3S2 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814. 



facts (as appears from iheir own 

 evidence), roulrl sHnction orjustify, 

 — and which ojiinion Mould ap- 

 pear, from the proceedings, to 

 have been utterly void of founda- 

 tion, ill every instance of implied 

 attack or insinuation upon that 

 Officer's courage and conduct be- 

 fore the enemy, as conveved by 

 the tenor of the second and third 

 charges. 



In allusion to the letter signed 

 by the chief part of the officers, 

 and in which the present proceed- 

 ings originated, the Prince Re- 

 gent has specially observed, that, 

 exclusive of the doubt which may 

 be entertained of their capability 

 to form a judgment so much be- 

 yond the scope of their experience 

 in the service, it was worthy of 

 remark, that some who have 

 affixed their names to that paper 

 had never been with the regiment 

 during the period in question, and 

 others had never joined any mili- 

 tary body beyond the depot of 

 their corps ; and it might thus be 

 deduced, that although the officers 

 have manifested, according to the 

 appropriate remark of the Court- 

 martial, a want of co-operation in 

 support of their Commander's au- 

 thority, yet those who have as- 

 sumed a personal observance of 

 Colonel Quentin's conduct, and 

 those who, though absent, appear 

 to have acted under a mischievous 

 influence, by joining in an opinion 

 to his prejudice, have all co- 

 operated in a compact against their 

 Commanding Officer, fraught with 

 evils of the most injurious ten- 

 dency to the discipline of the ser- 

 vice : nor did it escape the notice 

 of his Royal Highness, that this 

 accusation has not been the mo- 

 mentary offspring of irritated feel- 



ings, but the deliberate issue of a 

 long and extraordinary delay, for 

 which no sufficient reasons, or 

 explanation, have been assigned. 



In this view of the case (which 

 is not palliated by the very slight 

 censure passed on Colonel Quentin 

 upon the 1st charge) his Royal 

 Highness has considered that a 

 mark of his displeasure towards 

 those Officers is essential to the 

 vital interests of the army ; and 

 that the nature of the combination 

 against Colonel Quentin would 

 call for the removal from the 

 service of those who have joined in 

 it; but as his Royal Highness 

 would willingly be guided bv alc- 

 nient disposition towards a corps 

 of officers who have hitherto me- 

 rited his approbation, and would 

 willingly believe that inadvertency 

 in some, and inexperience in others, 

 had left them unaware of the mis- 

 chievous tendency of their conduct 

 upon this occasion, his Royal 

 Highness is averse to adopt such 

 severe measures as the custom of 

 the service in support of its disci- 

 pline usually sanctions, upon the 

 failure of charges against a com- 

 manding officer. Still it is essen- 

 tial that conduct so injurious in its 

 nature should be held forth to the 

 army as a warning in support of 

 subordination ; and his Royal High- 

 ness has, therefore, commanded, 

 that the officers who signed the 

 letter of the 9th of August shall no 

 longer act together as a corps, but 

 that they shall be distributed by 

 exchange throughout the different 

 regiments of cavalry in the service, 

 where it is trusted that they will 

 learn and confine themselves to 

 ther subordinate duties, until their 

 services and experience shall sanc- 

 tion their being placed in ranks 



