all proportioned to the prodigious efforts which she made; she began to find herself much exhausted. The wants of the French obliged them to pay little respect to neutral, or even to friendly powers; so that the esteem and assistance which they had in Germany diminished continually. They eat up the country, and seized on such towns as were convenient to them, without any ceremony: yet freed from all these restraints, their army had made very little progress; their generals had not displayed any great abilities, and their army, in itself very badly composed, was deficient in discipline, to a degree which is scarcely credible. They kept neither guards, nor posts, nor centinels; a great part of their troops wandered from the camp into the neighbouring towns, and returned drunk. Their councils of war were held in a tumultuous and disorderly manner; and all their designs were perfectly known in the camp of the allies, where a very different picture was exhibited with regard to regularity and caution *. The French troops have, several essential defects in their constitution, which prevent them from equalling those of Germany and other nations. Several regiments are in a manner hereditary in great families, who, placed at their first outlet at a very high point of military rank, think it unnecessary to attain the qualifications, which lead others to it step by step. As to the rest of the officers, as their pay is small and their hopes little, few study the art military as a profession; they serve because it is the fashion to do so, and that it is thought necessary to a gentleman. Thus they dispatch their business as a disagreeable task; and having little to lose in the service, it is almost impossible to preserve a due subordi nation. The common men are little more than abject vassals, and therefore want that high spirit which in their gentry makes some amends for the want of knowledge and as siduity. And as they are corrupted by the example of their superiors, so by their negligence, they are left without any restraint. The officers do not chuse to incur. the ill-will of their men, or to give themselves trouble, by exercising that wholesome severity in which the health and vigour of military discipline consists, The German common people are indeed in a still lower state of vassalage than the French, and might therefore be supposed naturally no better soldiers; but their bodies are more robust and hardy; their treat, ment is severe and rigorous, their subordination is most exact, which makes their discipline perfect; and Germany is so habituated to war, that all the people may be said to be born soldiers. These things give the Germans a great superiority over the French; a superiority which was more visible in this, than in any former war. These defects in their army were increased by the low state of their finances, which caused their troops to be very ill paid. The French court made some attempts to keep up their credit, by changing their former methods of raising money. Mr. Silhouet was made controller of the finances, and the farmers general were removed from their former employment of finding the supplies, New methods were devised, which night stave off the entire ruin of their finances, until their armies in Germany could strike some effec tive blow, or their project of an in, vasion, which quieted the minds of See Letters de M. Belleisle. the the people in some degree, should be put in execution. With regard to the latter project, France had formerly found that the bare report of such a design had served many material purposes; but in England things had, since then, been greatly changed. The threats of an invasion increased our internal strength without raising any apprehensions; they in a great measure executed the militia act, which hardly any thing else could have put in execution; they increased the regu'lar troops, both in their number and their species. England for the first time saw light horse and light foot. There reigned in both houses the most perfect and unprecedented union. Among the great men there was no difference that could in the least affect the conduct of the war. The dispute concerning the preference of the continental and the marine system, was entirely silenced; because a system took place which comprehended both, and operated in both as fully as the warmest advocates of either could desire. Never did England 'keep a greater number of land forces on foot, on the continent of Europe, in Eng ́land, in America, when she turned all her power to her land forces only. Never did she cover the seas with such formidable fleets, when her navy alone engaged her attention. Such is the effect when power and patriotism unite; when liberty and order kiss; and when a nation sits with a happy security under the shade of abilities which she has tried, and virtues in which she dares to confide. The allied army moves. Successful skirmishes on the side of the allies. Battle of Bergen, Prince Ferdinand retires to Windeken. Plan of the campaign. General Wobersnow's expedition into Poland. Prince Henry's into Bohemia and Franconia. General Macguire defeated. Bamberg pillaged. Prince Henry returns to Saxony. Hesse abandoned by the allies. TH HE seizing of Francfort the last year, by a most flagrant violation of the liberties of the Empire, had given the French and their allies the most material advantage they had acquired in the campaign; for it secured to them the course of the Maine, and the Rhine, and made it easy to them to receive every kind of reinforcement and supply. It secured likewise that communication between them, the Imperial, and the Austrian armies, and formed that chain, from which they derived no small benefit, of mutual succour and concurrence in their operations. Much depended upon their being dislodged from that post; as well with regard to the fortume of his Britannic Majesty's army, as to that of the King of Prussia. Such a stroke must ne cessarily have the greatest influence on the events of the whole ensuing. campaign. Prince Ferdinand, sen"sible of this, as soon as the season permitted him to enter upon action, drew his troops out of their cantonments; and at the head of thirty thousand men, prepared to dislodge them, before they could receive the supplies of which they were in daily expectation. The rest of his army, consisting of about ten or twelve thousand men, were left to guard the electorate, and to watch the bishoprick of Munster. Some, detachments of Hanoverians and Prus B sians sians had, in the latter end of February, driven the Imperialists and Austrians from the posts, which they occupied at Erfurth and Elfinach, and some places in the country of Hesse; this drew a strong body of the enemy into that part, which pushed them back; but the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick, who led the army of the allies through ways, before deemed impassable to an army, defeated them in some severe skirmishes; several places of importance were taken; several whole battalions were made prisoners, with their officers. The French, alarmed at the vivacity of this be ginning, judged it but the prelude to something more decisive. Accordingly, the duke of Broglio took an advantageous post, near Bergen, at a village between Francfort and Hanau, which it was necessary that the allies should master, before they could penetrate to his line. This place. he had made his right, and secured his flanks and centre in such a manner, that the attack could on ly be made at that village. In this disposition was the French army when the allies approached: they formed themselves under an eminence, and began the attack on the village of Bergen, between nine and ten in the morning, with great intrepidity. They were received with a very severe fire, which the enemy had prepared for them; they made three attacks in the space of about two hours, and were every time repulsed. Prince Ferdinand now observed that the enemy still kept a good countenance in their post, and that his own troops began to fall into some disorder. This able general, who never risques his fortune on a single throw, began to think of a retreat, whilst his loss was yet in considerable, and the disorder of his men easily to be repaired. But a retreat in the face of a victorious enemy, was hazardous; and the day was not yet above half spent. In this exigence he made such movements, as strongly indicated a design of falling once more upon the village, in the enemy's right, and of making at the same time a new attack upon their left. These appearances were further countenanced by a cannonade on both these posts, supported with an uncommon fury. The French, deceived by these manœuvres, kept close in their posts; they expected a new and a lively attack every moment; they returned the cannonade as briskly as they could; and in this posture things continued until night came on, when the Prince made an easy retreat, without disorder, or molestation, and halted at Windeken. In this action the loss of the allies was about two thousand in every way; that of the French was by no means less considerable. The allies indeed suffered nothing in their reputation; their countenance through the whole action having been excellent. Prince Ferdinand gained as much honour, and displayed as much skill, as could have been obtained, or shewn upon a more fortunate occasion. The event however was, in its consequences, far from indifferent; for the allies having missed this blow, the French still kept Francfort, and all the advantages which they drew from that situation; they had time and means to receive their reinforcements; and they acquired in a short space such a súperiority, as obliged Prince Ferdinand to content himself with acting on the defensive, for a long time after, The The advantages which would have arisen from another issue of that battle appeared more fully, from the operations which were carrying on on the side of Bohemia, and which probably were designed to concur with those of the Prince, in some grand and comprehensive scheme. There is no doubt, that the army of the allies, and those of his Prussian majesty, had determined to act in concert, and had settled some plan for that purpose: and though it should not be discovered, with equal certainty, what that plan was, it may not however be unpleasant to trace it; as far at least, as a reasonable conjecture, guided by the lights derived from the tendency of each operation, may lead us. For if we succeed at all, in such an attempt, it diffuses a wonderful clearness over the whole narrative. It is not impossible then, that it was designed, in the first place, to keep the Russians at a distance, until the latter end of the summer, by the destruction of their magazines in Poland. That, on the other side, Prince Ferdinand should attempt to drive the French towards the Rhine, and to get between them and the army of the Empire; which having thus lost its communication with the French, Prince Henry should rush out of Saxony, and fall upon them in Bohemia and Franconia, and cut off also their communication with the great body of the Austrians, Then the Imperialists would find themselves situated between two hostile and superior armies; whilst in Bohemia Marshal Daun would be either obliged to try his fortune single handed, with the King of Prussia, or totally to abandon that kingdom, into which it was in the power of the Prussians to enter in opposite parts at once, The first part of this plan was executed with great spirit and success. So early as the 23d of February, the Prussian general Wobersnow marched into Poland, from Glogau in Silesia, with forty-six squadrons, and twenty-nine battalions, where they routed some bodies of Cossacks; and after having destroyed several immense magazines, particularly one at Posen, said to be sufficient for the subsistence of fifty thousand men for three months, they returned without any loss into Silesia, on the 18th of April. As for the second act of this military drama, it was executed with as great success, and with some advantages more striking than the first. Prince Henry commanded the Prussian troops in Saxony, which the public accounts called forty thousand men. He had certain intelligence, that some movements, which had purposely been made by the King of Prussia, had drawn the greatest part of the Austrian troops, which had been posted as a watch upon Saxony, towards the frontiers of Silesia. He immediately took advantage of this opening, and entered Bohemia in two columns; one marched toward Pe Ap. 15. terswade; the other, which was com manded by General Hulsen, made its way by Pasberg and Commottau. The first penetrated as far as Loboschutz and Leitmeritz, the enemy flying before them, and every where abandoning or burning the vast magazines which they had amassed in all those parts. The body under General Hulsen did as much service, and it had a more active employment. The pass of Pasberg, strong in itself, was defended by a considerable body of Austrians. General Hulsen having conducted his infantry by another way, way, so as to fall directly on their rear, attacked them with his infantry in front, and drove them out of all their trenchments: one general, fifty-one officers, and no less than two thousand private men, were made prisoners on this occasion. The Prussians lost but seventy men killed and wounded. They returned into Saxony with hostages for Ap. 22. the contributions they had exacted. After this fatiguing expedition, the Prince gave his troops a few days to rest, and then led them once more to action. He directed his march through the Voigtland, towards the army of the Empire; they entered Franconia by the way of Hoff; they attacked General Macguire, who commanded a body of Austrians and Imperialists. Here they were bravely resisted for the whole day; but the numbers and spirit of the Prussians prevailing, Macguire gladly took advantage of the night to make a retreat, having lost about five hun dred men. A few skirmishes more decided the fate of Franconia. The army of the Empire retreated, as the Prussians advanced, and abandoned the rich bishoprics of Bamberg and Wurtzberg to contribution. The town of Bamberg surren May 16. dered upon terms; but some confusion happening before the capitulation was completely finished, a party of Croats came to blows with a party of Prussians, who had by this time possession of one of the gates; this was resented as an infringement of the capitulation. A pretence was given to plunder the place; it was given up to pillage by order of the commanders, for two days, in a very unrelenting and licentious manner. This produced loud and just complaints against the Prussians, and in due time, a severe retaliation. Prince Henry had pushed back the army of the empire as far as Nuremberg; he had disabled a great part of the circle of Franconia from giving them assistance'; and thus far he had accomplished the objects of his expedition. But as that part of the plan, which Prince Ferdinand was to have executed, had failed, it was impossible on one hand to hinder the French army from succouring that of the empire, or on the other, to prevent a body of Austrians from availing themselves of his absence, to penetrate into Saxony. In these circumstances any farther stay in Franconia was useless, and might be dangerous. His army, loaded with booty and contribution, returned to their old situation. The Austrians retired into Bohemia at their approach. Appearances were hitherto favourable enough to the Prussians; however none of the great ends proposed by the general plan were fully answered. The Russians, notwithstanding the destruction of their magazines, continued their march towards Silesia. Count Dohna, who had raised great contributions and levies in the duchy of Mecklenburg, was preparing to oppose them on the side of Brandenburg; other par ties, under othe tommanders, were posted at those places where their irruption was the most apprehended. The approach of this army brought things nearer and nearer to a crisis. The eyes of all Europe were fixed with anxiety and expectation on their progress. It appeared the more formidable, because the progress of the French arms was very rapid after the battle of Bergen. Prince Ferdinand, finding that another attack was not adviseable, retreated continually. The French possessed themselves of Hesse with◄ out |