Frederick, however, although unharassed by the Russians, was still
doomed to suffer fresh mishaps. His brother, Henry, had, with great
prudence, cut off the magazines and convoys to Daun's rear, and had
consequently hampered his movements. The King was, notwithstanding,
discontented, and, unnecessarily fearing lest Daun might still succeed
in effecting a junction with Soltikoff and Laudon, recalled his brother,
and by so doing occasioned the very movement it was his object to
prevent. Daun advanced; and General Finck, whom Frederick had despatched
against him at the head of ten thousand men, fell into his hands. Shut
up in Maxen, and too weak to force its way through the enemy, the whole
corps was taken prisoner. Dresden also fell; Schmettau, the Prussian
commandant, had, up to this period, bravely held out, notwithstanding
the smallness of the garrison, but, dispirited by the constant
ill-success, he at length resolved at all events to save the military
chest, which contained three million dollars, and capitulated on a
promise of free egress. By this act he incurred the heavy displeasure of
his sovereign, who dismissed both him and Prince Henry.
Fortune, however, once more favored Frederick; Soltikoff separated his
troops from those of Austria and retraced his steps. The Russians always
consumed more than the other troops, and destroyed their means of
subsistence by their predatory habits. Austria vainly offered gold;
Soltikoff persisted in his intention and merely replied, "My men cannot
eat gold." Frederick was now enabled, by eluding the vigilance of the
Austrians, to throw himself upon Dresden, for the purpose of regaining a
position indispensable to him on account of its proximity to Bohemia,
Silesia, the Mere, and Saxony. His project, however, failed,
notwithstanding the terrible bombardment of the city, and he vented his
wrath at this discomfiture on the gallant regiment of Bernburg, which he
punished for its want of success by stripping it of every token of
military glory.
The constant want of ready money for the purpose of recruiting his army,
terribly thinned by the incessant warfare, compelled him to circulate a
false currency, the English subsidies no longer covering the expenses of
the war, and his own territory being occupied by the enemy. Saxony
consequently suffered, and was, owing to this necessity, completely
drained, the town council at Leipsic being, for instance, shut up in the
depth of winter without bedding, light, or firing, until it had voted a
contribution of eight tons of gold; the finest forests were cut down and
sold, etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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