GEN. LAUDOHN DEFEATS GEN. FOUQUET, AND REDUCES GLATZ.

In the month of June, general Laudohn made an unsuccessful attempt to carry Glatz by assault; but he succeeded better in his next enterprise. Understanding that general Fouquet, who occupied the posts at Landshut, had weakened himself by sending off detachments under the majors-general Zeithen and Grant, he resolved to attack him with such a superiority of number that he should not be able to resist. Accordingly, on the the twenty-third day of June, at two in the morning, he began the assault with his whole army upon some redoubts which Fouquet occupied; and these were carried one after another, though not without a very desperate opposition. General Fouquet being summoned to surrender, refused to submit; and having received two wounds, was at length taken prisoner: about three thousand of his men escaped to Breslan; the rest were killed or taken: but the loss of the victors is said to have exceeded that of the vanquished. In July, general Laudohn undertook the siege of Glatz, which was taken after a very faint resistance; for, on the very day the batteries were opened against the place, the garrison abandoned part of the fortifications, which the besiegers immediately occupied. The Prussians made repeated efforts to regain the ground they had lost; but they were repulsed in all their attempts. At length the garrison laid down their arms, and surrendered at discretion. From this tame behaviour of the Prussians, one would imagine the garrison must have been very weak; a circumstance which we cannot reconcile with the known sagacity of the Prussian monarch, as the place was of great importance, on account of the immense magazine it contained, including above one hundred brass cannon, a great number of mortars, and a vast quantity of ammunition.

Laudohn, encouraged by this success at Glatz, advanced immediately to Breslau, which he began to bombard with great fury 564 [See Note 4 P, at the end of this Vol.]; but, before he could make a regular attack, he found himself obliged to retire. Prince Henry of Prussia, one of the most accomplished generals which this age produced, having received repeated intelligence that the Russian army intended to join Laudohn at Breslau, resolved to advance and give them battle before the purposed junction. In the latter end of July he began his march from Gleissen, and on the last day of that month had reached Linden, near Slauve, where he understood that Tottleben’s detachment only had passed through the plains of Polnich-Lissa, and that the grand Russian army had marched through Kosten and Gustin. The prince finding it impossible to pursue them by that route, directed his march to Glogau, where he learned that Breslau was besieged by general Laudohn, and immediately advanced by forced marches to its relief. Such was his expedition, that in five days he marched above one hundred and twenty English miles; and at his approach the Austrian general abandoned his enterprise. Thus, by his prudence and activity, he not only prevented the junction of the Russian and Austrian armies, but also saved the capital of Silesia; and hampered Laudohn in such a manner as subjected him to a defeat by the Prussian monarch, to whose motions we shall now turn our attention.