failed in both; and though the fire of their artillery was very hot, they were obliged to retire. The French army encamping on the heights opposite to the duke of Cumberland's posts, the intelligence received, that M. d'Etrées had assembled all his troops, and was furnished with a very considerable train of artillery, left his royal highness no room to doubt of his intending to attack him. He, therefore, resolved to change his camp for a more advantageous situation, by drawing up his army on the eminence between the Weser and the woods, leaving the Hamelen river on his right, the village of Hastenbeck in his front, and his left close to the wood, at the point of which his royal highness had a battery of twelve pounders and haubitzers. There was a hollow way from the left of the vil lage to the battery, and a morass on the other side of Hastenbeck to his right. Major-general Schulenberg, with the hunters, and two battalions of grenadiers, was posted in the corner of the wood upon the left of the battery; his royal highness ordered the village of Hastenbeck to be cleared in his front, to prevent it being in the power of the enemy to keep possession of it, and the ways by which the allies had a communication with that village during their encampment to be rendered impassable. In the evening he withdrew all his outposts, and in this position the army lay upon their arms all night. On the twenty-fifth, in the morning, the French army marched forwards in columns, and began to cannonade the allies very severely, marching and counter-marching continually, and seeming to intend three attacks, on the right, the left, and the centre. In the evening their artillery appeared much superior to that of the allies. The army was again ordered to lie all night on their arms; his royal highness caused a battery at the end of the wood to be repaired; count Schulenberg to be reinforced with a battalion of grenadiers, and two field pieces of cannon; and that battery to be also supported by four more battalions of grenadiers, under the command of major general Hardenberg. He likewise caused a battery to be erected of twelve six-pounders, behind the village of Hastenbeck, and took all the precautions he could think of to give the enemy a warm reception. As soon as it was day-light, he mounted on horseback to reconnoitre the position of the enemy, whom he found in the same situation as the day before. At a little after five a very smart cannonading began against the battery behind the village, which was supported by the Hessian infantry and cavalry, who stood a most severe fire with surprising steadiness and resolution. Between seven and eight the firing of small arms began on the left of the allies, when his royal highness ordered major-general Behr, with three battalions of Brunswick, to sustain the grenadiers in the wood, if their assistance should be wanted. The cannonading continued above six hours, during which the troops, that were exposed to it, never once abated of their firmness. The fire of the small arms on the left increasing, and the French seeming to gain ground, his royal highness detached the colonels Darkenhausen and Bredenbach, with three Hanoverian battalions, and six squadrons, round the wood by Afferde, who, towards the close of the day, drove several squadrons of the enemy back to their army, without giving them any opportunity to charge. At length the grenadiers in the wood, apprehensive of being surrounded, from the great numbers of the enemy that appeared there, and were marching round on that side, though they repulsed every thing that appeared in their front, thought it advisable to retire nearer the left of the army, a motion which gave the enemy an opportunity of possessing themselves of that battery without opposition. Here the hereditary prince of Brunswick distinguished himself at the head of a battalion of Wolfenbuttel guards, and another of Hanoverians, who attacked and repulsed, with their bayonets, a superior force of the enemy, and retook the battery. But the French being in possession of an eminence which commanded and flanked both the lines of the infantry and the battery of the allies, and where they were able to support their attack under the cover of a hill, his royal highness, considering the superior numbers of the enemy, near double to his, and the impossibility of dislodging them from their post, without exposing his own troops too much, ordered a retreat; in consequence of which his army retired, first to Hanelen, where he left a garrison, then to Nienburgh, and afterwards to Hoya; in the neighbourhood of which town, after sending away all the magazines, sick, and wounded, he encamped, in order to cover Bremen and Verden, and to preserve a communication with Stade, to which place the archives, and most valuable effects of Hanover had been removed. In this engagement, colonel Bredenbach attacked four brigades very strongly posted, with a battery of fourteen pieces of cannon, repulsed, and drove them down a precipice, and took all their artillery and ammunition; but preferring the care of his wounded to the glory of carrying away the cannon, he brought off only six, nailing up and destroying the rest. The loss of the allies in all the skirmishes, which lasted three days, was three hundred and twenty seven men killed, nine hundred and seven wounded, and two hundred and twenty missing, or taken prisoners; while that of the French, according to their own accounts, amounted to fifteen hundred men. The French, being left masters of the field, soon reduced Hamelen, which was far from being well fortified, obliged the garrison to capitulate, and took out of the town sixty brass cannon, several mortars, forty ovens, part of the equipage of the duke's army, and large quantities of provisions and ammunition, which they found in it, together with a great many sick and wounded, who, not being included in the capitulation, were made prisoners of war. Whether the court of France had any reason to find fault with the conduct of the mareschal d'Etrées, or whether its monarch was blindly guided by the counsels of his favourite, the marquise de Pompadour, who, desirous to testify her grati. tude to the man who had been one of the chief instruments of her high promotion, was glad of an opportunity to retrieve his shattered fortunes, and, at the same time, to add to her own already immense treasures, we shall not pretend to determine; though the event seems plainly to speak the last. Even at the time, no comparison was made between the military skill of the mareschal d'Etrées, and that of the duke de Richelieu; but, however that may have been, this last, who, if he had not shone in the character of a soldier, excelled all, or at least most of his contemporaries in the more refined arts of a courtier, was, just before the battle we have been speaking of, appointed to supersede the former in the command of the French army in Lower Saxony, where he arrived on the sixth of August, with the title of mareschal of France; and M. d'Etrées immediately resigned the command. THE FRENCH TAKE POSSESSION OF HANOVER AND HESSE-CASSEL. IMMEDIATELY after the battle of Hastenbeck, the French sent a detachment of four thousand men to lay under contribution the countries of Hanover and Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, as well as the dutchies of Bremen and Verden; and two days after the arrival of this new commander, the duke de Chevreuse was detached with two thousand men to take possession of Hanover itself, with the title of gov ernor of that city. He accordingly marched thither; and upon his arrival the Hanoverian garrison was disarmed, and left at liberty to retire where they pleased. About the same time M. de Contades, with a detachment from the French army, was sent to make himself master of the territories of HesseCassel, where he found no opposition. He was met at Warberg by that prince's master of the horse, who declared, that they were ready to furnish the French army with all the succours the country could afford; and accordingly the magistrates of Cassel presented him with the keys as soon as he entered their city. Gottingen was ordered by M. d'Armentieres to prepare for him within a limited time, upon pain of military execution, four thousand pounds of white bread, two thousand bushels of oats, a greater quantity than could be found in the whole country, a hundred loads of hay, and other provisions. THE FRENCH REDUCE VERDEN AND THE duke of Cumberland remained encamped in the neighbourhood of Hoya till the twenty-fourth of August, when, upon advice that the enemy had laid two bridges over the Aller in the night, and had passed that river with a large body of troops, he ordered his army to march, to secure the important post and passage of Rothenbourg, lest they should attempt to march round on his left. He encamped that night at Hausen, having detached lieutenantgeneral Oberg, with eight battalions and six squadrons, to Ottersberg, to which place he marched next day, and encamped behind the Wummer, in a very strong situation, between Ottersberg and Rothenbourg. The French took possession of Verden on the twenty-sixth of August, and one of their detachments went on the twenty-ninth to Bremen, where the gates were immediately opened to them. The duke of Cumberland, now closely pressed on all sides, and in danger of having his communication with Stade cut off, which the enemy was endeavouring to effect, by seizing upon all the posts round him, found it necessary to decamp again; to abandon Rothenbourg, of which the French immediately took possession; to retreat to Selsingen, where his head-quarters were, on the first of Sep. tember and from thence, on the third of the same month, to retire under the cannon of Stade. Here it was imagined that his army would have been able to maintain their ground between the Aller and the Elbe, till the severity of the season should put an end to the campaign. Accordingly, his royal highness, upon his taking this position, sent a detachment of his forces to Buck-Schantz, with some artillery, and orders to defend that place to the utmost; but as it could not possibly have held out many days, and as the French, who now hemmed him in on all sides, by making themselves masters of a little fort at the mouth of the river Swinga, would have cut off his communication with the Elbe, so that four English men of war, then in that river, could have been of no service to him, he was forced to accept of a mediation offered by the king of Denmark, by his minister the count de Lynar, and to sign the famous convention of Closter-Seven [See note 3 I, at the end of this Vol.], by which thirty eight thousand Hanoverians laid down their arms, and were dispersed into different quarters of cantonment. NOTES TO CHAPTER XIII. 1 The king of Prussia had withdrawn his garrison from Cleves, not without suspicion of having purposely left this door open to the enemy, that 2 This letter was written in December; and the Russians, as we observed before, began their march in November. CHAPTER XIV. The French enter the Prussian Dominions, where they commit great Disorders-Reflections on the Misconduct of the Allied Army-Russian Fleet blocks up the Prussian Ports in the Baltic-Russians take Memel-Declaration of the King of Prussia on that Occasion-Army of the Empire raised with Difficulty-The Austrians take Gabel-and destroy Zittau-The Prince of Prussia leaves the armyCommunication between England and Ostend broke off-Gueldres capitulates-Skirmishes between the Prussians and Austrians, and between the Prussians and Russians—Mareschal Lehwald attacks the Russians in their Intrenchments near Norkitten-Hasty Retreat of the Russians out of PrussiaFrench and Imperialists take Gotha-Action between the Prussians and Austrians near GoerlitzThe French oblige Prince Ferdinand to retire-Berlin laid under Contribution by the Austrians: and Leipsic subjected to military Execution by the Prussians-Battle of Rosbach-The Austrians take Schweidnitz: and defeat the Prince of Revern near Breslau-Mareschal Keith lays Bohemia under Contribution-King of Prussia defeats the Austrians at Lissa; retakes Breslau and Schweidnitz, and becomes Master of all Silesia-Hostilities of the Swedes in Pomerania-Mareschal Lehwald forces the Swedes to retire-Memorial presented to the Dutch by Colonel Yorke, relative to Ostend and Nieuport-King of Prussia's Letter to the King of Great Britain-His Britannic Majesty's Declaration-Disputes concerning the Convention of Closter-Seven-Progress of the Hanoverian Army--Death of the Queen of Poland-Transactions at Sea--Fate of Captain Death-Session opened-Supplies granted-Funds for raising the Supplies-Messages from the King to the House of Commons-Second Treaty with the King of Prussia—Bill for fortifying Milford Haven-Regulations with respect to Corn-Bills for the Encouragement of Seamen, and for explaining the Militia Act-Act for repairing London Bridge-Act for Ascertaining the Qualification of voting-Bill for inore effectually munning the Navy-Amendments in the Habeas-Corpus Act-Scheme in Favour of the Foundling HospitalProceedings relative to the African Company-Session closed-Vigorous Preparations for WarDeath of the Princess Caroline-Sea Engagement off Cape Francois-Remarkable Success of Captain Forest-French evacuate Embden-Success of Admiral Osborne-French Fleet driven ashore in Basque Road-Admiral Broderick's Ship burnt at Sea-Descent at Cancalle-bay-Expedition against Cherbourg-Descent at St. Maloes-English defeated at St. Cas-Captures from the Enemy-Clamours of the Dutch Merchants on Account of the Capture of their Ships-Their famous Petition to the Statesgeneral. THE FRENCH ENTER THE PRUSSIAN DOMINIONS. Tand the whole force of the French let loose HE Hanoverians being now quite subdued, against the king of Prussia by this treaty, mareschal Richelieu immediately ordered lieutenantgeneral Berchini to march with all possible expedition, with the troops under his command, to join the prince de Soubise: the gens-d'armes, and other troops that were in the landgraviate of HesseCassel, received the same order; and sixty battalions of foot, and the greatest part of the horse belonging to the French army, were directed to attack the Prussian territories. Mareschal Richelieu himself arrived at Brunswick on the fifteenth of September; and having, in a few days after, assembled a hundred and ten battalions, and a hundred and fifty squadrons, with a hundred pieces of cannon, near Wolfenbuttel, he entered the king of Prussia's dominions with his army on the 27th, 28th, and 29th of the same month, in three columns, which penetrated into Halberstadt and Brandenburgh, plundering the towns, exacting contributions, and committing many enormities, at which their general is said to have connived. In the mean time the duke of Cumberland returned to England, where he arrived on the 11th of October, and shortly after resigned all his military com mands. Had the allied army, after the battle of Hastenbeck, marched directly to the Leine, as it might easily have done, and then taken post on the other side of Wolfenbuttel, Halberstadt, and Magdebourg, it might have waited securely under the cannon of the latter place for the junction of the Prussian forces; instead of which, they injudiciously turned off to the Lower Weser, retiring successively from Hamelen to Nienburgh, Verden, Rothenburgh, Buxtehude, and lastly to Stade, where, for want of subsistence and elbow-room, the troops were all made prisoners of war at large. They made a | march of a hundred and fifty miles to be cooped up in a nook, instead of taking the other route, which was only about a hundred miles, and would countable conduct, the king of Prussia was not only have led them to a place of safety. By this unacdeprived of the assistance of near forty thousand good troops, which, in the close of the campaign, might have put him upon an equality with the French and the army of the empire; but also exposed to, and actually invaded by, his numerous enemies on all sides, insomuch that his situation became now more dangerous than ever; and the fate which seemed to have threatened the empress a few months before, through his means, was, to all appearance, turned against himself. His ruin was predicted, nor could human prudence foresee how he might be extricated from his complicated distress; for, besides the invasion of his territories by the French under the duke de Richelieu, the Russians, who had made for a long time a dilatory march, and seemed uncertain of their own resolutions, all at once quickened their motions, and entered Ducal Prussia, under mareschal Apraxin and general Fermor, marking their progress by every inhumanity that unbridled cruelty, lust, and rapine can be imagined capable of committing. A large body of Austrians entered Silesia, and penetrated as far as Breslau; then, turning back, they laid siege to the important fortress of Schweidnitz, the key of that country. A second body entered Lusatia, another quarter of the Prussian territories, and made themselves masters of Zittau. Twentytwo thousand Swedes penetrated into Prussian Pomerania, took the towns of Anclam and Demmin, and laid the whole country under contribution. The army of the empire, reinforced by that of prince Soubise, after many delays, was at last in full march to enter Saxony; and this motion left the Austrians at liberty to turn the greatest part of their forces to the reduction of Silesia. An Austrian general penetrating through Lusatia, passed by the Prussian armies, and suddenly presenting himself before the gates of Berlin, laid the whole country under contribution; and though he retired on the approach of a body of Prussians, yet he still found means to interrupt the communícation of these last with Silesia. The Prussians, it is true, exerted themselves bravely on all sides, and their enemies fled before them; but whilst one body was pursuing, another gained upon them in some other part. The winter approached, their strength decayed, and their adversaries multiplied daily. Their king harassed, and almost spent with incessant fatigue both of body and of mind, was in a manner excluded from the empire. The great est part of his dominions were either taken from him, or laid under contribution, and possessed by his enemies; who collected the public revenues, fattened on the contributions, and with the riches which they drew from the electorate of Manover, and other conquests, defrayed the expenses of the war; and by the convention of Closter-Seven he was deprived of his allies, and left without any assistance whatever, excepting what the British parliament might think fit to supply. How different is this picture from that which the king of Prussia exhibited when he took arms to enter Saxony! But, in order to form a clear idea of these events, of the situation of his Prussian majesty, and of the steps he took to defeat the designs of his antagonists, and extricate himself from his great and numerous distresses, it will be proper now to take a view of the several transactions of his enemies, as well during his stay in Bohemia, as from the time of his leaving it, down to that which we are now speaking of. A RUSSIAN FLEET BLOCKS UP THE PRUSSIAN PORTS IN THE BALTIC. WHILST the king of Prussia was in Bohemia, the empress of Russia ordered notice to be given to all masters of ships, that if any of them were found assisting the Prussians, by the transportation of troops, artillery, and ammunition, they should be condemned as legal prizes; and her fleet, consisting of fifteen men of war and frigates, with two bomb-ketches, was sent to block up the Prussian ports in the Baltic, where it took several ships of that nation, which were employed in carrying provisions and merchandise from one port to another. One of these ships of war appearing before Memel, a town of Poland, but subject to Prussia, the commandant sent an officer to the captain, to know whether he came as a friend or an enemy? to which interrogation the Russian captain replied, That, notwithstanding the dispositions of the empress of both the Russias were sufficiently known, yet he would further explain them by declaring that his orders, and those of the other Russian commanders, were, in conformity to the laws of war, to seize on all the Prussian vessels they met with on their cruise. Upon which the commandant of Memel immediately gave orders for pointing the cannon to fire upon all Russian ships that should approach that place. The land-forces of the Russians had now lingered on their march upwards of six months; and it was pretty generally doubted, by those who were sup posed to have the best intelligence, whether they ever were designed really to pass into the Prussian territories, not only on account of their long stay on the borders of Lithuania, but also because several of their cossacs had been severely punished for plundering the waggons of some Prussian peasants upon the frontiers of Courland, and the damage of the peasants compensated with money, though general Apraxin's army was at the same time greatly distressed by the want of provisions; when, on a sudden they quickened their motions, and showed they were in earnest, determined to accomplish the ruin of Prussia. Their first act of hostility was the attack of Memel, which surrendered; and, by the articles of capitulation, it was agreed, that the garrison should march out with all the honours of war, after having engaged not to serve against the empress, or any of her allies, for the space of one year. His Prussian majesty, justly foreseeing the great enormities that were to be expected from these savage enemies, who were unaccustomed to make war except upon nations as barbarous as them selves, who looked upon war only as an opportunity for plunder, and every country through which they happened to march as theirs by right of conquest published the following declaration: "It is suffi ciently known, that the king of Prussia, after the example of his glorious predecessors, has, ever since his accession to the crown, laid it down as a maxim to seek the friendship of the imperial court of Russia, and cultivate it by every method. His Prussian majesty hath had the satisfaction to live, for several successive years, in the strictest harmony with the reigning empress; and this happy union would be still subsisting, if evil-minded potentates had not broke it by their secret machinations, and carried things to such a height, that the ministers on both sides have been recalled, and the correspondence broken off. However melancholy these circumstances might be for the king, his majesty was nevertheless most attentive to prevent any thing that might increase the alienation of the Russian court. He hath been particularly careful, during the disturbances of the war that now unhappily rages, to avoid whatever might involve him in a difference with that court, notwithstanding the great grievances he hath to allege against it; and that it was publicly known the court of Vienna had at last drawn that of Russia into its destructive views, and made it serve as an instrument for favouring the schemes of Austria. His majesty hath given the whole world incontestible proofs, that he was under an indispensable necessity of having recourse to the measures he hath taken against the courts of Vienna and Saxony, who forced him by their conduct to take up arms for his defence. Yet, even since things have been brought to this extremity, the king hath offered to lay down his arms, if proper securities should be granted to him. His majesty hath not neglected to expose the artifices by which the imperial court of Russia hath been drawn into measures so opposite to the empress's sentiments, and which would excite the utmost indignation of that great princess, if the truth could be placed before her without disguise. The king did more: he suggested to her imperial majesty sufficient means either to excuse her not taking any part in the present war, or to avoid, upon the justest grounds, the execution of those engagements which the court of Vienna claimed by a manifest abuse of obligations, which they employed to palliate their unlawful views. It wholly depended upon the empress of Russia to extinguish the flames of the war, without unsheathing the sword, by pursuing the measures suggested by the king. This conduct would have immortalized her reign throughout all Europe. It would have gained her more lasting glory than can be acquired by the greatest triumphs. The king finds with regret, that all his precautions and care to maintain peace with the Russian empire are fruitless, and that the intrigues of his enemies have prevailed. His majesty sees all the considerations of friendship and good neighbourhood set aside by the imperial court of Russia, as well as the observance of its engagements with his majesty. He sees that court marching its troops through the territories of a foreign power, and, contrary to the tenor of treaties, in order to attack the king in his dominions; and thus taking part in a war, in which his enemies have involved the Russian empire. In such circumstances, the king hath no other part to take, but to employ the power which God hath intrusted to him in defending himself, protecting his subjects, and repelling every unjust attack. His majesty will never lose sight of the rules which are observed, even in the midst of war, among civilized nations. But if, contrary to all hope and expectation, these rules should be violated by the troops of Russia, if they commit in the king's territories disorders and excesses dis allowed by the law of arms, his majesty must not be blamed if he makes reprisals in Saxony; and if, instead of that good order and rigorous discipline which have hitherto been observed by his army, avoiding all sorts of violence, he finds himself forced, contrary to his inclination, to suffer the provinces and subjects of Saxony to be treated in the same manner as his own territories shall be treated. As to the rest, the king will soon publish to the whole world the futility of the reasons alleged by the imperial court of Russia to justify its aggression; and as his majesty is forced upon making his defence, he has room to hope, with confidence, that the Lord of Hosts will bless his rightarms: that he will disappoint the unjust eous enterprises of his enemies, and grant him his power. ful assistance, to enable him to make head against them." ARMY OF THE EMPIRE RAISED. WHEN the king of Prussia was put under the ban of the empire, the several princes who compose that body were required by the decree of the Aulic council, as we observed before, to furnish their respective contingents against him. Those who feared him looked upon this as a fair opportunity of reducing him; and those who stood in awe of the house of Austria were, through necessity, compelled to support that power which they dreaded. Besides, they were accustomed to the influence of a family, in which the empire had, for a long time, been in a manner hereditary; and were also intimidated by the appearance of a confederacy the most formidable, perhaps, that the world had ever seea. Yet, nothwithstanding all this, the contingents, both of men and money, were collected slowly; the troops were badly composed; and many of those, not only of the protestant princes, but also of the catholics, showed the utmost reluctance to act against his Prussian majesty, which, indeed, none of them would have been able to do, had it not been for the assistance of the French under the prince de Soubise. The elector palatine lost above a thousand men by desertion. Four thousand of the troops belonging to the duke of Wirtemberg being delivered to the French commissary on the twenty fourth of June, were immediately reviewed; but the review was scarcely finished, when they began to cry aloud, that they were sold. Next morning thirty of them deserted at once, and were soon followed by parties of twenty and thirty each, who forced their way through the detachments that guarded the gates of Stutgard, and in the evening the mutiny became general. They fired upon the officers in their barracks, and let their general know, that if he did not immediately withdraw, they would put him to death. Meanwhile, some of the officers having pursued the deserters, brought back a part of them prisoners, when the rest of the soldiers, declared, that if they were not immediately released, they would set fire to the stadthouse and barracks; upon which the prisoners were set at liberty late in the evening. Next morning the soldiers assembled, and having seized some of the officers, three or four hundred of them marched out of the town at that time, with the music of the regiments playing before them; and in this manner near three thousand of them filed off, and the remainder were afterwards discharged. THE AUSTRIANS TAKE GABEL. THE king of Prussia, upon his leaving Bohemia, after the battle of Kolin, retired towards Saxony, as we observed before; and having sent his heavy artillery and mortars up the Elbe to Dresden, fixed his camp on the banks of the river, at Leitmeritz, where his main army was strongly intrenched, whilst mareschal Keith, with the troops under his command, encamped on the opposite shore; a free communication being kept open by means of a bridge. At the same time detachments were ordered to secure the passes into Saxony. As this position of the king of Prussia prevented the Austrians from being able to penetrate into Saxony by the way of the Elbe, they moved, by slow marches, into the circle of Buntzlau, and, at last, with a detachment commanded by the duke d'Aremberg and M. Macguire, on the eighteenth of June fell suddenly upon, and took the important post at Gabel, situated between Boemish Leypa, and Zittau, after an obstinate defence made by the Prussian garrison, under major-general Putkammer, consisting of four battalions, who were obliged to surrender prisoners of war. The Austrians having by this motion gained a march towards Lusatia, upon a corps which had been detached under the command of the prince of Prussia to watch them, his Prussian majesty thought proper to leave Leitmeritz on the twentieth in the morning, and lay that night at Lickowitz, a village opposite to Leitmeritz, of which a battalion of his troops still kept possession, while the rest of his army remained encamped in the plain before that place. Next morning, at break of day, prince Henry decamped, and made so good a disposition for his retreat, that he did not lose a single man, though he marched in sight of the whole body of Austrian irregulars. He passed the bridge at Leitmeritz, after withdrawing the battalion that was in the town, and having burnt the bridge, the whole army united, and made a small movement towards the passes of the mountains; the king then lying at Sulowitz, near the field where the battle of Lowoschutz was fought on the first of October of the preceding year. The heavy baggage was sent on in the afternoon, with a proper escort; and in the morning of the twenty second the army marched in two columns, and encamped on the high grounds at Lusechitz, a little beyond Lenai, where it halted the twenty-third. No attack was made upon the rearguard, though great numbers of Austrian hussars, and other irregulars, had appeared the evening before within cannon-shot of the Prussian camp. Ou the twenty-fourth the army marched to Nellendorf; on the twenty-fifth it encamped near Cotta, on the twenty-sixth near Pirna, where it halted the next day; and on the twenty-eighth it crossed the river. near that place, and entered Lusatia, where, by the end of the month, it encamped at Bautzen. The king's army made this retreat with all the success that could be wished; but the corps under the prince of Prussia had not the same good for tune. For the Austrians, immediately after their taking Gabel, sent a strong detachment against Zittau, a trading town in the circle of Upper Saxony, where the Prussians had large magazines, and a garrison of six battalions, and, in his sight, attacked it with uncommon rage. Paying no regard to the inhabitants as being friends or allies, but determined to reduce the place before the king of Prussia could have time to march to its relief, they no sooner arrived before it, than they bombarded and cannonaded it with such fury, that most of the garrison, finding themselves unable to resist, made their escape, and carried off as much as they could of the magazines, leaving only three or four hundred men in the town, under colonel Diricke, to hold it out as long as possible; which he according. ly did, till the place was almost destroyed. The cannonading began on the twenty-third of July, at eleven in the morning, and lasted till five in the evening. In this space of time four thousand balls, many of them red hot, were fired into this unfor tunate city, with so little intermission, that it was soon set on fire in several places. In the confusion which the conflagration produced, the Austrians entered the town, and the inhabitants imagined that they had then nothing further to fear; and that their friends the Austrians would assist them in extinguishing the flames, and saving the place; but in this particular their expectations were disappointed. The Pandours and Sclavonians, who rushed in with regular troops, made no distinction between the Prussians and the inhabitants of Zittau instead of helping to quench the flames, they began to plunder the warehouses which the fire had not reached; so that all the valuable mer. chandize they contained was either carried off, or reduced to ashes. Upwards of six hundred houses, and almost all the public buildings, the cathedrals of St. John and St. James, the orphan-house, eight parsonage-houses, eight schools, the town-house, and every thing contained in it, the public weigh house, the prison, the archives, and all the other documents of the town-council, the plate, and other things of value, presented to the town, from time to time, by the emperors, kings, and other princes and noblemen, were entirely destroyed, and more than four hundred citizens were killed in this assault. Of the whole town there were left standing only one hundred and thirty eight houses, two churches, the council, library, and the salt-work. The queen of Poland was so affected by this melancholy account, that she is said to have fainted away upon hearing it. As this city belonged to their friend the king of Poland, the Austrians thought proper to publish an excuse for their conduct, ascribing it entirely to the necessity they were under, and the obstinate defence made by the Prussian garrisón. But what excuses can atone for such barbarity? THE PRINCE OF PRUSSIA LEAVES THE ARMY. THE Corps under the prince of Prussia, which had been witnesses to the destruction of this unhappy place, was, by the king's march to Bautzen, fortunately extricated from the danger of being surrounded by the Austrians, who, upon his majes |