Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/28

 15 partly, in the case of the latter, on account of the trouble made by Frederick the Great about the passage of troops through his dominions. Proposals of several other small German princes came to nothing. The treaty first concluded was that with the Duke of Brunswick. It is dated January 9, 1776. The Duke yields to his Britannic Majesty a corps of three thousand nine hundred and sixty-four infantry men, and three hundred and thirty-six unmounted dragoons. This corps is to be completely equipped at the expense of the Duke, except as to horses for the light cavalry. They are to march from Brunswick in two divisions in February and March, and the King is to take measures to prevent desertion while they pass through his electoral dominions of Hanover on their way to the sea. The King is to pay and feed them on the same scale as his own soldiers, and the Duke engages “to let his corps enjoy all the emoluments of pay that his Britannic Majesty allows them,” that is to say, not to pay them on a lower scale and pocket the difference. The British government, however, did not trust him. From the time of the arrival of the troops in America their pay was sent direct to them there, and did not pass through his Most Serene Ducal Highness's hands. This precaution was adopted with all the German auxiliaries but those of Hesse-Cassel, whose landgrave succeeded in getting the handling of the money. The Brunswick soldiers were to be cared for in the British hospitals, and the wounded not in condition to serve were to be transported into Europe at the expense of the King, and landed in a port on the Elbe or the Weser. The Duke agreed to furnish the