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Sweden obtained the territory about the Baltic, in addition to other important places, and became a member of the German Diet. Among the acquisitions of France were the three bishoprics, Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and the landgraviate of Upper and Lower Alsace. Thus France gained access to the Rhine.
The importance of their sentiments was a matter of as supreme indifference to Charles as was danger from the Confederation. Neither conciliation nor diplomacy was in his thoughts. He had no conception of the intricacies of the situation. He counted the landgraviate as definitely his by the treaty of St. Omer as Brabant by heritage or Liege by conquest.
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.
They suppose, that about the year two hundred and forty, a new confederacy was formed under the name of Franks, by the old inhabitants of the Lower Rhine and the Weser. * The present circle of Westphalia, the Landgraviate of Hesse, and the duchies of Brunswick and Luneburg, were the ancient of the Chauci who, in their inaccessible morasses, defied the Roman arms; of the Cherusci, proud of the fame of Arminius; of the Catti, formidable by their firm and intrepid infantry; and of several other tribes of inferior power and renown.
He forthwith, assembled the states of the landgraviate, in order to take such measures as might appear necessary to maintain the religion, laws, and constitution of the country; and the prince was laid under certain restrictions, which he did not find it an easy task to set aside.
He was succeeded in the landgraviate by his son Frederick, whose consort, the princess Mary, daughter to the king of Great Britain, now, in quality of governess of her children, assumed the regency and administration of the county of Hanau-Muntzenberg, by virtue of the settlement made in the lifetime of her father-in-law, and confirmed by her husband.
In Eighteen Hundred Eight, an Imperial Decree was issued by the Emperor to this effect: "Whereas, it seems that the House of Hesse-Cassel has for some years persisted in selling its subjects to the English Crown, to bear arms in quarrels that are none of ours, and that by this means has amassed a large fortune, therefore this detestable avarice has now brought its own punishment, and the Landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel from now on ceases to exist, being incorporated with the Kingdom of Westphalia."
It was enacted, that when the regency should devolve to him by succession, he should not have it in his power to alter the established laws, or grant any church to persons of the Roman communion, for the public exercise of their religion; and that he should be excluded from all share in the education of his sons, the eldest of whom should be put in possession of the country of Hanau upon his father's accession to the regency of the landgraviate.
On May 9th, the preliminaries were declared over and the trial began before a tribunal whose composition is not perfectly well known, but which certainly included delegates from the chief cities of the landgraviate, and from Strasburg, Basel, and Berne. The trial was practically lynch law in spite of the cloak of legality thrown over it.
By this time prince Ferdinand had retired into Westphalia, and fixed his head-quarters at Munster, while M. de Contades encamped near Ham upon the Lippe; so that, although he had obliged the French army to evacuate Hanover and Hesse in the beginning of the year, when they were weakened by death and distemper, and even driven them beyond the Rhine, where they sustained a defeat; yet they were soon put in a condition to baffle all his future endeavours, and penetrate again into Westphalia, where they established their winter-quarters, extending themselves in such a manner as to command the whole course of the Rhine on both sides, while the allies were disposed in the landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel, and in the bishoprics of Munster, Paderborn, and Hildesheim.
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