acquired, that they might be able to cut off the British troops, now on their march to join the Hanoverian army. In such circumstances, prince Ferdinand had no alternative, but either to repass the Rhine or give battle to M. de Contades. The French general studiously avoided an engagement, and heavy rains had rendered the passage of the Rhine impracticable.

Meanwhile, M. de Chevert, who had passed that river some time before, with twelve thousand men, in order to attempt the recovery of Dusseldorp, having attacked baron Imhoff, posted near the bridge of Rees with six battalions and four squadrons (to protect a magazine at Meer, and favour the march of the British troops), was repulsed with great slaughter. Imhoff joined the British forces; and M. de Contades, convinced of the superiority of the Hanoverians in valour and discipline, though much inferior in numbers, permitted prince Ferdinand to repass the Rhine almost without molestation. The Hessians, assured of support, wore a good countenance, notwithstanding the defeat of general Oberg, who had been sent to their assistance, and the British troops were zealous for action. But the season being too far in the decline to admit of any new plan of operations, prince Ferdinand put his army into winter-quarters in the bishopricks of Munster, Paderborn, and Hildesheim, towards the end of October.(1)

During these transactions on the Rhine, the king of Prussia had experienced many changes of fortune. Having spent the winter in Silesia, he began the campaign with the siege of Schweidnitz, and obliged the Austrian garrison to surrender in twelve days. On the recovery of that important place, he divided his principal army, consisting of fifty thousand choice troops, into three bodies: the first commanded by mareschal Keith, the second by himself in person, and the third by prince Maurice of Anhalt Dessau. With this army, after threatening Bohemia, he suddenly entered Moravia; which, for various reasons, he intended to make the theatre of war, but for none more than its having been hitherto exempted from contribution. Meanwhile, he despatched his brother Henry with a body of thirty thousand men, to oppose the army of the empire, which was assembled under the prince of Deuxponts, near Bamberg in Franconia.

As his Prussian majesty, by his rapid and unexpected march into Moravia, threw his enemies behind him, it was thought he would proceed directly to Vienna. But that political and enterprising prince, though surely not destitute of ambition, or of the power of forming great designs, chose to pursue a more moderate line of conduct. He saw the danger of leaving an Austrian garrison in Olmutz, supported by an Austrian army in his rear; and therefore resolved to make himself master of that strong town, before he advanced farther. The trenches were accordingly opened before it, and with the most sanguine hopes of success. In the mean time, mareschal Daun, having quitted his camp at Leutomyssel, in Bohemia, entered Moravia by the way of Billa.

Too cautious, and perhaps too weak, to attempt the relief of Olmutz, by hazarding a battle, the Austrian general took post in the neighbouring mountains, between Gewitz and Littaw; where he could be plentifully supplied with provisions from Bohemia, and whence he could retard the operations of the besiegers, by keeping them in continual alarm, at the same time that he could throw succours into the place, and obstruct the Prussian convoys from Silesia. In the last, his chief object, he was particularly successful.

After Olmutz had been invested about four weeks, and when the siege was in great forwardness, notwithstanding the difficulties with which it was attended, mareschal Daun intercepted a convoy of four hundred wagons near the defiles of Domstadt, and obliged general Zeithen, who escorted it, to retire to Troppau. This loss was irreparable. The king of Prussia, therefore, saw the necessity of relinquishing his enterprise; especially as he had received intelligence, that the Russians, already on the frontiers of Silesia,

(1) Lond. Gazettes, passim.

and laying every thing waste, in their progress, with fire and sword, were preparing to enter that fine country, yet bleeding from the ravages of war.

But the gallant Frederick, who, although he sometimes forgot himself in prosperity, by being too much elated, never sunk under the pressure of adversity, acquired as much honour in conducting his retreat, as Daun did in making it necessary. Instead of falling back upon Silesia, his most natural and obvious march, but which must have drawn the Austrians into his own dominions, he determined to take his route through the dominions of the enemy. And as mareschal Daun, more effectually to succour Olmutz, had been obliged to uncover the frontiers of Bohemia, his Prussian majesty found no difficulty in accomplishing his purpose. Having concealed, under an incessant fire, his intention of raising the siege, he lifted his camp at midnight, and proceeded with so little molestation, that he arrived at Koningsgratz, one of the most important posts in Bohemia, with all his heavy baggage, all his heavy artillery, his military stores entire, and even all his sick and wounded!(1)-here he allowed his army some repose, and laid the neighbouring country under contribution. But that repose was of short duration. Understanding that the Russians, instead of invading Silesia, had entered the New Marche of Brandenburg, and invested Custrin, a fortified town within fifty miles of Berlin, he instantly marched to its relief; and notwithstanding the vigilance of the Austrian generals, and the activity of their light troops, he formed a junction with lieutenant-general Dohna, at Frankfort on the Oder, with very little loss.

No sooner did the Russian generals, Brown and Fermor, receive intelligence of the king of Prussia's approach, than they abandoned the siege of Custrin, and took post near the villages of Zwicker and Zorndorff. Though greatly outnumbered by the cruel invaders, the king resolved to give them battle; conscious that his troops must be stimulated by every motive which can impel men to vigorous exertions. Revenge for barbarous wrongs, a desire of saving their country, on the brink of ruin, from future ravages, and of acquiring honour under the eye of a sovereign and a commander who had often led them to glory and to conquest, he presumed must actuate their hearts. They did not disappoint his hopes.

Having passed the Mitzel, about nine o'clock in the morning, the Prussian monarch attempted to turn the enemy's left wing; but the Russian generals, penetrating his purpose, defeated it by very excellent dispositions. As the ground did not admit of an extended line, they threw their army into the form of a square, defended on every side by cannon and chevaux-de-frise. And in this position they waited the attack of the Prussians, who began the battle with a powerful fire of artillery, which lasted near two hours. Then the Prussian infantry advanced to the charge, and completed the havoc made by the artillery. Whole regiments of Russians were destroyed by bullets or bayonets, but not a man offered to quit his rank; and fresh regiments still pressing forward, the Prussian infantry which had given and received so many terrible shocks, with immoveable firmness, yielded to the collected impulse.

In that moment of danger and dismay, when all seemed lost, the intrepid Frederick, by a rapid and masterly movement, brought the whole cavalry of his right wing to support his centre. Pressing upon the Russian foot, uncovered by their already broken horse, the Prussian cavalry pushed them back with great slaughter, and allowed the brave battalions leisure to re-collect themselves. Returning to the charge, inflamed 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 their own baggage. It was now no longer a battle, but a horrid carnage; yet the Russians, though thus distracted and broken, incredible as it may seem, never offered to quit the field. They

(1) Prussian and Austrian Gazettes compared.

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 were mortally wounded. The loss of the Prussians did not exceed fifteen hundred men.(1)

The Russians, in consequence of this severe chastisement, retreated before the victors as far as Landsperg 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 enemics, 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 Dippoṣewalde, 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 design of his enemies. They could not even prevent the king from joining him. And on this junction, mareschal Daun retired from the neighbourhood of Dresden, and fell back as far as Zittaw; while the army of the 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 Carthagenian 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; when 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 surprise; as the only means of preserving his footing in Saxony, or finding his way out of it with safety.

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 surprised 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 was pursuing them, when he received the deadly bullet in his breast.(2)

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 recover the village of Hochkirchen, which had been lost in the first surprise, he ordered his right wing

(1) Letters from the king of Prussia, &c. in Lond. Gazette, Sept. 8, 1758.

(2) Lloyd, vol. i. Mareschal Keith was brother to the attainted earl marshal of Scotland; had been engaged with him in the rebellion of 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, besides his pay. In the present war he proved himself a great commander. He was a middle-sized man, with a very martial countenance, but of a humane and benevolent temper. Id. ibid.

to fall back as far as Weissenberg, the left still remaining at Bautzen. This position was nearly as good as the former. But his Prussian majesty, besides the loss of reputation inseparable from a defeat, had lost two able generals, seven thousand brave men, and the greater part of his camp-equipage.(1) 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 formidable.

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 new advantage stolen in an unguarded hour), the protector of his people, and the avenger of their wrongs, took a bolder method of showing 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 mo tions soon arrived, without any obstruction from the enemy, in the plain of Gorlitz.

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 route without interruption, or any considerable loss; though general Laudohn hung upon his rear with twenty-four thousand men, and another army was sent to attack him in front. In spite of the efforts of all these armies, the intrepid Frederick accomplished his purpose, 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 Bohemia.(2)

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. 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 towards Torgau, 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 Schmettau, 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 lives.(3)

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

(1) Prussian and Austrian Gazettes compared.

(2) Id. ibid.

(3) Certificates of the Magistrates of Dresden, Nos. II. III. Àp. Ann. Reg. 1758.

intention, (1) 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 public injury, consistent with the acquisition or preservation of dominion, be done to the body of the people.(2)

By the destruction of the suburbs of Dresden, the cause of so much elamour 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 inareschal Daun to relinquish his enterprise: and the Prussian monarch, a few days after, entered Dresden in triumph. The siege of Leipsic was raised; that of Glogaw had before been given up; and the Austrian and imperial armies retired into Bohemia, where they went into winter-quarters, without attempting any thing farther. Nor was this all. The Russians, who, in their retreat, had invested Colberg, in Prussian Pomerania, were obliged to abandon the undertaking with disgrace; and the Swedes, who had entered the same country, were not more fortunate in their operations than their barbarous allies.(3) The king of Prussia, triumphant over all his enemies, appeared greater than ever. Equally distinguished by valour and conduct, the exploits of every other commander were lost in the splendour of his victories and

retreats.

While those illustrious achievements were performing in Germany, the grand theatre of war, the British arms had recovered their lustre, both by land and sea. The vigorous and enterprising spirit of the prime minister seemed to communicate itself to all ranks and classes of men, but more especially to the officers of the army and navy. Patriotic zeal took place of sluggish indifference, prompt decision of wavering hesitation, and fearless exertion of timid caution. The nerve of action was new-strung. Every bosom panted for fame, and for an opportunity of retrieving the national honour.

That bold spirit of enterprise, which caught fresh fire from the king of Prussia's victories and the successes of the army under prince Ferdinand, was also inflamed by certain fortunate events at sea, in the beginning of the season. As admiral Osborn was cruising off the coast of Spain between Cape de Gatt and Carthagena, he fell in with a French squadron, on the 28th of February, consisting of three sail of the line and a frigate, commanded by the marquis du Quesne. The frigate escaped by swiftness of sailing. But two of the ships of the line, the Foudroyant of eighty guns, and the Orpheus of sixty-four, were taken after an obstinate resistance; and the third, named the Oriflamme, was driven ashore near the castle of Aiglos, where she found shelter under the Spanish neutrality.(4)

This was a sharp blow. The French not only lost two capital ships, but saw them added to the British navy. Nor was that their only misfortune by sea. Sir Edward Hawke, in the beginning of April, dispersed and dr ve on shore, near the isle of Aix, a French fleet, consisting of five ships of the line, six frigates, and forty transports, having on board three thousand troops, with a large quantity of provisions and stores intended for the support of their settlements in North America. (5) Two other convoys were dispersed, and several transports taken; and, on the 29th of May, the Raisonable, a French ship of the line, commanded by the prince de Monbazon, having on board six hundred and thirty men, and mounting sixty-four guns, was taken by captain Dennis in the Dorsetshire, an English seventy-gun ship after a smart engagement.

Roused to enthusiasm by these victories, and the rising passion for glory, the people of England, who had so lately trembled under the apprehensions of a French invasion, now talked of nothing but carrying hostilities into the heart of France. And the popular minister, instead of regulating that enthusiasm, by confining it to its proper element, or directing its energy against

(1) Certificates of the Magistrates of Dresden, Nos. II. III. Ap. Ann. Reg. 1758. (2) L'Esprit des Loix, liv. x.

(4) Letter from admiral Osborn, March 12, 1758.

(3) Foreign Gazettes, passim.

(5) Letter from Sir Edward Hawke, April 11, 1758