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With regard to the German war,
France proposed
that
England, on recovering
Hanover, should refrain from interference.
In favor of this policy a large party existed in
England itself, and had its head in the king, its open supporter in the
Duke of
Bedford.
The king of
Prussia, whose chances of ruin, even with the aid of
England, were computed as three to one, knew that George the Third was indifferent to his interests and disliked his character; and his ministers had reported that
Bute and the
British king would advise him to make peace by the sacrifice of territory.
‘How is it possible,’ such were the words addressed by Frederic
1 to
Pitt,
how can the English nation propose to me to make cessions to my enemies; that nation which has guarantied my possessions by authentic acts, known to the whole world?
I have not always been successful; and what man in the universe can dispose of fortune?
Yet, in spite of the number of my enemies, I am still in possession of a part of Saxony, and I am firmly resolved never to yield it but on condition that the Austrians, the Russians, and the French shall restore to me every thing that they have taken from me.
I govern myself by two principles: the one is honor, and the other the interest of the State which Heaven has given me to rule.
The laws which these principles prescribe to me are, first, never to do an act for which I should have cause to blush, if I were to render an account of it to my people; and the second, to sacrifice for the welfare and glory of my country the last drop of my blood.
With these maxims I can never yield to my enemies.
Rome,
