BATTLE OF CUNERSDORF.

Having determined to hazard an attack, he made his disposition, and on the twelfth day of August, at two in the morning, his troops were in motion. The army feeing formed in a wood, advanced towards the enemy, and about eleven the action was begun with a severe cannonade. This having produced the desired effect, he charged the left wing of the Russian army with his best troops formed in columns. After a very obstinate dispute, the enemy’s intrenchments were forced with great slaughter, and seventy pieces of cannon fell into the hands of the Prussians. A narrow defile was afterwards passed, and several redoubts that covered the village of Cunersdorf were taken by assault, one after another: one-half of the task was not yet performed; the Russians made a firm stand at the village, but they were overborne by the impetuosity of the Prussians, who drove them from post to post up to the last redoubts they had to defend. As the Russians kept their ground until they were hewn down in their ranks, this success was not acquired without infinite labour, and a considerable expense of blood. After a furious contest of six hours, fortune seemed to declare so much in favour of the Prussians, that the king despatched the following billet to the queen at Berlin:—“Madam, we have driven the Russians from their intrenchments. In two hours expect to hear of a glorious victory.” This intimation was premature, and subjected the writer to the ridicule of his enemies. The Russians were staggered, not routed. General Soltikoff rallied his troops, and reinforced his left wing under cover of a redoubt, which was erected on an eminence called the Jews’ Burying-ground, and here they stood in order of battle, with the most resolute countenance, favoured by the situation, which was naturally difficult of access, and now rendered almost impregnable by the fortification, and a numerous artillery, still greatly superior to that of the Prussians. Had the king contented himself with the advantage already gained, all the world would have acknowledged he had fought against terrible odds with astonishing prowess, and that he judiciously desisted when he could no longer persevere, without incurring the imputation of being actuated by frenzy or despair. His troops had not only suffered severely from the enemy’s fire, which was close, deliberate, and well directed; but they were fatigued by the hard service, and fainting with the heat of the day, which was excessive. His general officers are said to have reminded him of all these circumstances, and to have dissuaded him from hazarding an attempt attended with such danger and difficulty, as even an army of fresh troops could hardly hope to surmount. He rejected this salutary advice, and ordered his infantry to begin a new attack, which being an enterprise beyond their strength, they were repulsed with great slaughter. Being afterwards rallied, they returned to the charge; they miscarried again, and their loss was redoubled. Being thus rendered unfit for further service, the cavalry succeeded to the attack, and repeated their unsuccessful efforts, until they were almost broke, and entirely exhausted. At this critical juncture, the whole body of the Austrian and Russian cavalry, which had hitherto remained inactive, and were therefore fresh and in spirits, fell in among the Prussian horse with great fury, broke their line at the first charge, and forcing them back upon the infantry, threw them into such disorder as could not be repaired. The Prussian army being thus involved in confusion, was seized with a panic, and in a few minutes totally defeated and dispersed, notwithstanding the personal efforts of the king, who hazarded his life in the hottest parts of the battle, led on his troops three times to the charge, had two horses killed under him, and his clothes in several parts penetrated with musket-balls. His army being routed, and the greater part of his generals either killed or disabled by wounds, nothing but the approach of night could have saved him from total ruin. When he abandoned the field of battle, he despatched another billet to the queen, couched in these terms: “Remove from Berlin with the royal family. Let the archives be carried to Potsdam. The town may make conditions with the enemy.” The horror and confusion which this intimation produced at Berlin may be easily conceived: horror the more aggravated, as it seized them in the midst of their rejoicings occasioned by the first despatch; and this was still more dreadfully augmented, by a subsequent indistinct relation, importing that the army was totally routed, the king missing, and the enemy in full march to Berlin. The battle of Cunersdorf was by far the most bloody action which happened since the commencement of hostilities. The carnage was truly horrible: above twenty thousand Prussians lay dead on the field; and among these general Putkammer. The generals Seydlitz, Itzenplitz, Hulsen, Finck, and Wedel, the prince of Wirtemberg, and five major-generals, were wounded. The loss of the enemy amounted to ten thousand. It must be owned, that if the king was prodigal of his own person, he was likewise very free with the lives of his subjects. At no time, since the days of ignorance and barbarity, were the lives of men squandered away with such profusion as in the course of this German war. They were not only unnecessarily sacrificed in various exploits of no consequence, but lavishly exposed to all the rigour and distemper of winter campaigns, which were introduced on the continent, in despite of nature, and in contempt of humanity. Such are the improvements of warriors without feeling! such the refinements of German discipline! On the day that succeeded the defeat at Cunersdorf, the king of Prussia, having lost the best part of his army, together with his whole train of artillery, repassed the Oder, and encamped at Retwin, from whence he advanced to Fustenwalde, and saw with astonishment the forbearance of the enemy. Instead of taking possession of Berlin, and overwhelming the wreck of the king’s troops, destitute of cannon, and cut off from all communication with prince Henry, they took no step to improve the victory they had gained. Laudohn retired with his horse immediately after the battle; and count Soltikoff marched with part of the Russians into Lusatia, where he joined Daun, and held consultations with that general. Perhaps the safety of the Prussian monarch was owing to the jealousy subsisting among his enemies. In all probability, the court of Vienna would have been chagrined to see the Russians in possession of Brandenburgh, and therefore thwarted their designs upon that electorate. The king of Prussia had now reason to be convinced, that his situation could not justify such a desperate attack as that in which he had miscarried at Cunersdorf; for if the Russians did not attempt the reduction of his capital, now that he was totally defeated, and the flower of his army cut off, they certainly would not have aspired at that conquest while he lay encamped in the neighbourhood with fifty thousand veterans, inured to war, accustomed to conquer, confident of success, and well supplied with provisions, ammunition, and artillery. As the victors allowed him time to breathe, he improved this interval with equal spirit and sagacity. He re-assembled and refreshed his broken troops: he furnished his camp with cannon from the arsenal at Berlin, which likewise supplied him with a considerable number of recruits; he recalled general Kleist, with five thousand men, from Pome-rania, and in a little time retrieved his former importance.