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"That the town and fortress of Rhinfels should be demanded for the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, until that matter be otherwise settled. "That the clause relating to religion, in the fourth article of the Treaty of Ryswyck, and contrary to that of Westphalia, should be annulled, and the state of religion in Germany restored to the tenor of the Treaty of Westphalia.
The Prussian possessions on the left bank of the Elbe, Hanover, Brunswick, and Hesse-Cassel, were converted by Napoleon into the new kingdom of Westphalia, which he bestowed upon his brother Jerome and included in the Rhenish confederation. East Friesland was annexed to Holland.
On pretence of taking umbrage at the town of Hanau Muntzenberg, for having without their permission acknowledged the regency of the landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel, they, in the month of February, ordered the magistrates of that place to pay, within the term of twenty-four hours, the sum of seven hundred and fifty thousand livres, on pain of being subjected to plunder.
They clutched eagerly, however, at his proposal that Prussia should form a league of the North German States, and made overtures to the two most important States, Saxony and Hesse-Cassel. During a few halcyon days the King even proposed to assume the title Emperor of Prussia, from which, however, the Elector of Saxony ironically dissuaded him.
My friend the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, who had been Governor of Magdeburg during my imprisonment, offered me a commission among the troops going to America, but I answered "Gracious prince, my heart beats in the cause of freedom only; I will never assist in enslaving men. Were I at the head of your brave grenadiers. I should revolt to the Americans."
It appeared, that the nation owed four-and-forty thousand pounds to the elector of Bavaria; above thirty thousand to the duke of Brunswick; the like sum to the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel; and near nine thousand pounds to the elector of Mentz. The queen of Hungary claimed an arrear of one hundred thousand pounds.
To assure itself of manpower, Britain negotiated treaties with Hesse-Cassel and Brunswick for 13,000 Hessians to fight with the British armies in America. From the beginning it was obvious many Englishmen had no stomach for fighting their fellow Englishmen overseas. Conversely it was obvious the colonial Englishmen were prepared to fight in defense of their rights and liberties as Englishmen.
Even the great Battle of the Nations at Leipsic in 1813 did not free Germany from wars, and in 1866 Prussia and the smaller North German States, with Italy, defeated Austria, assisted by Bavaria, Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau, Saxony, Baden, Wurttemberg and Hanover.
The Hanoverians being now quite subdued, and the whole force of the French let loose against the king of Prussia by this treaty, mareschal Richelieu immediately ordered lieutenant-general Berchini to march with all possible expedition, with the troops under his command, to join the prince de Soubise: the gens-d'-arms, and other troops that were in the landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel, received the same order; and sixty battalions of foot, and the greatest part of the horse belonging to the French army, were directed to attack the Prussian territories.
The people alive could recall only three wars, the war against Denmark in 1864, which was settled in a few days and added the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein to the Prussian crown, and the war of 1866 in which Bavaria, Baden, Wurttemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Saxony were defeated, when the Austrian kingdom of Hanover disappeared and the territories of Hesse-Cassel and Nassau, and the free city of Frankfort were added to Prussia.
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