peace;[1] and on the 30th of April preliminaries were
Apr. 19/30. signed, which six months later were expanded into the definite treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
October. The peace left matters practically as they had stood before the war, with the significant exception that Frederick the Great retained Silesia. Not a word was said as to the regulation of trade between England and Spain, which had been the original ground of quarrel; and, as between England and France, it was agreed that there should be mutual restitution of all captures. Yet this could not set the two countries in the same position as before the war. The French were utterly exhausted; but the British, though not a little harassed by the cost of maintaining armies and producing subsidies, had received a military training which was to stand them in good stead for the great struggle that lay before them.
Authorities.—The official correspondence in the Record
Office. F.O. Military Auxiliary Expeditions. Campagnes de Louis XV. Espagnac. Life of the Duke of Cumberland. Some
useful details as to Lauffeld are to be found in the
Gentleman's Magazine.
- ↑ Cumberland to Newcastle, March 18/29, March 22/April 2, March 26/April 6.
