ed to persuade her to give up part of her
possessions for the preservation of the rest, it was evident that he
was the first and only invader, and that, till he entered in a hostile
manner, all her estates were unmolested.

To his promises of assistance she replied, "that she set a high value
on the king of Prussia's friendship; but that he was already obliged
to assist her against her invaders, both by the golden bull, and the
pragmatick sanction, of which he was a guarantee, and that, if these
ties were of no force she knew not what to hope from other
engagements."

Of his offers of alliances with Russia and the maritime powers, she
observed, that it could be never fit to alienate her dominions for the
consolidation of an alliance formed only to keep them entire.

With regard to his interest in the election of an emperour, she
expressed her gratitude in strong terms; but added, that the election
ought to be free, and that it must be necessarily embarrassed by
contentions thus raised in the heart of the empire. Of the pecuniary
assistance proposed, she remarks, that no prince ever made war to
oblige another to take money, and that the contributions already
levied in Silesia exceed the two millions, offered as its purchase.

She concluded, that as she values the king's friendship, she was
willing to purchase it by any compliance but the diminution of her
dominions, and exhorted him to perform his part in support of the
pragmatick sanction.

The king, finding negotiation thus ineffectual, pushed forward his
inroads, and now began to show how secretly he could take his
measures. When he called a council of war, he proposed the question in
a few words: all his generals wrote their opinions in his presence
upon separate papers, which he carried away, and, examining them in
private, formed his resolution, without imparting it otherwise than by
his orders.

He began not without policy, to seize first upon the estates of the
clergy, an order every where necessary, and every where envied. He
plundered the convents of their stores of provision; and told them,
that he never had heard of any magazines erected by the apostles.

This insult was mean, because it was unjust; but those who could not
resist were obliged to bear it. He proceeded in his expedition; and a
detachment of his troops took Jablunca, one of the strong places of
Silesia, which was soon after abandoned, for want of provisions, which
the Austrian hussars,