10672. UNTERREDUNG DES KÖNIGS MIT DEM GROSSBRITANNISCHEN MINISTER MITCHELL.
[Breslau, Januar 1759.]
Mitchell berichtet an Holdernesse, Breslau 21. Januar (separate), er habe dem Könige den französischen Operationsplan mitgetheilt, nach dem die ganze Armee von Soubise oder ein Theil derselben durch Hessen und Hannover vordringen solle, um mit den Schweden sich zu vereinen.
„His Prussian Majesty said immediately and with some vivacity that he did not believe the intelligence, that the French knew better than to give in to a project of this sort, that he imagined they had quite other things in view.“
Zwei Tage später ist Mitchell auf dasselbe Project zurückgekommen, um zu erfahren, ob der König von England für den Fall eines Angriffs gegen Hessen und Hannover auf die Unterstützung der preussischen Armee rechnen könne: „ . . . The King of Prussia replyed that, though he believed this project impracticable, he should be glad to join a body of his troops with those of the King in Order to cover and protect the country of Hesse, as well in deference to any proposai that came from the King as to shew the real regard he had for the Landgrave, who had been the bulwark of the alliance and deserved every mark of attention, but, added he: « Look round you and consider my situation, you know it; tell me where you think I can spare a single man, my enemies are increasing on all sides, and they are nearer to me than they were last year, it is therefore absolutely impossible for me to spare any corps of troops even for this necessary and désirable service. »“
Mitchell berichtet an Holdernesse, Breslau 21. Januar (most secret), er habe befohlenermaassen dem Könige Mittheilungen gemacht aus Erlassen der Londoner Regierung an die englischen Vertreter in Warschau und Petersburg. Der Gesandte Stormont sollte erkunden, ob der polnische Hof zu einem Abkommen mit Preussen geneigt sei; Keith in Petersburg sollte verschiedene Personen in der Umgebung der Kaiserin Elisabeth für den Frieden zu gewinnen suchen. „His Prussian Majesty was highly pleased with this new mark of confidential friendship on the part of His Majesty.
„As to the Court of Warsaw, His Prussian Majesty thinks that, notwithstanding the reasons they may have to be offended with the Court of Vienna, they still continue firmly attached to that court, and he concludes from thence that any slight appearances which may have been shewn at the Court of Warsaw of desiring an accommodation with the Court of Prussia were neither real nor sincere, but assumed to gain time and to serve other purposes ....
„The King of Prussia approves entirely of the instructions given to the King's minister at Petersburg, and, as he wishes, above all things,“