1 807.] Memoirs of the late Duke of Brunswick. 



559 



who now a^^icd as rj^encruHlTimo, took it 

 upon liim to detain Ijutli tiieiii and tlie 

 Ilcrcditary Pnnce. 'J'iiis ciicuniliaiicc, 

 which was conlidurcd by two of the con- 

 tracting parties as a breach of faith, 

 produced a fulomn protell on the part of 

 botli France and Aidhia; but tlie Dnke 

 ■was at lon;:;th reconciled to the inearm-e, 

 wiiicli, in conl'eiiuence of the fc\enls that 

 afterwaids occurred, did not fail ulti- 

 mately to prove equally agreeable to his 

 iuterelU and his inclinations. 



Meanwhile, the Hereditary Prince fi<;- 

 iiali/cd hinil'clf on many occaiions at the 

 licad of his UrunlVvicliers; antl the Kins; 

 of England having negotiated an alli- 

 ance, otl'enfive and dcfenlive, with the 

 King of PrulTla, hy wliich the luttvr was 

 to receive an annual fublidy of 670,000/., 

 the war foon began to alfunic a new ap- 

 pearance. The vvhole Proteltant intcreft 

 in Germany having been now united by 

 the money of Great Britain, the con- 

 vention of Clollerfeven was declared null 

 and void ; and 35,000 troops were fent 

 from luigland, to fer\e under Prmcc 

 Ferdiuanct. 



TJie lirll exploit undertaken liy the 

 llereditarv Prince as a coniniander, was 

 the capture of Koya. Towards the end 

 of February 1758, liaving been detschcd 

 ivith a fniail *corps to dillodge the Count 

 lie ClKibof, who was polled in that 

 neighbourhood, he palled the Wefer at 

 Bremen witli part of his troops, while 

 tlie remainder advanced on the other 

 fule of the river, fo as to attack the 

 enemy both in front and rear. The 

 bridge haviuii been abandoned, the French 

 thrown into confulion, and 700 of them 

 made prifoncrs, their General immedi- 

 ately retired to the callle with two bat- 

 talions, on which a negotiation was en- 

 tered into, and I'habot capitulated. 

 This brilliant exploit threw lultre on the 

 firll eflay of the Hereditary Prince, who 

 was unprovided with heavy artillery to 

 icduce tiic place, and who, but for this 

 timely lurrrndcr, mull have retired liini- 

 felf, as a body of tr(<o[)s was already on 

 the march to relieve it. 



Flulhed with fucccl's, the young war- 

 rior next ad\anced againll Minden, li> 

 celebrated aftirwards on accijunt of tlie 

 battle in that neighbourhood, and hav- 

 ing invelted the village on the .^th of 

 jMarch, the garrifon furrcnilered t\t dlf- 

 letion at the end of nine days. 



Tlie Hereditary Pii«ce now began to 



• Four hattMlions of inf.intry, togsthcr 

 wichfomc lighr troops and dr.i^oonSi 



be confidercd as a promifing commander ; 

 and tit the battle of Crevcit he was en- 

 trulted with the direction of the left 

 wing. Soon after this, he forced the 

 ftrong pals of Wacliendonck, an ifland 

 of very difficult approach on account of 

 its being furrounded by the Niers, but 

 important from its polition, as it was 

 iituate directly in the loutc to the Uliine, 

 which the gi-ind army was now prepar- 

 ing to rei)afs. Notwithfiaiuling the 

 bndge had been drawn up, he contrived 

 to obtain poUeliion of the place, by rufli- 

 ing into the water at the head of Jiis 

 grenadiers; and having drove the cneiny 

 away with iixcd bayonets, the army 

 was thus enabled to advance towards 

 l{hineber:icn. 



In 1759 he continued to act at tlie head 

 of a detachment ; and on the \i\i\ of 

 March, with a body of PrnlVian hulVars, 

 he fell on a large party of Aullrian* 

 polled at jMoliiciiftadt, and routed a 

 regiment of Hohenzollern cuiraffiers, 

 fupportcd by a battalion of the troops 

 of Wurtzburg. In the couife of the 

 next day, his Serene Ilighnefs advanced 

 with a party of horfe and foot to I\Iei- 

 iiungen, where lie captured a magazine 

 of jjrovilions, took two battalions of in- 

 fantry prifoners, and fuiprifed a third at 

 Wafungen, after having defeated a corps 

 of Aulhians in the act of advancing tu 

 their relief. 



To this prince England and her allies 

 w ere not a little indebted for the victory 

 of Minden, wliich would have proved 

 ftill more complete had our horfe ad- 

 vanced at the command of Prince Fer- 

 dinand. On that memorable day he 

 enconiitered and overcame the Duke de 

 Briifac, in the neighbourhood of Co- 

 vcldt, and by that achievemeut prewnt- 

 ed the Marlhal de C'ontades from mak- 

 ing his retreat by the defiles of ^Yitte- 

 kendfiein. His next exploit was to boat 

 up the quarters of the Duke of Wirtem- 

 berg, then ported at Fulda Four bat- 

 talions taken prifoncrs, two pieces of 

 cannon, two Hand of colours, and the 

 cajiture of all the baggage, attelted the 

 fu[)eriurity of the victors. 



.\t the clofc of tilt? campaiirn, the 

 Hereditary Prince was detached, wiiU 

 15,000 men, to ferve niider his relation 

 the Kingof Prullia, Frederick the (.ircat. 

 He was afterwards prefcnt at the battio 

 of (.'(jrbueli ; and rtlthoui:li objigcil ou 

 this occafiou t(J retreat, yet he main- 

 tained all liis foinicr uimialiuii, and 

 i-ontinr.cd to give his ordeis with lli« 

 jreutcit prccilion, uotwithUandiu;.; a 

 4 B ^^ ound 



