1743
On the twenty-first day of April the session was closed in the usual manner. The king, in his speech to both houses, told them, that, at the requisition of the queen of Hungary, he had ordered his army, in conjunction with the Austrians, to pass the Rhine for her support and assistance; that he continued one squadron of ships in the Mediterranean, and another in the West Indies. He thanked the commons for the ample supplies they had granted; and declared it was the fixed purpose of his heart to promote the true interest and happiness of his kingdoms. Immediately after the prorogation of parliament he embarked for Germany, accompanied by the duke of Cumberland, lord Carteret, and other persons of distinction.
CONVENTION BETWEEN THE EMPEROR AND THE QUEEN OF HUNGARY.
At this period the queen of Hungary seemed to triumph over all her enemies. The French were driven out of Bohemia and part of the Upper Palatinate; and their forces under mareschal Broglio were posted on the Danube. Prince Charles of Lorraine, at the head of the Austrian army, entered Bavaria; and in April obtained a victory over a body of Bavarians at Braunau; at the same time, three bodies of Croatians penetrating through the passes of the Tyrolese, ravaged the whole country to the very gates of Munich. The emperor pressed the French general to hazard a battle; but he refused to run the risk, though he had received a strong reinforcement from France. His Imperial majesty thinking himself unsafe in Munich, retired to Augsburgh; mareschal Seckendorf retreated with the Bavarian troops to Ingoldstadt, where he was afterwards joined by mareschal Broglio, whose troops had in this retreat been pursued and terribly harassed by the Austrian cavalry and hussars. Prince Charles had opened a free communication with Munich, which now for the third time fell into the hands of the queen of Hungary. Her arms likewise reduced Friedberg and Landsperg, while prince Charles continued to pursue the French to Dona-wert, where they were joined by twelve thousand men from the Bhine. Broglio still avoided an engagement, and retreated before the enemy to Hailbron. The emperor being thus abandoned by his allies, and stripped of all his dominions, repaired to Franckfort, where he lived in indigence and obscurity. He now made advances towards an accommodation with the queen of Hungary. His general, Seckendorf, had an interview with count Khevenhuller at the convent of Lowerscon-field, where a convention was signed. This treaty imported, that the emperor should remain neuter during the continuance of the present war, and that his troops should be quartered in Franconia; that the queen of Hungary should keep possession of Bavaria till the peace; that Braunau and Scarding should be delivered up to the Austrians; that the French garrison of Ingoldstadt should be permitted to withdraw, and be replaced by Bavarians; but that the Austrian generals should be put in possession of all the artillery, magazines, and warlike stores belonging to the French, which should be found in the place. The governors of Egra and Ingoldstadt refusing to acquiesce in the capitulation, the Austrians had recourse to the operations of war; and both places were reduced. In Ingoldstadt they found all the emperor’s domestic treasure, jewels, plate, pictures, cabinets, and curiosities, with the archives of the house of Bavaria, the most valuable effects belonging to the nobility of that electorate, a prodigious train of artillery, and a vast quantity of provisions, arms, and ammunition.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRUSSIA AND THE ELECTOR OF HANOVER.
The French king, baffled in all the efforts he had hitherto made for the support of the emperor, ordered his minister at Franckfort to deliver a declaration to the diet, professing himself extremely well pleased to hear they intended to interpose their mediation for terminating the war. He said, he was no less satisfied with the treaty of neutrality which the emperor had concluded with the queen of Hungary; an event of which he was no sooner informed, than he had ordered his troops to return to the frontiers of his dominions, that the Germanic body might be convinced of his equity and moderation. To this declaration the queen of Hungary answered in a rescript, that the design of France was to embarrass her affairs, and deprive her of the assistance of her allies; that the elector of Bavaria could not be considered as a neutral party in his own cause; that the mediation of the empire could only produce a peace either with or without the concurrence of France; that in the former case no solid peace could be expected; in the latter, it was easy to foresee, that France would pay no regard to a peace in which she should have no concern. She affirmed, that the aim of the French king was solely to gain time to repair his losses, that he might afterwards revive the troubles of the empire. The elector of Mentz, who had favoured the emperor, was now dead, and his successor inclined to the Austrian interest. He allowed this rescript to be entered in the journal of the diet, together with the protests which had been made when the vote of Bohemia was suppressed in the late election. The emperor complained in a circular letter of this transaction, as a stroke levelled at his imperial dignity; and it gave rise to a warm dispute among the members of the Germanic body. Several princes resented the haughty conduct, and began to be alarmed at the success of the house of Austria; while others pitied the deplorable situation of the emperor. The kings of Great Britain and Prussia, as electors of Hanover and Brandenburgh, espoused opposite sides in this contest. His Prussian majesty protested against the investiture of the duchy of Saxe Lawenburgh, claimed by the king of Great Britain; he had an interview with general Seckendorf at Anspach; and was said to have privately visited the emperor at Franckfort.