The progress of prince Ferdinand upon the Maese, had been retarded by a

long succession of heavy rains, which broke up the roads, and rendered

the country impassable; and now the certain information of this unlucky

check left him no alternative but a battle or a retreat across the

Rhine: the first was carefully avoided by the enemy; the latter

resolution, therefore, he found himself under a necessity to embrace. In

his present position he was hampered by the French army on one wing, on

the other by the fortress of Gueldres, the garrison of which had

been lately reinforced, as well as by divers other posts, capable of

obstructing the convoys and subsistence of the combined army; besides,

he had reason to apprehend, that the prince de Soubise would endeavour

to intercept the British troops in their march from Embden. Induced by

these considerations, he determined to repass the Rhine, after having

offered battle to the enemy, and made several motions for that purpose.

Finding them averse to an engagement, he made his dispositions for

forcing the strong pass of Waehtendonck, an island surrounded by Niers,

of very difficult approach, and situated exactly in his route to the

Rhine. This service was performed by the hereditary prince of Brunswick,

who, perceiving the enemy had drawn up the bridge, rushed into the river

at the head of his grenadiers, who drove them away with their bayonets,

and cleared the bridges for the passage of the army towards Rhinebergen.

At this place prince Ferdinand received intelligence that M. de Chevert,

reputed one of the best officers in the French service, had passed

the Lippe with fourteen battalions and several squadrons, to join

the garrison of Wesel, and fall upon lieutenant-general Imhoff, who

commanded a detached corps of the combined army at Meer, that he might

be at hand to guard the bridge which the prince had thrown over the

Rhine at Rees. His serene highness was extremely desirous of sending

succours to general Imhoff; but the troops were too much fatigued to

begin another march before morning; and the Rhine had overflowed its

banks in such a manner as to render the bridge at Rees impassable, so

that M. Imhoff was left to the resources of his own conduct and the

bravery of his troops, consisting of six battalions and four squadrons,

already weakened by the absence of different detachments. This general

having received advice, on the fourth of August, that the enemy

intended to pass the Lippe the same evening with a considerable train of

artillery, in order to burn the bridge at Rees, decamped with a view to

cover this place, and join two battalions which; had passed the Rhine

in boats, under the command of general Zastrow, who reinforced him

accordingly; but the enemy not appearing, he concluded the information

was false, and resolved to resume his advantageous post at Meer. Of

this he had no sooner repossessed himself, than his advanced guards were

engaged with the enemy, who marched to the attack from Wesel, under the

command of lieutenant-general de Chevert, consisting of the whole corps

intended for the siege of Dusseldorp. Imhoffs front was covered by

coppices and ditches, there being a rising ground on his right, from

whence he could plainly discern the whole force that advanced against

him, together with the manner of their approach. Perceiving them engaged

in that difficult ground, he posted one regiment in a coppice, with

orders to fall upon the left flank of the enemy, which appeared quite

uncovered; and as soon as their fire began, advanced with the rest

of his forces to attack them in front. The bayonet was used on this

occasion, and the charge given with such impetuosity and resolution,

that after a short resistance, the enemy fell into confusion, and fled

towards Wesel, leaving on the spot eleven pieces of cannon, with a great

number of waggons and other carriages; besides the killed and wounded,

who amounted to a pretty considerable number, the victor took three

hundred and fifty-four prisoners, including eleven officers; whereas, on

his part the victory was purchased at a very small expense.

GENERAL OBERG DEFEATED by the FRENCH.

Immediately after this action, general Wangenheim passed the Rhine

with several squadrons and battalions, to reinforce general Imhoff,

and enable him to prosecute the advantage he had gained, while prince

Ferdinand marched with the rest of the army to Santen: from whence he

proceeded to Rhinebergen, where he intended to pass; but the river had

overflowed to such a degree, that here, as well as at Rees, the shore

was inaccessible; so that he found it necessary to march farther down

the river, and lay a bridge at Griethuyzen. The enemy had contrived

four vessels for the destruction of this bridge; but they were all taken

before they could put the design in execution, and the whole army passed

on the tenth day of August, without any loss or further interruption. At

the same time the prince withdrew his garrison from Dusseldorp, of which

the French immediately took possession. Immediately after his passage he

received a letter from the duke of Marlborough, acquainting him that the

British troops had arrived at Lingen, in their route to Coesfeldt:

to which place general Imhoff was sent to receive them, with a strong

detachment. Notwithstanding this junction, the two armies on the Rhine

were so equally matched, that no stroke of importance was struck on

either side during the remaining part of the campaign. M. de Contades,

seeing no prospect of obtaining the least advantage over prince

Ferdinand, detached prince Xaverius of Saxony with a strong

reinforcement to the prince de Soubise, who had taken possession of

Gottengen, and seemed determined to attack the prince of Ysembourg at

Eimbeck. That this officer might be able to give him a proper reception,

prince Ferdinand detached general Oberg with ten thousand men to

Lipstadt, from whence, should occasion require, they might continue

their march, and join the Hessians. The whole body, when thus

reinforced, did not exceed twenty thousand men, of whom general Oberg

now assumed the command: whereas the troops of Soubise were increased to

the number of thirty thousand. The allies had taken post upon the river

Fulde at Sangarshausen, where they hoped the French would attack

them; but the design of Soubise was first to dislodge them from that

advantageous situation. With this view, he made a motion, as if he had

intended to turn the camp of the allies by the road of Munden. In order

to prevent the execution of this supposed design, general Oberg decamped

on the tenth of October, and, passing by the village of Landwernhagen,

advanced towards Lutten-berg, where, understanding the enemy were at his

heels, he forthwith formed his troops in order of battle, his right to

the Fulde, and his left extending to a thicket upon an eminence, where

he planted five field-pieces. The cavalry supported the wings in a third

line, the village of Luttenberg was in the rear, and four pieces of

cannon were mounted on a rising ground that flanked this village. The

French having likewise passed Landwernhagen, posted their left towards

the Fulde, their right extending far beyond the left of the allies, and

their front being strengthened with above thirty pieces of cannon.

At four in the afternoon the enemy began the battle with a severe

cannonading, and at the same time the first line of their infantry

attacked major-general Zastrow, who was posted on the left wing of the

allies. This body of the French was repulsed; but in the same moment, a

considerable line of cavalry advancing, charged the allies in front and

flank. These were supported by a fresh body of infantry with cannon,

which, after a warm dispute, obliged the confederates to give way; and

general Oberg, in order to prevent a total defeat, made a disposition

for a retreat, which was performed in tolerable order; not but that

he suffered greatly, in passing through a defile, from the fire of the

enemy’s cannon, which was brought up and managed under the direction

of the duke de Broglio. Having marched through Munden by midnight,

the retiring army lay till morning under arms in the little plain near

Grupen, on the other side of the Weser; but at day-break prosecuted

their march, after having withdrawn the garrison from Munden, until they

arrived in the neighbourhood of Guntersheim, where they encamped.

In this engagement general Oberg lost about fifteen hundred men, his

artillery, baggage, and ammunition. He was obliged to abandon a magazine

of hay and straw at Munden, and leave part of his wounded men in that

place to the humanity of the victor. But, after all, the French general

reaped very little advantage from his victory.

DEATH OF THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH.

By this time prince Ferdinand had retired into Westphalia, and fixed his

head-quarters at Munster, while M. de Contades encamped near Ham upon

the Lippe; so that, although he had obliged the French army to evacuate

Hanover and Hesse in the beginning of the year, when they were weakened

by death and distemper, and even driven them beyond the Rhine, where

they sustained a defeat; yet they were soon put in a condition to baffle

all his future endeavours, and penetrate again into Westphalia, where

they established their winter-quarters, extending themselves in such a

manner as to command the whole course of the Rhine on both sides, while

the allies were disposed in the landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel, and in the

bishoprics of Munster, Paderborn, and Hildesheim. The British troops

had joined them so late in the season that they had no opportunity to

signalize themselves in the field; yet the fatigues of the campaign,

which they had severely felt, proved fatal to their commander, the

duke of Marlborough, who died of a dysentery at Munster, universally

lamented.

OPERATIONS OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA.

Having thus particularized the operations of the allied army since the

commencement of the campaign, we shall now endeavour to trace the steps

of the king of Prussia, from the period to which his army was assembled

for action. Having collected his force as soon as the season

would permit, he undertook the siege of Schweidnitz in form on the

twenty-first day of March; and carried on his operations with such

vigour, that in thirteen days the garrison surrendered themselves

prisoners of war, after having lost one half of their number in the

defence of the place. While one part of Lis troops were engaged in this

service, he himself, at the head of another, advanced to the eastern

frontier of Bohemia, and sent a detachment as far as Trautenaw,

garrisoned by a body of Austrians, who, after an obstinate resistance,

abandoned the place, and retreated towards their grand army. By this

success he opened to himself a way into Bohemia, by which he poured

in detachments of light troops, to raise contributions and harass the

out-posts of the enemy. At the same time the baron de la Mothe Fouquet

marched with another body against the Austrian general Jahnus, posted

in the county of Glatz, whom he obliged to abandon all the posts he

occupied in that country, and pursued as far as Nashod, within twenty

miles of Koningsgratz, where the grand Austrian army was encamped, under

the command of mareschal Daun, who had lately arrived from Vienna. Over

and above these excursions, the king ordered a body of thirty thousand

men to be assembled, to act under the command of his brother prince

Henry,* an accomplished warrior, against the army of the empire, which

the prince de Deux-ponts, with great difficulty, made a shift to form

again near Bamberg, in Franconia.

* At this juncture the Prussian commandant of Dresden being

admitted into the Japan palace, to see the curious

porcelaine with which it is adorned, perceived a door built

up; and ordering the passage to be opened, entered a large

apartment, where he found three thousand tents, and other

field utensils. These had been concealed here when the

Prussians first took possession of the city; they were

immediately seized by the commandant, and distributed among

the troops of prince Henry’s army.

The king of Prussia, whose designs were perhaps even greater than he

cared to own, resolved to shift the theatre of the war, and penetrate

into Moravia, a fertile country, which had hitherto been kept sacred

from ravage and contribution. Having formed an army of fifty thousand

choice troops, near Neiss, in Silesia, he divided them into three

columns; the first commanded by mareschal Keith, the second by himself

in person, and the third conducted by prince Maurice of Anhault-Dessau.

In the latter end of April they began their march towards Moravia; and

general De la Ville, who commanded a body of troops in that country,

retired as they advanced, after having thrown a strong reinforcement

into Olmutz, which the king was determined to besiege. Had he passed

by this fortress, which was strongly fortified and well provided for a

vigorous defence, he might have advanced to the gates of Vienna, and

reduced the emperor to the necessity of suing for peace on his own

terms; but it seems he was unwilling to deviate so far from the common

maxims of war as to leave a fortified place in the rear; and, therefore,

he determined to make himself master of it before he should proceed. For

this purpose it was immediately invested: orders were issued to hasten

up the heavy artillery, and mareschal Keith was appointed to superintend

and direct the operations of the siege. Meanwhile the Austrian

commander, count Daun, being informed of his Prussian majesty’s motions

and designs, quitted his camp at Leutomyssel in Bohemia, and entered

Moravia by the way of Billa. Being still too weak to encounter the

Prussians in the field, he extended his troops in the neighbourhood of

the king’s army, between Gewitz and Littau, in a mountainous situation,

where he ran little or no risk of being attacked. Here he remained for

some time in quiet, with the fertile country of Bohemia in his

rear, from whence he drew plentiful supplies, and received daily

reinforcements. His scheme was to relieve the besieged occasionally, to

harass the besiegers, and to intercept their convoys from Silesia; and

this scheme succeeded to his wish. Olmutz is so extensive in its works,

and so peculiarly situated on the river Morava, that it could not be

completely invested without weakening the posts of the besieging army,

by extending them to a prodigious circuit; so that, in some parts,

they were easily forced by detachments in the night, who fell upon them

suddenly, and seldom failed to introduce into the place supplies of men,

provisions, and ammunition. The forage in the neighbourhood of the city

having been previously destroyed, the Prussian horse were obliged to

make excursions at a great distance, consequently exposed to fatigue,

and liable to surprise; and, in a word, the Prussians were not very

expert in the art of town-taking.

Count Daun knew how to take advantage of these circumstances without

hazarding a battle, to which the king provoked him in vain. While

the garrison made repeated sallies to retard the operations of the

besiegers, the’ Austrian general harassed their foraging parties, fell

upon different quarters of their army in the night, and kept them in

continual alarm. Nevertheless, the king finished his first parallel; and

proceeded with such vigour as seemed to promise a speedy reduction

of the place, when his design was entirely frustrated by an untoward

incident. Mareschal Daun, having received intelligence that a large

convoy had set out from Silesia for the Prussian camp, resolved to seize

this opportunity of compelling the king to desist from his enterprise.

He sent general Jahnus, with a strong body of troops, towards Bahrn,

and another detachment to Stadtoliebe, with instructions to attack

the convoy on different sides; while he himself advanced towards the

besiegers, as if he intended to give them battle. The king of Prussia,

far from being deceived by this feint, began, from the motions of the

Austrian general, to suspect his real scheme, and immediately despatched

general Ziethen, with a strong reinforcement, to protect the convoy,

which was escorted by eight battalions, and about four thousand men, who

had been sick, and were just recovered. Before this officer joined them,

the convoy had been attacked on the twenty-eighth day of June; but

the assailants were repulsed with considerable loss. Mareschal Daun,

however, took care that they should be immediately reinforced; and

next day the attack was renewed with much greater effect. Four hundred

waggons, guarded by four battalions, and about one thousand troopers,

had just passed the defiles of Domstadt, when the Austrians charged them

furiously on every side; the communication between the head and the rest

of the convoy was cut off; and general Ziethen, after having exerted all

his efforts for its preservation, being obliged to abandon the waggons,

retired to Troppau. Thus the whole convoy fell into the hands of the

enemy, who took above six hundred prisoners, together with general

Putkammer; and the king of Prussia was obliged to relinquish his

enterprise. This was a mortifying necessity to a prince of his high

spirit, at a time when he saw himself on the eve of reducing the place,

notwithstanding the gallant defence which had been made by general

Marshal the governor. Nothing now remained but to raise the siege, and

retire without loss in the face of a vigilant enemy, prepared to seize

every opportunity of advantage: a task which, how hard soever it may

appear, he performed with equal dexterity and success. Instead of

retiring into Silesia, he resolved to avert the war from his own

dominions, and take the route to Bohemia, the frontiers of which were

left uncovered by mareschal Daun’s last motion, when he advanced his

quarters to Posnitz, in order to succour Olmutz the more effectually.

After the king had taken his measures, he carefully concealed his design

from the enemy, and, notwithstanding the loss of his convoy, prosecuted

the operations of the siege with redoubled vigour till the first day of

July, when he decamped in the night, and began his march to Bohemia. He

himself, with one division, took the road to Konitz; and mareschal

Keith having brought away all the artillery, except four mortars and one

disabled cannon, pursued his march by the way of Littau to Muglitz and

Tribau. Although his Prussian majesty had gained an entire march upon

the Austrians, their light troops, commanded by the generals Buccow and

Laudohn, did not fail to attend and harass his army in their retreat;

but their endeavours were in a great measure frustrated by the conduct

and circumspection of the Prussian commanders. After the rear of the

army had passed the defiles of Krenau, general Lasci, who was posted

at Gibau with a large body of Austrian troops, occupied the village of

Krenau with a detachment of grenadiers, who were soon dislodged; and

the Prussians pursued their march by Zwittau to Leutomyssel, where they

seized a magazine of meal and forage. In the meantime general de Ratzow,

who conducted the provisions and artillery, found the hills of Hollitz

possessed by the enemy, who cannonaded him as he advanced; but mareschal

Keith coming up, ordered them to be attacked in the rear, and they fled

into a wood with precipitation, with the loss of six officers and three

hundred men, who were taken prisoners. While’ the mareschal was thus

employed, the king proceeded from Leutomyssel to Koningsgratz, where

general Buccow, who had got the start of him, was posted with seven

thousand men behind the Elbe, and in the intrenchments which they had

thrown up all around the city. The Prussian troops as they arrived

passed over the little river Adler, and as the enemy had broken down

the bridges over the Elbe, the king ordered them to be repaired with all

expedition, being determined to attack the Austrian intrenchments;

but general Buccow did not wait for his approach: he abandoned his

intrenchments, and retired with his troops to Clumetz; so that the

king took possession of the most important post of Koningsgratz without

further opposition. An Austrian corps having taken post between him and

Hollitz, in order to obstruct the march of the artillery, he advanced

against them in person, and having driven them from the place, all

his cannon, military stores, provisions, with fifteen hundred sick and

wounded men, arrived in safety at Koningsgratz, where the whole army

encamped. His intention was to transfer the seat of war from Moravia to

Bohemia, where he should be able to maintain a more easy communication

with his own dominions; but a more powerful motive soon obliged him to

change his resolution.

PROGRESS OF THE RUSSIANS.

After the Russian troops under Apraxin had retreated from Pomerania in

the course of the preceding year, and the czarina seemed ready to

change her system, the courts of Vienna and Versailles had, by dint

of subsidies, promises, presents, and intrigues, attached her, in all

appearance, more firmly than ever to the confederacy, and even induced

her to augment the number of troops destined to act against the Prussian

monarch. She not only signed her accession in form to the quadruple

alliance with the empress-queen and the kings of France and Sweden; but,

in order to manifest her zeal to the common cause, she disgraced her

chancellor, count Bestuchef, who was supposed averse to the war: she

divided her forces into separate bodies, under the command of the

generals Fermer and Browne, and ordered them to put their troops in

motion in the middle of winter. Fermer accordingly began his march in

the beginning of January, and on the twenty-second his light troops took

possession of Koningsberg, the capital of Prussia, without opposition:

for the king’s forces had quitted that country in order to prosecute the

war in the western parts of Pomerania. They did not, however, maintain

themselves in this part of the country; but, after having ravaged some

districts, returned to the main body, which halted on the Vistula, to

the no small disturbance of the city of Dantzic. The resident of the

czarina actually demanded that the magistrates should receive a Russian

garrison; a demand which they not only peremptorily refused, but ordered

all the citizens to arms, and took every other method to provide for

their defence. At length, after some negotiation with general Fermer,

the affair was compromised: he desisted from the demand, and part of his

troops passed the Vistula, seemingly to invade Pomerania, in the eastern

part of which count Dohna had assembled an army of Prussians to oppose

their progress. But after they had pillaged the open country, they

rejoined their main body; and general Fermer, turning to the left,

advanced to Silesia in order to co-operate with the other Russian army

commanded by Browne, who had taken his route through Poland, and already

passed the Posna. By the first of July both bodies had reached the

frontiers of Silesia, and some of their cossacks, penetrating into

that province, had committed dreadful ravages, and overwhelmed the

inhabitants with consternation. Count Bohna, with the Prussian army

under his command, had attended their motions, and even passed the Oder

at Frankfort, as if he had intended to give them battle; but he was too

much inferior in number to hazard such a step, which became an object of

his sovereign’s own personal attention. Mareschal Daun had followed the

king into Bohemia, and, on the twenty-second day of July, encamped

on the hills of Libischau, a situation almost inaccessible, where he

resolved to remain and watch the motions of the Prussian monarch, until

some opportunity should offer of acting to advantage. Nature seems

to have expressly formed this commander with talents to penetrate

the designs, embarrass the genius, and check the impetuosity, of

the Prussian monarch. He was justly compared to Fabius Maximus,

distinguished by the epithet of Cunctator. He possessed all the

vigilance, caution, and sagacity of that celebrated Roman. Like him, he

hovered on the skirts of the enemy, harassing their parties, accustoming

the soldiers to strict discipline, hard service, and the face of a

formidable foe, and watching for opportunities, which he knew how to

seize with equal courage and celerity.

THE PRUSSIANS DEFEAT THE RUSSIANS.

The king of Prussia, being induced by a concurrence of motives to stop

the progress of the Russians in Silesia, made his dispositions for

retreating from Bohemia, and on the twenty-fifth day of July quitted the

camp at Koningsgratz. He was attended in his march by three thousand

Austrian light troops, who did not fail to incommode his rear; but,

notwithstanding these impediments, he passed the Mittau, proceeded on

his route, and on the ninth day of August arrived at Landshut. From

thence he hastened with a detachment towards Frankfort on the Oder, and

joined the army commanded by lieutenant-general Dohna at Gorgas. Then

the whole army passed the Oder by a bridge thrown over at Gatavise, and

having rested one day, advanced to Dert-mitzel, where he encamped. The

Russians, under general Fermer, were posted on the other side of the

little river Mitzel, their right extending to the village of Zicker, and

their left to Quertchem. The king being determined to hazard a battle,

passed the Mitzel on the twenty-fifth in the morning, and turning the

flank of the enemy, drew up his army in order of battle in the plain

between the little river and the town of Zorndorf. The Russians, by whom

he was outnumbered, did not decline the dispute; but as the ground

did not permit them to extend themselves, they appeared in four

lines, forming a front on every side, defended by cannon and a

chevaux-de-frise, their right flank covered by the village of Zwicker.

After a warm cannonade, the Prussian infantry were ordered to attack

the village, and a body of grenadiers advanced to the assault; but this

brigade unexpectedly giving way, occasioned a considerable opening

in the line, and left the whole left flank of the infantry uncovered.

Before the enemy could take advantage of this incident, the interval was

filled up by the cavalry under the command of general Seydlitz; and the

king, with his usual presence of mind, substituted another choice body

of troops to carry on the attack. This began about noon, and continued

for some time, during which both sides fought with equal courage and

perseverance: at length general Seydlitz, having routed the Russian

cavalry, fell upon the flank of the infantry with great fury, which

being also dreadfully annoyed by the Prussian artillery, they abandoned

the village, together with their military chest, and great part of their

baggage. Notwithstanding this loss, which had greatly disordered their

right wing, they continued to stand their ground, and terrible havoc was

made among them, not only with the sword and bayonet, but also by

the cannon, which were loaded with grape shot, and, being excellently

served, did great execution. Towards evening the confusion among them

increased to such a degree, that in all probability they would have been

entirely routed, had they not been favoured by the approaching darkness,

as well as by a particular operation which was very gallantly performed.

One of the Russian generals perceiving the fortune of the day turned

against him, rallied a select body of troops, and made a vigorous

impression on the right wing of the Prussians. This effort diverted

their attention so strongly to that quarter, that the right of the

Russians enjoyed a respite, during which they retired in tolerable

order, and occupied a new post on the right, where the rest of their

forces were the more easily assembled. In this battle they are said

to have lost above fifteen thousand men, thirty-seven colours, five

standards, twelve mortars, the greater part of their baggage, and above

one hundred pieces of cannon. Among the prisoners that fell into the

hands of the victor, were several general officers, and a good number

lost their lives on the field of battle. The victory cost the king above

two thousand men, including some officers of distinction, particularly

two aide-de-camps, who attended his own person, which he exposed without

scruple to all the perils of the day. It would have redounded still

more to his glory, had he put a stop to the carnage; for, after all

resistance was at an end, the wretched Russians were hewn down without

mercy. It must be owned, indeed, that the Prussian soldiers were, in a

peculiar manner, exasperated against this enemy, because they had

laid waste the country, burned the villages, ruined the peasants, and

committed many horrid acts of barbarity, which the practice of war

could not authorize. [467] _[See note 3 P, at the end of this Vol.]_

The Prussian army passed the night under arms, and next morning the

cannonade was renewed against the enemy, who, nevertheless, maintained

their position without flinching. On the twenty-seventh, they seemed

determined to hazard another action, and even attack the conquerors;

instead of advancing, however, they took the route of Lands-berg; but

afterwards turned off towards Vietzel, and posted themselves between

the rivers Warta and that village. Immediately after the battle, general

Fermer,* who had received a slight wound in the action, sent a trumpet

with a letter to lieutenant-general Dohna, desiring a suspension of arms

for two or three days to bury the dead, and take care of the wounded;

and presenting to his Prussian majesty the humble request of general

Browne, who was much weakened with the loss of blood, that he might have

a passport, by virtue of which he could be removed to a place where he

should find such accommodation as his situation required.

* General Fermer was of Scottish extract, and general Browne

actually a native of North Britain.

In answer to this message, count Dohna gave the Russian general to

understand, that as his Prussian majesty remained master of the field,

he would give the necessary orders for interring the dead, and taking

care of the wounded on both sides: he refused a suspension of arms,

but granted the request of general Browne; and concluded his letter by

complaining of the outrages which the Russian troops still continued to

commit, in pillaging and burning the king’s villages.

The king of Prussia had no sooner repulsed the enemy in one quarter,

than his presence was required in another. When he quitted Bohemia,

mareschal Daun, at the head of the Austrian army, and the prince de

Deuxponts, who commanded the forces of the empire, advanced to the Elbe,

in order to surround the king’s brother, prince Henry, who, without

immediate succour, would not have been able to preserve his footing in

Saxony. The Prussian monarch, therefore, determined to support him with

all possible expedition. In a few days after the battle he began his

march from Custrin, with a reinforcement of twenty-four battalions and

great part of his cavalry, and pursued his route with such unwearied

diligence, that by the fifth day of September lie reached Torgau, and

on the eleventh joined his brother. Mareschal Daun had posted himself

at Stolpen, to the eastward of the Elbe, in order to preserve an easy

communication with the army of the empire encamped in the neighbourhood

of Koningstein, to favour the operations of general Laudohn, who had

advanced through the Lower Lusatia to the frontiers of Brandenburgh;

to make a diversion from the southern parts of Silesia, where a body of

Austrian troops acted under the command of the generals Harsche and de

Ville; and to interrupt the communication between prince Henry and the

capital of Saxony. On the fifth day of September, the garrison in the

strong fortress of Koningstein surrendered themselves prisoners of

war, after a very feeble resistance, to the prince de Detixponts, who

forthwith took possession of the strong camp at Pima. When the king of

Prussia therefore arrived at Dresden, he found the army of the empire

in this position, and mareschal Daun in a still stronger situation at

Stolpen, with bridges of communication thrown over the Elbe, so that he

could not attack them with any prospect of advantage. He had no other

resolution to take but that of endeavouring to cut them off from

supplies of provisions, and with this view he marched to Bautzen, which

he occupied. This motion obliged the Austrian general to quit his camp

at Stolpen, but he chose another of equal strength at Libau; yet he

afterwards advanced to Rittlitz, that he might be at hand to seize the

first favourable occasion of executing the resolution he had formed to

attack the Prussians. The king having detached general Ratzow on his

left, to take possession of Weissenberg, marched forwards with the body

of his army, and posted himself in the neighbourhood of Hochkirchen,

after having dislodged the Austrians from that village. Matters were now

brought to such a delicate crisis, that a battle seemed inevitable,

and equally desired by both parties, as an event that would determine

whether the Austrians should be obliged to retreat for winter-quarters

into Bohemia, or be enabled to maintain their ground in Saxony. In

this situation mareschal Daun resolved to act offensively; and formed a

scheme for attacking the right flank of the Prussians by surprise. This

measure was suggested to him by an oversight of the Prussians, who

had neglected to occupy the heights that commanded the village of

Hochkirchen, which was only guarded by a few free companies. He

determined to take the advantage of a very dark night, and to employ the

flower of his whole army on this important service, well knowing, that

should they penetrate through the flank of the enemy, the whole Prussian

army would be disconcerted, and in all probability entirely ruined.

Having taken his measures with wonderful secrecy and circumspection, the

troops began to move in the night between the thirteenth and fourteenth

of October, favoured by a thick fog, which greatly increased the

darkness of the night. Their first care was to take possession of the

hill that commanded Hochkirchen, from whence they poured down upon the

village, of which they took possession, after having cut in pieces the

free companies posted there. The action began in this quarter about

four in the morning, and continued several hours with great fury, for,

notwithstanding the impetuous efforts of the Austrian troops, and the

confusion occasioned among the Prussians by the surprise, a vigorous

stand was made by some general officers, who, with admirable expedition

and presence of mind, assembled and arranged the troops as they could

take to their arms, and led them up to the attack without distinction

of regiment, place, or precedence. While the action was obstinately

and desperately maintained in this place, amidst all the horrors of

darkness, carnage, and confusion, the king being alarmed, exerted all

his personal activity, address, and recollection, in drawing regularity

from disorder, arranging the different corps, altering positions,

reinforcing weak posts, encouraging the soldiery, and opposing the

efforts of the enemy; for although they made their chief impression upon

the right, by the village of Hochkirchen, mareschal Daun, in order to

divide the attention of the king, made another attack upon the left,

which was with difficulty sustained, and effectually prevented him from

sending reinforcements to the right, where mareschal Keith, under the

greatest disadvantages, bore the brunt of the enemy’s chief endeavours.

Thus the battle raged till nine in the morning, when this gallant

officer was shot through the heart. Prince Francis of Brunswick had

met with the same fate; prince Maurice of Anhault was wounded and taken

prisoner, and many others were either slain or disabled. As the right

wing had been surprised, the tents continued standing, and greatly

embarrassed them in their defence. The soldiers had never been properly

drawn up in order; the enemy still persevered in their attack with

successive reinforcements and redoubled resolution; and a considerable

slaughter was made by their artillery, which they had brought up to the

heights of Hochkirchen. All these circumstances concurring, could not

fail to increase the confusion and disaster of the Prussians; so that

about ten the king was obliged to retire to Dobreschutz, with the loss

of seven thousand men, of all his tents, and part of his baggage. Nor

had the Austrian general much cause to boast of his victory. His loss

of men was pretty nearly equal to that of the Prussian monarch; and,

whatever reputation he might have acquired in foiling that enterprising

prince, certainly his design did not take effect in its full extent,

for the Prussians were next day in a condition to hazared another

engagement. The king of Prussia had sustained no damage which he could

not easily repair, except the death of mareschal Keith, which was

doubtless an irreparable misfortune. [468] _[See note 3 Q, at the end of

this Vol.]_

His Prussian majesty remained with his army ten days at Dobreschutz,

during which he endeavoured to bring the Austrians to a second

engagement; but count Daun declined the invitation, and kept his forces

advantageously posted on eminences planted with artillery. His aim

having been frustrated at Hochkirchen, where he fought with many

advantages on his side, he would not hazard another battle upon equal

terms, with such an enterprising enemy, rendered more vigilant by the

check he had received, already reinforced from the army of prince Henry,

and eager for an opportunity to retrieve the laurel which had been

snatched from him by the wiles of stratagem, rather than by the hand

of valour. Count Daun, having nothing more to hope from the active

operations of his own army, contented himself with amusing the Prussian

monarch in Lusatia, while the Austrian generals, Harsche and De Ville,

should prosecute the reduction of Neiss and Cosel in Silesia, which

they now actually invested. As the Prussian monarch could not spare

detachments to oppose every different corps of his enemies that acted

against him in different parts of his dominions, he resolved to make

up in activity what he wanted in number, and, if possible, to raise the

siege of Neiss in person. With this view he decamped from Dobreschutz,

and, in sight of the enemy, marched to Goerlitz without the least

interruption. From thence he proceeded towards Silesia with his usual

expedition, notwithstanding all the endeavours and activity of general

Laudohn, who harassed the rear of the Prussians, and gained some petty

advantages over them.. Count Daun not only sent this detached corps

to retard them in their march; but at the same time, by another route,

detached a strong reinforcement to the army of the besiegers. In the

meantime, having received intelligence that the army of prince Henry in

Saxony was considerably weakened, he himself marched thither, in hopes

of expelling the prince from that country, and reducing the capital in

the king’s absence. Indeed, his designs were still more extensive, for

he proposed to reduce Dresden, Leipsic, and Torgau, at the same time;

the first with the main body under his own direction, the second by the

army of the empire under the prince de Deuxponts, and the third by a

corps under general Haddick, while the forces directed by Laudohn should

exclude the king from Lusatia. In execution of this plan he marched

directly to the Elbe, which he passed at Pima, and advanced to Dresden,

which he hoped would surrender without putting him to the trouble of

a formal siege. The army of prince Henry had already retired to the

westward of this capital before the prince de Deuxponts, who had found

means to cut off his communication with Leipsic, and even invested that

city. During these transactions general Haddick advanced against Torgau.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

SUBURBS OF DRESDEN BURNT.

The field-mareschal count Daun appearing on the sixth day of November

within sight of Dresden, at the head of sixty thousand men, encamped

next day at Lockowitz, and on the eighth his advanced troops attacked

the Prussian hussars and independent battalions, which were posted at

Striessen and Gruenewiese. Count Schmettau, who commanded the garrison,

amounting to ten thousand men, apprehensive that, in the course of

skirmishing, the Austrian troops might enter the suburbs pell-mell,

posted colonel Itzenplitz, with seven hundred men, in the redoubts that

surrounded the suburbs, that in case of emergency they might support the

irregulars; at the same time, as the houses that constituted the suburbs

were generally so high as to overlook the ramparts and command the city,

he prepared combustibles, and gave notice to the magistrates that they

would be set on fire as soon as an Austrian should appear within the

place. This must have been a dreadful declaration to the inhabitants of

these suburbs, which compose one of the most elegant towns in Europe.

In these houses, which were generally lofty and magnificent, the

fashionable and wealthy class of people resided, and here a number

of artists carried on a variety of curious manufactures. In vain the

magistrates implored the mercy and forbearance of the Prussian governor,

and represented, in the most submissive strain, that as they were

unconcerned in the war, they hoped they should be exempted from the

horrors of devastation. In vain the royal family, who remained at

Dresden, conjured him to spare that last refuge of distressed royalty,

and allow them at least a secure residence, since they were deprived of

every other comfort. He continued inflexible, or rather determined to

execute the orders of his master, which indeed he could not disobey with

any regard to his own safety. On the ninth day of November, about

noon, the Austrian vanguard attacked the advanced post of the garrison,

repelled the hussars, drove the independent battalions into the suburbs,

and forced three of the redoubts, while their cannon played upon the

town. The governor, expecting a vigorous attack next day, recalled his

troops within the city after they had set fire to the suburbs. At three

in the morning the signal was made for this terrible conflagration,

which in a little time reduced to ashes the beautiful suburbs of Pirna,

which had so lately flourished as the seat of gaity, pleasure, and the

ingenious arts. Every bosom warmed with benevolence must be affected at

the recital of such calamities. It excites not only our compassion for

the unhappy sufferers, but also our resentment against the perpetrators

of such enormity. Next day mareschal Daun sent an officer to count

Schmettau, with a message, expressing his surprise at the destruction of

the suburbs in a royal residence, an act of inhumanity unheard of among

christians. He desired to know if it was by the governor’s order this

measure was taken; and assured him, that he should be responsible in his

person for whatever outrages had been or might be committed against a

place in which a royal family resided. Schmettau gave him to understand,

that he had orders to defend the town to the last extremity, and that

the preservation of what remained depended entirely on the conduct of

his excellency; for, should he think proper to attack the place, he (the

governor) would defend himself from house to house, and from street to

street, and even make his last effort in the royal palace, rather

than abandon the city. He excused the destruction of the suburbs as a

necessary measure, authorized by the practice of war; but he would have

found it a difficult task to reconcile this step to the laws of eternal

justice, and far less to the dictates of common humanity. Indeed, if the

scene had happened in an enemy’s country, or if no other step could

have saved the lives and liberties of himself and his garrison, such a

desperate remedy might have stood excused by the law of nature and of

nations; but on this occasion he occupied a neutral city, over which he

could exercise no other power and authority but that which he derived

from illegal force and violence; nor was he at all reduced to the

necessity of sacrificing the place to his own safety, inasmuch as he

might have retired unmolested, by virtue of an honourable capitulation,

which, however, he did not demand. Whether the peremptory order of

a superior will, _in foro conscientio_, justify an officer who hath

committed an illegal or inhuman action, is a question that an English

reader will scarce leave to the determination of a German casuist with

one hundred and fifty thousand armed men in his retinue. Be this as it

will, Mr. Ponickau, the Saxon minister, immediately after this tragedy

was acted, without waiting for his master’s orders, presented a memorial

to the diet of the empire, complaining of it as an action reserved for

the history of the war which the king of Prussia had kindled in Germany,

to be transmitted to future ages. He affirmed that, in execution of

Schmettau’s orders, the soldiers had dispersed themselves in the streets

of the Pirna and Witchen suburbs, broke open the houses and shops, set

fire to the combustibles, added fresh fuel, and then shut the doors;

that the violence of the flames was kept up by red-hot balls fired into

the houses, and along the streets; that the wretched inhabitants, who

forsook their burning houses, were slain by the fire of the cannon and

small arms; that those who endeavoured to save their persons and effects

were pushed down and destroyed by the bayonets of the Prussian soldiers

posted in the streets for that purpose: he enumerated particular

instances of inhuman barbarity, and declared that a great number of

people perished, either amidst the flames, or under the ruins of the

houses. The destruction of two hundred and fifty elegant houses, and

the total ruin of the inhabitants, were circumstances in themselves

so deplorable, as to need no aggravation; but the account of the Saxon

minister was shamefully exaggerated, and all the particular instances

of cruelty false in every circumstance. Baron Plotho, the minister

of Brandenburgh, did not fail to answer every article of the Saxon

memorial, and refute the particulars therein alleged, in a fair detail,

authenticated by certificates under the hands of the magistrates,

judges, and principal inhabitants of Dresden. The most extraordinary

part of this defence or vindication was the conclusion, in which the

baron solemnly assured the diet, that the king of Prussia, from his

great love to mankind, always felt the greatest emotion of soul, and

the most exquisite concern, at the effusion of blood, the devastation of

cities and countries, and the horrors of war, by which so many thousand

fellow-creatures were overwhelmed; and that if his sincere and honest

inclination to procure peace to Germany, his dear country, had met with

the least regard, the present war, attended with such bloodshed and

desolation, would have been prevented and avoided. He, therefore,

declared that those who excited the present troubles, who, instead of

extinguishing, threw oil upon the flames, must answer to God for the

seas of blood that had been and would be shed, for the devastation of

so many countries, and the entire ruin of so many innocent individuals.

Such declarations cost nothing to those hardened politicians,

who, feeling no internal check, are determined to sacrifice every

consideration to the motives of rapacity and ambition. It would be

happy, however, for mankind, were princes taught to believe that there

is really an omnipotent and all-judging power, that will exact a severe

account of their conduct, and punish them for their guilt, with out any

respect to their persons; that pillaging a whole people is more cruel

than robbing a single person; and that the massacre of thousands is, at

least, as criminal as a private murder.

THE PRUSSIANS RAISE THE SIEGE OF NEISS, AND RELIEVE DRESDEN.

While count Daun was employed in making a fruitless attempt upon the

capital of Saxony, the king of Prussia proceeded in his march to

Neiss, which was completely invested on the third day of October.

The operations of the siege were carried on with great vigour by the

Austrian general De Harsche, and the place was as vigorously defended by

the Prussian governor, Theskau, till the first day of November, when the

Prussian monarch approached, and obliged the besiegers to abandon their

enterprise. M. de Harsche having raised the siege, the king detached

general Pouquet with a body of troops across the river Neiss, and

immediately the blockade of Cosel was likewise abandoned. De Harsche

retired to Bohemia, and De Ville hovered about Jagernsdorf. The fortress

of Neiss was no sooner relieved, than the king of Prussia began

his march on his return to Saxony, where his immediate presence was

required. At the same time, the two bodies under the generals Dohna and

Wedel penetrated by different routes into that country. The former had

been left at Custrin, to watch the motions of the Russians, who had

by this time retreated to the Vistula, and even crossed that river at

Thorn; and the other had, during the campaign, observed the Swedes, who

had now entirely evacuated the Prussian territories, so that Wedel was

at liberty to co-operate with the king in Saxony. He accordingly marched

to Torgau, the siege of which had been undertaken by the Austrian

general Haddick, who was repulsed by Wedel, and even pursued to the

neighbourhood of Eulenbourg. Wedel, being afterwards joined by Dohna,

drove him from thence with considerable loss, and then raised the siege

of Leipsic. Meanwhile, the king prosecuted his march towards the capital

of Saxony, driving before him the body of Austrian troops under Laudohn,

who retreated to Zittau. On the tenth day of November count Daun retired

from Dresden, and with the army of the empire fell back towards Bohemia;

and on the twentieth the king arrived in that city, where he approved

of the governor’s conduct. The Russian general foreseeing that he should

not be able to maintain his ground during the winter in Poinerania,

unless he could secure some sea-port on the Baltic, by which he might

be supplied with provisions, detached general Palmbach, with fifteen

thousand men, to besiege the town of Colberg, an inconsiderable place,

very meanly fortified. It was accordingly invested on the third day

of October; but the besiegers were either so ill provided with proper

implements, or so little acquainted with operations of this nature,

that the garrison, though feeble, maintained the place against all

their attacks for six-and-twenty days; at the expiration of which they

abandoned their enterprise, and cruelly ravaged the open country in

their retreat. Thus, by the activity and valour of the Prussian monarch,

his generals and officers, six sieges were raised almost at the same

period, namely, those of Colberg, Neiss, Cosel, Torgau, Leipsic, and

Dresden.

INHABITANTS OF SAXONY OPPRESSED.

The variety of fortune which the king of Prussia experienced in the

course of this campaign was very remarkable; but the spirit of his

conduct, and the rapidity of his motions, were altogether without

example. In the former campaign we were dazzled with the lustre of his

victories; in this we admire his fortitude and skill in stemming

the different torrents of adversity, and rising superior to his evil

fortune. One can hardly without astonishment recollect, that in the

course of a few months he invaded Moravia, invested Olmutz, and was

obliged to relinquish that design, that he marched through an enemy’s

country, in the face of a great army, which, though it harassed him

in his retreat, could not, in a route of an hundred miles, obtain any

advantage over him; that in spite of his disaster at Olmutz, and the

difficulties of such a march, he penetrated into Bohemia, drove the

enemy from Koningsgratz, executed another dangerous and fatiguing march

to the Oder, defeated a great army of Russians, and returned by the way

of Saxony, from whence he drove the Austrian and Imperial armies; that

after his defeat at Hochkirchen, where he lost two of his best generals,

and was obliged to leave his tents standing, he baffled the vigilance

and superior number of the victorious army, rushed like a whirlwind to

the relief of Silesia, invaded by an Austrian army, which he compelled

to retire with precipitation from that province; that, with the same

rapidity of motion, he wheeled about to Saxony, and once more rescued

it from the hands of his adversaries; that in one campaign he made twice

the circuit of his dominions, relieved them all in their turns, and

kept all his possessions entire against the united efforts of numerous

armies, conducted by generals of consummate skill and undaunted

resolution. His character would have been still more complete, if his

moderation had been equal to his courage; but in this particular we

cannot applaud his conduct. Incensed by the persecuting spirit of his

enemies, he wrecked his vengeance on those who had done him no injury;

and the cruelties which the Russians had committed in his dominions were

retaliated upon the unfortunate inhabitants of Saxony. In the latter end

of September, the president of the Prussian military directory sent

a letter to the magistrates of Leipsic, requiring them, in the king’s

name, to pay a new contribution of six hundred thousand crowns, and

to begin immediately with the payment of one-third part, on pain

of military execution. In answer to this demand, the magistrates

represented that the city having been exhausted by the enormous

contributions already raised, was absolutely incapable of furnishing

further supplies; that the trade was stagnated and ruined, and the

inhabitants so impoverished, that they could no longer pay the ordinary

taxes. This remonstrance made no impression. At five in the morning

the Prussian soldiers assembled, and were posted in all the streets,

squares, market-places, cemeteries, towers, and steeples; then the gates

being shut, in order to exclude the populace of the suburbs from the

city, the senators were brought into the town-hall, and accosted by

general Hauss, who told them, the king his master would have money; and,

if they refused to part with it, the city should be plundered. To

this peremptory address they replied to this effect:--“We have no more

money,--we have nothing left but life; and we recommend ourselves to

the king’s mercy.” In consequence of this declaration, dispositions were

made for giving up the city to be plundered. Cannon were planted in all

the streets, the inhabitants were ordered to remain within doors, and

every house resounded with dismal cries and lamentations. The dreaded

pillage, however, was converted into a regular exaction. A party of

soldiers, commanded by a subaltern, went from house to house, signifying

to every burgher, that he should produce all his specie, on pain of

immediate pillage and massacre; and every inhabitant delivered up his

all without further hesitation. About six in the evening, the soldiers

returned to their quarters; but the magistrates were detained in

confinement, and all the citizens were overwhelmed with grief and

consternation. Happy Britain, who knowest such grievances only by

report! When the king of Prussia first entered Saxony, at the beginning

of the war, he declared he had no design to make a conquest of that

electorate, but only to keep it as a depositum for the security of

his own dominions, until he could oblige his enemies to acquiesce in

reasonable terms of peace; but upon his last arrival at Dresden he

adopted a new resolution. In the beginning of December, the Prussian

directory of war issued a decree to the deputies of the states of the

electorate, demanding a certain quantity of flour and forage, according

to the convention formerly settled; at the same time signifying, that

though the king of Prussia had hitherto treated the electorate as a

country taken under his special protection, the face of affairs was now

changed in such a manner, that for the future he would consider it in no

other light than that of a conquered country. The Russians had seized in

Prussia all the estates and effects belonging to the king’s officers:

a retaliation was now made upon the effects of the Saxon officers,

who served in the Russian army. Seals were put on all the cabinets

containing papers belonging to the privy-counsellors of his Polish

majesty, and they themselves ordered to depart for Warsaw at a

very short warning. Though the city had been impoverished by former

exactions, and very lately subjected to military execution, the king of

Prussia demanded fresh contributions, and even extorted them by dint

of severities that shock humanity. He surrounded the exchange

with soldiers, and confining the merchants to straw beds and naked

apartments, obliged them to draw bills for very large sums on their

foreign correspondents: a method of proceeding much more suitable to the

despotism of a Persian sophi towards a conquered people who professed

a different faith, than reconcileable to the character of a protestant

prince towards a peaceable nation of brethren, with whom he was

connected by the common ties of neighbourhood and religion. Even if

they had acted as declared enemies, and been subdued with arms in their

hands, the excesses of war on the side of the conqueror ought to have

ceased with the hostilities of the conquered, who, by submitting to his

sway, would have become his subjects, and in that capacity had a claim

to his protection. To retaliate upon the Saxons, who had espoused no

quarrel, the barbarities committed by the Russians, with whom he was

actually at war; and to treat as a conquered province a neutral country,

which his enemies had entered by violence, and been obliged to evacuate

by force of arms, was a species of conduct founded on pretences which

overturn all right, and confound all reason.

PROGRESS OF THE SWEDES IN POMERANIA.

Having recorded all the transactions of the campaign, except those

in which the Swedes were concerned, it now remains that we should

particularize the progress which was made in Pomerania by the troops

of that nation, under the command of count Hamilton. We have already

observed, that in the beginning of the year the Prussian general,

Lehwald, had compelled them to evacuate the whole province, except

Stralsund, which was likewise invested. This, in all probability, would

have been besieged in form, had not Lehwald resigned the command of

the Prussians, on account of his great age and infirmities; and his

successor, count Dohna, been obliged to withdraw his troops in order to

oppose the Russian army on the other side of Pomerania. The blockade of

Stralsund being consequently raised, and that part of the country being

entirely evacuated by the Prussians, the Swedish troops advanced again

from the isle of Rugen, to which, they had retired; but the supplies

and reinforcements they expected from Stockholm were delayed in such a

manner, either from a deficiency in the subsidies promised by France, or

from the management of those who were averse to the war, that great

part of the season was elapsed before they undertook any important

enterprise. Indeed, while they lay encamped under the cannon of

Stralsund, waiting for these supplies, their operations were retarded by

the explosion of a whole ship-load of gunpowder intended for their use;

an event imputed to the practices of the Prussian party in Sweden, which

at this period seemed to gain ground, and even threatened a change in

the ministry. At length the reinforcement arrived about the latter end

of June, and their general seemed determined to act with vigour. In the

beginning of July, his army being put in motion, he sent a detachment to

dislodge the few Prussian troops that were left at Anclam, Demmin, and

other places, to guard that frontier; and they retreated accordingly.

Count Hamilton having nothing further to oppose him in the field, in

a very little time recovered all Swedish Pomerania, and even made hot

incursions into the Prussian territories. Meanwhile, a combined fleet

of thirty-three Russian and seven Swedish ships of war appeared in the

Baltic, and anchored between the isles of Dragoe and Amagh; but they

neither landed troops nor committed hostilities. The Swedish

general advanced as far as Fehrbellin, sent out parties that raised

contributions within five and twenty miles of Berlin, and threw the

inhabitants of that capital into the utmost consternation. The king

of Prussia, alarmed at their progress, despatched general Wedel from

Dresden, with a body of troops that were augmented on their march; so

that, on the twentieth of September, he found himself at Berlin with

eleven thousand effective men, at the head of whom he proceeded against

count Hamilton, while the prince of Bevern, with five thousand, advanced

on the other side from Stetin. At their approach, the Swedish commander

retired, after having left a garrison of fourteen hundred men at

Fehrbellin in order to retard the Prussians, and secure the retreat

of his army. The place was immediately attacked by general Wedel; and

though the Swedes disputed the ground from house to house with uncommon

obstinacy, he at last drove them out of the town, with the loss of one

half of their number either killed or taken prisoners. The body of the

Swedish army, without hazarding any other action, immediately evacuated

the Prussian territories, and returned to the neighbourhood of

Stralsund, intending to take winter-quarters in the isle of Rugen. Count

Hamilton, either disgusted at the restrictions he had been laid under,

or finding himself unable to act in such a manner as might redound to

the advantage of his reputation, threw up his command, retired from the

army, and resigned all his other employments.

PRINCE CHARLES OF SAXONY ELECTED DUKE OF COURLAND.

The king of Prussia was not only favoured by a considerable party in

Sweden, but he had also raised a strong interest in Poland, among such

Palatines as had always opposed the measures of the reigning family.

These were now reinforced by many patriots, who dreaded the vicinity and

suspected the designs of the Russian army. The diet of the republic

was opened on the second day of November; and, after warm debates, M.

Malachowski was unanimously elected mareschal; but no sooner had the

chambers of nuncios begun their deliberations, than a number of voices

were raised against the encroachments of the Russian troops, who had

taken up their residence in Poland; and heavy complaints were made of

the damages sustained from their cruelty and rapine. Great pains were

taken to appease these clamours; and many were prevailed upon to refer

these grievances to the king in senate; but when this difficulty seemed

almost surmounted, Padhorski, the nuncio of Volhinia, stood up, and

declared that he would not permit any other point to be discussed in

the diet while the Russians maintained the least footing within the

territories of the republic. Vain were all the attempts of the courtiers

to persuade and mollify this inflexible patriot, he solemnly protested

against their proceedings, and hastily withdrew; so that the mareschal

was obliged to dissolve the assembly, and recourse was had to a _senatus

consilium_, to concert proper measures to be taken in the present

conjuncture. The king of Poland was on this occasion likewise

disappointed in his views of providing for his son, prince Charles, in

the duchy of Courland. He had been recommended by the court of Russia,

and even approved by the states of that country; but two difficulties

occurred. The states declared, they could not proceed to a new election

during the life of their former duke, count Biron, who was still alive,

though a prisoner in Siberia, unless their duchy should be declared

vacant by the king and republic of Poland; and, according to the laws of

that country, no prince could be elected until he should have declared

himself of the Augsburgh confession. His Polish majesty, however, being

determined to surmount all obstacles to his son’s interest, ordered

count Malachowski, high chancellor of Poland, to deliver to prince

Charles a diploma, by which the king granted permission to the states of

Courland to elect that prince for their duke, and appointed the day for

his election and instalment; which accordingly took place in the month

of January, notwithstanding the clamour of many Polish grandees,

who persisted in affirming that the king had no power to grant such

permission without the consent of the diet. The vicissitudes of the

campaign had produced no revolutions in the several systems adopted by

the different powers in Europe. The czarina, who in the month of June

had signified her sentiments and designs against the king of Prussia,

in a declaration delivered to all the foreign ministers at Petersburgh,

seemed now, more than ever, determined to act vigorously in behalf of

the empress-queen of Hungary, and the unfortunate king of Poland, who

still resided at Warsaw. The court of Vienna distributed among the

imperial ministers at the several courts of the empire, copies of a

rescript explaining the conduct of her generals since the beginning of

the campaign, and concluded with expressions of self-approbation to

this effect: “Though the issue of the campaign be not as yet entirely

satisfactory, and such as might be desired, the imperial court enjoys,

at least, the sincere satisfaction of reflecting, that, according to

the change of circumstances, it instantly took the most vigorous

resolutions; that it was never deficient in any thing that might

contribute to the good of the common cause, and is now employed in

making preparations, from which the most happy consequences may be

expected.”

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

THE KING OF ENGLAND’S MEMORIAL.

We have already hinted at a decree of the Aulic council of the empire,

published in the month of August, enjoining all directors of circles,

all imperial towns, and the noblesse of the empire, to transmit to

Vienna an exact list of all those who had disobeyed the avocatoria

of the empire, and adhered to the rebellion raised by the elector of

Brandenburgh; that their revenues might be sequestered, and themselves

punished in their honours, persons, and effects. As the elector of

Hanover was plainly pointed out, and, indeed, expressly mentioned in

this decree, the king of Great Britain, by the hands of baron Gemmegen,

his electoral minister, presented a memorial to the diet of the empire

in the month of November, enumerating the instances in which he

exerted himself, and even exposed his life, for the preservation and

aggrandizement of the house of Austria. In return for these important

services, he observed, that the empress-queen had refused him the

assistance stipulated in treaties against an invasion planned by

France, whose hatred he had drawn upon himself by his friendship to

that princess; and his imperial majesty even denied him the dictatorial

letters which he solicited; that the court of Vienna had signed a treaty

with the crown of France, in which it was stipulated that the French

troops should pass the Weser, and invade the electorate of Hanover,

where they were joined by the troops of the empress-queen, who ravaged

his Britannic majesty’s dominions with greater cruelty than even the

French had practised; and the same duke of Cumberland, who had been

wounded at Dettingen in the defence of her imperial majesty, was obliged

to fight at Hastenbeck against the troops of that very princess,

in defence of his father’s dominions; that she sent commissaries to

Hanover, who shared with the crown of France the contributions extorted

from that electorate; rejected all proposals of peace, and dismissed

from her court the minister of Brunswick-Lunenbourg; that his imperial

majesty, who had sworn to protect the empire, and oppose the entrance

of foreign troops destined to oppress any of the states of Germany,

afterwards required the king of England to withdraw his troops from the

countries which they occupied, that the French army might again have

free passage into his German dominions; that the emperor had recalled

these troops, released them from their allegiance to their sovereign,

enjoined them to abandon their posts, their colours, and the service in

which they were embarked, on pain of being punished in body, honour, and

estate: and that the king of England himself was threatened with the ban

of the empire. He took notice, that, in quality of elector, he had been

accused of refusing to concur with the resolutions of the diet taken in

the preceding year; of entering into alliance with the king of Prussia;

joining his troops to the armies of that prince; employing auxiliaries

belonging to the states of the empire; sending English forces into

Germany, where they had taken possession of Embden; and exacting

contributions in different parts of Germany. In answer to these

imputations, he alleged that he could not, consistent with his own

safety or the dictates of common sense, concur with a majority in

joining his troops, which were immediately necessary for his own

defence, to those which, from the arbitrary views of the court of

Vienna, were led against his friend and ally the king of Prussia, by a

prince who did not belong to the generality of the empire, and on whom

the command had been conferred without a previous conclusion of the

Germanic body; that, with respect to his alliance with the king of

Prussia, he had a right, when deserted by his former allies, to seek

assistance wheresoever it could be procured; and surely no just ground

of complaint could be offered against that which his Prussian majesty

lent, to deliver the electoral states of Brunswick, as well as those of

Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, Hesse, and Ruckebourg, from the oppressions of

their common enemy. Posterity, he said, would hardly believe, that at

a time when the troops of Austria, the Palatinate, and Wirtemberg, were

engaged to invade the countries of the empire, other members of the

Germanic body, who employed auxiliaries in their defence, should be

threatened with outlawry and sequestration. He owned, that, in

quality of king, he had sent over English troops to Germany, and taken

possession of Embden; steps for which he was accountable to no power

upon earth, although the constitutions of the empire permit the

co-estates to make use of foreign troops, not indeed for the purpose of

invasion or conquest in Germany, but for their defence and preservation.

He also acknowledged that he had resented the conduct, and chastised the

injustice, of those co-estates who had assisted his enemies, and helped

to ravage his dominions; inferring, that if the crown of France was free

to pillage the estates of the duke of Brunswick and the landgrave

of Hesse-Cassel, because they had supplied the king of England with

auxiliaries; if the empress-queen had a right to appropriate to herself

half of the contributions raised by the French king in these countries;

surely his Britannic majesty had an equal right to make those feel

the burden of the war who had favoured the unjust enterprises of

his enemies. He expressed his hope, that the diet, after having duly

considered these circumstances, would, by way of advice, propose to his

imperial majesty that he should annul his most inconsistent mandates,

and not only take effectual measures to protect the electorate and its

allies, but also give orders for commencing against the empress-queen,

as archduchess of Austria, the elector Palatine, and the duke of

Wirtemberg, such proceedings as she wanted to enforce against his

Britannic majesty, elector of Brunswick-Lunenbourg. For this purpose

the minister now requested their excellencies to ask immediately the

necessary instructions for their principals. The rest of this long

memorial contained a justification of his Britannic majesty’s conduct in

deviating from the capitulation of Closter-Seven; with a refutation

of the arguments adduced, and a retortion of the reproaches levelled

against the king of England, in the paper or manifesto composed and

published under the direction of the French ministry, and intituled, “A

parallel of the conduct of the king of France with that of the king of

England, relative to the breach of the capitulation of Closter-Seven by

the Hanoverians.” But to this invective a more circumstantial answer

was published; in which, among other curious particulars, the letter of

expostulation, said to have been written by the Prussian monarch to

the king of Great Britain after the defeat of Kolin is treated as an

infamous piece of forgery, produced by some venal pen employed to impose

upon the public. The author also, in his endeavours to demonstrate his

Britannic majesty’s aversion to a continental war, very justly observes,

that “none but such as are unacquainted with the maritime force of

England, can believe, that, without a diversion on the continent, to

employ part of the enemy’s force, she is not in a condition to hope for

success, and maintain her superiority at sea. England, therefore, had no

interest to foment quarrels or wars in Europe; but, for the same reason,

there was room to fear that France would embrace a different system;

accordingly, she took no pains to conceal her views, and her envoys

declared publicly that a war upon the continent was inevitable, and

that the king’s dominions in Germany would be its principal object.” He

afterwards, in the course of his argumentation, adds, “That they must

be very ignorant indeed, who imagine that the forces of England are

not able to resist those of France, unless the latter be hindered from

turning all her efforts to the sea. In case of a war upon the continent,

the two powers must pay subsidies; only with this difference, that

France can employ her own land-forces, and aspire at conquests.” Such

were the professed sentiments of the British ministry, founded upon

eternal truth and demonstration, and openly avowed, when the business

was to prove that it was not the interest of Great Britain to maintain

a war upon the continent; but afterwards, when this continental war was

eagerly espoused, fostered, and cherished by the blood and treasure of

the English nation, then the partisans of that very ministry, which had

thus declared that England, without any diversion on the continent

of Europe, was an overmatch for France by sea, which maybe termed the

British element; then their partisans, their champions, declaimers,

and dependents, were taught to rise in rebellion against their former

doctrine, and, in defiance of common sense and reflection, affirm that a

diversion in Germany was absolutely necessary to the successful issue of

England’s operations in Asia, Africa, and America. Notwithstanding all

the facts and arguments assembled in this elaborate memorial, to expose

the ingratitude of the empress-queen, and demonstrate the oppressive

measures adopted by the imperial power, it remains to be proved, that

the member of a community is not obliged to yield obedience to the

resolutions taken, and the decrees published, by the majority of

those who compose this community; especially when reinforced with

the authority of the supreme magistrate, and not repugnant to the

fundamental constitution on which that community was established.

DEATH OF POPE BENEDICT.

If the empress-queen was not gratified to the extent of her wishes in

the fortune of the campaign, at least her self-importance was nattered

in another point, which could not fail of being interesting to a

princess famed for a glowing zeal and inviolable attachment to the

religion of Rome. In the month of August the pope conferred upon her the

title of apostolical queen of Hungary, conveyed by a brief, in which he

extolled her piety, and launched out into retrospective eulogiums of her

predecessors, the princes of Hungary, who had been always accustomed to

fight and overcome for the catholic faith under his holy banner. This

compliment, however, she did not derive from the regard of Prosper

Lambertini, who exercised the papal sway under the assumed name of

Benedict XIV. That pontiff, universally esteemed for his good sense,

moderation, and humanity, had breathed his last in the month of April,

in the eighty-fourth year of his age; and in July was succeeded in

the papacy by cardinal Charles Bezzonico, bishop of Padua, by birth a

Venetian. He was formerly auditor of the Rota; afterwards promoted to

the purple by pope Clement XII. at the nomination of the republic of

Venice; was distinguished by the title of St. Maria d’Ara Coeli, the

principal convent of the Cordeliers, and nominated protector of the

Pandours, or Illyrians. When he ascended the papal chair, he assumed the

name of Clement XIII. in gratitude to the last of that name, who was his

benefactor. Though of a disagreeable person, and even deformed in

his body, he enjoyed good health, and a vigorous constitution. As

an ecclesiastic, his life was exemplary; his morals were pure and

unimpeached; in his character he is said to have been learned, diligent,

steady, devout; and, in every respect, worthy to succeed such a

predecessor as Benedict.

KING OF PORTUGAL ASSASSINATED.

The king of Spain wisely persisted in reaping the advantages of a

neutrality, notwithstanding the intrigues of the French partisans at the

court of Madrid, who endeavoured to alarm his jealousy by the conquests

which the English had projected in America. The king of Sardina

sagaciously kept aloof, resolving, in imitation of his predecessors, to

maintain his power on a respectable footing, and be ready to seize all

opportunities to extend and promote the interest of his crown, and the

advantage of his country. As for the king of Portugal, he had prudently

embraced the same system of forbearance; but in the latter end of the

season, his attention was engrossed by a domestic incident of a very

extraordinary nature. Whether he had, by particular instances of

severity, exasperated the minds of certain individuals, and exercised

his dominion in such acts of arbitrary power as excited a general spirit

of disaffection among his nobility; or, lastly, by the vigorous

measures pursued against the encroaching Jesuits in Paraguay, and their

correspondents in Portugal, had incurred the resentment of that society,

we shall not pretend to determine: perhaps all these motives concurred

in giving birth to a conspiracy against his life, which was actually

executed at this juncture with the most desperate resolution. On the

third day of September, the king, according to custom, going out in

a carriage to take the air, accompanied by one domestic, was, in

the night, at a solitary place near Belem, attacked by three men on

horseback, armed with musquetoons, one of whom fired his piece at the

coachman without effect. The man, however, terrified both on his own

account and that of his sovereign, drove the mules at full speed;

a circumstance which, in some measure, disconcerted the other two

conspirators, who pursued him at full gallop, and having no leisure

to take aim, discharged their pieces at random through the back of the

carriage. The slugs with which they were loaded happened to pass between

the king’s right arm and his breast, dilacerating the parts from the

shoulder to the elbow, but without damaging the bone, or penetrating

into the cavity of the body. Finding himself grievously wounded, and

the blood flowing apace, he, with such presence of mind as cannot be

sufficiently admired, instead of proceeding to the palace, which was at

some distance, ordered the coachman to return to Junqueria, where

his principal surgeon resided, and there his wounds were immediately

dressed. By this resolution he not only prevented the irreparable

mischief that might have arisen from an excessive effusion of blood;

but, without all doubt, saved his life from the bands of other

assassins, posted on the road to accomplish the regicide, in case he

should escape alive from the first attack. This instance of the king’s

recollection was magnified into a miracle, on a supposition that it must

have been the effect of divine inspiration; and, indeed, among a people

addicted to superstition, might well pass for a favourable interposition

of Providence. The king being thus disabled in his right arm, issued a

decree, investing the queen with the absolute power of government. In

the meantime, no person had access to his presence but herself, the

first minister, the cardinal de Saldanha, the physicians, and surgeons.

An embargo was immediately laid on all the shipping in the port of

Lisbon. Rewards were publicly offered, together with the promise of

pardon to the accomplices, for detecting any of the assassins; and such

other measures used, that in a little time the whole conspiracy was

discovered: a conspiracy the more dangerous, as it appeared to have been

formed by persons of the first quality and influence. The duke de Weiro,

of the family of Mascarenhas; the marquis de Tavora, who had been

viceroy of Goa, and now actually enjoyed the commission of general of

the horse; the count de Attougui, the marquis de Alloria, together with

their wives, children, and whole families, were arrested immediately

after the assassination, as principals in the design; and many other

accomplices, including some Jesuits, were apprehended in the sequel.

The further proceedings on this mysterious affair, with the fate of

the conspirators, will be particularized among the transactions of the

following year. At present it will be sufficient to observe, that

the king’s wounds were attended with no bad consequences; nor did the

imprisonment of those noblemen produce any disturbance in the kingdom.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE FRENCH MINISTRY.

The domestic occurrences of France were tissued with a continuation

of the disputes between the parliaments and clergy, touching the

bull Unigenitus. In vain the king had interposed his authority: first

proposing an accommodation; then commanding the parliament to forbear

taking cognizance of a religious contest, which did not fall under their

jurisdiction; and, thirdly, banishing their persons, and abrogating

their power. He afterwards found it necessary to the peace of his

dominions to recall and reinstate those venerable patriots; and being

convinced of the intolerable insolence and turbulent spirit of the

archbishop of Paris, had exiled that prelate in his turn. He was no

sooner re-admitted to his function, than he resumed his former

conduct, touching the denial of the sacraments to those who refused

to acknowledge the bull Unigenitus: he even acted with redoubled zeal;

intrigued with the other prelates; caballed among the inferior clergy;

and not only revived, but augmented, the troubles throughout the whole

kingdom. Bishops, curates, and monks, presumed to withhold spiritual

consolation from persons in extremity, and were punished by the civil

power. Other parliaments of the kingdom followed the example exhibited

by that of Paris, in asserting their authority and privileges. The king

commanded them to desist, on pain of incurring his indignation;

they remonstrated, and persevered; while the archbishop repeated his

injunctions and censures, and continued to inflame the dispute to such

a dangerous degree, that he was given to understand he should be again

obliged to quit the capital, if he did not proceed with more moderation.

But the chief care of the French ministry was employed in regulating

the finances, and establishing funds of credit for raising money to pay

subsidies, and maintain the war in Europe and America. In the course

of this year they had not only considerably reinforced their armies in

Germany, but made surprising efforts to supply the colony of Canada with

troops, artillery, stores, and ammunition, for its defence against the

operations of the British forces, which greatly outnumbered the French

upon the continent. The court of Versailles practised every stratagem

to elude the vigilance of the English cruisers. The ships destined for

America they detached, both single and in convoys, sometimes from

the Mediterranean, sometimes from their harbours in the channel. They

assembled transports in one port, in order to withdraw the attention of

their enemies from another, where their convoys lay ready for sailing;

and in boisterous weather, when the English could no longer block up

their harbours, their store-ships came forth, and hazarded the voyage

for the relief of their American settlements. Those that had the good

fortune to arrive on the coast of that continent, were obliged to have

recourse to different expedients for escaping the British squadrons

stationed at Halifax, or cruising in the bay of St. Laurence. They

either ventured to navigate the river before it was clear of the ice, so

early in the spring, that the enemy had not yet quitted the harbour of

Nova-Scotia; or they waited on the coast of Newfoundland for such thick

fogs as might screen them from the notice of the English cruisers, in

sailing up the gulf; lastly, they penetrated through the straits of

Belleisle, a dangerous passage, which, however, led them directly into

the river St. Laurence, at a considerable distance above the station

of the British squadron. Though the French navy was by this time so

reduced, that it could neither face the English at sea nor furnish

proper convoys for commerce, her ministry nevertheless attempted to

alarm the subjects of Great Britain with the project of an invasion.

Flat-bottomed boats were built, transports collected, large ships of

the line equipped, and troops ordered to assemble on the coast

for embarkation; but this was no more than a feint to arouse the

apprehension of the English, disconcert the administration, prejudice

the national credit, and deter the government from sending forces to

keep alive the war in Germany. A much more effectual method they took to

distress the trade of England, by laying up their useless ships of

war, and encouraging the equipment of stout privateers, which did

considerable damage to the commerce of Great Britain and Ireland, by

cruising in the seas of Europe and America. Some of them lay close in

the harbours of the channel, fronting the coast of England, and darted

out occasionally on the trading ships of this nation, as they received

intelligence from boats employed for that purpose. Some chose their

station in the North sea, where a great number of captures were made

upon the coast of Scotland; others cruised in the chops of the channel,

and even to the westward of Ireland; but the far greater number scoured

the seas in the neighbourhood of the Leeward Islands in the West Indies,

where they took a prodigious number of British ships, sailing to and

from the sugar colonies, and conveyed them to their own settlements in

Martinique, Guadeloupe, or St. Domingo.

CONDUCT OF THE KING OF DENMARK.

With respect to the war that raged in Germany, the king of Denmark

wisely pursued that course, which happily preserved him from being

involved in those troubles by which great part of Europe was agitated,

and terminated in that point of national advantage which a king ought

ever to have in view for the benefit of his people. By observing a

scrupulous neutrality, he enhanced his importance among his neighbours:

he saw himself courted by all the belligerent powers: he saved the

blood and treasure of his subjects: he received large subsidies, in

consideration of his forbearance; and enjoyed, unmolested, a much more

considerable share of commerce than he could expect to carry on, even

in times of universal tranquillity. He could not perceive that the

protestant religion had anything to apprehend from the confederacy which

was formed against the Prussian monarch; nor was he misled into all the

expense, the perils, and disquiets of a sanguinary war, by that _ignis

fatuus_ which hath seduced and impoverished other opulent nations, under

the specious title of the balance of power in Germany. Howsoever he

might be swayed by private inclination, he did not think it was a point

of consequence to his kingdom, whether Pomeranians possessed by Sweden

or Prussia; whether the French army was driven back beyond the Rhine,

or penetrated once more into the electorate of Hanover: whether the

empress-queen was stripped of her remaining possessions in Silesia,

or the king of Prussia circumscribed within the original

bounds of his dominion. He took it for granted that France, for her own

sake, would prevent the ruin of that enterprising monarch; and that

the house of Austria would not be so impolitic and blind to its

own interest, as to permit the empress of Russia to make and retain

conquests in the empire; but even if these powers should be weak enough

to sacrifice all the maxims of sound policy to caprice or resentment,

he did not think himself so deeply concerned in the event, as for the

distant, prospect of what might possibly happen, to plunge headlong into

a war that must be attended with certain and immediate disadvantages.

True it is, he had no hereditary electorate in Germany that was

threatened with invasion; nor, if he had, is it to be supposed that

a prince of his sagacity and patriotism would have impoverished his

kingdom of Denmark, for the precarious defence of a distant territory.

It was reserved for another nation to adopt the pernicious absurdity of

wasting its blood and treasure, exhausting its revenues, loading its own

back with the most grievous impositions, incurring an enormous debt, big

with bankruptcy and ruin; in a word, of expending above an hundred

and fifty millions sterling in fruitless efforts to defend a distant

country, the entire property of which was never valued at one twentieth

part of that sum; a country with which it had no natural connexion, but

a common alliance arising from accident. The king of Denmark, though

himself a prince of the empire, and possessed of dominions in Germany

almost contiguous to the scenes of the present war, did not yet think

himself so nearly concerned in the issue, as to declare himself either

principal or auxiliary in the quarrel; yet he took care to maintain his

forces by sea and land upon a respectable footing; and by this conduct,

he not only provided for the security of his own country, but overawed

the belligerent powers, who considered him as a prince capable of making

either scale preponderate, just as he might choose to trim the balance.

Thus he preserved his wealth, commerce, and consequence undiminished;

and instead of being harassed as a party, was honoured as an umpire.

The United Provinces, though as adverse as his Danish majesty to any

participation in the war, did not, however, so scrupulously observe

the neutrality they professed; at least, the traders of that republic,

either from an inordinate thirst of lucre, or a secret bias in favour of

the enemies of Great Britain, assisted the French commerce with all the

appearance of the most flagrant partiality. We have, in the beginning of

this year’s transactions, observed, that a great number of their ships

were taken by the English cruisers, and condemned as legal prizes for

having French property on board: that the Dutch merchants, exasperated

by their losses, exclaimed against the English as pirates and robbers,

petitioned the states for redress in very high terms, and even loudly

clamoured for a war against Great Britain. The charge of violence

and injustice, which they brought against the English for taking and

confiscating the ships that transported to Europe the produce of the

French islands in the West Indies, they founded on the tenth article of

the treaty of commerce between Great Britain and the states-general of

the United Provinces, concluded in the year one thousand six hundred

and sixty-eight, stipulating, “That whatever shall be found on board

the ships of the subjects of the United Provinces, though the lading, or

part thereof, may belong to the enemies of Great Britain, shall be free

and unmolested, except these be prohibited goods, which are to be served

in the manner described by the foregoing articles.” From this article

the Dutch merchants argued, that, if there be no prohibited goods on

board, the English had no right to stop or molest any of their ships, or

make the least inquiry to whom the merchandise belonged, whence it was

brought, or whither bound. This plea the English casuists would by no

means admit, for the following reasons,--a general and perpetual license

to carry on the whole trade of their enemy would be such a glaring

absurdity, as no convention could authorize: common sense has dictated,

and Grotius declared, that no man can be supposed to have consented to

an absurdity; therefore, the interpretation given by the Dutch to this

article, could not be supposed to be its true and genuine meaning;

which, indeed, relates to nothing more than the common course of trade,

as it was usually carried on in time of peace. But even should this

interpretation be accepted, the article, and the treaty itself, would

be superseded and annulled by a subsequent treaty, concluded between the

two nations in the year one thousand six hundred and seventy-five, and

often confirmed since that period, stipulating, in a secret article,

that neither of the contracting parties should give, nor consent, that

any of their subjects and inhabitants should give any aid, favour, or

counsel, directly or indirectly, by land or sea, or on the fresh waters;

nor should furnish, or permit the subjects or inhabitants of their

respective territories to furnish, any ships, soldiers, seamen,

victuals, monies, instruments of war, gunpowder, or any other

necessaries for making war, to the enemies of either party, of any rank

or condition soever. Now, the Dutch have infringed this article in many

instances during the present war, both in Europe and America; and, as

they have so openly contravened one treaty, the English are not

obliged to observe another. They, moreover, forfeited all right to the

observance of the treaty in question, by refusing the succours with

which they were bound, in the most solemn manner, to furnish the king

of Great Britain, in case any of his territories in Europe should

be attacked: for nothing could be more weak and frivolous than the

allegation upon which this refusal was founded, namely, that the

hostilities in Europe were commenced by the English, when they seized

and confiscated the vessels of France; and they, being the aggressors,

had no right to insist upon the succours stipulated in a treaty which

was purely defensive. If this argument has any weight, the treaty itself

can have no signification. The French, as in the present case, will

always commence the war in America; and when their ships, containing

reinforcements and stores for the maintenance of that war, shall be

taken on the European seas, perhaps in consequence of their being

exposed for that purpose, they will exclaim that the English were the

aggressors in Europe, consequently deprived of all benefit accruing from

the defensive treaty subsisting between them and the states-general of

the United Provinces. It being impossible for the English to terminate

the war, while their enemies derive the sinews of it from their commerce

carried on in neutral bottoms, they are obliged to suppress such

collusions, by that necessity which Grotius himself hath allowed to be

a sufficient excuse for deviating from the letter of any treaty

whatsoever. In time of peace no Dutch ships were permitted to carry

the produce of any French sugar island, or even to trade in any of the

French ports in America or the West Indies; consequently, the treaty

which they quote can never justify them in carrying on a commerce,

which, as it did not exist, and was not foreseen, could not possibly

be guarded against when that convention was ratified. Grotius, whose

authority is held in such veneration among the Dutch, has determined

that every nation has a right to seize and confiscate the goods of any

neutral power, which shall attempt to carry them into any place which is

blocked up by that nation, either by land or sea. The French islands in

the West Indies were so blocked up by the English cruisers, that they

could receive no relief from their own government, consequently no

neutral power could attempt to supply them without falling under this

predicament.*

* In the reign of king William, when the English and Dutch

were engaged in a war against France, the northern powers of

Sweden and Denmark attempted to carry on the French

commerce, under the shade of neutrality; but the Dutch and

English joined in seizing the vessels that were thus

employed. Complaints of these captures were made at London

and the Hague, and the complainants were given to understand

at both places, that they should not be allowed to carry on

any trade with France, but what was usual in time of peace.

In consequence of this declaration, Mr. Groning formed the

design of writing a treatise on the freedom of navigation,

and communicated the plan of his work to the celebrated

Puffendorff, who signified his sentiments in a letter, which

is preserved by the learned Barbeyrac in his notes upon

that author’s treatise on the Law of Nature and Nations.

It was for these reasons that the king of England declared, by the mouth

of Mr. Yorke, his minister plenipotentiary at the Hague, in a conference

held in the mouth of August with the deputies of the states-general,

that though he was ready to concur in every measure that should be

proposed for giving satisfaction to their high mightinesses, with

whom he had always studied to live in the most perfect union, he was

nevertheless determined not to suffer the trade of the French colonies

in America to be carried on by the subjects of other powers, under the

specious pretext of neutrality: nor to permit words to be interpreted

as a license to drive a trade with his enemies, which, though not

particularly specified in the articles of contraband, was nevertheless

rendered such in all respects, and in every sense, by the nature of the

circumstances. It is not at all more surprising that the Dutch merchants

should complain, than that the English government should persist in

confiscating the ships that were found to contain the merchandise of

their enemies. The individual traders of every mercantile nation will

run considerable risks in extending their particular commerce, even

when they know it must be detrimental to the general interest of their

country. In the war maintained by the confederates against Louis XIV.

of France, the merchant ships of the Dutch carried on an uninterrupted

trade to the French ports; and, notwithstanding the repeated

solicitations of England, the states-general could never be prevailed

upon to prohibit this commerce, which undoubtedly enabled France to

protract the war. The truth is, they gave the British ministry to

understand, that unless they connived at this traffic, their subjects

could not possibly defray their proportion of the expense at which

the war was maintained. It is well known through all Europe, that the

subjects of the United Provinces reaped considerable advantage, not only

from this branch of illicit trade, but also by providing for both

armies in Flanders, and by the practice of stock-jobbing in England;

consequently, it was not the interest, either of the states-general, or

the English general, between whom there was a very good understanding,

to bring that war to a speedy conclusion: nor indeed ought we to fix the

imputation of partiality upon a whole nation, for the private conduct

of individuals, influenced by motives of self-interest, which co-operate

with the same energy in Holland, and among the subjects of Great

Britain. In the course of the former war, such a scandalous appetite

for gain prevailed in different parts of the British dominions, that

the French islands were actually supplied with provisions, slaves, and

lumber, from Ireland and the British colonies in North America; and

Martinique, in particular, must have surrendered to the commander of the

English squadron stationed in those seas, had it not been thus supported

by English subjects. Certain it is, the Dutch had some reason to

complain that they were decoyed into this species of traffic by the

article of a treaty, which, in their opinion, admitted of no limitation;

and that the government of Great Britain, without any previous warning,

or explaining its sentiments on this subject, swept the sea at once of

all their vessels employed in this commerce, and condemned them, without

mitigation, to the entire ruin of many thousand families. Considering

the intimate connexion of mutual interest subsisting between Great

Britain and the states of the United Provinces, they seem to have had

some right to an intimation of this nature, which, in all probability,

would have induced them to resign all prospect of advantage from the

prosecution of such traffic.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

CONFERENCES AT THE HAGUE.

Besides the universal clamour excited in Holland, and the famous

memorial presented to the states-general, which we have already

mentioned in another place, a deputation of merchants waited four times

successively on the princess regent to explain their grievances, and

demand her concurrence in augmenting the navy for the preservation of

their commerce. She promised to interpose her best offices with the

court of Great Britain; and these co-operating with representations

made by the states-general, the English minister was empowered to open

conferences at the Hague, in order to bring all matters in dispute to an

amicable accommodation. These endeavours, however, proved ineffectual.

The British cruisers continued to take, and the British courts to

condemn, all Dutch vessels containing the produce of the French sugar

islands. The merchants of Holland and Zealand renewed their complaints

with redoubled clamour, and all the trading part of the nation,

reinforced by the whole party that opposed the house of Orange, cried

aloud for an immediate augmentation of the marine, and reprisals upon

the pirates of England. The princess, in order to avoid extremities,

was obliged not only to employ all her personal influence with the

states-general, but also to play off one faction against another, in the

way of remonstrance and exclamation As far back as the month of June,

she presented a memorial to the states-general, reminding them, that in

the beginning of the war between France and England, she had advised

an augmentation should be made in their land-forces, to strengthen

the garrisons of the frontier towns, and cover the territories of the

republic from invasion. She gave them to understand, that the provinces

of Gueldres and Overyssel, intimidated by the proximity of two

formidable armies, had resolved to demand that the augmentation of their

land-forces should be taken into consideration by the other provinces;

and requested her to reinforce their solicitations that this measure

might immediately take place. This request, she said, she the more

readily granted, as she could not but be sensible of the imminent danger

that threatened the republic, especially since the Hanoverian army

had passed the Rhine; and as it behoved the state to put itself in a

condition to hinder either army from retiring into the territories of

the republic, if it should be defeated; for in that case the conqueror,

being authorized to pursue his enemy wherever he can find him, would

bring the war into the heart of their country. This representation had

no other effect than that of suspending the measure which each party

proposed. The princess, in her answer to the fourth deputation of the

merchants, declared that she beheld the present state of their trade

with the most anxious concern; that its want of protection was not

her fault, but that of the towns of Dort, Haerlem, Amsterdam, Torgau,

Rotterdam, and the Brille, to whose conduct it was owing, that the

forces of the state, by sea and land, were not now on a better footing.

The deputies were afterwards referred to her minister, M. de la Larrey,

to whom they represented, that the augmentation of the land-forces, and

the equipment of a fleet, were matters as distinct from each other

as light from darkness; that there was no pressing motive for an

augmentation of the army, whereas, innumerable reasons rendered the

equipment of a fleet a matter of the most urgent necessity. In a few

days after this representation was made, the princess, in an assembly

of the states-general, requested their high mightinesses, that, seeing

their earnest and repeated efforts to induce the provinces of Holland,

Zealand, Friesland, and West Friesland, to acquiesce in the proposed

augmentation of forces by sea and land, had not hitherto met with

success, they would now consider and deliberate upon some expedient for

terminating this affair, and the sooner the better, in order on one hand

to satisfy the strong and well-grounded instances made by the provinces

of Gueldres, Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen; and, on the other, to

comply with the ardent and just desires expressed by the commercial

inhabitants of the country. She told them, that the deputation which

waited on her consisted of forty merchants, a number that merited

attention, no less than the speech they pronounced, of which a great

number of printed copies were distributed through all parts of the

country. Without making any particular remarks on the harangue, she only

observed, that the drift of it did not tend to facilitate the negotiation

begun with Great Britain, nor to induce the nation to prefer a

convention to a rupture with that crown. From this circumstance she

inferred, it was more than time to finish the deliberations on the

proposal for augmenting the forces both by sea and land; a measure,

without which, she was convinced in her conscience, the state was, and

would always remain, exposed to all sorts of misfortune and danger both

now and hereafter.

In consequence of this interposition, the states-general that same day

sent a letter to the states of Holland and West Friesland, communicating

the sentiments of the princess-regent, and insisting upon the necessity

of complying with her proposal of the double augmentation. They

observed, that an augmentation of the land-forces, for the defence of

the frontiers, was unavoidable, as well as an equipment by sea for the

security of commerce: that the states of the provinces of Gueldres,

Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen, joined with them in the same opinion;

and accordingly had insisted, by divers letters and propositions, on

those two points so essential to the public interest. They represented

the danger of delay, and the fatal effects of discord; they proposed,

that by a reciprocal indulgence one party should comply with the

sentiments of the other, in order to avoid a schism and dangerous

division among the confederates, the consequences of which would be

very deplorable; while the republic, in the meantime, would remain in

a defenceless condition, both by sea and land, and depend upon the

arbitrary power of its neighbours. They conjured them, therefore, as

they valued the safety of their country, and all that was dear to them;

as they regarded the protection of the good inhabitants, the concord

and harmony which at all times but especially at the present critical

juncture, was of the last necessity, that they would seriously reflect

upon the exhortations of her royal highness, as well as on the repeated

instances of the majority of the confederates, and take a wise and

salutary resolution with regard to the proposed augmentation of the

land-forces, so that this addition, together with an equipment at sea,

might, the sooner the better, be unanimously brought to a conclusion.

It was undoubtedly the duty of all who wished well to their country,

to moderate the heat and precipitation of those, who, provoked by their

losses, and stimulated by resentment, endeavoured at this period to

involve their nation in a war with Great Britain. Had matters been

pushed to this extremity, in a few months the republic would, in all

probability, have been brought to the brink of ruin. The Dutch were

distracted by internal divisions; they were altogether unprovided for

hostilities by sea; the ocean was covered with their trading vessels;

and the naval armaments of Great Britain were so numerous and powerful,

as to render all resistance on that element equally vain and pernicious.

The English could not only have scoured the seas, and made prize of

their shipping, but were also in a condition to reduce or demolish

all their towns in Zealand, where they would hardly have met with any

opposition.