MARIA THERESA.
From 1748 to 1759.
Treaty of Peace.--Dissatisfaction of Maria Theresa.--Preparation for
War.--Rupture between England and Austria.--Maria Theresa.--Alliance
with France.--Influence of Marchioness of Pompadour.--Bitter Reproaches
Between Austria and England.--Commencement of the Seven Years'
War.--Energy of Frederic of Prussia.--Sanguinary Battles.--Vicissitudes
of War.--Desperate Situation of Frederic.--Elation of Maria Theresa.--
Her Ambitious Plans.--Awful Defeat of the Prussians at Berlin.
Notwithstanding the bitter opposition of Maria Theresa to peace, the
definitive treaty was signed at Aix-la-Chapelle on the 18th of October,
1748, by France, England and Holland. Spain and Sardinia soon also gave
in their adhesion. The queen, finding it impossible to resist the
determination of the other powers, at length reluctantly yielded, and
accepted the terms, which they were ready unitedly to enforce should she
refuse to accede to them. By this treaty all the contracting powers gave
their assent to the Pragmatic Sanction. The queen was required to
surrender her conquests in Italy, and to confirm her cessions of Silesia
to Prussia. Thus terminated this long and cruel war. Though at the
commencement the queen was threatened with utter destruction, and she
had come out from the contests with signal honor, retaining all her vast
possessions, excepting Silesia and the Italian provinces, still she
could not repress her chagrin. Her complaints were loud and reiterated.
When the British minister requested an audience to congratulate her upon
the return of peace, she snappishly replied,
"A visit of condolence would be more proper, under these circumstances,
than one of congratulation. The British minister will oblige me by
making no allusion whatever to so disagreeable a topic."
The queen was not only well aware that this peace could not long
continue, but was fully resolved that it should not be permanent. Her
great rival, Frederic, had wrested from her Silesia, and she was
determined that there should be no stable peace until she had regained
it. With wonderful energy she availed herself of this short respite in
replenishing her treasury and in recruiting her armies. Frederic himself
has recorded the masculine vigor with which she prepared herself for the
renewal of war.
"Maria Theresa," he says, "in the secrecy of her cabinet, arranged those
great projects which she afterwards carried into execution. She
introduced an order and economy into the finances unknown to her
ancestors; and her revenues far exceeded those of her father, even when
he was master of Naples, Parma, Silesia and Servia. Having learned the
necessity of introducing into her army a better discipline, she annually
formed camps in the provinces, which she visited herself that she might
animate the troops by her presence and bounty. She established a
military academy at Vienna, and collected the most skillful professors
of all the sciences and exercises which tend to elucidate or improve the
art of war. By these institutions the army acquired, under Maria
Theresa, such a degree of perfection as it had never attained under any
of her predecessors; and a woman accomplished designs worthy of a great
man."
The queen immediately organized a standing army of one hundred and eight
thousand men, who were brought under the highest state of discipline,
and were encamped in such positions that they could, at any day, be
concentrated ready for combined action. The one great object which now
seemed to engross her mind was the recovery of Silesia. It was, of
course, a subject not to be spoken of openly; but in secret conference
with her ministers she unfolded her plans and sought counsel. Her
intense devotion to political affairs, united to a mind of great
activity and native strength, soon placed her above her ministers in
intelligence and sagacity; and conscious of superior powers, she leaned
less upon them, and relied upon her own resources. With a judgment thus
matured she became convinced of the incapacity of her cabinet, and with
great skill in the discernment of character, chose Count Kaunitz, who
was then her ambassador at Paris, prime minister. Kaunitz, son of the
governor of Moravia, had given signal proof of his diplomatic abilities,
in Rome and in Paris. For nearly forty years he remained at the head of
foreign affairs, and, in conjunction with the queen, administered the
government of Austria.
Policy had for some time allied Austria and England, but there had never
been any real friendship between the two cabinets. The high tone of
superiority ever assumed by the court of St. James, its offensive
declaration that the arm of England alone had saved the house of Austria
from utter ruin, and the imperious demand for corresponding gratitude,
annoyed and exasperated the proud court of Vienna. The British cabinet
were frequently remonstrated with against the assumption of such airs,
and the employment of language so haughty in their diplomatic
intercourse. But the British government has never been celebrated for
courtesy in its intercourse with weaker powers. The chancellor Kaunitz
entreated them, in their communications, to respect the sex and temper
of the queen, and not to irritate her by demeanor so overbearing. The
emperor himself entered a remonstrance against the discourtesy which
characterized their intercourse. Even the queen, unwilling to break off
friendly relations with her unpolished allies, complained to the British
ambassador of the arrogant style of the English documents.
"They do not," said the queen, "disturb me, but they give great offense
to others, and endanger the amity existing between the two nations. I
would wish that more courtesy might mark our intercourse."
But the amenities of polished life, the rude islanders despised. The
British ambassador at Vienna, Sir Robert Keith, a gentlemanly man, was
often mortified at the messages he was compelled to communicate to the
queen. Occasionally the messages were couched in terms so peremptory and
offensive that he could not summon resolution to deliver them, and thus
he more than once incurred the censure of the king and cabinet, for his
sense of propriety and delicacy. These remonstrances were all
unavailing, and at length the Austrian cabinet began to reply with equal
rancor.
This state of things led the Austrian cabinet to turn to France, and
seek the establishment of friendly relations with that court. Louis XV.,
the most miserable of debauchees, was nominally king. His mistress,
Jeanette Poisson, who was as thoroughly polluted as her regal paramour,
governed the monarch, and through him France. The king had ennobled her
with the title of Marchioness of Pompadour. Her power was so boundless
and indisputable that the most illustrious ladies of the French court
were happy to serve as her waiting women. Whenever she walked out, one
of the highest nobles of the realm accompanied her as her attendant,
obsequiously bearing her shawl upon his arm, to spread it over her
shoulders in case it should be needed. Ambassadors and ministers she
summoned before her, assuming that air of royalty which she had
purchased with her merchantable charms. Voltaire, Diderot, Montesquieu,
waited in her ante-chambers, and implored her patronage. The haughty
mistress became even weary of their adulation.
"Not only," said she one day, to the Abbé de Bernis, "have I all the
nobility at my feet, but even my lap-dog is weary of their fawning."
With many apologies for requiring of the high-minded Maria Theresa a
sacrifice, Kaunitz suggested to her the expediency of cultivating the
friendship of Pompadour. Silesia was engraved upon the heart of the
queen, and she was prepared to do any thing which could aid her in the
reconquest of that duchy. She stooped so low as to write a letter with
her own hand to the marchioness, addressing her as "our dear friend and
cousin."
This was a new triumph for Pompadour, and it delighted her beyond
measure. To have the most illustrious sovereign of Europe, combining in
her person the titles of Queen of Austria and Empress of Germany,
solicit her friendship and her good offices, so excited the vanity of
the mistress, that she became immediately the warm friend of Maria
Theresa, and her all powerful advocate in the court of Versailles.
England was now becoming embroiled with France in reference to the
possessions upon the St. Lawrence and Ohio in North America. In case of
war, France would immediately make an attack upon Hanover. England was
anxious to secure the Austrian alliance, that the armies of the queen
might aid in the protection of Hanover. But Austria, being now in secret
conference with France, was very reserved. England coaxed and
threatened, but could get no definite or satisfactory answer. Quite
enraged, the British cabinet sent a final declaration that, "should the
empress decline fulfilling the conditions required, the king can not
take any measures in coöperation with Austria, and the present system of
European policy must be dissolved."
The reply of the empress queen develops the feelings of irritation and
bitterness which at that time existed between the two cabinets of
Austria and England.
"The queen," Maria Theresa replied, "has never had the satisfaction of
seeing England do justice to her principles. If the army of Austria were
merely the hired soldiers of England, the British cabinet could not more
decisively assume the control of their movements than it now does, by
requiring their removal from the center of Austria, for the defense of
England and Hanover. We are reproached with the great efforts England
has made in behalf of the house of Austria. But to these efforts England
owes its present greatness. If Austria has derived useful succors from
England, she has purchased those succors with the blood and ruin of her
subjects; while England has been opening to herself new sources of
wealth and power. We regret the necessity of uttering these truths in
reply to unjust and unceasing reproaches. Could any consideration
diminish our gratitude towards England, it would be thus diminished by
her constant endeavor to represent the aid she has furnished us as
entirely gratuitous, when this aid has always been and always will be
dictated by her own interests."
Such goading as this brought back a roar. The British envoy was ordered
to demand an explicit and categorical reply to the following questions:
1. If the French attack Hanover, will the queen render England
assistance?
2. What number of troops will she send; and how soon will they be in
motion to join the British and Hanoverian troops?
The Austrian minister, Kaunitz, evaded a reply, coldly answering, "Our
ultimatum has been given. The queen deems those declarations as ample as
can be expected in the present posture of affairs; nor can she give any
further reply till England shall have more fully explained her
intentions."
Thus repulsed, England turned to Prussia, and sought alliance with the
most inveterate enemy of Austria. Frederic, fearing an assault from
united Russia and Austria, eagerly entered into friendly relations with
England, and on the 16th of January, 1756, entered into a treaty with
the cabinet of Great Britain for the defense of Hanover.
Maria Theresa was quite delighted with this arrangement, for affairs
were moving much to her satisfaction at Versailles. Her "dear friend and
cousin" Jeanette Poisson, had dismissed all the ministers who were
unfriendly to Austria, and had replaced them with her own creatures who
were in favor of the Austrian alliance. A double motive influenced the
Marchioness of Pompadour. Her vanity was gratified by the advances of
Maria Theresa, and revenge roused her soul against Frederic of Prussia,
who had indulged in a cutting witticism upon her position and character.
The marchioness, with one of her favorites, Cardinal Bernis, met the
Austrian ambassador in one of the private apartments of the palace of
the Luxembourg, and arranged the plan of the alliance between France and
Austria. Maria Theresa, without the knowledge of her ministers, or even
of her husband the emperor, privately conducted these negotiations with
the Marchioness du Pompadour. M. Kaunitz was the agent employed by the
queen in this transaction. Louis XV., sunk in the lowest depths of
debauchery, consented to any arrangements his mistress might propose.
But when the treaty was all matured it became necessary to present it to
the Council of State. The queen, knowing how astounded her husband would
be to learn what she had been doing, and aware of the shock it would
give the ministry to think of an alliance with France, pretended to
entire ignorance of the measures she had been so energetically
prosecuting.
In very guarded and apologetic phrase, Kaunitz introduced the delicate
subject. The announcement of the unexpected alliance with France struck
all with astonishment and indignation. Francis, vehemently moved, rose,
and smiting the table with his hand, exclaimed, "Such an alliance is
unnatural and impracticable--it never shall take place." The empress, by
nods and winks, encouraged her minister, and he went on detailing the
great advantages to result from the French alliance. Maria Theresa
listened with great attention to his arguments, and was apparently
convinced by them. She then gave her approbation so decisively as to
silence all debate. She said that such a treaty was so manifestly for
the interest of Austria, that she was fearful that France would not
accede to it. Since she knew that the matter was already arranged and
settled with the French court, this was a downright lie, though the
queen probably regarded it as a venial fib, or as diplomacy.
Thus curiously England and Austria had changed their allies. George II.
and Frederic II., from being rancorous foes became friends, and Maria
Theresa and Louis XV. unfurled their flags together. England was
indignant with Austria for the French alliance, Austria was indignant
with England for the Prussian alliance. Each accused the other of being
the first to abandon the ancient treaty. As the British ambassador
reproached the queen with this abandonment, she replied,
"I have not abandoned the old system, but Great Britain has abandoned me
and that system, by concluding the Prussian treaty, the first
intelligence of which struck me like a fit of apoplexy. I and the King
of Prussia are incompatible. No consideration on earth shall induce me
to enter into any engagement to which he is a party. Why should you be
surprised if, following your example in concluding a treaty with
Prussia, I should enter into an engagement with France?"
"I have but two enemies," Maria Theresa said again, "whom I have to
dread--the King of Prussia and the Turks. And while I and the Empress of
Russia continue on the same good terms as now subsist between us, we
shall, I trust, be able to convince Europe that we are in a condition to
defend ourselves against those adversaries, however formidable."
The queen still kept her eye anxiously fixed upon Silesia, and in secret
combination with the Empress of Russia made preparation for a sudden
invasion. With as much secrecy as was possible, large armies were
congregated in the vicinity of Prague, while Russia was cautiously
concentrating her troops upon the frontiers of Livonia. But Frederic was
on the alert, and immediately demanded of the empress queen the
significance of these military movements.
"In the present crisis," the queen replied, "I deem it necessary to take
measures for the security of myself and my allies, which tend to the
prejudice of no one."
So vague an answer was of course unsatisfactory, and the haughty
Prussian king reiterated his demand in very imperious tones.
"I wish," said he, "for an immediate and categorical answer, not
delivered in an oracular style, ambiguous and inconclusive, respecting
the armaments in Bohemia, and I demand a positive assurance that the
queen will not attack me either during this or the following year."
The answer returned by the queen to this demand was equally
unsatisfactory with the first, and the energetic Prussian monarch,
wasting no more words, instantly invaded Saxony with a powerful army,
overran the duchy, and took possession of Dresden, its capital. Then
wheeling his troops, with twenty-four thousand men he marched boldly
into Bohemia. The queen dispatched an army of forty thousand to meet
him. The fierce encounter took place at Lowositz, near the banks of the
Elbe. The military genius of Frederic prevailed, and the Austrians were
repulsed, though the slaughter was about equal on each side, six
thousand men, three thousand upon each side, being left in their blood.
Frederic took possession of Saxony as a conquered province. Seventeen
thousand soldiers, whom he made prisoners, he forced into his own
service. Eighty pieces of cannon were added to his artillery train, and
the revenues of Saxony replenished his purse.
The anger of Maria Theresa, at this humiliation of her ally, was roused
to the highest pitch, and she spent the winter in the most vigorous
preparations for the campaign of the spring. She took advantage of
religious fanaticism, and represented, through all the Catholic courts
of Europe, that there was a league of the two heretical powers, England
and Prussia, against the faithful children of the Church. Jeanette
Poisson, Marchioness of Pompadour, who now controlled the destinies of
France, raised, for the service of Maria Theresa, an army of one hundred
and five thousand men, paid all the expenses of ten thousand Bavarian
troops, and promised the queen an annual subsidy of twelve millions of
imperial florins. The emperor, regarding the invasion of Saxony as an
insult to the empire, roused the States of Germany to coöperate with the
queen. Europe was again ablaze with war.
It was indeed a fearful combination now prepared to make a rush upon the
King of Prussia. France had assembled eighty thousand men on the Rhine.
The Swedes were rallying in great numbers on the frontiers of Pomerania.
The Russians had concentrated an army sixty thousand strong on the
borders of Livonia. And the Queen of Austria had one hundred and fifty
thousand men on the march, through Hungary and Bohemia, to the frontiers
of Silesia. Frederic, with an eagle eye, was watching all these
movements, and was employing all his amazing energies to meet the
crisis. He resolved to have the advantage of striking the first blow,
and adopted the bold measure of marching directly into the heart of the
Austrian States. To deceive the allies he pretended to be very much
frightened, and by breaking down bridges and establishing fortresses
seemed intent upon merely presenting a desperate defense behind his
ramparts.
Suddenly, in three strong, dense columns, Frederic burst into Bohemia
and advanced, with rapid and resistless strides, towards Prague. The
unprepared Austrian bands were driven before these impetuous assailants
as chaff is dispersed by the whirlwind. With great precipitation the
Austrian troops, from all quarters, fled to the city of Prague and
rallied beneath its walls. Seventy thousand men were soon collected,
strongly intrenched behind ramparts, thrown up outside of the city, from
which ramparts, in case of disaster, they could retire behind the walls
and into the citadel.
The king, with his army, came rushing on like the sweep of the tornado,
and plunged, as a thunderbolt of war, into the camp of the Austrians.
For a few hours the battle blazed as if it were a strife of demons--hell
in high carnival. Eighteen thousand Prussians were mowed down by the
Austrian batteries, before the fierce assailants could scale the
ramparts. Then, with cimeter and bayonet, they took a bloody revenge.
Eight thousand Austrians were speedily weltering in blood. The shriek of
the battle penetrated all the dwellings in Prague, appalling every ear,
like a wail from the world of woe. The routed Austrians, leaving nine
thousand prisoners, in the hands of Frederic, rushed through the gates
into the city, while a storm of shot from the batteries on the walls
drove back the pursuing Prussians.
Prague, with the broken army thus driven within its walls, now contained
one hundred thousand inhabitants. The city was totally unprepared for a
siege. All supplies of food being cut off, the inhabitants were soon
reduced to extreme suffering. The queen was exceedingly anxious that the
city should hold out until she could hasten to its relief. She succeeded
in sending a message to the besieged army, by a captain of grenadiers,
who contrived to evade the vigilance of the besiegers and to gain
entrance to the city.
"I am concerned," said the empress, "that so many generals, with so
considerable a force, must remain besieged in Prague, but I augur
favorably for the event. I can not too strongly impress upon your minds
that the troops will incur everlasting disgrace should they not effect
what the French in the last war performed with far inferior numbers. The
honor of the whole nation, as well as that of the imperial aims, is
interested in their present behavior. The security of Bohemia, of my
other hereditary dominions, and of the German empire itself, depends on
a gallant defense and the preservation of Prague.
"The army under the command of Marshal Daun is daily strengthening, and
will soon be in a condition to raise the siege. The French are
approaching with all diligence. The Swedes are marching to my
assistance. In a short space of time affairs will, under divine
Providence, wear a better aspect."
The scene in Prague was awful. Famine strode through all the streets,
covering the pavements with the emaciate corpses of the dead. An
incessant bombardment was kept up from the Prussian batteries, and shot
and shell were falling incessantly, by day and by night, in every
portion of the city. Conflagrations were continually blazing; there was
no possible place of safety; shells exploded in parlors, in chambers, in
cellars, tearing limb from limb, and burying the mutilated dead beneath
the ruins of their dwellings. The booming of the cannon, from the
distant batteries, was answered by the thunder of the guns from the
citadel and the walls, and blended with all this uproar rose the
uninterrupted shrieks of the wounded and the dying. The cannonade from
the Prussian batteries was so destructive, that in a few days one
quarter of the entire city was demolished.
Count Daun, with sixty thousand men, was soon advancing rapidly towards
Prague. Frederic, leaving a small force to continue the blockade of the
city, marched with the remainder of his troops to assail the Austrian
general. They soon met, and fought for some hours as fiercely as mortals
can fight. The slaughter on both sides was awful. At length the fortune
of war turned in favor of the Austrians, though they laid down nine
thousand husbands, fathers, sons, in bloody death, as the price of the
victory. Frederic was almost frantic with grief and rage as he saw his
proud battalions melting away before the batteries of the foe. Six times
his cavalry charged with the utmost impetuosity, and six times they were
as fiercely repulsed. Frederic was finally compelled to withdraw,
leaving fourteen thousand of his troops either slain or prisoners.
Twenty-two Prussian standards and forty-three pieces of artillery were
taken by the Austrians.
The tidings of this victory elated Maria Theresa almost to delirium.
Feasts were given, medals struck, presents given, and the whole empire
blazed with illuminations, and rang with all the voices of joy. The
queen even condescended to call in person upon the Countess Daun to
congratulate her upon the great victory attained by her husband. She
instituted, on the occasion, a new military order of merit, called the
order of Maria Theresa. Count Daun and his most illustrious officers
were honored with the first positions in this new order of knighthood.
The Prussians were compelled to raise the siege of Prague, and to
retreat with precipitation. Bohemia was speedily evacuated by the
Prussian troops. The queen was now determined to crush Frederic
entirely, so that he might never rise again. His kingdom was to be taken
from him, carved up, and apportioned out between Austria, Sweden, Poland
and Russia.
The Prussians retreated, in a broken band of but twenty-five thousand
men, into the heart of Silesia, to Breslau, its beautiful and strongly
fortified capital. This city, situated upon the Oder, at its junction
with the Ohlau, contained a population of nearly eighty thousand. The
fugitive troops sought refuge behind its walls, protected as they were
by batteries of the heaviest artillery. The Austrians, strengthened by
the French, with an army now amounting to ninety thousand, followed
closely on, and with their siege artillery commenced the cannonade of
the city. An awful scene of carnage ensued, in which the Austrians lost
eight thousand men and the Prussians five thousand, when the remnant of
the Prussian garrison, retreating by night through a remote gate, left
the city in the hands of the Austrians.
It was now mid-winter. But the iron-nerved Frederic, undismayed by these
terrible reverses, collected the scattered fragments of his army, and,
finding himself at the head of thirty thousand men, advanced to Breslau
in the desperate attempt to regain his capital. His force was so
inconsiderable as to excite the ridicule of the Austrians. Upon the
approach of Frederic, Prince Charles, disdaining to hide behind the
ramparts of the city on the defensive, against a foe thus insulting him
with inferior numbers, marched to meet the Prussians. The interview
between Prince Charles and Frederic was short but very decisive, lasting
only from the hour of dinner to the going down of a December's sun. The
twilight of the wintry day had not yet come when seven thousand
Austrians were lying mangled in death on the blood-stained snow. Twenty
thousand were made prisoners. All the baggage of the Austrian army, the
military chest, one hundred and thirty-four pieces of cannon, and
fifty-nine standards fell into the hands of the victors. For this
victory Frederic paid the price of five thousand lives; but _life_ to
the poor Prussian soldier must have been a joyless scene, and death must
have been a relief.
Frederic now, with triumphant banners, approached the city. It
immediately capitulated, surrendering nearly eighteen thousand soldiers,
six hundred and eighty-six officers and thirteen generals as prisoners
of war. In this one storm of battle, protracted through but a few days,
Maria Theresa lost fifty thousand men. Frederic then turned upon the
Russians, and drove them out of Silesia. The same doom awaited the
Swedes, and they fled precipitately to winter quarters behind the cannon
of Stralsund. Thus terminated the memorable campaign of 1757, the most
memorable of the Seven Years' War. The Austrian army was almost
annihilated; but the spirit of the strife was not subdued in any breast.
The returning sun of spring was but the harbinger of new woes for
war-stricken Europe. England, being essentially a maritime power, could
render Frederic but little assistance in troops; but the cabinet of St.
James was lavish in voting money. Encouraged by the vigor Frederic had
shown, the British cabinet, with enthusiasm, voted him an annual subsidy
of three million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Austria was so exhausted in means and in men, that notwithstanding the
most herculean efforts of the queen, it was not until April of the year
1758 that she was able to concentrate fifty thousand men in the field,
with the expensive equipments which war demands. Frederic, aided by the
gold of England, was early on the move, and had already opened the
campaign by the invasion of Moravia, and by besieging Olmutz.
The summer was passed in a series of incessant battles, sweeping all
over Germany, with the usual vicissitudes of war. In the great battle of
Hockkirchen Frederic encountered a woful defeat. The battle took place
on the 14th of October, and lasted five hours. Eight thousand Austrians
and nine thousand Prussians were stretched lifeless upon the plain.
Frederic was at last compelled to retreat, abandoning his tents, his
baggage, one hundred and one cannon, and thirty standards. Nearly every
Prussian general was wounded. The king himself was grazed by a ball; his
horse was shot from under him, and two pages were killed at his side.
Again Vienna blazed with illuminations and rang with rejoicing, and the
queen liberally dispensed her gifts and her congratulations. Still
nothing effectual was accomplished by all this enormous expenditure of
treasure, this carnage and woe; and again the exhausted combatants
retired to seek shelter from the storms of winter. Thus terminated the
third year of this cruel and wasting war.
The spring of 1759 opened brightly for Maria Theresa. Her army, flushed
by the victory of the last autumn, was in high health and spirits. All
the allies of Austria redoubled their exertions; and the Catholic States
of Germany with religious zeal rallied against the two heretical
kingdoms of Prussia and England. The armies of France, Austria, Sweden
and Russia were now marching upon Prussia, and it seemed impossible that
the king could withstand such adversaries. More fiercely than ever the
storm of war raged. Frederic, at the head of forty thousand men, early
in June met eighty thousand Russians and Austrians upon the banks of the
Oder, near Frankfort. For seven hours the action lasted, and the allies
were routed with enormous slaughter; but the king, pursuing his victory
too far with his exhausted troops, was turned upon by the foe, and was
routed himself in turn, with the slaughter of one half of his whole
army. Twenty-four thousand of the allies and twenty thousand Prussians
perished on that bloody day.
Frederic exposed his person with the utmost recklessness. Two horses
were shot beneath him; several musket balls pierced his clothes; he was
slightly wounded, and was rescued from the foe only by the almost
superhuman exertions of his hussars. In the darkness of the night the
Prussians secured their retreat.
We have mentioned that at first Frederic seemed to have gained the
victory. So sanguine was he then of success that he dispatched a courier
from the field, with the following billet to the queen at Berlin:--
"We have driven the enemy from their intrenchments; in two hours expect
to hear of a glorious victory."
Hardly two hours had elapsed ere another courier was sent to the queen
with the following appalling message:--
"Remove from Berlin with the royal family. Let the archives be carried
to Potsdam, and the capital make conditions with the enemy."
In this terrible battle the enemy lost so fearfully that no effort was
made to pursue Frederic. Disaster never disheartened the Prussian king.
It seemed but to rouse anew his energies. With amazing vigor he rallied
his scattered forces, and called in reënforcements. The gold of England
was at his disposal; he dismantled distant fortresses and brought their
cannon into the field, and in a few days was at the head of twenty-eight
thousand men, beneath the walls of his capital, ready again to face the
foe.
The thunderings of battle continued week after week, in unintermitted
roar throughout nearly all of Germany. Winter again came. Frederic had
suffered awfully during the campaign, but was still unsubdued. The
warfare was protracted even into the middle of the winter. The soldiers,
in the fields, wading through snow a foot deep, suffered more from
famine, frost and sickness than from the bullet of the foe. In the
Austrian army four thousand died, in sixteen days of December, from the
inclemency of the weather. Thus terminated the campaign of 1759.