In the midst of a general peace, and without any declaration of war,
she seized upon a country lying on the borders of the Ohio River,
and belonging to French Canada, made an attack upon some hundred
merchant-ships, which were navigating the Ohio, under the protection
of the ships-of-war, and took them as prizes. [Footnote:
"Characteristics of the Important Events of the Seven Years' War,"
by Retson.]

That was the cannon-shot which roused all Europe from her
comfortable slumber and dreamy rest.

The Empress of Austria began to make warlike preparations in
Bohemia, and to assemble her troops on the borders of Saxony and
Bohemia. The Empress of Russia discontinued instantaneously her
luxurious feasts and wild orgies, armed her soldiers, and placed
them on the borders of Courland. She formed an immediate alliance
with England, by which she bound herself to protect the territory of
George II. in Germany, if attacked by France, in retaliation for the
French merchant-ships taken by England on the Ohio River. Hanover,
however, was excepted, as Frederick of Prussia might possibly give
her his aid. For this promised aid, Russia received from England the
sum of 150,000 pounds sterling, which was truly welcome to the
powerful Bestuchef, from, the extravagant and pomp-loving minister
of the queen.

Saxony also prepared for war, and placed her army on the borders of
Prussia, for which she received a subsidy from Austria. This was as
gladly welcomed by Count Bruhl, the luxurious minister of King
Augustus the Third of Poland and Saxony, as the English subsidy was