374 CAMPAIGN ON THE RHINE, 1743. [BOOK VI. military genius in Bohemia, and as France was in want of generals, procured for him a marshal's bâton, though the King was prejudiced against him as a Protestant. During the month of June Courtrai, Menin, Ypres, the fort of Knoque, Dixmude, successively yielded to the arms of Louis. Meanwhile, however, the advance of the Austrians threatened the safety of Alsace, and the King, after taking Furnes, July 10th, hastened with the élite of his troops to the protection of that province, leaving Marshal Saxe in Flanders to conduct a defensive campaign which covered him with glory. 11 Prince Charles of Lorraine and Field-Marshal Traun, crossing the Rhine a few leagues from Philippsburg, had seized Lauterburg, Weissemburg, and the lines of the Lauter. The French marshal, Coigny, reinforced by the Emperor's Bavarians—the neutrality agreed upon at Niederschönfeld having been broken and repudiated-after retaking Weissemburg, which he could not hold, had retreated behind the Moter, and afterwards on Strassburg. Parties of Croats, Hungarians, and other Austrian partisans now inundated Alsace, and even pressed on into Lorraine. The King had fallen sick at Metz, where his life was despaired of; but Noailles succeeded in effecting a junction with Coigny by the defile of Ste. Marie aux Mines. Prince Charles now received orders to recross the Rhine; an operation which he effected with little loss in the face. of a superior enemy. The French, however, seem to have had their reasons for letting the Austrians depart. The Queen of Hungary, abandoning for the present the project of reconquering Alsace and Lorraine, had recalled her troops in order to repel an invasion of Bohemia by Frederick II. of Prussia. But we must take up the thread of this affair a little higher. The Treaty of Worms of September 1743, before mentioned, had given great offence to Frederick. By the second article of it the contracting parties guaranteed to one another all the kingdoms, states, &c., which they then possessed, or which they were entitled to possess, in virtue of the Treaties of Turin (1703), Utrecht, and Baden; the Quadruple Alliance, the Treaty of Vienna (March 1731), the consequent guarantee of the Empire (January 1732), the Act of Accession, signed at Vienna, November 18th 1738, and that signed at Versailles, February 3rd, 1739.12 This was, in fact, to guarantee to the Queen of Hungary the reconquest of Silesia. "The Parisians, in their joy for his recovery, brought about by a quack, and in admiration of his warlike exploits, gave him the name of Louis le bien aimé; a sobriquet which is said to have roused in him no feeling except a well-founded astonishment. Voltaire, Guerre de 1741, ap. Martin, t. xv. p. 271. 12 Garden, Hist. des Traités, t. iii. p. 294; Wenck, B. i. p. 682; cf. Hist. de mon Temps, ch. viii, CHAP. IV.] UNION OF FRANKFORT. 375 Frederick's anger and alarm were increased by a clause of the thirteenth article: that as soon as Italy should be delivered from its enemies, the King of Sardinia should furnish troops for the safeguard of Lombardy, in order that the Queen might be enabled to withdraw part of her army in that country and employ them in Germany. In Germany? Against whom? Maria Theresa was allied with Saxony. She had humiliated Bavaria. Against whom, then, could she meditate war but Prussia? There was an end, Frederick concluded, to the Peace of Breslau, especially as the Queen took no pains to conceal her regret for the loss of Silesia. At the sight of a Silesian, as the English Ambassador, Robinson, wrote to his Court, she would forget the Queen, and burst into tears like a woman." 13 Frederick's jealousy was further increased by a treaty concluded December 20th 1743, at Vienna, between Austria and Saxony, containing a renewed guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction, without any exception with regard to Silesia; as well as by another entered into at St. Petersburg, February 4th 1744, between the King of Poland and the Empress of Russia, by which the alliance of 1733 was renewed with some modifications.14 Besides these grounds for apprehension, Frederick was also of opinion that the Queen of Hungary was pushing matters too far against Charles VII. by aiming to deprive him of the Imperial crown. Against the League of Austria, Great Britain, Russia, Saxony, Sardinia, and the States-General, he therefore resolved to oppose a double league, one with France and one with the States of the Empire. The Secret Treaty with France was signed June 5th 1744, but had probably been arranged some time before. The Cabinet of Versailles seems to have entered into it with a view to divert the Austrians from their attack by engaging the King of Prussia in a war with them, and encouraging him to invade Bohemia; of which kingdom, after its conquest, Frederick was to retain certain districts.15 The alliance with the Emperor Charles VII. seems to have been entered into by Frederick more with a view to give a colourable pretence to his attack upon Bohemia than with any other purpose. This alliance, known by the name of the UNION OF FRANKFORT, was signed by the Emperor, the King of Prussia, the Elector Palatine, and the King of Sweden, as Landgrave of HesseCassel, May 22nd 1744. Its professed objects were, to maintain the German constitution, to compel the Court of Vienna to recognise Charles VII. as Emperor, and restore to him his Bavarian dominions. t. iii. p. 15. 13 Raumer, Friedrich II., S. 160. 15 Garden, t. iii. p. 311. 376 SECOND SILESIAN WAR. [BOOK VI. By separate articles and by a further secret treaty between the Emperor and the King of Prussia alone, signed July 24th, Bohemia, after its conquest, was to be made over to the Emperor and his heirs; in return for which Charles was to cede Silesia to Prussia, together with the three circles of Bohemia nearest to that province, namely, Königsgrätz, Buntzlau, and Leitmeritz, with some other places. Frederick also guaranteed to the Emperor Upper Austria, so soon as he should have conquered it. France acceded to both these treaties.16 Early in August, Frederick himself communicated the Union of Frankfort to the Court of Vienna, and declared that, as a member of the Empire, he could not evade his duty of providing a contingent of auxiliary troops for the service of the Emperor, but that in other respects he should observe all his engagements with the Queen of Hungary. In the course of that month he commenced what has been called the SECOND SILESIAN WAR by marching 80,000 men into Bohemia. The army advanced in three columns. One, led by the King in person, passed through Saxony, regardless of the protests of the Court of Dresden; another, under Leopold of Dessau, took the route of Lusatia; while the third, under FieldMarshal Schmettau, debouching from Silesia and Glatz, entered Bohemia by Braunau. The united columns marched upon Prague, which surrendered, after a siege of six days, September 16th. Frederick, ignorant of the strong alliance between the King of Poland and the Court of Vienna, had hoped to gain Augustus, and made some tempting offers to him and his minister, Brühl. Augustus, however, ordered his army, 24,000 men strong, to enter Bohemia; nor could Frederick prevent their junction at Eger with Charles of Lorraine and the Austrian army retiring from Alsace. Neither the French under Noailles, nor the Imperialists under Seckendorf, who was suspected of having sold himself to the Court of Vienna, had attempted to arrest the march of the Austrians through Suabia, Franconia, and Bavaria. After their junction at Eger, the Austrian and Saxon force was carried to 90,000 men. The King of Prussia had but small prospect of successfully opposing them; especially as the Bohemian population, mostly Catholics, were inimical to the Prussians, instead of assisting them like the Silesians. Frederick, therefore, determined to retreat. Leaving a garrison of 10,000 men at Prague, he crossed the Elbe at Kolin, November 9th, and gained the county of Glatz with rapid 16 Rousset, t. xviii. p. 446; Wenck, t. ii. p. 163. The Treaty of Union and separate article, in the original Latin, will also be found in the appendix to Garden's third volume. CHAP. IV.] FREDERICK II. IN BOHEMIA. 377 marches. The Prussian garrison was also compelled to evacuate Prague, November 26th, and arrived at Friedland with great loss. Frederick seems rather to have outwitted himself on this occasion. France obtained her ends by procuring the withdrawal of the Austrian army from Alsace; but the French did nothing to assist him, though they made some fine promises, of which he now knew the value, for next spring. This was, however, a game of which he was little entitled to complain. The French, in turn, had their suspicions of him, and were apprehensive that he might desert them, and again negociate with Maria Theresa, as he had done in 1742.17 Such mutual mistrust is the necessary penalty of finesse. To avenge Frederick's unlucky attempt upon Bohemia, the Austrians under Nadasti, and the Hungarians under Counts Palfy, Esterhazy, and Caroli-for another Hungarian "insurrection" had taken place in favour of Maria Theresa-broke into Upper Silesia and the county of Glatz, from which, with the exception of the towns of Neisse, Kosel, and Glatz, they totally expelled the Prussians before the end of 1744. In a proclamation issued December 4th, it was notified that the whole Silesian territory had returned under the dominion of the Queen of Hungary. But the assumption was premature. Old Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau, to whom Frederick committed the task, succeeded in nearly clearing Silesia of the Austrians before the spring of 1745. Meanwhile the French, instead of succouring Frederick, had employed themselves in taking Freiburg in the Breisgau, which surrendered November 5th. The Prussian attack upon Bohemia had also proved of service to the Emperor by withdrawing a great part of the Austrian troops from that electorate in order to repel it. Seckendorf, assisted by some French troops, took advantage of this circumstance to drive out the remainder. Munich was recovered October 16th, and Charles VII. was enabled once more to return to his capital. The Italian campaign of 1744 was unfavourable to the Austrians. In the preceding year they had, as we have seen, driven the Spaniards almost to the Neapolitan frontiers, and, in spite of the neutrality imposed upon it, seemed to threaten an invasion of that kingdom. To avert such a catastrophe, Don Carlos, after taking all possible precautions against an attack upon his capital from the sea, joined the Spaniards with his forces, and enabled them to drive the Austrians and Piedmontese out of the Papal territories towards the Po. The invasion of Bohemia by the Prussians produced what has 378 DEATH OF CHARLES VII. [BOOK VI. been called the QUADRUPLE ALLIANCE, established by the Treaty of Warsaw, January 8th 1745, between the King of Poland, as Elector of Saxony, Great Britain, the Queen of Hungary, and the States-General. The King of Poland renewed his guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction, and promised to operate immediately in Bohemia with 30,000 auxiliary troops. So long as this army should be required, Great Britain was to pay an annual subsidy of 100,000l., and the United Provinces 50,000l. Poland and Russia were to be invited to accede to the alliance. By some separate and secret articles, Augustus III. engaged, not indeed directly, but in effect, to procure the Imperial crown for the Grand Duke of Tuscany; while, on the other hand, the King of England and the Queen of Hungary promised to assist Augustus in his salutary views with regard to Poland, so far as they could without violating its constitution; that is, in other words, to assure the succession to his son.18 Soon after the execution of this treaty, an unexpected event changed the face of affairs. The Emperor Charles VII. died January 20th 1745; an event which virtually annulled the Union of Frankfort. He was succeeded in the Bavarian Electorate by his son, Maximilian Joseph, then only seventeen years of age, and consequently too young to make any pretensions to the Imperial crown. Maximilian seemed at first inclined to remain faithful to the league with France and Prussia; but the war went so unsuccessfully, and the clamours of his people became so loud in demanding a termination of their miseries, that he listened to the advice of Seckendorf to make peace with the Queen of Hungary at any price. The advance of the Austrians under Bathyani had compelled him to quit Munich soon after his accession, and fly to Augsburg. The French, under Ségur, had also been defeated. Under these circumstances he despatched Prince Fürstenberg to Füssen, where he concluded a peace with the Austrian Count Colloredo, April 22nd 1745. By this treaty, the Queen of Hungary engaged to re-establish the Elector in all his dominions, and recognised the Imperial dignity of his father. The Elector, on his side, renounced for himself and his heirs all claims to the Austrian inheritance, acceded to the guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction given by the Empire, engaged to observe a strict neutrality, adhered to the activity of the vote of Bohemia in the Imperial election, and promised his own for the Grand Duke of Tuscany.19 18 Wenck, t. ii. p. 171; Rousset, Recueil, t. xviii. p. 516. 19 Wenck, t. ii. p. 180; Menzel, B. v. S. 317. Frederick sums up the results as follows: "The Emperor dies; his son makes peace with the Queen of Hungary ; |