THE FRENCH KING CHANGES THE ADMINISTRATION OF HANOVER.

In the month of December in the preceding year, a fanner of the revenues from Paris arrived at Hanover, where he established his office, in order to act by virtue of powers from one John Faidy, to whom the French king granted the direction, receipt, and administration of all the duties and revenues of the electorate. This director was, by a decree of the council of state, empowered to receive the reveiraes, not only of Hanover, but also of all other countries that should be subjected to his most christian majesty in the course of the campaign; to remove the receivers who had been employed in any part of the direction, receipt, and administration of the duties and revenues of Hanover, and appoint others in their room. The French king, by the same decree, ordained, that all persons who had been intrusted under the preceding government, with titles, papers, accounts, registers, or estimates, relating to the administration of the revenues, should communicate them to John Faidy, or his attorneys; that the magistrates of the towns, districts, and commonalties, as well as those who directed the administration of particular states and provinces, should deliver to the said John Faidy, or his attorneys, the produce of six years of the duties and revenues belonging to the said towns, districts, and provinces, reckoning from the first of January in the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-one, together with an authentic account of the sums they had paid during that term to the preceding sovereign, and of the charges necessarily incurred. It appears from the nature of this decree, which was dated on the eighteenth day of October, that immediately after the conventions of Closter-Seven and Bremenworden,* the court of Versailles had determined to change the government and system of the electorate, contrary to an express article of the capitulation granted to the city of Hanover, when it surrendered on the ninth day of August; and that the crown of France intended to take advantage of the cessation of arms, in seizing places and provinces which were not yet subdued; for, by the decree above-mentioned, the administration of John Faidy extended to the countries which might hereafter be conquered.

* Six days after the convention was signed at Closter-Seven,
another act of accommodation was concluded at Bremenworden,
between the generals Sporcken and Villemur, relating to the
release of prisoners, and some other points omitted in the
convention.

With what regard to justice, then, could the French government charge the elector of Hanover with the infraction of articles? or what respect to good faith and humanity did the duke de Richelieu observe, in the order issued from Zell, towards the end of the year, importing, that as the treaty made with the country of Hanover had been rendered void by the violation of the articles signed at Closter-Seven, all the effects belonging to the officers, or others, employed in the Hanoverian army, should be confiscated for the use of his most christian majesty?

The landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, being desirous of averting a like storm from his dominions, not only promised to renounce all connexion with the kings of Great Britain and Prussia, but even solicited the court of France to receive him among the number of its dependents; for, on the eighteenth day of October, the minister of the duke de Deuxponts, delivered at Versailles, in the name of the landgrave, the plan of a treaty founded on the following conditions: The landgrave, after having expressed an ardent desire of attaching himself wholly to France, proposed these articles—That he should enter into no engagement against the king and his allies; and give no assistance, directly or indirectly, to the enemies of his majesty and his allies: that he should never give his vote, in the general or particular assemblies of the empire, against his majesty’s interest; but, on the contrary, employ his interest, jointly with France, to quiet the troubles of the empire: that, for this end, his troops, which had served in the Hanoverian army, should engage in the service of France, on condition that they should not act in the present war against his Britannic majesty: that, immediately after the ratification of the treaty, his most christian majesty should restore the dominions of the landgrave in the same condition they were in when subdued by the French forces: that these dominions should be exempted from all further contributions, either in money, corn, forage, wood, or cattle, though already imposed on the subjects of Hesse; and the French troops pay for all the provisions with which they might be supplied; in which case the landgrave should exact no toll for warlike stores, provisions, or other articles of that nature, which might pass through his dominions: that the king of France should guarantee all his estates, all the rights of the house of Hesse-Cassel, particularly the act of assurance signed by his son, the hereditary prince, with regard to religion; use his interest with the emperor and the empress-queen, that, in consideration of the immense losses and damages his most serene highness had suffered since the French invaded his country, and of the great sums he should lose with England in arrears and subsidies by this accommodation, he might be excused from furnishing his contingent to the army of the empire, as well as from paying the Roman months granted by the diet of the empire; and if, in resentment of this convention, the states of his serene highness should be attacked, his most christian majesty should afford the most speedy and effectual succours.—These proposals will speak for themselves to the reader’s apprehension; and if he is not blinded by the darkest mists of prejudice, exhibit a clear and distinct idea of a genuine German ally. The landgrave of Hesse-Cassel had been fed with the good things of England, even in time of peace, when his friendship could not avail, nor his aversion prejudice, the interests of Great Britain; but he was retained in that season of tranquillity as a friend, on whose services the most implicit dependence might be placed in any future storm or commotion. How far he merited this confidence and favour might have been determined by reflecting on his conduct during the former war: in the course of which his troops were hired to the king of Great Britain and his enemies alternately, as the scale of convenience happened to preponderate. Since the commencement of the present troubles, he had acted as a mercenary to Great Britain, although he was a principal in the dispute, and stood connected with her designs by solemn treaty, as well as by all the ties of gratitude and honour; but now that the cause of Hanover seemed to be on the decline, and his own dominions had suffered by the fate of the war, he not only appeared willing to abandon his benefactor and ally, but even sued to be enlisted in the service of his adversary. This intended defection was, however, prevented by a sudden turn of fortune, which he could not possibly foresee; and his troops continued to act in conjunction with the Hanoverians.