THE PRINCE OF PRUSSIA LEAVES THE ARMY.

The corps under the prince of Prussia, which had been witnesses to the destruction of this unhappy place, was by the king’s march to Bautzen, fortunately extricated from the danger of being surrounded by the Austrians, who, upon his majesty’s approach, retired from their posts on the right. Soon after this event, the prince of Prussia, finding his health much impaired by the fatigues of the campaign,* quitted the army, and returned to Berlin.

* This was the reason that was publicly assigned for his
quitting the army; but a much more probable one, which was
only whispered, seems to have been, that this prince, than
whom none ever was more remarkable for humanity and the
social virtues, disliking the violent proceedings of the
king his brother, could not refrain from expostulating with
him on that subject: upon which his majesty, with an air of
great disapprobation, told him, “That the air of Berlin
would be better for him than that of the camp.” The prince
accordingly retired to Berlin, where he died soon after;
grief and concern for the welfare of his brother, and for
the steps taken by him, having no small share in his death.

In the meantime, mareschal Keith, who had been left upon the frontier to guard the passes of the mountains of Bohemia, arrived at Pima, having been much harassed in his march by the enemy’s irregular troops, and lost some waggons of provisions and baggage. After resting a day at Pirna, he pursued his march through Dresden with twenty battalions and forty squadrons, and encamped on the right of the Elbe, before the gate of the new city, from whence he joined the king between Bautzen and Coerlitz. The Prussian array, now re-assembled at this place, amounted to about sixty thousand men, besides twelve battalions and ten squadrons which remained in the famous camp at Pirna, under the prince of Anhault-Dessau, to cover Dresden, secure the gorges of the mountains, and check the incursions of the Austrian irregulars, with whom, as they were continually flying about the skirts of the Prussian army, as well in their encampments as on their marches, almost daily skirmishes happened, with various success. Though some of these encounters were very bloody, they cost the Prussians much fewer men than they lost by desertion since the battle of Kolin. The reason seems obvious:—the Prussian army had been recruited, in times of peace, from all parts of Germany; and though this way of recruiting may be very proper in such times, yet it cannot be expected to answer in a state of actual war, especially an unfortunate war: because the fidelity of such soldiers can never be so much depended on as that of natives, who serve their natural sovereign from principle, and not merely for pay, and who must desert their country, their parents, and their friends, at the same time that they desert their prince.