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8 accede; and he did so far accede to it, as to shew he perfectly agreed in his sentiments with these courts. But his situation in the jaws of a formidable enemy, and the experience of past misfortunes, had rendered him so wary, that he declined signing the treaty; but still, with the consent of the parties concerned, whom he fully convinced of his resolution to co-operate in all their measures. He desired, and they agreed, that in the success of their arms he should have a share in the spoil, on the footing of a treaty for

the eventual partition of the King of Prussia's dominions made in the last war. On these conditions the King of Poland, without actually signing, was understood, and received as a party to the treaty of Petersbourg.

In consequence of these measures, all sorts of means were employed to embroil the King of Prussia's affairs in the North, and particularly to render him personally odious to the Czarina. When their machinations had taken full effect, and Russia was fixed in an unalterable enmity to that monarch, preparations of magazines and armies were made in Bohemia and Moravia; and the King of Poland, under pretence of a military amusement, drew together about 16,000 men, with which he occupied the strong and important post of Pirna. The Queen of Hungary saw that she stood in need of yet stronger supports than these, in the arduous business she had undertaken. She found that Great Britain, which had often done so much for her distress would do little for her ambition: she therefore had recourse to France, who joyfully accepting an alliance, that promised to confound the whole Germanic body, concluded a treaty with the Empress at Versailles the 1st of May 1756, a remarkable æra in the political history of Europe.

The secret articles of the treaty of Petersbourg, the fountain of the present troubles, and the steps taken to put that treaty in execution, tho' formed and carried on with as much secresy as earnestness, could not escape the vigilance of his Prussian majesty, who watched all their motions, and had perfect intelligence of their most hidden designs. When therefore he perceived, that by the breach between England and France, the Empress Queen would take advantage of these troubles to avail herself of her alliances and her armaments; he ordered his minister at Vienna to demand a clear explication, and proper assurances concerning the preparations he saw making: and receiving only a dry and equivocal answer, that the Empress had taken measures for her own security, and that of her allies and friends, the King believed himself no longer bound to preserve any terms; a dangerous war was to be kept out of his own territories at any rate; and being always in perfect readiness for action, he fell upon Saxony with a considerable army.

At first the King of Prussia seemed only to demand a free passage for his troops, and an observance of the neutrality professed by the King of Poland; but as he had very good reasons to distrust such a neutrality, he demanded as a security, that the Saxon troops should quit the strong post they occupied, and disperse themselves immediately. This demand was refused, and the King of Prussia, in consequence of that refusal, immediately formed a sort of blockade about the Saxon camp at Pirna, with a view to reduce it by famine,