tains of Landshut.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

ACTION BETWEEN GENEEAL HULSEN AND THE IMPERIAL ARMY IN SAXONY.

While the king thus exerted himself, with a spirit altogether
unexampled, in defending Silesia, general Hulsen, who commanded his
troops in Saxony, was exposed to the most imminent danger. Understanding
that the army of the empire had formed a design to cut off his
communication with Torgau, he quitted his camp at Meissen, and marched
to Strehla. The enemy having divided their forces into two bodies, one
of them, on the twentieth clay of August, attacked an advanced post
of the Prussians; while the other was disposed in such a manner, as
to overawe Hulsen's camp, and prevent him from taking any step for the
relief of his battalions, who maintained their ground with difficulty
against a superior number of assailants. In this emergency the Prussian
general ordered his cavalry to make a circuit round a rising ground,
and, if possible, charge the enemy in flank. This order was executed
with equal vigour and success. They fell upon the imperial army with
such impetuosity, as drove their battalions and horse upon each other in
the utmost confusion. A considerable number of the enemy were slain,
and forty-one officers, with twelve hundred men, made prisoners. By this
advantage, which was obtained at a very small expense, general Hulsen
opened for himself a way to Torgau, whither he instantly retreated,
perceiving that the whole army of the imperialists was advancing to cut
off his communication with the Elbe. This retreat furnished the enemy
with a pretext for claiming the victory.

SITUATION OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA.

After all these heroic endeavours of the Prussian monarch and his
officers, his affairs remained in such a desperate situation as seemed
to presage approaching ruin; for, though in person he commanded a
numerous and well-appointed army, he found it absolutely impossible to
guard against the different detachments from the three separate armies
of his adversaries. Bodies of Austrian troops scoured the country of
Lusatia; the Russians traversed part of Silesia, and made irruptions
even into Brandenburgh; the imperial army domineered in Saxony; the
Swedish army, meeting with no opposition, advanced into the heart of
Pomerania; so that the king was not only threatened on every side, but
all correspondence between him and his hereditary dominions was at this
juncture intercepted.

THE RUSS