equal to the service, and I am persuaded you will leave nothing undone which can contribute to its success. I have the honour to be, &c., CASTLEREAGH. Lord Castlereagh to the Earl of Chatham. Downing Street, October 16, 1805. My dear Lord-Colonel Hadden communicated to me this morning your kind offer to come up to town in the course of next week, if there was anything of importance. Things are grown so interesting, that I trust you will forgive me for availing myself of your proposal; and if you could appropriate Sunday to the journey, you would, without wasting a sporting day, catch your brother before his return to Walmer on Monday. I send you by the messenger the outline of our immediate measures, which has been approved by the king, and will be executed without delay. But this subject connects itself so much with the state of the Continent, and the general scheme of our future military views, that I feel extremely desirous of having a full conversation with you upon the whole of this interesting subject. Believe me, &c., CASTLEREAGH. Lord Castlereagh to H.R.H. the Duke of York. Downing Street, October 17, 1805. Sir-Having by his Majesty's commands concerted with your Royal Highness the necessary measures for sending the Hanoverian Legion, with the addition of 5,000 British troops, to the Elbe, which, under certain circumstances, were to be followed by another corps of a similar number, I have now to signify to your Royal Highness his Majesty's pleasure that you do issue the necessary orders for the embarkation of the German Legion, according to the number in the margin men tioned,1 at those places which, as stated in your Royal Highness's letter of the 11th instant, have been arranged with the Commissioners of the Transport Service. In your Royal Highness's private letter to me of the 25th instant, you propose that the second embarkation should consist of the regiments named in the margin.2 Transports are in preparation to receive them, and the Commissioners for the Transport Service are directed to arrange the places for embarkation under your Royal Highness's orders, so that the troops may be embarked with the utmost expedition. It having been also arranged, in concert with your Royal Highness, that the third corps of 5,000 men should be taken from the establishment of Ireland, I am to signify his Majesty's pleasure that you do order the regiments which you shall destine for the service to be immediately embarked at Cork, where tonnage is already provided. It is his Majesty's pleasure that these corps should be embarked with a proper quantity of camp equipage, ammunition, &c., &c., to enable them to take the field. I am likewise to desire your Royal Highness will receive his Majesty's pleasure for appointing a suitable staff to the whole; and measures will be arranged with the Board of Ordnance, in concert with your Royal Highness, for supplying the necessary artillery and ordnance. Lord Castlereagh to Lord Keith. Downing Street, October 18, 1805. My dear Lord-I have urged that the march of the British troops may be accelerated. Time will be saved by your embarking the Guards first, which are nearest; the 14th the next, which is less distant than General Paget's brigade; and I should recommend your lordship to communicate with General Finch, at Dover, and fix with him the earliest moment for their embarking. We have not yet altogether decided whether the whole should proceed in one fleet, or the British follow in a second division. I should like to know your lordship's opinion as to the comparative convenience, with respect to convoy, arriving in the Elbe, &c. As it is desirable not to waste tonnage unnecessarily for so short a trip, when circumstances may require all we can collect for the reception of a further embarkation, I have to beg your lordship will keep this in view, and be as economical with our means as is consistent with the health and comfort of the troops. I have conversed this morning with Lord Barham, and your lordship will hear from him on the subject. It is our wish to be informed (without as yet interfering with the active employment of your ships) what number of infantry you have the means of transporting to the coast of Holland, or to the Elbe, in the King's ships now under your flag, if circumstances should render it necessary to have recourse, upon an emergency, to this extraordinary resource. I am, &c., CASTLEREAGH. Lord Castlereagh to Lord Keith. Downing Street, October 19, 1805. My dear Lord-The favourable intelligence from the Continent, as it improves the probability of our troops being enabled to disembark in safety in the Elbe, immediately on their arrival, has determined his Majesty's Ministers to send the force now under orders in two divisions. Your lordship will, therefore, have the goodness to apprise me of the period when it may be desirable that the final orders for sailing should be sent for the first division, and also make arrangements for affording to the British 2nd division a suitable convoy, so soon as it is ready to proceed, all which I will officially direct through the Admiralty in due time. Lord Castlereagh to Lieutenant-General Don. Downing Street, October 19, 1805. Sir-I trust it is rather an excess of precaution, but, as it may be attended to with little difficulty, I should suggest your ascertaining, when you arrive at Cuxhaven, before you land, whether you may proceed without interruption to Hamburgh and Berlin, by the Hanoverian bank of the river; if not, it may be necessary to land either on the Danish shore, or proceed to Husum. Should any such unexpected interruption be found to exist, you will take care to station the frigate off the Elbe, to give notice to the convoy from England with the troops, in order that they may adopt all necessary measures of precaution. And you will take the most expeditious means of transmitting information to me of the state of things in that quarter. I am, &c., CASTLEREAGH. Lord Castlereagh to Lieutenant-General Don. Downing Street, October 19, 1805. Sir-Intelligence having been received from Berlin since my former instructions of the 15th instant, bearing upon the objects of your mission, I feel it material, understanding you have not been able to proceed to sea, to communicate the substance for the direction of your conduct. In consequence of the infraction committed by the French army on the Prussian territory, in the Margraviate of Anspach, his Prussian Majesty has signified to the Emperor of Russia that the Russian troops may now pass through Silesia, and that no interruption will be given to his troops advancing also from Stralsund. We learn that a Russian corps of nearly 20,000 men, under General Tolstoi, landed at Stralsund on the 5th instant; that the King of Sweden has engaged to apply 10,000 of his troops to co-operate with the Russian corps; and we further understand the Russian General had orders to advance into Hanover, if Prussia opposed no obstacle to his doing so. A strong invitation from the King has been forwarded from hence to General Tolstoi, in his electoral capacity, inviting that officer to move forward without delay, and to concert his operations with the force now under orders from hence. In this state of things, it is possible that all doubt of the prudence of landing the troops may be removed by the time you reach the Elbe. The better to inform your judgment in this respect, I am to desire that you will, immediately on your arrival, communicate with the British Minister at Hamburgh, Mr. Thornton, who will be prepared, on your explaining to him the general nature of your mission, to furnish you with every information and assistance. After you have conversed with Mr. Thornton, and previous to your proceeding to Berlin, you will entrust Mr. Thornton with instructions addressed to the officer in command of his Majesty's troops, to be delivered to him on his arrival in the Elbe, and you will vary these instructions, in case any intelligence which you may receive on your route, or on your arrival at Berlin, should render it expedient so to do. As circumstances may render it of importance to pass over a considerable force to the Continent before the winter sets in, it certainly would be desirable, if attended with no material risk, that the troops should be disembarked immediately on their arrival, and the transports returned to England without delay. This more particularly applies to the transports fitted for the reception of cavalry, pressing representations having |