and his entire Parliament threatened her with ruin, she 'would still never cede Königgrätz.' Hyndford added: 'It 'is quite useless talking about this: not ten couriers to 'Vienna would do any good: to insist on it is to smash the 'whole negotiation, and the queen will not be sorry.' Podewils now cooled down, and told Hyndford that he would report in that sense to Frederick. But the king was once more in a yielding mood, news having been brought from the front that the French under Broglie, the eighteenthcentury Bazaine, had abandoned the line of the Moldau, leaving the road to Prague open to the Austrian armies. Frederick ordered Podewils to come to terms with Hyndford: 'I absolutely require that within twenty-four hours after the 'arrival of the bearer of this, Captain Sydow, all shall be 'finished, i.e. the exchange of full powers, the treaty with 'Lord Hyndford as to the concessions to myself, and the 'signature of the preliminaries of peace.' He added, in an autograph postscript to his semi-official letter: The thing 'is to settle, if possible, in twelve hours: Silesia and Glatz 'sine qua non of the rest screw out of them as much as 6 you can. I shall sleep comfortably in the conviction that 'Sydow will bring me back the preliminaries signed.' Thus Podewils was ordered to accept the very terms which the day before had roused him to such anger. Getting a summons from the Prussians at the unearthly hour of 7 A.M., Hyndford smelt a rat, and proceeded to frame his measures. The pair went on tussling for nearly a whole day. Never in his life, said the Scotchman, had he made such a row, and he hoped he would never be in a similar situation again.

The main causes of the question of final collision were the evacuation of Bohemia by the Prussians, and a difficulty relative to the religious settlement in Silesia, on which Podewils gave way, but immediately afterwards retracted. No; he dare not do it.' Hereupon Hyndford somewhat watered down his terms, and at midnight, conformably to Frederick's programme, Captain Sydow was got off with the preliminaries. Meanwhile Frederick had raised a quibble on the point of the evacuation, which drove his minister to despair, and caused Hyndford to use energetic language. However, on this the king gave way, finally remarking to Podewils: 'One must know how to stop in time: to force your luck is to lose it, and to be always wanting more is the way to be never 'happy. Now polish off fat Valori and Montague, who are 'thirsting for Prussian blood to be spilled.' The transmission of the preliminaries to the Court of Vienna was delayed be

cause, lest Hyndford should hear of the retreat of the French, and thereon be less yielding, Frederick had condescended to the trick of ordering the frontier post-offices to detain for some days all couriers or letters coming to Breslau from the seat of war. Misinterpreting his instructions, the postmaster at Neisse refused to give fresh horses to the messenger sent by Hyndford to Vienna with the treaty. The delay resulting from the king's dodge being misconstrued caused much anxiety in the Prussian camp, drawing from Frederick this order: Tell Hyndford that if the ratification does not come 'by the 23rd I shall recall my forces, and that I have not 'yet taken off my boots.' Eichel's remark on this discreditable interlude was: Don't let the king know, or he will 'certainly kick out the poor postmaster.'

The day named brought back the empress-queen's approval of the preliminaries, which eventually took definite shape in the treaty of Breslau. Frederick's behaviour to his allies during the negotiations, and immediately after its conclusion, was a masterpiece of duplicity, and he prolonged his deceit when deceit was no longer of any use. Let us look a little closely into this. As above recited, some days after the battle of Chotusitz-that is, before the end of May 1742-the discussions between Hyndford and Podewils were in full swing. Ten days later, Marshal Belleisle came to the camp of Kuttenberg to confer with Frederick, who gave him to understand that the ridiculous failures of the French and the disobedience of the Saxons made it essential for Prussia to conclude the war. But, far from hinting in any degree, however faint, at the business then proceeding at Breslau, he undertook after raising some objections, to help the French by spreading a report of a Prussian advance on Prague (a thoroughly Frederician device), as also to place himself in touch with them on the Moldau, even promising that, if necessity arose, he would cover Prague. Again, it was on June 10 that Podewils received the categorical order to conclude at once with Lord Hyndford. On June 13 Frederick heard that the preliminaries of Breslau had actually been signed. Nevertheless onJune 14 Frederick was writing letters to his allies, the emperor and the King of Poland, calculated to give each the belief that the old situation was unchanged! Under date of June 13 (observe the day!) he writes to Marshal Belleisle, to Fleury, and to the emperor, lamenting the difficulties of the military position in Bohemia, and giving his personal opinion that the best thing would be to make a good peace. 16th he accepts a suggestion from Hyndford that his Saxon

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Polish allies should be informed of the treaty, but requires a delay such that the secret might be withheld from Dresden for another week. Accordingly, on June 17 and 18, when writing again to the King of Poland and the emperor, he still conceals the great event. A letter to Belleisle approaches the point, but is indefinite: the same day he gives the cardinal a hint of what has happened, though in a very cloudy manner. The first recipient of the fatal news in a positive form was Valori. On June 13, when the preliminaries were, to his knowledge, being signed, Frederick merely told the French minister at the camp of Kuttenberg, in quite general terms, that he was working at his peace.' On June 18 that diplomatist was ushered into the royal tent, when the king made him swallow the cup,' for which however he half excused himself to Podewils, on the ground that the secret had been betrayed by the preparations for the retreat of the Prussian army. He went on: No punch could imitate Valory's contortions. His eyes described circles, his mouth wriggled, he shook in a strange manner.' Amongst Frederick's other victims the consternation was equally great. When the news of his defection reached Paris, the Eil de Bœuf seemed as if struck by thunder, the cardinal burst into tears, and Belleisle's brother fell into a fainting-fit.

The droning of the hornets and parrots, as Frederick called the Parisians, was matched by the despair of the unhappy Bavarian emperor, and, above all, by the rage of the Saxons. Yes! yes!' said the King of Poland's minister to Podewils, I always knew you would carry off the tit-bits, and that we should only wipe our mouths.' As for Count Bruhl, leaving the contemplation of his watches, porcelain, and breeches, he observed: As long as there is a hair left of the house of Saxony, never will she forgive Prussia the 'affront and violence put upon her, but will sooner or later avenge herself.' This spirit, kept alive by a succession of further wrongs, continued to animate the Court of Dresden until, in our own time, under the influence of the new panGermanic feeling, it was forgotten both by the Saxon dynasty and their subjects.

The preparation of the definite treaty was retarded by Frederick's flat refusal either to assume the responsibility for certain mortgages on his new province, which were in Dutch hands, or to admit the Austrian reading of the term 'hautes montagnes,' which excluded Jägerndorf from the ceded districts. Podewils might lecture, but the king swore that, rather than yield, he would stop the evacuation at once.

He wrote: "I won't hear a word more of the Dutch, and 'forbid you to mention them. You can tell Hyndford that 'I will call my troops back, and not leave Bohemia before they give in on this point.' When Podewils still advised concession, his master reproached him with being 'the weak and complaisant advocate of the caprices of England and the impudence of Austria. Behave yourself like the minister of a king who won a battle a fortnight ago.' To Hyndford he sent offensive messages, which, however, Eichel plucked up courage to suppress. The question of the debt was dropped, but Frederick stuck to the demand for Jägerndorf, writing treatises on the local geography, and propounding interpretations of various clauses of the preliminaries which showed his talent for chicane. As to the hautes montagnes,' where and what were they? and was a certain river the Oppa itself, or a branch of another river with the same name?

In the heat of these discussions the king met Lord Hyndford at Breslau, and, addressing him roughly, threatened to break off then and there if the treaty was not signed this very day at 5 o'clock.' Soon, however, he calmed down, writing this remark: When the wind is no longer at one's back, one must strike sail.' Maps were called for, and the indefatigable Scotchman started off for the point in dispute, Jägerndorf, where, after mounting a church tower, he travelled over the whole ground, finally deciding that the Austrian interpretation was correct. His opinions appear to have been partly inspired by a pleasing physiographical memorandum on the subject, which quotes the leading Scribenten of the land Silesia,' that is to say, (1) the so-called Silesian Kernel-chronicle. (2) The Silesio'graphy of Henelius. (3) The thoroughly and exactly investigated Oder stream.' Quoted, likewise, were works on the hydrography of the Blotnitz and the Malaplane, and the geography of Hotzenplotz, Lublinitz and Tropplowitz; and, it was asked, was the last-named the same as Oppawice ? The British negotiator, who was guided through this lively literature by an Austrian specialist, was inexorable. Podewils could extort nothing more, though, as he said, he had tried everything: 'J'ai employé le verd et le sec.' Pressed by his ministers, and also by Lord Carteret, the king reluctantly yielded, accepting the treaty in the lump. Eichel complained that he could not get the master to confirm each article separately: Frederick's general endorsement was- Very good; I approve all excepting what I have

'here and there noted.' On this the ratifications were exchanged, the Prussian troops were withdrawn, even from Jägerndorf, the haggling about the 'higher mountains' being continued by a frontier commission, until in December even that difficulty was levelled. Podewils, who had always behaved like a gentleman, now urged Frederick to be polite to Hyndford, whose rectitude and purity had, he said, been admirable all along, while his candour was without parallel. His suggestion that the envoy should receive a public gratification of 10,000 dollars was accepted, and Hyndford was permitted to quarter the Silesian eagle on his arms, with the motto Ex bene merito.' From his own sovereign he received the order of the Thistle, with which he was invested by Frederick himself in full pomp of court ceremonial in Charlottenburg. From Vienna the British envoy received no thanks. Wild with grief, Maria Theresa complained that he had overstretched his powers. Sir T. Robinson wrote: She forgets the queen, and when she meets a Silesian 'bursts into tears.'

After the battle of Mollwitz public homage had been paid to Frederick in Breslau, but he forbade all futile ceremonial. There was to be no firing of cannon-that wasted powderbut people might have the traditional coronation oxen, roasted or boiled, in the great square. The hall of ceremony might be hung with red cloth; as to a throne canopy, that was useless. He went to church in a carriage drawn by eight cream-coloured horses; but the preacher was warned to refrain altogether from complimentary allusions, which the king would not stand. Further, he declined to take his place in the choir, and occupied an ordinary bench below. Some time before the signature of the definite peace Frederick again attended service in the great church of Breslau, when he and his youthful brother sat on a long sofa near the high altar. A throne he again refused: he said. 'I am a man like another, and therefore will only have an ordinary bench.' Native sympathisers were numerous enough. Of that fine weakness,' patriotism, as Lessing sarcastically called the love of country, the Silesians had little. As they were mostly Protestants, and a species of Home Rule had been enjoyed by the province, their Prussianisation proceeded at a rapid pace. Still the change of citizenship and organisation, with the introduction of the Prussian blood-tax,' and the removal of all the local officials, entailed on them much suffering, and some said, 'The Brandenburg trousers are tighter than the Bohemian were.' Seventy years after

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