arles pressed the retiring
hosts, and followed closely after them through the passes of the
mountains to Landshut and Friedburg. Frederic fled as if in a panic,
throwing no obstacle in the path of his pursuers, seeming only anxious
to gain the ramparts of Breslau. Suddenly the Prussians turned--the
whole army being concentrated in columns of enormous strength. They had
chosen their ground and their hour. It was before the break of day on
the 3d of June, among the hills of Hohenfriedberg. The Austrians were
taken utterly by surprise. For seven hours they repelled the impetuous
onset of their foes. But when four thousand of their number were mangled
corpses, seven thousand captives in the hands of the enemy, seventy-six
standards and sixty-six pieces of artillery wrested from them, the
broken bands of the Austrians turned and fled, pursued and incessantly
pelted by Frederic through the defiles of the mountains back to Bohemia.
The Austrians found no rest till they had escaped beyond the
Riesengeberg, and placed the waves of the Elbe between themselves and
their pursuers. The Prussians followed to the opposite bank, and there
the two armies remained for three months looking each other in the face.

Frederic, having gained so signal a victory, again proposed peace.
England, exceedingly desirous to detach from the allies so energetic a
foe, urged the queen, in the strongest terms, to accede to the
overtures. The queen, however, never dismayed by adversity, still
adhered to her resolve to reconquer Silesia. The English cabinet,
finding Maria Theresa deaf to all their remonstrances and entreaties,
endeavored to intimidate her by the threat of withdrawing their
subsidies.

The English ambassador, Sir Thomas Robinson, with this object in view,
demanded an audience with the queen. The interview, as he has recorded
it, is worthy of preservation.

"England," said the ambassador to the queen, "has this year furnished
five million, three hundred and ninety-three thousand seven hundred and
sixty-five dollars. The nation is not in a condition to maintain a
superiority over the allies in the Netherlands, Italy and Silesia. It
is, therefore, indispensable to diminish the force of the enemy. France
can not be detached from the alliance. Prussia can be and must be. This
concession England expects from Austria. What is to be done must be done
immediately. The King of Prussia can not be driven from Bohemia this
campaign. By making peace w