TREATY BETWEEN THE FRENCH KING AND THE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK.

The landgrave of Hesse-Cassel was not singular in making such advances to the French monarch. The duke of Brunswick, still more nearly connected with the king of Great Britain, used such uncommon expedition in detaching himself from the tottering fortune of Hanover, that in ten days after the convention of Closter-Seven, he had concluded a treaty with the courts of Vienna and Versailles; so that the negotiation must have been begun before that convention took place. On the twentieth day of September, his minister at Vienna, by virtue of full powers from the duke of Brunswick, accepted and signed the conditions which the French king and his Austrian ally thought proper to impose. These imported, that his most christian majesty should keep possession of the cities of Brunswick and Wolfenbuttel during the war, and make use of the artillery, arms, and military stores deposited in their arsenals: that the duke’s forces, on their return from the camp of the duke of Cumberland, should be disbanded and disarmed; and take an oath that they should not, during the present war, serve against the king or his allies: that the duke should be permitted to maintain a battalion of foot, and two squadrons of horse, for the guard of his person and castles; but the regulations made by mareschal Richelieu and the intendant of his army, should subsist on their present footing: that the duke should furnish his contingent in money and troops, agreeably to the laws of the empire: that his forces should immediately join those which the Germanic body had assembled; and that he should order his minister at Ratisbon to vote conformably to the resolutions of the diet, approved and confirmed by the emperor. In consideration of all these concessions, the duke was restored to the favour of the French king, who graciously promised that neither his revenues nor his treasure should be touched, nor the administration of justice invaded; and that nothing further should be demanded, but winter-quarters for the regiments which should pass that season in the country of Brunswick. How scrupulously soever the duke might have intended to observe the articles of this treaty, his intentions were frustrated by the conduct of his brother prince Ferdinand, who, being invested with the command of the Hanoverian army, and ordered to resume the operations of war against the enemy, detained the troops of Brunswick, as well as his nephew the hereditary prince, notwithstanding the treaty which his brother had signed, and the injunctions which he had laid upon his son to quit the army, and make a tour to Holland, The duke wrote an expostulatory letter to prince Ferdinand, pathetically complaining that he had seduced his troops, decoyed his son, and disgraced his family; insisting upon the prince’s pursuing his journey, as well as upon the return of the troops; and threatening, in case of non-compliance, to use other means that should be more effectual. 461 [See note 3 O, at the end of this Vol.] Notwithstanding this warm remonstrance, prince Ferdinand adhered to his plan. He detained the troops and the hereditary prince, who, being fond of the service, in a little time signalized himself by very extraordinary acts of bravery and conduct; and means were found to reconcile his father to measures that expressly contradicted his engagements with the courts of Vienna and Versailles.