In 1753, Frederick exerted all his influence to prevent the election of a king of the Romans, which was consider ed as a measure highly conducive to the peace of Germa ny ; but which, as tending to aggrandize the house of Aus tria, he was anxious to obstruct ; and, by his persevering opposition, prevented its execution for many years. In 1756, he concluded a treaty with his Britannic Majesty, in which they mutually stipulated for the defence of their common country, to prevent all foreign troopt from enter ing on any pretence into Germany. But the great army which Frederick maintained, his indefatigable diligence in exercising his troops, and his well known enterprising spi rit of ambition, having long excited a general apprehension among the neighbouring powers, an extensive confedera cy, or partition treaty, was at length concluded, between Russia, Austria, Poland, the Elector of Saxony, and the court of Versailles, to restrain his projects and retrench his power. Dissatisfied with the explanations which he had demanded of Austria, respecting her military prepara tions, and which the Empress had assured him were en tirely defensive, he resolved to commence hostilities with out delay, and precipitately involved himself in a !Ong and hazardous war, in the course of which lie acquired, indeed, a high degree of military fame, but reduced his kingdom to the eve of destruction. In 1756, he published his de claration of war against the Empress of Germany ; enter ed the Electorate of Saxony with an immense army ; seiz ed upon its revenues, magazines and archives, and pro ceeded to administer its offices of government, by persons of his own appointment, as if it had already been incorpora ted with his own dominions. By his active and skilful he forced the Saxon army to surrender, after defeating the Austrians under Marcella! Brown, who had advanced to its relief; but he tarnished the glory of his victory, by cruelly compelling the Saxon-troops to enter into his service, and to fight against their own sovereign. His ambitious and unjustifiable measures called forth the strongest declarations from the principal governments of Europe ; and, as Elector of Brandenburg, he was, by a de cree of the Anne council, put under the ban of the empire. lie opened the campaign of 1757, with an army of 200,000 men ; and, though the Russian, French, and Austrian forces united against him, amounted to more than three times that number, he poured his soldiers into Bohemia, be fore the Austrians were aware of his approach ; and, join ing his columns with extraordinary rapidity, unexpectedly attacked, and completely defeated the enemy at Prague. By a strict blockade, and destructive bombardment, he re duced the city to the utmost extremities; and, by the joint effect of his calculating cruelty and military skill, was on the point of compelling 50,0•J0 Austrians, within its walls, to surrender, when his good fortune sustain d a fatal re verse, and his own impetuous confidence subjected him to a defeat. Attempting with an inferior force to dislodge Marechal l)aun, who had advanced to Collin for the relief of Prague, he was routed, a ith dreadful slaughter, and obliged to retreat with ail his troops towards Saxony. His favourite brother, William Augustus, a prince of treat abilities, and singularly amiable character, devotedly at tached to his person, who had repeatedly distinguished himself in his service, having suffered some loss in bring ing off the division with which he was entrusted, and hay ing ventured to remonstrate with Frederick upon the ca lamities of the war, was dismissed with the most humiliat ing reproaches, and driven, by the harahness of his t eat uncut, to a state of the deepest melancholy, which terminat ed his life in the course of the following year.
The difficulties the Prussian monarch now began to multiply with fearful accumulation. The loss of some of his ablest generals, the junction of the Swedes with his enemies, the capture of Memel by the Russians, the suc cesses of the French against the Electorate of Hanover, the progress of the Austrians in Silesia, and their entrance into Berlin, whet e they levied a contribution on the inha bitants, reduced his affairs to a situation of the most critical nature, and drove him at one time to form a design of com mitting suicide. Ile communicated his intention to his most intimate confidant the Marquis D'Argens, in what he called his farewell letter ; but received from his friend an immediate reply, so expressive of affection, and convincing by its reasonings, that he was roused from despair, and ani mated to farther efforts. Collecting his troops, he attack ed the French at Rosbach; and, with very little loss on his side, gained a splendid victory over an army, which was double the number of his own. Hastening by forced marches into Silesia, where his troops were hard pressed by the Austrians, he gave battle to the enemy at Leuthen, and, by a disposition of his line, coinciding with that which was made by Epaminondas at Leuctra, gained a most signal victory, which put 40,000 prisoners into his hands, and gave him complete possession of Silesia. The resolute re sistance which he maintained against his numerous ene mies, the rapidity with which he recovered his losses, the greatness of his enterprizes, the splendour of his victories, the milit.ary skill, mental fortitude, and personal courage, which he bad displayed in the whole of this memorable and eventful campaign, attracted the attention of surrounding nations, and gained him the applause even of his oppo nents. Aided by a large subsidy from Great Britain,
where the fame of his exploits had acquired him extraor dinary popularity, he opened the campaign of 1753 with the happiest prospects. Entering Moravia, lie attempted, without success, to reduce the city of Olmutz ; and has tening to the Oder, where the Russians were committing the greatest ravages, he routed them with great slaughter at Zorndorf. Having returned to the Elbe, he sustained a -severe repulse from Marechal Daun at Hochkirchen in Lusatia, where he lost Marshal Keith, and was himself slightly wounded, but afterwards succeeded in forcing the cnerny to retire from Saxony' ; and in one campaign twice made the circuit of his dominions, relieving them all in their turns from their formidable invaders.
In 1759, his operations were so extremely unsuccessful, that had his enemies known as well how to improve as to obtain victories, he must have been utterly undone. After watching, for some time, the motions of Marcella] Daum. he hastened in person to oppose the Russians on the Oder, and engaged them at Kunersdorf, at first with great advan tage ; but having, contrary to the advice of all his generals, attempted to crush their reserve with his exhausted troops, he suffered the severest of his defeats, after having two horses killed under him, and his clothes penetrated in seve ral places with musket balls. Never, however, did the le sources of his genius, and the fortitude of his spirit, appear more remarkably, than after this adverse stroke ; and aided by the dissensions which prevailed between the Russians and Austrians, he covered his capital, and kept his pow ful opponents at bay during the winter. After several unsuccessful overtures respecting peace, in which he sheaved no inclination to cede an inch of his territories, and in which Le was no farther sinccre, except in hoping to detach one or more from the confederacy, he renewed the unequal contest with his usual spit it and perseverana.e. In 1760, he had occasion for all his ingenuity, and was obliged to employ his tactics more than his lire:locks. Nearly sot rounded hy three armies, each superior in num ber to his own, he baffled all their plans of attack, by incessantly changing his positions ; and succeeded at length in extricating himself from his difficulties, by surprising and defeating Laudohn at Psaffendorf, while Daun was expecting to overwhelm him at Lignitz. He removed the Russians out of his way, by causing a letter with false in telligence to fall into the hands of their commander ; and thus opened his communications with Breslaw ; but was tillable to prevent a body of Austrians and Russians from occupying Berlin, and pillaging his palaces. Still threat ened by hostile masses in every quarter, and perceiving his only safety to lie in preventing their junction, he deter mined to commit his cause to the fate of a battle ; and after a desperate and sanguinary conflict with Daun at Torgau, he gained a victory which removed the most formidable and most immediate of his dangers. Unable, however, though sufficiently lavish of blood, to bear the loss which even victories required, he resolved, in the campaign of 1761, to act solely on the defensive ; but, at the same time, by often threatening an attack, to conceal the purpose which he had adopted. He therefore entrenched his army in a camp of singular strength near Bunzelwitz, in Silesia, on which he set at defiance the numerous divisions of the enemy, by which he was threatened on every side. Obli ged by want of provisions to change his fortified posts, he often contrived, by distributing ammunition and preparing his arms, to impress his opponents with the persuasion, that he designed some daring assault ; and on one occasion he actually kept a superior force of Russians and Austrians in such a state of alarm, that they slept eight nights on their arms, in the expectation every moment of being roused by his approach. In 1762, though the assistance of Great Britain was withdrawn, yet, having engaged the Tartars to make an irruption into Hungary, and acquired a zealous ally by the accession of Peter III. to the Russian empire, he was enabled to gain ground upon his enemies, and to threaten them with invasion in their turn. Though spee dily deprived of his Russian auxiliaries by a new revolution at St Petersbnrgh, he availed himself so expeditiously of their presence, that he entirely recovered Silesia and Sax ony, ravaged the frontiers of Bohemia, sent detachments to Bamberg and Nuremburg, and spread terror to the ve ry gates of Ratisbon. Favoured by a variety of circum stances, which disposed the courts of Vienna and Versailles to open proposals of peace, he readily entered into negocia tions for a general pacification, which was concluded at Hubertsbourg on Febi nary 15, 1763; and thus, after a seven years sanguinary struggle, to v. hich his unprincipled pro jects had given rise, and in which, inder.endent of other sufferers, more than half a million of combatants had fatten in the field, every thing was replaced on its ancient footing, and the only gainful result v.as simply this, that Frederick of Prussia had been furnished v. ith an opportunity of prov ing himself a consummate commander, animated by an un conquerable spit it of military heroism, and endued with one of the coolest heads and hardest hearts in Christendom.