red men from Giessen, where he commanded, to Marburg,
forced the gates of the town, and compelled the garrison of the allies
to take shelter in the castle. As he could not pretend to undertake the
siege of the fortress, by the fire of which he was exceedingly galled,
he demanded of the town a contribution of one hundred thousand florins,
and carried some of the magistrates along with him as hostages for
the payment of this imposition. He afterwards appeared at Hombourg,
Alsfeldt, and Hartzberg, the frontier posts of the allies; but did not
think proper to attack either, because he perceived that measures were
taken for his reception. The French, with all their boasted politeness
and humanity, are sometimes found as brutal and rapacious as the most
barbarous enemy. On pretence of taking umbrage at the town of Hanau
Muntzenberg, for having without their permission acknowledged the
regency of the landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel, they, in the month of
February, ordered the magistrates of that place to pay, within the
term of twenty-four hours, the sum of seven hundred and fifty thousand
livres, on pain of being subjected to plunder. This order was signified
by the prince de Robecq; to whom the magistrates represented the
impossibility of raising such a sum, as the country was totally
exhausted, and their credit absolutely destroyed, in consequence of
their inability to pay the interest of the capitals negotiated in the
course of the preceding year. He still insisted upon their finding the
money before night; they offered to pay eighty thousand florins, which
they raised with the utmost difficulty, and begged the payment of the
rest might be postponed for a few weeks: but their request was rejected
with disdain. The garrison was reinforced by two battalions, and four
squadrons dispersed in the principal squares and markets of the city,
and the gates were shut. They even planted cannon in the streets, and
tarred matches were fixed to many houses, in order to intimidate the
inhabitants. These expedients proving ineffectual, detachments
of grenadiers entered the houses of the principal magistrates and
merchants, from whence they removed all their best effects to the
town-hall, where they were kept in deposit, until they were redeemed
with all the money that could possibly be raised. This exaction, so
little to the honour of a civilized nation, the French minister declared
to the diet at Ratisbon was agreeable to the instructions of