May 24, 1776

William and Thomas Bradford printed a supplement to their weekly newspaper to share the recently-arrived translations of treaties between King George III and German princes. These treaties detailed how German soldiers would join the conflict in British North America. The first treaty, between the king and the Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg, was signed in January 1776 and printed in Philadelphia in May. The articles in the treaty clarified the number of Brunswickers who would join the British side of the war and how they would be transported and supplied. 

The ninth article stipulated that the Brunswick corps would receive “ordinary and extraordinary pay, as well as all advantages in forage, provision, &c. &c. enjoyed by the royal troops.” Additionally, “the sick and wounded of the said corps shall be taken care of in the hospitals, and at the expence of the King, as the troops of his Britannick Majesty.” And wounded soldiers who could no longer fight would be “transported into Europe, at the expence of the King.” Beginning on the day the treaty was signed, George III would pay the Duke of Brunswick an “annual subsidy,” amounting to “as long as these troops shall enjoy the pay.”

Supplement to The Pennsylvania Journal; and the Weekly Advertiser
Printed by William and Thomas Bradford

In the course of this week the CONGRESS received the following advices from England.

Translation of a Treaty between his Majesty and the reigning Duke of Brunswick.
Signed at Brunswick, the 9th of January, 1776.

BE it known unto all whom it does or may concern, that his Majesty, the king of Great-Britain, having judged proper to propose to his most serene highness the duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg, the cession of a body of his troops, to be employed in the service of Great-Britain, and his most serene highness having yielded with zeal and readiness to his Majesty’s views, the high contracting parties have given orders for this purpose to their respective ministers; that is to say, his Britannic majesty to Col. William Faucitt, captain of the guards; and the most serene duke of Brunswick and Lunenberg, to the privy councellor de Feronce, who, after the exchange of their full powers, have agreed upon the following articles.

Art. I. The most serene Duke of Brunswick yields to his Britannic Majesty a corps of infantry of his troops, of three thousand nine hundred and sixty-four men, which corps shall be entirely at the disposition of the King, as well in Europe as in America.

Art. II. His Most Serene Highness also yields to his Britannic Majesty, a body of light cavalry of three-hundred and thirty-six men, but as his Britannic Majesty will not have occasion for the horses of this corps, the said corps shall serve as a corps of infantry; and if the service requires them to be mounted, his Majesty engages to do it at his own expence.

Art. III. The Most Serene Duke engages to equip completely both these corps, except the horses for the light-cavalry; his Most Serene Highness will keep in readiness for marching, towards the 15th of February next at farthest the first division of this corps, consisting of two thousand two hundred and eighty-two men, in such manner, that this first division shall arrive, towards the 25th of February at the place of embarkation, to be agreed upon between the respective ministers; as to the second division of the said body of troops, amounting to two thousand eighteen men, his Most Serene Highness will cause them to begin their march, in the last week of the month of March, at furthest; these two corps shall pass in review at the place of their embarkation, before his Britannic Majesty’s Commissary; and in order to prevent desertion in their march, his Britannic Majesty will cause the most precise orders to be given in his electoral dominions, that all necessary measures be taken to stop every deserter from this body of troops, and to convey them, without delay, to the place of embarkation, there to join their regiments. His Britannic Majesty will cause directions to be given to the governors and commandants of places, bailiffs, and others, to execute these orders with the same exactness as is observed with regard to his Majesty’s electoral troops.

Art. IV. This body of infantry and of light cavalry, shall be composed of five regiment, and of two battalions, according to the lists annexed to the present treaty; the officer’s servants on the said lists shall be furnished with arms, and every necessary equipment as soldiers, they shall do service like them, if occasion requires it, and be paid as such.

Art. V. The most serene Duke engages to furnish the recruits that may be annually necessary for this corps; these recruits shall be delivered, after a previous notice of four months, to his Britannic Majesty’s commissary, disciplined and equipped; the said recruits shall arrive at the place of their embarkation at the time that shall be agreed upon before the opening of each campaign.

Art. VI. The King’s service, and the preservation of the troops, requiring equally, that the commanding officers and subalterns should be expert persons, his Most Serene Highness will take proper care in the choice of them.

Art. VII. The Most Serene Duke engages to put this corps on the best footing possible; and none shall be admitted into it but persons proper for campaign service, and acknowledged as such by his Britannic Majesty’s commissary.

Art. VIII. This corps shall be furnished with tents, and all necessary equipage.

Art. IX. The King grants to this corps the ordinary and extraordinary pay, as well as all advantages in forage, provision, &c. &c. enjoyed by the royal troops; and the Most Serene Duke engages to let this corps enjoy all the emoluments of pay, that his Britannic Majesty allows them; the sick and wounded of the said corps shall be taken care of in the hospitals, and at the expence of the King, as the troops of his Britannick Majesty; the wounded, not in a condition to serve, shall be transported into Europe, at the expence of the King, and landed in a port on the Elbe or the Weser; as to what regards the body of light cavalry, they shall be put on the footing of British light cavalry, when they are dismounted; but they shall have the same pay, as well ordinary as extraordinary, as the light horse of his Majesty, from the day that they shall serve on horseback.

Art. X. There shall be paid to his Most Serene Highness, under the title of levy-money, for each foot-soldier, or trooper not mounted, thirty crowns banco, the crown reckoned at fifty-three sols of Holland, and reckoned at four shillings nine-pence three farthings; one third of this levy money shall be paid a month after the signature of the treaty, and the two other thirds shall be paid two months after the signature; the payment of this levy money shall be made; nevertheless, on condition, that thirty crowns banco shall be retained for each soldier of the said corps, who without cause of sickness shall be absent on the day when they pass in review before his britannic Majesty’s commissary; which thirty crowns banco shall, however, be paid as soon as the absent soldiers shall join their respective corps.

Art. XI. According to custom, three wounded men shall be reckoned as one killed; a man killed shall be paid for at the rate of levy-money; if it shall happen, that any of the regiments, battalions, or companies of this corps, should suffer a loss altogether extraordinary, either in a battle, a siege, or by an uncommon contagious malady, or by the loss of any transport vessel in the voyage to America, his Britannic Majesty will make good, in the most equitable manner, the loss of the officer or soldier, and will be at the expence of the necessary recruits, to re-establish the corps that shall have suffered this extraordinary loss.

Art. XII. The Most Serene Duke reserves to himself the nomination to the vacant employments, as also the administration of justice; moreover, his Britannic Majesty will cause orders to be given to the commander of the army, in which this corps shall serve, not to exact of this corps any extraordinary services, or such as are beyond their proportion with the rest of the army; this corps shall take the oath of fidelity to his Britannic Majesty, without prejudice to the oath which they have taken to their Sovereign.

Art. XIII. Towards defraying the extraordinary expenses, which the hasty equipment of this body of troops occasions, his Britannick Majesty grants two months pay, previous to the march of the said troops, and from the time the troops shall have quitted their quarters, in order to repair to the place of their destination, all the expenses of their march and transport, shall be at the charge of his Britannic Majesty.

Art. IV. His Britannic Majesty grants to his Most Serene Highness an annual subsidy, which shall be regulated in the manner following; it shall commence from the day of the signature of the present treaty, and shall be single, that is to say, of the amount of sixty-four thousand five hundred German crowns, as long as these troops shall enjoy the pay; from the time the pay shall cease, the subsidy shall be double, that is to say, of one hundred twenty-nine thousand German crowns. This double subsidy shall be continued during two years after the return of the said troops into his Most Serene Highness’s dominions.

Art. XV. This treaty shall be ratified by the high contracting parties, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged as soon as possible.

Thus concluded and signed by the minister plenipotentiary of his Majesty, the king of Great-Britain, on one part, and by the minister plenipotentiary of his most serene highness the duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg, on the other part.