riedrich, for the present, leaves to
chance: and against Russia, he has sent old Marshal Lehwald into those
Baltic parts; far eastward, towards the utmost Memel Frontier, to put
the Country upon its own defence, and make what he can of it with 30,000
men,--West-Prussian militias a good few of them. This is all he can
spare on the Swedish-Russian side: Austria and France are the perilous
pair of entities; not to be managed except by intense concentration of
stroke; and by going on them in succession, if one have luck!--

Friedrich's motions and procedures in canton-quarters, through Winter
and in late months, have led to the belief that he means to stand on the
defensive; that the scene of the Campaign will probably be Saxony;
and that Austria, for recovering injured Saxony, for recovering dear
Silesia, will have to take an invasive attitude. And Austria is busy
everywhere preparing with that view. Has Tolpatcheries, and advanced
Brigades, still harassing about in the Lausitz. A great Army assembling
at Prag,--Browne forward towards the Metal Mountains securing posts,
gathering magazines, for the crossing into Saxony there. There, it is
thought, the tug of war will probably be. Furious, and strenuous, it is
not doubted, on this Friedrich's part: but against such odds, what can
he do? With Austrians in front, with Russians to left, with French to
right and arear, not to mention Swedes and appendages: surely here, if
ever, is a lost King!--

It is by no means Friedrich's intention that Saxony itself shall need to
be invaded. Friedrich's habit is, as his enemies might by this time be
beginning to learn, not that of standing on the defensive, but that of
GOING on it, as the preferable method wherever possible. March 24th,
Friedrich had quitted Dresden City; and for a month after (head-quarters
Lockwitz, edge of the Pirna Country), he had been shifting,
redistributing, his cantoned Army,--privately into the due Divisions,
due readiness for march. Which done, on fixed days, about the end of
April, the whole Army, he himself from Lockwitz, April 20th,--to the
surprise of Austria and the world, Friedrich in three grand Columns,
Bevern out of the Lausitz, King himself over the Metal Mountains,
Schwerin out of Schlesien, is marching with extraordinary rapidity
direct for Prag; in the notion that a right plunge into the heart of
Bohemia will be the best defence for Saxony and the other places under
menace.

This is a most unexpe