Treaty with the Prince of Waldeck

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The Lord North presented to the House, by his Majesty' s command,

Copy of a Treaty between his Majesty and the Prince of Waldeck, signed at Arolsen, the 20th of April, 1776, and Translation.

And the Titles of the said Copy and Translation were read.

The said copy is preserved amongst the other Papers of this session; and the said Translation is as followeth, viz:

Translation of a Treaty between his Majesty and the Prince of WALDECK, signed at AROLSEN, the 20th of APRIL, 1776.

Be it known to those whom it may concern, that his Majesty the King of Great Britain, having judged proper to accept of a body of Infantry of the Troops of his Most Serene Highness the reigning Prince of Waldeck, to be employed in the service of Great Britain, the high contracting parties have given their orders on this subject to their respective Minister, to wit: his Britannick Majesty to Colonel William Faucitt, Captain in the Guards, and the Most Serene Prince of Waldeck to his Privy Counsellor and President of the Regency, Frederick Lewis Wiepert de Zerbst, who, after the exchange of their respective full powers, have agreed upon the following Articles:

ART˙ I. The said Most Serene Prince yields to his Britannick Majesty a Corps of Infantry of six hundred and seventy men, which shall be at the entire disposition of the King of Great Britain, to be employed in his service on the same footing as the other German Troops, both in Europe and in North-America. The Regiment shall moreover be provided with two pieces of Field Artillery, with two Bombardiers, twelve Gunners, and other attendants, and the Train thereto belonging.

ART˙ II. The Most Serene Prince engages to equip this corps completely, and that it shall be ready to march at the latest on the 6th of May next. The said corps shall pass in review, at the place of embarkation, before his Britannick Majesty' s Commissary.

ART˙ III. The Most Serene Prince engages to furnish the recruits annually necessary. These recruits shall be delivered to his Britannick Majesty' s Commissary disciplined and completely equipped. His Most Serene Highness will do his utmost for the whole to arrive at the place of embarkation at the time which his Majesty shall appoint.

ART˙ IV. His Majesty' s service and the preservation of the troops requiring equally that the Commanding Officers and subalterns should be perfectly skilled in the service, his Most Serene Highness will take proper care in the choice of them.

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ART˙ V. The Most Serene Prince engages to put this corps on the best footing possible; and no men shall be admitted therein but such as are fit for field service, and acknowledged as such by his Britannick Majesty' s Commissary.

ART˙ VI. This corps shall be furnished with tents, and all necessary equipage.

ART˙ VII. The King grants to this corps the ordinary and extraordinary pay, as well as all the advantages in forage, provisions, winter-quarters, and refreshments, &c˙, enjoyed by the Royal troops; and the Most Serene Prince engages to permit this corps to enjoy all the emoluments of pay which his Britannick Majesty allows them. The sick and wounded of the said corps shall be taken care of in the King' s Hospitals, and shall be treated in that respect as the troops of his Britannick Majesty; and the wounded not in a condition to serve shall be transported into Europe, landed in some port on the Weser, and sent back to their own country, at the King' s expense.

ART˙ VIII. There shall be paid to his Most Serene Highness, as Levy Money, for each foot soldier, as well as gunner, thirty crowns Banco; the crown to be reckoned at fifty-three soles of Holland; one half of this money shall be paid in three weeks after the signature of the Treaty, and the other half in two months after the signature.

ART˙ IX. According to custom, three wounded men shall be reckoned as one man killed. A man killed shall be paid for at the rate of the levy money. If it should happen that any Company of this corps should be wholly or in part ruined or destroyed, or that the pieces of artillery, or other effects with which it might be furnished, should be lost by accident, his Majesty the King of Great Britain shall cause the expense of the necessary recruits to be paid, as also the value of the said field-pieces and effects, to reestablish this corps and its artillery immediately.

ART˙ X. The Most Serene Prince reserves to himself the nominations to the vacant employments, as well as the administration of justice. His Britannick Majesty will give orders to the Commander-in-Chief of the Army in which this corps shall serve, that he does not require from this corps any extraordinary services, or such as are beyond its' proportion with the rest of the army; and when it shall serve with the English troops or other auxiliaries, the officers shall command (as the military service requires of itself) according to their rank, and the seniority of their commissions, without making any distinction with regard to what corps the troops may belong with which they shall serve in conjunction. This corps shall take the oath of fidelity to his Britannick Majesty, without prejudice to that which they have taken to their own Sovereign.

ART˙ XI. All deserters from the Waldeck Regiment shall be faithfully and immediately given up, wherever they may be found, in the places dependant on his Britannick Majesty; and especially, it shall not be permitted, as far as is possible, that any of the subjects whatsoever of his Most Serene Highness establish themselves in America, without the consent of their Sovereign.

ART˙ XII. The pay shall commence fifteen days before the march of this body of troops; and as soon as the troops shall have quitted their quarters to repair to the place of their destination, all the expenses of their march and transport shall be at the charge of his Britannick Majesty.

ART˙ XIII. His Britannick Majesty shall grant to the Most Serene Prince, during all the time that this body of troops shall be in his Majesty' s pay, an annual subsidy of twenty-fire thousand and fifty crowns Banco. His Majesty shall cause notice of the determination of the said subsidy to be given a whole year before it shall cease to be paid: Provided that such notice shall not be given till after the return of the troops into the dominions of his Most Serene Highness.

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

In testimony whereof, we, the undersigned, by virtue of our full powers, have signed the present Treaty, and have affixed thereto the seals of our arms.

Done at Arolsen, this 20th of April, 1776.

WILLIAM FAUCITT, [L˙ S.]

FREDERICK LOUIS WIEPERT DE ZERBST, [L˙ S.]