the Prussian garrison, retreating by night through a remote gate, left
the city in the hands of the Austrians.

It was now mid-winter. But the iron-nerved Frederic, undismayed by these
terrible reverses, collected the scattered fragments of his army, and,
finding himself at the head of thirty thousand men, advanced to Breslau
in the desperate attempt to regain his capital. His force was so
inconsiderable as to excite the ridicule of the Austrians. Upon the
approach of Frederic, Prince Charles, disdaining to hide behind the
ramparts of the city on the defensive, against a foe thus insulting him
with inferior numbers, marched to meet the Prussians. The interview
between Prince Charles and Frederic was short but very decisive, lasting
only from the hour of dinner to the going down of a December's sun. The
twilight of the wintry day had not yet come when seven thousand
Austrians were lying mangled in death on the blood-stained snow. Twenty
thousand were made prisoners. All the baggage of the Austrian army, the
military chest, one hundred and thirty-four pieces of cannon, and
fifty-nine standards fell into the hands of the victors. For this
victory Frederic paid the price of five thousand lives; but _life_ to
the poor Prussian soldier must have been a joyless scene, and death must
have been a relief.

Frederic now, with triumphant banners, approached the city. It
immediately capitulated, surrendering nearly eighteen thousand soldiers,
six hundred and eighty-six officers and thirteen generals as prisoners
of war. In this one storm of battle, protracted through but a few days,
Maria Theresa lost fifty thousand men. Frederic then turned upon the
Russians, and drove them out of Silesia. The same doom awaited the
Swedes, and they fled precipitately to winter quarters behind the cannon
of Stralsund. Thus terminated the memorable campaign of 1757, the most
memorable of the Seven Years' War. The Austrian army was almost
annihilated; but the spirit of the strife was not subdued in any breast.

The returning sun of spring was but the harbinger of new woes for
war-stricken Europe. England, being essentially a maritime power, could
render Frederic but little assistance in troops; but the cabinet of St.
James was lavish in voting money. Encouraged by the vigor Frederic had
shown, the British cabinet, with enthusiasm, voted him an annual subsidy
of three million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Austria was so exhausted in means