might present itself for recovering her lost
territory and retrieving her damaged honour;
Prussia also prepared herself for emergencies,
augmented her resources, and disciplined
her armies. The old empire and the new
kingdom thus stood jealously fronting each
other for a considerable time, until Prussia,
with her greater energy, took the initiative, as
she did a few weeks ago. Frederick the Great,
though he had been actively getting ready for
war himself, chose to fasten a quarrel on Austria
on the score of her armaments. He demanded
explanations; and, getting none that he considered
satisfactory, bore down at once on Saxony
(which was in alliance with the empire), and
struck blow upon blow, much as his successor
has just done under the guidance of Bismarck.
This was in 1756, and in the following year he
advanced from Saxony into Bohemia, which
then, as now, was the scene of desperate fighting.
There was much talk then of Federal
Execution against Prussia, as there was in May
and June of this year; but the Federal armies
of 1757, like those of 1866, very speedily
evaporated into space. The same energy which
we have so recently seen with something of
admiration and more of astonishment, was
exhibited, a hundred and odd years ago, by
Frederick and his generals; and Austria, though she
subsequently recovered herself, was for a while
paralysed by the audacity of her enemy's
proceedings. The battle to which in this paper
we desire to call the reader's attention, was the
first fought on entering Bohemia, though it was
not the last nor the most important. Towards
the end of April, the Prussians poured into that
part of the Austrian dominions in three columns:
one under the command of Frederick himself,
another under that of the Prince of Brunswick–
Bevern, and the third headed by Marshal
Schwerin. It was the second of these columns
which first crossed swords with the Imperial
troops; and the affair took place near the
little town of Reichenberg, on the 21st of
April, 1757.

Bohemia is completely girdled by a chain of
mountains, often very wild and desolate, and in
many parts covered with thick forests. The
country would seem to be well protected against
invasion, and in the late struggle it was made a
charge against Field–Marshal Benedek that he
did not defend the passes of the hilly barrier,
instead of waiting for his enemy in the
comparatively open ground. The Austrians committed
exactly the same mistake in 1757. They seem
to have disbelieved in the advance of
Frederick. Accordingly, his three divisions were
speedily across the frontier in three separate
places, and Bohemia was in his possession.
The column commanded by the Prince of
Brunswick–Bevern, consisting of eighteen thousand
foot and five thousand horse, started on the 20th
of April from near Zittau, a little place in
Saxony on the borders of Bohemia, and on the
evening of that day came upon the Austrians
posted in a woody hollow not far from Reichenberg.
The town so named is prettily situated
among hills and trees on the banks of the river
Neisse, at the foot of the Riesengebirge, as that
part of the Bohemian mountain–chain is called
which lies to the north–east of the kingdom.
No great distance to the south–east of Reichenberg
lie Josephstadt, Könniggratz, and Sadowa
—henceforward to be memorable in history as
the scenes of that sanguinary battle of July 3rd,
1866, the echoes of which are yet sounding in
our ears. At the present day, Reichenberg is a
flourishing town, with a population of about
fifteen thousand, with four great manufactories
of woollen cloth, and with divers other
factories, altogether producing goods to the annual
value of half a million sterling. The town is
the chief seat of all the woollen, linen, and cotton
manufactures of that part of Bohemia, and
even in the last century was a place of importance.
Twenty thousand pieces of cloth are
said to have been made there in one year, in
days before steam–power was known; so that
when the opposing armies drew up in order of
battle near the mills and warehouses of these
peaceful burghers, they had some things of value
to tremble for, over and above their lives, and
those of their women and children. The battle,
however, took place on the other side of the
Neisse, and therefore did not touch the town.
The country all round is truly pastoral and
picturesque. The spurs of the Riesengebirge (the
Giant Mountains) here dwindle down into
undulating hills and valleys—soft waves and folds
of turfy ground, dotted with single trees, with
clumps of wood, and here and there with little
groves, darkening to shadowy green the lighter
verdure of the fields. Such is the country
as we see it represented in an old print of
the battle published at the time. A pleasant
rural country, not unlike the wilder parts of
England; with leafy lanes climbing the
hillsides, and a bright placid river winding through
the landscape—a bridge in the far distance.
Near at hand are the scattered houses of the
suburbs of Reichenberg, and a corner of the
walled town itself, with sloping roofs, watch–
towers, and pinnacled church. This nameless
artist of a century ago has contrived to make
quite a charming picture out of his battle–piece;
one might look at it apart from its historical
interest, and forget the smoke of mortal conflict
in the comfortable serenity of nature. Strange
to say, the artist has given all the firing to the
Prussians.

The Austrian general, Count Königseck,
having determined to offer the invader battle,
posted himself, at the head of twenty thousand
men, in a position which, according to military
critics, was one of the best an army could
occupy. At his back, he had a line of woody
hills; to his right, the river Neisse; to his
left, a hollow which could be readily defended.
In this hollow he stationed the greater part of
his army, planted batteries, and felled trees.
At half–past six on the morning of the 21st of
April, the Prince of Brunswick–Bevern crossed
a marshy brook on which he had encamped the
previous night, assaulted the left wing of Königseck,
which, as we have seen, was strongly
posted in a hollow with artificial defences, and