The next morning Fergus rode over to see Count Eulenfurst, found
him quite restored to health, and was received by him, the
countess, and Thirza with great pleasure.
[Illustration: Fergus was received by the count, the countess
and Thirza with great pleasure]
"My return in safety is in no small degree due to you, count. Had
it not been for the letter to Count Platurn, with which the
countess furnished me, I doubt whether I should have been able to
get through; or at any rate, if I had done so it could only have
been with many hardships and dangers, and certainly great delay."
"I have no doubt that the help you received from the count was of
considerable assistance to you, and lessened your difficulties
much, Captain Drummond; but I am sure you would have managed,
without it. Had you formed any plans as to what you would have
done, had you found him absent?"
"I had thought of several things, count, but I had settled on
nothing. I should have remained but a day in Vienna, and should
have exchanged the suit I had got from the innkeeper for some
other. My idea was that I had best join one of the convoys of
provisions going up to Bohemia. I calculated that I should have no
difficulty in obtaining a place as a driver, for of course the
service is not popular, and any of the men would have been glad
enough for me to take his place. I might thus have got forward as
far as Prague. After that I must have taken my chance, and I think
I could, in the same sort of way, have got as far as Leitmeritz;
but there I might have been detained for a very long time, until
there was an opportunity of crossing the defiles. It would have
been difficult, indeed, for me to have earned my living there; and
what was left of the money I had, after paying for the landlord's
suit, would scarce have lasted, with the closest pinching, till
spring."
"You would have managed it somehow, I am sure," Thirza said
confidently. "After getting out of that strong fortress, it would
be nothing to get out of Bohemia into Saxony."
"We have not congratulated you yet," the countess said, "upon your
last promotion. Lieutenant Lindsay came over to tell us about it,
and how you had gained it. Of course we were greatly pleased,
although grieved to hear that you had been made prisoner. We
wondered whether, at the time you were captured, you had any of the
letters I had written with you, and whether they would come in
useful.
"It did not even occur to me that you would have called upon Count
Platurn, my cousin. I thought that you might be detained at Prague,
but Vienna is the last place where we should have pictured you. Had
we known that you had been sent to Spielberg, I think we should
have given up all hope of seeing you again, until you were
exchanged; for I have heard that it is one of the strongest of the
Austrian fortresses.
"I do hope, Captain Drummond, we shall see a great deal of you this
winter. There will not be many gaieties, though no doubt there will
be some state balls; but there will be many little gatherings, as
usual, among ourselves, and we shall count upon you to attend them
always, unless you are detained on service. We learn that it is
probable your king will pass the whole of the winter here."
"We will send your horse down to you today," the count said. "You
will find him in good condition. He has been regularly exercised."
"Thank you very much, count. I wrote to you before I started, but I
have had no opportunity of thanking you, personally, for those
splendid animals. Sorry as I was to lose the horse I rode at
Lobositz, I congratulated myself that I was not riding one of
yours."
"I should have had no difficulty in replacing him, Captain
Drummond," the count said with a smile. "The least we can do is to
keep you in horse flesh while the war lasts; which I hope will not
be very long, for surely your king can never hope to make head
against the forces that will assail him in the spring, but will be
glad to make peace on any terms."
"No doubt he would be glad to, count; but as his enemies propose to
divide his dominions among them, it is not very clear what terms he
could make. But though I grant that, on paper, the odds against him
is enormous, I think that you will see there will be some hard
fighting yet, before Prussia is partitioned."
"Perhaps so," the count replied; "but surely the end must be the
same. You know I have been a strong opponent of the course taken by
the court here. Saxony and Prussia, as Protestant countries, should
be natural allies; and I consider it is infamous that the court, or
rather Bruhl, who is all powerful, should have joined in a
coalition against Frederick, who had given us no cause of
complaint, whatever. My sympathies, then, are wholly with him; but
I can see no hope, whatever, of his successfully resisting this
tremendous combination."
"Various things might happen, count. The Empresses of Russia or
Austria or the Pompadour might die, or the allies might quarrel
between themselves. England may find some capable statesman, who
will once again get an army together and, joined perhaps by the
Netherlands, give France so much to do that she will not be able to
give much help to her allies."
"Yes, all these things might happen; but Frederick's first campaign
has been, to a great extent, a failure. It is true that he has
established Saxony as his base, but the Saxon troops will be of no
advantage to him. He would have acted much more wisely had he, on
their surrender, allowed them to disband and go to their homes..
Many then might have enlisted voluntarily. The country would not
have had a legitimate grievance, and the common religious tie would
soon have turned the scale in favour of Prussia; who, as all see,
has been driven to this invasion by our court's intrigues with
Austria. Had he done this he could have marched straight to Prague,
have overrun all Bohemia, established his headquarters there, and
menaced Vienna itself in the spring."
"Looking at it coolly, that might have been the best way, count;
but a man who finds that three or four of his neighbours have
entered into a plot to attack his house, and seize all his goods,
may be pardoned if he does not at first go the very wisest way to
work."
The count laughed.
"I hope that the next campaign will turn out differently; but I own
that I can scarce see a possibility of Prussia, alone, making head
against the dangers that surround her."
The winter passed quietly. There were fetes, state balls, and many
private entertainments; for while all Europe was indignant, or
pretended to be so, at the occupation of Saxony, the people of that
country were by no means so angry on their own account. They were
no more heavily taxed by Frederick than they were by their own
court and, now that the published treaty between the Confederates
had made it evident that the country, without its own consent, had
been deeply engaged in a conspiracy hostile to Prussia, none could
deny that Frederick was amply justified in the step he had taken.
At these parties, only Prussian officers who were personal friends
of the host were invited; but Fergus, who had been introduced by
Count Eulenfurst to all his acquaintances, was always asked, and
was requested to bring with him a few of his personal friends.
Lindsay, therefore, was generally his companion, and was, indeed,
in a short time invited for his own sake; for the Scottish officers
were regarded in a different light to the Prussians, and their
pleasant manners and frank gaiety made them general favourites.
Their duties as aides-de-camp were now light, indeed; although both
were, two or three times, sent with despatches to Berlin; and even
to more distant parts of Prussia, where preparations for the coming
campaign were being made on a great scale.
The whole Prussian population were united. It was a war not for
conquest but for existence, and all classes responded cheerfully to
the royal demands. These were confined to orders for drafts of men,
for no new tax of any kind was laid on the people; the expenses of
the war being met entirely from the treasure that had, since the
termination of the Silesian war, been steadily accumulating, a
fixed sum being laid by every year to meet any emergency that might
arise.
Towards spring both parties were ready to take the field. The
allies had 430,000 men ready for service. Frederick had 150,000
well-trained soldiers, while 40,000 newly-raised troops were posted
in fortresses, at points most open to invasion. The odds were
indeed sufficient to appall even the steadfast heart of Frederick
of Prussia; but no one would have judged, from the calm and
tranquil manner in which the king made his arrangements to meet the
storm, that he had any doubt as to the issue.
Man for man, the Prussian soldier of the time was the finest in the
world. He was splendidly drilled, absolutely obedient to orders,
and filled with implicit confidence in his king and his comrades.
He had been taught to march with extraordinary rapidity, and at the
same time to manoeuvre with the regularity and perfection of a
machine; and could be trusted, in all emergencies, to do everything
that man was capable of.
The French army, 110,000 strong, was the first to move. Another
30,000 men were preparing to march, to join the army that had been
got up by that mixed body, the German Federation. The main force
was to move through Hanover.
To oppose them was a mixed army, maintained by British money,
comprising Hanoverians, Brunswickers, and Hessians, some 50,000
strong, commanded by the Duke of Cumberland. With these were some
5000 Prussians; who had, by Frederick's orders, evacuated the
frontier fortresses and joined what was called the British army of
observation. Frederick prepared, for the present, to deal with the
Austrians; intending, if successful against them, to send off
25,000 men to strengthen Cumberland's army. The proposed Swedish
invasion was altogether disregarded; but thirty thousand men,
principally militia, were posted to check the Russian invasion.
So quiet had been the preparations, that none of their enemies
dreamt that the Prussians would assume the offensive, but
considered that they would confine their efforts to defending the
defiles into Saxony and Silesia. But this was not Frederick's idea.
As spring approached, he had been busy redistributing his troops
from their winter cantonment, and preparing three armies for the
invasion of Bohemia. April had been a busy month for the staff, and
the aides-de-camp had passed their days, and even their nights, on
horseback.
At last all was in readiness for the delivery of the stroke, and on
the 20th the king started from Lockwitch, facing the old Saxon camp
at Pirna; the Duke of Bevern from Lousitz; and Marshal Schwerin
from Schlesien; and without the slightest warning, the three great
columns poured down into Bohemia.
The movement took the Austrians absolutely by surprise. Not
dreaming of such a step on Frederick's part, they had prepared,
near the frontier, vast magazines for the supply of their advancing
army. These had to be abandoned in the greatest haste, and a
sufficient amount of food to supply the entire army, for three
months, fell into the hands of the Prussians. Marshal Browne and
General Konigseck, who commanded the Austrian armies in Bohemia,
fell back to Prague with the greatest speed that they could make.
The light irregular corps, that Frederick had raised during the
winter and placed under experienced and energetic officers,
pervaded the whole country, capturing magazines and towns, putting
some to ransom, dispersing small bodies of the enemy, and spreading
terror far and wide. Browne succeeded in reaching Prague before the
king could come up to him. Bevern, however, overtook Konigseck, and
greatly hastened his retreat; killing a thousand men and taking
five hundred prisoners, after which Konigseck reached Prague
without further molestation, the Duke of Bevern joining Schwerin's
column.
The Austrians retired through Prague and encamped on high ground on
the south side of the city, Prince Karl being now in command of the
whole. Had this prince been possessed of military talents, or
listened to Marshal Browne's advice, instead of taking up a
defensive position he would have marched with his whole army
against the king, whose force he would very greatly have
outnumbered; but instead of doing so, he remained inactive.
On the 2nd of May, twelve days after moving from Saxony, Frederick
arrived within sight of Prague. So closely had he followed the
retreating Austrians that he occupied, that evening, a monastery at
which Prince Karl and Marshal Browne had slept the night before.
Thirty thousand men, who were under the command of Marshal Keith,
were left to watch Prague and its garrison; while Frederick, on
Tuesday, searched for a spot where he could cross the river and
effect a junction with Schwerin. He knew his position, and had
arranged that three cannon shots were to be the signal that the
river had been crossed.
A pontoon bridge was rapidly thrown over, the signal was given, and
the Prussians poured across it; and before the whole were over
Schwerin's light cavalry came up, and an arrangement was made that
the two forces should meet, at six o'clock next morning, at a spot
within two miles of the Austrian camp on the Lisca hills.
[Map: Battle of Prague]
All this time the Austrians stood inactive, and permitted the
Prussian columns to join hands without the slightest attempt to
interfere with them. Had Browne been in command, very different
steps would have been taken; but Prince Karl was indolent, self
confident, and opinionated, and had set his army to work to
strengthen its position in every possible manner. This was
naturally extremely strong, its right flank being covered by swampy
ground formed by a chain of ponds; from which the water was let off
in the winter, and the ground sown with oats. These were now a
brilliant green, and to the eyes of Frederick and his generals,
surveying them from the distance, had the aspect of ordinary
meadows. The whole ground was commanded by redoubts and batteries
on the hill, which rose precipitately seven or eight hundred feet
behind the position. In the batteries were sixty heavy cannon;
while there were, in addition, one hundred and fifty field guns.
Well might Prince Karl think his position altogether unassailable,
and believe that, if the Prussians were mad enough to attack, they
would be destroyed. Frederick and Schwerin spent much time in
surveying the position, and agreed that on two sides the Austrian
position was absolutely impregnable; but that on the right flank,
attack was possible. Schwerin would fain have waited until the next
morning, since his troops were fatigued by their long marches, and
had been on foot since midnight. The Austrians, however, were
expecting a reinforcement of thirty thousand men, under Daun, to
join them hourly; and the king therefore decided on an attack, the
terrible obstacles presented by the swamps being altogether
unnoticed.
With incredible speed the Prussians moved away to their left, and
by eleven o'clock were in readiness to attack the right flank of
the Austrian position. Browne, however, was in command here and, as
soon as the intention of the Prussians was perceived, he swung back
the right wing of the army at right angles to its original
position, so that he presented a front to the Prussian attack;
massing thickly at Sterbold, a village at the edge of the swamps.
Rapidly the whole of the artillery and cavalry were formed up on
this face and, quick as had been the advance of the Prussians, the
Austrians were perfectly ready to meet them.
Led by General Winterfeld, the Prussians rushed forward; but as
they advanced, a terrific artillery fire was opened upon them.
Winterfeld was wounded severely, and the troops fell back.
The main body now advanced, under Schwerin, and the whole again
pressed forward. In spite of the incessant rain of grape and case
shot, the Prussians advanced until they reached the pleasant green
meadows they had seen in the distance. Then the real nature of the
ground was at once disclosed.
The troops sunk to the knee, and in many cases to the waist, in the
treacherous mud. Soldiers less valiant and less disciplined would
have shrunk, appalled at the obstacle; but the Prussians struggled
on, dragging themselves forward with the greatest difficulty
through mud, through slush, through a rain of grape from upwards of
two hundred cannon, and through a storm of musketry fire from the
infantry. Regiment after regiment, as it reached the edge of the
dismal swamp, plunged in unhesitatingly, crawling and struggling
onward.
Never in the annals of warfare was there a more terrible fight. For
three hours it continued, without a moment's interval. Thousands of
the assailants had fallen, and their bodies had been trodden deep
into the swamp, as their comrades pressed after them. Sometimes a
regiment struggled back out of the mire, thinking it beyond mortal
power to win victory under such terms; but the next moment they
reformed and flung themselves into the fight again. Schwerin,
seeing the regiment named after him recoil, placed himself at their
head; and shouting, "Follow me, my sons!" led them till he fell
dead, struck by five grape shot.
The Austrians fought as stoutly, Marshal Browne leading them till a
cannonball took off his foot, and he was carried into Prague, to
die there six weeks later.
While this terrible struggle was going on, the Prussian cavalry had
made a very wide circuit round the ponds and lakelets, and charged
the Austrian horse on Browne's extreme right. The first lines were
broken by it, but so many and strong were they that the Prussians
were brought to a standstill. Then they drew back and charged a
second, and a third time.
The Austrians gave way. Prince Karl himself, brave if incapable,
did his best to rally them, but in vain; and at last they fled in
headlong rout, pursued for many miles by Ziethen's horsemen.
Still the infantry struggle was maintained. At last the Prussian
right wing, hitherto not engaged, though suffering from the
artillery fire on the heights, had their turn. General Mannstein
discovered that, at the angle where Browne threw back the right
wing of the army to face the Prussians, there was a gap. The troops
there had gradually pressed more to their right, to take part in
the tremendous conflict; and the elbow was, therefore, defended
only by a half-moon battery.
Through the fish tanks he led the way, followed by Princes Henry
and Ferdinand. The whole division struggled through the mud, drove
back the Austrians hastily brought up to oppose them, captured the
battery, and poured into the gap; thereby cutting the Austrian army
in two, and taking both halves in flank.
This was the deciding point of the battle. The Austrian right,
already holding its own with difficulty, was crumpled up and forced
to fall back hastily. The other half of the army, isolated by the
irruption, threw itself back and endeavoured to make a fresh stand
at spots defended by batteries and stockades.
But all was in vain. The Prussians pressed forward exultingly, the
fresh troops leading the way. In spite of the confusion occasioned
by the loss of their commanders, and of the surprise caused by the
sudden breakup of their line by the inrush of Mannstein and the
princes, the Austrians fought stoutly. Four times they made a
stand, but the Prussians were not to be denied. The Austrian guns
that had been captured were turned against them and, at last giving
way they fled for Prague, where some 40,000 of them rushed for
shelter, while 15,000 fled up the valley of the Moldau.
Had it not been that an accident upset Frederick's calculations,
the greater portion of the Austrians would have been obliged to lay
down their arms. Prince Maurice of Dessau had been ordered to move
with the right wing of Keith's army, 15,000 strong, to take up a
position in the Austrian rear. This position he should have reached
hours before, but in his passage down a narrow lane, some of the
pontoons for bridging the river were injured. When the bridge was
put together, it proved too short to reach the opposite bank.
The cavalry in vain endeavoured to swim the river. The stream was
too strong, and Frederick's masterly combination broke down; and
the bulk of the Austrians, instead of being forced to surrender,
were simply shut up in Prague with its garrison.
The battle of Prague was one of the fiercest ever fought. The
Austrian army had improved wonderfully, since the Silesian war.
Their artillery were specially good, their infantry had adopted
many of the Prussian improvements and, had Browne been in sole
command, and had he escaped unwounded, the issue of the day might
have been changed. The Prussians lost 12,500 men, killed and
wounded; the Austrians, including prisoners, 13,300. Frederick
himself put the losses higher, estimating that of the Austrians at
24,000, of whom 5000 were prisoners, that of the Prussians at
18,000, "without counting Marshal Schwerin, who alone was worth
about 10,000."
It is evident that the king's estimate of the loss of the Austrians
must have been excessive. They had the advantage of standing on the
defensive. The Prussian guns did but comparatively little service,
while their own strong batteries played with tremendous effect upon
the Prussians, struggling waist deep in the mud. There can
therefore be little doubt that the latter must have suffered, in
killed and wounded, a much heavier loss than the Austrians.
Impassive as he was, and accustomed to show his feelings but
little, Frederick was deeply affected at the loss of his trusted
general, and of the splendid soldiers who had been so long and
carefully trained; and even had Prague fallen, the victory would
have been a disastrous one for him; for, threatened as he was by
overwhelming forces, the loss of 5000 men, to him, was quite as
serious as that of 20,000 men to the Confederates.
In Keith's army there had been considerable disappointment, when it
became known that they were to remain impassive spectators of the
struggle, and that while their comrades were fighting, they had
simply to blockade the northern side of the city.
"You will have plenty of opportunities," the marshal said quietly
to his aides-de-camp, on seeing their downcast look. "This war is
but beginning. It will be our turn, next time. For it is a great
task the king has set himself, in attempting to carry the strong
position that the Austrians have taken up; and he will not do it
without very heavy loss. Tomorrow you may have reason to
congratulate yourselves that we have had no share in the business."
Nevertheless, as the day went on, and the tremendous roar of battle
rolled down upon them--terrible, continuous, and never ceasing, for
three hours--even Keith walked, in a state of feverish anxiety,
backwards and forwards in front of his tent; while the troops stood
in groups, talking in low tones, and trying to pierce with their
eyes the dun-coloured cloud of smoke that hung over the combatants
on the other side of Prague.
When at last the din of battle went rolling down towards that city, the
feeling of joy was intense. In many, the relief from the tension and the
long excitement was so great that they burst into tears. Some shook hands
with each other, others threw their caps into the air, and then a few
voices burst into the well-known verse of the church hymn:
Nun danket alle Gott,
Mit herzen, mund und haenden.
Of which our English translation runs:
Now thank we all our God,
With hands and hearts and voices.
And in a moment it was taken up by 30,000 deep voices, in a solemn
chorus, the regimental bands at once joining in the jubilant
thanksgiving. Pious men were these honest, Protestant, hard-fighting
soldiers; and very frequently, on their long marches, they beguiled
the way by the stirring hymns of the church. Keith and those around
him stood bare-headed, as the hymn was sung, and not a word was
spoken for some time after the strains had subsided.
"That is good to listen to," Keith said, breaking the silence. "We
have often heard the psalm singing of Cromwell's Ironsides spoken
of, with something like contempt; but we can understand, now, how
men who sing like that, with all their hearts, should be almost
invincible."
"It is the grandest thing that I have ever heard, marshal," Fergus
said. "Of course, I have heard them when they were marching, but it
did not sound like this."
"No, Fergus; it was the appropriateness of the occasion, and
perhaps the depth of the feelings of the men, and our own sense of
immense relief, that made it so striking.
"Listen! There is a fresh outburst of firing. The Austrians have
fallen back, but they are fighting stoutly."
The chief effect of this great battle was of a moral, rather than
material kind. Prague was not a strong place, but with a garrison
of 50,000 men it was too well defended to assault; and until it was
taken Frederick could not march on, as he had intended, and leave
so great a force in the rear.
The moral effect was, however, enormous. The allies had deemed that
they had a ridiculously easy task before them, and that Frederick
would have to retreat before their advancing armies, and must at
last see that there was nothing but surrender before him. That he
should have emerged from behind the shelter of the Saxon hills, and
have shattered the most formidable army of those that threatened
him, on ground of their own choosing, intrenched and fortified,
caused a feeling of consternation and dismay. The French army, the
Russians, and the united force of the French with the German
Confederacy were all arrested on their march, and a month elapsed
before they were again set in motion.
Marshal Daun, who had arrived at Erdwise, fell back at once when
the news reached him and, taking post at the entrance of the
defile, he made the greatest efforts to increase his army.
Reinforcements were sent to him from Vienna and all the adjacent
country. The Duke of Bevern was posted with 20,000 men to watch
him; and Frederick sat down, with all his force, to capture Prague.
The siege train was hurried up from Dresden, and on the 9th of May
his batteries on the south side of the city, and those of Keith on
the north, opened fire on the city. For a month missiles were
poured into the town. Magazines were blown up, and terrible
destruction done, but the garrison held out firmly. At times they
made sorties, but these were always driven in again, with much
loss. But 50,000 men behind fortifications, however weak, were not
to be attacked. Every approach to the city was closely guarded, but
it became at last evident that, as long as the provisions held out,
Prague was not to be taken.
The cannonade became less incessant, and after a month almost died
away; for Daun had by this time gathered a large army, and it was
evident that another great battle would have to be fought. If this
was won by the Prussians, Prague would be forced to surrender. If
not, the city was saved.
It was not until the 12th of June that Daun, a cautious and careful
general, in accordance with urgent orders from Vienna prepared to
advance. His force had now grown to 60,000; 40,000 of the garrison
of Prague could be spared, to issue out to help him. Frederick had
under 70,000, and of these a great portion must remain to guard
their siege works. Thus, then, all the advantages lay with the
relieving army.
Several officers in disguise were despatched, by Daun, to carry
into Prague the news of his advance; and to warn Prince Karl to
sally out, with the whole of his force, and fall upon the Prussians
as soon as he attacked them in the rear. So vigilant, however, were
the besiegers that none of these messengers succeeded in entering
Prague.
On the 13th Frederick set out, with 10,000 men--to be followed by
4000 more under Prince Maurice, two days later, these being all
that could be spared from the siege works--to join Bevern, who had
fallen back as Daun advanced. The junction effected, Frederick
joined Bevern and approached Daun, who was posted in a strong
position near Kolin, thirty-five miles from Prague. On the 17th
Prince Maurice arrived, and after several changes of position the
armies faced each other on the 18th, within a short distance of
Kolin.
Daun's new position was also a strong one, and was, in fact, only
to be assailed on its right; and the Prussian army was moved in
that direction, their order being to pay no attention to the
Austrian batteries or musketry fire, but to march steadily to the
spot indicated. This was done. Ziethen dashed with his hussars upon
the Austrian cavalry, drawn up to bar the way; defeated them, and
drove them far from the field; while Hulsen's division of infantry
carried the village of Preezer, on the Austrian flank, in spite of
the Austrian batteries. So far Frederick's combination had worked
admirably.
Hulsen then attacked a wood behind it, strongly held by the
Austrians. Here a struggle commenced which lasted the whole day,
the wood being several times taken and lost. He was not supported,
owing to a mistake that entirely upset Frederick's plan of battle.
While three miles away from the point where the attack was to be
delivered, Mannstein, whose quickness of inspiration had largely
contributed to the victory of Prague, now ruined Frederick's plan
by his impetuosity. The corn fields, through which his division was
marching towards the assault of the Austrian left, were full of
Croats; who kept up so galling a fire that, losing all patience, he
turned and attacked them.
The regiment to which he gave the order cleared the Croats off; but
these returned, strongly reinforced. The regiments coming behind,
supposing that fresh orders had arrived, also turned off; and in a
short time the whole division, whose support was so sorely needed
by Hulsen, were assaulting the almost impregnable Austrian position
in front.
Another mistake--this time arising from a misconception of a too
brief and positive order, given by Frederick himself--led Prince
Maurice, who commanded the Prussian centre, to hurl himself in like
manner against the Austrians.
For four hours the battle raged. In spite of their disadvantages,
the Prussians fought so desperately that Daun believed the day to
be lost, and sent orders to the troops to retreat to Suchdol; but
the commander of the Saxon cavalry considered the order premature
and, gathering a large body of Austrian infantry, charged with them
and his own cavalry so furiously upon Hulsen that the latter was
forced to retreat.
The movement spread, the attack slackened, and the other division
moved down the hill. They had all but won. Frederick in vain tried
to rally and lead them afresh to the attack. They had done all that
men could do, and the battle ceased. Daun scarcely attempted to
pursue, and the Prussians marched away, unmolested even by cavalry;
some of the regiments remaining firm in their position until
nightfall, repulsing with great loss the one attempt of the
Austrians at pursuit; and Ziethen's cavalry did not draw off until
ten at night.
The Austrians had 60,000 men in the field, of whom they lost in
killed and wounded 8114. The Prussians, who began the day 34,000
strong, lost 13,773; of whom the prisoners, including all the
wounded, amounted to 5380.
The news of the disaster, and with it Frederick's order to prepare
to raise the siege of Prague at once, came like a thunderclap upon
the Prussian camp. Frederick himself, and the remnant of his army,
arrived there in good order, with all their baggage train, a day
later. The cannon were removed from the batteries, the magazines
emptied; and in good order, and without any attempt on the part of
the Austrian garrison to molest them, the Prussian army marched
away and took up their post at Leitmeritz.
The news that an Austrian army had at last beaten Frederick, and
that Prague was saved, caused an exultation and joy, among the
allies, equal to the dismay that had been aroused by the defeat at
Prague; although there was nothing remarkable, or worth much
congratulation, in the fact that an army, in an almost impregnable
position, had repulsed the attack of another of little over half
its strength.