On the 11th of June the treaty which abandoned Silesia to Frederick II.

was secretly concluded; when the signatures were exchanged at Berlin in the following month, the withdrawal of Prussia was everywhere known in Europe.

"This is the method introduced and accepted amongst the allies: to separate and do a better stroke of business by being the first to make terms," writes M.d'Argenson on 30th June; "it used not to be so.

The English were the first to separate from the great alliance in 1711, and they derive great advantages from it; we followed this terrible example in 1735, and got Lorraine by it; lastly, here is the King of Prussia, but under much more odious circumstances, since he leaves us in a terrible scrape, our armies, in the middle of Germany, beaten and famine-stricken; the emperor, despoiled of his hereditary dominions and his estates likewise in danger.

All is at the mercy of the maritime powers, who have pushed things to the extremity we see; and we, France, who were alone capable of resisting such a torrent at this date-- here be we exhausted, and not in a condition to check these rogueries and this power, even by uniting ourselves the most closely with Spain.