HISTORY OF THE WAR.
55
fortune of the war flill hung in a very dubious fcale. The enemy was itill fuperior. The Sv/edes and Ruflians had iViII fome footing in his dominions. The Aullrians and Imperialills were yet in Saxony;
their power to take ftrong fituations ; the enemy had the lame advantages. The condition of things was ex- tremely critical, and the leaft error or misfortune threatened iHll to plunge the King of Pruflia into an
and if the King's armies had it in abyls of calamities.
CHAP. XIL
General Oherg defeated at Lann.verenhagen. King of Prujffta furprife,d at Hohkirchen. M. Keith and Prince Francis of Brufifvsick killed, -^^air at Gorlitz. King of Prufia marches into Silef.a. M. Daim in-vejis Dref- den. The fuburbs burned. The King of PruJJia rai/es the fege of he if s and Crfel. He returns into Saxony. The Aujlrians retire into Bohemia. Difpofiticns for the •vjinter.
THE operations of the armies in Weftphalia, feemed for a long time to languiih. The grand army of the French under iVI. de Contades, was wholly unable to drive Prince Ferdinand from the port which he had chofen fo judici- oufly along the Lippe. The other divilion of the French forces under the Prince de Soubife, had made wo great progrefs on the fide of Hefie-CaiTel, againft the Prince Ifenburg, who ftill ftept his ground in that principality, in order to prote(il; the courfe of the Wefer, and to cover the ele<5i:orate. The French were fenllble that an attack on the princip?.! army of the allies, would prove a very dangerous at- tempt, in which even if they (hould have fome fuccefs, their progrefs into the King's eleftoral dominions muft be very flow and difficult. Kut as the body of the allies em- ployed in HefTe-CafTel was far the weakeft, and as an advantage on that fide promifed them the com- mand of the Wefer, and a better palTage into the heart of the ene- mies country, they determined to
make an attempt fhere. To further this defign, a confiderable detach- ment was made from the army of M. de Contades, which increafed the Prince of Soubifc's corps to at leaft 30,000 men. Prince Ferdi- nand, who was fufficiently aware of the enemies plan, had fome time before fent General Oberg with a rtrong reinforcement to join the Prince Ifenburg ; but notwith- ftanding this reinforcement the whole force of the allies in Hefie did not exceed 15,000. This body was attacked by the French at Lan- werenhagen, and their ^ great fuperiority, efpe- P • J • cially in point of cavalry, obliged the allies to retire with the lofs of about 1500 men. The allies, unable to take the field, had how- ever fome v/oods in their rear which covered their retreat, and they pre- ferved fo good a countenance as pre- vented their defeat from becoming total.
Great confequences might have been apprehended from this affair. But the vigilance of Prince Ferdi- nand, who had eitabliftied the mofl E 4 ready
