American history from German archives

American History from German
Archives.

BY J. G. ROSENGARTEN.

(Read before the American Philosophical Society,
April 16, 1900.)

American History from German
Archives.

BY J. G. ROSENGARTEN.

(Read before the American Philosophical Society,
April i6, igoo.)

While a body of able historians, McMaster, Rhoades, Fisk,-
Schouler and others, are enriching the world by an admirable series
of works on American history, there still remains another field for
historical research of interest and value. There are in Germany
many papers dealing with the services of the Germans who were
here as soldiers under the British flag and took an active and im-
portant part in the War of American Independence. Bancroft and'
Lowell, Kapp and Ratterman have collected and used such mate-
rial as they could gather. General Stryker, in his History of the-
Battle of Trenton, has added largely to our stock of material for a
better knowledge of the contents of the German Archives, still
carefully preserved at Marburg and Berlin ; and other collections of
German records. It was through Kapp's labors that Bancroft
added to his own collections, now belonging to the New York Pub-
lic Library, and deposited in the Lenox Library of that city. These
include Steuben's letters, Riedesel's papers, the Anspach papers,
the Brunswick papers, Ewald's Feldzug der Hessen nach Atnerika,
Geschichte der Hessichen Yager in Amerkanischen Kriege, fourteen

REPRINTED FROM PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. VOL. XXXIX. XO. 162.

^ KOSEISrGARTEJSr — AMERICAN HISTORY.

volumes of German MSS., diaries and journals of Wiederhold,
Malzburg, the Lossberg Regiment, von Malsingen, Papet, Wieder-
hold, the Third Waldeck Regiment, Lotheisen, Reuber, Piel,
Dohla, RufFer, Dinklage, the Hessian Yager Regiment and many
volumes of reports on the battles of Long Island, Bennington, the
Brandywine, and State papers relating to Prussia and America,
Prussia and France, Prussia and Holland, Prussia and England and
Washington and Frederick the Great, in all forty MS. volumes
bearing on the American Revolution.

Sparks in his collection, now deposited in the Library of Harvard
University, had a collection of papers of Steuben, the MS. of
DeKalb's mission to America in 1768 (since printed in part in
French), and the correspondence of Frederick the Great with his
Ministers in London and Paris during the American War of Inde-
pendence, procured in Berlin in 1844 by Wheaton, then American
Minister there. In the Magazine of American History for 1877
there is a translation by A. A. Bierstadt of Bauermeister's Narra-
tive of the Capture of New York, addressed to Captain vonWangen-
heim. This was part of the Bancroft collection. In the same
volume is De Lancey's account of the capture of Fort Washington,
with a map, from the original in Cassel, obtained by Prof. Joy for
Mr. J. Carson Brevoort. The New York Historical Society has
printed the journal of Krafft, a volunteer and corporal in Donop's
regiment and a lieutenant in that of von Bose, who married in New
York, became a clerk in the Treasury Department at Washington
and died there in 1804. That Society has also printed \h^ Journal
<of Getieral Rainsford, the British commissary in charge of the
German forces sent to this country by Great Britain. General
Stryker obtained from the Archives at Marburg and Cassel many
important papers freely and well used in his capital history of the
Battle of Trenton. They include the court of inquiry of the Loss-
berg, Knyphausen and Rail regiments, lists of their officers and
of those of the artillery and Yagers ; maps by Wiederhold, Fischer
and Piel; the letters of Donop and Rail, of the Elector of Hesse
to Knyphausen ; diaries of Piel, Mmnigerode, Wiederhold and
Ewald; reports of Donop's spies; and altogether some twenty
MSS., all dealing with the battle of Trenton.

Mr. Charles Gross gave, in the New York Evenitig Post, an ac-
count of his visit to the Marburg Archives, where he found the
journal of the Hessian corps in America under General v. Heister ;

} i'

EOSENGARTEN — AMERICAN HISTORY. 3

reports of Heister and of his successor in command, v. Knyphau-
sen, and many hundreds of unbound papers. In the Kriegs
Archiv (the War Office) in Berlin there are many official reports
and many papers not arranged or catalogued,

Frederick Kapp described the Marburg Archives as including
ten folio volumes of paper relating to the part taken by the Hessian
corps in the American Revolution, the negotiations of the Land-
grave and his Minister, v. Schlieffen, with the English Government,
the correspondence of the commanding officers, with reports of opera-
tions, maps, sketches, etc. There are three volumes of the pro-
ceedings of the court-martial on the battle of Trenton, a number
of Hessian war records indexed by Colonel Sturmfeder and hun-
dreds of letters written by officers to their families, who were
directed by the Landgrave to send them to him for perusal — invol-
untary but very good and complete witnesses of what they saw in
America. Mr. J. Edward Lowell, author of that capital book,
The Hessians in the American Revolution, in a paper printed in the
second volume, second series of Massachusetts Historical Society's
Proceedings, speaks of thirty-seven regimental journals and twelve
volumes of papers at Marburg, and twenty-five in Cassel, in addi-
tion to a large collection in Berlin, a fragment of a journal of the
Waldeck regiment at Arolsen, and that of an officer of the Anspach
regiment in the Anspach Library. In his Hessians in America,
Mr. Lowell refers to a dozen diaries and journals in the collection
at Cassel. A copy of one of these, that of Wiederhold, which I
own, covers the period from October 7, 1776, to December 7, 1780,
with seventeen colored maps, plans, etc. At the end there is a note
that Wiederhold died in Cassel in 1805, when the original
descended to his son, who died at Marburg in 1863. From him it
passed to his son, who went to America in 1880, but since then
has not been heard from, so that the orignal has been lost or is, at
least, no longer accessible. Bancroft and Washington Irving used
copies (without the maps, etc.) made for them and speak of it as
very valuable. Bound up with my copy are extracts from letters of
Henel and Henkelman and Ries, giving an account of the capture
of Fort Washington and the order changing the name to Fort
Knyphausen ; a list of the Hessian regiments and their comman-
ders, and a memorandum that each battalion was ordered to keep
an exact journal in duplicate, of which one copy was to be filed in
the State Archives ; lists of the troops sent to America and their

4 ROSENGARTEN — AMERICAN HISTORY,

organization and general and field officers ; list of casualties at
the capture of Fort Washington, signed by Knyphausen ; a bibli-
ography of German books on the share of the German troops in
the American War of Independence, among them the memoirs of
Ochs and Senden, who lived to be general officers; various maga-
zine articles on the same subject ; the diary of a Hessian officer, Lt.
V. Heister, in the Zeitschrift fur Kunst des Krieges, Berlin, 1828 ; a
fragment of an apparently original diary of a soldier, a copy of
that of Rechnagel ; extracts from the journal of Donop, and from
that of the court of inquiry on the battle of Trenton ; with reports
of the Lossberg, Knyphausen and Rail regiments in that affair, and
of Schaffer, Matthaeus, Baum, Pauli, Biel, Martin, all dated Phila-
delphia, 1778, and the finding of the court, dated April 23, 1782,
and a fragment of its report. The author of this diary, Andreas
Wiederhold, was a lieutenant in Rail's regiment and afterwards
captain in the Knyphausen regiment. Lowell, in his capital book
on The Hcssiatis in America, makes frequent use of this diary, and
in a note says that Ewald mentions Wiederhold as distinguished in
1762, so that he could not have been a very young man when he
served here. Lowell used a copy in the Cassel Library, and notes
that " it was made from the original by the husband of Wieder-
hold's granddaughter, and contains several interesting appendices,"
so mine may be a counterpart.

For many years Germany showed a good deal of regret for the
part played by its soldiers in the English service in our struggle for
independence. With her own rise and growth in importance as a
nation, she has begun to assert the value of the services of the Ger-
man allies of the British army. Eelking wrote an exhaustive his-
tory of their achievements, and Kapp a valuable book on the sub-
ject. Not long since a Hessian, Treller, published quite a good
historical novel, Forgotten Heroes, in which he paid tribute to the
Germans who fought under the English flag in America. Re-
cently, another German author, Moritz von Berg, printed a long
historical romance on the same subject, dedicated to the great-
grandson of General von Heister, the leader of the Hessian sol-
diers in America. The story is drawn largely from the papers of
the times still preserved in the public offices and by private fami-
lies in the country which sent its sons to fight here. The scenes
•described contrast the home-life of the Hessians at the time and
the new country in which the young soldiers made their campaigns.

ROSENGARTEN — AMERICAN HISTORY. 5

and the historical portion deals with the Elector of Hesse and his
share in supplying soldiers to his cousin, the King of England, to
help in reducing his rebellious subjects in America. The events of
the American War of Independence are followed very closely, and
in an appendix are a number of hitherto unprinted letters and some
documents drawn from the Archives at Marburg and from Eelking
and other historical sources.

The book has value and interest as showing that Germany to-day
takes a curious pride in the share her sons played in the history of
the United States. Of even greater interest is the diary of a Hes-
sian officer at the time of the American War of Independence,
recently printed at Pyritz, on the anniversary of the founding of
the Royal Bismarck Gymnasium of that place. It is the journal of
Captain von Dornberg, preserved by his family at their home in
Hesse. It covers the period from March, 1779, to June, 1781, and
gives his letters home from the time he left with his command until
his return on the staff of General Knyphausen. There is a brief histor-
ical sketch of the War of American Independence, intended for the
use of the boys of the Gymnasium or High School, and a short sketch
of the life of the writer, who, after serving in the war with Napo-
leon and later as Hessian Minister in London, died in Cassel in
1819. His diary, journal and letters are mostly written in French,
for that was the court language of the day, and his clever pencil
sketches served to heighten their interest for the home circle, while
their preservation until their recent publication shows that his
descendants are not ashamed of his share of that service, which at
least made America better known to the people of Germany, while
it gave them lessons of value for their own improvement in the art of
war. Although the campaigns took him through both North and
South, it is characteristic of the German fidelity to duty that his de-
scriptions are limited to his own modest share in the business of sol-
diering, and that he nowhere gives the slightest intimation that he
saw the future greatness of the new republic. In this respect he and
his countrymen were greatly unlike the French, whose letters and
descriptions were full of their anticipations of the country to whose
independence they contributed alike in men and money. The Dorn-
berg diary, however, has the value of an original and hitherto un-
printed addition to the contemporary records of the American
Revolution by one who did his best to prevent its successful issue.

Then there are novels by Spielhagen and by Norden, dealing

6 ROSENGARTEN — AMERICAN HISTORY.

with the adventures of the German soldiers serving in the English
army in the American Revolution.

The editor of the Dornberg diary, Gotthold Marseille, head-
master of the Gymnasium at Pyritz, speaks of a privately printed
family history of the Schlieffens, belonging to the present head of
the family living in Pyritz, with a full account of the negotiations
of Count Martin von Schlieffen, as Minister of Landgraf Freder-
ick II of Hesse Cassel, with Colonel Faucit as the representative
of George III. He also refers to Ewald's book on Light Infan-
try, published in Cassel in 1785, on his return from America, where
he had learned many useful lessons, afterwards put in practice in
his reorganization of the German troops for service in the wars
with Napoleon. The continuation of Dornberg' s diary will add
another to the numerous list of original papers by those who ac-
tually served here.

Pausch's journal was printed by Stone as No. 14 of MunseW s
Historical Series, Albany, 1887, and as he was chief of the Hanau
artillery during Burgoyne's campaign it has, of course, special in-
terest. General Stryker got through Mr. Pendleton, then Minister
in Berlin, an order from the younger Bismarck, then an assistant to
his father, to examine the records at Marburg, and through a Ger-
man, long resident in Trenton, he procured about a thousand pages
of MS., covering everything relating to the Hessians at Trenton.
The substance of this is now published in General Stryker's admir-
able and exhaustive History of the Battle of Trenton, rich in its
original material, reproduced in text and notes and appendices for
students of history. Taking advantage of the fact that a nephew
was studying at Marburg, I wrote to him that Lowell said a descrip-
tive catalogue of the Archives there relating to the American War
of Independence could be made for six hundred marks, and asked
him to call on Dr. Konnicke, for many years in charge. In reply
to questions on the subject, he said it would cost four or five thou-
sand marks and take a long time, adding that Eelking was too
biassed to be trustworthy and he (Konnicke) had no sympathy
with Americans. He, however, showed his collection of Berichte,
Tagebiicher, registers, letters between the Landgraf and Knyphau-
sen. An assistant was much more agreeable and ready to give all the
help in his power, and I still think that such a catalogue of the
American records at Marburg would be well worth getting. The
renewed interest of the Hessians in the part their ancestors took

ROSENGARTEN-— AMERICAN HISTORY. 7

in the American War of Independence is shown in a lecture on the
subject by Colonel v. Werthern, of the Hussar Regiment Hesse
Homburg, delivered by him at the officers' Casino and printed at
Cassel in 1895. He refers to Eelking and to von Pfister's unfin-
ished work on the same subject, Cassel, 1864, and to letters
printed in the Preussische Militdr Wochenblatt in 1833, and in
the second volume of the Kurkessischen Zeitschrift. Colonel v.
Werthern says his special purpose is to enlist the interest of owners of
letters and journals of those who took part in the war, some of which
had been shown to him. The publication of the Dornberg diary
shows that good results have followed his appeal. He estimates
the number who remained in America as about 4500, and no doubt
many of them became good Americans. He mentions the fact that
the young volunteer, Ochs, who has left a capital book on his expe-
riences as a soldier in America, rose to be a general in the Hessian
army, and left a son who served from 1836 to 1850, and finally
was in command of the regiment which Colonel v. Werthern was
addressing in 1895.

Not without interest is Popp's diary — he was a soldier in the
Bayreuth Anspach regiment — who came to this country in his
twenty-second year, an illiterate young fellow. He began his
diary on June 26, 1777, and carried it on after his return home*
adding some curious verses — Das Lied von Ausmarsch, and Geden-
ken iiber die Hergabe der beiden Markgrafthiimer Bayreuth u.
Anspach in Franken an das Konigliche Haus-Preussen — in which,
with great patience and ingenuity, the left-hand column is a strong
thanksgiving, but reading across the lines there is a right-hand
column in which the Lord's Prayer is so divided as to change
the sense into a bitter diatribe for this transfer of sovereignty.
The original is preserved in the City Library of Bayreuth. It
closes with some notes as late as 1796, and has some very good
maps of the operations on the Hudson, on the Delaware and
around Philadelphia. The copy of it which I own was made for
me at Bayreuth, but the Librarian there said that he knew of nO'
other material of the kind preserved in either public or private col-
lections in that quaint old town so full of memories of the eigh-
teenth century. In a little book of Stories of Hessian War His-
tory, by Freiherr v. Ditfiirth — the name is of interest as it was that
of one of the Hessian regiments which served here — there is a state-
ment that from one Hessian village thirty men were sent with vari-

8 ROSEN GARTEN — AMERICAN HISTORY.

ous regiments to America, and twelve of them were heads of fami-
lies. Reuber's diary shows that of these thirty only two died here
and one remained in America. A large proportion of the so-called
Hessians were volunteers from other parts of Germany, attracted
by the high pay and the good care given by the British to their
soldiers. In those days of distress and need, Germans were only
too glad to escape compulsory military service in Prussia and other
German States by volunteering in the regiments raised for the
American war and its prospect of a new home.

Ditfurth demonstrates the utter falsity of the pretended letter of
the Prince of Hesse Cassel, dated Rome, February 8, 1778, now
accepted as one of Franklin's characteristic and clever bits of
satire directed against Great Britain and its allies. It seems to have
been revived in the German press in 1847 through an American
"historian," Eugene Regnauld, of the St. Louis Reveille, and
printed by Dr. Franz Loher, Professor and Member of the Royal
Bavarian Academy of Sciences, in his History of Germans in
America, Leipsic and Cincinnati, 1847, as an interesting, if doubt-
ful, contribution to the contemporary documents of the American
Revolution. A careful answer was supplied in the Grenzboten of
185S (No. 29) by the Keeper of the Archives at Cassel, in copies or
extracts from the MS. correspondence of the Landgraf Frederick
>^ II with Heister and Knyphausen in reference to the Hessian losses
~^ at Trenton. In fact, the regiments that suffered most there now
make that battle part of their record of honor. It is one of their
traditions that Ewald first threw aside the powdered queues and
heavy boots of the Hessians, clothing his Yager battalion in a fash-
ion suited to American climate and conditions, and thus set the
example followed with great advantage in the Napoleonic wars.
Other Hessian officers who had served here, notably Miinchhausen,
Wiederhold, Ochs, Emmerich, Ewald and others, applied the les-
sons they had learned here and became distinguished among the
soldiers who showed great ability in restoring to Germany its inde-
pendence of French mastery. The reputation brought home by
the Hessians who served in America led Frederick the Great of
Prussia to try to secure for his army the services of their officers,
particularly of the Light Infantry and Yagers. Many of them won
distinction in the wars with Napoleon against the French officers
who had also served against them in America. The army lists of
France, Germany and England are full of the names of those who

ROSENGARTEN — AMERICAN HISTORY. 9

had learned useful lessons in the art of war in the American Revo-
lution. Even the pay, clothing, food and allowances of the Hes-
sian soldiers were increased in order to secure something like the
advantageous conditions under which officers and men served under
the British flag in America and in the other wars and expeditions
that were carried on largely by German allied troops.

Of the German diaries and journals now accessible in print
there are :

1. Melsheimer, printed in Montreal from a copy furnished by
Stone.

2. Papet, in Pennsylvania Magazine of History.

3. Dohla, printed by Ratterman in Deutsch. Anierik. Magazin,
Vol. i, No. I, October, 1866.

4. Pausch, printed by Stone in MiinseW s Series.

5. Baurmeister, in Mag. of Afner. History, 1877, by Bierstadt, of
the N. Y. Historical Society.

6. Riedesel's Letters, in His Life by Eelking, reprinted in a
translation by Stone.

7. Madame von Riedesel's Letters, first printed in Berlin in
1 80 1, and since then in several editions both in Germany and in
this country.

8. Schubert v. Senden's Journal (an extract was printed in 1839
in Vol. xlvii of the Journal for Art, Science and History of

War, Berlin, Mittler).
Of others not yet printed there are MSS.:

1. Malsburg, mentioned by Eelking as in his possession in Mein-
ingen in 1862. Of it Bancroft's collection (now in the Lenox
Library, N. Y.) has a copy in two volumes, made by Kapp's direc"
tion, with his note that '' Malsburg was a superficial observer and
reporter," as well as of: —

2. Renter's, of Rail's regiment, 1776-83.

3. Lotheisen's Journal of the Leib (Body Guard) Regiment,
1776-84, with a description of Philadelphia in 1777-7. Eelking
notes that he had compared the original signed by Lotheisen, Mar-
burg, August I, 1784, with the copy.

4. Piel, Lossberg Regiment, 1776-83, Vol. i, includes Diary of
Voyage, 1782, and Extracts from Trenton Court of Inquiry.

5. Steuernagel, Waldeck Regiment, 1776-83.

6. Wiederhold, Diary.

7. Ewald, Feldziig der Hessen in Amerika, copied from Ephem-
eriden, Marburg, 1785.

10 ROSENGARTEX— AMERICAN HISTORY.

8. Journal of Lowenstein Regiment.

9. That of Plattes Battalion by Bauer.

10. That of Lossberg Regiment by Heusser.

11. That of Huyn Regiment by Kleinschmidt.

12. That of the Feldjager Corps.

13. That of the Trumbach Regiment.

14. That of the Knoblauch Regiment.

15. That of the Mirbach Regiment.

16. Reports of Knyphausen and Riedescl.

Of printed books by Germans who served here, many are note-
worthy, for instance, Friedrich Adolph Julius von Wangenheim,
first lieutenant and later captain on the staff; came in 1777 from
the ducal Gotha service into the Hessian Yager Corps, and
remamed in it after the war. He published in Gottingen in 1781
a Description of American Trees, with reference to their use in
German forests, and this little volume, dated at Staten Island, was
after his return, reprinted in 17S7 in a handsome illustrated folio
He afterwards entered the Prussian forestry service and established
near Berlin a small collection of American trees, still preserved
with pride by his successors in office in charge of it and named
" America.

Dr. Johann David Schopf was a military surgeon in the German
forces serving here during the American Revolution, and he
printed in 1781 an account of his medical experiences, which was
translated and reprinted in Boston in 1875. He also printed in 1787
^Materia Mediea Americanis Septentionalis Potissimum Re^ni

.Vf f ! ' '" "^'^''''^ ''" "'"^ '"^'^'■'^^ ^"PPlied to him by G. H E
Muhlenberg of Lancaster. Later he returned here and ' hi;
Travels published in 1 788, are well known, and he did even greater
service by making American botanists and men of other scientific
pursuits better known to those of Germany by exchange of let-

LCI o^ tie •

In 181 7 General Baron von Ochs published in Cassel his obser-
vations on Modern Art of War, containing much of his personal
experiences dunng his service in this country as a subaltern. His
Life has a very good account of his services in this country

In 1796 Ewald, then a lieutenant-colonel in the Danish service

printed in Hesse Cassel ,n 1784; it is full of references to his per-
sonal experiences in America, and it is significant of the man

ROSENGARTEN — AMERICAN HISTORY. 11

that, after carrying off from the Hopkinson house at Bordentown,
N. J., the volume edited by Provost Smith of the College of Phila-
delphia, containing young Hopkinson's Prize Essay, he returned it
with thanks, and the book is still in the possession of the Hopkin-
son family as one of their rare treasures. In his little book he
reports what General Howe told him of his personal experience
during the old French War in America, and confirms it by his
success with light troops in the American War of Independ-
ence. He gives a curious picture of Philadelphia in 1778, when
Colonel von Wurmb had charge of the expeditions sent out to
bring in supplies. He divided his force into three parties : one went
out on the Lancaster road, another out the Marshall road, and the
third out the Darby road — these three roads being parallel and only
a half hour's march apart — the woods that lined them being thor-
oughly searched by patrols, so that the enemy, in spite of Washing-
ton and Morgan, could never reach the foragers. He speaks of the
success of the Americans in their attacks on small and large English
forces not properly protected by light infantry outposts. His own
experience in the Seven Years' War in Europe was of service to him
in America, and that again increased his efficiency in the war with
France and Germany. He describes Pulaski's failure at Egg Har-
bor, and Donop's at Red Bank, and Arnold's in Virginia, and
Armand's at Morristown, and Tarleton's success, and his own, as
examples of what light infantry can do or fail in, just as they are
well or badly led. He criticises Howe's failure to follow up his
success at Brandywine, and calls it building a golden bridge for the
enemy thus to neglect to drive him with fresh troops when he is in
retreat. In the Jerseys, on Rhode Island, at G'ermantown, in Vir-
ginia, he saw just such examples of the neglect to use light infantry
to advantage, and he points out many instances in which their value
was shown on both sides. Ewald also printed at Schleswig, in
1798, 1800 and 1803, three small volumes, Belehrungen ilber den
Krieg, with anecdotes of soldiers from Alexander and Pompey to
Frederick the Great and Napoleon, and some of his own personal
experience in America.

Seume, a well-known German writer, wrote at Halifax in 1782
his account of his experience in the Hessian service ; it was first
printed in Archenholz' Journal in 1789, and a translation is in the
Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society for November,
1887; it is also found in his Autobiography, published in his col-

12 ROSENGARTEN — AMERICAN HISTORY.

lected works, and the changes between this and the earlier version
have been unfavorably commented on.

Schlozer's Briefwcchsel, ten volumes, 1 776-1 782, and his Staats
Anzeigen, a continuation, in eighteen volumes, contain many papers
of interest relating to the American War of Independence, notably
a series of letters from an officer who served under Burgoyne, and
dragged out weary months as a prisoner of war in Cambridge and
later in Virginia. The Frankfort Neuesten Staatshegehcnheiten
published letters by German officers describing the battle of Long
Island.

V. Senden, Tagebuch, in Zeitschrift filr Geschichte dcs Krieges,
Berlin, Mittler, 8th and 9th parts, 1839. He too was a general
officer at the time of his death.

V. Heister, Diary, in Zeitschrift filr Kunst des Krieges, Berlin,
Mittler, Vol. xii. No. 3, 1828.

Reimer, Amerikanisches Archiv., 3 vols., Brunswick, 1777-8.

Melslieimer, Tagebuch, Minden, 1776.

Riedesel, Mme., Die Berufsreise nach Amerika, Berlin, 1801
(and frequently reprinted). One of the most charming books that
can be found — full of womanly heroism.

Leiste, Beschreibung des Britfischen Amerika, Wolfenbiittel,.
1778.

Schlieffen, Von den Hessen in Avicrika, 1782.

Brunstoick Magazine, a Hessian journal reprinted in translation
in the Pennsylvania Magazine, and a letter from the Duke to Rie-
desel advising all supernumerary officers and sick and wounded and
men under punishment \o remain in America.

Der Hessische Officier in Amerika, a comedy, Gottingen, 1783,
has no great literary value or importance, but some local interest,
as the scene is laid in Philadelphia during its occupancy by the
British, and Indians, Quakers, British and German soldiers and
native citizens are among the dramatis personce. If it was not
written by some one who had been here, it shows at least consider-
able familiarity with the conflicting parties during the Revolution.

Of recent works dealing with the German soldiers in the British
army during the American War of Independence, the most notable
are :

Max von Eelking, Die Deutschen Hiilfstruppen im Nordameri-
kanischen Befreiungskricge, 17 j6 bis iy8j. Hanover, 1863, 2 vols.
(An abridged translation was printed by Munsell in Albany in i893.)>

ROSENGARTEN — AMERICAN HISTORY. 13

Eelking, Lebeti unci IVirken dcs Herzoglich Braunschwctgschen
General Lietitcnants Friedrich Adolph von Riedesel, Leipzig, 1856,
3 vols. (Stone's translation was printed by Munsell in Albany.)
Esbeck, Zweibrilcken, 1793.

Friedrich Kapp, Der Soldatenhandel Deutschen Filrsten nach
Amerika, Berlin, 1864, and a second edition, 1874. His Life of
Steuben and that of De Kaib were printed, the former in Berlin,
1858, and the latter in Stuttgart in 1862, and both in English
in New York subsequently. His Gescidchte der Deutschen in Staate
New Yor/i, N. Y., 1869. His Friedrich der Grosse utid die Ver-
einigten Staaten von Amerika, Leipzig, 1871.

Ferdinand Pfister, Der Nordatnerikamsche Unabhdngigkeits
Krieg, Kassel, 1864.

An anonymous pamphlet, Friedrich II und die neuere Geschichte
Schreiben, etc., Melsungen und Kassel, 1879, "^^^s translated (in
an abridged form) and printed, with portraits of the two Electors
of Hesse Cassel, father and son, who sent their soldiers to America
under treaty with Great Britain, in The Pennsylvania Magazine
of History and Biography in July, 1899. Besides its defense of the
Hessian princes on the ground that their alliance was in con-
formity with their traditional and historical cooperation with Great
Britain, and a desperate and successful war in behalf of Protestant
liberty against French tyranny and Romanism and the free-thinking
Voltairianism of Frederick the Great of Prussia, it is of interest
from its demonstration of the falsity of Seume's Autobiography, and
from its denial of the authenticity of the pretended letter of the
Elector of Cassel, urging his general not to cure sick and wounded
Hessian soldiers, as the dead ones returned more profit to their
Landesvater ! It is somewhat odd that this very letter should be
claimed for Franklin as one of his literary burlesques by Tyler in
his Literary History of the Afnerican Revolution (see Vol. ii, pp.
377, 8-80), while Bigelow in his Life of Franklin (Vol. ii, p. 393)
and in his Works of Franklin (Vol. v, J)p. 224 and 243, and Vol.
vi, pp. 4-8), says it was written by Franklin not long after his
arrival in France, in the latter part of 1776, and "is in some
respects the most powerful of all the satirical writings of Franklin,
equaled only by Swift in evolving both the horror and the derision
of mankind." Franklin, in a letter to John Winthrop, sends from
Paris on May i, 1777, " one of the many satires that have appeared
on this occasion" — /. e., the sale of soldiers by German princes.

14 ROSEXGARTEN — AMERICAN HISTORY.

This pretended letter of Count de Schaumburg is dated Rome,
February i8, 1777, but is not printed in Sparks, or any of the
authorized editions of Franklin's works. It still remains a question
of when and where and how it was first printed and published, —
it does not appear in Ford's Franklin Bibliography, which prints
most of Franklin's c\tvtx jeux d' esprit that were printed on his
press at Passy and soon found their way into print in Europe and
America, but Ford printed it in his Many-Sided Franklin, p. 244;
Bigelow says it appears in a French version in Lescure Correspond-
ence ineditc secrete stir Louis XVI (Vol. i, p. 31), Paris, but
with no allusion to Franklin. No copy of it is found in the Amer-
ican Philosophical Society's collection of the imprints of the Passy
Press, although Ford accepts Sparks' and Bigelow's attribution of
the authorship to Franklin, and the internal evidence fully confirms
the statement ; it would be of interest to fix the time and place of
its first publication, its fortune in being virulently attacked, and its
use in exciting justifiable indignation against the Hessian princes
who shared, with other German petty sovereigns, in the sale of sub-
jects to fight under a foreign flag in a war which, as Frederick the
Great said, was none of their business, — for these things have given
it a value and importance far beyond the other satirical letters
produced by Franklin at his busy Passy Press.

Bancroft tells us that Frederick the Great encouraged France to
enter into the alliance with America — a counter stroke of vast im-
portance, far outweighing in its advantages for the struggling young
republic any benefit gained for Great Britain by its costly pur-
chase of German soldiers. His hostility to England, however, did
not lead him to fulfill his implied promise to join France in its
active and substantial support of the Americans — no doubt rebellion
and independence were more than he could encourage, little as he
liked the British effort to crush them. It is curious that Lowell
should speak of Franklin's smart satire as a clumsy forgery. Kapp,
in his Soldatenhandel (Berlin, 1864), prints the letter in the Appen-
dix 29, on p. 267, from Vol. No. 600 of the pamphlets in the
Library of the Historical Society of New York, and described as
printed on six octavo pages, without place of publication, but in
very large type. He reproduces the original French with all its
typographical mistakes; he prints on pp. 196-7 of his book a Ger-
man version of the letter, and speaks of it as one of a flood of
pamphlets, of which a very characteristic example was Mirabeau's

ROSENGARTEN — AMERICAN HISTORY. 15

Avis aux Hessois et aicires Peuples de I'AllemagJie, Vendus par leurs
Princes d rAngleterre, a Cleves chez Bertol, 1777, which is now
very rare, Kapp says, because the Elector of Cassel bought up all
the copies he could find. It is very characteristic of the two, Mira-
beau and "Franklin, that the latter refers to his now famous letter
only once, and that in sending it to his friend Winthrop, as one of
the issues of the press then current, it nowhere appears in his
printed works or correspondence, but in the Life of Mirabeau, by
his son, it is said that the first work written by Mirabeau in Am-
sterdam was the pamphlet Avis aux Hessois, pp. 12, 1775, that it
was translated into five languages, and reprinted twice by Mirabeau,
in V Espion devaiise, chap. 16, pp. 195-209, and in VEssai sur le
despotisme, pp. 509-18, Paris, Le Gay, 1792, and Mirabeau him-
self speaks of it in his Lettres de Vincennes on March 14, 1784, and
March 24, 1786. A reply to it, Conseils de la raison, was published
in Amsterdam in 1777, by Smidorf, supposed to be inspired by the
Minister of the Elector of Hesse Cassel, Schlieffen ; to it Mirabeau
replied in return in his Reponse aux Conseils de la Raison. All of
these and other pamphlets, such as Raynal's on the side of the
Americans, are now forgotten, but Franklin's clever skit continues
to be reprinted and read, and to keep alive the feeling against the
German princes who sent their soldiers to fight in a war which, as
Frederick the Great said, was none of their business. However,
the fact remains that it was through these Germans that America
got many good citizens from their ranks, and better still, many of
those who went home wrote of this country in a way that quick-
ened emigration, in which, indeed, some of them took tlieir part
later on.

To this and similar attacks the Elector, through his Minister,
Schlieffen, made answers in the Dutch newspapers, then the most
largely sold,' because they were free from censorship. Abbe Ray-
nal, then an accepted historical authority, supported Mirabeau's
attack by one that was met by Schlieffen in 1782. Kapp says
Franklin himself both inspired and drew from this flood of French
pamphlets against Great Britain and its German allies ; but Kapp
attributes this Hohendorff letter not to Franklin but to some French
pamphleteer of Mirabeau's circle, and says it was revived by Loher
at the time of the Know-Nothing agitation, and attributed to a St.
Louis paper, although its falsity was shown in an article printed in
the New Miltlary Jourtial, Darmstadt, 1858, No. 14.

16 ROSENGARTEN — AMERICAN HISTORY.

It was, as Bancroft tells us, a Count Schaumburg who acted as
the go-between of the British Ministry, who made unsuccessful
offers of pay for troops to the Duke of Saxe Weimar, dated Nov.
26, 1777 : was that known to Franklin when he wrote his letter in
the name of Count Schaumburg? No doubt he chose it in full
consciousness that it would be familiar to his European readers, who
would thoroughly enjoy seeing the English agent thus serving as a
thin disguise for the Hessian prince, and the indignation excited
by this clever and effective bit of satire would be directed' alike
against master and man, against prince and agent, together trading
for soldiers.

In the French service under Rochambeau there were many Ger-
:^ man soldiers, and Ratterman in Der Deutsche Pionier, Vol. xiii,

/ 1 88 1, gives an account of them, notably the Zweibriicken regi-

ment, of which two princes or counts of that name were respect-
ively colonel and lieutenant-colonel. It is worth noting that
Lafayette wrote to Washington of a visit to them in Zweibriicken
long after the American war, when he met " Old Knyp " and offi-
cers who had served both with and against him there. There
was a battalion from Trier in the Saintonge regiment under Cus-
tine, himself from Lothringen. There were Alsatians and Loth-
ringers in light companies attached to the Bourbonnais and Sois-
sonnais regiments. There were many Germans in the Duke de
Lauzun's cavalry legion, whose names are printed from the records
preserved in Harrisburg. In the army that made part of d'Es-
taing's expedition against Savannah, in the autumn of 1779, there
was an " Anhalt " regiment, 600 strong; of individual German
officers with Rochambeau there were Count Fersen, his chief of
staff, Freiherr Ludwig von Closen Haydenburg, his adjutant, Capt.
Gau, his chief of artillery, and a Strasburg Professor Lutz, his
interpreter. The Count of Zwei-liriicken (Deux-Ponts) published
\i\% American Campaigns in Paris in 1786, and his pamphlet was
translated and reprinted by Dr. Green, of the Massachusetts His-
torical Society. Count Stedingk and Count Fersen both took ser-
vice with Sweden, the latter to fall a victim to a popular outbreak,
the former to take part in the Peace of Paris in 1814.

Von Closen returned to Europe, became an officer of the house-
hold of Marie Antoinette, and died in 1830, at Zweibriicken.
Custine rose to high command in the French Revolution only to
end his days on the guillotine; his biography has been printed

ROSENGARTEX — AMERICAN HISTORY. 17

both in French and German. Ratterman thinks at least one-third
of Rochambeau's army at Yorktown consisted of Germans, Alsa-
tians, Lothringers and Swiss. Gen. Weedon, he says, was born in
Hanover, served in the Austrian War, 1742-81, and for his services
at Dettingen was promoted first to ensign and next to lieutenant,
coming in that rank to America in the Royal American Regiment
under Bouquet. He became a captain in the Third Virginia, and
colonel of the First Virginia, and later a brigadier-general of the
Continental army. The Germans under Ewald were driven back
by the Germans under Armand at Gloucester, Va., and in the siege
of Yorktown, Deux-Ponts led his Germans in the attack on a
redoubt defended by Hessians, and at several points commands
were given on both sides in German. Washington and the King
of France both commended the valor of the Zweibriicken regiment.
German soldiers held the trenches on both sides when the surrender
was finally made. German regiments under the French and Amer-
ican flags received the surrender of German regiments — Anspach,
Hessian, serving under the British flag — and the officers and men
joined in warm greetings; the Anspachers offered to serve with
their countrymen in Lauzun's Legion, an offer declined as a viola-
tion of the terms of capitulation. The German novelist Sealsfield,
in his story Morton, Stuttgart, 1844, describes Steuben's share in
this crowning victory. Mr. J. F. Sachse has drawn from his large
store of material a letter written by the Duke of Brunswick on
February 8, 1783, to Gen. Riedesel, in view of the return of his
force to Germany, in which he says that as not half of his officers
and subordinates can remain in active service at home, while many
of them must be reduced in rank and more discharged altogether,
all who can had better remain in America, as he would not burthen
his people and his war budget with pensions for young and able-
bodied men; he therefore authorizes and recommends the discharge
of officers, especially those of the staff, with six months' pay out of
the regimental funds; non-commissioned officers, too, should be
encouraged to take their discharge and stay in America, so that
companies may be reduced to fifty in the infantry and thirty- six in
the dragoons, and these must all be natives of Brunswick ; all men
under punishment or charged with offenses or physically unfitted
must be left behind. Chaplains, paymasters, surgeons, etc., who
can make their living in America, were recommended to stay here.
In this way, and with those who died in the service or deserted.

18 ROSENGARTEX — AMERICAN HISTORY.

the force returning to Brunswick was greatly reduced. This letter
is printed in the Brunswick Magazine of June 4, 1825 ; the same
and earlier numbers contain extracts from Papet's diary, which was
then in possession of his son-in-law, Captain Heusler, in Brunswick.
It was not until April 29, 1783, that peace was officially pronounced
to the troops, and they sailed from Quebec on August ist for a six
weeks' voyage home.

Papet says that the deserters had a price put on their heads, and
many of them were arrested and brought back, so that the Duke's
orders were not very literally obeyed. On their return to Bruns-
wick the division was reduced to an infantry regiment of two bat-
talions and a small dragoon regiment. Among them were some
black men enlisted by Gen. Riedesel as drummers. Until 1806
the dragoons served as guard of the palace — a sort of recognition
of their services. Riedesel named one daughter "Canada," she
died in Canada; and another "America," who died in 1856.
Eelking adds to his Life of Riedesel a list of officers, and among
them Chaplain Melsheimer figures as a deserter, in 1779; Avhile
Paymaster Thomas remained in America after the peace of 1 783,
and so did Lieut, v. Reizenstein, Lieut, v. Konig, Ensign Langer-
jahn, Ensign Kolte, Lieut. Bielstein, Lieut. Conradi, Lieut, v. Pui-
seger, and Ensign Specht, while some of those reported " deserters "
and "missing" no doubt remained in America. It is curious that
in Riedesel's Life, with its voluminous correspondence with the
Duke of Brunswick, there is no mention of the letter recommend-
ing that his officers and men should be encouraged to remain in
America. It looks very much as if Eelking thought it indiscreet
to print it, as likely to invite hostile criticism, a caution that does
not seem to have deterred the editor of the Brunswick Magazine in
1825, a time when the censor kept a sharp eye on anything that
might lessen the respect for the Landesvater. In its way it fully
justifies Franklin's clever skit at the Elector of Hesse in the ficti-
tious letter to his commander in America. There must still remain
in Marburg and Cassel and Berlin and Brunswick, and in the pri-
vate families of Germany, much interesting and valuable material
throwing light on the Germans who served under the British flag in
the War of American Independence. Is it not well worth while to
get a complete descriptive catalogue of the papers in the Marburg
Archives ? The expense would not be great, and that once secured,
it would not be difficult to have similar catalogues made for other

ROSENGARTEN — AMERICAN HISTORY. l9

public collections. In the meantime efforts could be made to print
such items of these catalogues as are new, and to enlist the help of
private owners of papers of the kind in securing copies to use in
printing in part or in whole for historical students.

There is no better example of the interest in such material than
the letters of Mme. Riedesel. Printed in Berlin in 1800, and again
in 1 80 1, they first became known to English readers through por-
tions of them printed by Gen. Wilkinson in his Memoirs, and re-
printed in Silliman's Tour in Canada. In Germany they were
reprinted in 1827, and again in 1881.

The original edition was intended only for the family, and Gen.
Riedesel himself died in 1800, before it appeared. His widow
survived until 180S. Her daughters " Canada " and " America "
perpetuate in their names their place of birth. The only son died
in 1854, and with a grandson the last of the family ended. Amer-
ican readers will always find interest in Mme. Riedesel's simple
narrative of her life here. Mme. Riedesel's Letters were first
issued in 1799 in a privately printed edition for the family and
their friends, and regularly published in 1800; the latest German
edition is that published in Tubingen in 1881, in which the letters
of Riedesel, together with brief biographies of husband and wife,
and an account of their children are given. It is stated in the
Preface that of the 4300 Brunswick soldiers led by Riedesel from
Germany to America only 2600 returned home with him. Of the
1700 lost to their native country many were of course a gain for
America. Riedesel died on January 5, 1800, after a harsh expe-
rience in the Napoleonic wars. His wife died on March 29, 1808;
their only son died in 1854, and the daughter " Canada " died in
childhood ; the daughter "America " married and left children.

General Stryker in the Appendix to his History of the Battle of
Trenton prints (on pp. 396, etc.) the pretended letter from the
Landgraf of Hesse, in which there is mention of the losses at
Trenton, and at p. 401 Gen. Heister's report of that battle, and on
p 403 the real letter written by the Prince of Hesse to Knyphausen,
dated Cassel, i6th June, 1777, in which he speaks of the painful
shock of the news, and directs a court of inquiry to investigate
and a court-martial to try those responsible, and another of April
23, 1779, insisting on a detailed explanation of the captains and
others as to the finding of the original court ; these proceedings
continued and a final verdict was arrived at in New York in Jan-

20 ROSENGAETEN — AMERICAN HISTORY.

uary, 1782, accompanied by a petition for mercy for those incul-
pated but surviving. Rail and Dechow had paid the penalty with
their lives. This was signed (among others) by Schlieffen in April,
1782, and thus that incident was closed by the Elector's pardon to
the survivors from the penalty imposed by the court-martial. The
actual correspondence consisted of Gen. v. Heister's report, dated
New York, January 5, 1777, answered by the Elector on April 7,
regretting that Rail should have been entrusted with a post to which
he was not entitled by seniority or service. That Kapp is mistaken
in crediting the pretended letter to Mirabeau is best shown by
comparing his wordy Avis aux Hessois with the short, sharp, pun-
gent letter that bears internal evidence of Franklin's master hand.
Reprinted by Ford and Stryker and Bigelow and Tyler, it is easily ac-
cessible, while the Avis aux Hessois of Mirabeau is much less known,
and a reprint of it may be of interest as one of the forgotten
pamphlets of the man who later on played such a leading part in the
French Revolution, yet failed to do for his country a tithe of the
good that Franklin did for America. Still, it must not be forgotten
that Mirabeau was one of the earliest French advocates of Ameri-
can independence, and that his Avis aux Hessois was a warning
note, the opening of a war of words, of a long-drawn-out battle of
pamphlets, in which the American cause was fought for by French
allies on the one side, and on the other by Germans in the pay of
English and Hessian authorities. Undoubtedly Mirabeau's influ-
ence led Beaumarchais to his best efforts to supply men and provi-
sions and munitions of war for the American cause, culminating,
largely, no doubt, through Franklin's efforts, in the alliance which
played so great a part in the final result.

Of even greater value, however, is Schiller's eloquent protest in
his Kabale und Liebe against the sale of German soldiers to Great
Britain to be used against America. Frederick the Great denounced
his cousin of Hesse for selling his subjects to the English as one
sells cattle to be dragged to the shambles. Napoleon made it one
of his reasons for overthrowing the house of Hesse Cassel and
making the country part of the Kingdom of Westphalia, over
which his brother reigned. Lowell praises Mirabeau's pamphlet as
an eloquent protest against the rapacity of the German princes
who sold their subjects to Great Britain, and a splendid tribute to
the patriotism of the Americans. Fortunately the large number of
Germans who served in the American army on the patriot side.

ROSENGARTEN — AMERICAN" HISTORY. 21

from Steuben and De Kalb down to the humblest soldiers, greatly
helped to secure American independence. Although Franklin's
letter is printed in both Ford and Bigelovv's lives and books of
Franklin, it may not be without interest to reproduce the original
French and the pamphlet by Mirabeau, Avis aux Hcssois, the first
of a long series of pamphlets, notably those by Schlieffen on the
German side and by Raynal on the American side, for in their day
these were most effective weapons in that war of pamphlets and
books which greatly strengthened the American cause abroad.
These copies I owe to the kindness of Mr. Wilberforce Fames, of
the Lenox Branch of the New York Public Library ; the originals
are part of the wealth of original papers and pamphlets and books
collected by Mr. Bancroft as material for his history and now
owned by the Lenox Library, Their free use for students of Amer-
ican history is one of the advantages of this present generation.

APPENDIX.

I.

Lettre du Landgrave de Hesse, au Commandant de ses
Troupes en Amerique.

Monsieur le Baron de Hogendorf je ne puis asses vous temoigner
combien la Relation que vous mavez Envoye m'a comble de joye — I'a
conduite de mes hessois qui sent fait Immoles si heroiquement
pour une cause qui nous est si Etrangere, confirme toute I'opinion
que javois de leurs bravoure, & Justifie I'Espoir que javois fondee
sur leur attachement a mes Interes — mais je ne puis pardonner aux
nouvellistes Anglois d'avoir diminue si fort, le nombre de nos morts —
pourquoy n'avoir, pas a vouee franchement, qu'aulieu de neuf cent nous
en avons perdu 1700! En veritie je ne trouverois Guere mon Compte
a ce calcule, & je ne puis Tattribuer qu-a un motif tres Interresse de
leurs part — ces Messieurs Croyent-ils done, que trentes Guinnes de plus,
ou de mois me sont Indifferents ! & cela, apres un voiage aussi
couteux, que celuy que je viens de faire, & qui, m'a fait contracter
tant de nouvelles dettes .... non, mon cher, que votre Zele pour mon
service, & vos desirs, pour contribuer a mes plaisirs Redoublent defforts
en secondant par tous les moiens possibles, toutes les Occasion qui
pourois se presenter pour animer, de plus en plus mes fideles sujets a
se sacrifier Jusqu'au dernier meme. Pour Repondre a des vues aussi
legitime, que necessaries.

22 ROSEN GARTEN— AMERICAN HISTORY.

Temoignes bien de m'apart au Colonnel M combien je suis

m^content de la conduite qu'il a tenu jusqu-ici, — quoy ? Le seul de tous
nos corps qui n'a perdue qu'un seul homme jusqu'a preserit — c'est, ce

couvrir de honte, & Redoubler mes peines ; — la Signora F que

je viens, d'Engager en Italie va me couter au de la de Cinq cents
Guinees par an, & puis ces Anglois, voudroient encore mechicaner sur
las blesses, & les estro pies — mais non ils me les payeront selon le
meme Tarif fixe pour les morts — si non, jaime mieux, quils Imitent
I'Exemple de ceux qui se sont laisses prendre a Trenton — en effets — a
quoy meserviroient ses miserables ! ici ? Ils ne sont plus a bon a Rien ;
d'ailleurs, ces maudits Rebelles qui, tirent toujours si bas, les auront
sans doubte Rendus Impuissants, mais quant a cela, les Jesuites que
j'ai envie d'appcller dans mes etats, s'en acquitteront mille, & mille fois
mieux, & R6pareront bientot, toute la de population, qui ne s'y
manifeste deja que trop, c'est un Expedient que m'a donne a Rome, le

Cardinal T qui m'a promis de me menager cette afifaire avec

toute la dexteritee Imaginable, — Vous ne sauriez croire (matil dit ;)
combien la vue de tant de belles Guinees Ranime la vigueur. Or quoy
qu'il en arrive jouissons du present & ne nous mettons pas en peine du
Reste ; sur ce, je prie Dieu, qu'il vous tienne Monsieur le Baron de
Hogendorf, en sa sainte, & bonne Garde, a Cassel, 1777.

11.

Avis aux Hessois et Autres Peuples de l'Allemagne
Vendus par Leurs Princes a l'Angleterre.

■ A Cleves. Chez Bertol. 1777.

Quis furor iste novtis ? quo nunc, quo teiiditis ? —
Heu ! miseri ewes ! non hostein, inimicaque castra ;
.... Vesiras spes uritis. — Virg.

Intrepides Allemands ! quelle fletrissure laissez vous imprimer sur vos
fronts genereux ! quoi ! c'est a la fin du dix-huitieme siecle, que les
peuples du centre de I'Europe sont les satellites mercenaries d'un odieux
Despotisme ! quoi! ce sont ces valeureux Allemands, qui dcfendirent
avec tant d'acharnement leur liberte contre les vainquueurs du monde,
& braverent les armces Romaines, qui, sembables aux vils Africains,
sont vendus & courent verser leur sang dans la cause des tyrans ! ils
souffrent qu'on fasse chez eux LE Commerce des Hommes ! qu'on
depeuple leurs villes, qu'on epuise leurs campagnes, pour aider
d'insolens dominateurs a ravager un autre hemisphere ! . . . . Par-
tageres vous, longtems encore, le stupide aveuglement de vos maitres

ROSENGARTEN — AMERICAN HISTORY. 23

• ■ . . VOLS, respectables soldats ! fidelles & redoutables soutiens
de leur pouvoir ! de ce pouvoir qui ne leur fut confic- que pour
proteger leurs sujets ! . . . . vous etes vendus ! .... Eh ' pour
quel usage! justes dieux ! .... Amonceles comma des troupeaux
dans des navires etrangers, vous parcourez les mers : vous volez a
travers les ecueils & les tempetes. pour attaquer des peuples qui ne
vous ont fait aucun mal ; qui defendent la plus juste causes, qui vous
donnent le plus noble des exemples. Eh ! que ne les imitez vous. ces
peuples courageux, au lieu de vous efforcer de les detruire ! ils brisent
leurs fers: Hs combattent pour maintenir leurs droits naturals &
garantir leur liberte : ils vous tendent les bras : ils sont vos freres ' ils
sont doublement : la nature les fittals, & des liens sociaux ont confirme
cestitressacres: plus de la moitie de ces pauple est composea da vos
compatnotes, de vos amis, de vos parens. Ils ont fui la tyrannie aux
extremitcs du monde ; & la tyrannie les y a poursuivis : des oppressaurs
egalemant avidas & ingrats, leur ont forge des fers ; & les respectables
Amencams ont aiguise ces fers. pour repousser leurs oppressaurs. ....
Le nouveau monde va done vous compter au nombre das monstres,
affames d'or & de sang, qui Font ravage ! Allamands. dont la loyaute
fut toujours la caractere distinctif, ne fremissez vous pas d'un tel
reproche ? A ces motifs, faits pour toucher des hommes, faut-il joindre
ceux d'un mteret egalemant prassant pour des esclaves & des citoyans
libres ?

Savez vous quelle nation vous allez attaquer ? Savaz vous ce que
peut le fanatisme de la liberte ? Cast le seul qui ne soit pas odieux :
c est le saul respectable ; mais c'est aussi le plus puissant da tous. ....
Vous na la savez pas, 6 peuples aveugles ! qui vous croyaz libres, en
rampant sous la plus odieux des Despotismas : calui qui force au crime !
Vous ne le savez pas. vous qua la caprice ou la cupidite d'un Despote
peuvent armer contre des hommes, qui meritant de I'humanite enticra.
puis qu'ils defendant sa causa, & hii preparent un asile ! .... 6
guarriers mercenaires ! 6 satellites des tyrans ! 6 Europeans cnerves '
vous allez combattre des hommes. plus forts, plus industrieux, plus
couraga.ux, plus actifs, que vous ne pouvez I'etre : un grand interet les
anime : un vil lucre vous conduit : ils defendant leur propriete, & com-
battent pour leurs foyers : vous quittez les votres. & ne combattez pas
pour vous : c'est au sain da leur pais, c'est dans leur climat natal, c'est
aide de toutes les resources domestiques qu'ils font la guerre contre des
bandes, que 1 'ocean a vomies, aprcs avoir prepare leur defaite. Las
motifs les plus puissans & les plus saints excitant leur valeur, & appellent
la victoire sur leurs pas. Des chefs, qui vous meprisant. en se servant
de vous, opposeront da vaines harangues a I'eloquence irresistible de la
liberte, du basoin, de la necessite. Enfin, & pour tout dire an un mot, la
causa das Americains est juste : le ciel & la terre reprouvent celle que
vous ne rougissez pas de soutenir : . . . .

24 ROSENGARTEN — AMERICAN HISTORY.

O Allemands ! qui done a souffle, parmi vous, cette soif de com-
battre, cette frenesie barbare, cet odieux devouement a la tyrannic ?

Non : je ne vous comparerai pas a ces fanatiques Espagnols, qui
detruisoient pour detruire, qui se bagnoient dans le sang, quand la
nature epuisee for<joit leur insatiable cupidite a faire place a une passion
plus atroce. Des sentimens plus nobles, des erreurs plus excusables
vous egarent. Cette fidelite pour vos chefs, qui distingua les Germains
vos ancetres, cette habitude d'obeir, sans calculer qu'il est des devoirs
plus sacres que I'obeissance, & anterieurs a tous les sermens, cette
credulite qui fait suivre I'impulsion d'un petit nombre d'insenses ou
d'ambitieux ; voila vos torts ; mais ils seront des crimes, si vous ne vous
arretez au bord d'abime .... deja ceux de vos compatriotes, qui vous
ont precedes, reconnoisent leur aveuglement ; ils desertent ; & les bien-
faits de ces peuples, qu'ils egorgeoient n'aguere, & qui les traitent en
freres, aujourd'hui qu'ils ne leur voient plus en main le glaive des
bourreaux, aggravent leur remords, & doublent leur repentir.

Profitez de leur exemple, 6 Soldats ! pensez a votre honneur : pensez
a vos droits : . . . . n'en avez vous done pas comme vos chefs ? . . . .
Oui : sans doubte : on ne le dit point assez : les hommes passent avant
les Princes, qui pour le plupart, ne sont pas dignes d'un tel nom :
laissez a d'infames courtisans, a d'impies blasphemateurs, le soin de
vanter la prerogative royale : & ses droits illimites : mais n'oubliez point
que TOUS ne furent pas faits pour UN : qu'il est un autorite superieure
a toutes les autorites : que celui qui commande un crime, ne doit
point etre obei : & qu'ainsi votre conscience est le premier de vos
chefs

Interrogez la cette conscience : elle vous dira, que votre sang ne doit
couler que pour votre patrie : qu'il est atroce de recevoir de I'argent
pour aller egorger, a plusieurs milliers de lieues des hommes, qui n'ont
d'autres relations avec vous que cellos, qui doivent leur concilier votre
bienveillance.

Elle pretend faire une guerre legitime, cette Metrople, qui s'epuise
pour ruiner ses enfans ! elle reclame ses droits. & ne veut les discuter
qu'avec la foudre des combats ! . . . . mais fussent-ils reels, ces droits,
les avez vous examines ? Est-ce a vous a juger ce proces ? Est-ce a
vous a prononcer I'arret ? Est-ce a vous a I'executer ? . . . . Eh !
qu'importent apres tout ces vains titres si problematiques & si
contestes ? L'homme, dans tous les pais du monde, a le droit d'etre
hereux. Voila la premiere des loix : voila le premier des titres :
des colonies ne vont point fertiliser des terres nouvelles, augmenter
la gloire & la puissance de la mtre-patrie, pour en etre opprimees
. . . . le sont-elles ? EUes ont le droit de secouer le joug : parce que
le JOUG n'est pas fait pour l'homme.

['- Mais, qui vous a dit que les Anglois avoient sign6 I'arret de proscrip-
tion lance contre les Americains ? . . . . Braves Allemands ! on vous a

ROSENGARTEX — AMERICAN HISTORY. 25

trompe. N'avilissez pas par un tel soupcjon une nation qui a produit de
grands hommes & de belles loix, qui nourrit longtems dans son sein le
feu sacre de la liberte, & merite, a ces litres, du respect & des egards
.... Helas ! dans les isles Britanniques, comme dans le reste de
I'univers, un petit nombre d'ambitieux agite le peuple & produit les
calamites publiques. Le moment de crise est arrive. I'Angleterre n'est
divisee, malheureuse, en guerre contre ses freres, que parce que le
Despotisme lutte depuis quelques annees avec avantage contre la liberte.
Ne croyez done pas defendre la cause des Anglois : vous combattez pour
I'accroissement de I'autorite de quelques ministres qu'ils abhorrent &
meprisent.

Les voulez vous connoitre, les veritables motifs qui vous mettent les
armes a la main ?

Un vain luxe, des depenses meprisables ont ruine les finances des
Princes qui vous gouvernent ; leurs spoliations ont tari leurs resources ;
ils ont trop souvent trompe la confiance de leurs voisins, pour y
recourir encore. II faudroit done renoncer a ce faste excessif, a ces
fantaisies sans cesse renaissantes, qui sont leur occupation la plus
importante ; ils ne peuvent s'y resoudre ; ils ne le feront pas ;
I'Angleterre epuisee d'hommes & d'argent, achete a grand? frais de
I'argent & des hommes Vos Princes saisissent avidement cette resource
momentanee & ruineuse : ils levent des Soldats : ils les vendent : ils les
livrent : voila I'emploi de vos bras : voila a quoi vous etiez destines,
Votre sang sera le prix de la corruption, & le jouet de I'ambition. Cette
argent, qu'on vient d'acquerir, en commer<jant de vos vies, paiera des
debtes honteuses, ou aidera a en contracter de nouvelles. Un avide
usurier, une meprisable Courtisane, un vil histrion, vont recevoir ces
guinees donnees en echange de votre existence.

O dissipateurs aveugles ! qui vous jouez de la vie des hommes, &
prodiguez les fruits de leurs travaux, de leurs sueurs, de leurs substance,
un repentir tardif, des remords dechirans seront vos bourreaux, mais ne
soulageront pas ces peuples que vous foulez ; vous regretterez vos
laboureurs & leurs moissons, vos Soldats, vos sujets ; vous pleurerez
sur les malheurs, dont vous memes aurez ete les artisans, & qui vous
envelopperont avec tout votre peuple. Un voisin formidable sourit de
votre aveuglement, & s'apprete a en profiter ; il forge deja les fers,
dont-il medite de vous charger : vous gemirez sous le poids de vos
chaines, fussent-elles d'or; & votre conscience, alors plus juste que
votre coeur ne fut sensible, sera la furie vengeresse des maux que vous
aurez faits.

Et vous peuples trahis, vexes, vendus, rougissez de votre erreur : que
vos yeux se dessillent : quittez cette terre souillee du despotisme :
traversez les mers : courez en Amerique ; mais embrassez y vos freres ;
•defendez ces peuples genereux, contre I'orgueilleuse rapacite de leurs
persecuteurs : partagez leur bonheur : doublez leurs forces : aidez-les

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26 ROSENGARTEN — AMERICAN HISTuxvi. '°^ ^^^ ^

de votre industrie : appropriez vous leurs richesses en les augmentant :
tel est le but de la societe : tel est le devoir de rhomme, que la nature
a fait pour aimer ses sembables, & non pas pour les egorger : apprenez
des Americains I'art d'etre libre, d'etre hereux, de tourner les
institutions sociales au profit de chacun des individus qui composent
la societe : oubliez dans le respectable asile, qu'ils offrent a I'humanite
souffrante, les delires, dont vous futes les complices & les victimes :
connoissez la vraie grandeur : la vraie gloire : la vraie felicite : que
les nations Europeennes vous envient, & benissent la moderation
des habitans du nouveau monde, qui dedaigneront de venir les punir
de leurs forfaits, & de conquerir les terres depeuplees, que foulent
des tyrans a oppresseurs & qu'arroseent de leurs larmes des esclaves
opprimes.

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