He, therefore, ordered his minister to declare, at Vienna, "that
he was ready to guarantee all the German dominions of the house of
Austria; that he would conclude a treaty with Austria, Russia, and the
maritime powers; that he would endeavour that the duke of Lorrain
should be elected emperour, and believed that he could accomplish it;
that he would immediately advance to the queen two millions of
florins; that, in recompense for all this, he required Silesia to be
yielded to him."
These seem not to be the offers of a prince very much convinced of his
own right. He afterwards moderated his claim, and ordered his minister
to hint at Vienna, that half of Silesia would content him.
The queen answered, that though the king alleged, as his reason for
entering Silesia, the danger of the Austrian territories from other
pretenders, and endeavoured to persuade her to give up part of her
possessions for the preservation of the rest, it was evident that he
was the first and only invader, and that, till he entered in a hostile
manner, all her estates were unmolested.
To his promises of assistance she replied, "that she set a high value
on the king of Prussia's friendship; but that he was already obliged
to assist her against her invaders, both by the golden bull, and the
pragmatick sanction, of which he was a guarantee, and that, if these
ties were of no force she knew not what to hope from other
engagements.
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