“But should he be the victor in the battle,” Sir Thomas replied, “Silesia is not conquered.  And if the battle be lost, your majesty is well nigh ruined.”

“If I had determined,” said the queen, “to make peace with Frederic to-morrow, I would give him battle to-night.  But why in such a hurry?  Why this interruption of operations which are by no means to be despaired of?  Give me only to October, and then you may do as you please.”

“October will close this campaign,” was the answer.  “Our affairs are going so disastrously, that unless we can detach Prussia, by that time France and Prussia will be able to dictate terms to which we shall be compelled to accede.”

“That might be true,” the queen replied, tartly, “if I were to waste my time, as you are urging me to do, in marching my troops from Bohemia to the Rhine, and from the Rhine to the Netherlands.  But as for my troops, I have not a single general who would condescend to command such merely machinery armies.  As for the Duke of Lorraine, and my brother, Prince Charles, they shall not thus degrade themselves.  The great duke is not so ambitious of an empty honor, much less to enjoy it under the patronage of Prussia.  You speak of the imperial dignity!  Is it compatible with the loss of Silesia?  Great God! give me only till October.  I shall then at least be able to secure better conditions.”

The English ambassador now ventured, in guarded phrase, but very decisively, to inform the queen that unless she could accede to these views, England would be constrained to withdraw her assistance, and, making the best terms she could for herself with the enemy, leave Austria to fight her own battles; and that England requested an immediate and a specific answer.  Even this serious menace did not move the inflexible will of the queen.  She, with much calmness, replied,

“It is that I might, with the utmost promptness, attend to this business, that I have given you so expeditious an audience, and that I have summoned my council to meet so early.  I see, however, very clearly, that whatever may be my decisions, they will have but little influence upon measures which are to be adopted elsewhere.”

The queen convened her council, and then informed England, in most courteous phrase, that she could not accede to the proposition.  The British cabinet immediately entered into a private arrangement with Prussia, guaranteeing to Frederic the possession of Silesia, in consideration of Prussia’s agreement not to molest England’s Hanoverian possessions.

Maria Theresa was exceedingly indignant when she became acquainted with this treaty.  She sent peremptory orders to Prince Charles to prosecute hostilities with the utmost vigor, and with great energy dispatched reenforcements to his camp.  The Hungarians, with their accustomed enthusiasm, flocked to the aid of the queen; and Frederic, pressed by superior numbers, retreated from Bohemia back to Silesia, pursued and