currence
of his high allies, he was obliged to wait for their answer, which could
not fail to be favourable, if nothing remained to be settled but the
place for holding the congress. King Stanislaus having written a letter
to his Britannic majesty, offering the city of Nancy for the same
purpose, he received a civil answer, expressing the king of England's
sense of his obliging offer, which however he declined, as a place not
conveniently situated for all the powers interested in the great works
of pacification. Civilities of the same nature likewise passed between
the sovereign of Nancy and the king of Prussia. As the proposals for an
accommodation made by the king of England and his allies might have left
an unfavourable impression of their adversaries had they been altogether
declined, the court of Vienna was prevailed upon to concur with
her allies in a declaration professing their desire of peace; which
declaration was delivered, on the third day of April, by the Austrian
minister residing at the Hague, to his serene highness prince Louis
of Brunswick; and a paper of the same nature was also delivered to him
separately by the French and Russian ministers. [558] _[See note 4 N, at
the end of this Vol.]_ These professions, however, did not interrupt the
operations of the campaign.

SKIRMISHES IN WESTPHALIA.

Though the French army under the mareschal duke de Broglio remained in
cantonment in the neighbourhood of Friedberg, and prince Ferdinand had
retired from Corsdorff to Marburg, where in the beginning of January he
established his head-quarters, nevertheless the winter was by no means
inactive. As far back as the twenty-fifth day of December, the duke de
Broglio, having called in his detachments, attempted to surprise the
allied army by a forced march to Kleinlinnes; but finding them prepared
to give him a warm reception, nothing but a cannonade ensued, and he
retreated to his former quarters. On the twenty-ninth, colonel Luckner,
at the head of the Hanoverian hunters, fell in with a detachment of the
enemy, consisting of four hundred men, under the command of count Muret.
These he attacked with such vigour, that the count was made prisoner,
and all his party either killed or taken, except two-and-twenty, who
escaped. On the third day of January, the marquis de Vogue attacked the
town of Herborn, which he carried, and took a small detachment of the
allies who were posted there. At the same time the marquis