the other side of the river. At length M.
Briedenbach was obliged to desist, and fall back into the town; from
whence he retired at midnight, after having sustained considerable
damage. Prince Ferdinand had it very much at heart to drive the French
from Gottengen, and accordingly invested that city; but the French
garrison, which was numerous and well provided, made such a vigorous
defence, as baffled all the endeavours of the allies, who were moreover
impeded by the rainy weather, which, added to other considerations,
prevented them from undertaking the siege in form. Nevertheless, they
kept the place blocked up from the twenty-second day of November to the
twelfth of the following month, when the garrison, in a desperate sally,
took one of their principal posts, and compelled them to raise the
blockade. About the middle of December, prince Ferdinand retired into
winter-quarters; he himself residing at Uslar, and the English troops
being cantoned in the bishopric of Paderborn. Thus the enemy were left
in possession of Hesse, and the whole country to the eastward of the
Weser, to the frontiers of the electorate of Hanover. If the allied
army had not been weakened for the sake of a rash, ill-concerted, and
unsuccessful expedition to the Lower Rhine, in all probability the
French would have been obliged to abandon the footing they had gained
in the course of this campaign; and, in particular, to retreat from
Gottengen, which they now maintained and fortified with great diligence
and circumspection.

CHAPTER XX.

_Exploit of the Swedes in Pomerania..... Skirmishes between
the Prussians and Austrians in Saxony..... Position of the
Armies in Saxony and Silesia..... General Laudohn defeats
General Fouquet, and reduces Glatz..... and then undertakes
the Siege of Breslau, which is relieved by Prince Henry of
Prussia..... The King of Prussia makes an unsuccessful
Attempt upon Dresden..... He marches into Silesia.....
Defeats General Laudohn, and raises the Blockade of
Schweidnitz..... Action between General Hulsen and the
Imperial Army in Saxony..... Dangerous Situation of the
Prussian Monarch..... The Russians and Austrians make an
Irruption into Brandenburgh, and possess themselves of
Berlin..... The Ring of Prussia defeats the Austrians at
Torgau..... Both Armies go into Quarters of Cantonment.....
The Diets of Poland and Sweden assembled.....