CHAP. V.] BATTLE OF MINDEN. 419 accommodation. She still hoped to humble Prussia, and she was supported in the struggle by the resources of her husband, who carried on a sort of banking trade. France was pretty well exhausted by the war; yet Louis XV. and his mistress were constant in their hatred of Frederick. The Duke de Choiseul, however, who had recently acceded to the ministry, and who had more talent than his predecessors, and a better view of French interests, endeavoured to come to an understanding with the EmpressQueen; and he proposed to her to content herself with the county of Glatz and part of Lusatia, that so a peace might be made with England through the mediation of Prussia; but if she should be inclined to try the fortune of another campaign, then France must give up the Treaty of May 1757, and return to that of 1756. Kaunitz, having rejected all thought of peace, especially under Prussian mediation, a fresh treaty was concluded between France and Austria, December 30th 1758, less favourable to Austria than that of 1757, but more so than that of the preceding year. The French army in Germany was reduced from 105,000 to 100,000 men, and the subsidy from twelve million florins to about half that sum. All the projects for a partition of Prussia, contained in the treaty of 1757, were abandoned, and France even gave up the share assigned to her of the Netherlands. That Power, however, guaranteed Silesia and Glatz to Maria Theresa, but not the duchy of Crossen; also the restoration of the Elector of Saxony in his dominions, with some compensation, but not Magdeburg, Halberstadt, &c.13 Russia acceded to the treaty, March 7th 1760. Thus the condescendence of Louis XV. for Maria Theresa seemed to make France a second-rate Power. Except, perhaps, the chance of humbling George II. by the conquest of Hanover, she had but little interest in the struggle on the Continent after abandoning the prospect of obtaining the Netherlands; and Maria Theresa inferred from that abandonment that France would pursue the war but languidly, and take the first opportunity to retire from it. Prince Ferdinand, in the spring of 1759, attempted to surprise the French in their winter quarters, but was defeated by the Duke of Broglie at the battle of Bergen, April 13th, and compelled to retreat with considerable loss. The French then advanced through Hesse to Minden and Münster, which last place surrendered, July 25th. But Ferdinand defeated the French army under Contades at Minden, August 1st, which compelled them to evacuate Hesse and retreat to Frankfort, where they took up winter quarters. Wenck, t. iii. p. 185; Garden, t. iv. p. 54 sq. 420 BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. [Book VI. The battle of Minden was gained by the bold and spontaneous advance of six English battalions, which broke the French centre, composed of sixty-three squadrons of cavalry. Contades confessed he had not thought it possible that a single line of infantry should have overthrown three lines of cavalry in order of battle." The victory would have been still more decisive had not Lord George Sackville, who commanded the British cavalry, neglected Prince Ferdinand's order to charge. The King of Prussia contented himself this year with observing Marshal Daun and the Austrians. But his general, Wedell, on whom he had conferred the absolute power of a Roman dictator, having been defeated by the Russians at Züllichau, in the duchy of Crossen, July 23rd, and the Russians having subsequently seized Frankfort on the Oder, Frederick marched against them with all the troops he could spare. They had now been joined by an Austrian corps, which increased their force to 96,000 men; yet Frederick, who had just half that number, attacked them at Kunersdorf, August 12th. After a hard-fought day he was defeated and compelled to retreat, with a loss of 18,000 men. In this • battle Frederick had two horses shot under him, and was himself hit with a bullet, which was fortunately stopped by a golden étui. He acknowledged that had the Russians pursued their victory Prussia would have been lost. But they were tired of bearing the chief brunt of the war while the Austrians seemed to rest upon their arms; and Soltikoff, their commander, told the Austrians that he had done enough. Meanwhile the army of the Empire, under Frederick of DeuxPonts, had entered Saxony, and in the course of August took Leipsic, Torgau, and Wittenberg; and on December 5th, Dresden. Frederick, after he had got quit of the Russians, entered Saxony and recovered that Electorate, with the exception of Dresden, where Daun entrenched himself, This commander compelled the Prussian general, Fink, with 10,000 men, to surrender at Moxen, November 21st. Choiseul, the new French minister, in order to create a diversion, projected an invasion of England. The Pretender went to Vannes, and large forces were assembled in Brittany and at Dunkirk. But the French were not strong enough at sea to carry out such a design. Rodney bombarded Havre and damaged the French magazines and transports; while Boys, Hawke, and Boscawen blockaded Dunkirk, Brest, and Toulon. The English fleet * Stenzel, B. v. S. 204; M. Martin (t. xv. p. 555), in his account of the battle, suppresses this fact. CHAP. V.] NEUTRALITY OF THE BALTIC. 421 having been blown from Toulon by a storm, the French fleet managed to get out; but it was overtaken and defeated by Boscawen off the coast of Portugal, August 17th 1759. The grand armament, under Conflans, which had sailed from Brest, was defeated and dispersed by Hawke off Belle Isle, November 20th. Thurot, escaping in a hazy night with four frigates from Dunkirk, after beating about three months, landed at Carrick Fergus, but was defeated and killed on leaving the bay. It was in this year that the Northern Powers first formed an alliance which may be regarded as the precursor of the Armed Neutrality. By a treaty between Russia and Sweden, signed at St. Petersburg, March 9th 1759, and to which Denmark acceded, March 17th 1760, the contracting Powers engaged to maintain a fleet in order to preserve the neutrality of the Baltic Sea for the purposes of commerce. Even the trade of Prussia was not to be molested, except with blockaded ports, or in cases of contraband of war.45 The struggle on the Continent was destined to linger on two or three more years without any decisive result. The various turns of fortune were no doubt highly interesting and exciting to the parties engaged, and the details of the military operations might perhaps even now be perused by the military student with amusement and instruction; but our limits will not permit us to enter into them at any length, and we must, therefore, as before, content ourselves with indicating the main incidents of each campaign. That of 1760 was unfavourable to the Hanoverians. The French again invaded Hesse; the hereditary Prince of Brunswick was defeated at Corbach, July 10th, and Prince Xavier de Saxe took Cassel and penetrated into Hanover. By way of making a diversion, Prince Ferdinand despatched his nephew to the Lower Rhine; but though he reduced Clèves and Rheinsberg, and laid siege to Wesel, he was defeated by the Marquis de Castries at Kloster Camp, October 16th, and compelled to recross the Rhine; and the French remained during the winter in Hanover and Hesse. The Austrians and Russians had formed a grand plan to conquer Silesia and penetrate into Brandenburg. The Prussian general, Fouqué, was defeated near Landshut, June 23rd, by Loudon,46 with 45 Martens, Suppl. au Recueil, t. iii. pp. 36, 42. 46 Such is the true name of this distinguished Austrian commander, and not Laudon or Laudohn, as commonly written. He derived his origin from a Scotch family of Ayrshire, but his ancestor had mi grated to Livonia in the fourteenth century. Loudon, after serving in the Russian army under Marshal Münnich, offered his sword to the King of Prussia, who, after a scrutinising glance, turned his back upon him, remarking to the surrounding officers: "La physiognomie de 422 THE RUSSIANS ENTER BERLIN. [BOOK VI. much superior forces, and his whole division, consisting of more than 10,000 men, were either killed, wounded, or made prisoners. Frederick, opposing his brother Henry to the Russians in Silesia, took himself the command of the army in Saxony, and laid siege to Dresden, but was compelled to raise it on the approach of Marshal Daun. Meanwhile, General Harsch, having taken Glatz, July 26th, and Breslau being threatened by Loudon, Frederick quitted Saxony to defend Silesia. He defeated Loudon at Pfaffendorp, near Liegnitz, August 15th, and having formed a junction with his brother Henry, took up a position where the enemy did not venture to attack him, and thus frustrated their plan of the campaign. To draw him from Silesia, the Russians marched on Berlin, entered that city, October 9th, and levied heavy contributions on the inhabitants; but, after an occupation of three days, they evacuated it on the approach of Frederick, and recrossed the Oder. Meanwhile, the Imperialists, having occupied the greater part of Saxony, Frederick advanced against them into that Electorate, retook Wittenberg and Leipsic, and attacked Marshal Daun near Torgau, November 3rd, whom he defeated with much difficulty and with great loss on both sides. Frederick entered Torgau, November 4th, and subsequently attempted to recover Dresden, but without success. The movements of the Swedes were unimportant. eet homme ne me revient pas." Loudon afterwards entered the Austrian service, and became one of Frederick's most dan gerous opponents. Mailath, Gesch. Oestr. B. v. S. 72. CHAP. VI.] THE SPANISH COURT. 423 CHAPTER VI. Ar this period of the Seven Years' War two events had occurred which were destined to exert a remarkable influence on the views and operations of the contending Powers. These were the death of Ferdinand VI. of Spain, August 10th 1759, and that of George II. of England, October 25th 1760. Ferdinand VI., though a weak and hypochondriac, was an amiable prince, whose sole pursuits were music and the chase. He had always been inclined to maintain peace with England, and the quiet temper of his consort, Barbara, daughter of John V. of Portugal, which formed quite a contrast to that of Elizabeth Farnese, confirmed him in this disposition.' Ferdinand's chief ministers were the Marquis Villarias and the Marquis de la Ensenada; but Villarias was soon supplanted by Don Joseph de Carvajal, a younger son of the Duke of Linares, a cold, stiff, awkward person, but of a strong understanding. Descended from the House of Lancaster, Carvajal, from family traditions, was attached to England, though, as a statesman, he was for keeping Spain politically independent of any other country. The King was a good deal governed by his confessor, Father Ravago, a Jesuit. But one of the most influential persons at the Spanish Court was Farinelli, a Neapolitan singer, who had achieved a great success at the London opera, and realised a considerable fortune. Farinelli had been employed by the late Queen of Spain to soothe her husband's melancholy with his songs; he gained Philip's favour and confidence, who settled upon him a pension of 2000l. sterling. After the accession of Ferdinand, he rose still higher in the royal favour. Both the King and his consort were fond of music, and Farinelli was made director of the opera and of all the royal entertainments. Behind all this, however, being a man of sense and of modest and unassuming manners, he exercised a material influence at court; his friendship was sought even by sovereigns, and Maria Theresa had condescended to write to him with her own hand. 1 The characters of these sovereigns are described in Sir Benjamin Keene's Despatches, ann. 1749 sq.; cf. Mémoires de |