BOOK XXI. 1783. The king of Prussia, who regarded with a jealous eye whatever tended to the aggrandizement of the house of Austria, assumed, as well became him, the lead in this important and common concern. His several memorials on this subject to the court of Vienna, and to the diet of the empire assembled at Ratisbon, were however extremely guarded and temperate, whilst the replies of the imperial court were in the highest degree haughty and supercilious." The court of Vienna knew her own rights, and was the proper judge of them. An amicable arrangement had taken place, and his imperial majesty did not think. himself accountable to any prince of the empire for the measures he had pursued; and, being thoroughly satisfied with the JUSTICE of his CAUSE, was resolved to support his pretensions by force of 'arms." The king of Prussia, who evidently appears to have been reluctant to proceed to extremities, at length proposed to the emperor to guaranty to him in full right the cession of two considerable districts of the duchy of Bavaria, contiguous to the Austrian territories, on condition that the court of Vienna would relinquish her remaining claims. But this being refused with disdain, his Prussian majesty published a manifesto early in July 1778, stating "the unwarrantable and violent conduct of the imperial court, which, if suffered to proceed without control, would effect the total overthrow of BOOK It was equally evident on the other hand, that the emperor had from the first expected, and was prepared to risk the event of, a war for the sake of this great and most desirable requisition *. XXI. 1783. tween the empe With respect to the emperor, this was "the War bespring of hope, and the summer of the passions;" Prussia and but the monarch of Prussia, who had already at-ror. tained the highest seat in the temple of Fame, and was now fast declining into the vale of years, would willingly have avoided a war which presented no glorious or splendid object, and which was imposed upon him by an unwelcome and imperious political necessity. Saxony, departing from its long and intimate union with the imperial house, now joined with all its forces the king of Prussia, who in the beginning of July entered Bohemia at the head of a vast army on the side of Silesia, while another of nearly equal force, under his brother prince Henry, penetrated the passes of the mountains which separate * “ When the emperor surveys the map of Germany," says a most agreeable and, though a judge of the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland, a most LIBERAL writer, the late lord Gardenstone, "he may well apply to the electorate of Bavaria the words of the old rapacious neighbour in HORACE,— -O si angulus ille Proximus accedat qui nunc denormat agellum !" BOOK that kingdom from Saxony. Of the two Austrian XXI. 1783. armies, the emperor in person, assisted by mareschal Lasci, commanded one, and the famous mareschal Laudohn the other; the whole plan and conduct of this campaign, which on the part of the Austrians was entirely defensive, being chiefly ascribed to the latter justly celebrated general. After a great variety of military movements and manœuvres unnecessary to particularize, and indeed almost unintelligible in the relation, but which were said on both sides to display uncommon proofs of skill, the king of Prussia, not being able to bring the Austrians to a general action, was finally compelled to evacuate Bohemia with great loss. Mareschal Laudohn, in the whole of his operations, seemed closely to have adhered to the model of his renowned predecessor, mareschal Traun, whose defensive campaign of 1744 in Bohemia is highly extolled by the Prussian monarch as a master-piece of professional judgment and ability. It was how ever remarked that the emperor gave in this first essay no indications of military genius; and it was even affirmed, that his excessive caution alone preserved the army of prince Henry from destructionmareschal Laudohn having completely succeeded in preventing the junction of the two Prussian armies, and an attack upon that of the prince in his retreat presenting every prospect of ad. vantage. воок XXI. 1783. Soon after the termination of the campaign, a BOOK negotiation for peace was set on foot by the court of Vienna, whose councils the emperor could no longer influence. His mother, the empress-queen, who possessed all the real and efficient power of the Austrian house, sighed for peace, while the emperor her son was eager and ardent for the prosecution of the war, though nothing could be less encouraging than the prospects now presented to him. The whole empire was firmly united in opinion and interest in opposition to the imperial claims. Russia openly declared, by her ambassador at Ratisbon, that if the usurpation of Bavaria was not relinquished, she should be under the necessity of furnishing to Prussia the auxiliary troops stipulated by treaty; and even France declared to the Diet her resolution in no respect to deviate from her guarantee of the treaty of Westphalia. There is moreover good ground to believe that the empress-queen, who had in the latter years of her life become a religious devotee, entertained very serious scruples of conscience at the sacrificing so many myriads of lives in support of an act of flagrant perfidy and injustice. It is even asserted that she discovered symptoms of extreme indecision and agitation of mind in this business. No entreaties could prevail on her to be present at any military exhibitions. She passed half her time at XXI. 1783. BOOK prayer and at the cathedral of Vienna, remained for several hours together on her knees, invoking the divine blessing to aid her efforts for maintaining the peace of Germany*. Prince Kaunitz was gloomy and thoughtful, the courtiers were embarrassed, and the emperor alone affected to appear gay and cheerful. The motives for peace being thus urgent, the preliminary articles were signed at Teschen, May 13, 1779, in conformity to which the whole electorate was restored to its rightful possessor, the district of Burghausen excepted. The empress did not long survive the pacification she so anxiously sought, dying November 12, 1780, much lamented by her subjects, whom she had governed for forty years with parental affection and indisputable ability. The bigotry and superstition of this princess, which threw a cloud over the evening of her life, did not incite her to any acts of cruelty or intole rance. By the mildness and beneficence of her administration she acquired and retained to the last in every part of her vast dominions an unbounded popularity; and the Hungarian nation in particu lar, who with the obstinacy of desperation opposed for a long succession of years the despotism of her predecessors by force of arms, submitted with joy and gratitude to her just and generous sway. *Wraxall's Memoirs of the Court of Berlin, |