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minions to be in imminent danger, made Queen engaged to take no part in the requifition of the fuccours promifed by differences between G. Britain and the Emprefs-Queen, he received a very France concerning the limits of their unfatisfactory anfwer, of which the pu- refpective poffeffions in America, in blic then knew nothing, but which fhall which fhe faid fhe was not concerned. be afterwards taken notice of. Mean Both parties refpectively promifed, that while we were informed, that plans for the one would not attack or invade any diftreffing G. Britain were propofed by dominion belonging to the other during France to the King of Pruffia; which, the courfe of the war between G. Briinstead of promoting, he would not wink tain and France. The Emprefs-Queen It was probably that piece of ge- guarantied all the French King's donerofity, joined to the answer his Bri- minions in Europe, against all powers tannic Majefty received from the court whatfoever, and for ever, the case of the of Vienna, that made him labour with war juft mentioned only excepted. His particular affiduity to make up matters Moft Chriftian Majefty alfo guarantied with his nephew the King of Pruffia. all the Emprefs-Queen's dominions withThe confequence was, that the two mo- out exception, according to the order of narchs concluded a treaty about the the pragmatic fanction. It was further middle of January 1756, by which his ftipulated, that if either of the contractPruffian Majefty renewed his guaranty ing parties were attacked, the other of the fucceffion of the houfe of Hano- thould furnith 24,000 men, or an equiver to the throne of G. Britain; enga- valent in money, if demanded by the ged to pay off the refidue of the Silefia party intitled to make the requifition. loan, referving only a certain fum, which Moft of the powers of Europe, as Spain, some specified at 20,000 l. Sterling, for Sardinia, Poland, Ruffia, Sweden, Denthe claims of his fubjects before men- mark, and the Ståtes-General, were intioned; and promised to oppofe the en- vited to accede to this treaty. The Emtrance of any foreign troops into Ger- prefs-Queen declared, that, by entering many. The King of G. Britain, on his into it, fhe by no means intended to part, renounced all his rights and pre- break thofe engagements which fubfifted tenfions on Eaft Friesland; and renewed between her and his Britannic Majesty, his particular guaranty of all the domi- but that her. fole end was to prevent the nions which his Pruffian Majefty acqui- flames of war from spreading to her dored by the ceffion of Silefia. Upon this minions. How fhe was to fulfil thofe the public not fufpecting what was after- engagements, without fending fuccours wards openly told, fuppofed, that, by his to G. Britain or Hanover, if either of Britannic Majefty's mediation, the nego- them fhould be invaded, we are at a tiations between the Emprefs-Queen and lofs to know; and yet the fending of his Pruffian Majefty, which had been long them does not appear to have been deon the carpet, would foon be brought to figned. On the other hand, we are not a conclufion; and that a thorough re- certain in what light the King of Pruffia conciliation between the courts of Pe- confidered his Moft Chriftian Majesty's terfburg and Berlin would be effected. guarantying all the dominions of the It was well known, that this fituation Empres-Queen without exception, acof affairs gave confiderable uneafinefs to cording to the order of the pragmatic the French ministry; but it was not long fanction, as the courts of Versailles and before they began to tell us of their ha- Berlin have not yet come to public eving a treaty on foot with the court of clairciffements on that fubject; but as Vienna. Though an alliance of that Silefia made a part of the dominions, kind was looked upon to be fo unnatu- which, by that fanction, were to remain ral, that at first few gave heed to what undivided, one would be apt to think, was thrown out about it, yet it was ac- that the French engaged to affift in retually brought to a conclufion at Ver- covering and preferving that territory failles the 1st of May, By it the Emprefs- to the houfe of Auria.

Not

Not long after the figning of this treaty, we were told, that the Pruffian monarch had wormed fome fecrets out of the secretary of the Imperial embaffy at Berlin, who upon that difappeared. It was foon evident, that his Majefty had conceived a strong jealousy of the house of Austria, in confequence of which he ordered all his regiments to be made complete. In effect the court of Vienna ordered a camp of above 50,000 men to be formed near Colin in Bohemia, to be commanded by General Count Brown; and another in Moravia, of 40,000, under Prince Piccolomini. The King of Pruffia difpatched inftructions to his minifter at Vienna, to require the Emprefs- Queen to defift from her military preparations making in thofe countries, which, in a time of profound peace, he could not but look upon as an open declaration of her hoftile intentions; and faid, that in cafe of a refufal to defift, he was determined to march directly to the frontiers, fo as his enemies might gain nothing by an illtimed delay. The Emprefs-Queen anfwered, That, in the prefent juncture, she had found it neceffary to make armaments, as well for her own defence, as for that of her allies, and which did not tend to the prejudice of any body. Both fides carried on their preparations, and at the fame time reciprocally charged one another with being the first that gave orders for putting troops in motion. The Emprefs-Queen, to justify her proceedings, published a refcript, in which, among other things, fhe reprefented the treaty between the King of G. Britain and his Pruffian Majefty as calculated to raise the Proteftant at the expence of the Roman-Catholic religion. In answer to that refcript, his Britannic Majefty, as Elector of Hanover, caused a declaration be delivered to the diet at Ratisbon, importing, that he had heard with great furprife, that the treaty juft mentioned had been reprefented as a matter in which the state of religion was concerned; that the whole empire knew he had made it a rule, to fupport the rights of each state, without diftinction, and to contribute to keep up in the Ger

manic body fuch a fyftem as appeared moft conducive to its fafety; that in confequence of thofe principles, he had neglected nothing which might most effectually fupport the house of Auftria. even to the being ready to facrifice al that was in his power; that the differen ces which had arisen between G. Britain and France, about their poffeffions in America, having given birth to a defign in the latter power to attack the electoral dominions of the houfe of BrunswickLunenburg, his Britannic Majefty could neither obtain of the Emprefs-Queen the fuccours ftipulated by treaties, nor engage her to employ her good offices towards altering difpofitions of fuch states of the empire, as through indifference feemed in fome measure to favour that invafion; that his Britannic Majesty thus found himself under a neceffity of concluding an alliance with the King of Pruffia, for the fecurity of their respective dominions, preferving peace and tranquillity in the empire, and defending the rights and privileges of the members of the Germanic body, without prejudice to either of the religions exercised in the empire; that while matters stood thus, the world was furprised with an unexpected treaty of alliance which the Emprefs-Queen had been pleased to conclude with a power, which, for above two centuries paft, had dismembered the moft confiderable provinces of the em pire, had attacked and invaded her arch. ducal house, had fomented troubles and divifions in Germany, and made fuck means fubfervient to its own ambitious views, by ufurping whatever lay conve nient for it; that the inconveniencies and dangers which this new treaty muft neceffarily be productive of, would, in time, be made manifeft; and that as the thing was not of fuch a nature as to require being any longer made a mystery of, his Britannic Majefty had explained himself clearly on this fubject, in order to diffipate the prejudices which might have been created by contrary ideas or fuggeftions. From this it is easy to judge, what must have been his Britannic Majesty's fentiments concerning the Emprefs-Queen's gratitude, and the finceri

ty

ty of her declarations, that she did not King his mafter, not fatisfied with the intend to break her engagements with Emprefs-Queen's declarations before him. The King of Pruffia afterwards advanced a very remarkable circumstance, as attending the refusal of fuccours for defending Hanover made by the court of Vienna, namely, that the Emprefs-Queen would not hear of granting any, unlefs G. Britain would enter into a plot which fhe had formed against his Pruffian Majefty's dominions and poffeffions; and that his Britannic Majefty, whose fentiments were too noble to adopt fchemes incompatible with his good faith, rejected all the proposals which were made to him. Had this been publicly known from the time it is faid to have happened, people would not have been fo much furprised at the alarm which the court of Vienna was faid to take at the King of G. Britain's having renewed his guaranty of Silefia. Nothing can be more eafy, than for a prince to give further fecurity for what he is fully refolved to perform; nor for a court calmly to fee bars thrown in its way against obtaining what it has no defign upon. But if a fcheme is formed for grafping at an object judged to be valuable, the riper it is thought for execution, the greater vexation will any obftacle give.

As, on the one hand, it had been reprefented that the treaty between his Britannic Majefty and the King of Pruffia tended to the prejudice of the RomanCatholic religion; fo, on the other, it was faid, that the alliance entered into between the Emprefs-Queen and his Moft Chriftian Majefty contained certain fecret articles; calculated for the total fuppreffion of Proteftantifm, fome refpecting the Prince of Heffe-Caffel's change of religion, befides arrangements prejudicial to the empire, in favour of the Archduke Jofeph's being elected King of the Romans. All this the court of Vienna denied ; and complained, that upon these foundations a propofal had been made to the Proteftant courts, in order to draw them into a league againft the house of Auftria.

On the 18th of Auguft, the Pruffian minister at Vienna declared, That the VOL. XIX.

mentioned, and not chufing to diffemble, could not avoid informing her, that he had received undoubted intelligence, that, in the beginning of last year, the entered into an offenfive alliance with the court of Ruffia against him, in which it was ftipulated, that the two Empreffes fhould unexpectedly attack him, the Empress of Ruffia with 120,000 men, and the Emprefs-Queen with 80,000; that this project, which was to have been carried into execution in May last year, had been deferred till next spring, only because the troops of Ruffia wanted recruits, the fleet failors, and Livonia corn to maintain them; that his Pruffian Majefty, advised from all quarters of fuch measures being taken and taking againft him by the Emprefs-Queen as if he were at open war with her, thought himself intitled to require from her a formal and categorical declaration, that the had no intention to attack his dominions, either last year or this; and that if an uncertain and inconclufive answer were given, her Imperial Majesty would have herself to reproach for the confequences of that reserved behaviour, and would confirm the intelligence of the dangerous projects which fhe had formed with Ruffia against him. The court of Vienna abfolutely denied that there did exift, or ever had exifted, any offenfive treaty between her and Ruffia against his Pruffian Majefty; and again afferted, that the military difpofitions she had ordered were folely in confideration of thofe of that monarch; but declined faying any thing as to her intentions of attacking him last year or this now cur rent. About this time his Pruffian Ma. jefty caufed a piece be delivered to the Imperial miniftry, in which he said it was notorious, that the court of Vienna began her armaments in Bohemia and Moravia in the beginning of June, soon after the had contracted new engagements with France, and at a time when neither the Emprefs-Queen, nor any of her allies, had the fmallest grounds to apprehend a furprife; that he had the greater reafon to attend to thefe disposiB

tions,

tions, as he received advice at the fame time of the march of a confiderable body of Ruffians towards Courland, which determined him to caufe a few regiments advance into Pomerania, but that he or dered them to halt fo foon as he heard the Ruffians had marched back; that the march of those regiments towards Po merania ought naturally to give the court of Vienna no more umbrage, than the march of fome Auftrian regiments towards Tuscany would give him; and that, notwithstanding the great preparations made by the Emprefs-Queen, he had made no motion towards her territories. He challenged the court of Vienna to point out any other object of his armaments, than the defence of his own dominions; and faid, that if her Imperial Majesty's intentions were as pure and fincere as the in all places affured them to be, she needed only give his minifter a clear, precife declaration, free from all ambiguity and equivocation, which would effectually restore the public tranquillity. He expreffed his willingness to believe, on the Emprefs-Queen's affurances, that her treaty with France contained no other articles than what had been published, and that the would agree to no project which might be contrary to Proteftantifm; but obferved, that she could not take it amifs, if the Proteftant princes fhould be on their guard in fuch a critical conjuncture, when the validity of the act of fecurity given by the hereditary Prince of HeffeCaffel, for maintaining the established religion in his country, was openly attacked, and a discovery had been made of the fecret intrigues of the Emperor's minifter and Baron Hurtzrock, to carry off that prince, and take him from under the authority of the Landgrave his father; who had publicly complained of the affair, but obtained no fatisfaction. The Empress Queen's answer was in fubftance, That the critical ftate of public affairs made her look upon the meafures fhe was taking, as neceffary for her fafety and that of her allies, without prejudice to any one; that her former declaration was fo clear, that she could never have imagined it could be thought

otherwife; and that the informations which his Pruffian Majesty had received, of an offenfive alliance, against him, between her and the Empress of Ruffia, were abfolutely false and invented.

By that time the court of Vienna, with proper affiftance, had got differences between the courts of Petersburg and Versailles entirely accommodated; and, with the fame affiftance, induced the Emprefs of Ruffia to fhew as great coldnefs to his Britannic Majesty's interests as herself had done, by refusing to receive from him the first moiety of the fubfidy he had engaged to pay her in confideration of fuccours she was to furnifh for the defence of his dominions. A formal treaty had been concluded between the Emprefs of Ruffia and his Moft Chriftian Majefty, by which the latter guarantied to the former all her conquests made upon Sweden, in fuch manner as never to fupport any claims to be made to them; and both parties engaged to labour for fecuring the indivifibility of the house of Auftria's eftate as fettled by the pragmatic sanction, for maintaining a good understanding with the Ottoman Porte, and for encouraging the Grand Signior in his pacific fentiments.

This alfo appeared unfavourable to the King of Pruffia; and he fuppofed that his only chance for safety lay in a vigorous exertion of his whole force. Accordingly his troops began their march towards Bohemia on the 28th of Auguft. That fame day his minister at Drefden demanded a paffage for them through Saxony; declaring, that they fhould obferve the ftricteft difcipline, and that all care fhould be taken of the country which circumstances would permit; that his Polish Majefty and the royal family might depend on being in perfect fafety, and having the greatest respect paid them; and that his Pruffian Majefty defired nothing fo much as the reestablishment of peace, in order to give him the happy opportunity of restoring the King of Poland to the quiet poffeffion of his dominions, against which he had not, in other refpects, formed any dangerous defigns. The King of Po

land

land made answer in writing next day, that relying on the declarations made him, he granted the paffage defired; and declared his intention, not to take any part in the differences which had arisen between his Pruffian Majesty and the Emprefs-Queen.

The Pruffian troops, to the number of about 60,000 men, entered Saxony by three different routes. One body of them having advanced to Leipfic, the fame day they entered that city a declaration was published by the general who commanded them, notifying, that as his Pruffian Majefty intended to confider and defend the fubjects of that electorate as if they were his own, he had given the moft precife orders to cause his troops obferve the ftricteft difcipline; but that at the fame time provifions must be regularly furnished them. Notice was alfo given, that all taxes and cuftoms were to be paid to his Pruffian Majefty; and his officers took poffeffion of the cuftomhouse and excife-office, while the magazines of corn and meal were ordered to. be opened for the ufe of his troops. The like declarations were made, and the like conduct abferved, in other places.

themfelves with the utmoft diligence, to prevent the discovery of a secret which has brought vaft fums of money into Saxony.

His Pruffian Majefty in perfon took poffeffion of Dresden on the 8th of September; where, as we were affured, he treated the Queen of Poland, and the reft of the royal family there, with the greatest politenefs.

Even after the King of Pruffia had entered Saxony, he caused his minifter at Vienna once more afk the EmprefsQueen, whether he would engage not to attack him either that year or the current one; promifing to recall his troops on receiving a precife and fatisfactory anfwer. The answer was, That the parties were at peace; that to contract an engagement of this nature, was to convert the peace into a truce; and that the Emprefs found the condition too inconfiftent with treaties to accept of it. His Pruffian Majesty had formerly represented, that the court of Vienna, by her refufal to give him thofe pofitive affurances which he thought every one at peace with his neighbours had a right to demand, by continual artifices, and haughtinefs, proposed to drive him into a war, in order to have a pretext for reclaiming the assistance of her allies; and alfo obferved, that though he should be obliged to begin hoftilities, he would not be the aggreffor, the aggreffion being juftly. imputable to that party alone which had ftirred up enemies against, or formed defigns of invading the dominions of the other. Being fully convinced by this laft anfwer, that nothing was to be ef fected by further reprefentations, his minifter retired from Vienna the 16th of September, without taking leave; and foon after, the Imperial minister left Berlin in the fame manner.

It would feem that his Polish Majefty had well foreseen the march of the Pruffians, and refolved on the measures he. was to purfue. For he had just before affembled the whole troops of his electorate at Pirna, which is a craggy rock, joined on one hand by the fortrefs of Sonneftein, and on the other by that of Konigstein. Behind Pirna and Sonneftein runs the Elbe, amidst rough and inacceffible rocks. On the other fide, and in the places especially of moft eafy accefs, the Saxons had laid great numbers of vaft pine-trees, which they had felled upon the fpot. To this ftrong camp the King of Poland, with his two fons, repaired on the 3d of September the rest of the royal family ftill remaining at Dresden, capital of Saxony. The principal archives and most valuable effects of the family had been carried to the fortress of Konigstein; with all the tools and materials made use of in the porcelane manufactory at Meiffen; the workmen at the fame time difperfing

;

By that time the Pruffians had invefted the Saxons at Pirna on every fide. Several meffages had paffed between the King of Poland and his Pruffian Majefty, the former of whom still offered to obferve an exact neutrality; but the latter infifted, that in order to render this more certain, it was proper the Saxon troops fhould return to their former quar..

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