of this retreat, general Lewhald, who commanded the royal army in Prussia, was left at liberty with thirty thousand men. These he conducted into Pomerania, and obliged the Swedes to abandon all their conquests, except the Penamundar and Anclamer entrenchments, and retire under the cannon of Stralsund, before the end of December. Meantime mareschal Keith had entered Bohemia, with eight thousand men, in the absence of the prince of Lorrain; and having raised contributions in different districts, and given an alarm even to Prague itself, returned unmolested into Saxony, where he put his troops into winter-quarters.

Nor was this good fortune confined merely to the king of Prussia. It extended even to his subjected allies.

The French, intent only upon plunder, broke almost every article of the convention of Closter-seven. And, in order more freely to indulge their rapacity, and preclude even the possibility of revenge, the duke de Richelieu insisted, that the brave, but unfortunate Hanoverians and Hessians, who had acted under the duke of Cumberland, should deliver up their arms; while the court of Versailles, under the pretence that this and other stipulations had been omitted through neglect, refused to ratify the ignominious convention, unless certain explanations were added, although military conventions are supposed to require no ratification, and are never violated but by the most faithless nations.

Roused by these injuries and indignities, by tyranny and rapine, abetted by national treachery; but chiefly by the terror of being deprived of their arms, the last disgrace of soldiers; the Hanoverian troops, though distributed into different cantonments, secretly resolved to rescue their country from oppression, and had begun to collect themselves, in consequence of that resolution, when the victory, obtained by the king of Prussia at Rosbach, more fully awakened their courage, and confirmed them in their generous purpose.

Pleased with the zeal so conformable to his wishes, and thinking himself now fully released from the mortifying

shackles

shackles of neutrality imposed upon him by the convention of Closter-seven, so shamefully violated and disavowed by the court of Versailles, his Britannic majesty invested prince Ferdinand of Brunswick with the chief command of his electoral forces, and ordered him to renew hostilities against his cruel and perfidious enemies. Assembled under this gallant leader, the Hanoverians bravely made head against their conquerors; and being reinforced in the beginning of the year by a body of Prussian horse, they pushed the French from post to post, and obliged them to evacuate successively Otterberg, Bremen, and Verden.

A. D. 1758.

The town and castle of Hoya, on the Weser, where the enemy attempted to make a stand, were reduced by the hereditary prince of Brunswick; while his uncle, prince Ferdinand, recovered the city of Minden, on the same river, and made prisoners a garrison of four thousand men. An English squadron, under commodore Holmes, compelled them to abandon Embden, the capital of East-Friesland. And the wretched remnant of a great and lately victorious army found the utmost difficulty in repassing the Rhine, without being entirely cut off by a body of men, whom it had, a few months before, vanquished, insulted, and trampled upon.

From this reproach, so justly merited by the French officers as well as soldiers, while in possession of Hanover, the duke de Randan, a nobleman of great honour and integrity, who commanded in the capital, was happily exempted. As the pride of conquest had never made him behave with insolence, resentment had as little power to make him act with rigour on the adverse turn of affairs. He not only endeavoured, at all times. to restrain the soldiers within the bounds of discipline, but exhibited a glorious proof of humanity, when ordered to evacuate the place. Instead of destroying the magazine of provisions according to the usual, and often wantonly cruel, practice of war, he generously left it in the hands of the magistrates, to be distributed among

the

the lower class of the inhabitants, who had long been exposed to the pressure of famine!

Never, perhaps, in any one campaign, were the changes of fortune, the accidents of war, the power of generalship, or the force of discipline, so fully displayed, as in that of 1757. Influenced by those changes, the British ministry embraced a new system of policy. Mr. secretary Pitt, who, in order to govern the councils of his sovereign, had found it expedient to form a coalition with the duke of Newcastle and other members of the old administra tion, also thought fit to contradict his former sentiments, and the arguments founded upon them, and become the advocate of a German war. But perhaps such a sacrifice of sentiments was necessary, in order to enable the great commoner to serve his country, even in this preposterous manner. George II. though a magnanimous prince, and a lover of his British subjects, was impatient of contradiction in whatever concerned his German dominions.

APRIL 11.

In consequence of the new system of policy, adopted by the British ministry, and the ardour with which the parliament and the people entered into their views, a second treaty or convention was signed at London, between the king of Prussia and his Britannic majesty; by which the contracting parties engaged to conclude no treaty of peace, truce, or neutrality, with the hostile powers, but in concert and by mutual agreement and participation. And the king of GreatBritain engaged to pay immediately to the Prussian monarch the sum of four millions of German crowns, or six hundred and seventy thousand pounds sterling, in order to enable him to maintain and augment his forces, to be employed in the common cause. Liberal supplies were also granted for the support of the army under prince Ferdinand of Brunswick: and it was farther resolved to reinforce it with a body of British troops.

The councils of Lewis XV. experienced a change, no less remarkable than that which had taken place in those of George II. The French ministers had long been the sport

sport of female caprice. It was their power of pleasing Madame de Pompadour, a favourite mistress, who entirely governed their king, that alone qualified them to serve their country. Some of the most honest and able men in the kingdom were turned out of their employments with marks of disgrace, while others retired with indignation from public service. But the misfortunes of the French arms, at length, obliged the court of Versailles to call men to the public service upon public principles.

The mareschal duke de Belleisle, whose exploits I have already had occasion to relate, and whose abilities were known to all Europe, was placed at the head of the military departments, as minister for war. "I know," said he, in entering on his office, "the miserable state of our ar"mies, and it fills me at once with grief and indignation; "for the disgrace and infamy which it reflects upon our (6 government, are more to be lamented than the evil it"self:-I know but too well to what length the want of "discipline, pillaging, and licentious violence, have been "carried by our officers and common men, after the ex66 ample of their commanders. It mortifies me to think I "am a Frenchman. But thank God! my principles are "known to be very different from those that have lately "been adopted.

"Had I commanded the army, many enormities "would have been repressed; a thousand things that "have been done, would have been omitted; whilst others "that have been neglected, would have been executed. I "should have multiplied my communications; I should "have had strong posts on the right, on the left, "and in the centre: I should have had magazines every "where. The quiet and satisfaction of the conquered, un"der a mild administration, would have been equal to that "resentment they have discovered at being plundered "and oppressed; and we should have been as much be"loved and admired by them, as we are at present " contemned and abhorred. The fatal consequences of a

"different

"different line of conduct are too obvious to need being "pointed out: they are severely felt. We must not, "however, supinely sink under our misfortunes. A late "reformation, though it seldom can effectually remedy "the disorder, is better than unavailing complaint, or the "tolerance of abuse; let us, therefore, seriously set about "it. There is yet room for hope: and, in our situation, "the absence of future evil may be esteemed a desirable "good"."

The duke de Belleisle accordingly made every possible exertion, to communicate strength and order to the French army upon the Rhine, now commanded by the count de Clermont, who had succeeded the ravenous and dissipated Richelieu. A body of troops was also assembled at Hanau, under the prince de Soubise, supposed to be intended to penetrate into Bohemia, or to reinforce the army of the empire; but in reality to invade the ter ritories of Hesse-Cassel, and oblige the landgrave to renounce the alliance of his Britannic majesty. In the meantime prince Ferdinand having passed the Rhine, in the face of an enemy fifty thousand strong, attacked the count de Clermont at Crevelt, on the twenty-third day of June, and obliged him to retire under the cannon of Cologne, with the loss of seven thousand men, and many officers of distinction.

Among these was the count de Gisors, only son of the duke de Belleisle, who had been mortally wounded at the head of his regiment, while animating it by his example to make a vigorous effort. His fate was much lamented both by the victors and the vanquished. Having been educated with all the care which an enlightened father could bestow upon a son of fine talents, in order to enable him to maintain the reputation of his ancestors, he united the purest morals to the most elegant manners. He was not only a lover of learning, but master himself of many branches of it. He had seen every part of Europe, and read courts and nations with a discerning eye.

VOL. V.

16. Annual Register, for 1758.

Rr

Military