"Your department, my dear Brother, was meant, if I must repeat it, simply as a channel to convey that tender to Government, and to obtain either their attention to, or an open avowal of, their refusal, &c. &c. (Signed) "G. P.

"To His Royal Highness the Duke of York."

"Horse-Guards, October 13, 1803.

"DEAR BROTHER, "I HAVE received your letter this morning, and am sorry to find that you think that I have misconceived the meaning of your first letter, the whole tenor of which, and the military promotion which gave rise to it, led me naturally to suppose your desire was, that I should apply to his Majesty, in my official capacity, to give you military rank, to which might be attached the idea of subsequent command.

"That I found myself under the necessity of declining, in obedience to his Majesty's pointed orders, as I explained to you in my letter of the 6th instant; but, from your letter of to-day, 1 am to understand that your object is not military rank, but that a post should be allotted to you, upon the present emergency, suitable to your situation in the state.

"This I conceive to be purely a political consideration, and, as such, totally out of my department; and as I have most carefully avoided, at all times, and under all circumstances, ever interfering in any political points, I must hope that you will not call upon me to deviate from the principles by which I have been invariably governed.

"Believe nie, my dear Brother,

"Your most affectionate Brother,
(Signed)

"His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales."

"FREDERICK.

RICK

"Carlton-House, October 14, 1803.

"MY DEAR BROTHER, "IT cannot but be painful to me to be reduced to the necessity of further explanation on a subject, which it was my earnest wish to have closed, and which was of so clear and, distinct a nature, as, in my humble judgment, to have precluded the possibility of either doubt or misunderstanding.

"Surely there must some strange fatality obscure my language in statement, or leave me somewhat deficient in the powers of explanation, when it can lead your mind, my dear Brother, to such a palpable misconstruction (for far be it from me to fancy it wilful) of my meaning, as to suppose for a moment, I had unconnected my object with efficient military rank, and transferred it entirely to the view of a political station, when you ventured to tell me, my object is not military rank, but that a post should be allotted to me, upon the present emergency, suitable to my situation in the state. Upon what ground you can hazard such an assertion, or upon what principles you can draw such an inference, I am utterly at a loss to determine. For I defy the most skilful logician, in torturing the English language, to

apply with fairness such a construction to any word or phrase of mine, contained in any one of the letters I have ever written on this, to me, most interesting subject.

"I call upon you to re-peruse the correspondence. In my letter of the 2d instant, I told you unequivocally, that I hoped you knew me too well to imagine, that idle, inactive rank was in my view; and that sentiment, I beg you carefully to observe, I have, in no instance whatever, for one single moment, relinquished or departed from.

"Giving, as I did, all the considerations of my heart to the delicacy and difficulties of your situation, nothing could have been more repugnant to my thoughts, or to my disposition, than to have imposed upon you, my dear Brother, either in your capacity as Commander-inChief, or in the near relationship which subsists between us, the task, much less the expectation, of causing you to risk any displeasure from his Majesty, by disobeying, in any degree, his commands, although they were even to militate against myself. But, with the impulse of my feelings towards you, and quickly conceiving what friendship and affection may be capable of, I did not, I own, think it entirely impossible that you might, considering the magnitude and importance which the object carries with it, have officially advanced my wishes, as a matter of propriety, to military rank and subsequent command, through his Majesty's Ministers, for that direct purpose; especially when the honour of my character, and my future fame in life, were so deeply involved in the consideration. For, I must here emphatically again repeat, that idle, inactive rank was never in my view; and that military rank, with its consequent command, was NEVER out of it.' Feeling how useless, as well as ungracious, controversy is, upon every occasion, and knowing how fatally it operates on human friendships, I must entreat that our correspondence on this subject shall cease here; for nothing could be more distressing to me, than to prolong a topic, on which, it is now clear to me, my dear Brother, that you and I can never agree, &c. &c.

66

(Signed)

"His Royal Highness the Duke of York."

"G. P.

Copy of a Letter from the Right Hon. Henry Addington, dated Richmond, Oct. 23, 1803.

66 SIR,

"IN consequence of some intelligence which has reached me, I am compelled, by a sense of duty to your Royal Highness, and to the public, to express an earnest and anxious hope, that you may be induced to postpone your return to Brighton until I shall have had an opportunity of making further enquiries, and of stating the result of them to your Royal Highness.

"I have the Honour to be, with the utmost deference and respect, "Sir,

"Your Royal Highness's faithful

"And most humble Servant,

(Signed) "HENRY ADDINGTON.

"The Prince of Wales."

"BY your grounding your letter to me up on intelligence which has just reached you, I apprehend that you allude to information which leads you to expect some immediate attempt from the enemy. My wish to accommodate myself to any thing which you represent as material to the public service, would of course make me desirous to comply with your request; but if there be reason to imagine that invasion will take place directly, I am bound, by the King's precise order, and by that honest zeal which is not allowed any fitter sphere for its action, to hasten instantly to my regiment. If I learn that my construction of the word intelligence, be right, I must deem it necessary to repair to Brighton immediately, &c. &c.

"Right Hon. Henry Addington."

(Signed)

'G, P.

A corps of yeomanry cavalry, in Leicestershire, having solicited the Earl of Moira to command them, his Lordship declined the honour in a long speech. It contained the following remarkable passage:

"You will have seen it mentioned, that the Prince of Wales, with that glowing interest which he takes in all that may affect the fame or the welfare of Britain, had offered his services in a manner that might best evince his devotion to his Father and Sovereign. As Colonel of a regiment of cavalry, his Royal Highness probably feared that he might find himself stationed in a district remote from the descent of the enemy; he was, therefore, solicitous for such eventual employment as would give him the chance of furnishing the example to his fellow subjects, how every consideration of condition, of ease, and of personal safety, ought to be spurned, when the security of the country is at stake. We are given to understand that the offer has not been accepted; yet it is possible that his Royal Highness may still entertain the hope of being permitted to oppose himself to the enemy, as a volunteer, with the first corps of that description that may be marched against the invader. I infer some such view, not merely from the generous enthusiasm which swells his heart upon this occasion, but from the call with which he has honoured me. He has deigned to claim, from my humble attachment, that, upon the first notice of an enemy's landing, I shall basten to place myself by his side, unless I should in the interval, be ordered upon service by the King."

On the twenty second of November, his Majesty opened the second Session of the Imperial Parliament with the following speech:

"My Lords and Gentlemen,

"SINCE I last met you in Parliament, it has been my chief object to carry into effect those measures, which your wisdom had