OPERATIONS OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA.

Having thus particularized the operations of the allied army since the commencement of the campaign, we shall now endeavour to trace the steps of the king of Prussia, from the period to which his army was assembled for action. Having collected his force as soon as the season would permit, he undertook the siege of Schweidnitz in form on the twenty-first day of March; and carried on his operations with such vigour, that in thirteen days the garrison surrendered themselves prisoners of war, after having lost one half of their number in the defence of the place. While one part of Lis troops were engaged in this service, he himself, at the head of another, advanced to the eastern frontier of Bohemia, and sent a detachment as far as Trautenaw, garrisoned by a body of Austrians, who, after an obstinate resistance, abandoned the place, and retreated towards their grand army. By this success he opened to himself a way into Bohemia, by which he poured in detachments of light troops, to raise contributions and harass the out-posts of the enemy. At the same time the baron de la Mothe Fouquet marched with another body against the Austrian general Jahnus, posted in the county of Glatz, whom he obliged to abandon all the posts he occupied in that country, and pursued as far as Nashod, within twenty miles of Koningsgratz, where the grand Austrian army was encamped, under the command of mareschal Daun, who had lately arrived from Vienna. Over and above these excursions, the king ordered a body of thirty thousand men to be assembled, to act under the command of his brother prince Henry,* an accomplished warrior, against the army of the empire, which the prince de Deux-ponts, with great difficulty, made a shift to form again near Bamberg, in Franconia.

* At this juncture the Prussian commandant of Dresden being
admitted into the Japan palace, to see the curious
porcelaine with which it is adorned, perceived a door built
up; and ordering the passage to be opened, entered a large
apartment, where he found three thousand tents, and other
field utensils. These had been concealed here when the
Prussians first took possession of the city; they were
immediately seized by the commandant, and distributed among
the troops of prince Henry’s army.

The king of Prussia, whose designs were perhaps even greater than he cared to own, resolved to shift the theatre of the war, and penetrate into Moravia, a fertile country, which had hitherto been kept sacred from ravage and contribution. Having formed an army of fifty thousand choice troops, near Neiss, in Silesia, he divided them into three columns; the first commanded by mareschal Keith, the second by himself in person, and the third conducted by prince Maurice of Anhault-Dessau. In the latter end of April they began their march towards Moravia; and general De la Ville, who commanded a body of troops in that country, retired as they advanced, after having thrown a strong reinforcement into Olmutz, which the king was determined to besiege. Had he passed by this fortress, which was strongly fortified and well provided for a vigorous defence, he might have advanced to the gates of Vienna, and reduced the emperor to the necessity of suing for peace on his own terms; but it seems he was unwilling to deviate so far from the common maxims of war as to leave a fortified place in the rear; and, therefore, he determined to make himself master of it before he should proceed. For this purpose it was immediately invested: orders were issued to hasten up the heavy artillery, and mareschal Keith was appointed to superintend and direct the operations of the siege. Meanwhile the Austrian commander, count Daun, being informed of his Prussian majesty’s motions and designs, quitted his camp at Leutomyssel in Bohemia, and entered Moravia by the way of Billa. Being still too weak to encounter the Prussians in the field, he extended his troops in the neighbourhood of the king’s army, between Gewitz and Littau, in a mountainous situation, where he ran little or no risk of being attacked. Here he remained for some time in quiet, with the fertile country of Bohemia in his rear, from whence he drew plentiful supplies, and received daily reinforcements. His scheme was to relieve the besieged occasionally, to harass the besiegers, and to intercept their convoys from Silesia; and this scheme succeeded to his wish. Olmutz is so extensive in its works, and so peculiarly situated on the river Morava, that it could not be completely invested without weakening the posts of the besieging army, by extending them to a prodigious circuit; so that, in some parts, they were easily forced by detachments in the night, who fell upon them suddenly, and seldom failed to introduce into the place supplies of men, provisions, and ammunition. The forage in the neighbourhood of the city having been previously destroyed, the Prussian horse were obliged to make excursions at a great distance, consequently exposed to fatigue, and liable to surprise; and, in a word, the Prussians were not very expert in the art of town-taking.

Count Daun knew how to take advantage of these circumstances without hazarding a battle, to which the king provoked him in vain. While the garrison made repeated sallies to retard the operations of the besiegers, the’ Austrian general harassed their foraging parties, fell upon different quarters of their army in the night, and kept them in continual alarm. Nevertheless, the king finished his first parallel; and proceeded with such vigour as seemed to promise a speedy reduction of the place, when his design was entirely frustrated by an untoward incident. Mareschal Daun, having received intelligence that a large convoy had set out from Silesia for the Prussian camp, resolved to seize this opportunity of compelling the king to desist from his enterprise. He sent general Jahnus, with a strong body of troops, towards Bahrn, and another detachment to Stadtoliebe, with instructions to attack the convoy on different sides; while he himself advanced towards the besiegers, as if he intended to give them battle. The king of Prussia, far from being deceived by this feint, began, from the motions of the Austrian general, to suspect his real scheme, and immediately despatched general Ziethen, with a strong reinforcement, to protect the convoy, which was escorted by eight battalions, and about four thousand men, who had been sick, and were just recovered. Before this officer joined them, the convoy had been attacked on the twenty-eighth day of June; but the assailants were repulsed with considerable loss. Mareschal Daun, however, took care that they should be immediately reinforced; and next day the attack was renewed with much greater effect. Four hundred waggons, guarded by four battalions, and about one thousand troopers, had just passed the defiles of Domstadt, when the Austrians charged them furiously on every side; the communication between the head and the rest of the convoy was cut off; and general Ziethen, after having exerted all his efforts for its preservation, being obliged to abandon the waggons, retired to Troppau. Thus the whole convoy fell into the hands of the enemy, who took above six hundred prisoners, together with general Putkammer; and the king of Prussia was obliged to relinquish his enterprise. This was a mortifying necessity to a prince of his high spirit, at a time when he saw himself on the eve of reducing the place, notwithstanding the gallant defence which had been made by general Marshal the governor. Nothing now remained but to raise the siege, and retire without loss in the face of a vigilant enemy, prepared to seize every opportunity of advantage: a task which, how hard soever it may appear, he performed with equal dexterity and success. Instead of retiring into Silesia, he resolved to avert the war from his own dominions, and take the route to Bohemia, the frontiers of which were left uncovered by mareschal Daun’s last motion, when he advanced his quarters to Posnitz, in order to succour Olmutz the more effectually. After the king had taken his measures, he carefully concealed his design from the enemy, and, notwithstanding the loss of his convoy, prosecuted the operations of the siege with redoubled vigour till the first day of July, when he decamped in the night, and began his march to Bohemia. He himself, with one division, took the road to Konitz; and mareschal Keith having brought away all the artillery, except four mortars and one disabled cannon, pursued his march by the way of Littau to Muglitz and Tribau. Although his Prussian majesty had gained an entire march upon the Austrians, their light troops, commanded by the generals Buccow and Laudohn, did not fail to attend and harass his army in their retreat; but their endeavours were in a great measure frustrated by the conduct and circumspection of the Prussian commanders. After the rear of the army had passed the defiles of Krenau, general Lasci, who was posted at Gibau with a large body of Austrian troops, occupied the village of Krenau with a detachment of grenadiers, who were soon dislodged; and the Prussians pursued their march by Zwittau to Leutomyssel, where they seized a magazine of meal and forage. In the meantime general de Ratzow, who conducted the provisions and artillery, found the hills of Hollitz possessed by the enemy, who cannonaded him as he advanced; but mareschal Keith coming up, ordered them to be attacked in the rear, and they fled into a wood with precipitation, with the loss of six officers and three hundred men, who were taken prisoners. While’ the mareschal was thus employed, the king proceeded from Leutomyssel to Koningsgratz, where general Buccow, who had got the start of him, was posted with seven thousand men behind the Elbe, and in the intrenchments which they had thrown up all around the city. The Prussian troops as they arrived passed over the little river Adler, and as the enemy had broken down the bridges over the Elbe, the king ordered them to be repaired with all expedition, being determined to attack the Austrian intrenchments; but general Buccow did not wait for his approach: he abandoned his intrenchments, and retired with his troops to Clumetz; so that the king took possession of the most important post of Koningsgratz without further opposition. An Austrian corps having taken post between him and Hollitz, in order to obstruct the march of the artillery, he advanced against them in person, and having driven them from the place, all his cannon, military stores, provisions, with fifteen hundred sick and wounded men, arrived in safety at Koningsgratz, where the whole army encamped. His intention was to transfer the seat of war from Moravia to Bohemia, where he should be able to maintain a more easy communication with his own dominions; but a more powerful motive soon obliged him to change his resolution.