and allowed the brave battalions leisure to recollect themselves. Returning to the charge, enflamed with rage and resentment at their disgrace, the Prussian infantry decided the doubtful contest. The Russians were every where thrown into confusion. They no longer distinguished friends from foes: they fired upon each other, in their ungovernable fury, and even plundered theirown baggage. It was now no longer a battle, but a horrid carnage; yet the Russians, though thus distracted and broken, incredib.e as it may seem, never offered to quit the field. They kept their ground till seven o'clock in the evening, when they made a new struggle for victory, and darkness only put a stop to the effusion of blood. Ten thousand of their best troops were left dead on the spot, and about half that number was mortally wounded. The loss of the Prussians did not exceed fifteen hundred men'.

The Russians, in consequence of this severe chastisement, retreated before the victors as far as Lansperg on the frontiers of Poland; and the king of Prussia, happy in having freed his dominions from such a dreadful scourge, hastened to the relief of his brother Henry, now encompassed with enemies, and in the greatest danger of being utterly cut off. He had to oppose not only the army of the empire, much superior to his own; the grand Austrian army also entered Saxony, under mareschal Daun: and both these armies proposed to attack him at once. But fortunately his own strong position at Dipposewalde, which he had chosen in order to cover Dresden, and command the course of the Elbe, and the timely arrival of the Prussian monarch, extricated him from all his difficulties, and disconcerted the designs of his enemies. They could not even prevent the king from joining him. And on this junction, mareschal Daun SEPT. 11. retired from the neighbourhood of Dresden,

and fell back as far as Zittaw; while the army of the

19. Letters from the king of Prussia, &c. in Lon. Gazette, Sept. 8, 1758.

empire

empire took shelter in the strong post of Pirna, which the Saxons had occupied at the beginning of the war.

But the Austrian commander, though induced by his extreme caution to avoid an immediate engagement, did not for a moment lose sight of his antagonist. Advantageously posted at Stolpen, he preserved a communication with the army of the empire, and watched the motions of his Prussian majesty with as keen an attention as ever Fabius, to whom he has been compared, did those of the great Carthaginean general.

The king of Prussia, after various movements, for protecting Brandenburg from the incursions of the Austrians, and cutting off their communication with Bohemia, took post in the neighbourhood of Hochkirchen, with his left at Bautzen; whence he could command both Misnia and Lusatia, and at the same time preserve a communication with the army of prince Henry. Mareschal Daun, who had observed these motions with concern, advanced to Kitlitz, and came to a resolution of attacking the Prussian camp by surprize; as the only means of preserving his footing in Saxony, or finding his way out of it with safety.

ост. 14.

Having communicated this design to the prince of Deuxponts, who still commanded the army of the empire, the Austrian general put his army in motion about midnight, and arrived at the place of his destination, undiscovered, by five o'clock in the morning. The Prussian right wing was surprized and routed; and mareschal Keith and prince Francis of Brunswick were killed, in bravely attempting to turn the tide of battle. Their efforts, however, were not without effect. Prince Francis was early slain; but Keith, at the head of the Prussian infantry, obstinately maintained the combat against the whole weight of the Austrian army. Though wounded he refused to quit the field. He still continued to animate the companions of his perils; and he had repulsed the Austrians, by his persevering valour,

and

and was pursuing them, when he received the deadly bullet in his breast20.

The king of Prussia, who never stood more in need of all his firmness, activity, and presence of mind, now assumed in person the command of his gallant infantry. But finding it impracticable to rocover the village of Hochkirchen, which had been lost in the first surprise, he ordered his right wing to fall back as far as Weissenberg, the left still remaining at Bautzen. This position was nearly as good as the former. majesty, beside the loss of reputation inseparable from a defeat, had lost two able generals, seven thousand brave men, and the greater part of his camp-equipage1. Yet had the Austrians small cause of exultation. They had lost about the same number of men, without accomplishing their purpose. The vanquished enemy was still for

midable.

But his Prussian

Of this the victors had soon many distinguished proofs. So little was the king of Prussia discouraged by his defeat, that he offered battle to mareschal Daun immediately after it. And as the Austrian commander not only declined the challenge, but kept cautiously within his fortified camp, (in hopes of amusing his heroic antagonist, whom he durst not openly meet in the field, till some blow could be given in another quarter, or some

20. Lloyd, vol. i. Mareschal Keith was brother to the attainted earlmareschal of Scotland; had been engaged with him in the rebellion in 1715, and was obliged on that account to abandon his country. He raised himself to the rank of a lieutenant-general in the Russian service in 1734, and highly distinguished himself against the Turks in 1737, especially at the taking of Oczakow, where he was wounded. In 1741, and 1742 he commanded against the Swedes, and gained the battle of Williamstrand. In 1747 he quitted the Russian service, and entered that of Prussia. In 1749 he was made a knight of the black eagle and governor of Berlin, with a pension of twelve thousand dollars, beside his pay. In the present war he approved himself a great commander. He was a middle-sized man, with a very martial countenance, but of a humane and benevolent temper. I. bid.

21. Prussian and Austrian Gazettes compared.

VOL. V.

SS

new

new advantage stolen in an unguarded hour) the protector of his people, and the avenger of their wrongs, took a bolder method of shewing his superior generalship, and of recovering that trophy which had been torn from his brow, not by the sword of valour, but by the wily hand of stratagem. Darting, like the lightning of Heaven, to a distant scene of action, he struck his enemies with terror, and mankind with admiration.

The Austrian generals, Harsche and de Ville, having already formed the siege of Neiss and the blockade of Cosel, his Prussian majesty saw the necessity of marching to the relief of Silesia, be the fate of Saxony what it might. Committing this important conquest to the care of his brother Henry, he accordingly quitted his camp at Dobreschutz; and by the celerity of his motions soon arrived, without any obstruction from the enemy, in the plain of Gorlitz.

ост. 24.

In consequence of this rapid march, all the advantages of mareschal Daun's studied position, and all the promised fruits of his boasted victory at Hochkirchen, were lost in a moment. An open passage into Silesia now lay before the Prussian monarch. And he pursued his rout without interruption, or any considerable loss; though general Laudohn hung upon his rear with twentyfour thousand men, and another army was sent to attack him in front. In spite of the efforts of all these armies, the intrepid Frederic accomplished his purpose, NOV. 1. and defeated the designs of his numerous enemies. The siege of Neiss was raised on his approach, as was the blockade of Cosel; and the armies, under the generals Harsche and de Ville, fell back into Bohemia22.

Having thus driven the Austrians out of Silesia, without being under the necessity of hazarding a battle, the king of Prussia instantly returned by the same route, and with the same expedition, to the relief of Saxony, now in a manner covered with the forces of his enemies.

22. Ibid.

The

The army of the empire had obliged prince Henry to abandon his post at Sedlitz, and had cut off his communication with Leipsic, at the same time that mareschal Daun attempted to obstruct his communication with Dresden. He found means, however, to throw himself into the latter, and afterward to retire to the other side of the Elbe. Meanwhile the Austrians and Imperialists laid siege to those two important places, while a third army advanced toward Torgaw, and invested that strong fortress. But Dresden, before which mareschal Daun appeared with an army of sixty thousand men, and which was defended only by the fifth part of that number, was the enemy's grand object. Count Schemettau, the Prussian governor, was therefore under the necessity of setting fire to the suburbs, in order to preserve the city for his master; and two hundred and sixty-six houses were consumed, but very few persons lost their lives23.

NOV. 9.

This conflagration has been represented by the emissaries of the court of Vienna, and by certain declamatory writers, as a terrible outrage on humanity. But as it appears that the inhabitants had timely notice of the governor's intention24, he seems to have acted in perfect conformity with the laws of war, even as explained by the benevolent spirit of Montesquieu. For those laws require, that, in military operations, the least possible injury, consistent with the acquisition or preservation of dominion, be done to the body of the people.

By the destruction of the suburbs of Dresden, the cause of so much clamour and obloquy, the city was rendered more secure. It could not now be taken but by a regular siege; that must require time; and the king of Prussia was fast advancing to its relief. These considerations induced mareschal Daun to relinquish his enterprise; and the Prussian monarch, a few days after, entered Dresden in triumph. The siege of Leipsic was

NOV. 20.

23. Certificates of the magistrates of Dresden, No. II. III. Ap. Ann. Reg.

1758.

24. Id. Ibid.

25. L'Esprit des Loix, liv. x.

raised;