KING OF PRUSSIA DEFEATS THE AUSTRIANS AT TORGAU.

The king of Prussia, in his march through Lusatia, was still attended by count Daun, at the head of his grand army, and both passed the Elbe about the latter end of October. The Prussian crossed the river at Coswick, where he was joined by the troops under prince Eugene of Wirtemberg and general Ilulsen, so that his army now amounted to eighty thousand fighting men, with whom he resolved to strike some stroke of importance. Indeed, at this time his situation was truly critical. General Laudohn, with a considerable body of Austrians, remained in Silesia; the Russian army still threatened Breslau, the capital of that country. The Imperialists and Austrians had taken possession of all the great towns in Saxony, and were masters on both sides of the Elbe. In the eastern part of Pomerania, the Russians had invested Colberg by sea and land, seemingly determined to reduce the place, that they might have a seaport by which they could be supplied with provisions, ammunition, necessaries, and reinforcements, without the trouble and inconvenience of a long and laborious march from the banks of the Vistula. On the western side of Pomerania, the war, which had hitherto languished, was renewed by the Swedes with uncommon vivacity. They passed the river Pene without opposition; and obliging general Stutterheim to retreat, advanced as far as Stransberg. That officer, however, being reinforced, attacked a Swedish post at Passelvalik, slew about five hundred of the enemy, and took an equal number, with six pieces of cannon; but he was not numerous enough to keep the field against their whole army. Thus the Prussian monarch saw himself obliged to abandon Silesia, deprived of all the places he held in Saxony, which had been his best resource; and in danger of being driven into his hereditary country of Brandenburgh, which was unable either to maintain, or even to recruit, his army. On this emergency he resolved to make one desperate effort against the grand Austrian army under count Daun, who had passed the Elbe at Torgau, and advanced to Eulenbourg, from whence, however, he retreated to his former camp at Torgau; and the king chose his situation between this last place and Schilda, at Lang-Reichenbach, where the hussars attacked a body of horse under general Brentano, and made four hundred prisoners. The right wing of the Austrians being at Groswich, and their left at Torgau, the Prussian king determined to attack them next day, which was the third of November. His design was to march through the wood of Torgau by three different routes, with thirty battalions and fifty squadrons of his left wing: the first line was ordered to advance by the way of Mackrene to Neiden; the second by Peckhutte to Elsnick; and the third, consisting of cavalry, to penetrate by the wood of Wildenhayn to Vogelsand. On the other hand, general Ziethen was directed to take the great Leipsic road, with thirty battalions and seventy squadrons of the right; and quitting it at the ponds of Torgau, to attack the village of Suptitz and Groswich. The king’s line, in its march, fell in with a corps of Austrians under general Reid, who retired into the wood of Torgau; and another more considerable body, posted in the wood of Wildenhayn, likewise retreated to Groswich, after having fired some pieces of artillery; but the dragoons of Saint Ignon, being enclosed between two columns of Prussian infantry, were either killed or taken. By two in the afternoon the king had penetrated through the wood to the plain of Neiden, from whence another body of the enemy retired to Torgau, where a continued noise of cannon and small arms declared that general Ziethen was already engaged. The Prussians immediately advanced at a quicker pace, and passing the morasses near Neiden, inclined to the right in three lines, and soon came to action. Daun had chosen a very advantageous position: his right extended to Groswich, and his left to Zinne: while his infantry occupied some eminences along the road of Leipsic, and his front was strength-ened with no less than two hundred pieces of cannon. His second line was disposed on an extent of ground, which terminated in hillocks towards the Elbe; and against this the king directed his attack. He had already given his troops to understand that his affairs were in such a situation, that they must either conquer or perish: and they began the battle with the most desperate impetuosity; but they met with such a warm reception from the artillery, small arms, and in particular from the Austrian carabineers, that their grenadiers were shattered and repulsed. The second charge, though enforced with incredible vigour, was equally unsuccessful: then the king ordered his cavalry to advance, and they fell upon some regiments of infantry with such fury as obliged them to give way. These, however, were compelled to retire, in their turn, before about seventy battalions of the enemy, who advanced towards Torgau, stretching with their right to the Elbe, and their left to Zinne. While the prince of Holstein rallied his cavalry, and returned to the charge, the third line of Prussian infantry attacked the vineyard of Suptitz, and general Ziethen with the right wing took the enemy in rear. This disposition threw the Austrians into disorder; which was greatly augmented by the disaster of count Daun, who was dangerously wounded in the thigh, and carried off the field of battle. But the Prussians could not pursue their victory, because the action had lasted until nine; and the night being unusually dark, facilitated the retreat of the enemy, who crossed the Elbe on three bridges of boats thrown over the river at Torgau. The victor possessed the field of battle, with seven thousand prisoners, including two hundred officers, twenty-nine pair of colours, one standard, and about forty pieces of cannon. The carnage was very great on both sides; about three thousand Prussians were killed, and five thousand wounded; and, in the first attacks, two general officers, with fifteen hundred soldiers, were made prisoners by the enemy. The king, as usual, exposed his person in every part of the battle, and a musket-ball grazed upon his breast. In the morning, the king of Prussia entered Torgau; then he secured Meissen, and took possession of Fribourg: so that, in consequence of this well-timed victory, his position was nearly the same as at the opening of the campaign.

The Austrians, however, notwithstanding this check, maintained their ground in the neighbourhood of Dresden; while the Prussians were distributed in quarters of cantonment in and about Leipsic and Meissen. As the Austrian general had, after the battle, recalled his detachments, general Laudohn abandoned Landshut, wrhich again fell into the hands of the Prussians, and the Imperial army was obliged to retire into Franconia. The Swedes having penetrated a great way into Pom-crania, returned again to their winter-quarters at Stralsund; and the Russian generals measured back their way to the Vistula: so that the confederates gained little else in the course of this campaign but the contributions which they raised in Berlin, and the open country of Brandenburgh. Had the allies been heartily bent upon crushing the Prussian monarch, one would imagine the Russians and Swedes might have joined their forces in Pomerania, and made good their winter-quarters in Brandenburgh, where they could have been supplied with magazines from the Baltic, and been at hand to commence their operations in the spring; but, in all probability, such an establishment in the empire would have given umbrage to the Germanic body.