sat down to count their gains, to what of territory on the side of Flanders. did the real advantage on either side If they took opposite sides, the result amount? Simply to this, that they would probably be that, after a war of had kept each other from thriving. It many years, after the slaughter of was not the King of France, it was many thousands of brave men, after not the Emperor, who had reaped the the waste of many millions of crowns, fruits of the Thirty Years' War, or of they would lay down their arms withthe War of the Pragmatic Sanction. out having achieved either object; but, Those fruits had been pilfered by if they came to an understanding, states of the second and third rank, there would be no risk, and no diffiwhich, secured against jealousy by culty. Austria would willingly make their insignificance, had dexterously in Belgium such cessions as France aggrandised themselves while pre- could not expect to obtain by ten tending to serve the animosity of the pitched battles. Silesia would easily great chiefs of Christendom. While be annexed to the monarchy of which the lion and tiger were tearing each it had long been a part. The union other, the jackal had run off into the of two such powerful governments jungle with the prey. The real gainer would at once overawe the King of by the Thirty Years' War had been nei- Prussia. If he resisted, one short camther France nor Austria, but Sweden. paign would settle his fate. France The real gainer by the War of the and Austria, long accustomed to rise Pragmatic Sanction had been neither from the game of war both losers, France nor Austria, but the upstart of would, for the first time, both be gainBrandenburg. France had made greaters. There could be no room for jeaefforts, had added largely to her mili- lousy between them. The power of tary glory, and largely to her public both would be increased at once; the burdens; and for what end? Merely equilibrium between them would be that Frederic might rule Silesia. For this and this alone one French army, wasted by sword and famine, had perished in Bohemia; and another had purchased with floods of the noblest blood, the barren glory of Fontenoy. And this prince, for whom France had suffered so much, was he a grateful, was he even an honest ally? Had he not been as false to the Court of Versailles as to the Court of Vienna ? Had he not played, on a large scale, the same part which, in private life, is played by the vile agent of chicane who sets his neighbours quarrelling, involves them in costly and interminable litigation, and betrays them to each other all round, certain that, whoever may be ruined, he shall be enriched? Surely the true wisdom of the great powers was to attack, not each other, but this common barrator, who, by inflaming the passions of both, by pretending to serve both, and by deserting both, had raised himself above the station to which he was born. The great object of Austria was to regain Silesia; the great object of France was to obtain an accession

preserved; and the only sufferer would be a mischievous and unprincipled buccaneer, who deserved no tenderness from either.

It was

These doctrines, attractive from their novelty and ingenuity, soon became fashionable at the supper-parties and in the coffeehouses of Paris, and were espoused by every gay marquis and every facetious abbé who was admitted to see Madame de Pompadour's hair curled and powdered. not, however, to any political theory that the strange coalition between France and Austria owed its origin. The real motive which induced the great continental powers to forget their old animosities and their old state maxims was personal aversion to the King of Prussia. This feeling was strongest in Maria Theresa; but it was by no means confined to her. Frederic, in some respects a good master, was emphatically a bad neighbour. That he was hard in all dealings, and quick to take all advantages, was not his most odious fault. His bitter and scoffing speech had inflicted keener wounds than his ambition. In

his character of wit he was under less nor decorum had ever restrained Fre

deric from expressing his measureless contempt for the sloth, the imbecility, and the baseness of Lewis. France was thus induced to join the coalition; and the example of France determined the conduct of Sweden, then completely subject to French influence.

restraint than even in his character of ruler. Satirical verses against all the princes and ministers of Europe were ascribed to his pen. In his letters and conversation he alluded to the greatest potentates of the age in terms which would have better suited Collé, in a war of repartee with young Crébillon The enemies of Frederic were surely at Pelletier's table, than a great sove- strong enough to attack him openly; reign speaking of great sovereigns. but they were desirous to add to all About women he was in the habit of their other advantages the advantage expressing himself in a manner which of a surprise. He was not, however, it was impossible for the meekest of a man to be taken off his guard. He women to forgive; and, unfortunately had tools in every court; and he now for him, almost the whole Continent received from Vienna, from Dresden, was then governed by women who and from Paris, accounts so circumwere by no means conspicuous for stantial and so consistent, that he could meekness. Maria Theresa herself had not doubt of his danger. He learnt, not escaped his scurrilous jests. The that he was to be assailed at once Empress Elizabeth of Russia knew that by France, Austria, Russia, Saxony, her gallantries afforded him a favourite Sweden, and the Germanic body; that theme for ribaldry and invective. Ma- the greater part of his dominions was dame de Pompadour, who was really to be portioned out among his enemies; the head of the French government, had been even more keenly galled. She had attempted, by the most delicate flattery, to propitiate the King of Prussia; but her messages had drawn from him only dry and sarcastic replies. The Empress Queen took a very different course. Though the haughtiest of princesses, though the most austere of matrons, she forgot in her thirst for revenge both the dignity of her race and the purity of her character, and condescended to flatter the low-born and low-minded concubine, who, having acquired influence by And what hope was there that these prostituting herself, retained it by pro- designs would fail? No such union of stituting others. Maria Theresa ac- the continental powers had been seen tually wrote with her own hand a note, for ages. A less formidable confedefull of expressions of esteem and friend- racy had in a week conquered all the ship to her dear cousin, the daughter of provinces of Venice, when Venice was the butcher Poisson, the wife of the at the height of power, wealth, and publican D'Etioles, the kidnapper of glory. A less formidable confederacy young girls for the haram of an old had compelled Lewis the Fourteenth rake, a strange cousin for the descend- to bow down his haughty head to the ant of so many Emperors of the West! very earth. A less formidable confeThe mistress was completely gained deracy has, within our own memory, over, and easily carried her point with subjugated a still mightier empire, and Lewis, who had, indeed, wrongs of his abased a still prouder name. Such own to resent. His feelings were not odds had never been heard of in war. quick, but contempt, says the eastern The people whom Frederic ruled were proverb, pierces even through the shell not five millions. The population of of the tortoise; and neither prudence the countries which were leagued

that France, which from her geographical position could not directly share in his spoils, was to receive an equivalent in the Netherlands; that Austria was to have Silesia, and the Czarina East Prussia; that Augustus of Saxony expected Magdeburg; and that Sweden would be rewarded with part of Pomerania. If these designs succeeded, the house of Brandenburg would at once sink in the European system to a place lower than that of the Duke of Wurtemburg or the Margrave of Baden.

against him amounted to a hundred | rated from each other, and could not millions. The disproportion in wealth conveniently unite their overwhelming was at least equally great. Small com- forces on one point. They inhabited munities, actuated by strong senti- different climates, and it was probable ments of patriotism or loyalty, have that the season of the year which would sometimes made head against great be best suited to the military operations monarchies weakened by factions and of one portion of the league, would be discontents. But small as was Fre- unfavourable to those of another porderic's kingdom, it probably contained tion. The Prussian monarchy, too, a greater number of disaffected sub- was free from some infirmities which jects than were to be found in all the were found in empires far more extenstates of his enemies. Silesia formed sive and magnificent. Its effective a fourth part of his dominions; and strength for a desperate struggle was from the Silesians, born under Aus- not to be measured merely by the trian princes, the utmost that he could number of square miles or the number expect was apathy. From the Silesian of people. In that spare but well-knit Catholics he could hardly expect any and well-exercised body, there was thing but resistance. nothing but sinew, and muscle, and bone. No public creditors looked for dividends. No distant colonies required defence. No court, filled with flatterers and mistresses, devoured the pay of fifty battalions. The Prussian army, though far inferior in number to the troops which were about to be opposed to it, was yet strong out of all proportion to the extent of the Prussian dominions. It was also admirably trained and admirably officered, accustomed to obey and accustomed to conquer. The revenue was not only unincumbered by debt, but exceeded the ordinary outlay in time of peace. Alone of all the European princes, Frederic had a treasure laid up for a day of difficulty. Above all, he was one, and his enemies were many. In their camps would certainly be found the jealousy, the dissension, the slackness inseparable from coalitions; on his side was the energy, the unity, the secrecy of a strong dictatorship. To a certain extent the deficiency of military means might be supplied by the resources of military art. Small as the King's army was, when compared with the six hundred thousand men whom the confederates could bring into the field, celerity of movement might in some degree compensate for deficiency of bulk. It was thus just possible that genius, judgment, resolution, and good luck united, might protract the struggle during a campaign or two; and to gain even a month was of importance. It could not be long

Some states have been enabled, by their geographical position, to defend themselves with advantage against immense force. The sea has repeatedly protected England against the fury of the whole Continent. The Venetian government, driven from its possessions on the land, could still bid defiance to the confederates of Cambray from the Arsenal amidst the lagoons. More than one great and well appointed army, which regarded the shepherds of Switzerland as an easy prey, has perished in the passes of the Alps. Frederic had no such advantage. The form of his states, their situation, the nature of the ground, all were against him. His long, scattered, straggling territory seemed to have been shaped with an express view to the convenience of invaders, and was protected by no sea, by no chain of hills. Scarcely any corner of it was a week's march from the territory of the enemy. The capital itself, in the event of war, would be constantly exposed to insult. In truth there was hardly a politician or a soldier in Europe who doubted that the conflict would be terminated in a very few days by the prostration of the house of Brandenburg.

Nor was Frederic's own opinion very different. He anticipated nothing short of his own ruin, and of the ruin of his family. Yet there was still a chance, a slender chance, of escape. His states had at least the advantage of a central position; his enemies were widely sepa

before the vices which are found in all | tween France and England came to a extensive confederacies would begin to crisis at the very time when the temshow themselves. Every member of pest which had beer gathering was the league would think his own share about to burst on Prussia. The tastes of the war too large, and his own share and interests of Frederic would have of the spoils too small. Complaints led him, if he had been allowed an opand recriminations would abound. The tion, to side with the house of Bourbon. Turk might stir on the Danube; the But the folly of the Court of Versailles statesmen of France might discover left him no choice. France became the the error which they had committed tool of Austria; and Frederic was in abandoning the fundamental prin- forced to become the ally of England. ciples of their national policy. Above He could not, indeed, expect that a all, death might rid Prussia of its power which covered the sea with its most formidable enemies. The war fleets, and which had to make war at was the effect of the personal aversion once on the Ohio and the Ganges, with which three or four sovereigns would be able to spare a large number regarded Frederic; and the decease of of troops for operations in Germany. any one of those sovereigns might pro- But England, though poor compared duce a complete revolution in the state with the England of our time, was far of Europe. richer than any country on the Continent. The amount of her revenue, and the resources which she found in her credit, though they may be thought small by a generation which has seen her raise a hundred and thirty millions in a single year, appeared miraculous to the politicians of that age. A very moderate portion of her wealth, expended by an able and economical prince, in a country where prices were low, would be sufficient to equip and maintain a formidable army.

In the midst of a horizon generally dark and stormy, Frederic could discern one bright spot. The peace which had been concluded between England and France in 1748, had been in Europe no more than an armistice; and had not even been an armistice in the other quarters of the globe. In India the sovereignty of the Carnatic was disputed between two great Mussulman houses; Fort Saint George had taken one side, Pondicherry the other; and in a series of battles and sieges the troops of Lawrence and Clive had been opposed to those of Dupleix. A struggle less important in its consequences, but not less likely to produce irritation, was carried on between those French and English adventurers, who kidnapped negroes and collected gold dust on the coast of Guinea. But it was in North America that the emulation and mutual aversion of the two nations were most conspicuous. The French attempted to hem in the English colonists by a chain of military posts, extending from the Great Lakes to the mouth of the Mississippi. The English took arms. The wild aboriginal tribes appeared on each side mingled with the Pale Faces. Battles were fought; forts were stormed; and hideous stories about stakes, scalpings, and death-songs reached Europe, and inflamed that national animosity which the rivalry of ages had produced. The disputes beVOL. II.

Such was the situation in which Frederic found himself. He saw the whole extent of his peril. He saw that there was still a faint possibility of escape; and, with prudent temerity, he determined to strike the first blow. It was in the month of August, 1756, that the great war of the Seven Years commenced. The King demanded of the Empress Queen a distinct explanation of her intentions, and plainly told her that he should consider a refusal as a declaration of war. "I want," he said, "no answer in the style of an oracle." He received an answer at once haughty and evasive. In an instant the rich electorate of Saxony was overflowed by sixty thousand Prussian troops. Augustus with his army occupied a strong position at Pirna. The Queen of Poland was at Dresden. In a few days Pirna was blockaded and Dresden was taken. The first object of Frederic was to obtain possession of the Saxon T

The winter put a stop to military operations. All had hitherto gone well. But the real tug of war was still to come. It was easy to foresee that the year 1757 would be a memorable era in the history of Europe.

State papers; for those papers, he well far more rigour than in any part of his knew, contained ample proofs that, own dominions. Seventeen thousand though apparently an aggressor, he was men who had been in the camp at really acting in self-defence. The Pirna were half compelled, half perQueen of Poland, as well acquainted suaded to enlist under their conqueror. as Frederic with the importance of those Thus, within a few weeks from the documents, had packed them up, had commencement of hostilities, one of concealed them in her bed-chamber, the confederates had been disarmed, and was about to send them off to and his weapons were now pointed Warsaw, when a Prussian officer made against the rest. his appearance. In the hope that no soldier would venture to outrage a lady, a queen, the daughter of an emperor, the mother-in-law of a dauphin, she placed herself before the trunk, and at length sat down on it. But all resistance was vain. The papers were carried to Frederic, who found in them, as he expected, abundant evidence of the designs of the coalition. The most important documents were instantly published, and the effect of the publication was great. It was clear that, of whatever sins the King of Prussia might formerly have been guilty, he was now the injured party, and had merely anticipated a blow intended to destroy him.

The King's scheme for the campaign was simple, bold, and judicious. The Duke of Cumberland with an English and Hanoverian army was, in Western Germany, and might be able to prevent the French troops from attacking Prussia. The Russians, confined by their snows, would probably not stir till the spring was far advanced. Saxony was prostrated. Sweden could do nothing very important. During a few months Frederic would have to deal with Austria alone. Even thus the odds were against him. But ability and courage have often triumphed against odds still more formidable.

The Saxon camp at Pirna was in the mean time closely invested; but the besieged were not without hopes of succour. A great Austrian army under Marshal Brown was about to pour Early in 1757 the Prussian army in through the passes which separate Bo- Saxony began to move. Through four hemia from Saxony. Frederic left defiles in the mountains they came at Pirna a force sufficient to deal with pouring into Bohemia. Prague was the Saxons, hastened into Bohemia, the King's first mark; but the ulterior encountered Brown at Lowositz, and object was probably Vienna. At defeated him. This battle decided the Prague lay Marshal Brown with one fate of Saxony. Augustus and his great army. Daun, the most cautious favourite Bruhl fled to Poland. The and fortunate of the Austrian captains, whole army of the electorate capitu- was advancing with another. Frederic lated. From that time till the end of determined to overwhelm Brown before the war, Frederic treated Saxony as a part of his dominions, or, rather, he acted towards the Saxons in a manner which may serve to illustrate the whole meaning of that tremendous sentence, subjectos tanquam suos, viles tanquam alienos." Saxony was as much in his power as Brandenburg; and he had no such interest in the welfare of Saxony as he had in the welfare of Brandenburg. He accordingly levied troops and exacted contributions throughout the enslaved province, with

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Daun should arrive. On the sixth of May was fought, under those walls which, a hundred and thirty years before, had witnessed the victory of the Catholic league and the flight of the unhappy Palatine, a battle more bloody than any which Europe saw during the long interval between Malplaquet and Eylau. The King and Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick were distinguished on that day by their valour and exertions. But the chief glory was with Schwerin. When the Prussian infantry