much dreaded too by the Princes of the Empire, who saw that there was another power to be feared in Germany, besides that of Austria. But these were small matters, rather signs of the disposition of this Prince, than exertions of it. He meditated much greater things; and only waited an opportunity to make good the antient claims of his family on the most considerable part of the duchy of Silesia. The right to that duchy had been a very intricate affair; but the house of Austria availing herself of the greatness of her power, and of a dissension between the Elector Frederick II. and his son, prevailed with the Elector to give up that right for an equivalent; then she persuaded his son to confirm the treaty; and at the same time for a trivial consideration to give up the equivalent itself. The King of Prussia, not thinking himself bound by these acts, though confirmed by a long possession, took advantage of his own power, and the embarrassed circumstances of the house of Austria, to resume what their power and the embarrassed circumstances of his family had formerly deprived him of. For Dec. 1740. immediately on the death of Charles the Sixth, when the Austrian greatness seemed irrecoverably lost, he entered into Silesia, and made himself master of the whole country with little opposition. Then uniting with the French and Bavarians, he secured his conquests by June 11. 1742. two decisive victories, and by a treaty which yielded him the greatest and best part of Silesia, and the whole county June 2. 1744. of Glatz. But the cause of the Emperor, which the King of Prussia had embraced, soon caused a renewal of hostilities. The Queen of Hungary saw herself defeated in three pitched battles; her new ally the King of Poland driven from his German dominions, and the King of Prussia entering Dresden in triumph, where he gave the law in a treaty, Dec. 1745. by which Silesia was once more solemnly confirmed to him: in return to which he guarantied to the Queen of Hungary the rest of her dominions.
The Queen of Hungary could not easily lose the memory of the wound she had received in the loss of one of the finest and richest parts of all her dominions. Silesia, which she had just yielded, extends in length 200 miles along the course of the large and navigable river Oder. A country of the most exquisite fertility and highest cultivation; abounding with men, abounding with valuable manufactures, and yielding a clear yearly revenue of 800,000 pounds sterling. The peace was hardly concluded by which she resigned this valuable territory, than she set on foot practices for recovering it. She entered into a treaty with the court of Petersbourg, of an May 22, 1746. innocent and simply defensive nature, so far as appeared to the public; but six secret and separate articles were added to it; one of which provides, that in case his Prussian Majesty should attack her Majesty the Empress Queen, or the Empress of Russia, or even the republic of Poland, that this attack should be considered as a breach of the treaty of Dresden; that the right of the Empress Queen to Silesia, ceded by that treaty, should revive; and that the contracting powers should mutually furnish an army of 65,000 men to reinvest the Empress Queen with that duchy.
To this so extraordinary a treaty, the King of Poland was invited to accede;
