Frederic of Prussia was no hypocrite.  He was a highway robber and did not profess to be any thing else.  His power was such that instead of demanding of the helpless traveler his watch, he could demand of powerful nations their revenues.  If they did not yield to his demands he shot them down without compunction, and left them in their blood.  The British minister ventured to ask what four duchies Frederic intended to take.  No reply could be obtained to this question.  By the four duchies he simply meant that he intended to extend the area of Prussia over every inch of territory he could possibly acquire, either by fair means or by foul.

England, alarmed by these combinations, which it was evident that France was sagaciously forming and guiding, and from the successful prosecution of which plans it was certain that France would secure some immense accession of power, granted to Austria a subsidy of one million five hundred thousand dollars, to aid her in repelling her foes.  Still the danger from the grand confederacy became so imminent, that the Duke of Lorraine and all the Austrian ministry united with the British ambassador, in entreating Maria Theresa to try to break up the confederacy and purchase peace with Prussia by offering Frederic the duchy of Glogau.  With extreme reluctance the queen at length yielded to these importunities, and consented that an envoy should take the proposal to the Prussian camp at Molnitz.  As the envoy was about to leave he expressed some apprehension that the Prussian king might reject the proffer.

“I wish he may reject it,” exclaimed the queen, passionately.  “It would be a relief to my conscience.  God only knows how I can answer to my subjects for the cession of the duchy, having sworn to them never to alienate any part of our country.”

Mr. Robinson, the British ambassador, as mediator, took these terms to the Prussian camp.  In the endeavor to make as good a bargain as possible, he was first to offer Austrian Guelderland.  If that failed he was then to offer Limburg, a province of the Netherlands, containing sixteen hundred square miles, and if this was not accepted, he was authorized, as the ultimatum, to consent to the cession of the duchy of Glogau.  The Prussian king received the ambassadors, on the 5th of August, in a large tent, in his camp at Molanitz.  The king was a blunt, uncourtly man, and the interview was attended with none of the amenities of polished life.  After a few desultory remarks, the British ambassador opened the business by saying that he was authorized by the Queen of Austria to offer, as the basis of peace, the cession to Prussia of Austrian Guelderland.

“What a beggarly offer,” exclaimed the king.  “This is extremely impertinent.  What! nothing but a paltry town for all my just pretensions in Silesia!”

In this tirade of passion, either affected or real, he continued for some time.  Mr. Robinson waited patiently until this outburst was exhausted, and then hesitatingly remarked that the queen was so anxious to secure the peace of Europe, that if tranquillity could not be restored on other terms she was even willing to cede to Prussia, in addition, the province of Limburg.