Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/53

 Rh to have anything to do with. More than thirty were terribly treated in this way, and many, of whom I was one, were let off only because too many of the accomplices would have had to be punished. Some came out of prison when we marched away, for reasons which were easy to understand; for a fellow that is in irons at Cassel is not paid for by the British.” With troops collected as these were, desertion was necessarily common. The military service was dreaded, and in the smaller states a successful run of a few miles would take the deserter beyond the frontier. The people sympathized with him, and would gladly have helped him had they not been restrained by severe punishments. These, however, were not wanting. In Würtemberg, when the alarm was given, the parish must instantly rise and occupy roads, paths, and bridges for twenty-four hours, or until the fugitive was caught. Should he escape, the place must furnish a substitute as tall as the deserter, and the sons of the principal man of the village were first liable. This order was to be read every month from the pulpit. Whoever helped a deserter lost his civil rights, and was imprisoned with hard labor and flogged in prison. The laws of Hesse-Cassel appear to have been a little less savage. Peasants arresting a deserter received a ducat; but if the fugitive passed through a village without being arrested, the village was liable to pay for him. Every soldier going more than a mile from his garrison was to be furnished with a pass, and all persons meeting him at a greater distance from home were required to