103 



Conduct of the French in Jlanovef. 



[Sept. 1, 



ling); a Aim giievoufly felt, as. you will 

 conceive, by a land which enjoys few ad- 

 v<'iiila<_Lcs, having no nianut'aCtures or 

 tiade of any iuipoitancc, and fcarcely 

 y.roducing a fuliicicncy of corn for tiie 

 fupport of its own people. The whole 

 electorate yields, at ihe uirnoft, not more 

 than five millions of dollars, all of v.hich 

 vvas employed iji fupporting the military 

 and public edablilhments. No im- 

 portaiu reticnchnients could have been 

 made in thcfe expcixes without brinn;ing 

 luin on our country. Of courfe, there 

 remained but very little from the ordina- 

 ry revenues fur the French, who were to 

 be fupplied only by extraordinary loiuis 

 and taxes. 



The voluntary contributions afforded 

 by patriotic individuals were very fre- 

 quent and conllderable; every rich man 

 in the towns and province?, particularly 

 in the principality of Ofnaburg, ad- 

 vanced, from time to time, in the form 

 of a loan, as much as his circumftances 

 would admit. But notwithllanding this, 

 and the heavy burdens impofed on the 

 people, they were lliil obliged to have re- 

 courfe to foreign fuccour. In the iirft in- 

 llance, Hamburgh, Lubcc, and Bremen, 

 the Elector of lieffe Calfel, and Hahn, 

 the rich banker of ttiat place, freely af- 

 forded afuUriiice, by the following loans : 

 Dollars. 

 The Elector of Hefle Caflel - 500,000 

 llahn, the banker - - - 75,000 

 Hamburgh - _ - - 700,000 

 Lubec, firft loan - - - 160,000 

 fecond loan - - 50,000 

 Bremen 65!5,000 



Ta'-vl 2,110,0(J0 



which were all made in the firft year ; 

 but upon the declaration of the King of 

 England, that he would not acknowledge 

 any loans that had been or were to be 

 maf'.e, it was nccelfary to ufc threats, and 

 even coercion, in order to extract money 

 from the fmaller ftates. Hamburgh fub- 

 rnilted on the iirll demand, by paying 

 500,000 dollars : bat Bremen aiid Liibec 

 perlified in a long and obfumiic refufal, 

 till the Fre.ch, finding a finiple demand 

 ivithout avail, blocked ihe.n up, by land 

 and water, fo efVcCiuaily, that no perfon 

 or thing cimUl get in or out cither of the 

 cities or teiritories. Bremen yielded, af- 

 ter a week's refulance, by complying with 

 half the demand, receiving a jironiife 

 of never being tnniblcd with a limilar re- 

 j^uifjtion ; but Lubec i'tood out a fortnight, 

 and was finally rcleufed ou granting only 



a part of the contribution. In fine, Bre- 

 men paid 250,000, and Lubec 100,000 

 dollars. 



Bat the burdens of the Hanoverians 

 opprellive as they were upon the public 

 at large, were not conlined to cxurbiiant 

 taxes collected every week or nuijiih. 

 ]-ach individual had liis pecuiur burdens, 

 which fell with unetjual weight upon his 

 own particular family. The lint and 

 greatelt of thefe was the quarleriiig of the 

 loldiers; from which, in the beginning, 

 no occupier of a houte, however poor, 

 was exempt, while the richer dalles were 

 obliged to take in, aiKl liberally provide 

 for lix and even eight men at a tune. 



It is true the foldiers were to be pro- 

 vided fur, iis before obferved, with bread, 

 meat, tkc. at the public coft; yet had 

 this been regularly attended to (which 

 was by no means the cafcj, it w ould have 

 ferved but very indifferently in the place 

 of better food. No Hanoverian would 

 have ventured to place a dilli tVom the 

 public fupply only before his French 

 epicure, who infilled on (baring with him 

 in every delicacy of his own table. Ac- 

 cording to a moderate computation, the 

 board of every I'oldier coll tliirty grates 

 (Is. 4(1. Englilh money) a day, that of a 

 captain and fubaltern from three to four 

 hundred dollars a year, and that of a fu- 

 perior otttccr five or ten times that funi. 



Another burden, no lefs opprellive than 

 tlie former, was the marching of troops 

 backwards and forwards, witli nuniber- 

 Icfs waggons, and their drivers. This 

 concourfc of men and horfes naturally 

 crowded the finall number of houfes by 

 the way in a dil'proportionate manner, 

 and from the conlhmt exch.uige of regi- 

 ments palling and repaffing, the evil rule 

 to an infupportable degree. The princi- 

 pality of Olnaburg, as a frontier province 

 between Hanover and Holland, fuffered d 

 the moll ferioully from this grievance. ^ 



To efcape the burden of quartering, 

 many inhabitants fold their houfes, and 

 lived ill lodgings ; which proved, how- 

 ever, hut a linall relief, as the tax in 

 llcad of quartering was raifed according- 

 ly, no dais being exempted from the ge- 

 neral calamity. All towns and villages 

 were therefore occupied by troops, ex- 

 cept Gottingen, on account of its uni- 

 verlity, and The Hara on account of its 

 poverty ; but the F'rench, dilliking the 

 wafte and chcerlefs flats of Weftphalia, 

 and (Uhcr parts, flocked as much as poffi- 

 ble to the larger places, which of courfe 

 endured the feverellhardlliips, from being 

 occujjied by the greater number of loldiers. 



Tlie 



