" the queen replied, tartly, "if I were to waste my
time, as you are urging me to do, in marching my troops from Bohemia to
the Rhine, and from the Rhine to the Netherlands. But as for my troops,
I have not a single general who would condescend to command such merely
_machinery_ armies. As for the Duke of Lorraine, and my brother, Prince
Charles, they shall not thus degrade themselves. The great duke is not
so ambitious of an empty honor, much less to enjoy it under the
patronage of Prussia. You speak of the imperial dignity! Is it
compatible with the loss of Silesia? Great God! give me only till
October. I shall then at least be able to secure better conditions."

The English ambassador now ventured, in guarded phrase, but very
decisively, to inform the queen that unless she could accede to these
views, England would be constrained to withdraw her assistance, and,
making the best terms she could for herself with the enemy, leave
Austria to fight her own battles; and that England requested an
immediate and a specific answer. Even this serious menace did not move
the inflexible will of the queen. She, with much calmness, replied,

"It is that I might, with the utmost promptness, attend to this
business, that I have given you so expeditious an audience, and that I
have summoned my council to meet so early. I see, however, very clearly,
that whatever may be my decisions, they will have but little influence
upon measures which are to be adopted elsewhere."

The queen convened her council, and then informed England, in most
courteous phrase, that she could not accede to the proposition. The
British cabinet immediately entered into a private arrangement with
Prussia, guaranteeing to Frederic the possession of Silesia, in
consideration of Prussia's agreement not to molest England's Hanoverian
possessions.

Maria Theresa was exceedingly indignant when she became acquainted with
this treaty. She sent peremptory orders to Prince Charles to prosecute
hostilities with the utmost vigor, and with great energy dispatched
reenforcements to his camp. The Hungarians, with their accustomed
enthusiasm, flocked to the aid of the queen; and Frederic, pressed by
superior numbers, retreated from Bohemia back to Silesia, pursued and
pelted in his turn by the artillery of Prince Charles. But Frederic soon
turned upon his foes, who almost surrounded him with double his own
number of men. His army was compact and in the highest state of
discip