64
ANNUAL REGISTER, lyjS.
the Macfe, fo as to command the whole courfe of the Rhine, on both fides, botii upward and downward. Prince Ferdinand was unable to ex- tend himlelf to fuch a length ; and efoecially fou-id it impradVicable to ellabliih quarters en the other fide of the Rhine ; but he difpofed his troops in the mofl: advantageous manner in the bilhopricks of Mun- fter, Paderborn, and Hi!derneim,and in the landgraviate of Hefle-Cairel. The feveral bodies may all unite with eafe, and fupport each other. To preferve a communication be- tween this and the Fruffian army, as well as to break ioms pare of that formidable chain of the ene- my, the King fent fome bodies of his troops into Ihuringia, who dif- pofTefled the army of the Empire of feveral of their polls there, and they now threaten to penetrate Hill farther.
The King of Pruffia, when he had a fecond time driven the An- ftrians and Imperialifts out of Sax- ony, refolved to keep no meafures with that unhappy country. He declared that he was refolved no longer to confider it as a depofit, but as a country which he had twice fubdued by his arms. He therefore o dered thofe of the King of Po- land's privy council, who ftiil re- mained at Drefden, to retire at a very Ihort warning. But if the King of PruiTia had a right, as perhaps he had, to confider Saxony, as a lawful concKieft, he certainly feemed not to confider the people as fub- jeds, when he continued to ex.nfl the moft fevcfe contributions ; and in a manner too very little becom- ing a lawful fovereign ; for he fur- rounded the exchange with loldiers.
and confining the merchants in nar- row lodgings on ftraw beds, he obliged them by extreme fuifering to draw bills on their foreign cor- refpondents for very large fums. This city had been quite exhauiled by former payments, and had not long before fuffered military execu- tion. An enemy that atted thus, had afted fcverely ; but when a country is entirely pcfTeffed by any power, and claimed as a conqueft, the rights of war feem to ceafe ; and the people have a claim to be governed in fuch a manner as be- comes a juft prince; efpecially when no extreme neceffity in his affairs compels him to thefe rigorous courles. To retaliate on thefe mi- fcrable people fome part of the cruelties committed by the Ruilians on his dominions, feems to be very unreafonable, as it is but too obvi- ous, that the barbarity of that peo- ple could not be retrained , how- ever it might be exafperated by the total aeftruction of Saxony. Such retaliations are odious and cruel. We heartily wiih we could praife the King of Pruffia as much for his temperate ufe of his conquelt, as for thofe wonderful and heroic qua- lities by which he obtained it. We might be ccnfidcred as partial in our account, if we had omitted to take notice of what is alledged again it the King of Prufha, when we have fpoken fo fully of the out- rages committed by his enemies. It is now time to turn our eyes from this great theatre towards lefTtr events, but fuch as will employ us altogether as agreeably ; the ope- rations of the Britifh fleets and ar- mies in Europe and America againft the French.
CHAP.
