George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 8

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Chapter 57:

Britain Engages foreign troops.

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November, 1775—February, 1776.

had the king employed none but British troops,

Chap. LVII.}

the war by land against the colonies must have been of short duration. His army was largely recruited from American loyalists; from emigrants driven to America by want, and too recently arrived to be imbued with its principles; from Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland; and from Germany. Treaties were also made for subsidiary troops.

When Sir Joseph Yorke, the British ambassador at the Hague, proposed the transfer of a brigade from the service of the Netherlands to that of his sovereign, the young stadtholder wrote directly to his cousin the king of England, to decline what was desired. He received a reply, renewing and urging the request. In 1599 the Low Countries pledged to Queen Elizabeth, as security for a loan, three important fortresses which she garrisoned with her own troops; in 1616 the Dutch discharged the debt, and