at a distance, he immediately comprehended the nature of
the king's management. He then attempted to advance by Lignitz; but the
troops and artillery, which had been left on the height of Psaffendorff,
to dispute his march, were so advantageously disposed, as to render all
his efforts abortive. Laudohn is said to have lost in the action
above eight thousand men, killed, wounded, and taken, including eighty
officers, with twenty-three pair of colours, and eighty-two pieces of
cannon; over and above this loss, the Austrian general suffered greatly
by desertion. The Prussians obtained the victory at the expense of
one general, with five hundred men killed, and twelve hundred wounded.
Immediately after the action the victor inarched to Parchwitz; while
Daun detached prince Lowenstein and general Beck with the reserve of his
army, to join prince Czernichew, who had crossed the Oder at Auras;
but he was so intimidated by the defeat at Lignitz, that he forthwith
repassed that river, and prince Lowenstein retired on the side of Jauer.
By this bold and well-conducted adventure, the Prussian monarch not
only escaped the most imminent hazard of a total defeat from the joint
efforts of two strong armies, but also prevented the dreaded junction
of the Eussian and Austrian forces. His business was now to open the
communication with Breslau and his brother prince Henry, whom he joined
at Neumarcke. The prince, after Laudohn was obliged to relinquish
the siege of Breslau, had kept a watchful eye over the motions of the
Eussian army, which had advanced into the neighbourhood of that city;
and, without all doubt, would have bombarded it from some commanding
heights, had they not been prevented by prince Henry, who took
possession of these posts, and fortified them with redoubts. The king
having freed Breslau from the neighbourhood of his enemies, and being
strengthened by the junction with his brother, left a considerable
detachment under the command of general Boltze, to protect the country
against the Eussian irregulars; and advanced with his whole force to the
relief of Schweidnitz, which was blocked up by the Austrian forces under
the command of the mareschal count Daun. In his march he fell upon
a separate body under general Beck, made two battalions of Croats
prisoners, and dispersed several squadrons. This achievement had such an
effect upon the enemy, that they raised the blockade, and retreated with
some precipitation to the moun