354

MARIA THERESA IN HUNGARY.

41

[BOOK VI. Theresa like a thunderbolt. To the last moment she had refused to believe that the French Cabinet would be guilty of so gross a breach of faith. Now everything seemed to announce impending ruin. She had no allies but the English, and they were far away; she had no money and scarcely any army. Silesia had been ravished from her, and Bohemia was threatened with the same fate. In this extremity of misfortune she turned her eyes towards Hungary. The House of Habsburg had but small claims to the gratitude of that country. The Hungarian constitution had been overthrown by her grandfather, Leopold, who had converted it from an elective into an hereditary monarchy, and many a Hungarian noble preserved in the recesses of his château the portrait of some ancestor, veiled with black crape, whose head had fallen by the Austrian axe. Maria Theresa had indeed attempted some amends. At her coronation, in the preceding May, she had taken the famous oath of King Andrew II., the Magna Charta of the Hungarians; omitting only, with the consent of the Diet, the clause which allowed armed resistance against the sovereign. The Hungarians, as we have said, had recognised the Pragmatic Sanction, and, though their ancient customs excluded females from the throne, they had proclaimed Maria Theresa after her coronation as their king (June 25th). Among this gallant but restless people, she sought a refuge on the approach of her enemies. According to the well-known story, she appeared before the Diet at Pressburg clothed in mourning, with the crown of St. Stephen upon her head and the sword of the kings of Hungary at her girdle. In this costume she presented to the assembly her little son, whom she carried in her arms, telling them that she had no longer any hope for her own safety, and that of her family, but in their valour and fidelity; when the chief Magyars, moved by the sight of so much beauty and majesty in distress, at these touching words drew their sabres, crying enthusiastically, "Moriamur pro rege nostro Maria Theresa.” 42 Modern researches have shown that the more romantic details of this story, like so many others in history, have either been imagined, or compressed, for the sake of effect, from the proceedings of two or three days, into one striking dramatic scene. What is really noble and chivalrous in the story, however, consists,

not in these extrinsic and theatrical incidents, but in the fact that the gallant Magyars were excited to the highest pitch of loyal devotion by the misfortunes of their young and beautiful Queen. In reply to her appeal, the Diet unanimously voted the "Insurrection of the nobles," "43 or levée en masse of 30,000 foot and 15,000 horse, besides 20,000 recruits for the regular army. Whole hordes of Croats, Pandours, Redmantles, and other tribes dependent on Hungary, flew to arms for the Queen, led by such famous partisan chiefs as Mentzel, Trenk, Bärenklau, and others. Including these tribes the kingdom of Hungary must have provided at least 100,000 men. The Tyroleans also rose almost in a mass. The illadvised march of the Elector of Bavaria into Bohemia afforded time to prepare and arm these levies. During Maria Theresa's retreat at Pressburg, her fortune seemed to lie, in a great measure, in the hands of Frederick II., who, with a superior force, was separated only by the Neisse from the sole army which she had in the field, and threatened it with an immediate attack. In these circumstances she listened to the advice of the English Ambassador to conciliate the Prussian King by some concessions. That mon

arch had promised France and Bavaria to do nothing without their concurrence, and, therefore, he would not commit himself by any written engagements. But at the castle of Klein-Schnellendorf, and in the presence of Lord Hyndford, he came to a verbal agreement with the Austrian generals, Neuperg and Lentulus, that he would content himself with Lower Silesia, with the addition of the town of Neisse; from which, after a little sham fighting, the Austrians were to retire unmolested. Frederick required that the agreement should be kept a profound secret, and the draft of it bore only the signature of Lord Hyndford.“ A definitive treaty was to be made, if possible, before the end of the year.

After this Convention, Frederick expressed the liveliest interest for the Queen of Hungary; yet he broke it in a month, and perhaps never intended to observe it.45 Indeed, one might almost suspect that his object was merely to get possession of Neisse and Upper Silesia, without having to fight for them. The tenour of

43 Die adelige Insurrection.

44 The Convention is in Garden, t. iii. p. 262 sq.

45 His own History lends some confirmation to this view, where he styles the Convention a "pourparler," and laughs at the Duke of Lorraine (Maria Theresa's husband) for being so simple as to confide in it. "Le duc de Lorraine,

qui se trouvait à Presbourg, se flattant que le Roi regarderait des pourparlers comme des traités de paix, lui écrivit demandant sa voix pour l'élection à l'Empire. La réponse fut obligeante, mais conçue dans un style obscur et si embrouillé que l'auteur même n'y comprenait rien."-Hist. de mon Temps, ch. ii. sub

fin.

356

ELECTION OF CHARLES VII.

[BOOK VI. the twelfth article, which empowered part of the Prussian army to take up its winter quarters in Silesia, seems to favour this supposition. A few weeks after the conclusion of this Convention, on the pretext that the secret had not been kept, Frederick renewed his connection with the anti-Austrian party by a secret alliance with Saxony and Bavaria at Frankfort (November 1st), and by another treaty of guarantee with the latter Power at Breslau (November 4th); by which the Elector, as King of Bohemia, ceded to the King of Prussia for 400,000 dollars the county of Glatz, although it was not yet conquered. Meanwhile the Austrians, after a few mock engagements, had surrendered Neisse to the Prussians and evacuated Silesia; and before the end of the year the Prussians occupied Troppau, and even entered Moravia. During these events the Franco-Bavarian and Saxon armies had marched upon Prague, as already related.

The Imperial election was now approaching. The Electoral Diet assembled at Frankfort in January 1742, and on the 24th of that month the Elector of Bavaria was unanimously chosen Emperor. The Electors who belonged to the alliance, Saxcny, Brandenburg, Cologne, were of course in his favour; the Palatine was his cousin; the Elector of Hanover, George II., as we have said, had bound himself by treaty to vote for Charles Albert; those of Mentz and Trèves had been compelled to do so by the threats of Belle-Isle. In order to render the election unanimous, and also apparently to avoid recognising Maria Theresa as the lawful possessor of Bohemia,46 the Electoral College had excluded the vote of that kingdom. The new Emperor was crowned February 12th, and assumed the title of Charles VII. But at the moment when he had attained the object of his ambition his fortune began to turn. Maria Theresa's Hungarian forces were now in motion; 20,000 men, with the addition of drafts from the Lombard garrisons, under General Khevenhiller, recovered Upper Austria in January. A Franco-Bavarian corps, under Count Ségur and General Minucci, surrendered Linz by capitulation on the 24th of that month. Another Austrian army, under the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and swelled by the troops withdrawn from Silesia after the Convention of Klein-Schnellendorf, which thus proved of temporary advantage to Maria Theresa, had entered Bohemia. Khevenhiller, reinforced by 6000 Croats who had penetrated through the Tyrol, invaded Bavaria in February, and took possession of Munich on the 13th, only a few days after

46 Menzel, Neuere Gesch. der Deutschen, B. v. S. 302.

Charles VII.'s election to the Imperial crown had been celebrated in that capital.

On the other hand the King of Prussia had been advancing in Moravia. Olmütz had been taken December 26th. A Prussian division which had been despatched into Bohemia subdued the town and county of Glatz, with the exception of the castle, in January 1742. When the Austrians were penetrating into Bavaria Frederick saw the necessity of making a diversion by marching upon Vienna, in conjunction with a French and a Saxon corps. But dissension was already springing up among the allies. Augustus III., or rather his minister, Brühl,47 was lukewarm in prosecuting a war from which Saxony was to derive but little benefit in comparison with Prussia. He excused himself from furnishing heavy artillery for the siege of Brünn on the ground of want of money, although only a little before Augustus had given 400,000 dollars for a large green diamond! At Znaym the Saxons refused to march further southwards. A body of 5000 Prussians pushed on, and a party of their hussars showed themselves at Stockerau, only about twenty miles from Vienna. This advance caused 10,000 Austrians to be recalled from Bavaria, and arrested Khevenhiller's further progress towards the west. But the ill support which Frederick met with from his allies and the approach of the Austrian and Hungarian forces, compelled him to evacuate Moravia with all his army, and to retreat into Bohemia. During this march negociations went on under the mediation of Lord Hyndford for a peace between Frederick and Maria Theresa. The latter, however, would concede nothing; a bitter spirit was engendered, and Frederick resolved to settle their differences by the arbitrament of a battle with his pursuers; which took place on May 17th in the neighbourhood of Czaslau. The Austrians, commanded by Prince Charles of Lorraine, had slightly the advantage in point of numbers, but Frederick was much superior in artillery. After a long and hard-fought battle, the Austrians retired in good order behind Czaslau, where Frederick forbore to pursue them.

This victory was hailed by the Emperor as a fortunate event; but Frederick had resolved once more to change sides, and the negociations with the Court of Vienna were renewed. He had now exhausted the greater part of his father's hoards, he was discontented with and suspicious of his allies,48 and Maria Theresa

47 Frederick, who went to Dresden to settle the plan of the campaign, relates that at one of the consultations Brühl got rid of the King by telling him that the

opera was about to begin!-Hist. de mon Temps, ch. iv.

48 He had discovered that Cardinal Fleury was in secret correspondence with

358

PEACE BETWEEN AUSTRIA AND RUSSIA. [BOOK VI.

on her side had been induced by the English minister to make larger concessions. Under these circumstances the preliminaries of a peace were concluded at Breslau, June 11th 1742, and were followed by the definitive TREATY OF BERLIN, July 28th.49 By the preliminaries Prussia was to obtain both Lower and Upper Silesia, except the principality of Teschen, the town of Troppau, and the district beyond the Oppa and in the mountains; also, the county of Glatz. But these concessions were somewhat curtailed in the definitive peace. Frederick refused to give any active aid to the Austrian cause, and stipulated only for his neutrality.

George II., both as King of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover, the Empress of Russia, the King of Denmark, the StatesGeneral, the House of Brunswick, and the King of Poland as Elector of Saxony, were included in the peace; the last, however, only on condition that he should, within sixteen days after formal notice, separate his troops from the French army and withdraw them from Bohemia. Augustus III. hesitated not to avail himself of this article, and reconciled himself with Austria by reciprocal declarations, without any regular treaty. George II. guaranteed the preliminaries of Breslau by an act signed at Kensington June 24th 1742; and in the following November Great Britain, Prussia, and the States-General entered into a defensive alliance by the Treaty of Westminster.50

In consequence of these arrangements the French, under BelleIsle, deprived of the cooperation of the Saxons, were forced by the manœuvres of Charles of Lorraine to shut themselves up in Prague, where they were blockaded by the Austrians under Count Königseck. Prague was bombarded by the Austrians on August 19th; but the approach of Maillebois with the French army of Westphalia compelled them to raise the siege and attack Maillebois, whom they drove with considerable loss into Bavaria. Here, however, he obtained some compensation for his failure in Bohemia. Having joined Field-Marshal Seckendorf, who had quitted the Austrian service for that of Charles VII., their united forces succeeded in expelling the Austrians and Hungarians from Bavaria before the close of the year 1642. After Maillebois' retreat the Austrians had again blockaded Prague. But Belle-Isle succeeded in escaping with 16,000 men on the night of December 15th, and after unspeakable sufferings, during a ten days' march in a

the Court of Vienna, and that the French Court was willing that Sweden, in a peace with Russia, should be compensated at the expense of his Pomeranian dominions. Menzel, B. v. S. 305.

49 Rousset, t. xviii. pp. 27, 33; Wenck, t. i. pp. 734, 739.

50 Ibid. t. xviii. p. 45; Wenck. t. i. p.

640.