April, 1760, in Trial of
Lord George Sackville_ (London, 1760)]. In Knesebeck, _Ferdinand wahrend
des siebenjahrigen Krieges_ (i. 395), Ferdinand's Letter to Friedrich of
"July 31st;" and (i. 398-418 and ii. 33-36) many special details about
Sackville and "August 1st."

"And what is this one hears from Gohfeld in the evening? The Hereditary
Prince, busy there on us during the very hours of Minden, has blown our
rear-guard division to the winds there;--and we must move southward,
one and all of us, without a moment's delay! Out of this rabbit-hole
the retreat by rearward is through a difficult country, the Westphalian
Gates so called; fatal to Varus's Legions long ago. Contades got under
way that very night; lost most of his baggage, all his conquests, that
shadow-conquest of Hanover, and more than all his glories (Versailles
shrieking on him, 'Resign you; let Broglio be chief,);--and, on the
whole, jumbled homeward hither and thither, gravitating towards the
Rhine, nothing but Wesel to depend on in those parts, as heretofore.
Broglio retreated Frankfurt-way, also as usual, though not quite so far;
and at Versailles had clearly the victory. Zealous Belleisle could
not protect his Contades; it is not known whether he privately blamed
Contades or blamed Broglio for loss of Minden. Zealous old man, what a
loss to himself withal had Minden been! That shadow-conquest of Hanover
is quite vanished: and worse, in Ferdinand's spoil were certain LETTERS
from Belleisle to Contades, inculcating strange things;--for example,
'IL FAUT FAIRE UN DESERT DU PAYS [all Hessen, I think, lest Ferdinand
advance on you] DEVANT L'ARMEE,' and the like. Which Ferdinand saw good
to publish, and which resounded rather hideously through the general
mind." [Were taken at Detmold (Tempelhof, iii. 223); Old Newspapers full
of Excerpts from them, in the weeks following.]

Ignominious Sackville was tried by Court-martial; cashiered,
declared incapable of again serving his Majesty "in any military
capacity;"--perhaps a mild way of signifying that he wanted the common
courage of a soldier? Zealous Majesty, always particular in soldier
matters, proclaimed it officially to be "a sentence worse than death;"
and furthermore, with his own royal hand, taking the pen himself, struck
out Sackville from the List of Privy-Councillors. Proper surely, and
indispensable;--and should have been persisted in, like Fate; which,
in a new Reign, it was not! For the rest, th