As the ancestors of this princess had ever been backward in complying with such engagements, the early taking of that prudent step was attended with wonderful popularity. The Hungarians, who, after two hundred years spent in seditious broils and civil wars, still bore with impatience the Austrian yoke, submitted with pleasure to the government of Maria-Theresa, whom they almost adored, and who was worthy of their warmest regard. Her first care, after conciliating the affections of her people, was to procure for her husband a share in all her crowns, under the title of co-regent: and she flattered herself, that the consequence, thus conferred upon the grand-duke, would soon raise him to the Imperial throne'. But she had forgot that she was destitute of money; that a number of pretenders, for the whole or a part of the Austrian snccession, were rising up against her; and that her troops, though far from inconsiderable, were dispersed over her extensive dominions.

The first alarm was given by a formidable but unexpected pretender. Frederic III. king of Prussia, had lately succeeded his father Frederic William, a wise and politic prince, who had by a rigid economy, amassed a prodigious treasure, though he maintained for his own security, an army of sixty thousand men, which he prudently left his son to employ. "If we may be said to owe the shade of "the oak," observes the royal historian, " to the acorn "from which it sprung, in like manner we may discern, in "the sagacious conduct of Frederic William, the source "of the future greatness of his successor3."

A. D. 1741.

This ambitious, enlightened, and enterprising monarch, whose character I shall afterward have occasion to develope, in describing his heroic achievements, and in tracing his extensive plans of policy, revived certain antiquated claims of his family to four duchies in Silesia: and, instead of having recourse to unmeaning mani

1. Voltaire. Millot. 2. Mem. de Brandenburgh, tom. ii. 3. Id. ibid.

festos,

festos, he began his march at the head of thirty thousand choice troops, in order to establish his right When he found himself in the heart of that rich province, and in possession of Breslaw, its capital, he shewed a disposition to negociate. He offered to supply MariaTheresa, then commonly known by the name of queen of Hungary, with money and troops; to protect, to the utmost of his power, the rest of her dominions in Germany, and to use all his interest to place her husband on the Imperial throne, provided she would cede to him

the Lower-Silesia.

That would have been a small sacrifice for peace and security. But the queen of Hungary was sensible that, by yielding to the claims of one pretender, she should only encourage those of others. She therefore rejected, perhaps too hastily, the offers of the king of Prussia, and sent count Neuperg, one of her best generals, with a strong body of troops into Silesia, in order to expel the invaders. The two armies, nearly equal in numbers, met at Molwitz, a village in the neighbourhood of the town of Neiss, and within a league of the river of the same name. There a desperate battle was fought. The action lasted from two in the afternoon till six in the evening; when the Austrians, in spite of the most vigorous efforts, were obliged to retire under the cannon of Neiss, with the loss of four thousand men.

This victory, which was followed, though not immediately, with the reduction of Glatz and Neiss, and the submission of the whole province of Silesia, was acquired solely by the firmness of the Prussian infantry, and their celerity in firing, in consequence of a new exercise taught them by their young king. The cavalry were totally routed, by the superiority of the Austrians in. horse; the royal baggage was pillaged, and the king himself, in danger of being made prisoner, was carried off the field in the more early part of the engagement. But the second line of infantry stood immoveable; and by

VOL. V.

by the admirable discipline of that body, the battle was restored".

The success of the king of Prussia astonished all Europe; and the refusal of Maria-Theresa to comply with his demands, which had lately been dignified with the name of greatness of soul, was now branded with the ap pellation of imprudent obstinacy and hereditary haughtiness so apt are mankind to judge of measures by events, and to connect wisdom with good fortune, and folly with disaster!-But, even at this distance of time, when a more impartial judgment may be formed, if the queen of Hungary's resolution was again to be taken, it would be difficult for political sagacity to direct her which alternative to chuse. What might have been the consequence of her compliance with the king of Prussia's proposals, it is impossible to say; but we know that her intrepidity of spirit in resolving, at all hazards, to preserve undivided the Austrian succession, exalted her in the esteem of her most powerful and natural allies, who, ultimately secured to her the greater part of that succes. sion. It must, however, be admitted, that the successful invasion of the king of Prussia, the unforeseen conse quence of her refusal, and an assurance of the support of so powerful a prince, encouraged the court of Versailles in the ambitious project of placing the elector of Bavaria on the imperial throne. The rise of this project deserves to be traced.

But

France had guaranteed the pragmatic sanction of Charles VI, and cardinal Fleury, whose love of peace increased with his declining years, was desirous of preserving inviolate the engagements of his master. no sooner was it known at Versailles that the king of Prussia had invaded Silesia, than the cardinal found himself unable to withstand the ardour for war in the French councils. This ardour was increased by the battle of Molwitz, and the failure of the English in their attempt upon South America. Assured of the assistance

4. Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XV. chap. v.

of

of Spain, which turned a wishful eye on the Italian possessions of the queen of Hungary, the young nobility and princes of the blood, eager for an opportunity of distinguishing themslves in arms, represented to the king, That the period so long desired, was now arrived, of finally breaking the power of the house of Austria, and exalting that of Bourbon on its ruins; by dismembering the dominions of Maria-Theresa, and placing on the Imperial throne Charles Albert, elector of Bavaria, a stipendary of his most christian majesty.

The moderation and natural equity of Lewis XV. yielded to arguments so flattering to his pride; and to the count, afterward máreschal and duke de Bellisle, and his brother the chevalier, the chief inspirers of these violent councils, was committed the execution of that ambitious project. They proposed that fifty thousand French troops, of which twenty thousand were to be cas valry, should pass the Rhine, and advance toward the Danube, before the beginning of June; that another army of about forty thousand men, should be formed on the side of Westphalia, in order to keep in awe the electorate of Hanover; and that proper application should be made to the most considerable princes of the empire, corresponding to their several situations, and to share in its spoils. A moment was not lost in carrying this plan into

execution.

Meanwhile, the count de Belleisle being dispatched into Germany, in the double capacity of ambassador and general, had concluded a treaty with the elector of Bavaria, at Nymphonburg. By this treaty the king of France engaged to assist that prince with his whole force in order to raise him to the Imperial throne; and the elector, on his part, promised, That after his elevation, he would never attempt to recover any of the towns or provinces of the empire, which the French should have conquered; that he would, in his Imperial capacity, renounce the barrier treaty, and agree, that

France

France might retain irrevocably whatever places should be subdued by her arms in the Austrian Netherlands. The count de Belleisle also negociated a treaty between Lewis XV. and Frederic III. king of Prussia; in which it was stipulated, That the elector of Bavaria, together with the Imperial crown, should possess Bohemia, UpperAustria, and the county of Tyrol; that Augustus III. king of Poland, and elector of Saxony, should be gratified with Moravia and Upper-Silesia, with the town of Neiss and the county of Glatz.

These treaties were no sooner concluded, than the French forces were put in motion; and Lewis XV. appointed the clector of Bavaria, whom he meant to place in the first station among Christian princes, his lieutenantgeneral, with the mareschals Belleisle and Broglio to act under him. He at the same time issued a declaration, setting forth, That the troops of the elector of Hanover being in a threatening posture, he, as guarantee of the treaty of Westphalia, was resolved, without prejudice to the pragmatic sanction, to march some troops toward the Rhine, in order to guard the approaching election of an emperor, and to be ready to assist those princes who might call upon him for the execution of his engage

ments

The fallacy of this declaration was obvious to all Europe; yet it did not fail of its intended effect. The king of Great-Britain, alarmed for the safety of his German dominions, and finding, after a tedious and fruitless negociation, that he could not depend upon the support of the Dutch, who were timid and backward, concluded a treaty of neutrality for Hanover; in consequence SEPT. 16.

of which not only the troops of that electorate, but the auxiliary Danes and Hessians, in British pay, who had been commanded to march to the assistance of Maria-Theresa, were ordered to remain in their respective countries; and the embarkation of a body of British troops, collected for the same purpose, was countermanded.

A