an his march in
the beginning of January, and on the twenty-second his light troops took
possession of Koningsberg, the capital of Prussia, without opposition:
for the king's forces had quitted that country in order to prosecute the
war in the western parts of Pomerania. They did not, however, maintain
themselves in this part of the country; but, after having ravaged some
districts, returned to the main body, which halted on the Vistula, to
the no small disturbance of the city of Dantzic. The resident of the
czarina actually demanded that the magistrates should receive a Russian
garrison; a demand which they not only peremptorily refused, but ordered
all the citizens to arms, and took every other method to provide for
their defence. At length, after some negotiation with general Fermer,
the affair was compromised: he desisted from the demand, and part of his
troops passed the Vistula, seemingly to invade Pomerania, in the eastern
part of which count Dohna had assembled an army of Prussians to oppose
their progress. But after they had pillaged the open country, they
rejoined their main body; and general Fermer, turning to the left,
advanced to Silesia in order to co-operate with the other Russian army
commanded by Browne, who had taken his route through Poland, and already
passed the Posna. By the first of July both bodies had reached the
frontiers of Silesia, and some of their cossacks, penetrating into
that province, had committed dreadful ravages, and overwhelmed the
inhabitants with consternation. Count Bohna, with the Prussian army
under his command, had attended their motions, and even passed the Oder
at Frankfort, as if he had intended to give them battle; but he was too
much inferior in number to hazard such a step, which became an object of
his sovereign's own personal attention. Mareschal Daun had followed the
king into Bohemia, and, on the twenty-second day of July, encamped
on the hills of Libischau, a situation almost inaccessible, where he
resolved to remain and watch the motions of the Prussian monarch, until
some opportunity should offer of acting to advantage. Nature seems
to have expressly formed this commander with talents to penetrate
the designs, embarrass the genius, and check the impetuosity, of
the Prussian monarch. He was justly compared to Fabius Maximus,
distinguished by the epithet of Cunctator. He possessed all ihe
vigilance, caution, and sagacity of that celebrated Roman. Like him, he
hovered