, the Russians are come across the
Weichsel again, lie in four camps on the hither side; start about June
1st;--Henri waiting for them, in Sagan Country his head-quarter; and on
both hands of that, Fouquet and he spread out, since the middle of May,
in their long thin Chain of Posts, from Landshut to Colberg again, like
a thin wall of 300 miles. To Friedrich the Russian movements are, and
have been, full of enigma: "Going upon Colberg? Going upon Glogau; upon
Breslau?" That is a heavy-footed certainty, audibly tramping forward on
us, amid these fond visions of the air! Certain too, and visible to a
duller eye than Friedrich's; Loudon in Silesia is meditating mischief.
"The inevitable Russians, the inevitable Loudon; and nothing but
Fouquet and Henri on guard there, with their long thin chain of posts,
infinitely too thin to do any execution!" thinks the King. To whom their
modes of operating are but little satisfactory, as seen at Schlettau
from the distance. "Condense yourself," urges he always on Henri; "go
forward on the Russians; attack sharply this Corps, that Corps, while
they are still separate and on march!" Henri did condense himself, "took
post between Sagan and Sprottau; post at Frankfurt,"--poor Frankfurt, is
it to have a Kunersdorf or Zorndorf every year, then? No; the cautious
Henri never could see his way into these adventures; and did not attack
any Corps of the Russians. Took post at Landsberg ultimately,--the
Russians, as usual, having Posen as place-of-arms,--and vigilantly
watched the Russians, without coming to strokes at all. A spectacle
growing gradually intolerable to the King, though he tries to veil his
feelings.

Neither was Fouquet's plan of procedure well seen by Friedrich in the
distance. Ever since that of Regiment Manteuffel, which was a bit of
disappointment, Loudon has been quietly industrious on a bigger scale.
Privately he cherishes the hope, being a swift vehement enterprising
kind of man, to oust Fouquet; and perhaps to have Glatz Fortress taken,
before his Russians come! In the very end of May, Loudon, privately
aiming for Glatz, breaks in upon Silesia again,--a long way to eastward
of Fouquet, and as if regardless of Glatz. Upon which, Fouquet, in dread
for Schweidnitz and perhaps Breslau itself, hastened down into the Plain
Country, to manoeuvre upon Loudon; but found no Loudon moving that way;
and, in a day or two, learned that Landshut, so weakly guarded, had been
picked up by