rofessors
of all the sciences and exercises which tend to elucidate or improve the
art of war. By these institutions the army acquired, under Maria
Theresa, such a degree of perfection as it had never attained under any
of her predecessors; and a woman accomplished designs worthy of a great
man."

The queen immediately organized a standing army of one hundred and eight
thousand men, who were brought under the highest state of discipline,
and were encamped in such positions that they could, at any day, be
concentrated ready for combined action. The one great object which now
seemed to engross her mind was the recovery of Silesia. It was, of
course, a subject not to be spoken of openly; but in secret conference
with her ministers she unfolded her plans and sought counsel. Her
intense devotion to political affairs, united to a mind of great
activity and native strength, soon placed her above her ministers in
intelligence and sagacity; and conscious of superior powers, she leaned
less upon them, and relied upon her own resources. With a judgment thus
matured she became convinced of the incapacity of her cabinet, and with
great skill in the discernment of character, chose Count Kaunitz, who
was then her ambassador at Paris, prime minister. Kaunitz, son of the
governor of Moravia, had given signal proof of his diplomatic abilities,
in Rome and in Paris. For nearly forty years he remained at the head of
foreign affairs, and, in conjunction with the queen, administered the
government of Austria.

Policy had for some time allied Austria and England, but there had never
been any real friendship between the two cabinets. The high tone of
superiority ever assumed by the court of St. James, its offensive
declaration that the arm of England alone had saved the house of Austria
from utter ruin, and the imperious demand for corresponding gratitude,
annoyed and exasperated the proud court of Vienna. The British cabinet
were frequently remonstrated with against the assumption of such airs,
and the employment of language so haughty in their diplomatic
intercourse. But the British government has never been celebrated for
courtesy in its intercourse with weaker powers. The chancellor Kaunitz
entreated them, in their communications, to respect the sex and temper
of the queen, and not to irritate her by demeanor so overbearing. The
emperor himself entered a remonstrance against the discourtesy which
characterized their intercourse. Even the