ick's Successes over the Austrians Encouraged by the happy circumstances in which he so suddenly and Frederunexpectedly found himself, the King of Prussia made the Austrians feel the effects of his vengeance by reëntering Silesia, defeating Daun at Buckersdorf and recapturing Schweidnitz with nine thousand prison- in 1762. ers, which again gave him possession of Silesia. Frederick next invaded Bohemia, destroyed the Austrian magazines at Prague, burned the city of Eger and terribly ravaged the country. Successes His brother Prince Henry was victorious in Saxony, defeating the Prussian Austrian and German imperial armies at Freiberg. Austria consented in to an armistice; and, by overrunning Franconia, Suabia and Bavaria, Germany. Frederick the Great forced the princes of those German states to withdraw their forces from the imperial army, which was thus obliged to treat for a suspension of hostilities. The Czar Peter III. had been deposed in July, 1762, by his wicked wife, who then made herself sole sovereign of Russia, with the title of CATHARINE II. The unfortunate Peter soon afterward died in prison, supposed to have been assassinated at the instigation of Catharine. The new Empress immediately renounced the alliance with Frederick the Great, declared herself neutral with respect to the war in Germany and recalled the Russian armies from Prussia. Sweden had already made peace with Prussia by the Treaty of Hamburg, negotiated by Frederick's sister, the wife of King Adolphus Frederick of Sweden, May 22, 1762. Catharine II. of Russia, A. D. 17621796. Her Neutrality. Paris. On February 10, 1763, Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal Peace of concluded treaties of peace at Paris, by which they agreed to observe neutrality with regard to the war between Austria and Prussia. The terms of the Peace of Paris were most humiliating to France. Nova Scotia, Canada and all the other French possessions in North America east of the Mississippi river, except the small islands of Miquelon and St. Pierre, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, were ceded to Great Britain; as were also the islands of Granada, Dominica, St. Vincent and Tobago, in the West Indies. France ceded Louisiana to Spain to indemnify her for her losses by the Family Compact. Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain, in exchange for Cuba and the Philippine Islands, which had been captured by the British navy. France also ceded to Great Britain the Senegal country in Africa, the French settlements made in India within the previous fourteen years, all the French conquests in Hanover and the island of Minorca. Great Britain restored Belleisle, on the coast of France, and the island of St. Lucia, in the West Indies. Austria and Prussia, thus left to themselves, soon agreed to a treaty of peace, which was signed at Hubertsburg, February 15, 1763; leaving the province of Silesia, for which so much blood had been shed, in the possession of Frederick the Great. Frederick promised his vote as Peace of burg. British and Prussian Elector of Brandenburg for Maria Theresa's son, the Archduke Joseph Thus Great Britain and Prussia emerged victorious from a gigantic struggle against the combined powers of Europe. Thus ended the great Triumph. Seven Years' War, in which one million men perished and which raised Prussia to a front rank, assigned North America forever to the AngloSaxon race and established the British Empire in India. Situation Great the German and Prussia. By the result of this war, France, weakened and exhausted, had sunk of France, far below the commanding position which she had formerly occupied, Britain, and her prestige was gone; while Great Britain took her place as the leading commercial and naval power of the world. The German EmEmpire pire had long been rotten structure, and the Peace of Hubertsburg made its weakness clearly manifest. About three hundred and fifty states, of which the Empire was composed, exercised the rights of sovereignty and were almost independent of the Emperor, whose authority over the different princes of the Empire was little more than nominal. While the German Empire was thus in a decaying condition, the young Kingdom of Prussia, under its illustrious sovereign, Frederick the Great, had already taken its place as one of the leading powers of Europe. During the twenty-four years of Frederick's reign after the Seven Years' War, Prussia enjoyed the greatest prosperity. Neutral Traffic with Belligerents. During the Seven Years' War a question arose which led to very important discussions. France, unable to maintain commercial intercourse with her colonies, opened the trade to neutral powers. Great Britain declared this traffic illegal, and used her naval superiority in seizing neutral vessels and neutral property bound to hostile ports. The return of peace ended the dispute for the time, but it became a subject of angry controversy in every subsequent war. Great During the Seven Years' War the internal condition of Great Britain Britain's improved rapidly by the extension of the funding system, which so intiFunding System. mately connected the pecuniary affairs of the government with those of the nation. By far the larger portion of the loans required for the expenses of the war were raised at home, so that the increase of the national debt more closely united the rulers and the people of Great Britain in the bonds of a common interest. This changed condition of affairs scarcely excited notice at the time, though it was the main source of the permanence and stability displayed by the British government when the dynasties of Continental Europe were menaced with overthrow by revolution. |