the enemy's cruelty were before their eyes; the country desolated on every side, and the villages in flames all round the field of bat tle.

sians.

At nine o'clock in the morning the battle began by a fire of cannon and mortars, which rained on the right wing of the Russians without the least intermission for near two hours. Nothing could exceed the havock made by this terrible fire, nor the constancy with which the Mus. covite foot, raw, and unexperi. enced, sustained a slaughter that would have confounded and dispersed the completest veterans. They fell in their ranks; new regiments still pressed forward to fill their places, and to supply new slaughter. When the first line had fired away all their charges, they rushed forward on the Prus. That firm body of the, Prussian infantry, which had often stood, and often given so many terrible shocks, by one of those unaccountable movements of the human mind, that render every thing in war so precarious, gave way in the presence of their sove. reign, and when they had in a manner secured the victory, retired în disorder before the half broken battalions of the Muscovites. Had the Russian officers known how to profit of this disorder; had they immediately thrown in their horse with vigour to complete it, and entirely break that body, this had probably been the last day of the Prussian greatness. The King was not so negligent. For just in this anxious moment, whilst the battle was yet in suspense, by a very rapid and masterly motion, he brought all the cavalry of his right to the centre, which, with

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In

general Sedlitz at their head, bursting in upon the Russian foot, uncovered by their horse, and disordered even by their advantage, they pushed them back with a most miserable slaughter. The repulsed battalions of Prussia had time to recollect, and to form themselves; and now returning to the onset with a rage, exasperated by their late disgrace, they entirely turned the balance of the fight. The Russians were thrown into the most horrible confusion. The wind blew the dust and smoke full in their faces. They no longer distinguished friends or enemies. They fired upon each other. this distraction they plundered their own baggage which stood between the lines, and intoxicated themselves with brandy. Orders were now no more heard or obeyed. The ranks fell in upon one another; and being crammed together in a narrow space, every shot discharged by the Prussians had its full effect; whilst the Russians kept up only a scattered fire without direction or effect, and quite over the heads of their enemies. It was now no longer battle, but a horrid and undis. tinguished carnage. Yet still (which is a wonderful circumstance) the Russians thus distracted and slaughtered, kept their ground. The action continued without in. termission from nine in the morn. ing until seven at night. At last the night itself, the fatigue of the Prussians, and a judicious attack on their right wing, which drew their attention on that side, gave the Russian army some respite to recover their order, and an oppor.. tunity of retiring a little from the scene of their disaster. On their side near 10,000 fell upon

the

the spot they had more than 10,000 wounded, most of them mortally: 939 officers, not including the inferior, were killed, wounded, and taken prisoners: of two particular regiments, consisting before the battle of 4595 effective men, only 1475 were left. Their whole loss, on this bloody day, was 21,529 men: that of the Prussians, in every way, did not amount to

2000.

The gazettes of both parties warmly disputed the vain honour of the field of battle. On the most diligent inquiry, it appears that both parties spent the night on, or very near the place of action. But this is an affair of little consequence. The Prussians had all the fruits, and most of the proofs of a victory the most complete and decisive. A vast train of artillery taken, the military chest, a number of prisoners, many of them officers of high rank; the retreat of the Russian army the next and the following days; their general Fer. mor's request for leave to bury the dead; their incapacity to ad. vance, or form any new enterprize; the King of Prussia's unmolested operations against his other enemies: all these form the most clear and certain demonstration of a victory, in all points for which a victory is desireable.

Nothing less, indeed, than a very complete victory could have done any essential service to the King's affairs at that time, when four armies of his enemies were making their way to one common centre, and threatened to unite in the heart of Brandenburg. The King renewed the attack on the Russians the next morning. The event of the last day had shewed

them that there was no way of safety but in a retreat; and in effect they retreated before the Prussians as far as Landsperg, on the frontiers of Poland. The King of Prussia was convinced that their late check must wholly disable them from at. tempting any thing material against his dominions on that side; and he saw clearly, that whatever he might hope to gain by improving his ad. vantage against the Russians, he must lose far more by allowing his other enemies to make a progress on the side of Saxony. He satisfied himself, therefore, with leaving a small body of troops under Count Dohna, to observe the motions of the Mus. covite army, and marched with the greatest part of his forces, and the utmost expedition, to the relief of Prince Henry.

M. Daun, having laid aside his first project for passing the Elbe at Meissen, enterprized nothing new on the side of Saxony for some days: he contented himself with taking a position at Stolpen, to the eastward of the Elbe; by which, whilst he preserved to himself an easy communication with the army of the empire, he interrupted the communication between Bautzen and Dresden; he favoured the ope rations of general Laudohn, who had advanced through the Lower Lusatia to the confines of Branden.. burg; and by drawing the attention of the Prussian forces which were left in Silesia, to the northward of that duchy, he facilitated the progress of the arms of the generals Harsch and de Ville in the southern parts. Admirable dispositions with out question, if the time had not called for more vigorous measures, and if the rescue of Saxony from the King of Prussia had not been

the great object of the campaign! It is not impossible that the court of Vienna had still such an hankering after Silesia, as induced them to slacken their efforts on the side of Saxony, in hope that if M. Daun could protect the operations there, so as to find full employment for the King of Prussia, their other forces might reduce Silesia with great facility; and thus, per, haps, by aiming at two such dif. ficult objects at once, as it gene. rally happens, they lost them both. Upon any other supposition, it is. not very easy to account for the seeming inactivity of M. Daun, while he had so fair a game in his hands. However advantageously Prince Henry might have chosen his post, or however strongly he might have secured it, yet the prodigious superiority of the com. bined armies seems to have more than over-balanced that advantage, and to have justified, nay, to have demanded some bold and decisive attempt.

In fact, this appeared at length to be the marshal's own opinion; for when the strong fortress of Sonnes. tein most unaccountably surrender. ed, with a garrison of 1400 men, to the Austrian general MacSept. 5. guire, after the resistance of no more than a single day, M. Daun proposed that the Prince of Deux-Ponts should attack Prince Henry, whilst the grand army of the Austrians, laying bridges between two fires, at a small distance from each other, should pass the Elbe, and falling at the same time on Sept. 10. the Prussians, second the attack of the Imperialists, and cut off the retreat of their enemies towards Dresden. This was to bring matters to a speedy decision. But now the King of Prussia, by the

most rapid marches, had reached the frontiers of Saxony. The whole design was disconcerted; and far from being able to dislodge Prince Henry, they found themselves utterly unable to prevent the King his brother from joining Sept. II. him with his whole army. On his approach, general Laudohn abandoned all his advantages in the Lower Lusatia, and fell back upon M. Daun, who himself retired from the neighbourhood of Dresden, and fell back as far as Zittau, The army of the empire, possessed of the strong post of Pirna, which the Saxons had occupied in the beginning of the war, kept their ground, but did not undertake any thing. Thus in fifteen days the King of Prussia, by his un paralleled spirit, diligence, and magnanimity, fought, and defeated a superior body of his enemies in one extremity of his dominions, and baffled without fighting an other superior body in the other extremity.

These advantages, glorious as they were, were not the only ones which followed the victory of Zorndorff. The Swedes, who directed their motions by those of their Russian allies, hastened their operations when that army had adyan. ced into Brandenburg. General Wedel was detached from Saxony to stop their progress; and the Prince of Bevern, now governor of Stettin, gave them some oppo. sition. All this, however, had proved ineffectual, if the news of the defeat of the Russians had not alarmed the Swedes in such a manner, as to make them return with more expedition than they had ad vanced. Tho' the King of Prussia's affairs began to put on a better appearance by these efforts, the

for

fortune of the war still hung in a very dubious scale. The enemy was still superior. The Swedes and Russians had still some footing in his dominions. The Austrians and Imperialists were yet in Saxony; and if the King's armies had it in

their power to take strong situations, the enemy had the same advantages. The condition of things was extremely critical; and the least error or misfortune threatened still to plunge the King of Prussia into an abyss of calamities.

THE HE operations of the armies in Westphalia, seemed for a long time to languish. The grand army of the French, under M. de Contades, was wholly unable to drive Prince Ferdinand from the post which he had chosen so judi, ciously along the Lippe. The other division of the French forces, under the Prince de Soubise, had made no great progress on the side of Hesse-Cassel against the Prince Ysenburg, who still kept his ground in that principality, in order to protect the course of the Weser, and to cover the electorate. The French were sensible that an attack on the principal army of the allies would prove a very dangerous attempt; in which, even if they should have some success, their progress into the King's electoral dominions must be very slow and difficult; but as the body of the allies em. ployed in Hesse-Cassel was far the weakest, and as an advantage on that side promised them the command of the Weser, and a better passage into the heart of the enemy's country, they determined to

make an attempt there. To fur. ther this design, a considerable de. tachment was made from the army of M. de Contades, which increased the Prince of Soubise's corps to at least 30,000 men. Prince Ferdinand, who was sufficiently aware of the enemy's plan, had some time before sent general Oberg with a strong reinforcement to join the Prince Ysenburg; but notwith standing this reinforcement, the whole force of the allies in Hesse did not exceed 15,000. This body was attacked by the French at Lanwerenhagen, and their Sept. 30. great superiority, especially in point of cavalry, obliged the allies to retire with the loss

of about 1500 men. The allies, unable to keep the field, had, how. ever, some woods in their rear which covered their retreat; and they preserved so good a countenance, as prevented their defeat from becoming total.

Great consequences might have been apprehended from this affair; but the vigilance of Prince Ferdi. nand, who had established the most

ready communications all along the Lippe, suffered the victorious army to reap but little advantage from their victory. That accomplished general advanced with the utmost expedition towards Rheda; and the Prince Ysenburg having fallen back upon him, they joined in such a manner as perfectly to secure the Weser, without losing any thing on the side of the Rhine. And although these necessary motions in some sort uncovered the electorate, so as to lay it open to the incursions of the enemy's light troops, who penetrated even to the gates of Hanover; yet the French were not in a condition to establish any considerable body, or to take any post of moment in that part.

During this time, the armies of the King of Prussia and M. Daun made no very remarkable move. ments. The marshal kept his ad. vantageous camp at Stolpen; by which he preserved a communica tion with the army of the empire. The army was secured by its inaccessible situation, but it enter. prized nothing of consequence. The King of Prussia, on the other hand, having taken possession of the im. portant post of Bautzen, which lies so opportunely for commanding at once both Misnia and Lusatia, extended his right wing to Hohkir. chen. By this position, he preserved a communication with the army of his brother Prince Henry; he protected Brandenburg from the incursions of the Austrians; and at the same time that he se cured these interesting objects, he was better situated for throwing succours into Silesia, than he could be any where else, consistently with his general plan. The two armies kept the most watchful eye upon

each other's motions. The prin cipal aim of the King of Prussia seemed to have been the preventing M. Daun from communicating with Bohemia. The great intention of M. Daun was to cut off the King from Silesia. Things were so balanced, that it did not seem possible by mere skill in marches and positions to answer these ends very fully; therefore a battle seemed inevitable: but it seemed too, that, considering the situations of both armies, a battle could not be attempted without extreme danger to the party who should begin the attack.

M. Daun saw that if any more time was lost without action, the very season must oblige him to evacuate Saxony, and thus give up all the fruits of the campaign: he came to a resolution of giving the King of Prussia battle. But even in the vigour of this resolution, appeared the extreme caution which characterizes that able general. Having communicated his design to the Prince of Deux-Ponts, and settled measures with him, he marched in the dead of a very dark night, in three columns, towards the right of the King of Prussia's camp. Nothwithstanding the darkness of the night, notwithOct. 14. standing the necessary division of the Austrian army, the greatness of their numbers, and the length of way they had to march, yet such was the wise conduct and great good fortune of this design, that they all arrived at the same time at the Prussian camp, none having lost their way, without dis covery, without confusion, and be gan the attack with the utmost regularity and resolution at five o'clock in the morning.

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