necessities of a campaign can hardly excuse. On the second day of
January, the French regiment of Nassau presented itself before the gates
of Franckfort-on-the-Maine, a neutral imperial city; and, demanding
a passage, it was introduced, and conducted by a detachment of the
garrison through the city as far as the gate of Saxenhausen, where it
unexpectedly halted, and immediately disarmed the guards. Before the
inhabitants could recover from the consternation into which they were
thrown by this outrageous insult, five other French regiments entered
the place; and here their general, the prince de Soubise, established
his head-quarters. How deeply soever this violation of the laws of the
empire might be resented by all honest Germans, who retained affection
for the constitution of their country, it was a step from which the
French army derived a very manifest and important advantage; for it
secured to them the course of the Maine and the Upper Rhine; by which
they received, without difficulty or danger, every species of supply
from Mentz, Spire, Worms, and even the country of Alsace, while it
maintained their communication with the chain formed by the Austrian
forces and the army of the empire.

PROGRESS OF THE HEREDITARY PRINCE OF BRUNSWICK.

The scheme of operation for the ensuing campaign was already formed
between the king of Prussia and prince Ferdinand of Brunswick; and
before the armies took the field, several skirmishes were fought
and quarters surprised. In the latter end of February, the prince of
Ysembourg detached major-general Urst with four battalions and a body of
horse; who, assembling in Rhotenbourg, surprised the enemy's quarters in
the night between the first and second day of March, and drove them
from Hirchfield, Vacha, and all the Hessian bailiwicks of which they had
taken possession; but the Austrians soon returning in greater numbers,
and being supported by a detachment of French troops from Franckfort,
the allies fell back in their turn. In a few days, however, they
themselves retreated again with great precipitation, though they did not
all escape. The hereditary prince of Brunswick, with a body of Prussian
hussars, fell upon them suddenly at Molrichstadt, where he routed and
dispersed a regiment of Hohenzollern cuirassiers, and a battalion of the
troops of Wurtzburg. He next day, which was the first of April,
advanced with a body of horse and foot to Meinungen, where he found a
considera