und in the writings of Vehse, Loeher, Menzel,
Scherr, Weber, and others who have tried to discredit the Elector
Frederick. Kapp does say that the Elector left an estate of
60,000,000,--made partly out of the profits of the lottery founded in
1777, but mainly out of the American war. But the lottery only earned in
all the fourteen years of its existence 93,000 thalers, which were paid
over to the War Office; the only other source was the sale of soldiers to
England.
Kapp says that pay for wounded soldiers began in the treaty with Brunswick
in 1776, although it was implied in the Hessian treaty at the time of the
war of the Spanish Succession that three wounded men counted the same as
one dead man, at about 51 thalers at modern rates. It is true that there
were such provisions in the earlier Brunswick and Hanau Treaties, but
Schlieffen had them struck out of the new Hessian Treaty of 1775. Dead men
were replaced by living men and the injured and disabled by well men,
while the latter went into the Invalid Corps and were duly cared and
provided for.
The contemporary accusations are perpetuated by Schlosser, who says in his
history that England paid a premium that went into the Elector's pocket
for every limb that was lost,--and this is absolutely false. The Elector
to the last day of his life made provision for the disabled soldiers. Such
charges are made by Germans who ought to go to the Hessian archives and
there find the truth. A fair statement ought to satisfy the modern reader
that the great majority of American citizens of our own day have little in
common with the perjured Yankees of the Revolution, and are, indeed,
descendants of the men who fought against, rather than of those who fought
for independence. The rebels turned against England and denounced it as a
tyrant, although to it America owed Magna Charta and the Habeas Corpus
Act. The treatment of the Indians by American governments shows how far
they departed from the example of the mother country. The English Whigs
in and out of Parliament were allowed a license and freedom of speech
which were denied the American Tories by their brethren who proclaimed
liberty. The Hessians had for two hundred years been allies of England and
naturally helped it against the hostility of France and Spain. Hessians
fought at the side of English troops against Louis XIV. of France, and
helped to put down the Stuart rising in Scotland, and in the Seven Years'
War; the Americ
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