BERESFORD’S TRANSLATION OF THE LIFE OF GENERAL DE ZIETEN. 
iM against the Queen of Hungary.: 
e order to march found Zieten ill in 
bed; the fatigue of service, to which he 
ey submitted like the meanest subaltern, 
d made sad inroads upon his delicate 
constitution; the tenderassiduities of Ma- 
dame de Zieten could never induce him 
to alter his plan. In her letters, she had 
éntly chid him for sleeping on the 
ground, ‘exposed to the damps of night : 
nd entreated him, as the greatest p: oof 
of love he could shew her, to be more 
¢areful of his health. But to no purpose: 
@ was now in an alarming state; Fre- 
erick’s command to march, however, 
more efficacious than all the prescrip- 
tions of his physician. It was thought 
_ that he would not have lived to reach 
‘the place of rendezvous; he recovered, 
however, and was the first who met the 
enemy, whom in various recounters he 
defeated. The campaign opened pros- 
ously: Prague surrendered to the 
Prussian arms, and its garrison of 12,000 
men were made prisoners of war; Bud- 
Weis was taken by the valour, chiefly 
if the hussars, and Frederick immedi- 
ately raised Zieten to the rank of major 
general, ordering his commission to be 
_» ante-dated eight months. At the battle 
of Tein, General Zieten gained laurels at 
atime when the Prussian army was dis- 
y pirited by a toilsome and distressing re- 
treat: himself, with his handful of hus- 
_ sars, performed prodigies ot valour; and 
Frederick, when he heard of the engage- 
~ ment, was so delighted at the splen- 
_ dour of an achievement which had ef- 
fected the deliverance of hisrear, that he 
- instantly mounted his horse, and met 
_ the conquering heroes on their way: he 
: applauded their valour, spoke of their 
leader in terms of consideration and gra- 
 titude, and placing himseif at their head, 
led them in trinmph through the whole 
_ camp. Every man rushed out of his 
tent to see them pass by, and the camp 
resounded with “ Long live the king !”’ 
Long live Zicten and his troops!” 
. This campaign of 1744 was disastrous. 
1 his “¢ military instructions for the ge- 
 Merals of his army,” Frederick acknow- 
a it to be so, and takes his own 
_ share of the disgrace. A stop was put 
_ tothe progress of his arms by the cou- 
e, conduct, and activity of Prince 
vharles of Lorrain.* Frederick was ob- 
liged to abandon Prague, and the other 
pi ge 
ee 
$ 
i 
iF 
485 
G 
phices of which he had taken possession 
in Bohemia, and make a precipitate re- 
treat into Silesia. Zieten covered the 
retreat ; and at the disastrous conflict on 
the banks of the Elbe, which were not 
to be defended against the superiority of 
the Austrians, gained himself immortal 
honour. Madamede Blumenthal asserts, 
that the “evacuation of Bohemia was 
éxecuted without any loss, and that the 
troops marched in two columns, one of 
which the king commanded in person.’” 
Dr. Russel, in his History of Modern 
Europe (see vol. v.page 111) says, that 
“the Prussians, in their retreat, lost above 
thirty thousand men, with all their heavy 
baggage, artillery, and waggons loaded 
with provisions and plunder.” 
‘Thus terminated the campaign ; at the 
end of which Frederick, in consideration 
of the eminent services of deZieten, gave 
him a pension of twelve hundred dollars, 
The Empress of Russia too, notwith- 
standing the principles of neutrality she 
had adopted, presented his regiment, in 
compliment to their bravery; with three 
hundred valuable horses. 
‘The king had now learnt the danger 
of venturing too far into the defiles of 
Bohemia ; in the beginning of the cam- 
paign of 1745, Silesia therefore was again 
made the theatre of war. Zieten was 
here employed on a very delicate and 
perilous business: his regiment was, with 
the king’s main army, between Patzkaw 
‘and Frankenstein. The MargraveCharles 
covered Upper Silesia, and occupied 
Jagerndorf and Troppaw. ‘The Austri- 
ans took advantage of this inconsiderate 
division of the army, and separating into 
two parties, one encamped between the 
' king and the margrave, and occupied all 
ithe posts of communication; whilst the 
other, encamping along the bank of the 
Oder, environed the latter. The king, 
seeing himself on the verge of a general 
engagement, resolved to recall the mar- 
grave; but the Austrians had guarded 
every avenue, and were so vigilant, that 
even couriers, chasseurs and spies, were 
immediately taken. The difficulty of 
communicating his orders seemed almost 
insuperable. Zieten was selected to ex- 
ecute this daring enterprise; an enter- 
prise of so much peril in the eyes of Fre- 
derick himself, that in his instruction to 
the general he desired him to proclaim 
the order to the whole regiment, that in 
¥Tn this sketch, it will be discovered, that we frequently consult Dr. Towers’s Memoirs 
of the King of Prussia.” It is necessary to compare the two narratives.—Rey. 
