wer,
intimating, that he would give the duke de Richelieu his answer in
person at the head of his army. At this particular juncture, the
French general was disposed to abide by the original articles of the
convention, rather than draw upon himself the hostilities of an army
which he knew to be brave, resolute, and well appointed, and which he
saw at present animated with an eager desire of wiping out the disgrace
they had sustained by the capitulation, as well as of relieving their
country from the grievous oppression wider which it groaned.

PROGRESS OF THE HANOVERIAN ARMY.

About the latter end of November, the Hanoverian army was wholly
assembled at Stade, under the auspices of prince Ferdinand, who resolved
without delay to drive the French from the electorate, whither they now
began their march. Part of the enemy's rear, consisting of two thousand
men, was, in their march back to Zell, attacked in the bailiwick of
Ebstorff, and entirely defeated by general Schuylenbourg; and, in a few
days after this action, another happened upon the river Aller, between
two considerable bodies of each army, in which the Hanoverians,
commanded by general Zastrow, remained masters of the field. These petty
advantages served to encourage the allies, and put them in possession of
Lunen-burgh, Zell, and part of the Brunswick dominions, which the enemy
were obliged to abandon. The operations of prince Ferdinand, however,
were retarded by the resolution and obstinate perseverance of the French
officer who commanded the garrison of Harbourg. When the Hanoverian
troops made themselves masters of the town, he retired into the castle,
which he held out against a considerable detachment of the allied army,
by whom it was invested; at length, however, the fortifications being
entirely demolished, he surrendered upon capitulation. On the sixth day
of December, prince Ferdinand began his march towards Zell, where the
French army had taken post, under the command of the duke de Richelieu,
who, at the approach of the Hanoverians, called in his advanced parties,
abandoned several magazines, burned all the farm-houses and buildings
belonging to the sheep-walks of his Britannic majesty, without paying
the least regard to the representations made by prince Ferdinand on this
subject; reduced the suburbs of Zell to ashes, after having allowed his
men to plunder the houses, and even set fire to the orphan hospital, in
which a great number of helpl