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 400 MARIA THERESA. no sooner had the news of his death spread over Europe, than all of them, except the King of England, questioned her claims, and several of them took measures to seize portions of her inheritance. It was the general opinion of Europe that the impoverished empire, under the sway of a young woman, would fall to pieces almost of itself, and that the only question was, respecting the division of its provinces among adjacent states. While the other powers were negotiating and arming with a view to the dismemberment of Austria, Frederick II, the young King of Prussia, availing himself of the splendid army and the vast treasures accumulated by his father, suddenly invaded the Austrian province of Silesia, and marched with such rapidity that, in a few weeks, he had possessed himself of almost the whole province. Fred- erick then offered to the young Empress to establish her in the possession of all her other states, and to give her a subsidy of five million of francs, on the single condition of her ceding to Prussia the province of Silesia, which Frederick claimed as rightfully belonging to his kingdom. Threatened as she was by France, Holland, and Spain, it would have been only prudent in her to have accepted this offer. But with the Imperial crown, she inherited also an Imperial pride. She rejected the proposal with as much promptitude and disdain, as though she had been the mistress of powerful armies and inexhaustible treasuries. In this extremity she repaired to Hungary, where the celebrated scene occurred with the Diet of that country. Presenting to the assembled nobles her infant child, she appealed to their compassion and their loyalty, saying, with tears in her eyes : " I have no allies but you in the world." Whereupon, her husband shouted : " Life and blood for our Queen and kingdom."