6S6 



MARIA THERESA. 



with troops ami money. The object of the union of 

 Frankfort having failed. J rederic II. sought the in- 

 tervention of Great Britain, in order to be reconciled 

 with Austria. 



In the mean time, Maria Theresa concluded a 

 treaty (April 22, 1745) at Fuessen, with the new 

 elector of Bavaria, by which the latter recognised 

 tlie pragmatic sanction, and pledged himself to re- 

 move the foreign auxiliaries from his states, and to 

 vote for the accession of the duke of Lorraine, the 

 husband of Maria Theresa, to the imperial throne. 

 The queen of Hungary had, besides, concluded a 

 quadruple alliance with the king of Poland, with 

 Holland and England (June 8, 1745), at Warsaw, as 

 well as a treaty at Leipsic (May 18), in which secret 

 articles were introduced respecting the division of 

 the Prussian states between Austria and Saxony. 

 During these proceedings, the French made some 

 progress. After the victory of marshal Saxe over 

 the allies, near Fontenoy (May 11, 1745), the most 

 important places of the Austrian Netherlands fell 

 into the hands of the French. In Italy, where Genoa 

 united itself with Spain, the French and Spaniards 

 took a great part of the Milanese territories, and the 

 king of Sardinia was compelled to withdraw to his 

 capital. In Germany also, Frederic delivered him- 

 self from a critical situation by his victory over the 

 Austrians and Saxons, at Hohenfriedberg (June 4, 

 1745). Soon after, the British cabinet concluded, at 

 Hanover, a secret treaty with Frederic, in which 

 Silesia was guaranteed to him, in conformity with 

 the peace of Breslau. But the queen of Hungary 

 and the elector of Saxony showed no inclination to 

 negotiate. 



Meantime, Charles of Lorraine was defeated near 

 Sorr, by Frederic II., and Maria Theresa had merely 

 the consolation of having her husband, Francis 

 Stephen, chosen emperor (September 13). October 4, 

 he was crowned with the title of Francis I. At 

 this solemnity, Maria Theresa was the first to ex- 

 claim, from a balcony, " Long live the emperor 

 Francis I." Notwithstanding her finances were 

 entirely exhausted, and even the silver vessels of the 

 churches had been sent to the mint, the imperial 

 queen was unwilling to consent to peace. The 

 Prussian proposals were altogether rejected, revenge 

 was sought for, and Maria Theresa embraced the 

 bold plan of marching an army, composed of Saxons 

 and Austrians, against Berlin. Besides, she expect- 

 ed powerful support from Russia; but Frederic was 

 beforehand with her: he defeated the Saxons, near 

 Hennersdorf (November 23), upon which Charles of 

 Lorraine drew back, from Lusatia to Bohemia, and 

 the defeat of the Saxons, near Kesselsdorf (Dec. 15), 

 made the Prussians masters of the whole electorate 

 of Saxony. The imperial queen did not yield to her 

 own misfortunes, but, moved by the fate of her 

 allies, concluded, under the British mediation (Dec. 

 25, 1745), the peace of Dresden, in which Frederic 

 received Silesia, and Maria Theresa was recognised 

 as queen of Bohemia, and her husband as emperor. 

 This peace was so much the more necessary for 

 Austria, as Britain, on account of the landing of the 

 Pretender in Scotland, had been obliged to withdraw 

 her auxiliary troops from the Netherlands, by which 

 means the French had gained a superiority there. 

 May 4, 1746, Louis XV. made his entry into Brus- 

 sels, and, with the exception of Luxembourg, all the 

 Austrian Netherlands was in the hands of the enemy. 

 The loss of a battle near Rocou (October 11), in- 

 creased the misfortunes of Austria in this quarter. 

 On the other hand, the army of the empress was 

 victorious in Italy, under the prince of Lichtenstein, 

 at San Lorenzo, over the Spaniards and French ; 

 and when, after the death of Philip V., his successor, 



Frederic VI., withdrew his troops from Italy, the 

 Austrians obtained a complete superiority, and, par- 

 ticularly, blockaded Genoa. The British blockaded 

 the same by sea, and the city surrendered, almost 

 without any conditions, to the Austrians. But, 

 exasperated by extortions, the citizens drove the 

 imperial general Botta (who lost 8000 men, his 

 whole artillery and baggage) from Genoa and its 

 territories (December 5^-9). Meantime Britain, as 

 well as France and Spain, wished for peace. But 

 the imperial queen had made a defensive alliance 

 with Russia (May 22, 1746), to which also Holland 

 and Britain had acceded. The French, nevertheless, 

 drove the Austrians from Provence, which they had 

 hi id waste, and freed Genoa (1747), which had been 

 besieged anew. In the Austrian Netherlands, they 

 made still greater progress. But the advance of the 

 Russians into Germany, and the victory of admiral 

 Hawke over a French squadron, by which the naval 

 force of France was destroyed, hastened the peace. 

 April 30, 1748, the preliminaries were signed by 

 France, Great Britain, and Holland; then followed 

 the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (November 18), to 

 which, also, Spain, Austria, and Sardinia acceded. 

 Maria Theresa was acknowledged as the heiress of 

 her father's kingdom ; the Infant don Philip obtained 

 only the duchies of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla ; 

 several provinces also ceded to the king of Sardinia 

 by the treaty of Worms, were left to him. 



Maria Theresa now turned all her attention to the 

 restoration of her finances and the improvement of 

 the army. The yearly income, which, in the time of 

 Charles VI., had amounted only to 30,000,000. rose, 

 by prudent management, to 36,000.000 guilders, 

 although Parma and Silesia, which last alone pro- 

 duced 6,000,000, were lost. The army consisted of 

 108,000 men, besides the troops in Italy and the 

 Netherlands, and the whole military department, 

 under the direction of Daun, was placed upon a better 

 footing. Maria Theresa also made great changes in 

 the administration of justice, of the finance, and of 

 the police. Though she unwillingly allowed herself 

 to be governed, yet, from her inexperience, she did 

 not rely upon herself, and sought to procure exact 

 information by consultations with her ministers, her 

 husband, and others. The difference of opinion of 

 two of her counsellors, Wasner and Bartenstein, 

 frequently led her to waver between opposite mea- 

 sures until she at length confided to the count (after- 

 wards prince) Kaunitz, the chief direction of public 

 affairs. Several causes of disunion, which now arose 

 between Britain and Austria, induced the latter to 

 think of a reconciliation with France; and Maria 

 Theresa, in spite of her pride and her strong princi- 

 ples, consented, upon the advice of Kaunitz, to 

 write very kindly to the marchioness of Pompadour, 

 who, enraptured by this condescension of the great- 

 est queen of Europe, exerted all her influence to 

 effect the connexion which Maria Theresa desired. 

 Yet her endeavours were foiled, at this time, by the 

 counter representations which the friends of Frede- 

 ric II. and the enemies of Austria made to the cabi- 

 net of Versailles. 



In 1755 arose dissensions between Britain and 

 France, respecting their possessions in America, and 

 Great Britain demanded aid of Austria. This was 

 refused, and thus the foundation for the disunion of 

 these powers, hitherto friendly, was laid. Frederic 

 II. made use of this opportunity, and concluded with 

 George II. (Jan. 16, 1756) a treaty, in which they 

 mutually agreed to prevent the entrance of foreign 

 troops into Germany. The marchioness of Pompa- 

 dour, in this year, effected a change in the French 

 ministry, and this made it possible to establish 

 friendly relations between the courts of Vienna and 



