120

ITALIAN CAMPAIGN, 1743.

[CHAP. XLVI. with the Austrians under Count Traun, at Campo Santo, on the Tanaro. The Prince de Conti and Don Philip passed the Var and succeeded in occupying Nice, in April; but were compelled to relinquish the enterprise, as the Genoese Senate, alarmed by the threats of Admiral Matthews, who told them that if they permitted the French and Spaniards to pass through their territories, he should regard it as a breach of their neutrality and commence hostilities against them accordingly, refused the invaders a passage. They were, therefore, compelled to retire, leaving garrisons in Nice and Villa Franca. They then made an attempt by the valley of Barcelonette (July), penetrated into the valley of the Stura, and laid siege to Coni, September 12th. The King of Sardinia gave them battle on the 30th of that month at Madonna dell' Olmo; and, although they gained the advantage, the autumn floods and want of supplies compelled them to raise the siege (October 22nd), and retire with great loss over the mountains. Meanwhile, in Southern Italy, the Austrians had advanced into the Campagna. Don Carlos, believing himself menaced, marched against them; many bloody skirmishes took place in the neighbourhood of Veletri, but nothing decisive was accomplished, and in November the Austrians retired.

Louis XV. made a formal declaration of war against George II. (March 15th, 1744), and against Maria Theresa (April 26th), and in May he put himself at the head of the grand army of the Netherlands. He is said to have been stimulated to this unwonted energy by a new mistress, Madame de la Tournelle, whom he created Duchess de Châteauroux; the fourth sister of the family of Nesle that had successively passed into his incestuous embraces. The army numbered 80,000 men under the command of Marshal Noailles and Count Maurice of Saxony. The latter, who, under the name of Marshal Saxe, became so celebrated as a general, was one of the numerous natural sons of Augustus II., the late King of Poland, by the beautiful Aurora von Königsmark, the foiled tempter of Charles XII. of Sweden. He had procured himself to be elected Duke of Courland by the States of that Duchy in 1726, and, after disputing his title with an heroic temerity against Russia and Poland, had finally placed himself in the service of France. Noailles had seen and appreciated his military genius in

It is related that the King's confessor, the Jesuit Lémeri, not being able to give him absolution, advised him, in order to save appearances, to communicate in blank, or with unconsecrated wafers. Louis was

so shocked with the proposal that he banished the confessor. Chronique du règne de Louis XT. ap. Martin, t. XV. p. 265. The story reflects still less credit on the Jesuit than on the King.

CHAP. XLVI.]

CAMPAIGN ON THE RHINE, 1744.

121

Bohemia, and as France was in want of generals, procured for him a marshal's bâton, though the King was prejudiced against him as a Protestant. During the month of June, Courtrai, Menin, Ypres, the fort of Knoque, Dixmude, successively yielded to the arms of Louis. Meanwhile, however, the advance of the Austrians threatened the safety of Alsace, and the King, after taking Furnes, July 10th, hastened with the élite of his troops to the protection of that Province, leaving Marshal Saxe in Flanders to conduct a defensive campaign, which covered him with glory.

Prince Charles of Lorraine and Field-Marshal Traun, crossing the Rhine a few leagues from Philippsburg, had seized Lauterburg, Weissenburg, and the line of the Lauter. The French Marshal, Coigny, reinforced by the Emperor's Bavarians-the neutrality agreed upon having been broken and repudiated-after retaking Weissenburg, which he could not hold, had retreated behind the Moder, and afterwards on Strasburg. Parties of Croats, Hungarians, and other Austrian partisans, now inundated Alsace, and even pressed on into Lorraine. The King had fallen sick at Metz, where his life was despaired of; but Noailles succeeded in effecting a junction with Coigny by the defile of Ste. Marie aux Mines. Prince Charles now received orders to recross the Rhine; an operation which he effected with little loss in the face of a superior enemy. The Queen of Hungary, abandoning for the present the project of reconquering Alsace and Lorraine, recalled her troops in order to repel an invasion of Bohemia by the King of Prussia. But we must trace this affair a little higher.

The Treaty of Worms (supra, p. 118) had given great offence to Frederick. By the second article of it the contracting parties guaranteed to one another all the kingdoms, states, &c., which they then possessed, or which they were entitled to possess, in virtue of the Treaties of Turin (1703), Utrecht, and Baden, the Quadruple Alliance, the Treaty of Vienna (March, 1731), the consequent guarantee of the Empire (January, 1732), the Act of Accession, signed at Vienna, November 12th, 1738, and that signed at Versailles, February 3rd, 1739.2 This was, in fact, to guarantee to the Queen of Hungary the reconquest of Silesia. Frederick's anger and alarm were increased by a clause of the Thirteenth Article: that as soon as Italy should be delivered from

The Parisians, in their joy for his recovery, and in admiration of his warlike exploits, gave him the name of Louis le bien aimé; a sobriquet which is said to have roused in him no feeling except

a well-founded astonishment. Voltaire, Guerre de 1741, ap. Martin, t. xv. p. 271. 2 Garden, Hist. des Traités, t. iii. p. 294; Wenck, B. i. p. 682; ct. Hist. de mon Temps, ch. viii.“

122

UNION OF FRANKFORT.

[CHAP. XLVI. its enemies, the King of Sardinia should furnish men for the safeguard of Lombardy, in order that the Queen might be enabled to withdraw part of her troops from that country and employ them. in Germany.

In Germany? Against whom? Maria Theresa was allied with Saxony. She had humiliated Bavaria. Against whom, then, could she meditate war but Prussia? There was an end, Frederick concluded, to the Peace of Breslau, especially as the Queen took no pains to conceal her regret for the loss of Silesia. At the sight of a Silesian, as the English Ambassador, Robinson, wrote to his Court, she would forget the Queen, and burst into tears like a woman.' Frederick's jealousy was further increased by a treaty, concluded December 20th, 1743, at Vienna, between Austria and Saxony, containing a renewed guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction, without any exception with regard to Silesia; as well as by another entered into at St. Petersburg, February 4th, 1744, between the King of Poland and the Empress of Russia, by which the Alliance of 1733 was renewed with some modifications.2 Besides these grounds for apprehension, Frederick was also of opinion that the Queen of Hungary was pushing matters too far against Charles VII. by aiming to deprive him of the Imperial Crown, Against the League of Austria, Great Britain, Russia, Saxony, Sardinia, and the States-General, he therefore resolved to oppose a double league, one with France and one with the States of the Empire.

The Secret Treaty with France was signed June 5th, 1744, but had probably been arranged some time before. The Cabinet of Versailles seems to have entered into it with a view to divert the Austrians from their attack by engaging the King of Prussia in a war with them, and encouraging him to invade Bohemia; of which Kingdom, after its conquest, Frederick was to retain certain districts. The alliance with the Emperor Charles VII. seems to have been designed by Frederick to give a colourable pretence to his attack upon Bohemia. This alliance, known by the name of the UNION OF FRANKFORT, was signed by the Emperor, the King of Prussia, the Elector Palatine, and the King of Sweden, as Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, May 22nd, 1744. Its professed objects were, to maintain the German Constitution, to compel the Court of Vienna to recognize Charles VII. as Emperor, and restore to him his Bavarian dominions. By separate articles, and by a further

Raumer, Friedrich II. S. 160.

2 Martens, Supplément au Recueil, t. iii. p. 15. 3 Garden, t. iii. p. 311.

CHAP. XLVI.]

SECOND SILESIAN WAR.

123

secret treaty between the Emperor and the King of Prussia alone, signed July 24th, Bohemia, after its conquest, was to be made over to the Emperor and his heirs; in return for which Charles was to cede Silesia to Prussia, together with the three circles of Bohemia nearest to that Province, namely, Königsgrätz, Buntzlau, and Leitmeritz, with some other places. Frederick also guaranteed to the Emperor Upper Austria, so soon as he should have conquered it. France acceded to both these treaties.'

Early in August Frederick himself communicated the Union of Frankfort to the Court of Vienna, and declared that, as a member of the Empire, he could not evade his duty of providing a contingent of auxiliary troops for the service of the Emperor, but that in other respects he should observe all his engagements with the Queen of Hungary. In the course of that month he commenced what has been called the SECOND SILESIAN WAR by marching 80,000 men into Bohemia. The army advanced in three columns. One, led by the King in person, passed through Saxony, regardless of the protests of the Court of Dresden; another, under Leopold of Dessau, took the route of Lusatia; while the third, under Field-Marshal Schmettau, debouching from Silesia and Glatz, entered Bohemia by Braunau. The united columns marched upon Prague, which surrendered, after a siege of six days, September 16th. Frederick, ignorant of the strong alliance between the King of Poland and the Court of Vienna, had hoped to gain Augustus, and made some tempting offers to him and his minister, Brühl. Augustus, however, ordered his army, 24,000 men strong, to enter Bohemia; nor could Frederick prevent their junction at Eger with Charles of Lorraine and the Austrian army retiring from Alsace. Neither the French under Noailles, nor the Imperialists under Seckendorf, who was suspected of having sold himself to the Court of Vienna, had attempted to arrest the march of the Austrians through Suabia, Franconia, and Bavaria. After their junction at Eger the Austrian and Saxon forces amounted to 90,000 men. The King of Prussia had but small prospect of successfully opposing them; especially as the Bohemian population, mostly Catholics, were inimical to the Prussians, instead of assisting them, like the Silesians. Frederick, therefore, determined to retreat. Leaving a garrison of 10,000 men at Prague, he crossed the Elbe at Kolin, November 9th, and gained the County of Glatz with rapid marches. The Prussian garrison was

Rousset, t. xviii. p. 446; Wenck, t. ii. p. 163. The Treaty of Union and

separate article, are in the appendix to Garden's third volume.

124

CHARLES VII. RECOVERS MUNICH.

[CHAP. XLVI. also compelled to evacuate Prague, and arrived at Friedland with great loss.

Frederick seems rather to have outwitted himself on this occasion. France obtained her ends by procuring the withdrawal of the Austrian army from Alsace; but the French did nothing to assist Frederick, though they made some fine promises, of which he now knew the value, for next spring. This was, however, a game of which he was little entitled to complain. The French, in turn, had their suspicions of him, and were apprehensive that he might desert them, and again negotiate with Maria Theresa, as he had done in 1742. Such mutual distrust is the necessary penalty of finesse. To avenge Frederick's unlucky attempt upon Bohemia, the Austrians under Nadasti, and the Hungarians under Counts Palfy, Esterhazy, and Caroli-for another Hungarian "insurrection" had taken place in favour of Maria Theresabroke into Upper Silesia and the County of Glatz, from which, with the exception of the towns of Neisse, Kosel, and Glatz, they totally expelled the Prussians before the end of 1744. In a proclamation, issued December 4th, it was notified that the whole Silesian territory had returned under the dominion of the Queen of Hungary. But the assumption was premature. Old Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau, to whom Frederick committed the task, succeeded in nearly clearing Silesia of the Austrians before the following spring. Meanwhile the French, instead of succouring Frederick, had employed themselves in taking Freiburg in the Breisgau, which surrendered November 5th. The Prussian attack upon Bohemia had also proved of service to the Emperor by withdrawing a great part of the Austrian troops from his Electorate in order to repel it. Seckendorf, assisted by some French troops, took advantage of this circumstance to drive out the remainder. Munich was recovered, October 16th, and Charles VII. was enabled once more to return to his capital.

The Italian campaign of 1744 was unfavourable to the Austrians. In the preceding year, they had, as we have seen, driven the Spaniards almost to the Neapolitan frontier, and, in spite of the neutrality imposed upon it, seemed to threaten an invasion of that Kingdom. To avert it, Don Carlos, after taking all possible precautions against an attack upon his capital from the sea, joined the Spaniards with his forces, and enabled them to drive the Austrians and Piedmontese out of the Papal territories.

The invasion of Bohemia by the Prussians produced what has Adelung, Staatsgeschichte, B. iv. S. 181.

1