Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

gons of ammunition and baggage. We reckon on our fide 500 killed, and 2300 wounded. We have not loft any general except Maj. Gen Krokow of the dragoons, who was wounded and taken when our cavalry were firft repulfed. The officers, and even the com mon foldiers, have behaved to admiration in this battle.

Very fuperficial and improbable accounts of this affair and its confequences arrived from the Auftrians. Such as we have got run thus.

"Vienna, Dec. 10. The King of Pruffia in perton having with his army joined that commanded by the Prince of Bevern, and thereby increated his forces fo as to equal ours in number, that mo narch marched directly to face the army of the empire, which was likewife marching to attack the enemy. On the 4th the two armies were near one-another, fo that a bartle was thought to be unavoidable; which accordin ly happened on the 5th, about one o'clock, between Nypern and Lieten. The enemy made their chief attack upon our left wing, a great part of which being compofed of foreign troops, gave way from the beginning of the engagement; and this unhappy event having occafioned fome diforder among the other troops, more than was expected, and though they were rallied feveral times, and behaved with great bravery, it was in poffible to recover this misfortune. The engagement lafted till night, when our army retired under Schweidnitz and Lob We are in expectation of the particulars of this event, our lofs, as well as that of the enemy, being at prefent unknown.

"Vienna, Dec. 13. Since the battle of the 5th inftant the Imperial army marched towards Schweidnitz, in or der to preferve a communication with Bohemia, from whence they draw their fubfiftence, and at the fame time cover the heavy artillery which was employed at the fiege of that place, and likewife the field-artillery and baggage.The ar my obtained the ends propofed, having fixed its head quarters the 9th inftant at Bogendorff behind Schweidnitz. Du ring their march they drew up twice in

order of battle, to the enemy that followed them. The first time, which was on the 6th, our troops cannonaded them from the camp near Breslau, where they waited for them fome hours, and afterwards retired in good order, at mid-day, and in the face of the enemy; which feems to contradict their exaggerated relations of the affair of the preceding day.

According to the advices from Prague, the delertion continues fo great among the Pruffians, that they arrive there to the amount of fifty at a time."

"Vienna, Dec. 14. By a courier just arrived from Silefia, the court has great hopes of foon repairing the difadvantages our troops fuftained in the battle of the 5th. The enemy have not forces fufficient to undertake the fiege of Breflau. and at the fame time make head againft the troops who may attack them during that operation: and befides the numerous garrifon which that capital contains, her Imperial Majefty reckons, that the hearts of the greatest part of the inhabitants are attached to her. reinforcement of 5000 Croats is expected at our army in 15 days.

A

"Prague, Dec. 14. According to an account received from Gen. Clerici, the loss of our troops at the battle of the 5th inftant amounts to 6000 men killed, wounded, prifoners, and miffing; but all the private letters make that of the Pruffians much more confiderable."

The following letter, from Andrew Mitchell, Efq, his Britannic Majesty's minifter to the King of Pruffia, addreffed to the Earl of Holderneffe, and da ted, Leipfic, Dec. 24. makes a fubfequent London gazette extraordinary, viz. "My Lord, I have the fatisfaction to acquaint your Lordship, that laft night an officer arrived from the King of Pruffia's army, with the news, that Breflau furrendered on the 20th in the morning; that the garrifon, confifting of thirteen or fourteen* general offi

[According to a fubfequent gazette their names are, Lt-Gen. Sprecher, Major-Generals Stahrenberg, Beck, Wolfferfdorff, and Brown; and, wounded, General of Artillery Keil, and Major-Generals Breifach, Haller, Wolff, Noftitz, Gemming, Meyer, Dufia, and Ruchlin.]

cers,

cers, and 10,000 men, bearing arms, befides between 3 and 4000 fick and wounded, were made prisoners of war. -As the officer fet out before the King made his entry into Breslau, he does not know the names of the generals that are made prifoners; but he tells me, the Pruffians loft only twenty men in the approaches they made to Breslau; and that, on the night of the 14th, a magazine of powder was fet on fire by a bomb, which occafioned great confufion among the befieged, and greatly damaged one of the bastions.I have the honour to be," &c.

Upon notice of M. Keith's irruption into Bohemia, formerly taken notice of in the Pruffian accounts relating to that quarter, the Auftrian generals, ordered the under the Generals Marshal,

corps

Haddick, and Campitelli, which had been in and near Lufatia, to march towards Prague with all diligence. The Prufian account of that expedition is as follows. "Berlin, Dec. 25. After having diflodged the Auftrians from the tircle of the mountains of Saxony, M. Keith entered Bohemia the 25th ult. and eftablished his head quarters at Poftelfrom berg, in the circle of Saatz; from whence he fent detachments, who laid under contribution all the neighbouring cantons to within a very little distance of Prague. Gen. Itzenplitz was detached with three battalions to Leitmeritz, from whence he chafed the garrifon, burnt the bridge on the Elbe, and defroyed a very colerable magazine at that place after which he rejoined M. Keith. The Auftrian general Marshal made forced marches, with fix regiments of infantry and fix of cavalry, to fave the magazine of Leitmeritz; but was too late; fo he retired to Prague; where the alarm was very great. But as the feafon was too far advanced to undertake any enterprise against that place, and as it was neceffary to quit Bohemia before the paffes on the mountains were blocked up with fnow, the Marshal be. gan his march the ift of this month, and arrived the 5th at Chemnitz, without having loft a fingle man."

No fooner were the Swedes informed,

that the vanguard of the Pruffians under M. Lehwald was entered Pomerania, than they thought proper to retreat. Wollin was retaken from them by force, and in it 210 men were made prifoners of war. According to late advices, the Pruffians were mafters of a great part of Pomerania belonging to Sweden, where they had raised a contribution of 160,000 crowns; all the Swedish troops had retired as far as Anclam; and it was thought they would alfo foon evacuate that place, as they had begun to send their fick and heavy baggage over to the island of Rugen.

According to our laft, the Hanoverians, Heflians, and Wolfenbuttlers, who had for fome time been pofted at and about Stade, in confequence of the convention concluded in September, had begun to be again in motion, and Prince Ferdinand of Brunfwick-Wolfenbuttle was arrived to take the command of

them. On this event, M. Richlieu, the commander of the French army, sent his Serene Highnefs the following letter.

SIR,

ALthough, for fome days paft, I have

perceived the Hanoverian troops in motion, in order to form themselves into a body, I could not imagine the ob ject of these movements was to break the convention of neutrality, figned the 8th and 10th of September, between his R. Highness the Duke of Cumberland and me. The good faith, which I naturally fuppofed on the part of the King of England, Elector of Hanover, and of his fon, who figned the said convention, blinded me fo far as to make me believe, that the affembling of these troops had no other design than to go into the winter-quarters that had been affigned them. The repeated advices, which came to me from every quarter, of the bad intentions of the Hanove rians, at length opened my eyes, and at prefent one may fee very clearly, that there is a plan formed to break the articles of convention, which ought to be facred and inviolable.

The King my mafter having been informed of thefe dangerous movements.

and

and of the infidelity of the Hanoverians, is ftill willing to give fresh proofs of his moderation, and of his defire to fpare the effufion of human blood. It is with this view that I have the honour to declare to your Serene Highness, in the name of his Moft Chriftian Majefty, that I perfift in my refolution of fulfilling exactly all the points of the convention, provided the Hanoverian army, on its part, does the fame. But I cannot conceal from your Serene Highness, that if, contrary to all expectation, it fhould take an equivocal flep; and still more, if it fhould commit any act of hoftility; I fhall then push matters to the laft extremity, looking on myfelf as authorifed fo to do by the laws of war: I fhall fet fire to all the palaces, royal houfes and gardens; I fhall fack all the towns and villages, without fparing the smalleft cabin; in fhort, this country fhall feel all the horrors of war. I advife your Serene Highness to reflect on all this, and not to lay me under the neceffity of taking fleps fo contrary to the natural humanity of the French nation, and al. fo to my perfonal character.

RICHELIEU.

P. S. Monf. le Comte de Leynar, ambaffador of the King of Denmark, who was mediator for the convention, has been fo kind as to take upon him to fay every thing in his power to your Serene Highness, in order to prevent the fatal confequences with which this country is threatened.

It is faid that the fubftance of Prince Ferdinand's laconic return was,That he would come at the head of his army, and give an answer in perfon.

Notice is taken of M. Richlieu's threats in the following declaration, (which we have in an article dated, Stade, Dec. 4.), published by the government of Hanover, bearing the title of, A previous manifefto of the motives which oblige his Majesty the King of Great Britain, in quality of Elector of Brunswick-Lunenburg, to oppofe with arms the army of France in its new march against his forces.

IT

T is notorious, that on the 8th and 10th of September, of this prefent

year, at Bromervorde and at Clofter-Seven, a convention was refpectively a greed upon between his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, and the Marfhal Duke de Richlieu; the copy whereof is in the poffeffion of either party. [483.]

The court of France was no fooner informed of this, than it plainly manifefted, that fhe neither could nor would acknowledge the validity of the faid convention, but on this fingle condition, namely, That the Hanoverian troops fhould formally engage not to ferve any more during the prefent war against France and her allies. And, not content even with this pretenfion, the pofitively infifted on difarming the auxiliary troops, upon returning into their own country.

His R. H. the Duke of Cumberland, who had on his part fulfilled all the conditions of the convention, and caufed part of the troops, deftined on their return for the country of Lawenburg, to begin their march, could not confider this new demand otherwife than as a manifelt contravention; the Marshal Duke de Richlieu having engaged, not only to let the auxiliary troops depart freely, but the convention alfo fetting forth in exprefs terms, that they should not be regarded as prifoners of war, under which quality alone, the condition of laying down their arms could fubfift. Upon this his R. H. fent orders to the faid troops to halt.

Endeavours were used to reconcile the difference by all imaginable means. Expedients were propofed, which left no fhadow of pretext to the oppofite party. But all in vain. The French would never be brought to give up fo mortifying a demand; and it is but lately they have learned to foften their language a little. In the mean time the troops, pent

[blocks in formation]

lidity, and on account of the negotiation for the difarming, which the French ge. neral would never anfwer categorically, without waiting for the refolution of the court of Versailles) the nature of that act is totally changed; and from a treaty between general and general, is now be come a court-affair.

Hard as were the conditions of the convention for the troops of his Britannic Majefty, Elector of Hanover, the King would have acquiefced in them, if the French had not glaringly difcovered their defign of totally ruining his army and his dominions. It is themselves, who, by the most evident contraventions and outrageous conduct, have fet the King free from every thing which the convention could render obligating to him.

The great end of the conventional act, (an end in itself of the very nature and effence of every provifional armiftice), was to enter directly on negotia tions of peace, in order to prevent the total ruin of the countries which compofe the electorate of Brunswick Lunenburg, and procure an accommodation for his Majefty's allies. The court of France yielding a deaf ear to the propofitions offered, has for that end not on ly declared, time after time, that the would not lend a hand towards a definitive pacification with his Majefty in qua lity of Elector, but has fhewn too plainly, by her continual violences, exceffes, and infupportable exactions, fince the figning of the convention, that her refolution is the abfolute destruction of the King's electoral estates, as well as thofe of his allies.

In the midst of a truce, the moft open hoftilities have been committed. The caftle of Schartzfels has been forcibly feized, and the garrifon made prifoners of war. The prifoners made by the French before the convention, have not been restored, though this was a point expressly ftipulated between the delega. ted generals, and was exactly fatisfied on our part, by the immediate release of the French prifoners. The bailiffs of the reserved districts, into which the French troops were on no pretence to

enter, have been fummoned, under pain of military execution, to appear before the French commiffary, with defign of compelling them to deliver the domainal receipts, of which they are the adminiftrators. They have appropriated to themselves part of those magazines, which by expreis agreement were to remain with the electoral troops; and they ftill go on with feizing the houses, revenues, and corn, belonging to his Majefty in the city of Bremen, in spite of the reciprocal engagement, whereby they are held to regard that city as a place abfolutely free and neutral. And, laftly, they have proceeded to menaces unheard of among a civilized people, of burning, facking, and destroying all before them without remorfe.

All thefe violent and unjuft proceedings, are fo many incontestable proofs, that the French will not admit the convention as obligatory, any farther than as it may prove ruinous to his Britannic Majefty. They deny that they are tied down to any thing, and affert a power of acting at will. To fo infupportable a degree of infolence have they carried matters, as to have borne too heavily upon the King's patience; who holds himfelf, before God, and all the impartial world, not only at liberty, but even neceffitated, without further regard to the convention, fo often and to openly violated by the French, to have recourfe to arms, as the means which the Almighty has put into his hands, for delivering his faithful fubjects and allies from the oppreffions and vexations which they now groan under.

As his Majefty (conformable to his folemn declaration, made and repeated to all nations, and to the Germanic body in particular, from the beginning of the prefent unhappy war) has thought of arming offenfively against any power whatever, but folely with a view of defending himself and his allies; he repofes his confidence in God, and hopes for his benediction on the juftice of his enterprises.

On the 30th of November the Hanoverians and their allies went into camp. That fame day the fort of Harburg, garrifoned

1

garrifoned by about 1000 French, was invefted. The French had abandoned the town, carrying with them into the castle many of the inhabitants of every rank and age, and of both fexes. Prince Ferdinand, having left Maj.-Gen. Hardenberg, with three battalions, two fquadrons, and fome artillery, to befiege it, marched forward with the rest of his troops. The motions of his army having obliged the French to abandon the city of Lunenburg, one of his detachments took poffeffion of it on the 3d of December. From the London gazette extraordinary, of Dec. 30. we have the following journal of his marches and difpofitions, dated, Head-quarters at Suderburg, Dec. 19.

"On the 6th the army croffed the Lopaw river in four columns, and incamped the right to Wite-water village, with Melfing in the front of the left; head-quarters at Epfdorf. The advanced corps, under Count Schulemburg's command, was to have advanced to Ultzen, if the intelligence of the enemy's march had been confirmed; but the Prince going forward to Epfdorf, ordered that corps to join the army, and detached Major Lukener towards Hermanfburg; where he took 24 waggons, which the French had brought with them from the Pays de Liege, mostly loaded.

Major of Brigade Efdorf took poffeffion of a confiderable magazine at Medingen, that the enemy abandoned, confifting of 100,000 rations of hay of 15 pounds each, and 60,000 rations of oats, with a large quantity of wheat, rye, and ftraw, and likewife fome fmall magazines at Bunenbutel, Bibesen, and Ultzen. The 7th the army halted, and fent for forage to Medingen. The 8th the army halted; we got bread from Lunenburg. The 9th the army marched in four columns, and croffed the Gartau river, incamped with the right to Hatau river, and left to a rivulet called Swinaw, with the village of Suderburg, being the head quar. ters, in the rear of the centre. The 10th the army halted, Lt-Gen. Spoercke, with Maj. Gen' Bronck, Prince of Ifenburg, and Urff, under his command, with eight battalions and eight fquadrons, toVOL. XIX.

wards Giffhern; and the army marches to-morrow. Major Lukener attacked a corps of the enemy yesterday at Hermanfburg, which retreated, and he took eleven prisoners.

In the action which happened on the 4th, the enemy had three officers taken prifoners, a captain, lieutenant, and cornet. The captain is the Chevalier de Bynon, a near relation of M. d'Argenfon. They had two officers killed, and many more men killed and wounded than was at firft imagined. Major Bothmar of Breitenbach's dragoons, after he was prifoner, was ftopt, had his money and watch taken away by an officer and two huffars, who then let him go.

This country is open and dry for the men; but it is cut by fmall rivers, and the defiles through the villages retard much the marches of the army, the fides of the rivers being boggy, fo that the villages are the only paffes, and the country is thereby filled with ftrong posts: but, notwithstanding the army has marched many hours in the night, there is a general joy and eagerness at marching on. Not a complaint, but every common foldier fatis fied. On the 6th, when a brigade of Hanoverians did not get into camp till eleven at night, they were all finging; and there is fuch an emulation amongst them, that a foldier who drops behind is afraid to fhew his face the next day.

On the 11th the army marched in three columns, and incamped the right to Lawe and Dalle villages, and the left to Lutter river, head quarters at Weyhaufen. Intelligence that the enemy was pofted in force at Ribbelow; and further intelligence, at night, that the enemy was reinforced there; on which, on the 12th, the army marched at day-break in four columns, with an advanced corps of fix battalions under the command of Maj Gen. Count Kilmanfegge, and nine fquadrons under the command of Maj.Gen. Dackenhaufen, the whole com manded by Lt-Gen. Oberg; and Prince Ferdinand ordered the Brunfwick troops to take their posts in the lines, four battalions in the front, and three in the rear line. Juft on marching off, report 5 B

came,

« ZurückWeiter »