Soon afterwards, Broglio having escaped from this city in disguise, took upon him the command of the French army in the Palatinate; so that the fate of Prague, towards which the attention of all Europe was now directed, de pended solely upon the conduct and courage of Belleisle, and the small remains of that gallant army, which had given an emperor to Germany. Now it was that the pow ers and resources of Belleisle's mind were made manifest; having formed the plan of his retreat, by making in one quarter of the town a feint for a general forage, and march ing out at another, he succeeded in eluding the and in reaching the defiles with an unbroken army. In this march he had ten leagues to pass over ; the ground was covered with snow ; the cold intensely severe ; all the in habitants were his enemies ; and as soon as his flight was known, Prince Lobkowitz with 12,000 infantry, and 8000 cavalry, hung on his rear. After a fatiguing march of twelve days, he reached Egra, and entered Alsace without the loss of a single man from the enemy, though a thou sand had perished in consequence of the rigour of the season.
In 1743, the Queen of Hungary being victorious in Ger• many, and in possession of the territories of the Emperor Charles VII. the French became heartily tired of a war, in which they bad suffered so severely, and made proposals of peace, on rather humiliating conditions, though Cardinal Fleury no longer influenced the cabinet of Versailles ; he had died in the beginning of this year. But the Queen of Hungary rejected all pacific overtures ; and Louis made preparations for carrying on the war with increased vigour and effect. Affairs, however, were still gloomy; the French were driven from all their positions in the Upper Palati nate; and Marshal Broglio was obliged to abandon a strong camp on the Danube, and to retire towards the Rhine. When he reached Donawe•t, he was joined by 12,000 men under Count Saxe ; but his main body being nearly ruined, he still continued his retreat. 'About this time, the battle of Dettingen was fought between the French and the Eng lish ; for an account of which, see the article BRITAIN.
011 the 25th of October in this year, a family compact, or perpetual alliance, was formed between France and Spain at Fontainbleau ; in consequence of which the admi rals of their combined fleet, in the harbour of Toulon, re solved to give battle to that of England, by which they had been blocked up. The particulars of this engagement are given in the article BRITAIN. Hitherto France and Eng land, though actually engaged in hostilities, had not issued mutual declarations of war. These, however, were put forth towards the end of March 1744. For the particulars
of this war, we shall refer our readers to the article Bar TAIN ; and in this place confine ourselves to the operations of France against Austria and Sardinia. About the begin ning of April, the French and Spaniards formed the plan of penetrating into the Duchy of Milan, through the Genoese territories ; but the republic not daring, in consequence of the threats of Admiral Matthews, to allow this passage, the French and Spaniards defiled off towards Piedmont, and attacked a strong post, where the King of Sardinia com manded in person. This post they carried ; in consequence of which the King of Sardinia drew off his troops, in order to cover his capital. In the mean time, the confederates invested Coni, the possession of which would have opened them a passage into Milan. The King of Sardinia, on learn ing this, having been reinforced by 10,000 Austrians, re solved to attempt the relief of the place. He accordingly attacked the French and Spaniards in their entrenchments ; but, after an obstinate engagement, lie was compelled to retire, not, however, before he had reinforced the garrison of Coni, and supplied it with provisions. As the winter was now approaching, the confederates raised the siege, repassed the mountains, evacuated Piedmont, and entered Dauphine.
In the beginning of November, a treaty was concluded at Frankfort, through the influence of France, between the Emperor and King of Prussia, the King of Sweden, and the Elector Palatine, the declared object of which was to restore the imperial dignity, and the tranquillity of Ger many, by persuading or obliging the Quern of Hungary to acknowledge Charles VII. The King of Prussia, how ever, by a separate agreement, was not obliged to take up arms, till he should see France act with vigour. In conse quence of this agreement, Louis put himself at the head of his army in Flanders, consisting of 120,000 men, and invested 1\lenin, which surrendered in seven days ; several other places were reduced with equal facility ; while the allied army, amounting only to 70,000 men, were posted behind the Scheldt. But Louis was soon obliged to leave the scene of his triumphs, to go and defend his own king dom ; for Prince Charles of Lorraine having passed the Rhine, entered Alsace with an army of 60,000 Austrians. Against him, the king dispatched first the Duke of Noailles, and afterwards marched himself ; leaving Marshal Saxe, with part of the troops, to oppose the allies in Flanders. This general, though now inferior to them, yet, by his con summate abilities, prevented them from gaining any ad vantages during the remainder of the campaign.