of 12,000; main Army is 28,000; Horse and Foot are in the
proportion of about 1 to 3. Artillery "consists of 20 three-pounders; 4
twelve-pounders; 4 howitzers (HAUBITZEN); 4 big mortars, calibre fifty
pounds; and of Artillerymen 166 in all."

With this Force the young King has, on his own basis (pretty much in
spite of all the world, as we find now and afterwards), determined to
invade Silesia, and lay hold of the Property he has long had there;--not
computing, for none can compute, the sleeping whirlwinds he may chance
to awaken thereby. Thus lightly does a man enter upon Enterprises which
prove unexpectedly momentous, and shape the whole remainder of his days
for him; crossing the Rubicon as it were in his sleep. In Life, as on
Railways at certain points,--whether you know it or not, there is but an
inch, this way or that, into what tram you are shunted; but try to get
out of it again! "The man is mad, CET HOMME-LA EST FOL!" said Louis
XV. when he heard it. [Raumer, _Beitrage_ (English Translation, called
_Frederick II. and his Times; from British Museum and State-Paper
Office:_--a very indistinct poor Book, in comparison with whet it might
have been), p. 73 (24th Dec. 1740).]

FRIEDRICH AT CROSSEN, AND STILL IN HIS OWN TERRITORY, 14th-16th
DECEMBER;--STEPS INTO SCHLESIEN.

At all events, the man means to try;--and is here dining at Crossen,
noon of Wednesday, the 14th; certain important persons,--especially two
Silesian Gentlemen, deputed from Grunberg, the nearest Silesian Town,
who have come across the border on business,--having the honor to dine
with him. To whom his manner is lively and affable; lively in mood,
as if there lay no load upon his spirits. The business of these two
Silesian Gentlemen, a Baron von Hocke one of them, a Baron von Kestlitz
the other, was To present, on the part of the Town and Amt of Grunberg,
a solemn Protest against this meditated entrance on the Territory of
Schlesien; Government itself, from Breslau, ordering them to do so.
Protest was duly presented; Friedrich, as his manner is, and continues
to be on his march, glances politely into or at the Protest; hands it,
in silence, to some page or secretary to deposit in the due pigeon-hole
or waste-basket; and invites the two Silesian Gentlemen to dine
with him; as, we see, they have the honor to do. "He (ER) lives near
Grunberg, then, Mein Herr von Hocke?" "Close to it, IHRO MAJESTAT. My
poor mansion, Schloss of Deutsch-Kessel,