DISPUTES CONCERNING THE CONVENTION OF CLOSTER-SEVEN.

His Britannic majesty was resolved that the king of Prussia should have no cause to complain of his indifference, whatever reasons he had to exclaim against the convention of Closter-Seven, which he did not scruple to condemn as a very scandalous capitulation, as much as he disapproved of the conduct, in consequence of which near forty thousand men were so shamefully disarmed, and lost to his cause. Those stipulations also met with a very unfavourable reception in England, where the motions of the allied army, in their retreat before the enemy, were very freely censured, and some great names exposed to the ridicule and contempt of the public. This event, so singular in itself, and so important in its consequences, attracted the attention of the privy-council, where it is said to have been canvassed with great warmth and animosity of altercation. The general complained that he was restricted by peremptory orders from the regency of Hanover; and they were reported to have used recriminations in their defence. In all probability, every circumstance of the dispute was not explained to the satisfaction of all parties, inasmuch as that great commander quitted the harvest of military glory, and, like another Cincinnatus, retired to his plough. The convention of Closter-Seven was equally disagreeable to the courts of London and Versailles. The former saw the electorate of Hanover left, by this capitulation, at the mercy of the enemy, who had taken possession of the whole country, seized the revenues, exacted contributions, and changed the whole form of government, in the name of his most christian majesty; whilst the French army, which had been employed in opposing the Hanoverian, was now at liberty to throw their additional force into the scale against the king of Prussia, who, at that period, seemed to totter on the verge of destruction. On the other hand, the French ministry thought their general had granted too favourable terms to a body of forces, whom he had cooped up in such a manner that, in a little time, they must have surrendered at discretion. They, therefore, determined either to provoke the Hanoverians by ill usage to an infraction of the treaty, or, should that be found impracticable, renounce it as an imperfect convention, established without proper authority. Both expedients were used without reserve. They were no sooner informed of the capitulation, than they refused to acknowledge its validity, except on condition that the Hanoverian troops should formally engage to desist from all service against France and her allies during the present war, and be disarmed on their return to their own country. At the same time her general, who commanded in the electorate, exhausted the country by levying exorbitant contributions, and connived at such outrages as degraded his own dignity, and reflected disgrace on the character of his nation. The court of London, to make a merit of necessity, affected to consider the conventional act as a provisional armistice, to pave the way for a negotiation that might terminate in a general peace, and proposals were offered for that purpose; but the French ministry kept aloof, and seemed resolved that the electorate of Hanover should be annexed to their king’s dominions. At least, they were bent upon keeping it as a precious depositum, which, in the plan of a general pacification, they imagined, would counterbalance any advantage that Great Britain might obtain in other parts of the world. Had they been allowed to keep this deposit, the kingdom of Great Britain would have saved about twenty millions of money, together with the lives of her best soldiers; and Westphalia would have continued to enjoy all the blessings of security and peace. But the king of England’s tenderness for Hanover was one of the chief sources of the misfortunes which befel the electorate. He could not bear the thoughts of seeing it, even for a season, in the hands of the enemy; and his own sentiments in this particular were reinforced by the pressing remonstrances of the Prussian monarch, whom, at this juncture, he thought it dangerous to disoblige. Actuated by these motives, he was pleased to see the articles of the convention so palpably contravened, because the violation unbound his hands, and enabled him, consistently with good faith, to take effectual steps for the assistance of his ally, and the recovery of his own dominions. He, therefore, in quality of elector of Brunswick-Lunen-burgh, published a declaration, observing, “That his royal highness the duke of Cumberland had, on his part, honestly fulfilled all the conditions of the convention; but the duke de Richelieu demanded that the troops should enter into an engagement specified above, and lay down their arms; although it was expressly stipulated in the convention, that they should not be regarded as prisoners of war, under which quality alone they could be disarmed: that the French court pretended to treat the convention as a military regulation only; and, indeed, it was originally nothing more; but as they had expressly disowned its validity, and a negotiation had been actually begun for disarming the auxiliaries, upon certain conditions, though the French general would never answer categorically, but waited always for fresh instructions from Versailles, the nature of that act was totally changed, and what was at first an agreement between general and general, was now become a matter of state between the two courts of London and Versailles: that, however hard the conditions of the convention appeared to be for the troops of Hanover, his Britannic majesty would have acquiesced in them, had not the French glaringly discovered their design of totally ruining his army and his dominions; and, by the most outrageous conduct, freed his Britannic majesty from every obligation under which he had been laid by the contention: that, in the midst of the armistice, the most open hostilities had been committed; the castle of Schartzfels had been forcibly seized and pillaged, and the garrison made prisoners of war; the prisoners made by the French before the convention had not been restored, according to an express article stipulated between the generals, though it had been fulfilled on the part of the electorate, by the immediate release of the French prisoners; the bailies of those districts, from which the French troops were excluded by mutual agreement, had been summoned, on pain of military execution, to appear before the French commissary, and compelled to deliver into his hands the public revenue: the French had appropriated to themselves part of those magazines, which, by express agreement, were destined for the use of the electoral troops; and they had seized the houses, revenue, and corn, belonging to the king of England in the city of Bremen, in violation of their engagement to consider that city as a place absolutely free and neutral. Pie took notice, that they had proceeded to menaces unheard of among civilized people, of burning, sacking, and destroying every thing that fell in their way, should the least hesitation be made in executing the convention according to their interpretation.”—Such were the professed considerations that determined his Britannic majesty to renounce the agreement which they had violated, and have recourse to arms for the relief of his subjects and allies. It was in consequence of this determination that he conferred the command of his electoral army on prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, brother to the duke of that name, who had distinguished himself in the Prussian army by his great military talents, and was, by blood and inclination, as well as interest, supposed warmly attached to his Britannic majesty. The truth is, the king of Prussia recommended him to this command, because he knew he could depend upon his concurring with all his measures, in conducting the operations of the British army. The duke de Richelieu was no sooner informed of these particulars, than he sent a letter to prince Ferdinand, specifying, “That although for some days he had perceived the Hanoverian troops in motion, in order to form themselves into a body, he could not imagine the object of these movements was to infringe the convention of neutrality which had been established between the duke of Cumberland and himself, as French general; that he was blinded so far by his confidence in the good faith of the elector of Hanover, who had signed that convention, as to believe the troops were assembled for no other purpose than to be distributed into winter-quarters, which had been assigned them by the agreement; but his eyes were at last opened by repeated advices which he had received from all quarters, importing, that the Hanoverians intended to infringe those articles which ought to be sacred and inviolable; he affirmed, the king his master was still willing to give fresh proofs of his moderation, and his desire to spare the effusion of human blood: with that view he declared to his serene highness, in the name of his most christian majesty, that he persisted in his resolution of fulfilling exactly all the points of the convention, provided that they should be equally observed by the Hanoverian army; but he could not help apprising his serene highness, that if this army should take any equivocal step, and, still more, should it commit any act of hostility, he would then push matters to the last extremity, looking upon himself as authorized so to do by the rules of war: that he would set fire to all palaces, houses, and gardens; sack all the towns and villages, without sparing the most inconsiderable cottage, and subject the country to all the horrors of war and devastation. He conjured his serene highness to reflect on these particulars, and begged he would not lay him under the necessity of taking steps so contrary to his own personal character, as well as to the natural humanity of the French nation.” To this letter, which was seconded by the count de Lynar, the Danish ambassador, who had mediated the convention, prince Ferdinand returned a very laconic answer, intimating, that he would give the duke de Richelieu his answer in person at the head of his army. At this particular juncture, the French general was disposed to abide by the original articles of the convention, rather than draw upon himself the hostilities of an army which he knew to be brave, resolute, and well appointed, and which he saw at present animated with an eager desire of wiping out the disgrace they had sustained by the capitulation, as well as of relieving their country from the grievous oppression wider which it groaned.