“What was the sum of money your majesty then offered the Queen of Austria?” Lord Hyndford inquired.
The king hesitated, as though he had forgotten. But his secretary answered, “Three million florins ($1,500,000).”
“I should not value the money,” the king added. “If money would content her I would give more.”
After a long pause Lord Hyndford inquired, “Would your majesty consent to an armistice?”
“Yes,” Frederick replied; “but for not less than six months” (counting on his fingers from May to December)--“till December 1. The season then would be so far gone that they could do nothing.”
As the secretary, Podewils, had been taking notes, Lord Hyndford requested permission to look at them, that he might see that no mistake had been made. The king assented, and then Lord Hyndford bowed himself out. Thus ended the audience.
A few days after this interview, the Dutch embassador, General Ginckel, arrived with the Resolution from the English and Dutch courts, demanding that the king should evacuate Silesia. Lord Hyndford was much embarrassed, apprehending that the presentation of the summons at that time would work only mischief. He persuaded General Ginckel to delay the presentation until he could send a courier to England for instructions. In a fortnight the courier returned with the order that the Resolution was immediately to be presented to his Prussian majesty.
In the mean time, Frederick, who kept himself thoroughly informed of all these events, signed secretly, on the 5th of June, a treaty of intimate alliance with France. Though he had not yet received the Joint Resolution of the English and Dutch courts, he was well aware of its existence, and the next day sent to his envoy, M. Räsfeld, at the Hague, the following dispatch:
“You will beforehand inform the high mightinesses in regard to that Advice of April 24th, which they determined on giving me, through his excellency General Ginckel, along with his excellency Lord Hyndford, that such advice can be considered by me only as a blind complaisance to the court of Vienna’s improper urgencies. That for certain I will not quit Silesia till my claims be satisfied. And the longer I am forced to continue warring for them here, the higher they will rise.”