Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/67

 Rh of the delay in receiving fifteen hundred men, and of the abandonment of a scheme for obtaining a few thousands more from Würtemberg, seems to me too remote for serious consideration. Is there any reason to suppose that Sir William would have made a better use of the fifteen hundred German soldiers he expected than of the twelve or fifteen thousand he had already? The great king, as we have seen, confined himself to small annoyances. One authoritative word from him might probably have sufficed to put a stop to the whole disgraceful business. The march of the auxiliaries from their national headquarters to the sea can have been, at least after the first year, no cheerful or martial spectacle. The poor fellows travelled partially armed, escorted by picked men. The villages in which they slept were surrounded by a double chain of sentries. If they went by the river Weser, a certain number of them had at most times, even when Prussia was not unusually troublesome, to march round her territory at Minden. We have seen how they were treated on the Rhine. For it was a peculiarity of these troops, that a regiment of them could hardly pass through any part