f which the
French immediately took possession; to retreat to Selsingen, where his
head-quarters were, on the first of September; and from thence, on the
third of the same month, to retire under the cannon of Stade. Here it
was imagined that his army would have been able to maintain their ground
between the Aller and the Elbe, till the severity of the season should
put an end to the campaign. Accordingly, his royal highness, upon his
taking this position, sent a detachment of his forces to Buck-Schantz,
with some artillery, and orders to defend that place to the utmost; but
as it could not possibly have held out many days, and as the French, who
now hemmed him in on all sides, by making themselves masters of a
little fort at the mouth of the river Swinga, would have cut off his
communication with the Elbe, so that four English men of war, then
in that river, could have been of no service to him, he was forced to
accept of a mediation offered by the king of Denmark, by his minister
the count de Lynar, and to sign the famous convention of Closter-Seven,
[422] _[See note 3K, at the end of this Vol.]_ by which thirty-eight
thousand Hanoverians laid down their arms, and were dispersed into
different quarters of cantonment.

CHAPTER XIV.

_The French enter the Prussian Dominions, where they commit
great Disorders..... Reflections on the Misconduct of the
Allied Army..... Russian Fleet blocks up the Prussian Ports
in the Baltic..... Russians take Memel..... Declaration of
the King of Prussia on that occasion..... Army of the Empire
raised with Difficulty..... The Austrians take Gabel.....
and destroy Zittau..... The Prince of Prussia leaves the
Army..... Communication between England and Ostend broke
off..... Gueldres capitulates..... Skirmishes between the
Prussians and Austrians..... and between the Prussians and
Russians..... Mareschal Lehwald attacks the Russians in their
Intrenchments near Norkitten..... Hasty Retreat of the
Russians out of Prussia..... French and Imperialists take
Gotha..... Action between the Prussians and Austrians near
Goerlitz..... The French oblige Prince Ferdinand to
retire..... Berlin laid under Contribution by the Austrians;
and Leipsic subjected to military Execution by the
Prussians..... Battle of Rosbach..... The Austrians take
Schweidnitz; and defeat the Prince of Bevern near
Breslau.