England, in consequence of rebellion at home, had been compelled to withdraw her troops from the Netherlands; and France, advancing with great vigor, took fortress after fortress, until nearly all of the Low Countries had fallen into her hands.  In Italy, however, the Austrians were successful, and Maria Theresa, having dispatched thirty thousand troops to their aid, cherished sanguine hopes that she might recover Milan and Naples.  All the belligerent powers, excepting Maria Theresa, weary of the long war, were anxious for peace.  She, however, still clung, with deathless tenacity, to her determination to recover Silesia, and to win provinces in Italy.  England and France were equally desirous to sheathe the sword.  France could only attack England in the Netherlands; England could only assail France in her marine.  They were both successful.  France drove England from the continent; England drove France from the ocean.

Notwithstanding the most earnest endeavors of the allies, Maria Theresa refused to listen to any terms of peace, and succeeded in preventing the other powers from coming to any accommodation.  All parties, consequently, prepared for another campaign.  Prussia entered into an alliance with Austria, by which she agreed to furnish her with thirty thousand troops.  The queen made gigantic efforts to drive the French from the Netherlands.  England and Holland voted an army of forty thousand each.  The queen furnished sixty thousand; making an army of one hundred and forty thousand to operate in the Netherlands.  At the same time the queen sent sixty thousand men to Italy, to be joined by forty-five thousand Sardinians.  All the energies of the English fleet were also combined with these formidable preparations.  Though never before during the war had such forces been brought into the field, the campaign was quite disastrous to Austria and her allies.  Many bloody battles were fought, and many thousands perished in agony; but nothing of any importance was gained by either party.  When winter separated the combatants, they retired exhausted and bleeding.

Again France made overtures for a general pacification, on terms which were eminently honorable.  England was disposed to listen to those terms.  But the queen had not yet accomplished her purposes, and she succeeded in securing the rejection of the proposals.  Again the belligerents gathered their resources, with still increasing vigor, for another campaign.  The British cabinet seemed now to be out of all patience with Maria Theresa.  They accused her of not supplying the contingents she had promised, they threatened to withhold their subsidies, many bitter recriminations passed, but still the queen, undismayed by the contentions, urged forward her preparations for the new campaign, till she was thunderstruck with the tidings that the preliminaries of peace were already signed by England, France and Holland.

Maria Theresa received the first formal notification of the terms agreed to by the three contracting powers, from the English minister, Sir Thomas Robinson, who urged her concurrence in the treaty.  The indignant queen could not refrain from giving free vent to her displeasure.  Listening for a moment impatiently to his words, she overwhelmed him with a torrent of reproaches.