How the King's out-guards were kept, so as to make such a surprize practicable, is hard to say. It is It is hard to accuse the vigilance of so able a commander, or the attention of so many finished officers as served under him. To speak of treachery, is a way of accounting for misfortunes, more common than reason able. However it was, the Prussians had not time to strike their tents, when they found the enemy in the midst of the camp, and an impetuous attack already begun. Scarce had the battle began, when a defeat seemed certain; not so much from the confusion of the troops, as the irreparable loss of two officers in the highest com. mand, and of the greatest merit. M. Keith received two musquet balls, and fell dead upon the spot. Prince Francis of Brunswick had his head shot off by a cannon ball as he mounted his horse. The King of Prussia had then the whole of affairs to sustain alone, at the time when he most wanted assist ance. But his presence of mind, his firmness, his activity, remedied in some measure the effects of this unforeseen attack, and the losses and disorders it had occasioned; he was every where present, and inspired his troops with an ardour like his own, The King ordered some detachments from his left, to reinforce his right wing; but in the moment the orders were received, the left itself was furi. ously attacked. General Ketzow, who commanded in that quarter, with difficulty repulsed the Austrians, and was not able to afford any considerable assistance to the right, which was alone obliged to support the whole weight of the grand attack.

The Austrians in the beginning

of the engagement had beaten them out of the village of Hohkirchen: as the fate of the day depended upon that post, the hottest of the dispute was there. The Prussians made three bloody and unsuccessful attacks on the village; on the fourth they carried it; but the Austrians pouring continually fresh troops upon that spot, drove them out at length after reiterated efforts, and a prodigious slaughter on all sides. Then the King, despairing of the fortune of that field, ordered a retreat; his troops, which had been suddenly attacked in a dark night by superior numbers, and had ran to arms, some half naked, and all in the utmost confusion, had notwithstanding made a most vigorous resistance, and maintained the fight for near five hours. They made their retreat in good order without being pursued, supported by the good countenance of their cavalry, and the fire of a numerous and well served artillery, which was placed in the centre of their camp. They lost in this bloody action at least 7000 men, killed, wounded, and prisoners, together with many cannon. The Austrian account allowed their own loss in killed and wounded to amount to 5000.

near

The King of Prussia, in retiring from Hohkirchen, in fact only altered the position of his right wing, which fell back as far as Weissenburg. His left still remained at Bautzen. This position was nearly as good as the former. The great loss, was the loss of reputation which always attends a defeat, and the loss of two great generals which attended this in particular. M. Keith was a Scotchman born. He engaged with his brother the Lord Marishal in the rebellion of 1715.

Being obliged to relinquish his country on this occasion, he entered into the troops of Spain, and afterwards passing into Russia, he obtained a considerable command, and performed many signal services in their wars with Turkey and Sweden; and served them also in peace by several embassies. But finding the honours of that country no better than a splendid servitude, and not meeting with those rewards which his long and faith. ful services deserved, he left that court for one where merit is better known and better rewarded; and having been employed since the beginning of the war, in a dis. tinguished command in the King of Prussia's armies, he fell at last in a service that was worthy of him.

If the King of Prussia lost some reputation in suffering himself to be surprized in this affair, he fully retrieved it by his extraordinary conduct in the course of the action, and his admirable efforts after it. On the whole, perhaps, when all circumstances are considered, the King of Prussia will appear greater in this defeat, than in any victory he ever yet ob. tained. The wing of his army that was attacked, was surprized at a distance from him, the two generals that commanded it slain in the first onset, his other principal generals wounded, the whole wing in confusion without a leader; to come, in these desperate circumstances, in haste from another quarter; to recover all; twice to repulse the enemy, and at last to retire, overborne only by numbers and fatigue, without being pursued, is such an instance of great generalship, as perhaps has never been exceeded.

Whilst these things were doing in Saxony, the Russians made no farther attempts on the side of Brandenburg; they remained in their camp near Landsperg until the 21st of September; when, after several feigned motions, made to cover their real design, they be. gan their retreat towards Pomerania, where they arrived on the 26th.

It was impossible that they should keep their ground in that province during the winter, unless they could secure some sea-port, from whence they might be supplied with provisions. The little town of Colberg was very opportune for that purpose, as it is a seaport on the Baltic, and so meanly fortified, that the reduction of it appeared to be as easy as expedient. On the 3d of October, they formed the siege of this inconsiderable place, with a body of 15,000 men.

But such was the bravery of major Heydon the governor, and such the incapacity of the Russians for operations of this nature, that this little town, defended only by a rampart, without any outwork, and lined with a very feeble garrison, held out against the repeated attacks of the enemy twenty-six days, and then obliged them to raise the siege, Oct. 29. without any succours whatsoever from without. This was the last enterprize of the Russians. Their vast army retired with disgrace, first from Branden. burg, and then from Pomerania; not having been able to master one place of strength in either country; but having destroyed with the most savage barbarity both the open towns and defenceless villages; leaving as strong impressions of con

tempt

tempt for their incapacity, as of horror for their cruelty.

After the defeat which the King received at Hohkirchen, he omitted no measures to prevent the enemy from making any material advantage of it, He perceived clearly, that the advantage they proposed to derive from it, was to cover the operations of their armies in Silesia; and that they had no longer any serious design upon Saxony during this campaign. The King therefore made no scruple to reinforce his army by considerable detachments from that of Prince Henry, which were brought up by that Prince himself. And as he saw that Neiss, the siege of which had been already formed and prosecuted with great vigour, must certainly surrender if it were not speedily succoured, he resolved to march into Silesia.

To the execution of this design the greatest difficulties started up on all sides. The army of M. Daun, lately victorious, had no other business than to intercept him. To fight was dubious; to avoid it, hard. If he could even avoid a battle, he had much to apprehend from the efforts of the enemy to harass him on his march. If he should be so happy as to escape, or to conquer these difficulties, yet his march en tirely uncovered Saxony, and aban. doned that most intetesting possession, very poorly defended, to all the force of two powerful armies.

On the other hand, if the consideration of Saxony should detain him in his present situation, Silesia ran the same risk, and the same or greater disadvantages must en sue to his affairs, by suffering the Austrians to obtain a footing there. This dilemma, which would have rendered a meaner genius entirely inactive, and hindered him from

taking any resolution, only obliged the King of Prussia to take his resolution with the greater speed, and to execute it with the greater vigour.

On the 24th of November, at night, he quitted-his camp at Dobreschutz, and making a great compass, he arrived, without any obstruction from the enemy, in the plain of Gorlitz. A body of the Austrians had in vain endeavoured to secure this post before him; those that arrived were defeated, with the loss of eight hundred men. By this happy march, all the advantages of M. Daun's studied position, all the fruits of his boasted victory at Hoh. kirchen, were lost in a moment, and an open passage to Silesia lay before the King. He pursued his march with the greatest diligence. General Laudohn, with 24,000 men, was sent to pursue him. That active general continually harassed his rear guard; but the King continued his march without interruption, and suffered him to take many little advantages, rather than by delaying to contest small matters, to endanger a design, which might be decisive of the whole campaign.

On the other hand, Daun, not content with the obstacles which general Laudohn threw in the King's way, sent a large body of horse and foot by another route to reinforce the army which, under the generals Harsch and de Ville had formed the siege of Neiss, and the blockade of Cosel. But he perceived that all these measures would probably prove ineffectual, as his principal project, which was to cover Silesia, had been defeated. He therefore turned his views towards Saxony, and satisfying himself with detaching general Laudohn, which might create an opinion that the

whole

whole Austrian army pursued, he followed the King no farther than Gorlitz; which place he immediately quitted, and having by forced marches gained the Elbe, he passed that river at Pirna, and adNov.6. vanced towards Dresden. At the same time the army of the empire, by its motions, having obliged the Prussian army, then extreme. ly weakened by the detachments that had been drawn from it, to retire from its post before Dresden, some miles to the westward of that city, cut off their communication with Leipsic, whilst M. Daun at tempted to cut off their communication with Dresden; but they found means to throw themselves into that city, and afterwards to retire to the other side of the Elbe. The Austrians and Imperialists began at once to invest those two important places; another party advanced towards Torgau, and attempted that town. It seemed ut. terly impossible to prevent the Austrians from becoming masters of Saxony, who in a manner covered the whole country with their forces. In the mean time, the King of Prussia drew nearer and nearer to Neiss. The siege of that fortress was commenced on the 4th of August; on the 3d of October it was completely invested; and the place was pushed on one side with the greatest vigour, and on the other maintained with the most consummate skill and bravery, until the approach of the King of Prussia obliged the Austrians, on the first of November, to raise the siege, leaving a considerable quantity of military stores behind them. The same terror obliged the parties em. ployed in the blockade of Cosel, to leave that place at liberty, and to fall back, together with the ar.

mies of the generals Harsch and de Ville into Bohemia, and the Austrian Silesia.

Nov. 9.

The King of Prussia, when he had thus by the report of his march, without fighting, driven his enemies out of Silesia, lost not a moment to return by the same route, and with the same expedition, to the relief of Saxony. Two bodies of his troops had moved for the same purpose out of Pome rania, one under count Dohna, and one under general Wedel. The corps under Wedel had thrown itself into Torgau, repulsed the Austrians, who had attempted that place, and pursued them as far as Eulenburg. The grand operation of the Austrians was against Dresden. M. Daun, with an army of 60,000 men, came before that city, on the very day on which the King of Prussia began his march to oppose him, so that he might well imagine his success certain against a place meanly fortified, and defended only by 12,000 men. The same day he began to cannonade it, and his light troops, supported by the grenadiers of the army, made a sharp attack upon the suburbs. The governor, Count Schmettau, saw that from the weakness of the suburbs it would prove impossible for him to prevent the enemy from possessing himself of them by a coup de main; and if they succeeded in this attempt, the great height of the houses, being six or seven stories, and entirely commanding the ramparts, would render the reduction of the body of the place equally easy and certain. These considerations determined him to set these suburbs on fire.

greatly superior to that which lies within the walls. Here the most wealthy part of the inhabitants reside, and here are carried on those several curious manufactures for which Dresden is so famous. Count Daun foresaw this consequence of his attempt. He endeavoured to intimidate the governor from this measure, to which he knew the cruel reason of war would naturally lead him, by threatening to make him personally answerable for the steps he should take; but Count Schmettau answered with the firmness that became a man of honour and a soldier, that he would answer whatever he should do, and would not only burn the suburbs, in case M. Daun advanced, but would likewise defend the city it. self street by street, and at last even the castle, which was the royal residence, if he should be driven to it. When the magistrates were apprized of this resolution, they fell at the feet of Count Schmettau, and implored him to change his mind, and to have mercy on that devoted part of their city. The part of the royal family who remained in Dresden, joined their supplications to those of the magistrates; they played him to spare that last refuge of distressed royalty, and to allow at least a secure residence to those who had been deprived of every thing else. All entreaties were in vain. Schmettau continued firm in his resolution. He told them that their safety depended on themselves, and on M. Daun; that if he made no attempts, the suburbs should be still secure; but that if he took any farther steps, the necessity of his master's service, and his own honour, would compel him to act very disagreeable to the lenity of his disposition. The magistrates

retired in despair. Combustibles were laid in all the houses. At three o'clock next

Nov.

morning, the signal for fir- 10. ing the suburbs was given; and in a moment, a place so lately the seat of ease and luxury, flou. rishing in traffic, in pleasures, and ingenious arts, was all in flames. A calamity so dreadful need no high colouring. However, as little mischief attended such a combustion as the nature of the thing could admit. Very few lost their lives; but many their whole substance. When this was done, the Prussian troops abandoned the flaming suburbs, and retired in good order into the city.

M. Daun saw this fire, which, whilst it laid waste the capital of his ally, made it more difficult for him to force it; he sent in some empty threats to the governor. But the Saxon minister at Ratisbon made grievous complaints to the Diet, of what he represented as the most unparalleled act of wanton and unprovoked cruelty that had ever been committed. The emissaries of the court of Vienna spread the same complaints; and they made no scruple to invent and to alter facts in such a manner as to move the greatest pity towards the suf ferers, and the greatest indignation against the King of Prussia. All these, however, were in a short time abundantly confuted, by the authentic certificates of the magistrates of Dresden, and of those officers of the court, who were perfectly acquainted with the transaction. By these certificates it appears that only two hundred and fifty houses were consumed. Though this was a terrible calamity, it was nothing to the accounts given in the gazettes of the Austrian faction.

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