ordered the village of

Hastenbeck to be cleared to his front, to prevent it being in the power

of the enemy to keep possession of it, and the ways by which the allies

had a communication with that village during their encampment to be

rendered impassable. In the evening-he withdrew all his outposts, and

in this position the army lay upon their arms all night. On the

twenty-fifth, in the morning, the French army marched forwards in

columns, and began to cannonade the allies very severely, marching and

counter-marching continually, and seeming to intend three attacks, on

the right, the left, and the centre. In the evening their artillery

appeared much superior to that of the allies. The army was again ordered

to lie all night on their arms; his royal highness caused a battery at

the end of the wood to be repaired; count Schulenberg to be reinforced

with a battalion of grenadiers, and two field pieces of cannon; and

that battery to be also supported by four more battalions of grenadiers,

under the command of major-general Hardenberg. He likewise caused a

battery to be erected of twelve six-pounders, behind the village of

Hastenbeck, and took all the precautions he could think of to give

the enemy a warm reception. As soon as it was day light, he mounted on

horseback to reconnoitre the position of the enemy, whom he found in the

same situation as the day before. At a little after five a very smart

cannonading began against the battery behind the village, which was

supported by the Hessian infantry and cavalry, who stood a most severe

fire with surprising steadiness and resolution. Between seven and eight

the firing of small arms began on the left of the allies, when his royal

highness ordered major-general Behr, with three battalions of Brunswick,

to sustain the grenadiers in the wood, if their assistance should be

wanted; The cannonading continued above six hours, during which the

troops, that were exposed to it, never once abated of their firmness.

The fire of the small arms on the left increasing, and the French

seeming to gain ground, his royal highness detached the colonels

Darkenhausen and Bredenbach, with three Hanoverian battalions and six

squadrons, round the wood by Afferde, who, towards the close of the day,

drove several squadrons of the enemy back to their army, without giving

them any opportunity to charge. At length the grenadiers in the wood,

apprehensive of being surrounded, from the great numbers of the enemy

that appeared there, and were marching round on that side, though they

repulsed every thing that appeared in their front, thought it advisable

to retire nearer the left of the army, a motion which gave the enemy an

opportunity of possessing themselves of that battery without opposition.

Here the hereditary prince of Brunswick distinguished himself at the

head of a battalion of Wolfenbuttle guards, and another of Hanoverians,

who attacked and repulsed, with their bayonets, a superior force of the

enemy, and retook the battery. But the French being in possession of an

eminence which commanded and flanked both the lines of the infantry and

the battery of the allies, and where they were able to support their

attack under the cover of a hill, his royal highness, considering the

superior numbers of the enemy, near double to his, and the impossibility

of dislodging them from their post, without exposing his own troops too

much, ordered a retreat; in consequence of which his army retired, first

to Hamelen, where he left a garrison, then to Nienburgh, and afterwards

to Hoya; in the neighbourhood of which town, after sending away all the

magazines, sick, and wounded, he encamped, in order to cover Bremen and

Verden, and to preserve a communication with Stade, to which place the

archives, and most valuable effects of Hanover had been removed. In

this engagement, colonel Bredenbach attacked four brigades very strongly

posted, with a battery of fourteen pieces of cannon, repulsed, and drove

them down a precipice, and took all their artillery and ammunition; but

preferring the care of his wounded to the glory of carrying away the

cannon, he brought off only six, nailing up and destroying the rest. The

loss of the allies in all the skirmishes, which lasted three days,

was three hundred and twenty-seven men killed, nine hundred and seven

wounded, and two hundred and twenty missing, or taken prisoners; whilst

that of the French, according to their own accounts, amounted to fifteen

hundred men.

The French, being left masters of the field, soon reduced Hamelen, which

was far from being well fortified, obliged the garrison to capitulate,

and took out of the town sixty brass cannon, several mortars, forty

ovens, part of the equipage of the duke’s army, and large quantities of

provisions and ammunition, which they found in it, together with a great

many sick and wounded, who, not being included in the capitulation, were

made prisoners of war. Whether the court of France had any reason to

find fault with the conduct of the mareschal d’Etrées, or whether

its monarch was blindly guided by the counsels of his favourite the

marquese de Pompadour, who, desirous to testify her gratitude to the

man who had been one of the chief instruments of her high promotion, was

glad of an opportunity to retrieve his shattered fortunes, and, at the

same time, to add to her own already immense treasures, we shall not

pretend to determine; though the event seems plainly to speak the last.

Even at the time, no comparison was made between the military skill of

the mareschal d’Etrées, and that of the duke de Richelieu; but, however

that may have been, this last, who, if he had not shone in the character

of a soldier, excelled all, or at least most of his contemporaries in

the more refined arts of a courtier, was, just before the battle we have

been speaking of, appointed to supersede the former in the command

of the French army in Lower Saxony, where he arrived on the sixth

of August, with the title of mareschal of France; and M. d’Etrees

immediately resigned the command.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

THE FRENCH TAKE POSSESSION OF HANOVER AND HESSE-CASSEL.

Immediately after the battle of Hastenbeck, the French sent a detachment

of four thousand men to lay under contribution the countries of Hanover

and Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, as well as the duchies of Bremen and Verden;

and two days after the arrival of this new commander, the duke de

Chevreuse was detached with two thousand men to take possession of

Hanover itself, with the title of governor of that city. He accordingly

marched thither; and upon his arrival the Hanoverian garrison was

disarmed, and left at liberty to retire where they pleased. About the

same time M. de Con-tades, with a detachment from the French army, was

sent to make himself master of the territories of Hesse-Cassel, where

he found no opposition. He was met at Warberg by that prince’s master of

the horse, who declared, that they were ready to furnish the French

army with all the succours the country could afford; and accordingly the

magistrates of Cassel presented him with the keys as soon as he entered

their city. Gottingen was ordered by M. d’Armentieres to prepare for him

within a limited time, upon pain of military execution, four thousand

pounds of white bread, two thousand bushels of oats, a greater quantity

than could be found in the whole country, an hundred loads of hay, and

other provisions.

THE FRENCH REDUCE VERDEN and BREMEN.

The duke of Cumberland remained encamped in the neighbourhood of Hoya

till the twenty-fourth of August, when, upon advice that the enemy had

laid two bridges over the Aller in the night, and had passed that river

with a large body of troops, he ordered his army to march, to secure the

important post and passage of Rothenbourg, lest they should attempt

to march round on his left. He encamped that night at Hausen, having

detached lieutenant-general Oberg, with eight battalions and six

squadrons, to Ottersberg, to which place he marched next day, and

encamped behind the Wummer, in a very strong situation, between

Ottersberg and Eothenbourg. The French took possession of Verden on

the twenty-sixth of August, and one of their detachments went on the

twenty-ninth to Bremen, where the gates were immediately opened to them.

The duke of Cumberland, now closely pressed on all sides, and in danger

of having his communication with the Stade cut off, which the enemy was

endeavouring to effect, by seizing upon all the posts round him, found

it necessary to decamp again; to abandon Eothenbourg, of which the

French immediately took possession; to retreat to Selsingen, where his

head-quarters were, on the first of September; and from thence, on the

third of the same month, to retire under the cannon of Stade. Here it

was imagined that his army would have been able to maintain their ground

between the Aller and the Elbe, till the severity of the season should

put an end to the campaign. Accordingly, his royal highness, upon his

taking this position, sent a detachment of his forces to Buck-Schantz,

with some artillery, and orders to defend that place to the utmost; but

as it could not possibly have held out many days, and as the French, who

now hemmed him in on all sides, by making themselves masters of a

little fort at the mouth of the river Swinga, would have cut off his

communication with the Elbe, so that four English men of war, then

in that river, could have been of no service to him, he was forced to

accept of a mediation offered by the king of Denmark, by his minister

the count de Lynar, and to sign the famous convention of Closter-Seven,

[422] _[See note 3K, at the end of this Vol.]_ by which thirty-eight

thousand Hanoverians laid down their arms, and were dispersed into

different quarters of cantonment.