The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-02-13
WHEN GERMANS FOUGHT UNDER
 THE FLAG OF GREAT BRITAIN

THE FLAG OF GREAT BRITAIN
 While Great Britain and Germany are now locked in a death struggle, it was not so very long ago that German l troops fought under the banner of England. In the period Of the Ameri- can revolution, when the spirit of democracy was abroad in the earth, many German states were still in the dark ages Of desp otisn, and the sub jects of their rulers were slaves, to be bought and sold like cattle. In Eng land there was no particular enthus- iasm about the rebellion in America and Hng1ishmen manifested no eager ness to cross the seas to fight men of their own blood. In this crisis the London government turned to Ger many, where the rulers still sold their subjects to other nations, and made a profit on every man who was slain
 One of the most remarkable docu-
 nenfs in existence is a letter from the ruler Of Hesse-Casse1 to Baron von Hohendorff. the commander in chief of the Hessdan trops who had been sold to England for service in Arnert- ca This communication bears date of February z. 1777, but it is almost inn possible to believe that such an exhi- bition of utter heartiessness could have been displayed so late as 1SS years ago.
 The sovereign prince of Hesse had entered into an arrangement whereby he received from SIS to $115 per man for the 16.992 soldiers sold to England, with the added provision that the price was to be $150 for each man killed in battle. It was therefore to the financial advantage of the Hes- sian ruler that his men be slain end he was not backward in expressing the hope that the fatalities of his American army would be large.
 Tn the letter in question the Prince expressed great joy at the welcome in- i telligence that out of the 1.960 Hes siana engaged in the battle of Tren- ton !, $50 fell. but added that he was greatly annoyed by the fact that the statement given him by the English 1 minister showed a casualty list of only I, 45. He expressed a hope that the larger figure was correct, and concluded his letter as follows: SRemenber that out of the 300 1 Spartans who defended Thermopylae not one returned to tell the tale. would be happy if could say the same of my brave Hessdanss Tell MaJ- 1 or Mindorff that [ am exceedingly 1 he saved the 800 men who fled from l Trenton. During the entire campaign not ten Of Mindorffss men have fall l len.'s
 l l Hesse was not the only German state to sell it's soldiers. England at that period also purchased 5,723 men from the Prince of WaIdeck and 1.16O from the Prince Of Anhalt-zerbst in
 addition to the Is.s92 Hessians. Of l these the recores show that 11.85S l were killed.
 l In the United States opprobiunn still attaches to the name Of Hessian. which was applied to all the German l troops sent to America, and hired Edessian is still a 9ayorite sfnsile to express the lowest tnfany. While the l heart1ess rulers who profited from the I Slaughter Of their subjects cannot be I too harsl1Iy Characterized, the men l themselves were little better than l slaves. who could not do otherwise than their masters directed. Torn l ruthlessly from their homes with I scarcely time to say good-by their I loved ones. the Hessians were driven I like beasts to the nearest seaport and
 there loaded into vessels In An1eri- I ca they were pictured as heartless
 monsters. and their arrival filled the
 struggling coIonists with fury.
 l The dread of the tferocious" Ger
 man mercenaries das dissipated by the
 battle of Trenton. The Hessians
 scarcely knowing where they were and not at all why they fought, battled
 bravely but stupidly and were quickly routed. The fear of the HeSsianS van l 1SnOQ, ana Cn0 Idt1CSr1uS 111111t1A SOOI
 began to flock to Washington's stand
 ard.
 England first hired Fessians to
 fight her battles in 175S, in conse-
 quence of threatened invasion. The
 last appearance of the Hessians under the British flag was in 1798, when g number of German troops were brought to help suppress the rebellion l in Ireland.
 From ancient times the Hessian rll
 CTS have been noted for their cruelty
 and their moral de1inQuencies. Ever
 the great Philip the Magnanim ous P honored one of the most energetic . supporters of the reformation and thu
 patron of Luther, was as fickle in low . as he was valiant in war. The mos eminent of the 1andgraves of Hess married the lovely Catherine of Sax
 ony, but, for all her beauty, she dit
 not find favor in his eyes. The piou d prince had many sweethearts, and hi
 anoirs were so openly conducted a
 to shock his religious friends. A ser : ious illness inspired Philip with scru ! l pies, and he decided to change hi mode Of life.
 1 Arrived at this determination, Phil