But this victory on the Rhine was of no avail to Frederick in Bohemia. It did not diminish the hosts which Prince Charles was gathering against him. It did not add a soldier to his diminished columns, or supply his exhausted magazines, or replenish his empty treasury. Louis XV. was so delighted with the victory that he supposed Frederick would be in sympathy with him. He immediately dispatched a courier to the Prussian king with the glad tidings. But Frederick, disappointed, embarrassed, chagrined, instead of being gratified, was irritated by the news. He sent back the scornful reply that a victory upon the Scamander,84 or in the heart of China, would have been just as important to him.
The Queen of Hungary had purchased the co-operation of the Polish king by offering to surrender to him a generous portion of Silesia after the province should have been reconquered. Indeed, there was a great cause of apprehension that the allied army would make a rush upon Berlin itself. The aspect of his Prussian majestys affairs was now gloomy in the extreme.
FORE: Grief of the King over his Mothers Death.Interesting Letters.Forces in the Field.The March upon Dresden.Devotion of Wilhelmina.Atheism of the King.Wilhelmina to Voltaire.Despair of Frederick.Great Victory of Rossbach.Description of the Battle.Utter Rout of the Allies.Elation of Frederick.His Poem on the Occasion.Ravages of War.
It was a glorious victory. What was the price? Five thousand six hundred Prussian young men lay in their blood upon the field, dead or wounded. Six thousand seven hundred young men from Austrian homes lay by their side, silent in death, or groaning in anguish, lacerated by the missiles of war.Is it possible, sire, Marshal Belleisle replied, that you can dare to abandon the best of your allies, and to deceive so illustrious a monarch as the King of France?I will not sing jeremiades to you, nor speak of my fears or anxieties; but I can assure you that they are great. The crisis I am in changes in appearance, but nothing decisive happens. I am consumed by a slow fire; I am like a living body losing limb after limb. May Heaven assist us, for we have much need of it.He had his sword drawn, and continued to exercise the corps for an hour after. He made them wheel, march, form the square, and fire by divisions and in platoons, observing all their motions with infinite attention; and, on account of some blunder, put two officers of the Prince of Prussias regiment in arrest. In short, he seemed to exert himself with all the spirit of a young officer567 eager to attract the notice of his general by uncommon alertness.199BERLIN PALACE.As I could not get into the cabin, because it was all engaged, I staid with the other passengers in the steerage, and the weather being fine, came upon deck. After some time there stepped out of the cabin a man in cinnamon-colored coat with gold buttons; in black wig; face and coat considerably dusted with Spanish snuff. He looked at me fixedly for a while, and then said, without farther preface, Who are you, sir? This cavalier tone from an unknown person, whose exterior indicated nothing very important, did not please me, and I declined satisfying his curiosity. He was silent. But some time after he assumed a more courteous tone, and said, Come in here to me, sir. You will be better here than in the steerage amidst the tobacco-smoke.
