infolent that they have affronted frequently the fervants of his Majefty: and on the 26th pait, the French ambaffa dor, who is difliked on the fame fcore, coming to court on occafion of the holiday of St Anne, his coach was ftopt, and preceded by that of the primate; and the accustomed privilege the French ambaffador bas of being drawn up to the door of the caftle, as well as the nuncio and the primate, was forcibly denied him; fo that he was obliged to rank with the other foreign minifters, This, and several other affronts which his Majefty and the court have met with fince their refidence at Warfaw, it is faid, has determined his Majefty to go to refide at Dantzick, till the face of affairs is changed." According to our former accounts of the RUSSIANS having taken Memel, there remained fome uncertainty as to the fate of the citadel and the garrifon. It has fince appeared that the terms of capitulation were, that the garrifon fhould march out with all the honours of war, but should not ferve against the Emprefs of Ruffia or any of her allies for the fpace of one year. An ordinance was foon publifhed, in order to recal the inhabitants of that place and diftrict, who through a panic had taken refuge elsewhere, by affuring them that they fhould be entirely at liberty with refpect to both their religion and trade. In the mean time letters from Berlin, dated Auguft 2. fay, that the garrifon was ftill detained notwithstanding the capitulation. After the furrender of Memel the Ruffian fleet failed fouthward, with defign, as was thought, to bombard Pillau; but instead of that, went into the road of Dantzick, where their fick, being a good many in number, were landed. On the 19th of Auguft they put again to fea; and it was faid that their admiral was not to open his orders till he should arrive at a certain latitude. According to late advices, the Ruffian and Pruffian armies were fo very near one another, and both of them fo near Konigsberg, that it was fuppofed there would foon be the news of a battle, or of the former being mafters of that capital. Preparations have been ftill continued for tranfporting SWEDISH troops into Pomerania. The following extract of fome letters written by a foreign minifter at Stockholm will help to fhew the reafons for taking this step, and illuftrate other particulars." They flatter themfelves here, that the fuccefs of the allies of the court of Vienna will fully establish the prefent government of Sweden; which fome were afraid would be overturned, fhould his Pruffian Majefty gain the afcendency. The ftate of that prince's affairs is, it is faid, the poli tical barometer of this kingdom; on which depends the fuccefs of the enfuing diet. It should seem that the refolution to enter into the measures of Ruffia is repugnant to the whole nation; and that in particular it occafions a great ferment among the court-party. It is even said, that there are some members of the regency who difliked it, but yielded to the times, and to the majority, in hopes of making a proper advantage of it afterwards; which time will difcover. r.-It is alledged, that the removal of 17,000 men (the number proposed to be fent to Pomerania) from fuch a coun try as this, will be attended with bad confequences in many refpects. It is further faid, that it will be impossible to maintain all the changes that were made in the laft diet. Some perfons i magine that the troops which are to be transported will keep on the defenfive; but others are perfuaded of the contrary, becaufe, according to them, the King of Pruffia will endeavour to hinder even their debarkation: though indeed that prince has a multiplicity of affairs on his hands; and will probably, about the time of their landing, have many more; unless fome unforeseen event happen, or the chance of war tavour him in an extraordinary manner; of which there is little probability. The Pruffian envoy, after demanding of the Swedish minifters an explanation of the intent of their warlike preparations, declared, That the King his master 1 book upon this ftep as an act echt het anticipate it. Un That the Ki ? i would told, iberty to to act as he pleafed; and that it was thought proper to fend troops to Pomerania, without judging it neceffary to affign any other reafon for it, than that it was done by virtue of the declaration made at Ratisbon, and of the guaranty ftipulated by the peace of Weftphalia." ——It is said in the letters from which the preceding extract is made, that the King of Sweden did not acquiefce in the refolution to fend troops into Pomerania, till he had employed every argument against it; till the fenator Count Eikelblat, and the other deputies, had laid before him, at an audience for that purpose, all the motives that led the fenate to it; and till he found that the prefent fituation of affairs would not permit him to refufe his confent. According to our laft the AUSTRIAN and PRUSSIAN armies in Bohemia were at no great distance from one another. The latter had its right extended from Lowofitz to Aufig for covering the mountainous part of Saxony, and its left from Leitmeritz to Bomifch Leypa, in order to preferve a communication › with Lufatia and Silefia. Inftead of advancing to attack his Pruffian Majefty thus fituated, the Auftrian generals fent off detachments to their right, with orders to enter Silefia and Lufatia by the defiles of the mountains. Thefe detachments feized Hirschberg and Landshut, in which they found 694 bushels of oats, 7080 portions of hay, and fome thou fand rations of bread. Another detach ment, under the command of Gen. Macguire, after an obftinate refiftance, took the important poft of Gabel, where about 3500 Pruffians were made prifoners of war, and ten pieces of cannon with great quantities of provifions and baggage were found. Upon this the Prince of Pruffia was fent off by his Pruffian Majefty to march for Zittau in Lufatia with a part of his army. The Auftrians having numbers in that quarter much fuperior to thofe of the Prince, they took Zittau, after a furious cannonading and bombardment, part of the garrison escaping, and the reft being made prifoners.- -The following account of the affair was fent to the Queen of PoVOL. XIX. land by the magiftrates of that unfortu nate city. "The cannonading began on the 23d of July, at eleven in the morning, and lafted till five in the evening. In this interval 4000 bails were fired. The buildings laid in afhes are 547 houses, including 104 brewhouses; all the steeples, except that of Bautzen; the two cathedrals of St John and St James; the orphan-houfe; eight parfonage-houfes, and eight schools; the town-house, with every thing contained in it; the public weigh-houfe; the prifon; the archives, with all the other documents of the town-council; the plate, and other things of value, presented to the town, from time to time, by emperors, kings, and other princes and noblemen. There are left ftanding only 138 houfes, with the council-library, the Cloifter church, the Bohemian church, and the falt work. Ninety perfons have been dug out of the ruins. Dr Stroumelius's widow, with her whole family, confifting of fourteen perfons, and fixty-fix others, were found dead in their houses, and forty are ftill miffing."town belonging to Saxony, the Queen of Poland fainted away when the read this account. And yet, notwithstanding all the fufferings here represented, thofe magiftrates had not thought it prudent to tell the whole truth. When the Auftrians entered the town, the inhabitants imagined they had nothing further to fear, and that thofe their friends would affift them to extinguish the flames, and fave the place as much as poffible: but in this they were miferably disappointed; the Pandours and Sclavonians, who`rufhed in with the regular troops, made no diftinction be tween the Pruffians and the inhabitants of Zittau; inftead of affifting to quench the flames, they began to plunder the warehoufes which the fire had not reached, fo that all the valuable goods they contained, particularly linens, were carried off. -As Zittau is a The Auftrians made the following apology for their treatment of it, which is extracted from the Vienna and Imperial journals. "Gen. Schmettau and 3 P the the Prince of Bevern had withdrawn Zittau contained the Prussian magazines, it was our intention to deftroy it. This reafon prevailed over every other. The voice of war was ftronger than that of pity and compaffion, and filenced the fentiments of humanity." part of the garrison and the provifions out of Zittau, and the fire caused by the granadoes extended throughout the city, while the rest of the Pruffian garrifon were obftinately refolute not to furrender, hoping to get away, and carry off with them the remainder of the provisions, which was the more obftinate, as the place had been battered by 32 cannons, and to obus, and a power ful army lying before it. Prince Charles fent Col. Weldenau to represent to Col. Diricke the blame he would incur, by an obftinacy fo unfeasonable, and fo fa tal to the unfortunate inhabitants. But M. Diricke affured him, that he should endanger his head, if he gave up the place without exprefs leave from the Prince of Pruffa. He asked an hour, which M. de Weldenau granted, on condition the attack should be continued. After the hour the firing was begun again, and the place was again a prey to the devouring flames. Part of the Pruffians took this opportunity of retiring. Some hundreds, most of them Saxons, leaped the walls, laid down their arms, and efcaped to the headquarters. In the mean time, Col. Diricke called out at the Bohemian gate, but it was too late; the Auftrians were already in the town, and made the colonel, a major, five lieutenants, two enfigns, and 260 foldiers prifoners.Col Diricke is loaded with reproaches by the inhabitants, as the caufe of their misfortunes; and they accufe him of having not only hindered them from stopping the progrefs of the flames, but likewife of forbidding any one, under pain of death, to come out of their houles, by which many perished in the flames.- Above two thirds of the city is reduced to ashes. However, a large magazine, confifting of 1000 C. weight of powder, and feveral of meal, was faved. -Thefe ftores of powder confirm, beyond all doubt, that the Prince of Pruffia's defign was to maintain himself in Zittau, till the arrival of the King his brother; and it was certainly the beft pofition his Pruffian Majefty could take to cover his dominions. Therefore, as The King of Pruffia, finding that the Austrians were directing their operations towards Lufatia and Silefia, left his camp at Leitmeritz on the 21st of July, and arrived at Linay on the 2zd. There he halted till the 24th; when he march. ed again at the head of fixteen battalions and thirty-two fquadrons, leaving M. Keith behind with about 25,000 men, to guard the paffes leading from Bohemia into Saxony. On the 25th his Majefty's army reached the neighbourhood of Pirna. There he received advice that Zittau was taken, and that the Prince his brother was furrounded almoft on all fides by the Auftrians. He therefore croffed the Elbe on the 27th, and marched with all diligence to his affiftance. Having joined him near Bautzen a day fooner than he expected, the Auftrians, who had been endeavouring to furround him, were obliged to retire. Not long after, M. Keith changed his fituation, and came to Pirna on the 30th. There leaving Prince Maurice of Anhalt Deffau, with twelve battalions and ten fquadrons, to oppose the incurfions of the Auftrian irregulars, and to cover the magazines at Pirna and Pilnitz, he marched, Aug. 3. with twenty battalions and forty fquadrons, to join his Majesty near Bautzen. ter this junction was effected, the Pruffian army in Lufatia was computed at about 60,000 men. The Auftrians' were reckoned at 100,000, including the corps extended towards the Elbe on the fide of Tefchen, to obferve_the motions of the Prince of Anhalt Dessau ; but what numbers thofe detached corps confifted of, has not been told us. According to accounts from Lufatia dated Aug. 19. the Auftrians were pofted near Gorlitz, and the Pruffians in fight of them, and it feemed almoft impoffible for either army to make a motion without bringing on a battle. During all thefe motions, feveral fkirmishes hap Af pened, pened, of which we cannot fo much as give the accounts of the oppofite fides, very little news arriving from the Pruffian camp, where the officers are strictly forbid the holding of any correfpondence of that kind. Marthal d'Etrees having paffed the Wefer, as in our laft, he immediately laid the adjacent parts of the electorate of HANOVER under contribution. Next he fent the following requifition to the regency. "The King's army being already in poffeffion of part of the King of England's dominions as Elector of Hanover, the regency of Hanover is iajoined, upon pain of military execution, to fend deputies to the head-quarters of our army, in order to treat a bout railing the contributions, and deli vering the neceffary fubfiftence for the troops, and to agree to fuch terms as are justifiable by the laws of war. Done at the bead-quarters at Stadt-Oldendorf, July 21. 1757. -Another act of power exerted by Marshal d'Etrees two days after, was the restoration of Count Bentheim to his eftate. The patent for that purpose runs thus." Lewis Cæfar, Count d'Etrees, Marfhal of France, Governor of the province of Aulnis, Knight of the order of the Holy Ghoft, General of the army, &c. Be it known to all men, That whereas the Count of Bentheim has reprefented to the King, that the regency of the faid place had - delivered him an order of the Hanoverian ministry, dated the 26th of May, by virtue of which the payment of his annual penfion bad been fufpended, for having favoured in his country the fervice of his Moft Chriftian Majefty, and for having entered the faid county with his regiment, in order to command there in his faid Majesty's name; the regency of Hanover, by the refufal of that payment, has broke the contract ftipulated the 22d of May 1752, between the King of England, Elector of Brunswick Lunenburg, and the faid Count of Bentheim; and the latter not having been able to obtain any fatisfaction on this head, we put him again, in the King's name, and by virtue of thefe prefents, in poffeffion of the faid county, and of all the rights and prerogatives thereunto belonging; ordering likewife, in his Majefty's name, all fubjects and vaffals of the Count of Bentheim, to acknowledge him on the fame footing that he ftood before the conclufion of the faid contract between his Majesty the King of England and him. (Signed) L. M. D'ETREES. Done at the head-quarters at Hall, July 23. 1757." [246.] From the time that the French paffed the Wefer, feveral fkirmishes happened between them and parties of the army of obfervation, without any thing of great confequence being effected on either fide. But at length an action was brought on between the two armies, on the 26th of July, of which the following account, fent from the Duke of Cumberland's camp, was published in a London Gazette extraordinary, Aug. 11 "Sunday, July 24. The enemy marching in three columns, with artillery, towards the village of Latford, Maj.-Gen. Furftenberg, who commanded the outpofts in the village, and in the wood, fent an officer to inform his R. Highness of it; who immediately reinforced those pofts with a body of troops under the command of Lt-Gen. Sporcke. R. Highnefs found it impoffible to fupport the village, as it was commanded by the heights oppofite to it, that were poffeffed by the enemy; and withdrew his poft from Latford, having it always in his power to retake it, from its fituation in a bottom between two hills. His The enemy made two attacks, one at the point of the wood, the other higher up in the fame wood, oppofite to the grenadiers commanded by Maj.-Gen. Hardenberg. They failed in both; and, though the fire of their artillery was very smart, they were obliged to retire. The French army incamping on the heights oppofite to the Duke of Cumberland's pofts, together with the accounts he had received, that M d'Etrees had affembled all his troops, and had with him a very confiderable train of artillery, left his R. Highness no room to doubt of his intentions of attacking him; his R. Highness therefore determined to change his fituation, and take a more advantageous one, by draw 3 P 2 ing ing up his army on the height between valry. Their countenance and steadinefs, in fo fevere a fire, is hardly to be expreffed or equalled. Between seven and eight the firing of fmall arms began on our left, when his R. Highnefs ordered Maj.-Gen. Behr, with three bat talions of Brunswick, to fuftain the gre nadiers in the wood, if wanted. The cannonading went on all the time, rather augmenting than decreasing; but it did not create the leaft diforder in the troops. There never was feen fo much firmness, though it lafted above fix hours, from firit to laft. The fire of the fmall arms on the left increased, and the enemy feemed to gain ground on us. His R. Highnefs detached Col3 Dachenhaufen and Bredenbach, with three Hanoverian battalions and fix fquadrons, round the wood by Afferde. The grenadiers in the wood, apprehenfive of being furrounded, from the great force of the enemy that appeared there, and were marching round on that side, though they repulfed every thing that appeared in their front, thought it advisable to retire nearer the left of the army; which gave the enemy an opportunity of posi feffing themselves of our battery, without any oppofition. Here it was that the hereditary Prince of Brunswick diftinguished himself at the head of a battalion of Wolfenbuttle guards, and a Hanoverian battalion, by attacking and repulfing, with his bayonets, a fuperior force of the enemy, and retaking the battery. The enemy being in poffeffion of a height, that commanded and flanked both our lines of infantry, and our battery, which attack they could fupport under the cover of a hill, and his R. Highness could not difpute, without expofing his flank, both to their artillery and mufquetry; he ordered the army to retreat; which was done in the greateft order, and with the greatest reluctancy, the common foldiers defiring to be led on to revenge the cruel unparallelled treatment of their masters and countrymen. His R. Highness retreated to Hamelen, where he halted fome time, and then continued his march to Lhune. The enemy did not fhew themfelves in any shape, during our retreat. the Wefer and the woods, leaving the Hamelen river on his right, the village of Haftenbeck in his front, and his left clofe to the wood; at the point of which his R. Highness had a battery of twelvepounders and hauwitfers. There was a hollow way from the left of the village to the battery, and a continual morafs on the other fide of Haftenbeck to his right. In the evening his R. Highnefs withdrew all his outpofts; and in this pofition the army lay upon their arms all night. Maj.-Gen. Schulenberg, with the chaffeurs and two battalions of grenadiers, with fome cannon, was pofsted in the corner of the wood upon the left of the bat tery. His R. Highnefs ordered the vil lage of Haftenbeck to be cleared to his front, that it might not be in the power of the enemy to keep poffeffion of it; and the communications we had made ufe of during our incampment there, to be made impracticable. On the 25th in the morning, the enemy appeared marching in columns, as if they intend ed to attack, and began to cannonade us very feverely, which lafted almoft the whole day. They marched and countermarched continually, and fhewed as if they meant three attacks, on our right, left, and centre. In the evening their artillery appeared much fuperior to ours. The army lay on their arms all night. His R. Highness ordered the battery at the point of the wood to be repaired; and reinforced Count Schulenberg's command with a battalion of grenadiers, and two pieces of twelve-pounders; and fupported it by four more battalions of grenadiers, under Maj. Gen. Hardenberg. His R. Highness ordered a bat tery to be made of twelve and fix pounders (the first of which were fent for from Hamelen) behind the village of Haftenbeck, and took all the precautions he could think of, to give the enemy a good reception. As foon as it was day-light, his R. Highnefs got on horfeback to reconnoitre the pofition of the enemy, and found them in the fame fituation as the day before. At a little after five, a very fmart cannonading began upon our bat tery, behind the village, that was fupported by the Heffian infantry and ca Whether |