CHAPTER XLVII.

THE DIPLOMATIC REVOLUTION AND THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR

 

 

THE seven years which succeeded the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle are described by Voltaire as among the happiest that Europe ever enjoyed. Commerce revived, the fine arts flourished, and the European nations resembled, it is said, one large family reunited after its dissensions. Unfortunately, however, the Peace was little more than a truce, and the settlement of many questions still awaited solution. Scarcely had Europe begun to breathe again when new disputes arose, and the seven years of peace and prosperity were succeeded by another seven of misery and war. While the loss of Silesia was not acquiesced in by Austria, the ancient rivalry between France and England had been extended to every quarter of the globe. The interests of the two nations came into collision in India, Africa, and America, and a dispute about American boundaries again plunged them into war.

By the ninth article of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, France and England were mutually to restore their conquests in such state as they were before the war. This clause became a copious source of quarrel. The principal dispute regarded the limits of Acadia, or Nova Scotia, which Province had, by the twelfth article of the Treaty of Utrecht, been ceded to England conformably to its ancient boundaries; but what these were had never been accurately determined, and each Power fixed them according to its convenience. Thus, while the French pretended that Nova Scotia embraced only the peninsula extending from Cape St. Mary to Cape Canso, the English further included in it that part of the American continent which extends to Pentagoet on the west, and to the river St. Lawrence on the north, comprising all the Province of New Brunswick. Another dispute regarded the western limits of the British North American settlements. The English claimed the banks of the Ohio as belonging to Virginia, the French as forming part of Louisiana; and they attempted to confine the British colonies by a chain of forts stretching from Louisiana to Canada. Commissioners were appointed to settle these questions, who held their conferences at Paris between the years 1750 and 1755. Disputes also arose respecting the occupation by the French of the islands of St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Vincent, and Tobago, which had been declared neutral by former treaties.

Before the Commissioners could terminate their labors, mutual aggressions had rendered a war inevitable. As is usual in such cases, it is difficult to say who was the first aggressor. Each nation laid the blame on the other. Some French writers assert that the English resorted to hostilities out of jealousy at the increase of the French navy. According to the plans of Rouillé, the French Minister of Marine, 111 ships of the line, fifty-four frigates, and smaller vessels in proportion, were to be built in the course of ten years. The question of boundaries was, however, undoubtedly the occasion, if not also the true cause of the war. A series of desultory conflicts had taken place along the Ohio, and on the frontiers of Nova Scotia, in 1754, without being avowed by the mother countries. A French writer, who flourished about this time, the Abbé Raynal, ascribes this warfare to the policy of the Court of Versailles, which was seeking gradually to recover what it had lost by treaties.  Orders were now issued to the English fleet to attack French vessels wherever found. This act has been censured as piratical, because it had not been preceded by a formal declaration of war; but it was subsequently defended by Pitt, on the ground that the right of hostile operations results not from any such declaration, but from the previous hostilities of an aggressor; nor is this principle contested in the reply of the French Minister. It being known that a considerable French fleet was preparing to sail from Brest and Rochefort for America, Admiral Boscawen was dispatched thither, and captured two French men-of-war off Cape Race in Newfoundland, June, 1755. Hostilities were also transferred to the shores of Europe. Sir Edward Hawke was instructed to destroy every French ship he could find between Cape Ortegal and Cape Clear; and the English privateers made numerous prizes.

A naval war between England and France was now unavoidable; but, as in the case of the Austrian Succession, this was also to be mixed up with a European war. The complicated relations of the European system again caused these two wars to run into one, though their origin had nothing in common. France and England, whose quarrel lay in the New World, appeared as the leading Powers in a European contest in which they had only a secondary interest, and decided the fate of Canada on the plains of Germany.

The Seven Years’ War was chiefly caused by the colonial rivalry of England and France, by the rupture of the Franco-Prussian alliance, and by the Austrian hatred of Prussia. Maria Theresa could not brook the loss of Silesia, and her plans of reconquest were aided by Elizabeth of Russia, whose vanity had been hurt by the sarcasms of the King of Prussia. But the Empress-Queen would never have been able to execute her projects against Frederick II unless she had been helped by France. The manner in which she obtained the aid of that Power did credit to her diplomatic skill.

The reluctance with which Maria Theresa signed the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle has already been noticed. Although England had been her most powerful ally, she had begun to regard that Power with aversion, as being, through its counsels, one of the chief causes of her losing Silesia. She was also offended by the high tone assumed by the English Cabinet, and she manifested her discontent to the English Ambassador when he offered to congratulate her on the Peace, by remarking that condolence would be more appropriate. She was aware, however, that a rupture with Great Britain must be made good by an alliance with France, in short, by an inversion of the whole political system of Europe, and the extinction of that hereditary rivalry which had prevailed during two centuries between France and Austria. Such a task presented no ordinary difficulties; yet it was accomplished by the talents and perseverance of Count Kaunitz, one of the most remarkable statesmen of that age, and the greatest minister that Austria ever possessed. Kaunitz was now in the prime of life, having been born in 1711. He had been destined for the Church, but having, through the death of his elder brothers, become heir to the family title and estates, his vocation was altered. After a careful education, completed by foreign travel, he entered the service of Charles VI, and after the death of that Emperor was employed by Maria Theresa in various missions to Rome, Florence, Turin, and London, in the discharge of which his abilities procured for him her entire confidence. His success was, perhaps, in no small degree owing to a singular combination of qualities in his character. Under the easy exterior of a man of the world were concealed acute penetration, deep reflection, impenetrable reserve, indomitable perseverance. Even his bitter adversary, Frederick II, was forced to acknowledge the power of his intellect. His residence at Paris had imbued him with the philosophical ideas then current; hence he was indifferent to religion, and regarded the Church only as the servant of the State. The energies of this remarkable man were directed during forty years to one object—the aggrandizement of the House of Austria. While the negotiations at Aix-la-Chapelle were still pending, he had already conceived the seemingly impracticable project of uniting France and Austria against Prussia. The scheme was a profound secret between himself and Maria Theresa. Even the Queen's husband, Francis I, was ignorant of it till it was ripe for execution. The same thing happened at the French Court. Louis XV and his mistress, the Marquise de Pompadour, formed a sort of interior and secret Cabinet, which often acted contrary to the views of the Ministers. Kaunitz, who, for the purpose of forwarding his plans, filled the post of Austrian Ambassador at Paris from the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle till the year 1753, had observed this peculiarity of the French Court, and availed himself of the facilities which it afforded. To gain Madame de Pompadour was no difficult task. She, too, like the Empress of Russia, had been irritated by some railleries of Frederick's respecting herself and her royal lover. Kaunitz artfully kept this feeling alive, and at the same time soothed the vanity of the royal favorite by the marks of favour and friendship which he persuaded his mistress to bestow upon her. He even prevailed upon the reluctant Maria Theresa, the proud descendant of the House of Habsburg, the mother of a new line of Emperors, to write an autograph letter, in which the Empress-Queen addressed the low-born mistress of Louis as “Ma Cousine!”. But even after the conquest of Pompadour it was difficult to gain Louis, though he felt a natural antipathy for Frederick. He envied the Prussian King’s splendid talents and achievements; and he affected to abhor Frederick as a Protestant, or rather a freethinker. It was necessary, however, that an alliance between France and Austria should be justified in the eyes of the French nation by some ostensible political object. To provide this, Kaunitz was prepared to sacrifice the Austrian Netherlands. Austria felt that she had been placed there by Great Britain and Holland, two Powers for whom she had no great affection, merely to render those countries a barrier against France; but for that very reason, as well as from their distance, they were felt to be rather a burden than an advantage. Even during the negotiations for the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, Kaunitz had proposed to cede Brabant and Flanders to France, if that Power would compel Frederick to restore Silesia. But France was then exhausted by the recent war, and cared not to enter into the project. It was not till after many years of patient expectation that the breaking out of hostilities between France and England at length promised to crown Kaunitz’s labors with success.

To conciliate France it was necessary to provoke a quarrel with England. Austria refused to pay the half million crowns which formed her share of the expense of the Dutch garrisons in Austrian Flanders, and abolished the commercial privileges which the English enjoyed in that country. When the British Cabinet remonstrated, the Empress-Queen petulantly replied that she was Sovereign in the Netherlands, and would not be dictated to. Matters grew worse in 1755. France was evidently meditating an invasion of Hanover, and with that view was negotiating with the Elector of Cologne to form magazines in Westphalia. George II now required of Maria Theresa, as he was entitled to do as guarantor of the Pragmatic Sanction, that she should increase her army in Flanders by 20,000 or 30,000 men. But the Court of Vienna refused, on the plea that such a step would offend France; alleging also the unfounded excuse that Austria was threatened with invasion by Prussia. In vain the English Government assured her that Russia, with whom they had just concluded a treaty, would protect her against any attempt, if such was to be feared, on the part of Frederick. The treaty referred to, executed September 30th, 1755, was not only a renewal of the alliance already subsisting between Great Britain and Russia since 1742, but included an arrangement by which Russian troops were, in the event of a war between England and France, to defend Hanover. But the real politics of the Court of St. Petersburg were better known at Vienna than at London. In fact, a defensive alliance had been concluded at Warsaw between Austria and Russia in June, 1746, and in a secret article Maria Theresa had declared that if the King of Prussia should attack either her dominions or those of Russia or Poland, she would revive her rights to Silesia. In her negotiations with Great Britain the Empress- Queen had already begun to throw off the mask. Instead of being defended against Prussia, she openly talked of attacking that Kingdom in order to restore the European balance. Mutual recriminations and reproaches ensued; but George II declared that he would enter into no paper war, and turned to seek an ally in his nephew, Frederick, who had formerly accused him of deserving the gallows for stealing his father’s will!

It was an anxious time for the Prussian King. He wished for nothing more than to preserve what he had already obtained, and was, therefore, sincerely desirous of peace. But he clearly saw that the state of things precluded its maintenance. He was aware that his boldness and bad faith had made him an object of universal suspicion, that Maria Theresa was the centre of all the intrigues against him, and he strongly suspected that one of her trustiest allies might be the Russian Empress Elizabeth. At that period none of the European Courts was honest either to friend or foe. It was a contest of knavery, of bribery of one another’s under-secretaries and other officers; each knew the most secret plans of his neighbor. Frederick had long been acquainted with the secret article of the Austrian and Russian Treaty of Warsaw, and he felt that it was high time to fortify himself with an alliance. But he was addressed at once by France and England—which should he choose? His treaty with France was just expiring; the Court of Versailles, not yet resolved on the grand stroke of an Austrian alliance, wished him to renew it, and to aid in an attack upon Hanover. But the French negotiations were unskillfully managed. Frederick’s pride revolted at the haughty tone in which he was treated. He seemed to be regarded almost as a vassal of France; nay, some of the French proposals were positively insulting. Thus, for instance, the French Minister, Rouillé, told the Prussian Ambassador to write to his master that an attack upon Hanover would afford a good opportunity for plunder, as the King of England’s treasury was well provided! Frederick indignantly replied to this home-thrust, that he hoped M. Rouillé would learn to distinguish between persons—that such proposals befitted only a contrabandist. The Duke of Nivernais, who was sent on a special embassy to Berlin, arrived after Frederick had decided to ally with England. In choosing the English alliance, Frederick was guided by policy alone. He had no wish to see Hanover defended by Russian troops, and he feared when war broke out between England and France to find himself exposed to the attacks of Austria and Russia. He therefore entered into a Treaty of Neutrality with England, January 16th, 1756, the only object of which professed to be to preserve the peace of Germany, and to prevent foreign troops from entering the Empire. By a secret article, the Netherlands were excluded from the operation of the treaty.

This treaty, apparently so harmless, was followed by important consequences. Kaunitz employed it as his strongest argument to persuade the Cabinet of Versailles to a close alliance with Austria. His plans embraced the partition of Prussia among various Powers; and he proposed to make the Polish Crown hereditary in the Saxon family; to give the Austrian Netherlands to Don Philip in exchange for Parma and Piacenza; and to assign the ports of Nieuport and Ostend to France. These propositions occasioned violent discussions in the French Cabinet. The greater part of the Ministry was for adhering to the old French anti-Austrian policy; but Louis and his mistress were for Maria Theresa. This momentous question was debated at a little house belonging to Madame de Pompadour, called Babiole. Madame de Pompadour, and her confidant, the Abbé Bernis, without the intervention of any of the French Ministers, arranged the business with Count Stahremberg, who had succeeded Kaunitz as Austrian Ambassador at Paris. The Austrian alliance was resolved on. On May 1st, 1756, two treaties were executed by France and Austria, one of which stipulated the entire neutrality of the Empress-Queen in the impending war between France and England; by the other, a defensive alliance, the two Powers mutually guaranteed their possessions in Europe, and promised each other a succour of 24,000 men in case of attack—the war with England always excepted on the part of Austria; while France claimed no exceptions, not even in the case of a war between Austria and the Porte. The virtual effect of the treaties, therefore, was that Austria only engaged not to aid England against France, while France engaged to help Austria with 24,000 men against Prussia, in case of need. But by secret articles the obligation of aid became reciprocal if other Powers, even in alliance with England, should attack the European possessions either of France or Austria. Russia subsequently acceded to these treaties.

The negotiations had been concluded without the knowledge of the other Austrian Ministers, or even of the Emperor Francis I, who detested France as the hereditary enemy of the House of Lorraine. When Kaunitz communicated them to the Council, the Emperor became so excited that, striking the table with his fist, he left the room, exclaiming “that such an unnatural alliance should not take place”. Kaunitz was so alarmed that he could not say a word; but Maria Theresa directed him to proceed, and manifested such decisive approbation that the other ministers did not venture to oppose him. The easy-tempered Francis, who, in fact, took little part in the affairs of Austria, confining himself to those of the Empire and of his grand duchy of Tuscany, was at length brought to consent to the new line of policy, and even to persuade the States of the Empire to second it.

Meanwhile hostilities had openly broken out between France and England. In December, 1755, the Court of Versailles had demanded satisfaction for all vessels seized by the English; which being refused till the reopening of negotiations, an embargo was placed on British vessels in French ports. Great Britain, seeing herself on the eve of a war with France, required from Holland the succors stipulated by the Treaty of 1716; but though this demand was supported by the mother and guardian of the young Stadholder, who was George II’s daughter, yet the anti-Orange party, availing itself of the alarm occasioned by a threat of Louis XV, persuaded the States-General to declare a strict neutrality. The English Cabinet had entered into treaties for the hire of troops with the States of Hesse-Cassel, Saxe-Gotha, and Schaumburg-Lippe. These petty German Princes were at that period accustomed to traffic in the blood of their subjects, whose hire went not, like that of the Swiss, into their own pockets, but contributed to support the luxury of their Sovereigns. The military force of England was in those days but small; a dislike prevailed of standing armies, and her growing colonies and commerce required that her resources should be chiefly devoted to the augmentation of the navy. Hence the nation was seized almost with a panic when it heard that large armaments, the destination of which was unknown, were preparing at Brest and Havre. The French, to increase the alarm and conceal their real design, caused large bodies of troops to assemble in their channel ports. Troops were hastily brought to England from Hanover and Hesse. But the storm fell elsewhere. War had not yet been formally declared when these armaments, joined by others from the French Mediter­ranean ports, appeared off Minorca, conveying an army of 12,000 men under Marshal the Duke of Richelieu. The Duke of Newcastle’s administration, now tottering to its fall, had neglected the necessary precautions; the garrison of Port Mahon had been reduced to less than 3,000 men; and it was only at the last moment that a fleet of ten ships, under Admiral Byng, was dispatched for the defence of Minorca. When Byng arrived, the island was virtually captured. The French had landed in April, 1756; on the 21st they occupied Port Mahon. General Blakeney, who commanded in the absence of Lord Tyrawley, the governor, now retired into the fort of St. Philip, which was deemed impregnable. Byng did not appear off Minorca till May 19th, and on the following day engaged the French fleet in a distant cannonade; after which he retired to Gibraltar, leaving the island to its fate. The English garrison in St. Philip, despairing of relief, capitulated June 28th, and was conveyed to Gibraltar. Byng was condemned next year by a court-martial of not having done all that lay in his power to succor the place; and as popular clamor rose very high in England at the loss of Minorca, and seemed to demand a victim, he was shot in Portsmouth harbor. After the attack on Minorca, England issued a formal declaration of war against France, May 17th, which was answered by the latter country June 9th.

The continental war had not yet begun. A league was preparing between Austria, Russia, Saxony, and Sweden, among which the spoils of Prussia were to be divided. Silesia and the County of Glatz were to be restored to Austria; Prussia was to be given to Poland, Courland to Russia, Magdeburg to Saxony, Pomerania to Sweden. The Empress Elizabeth of Russia entered ardently into Maria Theresa’s plans, but Kaunitz demurred to act without the consent of France. Frederick, who was acquainted with his enemies’ schemes, had to determine whether he should await or anticipate the execution of them. He had learnt, to his alarm, that Russia was to begin the war; Austria was to get involved in it, and would then demand the aid of France, under her treaty with that Power. Saxony, as he discovered through Fleming, the Saxon Minister at the Court of Vienna, was to fall upon him when he had been a little shaken in the saddle. It is probable that Kaunitz, who wanted to drive him to some rash step, permitted him to get this secret intelligence. He had, however, also learnt through his friend and admirer, the Grand Duke Peter, who had secretly entered Frederick’s service this very year as a Prussian captain, that the Courts of St. Petersburg and Vienna had resolved to attack him, but that the execution of the project had been deferred till the next spring, in order to allow time for Russia to provide the necessary recruits, sailors, and magazines. Frederick armed, and resolved on an immediate invasion of Saxony. First of all, however, by the advice of the English Ambassador, Mitchell, he demanded in a friendly manner, through his Ambassador at Vienna, the object of the Austrian preparations; and as Maria Theresa gave an ambiguous reply to this question, as well as to a demand for a more explicit answer, repeated towards the end of August, 1756, Frederick, after having first published at Berlin a declaration of his motives, set his troops in motion. “It is better”, he wrote to George II, “to anticipate than to be anticipated”."

Frederick’s conduct on this occasion has been much canvassed. It has been observed that the projects of his enemies were only eventual, depending on the condition whether the King of Prussia should give occasion to a war, and, consequently, on his own conduct; that it was very possible their schemes would never have been executed, and problematical whether to await them would have been more dangerous than to anticipate them. Such speculations it is impossible to answer, but it may be observed that the course pursued by Frederick proved ultimately successful; and that, by attacking his enemies before they were prepared, he not only deprived Saxony of the power to injure him, but even pressed the resources of that State into his own service. It must also be remembered that the scanty means of Prussia, in comparison with those of her enemies, did not permit Frederick to keep a large force in the field for a long period of time, and it was, therefore, a point of the most vital importance for him to bring the war to the speediest possible conclusion. The morality of his proceeding may, in this instance, be justified by the necessity of self-defense; for there can be no doubt that a most formidable league had been organized against him.

The Prussians entered Saxony in three columns, towards the end of August, 1756. Prince Ferdinand, of Brunswick, marched with one by way of Halle, Leipzig, and Freiberg, towards Bohemia; the King himself, with Marshal Keith, led another by Torgau and Dresden; the third, under the Prince of Brunswick-Bevern, marched through Lusatia. When Frederick entered Dresden, September 7th, he seized the Saxon archives, and caused the dispatches, which proved the design of the Powers allied against him to invade and divide Prussia, to be published with the celebrated Memoire of M. von Hertzberg. The Prussians at first pretended to enter Saxony in a friendly manner. They declared that they were only on their way to Bohemia, and should speedily evacuate the country; but they soon began to levy contributions. The King even established a so-called Directory at Torgau, which was to collect the revenues of the electorate; and he caused that town to be fortified. Augustus III ordered the Saxon army of about 17,000 men, under Rutowski, to take up a strong position near Pirna; but it was without provisions, ammunition, or artillery. Count Brühl had neglected everything, except his own interests and pleasures, and Augustus and he shut themselves up in the impregnable fortress of Konigstein. Frederick was unwilling to attack the Saxons. He wished to spare them, and to incorporate them with his own army: and he, therefore, resolved to reduce them by blockade. The delay thus occasioned afforded Maria Theresa time to assemble her forces in Bohemia, under Piccolomini and Brown. As the latter general was hastening to the relief of the Saxons, Frederick marched to oppose him. The hostile armies met on the plain of Lobositz, a little town in the Circle of Leitmeritz, where an indecisive battle was fought, October 1st. The result, however, was in favour of Frederick. He remained master of the field, and the advance of the Austrians was checked. Frederick now hastened back to Saxony, where the troops of Augustus, being reduced to a state of the greatest distress by the exhaustion of their provisions, were compelled to surrender (October 15th), in spite of an attempt of the Austrians to release them. The officers were dismissed on parole and the greater part of the privates incorporated in Prussian regiments. Augustus III being permitted to retire into Poland, endeavored, but without effect, to induce the Poles to embrace his cause. Frederick, who remained master of Saxony, concluded in the winter (January 11th, 1757), a new treaty with Great Britain, the professed object of which was, to balance the “unnatural alliance” between France and Austria. Great Britain was to pay Prussia a subsidy of a million sterling during the war, to send a fleet into the Baltic, and to harass France on her coasts, or in the Netherlands; while Frederick was to add 20,000 men to the Hanoverian army of 50.000.

Frederick’s attack upon Saxony set in motion, in the following year, the powerful league which had been organized against him. The Empress-Queen, the States of the Empire, France, Russia, and Sweden prepared at once to fall upon him. On the complaint of Augustus, as Elector of Saxony, the German Diet, at the instance of the Emperor Francis, assembled at Ratisbon with more than ordinary promptitude; declared the King of Prussia guilty of a breach of the Landfriede, or public peace of the Empire; and decreed, on the 17th of January, 1757, an armatura ad triplum, or threefold contingent of troops, and the tax or contribution called Roman-months, which would have brought in three million florins, or about £250,000 sterling, could it have been duly levied, for the purpose of restoring Augustus to his dominions. But it was one thing to make these decrees, and another to carry them out. The Prussian envoy at the Diet treated the notary who handed him the decree with the rudest contempt. The North of Germany protested against the decision of the majority of the Diet, and the Sovereigns of Lippe, Waldeck, Hesse-Cassel, Brunswick, Hanover, and Gotha found it more advantageous to let out their troops to England than to pay Roman-months and furnish their contingents to the Imperial army.

Sweden France, governed by the small passions of a boudoir rather than by the dictates of sound policy, instead of devoting all her energies and resources to the maritime war with Great Britain, resolved to take a principal share in the continental war, and to assist in the abasement of the only German Power capable of making head against Austria. She determined to send three armies into Germany, and exerted her diplomacy to induce Sweden to join the league against Prussia. The revolution which had just taken place in Sweden was favorable to the designs of France. Frederick I, King of Sweden, and Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, had died in 1751, and had been succeeded by Adolphus Frederick, of the house of Holstein-Gottorp, elected under Russian influence. Ulrica, sister of the King of Prussia, and consort of Adolphus Frederick, had, in 1756, organized a conspiracy to overthrow the aristocratic faction and restore the royal power; but it ended only in the execution of some of the principal leaders, and the still further increase of the power of the Eats. This party was sold to France; and the Senate, without even consulting the Estates of the realm, compelled the King to take part against his brother-in-law. The lure held out by France was the recovery, by Sweden, of all her former possessions in Pomerania. In the course of 1757, two conventions were executed between France and Sweden, in which Austria was also included (March 21st and September 22nd). By these treaties, Sweden, as one of the guarantors of the Peace of Westphalia, engaged to maintain in Germany an army of at least 20,000 men, exclusive of the garrison of Stralsund, and of her contingent to the Imperial army for the possessions she still held in Pomerania. Subsidies were to be paid for these succors, and for any increased force. An attempt was also made to induce Denmark to join the league; but the Danish minister, Count Bernstorff, with a high moral feeling which distinguishes him among the politicians of the day, refused to lay the application before his Sovereign, Frederick V, on the ground that nothing more wicked and dreadful can be committed than to enter into an unjust and needless war for the sake of acquiring a piece of territory. A secret treaty was also concluded between the Empress-Queen and Elizabeth of Russia, January 22nd, 1757. France also drew closer her alliance with Austria by the second Treaty of Versailles, executed on the anniversary of the former one (May 1st, 1757). Between these periods the Court of Versailles had become still more embittered against the King of Prussia. The Dauphin had married a daughter of Augustus III, and her lamentations upon the invasion of Saxony had had a great effect upon Louis XV. Another circumstance had also contributed to his hatred of Frederick. He alone, among all the Princes of Europe, had neglected to condole with the French King, when wounded by an assassin.

This attempt upon Louis’s life had been produced by a fresh persecution of the Jansenists. Christophe de Beaumont, Archbishop of Paris, a violent champion of orthodoxy, had, in 1750, commanded his clergy to refuse the last sacraments to such dying persons as were not provided with a certificate of confession, and refused to acknowledge the bull Unigenitus. The withholding of the last sacraments, it should be remembered, implied the refusal of Christian sepulture, and affixed a stigma on the deceased and his family. The Parliament of Paris took up the cause of the people against the clergy. Violent scenes ensued. Some of the more prominent presidents and counsellors were banished; the Parliament of Paris was suspended from its functions; but a passive resistance continued, and, in 1754, the King found it expedient to settle the matter by a transaction. The Bishops consented to dispense with the obnoxious certificates, provided the clergy were released from the tax of a twentieth, which the Government, in a new scheme of finance, had extended to the incomes of that order; and the Parliament of Paris was restored, amid the acclamations of the people, on agreeing to register a Royal Declaration enjoining silence with regard to religious disputes. The clergy, however, did not adhere to their bargain, but continued to require the certificates; whereupon the Court changed sides, and banished the Archbishop and several other prelates to their country-houses. The Parliament of Paris, encouraged by this symptom of royal favour, became still more contumacious, and refused to register some royal edicts for the imposition of new taxes required for the contemplated war. To put an end to these contentions, Louis XV, in a Lit de Justice, held December 13th, 1756, issued two Declarations. The first of these, concerning the ecclesiastical question, adopted a middle course, and ordained that the bull Unigenitus was to be respected, though it was not to be regarded as a rule of faith. With respect to the edicts of taxation, the Parliament of Paris was to send in its remonstrances within a fortnight, and to register the edicts the day after the King’s reply to them. These Declarations were accompanied with a royal edict suppressing the chambers of the Enquêtes and more than sixty offices of counsellors. This arbitrary proceeding was followed by the immediate resignation of all the members of the Courts of Enquêtes and Requêtes; an example that was followed by half the Grand Chambre. Out of 200 magistrates, only twenty retained office.

This spontaneous dissolution of the Parliament produced an extraordinary effect on the public, and impelled a crazy fanatic to make an attempt on the King’s life on the evening of January 5th, 1757. Louis, however, speedily recovered, and Damiens—such was the name of the assassin—suffered a painful death. Expressions of condolence at Louis’s misfortune poured in from all the Courts of Europe: Frederick alone expressed no sympathy and horror.

Terms of By the second treaty with Austria France very much augmented her succors both of troops and money. She was to maintain on foot a force of 105,000 men, besides 10,000 Bavarians and Wurtembergers, till Maria Theresa, who was to employ at least 80,000 of her own troops, should have recovered Silesia and Glatz; and was also to pay an annual subsidy of twelve million florins, or about one million sterling, so long as the war should last. Austria was further to obtain the principality of Crossen, with a convenient extent of country; the present possessors of which were to be indemnified out of the Prussian dominions. Negotiations were to be opened with Sweden, the Elector Palatine, the Electors of Bavaria and Saxony, and with the Dutch States-General, who were all to have a share of Prussia proportioned to their exertions in the war. Saxony was to have the Duchy of Magdeburg and the Circle of the Saal, together with the Principality of Halberstadt, in exchange for part of Lusatia. The Elector Palatine and the Elector of Bavaria joined the league in the hope of sharing in the spoils; the Dutch, in spite of the bait of Prussian Cleves, preserved their neutrality. Maria Theresa was to assign the Austrian Netherlands, except what she ceded to France, to Don Philip, who in return was to abandon to her the Duchies of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla. Maria Theresa reserved, however, the vote and seat in the Imperial Diets annexed to the Circle of Burgundy, the collation of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and the arms and titles of the House of Burgundy. To France were to be ceded the sovereignty of Chimai and Beaumont, the ports and towns of Ostend, Nieuport, Ypres, Furnes, and Mons, the fortress of Knoque, and a league of territory around each of these places. The French were at once to occupy Ostend and Nieuport provisionally. But by assigning the Austrian Netherlands to a weak Prince like the Duke of Parma, Maria Theresa virtually abandoned the whole of them to France.

France had also endeavored to persuade the Court of Madrid to join the alliance against England and Prussia; and as a lure to Spain, Louis XV, after the conquest of Minorca, offered to make over that island to Ferdinand VI, as well as to assist him in the recovery of Gibraltar. But Ferdinand was not inclined to enter into a war with England, and these offers were rejected.

The forces to be brought into the field by the Powers leagued against Frederick II amounted to upwards of 400,000 men, to which Prussia and Hanover could not oppose the half of that number. In April, 1757, before the second convention with Austria had been executed, the French took the field with three armies; one of which, under Marshal the Duke de Richelieu, was placed on the Upper Rhine; another, under the Prince de Soubise, on the Main; while the third and principal one, under the Marshal D'Estrées, occupied the Duchies of Gelderland and Cleves, and the greater part of the Prussian territories in Westphalia—Frederick having abandoned these districts in order to concentrate his forces on the Oder. In July the French took possession of Hesse-Cassel, the capital of an ally of Great Britain; the Duke of Cumberland, who commanded the Hanoverian army of observation of about 67,000 men, continually retreating before them. The plan of the French was to reduce the Electorate of Hanover to neutrality, and then to push on into Prussia. The Duke of Cumberland attempted to make a stand at Hastenbeck, but was defeated by D'Estrées. The Duke gave up the battle prematurely, the loss of the French having been twice as great as that of the Hanoverians. In spite of his victory, however, D'Estrées, who was accused of being too slow in his movements, was by a court intrigue superseded in favour of the more brilliant Marshal Richelieu, who had acquired a military reputation by the conquest of Minorca. Richelieu, overran the greater part of Brunswick and Hanover, the Duke of Cumberland retiring to Kloster-Seven, between Bremen and Hamburg. Thither Richelieu hesitated to pursue him, knowing that Denmark, by the treaty of 1715, already mentioned, had guaranteed the Duchies of Bremen and Verden to the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and had promised, in case of an attack upon them, to come to its aid with 8,000 men; while the French commander was ignorant that, by a recent Convention executed at Copenhagen, July 11th, 1757, France had promised to respect the neutrality of those two Duchies, reserving, however, the right of pursuing a Hanoverian army which might take refuge in them.

Matters were in this position when Count Lynar offered, on the part of Denmark, to mediate between the combatants. Lynar belonged to the school of Spener and the Pietists, and according to a letter of his which fell into the hands of the Prussians, he attributed this idea to an inspiration of the Holy Ghost, which enabled him to arrest the progress of the French arms, as Joshua had formerly arrested the course of the sun. However this may be, the Duke of Cumberland, pressed thereto by the petty interests and passions of the Hanoverian Ministry and nobles, who were anxious to save their own possessions from annoyance, consented to accept the mediation of Denmark; nor was Richelieu averse to it, as the neutralizing of Hanover would enable him to march against Prussia. Under these circumstances Lynar was employed to draw up the Convention of Booster-Seven, signed September 8th, 1757. By this Convention an armistice was agreed upon, Cumberland's auxiliary troops, namely, those of Hesse, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Saxe-Gotha, and Lippe-Bückeburg—for there were no British among them—were to be dismissed to their respective countries; the Duke himself, with the Hanoverians, was to retire within twenty-four hours beyond the Elbe, leaving only a garrison of not more than 6,000 men at Stade; and the French were to retain possession of what they had conquered till a peace. But the composition of this document neither reflected much credit on Count Lynar’s statesmanship, nor on the penetration and foresight of Richelieu. The duration of the suspension of arms was left undetermined, nor was it stipulated that the Hanoverians and their auxiliaries should be disarmed.

The Prussians had entered Bohemia from Saxony about the same time that the French invaded Westphalia, and a division under the Prince of Brunswick-Bevern, had repulsed Count Konigseck at Reichenberg, April 24th, 1757. Frederick in person, with the main army, marched against Prince Charles of Lorraine and Marshal Brown, who were strongly posted behind Prague, on the Moldau. As the Austrian Marshal Daun was known to be approaching with reinforcements, the King attacked Prince Charles, May 6th, and, after an obstinately contested and bloody battle, which lasted from nine in the morning till eight in the evening, completely defeated him. The Austrian camp, military chest, and sixty guns fell into the hands of the Prussians. The battle of Prague was signalized by the death of two of the most distinguished generals on either side—Marshal Brown, and the Prussian Marshal Schwerin.

After this defeat, Prince Charles threw himself into Prague with the remains of his army of about 40,000 men where he was blockaded by Frederick; and, such was the prestige of the Prussian arms, that although Frederick’s forces were not much more numerous than those which he surrounded, yet the Austrians ventured not upon any attempt to escape. Nay, as Marshal Daun was approaching to relieve them, Frederick was even bold enough to march with a great part of his army to oppose him. But in this hazardous step he was not attended with his usual good fortune, which had hitherto proved so constant to him as to render him somewhat presumptuous. Daun, though rather slow, was an able and cautious general, and his army numbered 20,000 men more than that of the King—54,000 Austrians against some 34,000 Prussians. It is not surprising, therefore, that Frederick was, for the first time, though after a severe contest, entirely defeated in the Battle of Kolin, June 18th. In consequence of this defeat he was compelled to raise the blockade of Prague, and to retire with all his forces into Silesia. It was on the occasion of this battle that the Empress-Queen founded the Order of Maria Theresa.

During the next three or four months Frederick’s prospects were gloomy enough. To add to the misfortune of his defeat, Westphalia, as we have seen, was lost; the Hanoverian army beaten and neutralized; the road to Magdeburg open to Richelieu; while the army of the Empire, together with a French division under Soubise, had assembled in Thuringia. Marshal Apraxin, with 100,000 Russians, who had occupied Riga early in February, entered Prussia in June, and defeated the Prussians under Lehwald at Gross-Jügersdorf, August 30th; while Memel had been captured by a Russian maritime force. England had made no preparations to assist Prussia in this quarter; the Russian Court having notified that it should consider the appearance of an English fleet in the Baltic as a declaration of war—a step which the British Cabinet, having its hands full with the French war, as well as for commercial reasons, was anxious not to provoke. The Swedes, under Ungern Sternberg, invaded Pomerania and the Uckermark in September, and took several places. Silesia, and even Brandenburg, seemed to be open to the Austrians; and the Austrian General Haddick actually pushed on to Berlin in October, and levied contributions on that city during the few hours that he held it. In these critical circumstances, Frederick was almost driven to despair. He tells us himself that he meditated suicide; an idea which gave occasion to Voltaire to write him a dissuasive letter, in which he urged all the topics which could occur to a man of genius and wit on such a subject. It was a more sensible step on the part of Frederick to endeavor to open negotiations with the French. Marshal Richelieu, a great nephew of the Cardinal’s, had inherited the anti-Austrian policy of that minister, and regarded with disapproval the project of crushing Prussia. He was not, it is said, insensible to flattery or even to bribes; and Frederick made proposals to him in a letter calculated to tickle his vanity, accompanied, it is supposed, with a considerable present. The French Court did not listen to these advances, but they probably contributed to the inactive line of conduct pursued by Richelieu. Frederick was saved by the want of concert and vigour among his enemies. Apraxin, instead of following up his victory at Jagerndorf, retired towards Poland and Courland, and went into winter quarters. This step is ascribed to the admiration with which the Grand Duke Peter of Holstein-Gottorp, the heir of the Russian Throne, regarded the King of Prussia, an esteem which he believed to be reciprocated; and may partly also be attributed to the Russian Chancellor, Bestuscheff, who had sold himself to England and Prussia. Bestuscheff was soon afterwards disgraced at the instance of the Courts of Vienna and Versailles, and Apraxin was recalled; but, fortunately for the King of Prussia, all the commanders who succeeded him—partly from some defect in the Russian military system, partly also from the knowledge that “the young Court”, as it was called, or the Grand Duke Peter and his wife, were well disposed towards Frederick—carried on the war with little vigour, and did only enough to insure their claims to any conquests. They adopted the convenient custom of patting their troops into winter quarters in defenseless Poland, whence, in general, they did not break up till the middle of summer, to return to them again after a short campaign. The Swedes also did little or nothing this year. Instead of marching on Berlin, as they had agreed with France, they demanded the aid of the French to hold Pomerania on the approach of Lehwald and the Prussians, whom the retreat of the Russians had enabled to advance against them. Lehwald drove them from Pomerania, except the isle of Rugen and Stralsund, which town he invested.

Meanwhile the Imperial Army, under Hildburghausen, in conjunction with the French under Soubise, marched in September from Franconia into Saxony, which was still occupied then, by the Prussians. But the Imperial Army was in bad condition, ill provided, armed, and disciplined. Only a few Austrian cavalry regiments were serviceable. Many, especially the Protestants, deserted to Frederick, who was very popular among the German troops, and especially with the officers. Hildburghausen, besides being incompetent, was hated by the army; nor was Soubise a much more skillful general. The greatest disunion prevailed both between the two commanders and their troops. The French looked upon the Germans as little better than a burden. An army so composed was not very formidable, but Frederick had not expected their advance at so late a season. They took advantage of a retrograde movement which he made towards Brandenburg, then infested by the Austrians, to advance to Leipzig; but on his approach they retreated beyond the Saale. Frederick crossed that river and came up with them, November 5th, at Rossbach, near Weissenfels, where he gained one of his most splendid victories, taking 7,000 prisoners and seventy-two guns. His success was chiefly due to Seidlitz and his cavalry. Frederick then turned towards the Austrians, who had invaded Silesia, taken Glatz, except the fortress, and Schweidnitz, and defeated the Prince of Brunswick-Bevern near Breslau, November 22nd. The Prince, while riding only with a groom, was captured a day or two after by an Austrian outpost, apparently by his own design; Frederick having told him that he should be answerable with his head for the holding of Breslau. That town was captured by the Austrians, November 24^th. But their success was of short duration. Frederick defeated Prince Charles of Lorraine and Marshal Daun, December 5th, at Leuthen, near Lissa, a battle esteemed among the chef-d'oeuvres of the military art. Although Frederick had only about 33,000 men, 40,000 Austrians were either killed, wounded, dispersed, or made prisoners. The fruits of this victory were the recapture of Breslau, December 19th, although 20,000 men had been left behind for its defence, and the hasty evacuation of all Silesia, with the exception of Schweidnitz, by the Austrians. Daun did not bring back 20,000 men with him into Bohemia. Prince Charles, whose want of military capacity was glaring, now laid down his command, though against the wish of his sister-in-law, Maria Theresa, with whom he was a great favorite, and went to Brussels as Governor of the Austrian Netherlands.

 Thus, fortune began again to smile from all sides upon Frederick; nor was a change of policy and the adoption of more vigorous measures on the part of the British Cabinet the least important circumstance which served to encourage his hopes and raise him from despondency. William Pitt, who now conducted the affairs of England, had resolved to push the war against France with more energy in all quarters, and especially to lend Frederick, whom he regarded with esteem and admiration, more effectual aid. The Convention of Kloster-Seven had been received in England with universal indignation. George II had at first accepted the Convention, but when he learnt all the circumstances of the conduct of his son, the Duke of Cumberland, his anger knew no bounds. The Duke was recalled, and never again held any military command. Pitt wrote to the King of Prussia, assuring him of his support, and requesting him to appoint a general to the command of the Hanoverian army. Frederick named Ferdinand of Brunswick, brother of the reigning Duke Charles; a brave, accomplished, and amiable prince, of whose military talents he had had ample experience, and especially at the battle of Sohr. It was resolved to repudiate the Convention of Kloster-Seven, which had been equally displeasing to the French as to the English Court, and had never been acknowledged by Louis XV. It had been repeatedly violated by the French troops, and George II declared that it was not binding upon him as King of England. The army of the Hanoverian Electorate was now converted into a British army, fighting avowedly for British interests, supported by British troops as well as money, and destined to settle on the plains of the Continent the colonial disputes with France in America and elsewhere. These arrangements were confirmed and carried out by a treaty between the kings of England and Prussia, signed at London, April 11th, 1758, by which Great Britain engaged to pay a subsidy to Frederick of four million Prussian thalers, or upwards of £600,000 sterling, besides supplying a British auxiliary force. On the other hand, the anti-Prussian alliance was augmented by the accession of Denmark. That Power, indeed, by the treaty with France of May 4th, 1758, only agreed to assemble in Holstein an army of 24,000 men, to prevent any attempt on the possessions of the Grand Duke of Russia (Duke of Holstein-Gottorp), or on the neutrality of the towns of Hamburg and Lübeck, without pledging herself to hostility against Prussia; but the allies at least secured themselves from her siding with that Power. This treaty, however, had no effect on the campaign of 1758.

The English subsidies, though somewhat offensive to Frederick’s pride, were indispensable to him. He was driven to hard shifts to procure the means for carrying on the war. Hence, in spite of his recent success, he would willingly have made peace. His sister, the Margravine of Baireuth, made some advances to the French Court to that purpose, through Cardinal Tencin, but without effect; nor were Frederick’s own hints to Maria Theresa of more avail. He was unwilling to increase the taxes in his hereditary dominions, and hence he made Saxony bear the chief burden of the war, a course which he thought might induce the King of Poland to come to an accommodation with him. With the same view, as well as from motives of personal hatred and revenge, he caused the palaces and estates of Count Brühl to be plundered and devastated. It is computed that he levied in Saxony during the course of the war between forty and fifty million dollars, without including unlicensed plundering, which might amount to as much more. Anhalt, Dessau, and other small States, were subjected to the same hard pressure. Frederick had also recourse to the expedient of coining light money. But his chief resource was England. In consequence of the policy adopted by the British Cabinet, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick had announced to Marshal Richelieu, the renewal of hostilities, November 26th, 1757. As the Hanoverian troops and auxiliaries had not been disarmed, although the French, in spite of the silence of the Convention on that head, had attempted to enforce a disarmament, the army was soon reassembled. Nothing, however, was attempted during the remainder of the year, except the siege of Harburg, and the troops were then put into winter quarters.

Marshal Richelieu was recalled from his command in Germany early in 1758, and was replaced by Count Clermont, a prince of the blood royal. Nothing could exceed the demoralization of the French troops under Richelieu and Soubise. The armies were encumbered with multitudes of tradesmen, and were followed by beasts of burden three times more numerous than the troop horses. Twelve thousand carts of dealers and vivandières accompanied the army of Soubise, without reckoning the baggage train of the officers. The camp became a sort of movable fair, in which were displayed all the objects of fashion and luxury. Richelieu had employed the winter to enrich himself by plundering Hanover and the adjacent provinces, and he permitted his officers and men to follow his example. The soldiers called him Père la Maraude. These disorders were naturally accompanied with a complete relaxation of discipline. The French soldiers, as well as their commanders, seemed almost to have forgotten the art of war. Maillebois, chief of the staff, complained in an official report to the Minister that the troops pillaged churches, committed every possible atrocity, and were more ready to plunder than to fight. In the same report he attributes the victory at Hastenbeck chiefly to the artillery. Manoeuvring was so little understood that it took a whole day to range an army in order of battle. Against such degenerate troops it is not surprising that the military talents of Ferdinand of Brunswick, seconded by the more active assistance of England, speedily destroyed the French preponderance in Germany. Opening the campaign early in 1758, he drove the French from Hanover, Brunswick, East Friesland, and Hesse. On March 14th he took Minden after a four days’ siege, and pursued the French to Kaiserswerth, which he entered May 31st. The French lost in their retreat large quantities of ammunition, baggage, and men. Having refreshed his army, Ferdinand crossed the Rhine at Emmerich, driving the French before him. Clermont, having attempted to make a stand at Crefeld, was entirely defeated, June 23rd. The Hanoverians then took Ruremonde and Dusseldorf, their light troops penetrating as far as Brussels, while the French retreated to Neuss and Cologne. Louis XV, after these disasters, appointed three generals to assist Clermont, who thereupon demanded his dismissal. He was succeeded by Contades.

Ferdinand now determined on invading the Austrian Netherlands, but from this he was diverted by the French under Soubise entering Hesse, whither that commander had been attracted by Ferdinand’s successes, instead of marching into Bohemia to assist the Austrians. The Duke de Broglie, with the French van, defeated at Sangershausen, near Cassel, July 23rd, a division which Ferdinand had left in Hesse; the French then overran that province, entered Minden, and opened the road to Hanover. Ferdinand now recrossed the Rhine, and marched upon Munster; but nothing of much importance occurred during the remainder of the campaign. Ferdinand succeeded in preventing the junction of Contades, who had followed him, with Soubise, although a division of his army was attacked and defeated by Chevert at Lutternberg, October 10th, and both sides went soon afterwards into winter quarters; the Hanoverians in the North of Westphalia, and the French in the neighborhood of Frankfurt.

During this year, under the energetic administration of Pitt, the war had been vigorously pushed in all quarters of the globe; several successes had been achieved at sea, the most notable of which were Admiral Osborn’s victory, near Carthagena, over a French squadron under Du Quesne, and that of Sir Edward Hawke, near the Isle of Aix. A descent, which Pitt had projected, on the French coast, conducted by Commodore Anson and Lord Howe, with 20,000 troops of debarkment, was not eminently successful. A few ships of war and a considerable number of merchantmen were burnt at St. Malo. A landing was effected at Cherbourg, and the forts and basin, together with a few ships, were destroyed; but a second attempt upon St. Malo was repulsed with considerable loss to the invaders, September 11th.

Frederick's campaign of 1758 was not attended with his usual good fortune, and it was with difficulty that he succeeded in maintaining himself against his numerous enemies. He had opened the campaign by retaking Schweidnitz from the Austrians. April 16th, and being averse to stand on the defensive, he resolved to carry the war into Moravia, whilst the Austrians were expecting him in Bohemia. He, therefore, marched to Olmütz, and laid siege to that place; but after wasting two months before it, finding that his convoys were intercepted, and that the Russians were approaching, he raised the siege, July 3rd, in order to march against the latter, effecting an admirable retreat through Bohemia, instead of Silesia, where the Austrians had made preparations to receive him. The Russian army under Fermor had begun its march in January. It took possession of Konigsberg on the 22nd of that month, then of all Prussia, and advanced to the frontiers of Pomerania and the New Mark, the Russian irregular troops, especially the Cossacks and Calmucks, committing fearful cruelties and devastations on the way. Fermor laid siege to Custrin, August 15th, but though the town was reduced to ashes by the Russian fire, the commandant refused to surrender the citadel. Frederick hastened to his relief, and, having formed a junction with Count Dohna’s division, attacked the Russians at Zorndorf, August 25th. This battle, the bloodiest of the war, lasted from nine in the morning almost till nine at night. The Russians, who were much more numerous than their opponents, lost 19,000 men, besides 3,000 prisoners and 103 guns, whilst the Prussian loss was 12,000 men and 26 guns. The battle had been chiefly sustained by the Prussian cavalry under Seidlitz. The Russians retired to Landsberg, and afterwards laid siege to Colberg, but raised it October 30th.

Frederick, after the battle of Zorndorf, hastened to the assistance of his brother Henry in Saxony, who was hard pressed by the Austrians under Daun, and the army of the Empire under Prince Frederick of Deux-Ponts, who had formed a junction with the Austrians in Bohemia. Frederick having taken up an insecure position at Hochkirch, in Lusatia, and obstinately adhering to it, in spite of the remonstrances of his generals, was surprised by Daun, for whom he had too great a contempt, on the night of October 13th, and forced to abandon his camp-baggage and 101 guns. The Prussian loss on this occasion was 9,000 to the enemy’s 7,000 ; and was aggravated by the death of Frederick’s brother-in-law, Francis of Brunswick, and also by that of Marshal Keith. In spite of this disaster, Frederick established his camp within a league of Hochkirch; whence, after being reinforced by his brother Henry, he marched into Silesia to relieve Neisse. The Austrians retired at his approach, and Frederick then returned into Saxony, as the Imperial Army was investing Leipzig, and Daun threatening Dresden. The allies now quitted Saxony, and went into winter quarters in Bohemia and Franconia. The Swedes this year accomplished nothing memorable in Pomerania and the Uckermark.

England and Prussia had, in November, 1758, declared, through Duke Louis of Brunswick, to the ambassadors of the belligerent Powers at the Hague that they were ready to treat for a peace, but without effect. It was chiefly Maria Theresa who opposed an accommodation. She still hoped to humble Prussia, and she was supported in the struggle by the resources of her husband, who carried on a sort of banking trade. France was pretty well exhausted by the war; yet Louis XV and his mistress were constant in their hatred of Frederick. The Duke de Choiseul, however, who had recently acceded to the Ministry, and who had more talent than his predecessors, and a better view of French interests, endeavored to come to an understanding with the Empress-Queen; and he proposed to her to content herself with the County of Glatz and part of Lusatia, so that a peace might be made with England through the mediation of Prussia ; but if she should be inclined to try the fortune of another campaign, then France must give up the Treaty of May, 1757, and return to that of 1756. Kaunitz, having rejected all thought of peace, especially under Prussian mediation, a fresh treaty was concluded between France and Austria, December 30th, 1758, less favorable to Austria than that of 1757, but more so than that of the preceding year. The French army in Germany was reduced from 105,000 to 100,000 men, and the subsidy from twelve million florins to about half that sum. All the projects for a partition of Prussia, contained in the treaty of 1757, were abandoned, and France even gave up the share assigned to her of the Netherlands. That power, however, guaranteed Silesia and Glatz to Maria Theresa, but not the Duchy of Crossen; also the restoration of the Elector of Saxony in his dominions, with some compensation. Russia acceded to the treaty, March 7th, 1760. Thus the condescendence of Louis XV for Maria Theresa seemed to make France a second-rate Power. Except, perhaps, the chance of humbling George II by the conquest of Hanover, France had but little interest in the struggle on the Continent after abandoning the prospect of obtaining the Netherlands; and Maria Theresa inferred from that abandonment that France would pursue the war but languidly, and take the first opportunity to retire from it.

Prince Ferdinand, in the spring of 1759, attempted to surprise the French in their winter quarters, but was defeated by the Duke of Broglie at the battle of Bergen, April 13th, and compelled to retreat with considerable loss. The French then advanced through Hesse to Minden and Münster, which last place surrendered, July 25th. But Ferdinand defeated the French army under Contades at Minden, August 1st, which compelled them to evacuate Hesse and retreat to Frankfort, where they took up winter quarters. The Battle op Minden was gained by the bold and spontaneous advance of six English battalions, which broke the French centre, composed of sixty-three squadrons of cavalry. Contades confessed he had not thought it possible that a single line of infantry should have overthrown three lines of cavalry in order of battle. The victory would have been still more decisive had not Lord George Sackville, who commanded the British cavalry, neglected Prince Ferdinand’s order to charge.

The King of Prussia contented himself this year with observing Marshal Daun and the Austrians. But his general, Wedell, having been defeated by the Russians at Züllichau, in the Duchy of Crossen, July 23rd, and the Russians having subsequently seized Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, Frederick marched against them with all the troops he could spare. They had now been joined by an Austrian corps, which increased their force to 96,000 men; yet Frederick, who had just half that number, attacked them at Kunersdorf, August 12th. After a hard-fought day he was defeated and compelled to retreat with a loss of 18,000 men. In this battle Frederick had two horses shot under him, and was himself hit with a bullet, which was fortunately stopped by a golden étui. He acknowledged that had the Russians pursued their victory Prussia would have been lost. But they were tired of bearing the chief brunt of the war while the Austrians seemed to rest upon their arms; and Soltikoff, their commander, told the Austrians that he had done enough. Meanwhile the army of the Empire, under Frederick of Deux-Ponts, had entered Saxony, and in the course of August took Leipzig, Torgau, and Wittenberg; and on December 5th, Dresden. Frederick, after he had got quit of the Russians, entered Saxony and recovered that Electorate, with the exception of Dresden, where Daun intrenched himself. This commander compelled the Prussian general, Finck, with 10,000 men, to surrender at Maxen, November 21st.

Choiseul, the new French Minister, in order to create a diversion, projected an invasion of England. The Pretender went to Vannes, and large forces were assembled in Brittany and at Dunkirk. But the French were not strong enough at sea to carry out such a design. Rodney bombarded Havre, and damaged the French magazines and transports; while Boys, Hawke, and Boscawen blockaded Dunkirk, Brest, and Toulon. The English fleet having been blown from Toulon by a storm, the French fleet managed to get out; but it was overtaken and defeated by Boscawen off the coast of Portugal, August 17th, 1759. The grand armament, under Conflans, which had sailed from Brest, was defeated and dispersed by Hawke off Belle Isle, November 20th. Thurot, escaping in a hazy night with four frigates from Dunkirk, after beating about three months, landed at Carrickfergus, but was defeated and killed on leaving the bay.

This year the Northern Powers formed an alliance which may be regarded as the precursor of the Armed Neutrality. By a treaty between Russia and Sweden, signed at St. Petersburg, March 9th, 1759, to which Denmark next year acceded, the contracting Powers engaged to maintain a fleet in order to preserve the neutrality of the Baltic Sea for the purposes of commerce. Even the trade of Prussia was not to be molested, except with blockaded ports, or in cases of contraband of war.

The struggle on the Continent lingered on two or three more years without any decisive result. The campaign of 1760 was unfavorable to the Hanoverians. The French again invaded Hesse; the hereditary Prince of Brunswick was defeated at Corbach, July 10th, and Prince Xavier de Saxe took Cassel and penetrated into Hanover. By way of making a diversion, Prince Ferdinand dispatched his nephew to the Lower Rhine; but though he reduced Cleves and Rheinsberg, and laid siege to Wesel, he was defeated by the Marquis de Castries at Kloster Camp, October 16th, and compelled to recross the Rhine; and the French remained during the winter in Hanover and Hesse.

The Austrians and Russians had formed a grand plan to conquer Silesia and penetrate into Brandenburg. The Prussian general, Fouque, was defeated near Landshut, June 23rd, by Loudon, with much superior forces, and his whole division, consisting of more than 10,000 men, were either killed, wounded, or made prisoners. Frederick, opposing his brother Henry to the Russians in Silesia, took himself the command of the army in Saxony, and laid siege to Dresden, but was compelled to raise it on the approach of Marshal Daun. Meanwhile General Harsch, having taken Glatz, July 26th, and Breslau being threatened by Loudon, Frederick quitted Saxony to defend Silesia. He defeated Loudon at Pfaffendorp, near Liegnitz, August 15th, and forming a junction with his brother Henry, took up a position where the enemy did not venture to attack him, and thus frustrated their plans. To draw him from Silesia, the Russians marched on Berlin, entered that city, October 9th, and levied heavy contributions on the inhabitants; but, after an occupation of three days, they evacuated it on the approach of Frederick, and recrossed the Oder. Meanwhile the Imperialists, having occupied the greater part of Saxony, Frederick, marching into that Electorate, retook Wittenberg and Leipzig, and attacked Marshal Daun near Torgau, November 3rd, whom he defeated with much difficulty and with great loss on both sides. Frederick entered Torgau, November 4th, and subsequently attempted to recover Dresden, but without success. The movement of the Swedes were unimportant.

 

 

CHAPTER XLVIII

THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR (CONCLUDED)